What Is Path of Building Community?

Updated

Path of Building Community is a free, open-source build planner for Path of Exile and Path of Exile 2, distributed through pathofbuilding.community. It is a standalone desktop tool that runs outside the game client — not a game itself, and not an official Grinding Gear Games product. Use it when you want to plan a character's passive tree, gem links, and gear before (or instead of) spending currency in-game, and when you want to see how a change affects your stats without logging in.

What the tool actually does

The site describes it as "a powerful build planner for Path of Exile," and its feature set breaks down into four planning areas:

Passive skill tree planning

  • Map out tree paths and compare which routes are more efficient.
  • Get suggestions on which nodes are most beneficial to your current build.
  • See how taking a single notable passive changes your stats.
  • A Power Report ranks all passive skills and cluster jewels so you can prioritise upgrades.
  • Oil combinations for notables are shown directly on the tree, with nodes highlighted by per-point power and opportunity cost.

Skill gem and link planning

  • Prepare gem links and observe the benefit of socketing them in different items.
  • Get suggestions for the most powerful gems to add to a setup.
  • Alternate Quality skill gems are largely supported.
  • Skill mechanics covered include Warcries and Brands, Awakened Spell Echo, Vaal Arc, and Carrion Golem.

Item building and comparison

  • Build "dream items" or input your current self-found gear.
  • The tool understands most item mods and supports anointments, crafting, corruptions, and applying Catalysts to rare and unique items.
  • Craft (double) influenced items and filter mods by Prefix or Suffix.
  • Set up gear sets to compare the effects of your changes side by side.

Defensive and mechanic modelling

  • Pick Pantheon powers to plan defenses.
  • Supported mechanics include Impale, Exposure, Elusive, Warcries and Exerted Attacks, Bonechill, and more.
  • Alternative Ailments: Scorch, Brittle, and Sap.
  • Keystones such as The Agnostic, Crimson Dance, Eternal Youth, Glancing Blows, and Imbalanced Guard.
  • Unique mechanics including Timeless Jewels, Perquil's Toe, Thread of Hope, and Split Personality.
  • Configurable Shock value, with guaranteed Shock sources applying automatically.
  • Minimum and average calculation modes for Ailments, Regeneration, Armour, and effective health.

How to get it

The site provides two separate downloads — one for Path of Exile and one for Path of Exile 2 — each with a "See all releases" link. Pick the download matching the game you play; the two versions are listed separately rather than as one universal build.

The project is open source and hosted on GitHub. The site notes that contributing doesn't require being a programmer — issues and documentation are also open to community help.

What it is not

Question Answer
Is it the game? No. It is a planner that runs separately from Path of Exile.
Is it official? No. It is a community-maintained fork, not a Grinding Gear Games tool.
Does it need an account or login? The page does not mention any account requirement for downloading or using it.
Is it paid? No pricing signals appear on the page; it is described as open source.

When to use it

Reach for Path of Building Community when you are deciding between tree paths, testing whether a gem swap is worth it, or checking how a gear change shifts your effective health before you commit currency. If you only want to play the game, you don't need it — it's a planning layer, not a requirement.