unfortunately yes you might have to look for guides
if you are looking to make your own builds and play poe for fun, you wont really have any fun
you will also waste way too much time in learning about the game (3-6 months maybe?) in a not so enjoyable experience
its a very sad irony that poe is hailed as a game where you can make so many unique builds, yet none of those builds actually work
and where more and more each league, you either go meta, or go home
tldr, if you havent started poe until now, better skip it completely. either that or you can try it, get burned out in a few weeks, and then come to tell me i was right
