Beginner needs help with leveling

Hey,

Since I'm fairly new to this game and can't seem to kill Dominus on cruel, thought I'd look for some external help.

I started playing PoE like a week ago and decided to start a ranger as my first class (ranged-bow). Although I looked up a lot of info on the internet to actually (to some degree) know what I'm doing, I am not following any online build and just want to create own builds.

It seems a lot of people are stressing out the importance of survivability. So my main idea was stacking up a lot of life% and evasion from the beginning, and then slowly move to dmg nodes. This went fine at the beginning, but Dominus on cruel is just not killable (for me atm). It seems my dmg is way too low for the adds and I get overwhelmed by them pretty soon.

There are 2 main skills I'm using:

1. For single target 'Burning Arrow' which has a dps of 850. (burning arrow-added fire dmg-faster attacks)
2. For AoE 'Lightning arrow' which has a dps of 242. (light arrow-life leech-mana leech-lesser multiple projectiles)

So this is what my build looks like:

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgIBAF4B0QguFSAV8BmOGtshYCP2JJ0lPyi1KaUqTSyFLOk6sz7PPydAoEWWSn1KyE4qUUdaGlpIW69iWmegdPF4631bh3aNfZAKks2VyJuNnrmhIqJAqn-quKxHr-u0GrZBvebEotN-3ILdDd-Y4svnCuss7YPuDu9O73rv8PT4-WP8xQ==

Basically made the path to Vaal Pact as I assumed I will need it at one point in time (was considering a blood gem for single target dps). Further, it is important to note that I have 12 points to refund. I could basically remove the way to Vaal and some evasion nodes and potentially gain +104% phys dmg and some attack speed. I'm also considering removing Iron Reflexes, since I found out that evasion is not as RNG as I thought when creating this build.

Further, I'm not sure how to post my gear on the forums, so I'll just give some information that might help. If u need more info to actually help me, feel free to ask.

Weapon: phys dmg 71-188, 1.10 att/second, 5% crit.
2970 armor (i.e., with iron reflexes, 52%dmg reduction)
Fire res 50%, lightning res cap, cold red 67%

So the way I see it now is I went to defensive and need some dps increase to get through the adds (there are simply too much as I don't kill them quickly enough). Now I'm wondering if I just screwed up my build (np since it is a first char and don't have any problems with rerolling), if my gear is too bad so I can continue after some farming, or if I have to respec those 12 points to make further progress.

p.s. I'm playing together with a friend who's also new to the game and he started as templar. Half tank/half elemental dmg.

If something isn't clear or u need some more info, feel free to ask.

Edit: I am currently playing in the default league ofc. Hardcore etc is not an option right now..

build looks ok to me, although im pretty noob by myself. but my LA marauder is at cruel piety atm and has about 450 dps with LA, so you damage seems quite low indeed. Try to get a better bow (i am using a blue highborn bow atm, just crafted it myself for a high %phys damage roll, you could try that too) and amulets/rings to boost your dps. using a rustic sash as belt will boost your dps too (im also using a self-crafted one).
if the adds are too many pierce support gem would help as you could hit more of them at the same time, but i dont think that should be the problem in that fight.

But the most important thing would be to get a good strategic approach for this fight, which you can do by watching a dominus guide video on youtube. this fight can take a while, especially as bow user, because these have kind of a downtime unitl you get better bows later on.

percentage based incr. evasion rating is not useful early in the game

I'd respec out of that whole evasion circle

If you're planing to not go resolute technique you want crit in your build so i'd go for lethality and other crit nodes in shadow area

You missed a lot of good health nodes which will help you much more than evasion early on

Thanks for the feedback so far..

As far as I understand it, a reroll is not (yet) needed.. So might respec some points to increase my dps..

I didn't plan to make this a critchar though.. In that sense, is not going for crit at all an option or do u need at least some kind of amount of critc/dmg to make progress in endgame without spending 2 minutes every mobpack?

well it's min-maxing potential

If not going resolute technique and not going crit either means you're going a tanky/hardcore character heavy on life and armour/evasion

which is fine, but you kinda went neither tanky nor damage really, at least not in an effective way

this is what i mean, your passive tree at 65 points gives you the following


Health
106% increased maximum Life
12 to maximum Life
Mitigation
132% increased Evasion Rating
24% increased Evasion Rating and Armour
22% to all Elemental Resistances
4% increased Evasion Rating per Frenzy Charge
Damage
40% increased Accuracy Rating
39% increased Projectile Damage
28% increased Attack Speed
24% increased Physical Damage with Bows
20% increased Projectile Speed
20% increased Accuracy Rating with Bows
15% increased Critical Strike Multiplier with Bows
Other
220 to Dexterity
70 to Strength
50 to Intelligence
20% increased Mana Regeneration Rate
20% increased Mana Recovery from Flasks
18% increased Frenzy Charge Duration
16% increased maximum Mana
2 Maximum Frenzy Charge

basicly, low health, overkill on evasion and armour and barely any damage at all

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgIBAdEEfgW1DPIPqxXwGdca2yP2JP0mlSmlMHw2PTnUOlg-z0p9TipRR1VLVvpaSFuvX-Fh4megayRtbG17b_J3138rhxmHdohrjDaNfY2_lemgn6EioaSiQKXLp9Sqf6q4r-u1SL3mxKLVANwV3Q3h2-dU53TuDu_w8EL0-Plj_MX-yA==


Passive skill tree breakdown
Health
160% increased maximum Life
38 to maximum Life
Mitigation
4% increased Evasion Rating per Frenzy Charge
Damage
170% increased Critical Strike Chance with Bows
80% increased Critical Strike Chance
74% increased Physical Damage with Bows
40% increased Accuracy Rating
39% increased Projectile Damage
30% increased Lightning Damage with Weapons
30% increased Critical Strike Multiplier
20% increased Attack Speed
20% increased Projectile Speed
10% increased Attack Speed with Bows
10% increased Accuracy Rating with Bows
4% increased Movement Speed
Other
240 to Dexterity
40 to Strength
20% increased Mana Regeneration Rate
20 to Intelligence
18% increased Frenzy Charge Duration
16 to maximum Mana
2 Maximum Frenzy Charge


this is just one example what you could get(not necessarily the best, just to give you a perspective)

54% more health, way more damage, and 250% crit chance

next thing would be to invest in crit multiplier, some more health and more damage, bringing your health to 200% and crit chance close to 400%

my version also leaves much more interesting nodes to pick up lategame because it's nicely spread and has acces to many really efficient nodes

only thing you sacrifice is increased armour and evasion which is worthless until you have 600+ armour/evasion gear and can be easily substituted by flasks

Thanks again for the advice.. Seems to me like refunding those 12 points and going a bit more offensive is the way to go at the moment..

Now I do have one more question.. How important are crit stats?

My main idea was to not go too much into crit and make this char hit hard with 'normal' attacks and make him hit fast.. Now as I've seen the feedback, I figure I did not do a very good job on these 2 points as well, but basically my main focus was '(bow) physical damage' and attack speed nodes.

It seems to me like ur saying that my dps needs to rise (which I thought as well). However, it also seems like ur implying that the best way to do so is to stack crit (i.e., assuming I'm not going for 'Resolute Technique ofcourse)'.

Just wanted to check if I understood it right. Is this really the case? So basically, is crit the best way to go to upgrade dps?

Hello there,

Critical Strike is the best way to improve dps, foolproofed its the best way to get dps (currently at 80k myself on split arrow). Going Pure physical Bow is hard since you need a good bow while you are leveling which is not the case when you play elemental.

It is a bit hard for beginner to max out damage from physical build and it is not efficient (dps wise) since even physical builds rely on elemental damage (Added Fire Damage & Hatred most likely). The Huge advantage of playing Physical is the leech itself, having some life & mana leech gives a god amount of regen.

If your final plan is to play physical (and for the main purpose to not have the reflec & mana/life sustain issue) you should start with a mix of damage while you are leveling your toon.

Why full Phys is not good? As stated above, Physical Bow Damage is increased by Hatred & Added Fire Damage which render the Physical Damage very good. But Critical Nodes are really good in the ranger side (only a coupe of passives to spend) and critical strikes applies elemental status, and this thing is a good thing to have (increasing your damage and survivability somewhat).

I am currently playing a Physical Base Bow, upgraded by Ele Damage, Vaal Pact is a must have only if your dps start to kick off the chart (30k+) since you can kill yourself at this point.

not enough life

3% attack speed nodes are not worth for points

you also dont need vaal pact until VERY late (if you cant deal with your own reflected damage)

going to scion area is perfectly fine, mainly because all those life nodes all the way to iron grip

Thx again for all the feedback..

Yeah I figured this build is not perfect but I'm quite satisfied with it for a first build..

Farmed some levels and gear, refunded 5 points to get aspect of the eagle and lethality and just killed Dominus on cruel.

It seems the beginning of merciless is a bit easier than Dominus was.. For now it seems I need to keep stacking dmg and life and see how far that will bring me in merciless..

Keep in mind that item slots has a full purpose while gearing.
Remember this item list when you choose (Important stats are bold to get started and prioritized) :

Weapon : Attack Speed, Physical Base Damage, Base Crit Chance, Ele Damage
Quiver : Life, Crit Mult, Flat Damage, Weapon Elemental Damage, Resists
Helm : Unique Slot, Life, Resists, Evasion
Armor : Life, Evasion, Resists
Belt : Weapon Elemental Damage, Life, Resists
Gloves : Attack Speed, Flat Damage, Life, Resists
Boots : Move Speed 25+, Life, Resists
Amulet : Crit Mult, Weapon Elemental Damage / Flat Ele Damage, Life, Resists
Rings : Weapon Elemental Damage, Resists, Flat Ele Damage, Life