Mistake 7: Ignoring the skill tree
The skill tree is the most important and simultaneously the most complex feature in Path of Exile. With it, you define your build, but your selection is crucial. Often, as a newcomer, you tend to choose random nodes as long as the points are “reasonably” distributed.
I strongly advise against this, as otherwise you will have to spend all your gold on a respec, which can become costly especially in Acts 3 or 4, depending on how much gold you have saved. Some things I recommend regarding nodes are as follows:
- Take nodes that increase your damage, such as:
- Increase in elemental damage
- Increase in physical damage
- To effectively apply debuffs or effects, it may suffice to increase your attack speed. Faster attacks mean higher DPS.
- Focus on crit chance in a 2:1 ratio. High crit damage is good, but it doesn’t help if it rarely procs.
- Ensure you have enough attributes, as all three provide you bonuses in:
- Strength: Gives you more life and increases your melee damage
- Dexterity: Gives you evasion and increases your accuracy
- Intellect: Gives you points in mana and energy shield
- Watch out for legendary nodes (large nodes). These can turn your build upside down and provide bonuses that should not be ignored.
Mistake 8: (Only) choosing the recommended support gems
Your skill gems can be enhanced with support gems to gain new effects or become stronger. If you want to grind a support gem, you will get a small selection of gems that fit that skill for your equipped skill gem.
The selection is solid and usually sufficient for completing the campaign, but those who want to survive in endgame must get creative. Besides the suggested options, there are three windows displaying all possible red, green, and blue support gems (on controller, with mouse and keyboard, it’s just one window with “All Gems”).
You should study these windows and find out which options are more suitable for your selected skill. Those who engage with this will quickly notice the difference in their build regarding survival chances and damage numbers. So take your time and see which gems are more fitting.
Mistake 9: Accessing sellers for real money
There are various websites on the internet that offer strong equipment, weapons, and uniques for real money. No matter how tedious the grind or trading can be, resist the temptation to give your hard-earned money to such dubious individuals.
These people not only offer items at exorbitant prices, but you also risk getting banned. Instead, try to contact other players via Discord, Reddit, or the in-game chat.
The Path of Exile community is full of helpful exiles who are ready to lend a hand. If you join a guild, you even have the chance to obtain free items from the guild stash that other players have donated. There are plenty of options to become stronger, and if you’re thinking about spending real money, then ideally for stash tabs to use for trading.
Continues on page 4.
