If the game is too difficult for you, here are some tips to succeed

[LemonRush7777]

First of all, don't choose Hardcore difficulty. That's permadeath.

Now, the starting classes will have different difficulty curves, with Ranger and Mercenary being apparently the easiest, Sorcerer a middle ground and the melee classes the hardest ones.

Is the game too hard with a melee class for you? Then switch to a ranged class.

While playing as a ranged class, keep stashed any equipment you see that will make your melee life easier on your other character. Once you have sufficient gear, things will be a lot easier for other starting characters (the stash and gold is shared).

if you absolutely MUST play a melee class, look for items with +HP , +Skill or more damage. Try to get flasks that immediately refill a % of your HP. Don't be afraid to use those orbs that transform normal items into magic items, and if you find a very good magic item, just use the one that transforms it into a rare if you lack a rare in that slot. I bet we will be showered with those in the end game. However, it would probably be ideal to use them on socketed items, despite myself having not found whatever jewel that goes in those slots so far, so don't sweat it too much.

Use WASD to move. It's so much better for evading and targeting, especially on a ranged class.

Remember mobs get resistant to specific status ailments once inflicted (relevant for bosses, mostly).

I'm playing Mercenary and it's been an adequate amount of difficulty. The game isn't a snoozefest, but I only died once so far (got surprised by a boss attack I wasn't expecting in the cemitery). Go for Merc if you want a good time.

If you insist on playing melee and its still too hard for you, look for a starting guide on maxroll, icyveins or mobalytics.

[OmahaCheddar]

You need runes to equip in slotted items

[Old Man Gibb]

Originally posted by LemonRush7777:

Originally posted by Old Man Gibb:

The game is clunky feels like i'm moving in quicksand. POE 1 felt alive and fluid. I'm playing the merc, Not a fan. prob going to switch up to something that can do damage. Drops are very rare. I just hit level 4 and have yet to gather enough loot to fill one inventory. The Skill gem mechanic sucks, Not a fan. they should have kept the POE 1 style of gems. IDK I'm going to try a diff class, if that's not good I'm going back to POE 1.

Merc's damage comes from a mix of banking hard on damage on passives + support gems and skill combos. It's an insane trash cleaner (at the start of the game, at least. Still doing the Hunting Grounds quests) and does pretty well on bosses.

I haven't been able to get past Clearfell, Nothing I have found gives me any kind of damage. All I have for damage output is Explosive grenade & Armour Piercing rounds. I run out of all mana pool and an empty flask before even killing a single wolf. GGG needs to do some serious reworking and balancing of this. It's in the realm of stupid. in three hours I have managed to find a total of 49 gold, can't even buy better weapons. I think i'm going to sit POE 2 out for a long while and see if they fix it. I've already played to long for a refund. so....

[LemonRush7777]

Originally posted by Old Man Gibb:

Originally posted by LemonRush7777:

Merc's damage comes from a mix of banking hard on damage on passives + support gems and skill combos. It's an insane trash cleaner (at the start of the game, at least. Still doing the Hunting Grounds quests) and does pretty well on bosses.

I haven't been able to get past Clearfell, Nothing I have found gives me any kind of damage. All I have for damage output is Explosive grenade & Armour Piercing rounds. I run out of all mana pool and an empty flask before even killing a single wolf. GGG needs to do some serious reworking and balancing of this. It's in the realm of stupid. in three hours I have managed to find a total of 49 gold, can't even buy better weapons. I think i'm going to sit POE 2 out for a long while and see if they fix it. I've already played to long for a refund. so....

Find "kill enemy regens mana" items, they are plentiful. With a single one I could ignore my mana flask entirely (I have it on my ring now, but I had it on my Xbow before). If you cant find it, use orbs to upgrade items so they get it. That's how I got my first Xbow with that mod.

For trash clearing, there's nothing better than Ice Shot + Penetrating shot. Keep in mind the fragmented ice shards are spread on a cone, so position yourself by rolling between the ice statue and the other mobs, and shoot the fragmented shot. It will clear them while using minimal mana.

For bosses, the best combo is those armor piercing rounds until armor is broken followed by the heavy shot that consumes the armor broken status for extra damage (but before that I always freeze them once + fragmentation shots).

For the fragmentation shot combo, look for support gems that boost the fragmentation shot, like the one that increases crit on immobilized targets (since they will be frozen) or that double barrel one. The brutal one is also acceptable (+phys damage, lowers all other damage), but I think the double barrel is higher damage, though I'm unsure.

For the boss combo, look for stuff that will magnify the heavy shot damage.

I'm at the Oghan village now and these skills have served me well. I don't use the grenades often, just when I'm about to be mobbed (shooting where I will move, so when the mobs catch up they explode) or at pockets of ranged mobs that don't move.

The flash grenade felt like crap. I will definitely switch it with the gas grenade once I get it (to combo with incendiary shots, seems like it will be great).

Keep your distance on bosses and don't panic. Learn the patterns and you should be fine. Understanding which hits you can and cannot tank is important, and hover over the status effects you get inflicted with so you understand what the boss attacks are doing so you dont end up being combo'ed by the boss, instead.

Remember: shoot smart instead of shooting all the time (especially before you solve your mana problems). Its okay to gather mobs before blowing them up.

[Vast Lord Grim]

Originally posted by LemonRush7777:

First of all, don't choose Hardcore difficulty. That's permadeath.

Now, the starting classes will have different difficulty curves, with Ranger and Mercenary being apparently the easiest, Sorcerer a middle ground and the melee classes the hardest ones.

Is the game too hard with a melee class for you? Then switch to a ranged class.

While playing as a ranged class, keep stashed any equipment you see that will make your melee life easier on your other character. Once you have sufficient gear, things will be a lot easier for other starting characters (the stash and gold is shared).

if you absolutely MUST play a melee class, look for items with +HP , +Skill or more damage. Try to get flasks that immediately refill a % of your HP. Don't be afraid to use those orbs that transform normal items into magic items, and if you find a very good magic item, just use the one that transforms it into a rare if you lack a rare in that slot. I bet we will be showered with those in the end game. However, it would probably be ideal to use them on socketed items, despite myself having not found whatever jewel that goes in those slots so far, so don't sweat it too much.

Use WASD to move. It's so much better for evading and targeting, especially on a ranged class.

Remember mobs get resistant to specific status ailments once inflicted (relevant for bosses, mostly).

I'm playing Mercenary and it's been an adequate amount of difficulty. The game isn't a snoozefest, but I only died once so far (got surprised by a boss attack I wasn't expecting in the cemitery). Go for Merc if you want a good time.

If you insist on playing melee and its still too hard for you, look for a starting guide on maxroll, icyveins or mobalytics.

Merc is legit easy mode for sure. Night and day difference for sure. The monk was like the perfect amount of difficulty til I started getting to endgame then it became BS for me

I’m sure if I brute force and grind it out I’ll be okay but it just stopped being fun :/

[Karkarov]

confused by these monk posts, started one today, the thing shreds enemies and was evaporating boss hp bars. Only times I have died was when I either was just not paying attention at all, or I just got super greedy on dps.

My first tip to anyone struggling.... did you pick warrior? Go back to character creation and change that mistake. It is absolutely the worst class in the game. Lowest damage, surviveability but only until the enemies stop doing physical damage, and super slow and clunky to play. Many of the moves just feel like you are in mud.

Also the game is generally considerably easier with a ranged class, and when you wear some boots that improve your movement speed. Also remember this is not dark souls, your dodge has no i frames, it just moves you in a direction faster than running will. It still needs to get you clear of the aoe/attack/whatever.

[['w']]

Originally posted by Vast Lord Grim:

Originally posted by LemonRush7777:

First of all, don't choose Hardcore difficulty. That's permadeath.

Now, the starting classes will have different difficulty curves, with Ranger and Mercenary being apparently the easiest, Sorcerer a middle ground and the melee classes the hardest ones.

Is the game too hard with a melee class for you? Then switch to a ranged class.

While playing as a ranged class, keep stashed any equipment you see that will make your melee life easier on your other character. Once you have sufficient gear, things will be a lot easier for other starting characters (the stash and gold is shared).

if you absolutely MUST play a melee class, look for items with +HP , +Skill or more damage. Try to get flasks that immediately refill a % of your HP. Don't be afraid to use those orbs that transform normal items into magic items, and if you find a very good magic item, just use the one that transforms it into a rare if you lack a rare in that slot. I bet we will be showered with those in the end game. However, it would probably be ideal to use them on socketed items, despite myself having not found whatever jewel that goes in those slots so far, so don't sweat it too much.

Use WASD to move. It's so much better for evading and targeting, especially on a ranged class.

Remember mobs get resistant to specific status ailments once inflicted (relevant for bosses, mostly).

I'm playing Mercenary and it's been an adequate amount of difficulty. The game isn't a snoozefest, but I only died once so far (got surprised by a boss attack I wasn't expecting in the cemitery). Go for Merc if you want a good time.

If you insist on playing melee and its still too hard for you, look for a starting guide on maxroll, icyveins or mobalytics.

Merc is legit easy mode for sure. Night and day difference for sure. The monk was like the perfect amount of difficulty til I started getting to endgame then it became BS for me

I’m sure if I brute force and grind it out I’ll be okay but it just stopped being fun :/

so far I was lucky with the market, so I got decent gear for 1-3 ex, 6 linked now and I love my build [shock/power charge (charged staff 6link/ stormwave{with mobility gem} / bell)] but I'm only lvl 87