7 Best League Starters for Path of Exile 3.25

If you pick the best league starters for Path of Exile 3.25, it will set you up for easy success in the new league's fresh economy. Ultimately, this ARPG is all about cooking up your favorite build with your preferred playstyle, and a good league starter character is the first step toward that goal.

With the changes in Path of Exile's 3.25 patch, some of the old community favorite league starters see a resurgence - but some newer builds will also be on the rise.

7 Best League Starters in Path of Exile 3.25 to jump-start your economy

This guide is not an exhaustive account of all the best league starters in Path of Exile 3.25. Ultimately, your playstyle and preference should dictate which ones are the 'best' for you. However, if you don't know where to start, these meta league starters will take you a long way:

1) Boneshatter Juggernaut

Boneshatter Juggernaut is easily the old faithful of best league starters for PoE. This plain-sailing Marauder build has survived many nerfs and indirect workarounds over the last few years, but its sheer brute force and accessibility make it resilient to patch notes and meta shifts.

Leveling Ease: 5/5
Bossing: 4/5
Mapping: 5/5
Scalability: 5/5
Simplicity: 5/5

Boneshatter Juggernaut is as simple as a melee build gets (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Boneshatter Juggernaut was already one of the most popular melee builds before the 3.25 melee rework. With upwards of 100% buffs to all melee abilities this build will be even stronger and more popular in Path of Exile 3.25.

This build focuses on the synergy between the Boneshatter ability and Trauma buff. By stacking as much Trauma as possible you will buff your damage significantly. This extra damage scales near infinitely with Boneshatter, making it capable of taking out any enemy.

The twist of this build is that Trauma also causes you to damage yourself when you strike. However, by taking advantage of armor stacking and life-leech, you can counteract this damage entirely.

This may be the simplest league starter that you can currently play. As long as you have enough health regen for Trauma, you effectively can’t die. If you're new to Path of Exile, this Boneshatter Juggernaut build guide will take you through everything you need to know to get this league starter up and running.

2) Hexblast Mines Trickster

The Hexblast Trickster build has made its way to being one of the best league starters in Path of Exile 3.25. Despite the some indirect nerfs that make Trickster the better choice over Saboteur to channel this build, the chaos damage mines can easily clear a full screen on either spec.

Leveling Ease: 3/5
Bossing: 5/5
Mapping: 4/5
Scalability: 5/5
Simplicity: 3/5

The Trickster rizzler is back in town (Image via GGG)

The key to this build is linking your Hexblast skill with the High-Impact Mine support gem. This causes your Hexblast to be used in the form of a mine that is detonated. This combined with proper links and gear allows you to fill a map with powerful automatically detonated mines.

This is one of the more complex league starter builds on our list, but its potential damage is nearly unrivaled.

Also read: Path of Exile 3.25 Hexblast Mines Trickster build and leveling guide

3) Lacerate Gladiator

Lacerate Gladiator builds have for a long time taken a back seat to other melee builds, such as Cyclone. After the melee rework in 3.25, however, it is quickly earning its spot as one of the best Path of Exile league starters.

Leveling Ease: 4/5
Bossing: 4/5
Mapping: 4/5
Scalability: 2/5
Simplicity: 3/5

Lacerate Gladiator is much better now (Image via GGG)

This build is centered around the damage over time of the Lacerate skill. This skill sends two slashes in front of you that cause enemies to bleed. Two big perks of this build are that it’s very tanky at low levels and allows you to play at medium range. The downside of this build is its limited damage cap, meaning it may not be good in the Path of Exile endgame - leaving you to transition to another build or start a fresh character with currencies you've accumulated.

When you reach mid-game you should aim for the Jack, the Axe and Ryslatha’s Coil items.

4) Poison Summon Raging Spirits Necromancer

Doubtless, the Summon Raging Spirits builds are going to be the beginner-friendly meta for league starters again in PoE 3.25. If you enjoy kiting and playing from a safe distance, this the build to go with.

Leveling Ease: 4/5
Bossing: 5/5
Mapping: 4/5
Scalability: 5/5
Simplicity: 3/5

This build does not have a main combat ability as your minions will be doing all your damage for you. The gameplay focus is for you to repeatedly use your Summon Raging Spirit skill to have as many minions out as possible. One of the biggest reasons to play this is how good it is at Path of Exile bossing. On the flip side, the problem with this build is that it takes some time for your poison damage to ramp up.

Maintaining safe distance from enemies and keeping your minions summoned are all it takes to play this effectively. You should be careful around bosses that have large AOEs however, as they can wipe your army.

5) Zoomancer Necromancer

The Zoomancer Necromancer build is arguably the best league starter in Path of Exile 3.25 if you want to hit the ground running with a minion-focused build. This setup uses mostly permanent minions to provide a barrier between you and your enemies.

Leveling Ease: 4/5
Bossing: 5/5
Mapping: 5/5
Scalability: 4/5
Simplicity: 4/5

Zoomancer is open for business (Image via GGG)

Since this build does not use combat abilities your job will be to keep minions summoned and buff them with Aura skills. The minions used in this build are Zombies, Skeletons, Golems, and Spectres. You can play this with basically no gear in early to mid-game, letting your minions take all the damage. In mid to late-game with certain gear pieces you will also become nearly indestructible.

Some important gear pieces to search for are the Triad Grip, Darkness Enthroned, and Convoking Wand. The most important thing when gearing however is to buff your minion gem levels.

6) Toxic Rain DoT Trickster

Toxic Rain builds are some of the most classic league starters in PoE, and they will still be exceptional in patch 3.25. This build will be powerful, safe, and easy to play—ideal for players of any experience level.

Leveling Ease: 5/5
Bossing: 3/5
Mapping: 5/5
Scalability: 4/5
Simplicity: 4/5

The playstyle of this build will involve you kiting enemies while using your Toxic Rain ability as often as possible. This ability rains arrows down onto an area, damaging anything hit as well as doing chaos damage over time. This build focuses on buffing the damage over time aspect of the skill, not the direct damage.

What makes this one of the best league starters in PoE 3.25 is its independence from gearing. If you wish to continue this build into the mid to late game you will need some specific crafts, however.

7) Lightning Arrow Deadeye

A list of best league starters for Path of Exile would never be complete without the Lightning Arrow Deadeye. This build has stood the test of time against a barrage of direct and indirect nerfs throughout the past few leagues, and even in 3.25, it's here to stay.

Leveling Ease: 4/5
Bossing: 2/5
Mapping: 5/5
Scalability: 4/5
Simplicity: 2/5

Whether you want smooth leveling from 1 to 120, clearing mobs fast, mapping, bossing, or scalability with further experimental variations, Lightning Arrow Deadeye has you covered. The only downside with this build is survivability—just look the other way when you eventually get one-tapped.

For a different twist on this classic league-starter, check out the new and improved Lightning Strike Deadeye build here.

As mentioned earlier, this is by no means a complete account of all the best league starters in Path of Exile 3.25. These are just some of the most meta league-starting builds endorsed by the playerbase, including popular streamers speedrunning the campaign on day one.

This ARPG encourages creativity and personal touch in builds, so treat these as blueprints to mix and match and make your own 'best league starter'.

Meanwhile, you can peruse some of our other guides on Path of Exile:

Edited by Angad Sharma