Skill tree seems so overwhelming..

[ProjectSeph]

I have not played this game for a long time. And even when I did, I was mainly "going at it however I wanted".
Now I would like to have a more serious attempt, but it's so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hard to get into.

I start...
Take one long look at the skill tree...
Think "....where the hell do I go?!"
..close game due to indecision.

I have been made aware of the community builds, but it just seems like cheating.

Any advice?
Thankyou!

[NixBoxDone]

The best advice is to not be overwhelmed. Sure, the tree is absolutely huge, but you should start out just getting to know the immediate surroundings you start in.

As you play and get more levels, you can then pan out and canvas a bit further to see if there's anything that catches your fancy.

A good way to find stuff you might really want is to check the bigger skill orbs, those are called "notables" and usually show you what the other nodes in the skill bubble do.

[Phobos]

Super easy and welcome:

1) go through the builds and pick something you like
2) workout how the tree and builds work
3) combination of 1 and 2

1- is great when you are new and need to learn the game and its mechanics. So I would suggest starting here and going for something that is n00b friendly as well as v3.0. These are called starter builds (or "cheap starters")

http://www.requnix.com/path-of-exile-3-0-best-starter-builds
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/73072/page/1
https://www.gameskinny.com/1bqcj/top-5-starting-builds-for-path-of-exile-30-the-fall-of-oriath

2- is also good and fun but more fustrating; you will fail and then start to get it right. This requires few play throughs with different type of builds so you can learn a few tricks. You will also need to do some research on a few things like for example how to setup synergies that is on hit, than that happens and when it does something else happens. Basically setting up a good chain of events to be effect either in attack or even defence.

3- nothing wrong with combining 1 and 2 and arriving at something you like. Just remember what you like isn't always engame material so if you want to go there then I would suggest rather start with an endgame friendly build.

You will need tools like poeplanner (poeplanner.com) or poe skill tree (https://github.com/EmmittJ/PoESkillTree) to build and remeber your builds which helps if the tree gets reset; and it does from time to time like with big releases.

Now to find a build you would need go and search for it. Are you fire or forst, melee or range or perhaps a summoner type.

Get that first and then just look at the builds that suits your game play. Then you do not have to worry about the skills so much as you will be following a build that works...

Do not forget to ask or group as grouping helps if you are learning the ropes that you are not always alone in the deep end.

[Drake]

That's because you're doing it kind of wrong. You don't know which path to take because you don't actually know what you should aim for.

The first step is to choose a main skill. Without a main skill you can't pick a weapon. Without a weapon type you want draw the offensive part of the tree, if you can't draw the offensive part you can't draw the defensive part.

You need to first state want you want to build (poe is about planning), then you'll see that it's going to be much easier. Becasue let's say you wanna make a melee marauder. You know you're going to go for life nodes and melee and weapon nodes, they're all in specific areas, so you'll directly go there and pick the important nodes.
You need to remove all the small nodes from you head, you need to see only the larger ones and aim for those.

You should also look at guides, not to follow them, but to see how people do trees, you'll understand how routing works, because there is a pattern, whatever build you make, the method is always the same (the tree isn't random, all distances between nodes are calculated from the class starting locations and other clusters, so depending on the region you're in there is always a good route and a bad route).

You should really use at least the tree planner on the official website, then move to real planners when you get some experience.

[SinglePoorIan]

The tree isnt that large at all, you have to get a minimal amount of life/es (at least 150%), then get your defenses, and with whatever is leftover you pick damage nodes. After you get your life and defenses in order you dont have that many choices left at all.

[Dr. Luigi]

Being a casual player, the trees have always been a roadblock for me, knowing if I screwed up a character that'd likely be at least a couple weeks of playtime down the drain. I would suggest for your first couple characters stick strongly to someone's already proven build, afterawhile you'll figure out what's good and what's trash on the tree and be able to get more adventerous with your builds

[ostar]

It's actually very simple.

Get life nodes (usually 200% or more). Don't bother with energy shield, it's been gimped.

And stay away from noob traps.

That's it.



Oh, and "noob traps" doesn't mean the skill "traps". It means the nodes that seem "good" but are really bad. Noob traps actually make up most of the tree. You should probably follow a build guide from the real ggg forums.



On that note, I very much wish ggg would make the tree more viable.

But then the hardcore min/maxers would take advantage of it, making themselves super OP.

That's why most of the tree is garbage.

[Phobos]

Originally posted by ostar:

Get life nodes (usually 200% or more).

Not always, but in most cases yes more life is great, but also supporting nodes to armour, regen and not forgetting about resist. Maxed out resit helps a lot.

Originally posted by ostar:

And stay away from noob traps.

Like your reply :}?

N00b trap is for example going all out DPS / Not building holistically towards supporting the choice of defence and offensive.

Originally posted by ostar:

On that note, I very much wish ggg would make the tree more viable.
But then the hardcore min/maxers would take advantage of it, making themselves super OP.
That's why most of the tree is garbage.

Tools help here; then tree is visible, becomes more viable and of course searchable.
Poe Planner: http://poeplanner.com
PoE Skill Tree: http://github.com/EmmittJ/PoESkillTree
Path of Building: http://github.com/Openarl/PathOfBuilding

[Krpa]

Don't worry.
Once you get a closer look at it, you'll notice that 10% of if is what you need, 50% is to make a path to get those first 10%, and the last 40% is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ you won't use.

[BackInBlack]

well i started with 3.0 so im a newbie in builds 2
i just did it this way
i wanted a warrior guy with huge aoe
so i hooked up some sunder builds looked what these guys where skilling and was picking some stuff out .... well my build failed xD but if u rly dont want to use a full guide i think thats ur best bet for the start
atleast for me it was so i could get an overfew of all the stuff thats in there

[ostar]

Originally posted by Prophet:

Originally posted by ostar:

Get life nodes (usually 200% or more).

Not always, but in most cases yes more life is great, but also supporting nodes to armour, regen and not forgetting about resist. Maxed out resit helps a lot.

If you're wasting skill points on resists, armor, and regen, your builds are awful and it's no wonder you've never gotten a character to level 70 or beyond. :}

[Aphex]

I'd advise you to pick chars from the forums for the first few playthroughts to get a feeling for the tree: what routes are effective, how much life/damage is needed etc.

[Phobos]

Originally posted by ostar:

Originally posted by Prophet:

Not always, but in most cases yes more life is great, but also supporting nodes to armour, regen and not forgetting about resist. Maxed out resit helps a lot.

If you're wasting skill points on resists, armor, and regen, your builds are awful and it's no wonder you've never gotten a character to level 70 or beyond. :}

n00b trap :}

[Master]

Originally posted by ostar:

Originally posted by Prophet:

Not always, but in most cases yes more life is great, but also supporting nodes to armour, regen and not forgetting about resist. Maxed out resit helps a lot.

If you're wasting skill points on resists, armor, and regen, your builds are awful and it's no wonder you've never gotten a character to level 70 or beyond. :}

!seriously... Saying that armor is useless is plain trolling.

[Keiji]

Also, and i dont know if someone else mentioned this, but think of many of the nodes as just "paths" to the keystone you are heading toward. If you look at it that way, you realise that the tree isnt that overwhelming, as most nodes are just "bridges" to the keystone you want

[OuchThatHurt]

make random build get to act 7/8 and find out it works or doesn't or follow cookie cutter builds...one thing I messed about is planning only a few passives nodes ahead so you can adjust your build to what you are lacking.