Casual player looking for advice

Hi all. I didn't find a new player section so am hoping this is the right place for this post. I have dabbled in PoE here and there but never even fully leveled a character. I tend to get a bit overwhelmed with the build tree and other nuances of PoE. I have played a fair amount of D3 but even that very casually. I tend to do better if I set a realistic goal for myself, which is what I'd like to do with PoE this season. I would be happy to just experience leveling a character to max and experiencing the leveling process and story. I'm not at all concerned about end game right now.

I am wondering if someone might suggest some builds that would be good for leveling and also help me learn the most important mechanics and things of that sort. For any D3 players, the builds I've enjoyed there are WW barb, Firebirds wizard, and bones of rathma necro. I've also played Inna monk this season and have had a complete blast. Hopefully that gives you an idea of what playstyles I tend to enjoy in these types of games.

I would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks in advance.

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1147951

general advice, take your time but trying to engage with each piece of content or you will learn so slowly it'll be 3.25 before you've a handle on the mechanics.

Don't worry about getting rich initially, playing consistently produces more currency than buying into a strategy you don't understand, builds can do like 90% of the game for 5% of the cost of that last 10% use that to your advantage.

And ask for help I guess, most players asking for help that I see get an answer and we'll usually pick a build apart to let you know what your missing/getting wrong, the guide I linked above is pretty comprehensive and I send all my friends to start with that one but just incase you don't.

Good luck and have fun!

Honestly PoE is very new player hostile, and there is a lot to learn. I would probably stay away from conversion builds, or heavily mechanic based damage outputs.

I would suggest minions to start, specifically physical damage skeletons, which you could always move to skeleton mages later on if you find some gear.

Give a google search for Poe 3.17 League Starter builds and then give one you find interesting a try! PoE lasts the longest and is the funnest by experimenting with different builds. Don't be afraid to lv a new char, don't be afraid to try things.

My personal league starter is Summon Skellys. It's all around a solid build with minimal investment. Checkout Kays Summoner Guides. Almost any summoner builds viable league start.

Trading: Learn how to use the trade api on poes main site. https://www.pathofexile.com/trade
This allows you buy gear with specific stats for Chaos Orbs or Exalted orbs that complement your build. You will generally have an easier time gearing buying gear from trade than finding it.

Each master is a leagues worth of content. When you encounter a new master, I'd recommend looking up a breakdown of their mechanics. Here is the masters I *Personally* found the best to focus on for newcomers in terms of generating currency drops

Tane: Metamorphs, you'll see a green guy in a sciency looking helmet. Kill the giant black blob for big rewards

Alva: Temple missions can be sold for 1 exalted orb a piece by having a Teir 3 Corruption Locust in the layout (look up Alva for how all this works or "incursion league")

Jun: Immortal syndicate is complicated but can be profitable. On this site https://www.poelab.com you can find many resources for this as well as lab running. It can breakdown what each person in each section can do for you. This is an annoyingly fidgety one.

If you find a master you dislike, ignore it! Even if it's the "optimal way to make money" you'll only ruin your enjoyment forcing yourself to do content you don't like. If Neko (delve league) isn't enjoyable, don't feel like you must do the content to be optimal. There is many avenues of progression.

Lastly: Experiment!

Thanks for all the responses! They are super helpful and I appreciate your time in responding.

Hello and welcome exile. As a longtime newbie, I'd add a few thing.

1. You won't level to level 100 (max). Don't think you can as a new player, it won't happen since you lose 10% experience at death after level 80.

2. A realistic goal for a new player would be to complete all 10 acts and get to maps. You can make this goal since the acts are long, but considered the tutorial for mechanics of the game.

3. Focus first on fun, then on learning. Don't get caught up in profits or what others are doing,you need to learn the game. There will be another league in a few months and you can put your experience to use as others have said.

3a. If content isn't fun (masters), don't do it. I'm not too fond of harvest myself, while others see it as hugely important and powerful. Guess what, it can be and is, but so what if I don't enjoy it. I'll dabble in it, but I don't build around it. Same for Heist for me, I don't like the mechanic so I avoid it.

4. There are literally years worth of content (past leagues) still floating around in the game and you can't play it all with every character each season. It's impossible to do. So focus on what you like.

5. Really basic here, but early on in the story (Acts), links and colors on gear are more important than the item mods. If you can get a 4-link chest/helm/boots/gloves early in the right colors, your skill power goes WAY up, so focus your item finding there. Soon you will get currency orbs to manipulate the colors, links, and number of sockets to make it easier, but early on, look for those drops and look in vendors for them as they will give you a power up quickly from an item with fewer links / support gems.

6. Ask questions. I've found the community to be really friendly and helpful. Welcome exile, enjoy your journey.

I am a long time player who specializes in making build guides for newbies.

Here is a forum post with a long list of info for newbies.
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3225884

It also has links to the 3 newbie focused build guides I maintain.


I suggest you read the newbie info, then based on what you read, choose a build style to do.

P.S.
The vast majority of build guides on these forums assume a LOT of knowledge of the game, and will be hard for a first time player.

This is why I create newbie build guides.

P.P.S.
If you want a specific suggestion, follow my Inquisitor Wintertide-Vortex guide.
It uses cold damage over time, and massively slows enemies, including bosses, making it MUCH easier to learn boss fights, as they move in slow motion.

Some people may suggest minions.
Without a doubt, minions are the easiest to progress in the game for newbies...BUT... it is also the build style you will learn the least about the game, as minions are SO easy, and make SO much visual clutter, that you can get to red maps without learning anything about boss fights.

Again, thank you all so much! It is good to know getting to 100 is not a realistic goal but that getting through all of the acts is.

I can recommend not bothering with that Syndicate stuff. It's a convoluted mess. I've read guides on it and still don't bother with it, partly because I'm not interested in "crafting" which in this game is just RNG rolling everything.

Delving can be fun. It's like an entire mini-game within the game.

Heist can also be fun. It's a nice break once in a while from leveling and the acts.

I'm all about fun, not min-maxing or crafting or any of that. I'm basically SSF too (solo self-found). I enjoy the thrill of finding a nice drop and being able to use it as an upgrade to my current gear, but not using all this currency and prior league mechanics to try to roll it into a better item. No patience for that nonsense.

If you're as casual as me just enjoy the process of learning the tree, the various skill gems etc. and break up the monotony of running through the acts and maps with some delving and heists. If you want to dabble in this game's "crafting" go for it but I find it so annoying I can't do it.

Follow the guide posted in the first response, this is a famous beginner build and the biggest thread in this forum because of that.
You could also follow another guide, but I would recommend something for beginners, because most of the other guides assumes that you at least know about endgame crafting/gearing and stuff.

Focus on reaching the Epilogue first, dont bother delving into any other mechanics yet.
Get through the campaign, get to maps, once you are at there just slowly get into whatever you might come across.

Remember to do the Trials + the Labyrinth do unlock the Ascendancy Points, there is a 4th Labyrinth you have to unlock in the endgame.

The endgame is very diverse and it is not a good idea to try to understand everything at once, so just play some maps and then see what you find and what questions might come to mind.
There is a lot of things to do, but you dont have to do all of them so just take your time.

People in this game always stress themselves to hard because of "missed opportunities", just accept that as a new player you will make a lof of mistakes, bad decision and so on and deal with it.

Just make sure you are not selling very valuable stuff for cheap, either to the vendor or other players. Its okay to lose out on some profits, but dont sell your Mirror of Kalandra for 10 chaos.
Unless to me of course XD

Use https://www.pathofexile.com/trade for trading with other players (this is the official trading site).

Just copy paste the whispers if you want to buy something and make sure you actually have the currency they are asking for.

This game has a wide variety of nice and chill players, scammers and [Removed by Support].

You could also join a guild, there are probably beginner friendly guilds.
This would allow you a way to learn things quicker probably or get some help.

There also are several good POE Discords.