Patch 0.4.0 for Path of Exile 2 has shaken up the whole campaign flow, and if you are still playing it like the first game, you are going to feel slow and broke before Act 3, even if you grab some poe 2 cheap currency on the side. The main thing that trips people up right now is the XP penalty. If you push zones while you are five or more levels under, your bar just crawls. Any time you hit a waypoint and see that level gap, it is usually better to hop back to an earlier area, blast through a few dense layouts, and come back rather than stubbornly forcing progress against under‑rewarding monsters.

Early Acts And XP Flow

You will notice pretty quickly that the game rewards staying in that sweet spot of being roughly three or four levels below the zone. When you fall further behind, kills feel awful and you start to panic, and that is how a run dies. If you see a layout with tight corridors and lots of blue packs, that is where you stay for a bit. White mobs are mostly junk XP, so you just skip past loose stragglers and chase magic packs instead. A lot of players also forget early permanent bonuses: in Act 1 you really do want to detour for Crowbeak for the skill points, then go hit Beira in Clearfell for the Cold Resistance. It feels like a slowdown for ten minutes, but you stop getting chain frozen later on, which saves way more time.

Gear, Currency And Crafting Choices

Most people overbuild defence in the first two acts and then wonder why everything feels like a slog. In this patch, clear speed is king. You want your main skill to delete packs before they even touch you. That means putting your gold and basic currency into weapon damage upgrades, not stacking armour. Blue crossbows, decent flat damage axes, or a couple of iron rings can turn a terrible build into something that just flies. Do not hoard Blacksmith’s Whetstones; throw them on your current weapon straight away, because you can always salvage later for shards. Artificer’s Orbs are better saved for jewellery or belts that you know you will wear for a while rather than the random chest you will ditch in ten minutes. Some skills, like Escape Shot, scale really well with quality now, so those small investments add up.

Routing Through Acts 2 To 4

Once you move into Act 2, the route is not quite the old muscle memory anymore. You still want Modron Mine and Traitor’s Passage, but Valley of Titans has become a big deal, because it gives you an early charm slot. That one slot is a serious power spike if you have even a half decent charm lying around. As you move into Acts 3 and 4, your passive tree should be stacked with damage clusters rather than life wheels. If you are playing the new Druid, most people do well by rushing the warrior side for flat damage and attack speed. The crit and defence stuff can wait until around level 65 when your gear is more stable and you are thinking about mapping instead of just getting through bosses.

Momentum, Links And Late Campaign Power

If you hit a wall on a boss or a tanky rare, it is often not your skill choice, it is the number of links you are running. Getting a 5‑link or 6‑link, whether you land it with a bit of luck, trade for it, or use extra currency from sites that list divine orbs for sale, can make the rest of the campaign feel almost free. Try to keep your momentum up: stay in Wolf form whenever you are travelling, cut dead zones out of your route, and do not be afraid to jump back a zone or two to fix your XP if the penalty starts to bite. If you keep your levels in check, focus on fast weapons, and route in those key permanent buffs and charm slots, you will be hitting maps while a lot of players are still stuck chewing through Act 3 jungles.