Leveling or gearing? Moving to endgame: Help!!

I'm a beginner. Each league I manage to understand a little more than the previous league and this league has been going well. But now I'm kind of stuck and I don't know where I should be applying my efforts.

I'm 87, and I've just started breaking into yellow maps, about tier VIII. I can manage them ok, but I might die. Like once or twice a map. I've asked in the forum where I got my build what I need, and the answer was "more life" and "better gear".

Where I'm stuck is, do I stay in white maps where it's safe, look for better gear, and save up currency to buy gear pieces, try to keep leveling

or,

Push into yellow maps to look for gear and currency, on the basis that better quality gear and currency will drop in higher levels, and forget leveling for now as a goal.

How important is concentrating on leveling for me right now? Should I just push as high as I can manage?

Thank you anyone who can offer me some advice on this!

What guide are you following?

It's always good to have a plan. What are the possible gear upgrades based on the guide? How would you rank them in bang for the buck?

Most characters I quit leveling in the low 90s. I just don't like the grind beyond that. But I will go to 90-92 if I'm enjoying the build.

If you are dying at least a couple times per map, I would back off to a tier you feel more comfortable with. It's good to keep leveling while you're working on gear/currency and you can't do that if you're dying often.

Are you able to do rituals ok? Those can be a source of items to sell.

If you're not crafting, look to sell your alts. Those are going for a lot this league.

I would also do Harvest as a way to beef up your gear.

Take a close look at everything in your build compared to the guide. I just looked at your flasks and noticed:
No bleed removal - is it somewhere else in your build?
A flask "of reflexes" in what I assume is not an evasion build
A diamond flask in what I'm guessing is not a crit build.

I would guess there are other things. Small stuff adds up!

Anyway, I'm sure you can take the build and your play to another level with a little effort.

"

What guide are you following?

It's always good to have a plan. What are the possible gear upgrades based on the guide? How would you rank them in bang for the buck?

Most characters I quit leveling in the low 90s. I just don't like the grind beyond that. But I will go to 90-92 if I'm enjoying the build.

If you are dying at least a couple times per map, I would back off to a tier you feel more comfortable with. It's good to keep leveling while you're working on gear/currency and you can't do that if you're dying often.

Are you able to do rituals ok? Those can be a source of items to sell.

If you're not crafting, look to sell your alts. Those are going for a lot this league.

I would also do Harvest as a way to beef up your gear.

Take a close look at everything in your build compared to the guide. I just looked at your flasks and noticed:
No bleed removal - is it somewhere else in your build?
A flask "of reflexes" in what I assume is not an evasion build
A diamond flask in what I'm guessing is not a crit build.

I would guess there are other things. Small stuff adds up!

Anyway, I'm sure you can take the build and your play to another level with a little effort.

Thanks very much! I really appreciate you taking the time :) Here's the build I'm using, I've used the AngryRolePlayer before and been able to follow his stuff ok.

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2936314

Yeah true my flask situation isn't optimal, same with the gems in my passive tree, I'm meant to have a Watcher's Eye and Transcendent Flesh, but I just used them to top up resistances. Those two gems are way out of my price range. The flask situation is probably something I can resolve quite quickly. I should start there.

The only crafting I can really do is the crafting bench and the crafts in harvest, but I've only come across harvest three times so far, so it's not something I can rely one. I don't know anything about Delving or most of the other league mechanics to get better crafts and stuff.

So I know the gear I need to improve are the rares, the uniques are fine for now. Exact copies of the ones from the guides are like 5ish ex. But versions with say 2 30+ resists and 90+ health start at around 30c. Getting the extra stuff on them, like "can't be frozen" or "Enemies have -9% phys res" put's them way up. I don't know how to get those. Lab enchants? For now I think I just need to keep res capped and up my life and survivability, trying to add in DPS stats on gear is over my head.

Rituals in TVIII will probably kill me. Lower than that I seem fine. I might have a look at selling my Alts since I don't know crafting, I've never really sold anything before.

It probably sounds like I have no idea what I'm talking about, and that's largely correct! It's been a slow process of playing and youtube videos trying to learn this game. So complicated! :D

"

It probably sounds like I have no idea what I'm talking about, and that's largely correct! It's been a slow process of playing and youtube videos trying to learn this game. So complicated! :D

Welcome to PoE! The experience you describe is one that resonates for a lot of us. :D

One trick is to learn how to recognize what things can be done easily and what things will have a real impact. (Which comes with experience and study.) To optimize a build for any particular budget, you have to focus on the things that make a difference AND aren't that expensive.

For example, sometimes a Watcher's Eye is build defining, but a lot of times it's just min-maxing.

On the things you mentioned, "Enemies have -9% <any> resistance" is something that will boost your dps, but it's always expensive and not build defining.

"Can't be frozen" as a gear mod is nice QoL, but the basic way to get that is with a flask mod. (Do you know about beast crafting for the key immunity suffixes: bleed, freeze, curse, etc?)

On gear with resistances and health, you have to find the "knee" in the price curve. The 70 life versions might be a LOT less expensive than the 90 life versions. It depends on the gear. And honestly, 20 more life on a few pieces of gear is not going to suddenly make a huge difference.

I haven't looked at your PoB but I saw your post about armour. If you're at 60% phys mit with flasks and Molten Shell up, then you should definitely work on that. One way to boost your phys mit is to get a Basalt flask with the suffix for increased armour during flask effect. That will boost your armour a lot and give you a 15% additional physical damage reduction.

Also, work on your timing of Molten Shell and Vaal Molten Shell, and use them very proactively. (Use your flasks proactively as well.) Flasks make a HUGE difference, and MS/VMS as well for a build that has enough armour.

I'm playing Pathfinder right now. It converts evasion to armour and uses MS/VMS. I only die when my timing is bad.

I would start by improving your flasks, and work on your flask and MS/VMS timing. I expect you'll find that makes a big difference.

Had a chance to take a quick look at your armour in PoB.

With nothing up it shows you at 61% phys damage reduction. This isn't totally accurate for every situation because of the way armour works, but it's fine when we're talking about clearing in maps.

Now suppose you change your Quicksilver flask of Reflexes for one "of Iron Skin" with about 90% increased armour (they are cheap so get one with a good roll...)

With Lion's Roar up the phys mit is 81%.

With Lion's Roar and either Iron Skin or MS/VMS, you are very close to 90%.

With all three you are at 90% (max). And of course with MS/VMS you have the extra damage absorption from the shield.

Going from 60% to 90% means you are taking 1/4 the physical damage from hits that you don't block, so you can see the importance of having these defenses up, and being more careful when they're on cooldown.

"

Welcome to PoE! The experience you describe is one that resonates for a lot of us. :D

Thank you so much for taking the time to help me. I really appreciate it. Sounds like maybe you've been where I'm at once upon a time :D

So I think I need to take a bit more from your advice about the flasks than what's at face value. I need to get the right flasks, but I also need to learn to use and monitor them better. Truth is I only started even using the flasks in Heist. I didn't realise how integral they were to gameplay. Or that you could basically have 100% up time on them. Once I figured this out, I started just spamming all of them before every fight and at like 4 second intervals. Perhaps the time has come to try and be more selective with my use of them.

I've decided to spend some more time in white maps, looking for flasks I can use, and practice being more concious of my flask usage, as well as timing VMS better for big hits, while I just fill out the Atlas some more. I've also just found my last trial so I can get the... 4th lab done (whatever it's called) I've never done 4 before. And I've anointed my (terrible) amulet (the oils aren't too expensive) and made some other gear and skill adjustments.

Anyway, you didn't ask for my life story but it's exciting to try and push further! And without some help I absolutely couldn't. Thanks again.

It's a challenging game. Most of us aren't able to figure it all out on our own.

Every build has it's own rhythm, with movement, attacks, flasks, and other cooldowns. Figuring that all out is a big step in the right direction, and white maps are a good place to work on that.

When you do Uber lab, check the layout on the PoE Lab site. Take two life flasks just in case for the traps, and use your physical mitigation. Also be sure to use Soul of Ryslatha as your minor pantheon.

The two places people die in Uber are trap gauntlets and Izaro. Keep moving when you're fighting him.

Good luck!

"

Good luck!

Update. I adjusted my flasks, and started paying way more attention to which ones I was using, and when I was using them. Also more carefully monitoring my endurance charges and when they've fallen off.

Got my Eternal lab done, which I've never managed on a character before, and as long as I stay clear of phys reflect maps, yellow maps are no longer a problem and my leveling and Atlas progression is going great! I even unlocked my first Atlas zone passive tree. And the more progress I make the more I enjoy the game.

And without your help I don't think I'd have managed any of that. Thank you so much. :D

Great to hear!

On phys reflect map mods... Yes! Every build has a mod or two that it just can't do, and it's important to know those. Some combinations are dangerous for most builds. (E.g. reduced max resists, extra phys damage as <element>, extra projectiles, extra crit. Several of those together are worth avoiding.) You can either re-roll or sell the maps.

Good luck!