What’s the best F2P build for new players to reach endgame quickly post-patch?

Conquering the Endgame as a F2P New Player: The Dark Minion Commander

For new players diving into a complex ARPG or MMORPG, the path to endgame can seem daunting, especially when playing Free-to-Play (F2P). Resource management, build complexity, and market knowledge often create barriers. Fortunately, the recent patch has solidified a powerful, F2P-friendly archetype that excels in both safety and speed: the Dark Minion Commander.

This build focuses on overwhelming enemies with a legion of summoned creatures while leveraging their destruction for explosive area-of-effect damage. It requires minimal investment in rare gear, scales naturally with character levels, and offers a forgiving playstyle, making it ideal for beginners aiming for a swift endgame transition.

Why the Dark Minion Commander?

The primary appeal of this build lies in its efficiency and resilience. Here’s why it’s the top choice for F2P newcomers:

• Safety First: Minions tank damage, allowing you to stay at a safe distance and focus on positioning and support skills.
• Scales Naturally: Minion damage primarily scales with skill gem levels and passive tree nodes, which are readily available and don’t require expensive unique items.
• High Clear Speed: A horde of minions combined with triggered area-of-effect abilities (like Corpse Explosion or similar mechanics) obliterates packs of enemies quickly.
• Low Gear Dependence: Early progression relies on crafting basic rare items with life and resistances, or using common vendor recipes, rather than high-tier currency.
• Bossing Capability: While not a single-target nuker, concentrated minion damage can bring down bosses effectively, especially with proper debuff application.

Core Skills and Abilities

The essence of the Dark Minion Commander revolves around a few key active skills and their synergistic passive tree allocations:

• Primary Summon: Focus on one powerful summon type (e.g., Skeletal Warriors, Zombie Horde, Golems) that offers good base damage and survivability. Maximize its level.
• Support Summon: Complement your primary summons with a utility minion (e.g., Spectres for auras, Risen Dead for additional bodies).
• Corpse/Explosion Skill: A skill that detonates corpses (like Desecrate + Detonate Dead, or a passive corpse explosion effect) is crucial for clearing large groups.
• Curses/Debuffs: Implement a curse or debuff (e.g., Vulnerability, Mark for Death) to amplify minion damage or enemy vulnerability.
• Movement Skill: Essential for dodging mechanics and navigating maps quickly.

Gear Progression: F2P Mindset

Forget chasing perfect rolls. Your F2P gear strategy should prioritize:

1. Life and Resistances: Max out elemental resistances as soon as possible. Life is your most important defensive stat.
2. Minion-Specific Stats: Look for modifiers like “Minions deal X% increased Damage,” “Minion Life,” “Minion Attack/Cast Speed.” These often appear on less desirable bases, making them cheaper.
3. Crafting Bench: Utilize the in-game crafting bench for guaranteed elemental resistances or essential stats on your rare items.
4. Simple Uniques: Some games offer low-cost, common unique items that provide significant boosts to minion builds (e.g., items granting additional summons or minion damage multipliers). Identify and target these if they are cheap.
5. Weapon: Prioritize a weapon (wand, scepter, staff) with high flat spell damage or minion damage modifiers.

Focus on upgrading your weapon and off-hand slot first, then your body armour and helmet, as these often offer the biggest defensive or offensive boosts for F2P players.

Skill Tree and Ascendancy Path

When allocating passive points, prioritize:

• Minion Damage & Life Nodes: Grab all nearby minion-related damage, life, and attack/cast speed nodes.
• Life & Energy Shield: Ensure you have sufficient defensive layers to survive stray hits.
• Attribute Requirements: Allocate just enough to equip your desired gear and use skills.
• Mana Regeneration/Efficiency: Minion builds can be mana-hungry; invest in regeneration or cost reduction.

For your Ascendancy or subclass, choose the option that provides the most direct benefit to minions—whether it’s increased minion count, minion survivability, or minion damage proliferation. The recent patch often brings balance changes to these subclasses, so ensure your chosen path is still optimal.

Optimized Gameplay Loop

The Dark Minion Commander gameplay loop is straightforward yet effective:

1. Summon and Maintain: Cast your primary summons at the start of an area and refresh them as needed.
2. Advance with Minions: Let your minions lead the charge, drawing aggro and initiating combat.
3. Debuff and Detonate: Apply your chosen curse/debuff to powerful enemies or packs. Once minions start killing, use your corpse explosion skill to clear remaining enemies and deal burst damage.
4. Loot and Repeat: Efficiently clear packs, collect loot, and move to the next encounter.
5. Bossing: Focus all minions on the boss, refresh debuffs, and use your corpse explosion if there are adds or previous mob corpses.

Transitioning to Endgame

Upon reaching the endgame, your Dark Minion Commander build will be well-equipped for initial mapping and early boss encounters. Here are a few tips for a smooth transition:

• Identify Upgrade Paths: Research affordable unique items or crafting recipes that provide a significant power spike for your specific minion type.
• Aura Optimization: Look into adding powerful auras (either directly from your character or via specific support minions) to further boost your minion army.
• Gem Swaps: Some skill gems might be more effective in certain endgame scenarios (e.g., swapping an AoE support for a single-target support for bosses).
• Mastering Mechanics: The safety of minion builds allows you to focus on learning endgame boss mechanics without being immediately punished.

Conclusion

The Dark Minion Commander stands out as the premier F2P build for new players aiming to rapidly reach and comfortably navigate the initial stages of endgame post-patch. Its blend of safety, low gear dependence, and high clear speed makes it an incredibly forgiving and efficient choice. By focusing on smart skill gem progression, prioritizing essential defensive stats, and understanding the core gameplay loop, you’ll find yourself conquering content and accumulating resources much faster than with more demanding builds. Dive in, summon your army, and dominate the endgame!