Path of Exile 2 Guide: Early Game Tips & Tricks

Path of Exile 2 0.3 Edict launch brings massive changes that'll challenge both newcomers and veterans. Whether you're diving into Wraeclast for the first time or returning from the original game, these essential strategies will keep you alive and thriving. From setting up proper loot filters to mastering the new combat mechanics, you'll discover the fundamental knowledge that separates successful exiles from those who struggle in the early acts.

Path of Exile 2 Guide: Early Game Tips & Tricks

The First Thing You Should Do: Install a Loot Filter

Your absolute first move should be installing a loot filter before you even start the campaign. Head over to FilterBlade and grab a regular strictness filter to begin with - you can always adjust the strictness level as you progress.

Path of Exile 2 Guide: Early Game Tips & Tricks

Loot filters transform your gameplay experience by:

• Highlighting valuable socketables for salvaging
• Color-coding useful gear upgrades
• Making important currency items stand out
• Reducing visual clutter from worthless drops

Start with regular strictness, but don't hesitate to switch to strict or very strict once you're comfortable. The stricter settings become essential in later acts when loot drops become overwhelming.

Salvage vs. Gold

This decision shapes your entire early-game economy, and the right choice depends on your playstyle and current needs.

Disenchanting gives you regal shards, which transform blue items into yellow ones with an additional random stat. However, this third stat is pure RNG - you might get crucial damage or end up with useless life regeneration.

Path of Exile 2 Guide: Early Game Tips & Tricks

Gold selling offers the most flexibility for beginners. You can:

• Purchase specific gear from vendors
• Buy upgrades through the auction house
• Gamble for higher-tier equipment
• Access items above your current area's drop level

Stop Panic-Rolling

Path of Exile 2's combat punishes panic rolling more severely than most action RPGs. Many boss attacks are actually easier to walk out of rather than dodge roll. Rolling provides brief speed but then slows you down during recovery. Walking maintains consistent movement speed and often proves more reliable for avoiding damage. 

Perfect example, the cemetery ghost boss places ground circles that seem to demand rolling. Players who panic roll often get hit anyway, while those who simply walk out remain untouched. Rolling doesn't provide perfect invincibility frames either, so timing becomes less forgiving than you might expect from other games.

Path of Exile 2 Guide: Early Game Tips & Tricks

Keep Upgrading Your Weapon

Weapon-based builds require frequent upgrades because nearly all damage scales from your weapon's base stats, not just gem levels. This applies especially to:

• Bow builds
• Mace builds
• Any physical damage scaling

Spell-based builds like Spark gain more damage from gem upgrades than weapon swaps, but weapon builds live or die by their equipment quality.

Abuse Your Weapon Swap Passive Points

Your weapon swap isn’t just for switching skills; it also acts as a passive point multiplier that many beginners overlook.

Set up your weapon configurations strategically:

• Primary weapon: Main damage passives (bow damage, elemental skills)
• Secondary weapon: Utility passives (curse effectiveness, shock application)

Use your secondary setup for curse application and shock stacking, then swap back to your primary for massive damage output. This becomes incredibly powerful for builds that can access the northern skill tree.

Path of Exile 2 Guide: Early Game Tips & Tricks

Charms Will Save Your Life

Charms provide essential resistance that can mean the difference between progression and repeated deaths.

Essential charm progression:

• Cold charm for Iron Count encounters (early Act 1)
• Ruby charm before the fire boss in Act 2 (this boss can one-shot unprepared players)
• Anti-stun charm for resist-capped characters

Charms activate on the first hit they're designed to counter, providing immediate protection when you need it most.

Life Flasks and Why They Feel Different

Path of Exile 2's flask system operates differently from the original game, with slower charge generation that rewards patient gameplay.

The most valuable flask stat for beginners is "life charges gained passively". This modifier rewards slower, methodical play - if you're taking time to clear areas thoroughly, you'll maintain full charges consistently.

Path of Exile 2 Guide: Early Game Tips & Tricks

Overleveling Is Still King

Hold Control when entering any zone to create a fresh instance instead of rejoining your previous one. This technique enables:

• Overleveling in safe areas
• Farming specific encounters repeatedly
• Hardcore safety through power accumulation

Don't feel pressured to rush through content. Spending extra time to become overpowered makes subsequent challenges trivial, especially valuable for hardcore players facing unknown Act content.

Don’t Skip Side Quests

Side quests provide permanent character upgrades that many players skip entirely. Check your minimap for special icons indicating:

• Skill point rewards from boss encounters
• Permanent resistance bonuses (+10 fire/cold/lightning resistance)
• Base damage increases

Hover over minimap icons to see what rewards you've missed. These permanent upgrades compound throughout your entire playthrough.

Path of Exile 2 Guide: Early Game Tips & Tricks

Why Base Damage Comes First

In the early game, damage scaling works in a way that may surprise new players. Flat base damage is incredibly valuable because it provides the foundation for all percentage increases to multiply. Without a solid base, those percentage bonuses contribute very little to your overall power.

For example, an iron ring that adds just 1–4 physical damage might look insignificant, but it makes every “10% increased damage” modifier noticeably stronger. This principle is especially important for setups like lightning damage runes in bows for lightning arrow builds, physical damage bonuses that support auto-attacks, and any flat damage sources found on jewelry.

Why Auto Attacks Matter

Auto attacks have been significantly improved in Path of Exile 2, turning them into a reliable primary source of damage throughout Act 1. They come with several advantages: they cost no mana, strike quickly, and provide consistent damage output that feels dependable even without heavy investment.

Because skill gem restrictions have been removed, you can now use multiple copies of the same ability, such as Scattershot, without limitation. This change allows auto attacks to shine as a strong option for single-target damage, while your active skills take care of clearing groups of enemies.

Trading and the Auction House

Once you reach Act 4, the full trading system becomes available with an automated shop interface. You can:

• Set up your own shop for selling items
• Purchase from offline players instantly
• Buy items without meeting other players

Pro tip: List unwanted items for 999 mirrors to use premium stash tabs for storage without actually selling anything. Listing items costs nothing, and nobody will pay 999 mirrors for your gear.

Path of Exile 2 Guide: Early Game Tips & Tricks

Gear Priorities: Life and Resists First

When gearing in Path of Exile 2, survival should always come before damage. The most important stats to look for on armor are maximum life, resistances, and a bit of life regeneration. Stacking as much life as possible gives you the durability to survive mistakes, while resistances help reduce the impact of elemental damage. Even small amounts of regeneration can provide surprising sustain during longer fights.

Capping your resistances early is critical. Falling short of the 75 percent cap can turn otherwise manageable encounters into deadly situations, so make it a top priority before chasing offensive upgrades.