The Best Starter Build for Casual Players in Path of Exile 2

The new 0.5 update for Path of Exile 2 is upon us, and it’s the biggest update the game has seen since its original release.
With such a big release and a small mountain of content to wade through, Path of Exile 2 is undoubtedly drawing new and excited players. However, PoE is by no means an easy franchise to break into. With great skills, complex building interactions and a Skill Tree that resembles a skill forest, all of these things together can feel like an overwhelming experience for many young people.
Path of Exile 2: 6 Best Early Game Builds
For those struggling to choose a Class in Path of Exile II, this list includes a selection of early game builds to get you started!
This guide aims to cut through the noise, giving new players a nice, easy start that will take them through the campaign and the first few levels of maps. Let’s get into it.
Create an Overview
General Strategy
This build is very powerful throughout the campaign, including maps. Not only is it simple, but it can be played with multiple characters, such as a Druid or a Witch. I played Blood Mage in this run; however, Lich can work well too! This choice is ultimately up to the player.
The best thing about this build is how easy it is to play. Many structures rely on it 3,4 or even 5 skills used in tandem to dish out a good amount of damage, which can be a bit of a barrier to entry for those unfamiliar with combo gameplay. This property is just dependent 2 Key skills: Hold onplant-based physical damage ability, and Thunderstorm.
Entangle sends multiple roots directly in your direction, dealing massive damage to anything in your path. However, in itself, this is not so good. The real power comes from Dunderstorm. Many plant-based skills have something called Increasewhich consume their energy when they are drunk.
Using chaos while it’s raining Thunder causes the vines to seize and explode to flow down the roots and cause massive damage. This will be our bread and butter. First, throw a thunderstorm in front of you, then send a few things into the rain, causing them to grow. You’ll also spawn small lightning orbs to hunt down opponents from Dunderstorm.
This interaction is immediately available when you get a level 5 skill gem and enter Ogham Manor. Up to this point, Essence Drain + Contagion is a good starting combo.
Bossing Encounters
This dual skill set-up is best suited for most of the campaign, depending on white mobs and magic classes that don’t have large amounts of HP. You can also use these 2 skills to do managers if you like, but it may take a while.
If you want to speed up the side of things, you can give the Bonestorm ability, a amazing single target ability. This does a lot of damage if you charge it for a long timeimpaling his opponent with a hail of sharp bones.

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Every time you cast this, it will deal more damage based on the number of stacks on the opponent. So you can put in a boss, throw a thunderbolt, one roll and release Bonestorm to take them out very quickly. This works very well because, like Entangle, Bonestorm scales with physical harm.
While you don’t need any other abilities to do this job, you can also add in Cursing with Temporary Chains to slow down your opponent.
Skill Values and Support Values
So we have our great abilities, but each has a number of valuable support areas that we need to fill in order to strengthen their strengths. If a support gem has a level upgrade, for example, Instant Streaming 1 & 2, this should be used when reaching the next level of uncut support game. Let’s look at each skill:
- Hold on – Fast Spreading, Brutality, Fast Growth, Branch Cracking
Quick Cast and Corruption increase both the speed and maximum damage of the skill. Accelerated Growth causes explosions when the vines are overgrown, and Branching Fissures will cause the main Entangle to split in different directions, which is great for large packs of vines.
- Thunderstorm – Fast Streaming, Long Duration, Extended Area, Live Lightning
Faster Cast and Longer Duration will cause the skill to be faster and last longer. The Increased Area will improve the rainfall area, allowing more bursting of the vines and a greater rate of growth. Living Lightning will cause small orbs of lightning to repel your enemies when you cast thunderbolt.
- A Storm of Bones – Fast Stream, Cruel, Burgeon, Imaginative Imitation
Again, like Entangle, Quick Cast and Brutality boost speed and damage. Burgeon deals more damage the longer you charge the ability, and Casting Casting trades generating speed for more damage.
These are the main ones you need to keep improving. However, remember to log in Blasphemy again Temporary chains if you have 60 The wind. Or, if you want, try Recovery again The Ravenous Swarm if you find yourself dying a lot.
Arms and Weapons
Another great thing about this build is that you don’t need a lot of gear to make it work! The most important thing you need to upgrade throughout your campaign journey is, of course, the weapon.
Here, you can choose either a wand-and-focus combo or stick. The thing is, we will not use the built-in ability of this weapon; we just use it calculations that it provides.
For your weapon, the key things to look for are: + Spell Level Skills again Increased Spell Damage. Anything more than this, like him added Critjust a nice bonus. You can easily find this by looking at sellers whenever you upgrade or by looking at the market. At this point, you can only get a few good weapons for Exalted Orbs.
For everything else, it makes sense to hold on to the Exceptions while you’re measuring, as these tend to be cheaper and will last longer. Here are a few good suggestions:
|
Gear Slot |
Name |
Explanation |
|---|---|---|
|
A protective helmet |
Rare Helmet |
This is a really good place to find more Energy Shield and Resistance. |
|
Body Armor |
The Ghostwrithe |
This carried me through the entire campaign, giving me a ridiculous amount Energy Shieldso I didn’t actually die. More health = More shield |
|
Boots |
Wanderlust / Light Speed |
Both of these give you good value speed of movement and they are available from the very beginning. |
|
Gloves |
The Lochtonial Caress |
More Health and Skill Speed they are great for survival and farming. |
|
A belt |
Midnight Braid |
This will give you a good price resistance again extra mana when you do damage. Feel free to swap this out for a rarer belt with more resistance if you’re doing a lot of damage. |
|
Jewelry |
Any unusual amulet and ring |
As for distractions, try to catch something about them + Ability Spell Level or Spell Damage. As for the rings, go Stream Speed again resistance or high life. If you suffer from manna, The Glowswarm can help. |
Make sure to keep upgrading your flasks as you level up. In addition, be sure to include runes in your gear. At this point, the Iron Rune variant will do well for most of your items.
Medicine of Skills
So, you have a few levels, and you’re looking at the Skill Tree, and you’re sure which way to go. Scary, I know. Even after playing through every episode of PoE2, sometimes the skill tree still confuses me.
Long story short, the main things we want here are nodes that boost our economy Bullet Damage, Physical Injury, Stream Velocity, Area of Impact and ours Energy Shield. Anything that interacts directly with it plants and Critical Hits good again.
Here are some major nodes you’ll want to hit during the campaign. Look at the image above for a rough example. You can follow the nodes in the order listed in the appropriate progress:
|
Node |
Explanation |
|---|---|
|
Green Destruction and Applied Symbols |
These can be caught right away, giving us more damage and casting speed. |
|
Shards Marks |
Complete with bonus physical damage and critical hits |
|
Wildsurge Incantation |
This makes our main combo last a short time but greatly increases its damage. |
|
Unlimited Growth and Compression |
These nodes are close to each other and damage our plants and physical damage. |
|
Growing and Flowering Weeds |
Again, these can be found next to each other, giving us physical damage and increasing the number of Encounter times when the branch is closed. |
|
Powerful Speaking |
Slow casting speed but high damage |
|
Sudden Rise |
More Critical Hit Chance |
|
Cut to the Bone |
More damage and greater attack size for our Bonestorm |
|
Heavy Buffer and Melding |
These are really easy to get to and give us a great amount of energy protection. |
These aren’t the only major nodes you can log into – just a few good examples. Look around the tree and see if there is anything you are missing. You can’t go wrong more damage and energy shield. Everyone has a different play style, so experiment and see what fits.
With all this information, you should have enough to at least get you through the main campaign and the interventions. If you find that the structure is struggling, you can even change the method and try something new during the mapping phase. Good luck, and stay healthy, Exiles!

Path of Exile 2: The Ultimate Guide to Building a Monastery
If you’ve been struggling to get through the Path of Exile II campaign while playing Monk, then this guide is for you.
- Released
-
December 6, 2024
- The ESRB
-
Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Nudity, Strong Violence, Sexual Themes, Language, User Interaction, In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items)
- Engineer(s).
-
Grinding Gear Games
- Publisher
-
Grinding Gear Games


