1. The game is free
Path of Exile 1 has been free to play since 2013. You only pay for cosmetics and specialised stash tabs; Maxroll says some are worth buying in the endgame. The game runs on PC, Mac, PS4 and Xbox One.
Your account and shop are shared with Path of Exile 2, but characters are separate. Comparison: PoE 1 or PoE 2.
2. League or Standard: start in a league
You choose a league when you create your first character.
| League | What it means |
|---|---|
| Temporary league (currently Allflame) | lasts about 3 months, everyone starts from scratch, trade works; most guides are written for it |
| Hardcore | your character has one life |
| Solo Self-Found (SSF) | no trading and no parties with other players |
| Ruthless | a mode built around item scarcity, very hard |
| Standard | the permanent league where characters go after a temporary league ends |
For your first character, pick the regular temporary league (softcore, with trade). Maxroll advises new players against SSF, as the game is designed around trading.
The best time to start is league 3.30: it launches on November 13, 2026, while the current league, 3.29 Curse of the Allflame, ends on November 9. A character created earlier is not lost, it moves to Standard, but in 3.30 everyone starts from zero again. Dates and times: league 3.30.
3. Class: 7 classes, one tree
Classes have no skills of their own: skills are gems any character can use. All classes share one passive tree; your class sets your starting point and your Ascendancy options.
| Class | Attributes | Typical style | Ascendancies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marauder | Str | melee, slams, totems | Juggernaut, Berserker, Chieftain |
| Ranger | Dex | bows, projectiles | Deadeye, Pathfinder, Warden |
| Witch | Int | spells, damage over time, minions | Elementalist, Necromancer, Occultist |
| Templar | Str + Int | totems, brands, fire and lightning | Guardian, Hierophant, Inquisitor |
| Shadow | Dex + Int | critical strikes, traps, mines | Assassin, Saboteur, Trickster |
| Duelist | Str + Dex | melee, shields | Champion, Gladiator, Slayer |
| Scion | all three | starts in the centre of the tree | Ascendant, Reliquarian, Luminary |
Since league 3.29, Scion is available from the start; you no longer need to free her in Act 3. Maxroll notes she suits experienced players better.
You pick your Ascendancy after completing the Lord's Labyrinth for the first time, from the three available to your class. GGG's list names 21 Ascendancy classes. Raider in older guides is today's Warden (renamed in version 3.25).
4. Take a ready-made "League Starter" build
Maxroll suggests builds tagged "League Starter": easy to set up and working without expensive endgame items. Following a build guide is, per Maxroll, your best option, especially the first time.
Maxroll's league starter list as of September 19, 2026 (league 3.29) names these in its top S tier:
- Winter Orb (Elementalist),
- Kinetic Fusillade Ballista (Hierophant),
- Smite of Divine Judgement (Inquisitor),
- Poison Ranged Animate Weapons (Necromancer),
- Storm Burst of Repulsion Totem (Hierophant).
This is a ranking for the 3.29 league start. Maxroll itself says "The League Start Meta is never static", and the list will change for 3.30. Check it again before November 13.
PoE Vault suggests starting with spellcasters or minions, because melee and bow builds are harder to gear. It also warns against builds marketed as "all content viable": they are usually hard to level and expensive. Review builds in the free planner Path of Building Community (get the PoE 1 version).
5. Gems and sockets after the 3.29 changes
Skills are Active Skill Gems that you put into item sockets. Support Gems only work in sockets linked to the active gem. Fireball with one support gem is a "2-link".
Since league 3.29 (July 2026):
- any gem fits any socket, whatever its colour,
- sockets are white by default, with a small chance of red, green or blue,
- a gem in a socket of its own colour gets +10% Quality; that is the only thing colour does.
Gem attribute requirements still apply. Guides from before July 2026 that tell you to match socket colours are outdated on this point.
In the early acts, 3–4 linked sockets are enough; in the endgame, the goal is a body armour or two-handed weapon with 6 links. Two copies of the same support gem on one skill do not work.
Some gems come as quest rewards. Siosa in Act 3 (The Library) sells gems with a required level of 31 or lower, and Lilly Roth from Act 6 (after the quest Fallen from Grace) sells almost all of them. Gems level up with your character: when an icon appears at the right edge of the screen, click it.
6. Campaign and the resistance penalty
The campaign has 10 acts in two parts and ends when you defeat Kitava in Act 10. After that come the Epilogue and maps. Experienced players finish it in 6–10 hours (community wiki); a first run takes much longer, players mention 20 hours or more. These are estimates; GGG gives no official time.
The biggest trap is the permanent resistance penalty:
| When | Penalty to all resistances |
|---|---|
| After completing Act 5 (Kitava) | −30% |
| After completing Act 10 | another −30% (−60% in total) |
The penalty also applies to Chaos Resistance. The resistance cap is 75%, so in the endgame you need about 135% from gear and passives to reach it. PoE Vault advises overcapping your elemental resistances by roughly 30% before fighting Kitava in Act 5.
During the campaign you will find six Trials of Ascendancy; after them you enter the Lord's Labyrinth through the Statue of the Goddess in Sarn. The first run gives you your Ascendancy choice and 2 points. Further Labyrinth difficulties (Cruel from character level 40, then Merciless and Eternal) give 2 points each, 8 in total.
7. Turn on a loot filter
Maxroll calls the loot filter the single most important quality of life addition to the game. It hides junk and highlights valuable items.
- Go to FilterBlade, switch the game to PoE 1 and set the slider to Semi-Strict (the level for new players and league starts).
- Click Authorize FilterBlade, then Save & Export, enter a name and platform and click Save.
- In the game, open Options, select your filter and enable Hide Filtered Ground Items.
Once you reach maps, go back to FilterBlade and set the level to Strict. On console, you subscribe to NeverSink's filter via a link. You will not get banned for using a filter (FilterBlade FAQ).
8. Currency and trade
In PoE 1 you pay with orbs, which are also used for crafting. Cheap items are bought with Chaos Orbs, expensive ones with Divine Orbs, and the rarest currency is the Mirror of Kalandra. Rates change constantly: on October 16, 2026, poe.ninja showed 376 Chaos Orbs for 1 Divine Orb in the Allflame league. Gold is only used for fees, for example in the Currency Exchange.
- Currency Exchange in the game: bulk currency trading for a Gold fee.
- Trade site pathofexile.com/trade: items from other players, some with instant buyout.
- Faustus: from Act 6 in Lioneye's Watch, he sells items from your Merchant's Tabs to other players, even while you are offline (since version 3.27).
Before you sell something to a vendor, check its price on poe.ninja or the trade site. Do not buy currency or items for real money: it breaches the game's terms of service.
9. Most common beginner mistakes
- Too little life and resistances. GGG forum players suggest about 300 life per act, so about 3,000 by the end of Act 10.
- Slow boots. Maxroll puts Movement Speed on boots near the top of its gear priorities, and PoE Vault calls the Quicksilver Flask the most important flask for levelling.
- Only Life and Mana flasks. According to PoE Vault, after Act 5 that is not enough.
- Skipping quests with passive points. According to Maxroll, these points are de facto necessary.
- Playing without a guide. GGG forum players say newcomers often quit when their main skill is not fun.
- SSF or Hardcore for your first character.
- Spreading yourself thin. Stick to one playstyle. You can refund badly spent passive points with Orbs of Regret.
What's next
League 3.30 launches on November 13, 2026, and GGG will reveal it at ExileCon on November 6 (keynote at 1 PM PST). Its name and mechanics are not known yet; we will check the starter list after the reveal: league 3.30. Path of Exile 2 version 1.0 also comes out on December 11, 2026, but it is a separate game.
