I tried the active skill route when I was starting out and unfortunately it was a total disaster. Had issues with running out of mana every two minutes which just slows you down way more than the burst speeds you up. It is not as good as people claim if you dont have the gold for high-tier consumables. Honestly, when your gear is bad, relying on actives is just gonna leave you frustrated. Here is what I recommend for a safer, more reliable path to 40:

• Focus heavily on the Iron Hide and Sharp Senses passives to stay alive longer.
• Pick up a Logitech G502 HERO High Performance Wired Gaming Mouse if you can, the extra buttons help with mapping your rotations more efficiently.
• Avoid the Burst Claw active until you have at least 500 spirit. Its disappointing that the meta favors the rich players, but sticking to passives is much more consistent. Let me know if you need help with the level 30 boss fight too.

Wait, real quick, what does your current mana regen stat look like on your character sheet? Saw this earlier and had to jump in because if you're rocking zero regen gear, then active skills are basically a death sentence for your gold stack lol! I'm still kinda new but I found that being super stingy with mana is the only way to survive the early grind. Honestly, I love the passive route because it feels so much more relaxed and you save a fortune!! Quick tip tho... just put one single point into the Spirit Thief passive early. It's fantastic for sustain! Also if you're gonna be grinding for hours to hit 40, you definitely need a comfy headset like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 1 Wired Gaming Headset so your ears dont hurt while you listen to the grind music. You're gonna smash that level 40 goal for the raid, don't even worry about it!!

Just catching up on this thread now. I went through the same dilemma about a month ago when I was pushing my first Openclaw to the level cap. Honestly, the way the passive-heavy route worked out left me really satisfied. It works well if you value reliability over flashy numbers, especially when your gear is sub-par. My experience was that those active burst builds are mostly for players who already have alts feeding them gold for consumables. Since I was starting fresh, I put my points into the passive resistance and health regen nodes first. It definitely made the leveling process feel more stable and I had no complaints about the speed because I never had to retreat or wait for mana to tick up. For the long hours of grinding, I also picked up the Redragon K552 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard 87 Keys for about 35 dollars. It is a very solid, entry-level board that makes the repetitive inputs feel much more tactile and responsive than a standard office keyboard. Basically, if you prioritize the defensive passives, you can pull three or four mobs at once without breaking a sweat. It is a much safer way to hit 40 by the weekend raid without the stress of managing a tiny mana pool. Just keep things steady and focus on that uptime... you wont regret the stability.