As the release of Path of Exile 2’s new The Last of the Druids league approaches, players in the community are searching for leveling strategies and guides that suit their playstyle, such as league starting build types and a list of currently more effective build options, etc.
However, in this PvE-focused ARPG, the most important item determining whether you defeat an enemy in 10 seconds or 5 minutes is your weapon, regardless of whether you choose a melee or ranged class. Unfortunately, many players tend to overlook this.
Therefore, we will disregard the differences between each build type and provide you with guidance on how to create a near-perfect weapon at the start of the league to help you progress through the main campaign and successfully complete the endgame content.
Focus On DPS
First and foremost, the point you need to focus on is Damage Per Second (DPS) of each weapon, as it is the best indicator of your combat performance.
Taking Warden Bow as an example, the common has no modifiers, the magic adds a high-quality affix that provides a 2-6 point physical damage bonus, while the rare features two rune slots and several damage-enhancing affixes.
At common, DPS is 23; at magic, DPS is 33; and at rare, DPS is 81. Although the increase in damage output isn’t very significant, when combined with the faster kill speed, it might surprise you.
Through actual testing, the results of using these three weapons of different rarities to kill The Devourer were also different: common weapon took 26.4 seconds, magic weapon took 13.4 seconds, and rare weapon took 2.7 seconds.
Therefore, you can see that at higher rarity levels with damage output and kill speed increasing exponentially, so that you can farm loot and experience points very efficiently in the early stages of the league, especially if your build includes items that increase base physical damage, such as Iron Ring and Northpaw Suede Bracers.
Incidentally, you also need to pay attention to the quality of the weapons you possess. This can be improved with Blacksmith’s Whetstone, which you can obtain by salvaging useless gear. This will further multiply any base attribute improvements from specific affixes by the quality improvement.
Enhance Specific Affixes
After selecting a high-rarity weapon that you will use long term, you should think about how to craft it, which means selecting some special affixes to enhance it or directly removing some unnecessary affixes. Here we mainly introduce the former.
Affixes that can upgrade the level of important skill gems are what you should focus on first. They will greatly increase your skill damage and reduce casting cooldowns, regardless of whether you focus on projectiles, melee, or spell-casting.
In addition, you will need to make corresponding enhancements based on your fighting style. For example, for Martial Weapon, you need affixes that specifically enhance percentage physical damage and fixed numerical bonuses, such as those that increase physical damage, fire damage, or lightning damage.
As for the suffixes on melee weapons, you could consider those that increase projectile skill level, attack speed, and the number of slots. For spell-casting weapons focused on ranged kills, affixes related to spell damage, elemental damage, and casting speed are your priority for enhancement.
Reasonable Allocation Of Currency
Crafting your complete weapon requires various types of currency, so it’s important to allocate your currency wisely to maximize its effectiveness. While Orbs of Transmutation and Orbs of Augmentation are relatively easy to cultivate and are readily available, they shouldn’t be wasted excessively.
After all, you can’t precisely add a high-quality affix to a weapon by themselves, so you should focus more on PoE 2 Regal Orbs, which can provide both rarity and affix enhancements. There’s also the Orb of Alchemy, which can upgrade an item into a rare item with four affixes, and can also be used in weapon crafting.
If you have a limited amount of either of these two currencies, you might consider using Artificer Orbs to add more sockets to your weapons, which is a good option for gaining an advantage early in the league. Alternatively, you could use Essences with specific buffs, which can effectively increase your damage output.
As for the gold that can be used for gambling in the game, it also should not be wasted carelessly. It should only be considered as a last resort for obtaining an item when its drop rate is extremely low and it’s not available from vendors. This is a last-ditch effort; please do not rely on it excessively.
In summary, by following the strategies above to select and upgrade your weapons, you will have approximately five times more damage than other players using similar build options in the early stages of Path of Exile 2: The Last of the Druids league. This is a huge advantage for early game progression and leveling up.
While PoE 2 didn’t undergo a major overhaul of its crafting system in its latest patch like its longtime rival Diablo 4, the developers have significantly reworked existing crafting options, including gems, items, and crafting currencies. Therefore, this new league is definitely something to look forward to. Enjoy the game!
