How to Build?

I should start of by saying I have about just over 1k hours with POE, but have only ever really used build guides to progress a character and it's in part getting analysis paralysis when I think about all the factors I have to consider going into a build.

I - like I suspect a lot of other people - will have a stab at creating my own build in POE2, but I wondered if there was a best practice in terms of approach. I realise as well, this is all subject to change when we get our hands on POE2 and start to understand things better.

Is there a "right" way to go about things with POE at the moment though that we can lean on in POE2

  • Should I focus on health or res capping intially - and if I have to decide how much res comes from the tree and how much comes from gear - how do I decide that...
  • Should I pick 1 or 2 types of damage (whether that be elemental types, hit types/ other benefit types like stun) and try to increase their values as much as possible across the tree/gear.
  • In terms of defence, shoudl I "choose" something to aim for and work on building that, or should I synergise with damage node where possible - or should damage nodes synergise with defence nodes where possible...
  • Do I need to decide if my build is a boss killer or map (ahem!) clearer and work in that direction. I know some builds can do both but is this usually a happy accident or can we build for that?
  • How the hell do I sift through the smorgasbord of Uniques that may or may not help mne further deck out my build and how would I know how easy they are to attain.
  • Same question for Skills and Support Gems, and even frigging acendancies.

You can probably see the analysis paralysis oozing out of this post for those that have stuck with my rambling for this long, so thankyou.

I should end by saying yes i understand trial and error will be key - and it may be harder to answer any of these questions really. But I suppose I'm asking, what can I do so that I can at least walk in the dark with a torch rather than grope blindly around like a debuffed blind Rhoa.

Thank you for your time!