Path of Exile Top 7 Starter Builds
1. Summon Raging Spirit Necromancer (Witch)
This summoner build is ranked first for league starter builds and is considered the strongest minion build in the game.
Mapping: 10/10 Delve: 10/10 Heist: 10/10 Damage: 10/10 Safety: 10/10 Bosses: 10/10
Build Guide
Best Starter Witch Build: The Summon Raging Spirit Necromancer has strong damage against multiple enemies and extremely high damage against bosses. Minion builds are popular starter builds and this is the strongest starter build in the game while still being one of the most inexpensive summoner builds to outfit. If you are interested in trying out the Summon Raging Spirit Necromancer build you can find a guide for it in the menu at the top of this website.
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2. Ground Slam Berserker (Marauder)
The Marauder class is an excellent choice for starting the game because of the high number of early defensive nodes.
Mapping: 9/10 Delve: 10/10 Heist: 9/10 Damage: 9/10 Safety: 8/10 Bosses: 8/10
Build Guide
Best Starter Marauder Build: Ground Slam is a level one melee skill that stuns enemies with a large area of effect attack which makes it great for survival. This build is also one of the strongest and most popular builds to start the game with and it's great all the way through to the endgame. If you are interested in trying out the Ground Slam Of Earthshaking Berserker you can find a guide for the build in the menu at the top of this page.
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3. Toxic Rain Trickster (Shadow)
The Toxic Rain Trickster is one of the strongest Shadow builds in the game and it has strong defensive ascendancies.
Mapping: 10/10 Delve: 10/10 Heist: 7/10 Damage: 9/10 Safety: 8/10 Bosses: 9/10
Build Guide
Best Starter Shadow Build: This build requires you to channel Toxic Rain which rains down area of effect chaos spores. Toxic Rain is the strongest Shadow bow build and doesn't require mirror tier gear to be competitive with other builds. If you're interested in trying out the Toxic Rain Trickster build you can find a guide for it in the menu above.
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4. Freezing Pulse Totem Hierophant (Templar)
The Freezing Pulse Totem Hierophant is the best starter totem build and it also has excellent damage and survival.
Mapping: 10/10 Delve: 10/10 Heist: 10/10 Damage: 9/10 Safety: 9/10 Bosses: 8/10
Build Guide
Best Starter Templar Build: The Freezing Pulse Totem Hierophant is one of the strongest totem builds in the game for clearing normal enemies and still does very well on boss fights. The Hierophant ascendancy gives a minimum of four Endurance charges and four Power charges at all times which is helpful both offensively and defensively. If you're interested in trying out the Freezing Pulse Totem build you can find a guide for it in the menu.
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5. Shockwave Cyclone Slayer (Duelist)
The Shockwave Cyclone Slayer is one of the best melee builds in the game and it's an excellent choice for a starter build.
Mapping: 10/10 Delve: 10/10 Heist: 10/10 Damage: 9/10 Safety: 9/10 Bosses: 9/10
Build Guide
Best Starter Duelist Build: The Shockwave Cyclone Slayer is a popular build that is capable of dealing very high damage while moving around. You can optionally acquire a unique Praxis ring if you want to level with Cyclone which lowers the mana cost of Cyclone to zero. Later you should upgrade to rare rings with crafted reduced mana costs. If you want to try the Shockwave Cyclone Slayer you can find a guide for the build in the menu at the top of this page.
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6. Elemental Hit Of The Spectrum Ascendant (Scion)
The Elemental Hit Of The Spectrum Ascendant is a strong starter Scion build that deals great damage on a low budget.
Mapping: 10/10 Delve: 7/10 Heist: 5/10 Damage: 8/10 Safety: 8/10 Bosses: 7/10
Build Guide
Best Starter Scion Build: The Elemental Hit Of the Spectrum Ascendant excels at dealing excellent damage on a limited budget which makes it a great starter build. The bow for Elemental Hit of the Spectrum doesn't require very high physical damage like Lightning Arrow and Ice Shot. You only need a low to middle cost tri-elemental bow to deal high damage. Elemental Hit of the Spectrum replaced Elemental Hit for the best Scion starter build because the standard Elemental Hit gem was changed to require a melee weapon (a guide for this build is currently not available on this site).
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7. Oro's Fire Flicker Strike Deadeye (Ranger)
It's now recommended to play Oro's Fire Flicker Strike as a Deadeye after the removal of the Raider ascendancy in 3.25.
Mapping: 9/10 Delve: 10/10 Heist: 10/10 Damage: 9/10 Safety: 8/10 Bosses: 7/10​
Build Guide
Best Starter Ranger Build: The Oro's Fire Flicker Strike Deadeye is the most budget friendly Flicker Strike build to start the game off with. It deals high damage with an inexpensive corrupted Oro's Sacrifice weapon and a Kaom's Heart body armour. You can later switch to Cold Flicker Strike if you want a higher damage ceiling. If you're interested in trying out the Oro's Sacrifice Fire Flicker Strike Deadeye build you can find a guide for it in the menu.
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That's all for this PoE guide! You can view more Path of Exile guides in the menu at the top of this page. Best of luck!​