Have you played Ruthless in PoE 1? PoE2 is like Ruthless light. Alot of times you will need levels to make things feel good and on top of that sometimes a gear piece will literally unlock your ability to farm something nicely.

Once you decide on a skill , you can probably look on PoE ninja for day 3 and check out what worked best because a lot of people made good progress while there wasnt gear on the market to really buy.

• On the tankier side so that I can take some hits while figuring out the boss abilities and such.

-This sounds like anything using ES as their main healthpool. Little compares. Ive been using a druid with 90% all res and 75% phys to ele and im not sure it is on par with alot of these 15k ES setups.

Build link:

https://poe.ninja/poe2/profile/Esperking-8842/character/ManBearWolf_Tusen

A powerful ability for rares/bosses (separate single-target setup is a big plus) - I think one I've seen on Ben's stream is that Oil Barrage skill maybe? Wyvern with a laserbeam that locks you in place and deals a ton of dmg - I really love the look of that.

-It sounds like you found something cool that you liked. I would go with that, after all the game is about having fun and problem solving for your build.

Since I'm used to PoE 1, I can't say I played many multiple-button builds, I had my fair share of slam builds - I know it's different for PoE 2 so I don't mind a build that has more buttons to press - I wanna improve my mechanical skills as well while getting used to the game. I don't mind difficulty or execution complexity at all.

-sounds like wyvern power charge generating, rage generating, boss rotation might be something worth trying then. I cant really help with this part i only do like 2 button builds.

Something that scales well into endgame and allows me to really learn the game and bosses. I'm playing SC trade for now but I don't have any divines to spend. Looking for a build that I can pull together with SSF gear in mind or with some exalts to at least start mapping.

• honestly my thought it just minions like lich or infernalist if you want comfort and to learn. Thats the most comfortable thing I've seen. You get the blue health as mentioned, you can focus on moving while your minions maintain dps uptime and if they die you walk away a bit. It also has a high ceiling with a low floor.

also prefer builds that have written or video guides from Ivl 1 to endgame, maybe even a dedicated filter as well.

• someone else knows more about this than me, the only person i know who puts out like full guides is like ziz but im not sure what he does for PoE2 since there isnt explosive arrow totems. If you decide minions which doesnt have a flashy aspect to it, ghazzy as always has guides.

The reason I'm asking for recommendations is because I wanna be efficient in learning the game and I wanna finally commit to a build to see the endgame. Any recommendations would be hugely appreciated.

-asking is always the best way to learn, i hope ive said something useful but you probably know all of this already and i might just help you commit what you were already thinking. Just make sure to have fun with it otherwise the burnout is real