There are plenty of Path of Exile 2 tips that I wished I'd known before starting my Mercenary on his path of darkness and destruction because, honestly, this is a very complicated game. If you're a veteran of the original, many of the returning mechanics will make much more sense—though there's plenty that's changed—but if you're stepping into the series for the first time, there's quite a lot to learn.
Whether it's understanding stats, skills, and modifiers, or just realising that actually you can do whatever the hell you want with the game's positively gigantic skill tree, you'll have quite a bit to wrap your head around. If you want a little guidance in your fledgling hours of Path of Exile 2, these pointers should help you get going.
There are some handy shortcuts and tips about getting your character built, but also some general advice that'll help smooth your path through the game's initial acts.
Use the minimap overlay to find your way
Feeling a little lost? Each instance of an area you enter in Path of Exile 2 is randomised, so finding your path is often a bit of a challenge. That's not to say the area doesn't contain the same bosses, landmarks, and paths to other regions—it's more just that the actual layout has been shaken up a bit and your perspective has changed. While exploring, make sure to press Tab to bring up the minimap overlay, since this will help you methodically explore an area and ensure you aren't retreading the same old paths and getting lost constantly.
You can reset instances to refresh each area
As you'll frequently be told on the loading screen, instances reset every 8-15 minutes, meaning that if you portal out of somewhere and hang out too long selling stuff, it might reset entirely. One thing you can do, however, is reset an area instance yourself or join a specific instance. Activate a waypoint and then use CTRL + left click on the area fast travel point. A list of active instances will appear and you can pick to create a new instance if you'd prefer. Joining or resetting a specific instance is handy if you're playing other people, since it means you can choose to join their version of an area, or make an entirely new one.
Inventory size is small, but it's worth picking up and selling items early on
If you're used to playing Diablo 4, your tiny inventory size might come as a bit of a shock in Path of Exile 2. You'll find yourself frequently opening a portal back to town to sell things and there's nothing wrong with this early on. Gold is a useful currency to stockpile since you'll need quite a bit of it for any respecs you want to make to the passive skill tree. As you progress through the game, you might opt to start ignoring common loot, and you can even tweak your loot filters in the settings menu to accommodate.
If you're looking for a faster way to sell stuff than dragging it from your inventory, use CTRL + left click to instantly sell items when you have the vendor screen open. This also works for storing gear and items when your stash is open, too.
You can and should gamble for better gear
Another function for gold is gambling for new gear. You can do this in act 1 if you visit Finn or once you find Risu in Mawtooth Mine in act 2. It costs a decent amount, but I frequently found myself getting rare crossbows for my Merc via this method, so it's well worth trying your luck, especially as the orbs of alchemy that upgrade magic items into rare ones don't drop all that often.
Identifying items increases their value and you can do it for free
You're introduced to the identifying mechanic early on in Path of Exile 2—using Scrolls of Wisdom to reveal the stats and modifiers attached to a piece of gear you've found. However, did you know that identifying gear increases its value? In act 1, you'll revive a character called The Hooded One who can identify all the gear in your inventory for free if you talk to him.
While this is pretty useful for stuff you want to keep, it's even handier for items you want to sell. Simply get your entire inventory identified at the click of a dialogue option and then sell it for extra gold at a vendor.
Swap out your life and mana flasks for bigger ones
Life and mana flasks are vital for healing and restoring your magic juice so you can keep blazing away with abilities, but as you progress you'll find more types of each flask dropping. You'd think these might offer a variety of healing speeds and amounts, but to be honest, each type is pretty much a straightforward upgrade in terms of flask charges and the amount of health or mana restored, though modifiers will impact which of the same type are superior.
Make sure you keep an eye on each new one that drops and whether it's a new, bigger size than your last so you can swap them out. Doing so will empty them, but you can portal back to town to refill them at the well anytime you want either way.
Build some survivability, especially if you're a melee class
Path of Exile 2 can be pretty tough at times, most of all if you're playing a melee class. The good thing about Ranger and Merc is that you can run away a lot of the time while firing projectiles, but Warriors and Monks don't have that luxury. There are three primary defensive stats in the game—armour, evasion, and block—though this doesn't include max life, energy shield, resistances, or movement speed, with the latter being quite important for an evasive playstyle.
If you're a Warrior, you should primarily focus on armour early on, since this is straight up damage mitigation, and also block chance if you're using a shield. For Monks, evasion and energy shield are more appropriate, and movement speed will also be handy in keeping momentum. You don't necessarily need to build everything into these, but keeping survivability in mind will certainly help smooth your way through the trickier bosses in the opening acts
Invest in an escape skill
As handy as the infinite dodge roll is, you're still probably going to find yourself trapped by swarming monsters. Path of Exile 2 is constantly throwing hordes of them at you, and if you're fighting indoors or in locations that aren't full of wide, open spaces, you're going to get stuck in the middle of the scrum, and no amount of rolling is going to save you. Thankfully, there are gems that will help you out in a pinch, like the Monk's Vaulting Impact, where you jump up and then land a few metres away, bringing down your staff on anyone underneath. While this is a stun skill, it's just as good at getting you out of trouble.
Factor some armour-piercing into your build
Armoured enemies are quite tough to deal with in act 1, especially if you don't have a method of breaking and consuming their armour. In particular, the shielded enemies in the Cemetery of the Eternals or the gargoyles in Ogham Manor might prove quite tricky if you don't have the right skill equipped. Factor in at least one anti-armour ability so you can cope when they pop up in the middle of an enemy horde.
Spend your skill gems and upgrade materials
You'll get lots of upgrade materials early on in Path of Exile 2, whether it's uncut skill gems for unlocking new skills, orbs of augmentation or transmutation for upgrading gear and adding modifiers, or artificer's orbs for adding rune sockets, and armorer's scraps for buffing item quality. There really isn't any point holding onto them. Spend them all when you can to upgrade your gear, since it'll let you progress faster and punch above your weight, and more importantly, it'll teach you about the game's different mechanics and what's important in your build. You'll always get more later by killing more bosses and enemies.
