Beginner needs help with leveling

i think evasion passives and evasion on gear are less important stats
mainly because grace alone is actually good enough

you could instead link a blind support gem, and spend all your remaining passives into damage and life to compensate the gem slot taken
blind gives at least a 76.25% chance to evade, regardless attacker's accuracy rating, as long as you don't spec into Unwavering Stance

the % chance to evade on your character screen does not mean anything, because chance to evade varies, depends on attacker's accuracy

Yea might do that lab, thx for the tip.

And ty Rowlav for the (important) stats. Was looking for that as I've been making quite some progress and actually am farming docks now. Had no trouble progressing, except for the Weaver that spawned millions of adds.. Nice to see the stats which are important as I'm still struggling a bit with evaluating worthy items..

Also found a nice bow which raised my dps to 2300 (single target). Next step is to get some 5 or 6 links so I can combine more gems..

Further, I went for a bit more dps in my build. Here's the link to my current build:

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgIBAF4B0QW1CC4VIBmOGtshYCP2JJ0k_SU_KLUppSpNLIUs6TB8OdQ6sz7PPydAoEp9SshOKlFHWhpaSFuvYlpnoG_ydPF31Hjrhs6Hdo19jb-QCpXIm42euaCfoSKhpKJAp9Sqf6q4r-uxMLQatkG95sSiytPTftUA3BXcgt0N35jh2-LL5wrnVOjW6xTtg-4O707veu_w9Pj5Vvlj_MX-yA==

Planning to go for bow dmg/life now (Talons of Murder)

There's one more thing I'm having a bit of trouble with - mana control. Currently running around with 2 mana flasks to keep my mana up. 1 Might be enough, but having 2 of them just to be sure.. Wanted to link my aoe (lightning arrow) with chain, but the mana multiplier currently is too much..

Figured there are a couple of solutions:
1. Get more mana regen from nodes (think this is to some extent a waste of passives)
2. Get mana regen from gear (dunno if this kind of gear is 'accessible' to me)
3. Get my mana leech gem back to support lightning strike (seems the easiest solution, but I'll first have to get more links to not lose any other support gems)

Any tips on how one of these could be easiest accomplished?

Edit: typos

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/752950

I'have sent a half-handed explanation about mana issues in another thread but I think overall you are in the righteous way to get your mana in an equilibrium state.

Considering that you already have an advanced mastery of mana managament, you could consider starting to get to end game which is full self gear management without clarity, blood magic gem or Mana Leech Gem.
Step to get to this is starting to consider the number of points you would spend for Eldritch Battery (this is the best Key Stone to get Higher DPS and Mana Equilibrium) and some mana points (I'd advice the hybrid life & mana passives which are really really good) or mana regen points.

Again this is complete mix of passives spent on mana/mana regen and gear mana & mana regen, your mana leech on gear (or mana leech from shadow tree). Don't forget Int is a good stat while playing Eldritch Battery which comes naturally wile reaching the top Witch Tree (our lovely blue side).

Overcome your mana sustain largely with many mana source and then tune it down to get a perfect equilibrium.
I took personaly those steps while gearing to end game :
#1 Run Clarity on blood magic with level 3
#2 Took 4 mana passives, 1 mana regen passive and shutdown clarity.
#3 Took Eldritch Battery and gained 2 passives spent on hybrid mana/life
#4 upgraded Mana & ES on Gear to reach 1000 max mana (Remember Mana max increase Mana regen too).
#5 Added Hybrid Eva / Es Gear and mainly took Carcass Jack to get 1350 mana and respec Mana passives
#6 Upgraded to Physical Bow and Ele % increase from base. Mana leech & Max mana made it work.
#7 Changed Eva / ES gear to get Eva and better dps source (item list)


Edit : About the Passive Tree you should take the Deadly Draw Half Circle and drop later resists node (It is pretty much easy to get cap resist except for diamond skin which is a good passive). The 3% attack speed nodes has an high cost, taking the 10 dex to get 3 passives back is better and Master Fletcher is not a really good Passive (High Cost).

Every other Key Stone is a matter of choice, I don't like Iron Reflexes (I used to play it on every char) myself, good players tend to use flask (one single is good enough) to mitigate damage received. You have to play Crit if you want to reach higher DPS, Deadly Draw and Shadow Tree would do that definitely.

another way to solve you mana issue is switch to split arrow
link with blood magic and get get life leech amulet like carnage heart

Thx again for ur feedback. I've read ur 'manapost' and will follow the steps from beginner to expert..

There's still an issue with the build concerning survivability/dps/eldritch battery.

Eldritch Battery is relatively far away now (10 nodes). I have 3 points to spend and some refund points in emergency cases. Going for Eldritch means either sacrificing dps or survivability, but always means that I will not increase my dps nor surv for the next couple of levels.

Currently im around:

+120% life
+275% crit chance
+100% crit multiplier

It seems like every1 on the forums is stating that u need at least 170%-200% life from nodes. Further, since my build had too less damage when I made this post, I'm also not sure I can stop with investing in dps.

Im at 2k hp now (bad gear though so farming now to improve that).

Single target dps: fire arrow - faster attacks - added fire damage (+-3k dps) Ofcourse this can get a lot higher when I actually find some gear with more links. Overall, continued untill Lunaris temple lvl 2 and had no problems killing mobs (also due to puncture in hit and run situations as well)

AOE: LA - LMP - LL - Faster attacks (1050 dps) Will get another support gem in here but considering the options now according to ur post.

So tldr: what I'm trying to say is I still haven't reached endgame and dunno whats waiting out there :) have no idea if I'm on the right track with dps/surv or that one of these is way too low (e.g., ppl claiming u need 170-200% from life nodes, but I didn't have too much problems yet with crappy gear, aside from the Weaver).

So I'm kinda waiting with investing some more passives untill I'm certain that its well spend. Usually u know u need to invest in a direction when u lack it (e.g., surv or dps). In my case, so far, everything goes okish. Not great, but I'm also not feeling like its complete garbage. I die sometimes because the dmg is too much (stones falling from VAAL ceiling), dps seems like its in a good spot now. And I'm having some mana issues, but easily manageable with 2 mana potions (expect this to be a lot easier with either blood gem or mana leech). So yea, whats the next step?

Hi again,

I've reviewed your build more specificaly and Eldritch Battery is not quite insta reachable at this point.
20 points can be refund easily and you can work on a mix of Health/Dps pugrade (you should always try to upgrade your dps)



*I've kept the +30 Str & +30 int nodes (2 times each), I guess you still need Int for gems (or gear whatsoever). Those are supposed to be refund once you hit good stats with gear.
*The passives near the Scion looks beefy buts it is way too much points for let say armor, eva, and 10 all resists. If you got there it is for the beefy Life Circle & Evasion, but is too much for like nothing reachable near those circle. Removed the random +10 int (you gain more in the other +30 points).
*Iron Reflexes is not needed, most players still believe in this but it doesn't provide more survivability. You are more likely to get stunned indeed but you evade more (it is not RNG), dex scales better with eva char (which is lost with Iron Reflexes).
*If you don't need Vaal Pact yet (and it is not a bad thing to get near it once you need it) don't spend passives points to get near it. Vaal Pact is good once you reach "end game" for insta full life leach (means High Dps and High leech). Don't refund them at this point, this will become helpful soon enough.
*Master Fletcher is bad, Deadly Draw Half Circle is way better, this is not included in the tree but this will highly depend on what you changed fiest on your gear, the choice would be between Reaching Eldritch Battery first or not (if you want to play Eldritch).
*Shadow Tree is a great completion for Rangers, mostly for crit and other goodies like damage (Attack Speed and Damage). On top of that you 'll gain some int, always get ride of stats issues (it is really a pain to get int on gear and it lesser the dps potential of items).

Mana :
Before you get levels and gear, you should stick to Beginner Solutions, playing low level clarity, increasing your mana by 100-150 and mana regen by 20-40% (you can achieve that with passives anyway in the shadow tree).
If this is not enough, increase a bit your Physical Damage Base, I don't see how with that you would lack mana.

Survivability :
Before you take Eldritch Battery, you can take for 1 point Acrobatics which is really good with Evasion Character, you 'll have to refund the point if you get Eldritch Battery. The new Tree gives a little more HP around 140+, it is ok since 80 points tree means a level 60-70 character (more than ok, i made level 50-80 with 100% hp and 2200 HP total). Get some love with eva gear.

Dps & Gear :
Never stop trying to increase your dps, I still try to upgrade mine from 229k, higher level contents is hard and you ll need to kill everything fast (more dps, more leech!). Try to get a good weapon first and change your aura to offensive (Anger + Wrath), mix up your elemental & physical damage (which is easier for your current level to achieve). Force yourself to get at Least 50+ HP on each gear slot and one good resist mod and 2 or 3 gear slot with Mana and Mana rege (see the item list priority for this).
Gear at this level should have at least +300 total HP, +100 mana, +30% maan regen and the resists to get the cap. Prioritize Resists and Dps for gloves & rings/amy, Health and resists for other gear slot.

Links :
I don't have specifics about how you use skills or play your own char, but always (always (always)) put Weapon Elemental Damage & Faster Attacks in your links. This is mandatory, most players will advice Chain, Gmp, or other funky Pierce, yes it most likely works when you have some good gear, 5 links and a none gear/passives mana sustain. Chain/Gmp cost a lot in mana and doesn't really improve overall dps (yes overall, lesser single target damage, but higher AoE Damage).


A link to your current gear could help, locking a good item is a good way to improve your overall power (like a good ring, good gloves or boots).

I'll put a link to my items. I know much of them are pretty bad, but be aware I'm still in the process of learning what is needed in each slot and how to get it efficiently :D



I refunded the points in the evasion build (close to scion) to increase dps with deadly reach. And yes, did not refund the way to Vaal Pact as I thought it will probably be needed in the future so that would be a waste in my situation. Maybe it's easier if I give u a link to my current build:

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgIBAF4B0QR-BbUILgzyFfAZjhrbIWAhdiSdJP0lPyi1KaUshSzpMHwx-jnUOlg6sz7PQKBOKlFHVvpaGluvYlpv8nRBdPF293fUd9eGzocZjX2Nv5AKlQWVyJuNnrmhIqGkokCn1Kp_qriv67EwtBq2Qb3mxKLKqdN-1QDcFd0N35jh2-LL51To1usU7YPuDu9O9Pj5Vvlj_MX-yA==

Also have 5 refund points left and 3 orbs of regret in stash (which I think isn't really necessary using as this is my first char, probably not worth it since its not going to be perfect anyway).

So what I could do is refund Iron Reflexes and those 4 points going to master fletcher and the go a bit more to the north to reach some higher mana pools. However, if I choose to do so, my next 10 points will be to increase mana pool, while dps/surv will get minimal improvements. Running out of refunds as well, so can't go for short-term solutions now, but need to look on how my char can improve in the long run (even if that means that I will have it harder the next couple of levels). Thats the way I see it now, ofcourse correct me if I'm wrong!

About the aura's.. I'm not fully sure yet how the mechanics work and how I could use them. The mana res seems too much for me at the moment. I know there are some things like linking all aura's to a 'lesser mana gem', but need to look into that a bit more..

Edit: changed the name of a spell (typo)

I don't know the Standard League price (I guess items should be cheaper somewhat). I've added 10 points in the tree towards the Shadow Tree, Going there does not give yet Mana Pool (damage instead & life) and one point to Lethality (80% is damn too good).



About the Gear :
Weapon : You have a very good weapon here, considering you won't change this for a while, you should 4S (4L) it as a priority (and pray rng god) and make it 20% with whetstones. It has an high Physical Damage Base, this would help a lot in mana sustain and taking the 2% mana leech in the tree will work wonderfully (or mana leech in gear : gloves, ring, amulet, quiver).
Helm : the item has a good eva but nothing else than 45 HP, it should be fine but a lower eva helm with more HP (55-80) with a 20-30% resist is better.
Armor : Has HP & a 25 roll resist, armors are easy to roll with HP and dual resist, at this point evasion does not matter really much.
Quiver : The quiver has life leech (which is good for a physical base bow) and some damage, should be fine, but quivers with HP and Damage are easy to get (and not so high in price).
Amulet : Amulet provides lots of damage and stats, this one is fine. Getting Crit Multiplier and some damage is better.
Rings : You should focus on resists for the rings, choose base resists rings (prismatic, two stone, sapphire, ruby & topaz) with a total of 70 - 80 resists, nothing else for the moment is needed to get a fair upgrade. That wouldn't cost a lot too.
Gloves : Fair resists, not a priority over the other items, if you get resists rings, get some Attack Speed & Damage mod gloves or HP + resists gloves.
Belt : good one, the second item you shouldn't change along your weapon for the moment.
Boots : Move Speed is very very important, at least 20 and HP with a single res is reachable.


Thing you should do :
*Put your bow to 20% after you got it linked.
*Play Faster Attack / Added Fire Damage / Weapon Elemental Damage (or Projectile Physical Damage) for your skills
*Play with Hatred (good for Physical Base) and start level a "Reduced Mana" Gem, once you get it level 13+ you can play 2 auras on your mana. See if you can play Hatred + Clarity level 3 with a reduced mana
*Change the helm, armor, quiver, rings to get things in a better hp/resist state.
*Get the %mana leech somewhere, 1% is enough.
*HP is fair high enough for your level (+300 roughly), you need to get a little more mana (+100) on eva/es gear
*Getting Damage on item is not the priority yet, playing a physical damage bow allows that.


So as a result you should have a (135-295) base physical bow with around 150% physical damage.
Maths are the following (split arrow - fast attack - added fire weapon ele - hatred) :
400-600 base damage
120-240 with ice damage multiplied with Weapon Elemental Damage : Around 190-380
120-240 with fire damage multiplied with Weapon Elemental Damage : Around 190-380

With some gear input we should have a tooltip like this :
400-600 Physical Damage
200-400 Cold Damage
200-400 Fire Damage
with attack speed the dps should be 1100 * 1.5-1.7 around 1650-2000 which is fair enough without crit (around 2000-2200 with crit input).
On top of that, the maths has been done in the lowest round up with lv 13 gems).

Yea I do have lethality in my build, seems I didn't click it in the build calc though :p

I'll make sure to follow these steps. Have one question though about the gem links. Why the hatred aura? Why prioritize a 'cold dmg' aura over other auras?

Thx again for the advice!

Edit: just recrafted the bow.. Got 6 sockets on my 7th attempt :).. After 1 fusing 4L/2L.. Probably gonna keep it like that, since im short on fusing (4 left)

From a Physical Bow, Increased % Elemental Damage Aura works better (Slow Attack Speed, High Physical).
from a 400-600 Base Physical Bow you get 200-400 Damage with Hatred (300 Damage), this is not the same with Wrath (1-150) Damage (75) or Anger (60-90) Damage (75).

Current Best setp up would be :
*Frenzy + Faster Att + Added Fire + Weapon Ele
*Split + Faster Att + Added Fire + Weapon Ele
*Hatred + Clarity (lv2-4) + Reduced Mana or Clarity + Blood Magic / Hatred + Reduced Mana
*Projectile Weakness

2% Life leech from gear
1% Mana leech from gear (or 2% from passives)
+30% mana regen
+100 mana
+300 hp
Resists almost cap (50/75/75) is better than (65/65/65)