Path of Exile 2: PoE 2 Beginners Guide

Ben Author

Created - 06.01.2025 Updated - 07.01.2025

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Grinding Gear Games released Path of Exile 2 Early Access sometime in December and if you are thinking of creating a new character, then that’s good! The game is so fun to play and has tons of content you can engage in that it’s easy to overlook the fact that it is still in beta.

If you have played Path of Exile 1 and thought that the game is quite complex, there is no argument there. It was, and still is, one of the most complicated games we’ve ever played as far as ARPGs go. However, PoE 2 is definitely something special.

GGG has done a remarkable job of making sure that the once-complex systems that the predecessor is known for are now more accessible than ever. Be that as it may, there are still things that you need to learn before you can fully grasp their concept. That’s why we are here!

In today’s article, we will give you the lowdown on everything that you need to know about Path of Exile 2 as a new player. So, sit back and relax. This is our Path of Exile 2 Beginners Guide!

How to Play Path of Exile 2

This guide is your resource for all practical PoE 2 tips for beginners. Having said that, the first thing that we will talk about is how you can actually play the game.

For starters, you have to download the game client from the official website or from Steam. We recommend that you go for the Steam version, though, because of all the hacking incidents that have been happening recently. The said platform provides an extra layer of protection thanks to 2FA or two-factor authentication, so we advise you to enable this feature.

Once the game is installed on your PC, make sure that you purchase any of the Path of Exile 2 Early Access supporter packs. This is required because doing so gives you a key that will allow you to play the game. The cheapest one out there is sold for $30 but you also have the option of purchasing the more expensive ones if you like some cosmetics to go along with that.

If you’re not aware, PoE 2 can be played on consoles as well, particularly on the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5. Head to the Microsoft Store for the former and the PSN Store for the latter and search for the game. Follow the on-screen prompts to install it. It should also go without saying that you need the Early Access supporter pack to play.

Which Game Mode to Choose?

Okay, so you’ve installed the game and are ready to create a new character, now what? Before you can choose a PoE 2 class, you will be presented with the various game modes available. But, which one should you choose?

Since you are a Path of Exile 2 beginner, we recommend that you go play in Standard Mode. This is how the game should be played for the vast majority of people because there are no restrictions in place.

You can trade with other players, revive as many times as you need to complete a particular content, and you don’t get banished to a different realm in case the enemy blindsides you and you die in the process.

What if you are a glutton for punishment and you don’t mind the extra challenge? Well, there is the Hardcore Game Mode, where your character is transferred to Standard upon death. In other words, you only have one life, so make it count!

While we don’t recommend that you play in Hardcore for your very first character, the thing that you have to remember here is that your defenses have to be on point if you are really adamant about trying this game mode out. Have a “survivability first” mindset when it comes to gear, prioritizing defensive stats like resistance, life, and armor rather than increasing damage.

What about Solo Self-Found? Also known as SSF in PoE 2, Solo-Self Found is a game mode that basically puts you in an environment where you live alone. You cannot group up with other people and you do not have the ability to trade with others as well.

The game mode is called as such because any items that you need must be farmed yourself. This includes PoE 2 Currency unique items, and gear, among others.

Hardcore SSF is just the combination of Hardcore Mode and SSF. This is an extremely challenging game mode because you not only have to worry about your survival but also the items that you need for upgrades. As a new player, stay away from this game mode as much as possible. Of course, you are free to try if you want to, though you have been warned.

Which Classes to Pick?

Once you have selected your preferred game mode (yes, it’s Standard), it’s now finally time to choose your class in Path of Exile 2. Knowing what we know now, it is best that you choose a ranged class rather than melee.

The reason for that is melee classes have a particularly hard time dealing with damage from multiple sources. This is even more emphasized when facing bosses because some mechanics are just too hard to evade when you’re in close range.

It even came to a point where you can influence how hard it is to play PoE 2 just by choosing any of the melee classes in the game. So, if you’re in the process of creating your very first character, we highly recommend the Ranger or the Sorceress.

The Ranger is the perfect class when it comes to eliminating monsters from a distance in Path of Exile 2. This class does not get bogged down by reload mechanics and has abilities that can wipe out entire screens of monsters quickly and easily. If you don’t believe us, using the combination of Lightning Rod and Lightning Arrow is enough to convince you. And the best part of all, these skills are available to you at level 1!

The Sorceress is another popular class in PoE 2, mainly because of her ascendancy classes. She can cast powerful spells that will make quick work of the enemy, such as Spark and Orb of Storms. She levels up pretty quickly thanks to the combo of Spark and Flame Wall. The former’s projectiles gain added fire damage whenever they pass through the latter’s wall of flames; essentially a one-two punch against her enemies!

Next to the Sorceress in terms of damage potential and ease of use is the Witch class. The Witch is capable of summoning a legion of subservient minions ready to fight whatever foolish creature tries to go against their commander. Players who choose the Witch prefer summoning Skeletal Arsonists, which deal huge amounts of fire damage to nearby enemies.

Currently in the middle of the pack in terms of performance, the Mercenary is a beginner-friendly build that makes good use of grenades and other explosives to blast his foes to oblivion. Armed with a powerful crossbow, the Mercenary can utilize different skills that can alter the firing mode of said weapon.

Shockburst Rounds, for example, turns the crossbow from a slow-attacking weapon into a rapid-firing one similar to an assault rifle in real life. The thing that you have to know about the crossbow, though, is that it has a reload mechanic, which may feel clunky until you increase its reload speed through various items and notable passive skills.

Now, if you really want to play a melee class in Path of Exile 2, there are only a couple that you can choose in Early Access, with more to come when the game’s fully released sometime in 2025.

The Monk is the one we recommend if you want to get up close and personal with the enemy. The reason is that he is quick to defeat his opponents with fast quarterstaff skills like Ice Strike and Storm Wave. Items that increase freeze build-up are ideal for leveling because when you pair them with Ice Strike, enemies will never have a chance of landing a hit.

When you’re facing a tough enemy, drop a Tempest Bell and continuously hit it for massive amounts of damage. It’s also worth noting that some quarterstaff skills allow you to rush to the enemy, so getting in melee range is not going to be a problem.

The last class that you can play in Path of Exile 2 Early Access is the mighty Warrior. He might be slow to act but his moves are so powerful that a couple of well-placed slams are enough to defeat whatever comes his way.

Choosing the Warrior, at least in the current version of the game, is like setting PoE 2 in the hardest difficulty level. That’s because the default skills available to him are generally much slower compared to other classes. Fortunately, the Warrior does have a high amount of base HP, which is further improved by getting Strength on items and certain passive nodes.

Here is a rundown of the main stat and base weapon for each class:

It is important to note that while each of the aforementioned PoE 2 classes has specific weapons they start with, they can actually utilize any type of weapon in the game. A Warrior can wield a quarterstaff, for example, unlocking the ability for him to cast Ice Strike and other skills available to the said weapon type.

What About Ascendancy Classes?

Each of the six classes in Path of Exile 2 Early Access can ascend, which gives them new abilities after completing the challenging Trials of Ascendancy. Once you have completed the trials, you will be able to choose one of two different ascendancy classes for your chosen class.

We have a dedicated guide about ascendancy classes in PoE 2 but we will give you an abridged version here just so that you can get started with enjoying the game.

As of the moment, the Stormweaver is the most popular ascendancy class in the game. This is largely because of Spark which is empowered by Archmage. For those who don’t know, Archmage is a buff in Path of Exile 2 that increases the mana cost of non-channeling skills but in exchange, grants extra lightning damage depending on total mana. Stormweaver players often stack their mana as high as possible to take full advantage of Archmage.

While leveling, the budding Sorceress can fire Spark projectiles with Flame Wall cast before unleashing them. This adds fire damage to each projectile, so you can imagine how much damage this class can output even on budget gear.

Archmage pairs really well with the Stormweaver’s notable ascendancy passives. For example, Force of Will increases the effect of Arcane Surge per 15 points of maximum mana. With Force of Will allocated, you gain more cast speed and increased mana regeneration rate simply by stacking mana.

Although the Stormweaver is a powerful elemental damage spellcaster, she does have some defensive nodes as well. Heart of the Storm is the most commonly used, which allows her to recoup energy shield based on 40% of the elemental damage she has taken recently.

The Invoker, despite being a melee class, is actually pretty good. If you are still starting, we recommend that you specialize in Ice Strike because the skill enables you to freeze enemies quickly. Couple that with the Monk’s naturally fast-attacking nature and you have a character that can breeze through the campaign with the right investment.

Once you have completed the first Trial of Ascendancy for the Monk, you can take “I am the Blizzard” followed by “...and I Shall Rage.” The former makes frozen enemies create Chilled Ground that reduces the attack speed and movement speed of nearby monsters. The latter, on the other hand, grants more elemental damage when you are “unbound.” When you have these two ascendancy nodes allocated, finishing the campaign will go a lot smoother.

Next is the Ranger classes, specifically the Lightning Arrow Deadeye. This is a fast mapper that electrocutes enemies with Lightning Arrow, Lightning Rod, and Orb of Storms. Take note that because these skills are quite flashy, you may want to tone down the level of “Bloom” in the setting if you have a relatively old PC.

The Lightning Arrow Deadeye is a good PoE 2 build for beginners because it is easy to use and has good defenses for a ranged class. Endless Munitions, which is an ascendancy node that makes skills like Lightning Arrow fire an additional projectile, greatly increases damage output. This is especially true when the Deadeye is equipped with a Dualstring Bow.

Additionally, Gathering Winds can help the Lightning Arrow Deadeye get from point A to point B thanks to the attack/movement speed buff via Tailwind. Supplement that with Wind Ward, and you also take up to 30% less damage from all sources!

If you want to play a minion build, consider playing as the Infernalist. This Witch ascendancy class is well-suited for commanding minions mainly because she’s quite tanky for a summoner. Also, she has an ascendancy node that significantly increases Spirit via Beidat’s Will. Besides that, she can call her Loyal Hellhound which will take 20% of the damage away from her whenever she’s attacked by the enemy.

The Infernalist’s minion skill of choice is the Skeletal Arsonist. Using this allows her to summon bomb-throwing minions that can easily kill monsters due to the massive flames that spread throughout the area.

Another spell worth noting is Raging Spirits. Because Skeletal Arsonist is a fire spell, using it will also summon flaming skulls that attack nearby enemies rapidly. A typical Infernalist build synergizes well with fire spells, so having items that contain “+ to level of Fire Spell Skill Gems” works wonders!

An ascendancy class that was once perceived as less-than-stellar turned out to be a competitive one, the Gemling Legionnaire is pretty good because he can use two of the same support gems at a time thanks to Gem Studded.

For those who don’t know, you can only use one copy of a support gem by default. So, if you want to use Scattershot twice, for example, you have to take the Gemling Legionnaire when you ascend as a Mercenary after completing the Trial of the Sekhemas.

Another possible reason why the Gemling Legionnaire is more popular than its brethren, the Witchhunter, right now is that his defenses can greatly be improved by taking Thaumaturgical Infusion and Enhanced Effectiveness.

Thaumaturgical Infusion raises maximum elemental resistance by 1% for every four support gems socketed. If you have used plenty of red support gems, you will gain more fire resistance above 75% (which is the cap).

On the other hand, Enhanced Effectiveness essentially doubles the value provided by each main stat, including Strength (STR), Dexterity (DEX), and Intelligence (INT). This lets the Gemling Legionnaire gain huge boosts to armor, evasion, and life thanks to the enhanced bonuses from strength and dexterity.

Interestingly, the best way to play the Gemling Legionnaire is by taking on a more hybrid approach. What we mean by this is that you use a crossbow skill in conjunction with a grenade to kill enemies. For instance, using the Gas Grenade supported by Corrosion will increase the damage of High Velocity Rounds, especially after fully breaking the enemy’s armor.

Slam skills in Path of Exile 2 are quite destructive, particularly when you have a fully-geared Titan that can unleash such attacks to great effect. The most popular slam skills today are Stampede and Earthshatter. The former enables the Titan to roam around the map while causing Jagged Ground in his wake, while the latter is awesome for single-target damage.

After using Stampede and Earthshatter, you can belt out some warcries like Infernal Cry and Seismic Cry to empower your subsequent attacks. Infernal Cry adds fire damage on top of the damage being done by Stampede, for example,  so clearing map monsters isn’t going to be a problem for a well-geared Titan.

You can find a rundown of all the ascendancy classes available in PoE 2 Early Access in the table below:

How to Ascend

When you reach Act 2 of the campaign, you can begin your first ascension by completing the Trial of Ascendancy called Trial of the Sekhemas. Continue on with the campaign until you are tasked to defeat Balbala in the Traitor’s Passage.

Once defeated, Balbala will reward you with a Djinn Barya. This is a key that gives you access to the Trial of the Sekhemas. If you have played PoE 1 before, this Trial of Ascendancy is quite similar to the Forbidden Sanctum.

When you teleport inside, insert the Djinn Barya to the receptacle found near the entrance called the Relic Altar. You may find empty slots when presented with the UI but that is not important for now.

In the Trial of the Sekhemas, an Honor System will be implemented, where getting hit reduces your Honor by a certain amount. When your Honor reaches zero, the trial will end in failure and you have to go back from the beginning. Fortunately, the first Djinn Barya you receive can be repeated infinitely until you ascend successfully.

Although the Trial of the Sekhemas can be quite frustrating, your next rerun is a bit easier thanks to the relics that may drop from monsters. These relics can be slotted inside the Relic Altar mentioned earlier. Use relics that have Honor Resistance so that the amount of Honor you lose is slightly reduced.

After completing the Trial of the Sekhemas, you should interact with the Altar of Ascendancy before heading out. Congratulations! You now have enough points to take your first notable ascendancy passive!

The second Trial of Ascendancy does not happen until you are in Act 3, so be sure to get stronger till that time comes. In Act 3, head to the Chimeral Wetlands and defeat the Chimera boss that resides within. Eliminating the boss rewards you with a Chimeral Inscribed Ultimatum, which you can use to gain access to the next Trial of Ascendancy—The Trial of Chaos.

Entrance to the Trial of Chaos can be found in the Chimeral Wetlands as well. Search the area, particularly in the top-middle portion, to go to the Temple of Chaos. When you are inside the temple, you will find a receptacle where you can insert the Inscribed Ultimatum.

How is the Trial of Chaos different from the previous one? As you can tell by the name of the key used to gain entry to the temple, the Trial of Chaos is akin to the Ultimatum Encounter in Path of Exile 1. 

To complete your second Trial of Ascendancy, you need to finish several floors rife with unique challenges. The first challenge will always have you defeat all monsters on the floor, and the last one culminates in killing the formidable bird boss.

Okay, so you’ve managed to defeat the boss. What should you do next? Proceed to the end of the temple and get your just rewards! Of course, the best reward is getting your next couple of ascendancy points, so be sure to interact with the Altar of Ascendancy before exiting!

At the time of writing this PoE 2 Beginners Guide, the third and fourth Trials of Ascendancy are just a rerun of the aforementioned trials, though with the bar set high. You have to be in Cruel Difficulty in order to get the three-room Djinn Barya, as well as the 10-room Inscribed Ultimatum.

Passive Tree

If there is one thing that can intimidate new players in Path of Exile 2, it would be the passive skill tree. Press “P” on PC and look at how massive the passive tree is. To make things more interesting, GGG implemented over 1,500 passive skills in the game because the previous 1,325 (from PoE1) is seemingly not enough!

Kidding aside, the passive tree may look like the stuff of nightmares. However, if you take the time to play the game, you will understand that the tree is not that complicated at all. If anything, the tree has been laid out in such a way that it’s more intuitive to path towards your needed passives compared to the original game.

You see, where you begin in the passive tree depends on which class you have chosen. For example, the Mercenary starts at the bottom-middle portion of the tree, where nodes that improve armor, evasion, and two-handed damage are easily accessible.

Since the Mercenary can utilize grenades to destroy his enemies, certain passive skills that enhance grenades are found in the same area of the passive tree as well. If you need assistance when pathing towards subsequent nodes, you can rely on the search tool at the top-right corner of the user interface.

Here are the starting points for each class at a glance:

• Warrior: Bottom-left (abundant in armor, melee, and strength nodes)
• Mercenary: Bottom-middle (where you can find armor, evasion, grenades, and crossbow nodes)
• Ranger: Right side of the tree (evasion, poison, and lightning nodes aplenty in this region)
• Witch and Sorceress: Top portion of the tree (chock full of passive nodes that improve spell damage, energy shield, and elemental damage)
• Monk: Top-right portion of the tree (rich in attack damage nodes, as well as those that enhance lightning damage, dexterity, and intelligence)

When examined closely, you will find different-sized nodes on the passive tree. Well, the size of the nodes indicates the extent of bonuses they give.

The small ones are called “minor” or “travel” nodes. These are passive skills that you have to take in order to get the bigger bonuses.

Speaking of which, the notable passive skills have larger icons that indicate the magnitude of their effects. “Coming Calamity” is an example of this. This passive node increases your elemental damage based on the herald skills you have active.

The last type of passive skill that you should know about is the keystone passive. Keystones in Path of Exile 2 are incredible, build-defining nodes that provide unique effects not found anywhere else. For instance, Acrobatics is a keystone that allows you to evade everything, including boss slams, spells, and whatnot.

You can tell if a node is a keystone passive or not just by looking at its large icon and exquisite design.

Skills

Path of Exile 2 is different from any other ARPGs out there. In Diablo II: Resurrected, each class you play already has a set of skills that can be unlocked by leveling. In PoE 2, you need an item called an “Uncut Gem” to create skill gems for your character to use.

As of now, there are three types of Uncut Gems in Path of Exile 2, namely Uncut Skill Gem, Uncut Support Gem, and Uncut Spirit Gem. These signify which category of skills you can unlock when using them.

First off, the Uncut Skill Gem presents you with a UI that displays the skills meant for your particular class by default. The game does a relatively good job of recommending the right skills, though you can always create any gem that you like.

Skills in PoE 2 are not tied to your character. Instead, the ones you can use depend on the type of weapon you have. The image above shows you the default skills available to the Mercenary (crossbow).

Clicking the “All Gems” tab on the left enables you to engrave any skill gem in the game. However, we only recommend doing this if you know what you are doing.

Next up is the Uncut Support Gem. As the name implies, right-clicking on this will show you a bunch of support gems for each active skill you have equipped. Just like active skills, you have the freedom to choose whatever support gem there is in the game to enhance your abilities. To do this, simply uncheck the “Show Recommended Gems” option highlighted in red in the image below:

The last type of Uncut Gem is the Uncut Spirit Gem. These are skills that you can activate by spending a new resource known as “Spirit.” Herald of Ash, Overwhelming Presence, and Wind Dancer are examples of Spirit Skills.

If there is a Spirit Skill that is not shown on the list, simply click on “All Gems” and type the specific buff or ongoing effect you need to complete your build.

Using the Uncut Gems will only engrave skills and buffs. To actually use them, you have to equip the resulting gems by pressing “G” on your keyboard. By doing so, you are going to be shown the skills UI.

When you look at the picture above, the one highlighted in red is your active skill (in this case, Explosive Shot), and those highlighted in green are the support gems that enhance it.

Once you’ve socketed an active skill, you have to click its icon and drag it to any skill slot located right beside your mana.

For Spirit Gems, in particular, you not only have to socket the skills themselves and the gems supporting them, but you have to right-click their icons to activate them as well.

Spirit

Many Path of Exile 1 players reserve a huge portion of their mana for their auras and the developers from GGG, particularly game director Jonathan Roberts, dislike the idea. Hence, the dev team introduced a new resource called Spirit in the sequel.

Spirit is primarily used for ongoing auras and minions. The Skeletal Arsonist, for example, requires you to reserve 39 to 90 Spirit depending on the level of the skill gem. The auras, Herald of Ice and Wind Dancer, reserve 30 Spirit each.

So, how do you get Spirit in PoE 2? Well, you can get 100 Spirit just by completing a few side missions in the campaign. The first is by defeating the King in the Mists in Act 1 Normal Difficulty. He is in Freythorn after finishing the three Ritual Altars found in the area.

The next points of Spirit won’t be available until you reach Act 3 in both the Normal and Cruel Difficulty. You have to defeat the same boss named Ignagduk, the Bog Witch. Just like the King in the Mists encounter, you have to do something to summon Ignagduk. Specifically, burn several effigies and confront her in the circular arena somewhere in The Azak Bog.

Now, you could get more than 100 Spirit but the only way to do that is by equipping certain items, such as sceptres, amulets, and body armor.

Sceptres come with 100 flat points of Spirit by default, which is magnified by the “% Increased Spirit” modifier that they can roll with.

Amulets and body armor can get Spirit on the explicit modifier. The Solar Amulet, in particular, also comes with the said resource as an implicit modifier. If you only had to include one item that grants Spirit, the Solar Amulet is a good way to address that.

Some unique items grant Spirit as well. The popular Ventor’s Gamble from PoE 1 returns in Path of Exile 2, albeit it now also provides 40 Spirit (if you are lucky, that is).

Defenses

To survive in the unforgiving world of Wraeclast, your character has to bolster its defenses against multiple sources of damage. Now, damage mitigation comes in several forms in Path of Exile 2—armor, evasion, spirit shield, and resistance.

Armor comes from STR-based gear and is responsible for reducing the physical damage you take.

Evasion, on the other hand, can be found in DEX-based items. This defensive layer works a bit differently in PoE 2 than in PoE 1. More specifically, evasion now lets you evade hits from attacks or spells. However, it still makes you susceptible to boss slams, so keep that in mind.

Energy Shield (ES) is another defensive layer that comes from INT-based gear. Unlike armor and evasion, energy shield acts as a “second life” because any damage you receive, with the exception of bleeding and poison damage, will reduce ES before your HP.

GGG implemented a significant change this time around because, compared to its PoE 1 counterpart, energy shield in Path of Exile 2 now covers chaos damage as well. However, receiving chaos damage does take twice the amount of energy shield. Still, this is a fair compromise given that you can greatly increase this particular defensive layer in many ways, including the use of ES-based gear, as well as taking the right nodes on the passive tree.

Speaking of which, energy shield is considered a superior form of defense than armor, primarily because there are nodes on the passive tree that can influence it somehow. Notable passive skills such as Pure Energy and Dampening Shield, for example, grant 30% and 28% increased maximum energy shield, respectively.

In addition, even though you cannot replenish energy shield just like you would taking a Life Flask, allocating “Eternal Youth” changes that. This keystone passive makes it so that your Life Flask recovers your energy shield instead.

The only downside to energy shield is that you have to wait for it to recharge, and it only occurs when you don’t receive damage for a few seconds. That’s why buffs like Grim Feast and Ghost Dance are pretty OP right now because they let you recover energy shield considerably when certain conditions are met.

Anyway, the core defensive layers mentioned above mainly focus on mitigating or avoiding physical damage. Resistance, however, reduces the amount of elemental damage or chaos damage you take—may they be direct damage or damage over time.

The default maximum value for fire, cold, lightning, and chaos resistance is 75%. You can have up to 90% of each by getting modifiers that increase maximum resistance.

Now, to bolster your defenses and improve survivability, you need huge amounts of armor, evasion, and energy shield, coupled with capped resistances. Additionally, until GGG reinforces armor as a defensive layer, you might want to focus on increasing evasion or energy shield for the time being.

All the things talked about in this section of our PoE 2 Beginners Guide so far are passive defensive layers. So you’re probably asking: Is there anything I can do to actively avoid damage? Yes, there are a couple!

The Dodge Roll is one of the best new features in Path of Exile 2. By pressing the spacebar on the keyboard, you can dodge almost all attacks in the game, with the exception of slam abilities executed by bosses and some rare monsters. You could take the Acrobatics keystone to avoid boss slams but it’s only viable for evasion-based classes like the Monk or the Ranger.

If you are playing the Titan or any Warrior ascendancy class, you can take advantage of the new Raise Shield ability that’s provided by STR-based shields in the game. By pressing and holding the hotkey for Raise Shield, you can block all incoming hits for a limited period. And yes, that includes spells that deal direct damage as well!

Just keep in mind that you cannot use Raise Shield indefinitely because getting hit while blocking with this ability causes the stun meter to build up. Once it’s full, you are going to be stunned for a brief period, leaving you vulnerable to incoming attacks.

Currency

GGG has done its best to tone down the different types of PoE 2 currency, and while the company removed some of the ones found in the original game, there is still plenty that you need to know about this topic.

The Exalted Orb is used as the main currency in Path of Exile 2, particularly when it comes to trading items. When you go to the trade website and look for some rare pieces of gear, you will oftentimes see that they’re being sold for several Exalted Orbs.

Orb of Transmutation and Orb of Augmentation are two types of PoE 2 Currency that you will use to craft your early game equipment. The former turns a normal rarity item into a magic rarity item with a single random modifier. The latter, on the other hand, adds another modifier to the resulting item for a total of two.

The Regal Orb is a type of Path of Exile 2 currency that turns a magic item into a rare item, specifically with three random modifiers. This is a bit rarer than the Orb of Transmutation and Orb of Augmentation but not as rare as the PoE 2 Exalted Orb.

For items that have amazing modifiers, you will have to spend Divine Orbs to purchase them. Weapons like a 500+ pdps crossbow may cost several Divines depending on the weapon base.

Divine Orbs are considered one of the rarest currencies in the game, so much so that people would purchase Divines instead of spending countless hours grinding for them. If you want to buy Divine Orbs, head to our PoE 2 store and get some exclusive bundles at discounted prices!

Item Modifiers

As a Path of Exile 2 beginner, it is important for you to gain knowledge about item modifiers (aka mods) because they can make or break your build. There are three types of modifiers in the game: explicit, implicit, and corrupted implicit.

Aside from that, the number of modifiers an item can have hinges on its rarity. Normal items have none, magic items can have two, and rare items have a maximum of six.

All wearable items in the game can come with up to six different explicit modifiers; three of them being prefixes and the other three being suffixes. For armor and accessories, prefixes can mean anything that improves life, mana, armor, evasion, Spirit, and energy shield. Suffixes on these items include resistance, attributes, and modifiers that affect other defenses (like increased stun threshold).

For weapons, the prefixes add flat and percentage damage increases, such as added lightning damage, increased physical damage, etc. Modifiers that raise the level of certain skills are also prefixes. Anyway, weapon suffixes include attack speed, critical hit chance, critical damage bonus, and reduced attribute requirements, among others.

These things either drop randomly by defeating monsters or manually crafting them using the appropriate PoE 2 currency items. Start by using the Orbs of Transmutation, Augmentation, and Regal, followed by a few Exalts to populate the remaining three affixes. You can also slam it with a Vaal Orb to corrupt the item and potentially acquire a corrupted implicit mod, though this outcome is not guaranteed.

Normal, Magic, and Rare Items can receive random affixes by utilizing the correct currencies, except for PoE 2 unique items, which already have a predetermined set of modifiers.

Let’s examine the anatomy of a unique item, shall we? They don’t necessarily have all of their affix slots occupied, though they do come with distinct modifiers that make them special. For instance, the Polcirkeln has a unique modifier that shatters chilled enemies as though they are frozen.

Take note that unique items in Path of Exile 2 cannot be altered by Transmutations, Augmentations, Regals, and Exalts but you can change the numerical values of their modifiers with the use of Divine Orbs.

Upgrade Currencies

Certain currencies can improve the quality of an item in PoE 2—you just have to use one that is specifically for the type of item you wish to upgrade.

For all main equipment slots, including the helmet, body armor, boots, and gloves, use Armourer’s Scraps to improve their quality. Each scrap may improve item quality from 1% to 3% per use.

For weapons, that depends on the type. Martial Weapons, which include maces, swords, axes, quarterstaves, claws, daggers, bows, and crossbows need Blacksmith’s Whetstones to increase their quality.

Magical weapons like staves, sceptres, and wands require a different PoE 2 Currency: the new Arcanist’s Etchers.

Now, why would you even increase the quality of your items in the first place? The answer is simple—20% quality on gear means you get 20% more of the inherent bonuses they provide. So armor grants 20% more defense, and weapons deal 20% more damage.

Your active skill gems, as well as Spirit Skills, can be upgraded, though in a different way. For these, you need Jeweller’s Orbs, specifically the Lesser, Greater, and Perfect Jeweller’s Orbs.

By default, all your skills can accommodate two support gems. Increase that number to three by spending a Lesser Jeweller’s Orb. The fourth and fifth support gem slots are unlocked using a Greater Jeweller’s Orb and a Perfect Jeweller’s Orb, respectively.

Aside from improving item quality on weapons and armor, they can receive a different type of upgrade: rune sockets. Every major piece of equipment can have one socket each, except for two-handed weapons and body armor, which can roll two. This only refers to the non-corrupted items, by the way, because using a Vaal Orb can potentially add another socket.

Having said that, some items that drop when killing monsters may already have some sockets on them. However, you can forcefully add sockets using the Artificer’s Orb.

If you are wondering what sockets are for, they are specifically meant to accommodate runes and soul cores. These are another set of items in PoE 2 that grant special bonuses. For instance, the Soul Core of Azcapa, when socketed into a Martial Weapon, can add 15 Spirit to it. When socketed into gear, it increases the rarity of items that can drop from monsters.

Here is a list of the popular runes and soul cores that you can insert into your gear:

• Soul Core of Citaqualotl: Mainly used for increasing elemental resistances, though inserting it into a Martial Weapon is not a bad idea at all.
• Soul Core of Tacati: The additional 7% chaos resistance that the Soul Core of Tacati provides when socketed into gear is massive, which is why it is one of the most expensive soul cores in the game.
• Soul Core of Puhuarte: Increases maximum fire resistance by 1%. The Soul Core of Puhuarte is best used in conjunction with Cloak of Flame.
• Soul Core of Jiquani: Mainly used by life-stacking Infernalists, use the Soul Core of Jiquani if you want to raise your maximum life considerably.
• Desert/Glacial/Storm Runes: These runes are primarily utilized as a means of improving one’s elemental resistances. If you need a bit of a push to cap your fire resistance, for example, you can insert one Desert Rune into one of your pieces of gear.
• Iron Rune: The Iron Rune is useful no matter where you insert it. You can often find them being used in weapons because of the percentage increase in physical damage. However, placing them inside equipment is not a bad idea, especially because it boosts armor, evasion, and energy shield by 20%.
• Body Rune: The 25-point increase in HP that the Body Rune gives is marginal but it can help you survive in the early levels of the campaign.

If you are playing any of the classes besides the Witch and Sorceress, make sure to use the Iron Rune when populating your weapon sockets. This is because the vast majority of skills that these classes use convert physical damage to another damage type. The Iron Rune’s percentage boost in physical damage is more pronounced if the weapon already has a flat amount of physical damage.

Flasks and Charms

GGG has simplified many things in Path of Exile 2. In the original game, you have a mana flask, a life flask, and a bunch of utility flasks that provide different effects depending on the type. The Quicksilver Flask, for example, is a commonly used utility flask because it grants increased movement speed when you’re under the flask’s effect.

Fast forward to PoE 2, and you only have a couple of flasks with you—one for life recovery and another for topping up your mana. By default, you press “1” to use your Life Flask and “2” for the Mana Flask. You do have the option of changing the input for these in the settings, so if you’re not comfortable with pressing those numbers, you can change it to something that’s more advantageous for you.

Use the Orbs of Transmutation and Augmentation to improve the rarity of your flasks to Magic. Spending these PoE 2 currencies may result in random affixes, but the ones shown in the image above are the most ideal, especially the one that says “Gains 0.25 Charges per Second.”

How useful is that particular mod? Well, flask charges are gained when you kill monsters. When fighting bosses, monster density is scarce and is not good enough to gain charges for your flasks to be usable. With the said modifier, however, your flask will gradually fill itself up. So, in situations where you need to restore life immediately, your Life Flask will be ready to go!

Here are some good flask mods for your reference:

• Increased Amount Recovered
• Increased Recovery Rate
• % of Recovery Applied Instantly
• % More Recovery if Used While on Low Life/Mana
• % Increased Charges Gained (only if the gain charges automatically mod is not present)

Although utility flasks are no longer available in Path of Exile 2, a new class of items called Charms has replaced them. Charms activate automatically as long as they have sufficient charges and their specific conditions are met.

For instance, the Thawing Charm grants immunity to freeze for several seconds and activates automatically when you get frozen. Just like flasks, charms require charges, which you can gain by eliminating monsters.

Since you mostly have only one charm slot to work with, choose any of the following:

• Thawing Charm: Grants freeze immunity; very useful in Cruel Difficulty where monsters that apply Freeze become rampant
• Grounding Charm: Grants shock immunity. Having Shock is nasty because it increases damage taken while you’re affected by it.
• Stone Charm: Makes you immune to stuns. Getting stunned in PoE 2 can mean death, so adding this to your kit helps you survive.
• Golden Charm: Provides up to 20% increased item rarity. This particular modifier influences the drop rate of items and currency. So why not use it?

Campaign

According to Jonathan Rogers, Path of Exile 2 will feature six acts upon full release. During Early Access, only the first three are available. Completing Act 3 returns players to Act 1 in Cruel Difficulty, which players often find smoother due to familiarity with the campaign.

Endgame

Post-campaign, players access a Map Device linking to the Atlas, which offers various nodes for exploration. Each node represents challenges such as Breaches and boss encounters, often compounded by corruption effects that increase monster level and difficulty.

To advance in the Atlas, insert a Waystone into each node. Upgrading Waystones with currencies like Orbs of Transmutation and Augmentation enhances potential rewards, balancing increased challenge with better loot.

Tips for Beginners

Complete All Quests

Every quest in the campaign is crucial, unlocking valuable tools or granting additional skill points. Notable quests include The Lost Lute in Act 1 and the Sacrificial Heart dropped by Vaal Goliaths in Act 3.

Frequent Vendor Visits

Vendors play an essential role by offering equipment that can be crucial for campaign progression. Their inventory updates as your character levels up, so regular checks can provide necessary gear upgrades.

Disenchanting Items

Initially, sell unneeded items for gold. Once financially stable, start disenchanting items to acquire currency shards for crafting and upgrades.

Quick Item Identification

A hidden shortcut, Ctrl+Left Mouse Button, instantly accesses NPC services like item identification. This combination also works with other NPCs, showing their services or products immediately.

Using Town Portals

The traditional Town Portal Scroll has been replaced by a free-use portal icon in the skill bar, simplifying returns to town without the need for consumable scrolls.

Interact with Checkpoints

The campaign's vast areas often require backtracking. Checkpoints facilitate quick travel between key locations, easing navigation and exploration.

Stash Tab Priorities

As stash space fills, consider which types of stash tabs to acquire first based on your needs and budget. Prioritize Premium Stash Tabs for trading and Currency Stash Tabs for managing diverse currencies. The Quad Stash Tab, equivalent to four Premium Tabs, is also highly recommended for its large storage capacity and item pricing features.

Campaign

According to Jonathan Rogers, Path of Exile 2 will have six total acts when it’s fully released. In PoE 2 Early Access, however, you can only explore the first three. Upon defeating the final boss of Act 3, you will be transported back to Act 1; only this time, the game will be set in Cruel Difficulty.

Don’t be intimidated by that because completing the game in Cruel Difficulty is actually a lot smoother than your previous playthrough. In fact, your familiarity with the campaign should help you finish several hours sooner (or maybe less).

Endgame

What happens when you finish the campaign? Without spoiling the story, you will find your character in a place with a Map Device. Interacting with said device shows you the Atlas, where you find a bunch of nodes that you can explore.

In the image above, you can see a map node, signifying that a Breach and a boss encounter await you inside. The last icon tells you that the map is affected by a certain type of corruption. Be careful as monsters in the area are of a higher level and are affected by additional modifiers.

To progress in the Atlas, you have to go to each individual map node and insert an item called a Waystone. The Waystone is essentially the same as maps in PoE 1, meaning, you can also use some upgrade currencies to put additional modifiers.

We recommend that you always upgrade your Waystones because doing so will reward you with more and better loot. Sure, the content is quite challenging to finish but at least you get more in return relative to time spent.

If you are still starting out, you can use the Orbs of Transmutation and Augmentation to make your Waystones have a couple of modifiers. When you have enough Regal Orbs you’re comfortable spending, then you can use that as well.

In terms of the endgame systems you can interact with, Breaches and Expedition are great for currency farming. Delirium is also good, provided that your character is geared enough to handle the influx of monsters. Ritual is a bit slow to finish since you have to purify three or four of them in a single map. However, you might be presented with more lucrative rewards for your efforts. Still, you have the freedom to choose whichever endgame content you want to consume.

Tips for Beginners

All of the basic information that you need to play Path of Exile 2 has already been laid out. In this section of our PoE 2 Beginner’s Guide, we will give you some tips that will come in handy at some point during your journey.

Do Each Quest in the Game

Every quest available in the campaign is meaningful in a certain way. For one, some quests unlock things that are useful later on, such as the Salvage Bench (Finding the Forge in Act 1) and the Reforging Bench (Treasures of Utzaal in Act 3).

Furthermore, a few side missions grant extra skill points, including The Lost Lute (from Una in Act 1), Tradition’s Toll (from Zarka in Act 2), and the Sacrificial Heart (a quest item dropped by Vaal Goliaths in Act 3).

Visit the Vendors Often

Vendor NPCs play a more significant role in Path of Exile 2 compared to PoE 1. That’s because these NPCs offer you equipment you can use during the campaign. 

Having said that, the stuff that they offer changes whenever your character levels up. If you are in dire need of an upgrade, check the items they’re selling often.

When to Disenchant Items?

Disenchanting is a new feature in PoE 2 that lets you convert magic or rare items into currency shards. Early on, sell any item that you don’t need to the vendor so that you have enough gold for skill refunds and upgrades.

When you have a sufficient amount of gold, you can start disenchanting the trash items you have in your stash and inventory.

Identify Items Quickly

There is a hidden keyboard shortcut in the game that allows you to instantly avail of certain NPC services without the need for additional clicks. For example, The Hooded One can identify the items you have in your inventory just by clicking Ctrl+Left Mouse Button (LMB) at the same time.

Use the same button combination when interacting with the other NPCs as well. Renly in Act 1 will show you the wares he has on sale when doing so. Alva in Act 3 presents you with the Currency Exchange interface when doing Ctrl+Left-click.

How to Return to Town

When you have played PoE 1 before, you might be surprised why the Town Portal Scroll is no longer present in the sequel. Well, GGG removed the said item in exchange for a portal that you can use for free. The portal icon can be found in your skills bar, specifically to the left of your first skill.

Interact with Checkpoints

The places that you can explore in the campaign are massive and sometimes require you to backtrack in case you’ve missed something important. In the early days of PoE 2 Early Access, having to retrace your steps was quite cumbersome.

Fortunately, GGG has implemented a new feature that allows you to teleport to the many different checkpoints found in the area. Simply interact with a checkpoint and choose the portion you wish to go to.

Which Stash Tabs Should You Get First?

The game highly encourages you to spend time killing monsters because doing so will drop items that can potentially be the upgraded versions of your current gear. At some point, your initial set of stash tabs will be populated, so you have to purchase more before that time comes.

One of the common questions PoE 2 beginners ask is: which type of stash tab should I get first? That is a great question and the answer is equally as good! Anyway, here is the ideal order of stash tabs to get if your budget is tight:

1. Premium Stash Tab
2. Currency Stash Tab
3. Unique Items Stash Tab
4. Gem Stash Tab
5. Delirium Stash Tab
6. Essence Stash Tab
7. Quad Stash Tab

Purchase at least one Premium Stash Tab so that you can sell your items in PoE 2 Trade. The Currency Stash Tab is a must given the many different types of currency items available in Path of Exile 2.

You could skip the next four stash tabs on the list and obtain the Quad Stash Tab instead. This is essentially four Premium Stash Tabs rolled into one. The Quad Stash also allows you to price individual items accordingly, similar to a Premium Stash Tab.

Salvage ‘Superior’ Items for Quality Currency

Normal items can drop with a “Superior” prefix, which indicates that it has an item quality higher than zero. That said, salvage these to get some quality currencies.

The PoE 2 currency you get from salvaging items depends on the item type. Armourer’s Scraps can be obtained by salvaging armor, Blacksmith’s Whetstones from weapons, and Arcanist’s Etchers from staves, sceptres, and wands.

What happens when you salvage items with sockets? Well, you get Artificer’s Shards, which transform into an Artificer’s Orb after collecting 10 of them. This is always the case even though the salvaged item has increased quality.

If you want to salvage some unused items, find the Salvage Bench in town or in your hideout and interact with it. Press the little hammer icon, manually hover over the items you want to salvage, and click them one by one.

How to Unlock the Reforging Bench

The Reforging Bench is an invaluable feature in the endgame because it enables you to reforge Waystones of the same tier and convert them to a higher tier. You’ve probably searched the town but you were unable to find any Reforging Bench at all. The reason why you can’t find said bench is that you have to unlock it first.

Head to the Molten Vault in Act 3. Inside this area is a boss named Mektul, the Forgemaster. You have to defeat it in order to unlock the Reforging Bench. To make the battle easier, use your cold-based skills.

Use an Item Filter

As you progress through the game, you will be in a situation where monster drops clutter your screen with useless items. That is why you need to use an item filter. But, what is it?

An item filter (also known as the loot filter) hides all of the unwanted junk, so what you’re left with are items that you actually care about. What’s more, the loot filter can be tweaked to highlight certain stuff, ensuring that you don’t miss anything valuable while mapping!

To use an item filter, download one made by NeverSink. For those who don’t know, NeverSink is a popular figure in the Path of Exile community best known for creating usable loot filters made available to the public.

Change Your Mouse Cursor

The default mouse cursor for the game can be difficult to spot, especially if there are many things going on. You can change the default mouse cursor in Path of Exile 2 by heading to the “Interface” tab in the settings.

We love using the Green (Inverted) mouse cursor because it is very easy to distinguish compared to the other ones. Of course, you can also pick the other ones, whichever suits your needs.

Show Performance Metrics

So you’ve watched some PoE 2 content creators and found that a bunch of them have some weird graphs situated at the top-right corner of their screens. You’re probably thinking what it is but it’s actually just the in-game performance metrics, which show you valuable information like memory usage and latency. Press F1 if you wish to see all of the data. You can press F1 again to show only your current latency figure.

Change These Settings

The game’s default settings may not be the most ideal for your system. That’s why changing some of them could lead to better overall performance.

Start by changing the Renderer from DirectX12 to Vulkan. According to Path of Exile 2 players, they’ve experienced the most stability by doing this one simple change.

Next, set the Upscale Mode to whichever your graphics card supports. If you are using an Nvidia GPU like the GeForce RTX 4070, you can set the upscale mode to Nvidia DLSS. For AMD and Intel GPUs, you can take advantage of FSR and XeSS upscaling technologies, respectively. Leave the “Max Image Quality" to the “Quality” preset, though you can experiment with Balanced or Performance and choose any of them if you want.

Also under the “Graphics” tab in the settings, look for “Bloom” and set that to 25%. You might want to do this if you have a PC that only satisfies PoE 2’s minimum requirements.

Finally, go to the interface tab and put a checkmark on “Show Mini Life Bar Above You.” After that, set “Show Mini Life Bar Above NPCs” to enemies only. Doing these things will display a life bar on top of you and your enemies, making it easier to see if you need a quick top-up or if your foes are on the verge of death.

Know the Price of Currencies

Unlike in Path of Exile 1’s earlier leagues, where you had to rely on a third-party tool to know the price of certain currencies, PoE 2 has an in-game feature called the Currency Exchange. This allows you to purchase PoE 2 currency without going to the trade website.

The Currency Exchange also provides another benefit in that you can do a simple price check by choosing the specific currency in the “I Want” part of the UI.

In the image above, you can see that the price of a single Greater Jeweller’s Orb is 37 Exalted Orbs. Item prices are subject to change, of course, depending on the state of the PoE 2 economy.

How to Respec in PoE 2

The passive skill tree is absolutely massive, containing over 1,500 nodes that may increase in future updates. If at some point, you want to respec or refund your passive skill points, you definitely can! Talk to The Hooded One in town and select the appropriate option when prompted.

Each node you want to respec requires a certain amount of gold. The cost of refunding your skill points increases as you reach higher levels, so do bear that in mind.

Rush to the Hideout

When you’ve reached the PoE 2 endgame, you might just complete map nodes willy-nilly. However, this is not the ideal thing to do. Instead, rush towards getting your first hideout. You will need several Waystones to do this.

The reason why you need a hideout is that you have complete control over where NPCs are situated. Do you want a vendor NPC directly beside the Waypoint for easy access? You can do that and more when you have your own hub! Once you have unlocked a hideout, talk to Alva and set it accordingly.

At the time of writing this PoE 2 Beginners Guide, there are only four different hideouts you can unlock. These are the Felled Hideout, Limestone Hideout, Canal Hideout, and Shrine Hideout. Given how popular hideouts are in Path of Exile 1, we can assume that more will be added in the sequel very soon.

Map Juicing

In the previous sections of the guide, we mentioned that you can use certain upgrade currencies to improve the vast majority of items found in Path of Exile 2. That said, you must always improve your Waystones so that the maps you explore will give more loot than usual.

Aside from using certain types of PoE 2 currency, you can insert a Precursor Tablet inside Lost Towers to add more modifiers. Lost Towers have to be cleared, though, so use a Waystone to enter.

Don’t Die in Maps

Path of Exile 2 can be brutal, especially while mapping. You have to do your best to not die in maps because, if you do, that map is forfeit. You can still do that particular map again, though any type of extra content that it once had is gone.

Get Item Rarity on Gear

Item rarity is pretty busted right now, so much so that you’re missing out if you don’t have the said modifier on your gear.

When you have your damage, defense, and resistance sorted out, start incorporating items that have “Increased Rarity of Items Found” as an explicit modifier. Better yet, invest in some Gold Rings so that you can have the said mod as an implicit as well!

Here is a list of items that can roll Increased Item Rarity (IIR):

• Helmet
• Gloves
• Boots
• Rings
• Amulet

Press ‘Alt’ to Examine Things Closely

If there is anything regarding your skills and items that is vague to you, press and hold the Alt Key to reveal more information about them. For skills, in particular, press and hold the Alt Key and then click on the individual tabs to give you the information you seek.

Final Thoughts

Path of Exile 2, for an Early Access title, is such a feature-rich game that is worthy of its $30 price tag. If the original game was quite daunting for you, that’s understandable. After all, it is a game with over 12 years of changes and improvements.

Sure, PoE 2 is not perfect; far from it. But what it brings to the table is something worthwhile; something that you can spend your time into without fear and worry.

So, there you have it! We hope that you’ve found our Path of Exile 2 beginners guide helpful! If you need help with gearing, be sure to visit our PoE 2 Store. We’re open 24/7, ready and waiting to serve you!

Check out our other PoE 2 guides as well, and stay tuned for more awesome tips!