New to the game

I was thinking this was the priest class for this game. I think i am wrong and a bit confused on styke of play. Some questions I have are:

Am I a mace a shield character or can i use any weapon in game?

Whats the better passive skill arcs(?) to use?

I am getting different colored spell gems to use. Which ones are better or ones i should always use?

Carvas is confusing for me. How do i use this nexus thing?

Thanks for the info.

First, welcome to an amazing game.

There is really no such thing as a priest class. In fact there are no healing classes. You still need to worry about your health (and mana) and there are several ways to deal with that.

Any class can pretty much use any weapon.

Which weapon you choose, and whether you dual wield, go two hander, or go one hander + shield will depend entirely on the specific build. Many skills (from gems) are only usable with specific weapons.

Passives totally depend on your build, as do the skill gems you're going to use.

My suggestion is to look for a build guide that is listed as beginner friendly and viable as a league starter (which means it won't require really expensive items.) Also make sure it's a very thorough guide written with beginners in mind - there are quite a few like that, but also many that aren't.

Then just follow the guide as best you can and ask questions when you have them. It's a very complex game that rewards patient study.

My inclination would be to forget Cavas and the Nexus for now. It's a whole game in itself, and better saved for when you have the basics down. Work on getting your character to the end of the formal story line first. As you do that, work on understanding the Labyrinth, since you need that for powerful ascendancy abilities. Then get into mapping and the atlas (which have nothing to do with the Nexus.)

Check out Engineering Eternity on youtube for some great intro videos. If you watch all his stuff, you'll have a much better foundation to ask specific questions.

Good luck - it's a journey!

Thanks for the advice. Will try a beginner build =)

Some good options are Arc Totem (Hierophant) and also Enki's Arc Witch; Storm Brand (Inquisitor); Divine Ire (Inquisitor or Trickster); or Essence Drain/Contagion (Trickster).

There are many others. Those are just some I can think of that all have rather different play styles.

Some guys enjoy lighting up the whole screen, while other guys hate that. Some guys love totems and some hate them. I love the Storm Brand build I'm currently playing because it's a very mobile build - meaning you don't have to stop much to do damage, it doesn't light up the screen too much, and brand mechanics are interesting to me.

Check out some build guides for what looks easy to follow, and watch some videos to get a better sense of how they play.

Couple of questions:

I now have 2 raise zombie gems. Do they stack or combine?

Do gems level on use or is it global?

Thanks

I don't believe there are any gems in the game that will "stack" with more than one.

Gems gain experience as you do - whether you are using the skill or not, and using them will not make them level faster. Many level at about the same rate, but some are slower than others.

Stupid question, i play on the ps 4 so no in game general channel support per say, but for gem sockets which side does the support gem go on when linked? It looks like the arrow touches one side of the gems is that where i put the active gem or support gem?

Sorry

Not a stupid question. Side doesn't matter with support gems. All linked sockets are linked, and you can put the gems anywhere.

This can get a little tricky if you try to put more than one main gem in a support group. For example, if you want to use Cast When Damage Taken (CWDT) with Immortal Call (IC) in a 4L with some other main gem that you plan to self cast, you need to make sure that IC is at or below the level limit of CWDT, and the other gem is above it, because any gem that is within the level limit of CWDT can ONLY be cast that way and cannot be self cast.

There are also cases where you might want to have more than one main gem supported by one or more support gems.

The linking system is pretty flexible, but takes a bit of experience to figure out all the nuance.

Thanks. I am getting the feeling this game is more like dark souls meets diablo 3. Am I wrong in thinking that the charact you choose to create has more to do with where it lies in the skill tree than class name? I dont see where the templar has anything different than the witch?

The passive skill tree is important, and there are some builds that can be played as 2 or even 3 different classes, but what really defines your character are the ascendancies, which are powerful class-specific skills that you get for completing the labyrinth as you progress. (These are actually unique to the sub-classes within a class.)

So the "same" build played as two different classes can actually end up with somewhat different passive trees and even slightly different playstyles once you factor in the differences in ascendancies. The same build can, in fact, have rather different skill trees even within the same ascendancy. There are so many nodes and ways to customize depending on your personal preferences and gear.

With this flexibility from the passive tree, you are not limited to weapons or skills based solely on your class in the way you might be with other games, although some parts of the tree are more challenging for characters of certain classes to reach without wasting points. I haven't played DS so can't comment on that. Played Diablo 2 and 3 and always found them rather limited. PoE has some genre similarities, but it's a totally different animal.

If you are starting to get into the game, you'll want to download Path of Building. It's a terrific and powerful sim/modeling tool to explore different paths to your build.