MeinMMO author Cedric Holmeier played Path of Exile 2 two weeks before anyone else. He noticed 5 things he wished he had known beforehand.
Every beginning is hard, and in Path of Exile 2, it’s even harder. Especially since there was no guide or help from the internet available yet for my test version, I had to navigate the test server by myself. To make it easier for you at release, I have formulated these 5 tips explaining things I wish I had known earlier.
Here you can see the movie-like intro of PoE2:
Tip Number 1: Spend your gold wisely
In Path of Exile 2, you can spend your gold on many different things. However, it’s best if you buy the random items from the vendor with it.
But beware: Not only is your gold there limited, but also the maximum pulls. These are only increased when you eliminate elite enemies.
It’s best to buy the random items for which you currently don’t have a good one yet. The chance for unique items is not incredibly low. In the test, I was able to pull two items of this rarity up to Act 3.
Once you have a rare and good item, don’t waste your gold further to get an even better one. Most rares and uniques can get you through the acts without upgrades.
Tip Number 2: Check the vendors more often
Since you are trading with gold instead of items with NPCs in Path of Exile 2, you should return to the city more often and browse. For little gold, you can get rare items with good stats that you can use over many gaming hours.
If you want, you can even buy cheap blue and yellow items from the vendors and have them enchanted with another vendor to receive upgrade materials. This is rarely worth it, but it’s a method to quickly obtain a certain currency.
In PoE2, the portal scrolls you used for a portal back and forth to the city have been abolished. Instead, you can simply return for free at any time. So if you lack gold, you can collect everything and sell it. I realized this late but could then shop constantly from the regular vendors, especially since I had already exhausted all my attempts with the random vendor.
In this video, you can learn how the bosses in Path of Exile 2 are created:
Tip Number 3: Reskill as often as you want
As a player who always played with a build guide in the predecessor of Path of Exile 2, since reskilling early in the game was practically impossible, I quickly learned to switch my skills in Path of Exile 2.
Especially when there are still several stations on the skill highway before the next node, you can well and truly use other, better abilities in the meantime.
For a little gold, you can change your passive abilities at the corresponding NPC at any time. The same goes for the skills in your weapons. The game gives you quite a few skill gems, so keep them and feel free to adjust your character a bit at the beginning of the game when you find suitable items.
In the test, for example, I found a staff that upgraded all my frost abilities by 2 levels. For a little gold, I discarded my previous lightning build and was able to benefit from the good stats of the staff for a long time.
Tip Number 4: Pay attention to your resistances
In Path of Exile 2, you lose 10% of your resistances against elements per act. This means that it can quickly happen that you are extremely vulnerable to a certain type of attacks.
Therefore, you should regularly check where improvements are needed. You can find an overview of all your stats by pressing the C key or opening the character window.
To increase your resistances, you can either choose a corresponding gem or improve your equipped items with runes. But be careful: Once socketed, you can never remove a rune from the item.
It’s best to ensure balanced resistances with your runes. Simply keep important charms in your inventory and swap them out depending on which elements your next boss uses against you.
Tip Number 5: Play more cautiously; otherwise, everything takes longer
Path of Exile 2 is harder than its predecessor. One fact I felt with every death of my character is the respawn of enemies. Every time I had to walk from the checkpoint, all enemies were alive again.
Defeating them without getting killed again took extra time. The longer I played Path of Exile 2, the more cautious I became, especially as a glass cannon character.
If you want to play Path of Exile 2 like its predecessor, you will quickly be jolted awake. And if you always have to fight your way through the enemies from the checkpoint, you are ultimately slower than cautious players.
With these 5 tips, you should be able to survive the first weekend of Path of Exile 2 a little more effortlessly. If you’re still unsure whether the early access is for you or are interested in how long it will last, then find out here: Path of Exile 2 – Early Access: All information about start, preload, and costs for PC and PS5
