Your personal beginner guide

Three builds. Just follow the steps.

No fluff. Pick a build, follow the skill and gear guide, and you'll get through the campaign and into maps without needing to understand everything about PoE2 yet.

In-Game Build Planner

PoE2 has a built-in build planner that overlays passive tree suggestions and stat priorities directly onto your in-game character. None of these three builds have an exact match yet — search Maxroll or poe2buildplanner.com for the closest version, then follow the steps below.

How to load a build in-game

1Find a matching build on Maxroll or poe2buildplanner.com and download the .build file.
2Place the file in:
Documents\My Games\Path of Exile 2\BuildPlanner
3In-game, open your Passive Skill Tree.
4Click the blue icon in the top-left corner of the tree, then select your build from the list.
5The planner shows suggested passive nodes and highlights stat priorities on your equipped items.

Find a build file

Maxroll Build Guides → poe2buildplanner.com →

Maxroll's planner requires a free pathofexile.com login to subscribe and download. poe2buildplanner.com lets you download .build files directly. Console players: this feature is PC only.

Universal rules — applies to all builds

⚠Cap your Elemental Resistances at 75% Fire, Cold, and Lightning by Act 3. Open your character panel and check. This is the single biggest reason new players die.
⚠Upgrade your weapon every 10–15 levels. A good weapon is the biggest single DPS upgrade. Check vendors in town when you level up.
💡Don't pick up everything — just Rares (yellow), Currency (orbs), and Gems. Ignore white and blue items after Act 1.
💡Use your Life Flask proactively, not when you're almost dead. Pop it when you drop below 50%.
💡If a boss one-shots you, check your resistances first. Then check if the boss has a mechanic you need to dodge.
💡Follow a guide for the passive tree. The tree is enormous and a wrong path is hard to fix. Maxroll.gg has step-by-step levelling trees.
🔗Maxroll.gg — best free detailed guides with passive tree steps.
🔗PoE2 Trade site — search specific stats to buy cheap gear upgrades.