Things to know and to do before you even start the game

… don’t use this guide. Why? In my opinion, playing the game for the first time without the influence of external sources is not only fun, but it also lets you experience it in a very unbiased way. Go play the game and explore all the different things. If you feel like you can’t progress due to a lack of damage or because you die too much, come back and follow this checklist. You won’t regret it!

Having a loot filter will enhance your gaming experience by a lot. If you don’t have one, I recommend using this loot filter which is setup for this specific build and highlights the most important items. Make sure to download it and to save it to the following folder: \Users\User\Documents\My Games\Path of Exile.

More information on the loot filter (e.g. the meaning of the different colors) can be found here.

Note: Xbox and PS5 players can find the respective loot filter (TRC Campaign) here.

… you can find the respective pastebin here. If you don’t know what I am talking about, you are not an experienced player and you can just ignore this.

# Related Links

Things to do when you start the game (for the first time)

You can select the loot filter in the ‚Game‘ options menu. If you are not using your own loot filter, it’s highly recommended to use this one (save it to the following path:Users\User\Documents\My Games\Path of Exile).

You can do this by selecting the respective setting in the ‚UI‘ options. This is a simple quality of life improvement.

You can do this by selecting the respective setting in the ‚UI‘ options. If enabled, ‚Screen Shake‘ will make your screen shake whenever you enter combat. Given that there will be a lot of clutter already, this is just an unnecessary annoyance.

You can do this by selecting the respective setting in the ‚UI‘ options. By doing so, numeric values will always be shown above your life/mana bar.

You can do this by selecting the respective setting in the ‚UI‘ options. This is a simple quality of life improvement.

You can do this by selecting the respective setting in the ‚UI‘ options. This is a simple quality of life improvement.

Things to know about the build in advance

… which means that it’s built around the Toxic Rain skill which is a bow attack skill where you fire multiple arrows in the air, which land and drop spore pods, dealing chaos damage over time and slowing enemy movement speed for their duration. The spore pods explode after a delay, dealing chaos damage. On top of that it’s built around the ‘Champion’ specialization (Ascendancy class) which is limited to the class of the Duelist.

That being said, you won’t use Toxic Rain until you are level 33 because only then the skill unfolds its true potential. Until then, you will use Splitting Steel / Shattering Steel which benefit significantly more from the early skill tree.

.. I recommend following this skill tree path which was explicitly designed to make the gaming experience as pleasant as possible for new players. That being said, it focuses more on survivability and comfort than damage since these are way more important at the beginning, but the guide will elaborate on options to adjust the skill tree in order to be more damage centric for the endgame later.

… be aware of the following:

  • You want to have a bow with 3-4 links in your stash when you hit level 33
  • You want to have a yellow (rare) quiver in your stash when you hit level 33 (preferably with a ‚# to Maximum Life‘ modifier)
    • Note: In general, quivers don’t have sockets
  • You want to have 2 Rustic Sash belts in your stash as soon as possible (you will use these at a later stage)
  • You want to have at least one mana flask as soon as possible
    • The skills used with this build require quite some mana which is why you want to have at least one mana flask, but don’t hesitate to use 2 of them, if you feel more comfortable then (the best case scenario would be an Enduring Mana Flask which is available on level 16+ mana flasks since It provides the modifier ‚Flask Effect is not removed at Full Mana‘).

By the way: The recommended loot filter highlights all mentioned items (red color).

… don’t hesitate to pick up some extra nodes on the skill tree. Some gems require you to have a specific amount of strength and/or intelligence to use them (or to level them up). If that’s the case and you don’t have the required amount, you can take nodes on the skill tree to get additional strength and/or Intelligence. Good options are the +30 nodes near the ‚Hunter’s Gambit‚ node or the ‚Master of the Arena‚ node (if you open the skill tree you can use the search function at the top to find the respective nodes).

… because you use Splitting Steel and Shattering Steel as your main skills which both can only be used with axes and swords. You will switch to a bow and Toxic Rain at level 33.

Leveling uniques are items which have low item requirements although they provide strong powers. Leveling items to look out for with this build and their provided powers are:

  • Tabula Rasa (body armour with 6 linked sockets)
  • Silverbranch (bow with +1 to Socketed Bow Gems)
  • Wanderlust (boots with movement speed)
  • Quill Rain (bow with increased attack speed & increased projectile speed)
  • Goldrim (helmet with elemental resistances)

# Related Links

PoE Trade: Tabula Rasa (Body Armour)
PoE Trade: Quill Rain (Bow)
PoE Trade: Silverbranch (Bow)
PoE Trade: Wanderlust (Boots)
PoE Trade: Goldrim (Helmet)