Path of Exile Beginner's Guide - Become the Strongest Exile

Recently, many players who visit our site asked for a guide for beginners that want to start their journey in Path of Exile. Finally, we decided to write a guide for you. The guide will contain lots of useful information for beginner players and probably for veterans as well.

Table of Contents:

What is Path of Exile

What character and build are the best for beginners in Path of Exile?

What kind of currency do we have in the game?

Currency Farming methods

How to optimize Path of Exile to make the gameplay more enjoyable?

How to sell items in path of exile?

What types of gems do we have in Path of Exile?

What should I do as a beginner Poe player?

What items are the best for the early-game?

Offensive and defensive mechanics - how it works?

Mapping - what is mapping and how to start?

What is Path of Exile?

Path of Exile is an Action online RPG game set in the Wraeclast, dark fantasy, magical world. Player will play as an Exile, strong and mysterious character that will struggle to survive on the continent of Wraeclast. You will have to fight against various monsters, right bosses and as well players if you consider playing some player versus player mode. You grind mobs, get better gear, and fight stronger mobs, killing bosses from time to time to get even better gear, and the legend continues. Many classes, lots of different builds, open world, a large amount of equipment that can be used for various things, will give you many hours of enjoyable gameplay. The game is completely free to play so you do not have to be worried about any additional fees, craftily hidden in the world of Path of Exile.

PoE is a very complex hack and slash game, contacting many classes and development paths. Many people always hesitate what class they should choose, what build they should use and generally how to start their adventure with the game.

What classes do we have in PoE?

In Path of Exile, we have 7 available classes to play. Every character also has 3 build paths called ascendancy classes and different paths of exile skill tree. There is only one exception - The Scion. Scion is a character which has only one ascendancy class called Ascendant. In order to play as Scion you have to unlock her first. Every ascendancy class is characterized by individual and unique skill tree and path of building. What is more, every class synergizes with different types of attributes. In  Path of Exile, there are three main attributes. These attributes are characterized by color. It is very important because thanks to that you will know which gem needs which particular attribute. Below, here is a table with classes, their ascendancies, and attributes they mainly use.

What character and build are the best for beginners in Path of Exile?

To answer this question - we’ve already covered that in our Path of Exile Classes Guide 2019. Come check it out!

What kind of currency do we have in the game?

In Path of Exile you will not find gold or Adena. Every currency has its own effect and is used for a different purpose. Below I will introduce currencies you can find in Path of Exile and briefly describe how you can use it.

• Scroll of Wisdom

This kind of scrolls are responsible for identifying items found during your journey in Wraeclast. You can identify magic, rare or unique items thanks to these scrolls. Very valuable scrolls at the beginning of the game.

• Scroll of Portal

A type of scroll which is responsible for opening the portal which will teleport you to the nearest town.

• Armorer’s Scrap

This kind of currency is used to improve the quality of your items. To be more precise, you can enhance your armor quality by using this gem. The maximum quality is 20%

depending on the rarity of the item.

• Blacksmith’s Whetstone

Such kind of currency is also responsible for increasing the quality of your items. In this case, it increases the quality of weapons. Depending on the rarity of the item, you can increase its quality by 20%.

• Blessed Orb

A blessed orb is a valuable type of currency which is responsible for re-rolling numeric values of items modifiers. For example, if your item increases your attack by 10%, and the maximum possible value is 30%, you can use a blessed orb in order to change it.

• Cartographer’s Chisel

A currency item which increases the quality of maps found in the game. The maximum quality of the map depends on its rarity. The maximum value of map quality is 20%.

• Chromatic Orb

A Chromatic Orb is a type of currency which changes sockets color in weapons or parts of the armor. The colors are completely random. You cannot change one socket color for the one you need. It is important to remember that if you have 6 sockets, this orb will change the color of all sockets.

• Gemcutter’s Prism

A gemcutter Prism is a valuable type of currency used for increasing the gem quality. Every gem quality can be increased by 20%. Thanks to that you will gain additional stats depending on the skill gems Poe you wear.

• Glassblower’s Bauble

 This currency is used to enhance the quality of your flasks. It is rather not valuable but sometimes you can get some better currency for it. The maximum value of quality these shit can increase is 20%.

• Jeweler’s Orb

 A jeweler orb is a type of currency which is responsible for changing the number of sockets in weapons and armors. The number of sockets is completely random. You can change your armor for 5 sockets into 1 socket. The number of sockets is limited by its type and lvl

• Orb of Alchemy

 An orb of alchemy is one of the most valuable and needed currencies in the game. When used, it changes your normal or magic item into a rare one. It cannot give you a unique item.

• Orb of Alternation

Such type of currency is responsible for changing the modifiers of magic items. Useful in the early game. In the late game, you will craft items rather than change its modifiers.

• Orb of Chance

This kind of currency is responsible for upgrading the normal type of an item into a random rarity. You can get magic, rare or even unique by using it. When you successfully make an unique item, you will gain an achievement.

• Orb of Fusing

An orb of fusing is a type of currency which changes the number of links between sockets you have in your armor or weapon. It only changes links. A number of sockets and their color are left unchanged after using it.

• Orb of Regret

An orb of regret is a type of currency which is used when you want to refund passive skill from the skill tree. Very useful when you want to change your build or invest in other skill tree bonuses.

• Orb of Scouring

Such type of currency is used by players when they want to remove all items modifiers. Remember that you can remove modifiers only from magic or rare items. Sockets, quality or links are not removed when you use this orb.

• Regal Orb

A regal orb is a type of currency used to upgrade magic item into rare. It changes the item into a completely new one. When it comes to modifiers, they are retained, but one random affix is added.

• Silver Coin

This type of currency is used to trade prophecies with Navali. Additionally, you can seal the prophecy by using a silver coin. Valuable currency, especially at the beginning of the game.

• Vaal Orb

Vaal orb is a type of currency which is used to corrupt the item. It causes unpredictable results. There is a possibility that the item will disappear if you fail the corruption. It is also important to remember that if you corrupt the item it cannot be modified by any other currency anymore. 

• Eternal Orb

Eternal Orb is a type of currency which creates an imprint of an item. The imprint is often used to restore the item which failed when corrupting. It is no longer existing in new leagues. You can only buy it in a standard league.

• Chaos Orb

One of the most important currencies in the game. Thanks to chaos orbs you can basically buy anything on the standard league store. It also used to reforge a rare item and create a completely new one with new random modifiers.

• Exalted Orb

The most valuable currency in the game. It costs around 130-150 chaos orbs in every league. It is mostly used for trading goods in the path of exile. Sometimes people use it to add a new random modifier to rare item but honestly, it is not worth. It is better to buy a complete item for this currency.

• Divine Orb

A Divine Orb is a type of currency which is used to change the numeric values of the item and create new modifiers with completely different values. The item is also very valuable and costs around 16 chaos orbs.

• Orb of Annulment

An orb of annulment is a type of currency which is commonly used for removing random modifier from rare or a magic item. Such currency is a very valuable one. It can be sold for 30 chaos orbs if you find a good vendor on Poe standard league store.

• Mirror of Kalandra

A Mirror of Kalandra is a currency which can be used to duplicate any piece of equipment. It is impossible to create a mirror items out of unique gear. Also, corrupted items cannot be mirrored. Duplicated item has the same stats as an original one. The only difference is the fact that it cannot be modified. The most valuable and the rarest item in the game.

Currency Farming methods

Dropping currencies is not the only method to obtain them. Every path of exile vendor has particular recipes for getting currencies.

What is the vendor recipe system?

The Vendor recipe system is a very useful system in Poe. It allows players to sell particular items and obtain currency. There are many recipes which can be used to obtain particular currency. Below, I will introduce the most common and useful recipes which will help you to get rich faster.

How to optimize Path of Exile to make the gameplay more enjoyable?

   The first thing you should do is to download a mod called Loot filter. Here you have a link to the best application that will make your game easier ——> Loot filter. It will highlight more important items and also alert you with specific sounds. You will not need to wonder which items are valuable and which items are worth picking up. The program will show you everything. The installation is very easy. You just need to move the downloaded folder to the game catalog and start it. You can change sound alerts and colors if you want to. Remember to install it as fast as possible. It will help beginner players a lot.

Then, the second thing which you should do is install other mod which will help you to price items found in the path of exile. Here is the link to proper version ——-> TradeMacro. This program will make your trading process easier and faster. By clicking correct combination you will be able to instantly identify the item and get knowledge about its possible price on Poe.trade. In the late game, the macro is a must-have. Thanks to this macro you will be able to trade your goods and earn more in-game currency.

How to sell items in path of exile?

The last thing you should do is set your place where you can trade items found in the game. How to unlock this option? It is very easy. In this part of the guide, I will show some tips and tricks on how to unlock it fast and without any problems. Enjoy!

•   You have to log into your account on https://www.pathofexile.com/game
•   Then you have to navigate to a game forum. When you are in the forum, try to find a trade section. It is important to choose a section for your league. Now you will need to find Legion trade section.
•   Choose Legion League - Shops in the subforum
•   Then, create a thread. The title of your thread is not important. You can name it for example „Buktejgry shop”
•   Here we will need to link the items we want to trade. In order to do this, you have to click on your character icon on the site and then switch your profile for stash information. Thanks to that you will gain access to the items in your stash.
•   Then, click on the item you want to sell. The special code will be highlighted there. Save this code because you will need it for trade.
•   When you have the code, you will have to go back into your thread you have created before and paste the link there. It will look like this:

[linkItem location="Stash2" league="Prophecy" x="5" y="0"] ~b/o 3 chaos

  Stash 2 is a stash card where you have your items. Phrase „league” Stands for the league you are actually playing. X and Y stand for the position where the item is located in your stash. Then „~b/o 3 chaos” is the place where you define the price for a particular item. If you want to sell the item for 5 exalted orbs you will need to change the line and „~b/o 5 exalted”. 

• Now you have to wait for someone contact you in the game.

Useful keyboard combinations for the game

  The first thing you should know is how to use currency items repeatedly. Many players think that they have to use currency one by one. They are wrong. All you have to do is hold shift while using the currency. It will allow you to use it repeatedly, so you can, for example, use your orbs of fusing much faster and get your item linked. Remember that you will be stopped only when you get the maximum amount of links.

  The second thing is using the alt button on items. The Alt button not only shows items lying on the ground but also show items level and maximum stats they can have. Thanks to that you can evaluate whether you dropped a good item or a bad one. The most valuable items will have maximum sockets and the value of their numeric attributes will be close to the maximum.

  In the vendor, you do not have to click on the item and move the cursor into the place where you can put things you want to sell. There is a much easier possibility. Just hold the CTRL button and click left mouse button. It will be automatically moved to the trade window.

  If you want to inform players in the all chat about your item you will need to have your cursor on it and press the CTRL+C combination. It will copy item data to the clipboard. The method is very useful when you want to trade items via global chat.

What types of gems do we have in Path of Exile?

  Path of exile is a very developed game with many different kinds of gems. We can distinguish the following gem types:

  Attack skill gems - a type of gems which are responsible for granting you an ability which will attack opponents. An attack skill gems are mostly our main skill like for example Cyclone or Solar Spark gems. Attack skill gems can be supported by so-called support gems which will increase its damage, area of damage effect or allow to use additional alignment.

  Support skill gems - this type of gems is used to support your main abilities socketed in the items. There are gems which can give you a high boost to skill damage, increase the time of skill duration, grant additional damage over time, etc. Remember to chose support gems which are useful for your main ability. For example, when the ability deals physical damage, try to find the gems which will increase it even more. If your ability deals area of damage, try to find the one which will boost the area effectiveness. Support gems can be bought in the poe market or in the third act in the place called “library”. You can buy there not only support gems but also other gem types.

  Buff skill gems (active skill gems) - this kind of gems can be also called herald gems. Their job is to increase your stats when fighting with opponents. Most of the gems give you mana reservation penalty. The mana penalty is based on the level of experience and power of the gem. It can even reserve 50% of your maximum mana which is a lot. Choose this skill wisely. Remember that not every buff have to be cast from skill bar. Some buffs can be cast automatically (active skill gem) if you use a proper gem called Cast when damage is taken. Thanks to this buffs, player stats are supported

  Aura gems - this kind of gem gives you an aura which can work in two ways. Depending on aura you choose, it can boost your abilities with additional resistances or damage, but also can debuff nearby enemies with particular effects. Remember that some skills can be converted into auras by using proper gem. Thanks to that you will not need to activate it every time you start fighting with opponents.

  Vaal gems - this type of gem is basically an empowered version of a base skill gem. They provide more damage and different effect than base one. If you use Vaal Gem you gain the use of both skill version, base and empowered. In order to activate Vaal gems, you will need to kill enemies and let the gem stack. When the gem gains the maximum amount of stacks you will be able to use the empowered version of your main ability. For example, when you use normal Fireball, you shot only one projectile. When you use Vaal Fireball you shot 12 projectiles more making more damage output.

What should I do as a beginner Poe player?

Many players stop playing PoE just after they launch the game. Why? Because the game itself is very complicated and hard to understand for newcomers. Many currencies, highly developed skill tree which offers many building possibilities, no class skills but gems which offer certain abilities. All of that will make almost any new player very confused in the beginning. In this part of the guide, I will try to help you with the start, introducing some methods which will simplify your gameplay, especially it the beginning of your journey in Path of Exile.

•   If you want to challenge league, you should look for the build which will fit your playstyle. For example, if you played daemon hunter in Diablo 3, you can try ranger in Path of Exile. You search on our site in order to find interesting and easy builds to play for new players.
•   Remember that Path of Exile is a very flexible game. If you picked the wrong character and it does not meet your expectations, you don’t have to worry. Try to look for the build which will satisfy you. The game offers many builds and a very flexible way of character development. You can make Assassins which will use magic abilities like Wizards, Slayer class using a bow and other interesting combinations.
•   In the beginning, try to pick up all the kinds of items. Thanks to vendor recipes you will be able to earn some valuable currency which will let you buy better and better gear. Remember to pick items with 3 different socket color in order to get the chromatic orb. Also, items with 3 or 4 connected sockets are valuable so try not to miss them.
•   Do not waste more valuable currency like chaos orbs, orbs of alchemy and orbs of fusing because in the early game you do not need to use them. Keep it for late game, or try to trade it on PoE standard league store for the currency you need to buy low level equipment early on.
•   Remember about completing prophecies during leveling up. Thanks to that you can get some late-game prophecies which will give you high profit later on. When doing properties look for following one: Trash to Treasure (the prophecy will convert normal type of the item into unique one), Jeweller’s Touch (the prophecy will create 5 links in an item when you use Jeweller’s orb on such item), Fated Connections (very useful prophecy, save it for late game when you will craft your armor or weapon. Thanks to this prophecy you will get 6 linked sockets with using only one Jeweller’s orb)
•   Never spend Chaos orbs on rolling early game items. It is a complete waste of very valuable currency. Save it for late-game or buy items on the path of exile standard league market.

 What items are the best for the early-game?

In Path of Exile, you can meet thousands of magic, rare or unique items. Nevertheless, there are items which are called „game starters”. These items can be equipped in the early levels and give you enormous boosts to your stats. What is more, such items are slightly cheap so even newcomers will be able to afford them in the early stage of the game. Below I will introduce starter items which will help you in the beginning of the game and some tips and tricks on how to get them faster.

•   Armor - There is nothing better than Tabula Rasa Simple Robe which offers 6 linked sockets of non-specified type. It is an absolute must-have. It costs around 10 chaos orbs which makes it unavailable at first levels, but in the mid-game, you will be able to buy it. I always earn enough currency at the 30 level of experience. Remember not to spend your currency for stupid things like enhancing your early level gear. Also, use vendor recipes to get more currency faster. It has 1 item level so you can wear it as soon as you begin your journey.
•   Helmet - The perfect early game starter helmet is Goldrim Leather Cap which can be equipped at the first level of experience. It is mainly your survivability booster. It gives you 35 % to all elemental resistances which is a lot, especially in the early game. Thanks to that you will be able to survive through the entire early game content without dying. It has 1 item level so you can wear it straight away.
•   Boots - In the case of starter boots - Wanderlust Wool Shoes. Very cheap starter boots which can be equipped at level one. These boots are perfect for the game start because they grant freeze immunity and 20% of movement speed increase. The price of such boots is 1 alchemy orb which is very easy to obtain.
•   Gloves - The perfect example of starter gloves are Lochtonial Caress Iron Gauntlets. The gloves not only increase your attack and casting speed but also gives you a nice amount of health and 10% chance to gain power, frenzy or endurance charge. Very cheap and desirable gloves for the early game.
•   Belt - In the early game you will need a belt which will give you a boost to attributes in order to level up your gems. The first option of the ideal starter belt is Meginord's Girdle Heavy Belt. This belt is recommended for beginners playing physical damage builds like for example Cyclone or Sunder. It boosts Strength and damage output. Additionally, some survivability boosters are included like cold resistance boost and a 10% increase to your maximum health.

The second option of very good starting belt is Wurm's Molt Leather Belt. The belt is very similar to meginord’s girdle but it also gives you intelligence and leeching capabilities. Very good belt for Blade Vortex users. Beginners will love this belt due to attributes it offers.

• Rings - The perfect combination of two starter rings should be made of Berek's Grip Two-Stone Ring and Le Heup of All Iron Ring. The first one will increase your damage output, all resistances and mana consumption. The second ring will give you additional attributes which will be needed for leveling up gems, boost to all resistances and damage. You will use these rings up until the late game so it is worth to spend around 5 chaos orbs to get universal rings for your character.
• Amulet - For the early game the best amulet you can find is called Carnage Heart Onyx Amulet. It gives you everything in the early stage. All attributes boost, elemental resistances boost, additional damage when leeching and life leech which is a lot. You can wear it at level 20. The cost of this amulet is 2 chaos orbs which makes it very cheap if. Absolute must-have item for every beginner.

What types of builds are in the path of exile?

When you start the game, you will need to choose the character that you want to play as. There are many different build combinations. The most important factors when choosing character are their damage source and their main survivability source. There are several types of builds which can deal damage differently.

• Summoner builds (for example one of the path of exile best classes Zombiemancer) - this kind of character is some type of a spell caster which mainly uses minions to fight opponents. Their main damage source is minions damage which should be maximized from the moment that the game starts. They also use various magical spells which help them in clearing groups of enemies. Summoners are also perfect auras and curses users. By using proper auras (active skill gems) they can increase minions damage, movement speed or health amount. With proper curses setup, summoners can weaken the opponents, making their summoned friends more effective in combat. Very enjoyable and easy to play the type of a character. The class which is a perfect summoner is for example Witch with her Zombiemancer build.

• Totem builds - it is also worth to mention the different type of summoners - totemancers. Such characters use summoned totems to fight opponents. They are also perfect fighters which can use combat abilities with offensive skill types to deal with an additional source of damage. Totemancers do not rely only on summoned totems like Necromancers on their minions. They are also perfect fighters. There are also builds which are focused only on using totems and various types of curses and auras which weaken opponents or buff you and your totems. It is very important to remember that totems are not the same as minions. If you will try to maximize minions damage it will not affect your totems. Totems themselves can taunt enemies, deal damage or simply buff the character. There are two classes which will be perfect totemmancers: Chieftain and Hierophant. Thanks to their passive skill tree, totems will gain additional bonuses.

• Melee builds  - the most popular type of build in Path of Exile. Almost every character has at least one build of such type. They can use a physical or elemental source of damage. They are also very good at mixing both damage types and thanks to that deal insane damage to opponents. Characters called melee fighters often uses axes, swords and other weapons which can be used in melee range. They are mainly fighting in close combat but there is also the possibility to create a build which will be connected with projectile damage and thanks that, create powerful ranged attacks. The perfect characters that can be considered as melee fighters are Marauder, Shadow, and Duelist. Their passive skill trees are mostly based on physical types of damage so there is no doubt that they will be perfect melee fighters. The best melee builds in Legion challenge league are Cyclone Slayer, Molten Strike Juggernaut and Frost blades Shadow. I highly recommend trying Cyclone Slayer, it is amazing!

• Builds based on traps and mines - there is basically one class which uses such type of build, but in my opinion, it is worth enough to be mentioned here since it is very effective in every challenge league. It basically focuses on throwing traps or mines and deal mixed elemental types of damage. Such builds are easy and fun to play. When you lay a trap it takes a moment to arm itself. When the trap is armed it can be triggered when the opponent steps on it. Mines, on the other hand, can be detonated instantly or remotely by a player. The build also focuses on increasing mine or trap damage, lying speed, duration and spell damage. It is also important to look for gear which will increase the number of traps and mines which can be detonated in a single-player cast. This type of build is very cheap and effective when it comes to mapping. The best and only character which uses this build is Shadow Saboteur.

• Builds based on magic damage - characters which mainly use a magic type of damage are often called spellcasters. Such builds are based on spells with elemental type of damage and mana. In these builds we can differentiate the different type of spells: channeled spells like Scorching Ray, area spells like Ice Nova, damage over time spells like Essence Drain, and projectile spells like Kinetic Blast. In these builds we are focusing on mixing elemental damage with chaos damage. The best character for this type of build will be Witch and her two ascendancy classes: Elementalist and Occultist. The first one will focus on pure elemental damage mixed with chaos type and increasing the spell damage. Elementalist is very powerful at mapping but has a hard time when it comes to killing bosses like Atziri or Shaper. The second one will be a typical damage over time dealer with high potential for boss killing. Occultist is also a perfect class for doing high-level instances.

• Ranged builds. In your build, you will end up using various types of bows and quivers. Builds can be characterized by something between melee warriors and elementalists. You are using projectile, elemental, physical and chaos damage at once. Ranged builds deal probably the highest amount of damage in the game. Their disadvantage is the fact that they are very weak when it comes to sustain. In the late game, they are getting almost one-shotted by better bosses like Shaper, and even by minions. It is very important to always stay in maximum range because you will deal more damage. When playing such build it is mandatory to increase the number of projectiles, number of arrows and attack speed. 

 Useful chat commands in Poe

/remaining - this chat command is very useful when mapping. It shows how many monsters are alive at a certain location.

/hideout - when you use this command you are instantly teleported to your hideout. It works only in town or when you are in another hideout.

/hideout + player name - teleports us to a player hideout. Only possible when in town.

/afk - turns your character into AFK mode. You can also add a message you want to display when someone writes to you.

/cls - clear the whole chat

/menagerie - teleports you instantly to your Menagerie. Possible only in town.

/dnd - puts your character into do not disturb mode. Thanks to that you will not receive any messages

/oos - useful command when your game starts to crash. It will force the game to resync.

/ladder - displays the ranking of characters in the current ladder

/exit - a command used when you wanna end playing path of exile

Offensive and defensive mechanics - how it works?

Many builds are determined by attributes like critical strike multiplier or added evasion rating. For beginners, it is hard to understand these mechanics. Most spells and gems damage is based on the percentage amount of your weapon base damage. For example, if your bow has 200-300 physical damage and the spell uses 80% of weapon base DPS it means you will deal from 160 to 240 damage multiplied by other gem and weapon attributes.

It is also worth to mention what „extra damage” means in Path of Exile. It is very easy. For example, if we deal 200-300 physical damage and we switch on herald buff which increases our damage by 50% of extra fire damage. It means that we will deal 200-300 damage + from 100 to 150 fire damage. Now I will introduce offensive and defensive attributes which you can find in every armor or weapon description.

Offensive mechanics:

•   Increased Attack speed/Cast speed - it increases a % amount of attack speed. The overall value is based on maximum attack speed you have. For example, if your base attack speed is 2.0 and you increase it by 10%, the overall value will be 2.2.
•   Increased critical strike multiplier - it can be described as damage you deal from critical strikes. It does not affect regular attacks. For example, if you hit a critical hit for 100 damage and your critical damage will be multiplied by 100%, you will hit for 200 instead.
•   Increased Critical Strike chance - it increases your chance to deal with the critical strike when fighting. The attribute is not additive but multiplied. It is very important to remember. If a weapon or armor increases 80% for a critical strike, it does add this 80% to your stats but it multiplies base value. In order to simplify it, you have to look into your skill critical strike chance. For example, the cyclone has a 10% chance for critical strike. If you wear an item which increases is by 80% your critical strike chance will be 18%.
• Increased elemental damage/physical damage - it increases your weapon base attack value. The more damage your weapon has, the more damage you will get from gems or itemization.

Defensive mechanics:

•   Block chance: it increases the chance to block incoming damage from melee attacks. It is possible when wearing dual swords, sword combined with a shield or staff. It does not multiply the base value. It adds a certain value to a character. Items which have the biggest amount of block are shields.
•   Evasion - this mechanic gives you the ability to evade incoming attacks from enemies. The chance is based on the calculation of your evasion rating and opponents accuracy rating. It is hard to explain it more of a specific way, but the more evasion you have, the bigger is the chance to evade attacks.
•   Armor - this attribute lowers incoming damage from physical hits. It is also hard to be more specific with explanation, but the more armor you have, the less damage you will take. It does not lower the damage from alignments like burn or bleed.
•   Dodge - it is almost the same as evasion but here you have the % chance to avoid incoming damage. It is not based on any other attribute like evasion or enemies accuracy. If you have 50% to dodge attacks it means that 1 out of the 2 attacks will be evaded.
•   Immunity - this mechanics gives you complete inviolability for certain effect. For example, if a passive gives you immunity to bleed, there will be no possibility to get damage from bleeding. It is always gained from the passive skill tree.

Charges mechanics:

There’s also a mechanic called charges. It has a different effect on characters and different on minions. The charges are activated when fighting. There are charges which activate when you take a certain amount of damage and others which activate when you kill an enemy or deal a particular amount of damage. When charges are active, the player is supported by various buffs.  We can distinguish the following charges types:

Endurance charges:

Characters

• 4% reduction of physical damage per endurance charge
• 4% increased all elemental resistances per endurance charge

Minions

• 15% reduction of physical damage per endurance charge
• 15% increased all elemental resistances per endurance charge

Frenzy charges:

Characters

• 4% boost to attack speed per Frenzy charge
• 4% boost to casting speed per Frenzy Charge
• 4% boost to your damage per Frenzy Charge

Minions

• 15% boost to minion attack speed per Frenzy charge
• 15% boost to minion casting speed per Frenzy Charge
• 4% boost to minion damage per Frenzy Charge
• 5% boost to minion movement speed per Frenzy Charge

Power charges

Characters

• 40% Critical Strike chance per Power charge

Minions

• 200% minion Critical strike chance per Power charge

Mapping - what is mapping and how to start?

In this part of the guide, I am going to introduce the most important late-game activity called mapping. Mapping is a type of late-game activity which is basically the thing we want to achieve after finishing story maps. Sometimes players just finish story quests and don’t know what to do. Here, I will try to explain the most important things connected with maps and mapping activity and introduce some tips and tricks.

•   Maps can be dropped during the story journey after you reach 60 level of experience. You can drop only level 1 maps. If you want higher tier maps, you will need to finish maps level 1 and be lucky enough to get higher tier maps there.
•   Maps can be or normal, magic, rare and unique quality. The better the quality, the harder the map will be and the more experience you will get from it. Every magic, rare and unique map has different attributes. Beware of reflecting damage attribute, because these maps are nearly impossible to complete.
•   If you have a normal type of map, and you want to make it magic or rare, you will need to use orbs mentioned in the first section of the guide. Collected orbs of chance and alchemy will play a crucial role in upgrading maps. That's why in the tips and tricks section I recommended to keep them for late game.
•   There are 16 map tiers. The higher the tier, the harder map will be. Also, opponents will have a higher level.
•   Maps can be used in the „map device” which you can locate in your hideout. Also, the map device can be found in the last city after you finish the story quests.
•   When you use the map device, it opens 6 portals to each map. It means that you have only 6 chances to do the map. Every death will cause the closing of a single portal. You can enter every portal only one time. Remember to make maps you feel comfortable with. Adjust your itemization and skill potential to map tier and then finish maps. It is not worth to force higher tier maps because you will lose tons of experience.
•   Each map is characterized by different monsters, design and end bosses, for example Shaper or Atziri. A useful tip is to find the best map of each tier and farm it as much as possible.
•   Before farming a unique type of map, you should carefully read the description or watch a youtube movie about a particular map. Sometimes you will need to do more than only killing minions there.