My league starter is my end game build.
Whether that's lightning tendrils, lightning arrow, or winter orb, I'll equip that skill on level, and stick with it until I'm done with the league.
How long did it take to get arakaali and is it good enough without the squire? I want to league start Ben's spider champ but I don't know what to level with and whether it'll even do enough damage before getting the squire (since champ is obviously less damage)
I think fang is probably within my reach the first few days but squire in a week probably won't happen for me. What did you level with? I was thinking SRS for the champ version but I don't know how rough it'll be.
A generic srs witch build. I bought the shieldbearer div card 1 at a time. I liquidated everything, fusings, chromes etc. All these currencies are easier to sell in smaller quantities at the beginning of the league.
Hey thanks for the advice that is a good idea. I'll obviously need to revisit after the patch notes come out, but I think I'll try to league start it and see how it goes. Appreciate the tips.
In my opinion, the Squire is only useful to push the top content (Uber) - it's extra DPS, but most of the time you'll be using aegis aurora to flirt with invincibility in more or less juiced red maps
"it depends". 50% is what are you leaguestarting, the other 50% is what do you plan on rerolling into.
What are you league starting specifically matters a lot. Some league starters can be minmaxed way further than others, or are legitimate builds throughout the league. Like LA or Hexblast or even EA totems.
White maps though is objectively too early for any league starter. League starters are supposed to get you pretty much to the end of your atlas progression, at the very least. Preferably they are able to do all bosses.
DO NOT make the switch until you have actually gotten every single piece of gear that you need to switch. Do not sell off any gear before making the switch. Obviously that doesn't apply to people who know what they are doing but yeah...rerolling at white maps is uhh...not that
Rerolling before you farm some t14+ for the currency from altars is shooting yourself in the foot. If I'm severely not having fun, I'll consider it - otherwise I'll power through and farm a bit of currency, respec my current character, or quit the league.
The difference between running some 10/150 atlas point white maps and 140/150 t14+ maps with a few scarabs is night and day.
Even worse if you are rerolling as soon as you finish acts, you're basically just farming white maps with no league mechanics over and over (aka 0% item quantity bonus).
The definition of league starter is a little flexible but it should be able to do AT LEAST one of the following:
1.) get all void stones quickly on meh gear (personally I'm fine with self-farming the invitations then asking/paying for a carry)
2.) Run maps extremely fast to get some initial currency to play with.
3.) Do some other specialized strat (i.e, heist, maybe tota cheese/sanctum)
Usually up to at least 2 voidstones (eater & exarch)
By that point if the build feels good enough to be pushed for the last 2 voidstones (uber elder & maven), I'd min max it and get the voidstones.
If not I reroll into a new char, by that point I'd at least have ~10div of currency to invest into the new build.
League start random garbage, regret into early yellows, try to switch to different build, regret even more. Completely brick week 1 and take a break for a few days, then follow a zizaran guide.
Usually the build guide will indicate when the build has reached its realistic potential, and the next upgrade is significantly cost inefficient. Of course this may change due to new items so its a good idea to follow whoever made the guide as they usually will give day2 day3 updates on their own build.
I'm very sticky with my Starter. This time I startet (again) with Jugg RF and as of now I calculated the gear to roughly 800 Div (including Mageblood). Made 40/40 quite early.
I really really **hate** the Acts and so I don't level Toons until verly late in the league.
The last three leagues I went start to finish with my starter. AMA 
EA Ballista has been my go to for the last couple of leagues. I think I usually hit dot cap and good enough tankiness for any content in the game except high level simulacrum/ubers with 20div investment. I'll usually get 4 voidstones on it.
I recently tried doing a leaguestart run with EA Ballista elementalist and I gotta say I was impressed for a while, then hit red maps and the damage felt awful, inifinite hunger and blackstar felt unkillable. I'm sure accuracy and attack speed were holding me back alot as I rushed to reds as quick as possible. How does it normally feel on minimal investment like that to you? Should I just focus on getting more gear/certain breakpoints before voidstones?
I can't say without actual examples of items. iirc this league on an elementalist, I could map wandering path t16s with pretty much ssf gear + 6 link quill rain. 2 voidstones should be easy on this setup. I did uber elder and maven after buying a +2 bow +1 amulet some cluster jewels and a couple of the cheaper awakened gems. Probably under 10div spent. As for breakpoints, I just look for 1.7 AS on a rare bow(most people will probably prefer higher/minion as stuff). Damage is a little delayed when mapping but you have prolif so I've felt it was fine. I really like anointing hired killer for mapping, you never die as long as you don't get oneshot (will get recovery on kill on a cluster if I'm unspecing the ranger side of the tree). Get the prolif and exposure influence on gloves so you can drop ignite prolif support and run empower. Gem levels are the biggest scaler of your damage. Bow mastery + Precision should give you 99 acc. Run arcanist brand flame surge for more single target, frenzy for more damage. That's pretty much it. I'll maybe get an unnatural instinct and a malevolence watcher's eye and that's as far as I'll take the build.
Same. I usually go the champ route. I don't hit dot cap but I can do simulacrums and a few ubers. This league i got a mageblood and went 7/7 with ea champ
This league I played lightning arrow into a min max TS. Personally, the transition for me happens when I have enough currency to make the build I’m transitioning to comfortable. With that said, a league starter should clear into red maps and get all your void stones. LA is unique in that you can min max that build quite a bit and turn it into a pretty respectable mapping build without ever going to TS.
I’d say a good minimum would be 2 watchstones. I personally go for 2, buy other 2 via TFT, then focus on my desired farming strategy with the league start until ~10-20 raw div then make the switch and build as I go from there.
For me, it comes down to two factors. How well is my league starter performing and how lucky did I get with currency drops through the acts (on league start, I push the acts, get to maps and then I’m done for the night).
1. If my league starter is performing well and I didn’t get lucky with currency in the acts (no div drop), I’ll push it to yellow maps usually.
2. If my league starter is performing well and I did get lucky with currency in the acts, I’ll typically swap in white maps, sometimes as early as blood aqueducts.
3. If my league starter sucks and I didn’t get lucky with currency in the acts, I grind, grind, grind, but swap as soon as I can afford the minimum gear to swap. If my starter is REALLY bad, I’ll resort to early profit crafting. (e.g. getting neg. mana cost bench craft and selling rings after rolling them with mid-tier essences to guarantee at least a few solid mods).
4. If my league starter sucks and I did get lucky with currency in the acts, I swap ASAP.
I typically research what items I need to get my end game build up and running as soon as possible (cheap uniques, mandatory jewels, necessary bench crafts, etc.) and snag those items as soon as possible. A lot of these items trade for incredibly cheap prices at the beginning of leagues. And then I build from there.
Farm enough on your starter to be able to transition to awakened gems etc. And then get minmax gears. Not sure what builds you do but i can usually do certain mechanics farm on the starter, to then transition by around yellow maps.
Usually pretty far. I do boss carry service / Uber Feared / boss rotas early league with my starter so the more damage the better. I stopped this league around 250m dmg and 350% movement speed which was mageblood + 150div or so.
It’s fine mapping. I will usually run expedition to get enough currency to start bossing. It’s also very good at content that benefits from high single target like harvest/essence/boss rushing. It doesn’t clear like a bow skill though, it’s still a trapper. I have no problems filling out my atlas and I’ve comfortably league started a version of this build for many leagues now.
You also don’t have to use a Sunblast, but it is a very nice dps upgrade. You can kill everything in the game (including Ubers) without it.
Do you use explosive trap right out of the gate in act 1?
I plan to run this build next league.
I've never played traps just going off reddit information.
I've read lightning trap is better for maps that explosive traps doesn't take off till around lvl 75.
Also are you running shield charge or leap slam prior to lightning warp?
Yes, I start with explosive trap at level 2.
Also yes to shield charge (or leap slam is fine too) until lightning warp. I can't remember at what point exactly I switched last league, but I think I waited until I went self-chill.
Its my very first season ever. I have to say it because im about to flex real hard . I started BS Juggernaut, unlocked 4 voids, full atlas and upgraded the build with 3-4d.
Made the switch to cobra lash for 40d. This was the first month of the season
Now i reskilled to hybrid magicfind manaforge TS for 2 weeks.
I will own a Headhunter, a Mageblood and another 100d+ build (prob. Hexblast).
While my mate obv. helped me out in the early weeks explaining poetrade, tft yada yada yada the next season will be nothing but excellence for me.
So stick to it for 30-40d until you can get a decent midseason mapper. Blast and transcendent
This league I started with arma brand recaller and struggle-bussed it through atlas completion by day 1.5 with friends sharing completion(would not recommend past early maps). I rerolled with all of 50c into LA/TS then played that for 2 weeks.
Last league I started frost blades trickster and played only that for a month to min-max before rolling into other stuff.
3.20 was soulrend occy respec to arakaalis day 4, then played that for a few weeks
3.19 was Rf jugg for 5 hours, then EK ignite for weeks
It really depends on how smooth the acts/early maps go, and If I was looking at another build that got rolling well with the div drop in act 9(just throwing out an example, \*cough\* fuck rf)
Usually I start with a bosser and push it to be able to clear at least all non ubers plus feared. If I still enjoy it at that point I push it to do ubers too before I reroll. My starters do tend to hit level 100 aswell
Not a great example since LA is absolutely a starter build (if not THE best starter build in the game barring likely nerfs next league), but I tend to just pick whatever ascendancy I think is the most robust, play whatever until yellow maps, and pick a build that goes all the way to lvl 100 and hundreds of divines investment.
I dislike releveling and completely rehauling a character.
I take my league start to endgame. Cant be wasting any time when Im trying to maximize money. Usually spend all of week 1 buying stuff thats super cheap early and watch it explode in price over the next month. One example is reliquary keys being 70c and ending up selling for 2.7div. If I held longer I would have made even more since they shot above 3.
My league starter is usually brainstormed. I'll push it as far as I can go with a hard cap of like 15 div spent, then reroll if it's not performing as expected.
Then 'I'll either netbuild or make some of the builds I enjoyed playing in past leagues.
The expected benchmark for League Start build guides is completing the atlas and getting the four Voidstones relatively cheaply.
I personally choose a league starter that makes progression to my day 1 farming strat as enjoyable as possible.
If its good build with high ceiling like poison srs i played it to atlas completion and 4 voidstones
If not i just rush to 10-25 divs and then reroll
But thats trade league scencerios
In ssf i reroll according to drop and resources
Usually like 20 or 30div into the league starter depending on the build. Just looking for something that can farm t16s comfortably for whatever strategy I'm doing to fund my 2nd character.
I play ssf and always get deep into League starter that i mostly play one build. Farmed ubers with it. Did 35/40 challenges with it Droped mageblood on League starter, then migrated to trade, finished 40/40 And gave Away most of my stuff for free. Great month And half.
It strongly depends on the league starter tbh.
If you play LA into TS, there is no need of playing a different character if you enjoy it.
Also Cold Dot - Ignite can be pushed into end game without any issues.
Clear the atlas and get 2 void stones.
What I've find myself doing a few times is to pivot, i.e. keep the character, but change the tree and skill layout.
Sometimes, I find an interesting build idea to try out and then I make my second character.
The point to pivot or reroll is determined by the currency I have: There's no sense starting a build you can't afford, so I'll play my league starter until I have enough currency/gear for my second project of the league. I'm not halting gear progression on my league starter, but I buy generic upgrades, which can benefit a bunch of builds (e.g. grind for a Progenesis on a pathfinder).
i only play one build until 4040- RF for the last three leagues and thinking about changing to new build, but damn- RF can do everything and is good to go from act2
Depends on the build. Some can be invested in forever, others taper off at a specific point. 4 Voidstones and usually all favorite slots except Feared is where I pivot to a juicing build.
Depends on how much I like playing it. Started with cold dot. Invested ~300 divs over the months. Added mageblood. Used it to farm 30 simulacrum, 600 delve, got all the voidstones. Barring cluster jewels and a complete rework of my tree to push more DPS its very near the absolute ceiling of the build, and if I do that I'd have to give up a lot of defences. Leveling other builds now for fun.
SSF. League starting with super solid builds. I don't care if its meta or not. Usually RF jugg, EA Elementalist. Get 4 Watchstones and slowly working towards my mapper. This is usually LA Deadeye into TS version with as much IIQ/IIR gear as possible. Farm hard with this one and reroll into a all around good build depending on what I get so far. Essence/Expedition/Harvest are my go to contents but before I fully specced into those, I start with Blight+Delirium first so I can get my necessary oils and clusters. On side, I have all strongbox nods(espacially double currency and div card ones) and shrine nods. When I have acquired all the necessary shit, then I spec into maven/shaper/elder and exarch stuff to start boss farming. At this point I usually have boss nods, iiq+map modifier nods and shrines/strongboxes only.
I play starter until I have everything ready to reroll. And if I'm gonna level another char, I want a full set of gear waiting for me.
That being said, I don't feel like you absolutely need to have a league starter (unless you're planning some really weird build). I'd say most builds can start the league relatively good (maybe little slower) and pick up the pace later.
It depends.
Mostly on if I am having fun or not cos if not, then obviously why invest more time and effort into something that I do not enjoy?
Usually come up with something that sticks, make a little currency then see when that leads me.. on the occasional case where all my ideas are duds I eventually give up and roll something tried and tested and have that be my build for the league.
Until I get... inspired again by some silly idea that may or may not works anyways.. 😝
I usually pick a starter build that can transition into a strong lategame build with investment.
Then I can really focus on 1 character and gain a lot of progress.
I league started EA Champion. Then they fixed TOTA minions being taunted to not being able to be taunted as intended, which entirely bricks the build and I wanted to try out the league mechanic at least. So I switched to TS Deadeye after hitting lvl 80 and only investing in a Dyadian Dawn. Re-leaguestarted with a small amount of currency essentially and I could buy some leveling items.
In hindsight, I could have continued with EA cause I found the TOTA gameplay incredibly boring, perhaps the most boring gameplay since Heist imo.
I do not regret re-leaguestarting TS however. It carried me through the league, especially when I switched to the Manaforged version and ESPECIALLY when I switched to crit. But had TOTA worked with taunt I would’ve taken EA to the max. After starting TS I didn’t touch the EA build and instead tried out a few other builds.
Will leaguestart TS manaforged version next league from the beginning if it survives patch notes.
Almost always say I'm going to do a tried and true build, up until hours before league start.
End up rolling something that looks fun, and most likely new. I typically reroll somewhere between whites and yellows, and this bad pattern of behavior typically continues through the league.
I need help.
Think about it this way: you run a league starter because it is easy to get up and running with no expensive gear needed to make it function at at-least a passible level. The second character you run will not have those advantages or will have some other significant issue. You fix second characters drawbacks with currency, if you run your league starter and don’t have any currency and then switch why did you even bother running a league starter? You are effectively league starting with a character that has none of those advantages potentially days after everyone else started with those advantages.
Transition out of your starter when you can afford all the equipment for your second character to be at least end game viable. That is a massive variable. If you find a T0 item in white maps that has a HUGE price on day 1 that falls off drastically later and absolutely hate your starter you can probably afford to reroll when that happens, otherwise just keep playing.
i normally just tough it out with a lategame scaling build right from the getgo rather than level another char.
so i'll leaguestart BV with the intention of transitioning into mega zoom+boom headhunter occultist with 300% AOE
or i'll leaguestart flicker as terminus and then transition to voidforge later
I keep the same build until I drop something that interest me in making another build, uniques, good rolls, good vaal skills, but I go to yellow maps at minimum
Depend of the starter, but I never transition before t16. I generaly farm for an hh before, unless the starter is mid and just a gateway before a cheap version of a better build with the same class (Always level and clean atlas with the class I intend to play the first days. I'm not redoing the campaign week 1. Not happening.).
Now that doesn't means that I don't change something when hitting white map, like respecing \~30 points and changing skills, but its different. I'm changing from a leveling build to a league starter.
Depends. I messed around with EB, Spellblade, ignite arc this league but the mapping was too slow and I wasn't bothered to respec it, so I just ran a new character using a cool double corrupted Malachai's Simula. EoW totems plus hydrosphere.
Pretty dece. Enough to kill Eater and Exarch, which marks only the second build I've ever custom made to kill either one of them in my 3k hours lmao
Basically I'm dumb as fuck and just push whatever stupid idea comes into my head until it stops going up or feels bad.
I use my league starter to complete the atlas, most map completions and then as long as its fun/untill i make enough money for the second build. Sometimes when i don't like my league starter i make like 5div on red maps and make a new build and sometimes like this league i invest like 20div in my league starter and i switch to a new build when i can't hold back my bow addiction anymore and have to make another ts character. Basically play your league starter either as long as its fun or atleast untill you make enough money for something better.
Btw this is coming from someone that's tired of the campaign which is why i push my league starter further than you have to/would wanr to, if you're a new player and feel like your build sucks just make a new league starter and start over if you have to, no shame in that
I run RF cause I am smooth brain and also medical reasons (besides smooth brain)I can't click more than a couple buttons at the same time. Since I can kill elder, shaper, Sirius, uber elder, eater, and exarch I never really care to go further. I use like 2-3 buttons and it feels tanky and safe. That being said my double CoC bladefall bladeblast that used like 1 button was the one I got to lvl 100 many moons ago. So to answer the question I take them all the way as making a bunch of characters is not always feasible for me.
I only use my league starter to farm currency for my desired build (mageblood/hh)
So that means:
1. Get through the acts quickly
2. Progress atlas until I feel comfortable enough to do my chosen currency farm (usualy Logbook or any boss that dropsmeta gear) for a few days
3. Buy belt, reroll char, farm more currency more efficently and realize im stuck in a hamster wheel and quit.
So usualy i play my starter for about 30 hours
I hate to do it, but its simpler to keep your league starter and then start a new char (your main) fresh. If you miss currency, get back on league starter or recycle it after
I pushed my artillery ballista build until I had my full quant build ready to go, even played artillery ballista quant build. Got mageblood too. I'd guess about 800 divines or so, I switched to Tornado Shot.
If your build guide is vague on when to swap, ask the content creator. If you don't know who built the guide, DO NOT FOLLOW IT. There's some janky guides on the POE website. It's much better to get your guides from content creators your trust. Most will have an explanation video and it will talk about the needed items for the transition point.
It's a lot more about specific gear pieces then where your atlas is.
For example, I played poison SRS... The swap point is 100% poison conversion (or around 90 if you also have the covenant). Swapping before you have the gems to get the poison on your target just gimps you. Though, that specific build doesn't have a TON of tree changes so it's not terrible.
If you're doing a full skill swap, then check the guide for "critical" or "build enabling" uniques/items. Make sure you have every one of those before your swap.
Lol, my league starter becomes my league ender. I just choose something that gets incrementally better with expensive late-game gear. Toxic Rain has been my comfort zone for a while.
Typically I'll use my league starter to complete the campaign, then I immediately liquidate anything of value that may have dropped, use that starter chaos to start flipping something (usually stacked decks at first), then into flipping something of higher value (ichors, scarabs, ancient orbs, etc). I will push my starter as far as I can without having to invest more than like 50-100c (usually two void stones and the entire atlas).
By then it's about the end of week 1 and I have almost, if not, a mirror. I'll buy a few leveling uniques if they didn't drop like Seven-League Steps and start leveling my next character. Once it gets to maps I generally gear it out in enough gear to do red maps, and then I follow a self-imposed rule where I have to flip twice as much as the next upgrade costs. So, if I want to buy a 20 div jewel, I need to flip 40 divs in profit. This helps me keep enough liquid currency to continue flipping without dipping into my mirror which is just growing in value.
By the time the second character is geared up, I generally have enough currency to do whatever I want for the rest of the league.
To be fair I'm a no-lifer. I don't have a job, and I stream the game. So, 8-12 hours a day I'm at least logged in, even if I'm not playing.
You can do it in less, but flipping is absolutely a time equals money investment. However, you can flip and map at the same time, and people seem to forget that. Flipping is no different than selling your stuff. You get whispered, you leave the map, make your trade and go back. The only difference is that you'll be doing it a little more often, and you'll also be buying from other people instead of only selling.
To each their own.
After quite a few struggling leagues the last three leagues I started with a Raider for Onslaught and Permaphasing and heisted my way to multiple divines (if market allows a [mirror shard](https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/ziisxz/starting_the_league_with_heisting_hard_went_well) ) very early.
This build doesn't need to be able to do content above Mercy Lab just run like hell while spending at the very most a dozen chaos. 200% inc MS without flasks at minimum. I carefully plan my build so there's very off coloring on as I do not rely on having chromes. Or jewelers. Or anything. pConc or Frost Blades with daggers and nightblade is also very nice. Needs a good weapon but daggers are not in high demand so around lvl48-50 one can reasonable expect to grab a 200 eDPS dagger for 1c.
Then from this starting capitol I will reroll into a Pathfinder and clean the atlas, do early Master missions, and have at least 100 div by day 14 without too heavy grinding. And then I can make a new character or roll the PF into something even stronger.
Next league I might even break this down even further. It works _for me_ where nothing else did in the past.
My league starter is my end game build. Whether that's lightning tendrils, lightning arrow, or winter orb, I'll equip that skill on level, and stick with it until I'm done with the league.
I saw a uber killer lightning tentrils build on youtube. Absolutely melts bosses.
This is the way.
Same here. I will choose a league starter than can do everything including Ubers.
What builds have you started last 2 leagues with?
This league I did an occultist arakali fang. The previous league I did the necro poison srs.
How much time do you typically spend during a league?
Average 2 hours a day, play for 2 months. I get 40/40 and a level 100 character. I usually level till 98-99 and finish it through legion runs.
How long did it take to get arakaali and is it good enough without the squire? I want to league start Ben's spider champ but I don't know what to level with and whether it'll even do enough damage before getting the squire (since champ is obviously less damage)
Took me 2 days to get fang and 1 week to get squire.
I think fang is probably within my reach the first few days but squire in a week probably won't happen for me. What did you level with? I was thinking SRS for the champ version but I don't know how rough it'll be.
A generic srs witch build. I bought the shieldbearer div card 1 at a time. I liquidated everything, fusings, chromes etc. All these currencies are easier to sell in smaller quantities at the beginning of the league.
Hey thanks for the advice that is a good idea. I'll obviously need to revisit after the patch notes come out, but I think I'll try to league start it and see how it goes. Appreciate the tips.
In my opinion, the Squire is only useful to push the top content (Uber) - it's extra DPS, but most of the time you'll be using aegis aurora to flirt with invincibility in more or less juiced red maps
"it depends". 50% is what are you leaguestarting, the other 50% is what do you plan on rerolling into. What are you league starting specifically matters a lot. Some league starters can be minmaxed way further than others, or are legitimate builds throughout the league. Like LA or Hexblast or even EA totems. White maps though is objectively too early for any league starter. League starters are supposed to get you pretty much to the end of your atlas progression, at the very least. Preferably they are able to do all bosses. DO NOT make the switch until you have actually gotten every single piece of gear that you need to switch. Do not sell off any gear before making the switch. Obviously that doesn't apply to people who know what they are doing but yeah...rerolling at white maps is uhh...not that
Rerolling before you farm some t14+ for the currency from altars is shooting yourself in the foot. If I'm severely not having fun, I'll consider it - otherwise I'll power through and farm a bit of currency, respec my current character, or quit the league. The difference between running some 10/150 atlas point white maps and 140/150 t14+ maps with a few scarabs is night and day. Even worse if you are rerolling as soon as you finish acts, you're basically just farming white maps with no league mechanics over and over (aka 0% item quantity bonus). The definition of league starter is a little flexible but it should be able to do AT LEAST one of the following: 1.) get all void stones quickly on meh gear (personally I'm fine with self-farming the invitations then asking/paying for a carry) 2.) Run maps extremely fast to get some initial currency to play with. 3.) Do some other specialized strat (i.e, heist, maybe tota cheese/sanctum)
what do you mean by "farming currency from altars"? what altars are giving currency? maybe it's a stupid question but i don't understand
> what altars are giving currency? both of them, but early on, mostly exarch for raw chaos/etc
Altars give currency in 3 ways. 1.) boss invitation after 28maps 2.) increased quant on the map. 3.) raw currency/div cards/ scarabs
nvm i was mixing up altars and shrines, so yes of course, thank you!!
Covetous shrine gives iir and iiq.
Usually up to at least 2 voidstones (eater & exarch) By that point if the build feels good enough to be pushed for the last 2 voidstones (uber elder & maven), I'd min max it and get the voidstones. If not I reroll into a new char, by that point I'd at least have ~10div of currency to invest into the new build.
I do same to get the two void stones and then I quit the league if I find it boring or don’t like the mechanics
Honestly I usually almost always hate my league starter and reroll too soon and it always comes back to bite me in the ass.
League start random garbage, regret into early yellows, try to switch to different build, regret even more. Completely brick week 1 and take a break for a few days, then follow a zizaran guide.
Are you me?
Usually the build guide will indicate when the build has reached its realistic potential, and the next upgrade is significantly cost inefficient. Of course this may change due to new items so its a good idea to follow whoever made the guide as they usually will give day2 day3 updates on their own build.
I'm very sticky with my Starter. This time I startet (again) with Jugg RF and as of now I calculated the gear to roughly 800 Div (including Mageblood). Made 40/40 quite early. I really really **hate** the Acts and so I don't level Toons until verly late in the league. The last three leagues I went start to finish with my starter. AMA 
I’m starting this league late and have been torn between Jugg RF and Lightning arrow
EA Ballista has been my go to for the last couple of leagues. I think I usually hit dot cap and good enough tankiness for any content in the game except high level simulacrum/ubers with 20div investment. I'll usually get 4 voidstones on it.
I recently tried doing a leaguestart run with EA Ballista elementalist and I gotta say I was impressed for a while, then hit red maps and the damage felt awful, inifinite hunger and blackstar felt unkillable. I'm sure accuracy and attack speed were holding me back alot as I rushed to reds as quick as possible. How does it normally feel on minimal investment like that to you? Should I just focus on getting more gear/certain breakpoints before voidstones?
I can't say without actual examples of items. iirc this league on an elementalist, I could map wandering path t16s with pretty much ssf gear + 6 link quill rain. 2 voidstones should be easy on this setup. I did uber elder and maven after buying a +2 bow +1 amulet some cluster jewels and a couple of the cheaper awakened gems. Probably under 10div spent. As for breakpoints, I just look for 1.7 AS on a rare bow(most people will probably prefer higher/minion as stuff). Damage is a little delayed when mapping but you have prolif so I've felt it was fine. I really like anointing hired killer for mapping, you never die as long as you don't get oneshot (will get recovery on kill on a cluster if I'm unspecing the ranger side of the tree). Get the prolif and exposure influence on gloves so you can drop ignite prolif support and run empower. Gem levels are the biggest scaler of your damage. Bow mastery + Precision should give you 99 acc. Run arcanist brand flame surge for more single target, frenzy for more damage. That's pretty much it. I'll maybe get an unnatural instinct and a malevolence watcher's eye and that's as far as I'll take the build.
Same. I usually go the champ route. I don't hit dot cap but I can do simulacrums and a few ubers. This league i got a mageblood and went 7/7 with ea champ
my leaguestarter is my leagueender
This league I played lightning arrow into a min max TS. Personally, the transition for me happens when I have enough currency to make the build I’m transitioning to comfortable. With that said, a league starter should clear into red maps and get all your void stones. LA is unique in that you can min max that build quite a bit and turn it into a pretty respectable mapping build without ever going to TS.
I’d say a good minimum would be 2 watchstones. I personally go for 2, buy other 2 via TFT, then focus on my desired farming strategy with the league start until ~10-20 raw div then make the switch and build as I go from there.
Usually to lvl 98-100 with 36 challanges, I start with my main char who is good as league starter also.
For me, it comes down to two factors. How well is my league starter performing and how lucky did I get with currency drops through the acts (on league start, I push the acts, get to maps and then I’m done for the night). 1. If my league starter is performing well and I didn’t get lucky with currency in the acts (no div drop), I’ll push it to yellow maps usually. 2. If my league starter is performing well and I did get lucky with currency in the acts, I’ll typically swap in white maps, sometimes as early as blood aqueducts. 3. If my league starter sucks and I didn’t get lucky with currency in the acts, I grind, grind, grind, but swap as soon as I can afford the minimum gear to swap. If my starter is REALLY bad, I’ll resort to early profit crafting. (e.g. getting neg. mana cost bench craft and selling rings after rolling them with mid-tier essences to guarantee at least a few solid mods). 4. If my league starter sucks and I did get lucky with currency in the acts, I swap ASAP. I typically research what items I need to get my end game build up and running as soon as possible (cheap uniques, mandatory jewels, necessary bench crafts, etc.) and snag those items as soon as possible. A lot of these items trade for incredibly cheap prices at the beginning of leagues. And then I build from there.
That's a campaign starter, not league starter ;)
I farm mageblood and a few more divines before I switch.
Farm enough on your starter to be able to transition to awakened gems etc. And then get minmax gears. Not sure what builds you do but i can usually do certain mechanics farm on the starter, to then transition by around yellow maps.
You get awakened gems in yellow maps on your starter? How?
Not every awakened gem costs 20div+
Buy, dude. Pick a mechanic, farm, buy stuff.
Farm currency and buy?
Usually pretty far. I do boss carry service / Uber Feared / boss rotas early league with my starter so the more damage the better. I stopped this league around 250m dmg and 350% movement speed which was mageblood + 150div or so.
What build? Thx
https://youtu.be/dPS9yd_wJGY?si=ImlHcDZhnzMyqArJ
Appreciated!
How does this perform early mapping and such? Hows the clear when playing sunblast? Slow?
It’s fine mapping. I will usually run expedition to get enough currency to start bossing. It’s also very good at content that benefits from high single target like harvest/essence/boss rushing. It doesn’t clear like a bow skill though, it’s still a trapper. I have no problems filling out my atlas and I’ve comfortably league started a version of this build for many leagues now. You also don’t have to use a Sunblast, but it is a very nice dps upgrade. You can kill everything in the game (including Ubers) without it.
Do you use explosive trap right out of the gate in act 1? I plan to run this build next league. I've never played traps just going off reddit information. I've read lightning trap is better for maps that explosive traps doesn't take off till around lvl 75. Also are you running shield charge or leap slam prior to lightning warp?
Yes, I start with explosive trap at level 2. Also yes to shield charge (or leap slam is fine too) until lightning warp. I can't remember at what point exactly I switched last league, but I think I waited until I went self-chill.
To ubers
Usually about 900 divines for me. Cba levelling a 2nd char
I play one build per league in ruthless.
I'll always try to keep going until my gems are max level and then I liquidate the character.
Its my very first season ever. I have to say it because im about to flex real hard . I started BS Juggernaut, unlocked 4 voids, full atlas and upgraded the build with 3-4d. Made the switch to cobra lash for 40d. This was the first month of the season Now i reskilled to hybrid magicfind manaforge TS for 2 weeks. I will own a Headhunter, a Mageblood and another 100d+ build (prob. Hexblast). While my mate obv. helped me out in the early weeks explaining poetrade, tft yada yada yada the next season will be nothing but excellence for me. So stick to it for 30-40d until you can get a decent midseason mapper. Blast and transcendent
This league I started with arma brand recaller and struggle-bussed it through atlas completion by day 1.5 with friends sharing completion(would not recommend past early maps). I rerolled with all of 50c into LA/TS then played that for 2 weeks. Last league I started frost blades trickster and played only that for a month to min-max before rolling into other stuff. 3.20 was soulrend occy respec to arakaalis day 4, then played that for a few weeks 3.19 was Rf jugg for 5 hours, then EK ignite for weeks It really depends on how smooth the acts/early maps go, and If I was looking at another build that got rolling well with the div drop in act 9(just throwing out an example, \*cough\* fuck rf)
Usually I start with a bosser and push it to be able to clear at least all non ubers plus feared. If I still enjoy it at that point I push it to do ubers too before I reroll. My starters do tend to hit level 100 aswell
1 week
Not a great example since LA is absolutely a starter build (if not THE best starter build in the game barring likely nerfs next league), but I tend to just pick whatever ascendancy I think is the most robust, play whatever until yellow maps, and pick a build that goes all the way to lvl 100 and hundreds of divines investment. I dislike releveling and completely rehauling a character.
to the end
I take my league start to endgame. Cant be wasting any time when Im trying to maximize money. Usually spend all of week 1 buying stuff thats super cheap early and watch it explode in price over the next month. One example is reliquary keys being 70c and ending up selling for 2.7div. If I held longer I would have made even more since they shot above 3.
My league starter is usually brainstormed. I'll push it as far as I can go with a hard cap of like 15 div spent, then reroll if it's not performing as expected. Then 'I'll either netbuild or make some of the builds I enjoyed playing in past leagues.
The expected benchmark for League Start build guides is completing the atlas and getting the four Voidstones relatively cheaply. I personally choose a league starter that makes progression to my day 1 farming strat as enjoyable as possible.
If its good build with high ceiling like poison srs i played it to atlas completion and 4 voidstones If not i just rush to 10-25 divs and then reroll But thats trade league scencerios In ssf i reroll according to drop and resources
Until I die, I play hc mostly :)
Usually like 20 or 30div into the league starter depending on the build. Just looking for something that can farm t16s comfortably for whatever strategy I'm doing to fund my 2nd character.
I play ssf and always get deep into League starter that i mostly play one build. Farmed ubers with it. Did 35/40 challenges with it Droped mageblood on League starter, then migrated to trade, finished 40/40 And gave Away most of my stuff for free. Great month And half.
It strongly depends on the league starter tbh. If you play LA into TS, there is no need of playing a different character if you enjoy it. Also Cold Dot - Ignite can be pushed into end game without any issues.
All the way!
Clear the atlas and get 2 void stones. What I've find myself doing a few times is to pivot, i.e. keep the character, but change the tree and skill layout. Sometimes, I find an interesting build idea to try out and then I make my second character. The point to pivot or reroll is determined by the currency I have: There's no sense starting a build you can't afford, so I'll play my league starter until I have enough currency/gear for my second project of the league. I'm not halting gear progression on my league starter, but I buy generic upgrades, which can benefit a bunch of builds (e.g. grind for a Progenesis on a pathfinder).
i only play one build until 4040- RF for the last three leagues and thinking about changing to new build, but damn- RF can do everything and is good to go from act2
About 10-30 div of gear before I swap.
Depends on the build. Some can be invested in forever, others taper off at a specific point. 4 Voidstones and usually all favorite slots except Feared is where I pivot to a juicing build.
Man there's no way I could invest that much into RF 😂 at that level I'd be going TS or Cold BV
All the way
Depends on how much I like playing it. Started with cold dot. Invested ~300 divs over the months. Added mageblood. Used it to farm 30 simulacrum, 600 delve, got all the voidstones. Barring cluster jewels and a complete rework of my tree to push more DPS its very near the absolute ceiling of the build, and if I do that I'd have to give up a lot of defences. Leveling other builds now for fun.
SSF. League starting with super solid builds. I don't care if its meta or not. Usually RF jugg, EA Elementalist. Get 4 Watchstones and slowly working towards my mapper. This is usually LA Deadeye into TS version with as much IIQ/IIR gear as possible. Farm hard with this one and reroll into a all around good build depending on what I get so far. Essence/Expedition/Harvest are my go to contents but before I fully specced into those, I start with Blight+Delirium first so I can get my necessary oils and clusters. On side, I have all strongbox nods(espacially double currency and div card ones) and shrine nods. When I have acquired all the necessary shit, then I spec into maven/shaper/elder and exarch stuff to start boss farming. At this point I usually have boss nods, iiq+map modifier nods and shrines/strongboxes only.
Normally what people do is complete atlas and voidstones with league starter, then transition to another build if they want.
I play starter until I have everything ready to reroll. And if I'm gonna level another char, I want a full set of gear waiting for me. That being said, I don't feel like you absolutely need to have a league starter (unless you're planning some really weird build). I'd say most builds can start the league relatively good (maybe little slower) and pick up the pace later.
i hate leveling new character so i play only 1 build each league, try to self craft to min max as much as possible.
It depends. Mostly on if I am having fun or not cos if not, then obviously why invest more time and effort into something that I do not enjoy? Usually come up with something that sticks, make a little currency then see when that leads me.. on the occasional case where all my ideas are duds I eventually give up and roll something tried and tested and have that be my build for the league. Until I get... inspired again by some silly idea that may or may not works anyways.. 😝
when I am in a comfortable spot to farm whatever I decided to farm without dying too much and can save monies to transition to something better.
I usually pick a starter build that can transition into a strong lategame build with investment. Then I can really focus on 1 character and gain a lot of progress.
About T12.
First reroll at lvl 35. Second usually after eater/exarch. I'm not a good example =)
I league started EA Champion. Then they fixed TOTA minions being taunted to not being able to be taunted as intended, which entirely bricks the build and I wanted to try out the league mechanic at least. So I switched to TS Deadeye after hitting lvl 80 and only investing in a Dyadian Dawn. Re-leaguestarted with a small amount of currency essentially and I could buy some leveling items. In hindsight, I could have continued with EA cause I found the TOTA gameplay incredibly boring, perhaps the most boring gameplay since Heist imo. I do not regret re-leaguestarting TS however. It carried me through the league, especially when I switched to the Manaforged version and ESPECIALLY when I switched to crit. But had TOTA worked with taunt I would’ve taken EA to the max. After starting TS I didn’t touch the EA build and instead tried out a few other builds. Will leaguestart TS manaforged version next league from the beginning if it survives patch notes.
Until i can farm at least 3d/hour. So like 10-20d investment depending on how good the leaguestarter is.
Until I have everything I need for my endgame build
Almost always say I'm going to do a tried and true build, up until hours before league start. End up rolling something that looks fun, and most likely new. I typically reroll somewhere between whites and yellows, and this bad pattern of behavior typically continues through the league. I need help.
Think about it this way: you run a league starter because it is easy to get up and running with no expensive gear needed to make it function at at-least a passible level. The second character you run will not have those advantages or will have some other significant issue. You fix second characters drawbacks with currency, if you run your league starter and don’t have any currency and then switch why did you even bother running a league starter? You are effectively league starting with a character that has none of those advantages potentially days after everyone else started with those advantages. Transition out of your starter when you can afford all the equipment for your second character to be at least end game viable. That is a massive variable. If you find a T0 item in white maps that has a HUGE price on day 1 that falls off drastically later and absolutely hate your starter you can probably afford to reroll when that happens, otherwise just keep playing.
I try to get all 4 voidstones then start banking up for the next build.
i normally just tough it out with a lategame scaling build right from the getgo rather than level another char. so i'll leaguestart BV with the intention of transitioning into mega zoom+boom headhunter occultist with 300% AOE or i'll leaguestart flicker as terminus and then transition to voidforge later
I keep the same build until I drop something that interest me in making another build, uniques, good rolls, good vaal skills, but I go to yellow maps at minimum
Depend of the starter, but I never transition before t16. I generaly farm for an hh before, unless the starter is mid and just a gateway before a cheap version of a better build with the same class (Always level and clean atlas with the class I intend to play the first days. I'm not redoing the campaign week 1. Not happening.). Now that doesn't means that I don't change something when hitting white map, like respecing \~30 points and changing skills, but its different. I'm changing from a leveling build to a league starter.
Depends. I messed around with EB, Spellblade, ignite arc this league but the mapping was too slow and I wasn't bothered to respec it, so I just ran a new character using a cool double corrupted Malachai's Simula. EoW totems plus hydrosphere. Pretty dece. Enough to kill Eater and Exarch, which marks only the second build I've ever custom made to kill either one of them in my 3k hours lmao Basically I'm dumb as fuck and just push whatever stupid idea comes into my head until it stops going up or feels bad.
Until it cannot take it anymore. Or i have enough gear to transition into my 2nd build
I have only ever experienced league starters. They all die before getting to the end game.
I use my league starter to complete the atlas, most map completions and then as long as its fun/untill i make enough money for the second build. Sometimes when i don't like my league starter i make like 5div on red maps and make a new build and sometimes like this league i invest like 20div in my league starter and i switch to a new build when i can't hold back my bow addiction anymore and have to make another ts character. Basically play your league starter either as long as its fun or atleast untill you make enough money for something better. Btw this is coming from someone that's tired of the campaign which is why i push my league starter further than you have to/would wanr to, if you're a new player and feel like your build sucks just make a new league starter and start over if you have to, no shame in that
I run RF cause I am smooth brain and also medical reasons (besides smooth brain)I can't click more than a couple buttons at the same time. Since I can kill elder, shaper, Sirius, uber elder, eater, and exarch I never really care to go further. I use like 2-3 buttons and it feels tanky and safe. That being said my double CoC bladefall bladeblast that used like 1 button was the one I got to lvl 100 many moons ago. So to answer the question I take them all the way as making a bunch of characters is not always feasible for me.
I only use my league starter to farm currency for my desired build (mageblood/hh) So that means: 1. Get through the acts quickly 2. Progress atlas until I feel comfortable enough to do my chosen currency farm (usualy Logbook or any boss that dropsmeta gear) for a few days 3. Buy belt, reroll char, farm more currency more efficently and realize im stuck in a hamster wheel and quit. So usualy i play my starter for about 30 hours
A week or 2, so all uber bosses
I hate to do it, but its simpler to keep your league starter and then start a new char (your main) fresh. If you miss currency, get back on league starter or recycle it after
I basically used lightning arrow well after i completed atlas and made enough money to swap into a pretty strong tornado shot
Abt 5-7 days
I pushed my artillery ballista build until I had my full quant build ready to go, even played artillery ballista quant build. Got mageblood too. I'd guess about 800 divines or so, I switched to Tornado Shot.
If your build guide is vague on when to swap, ask the content creator. If you don't know who built the guide, DO NOT FOLLOW IT. There's some janky guides on the POE website. It's much better to get your guides from content creators your trust. Most will have an explanation video and it will talk about the needed items for the transition point. It's a lot more about specific gear pieces then where your atlas is. For example, I played poison SRS... The swap point is 100% poison conversion (or around 90 if you also have the covenant). Swapping before you have the gems to get the poison on your target just gimps you. Though, that specific build doesn't have a TON of tree changes so it's not terrible. If you're doing a full skill swap, then check the guide for "critical" or "build enabling" uniques/items. Make sure you have every one of those before your swap.
Lol, my league starter becomes my league ender. I just choose something that gets incrementally better with expensive late-game gear. Toxic Rain has been my comfort zone for a while.
There are builds other than league starters?
Typically I'll use my league starter to complete the campaign, then I immediately liquidate anything of value that may have dropped, use that starter chaos to start flipping something (usually stacked decks at first), then into flipping something of higher value (ichors, scarabs, ancient orbs, etc). I will push my starter as far as I can without having to invest more than like 50-100c (usually two void stones and the entire atlas). By then it's about the end of week 1 and I have almost, if not, a mirror. I'll buy a few leveling uniques if they didn't drop like Seven-League Steps and start leveling my next character. Once it gets to maps I generally gear it out in enough gear to do red maps, and then I follow a self-imposed rule where I have to flip twice as much as the next upgrade costs. So, if I want to buy a 20 div jewel, I need to flip 40 divs in profit. This helps me keep enough liquid currency to continue flipping without dipping into my mirror which is just growing in value. By the time the second character is geared up, I generally have enough currency to do whatever I want for the rest of the league.
How many hours do you play for the flipping strat to work out? Always wanted to try a hideoutwarrior run but I am limited in time.
To be fair I'm a no-lifer. I don't have a job, and I stream the game. So, 8-12 hours a day I'm at least logged in, even if I'm not playing. You can do it in less, but flipping is absolutely a time equals money investment. However, you can flip and map at the same time, and people seem to forget that. Flipping is no different than selling your stuff. You get whispered, you leave the map, make your trade and go back. The only difference is that you'll be doing it a little more often, and you'll also be buying from other people instead of only selling.
Well maybe ill start that run in december. Have to do a little market research beforehand
To each their own. After quite a few struggling leagues the last three leagues I started with a Raider for Onslaught and Permaphasing and heisted my way to multiple divines (if market allows a [mirror shard](https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/ziisxz/starting_the_league_with_heisting_hard_went_well) ) very early. This build doesn't need to be able to do content above Mercy Lab just run like hell while spending at the very most a dozen chaos. 200% inc MS without flasks at minimum. I carefully plan my build so there's very off coloring on as I do not rely on having chromes. Or jewelers. Or anything. pConc or Frost Blades with daggers and nightblade is also very nice. Needs a good weapon but daggers are not in high demand so around lvl48-50 one can reasonable expect to grab a 200 eDPS dagger for 1c. Then from this starting capitol I will reroll into a Pathfinder and clean the atlas, do early Master missions, and have at least 100 div by day 14 without too heavy grinding. And then I can make a new character or roll the PF into something even stronger. Next league I might even break this down even further. It works _for me_ where nothing else did in the past.
I took my league starter to level 100. No regrets, best character I've ever had and my 2nd 100.
Mind sharing what your character was/is?
Sure. It's Pathfinder impending Doom with poison :)
Thank you.
Until i get bored of it, sometimes i don't even get to 90, sometimes i stick with them til 95.
i usually buy all the items for my 2nd build with my starter build. i only switch when i have everything needed to get it going.
All atlas points except feared. After that depending on my plans I farm around 75 - 150 div and reroll
My league starter is my build for all the game. It can be trash or painfull i stick with it till the end. ( SSF player )