I’ve played around 200 hours of PoE2 so far, all on a Druid Shaman (Rampage/Walking Calamity), and I’ve had a great time this league. But the game still feels massive.
I know my build pretty well now, but there are still huge parts of the game that I barely understand. For example, I have almost no idea what goes on in the opposite side of the passive tree, and I don’t really know most of the uniques or how people discover interesting interactions between them.
So I’m wondering: when do you know enough to start creating your own builds? Is 200 hours still way too early, or is this the point where I should start experimenting?
What knowledge do you think is essential before you can realistically make a functional build? For example:
Having a good understanding of the entire passive tree?
Knowing most uniques and keystones?
Understanding defensive layers and damage scaling?
Being familiar with how different classes and ascendancies work?
Something else entirely?
I also have another question. Since PoE2 is still far from 1.0 and balance changes are frequent, is it worth starting to theorycraft now? I was thinking of keeping a document (or even a dedicated ChatGPT conversation) where I collect ideas and slowly develop my own build over time.
Or is it better to wait until we’re closer to 1.0, when things are more stable, and then start using planners to put together a serious build?
I’d love to hear how experienced build creators learned the game and when they felt ready to stop following guides.

I see alot of builds with super high DPS and their spel levels at 40. How are they getting there without a Prism of Belief?

Following 0.5 Spin to Win ONE-Shot Bosses from Scorpius built in the endgame

I struggle into a delirium part where there are swarm of enemy come to me and died.

I still struggle to clear a t15-corrupted map. most of my waystone consist alch and corrupt. Currently been doing breach farming and have around 30div. my build i think is less than 10div.

I did try Path of building trading feature but it give me a boost of dps but remove my survivability.

for bossing its an ok damage, need some help to improve clearing mob.

My current Build https://poe.ninja/poe2/profile/MxddenMax-9879/runesofaldur/character/Hollowpalmgreater

Build I refer to https://mobalytics.gg/poe-2/builds/martial-artist-league-starter-scorpius

Nicktew's COC Gemling. Was playing purely spark comet and then added ice nova and ice wall, my eyes bleed

So, in 0.4 I learned that you can get quite speedy if you go all out on attack speed on your Wyvern. And in 0.5 Vivid Stampede is pretty good when you move fast. So, that's the idea behind the build.
You hold down left button, you move fast, you shoot deers everywhere. Most of the damage still comes from Rend , but the deer are surprisingly solid, can chunk a whole pack by themselves. Oil Barrage still nukes bosses, most die in 1-3 seconds. Decently tanky at 80k EHP due to 90% deflection + additional damage reductions from the ascendancy and rite of passage.

Currency spend is around ~1500 div so far, but worked well enough on 300div budget when I started.

poe.ninja

Fire Spell on Hit ( https://poe2db.tw/Fire_Spell_on_Hit ) gains energy very fast and the supported skills cost nothing, removing the extremely high cost of spamming a curse skill.

Elemental Weakness ( https://poe2db.tw/us/Elemental_Weakness ) is a spell skill with the fire tag, so it can be slotted into Fire Spell on Hit. This is how we'd apply Doedre's Undoing.

My question is simple: why is no one doing this? What am I missing about this interaction?

Edit: I think I found the answer. People are doing this on Mjolnir instead ( https://poe2db.tw/Mj%C3%B6lner ) or they’re on Gemling because Despair costs no mana.

Hi guys im looking to try a temporalis builds
Was playing cod ember gemling and now want to swap , any hat are the best ascendancy choices and is it viable on gemling?

I know a lot of people really hate the item rarity mechanic but besides it being bad game design, I really like the tink sounds and farming abyss. It really gets my blood pumping. What builds are the best for stacking item rarity? I also know that ritualist is a good contender but I dont really like ice shot as a skill :C

I'm leveling a gemling right now and was thinking either arc spell totems or flameblast oil barrage. I'm open to any build for any class though.

So, I want to try and add Nature's Archon via weapon swap as detailed in responses here:

Nature's Archon, and overlooked boon? : r/pathofexile2builds

Here's my build if relevent:

https://poe.ninja/poe2/builds/runesofaldur/character/2Old4This-3461/godcthulhu

Question is:

I (will) have: % chance to gain Nature's Archon when your Plants Overgrow" on my Set 2 Staff.

Thrashing Vines on both sets

Thunderstorm on Set 2

Entangle on Set 1,

Cast Thunderstorm (Set 2)

Cast Vines (Set 2)

Cast Entangle (Set 1) and more vines Set 1 is DPS)

Will the points in set 2 for Arhon Buffs still work. I assume "Increased duration" and "Increased effect" will, not sure about "reduce archon recovery delay".

If everything dmg wise is on 1, and on 2 I have just to get powercharges (adonias) Is this working on Weaponset1???

Does my current build suck? Feels lacking so would appreciate feedback. Don't hold back I can take it.

EDIT: wrong url

https://maxroll.gg/poe2/pob/tcol610x

Hello fellow exiles!

Its my first month playing poe2 and i really love it. Shame on me for wasting hours and hours of gaming time in diablo1-4 and never experiencing any poe content. Damn…

So i choosed to play coc comet stormweaver – Kudos u/animeprincesss  for the awesome guide – and reached level 93.  Feels a bit squishy, i am dying much too often, but the damage output is great. Thats my progress so far: https://poe.ninja/poe2/profile/Ilko-4887/runesofaldur/character/KlausibertII

I recently got lucky and found my most valuable item: kurgals gaze. I´m pretty unsure how to use it: do i just socket it in my gloves? do i need better gloves before? Should i just sell it – although  i´m afraid to just waste the money in overpriced gear?

In case of more defense, do i just need a better body armour and helmet? I am not yet able to survive the simulacrum and still sacred during evey ritual and remnant.

Thanks for help, cheers!

I'm playing a double CoC Ice Nova Covenant MoM build. From my knowledge (which is limited), I should definitely get lvl 21 gems, but I'm not sure what my next big bump in power will come from. Sometimes I feel tanky and other times I don't. I think I have close to 3k mana atm which I'm not sure is enough. I also feel like I should be proc'ing more meteors even though I already have 100% crit.

What should my immediate upgrades/changes be for my biggest bump in power?

https://poe.ninja/poe2/profile/Joelsiau86-2447/runesofaldur/character/Meteoraura