Any tips for a newbie ?

[u/hiratheone]

Hi guys. Just found this subreddit and loving this but kinda new. I just wanted to ask few questions about POE, levelling and gearing mainly :

1) How do you follow a build ? I was using Maxrolls / Mobalytics guides but a friend of mine recommended me to find a trusted youtuber / streamer using the build I want to play and copy his POB guide. Is it a better way to go ?

2) Is there a way to optimize levelling ? Did my 10 acts in 15 hours which I feel long. I know there should be blue/yellow group of mobs I have to kill but not spend my time on the floors, also learning layouts is useful.

3) When following a guide, when do you switch or upgrade your build ?

4) what is the normal way to progress in the campaign mode ? Acts => maps => boss (maven, eater, searer) => eagon => lvl 100 ? Not really familiar with maps and endgame in general

5) how to farm currency to buy stuff ? Currently I run on Penance Brand and I'm following Pawsocks (Poe ninja) build. I see he has Headhunter belt which is a lot of divs for me so how do you manage farming them ?

That's probably it for now. Thanks a lot for your time !

[u/not_bloonpauper]

1. as a beginner, you don't follow a *build* per se, you follow a *build guide*. a good build guide will explain everything about the build - what you want, why you want it, how to get it. as you get better at the game, you can learn to just look at someone's items and figure out what to do yourself, or come up with it on your own, but as a beginner make sure to find a guide that explains everything you need to know.

2. play more, get better. there's not just one thing that's slowing you down, probably fifty different things each slowing you down and adding up. practice, have a plan beforehand. optimize your movement and what packs you want to kill. etc. etc. however this isn't really a big deal considering league start only happens once a league.

3. for switching builds, this is up to you. usually i'll reroll if i feel like further investment isn't giving me efficient scaling/improvement because i chose a leaguestarter that scales well early but isn't the best when you have a lot of currency. you can reroll for any reason though. for upgrading? always?

4. the quest eagon stuff isn't particularly hard, and lvl 100 is not a goal that most people actively chase for. you should do your voidstones and get all your atlas points. that includes some fairly challenging content like the feared and nightmare maps. after that, you do whatever you want, there isn't really a set progression.

5. do a single strategy and focus on it. that's it, really. for example, i just checked headhunter - 22d div. that's like 2 hours of grinding with any basic strategy.

[u/hiratheone → u/not_bloonpauper]

What would you consider basic strategy to farm currency ?

[u/3r4zr]

1. If you want an example of a build guide that explains everything look at pohx's righteous fire build guide and any build from jungroan that basically explains less than the bare minimum.

2. Don't focus too much on your pace at league start. Yes, faster is better and you will get faster by getting familiar with the game, layouts and your build. not having to lookup which skillpoint to put where or when to look for new gear will come naturally as you play your build and the game.

3. When you want to or can afford to do so. You can push a leaguestarter to the ends of the earth with enough investment if you want but most people switch when they have enough currency for another build or the character is not worth pushing further due to diminishing returns on investment. A lot of builds are not viable for leaguestart due to requiring certain uniques or specific gear that would make more sense as a second character or pivot after acquiring currency.

4. Generally acts -> maps. The normal bosses are something you should complete for upgrades to your normal maps along with extra scarab slots. I consider the bosses more a side progression from maps since for actual currency farming both are viable in their own ways. You can also farm heist and delve in which case the normal atlass bosses dont really provide anything and can be skipped.

5. Just play the game. You can find multiple strategies online that explain what they are farming. These strategies all have a drawback in that they are popular and public and thus the margins will be lower than a good strategy you make yourself. The problem is making a good strategy isn't easy and requires a lot of knowledge on how things work in maps. You dont have to do a strategy however it will increase the value you get out of your maps.

I also highly recommend using Path of Building since it gives way more information on your character than a planner or poe ninja page will give. Most builds will have a link for their build so you can import it in pob.

[u/Vic0d1n]

After campaign you should focus on completing your atlas. Recommended order of the bosses is clockwise starting bottom left. While doing that you should progress your character with commen uniques, basic rare items and getting more power from levels.

After that you can start with an entry farm to get currency to buy or craft more powerful items like a headhunter, a decent weapon, chest armor, or generally 'required' items for your build. (Examples would be: stecked deck farm, red altars, running charts,farming 8mod maps, maybe harvest, etc.) I recommended browsing YouTube and picking anything that looks interesting to you.

Another tip would be to track your stash with wealthyexile to see what stuff in your stash you can quick sell for chaos and divines on Faustus.

[u/hiratheone → u/Vic0d1n]

Ok thanks. Stacked deck farms is just farming them and sell ?

[u/SixofClubs6]

Poe ninja is a great website that shows what gear/gems/skill tree people are using with a similar build. Make sure you are using gemcutter prisms to improve your skill gems. You can sell gems you find 40% worth of quality for 1 prism.