Best League Starter Builds in Path of Exile 2 Return of the Ancients
There's a build here for everyone.
With several major skills seeing changes through mechanics, attributes, or even items playing a major role in unlocking their power, there are several amazing league starter builds emerging for Path of Exile 2’s Return of the Ancients patch.
Here’s a compilation of some of the best league starters from talented PoE 2 creators to help you get started in choosing a strong build suited for your playstyle.
Fubgun’s Ice Shot Deadeye Build
With Snipe getting a massive damage bonus, the Return of the Ancients patch shows a lot of love for the Deadeye class. Fubgun is one of the best build creators in Path of Exile, always min-maxing everything and choosing the strongest class to play in every major patch, and in this league, he’s going to be running an Ice Shot Deadeye build, which is a great league starter and scales well in the endgame.
Ice Shot or even most Deadeye skills are always amazing in clearing, but struggle quite a bit in bossing. The build is also easy to understand early, as you want as many flat damage attack rolls on almost every single piece of gear that can roll them. The one major downside is that most of the community would probably go for Fubgun’s Ice Shot build, which should probably catapult the prices of some of the item pieces needed when you reach the endgame.
Raxxanterax’s Plants Oracle Druid Build
Raxxanterax’s Plant Oracle Druid build shows a lot of promise by being able to clear decently, only press one button, and can clear all types of content.
The build does use Energy Shield as its main defense, which may add some mana problems for the build. The offensive power is definitely one of the strongest, and if you are looking for a one-button, easy-to-follow build, Raxxanterax’s guide is definitely worth a look.
Palsteron’s Spell Totem Oracle Build
Plasteron’s Spell Totem Oracle build capitalizes on the massive buff for totems in this patch. However, just before the patch release, the build was toned down a bit, only because it was seen as too overpowered. The build is still strong, but not completely tested with the new surprise changes.
The build uses Spell Totem, which means your totems will cast spells for you to deal damage. There are a lot of spells being used, especially throughout the campaign, where you’d have to make some changes. Palsteron has been one of the best build creators since Path of Exile 1, and he already has a plan (linked above) to play around the changes for this build.
CaptainLance9’s Spirit Walker Tame Beast Build
CaptainLance9’s Spirit Walker Tame Beast build utilizes taming unique beasts to crush enemies for you. The gameplay offers a lighter approach since you’ll be working with companions to fight, but the build doesn’t get going until you reach Act 3.
You’ll be using a placeholder speed-leveling build, which uses Twister + Whirling Slash, explained in CaptainLance9’s video linked above. Because of this, you’ll have to respec your skills midway through the campaign, also meaning you have to save and spend some gold to make the switch. Overall, the build offers an enticing way to play, sort of playing like a Zoo/Necromancer build.
Jungroan’s Hollow Rain Martial Artist Bell Stacker
Jungroan’s Hollow Rain Martial Artist Bell Stacker build is centered around the new Martial Master ascendancy node. It basically builds around gaining and retaining combos on any attack. While most builds centered around new skills and mechanics need to be tested first, Jungroan is probably the most trusted build creator when it comes to exploring something completely new.
The build will use skills that land several hits, like the Rain of Arrows skill, to generate combos extremely fast, allowing Tempest Bell to be placed consistently.
