Path of Exile is an action RPG that takes place in the isolated continent of Wraeclast. In this article, we will guide you through your first League builds.
Why Choose League Starter Builds?
With League starter builds in Path of Exile, you can spend a little PoE currency or nothing at all. The reason why league starter builds are good is because you get to play them until the end game with minimal currency.
Not only do these builds have a lot of PvP potential, but it could also help you clear the main PvE quests.
Considerations When Choosing a Starter Build
The primary consideration when making a League starter build is how you want to play the game. Since Path of Exile has seven classes (Marauder, Range, Witch, Duelist, Templar, Shadow, and Scion) having the appropriate builds for them is essential. Another consideration when making a starter build is what attributes you want to maximize.
While hybrid builds exist in this game, having a keen knowledge of how these attributes affect your game helps in determining your build.
That said, the builds in this article are optimized according to common playstyles in the game.
Best League Starter Builds
While this is not an extensive list of builds that can qualify as a League starter build, these encompass the common playstyles in Path of Exile.
- Wintertide Brand Occultist: This build relies on damage over time through the stacking effect of the Wintertide Brand plus the buffs it receives from Vortex and Vaal Cold Snap. It is a cheap build that can do massive damage as you progress through the game. This build is optimized for the Occultist Ascendant so having one is required.
- Minion Army Necromancer: Necromancer builds are especially fun to use because they summon allies to help you clear the map. For this build, the Frost Auto-Scouts take center stage. While they do not deal a ton of damage, casting another specter like Harpy can significantly boost damage. The reason for using Frost Auto-Scout is that they can cover the whole screen.
- Ice Shot Deadeye: This Ranger build is exciting since you can deal damage from afar while also inflicting area-of-effect damage through Ice Shot. What’s more, Rangers are innately nimble so they can clear a mob and reposition afterwards. A good combo is to fire shots then quickly escape so when Ice Shot takes effect you can deal continuous damage while moving across the map. This is extremely useful since Ice Shot only deals damage to a single target. Pair this with a Ballista Totem with the Barrage gem, and you’ll be firing more shots.
- Firestorm Inquisitor: This is a low-cost, high damage build that relies on any of the three Firestorm gems (Firestorm, Firestorm of Meteors, Firestorm of Pelting). Firestorm deals area-of-effect damage over time. Pair any of the Firestorm gems with a Rathpith Globe and you get increased spell damage and critical hit bonuses. This means you can deal a massive amount of damage over time that could reach up to the millions. All of that for at least a couple of divine orb spent.
- Hexblast Miner Saboteur: This Saboteur build relies on the Hexblast item. Hexblast deals direct damage to a single enemy, and area-of-effect damage if the enemy has allies surrounding them. Since this build relies on mining, it is a niche build. Despite this, its a good starting build for when a new League starts.
- Toxic Rain Ballista Pathfinder: This build makes use of the Toxic Rain as a base damage-dealer and a Ballista Totem. This build is close to the Ice Shot Deadeye one as both rely on passive damage, the only difference is that Toxic Rain deals damage in an area while Ice Shot deals damage to a single target. This way, Toxic Rain Ballista Pathfinder builds can just make it rain while standing still, unless the mobs are too overwhelming. Toxic Rain also stacks creating a ton of damage.
- Detonate Dead Elementalist: This build relies on the Detonate Dead skill to deal massive damage to enemies. While it’s reliant on this skill, it pairs well with Desecrate, creating a combo. This build is good for starters who want to get ahead in the game. It is also a boss-slayer build because of its high damage output.
- Summon Raging Spirits Guardian: The Summon Raging Spirits (SRS) build uses the SRS spell to summon a flaming spirit that does damage to where you place your mouse cursor. This is different from other minions who stay close to its summoner. By having to direct where the spirits attack, you can deal damage in a given area. However, since SRS only lasts 5 seconds, you should always cast them after their duration is finished. This can be remedied by investing in skill duration.
- Boneshatter Slayer: The Boneshatter skill is one of the viable melee skills in PoE. It is the fastest League starter on a budget. It has a healthy balance of offense and defense. While it is a tanky build, it doesn’t deal a lot of damage, especially to bosses. Otherwise, it can clear mobs easily while taking very little damage from enemies.
- Righteous Fire Chieftain: This is a tank build with high offensive capabilities. The Righteous Fire spell creates a ring of fire around your character that deals area-of-effect damage over time. It is a strong mob clearing build that has a smooth gameplay experience and is easy to build, with very little currency to spend.
Conclusion
The builds in this article may give you a foundation on which build to start with on PoE. There are some builds that are more “conceptual” than those listed here and are more for harder difficulties than normal. Try these out yourself and explore how these builds can give you ideas for derivative builds.
