When it comes to Path of Exile 2, few tools are as essential as Path of Building. Whether you’re trying to min-max your endgame character, follow a build guide accurately, or simply understand how different passive nodes, items, and supports affect your damage and survivability, Path of Building is the backbone of serious character planning.
This article is not a full technical breakdown of every single feature. Instead, it focuses on the most important and practical parts of Path of Building—the features you’ll actually use every day while playing PoE 2.
What is the Path of Building and Why It Matters in PoE 2
Path of Building (PoB) is a character planning and simulation tool that allows you to:
- Plan and edit passive skill trees
- Import full builds from guides or existing characters
- Test items before buying them
- Compare support gems and skill setups
- Accurately calculate damage, defenses, and survivability
In Path of Exile 2—where systems are deeper, weapon sets matter, and scaling is more complex—PoB is effectively mandatory if you want to play efficiently.
The Passive Skill Tree: The Backbone of Every Build
When you first open Path of Building, you’ll land on the passive skill tree, which is the foundation of every character.
Here, you can:
- Select your class (Monk, Ranger, Sorceress, etc.)
- Choose your Ascendancy (Deadeye, Pathfinder, Ritualist, and so on)
- Allocate nodes manually to plan your progression
Controls you should know immediately:
- Left-click: Select individual nodes
- Right-click: Quickly allocate nodes of the same type
- Once a stat (like Dexterity) is selected, right-clicking will continue allocating that stat
While you can fully plan a build from scratch this way, most players don’t use PoB primarily for raw tree planning.
Importing Builds: How Most Players Use Path of Building
In practice, Path of Building is most commonly used by importing existing builds. There are three major ways to do this.
- Importing from a Build Guide (e.g. Mobalytics)
Most modern guides provide a Path of Building code. Importing it is simple:
- Copy the PoB code from the guide
- Open PoB → Import/Export Build
- Paste the code and click Import
Instantly, you’ll have:
- The full passive tree
- Skills and support gems
- Items and gear setups
This is the fastest way to follow a build accurately and understand why it works.
- Importing from PoE Ninja
If you want to analyze a real player’s character:
- Visit their profile on PoE Ninja
- Click the “Open in Path of Building” button
PoB will automatically load:
- Their tree
- Gear
- Skills
- Weapon sets
This is excellent for studying high-end characters or comparing your own progress to top players.
- Importing Directly from the Game
You can also import your own characters straight from Path of Exile 2:
- Open Import/Export
- Authorize your Path of Exile account (one-time step)
- Select your character and league
- Import passives, items, and skills
This keeps your PoB perfectly synced with your actual character.
Understanding Real-Time Stat Changes
One of Path of Building’s biggest strengths is real-time feedback.
As you allocate or remove passive nodes:
- DPS updates instantly
- Attack speed changes immediately
- Defensive stats like evasion and energy shield adjust live
This lets you see exactly how much impact a single node has, rather than guessing.
Weapon Sets in PoE 2: A Hidden but Critical Detail
Path of Exile 2 introduces weapon sets, and PoB supports them—but the controls are not obvious.
To allocate weapon set nodes:
- Hold Alt
- Scroll your mouse wheel
You’ll see PoB switch between:
- Weapon Set 1 nodes
- Weapon Set 2 nodes
Failing to do this correctly can result in inaccurate damage calculations, so this is an important habit to learn early.
Testing Items Before You Buy Them (One of PoB’s Best Features)
Path of Building is incredibly powerful for gear comparison, especially when shopping.
Importing Items from the Trade Site
When viewing an item on the trade website:
- Highlight the item text
- Copy it (Ctrl + C)
- Paste it into PoB (Ctrl + V)
The item appears instantly in your item list.
Important note:
Trade-site imports may require minor edits:
- Fix implicit counts
- Set item rarity correctly
- Re-add socketed modifiers manually
Once corrected, you can add the item to your build and compare it directly to your equipped gear.
Importing Items from the In-Game Market
This method is even easier:
- Right-click → Copy Item
- Paste directly into PoB
In-game imports usually require no manual fixes, making them ideal for quick comparisons.
Comparing Damage and Defenses
Once imported, you can:
- Swap weapons and compare DPS
- Check explosion vs hit damage separately
- Compare armor using EHP (Effective Hit Pool) values
- Analyze resistances, life, energy shield, and mana
This prevents wasting currency on upgrades that look good on paper but underperform in practice.
Skill and Support Gem Testing
The Skills tab lets you test support gems and alternate setups.
For example:
- Swap one support gem for another
- Instantly see DPS gains or losses
- Identify the most efficient links for your main skill
Not everything in PoE 2 is fully supported yet, but most core mechanics are functional enough for accurate comparisons.
The Configuration Menu: Where Numbers Really Come From
The Configuration tab is arguably the most important—and most misunderstood—part of Path of Building.
By default, PoB assumes:
- No charges
- No conditional buffs
- No situational bonuses
This leads to damage numbers that look much lower than expected.
What You Should Always Configure
- Full Life (especially for Energy Shield builds)
- Power, Frenzy, and Endurance charges
- On-kill or conditional buffs
- Enemy type and difficulty
Checking or unchecking a single box can massively change your DPS and survivability numbers.
Adding Unsupported Mechanics with Custom Modifiers
Some mechanics show up in red text, meaning PoB doesn’t calculate them automatically.
You can manually add them using Custom Modifiers, as long as you use the exact in-game wording.
Examples:
- 30% more Attack Damage
- 25% to Lightning Resistance
- 30% of Damage as Extra Cold Damage
You can copy phrasing directly from:
- Passive tree nodes
- Item modifiers
- Support gems
If the wording matches exactly, PoB will calculate it correctly.
Why PoB Numbers Can Be Misleading (If You’re Not Careful)
This is why two Path of Building links can look wildly different:
- One has all conditionals enabled
- One uses custom modifiers
- One assumes perfect uptime
- The other uses defaults
Always check the Configuration tab before trusting DPS numbers—especially when comparing builds.
Final Thoughts: Why Path of Building Is Essential for PoE 2
At a high level, Path of Building helps you do four critical things:
- Plan and follow passive skill trees
- Test skills and support gems
- Compare items before spending POE 2 currency
- Accurately understand your real damage and defenses
You don’t need to master every menu to get value out of PoB. If you understand the skill tree, items, skills, and configuration, you already have everything you need to build stronger characters in Path of Exile 2.
For players who want to go even deeper—advanced calculations, jewel manipulation, or extreme min-maxing—Path of Building has far more to offer. But for most players, these core features are where the real power lies.
Hopefully, this article improves your in-game experience. For additional Diablo 4 guides and Path of Exile 2 currency buy, check out MMOexp.