Dear exiles! PoE 3.28 Mirage is happening in full swing. In this post, I want to share with you Ronarray's quick showcase of different builds that can be nice league starters for the Mirage league. Some of them could be obvious, some of them could be more unusual. Let's go, and I can show all of them and talk a little more about the upside of each.
1. Bleed Bow Reliquarian
The first build we have on that list is pretty cool and unusual. It's the Reliquarian Scion build with a Bleed Bow. At the moment, Reliquarian isn't really that popular, and not many people are even starting it. I really want to highlight at least one build for the Reliquarian because that's a new and kind of cool Ascendancy. The Reliquarian can get a pretty decent amount of survivability, and it is looking like a very good option for a Bleed Bow. Before Bleed Bow was mostly played with Slayer or Gladiator, but at the moment, Reliquarian is solid and could definitely be used for it.
It's probably one of the best builds that you can actually league start as a Reliquarian, because league start could be a little rough. You can start playing split arrow even at early levels, and it can scale pretty nicely into the endgame if bow play is for you, especially if you don't want to play a classical set of bow skills.
2. Absolution Guardian
The next build is Absolution Guardian. I'm going to the league start Absolution Guardian myself because it got buffed across so many different points. Guardian got buffed. They improved Sentinel of Radiance and added even more quality of life.
They also improved the Absolution Sentinel skill, which they use approximately once every 3.7 seconds. But the biggest buff is just the Vaal Absolution buff. Instead of 200% of damage, you're going to have 300%, which is absolutely huge. I believe that Absolution Guardian is going to be very comfortable at the league start. Later on, you can scale your damage with Doryani, or you can even swap to any other build, such as a mana build. But even if you stay as Absolution, it still should be absolutely all right to improve both defenses and the damage for the endgame.
3. CWS Chieftain
The next build is one GGG has been trying to kill for some time. They even nerfed it for 3.28, but it's still coming back and still should be playable. The build is Cast When Stunned (CWS) Chieftain. It is mostly directed at the farm ultimatum and the higher-level Simulacrum, and it could be pretty good for people who actually enjoy a relaxed playstyle.
So, pretty often, you would like to swap to the build later on, when you will have enough PoE currency, but at the start, it can still be a very nice thing to play on a very low budget. And even after it got nerfed, you still can make it and farm most of the things that you farmed before, especially since tier 17 got nerfed, and there's a big chance that you will need to farm your ultimatum in tier 16 instead. To play CWS, you will need to start as Righteous Fire and progress slowly through that. But generally, you can swap to the build pretty early, and it could be considered some starter, even if you're still using Righteous for the campaign.
4. Void Shockwave Cyclone Slayer
Another build, which is pretty nice for people who enjoy a relaxed playstyle and smooth gameplay in general, is the Cyclone. Cyclone Slayer got indirectly buffed in 3.28. We got a new support, which is Void Shockwave, and it's looking absolutely amazing, but there's a big chance that it will be a little more expensive, especially at the start. So it will probably only be available later in the endgame.
At the start, you will be able to use a corruption-and-use system to get free support for your Cyclone, because you don't really need to use the Vaal version. And otherwise, Cyclone is still looking like a very nice build with a pretty big AoE to farm such mechanics as breach, which is probably going to be a pretty prominent farm. So, it's still looking very good at 3.28. It is definitely going to be a solid option, especially for melee.
5. Kinetic Fusillade Hierophant
The next build on the list is probably going to be one of the most popular builds in the meta. It's Kinetic Fusillade Totems Hierophant, and it's working out pretty well on almost all levels of gameplay. For that build, you can level up with fire skills. So, going Firestorm and Elemental Weakness, or you can even use Absolution for your campaign progress, swapping to Hierophant later on. When you're swapping, you will have a very nice way to utilize your totems because Kinetic Fusillade is stacking absolutely amazingly with them, together with a pretty solid defense that Hierophant can currently provide. The only downside here will be higher prices for some PoE items later on, since the build is going to be pretty popular. So even simple things could cost more because of this.
6. Kinetic Fusillade Warden
And if you like kinetic skills but don't really want to play totems, you have only a few options. First off, it's Kinetic Blast Deadeye, which you have probably already played. And another option is Kinetic Fusillade Warden, which could be a nice idea if you want more single-target damage and don't really worry that much about survivability. Definitely, totems are going to be safe, but the playstyle with totems is not really for everyone. And if you definitely don't want to go for it, and a basic KB doesn't have enough single-target, I think Kinetic Fusillade Warden could be a very nice option for you. So check that out, especially since Warden can compensate for losing grafts in the normal variation and just improving damage separately by Ascendancy itself.
7. Venom Gyre Deadeye
If the previous build's been surviving just fine, that build has been practically killed and now has risen from the ashes. It's the Venom Gyre build. If previously, it's been mostly played like Cobra Lash, and you're even still leveling with Cobra Lash. At the moment, Cobra Lash is not really looking that solid for the endgame. Instead, it just completely swapped to Venom Gyre, which is still a pretty solid option for fast gameplay, especially if, for some reason, you don't really like Kinetic Blast. And I think it's also going to be less popular and, in that case, less expensive. So it could be a very nice thing if you want to play Deadeye but don't really want to go bows.
8. Blade Vortex Elementalist
The next build is another one that is staying alive for a pretty long time—mandatory Vaal Blade Vortex inclusion. So, Blade Vortex got a little nerf from changes for Elementalist because it lost the increased effect of buffs granted by the golems, but it also got a few interesting upsides in general. And at the moment, I think it should be absolutely fine and still provide a very decent amount of clear and pretty comfortable gameplay too, since you're mostly running through and not recasting Blade Vortex that often. It can be similar to Cyclone in terms of gameplay and should be more than enough to progress through the maps, especially since tier 17 is gone.
9. Stormburst Totems Hierophant
And another build is a totem build that you can play if you're afraid that KF Hiero is just going to cost too much because it's going to be too popular. That's a very nice build to swap to if you're just in the tent, but it will be hard for you to afford stuff for KF. It's practically Stormburst Totems and was a popular option for totems for a pretty long time. It's still looking solid across almost all levels, even if the totem gameplay may not be for everybody. But if, for any reason, you don't really want to go for kinetic Fusillade, you can go for Stormburst instead because those are looking pretty decent.
10. Bleed Slams Slayer
And the last build on the list is practically a bleed build. For bleed builds, we always had a variety of options. I think Bleed Slams at the moment, and you can pick practically anyone from that list. But if the slam playstyle in general still feels kind of all right for you, I believe that bleed slam can provide a pretty decent AoE, which is going to feel better than other options for bleed at the moment. It will be harder to get higher blocks, such as those from Gladiator, but it will still be a very comfortable and pleasant experience while playing. And the progression just from the start of the game should also be very nice because Sunder is a very strong skill for leveling, and I can definitely say that it's still going to stay like that at least for some more time.
Enjoy the League Start!
Here is the end of Ronarray's top 10 league starters. I hope you have an amazing league start at 3.28.
