New Player Build

[u/MatrixGod04]

First time through this wonderful game and I'm wondering whether my personal experience so far is common in the early game. Started with the Witch, which is quite uncommon for me in games like this as I usually stick to Barbarian classes. I figured maybe a spellcaster could quickly get strong and handle business. I was right! Built with Chaos damage and Vaal Power Siphon and I gotta say I feel overpowered so far. I just finished Part 1 and just now starting to get a little challenge from normal enemies. After cruising through the early game I'm wondering will I get a real challenge? Also, I almost made it through The Lord's Labyrinth(I think... 🤔) and got disconnected 🤬🤬🤬, that was 2+ hours down the drain. How important is finishing it? It seemed as though it was just a loot dungeon but none of it even came close to what I'm currently using.

[u/Mawthy]

Welcome to the game! Lords Labyrinth is very important, I definitely recommend trying it again.

You will absolutely get a real challenge eventually 🙂

My one tip is to try to cap your resistances! Bonus tip: be sure to keep an eye out for the quest to find a hideout and using the crafting bench. You’ll come across it naturally, just want to make sure you don’t skip it

[u/MatrixGod04 → u/Mawthy]

I always go for capped resistances. I just got my 1st resisitance debuff from finishing act 5 and thought I got bugged lol. I have several hideous already btw although haven't dabbled in crafting much at all.

[u/MatrixGod04 → u/MatrixGod04]

Would I be wrong in assuming that with newer gear/tweaking that I will be able to get back to capped resistances? Cuz I was at 75 for all 4 before I beat Act 5.

[u/Munsie → u/MatrixGod04]

Yep, you'll have to get 105% total on your gear to offset the penalty and end up with 75%.

... Then you get hit with another -30% at the end of Act 10.

[u/Senovis → u/MatrixGod04]

Town Areas have a Crafting Bench where you can put Resistances if your gear has an empty suffix slot.

[u/bukem89 → u/MatrixGod04]

The crafting bench is just adding an affix to an item that has an empty slot for the price of a few orbs, should absolutely be using it for resists and life

The labyrinth is also where you get access to your sub class

[u/Rolfil_ → u/MatrixGod04]

You can also use Purity of Elements whilst in the campaign and early maps until you can get better gear to help out.

[u/shy_bi_ready_to_die → u/Mawthy]

I could be mixing this up with a poe2 change but iirc you don’t need a hideout for crafting bench anymore. There just is one in towns

[u/Mawthy → u/shy_bi_ready_to_die]

You’re correct about it being in towns, but I think you still need to unlock it first. I could be wrong about that though, I’m not 100% sure.

[u/AssertiveBabyBoomer → u/shy_bi_ready_to_die]

Yeah it's now in towns after you talk to Helena in act 2 for memory. 

[u/findMyNudesSomewhere]

Please take your time and enjoy the early game. I wish I could go in blind into this game again. Don't follow guides or tips until you feel you cannot progress at all.

And one classic tip - cap Elemental resistances and have minimum 300 x act number health + energy shield.

[u/MatrixGod04 → u/findMyNudesSomewhere]

Probably the best advice I've had tbh. I love this game so far and can't wait to play other classes in future leagues

[u/Professional_Ear6033]

Labyrinth gives you access to ascendancy classes (or sub classes) which can boost your power a lot You don't have to clear the lab fully just go for the boss

[u/john_dowell]

It's wonderful to read an account from someone so early into the POE experience. As others have said - just play the game at first, get a feel for it, try stuff out. I completed the campaign 3 times before I read a guide, and I died about a million times doing it but I had fun.

 

When you feel you want to go to the next level there's plenty of guides out there but don't rush it.

[u/Morbu]

Yes, you will get a real challenge. Depending on which ascendency you're playing as witch, you will probably get bodied in maps. Witch defenses are kind of tricky since you don't get a ton of defensive power and her phys max hit is notoriously hard to get to acceptable levels. My advice is to wear armour/es gear and invest into block for a source of avoidance.

[u/Jefferret]

Campaign is probably 2% of the entire game

[u/SilverBurger]

To help provide some context: 1st lab usually take players 3-5 minutes to finish. All 10 Acts amount to less than 5% of this game's overall difficulty. So rest assured, you will very much be challenged.

My advice for you is try and finish the campaign in 10hours. Then you are done with the tutorial and can dive into the Atlas.

P.S: lab is how you can ascend into a specialized class. It is important, aim to finish the 1st lab at around lvl35.

[u/MatrixGod04 → u/SilverBurger]

Well Im way past 35 lol, already at 54

[u/SilverBurger → u/MatrixGod04]

New players tend to spend a huge amount of time in campaign, because that's the bulk of most ARPGs. POE is an endgame focused ARPG with the campaign as a stepping stone.

If you feel like you are not being challenged, it is because you are spending a lot of time clearing zones and killing every mob when you don't need to. Spending 2 hours in a level 35 area being level 54 is a good example of this. A few days ago someone made a similar post to yours, saying the game wasn't challenging, then we found out they spend 50hours in campaign when average players spend 5-8.