PoE 2 Player's Guide to PoE 1

While Path of Exile 1 and 2 share many similarities, there are several differences that might feel jarring to PoE 2 players who haven't played the first game. If you're looking to try the first game after only having played the sequel, this guide will help you understand these major differences ahead of time, so you're prepared!

The most important thing to remember when venturing into Path of Exile for the first time: you do not need to learn everything immediately in order to have fun or even play efficiently. Instead, try to learn just a couple of different systems and focus on what you're doing, rather than fretting over what you're "missing out on".

Sockets and Links

In Path of Exile 1, Skill and Support Gems are socketed into items instead of the Gem Window. Here are the major other differences

• Sockets have colours and only Gems sharing the same colour as the Socket can be placed into them. You can change the colour of Sockets with Chromatic Orbs
• Sockets will not always be Linked, and Skills will only be affected by Support Gems connected by these Links. You can change the Links of an item with Fusing Orbs
• Items will not always have the maximum number of Sockets. The number of Sockets can be altered with Jeweller's Orbs

The Orbs that affect these Sockets will change the number of sockets, links and colours randomly, meaning that there is an element of RNG, especially early on when trying to get the correct Socket colours and Links for your Skills. However, the Crafting Bench (which will be discussed in more detail later), can be used to heavily offset this and guarantee what you need.

Socket Colour and Attribute Requirements

Socket colours are not rolled entirely randomly. Like in PoE 2, PoE 1 has item bases with Attribute Requirements and Socket colours will tend toward these Attribute types:

• Strength: Red
• Intelligence: Blue
• Dexterity: Green

Hybrid item types also exist, meaning that sockets will tend toward the two colours associated with these Attribute types.

Maximum Sockets and Links

Different item types have a different number of maximum Sockets and Links:

• Two-Handed Weapons and Bows - 6 Sockets
• Body Armours - 6 Sockets
• Gloves, Boots, Helmets: 4 Sockets
• One-Handed Weapons and Off-Hand Weapons: 3 Sockets

The major difference here is that unlike in Path of Exile 2, where players can have 9+ Skills, each with 5 Support Links, in Path of Exile 1, usually players only have access to one or two 6-links (a Skill Supported by 5 Support Gems), with several supplementary and utility skills with fewer links.

Movement Skills

In PoE 1, there is no WASD and Dodge Roll is unavailable. Fortuntately, PoE 1 has a series of Movement Skills that allow players to manoeurvre their characters more easily. These are generally considered mandatory on most builds and there are different types for different builds

• Flame Dash and Frost Blink are popular for quick dashes in a specific direction. These Skills are not locked to specific Weapon types, and can be used on all characters
• Shield Charge, Leap Slam, and Whirling Blades are useful for more rapid movement for classes that use Shields, Melee Weapons or dual wield weapons respectively
• Blink Arrow and Mirror Arrow are sometimes used on Bow Builds

There are several more Movement Skills and it's highly recommended that you use at least one

Flasks and Utility Flasks

In PoE 1, players have access to 5 Flask Slots instead of the usual 2. Players are also not limited to having to use only Life or Mana Flasks in these slots, but can use multiple Life or Mana Flasks as needed

There are also several Utility Flasks that can augment a player's power temporarily in several ways. Utility Flasks need to be manually activated (at least early on - later there are ways to automate them), and are extremely strong and useful and it's recommended that players don't overlook their Utility Flasks when progressing through the campaign and endgame. Some of these Utility Flasks include:

• Quicksilver Flask: increases Movement Speed during effect
• Jade Flask, Granite Flask: increases Evasion Rating and Armour Rating respectively during effect
• Bismuth, Ruby, Sapphire, Topaz, Amethyst Flask: increases Resistances during effect
• Quartz Flask: grants Phasing during effect, allowing players to avoid collision with monsters during effect. This also grants Spell Suppression, but we won't get into that in this guide
• SilverFlask and Diamond Flask: grant Onslaught and increased Critical Strike Chance during effect respectively

There are more Utility Flasks, but again, their power should not be underestimated, so don't overlook them if you're new to PoE 1!

Ascension

Players can also Ascend their characters in PoE 1 to unlock additional power by completing the Eternal Labyrinth, found in the Act 3 town. There are four difficulties of the Labyrinth (often referred to as "Lab"), which can be unlocked by completing Trials found throughout the campaign, and by obtaining an Offering of the Goddess item in the endgame.

Ascendancies in PoE 1 are generally far more powerful and impactful than in PoE 2 and shouldn't be overlooked! We will have a full guide with some tips and tricks and locations of the Trials which can be found here: [guide incomplete, will be linked soon]

Passive Tree

The Passive Tree in Path of Exile 1 is more comprehensive and provides more generic power to characters that promotes creative buildmaking.

There are also Masteries on the Passive Tree, which are special points that can be allocated after allocating the Notable in Passive Point wheel. These are thematic and shared across similar Passive wheels. For example, a wheel that grants Fire Damage will likely have a Fire Damage Mastery wheel with an option of 6 different bonuses that are shared across all other Fire-themed wheels

Players can also find % increases to Life on the Passive Tree and it's highly recommended that Life-based builds make use of these. It's fairly common for many endgame Softcore builds to have at least 120% increased Life from the Passive Tree

Auras and Mana Reservation

In PoE 1, there is no Spirit. Instead, players can activate their Permanent Buffs (known as Auras or Buffs in PoE 1) by reserving their Mana. This will mean that a flat amount or percentage of their Mana is "locked off" and cannot be used for Skills in order to make use of these Auras and Buffs. There are several sources of "increased Reservation efficiency" on both items, the Passive Tree, Support Gems and other sources that can reduce this amount, allowing players to fit more Auras into their build. The downside is that this means that players will need to solve their Mana costs so that they can still use their skills (this can be done with Recovery, reduced Mana costs of Skills, or by making Skills require another resource to be used)

Vendor Recipes and Selling

In PoE 1, there are separate Buy and Sell windows. You cannot sell items for Gold in PoE 1 - instead, selling items in the Sell window will grant players Currency Shards (sometimes whole Orbs) based on the item type being sold. For example, selling an Unidentified Magic Item will grant players a certain number of Transmutation Shards, which can be combined into Orbs of Transmutation. Selling identified Magic Items will grant players Alteration Shards and so on

This different system also opens the game up to rather nebulous but interesting Vendor Recipes: by selling specific combinations of items to Vendors, players will be guaranteed a specific outcome. This is almost similar to the Reforge Bench in PoE 2, but the combinations are more hidden. Here are some useful ones:

3-to-1

Selling 3 Life or Mana Flasks of the same type will grant a player a Life or Mana flask of the next higher tier. The same works for Maps where selling three Tier 1 Maps of the same type will grant a player a Tier 2 Map

Resistance Ring

• Iron Ring
• Skill Gem

The colour of the Skill Gem affects the outcome:

• Red Gem: Ruby Ring (Fire Resistance)
• Blue Gem: Sapphire Ring (Cold Resistance)
• Green Gem: Topaz Ring (Lightning Resistance)

Magic Boots with % increased Movement Speed

• Magic or Rare Boots with % increased Movement Speed
• Quicksilver Flask
• Orb of Augmentation

This recipe will grant a Magic pair of Boots with #% increased Movement Speed, one tier higher than the input, up to Tier 2 (30% increased Movement Speed). This can also be done with a pair of Normal-rarity Boots to add the lowest tier of Movement Speed

Physical Damage Weapon

• Weapon
• Magic/Rare/Unique Rustic Sash
• Blacksmith's Whetstone

This will grant a Magic Weapon with #% increased Physical Damage, based on the rarity of the input Rustic Sash

There are many more that you can check out over on poewiki.net

While the foundation of Path of Exile 1 and 2's crafting might seem similar, with both games sharing many of the same Orbs, PoE 1's crafting is more comprehensive and has several foundational mechanics that change how things work.

Try to not be overwhelmed by the number of crafting mechanics in Path of Exile 1 - as with many things in this game, you do not need to learn, understand and make all the different Crafting methods immediately. Not only would that require possibly hundreds of hours of experience, but it would be so overwhelming it would probably lead most players to quit or not engage with the Crafting systems at all. However, without going into specific Crafting mechanics, the major differences will be listed here:

Scour

Players can "backtrack" Rarity. Unlike in Path of Exile 2, where Rarity is a one-way street from Normal to Magic, to Rare with no way to go backwards, in PoE 1, players can go from Rare to Magic or even Rare to Normal fairly easily. The easiest way to do this is with an Orb of Scouring which will convert any non-Unique, non-Corrupted item into a clean, white Normal Rarity item

Reforge

There are several systems in PoE 1 that allow a player to Reforge an item, changing several or all of its modifiers all at once. PoE 2's crafting generally works by adding on or altering individual modifiers, but Reforge mechanics give players the option to completely change the item's modifiers. The most common form of Reforge players will encounter early are with Orbs of Alteration that Reforge a Magic item, giving it new modifiers. Chaos Orbs can Reforge Rare items, rerolling all its modifiers rather than removing and adding a new one. Essences are also found in PoE 1 and Reforge an item with at least one guaranteed modifier (listed on the Essence). There are a plethora of Reforge mechanics in PoE 1 that you'll encounter as you make your way through the game

Crafting Bench

Players will unlock the Crafting Bench early into the Campaign and after placing it in their Hideout, the Crafting Bench can be used to add a single modifier to items. This can be extremely powerful early to help players cap their Resistances, gain additional damage or Life, but also alter the Sockets on their gear. In the endgame, there are complex Metacrafting options on the Crafting Bench that can be used in a way similar to Omens, which affect the way that other Crafting mechanics interact with items.

Modifiers on items added by the Crafting Bench can be changed freely, but all Crafts will have an associated Currency Orb cost, and changing a Bench-crafted modifier from one to another, will add an additional Orb of Scouring to the usual cost.

Currency Orbs - Similar, but Different

There are several Currency Orbs in PoE 1 that you'll know from PoE 2, but they have different functions:

• Orb of Transmutation: upgrades a Normal Item to a Magic item. The difference here is that the item can be upgraded to have either 1 or 2 modifiers (a Prefix and a Suffix) rather than just 1
• Chaos Orb: Reforges a Rare item with new random modifiers. This is different from the PoE 2 Chaos Orb that removes then adds a new modifier
• Orb of Alchemy: upgrades a Normal item to a Rare item. The difference is that the PoE 1 Alchemy will upgrade the Normal item to a Rare item with 4-6 modifiers, rather than just a guaranteed 4.
• Orb of Regret: Used to grant a Passive Respec Point (players can also use Gold to respec, but these are also useful when low on Gold)

General Mechanics

Be prepared to see tons of different crafting tools in PoE 1, but try not to be overwhelmed: you do not need to know them all, learn them all and utilise them all. Players can make do with basic crafting systems such as using a few Essences and then adding an additional modifier with the Crafting Bench before adding some implicit modifiers with Eldrich Currency. Even that might sound overwhelming, but what I recommend making use of mostly early on before expanding your Crafting knowledge:

• Basic Currency Orbs
• Crafting Bench
• Essences
• Eldrich Currency (Embers and Ichors) to add implicits (Endgame)

And be prepared to stumble upon all of the other crazy, complicated and wonderful systems you'll find later on:

• Fossil Crafting (Delve)
• Rog Crafting (Expedition)
• Harvest Crafting (Harvest)
• Metacrafting (Crafting Bench)
• Beast Crafting (Bestiary)
• Eldritch Crafting (Endgame)
• Recombinator Crafting (Expedition)
• Veiled Mechanics (Betrayal)
• Synthesis and Fracturing
• Influence Crafting
• Memory Threads

Like I said, there is a lot! Try to be excited about having so much to learn rather than completely overwhelmed. It is a lot to take in, but basic crafting methods exist to introduce players to Crafting, but under the surface, there is a massive depth that is available to players who wish to explore and understand PoE 1's Crafting systems. And if you don't want to learn it all, don't worry, there's always Trade where you can find your next upgrade!

After over a decade of updates, PoE's endgame is far more expansive than PoE 2's. This is the thing that makes the game great, but also the major reason that so many players are turned off by the game, even if they've managed to make it through the campaign. Again, focus on what you're doing, not what you are not doing; if you focus on just a couple of systems and mechanics each league, you can still have a great experience and have more to look forward to if you decide to return.

Let's get into the changes on PoE 1's endgame

Maps and The Atlas

PoE doesn't have an overworld Atlas like in PoE 2. Instead, the Atlas is a series of specific Maps that players need to complete to unlock Atlas Passive Skill Points. The word "Map" is used in PoE to describe a similar thing to Waystones in PoE 2

Instead of being generic "keys" to open a Map on the Atlas, Maps in PoE will open a portal to a specific area. For example, you will find a Mesa Map, or a Cage Map or Underground Sea Map. These can be placed into the Map Device to open a Portal, just like in PoE 2. However, in PoE, the Map Device will always open 6 Portals, regardless of how many modifiers the Map has and leaving the area or dying will close a Portal.

Maps also have Tiers, with specific Maps (eg Cage Map Tier 1) having a base Tier that can later be increased by completing endgame Pinnacle Content. As players progress through the Atlas by completing more new Maps, they'll progress the "Endgame Campaign", unlock more Points to place on their Atlas Tree and eventually get closer to fighting some of the many, many Endgame bosses the game has to offer

Atlas Tree

Unlike the PoE 2 Atlas Tree that separates different content into different Trees, the PoE Atlas Tree contains all mechanics within a single massive...well, Tree. New Points are obtained by completing new Maps and endgame encounters and 2 clean additional Atlas Trees can be Unlocked after obtaining 50 and 100 Points so that players can change between strategies more quickly without having to Respec their entire Tree. To be clear, the additional Trees are the same Tree, but clean slates in which you can allocate new Points to create new strategies.

The Atlas Passive Tree contains many generic bonuses that will apply to all Maps, but also buffs to specific Mechanics and content that you find in them, either making them more likely to appear, making them harder and more rewarding, or changing how they function in interesting ways

Mechanics

This is the point that most players who made it to the endgame either check out, or get hooked forever. The number of Mechanics in PoE (such as Breach, Abyss, Expedition etc in PoE 2) is extensive and equally daunting. But again, you do not need to learn them all - dip your toe in, try what seems interesting and experiment. Some popular recommended Mechanics for newer players:

• Expedition: can be challenging in Maps, but the Vendor systems can help generate a lot of Currency very early on. For example, Tujen will allow you to buy Currency for Black Scythe Artifacts, Rog will allow you to Craft and Gwennen offers a somewhat obsolete gambling service
• Essence: very straightforward and can be decently profitable
• Shrines: with investment on the Tree, these can provide a massive power boost in every Map you run, making other content less challenging. It doesn't produce much Currency, but the power it offers is excellent.
• Whatever new mechanic GGG adds in the latest patch!

I really encourage all new PoE players to experiment and play around. We will have a series of Atlas Trees to help new players too

Juicing

In PoE 2, "juicing" (ie. making your Maps harder for more reward) is done with your Atlas Tree, Precursor Tablets and Distilled Emotions. In PoE 1, instead of Precursor Tablets, there a series of items called "Scarabs" that can be used to affect specific content by making it harder, changing how it functions and by improving its rewards. Scarabs combined with the Atlas Tree are the bread and butter of PoE's endgame and allow players to theorycraft endgame strategies to maximise output (and fun) in a similar way they might with builds. For the last time: try to not be overwhelmed by the number of Scarabs. Rather focus on just one or two strategies, look at the Scarabs that apply to that strategy and build up your knowledge from there!

While Path of Exile is daunting, just remember to have fun and never feel any shame for needing a guide to help you progress and answer your questions. Despite its reputation, the PoE community is actually very welcoming to people who new players who are trying to learn and it's highly recommended you join a community to get answers to the many, many questions you will have. Never feel that you're asking a stupid question: we get it, we've all been there, and we know how crazy and complex this game is and we've all been helped by other players in the past and asked plenty of stupid questions.

And if you don't like PoE, that's fine too! It's totally normal for many players to try PoE, not like it, try it again, not like it and then get an itch to try just one more time and absolutely fall in love with it.

It's just a game - have fun, don't take it too seriously, and league start Pohx's Righteous Fire