New player looking for build feedback

So i'm a new player to PoE and my first character i wanted to play through without any build guides. And as every single guide/beginner tip says, first characters will be pretty trashy.

Currently i'm focusing on a Caustic Arrow build that i'm making up as i go, and i'm afraid i really screwed it up as i learn more. I was hoping to get some feedback before i hit endgame to see if it can be corrected in anyway and salvaged so i don't have to immediately start over.

Not sure how these forums work so don't know if you can see my character or not, but here's a link to my passive tree.

I'm totally open to swapping out caustic arrow for something else if it makes sense or will make end game more approachable.

https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAABAIDAABeAO4B0QYjCC4IiRUgFfAZjhn-GwEi4iP2JyEqTSzpMHxH4lFHXWheRX-WhrONfY2_kvOVBZXImvGbjZ9toSKhpKJApDmn1K_ru-PEosqp037h2-2D73r0-Paj-uv-Cf66_sg=?accountName=zelegith&characterName=Sylesta

Thank you for any input! Really enjoying this game so far.

bump. anyone able to assist? i adjusted my passives a bit last night with my respec point to try to more closely mirror one of the caustic arrow build i'm following.

First of all, you need to go to account settings and untick the box "hide characters" (under privacy settings), it's ticked by default and makes people unable to inspect your characters to check gear etc.

Second, I'd recommend you to google and download "path of building" it allows you to pre-plan talent layout in an offline document so you can have a direction of the whole build, as you level you probably just check the nearest points and won't have overview how far / close you can branch out safely.

Third, you're overspending the early points. By picking everything in radius that is moderately useful, you will run out of points to reach to the talents that are much more useful. That's why following a guide or having a pre-planned build with major milestones of your build is so important.

Fourth, if you like caustic arrow I'd recommend checking out this thread: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2077932/page/1

The build is for a raider but no matter which ascendancy you choose, the basics of the skill are the same, things like which talent nodes to pick or which supplementary skills / auras to pick won't change.

Fifth, caustic arrow is not a typical skill where you shoot an arrow and kill a mob with it. Majority of the damage comes from the green puddle it drops on the ground. To improve the damage (which will be important later on, early game stuff dies fast so hard to notice) you need a stat called "non-ailment chaos damage over time multiplier" (as opposed to poison damage or whatever else, this ability does not count as poison), the biggest nodes you want to hit in your talent tree and include in the build will be "hunter's gambit", "method to the madness", "growth and decay", "atrophy". There's a search option that will light up the nodes if you search for them, so you can get the concept where you need to path. Other stats to look for is "chaos damage / damage over time" in general or "...with attack skills / bow skills".

Also don't bother picking anything with crit on it unless it has some other big bonuses excluding crit. For some reason in this game damage over time abilities can't crit contrary to many other RPGs where each tick of a dot has a chance to crit. Not in POE.

Your final build should also include at least 150% bonus to maximum life, most builds have between 150-200% bonus.

Also your final setup needs to have at least 75% resistances in each element (fire / cold / lightning) after all penalties applied (-60% total), usually these are obtained from gear, especially jewellery, but keep it in mind, some talent tree nodes could be efficient to pick for the extra resistances but don't go out of your way to pick them.

Your first character doesn't have to "suck" maybe it won't go kill uber elder but if you pick an okay skill that doesn't require 50 exalted worth of gear to do damage, and build your character with the guidelines from most guides for newcomers, it can be fairly okay and you can keep improving on it later on as you learn more about the game, earn more currency etc.

awesome thanks for all the advice. gives me some direction :)