Path of Exile - upcoming F2P Daiablo clone

[Syt]

I ignore a lot of loot, unless it's an item I can use right away, or a "normal" item that fits my build and which I can upgrade to something better than what I have. And when an area is clear I usually take some of the gear lying around to vendor off. Or crafting mats/currency items, or flasks. I only just learned you can combine three flasks of one level to one of the next level at the vendor.

The Wiki has guides on what sold gear gives you what in return, plus some vendor crafting (https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Vendor_recipe_system), but I don't pay too much attention to it yet (except stuff that gives alchemy shards/orbs, because creating rares of the next tier of weapon/armor for leveling to me seems a good ROI during the campaign).

[frunk]

I still haven't figured out how to recognize potentially useful loot.

Generally there are four classes of loot worth picking up.

Currency - Pretty much always pick up except Wisdom/Portal Scrolls.  Those you'll pick up early on (particularly on a new league) but tail off once you have enough wealth that you can generate more when you need it.  Once you get much higher level there some others that you ignore, but don't worry about that.
Vendor Recipes - Items that are used in vendor recipes.  Early on the important one is three color linked sockets.  Those can be sold for Chromatic Orbs.
Crafting Bases - Normal (sometimes magic) items that provide a good starting point for crafting an item.  Good choices are fully (or 5) linked items, 6 socketed items, items with a maxed implicit mod, magic items with good explicit mods (don't bother with until much higher level) or items that can be orb of chanced into a powerful unique.
Usable Items - Rare or Unique Items that can be used as is or with a little crafting.

Use a good item filter to help with this.  I use NeverSink, and as I play more characters in a league I increase the strictness of the filter.

Mods that are always good, in rough order of importance (discounting some specific builds):
Life
Elemental Resistances
Damage reduction
Damage of the type(s) you are dealing
Attack/Cast speed
Movement speed
Defenses of the appropriate type (Evasion/Armor/Energy Shield/Block Chance/Spell Block)
Item quantity
Item rarity
Attributes
Life leech
Life gain
Life regen
Chaos resistance
Mana leech
Mana gain
Mana regen
Max mana

Mods that can be very important depending on build:
Area of effect
Area damage
Chain
Pierce
Reduced mana reserved
Chance to gain a charge
Critical Strike chance
Critical Strike damage
Chance to freeze/ignite/shock/poison/bleed/stun
length of freeze/ignite/shock/poison/bleed/stun
Damage dealt conversion
Damage received conversion

I'm sure I'm missing some, but it's a start.

[Syt]

Finished Piety today. Updated weapon, shield, boots, and a ring. Also switched to Tectonic Slam for main damage, augmented with Fortify and extra elemental damage, with Heavy Strike for single targets (with Ruthless Support). Also using Vengeance and Reckoning (both with Life Gain on Hit). I have Leap Slam for some mobility, and use Anger/Herald of Ash auras. Plus Sunder for more distant targets.

[Berkut]

My alt-itis is setting in!

Arc witch is hilarious.

[frunk]

So I'm doing a Whispering Ice build with 5 sockets, and it's going pretty well.  I collect enough Jewellers to try making it a 6 socket only to realize that it's iLevel is 40.  Bah, time to collect some divination cards.

[FunkMonk]

I'm playing in Flashback now. I made a Charged Dash build as a Champion after it got massively buffed a patch or so ago.

This is more or less just to see if the build I made is viable as a league starter for the next real league.

Just when I think I'm out, it pulls me back in!! :alpacino:

SSF BTW

[Syt]

I've taken my Marauder into the Belly of the Beast today. Also did the first labyrinth (went Juggernaut). I'm not really seeing much gear for my char, though. I mostly rely on occasionally buying something from a vendor and rolling the dice on an orb of alchemy.

[FunkMonk]

My alt-itis is setting in!

Arc witch is hilarious.

Since they buffed Arc in the previous patch it's now genuinely one of the best spell skills in the game, particularly as a trapper. So much screen clear and you can concentrate on dodging attacks because you're just throwing traps everywhere willy-nilly.

[FunkMonk]

I've taken my Marauder into the Belly of the Beast today. Also did the first labyrinth (went Juggernaut). I'm not really seeing much gear for my char, though. I mostly rely on occasionally buying something from a vendor and rolling the dice on an orb of alchemy.

A good tip for attack builds during leveling: Sell 1x blacksmith's whetstone, 1x any-quality rustic sash (the rarer the better though), and your normal-quality weapon of choice. It will return to you a magic-quality weapon with the '% increased physical damage' prefix, the most necessary mod for attack builds. Then just use an augment orb and hope for a good mod. Even without a good mod the weapon should still be usable. Use 4 whetstones on the white weapon before the recipe, of course. Otherwise you'll have to spend 10 whetstones to quality it up to +20% instead of just the 4.

Do this when you feel like your weapon isn't up to snuff anymore. I usually do it every 10-12 levels until the later acts, which by then I usually drop a decent rare sword/axe/bow/whatever to start mapping. This is honestly the best way to organically scale your damage while leveling until you can drop a really good weapon.

As far as defense, well, just get lucky, man.    I dropped a +42 all-ele-resist String of Servitude belt in my first temple run on this character at like level 10 or something stupid like that so I'm just unkillable until at least Act 6 or 7   

[Syt]

Well, I'm now level 40-something. Next level axes start dropping regularly now, so I will just bide my time till something useful drops.

I've upgraded my build a bit. Still focusing on surviving - armor, a bit behind on resistances, but added endurance via Ascendancy (Unflinching) and passives, plus enduring cry, and tectonic slam for the buff from full endurance. Also using curse for tougher enemies, and I've slotted vengeance, reckoning, and riposte. Plus anger and flame golem. I'm at beginning of act 5, and tectonic slam and sunder regularly do 1500+ dps.

[crazy canuck]

The itemization and random drops are what I think makes this game so compelling for SSF.  Rather then working toward the inevitable BoS like in other games, when you get something great, through crafting or a straight drop, it can change your whole thinking about how to equip and level.  It makes it seem like less of a grind since everyone is not going to end up in the same spot if they just grind for enough hours.  You can get lucky and get a great drop fairly quickly or get a great item through crafting.  Just make the appropriate sacrifices to the RNG gods.

[FunkMonk]

If you happen upon a Vaal Double Strike, either through a random drop in a Vaal Corrupted area or through the corruption room in the incursion temple, and you're a melee build, slot it in ASAP. It absolutely wrecks bosses when you have 4 clones of you madly smacking the crap out of a boss. Link it with Increased Duration and just laugh as your boys clear the whole zone for you for 10 seconds   

[frunk]

And as I've mentioned before, Vaal Cyclone is hilarious.

[crazy canuck]

My alt-itis is setting in!

Arc witch is hilarious.

Since they buffed Arc in the previous patch it's now genuinely one of the best spell skills in the game, particularly as a trapper. So much screen clear and you can concentrate on dodging attacks because you're just throwing traps everywhere willy-nilly.

Yeah, self casting it is great in the lower difficulties but when mobs stop dying quickly staying stationary to cast is a problem.  Much better to just throw the trap.

[FunkMonk]

At level 45 now. Charged Dash feels really good to play. I like that I'm constantly moving and when I do stand still to charge up I'm still killing mobs because of the phases. It hits really hard in the last phase and after you let go of the charge, too. I'm just deleting rares and bosses with a crummy blue sword I crafted with just 60% increased physical damage.

I'm converting 90% of physical to elemental through the 50% to lightning from charged dash itself and the passive skill nodes that converts up to 40% to cold. Along with added fire, herald of ash, and herald of ice, almost all of my damage is elemental, roughly evenly split between all three. It's great because all my damage now scales with increased elemental damage and increased physical damage, making it easier to scale my damages through the passive tree and my equipment.

My current (and only) 4-link is charged dash - melee phys - added fire - elemental damage with attacks. Not super optimal but good enough for leveling on SSF.