As an experienced ARPG gamer with thousands of hours in complex titles like Path of Exile, I know first-hand how brutal starting a new game can be when bombarded with intimidating skills, mechanics, and character customization options.
It often leads to failing experimental builds, re-rolling new characters, watching guides for hours, and overall frustration before finally grasping enough knowledge to properly experience all the incredible depth and fun available.
That learning curve to competency is precisely why I‘ve created this guide – to provide newcomers to Path of Exile a smooth on-ramp by highlighting 5 exceptionally friendly builds for their first exile into Wraeclast.
These builds don‘t require obscure game knowledge, expensive gear, or perfect play to progress comfortably through end-game bossing and mapping. By focusing specifically on streamlined leveling power, safe playstyles, and clear beginner friendly scaling, you‘ll find success on your journey to mastering POE!
Now let‘s breakdown why these 5 builds excel for new players before diving into specifics.
What Makes A Beginner Friendly Build?
While POE veterans may enjoy pushing ultra complex builds with niche interactions to their limits, that is far from ideal when starting out! Beginner friendly builds instead excel in 3 key areas:
Easy Leveling Progression: Building enough offense/defense early on to clear campaign with minimal deaths without needing specific items. Generally achieved via strong skill gem and Ascendancy synergy.
Well Balanced Survivability: Having sufficient layers of defense alongside life/energy shield counts to avoid frustrating one-shots without extremely expensive gear while still reaching end-game.
Clear Upgrade Paths: Obvious ways to scale damage and defense further by incremental gear, gem and passive tree improvements without needing to start over. Lets you steadily work towards conquering harder content.
That combination allows new players to comfortably experiment and learn POE‘s different mechanics without quitting early on. And once you do have that solid base of game knowledge, you‘ll have a much easier time advancing into more complex builds!
Now let‘s examine the top 5 league starters that achieve beginner friendly greatness!
1. Righteous Fire Inquisitor
The Righteous Fire Inquisitor relies on the Righteous Fire skill gem to wreath yourself in spell damage over time fire aura, then further boosts that damage and sustain through passive skills and gear. This creates a tanky character that applying damage just by walking nearby enemies.
Effortless Leveling And Progression
As an Inquisitor, you gain substantial regeneration, spell damage area bonuses perfectly complementing Righteous Fire‘s burn aura playstyle. Combined with life/mana nodes on passive tree and life/resists on gear, you achieve high survival early on without expensive gear.
For offense, Inquisitor penetration buffs raise RF‘s end-game damage ceiling but what accelerates leveling is Activation of Low Life damage buff. By reserving life with auras you safely trigger increased burn damage without fully sustaining RF until acquiring more regen. That means excellent damage all the way to end-game!
Defensive Layers For Mistake Forgiveness
With 7-8k life pool, over 2% life regen, Rise of the Phoenix shield giving max fire resists, and Purity of Fire aura – you become extremely tanky while still dishing out high spell damage! This makes navigating new encounters very forgiving compared to glass cannon builds.
Distinct Upgrade Path
Early unique gearing like Rise of the Phoenix shield and Shaper‘s Seed amulet gives substantial boosts pre-maps. From there focusing on %life and resist rare gear steadily improves survivability. For damage Grab area of effect nodes and stack intelligence for higher mana to scale RF‘s burn further!
Pros
- Extremely tanky right away
- Very smooth leveling
- Only requires 4 link for mapping
Cons
- Can be slower playstyle
- Damage ceiling limited
Overall the satisfaction of tanking end-game bosses just by walking over them while still clearing maps smoothly makes RF Inquisitor the prime league starter for players who value safe progression over all else!
2. Caustic Arrow/Toxic Rain Trickster
This Damage over Time bow build leverages two exceptional chaos damage skills providing both strong single target and mapping capabilities perfect for beginners.
Effortless Leveling And Progression
Leveling employs Caustic Arrow‘s explosive arrows applying chaos damage over time ground effects, allowing easy clear by firing, dodging packs, then collecting loot after they melt! Together with Toxic Rain‘s spore pod arrows buffing chaos damage, you obliterate enemies.
As a Trickster, you gain substantial boosts to Damage over Time and mana costs – allowing smooth damage scaling and skill usage from early levels onwards without heavy investment. Additional buffs to evasion and movement make for a very safe playstyle!
Easy access during leveling to key unique bows like Stormcloud or Withering Touch quiver further accelerates progression by providing substantial damage increases that carry well into mid-game.
Defensive Layers For Mistake Forgiveness
With naturally high movement speed and evasion from Trickster ascendancy + gear, you become extremely adept at dodging enemy attacks compared to slow builds! This gives tremendous survivability while still attacking safely from range.
Additional layers like blind support gems, flasks, and ghost shroud skill allow recovering from hits. Combine with life/dodge nodes on passive tree and you have strong defenses without expensive gear.
Distinct Upgrade Path
Early league target Eldritch Implicits on gloves and rings providing chaos damage multipliers, followed by +gem level bows to scale damage higher. Defensively grab Acrobatics nodes while balancing life nodes to hit roughly 170%+ increased maximum life for 5-6k pool.
Pros
- Extremely fast clear speed
- Very safe playstyle
- Easy gear progression
Cons
- Managing DoTs can be clunky
- Lacks burst damage
With delightfully fluid chaos arrow effects constantly filling the screen and melting monsters, this focal skill combo creates possibly the most enjoyable mapping experience perfect for players who love zooming through content!
3. Armageddon Brand Elementalist
This caster build revolves around the Armageddon Brand spell skill, allowing you to drop explosive firebrands that rapidly hit enemies. Combined with the Elementalist‘s buffs to elemental ailments, golems, and proliferation, you get extremely smooth leveling and mapping.
Effortless Leveling And Progression
The key combos are Armageddon Brand‘s fast ticking fire damage with the Elementalist‘s Shocks and Ignites spreading that damage out. You further boost it with supports like Added Lightning Damage without needing specific uniques.
Elementalist buffs give strong bonuses right away without gear requirements while excellent base skill damage means you destroy enemies through entire campaign! Freezing, shocking and igniting whole packs, you rush to maps faster than most starters.
Defensive Layers For Mistake Forgiveness
Strong initial EHP from high intelligence stacking results in 5-6k combined life/energy shield pool. Additional layers from defensive buffs on skill tree, Elemental Overload node giving damage improvement without needing critical strikes, chill/freeze effects and Stone Golem buffs make survival extremely consistent.
Distinct Upgrade Path
Early priority is unlocking library quest for key support gems like Elemental Focus. Transition to high crit chance late game substantially increases damage through Inevitability notable + crit multi nodes + quality gems. Cluster jewels further enhance damage alongside almost any unique providing damage per golem which is easy to scale!
Pros
- Extremely fast clear speed
- Very safe playstyle
- Easy procuring key gems
Cons
- Squishier without investment
- Intensive flask piano
With satisfaction of packs shattering whole screens at a time, this build provides potentially the smoothest leveling experience making it a top choice for players craving effortless early game power!
4. Ice Crash Inquisitor
This melee build centers around Ice Crash, a skill that smashes your weapon into the ground, exploding ice outward in a large area of effect. Combined with the Inquisitor‘s penetration, crit buffs, and ignoring resistance, you get extremely well-rounded DPS perfect for new players.
Effortless Leveling And Progression
The satisfying visuals and crunchy sound effects of Ice Crash obliterating packs makes for an exceptionally fun playstyle while leveling. We further boost damage early through supports like Onslaught, Added Cold, and Ancestral Call requiring no specific uniques.
Easy access to leveling weapon recipes like Broad Axe or Brightbeak substantially accelerates early progression by providing solid flat damage. Combined with Inquisitor ignore resistances, you reliably crush campaign content.
Defensive Layers For Mistake Forgiveness
Natural strength and dexterity boosts attributes needed for gear. We focus heavily on life nodes early getting 170%+ increased maximum life alongside life and resists on gear. With a 5.5-6k life pool you become very forgiving to both spells and attacks.
Defensive auras like Arctic Armour slow attacker movement speed allowing evasion and retaliation. Other layers via fortify support gem, frost shield thresholds and chill/freeze chance make survival consistent.
Distinct Upgrade Path
Determination aura massively buffs armour alongside shield for more defense. Offensively target crafting phys damage weapons or utilizing uniques like Facebreaker scale damage high. Crit multi and impale nodes further push damage into end-game.
Pros
- Extremely strong AOE damage
- High visual satisfaction
- Balanced offense and defense
Cons
- Namelock skills clunky
- Freeze immunity wrecks damage
Boasting some of the most satisfying shatter effects in the game while still easily shredding end-game, Ice Crash remains a phenomenal well-rounded league starter perfect for players craving crushing weapon blows!
5. Summon Skeletons Necromancer
If you want an incredibly simple playstyle to start with, it doesn‘t get easier than the classic Summoner. With the Summon Skeletons skill gem, you raise undead minions to fight for you while you focus mainly on staying safe. Combined with Necromancer buffs to minion life, levels, and damage, they can shred enemies.
Effortless Leveling And Progression
The key advantage is delegating combat to minions letting you avoid attacks while they destroy enemies! Support them with additional zombies via skill gem while grabbing life nodes to ensure max army size early.
Easy access to key leveling uniques like Bones of Ullr further accelerates raising maximum minions for strong progression. Extremely smooth playstyle where you shield charge between packs while minions obliterate them!
Defensive Layers For Mistake Forgiveness
Incredibly safe playstyle by letting skeletons tank damage means you rarely take hits. We focus heavily on life nodes while grabbing additional defensive minion nodes providing damage reduction If they die. With 4-5k life pool you have high EHP.
Guard skill gem triggers shield charge escape allowing easy dodging of boss attacks you can‘t tank. Chill, hinder, blind support gems add further defensive utility both helping you and minions take less damage!
Distinct Upgrade Path
Late game opens up Dead Reckoning jewel giving Skeleton Mages beams destroying bosses and rares from safety. Cluster Jewels give massive minion life & damage multipliers. "+X to Level of Socketed Minion Gems" crafts or uniques like The Baron helmet provide excellent scaling.
Pros
- Extremely safe playstyle
- Easy early gearing
- Auto-targets enemies
Cons
- Managing minions complex
- Some find boring
Boasting automated troops eliminating enemies while you safely collect loot, it doesn‘t get simpler to start obliterating POE end-game than rocking an army of undead servants!
Conclusion
I hope this guide has shed light on why the highlighted builds make progressing through POE‘s campaign and into end-game mapping/bossing exceptionally smooth for complete beginners!
Their focused skill and ascendancy mechanics grant strong leveling power early on without gear requirements. Their layered defenses prevent unwanted one-shots as you learn combat mechanics. And clear incremental upgrade routes enable steady strengthening towards conquering higher challenges!
While their damage ceilings are lower compared to ultra specialized builds, they provide enormously forgiving and fun playstyles while starting out. Once you‘ve built that solid foundation of POE game knowledge from comfortably enjoying these league starters, expanding into more exotic builds becomes far less daunting!
I highly recommend checking out detailed build guides focused on the recommendations that appeal most to your playstyle preferences and experience level. The POE community creates exceptional resources so leverage them fully on your journey to mastering Wraeclast exile!
Stay sane out there,
Karlson – Full-stack Exile