# Path of Building Community: an offline build planner for Path of Exile

> Path of Building Community is an offline planner that computes Path of Exile character offence and defence from a passive tree, skill setup and items. It is aimed at players who want numbers before spending currency, and it installs from the Releases page as an install wizard or portable zip.

**PathOfBuildingCommunity/PathOfBuilding** — Offline build planner for Path of Exile.

- Repository: https://github.com/PathOfBuildingCommunity/PathOfBuilding
- Website: https://pathofbuilding.community
- Stars: 5,456 · Forks: 2,409
- Language: Lua
- License: NOASSERTION
- Published: 2026-09-22 · Updated: 2026-09-22 · Language: en
- Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/pathofbuildingcommunity-pathofbuilding

## What Path of Building Community solves, and who it is for

Path of Exile gives you no in-game way to see what a planned character will actually do. You allocate a passive point, socket a support gem, or swap a ring, and the result only appears once you have already spent the currency. Path of Building Community exists to close that gap. The README describes it as an offline build planner for Path of Exile, and the feature list is built around one promise: calculate your skill DPS, damage over time, life, mana and energy shield totals, and factor in auras, buffs, charges, curses and monster resistances to estimate effective DPS. It also calculates life and mana reservations, which matters because reservation errors are a common way a build fails to function at all.

The audience is narrow and specific. This is a tool for players who already understand Path of Exile's mechanics well enough to care about the difference between tooltip DPS and effective DPS. A new player can use it, and the sidebar stat summary is readable, but the value shows up when you are comparing two gear options or deciding whether a node is worth the points. The README also mentions support for minions, party play and support builds, which means the calculation model is not limited to a single self-cast damage skill.

## How the calculator, tree planner and item database fit together

The program is organised around four planners that share one calculation engine: a passive tree planner, a skill planner, an item planner, and the offence and defence calculations themselves. The integration is the point. The README states that the tree planner is fully integrated with the offence and defence calculations, so hovering a node shows how it will affect your character before you allocate it, and the item planner is integrated the same way, so you can see how much of an upgrade a given item is.

The skill planner adds any number of main or supporting skills, and supporting skills such as auras, curses and buffs can be toggled on and off. It automatically applies socketed gem modifiers from the item a skill is socketed into, and automatically applies support gems granted by items. That automatic wiring is where a lot of the accuracy comes from, and also where the limits live: the README says supported modifiers show in blue and unsupported ones in red throughout the program. That colour convention is the honest part of the design. The tool tells you where its model stops rather than silently ignoring a modifier, and a build that leans on red modifiers is a build whose numbers you should not trust.

The item side carries a searchable database of all uniques currently in the game, including league-specific items and legacy variants, with selectable modifier rolls. There is a crafting system built on the game's base item types with prefix and suffix modifiers, custom modifiers, and Master and Essence modifiers available. A separate database of rare item templates lets you approximate gear you do not own yet. For a planner, that template layer is more useful than it sounds: most builds are planned around rares that do not exist yet, and choosing which modifiers appear and at what rolls is how you decide what to shop for. The README also notes that items can be added by copying and pasting them straight out of the game, and that quality is added automatically to non-corrupted items. Import covers passive tree, items and skills from existing characters, and there is a share code for sending a build to someone else.

## Installing Path of Building Community and planning your first build

The README does not document a package manager install. It says to head over to the Releases page to download the install wizard or portable zip. That is the supported path, and it is also why the project carries a runtime-win32.zip and a runtime/ directory at the top level: the Lua application ships with the runtime it needs rather than expecting you to provide one.

Once it is running, the fastest way to a real result is to import a character you already have, then change one thing and watch the numbers move. The README states that you can import passive tree, items and skills from existing characters, and that passive tree links from PathOfExile.com and PoEPlanner.com can be imported, including links shortened with PoEURL.com. A typical first session looks like this:

```bash
# Download the install wizard or portable zip from the Releases page:
# https://github.com/PathOfBuildingCommunity/PathOfBuilding/releases
```

After import, open the calculations tab. The README describes a detailed calculations breakdown tab that shows how the stats were derived, alongside a sidebar summary of character stats. That breakdown is the part worth reading on day one, because it tells you which of your modifiers the tool actually understood. Then make one change, for example toggling a supporting skill off and on, and confirm the DPS figure responds. If it does not move, the modifier behind it is probably unsupported.

The second workflow is gear comparison. Copy an item out of the game and paste it into the item planner, then compare it against what you have equipped. The README notes that the item planner can search the trade site for the most impactful items, which closes the loop between planning and buying. The third is sharing: generate a share code and send it, and the other person sees the same build rather than a screenshot of your numbers.

If you are working on the project rather than using it, the repository ships a test path. The docker-compose.yml defines a busted-tests service that runs the Lua test suite under LuaJIT:

```yaml
services:
  busted-tests:
    image: ghcr.io/pathofbuildingcommunity/pathofbuilding-tests:latest
    environment:
      HOME: /tmp
    container_name: pathofbuilding-tests
    command: busted --lua=luajit
    security_opt:
      - no-new-privileges:true
    ports:
      - "9966:9966"
    working_dir: /workdir
    volumes:
      - ./:/workdir:ro
```

The Dockerfile builds Lua 5.1.5, LuaJIT, luarocks and the EmmyLuaDebugger, and installs busted 2.2.0-1, cluacov 0.1.2-1, luacov-coveralls 0.2.3-1 and luautf8 0.1.6-1. Its default command prints that the container is meant to be run with docker compose and points at CONTRIBUTING.md, so the image is not a general-purpose runtime for the application itself.

## Where the model stops: unsupported modifiers and platform assumptions

The most important limitation is stated plainly in the README rather than hidden: supported modifiers show in blue and unsupported ones in red. A build that depends on a mechanic the calculator has not modelled will produce numbers that look authoritative and are wrong. The README says it supports all skills and support gems and most passives and item modifiers, and that word most is doing real work. Before you trust a DPS figure, scan the build for red entries and decide whether the gap matters for your decision.

The second limitation is platform. The README's download section offers an install wizard or a portable zip, and the repository carries runtime-win32.zip, which points at Windows as the packaged target. The README does not document a Linux or macOS install path, a hosted web version, or a mobile client. The Dockerfile and docker-compose.yml in the repository exist for running the test suite, not for shipping the application to end users, and the Dockerfile's own default command says as much. If you are looking for a browser-based planner or a phone app, this repository does not describe one.

The third is scope of game support. The README describes Path of Exile and its leagues, uniques and legacy variants. It does not describe Path of Exile 2 anywhere, and there is no PoE2 build target in the repository layout. Anyone searching for a Path of Building 2 for a different game will not find it here.

A fourth, quieter limitation is timing. The README notes automatic updating and says most updates take only a couple of seconds to apply, so the tool tracks the game. That also means a build planned against one patch can be stale against the next, and the calculation engine is only as current as your last update.

## How Path of Building Community differs from a spreadsheet or a hosted planner

The obvious alternative is a spreadsheet. Players have built them for Path of Exile for years, and a spreadsheet gives you full control over the formula. The difference in approach is that a spreadsheet requires you to encode every modifier yourself, while Path of Building Community ships the modifier data and the calculation engine together and marks what it does not support. The trade-off runs the other way too: a spreadsheet can model a mechanic the moment you understand it, while this tool waits for the project to implement it. If your build depends on something the calculator marks red, a hand-built sheet is the only way to get a number at all.

The other alternative is a hosted build site that runs in the browser and stores builds server-side. Those are convenient on a machine where you cannot install software, and they are shareable by URL. Path of Building Community is the opposite: it is offline by design, which is why the README leads with that word. Your build data stays on your machine, the calculations run locally, and sharing happens through a generated share code rather than a hosted profile. The cost is that you install it and you keep it updated yourself. For anyone who plans builds on a laptop away from a stable connection, or who does not want character data leaving the machine, that is the whole reason to pick this one.

## Maintenance, updates and licence

The repository is not archived, and the last push was on 2026-09-18. Recent releases are close together: v2.67.0 on 2026-08-05, v2.67.1 on 2026-08-06, and v2.67.2 on 2026-08-07. That release cadence, plus the automatic updating described in the README, tells you what the ongoing cost looks like in practice: you do not manage the upgrade, but you do need the updater to run, and you should expect the numbers to shift when the game does. The full version history lives in CHANGELOG.md if you need to know what changed between two releases.

On licensing, the README states MIT and links to LICENSE.md for third-party licences, and it adds that the licensing information is considered part of the documentation. The repository's own metadata reports the licence as NOASSERTION, which is a GitHub classification rather than a statement by the project. If you intend to redistribute the application, bundle it, or reuse its data files, read LICENSE.md and the third-party notices rather than relying on the single word MIT in the README. That is a reading task, not a legal opinion, and the files are in the repository.

## Conclusion

Adopt Path of Building Community if you plan Path of Exile characters and want DPS, life, mana and reservation figures computed from a tree, gems and items before you spend currency, and if importing a character from PathOfExile.com or pasting an in-game item is part of your routine. Do not adopt it if you need a hosted planner you can open in any browser, or if you are planning a Path of Exile 2 character, because the README describes Path of Exile only and the repository carries no PoE2 build target. Before you rely on a result, confirm that the modifiers your build depends on render in blue rather than red, and check whether the release you downloaded matches the game patch you are playing.

## FAQ

### How do I install Path of Building Community?

The README says to go to the Releases page and download the install wizard or the portable zip. There is no package manager install documented.

### Is Path of Building safe to use?

The README describes the program as an offline build planner for Path of Exile, and builds are shared through a generated share code rather than a hosted account. The documentation does not describe any network service that receives your character data.

### How do I use Path of Building Community to find upgrades?

The item planner is integrated with the offence and defence calculations, so you can see how much of an upgrade a given item is, and the README states that you can search the trade site for the most impactful items. You can also paste items copied directly from the game.

### Does Path of Building Community support Path of Exile 2?

The README describes Path of Exile only, including its leagues, uniques and legacy variants, and does not mention Path of Exile 2. The repository layout contains no PoE2 build target.

## Sources

- [Issues](https://github.com/PathOfBuildingCommunity/PathOfBuilding/issues)
- [PathOfBuildingCommunity/PathOfBuilding on GitHub](https://github.com/PathOfBuildingCommunity/PathOfBuilding)
- [Project website](https://pathofbuilding.community)
- [README](https://github.com/PathOfBuildingCommunity/PathOfBuilding/blob/dev/README.md)
- [Releases](https://github.com/PathOfBuildingCommunity/PathOfBuilding/releases)

---

Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/pathofbuildingcommunity-pathofbuilding