Character builds are usually found in games with any ounce of RPG mechanics in it. Stat increases, skill trees and gear progression are all accounted for in player made builds that are designed to be followed by other players. Some may find this strange since it removes the wonder and the sense of discovery but in games like Path of Exile nothing hurts more than discovering 20 hours in that your build is just bad. That’s why most players suggest to follow a build at the very least loosely and move on from there. In this guide we’ll show you some League Start Builds in preparation for the next patch.
Path of Exile: Lake of Kalandra | League Start Builds 3.19 PRE-PATCH NOTES
What is league start builds? Well Path of Exile has these chunks of their story and gameplay called Leagues, think of it as chapters in a book. Although when you start a new chapter, you still remember the new previous chapter but the book changes, also your clothes are gone. Let me explain.
At the start of a new League your character is transferred to that league, but you need to make a new one. You still have all your map progression, stash items and gear, as well as microtransaction items are kept. League Start builds are character builds that are designed to be played at the start of a new league with minimal investment. Now that you know what they are let’s get started.
A note on these builds, Path of Exile builds can be quite complex, have you seen the game’s skill tree? If I go into detail with every build then we’ll have to publish this article as a book. For simplicity you will be linked to the proper build page or documentation for the builds so you can follow it yourself.
Explosive Arrow Ballista Elementalist
The Explosive Arrow Elementalist is a build that is great with a very low investment. It has a low mapping speed but it can easily dispatch large groups of enemies with ease and can deal with bosses quite easily using the Ballista. The main problem with this build is that it does not scale well on the late game, so if you’re nearing a month in this build then I highly suggest to switch to another one at that point.
Blade Flurry/General’s Cry Berserker
The Blade Flurry/General’s Cry Berserker build is great for just melting bosses. It’s not really a melee build and you shouldn’t play it as one since it relies on Mirage Warriors to deal most of the damage and the clearing. The problem with the warriors is that they’re not really great at killing groups of enemies consistently since it’s random on what they will attack so the clear speed is not that great. Also keep in mind that the build is quite squishy.
Righteous Fire Inquisitor
The Righteous Fire Inquisitor build is not only a well-made and well documented build. It is loved by a lot of the community for how great it is and how beginner friendly the build gets. It has high survivability, great map clearing and bossing and its only downside is the investment you need to do compared to the other builds in this list.
Bane Occultist
The Bane Occultist build is focused on amazing mapping, clearing out groups of enemies well with its bane. If you want to clear maps fast then this is the build for you. It does okay against bosses but can be squishy as well so keep that in mind. The main downside of this build is that it scales horribly in later maps.
Seismic Trap Saboteur
The Seismic Trap Saboteur has recently became a great build for a lot of players. The seismic trap skill itself is great for mapping, easily taking down packs of enemies quickly. Where the build shines though is that it is the best bossing build in the list. It drops multiple traps on where the boss will spawn will just erase them. The build also has great scaling and can often be a build you’ll bring to higher tier maps.
Poisonous Concoction Occultist/Pathfinder
If the last one was the best bossing build this one is the best mapper in the list. The Poisonous Concoction Occultist/Pathfinder build is a great build for mapping, using AOE poisons and plague bearer to clear packs of enemies with ease. Fighting bosses with this build could be better. If you want survivability you should go for the pathfinder since the Occultist can be squishy. The great thing about this is the investment needed for this build is very low.
Lightning Strike Berserker/Champion/Raider
The Lightning Strike build can be done with Berserker, Champion or Raider with different stats on each. The Champion would be the slowest one in mapping but with more survivability while the Raider will be faster at mapping. The high point of this build is how this can scale well in later maps. This is the build you want to get if you want to stick to one build till the end. The main problem is that when going to higher tiers you’ll need to invest quite a lot!
So, these are the league start builds you can start off in Path of Exile. Congratulations you now know more on this subject. Many thanks to Jwar for compiling all these builds and showing them for everyone. If you want to go into more detail with these builds then go check his video out here: League Start Builds 3.19 (PRE-PATCH NOTES) Path of Exile Lake of Kalandra League PoE 3.18 – YouTube
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