EVERY League Mechanic in PoE Explained in under 2 minutes

Zizaran briefly explains every league mechanic you can find in Path of Exile, in an effort to mitigate confusion among new players.
PoE is a very deep game with tons of moving parts, and with this video Ziz hopes to dispell the fog of the unknown.
Bestiary Guide • You SHOULD run more Be...
Betrayal Guide • Path of Exile Betrayal...
Incursion Guide • WTF is Incursion?! - D...
Delve Guide • WTF is Delve?! - Quick...
Heist Guide • Heist is very profitab...
Legion Jewels Guide • Legion Jewels for Dummies
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Edited by Skryah ► / skryahexists
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Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:42 In-depth guides for some of these mechanics
01:21 Bestiary (Beasts)
02:19 Incursion
03:08 Delve
04:10 Betrayal (Immortal Syndicate)
05:33 Kirac (Atlas Missions)
06:26 Blight (Tower Defense)
07:47 Ritual
08:50 Metamorph
09:27 Beyond
10:42 Delirium
12:19 Heist
14:13 Expedition
15:39 Breach
16:20 Legion
17:35 Harvest
18:34 Abyss
19:31 Harbinger
20:16 Divination Cards
20:59 Essences
21:49 Minor Leagues (Strongboxes, Ghosts, Shrines, Rogue Exiles)
23:38 Leagues that were removed but still exist (Synthesis, Talisman)
25:28 Closing thoughts
#poe #pathofexile

[@bigby9398]

Bestiary - 10/10 do not skip Incursion - 4/10 situational Delve - 2/10 OK to skip Betrayal - 10/10 do not skip Blight - 8/10 good early Ritual - 4/10 situational Metamorph - 6/10 situational Beyond - ?/10 situational Delirium - 10/10 advanced farming Heist - 3/10 OK to skip Expedition - 10/10 must-have Breach - 8/10 good casually Legion - 7/10 worth considering Harvest - 8/10 good casually Abyss - 8/10 good casually Harbinger - 3/10 forgettable Essences - 10/10 must-have

[@ggn1]

my hero

[@csababobalo8692]

Up

[@gmailer59]

Expedition was the first thing I blacklisted on atlas tree lol

[@RickReasonnz]

Delve is still my favourite. if only for the playstyle. So easy to jump in and grind some mobs.

[@sonofsparta2693]

Ziz, you are one of the few who literally MAKES this game accessible for new players, bravo.

[@ItsTheGofa]

@sonofsparta2693 Totally agree, and he doesnt talk jargon, its easy for even the newest of players to get to grips with. Ziz rocks !

[@Lodoss2046]

For real, I played Poe for the first time in 2019 and loved it but was overloaded by the depth, and only came back because I started watching Ziz.

[@NameTaken123]

Agreed. There's no way I would still be playing this game without Ziz's videos. It's an incredible game, don't get me wrong, but I just don't have a ton of patience when it comes to games. I probably would have gotten frustrated and given up without all of the guides and videos to reference.

[@moogleboy]

As a new player (1,400 hours) this was super helpful. Lightweight, easy to digest info that's concise and to the point. Easy recommend to anyone who is looking to get into the game. Thanks Ziz!

[@Bloniesbeeboop]

its crazy thats considered a new player lol

[@moogleboy]

@@Bloniesbeeboop It's sort of a running joke. If at any point you feel like you're NOT a new player, then that means you think you don't have anything left to learn. There is ALWAYS something to learn in PoE. It's part of the allure.

[@ytmiva2]

I'm also a 1000+ hour forever newbie

[@Bloniesbeeboop]

@@moogleboy super cool, im about 900 hours in and i feel like i know nothing about the game lmao. I just watched this and discovered way more layers to mechanics i thought were shit at first, like expedition was always so lame and boring and now i see theres a whole ass map for it. Crazy game man im hyped for the journey.

[@OnlyHereForCake]

I put the game down for 2 years after 1200 hours since beta and now I've kinda got the itch to come back again it feel like I have to relearn the whole game haha

[@florenshuijgen9097]

I would recommend having a chart at the end that goes over the mechanics with the scores you gave them and if they can be skipped or not, perhaps even scale them as to beginners, intermediate, knowledgeable or expert players. Since it is still a lot of information to process just by watching it once. Otherwise great informative guide and it's much appreciated. Thank you.

[@sqrlmonger]

As someone who has been learning and relearning mechanics this league I wanted to give my 2 cents that when you cover mechanics it is REALLY REALLY helpful if you could briefly explain the game loop. Like where should people start, what should they be doing (or trying to do) to advance through the loop, how sustainable is it, etc.. A lot of my frustration in PoE comes from 1 of 2 places 1) learning I've wasted time not knowing about something that makes my life easier (e.g. selling 3 maps for 1 of higher tier) or 2) Finding out that something I actually can do well is not really sustainable (e.g. Blight maps do not sustain at all and you have to buy them to keep doing them).

[@parallaxrf2570]

Blight maps arent sustainable but they are really good for money making, actually one of the best money making strategies

[@tommygunmitvierm724]

I understand the second one it does feel weird having to buy these things when you want to fokus on them. Your first point is for me actually part of fun to constantly keep learning new things and getting better at the game. It feels really rewarding to understand the game more and get better at it.

[@Blagno4]

fr all those guides everyone does and not a single thought about the path to walk on

[@TurningDrop]

the game loops for specific mechanics does vary and that would probably be covered in the more in depth videos. as for the endgame and game as a whole there isnt really a way to explain that bc it doesnt really exist. the mechanic you want to focus on and when you do them depend mostly on the build you are trying to make and the strength of it at that time. another factor in that is whether you just want to make money and buy stuff or use certain mechanics to make stuff you need for yourself.

[@Zizaran]

Good feedback

[@Creationweek]

Bestiary 10/10 Incursion 4/10 Delve 2/10 Betrayal 5/10 for new players but 10/10 mechanic Kirac do not skip Blight 8/10 Ritual 4/10 Metamorph 6/10 Delirium 10/10 Heist 3/10 Expedition 10/10 Breach 8/10 Legion 7/10 Harvest 8/10 Abyss 8/10 Harbinger 3/10 Essences 10/10 must have

[@angrycharrua4999]

I was looking for this comment. You read my mind exile.

[@FishJackson]

A TL:DR of a TL:DR. Well played us short attention span gamers. *Proceeds to sit through the whole video anyway*

[@nineeerie6518]

Fuk y, all 0, hideout 100

[@MunchinOnDew]

good work

[@elemfao500]

Delve should be removed goddamn waste of a Master slot.

[@Zizaran]

You can find links to the specific guides in the description! (They didn't all fit in cards in the video). Enjoy, hope it helps.

[@xkiri7484]

I'd love a playlist with all the explained mechanics, if you haven't done one yet. Thanks to those video I understand them much better, and I can enjoy more as well. Also, thank you for your work!

[@aceshigher3865]

PoE has a major clutter problem. I hope PoE 2 adds some much needed coherence to the game.

[@teawithmilk747]

POE is such a great game! so many league mechanic to choose from and their mechanics is unique on from one another.

[@damagec0ntr0l]

Is there a guide to the leap slam build you're using in the video? New to POE and all of the build mechanics are a little daunting.

[@DChainZ_YT]

Made it through the campaign without any guides but as soon as I got to maps and looked at the Atlas tree I knew I needed to know wtf was going on with half the league mechanics lol, great guide. Quick, to the point, and informative. Helped me narrow down which mechanics to focus on and learn more about.

[@DawnBurn]

Really, really, really, really appreciate this one. I have most of these in my head but explaining to new players or players coming back after years is hard. This was a good overview. I think the Simulacrum was missed for Delerium, but other than that amazing jobs. I know I play POE more because of you as a content creator.

[@theadderallavenger]

Hey, thank you Zizaran, I suggested this on one of your videos! I really appreciate it, having missed many leagues and not knowing how to do some of them

[@bakerstreet5272]

Thank you for the video Ziz! I play casually at the start of each league and I realised that after a while I just spec my Atlas tree the same way every league, just playing the mechanics I like most without clear purpose. So I was looking for a "cheat sheet" to remember what was worth farming and for what and this video basically answered my questions.

[@deylloalyxx1494]

This video is a huge undertaking good job Ziz ,this is going to definitely help new players I'm sending this to my friends that are new to the game.

[@bluestar9997]

This is so useful! To get into any of the mechanics it takes quite a bit of getting into... only started playing mid last league and just setting up a build is confusing lol This time I am planning to go for expedition with the others casual, but I'll pay more attention to the ones deemed important here! Thank you

[@alexvandervliet]

Absolutely one of the best videos even as a veteran its nice to see you list everything and your opinions on them. I was like oh I haven't done that in awhile I should give it a shot! Great video I am sure very helpful to new people especially people concerned about doing their playtime "Wrong"

[@LAKEDRAGON413]

One of the best videos I have seen. Well done my dude. Never really thought of you as my top PoE youtubers, but now, you are definitely on the list; I'll be checking out more of your videos.

[@woodtsunami]

Super useful for me as a relatively new player. I would watch the multi hour version of this video for sure! I guess the priority though is updates to league mechanics, which make old long videos on them out of date. Not knowing what has changed makes it really hard to gauge some of them.

[@halograndauto3]

This is exactly the video I was looking for. I tried Path about a year ago and quit after early maps because I kept constantly finding these new league mechanics in my maps without any explanation of that they were or even what they're called so I didn't have an easy way of looking them up. Thank you for this video, it's a great starting place for new players.

[@robosergTV]

what? These mechanics have their own quest with voiceover and are introduced ACT by ACT during the campaign. WTF are you on about. I started POE 5 days ago, season mechanics are explained with quests

[@MrShinTensei]

​@@robosergTVI ran into ritual my first map. Never was explained

[@Mrjigglesz]

This is fantastic information with great presentation. The work you put into these videos really does make an impact on the new player experience in PoE.

[@Barewell]

Love the intros and also thanks for the videos they’re super helpful for someone like me who wants to actually learn the game in and out. Super nice in you stream also. Great dude.

[@mzimmerman1988]

This is one of the most useful POE videos I have ever watched.. Thank you for putting in the effort.

[@sodapopinski8064]

I've watched a lot of PoE videos over the years, and this might be the greatest of them. Thank you for trying to make PoE approachable for new players!

[@asthmaticninja4430]

this was a great video! When i was a new player, i was also concerned about the safest ways to get experience - for example, I spec into harbinger, and add abysses and run temple chronicles when i want some safe XP. Perhaps worth mentioning where a mechanic will add lots of experience, or safer experience? Unlike say essence or Delirium which can be a bit more rippy

[@bastil6743]

Hey Zizaran! I got my best friend into PoE with Crucible, and your guides are invaluable! Thank you SO much for making them!

[@rhiyos]

This is the video I was hoping to find when I started playing again six months ago. Excellent summary. ... one small thing as someone has done a decent amount of heist is that it does open a new item slot but that slot can only help you with heists since the only drop outside of heists will be rogue markers. ... I am still going to watch this video a few more times to see what mechanics I want to work on more too.

[@FeyrirCW]

great video, i've been wondering which mechanics are worth looking into more!

[@clemensbadaboom782]

Coming back to the game after quite some time and really happy to get an overview and feeling what to go for. Thanks ziz!

[@Freexers]

Really liked this video! As a player who plays POE in and out (played last league, but the league before that i played was harvest) found this very helpfull, as mechanics change from a league to becoming standard in new leagues. I think one thing that would help is situations league mechanics can be useful. ❤❤❤

[@The88shrimp]

Thank you for this, I've looked for stuff like this in the past but have never really found a simple summary of each.

[@Xenn000]

Great and informative, only thing I would add is all of the ratings together at the end so we could save a pic of it for reference!

[@martinw2235]

This was great. I've been doing SSF for a couple seasons now, but I'm still not totally sure if I need to do certain mechanics or not. This helped clarify things a lot.

[@TheTripleJski]

been playing since beta...STILL learn tons of new things from this man alone typically. Also, i think your guides are great...I've adopted my fav builds (BB/BF chieftain) and this leauge TR Ballista thanks to having what I assume is similar tastes, so I consider ziz my POE build spirit animal :) Ty ziz

[@thenanoterrium7495]

Wow.. this is EXACTLY what I needed. As a new comer I was completely overwhelmed with the feature offerings of this truly remarkable dungeon crawler. I had no idea where to even begin. You have truly made it insanely easy to sync my teeth into PoE. Your witch/minion tut alone is phenominal and truly made my first experience with PoE an extremely wonderful one. Please keep the content coming!

[@imover9999]

Came back to PoE after like 6+ years and all these new mechanics kind of shocked me. I just sort of learned through trial and error, but this video helps fill in the gaps, and it helps me learn "oh, that thing is called that." So I'll be able to look up and learn more about each specific mechanic thanks to this video. I'll keep an eye out for your other league mechanic videos. Thanks, Ziz.

[@joec7177]

Yeah same here, haven’t managed to play due to ass computer since 2018, loads of new mechanics had me confused even with the new bosses

[@imover9999]

@@joec7177 Yeah man I just played Pohx's rf jugg and was a breeze. It's cheap and easy af. But yeah it's weird to learn all these new mechanics. Even after getting to like t11 maps (and then giving up cause life happens) I was still kicking ass, but was also still a slight bit confused about certain things. But you'll learn it. Just delve deep into the wiki about the Atlas stuff and the Atlas quests and you'll figure it out for sure.

[@grandg3578]

Ziz, you are killing it with your content aimed at new or unexperienced players. GGG does literally nothing to explain most mechanics and your videos can be huge for a new and confused player who has no friends to turn to for explanation. Love to see this amazing content, keep it up!

[@fok8810]

I would not say they do nothing but you must pay attention to every major patch video reveal and patch notes to keep up with these details

[@jmbrady1]

Ziz, I really appreciate this video as I am one of those people that don't know league mechanics and when to focus them, this vid helps massively

[@Astroreign]

Thank you Ziz, as someone who stopped playing regularly a couple of years ago, getting back into the game is a nightmare because I see all these builds with jewels and crafted stats that I have no idea how to get / how to target farm. Hopefully this video makes me a bit more comfortable!

[@brofst]

It would be great to have a visual slide or chart at the end that sums up everything you talked about and their rankings, as a quick reference!

[@brunotolentino9702]

Exactly what i needed! Ziz, you rock!

[@PhoenixFlamezz]

Tysm Ziz! I'm not new, but I might as well be, I havent played since Delve and this helped a ton! Appreciate you!

[@alexeinovikov7409]

Hey Zizaran! I am a new player who just completed the campaign for the 1st time by following your cold DoT starter guide + trying to get through your PoE University series! This video was a godsend. I have been struggling with the older longform videos. I found myself needing to follow along with the wiki to really understand you, checking things, pausing, replaying, until it clicked. I'd find myself hopping between videos to try and understand something I didn't 100% follow then returning to the original one. Im just getting lost in details that don't really apply to me right now. Doing these TLDR versions with links to more indepth videos really helps with all that, and thank you so much for this!!! So far, I am getting a lot of useful information but I am a bit lost on how to get started to acquiring the gear in the starter guides. I'd love to see a video like this one but maybe with crafting techniques or currency farming techniques? I can't even put together the "early game" items in the PoB and am a bit lost. Again, thank you Zizaran. This is my like 5th attempt to get into PoE and I wasn't able to even do the campaign until I watched you content.

[@TannerCLynn]

This was very helpful. I am new and got to the Atlas tree with my boneshatter build and was totally lost again. I took all the “shaping the X” after seeing you recommend them in another video but just saved like 10+ points after that cuz I didn’t know what to do hahahah. This was very helpful

[@Dunwicc]

Really awesome video, maybe my favourite PoE video I've seen. Not only because it's very informative, while not being overwhelming, but also very nice to watch and listen to! Would be great to see similar videos for for example types of crafting, maybe types of builds, types of defensive layers et cetera.

[@ytmiva2]

Thanks for the video! Very useful for me as I am a returning player taking it slow and enjoying the story again! 😊

[@jenslarsson6134]

Good explaining, I am a new player so this is realy the info needed to progress. Big thanks for good vids, watched the long newbie video before I started playing and that was realy good aswell.

[@zenmasterproductions5520]

thanks for doing my suggestion and some how keeping it under an hour lmao. you are the man ziz

[@khaosterminator]

Thank you. This did a good job of getting me a bit more caught up with mechanics than i was

[@PeachMang0Pie]

this is a very good compilation!! especially for me that i don't honestly know what to focus on atlas. :( thanks ziz!

[@nikroth]

Very informational ! Great job !!

[@NameTaken123]

I know it's extra work but it would be nice to have your full videos for each league mechanic in the description if you do this kind of video again. Sometimes I search for them and end up on outdated ones or can't determine which one is the most up to date and complete. Great video overall though!

[@hao97]

Arguably the single must helpful video for new player. Thank you!!

[@TheSpyWhoCould]

Exact vid I was looking for and big surprise ziz is the publisher thanks again

[@davidfloyd4386]

Perfect timing, I started a few weeks before sanctum ended. Still learning and was actually planning to play with heist more. Thanks for all the helpful videos!

[@makeouthill6802]

more videos like this please- i enjoy my 2 hour videos while playing but these are just so usefull for fast info

[@123smartcontent]

Nice video Ziz!

[@tenags0708]

I don’t play every league and you are so helpful at league starts… thank you!

[@Zuicini]

Awesome thanks Ziz!

[@15kalas15]

As a returning player whose played since day 1 but very casually compared to content creators and regulars this vid was extremely helpful. I've played maybe 6 or 8 of the leagues but I also remember when the game was just Act 1-3

[@codyfike3545]

This was honestly such a weight off my shoulders knowing that I can skip things I dont like and it not hurting me in anyway. I just got to maps on crucible league and your videos have been invaluable to me from my character build (rf jugg from another of your videos) to early mapping tips, getting a 6l, and then the last video that helped me immensely was the Atlas tree video. So fantastically well done. Thanks for all your help man these videos truly are a godsend. Now to watch your explanation on Betrayal because I'm so fucking lost 😅

[@fabioshinichi]

Exactly what I needed, thank you :D

[@RandomGuy0987]

D4 got me back into arpgs, and videos like yours are getting me back into PoE. Thanks ziz

[@haydenwillems8496]

This answered so many questions I had about most of these mechanics

[@DuskAK]

This video is much appreciated! Cheers

[@JunPJ]

Your content is always coming at the right and on point you are gem for this Poe community

[@Jules-77]

Very helpful video, the links to the individual vids even better. I’m not new but am a noob. 👍🏻

[@GelberDracheLP]

Perfect timing... Start with the league again after more then 2 years of not playing poe And there are so many things i need to learn, from what the f is this to how must i manipulate this again...

[@tandeshmukh]

Actually a 10/10 video man. Thank you so much.

[@PhotriusPyrelus]

Good video. Wish there was a *little* bit more detail in a few places, but good stuff overall. Probably very helpful for a new player.

[@wolffl0w412]

I think the vid was great to give a general overview of the mechanics

[@botousai]

This is my friend's first league and I sent this to him instantly. Thank you so much!

[@ImmRain]

I’m only 50 hours into the game so far & this was extremely helpful. Thank you sm

[@olo90]

Really, really good overview. Probably would have been nice to give one overview page (kinda like the comment from Creationweek) that shows all the ratings/summaries on one page.

[@CultivationPath]

This format is extremely helpful, a "2 minutes version" of any guide you do would be extremely well received I think. Like a videogame's demo version, so you can check if you are interested and go search for more, without having to invest a lot of time at first.

[@Fulmork]

Holly hell this helped me a lot! The only thing I feel is missing, is like a link to an Atlas tree, or an image in the video where it point's out the importance and priority of nodes, because there could be like 5 Atlas sections for Blight, but should I spec into all of those? Only some? Which ones? Just a quick screenshot of the Atlas with highlights like: 1. Rush this 2. Very Good 3. Get half of this 4. Optional 5. Skip But even still, thanks a lot for this! This is my 3rd league and the 1st time I'm pushing red maps and the 1st time I got a divine (from Ritual actually, makes me not want to skip it)

[@jc123449]

I just started playing in crucible after getting the itch after diablo 4 beta. Genuinely think I would have quit if it wasn't for your videos... Thanks man, the game is great once you can get past the initial barrier of bewildering number of mechanics in the game. I'm play rightous fire jug and chaos rain pathfinder and having a blast!

[@7moooo1]

really appreciate this video, was really scratching my head on what these different mechanics on my atlas tree were, i eventually ended up specing into what i enjoyed playing the most tbh, but i was still confused nevertheless on what the mechanics really were or what they could provide. i still dislike expedition if i am being honest, but i might put a few points into it to see if i will like it or not

[@shintruth2716]

PoE being a complex game is an understatement lol

[@Some_Awe]

it would take multiple hours, but i would love a one stop shop 4 hour video with chapters detailing every league, up to date, ups and downs, tips and tricks, atlas trees 😊

[@Z3W1]

Love it ❤ thank you so much

[@lllOnSlAuGhTlll]

this is such a good idea! thanks for that.

[@b4nelingbust657]

Very helpful video thanks you so much dude.

[@hypno9628]

Thanks for this video, the atlas makes a bit more sense now, I am still sort of overwhelmed however with all the different things to do :D

[@calvinwilson3617]

Thank you for this!!!

[@karlopest9288]

Fantastic video!

[@Goodpizzaa]

Dude i remember you from watching in 2019 i just came back and holy shit it's overwhelming. Ty.

[@psilimit]

I've played off and on for 10 years. There are SO MANY mechanics now! I played some live, and missed so e others. This is SUPER helpful! Thank you so much!

[@ANTI-META-GAMING]

Thanks for the work

[@Meatbun]

this was useful because trying to google search what leagues were currently in the game i didn't get any return hits. As a returning player(I last played Ultimatum) I wondered what was in and what wasn't

[@cubandarknez]

this is a great video for new players. one piece of feedback is to add maybe some higher level markers in the video, or ordering the mechanics from least skippable to most skippable. I can see new players getting to 10 min mark of video and closing the video due to info overload, even if it is REALLY good info.

[@hiphopgrind1]

Damn this vid is so useful. Thx Ziz

[@strongbelwas8899]

such a useful video, thx zizzy

[@Dunkirk101]

First season here, and this was super helpful!!

[@celoot33]

As a returning player from Harbinger league this is great help to jump back into PoE aftwr missing a lot of new stuff

[@Meitti]

Calling bestiary Pokemon-league and Blight Tower Defence-league helps explain them really well to newcomers. Betrayal-League could be called Shadow of Mordor-League because the whole interrogation process is very similar to the orc-recruiting mechanic.

[@artemiiasabov43]

Would like to see some summary in the end of the video like sheet with all leagues and result should i skip or not. Anyway great video, Thanks!

[@dirtymightmusic5239]

I actually think betrayal and harvest are one of the most important things to pick up early while learning the basics of crafting. crafting in ssf is super important but you can safe (or make) SO much currency while crafting your own gear. using harvest and essences to craft your items and finish them with crafts found from unveiling items is so strong for early/mid tier items when you just get into crafting and you can craft incredible items worth multiple divines with 10-30c investment which is really valuable for people that are not that good with farming currency yet. Just spamming a few bound fossils on convoking wands and crafting a trigger craft or throwing a few minion damage essences onto gloves until you hit life/dex/a few resists and crafting the missing one onto it makes such good items. Harvest is also super useful to either craft cluster jewels or just mindlessly throw a few crafts onto a base until it looks better (if you find a stygian for example just throwing a few life or chaos rerolls onto it can make it really usable really fast)

[@zaekeon]

This was helpful, as a new player thought I’m still confused on some of these in terms of when and where would I see them…

[@sumgue4964]

Incredibly useful for new players (me). Only thing is ruthless changes stuff and I still dont know exactly what I should aim for.

[@Deathcrush8]

Thank you for this

[@knaz7468]

Well done!

[@franical]

I'm just starting POE and the last arpg I used to play was literally Diablo 2 (back in the days). I decided to start because I'm undecided in buying D4. I found out that poe is the most complex game available online, and this video proves it even more. There's so much mechanics available through the years this game has been active. It's very overwhelming as a casual newbie. But, so far, with my 20 hrs playing it. I have been excited to progress more and more, it's addicting. (reason I ended up to this vid lol)