The Easiest of the Easy Beginner Build Guides [1.1 SotV UPDATED]

Not sure if this post is still very active, but I wanted to post an interesting respec I came up with around Merci.

I was getting a little tired of how weak the build was feeling at mercy so I morphed the entire build into a double strike/spec throw build and it's really just kicking ass right now! The only thing is I could use some advice on some better specs if anyone can help me out here...

So far my DPS is great, but I could use better defense.

Any help is greatly appreciated :)

Passive Tree:
Ziggy D Lightning Arrow Spec Throw Morph

Alright, so far so good. I am a newbie and this has been my favourite build to play so far.
Indeed, very noob friendly.

But as I am leveling and my gear begins to seem inappropriate, one thing is concerning me: what about the prices of the gear?

A six link armour and/or good bow are not cheap for a beginner, as well as a 5 link (GGGRR or GGGGRR - mandatory for this build).



What are your thoughts on this? Any advice from the experts on how to acquire this type of gear?

Thanks guys! You are amazing!

Hey why does the skill tree say there are still 19 points left? Sorry if its a dumb question but, I'm still new to the game

Thanks for the guide :)

Hi all!

Thank you ZiggyD, I've been using this guide for my 1st PoE character and I'm currently lvl 53 act III cruel in Ambush league !!

Everything worked just fine so far but - similarly as dangb just posted - I am clearly under geared ans it's starting to slow my progression...

I do not have really bad gears but I mainly lack of linked sockets...
I'm with a pretty nice bow but only 4L and an only 3L chest armor:


I wanted to buy at least a new chest and planned on a 5L RRGGG for my ligntning arrow.
However, even a decent 5L is very expensive for a new player as I do not have much currencies!

What would you recommend for lvl 50 to ~65:
1) invest few currencies in a 4L nice chest armor ?
2) invest few currencies in a 5L crap chest armor ?

If you would go for 1), what support gem should I run in priority on my lightning arrow?

Thanks a lot!

Below you'll find the rest of my current gears

"

Ziotekk wrote:

Hey why does the skill tree say there are still 19 points left? Sorry if its a dumb question but, I'm still new to the game

Thanks for the guide :)

To answer your question... most characters will never get all 120 passive points available. You get 99 points from leveling up (so levels 2 to 100), but it takes a lot of exp to level up past 90, let alone get to 100.

The remaining 21 points come from quests, but note that the bandit quest in act 2 offers other rewards in lieu of the passive point (like extra life, extra damage, or extra charges). Players forgo up to 3 passive points for these bonuses when they do the bandit quest once per difficulty.

So the passive trees linked in this guide cover about 100 passive points - you'll get there around level 85 or so. By then you'll probably have played enough to understand how you want to spend the remaining points (more life/defenses or more damage).

What are your guys's thoughts on Barrage since its changes vs Frenzy? I am going to be starting my second ranger here soon and the largest issue I had one my first was vs exiles in merc A3 and beyond. I really dont want to resort to puncture and run again if I dont have too.

Barrage seems like it has more head to head sustainability but Frenzy would be much more mobile.

I have used brotems and such in the past but many exiles just seem to skip the skellies and go for the totem making it difficult to keep damaging them.

Any advice on this situation would be much appreciated.

So wtf is a Wildcard Slot?

"

Ziotekk wrote:

So wtf is a Wildcard Slot?

A slot which hasn't designed yet in the build, so yo can either go with a gear one slot less (or at least one less linked slot) than the max, or you can put any gem in it you think useful.

"

Why take the added fire damage support for frenzy and not one of the other added damage gems?

Frenzy does amazing physical damage by itself when you have all your frenzy charges up. Added fire will add on top of that physical damage a certain percent.
So for example say you somehow did 10k damage per hit with frenzy, and added fire added 30% which would be an additional 3k damage. That scales very well. Again those are just easy numbers to figure to show you an example.

"

dangb wrote:

Alright, so far so good. I am a newbie and this has been my favourite build to play so far.
Indeed, very noob friendly.

But as I am leveling and my gear begins to seem inappropriate, one thing is concerning me: what about the prices of the gear?

A six link armour and/or good bow are not cheap for a beginner, as well as a 5 link (GGGRR or GGGGRR - mandatory for this build).



What are your thoughts on this? Any advice from the experts on how to acquire this type of gear?

Thanks guys! You are amazing!

I don't see anywhere in the guide that a 5 or 6 link is mandatory. If that was the case it wouldn't be much of a beginner build, would it? Where do you read this?

The creator of the guide has listed:

Lightning Arrow
- Lesser Multiple Projectiles
- Pierce or Chain or Neither (if you instead rely on pierce from Projectile Weakness)
- Weapon Elemental Damage (preferred over added fire due to high ele conversion)
- Life Gain on Hit
- Faster Attacks

The author has not specified which gems to use for lesser than 6 links. I assume he is playing with a 6 link and left that part out. I suppose it's up to the player to decide.

I think i would use this setup:

3-link: La + lmp + lgoh
4-link: La + lmp + lgoh + wed or faster attacks. Whatever does more dps.
5-link: Not sure.