Path of Exile: Top 5 Best League Starter Builds for Affliction (PoE 3.23)

A beginner’s guide to some of the best league starter builds for Path of Exile Affliction expansion, covering a range of classes in PoE 3.23.
For more Path of Exile guides, check out maxroll.gg/poe/
Thanks to Crouching_Tuna, & Tenkiei
Time stamps:
00:00 Intro
02:03 Toxic Rain Ballista Pathfinder
03:57 Lightning Arrow Deadeye
06:08 DD Elementalist
07:41 SRS Guardian
09:17 Boneshatter Slayer
11:34 Boneshatter Juggernaut
Build guides:
Boneshatter Slayer: maxroll.gg/poe/build-guides/b...
Boneshatter Juggernaut: maxroll.gg/poe/build-guides/b...
Lightning Arrow Deadeye: maxroll.gg/poe/build-guides/l...
Toxic Rain Ballista Pathfinder: maxroll.gg/poe/build-guides/t...
SRS Guardian: maxroll.gg/poe/build-guides/s...
DD Elementalist: maxroll.gg/poe/build-guides/d...
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Executive producers: Kiskaloo, Zaeith
Special thanks: John Dwyer,
Joshua Dotson,
MaiaNashira,
Nazgren, Arcthorin,
Lamer of Sweden
, Neme5i5,
Nicholas Lautner
, Remiehneppo,
Toioiz,
Tony Duran,
Valentine Judnich,
zoomsp
#PoE #PathofExile #Affliction

[@CodeCuttlefish]

Dude, excellent video. I think your collaboration idea is great. I am looking to get back into PoE but hesitant because of how overwhelming it can be. This video breaks down some great builds without getting bogged down in the details for each one. Again, excellent video. Thank you.

[@letko6]

Great job of covering the material. This is my 2nd league and just can’t believe how good this game is

[@CastleOfMeat]

Always appreciate when you cover some poe!

[@dIggl3r]

Vraiment heureux que tu ailles prit la peine de faire ce video, je connais un de tes compétiteurs qui est comme toi un mega Diablo player, et qui ne parle virtuellement jamais de POE. Merci de ton input! 👍

[@victorprivat]

entendi foi porra nenhuma

[@nolandsinceimpoor2817]

Thank you for the well spoken intro it helped making all the info easier to digest

[@00110000]

Thanks for the coverage! DD Ele sounds interesting, as I've never done that playstyle before. However, I'm also interested in Hexblast Mines. I love deleting bosses and it's been a while since I played a Mines/Traps build.

[@lebromalaeb7621]

thank you for the effort, a great summary indeed! plz cover more PoE content

[@BaerndXP]

Excellent video! Cool thing you explained the playstyles, that ist propably the most important thing for me as a casual. And my friends as well.

[@cjh8069]

I’m thinking of trying to fit natures patience into an end game build. Double damage plus physical damage reduction sounds good for tanking unique monsters bosses put a shield on with frostblades or something

[@tonnytrumpet734]

Really great seeing even more hardcore D3, D4 channels orienting their content a bit more towards PoE, hopefully this will bring more people to PoE and PoE 2 so people can experience this great game and developers get more recognition for love they give to this product.

[@nicolasmora7210]

I agree with you, Im brazilian end there's a lot of Diablo channes here doing PoE content. PoE is the best ARPG at moment, and has the strongest player base in this gender the PoE.

[@williamwallace3057]

blizzard is just bait and switch scams at this point.

[@SomeUnsoberIdiot]

Oh, glad to see it's a "hardcore D3, D4" channel, so I can ignore it without watching the video. :)

[@poopywelder]

Bro D4introduced me to this game…and I’m amazed at how much better POE is and it an old game..I can’t wait for POE 2

[@Texansfan59]

Poe 2 looks great gnna be awhile though till it drops

[@DeevilishCat]

As a noob new player sounds like SRS might be the perfect choice for me :) hopefully i'll understand the guide to follow along while progressing

[@zachlewis9751]

SRS Guardian is the best possible build for a new player. Guardian Sentinel is a great leg to stand on while trying to learn the game and Guardian scales SRS decently and easily for a new player. A good guide is pretty easy to follow once you know what you are looking at.

[@Jules-77]

Thank you 👍🏻

[@mariu_sh2439]

Previous season I've checked Guardian Minion/Totem hybrid, with SRS/HolyFlame totem and SummonSkeleton+TotemSupport+InfernalLegion. This one was great. Sentinel + Skeletons farming attacks, Totem applying ignite, and SRS poping like hell. Currently choosing between DD Elementalist, or repeating combo with either Scion or Hierophant

[@Akitorbenov]

I'll wait to see of someone makes a templar build with divine Ire or something with Smite.

[@Scarlett-om8ib]

TR ballista is my first proper build and only one that served me well. Good to know that it’s still going strong this league and I will probably use it again this league haha.

[@rhadiel]

Is this build endgame viable? Can it clear the Atlas? Or must I respec / transition into another build?

[@blackwomangamer2637]

it can yes easily@@rhadiel

[@Ixiah27]

How well does TR ballista pathfinder do against things like ultimatum in later rounds ?

[@greenok.8614]

Hey, thanks for great video! Just starting to learn PoE, wanna try the DD Elementalist build you talked about in this video. Can i find your guide to this build somewhere?

[@beowulf1001]

rhykker didnt make the DD elementalist build. if you head over to Tripolar Bear's youtube channel you can find a video and a full maxroll guide on the build. Edit: the maxroll link to tripolarbears guide is in this videos description

[@rhadiel]

Can't wait to try a Falling Zombie Totem build :D

[@maCAWfactory]

prob the best starter build guides ive seen, love the jugg ending!

[@jmbrady1]

in games like this, I don't know why, but I just love running DoT builds even though it is counterintuitive to effective play

[@tjwilliams5858]

Trying to look at the passive skill tree for DD elementalist on Maxroll and it’s a blurry mess, any way to find a more clear version?

[@leivendil8824]

Hey everyone! Who knows what is the purple effect of the boneshatter juggernaut, really love how it looks. Does this work for jugg only or can work for slayer as well?

[@Gamer9o]

Im gonna start with corrupting cry build what my friend made for me ..... its scion with berserker + gladiator + duelist its gonna be hella fun i think :D

[@Arealdruid]

lol at 1:00 I thought I was watching D4 for a second. I miss that one season where Melee was good. That was a good season.

[@Imehiel]

named timestamps is a huge qol youtube has added a while ago, it's a shame not having it in a video where it would be especially useful

[@45hotro]

It looks like Captain Diablo has jumped the ship.

[@darkphase7799]

Still debating league starter. I only starting playing PoE late into last league and started RF Jugg, but I think I want to try a bow build this time. Plus RF has some nerfs to it if I am understanding right. If not nerfs then big adjustments to the build.

[@BiLLdoughzer]

same as me. I started after D4 came out. Bow build is fun.

[@fedbia2003]

THANK YOU RHYKER!!!

[@987devil8]

Any ideas of starters that can reach end game and complete bosses and uber bosses at the end thanks.

[@padrinozerocool]

Played all the builds. Going to try something different. Something not even the Pro tried. My eyes on the shrapnel ballista transfigured gem. With the mechanics of impale.

[@international_hippie]

whoa not even the pros ? first of its kind ? #1 sneaky build 3000, calm down sir calm down :P

[@1337GigaChad]

We're back

[@johndomino6057]

Picked up the game a few days ago. Leveled an RF Templar to almost 80 only to find out a new league starts tomorrow 😂

[@HerrSchnitzel121]

I ran TR pathfinder for my first league in 3.22 - highly recommend it for new players. Transitioned late-game to poison spark RIP ashes of the stars.

[@archiei40x]

TR lost the capability to get 9% AOE from gem alone. Expect to lose a suffix somewhere to compensate. League start, basically lose 10-20% dmg. Ramp up is up 20% from base but that ramp is dependant on atk spd and target's stationary time. Basically a nerf but nobody talks about it. Alt Spark for poison is gone. Rip the archetype in general.

[@calebfox2996]

@@archiei40x I'd say poison BV PF is a much better bet especially with Ultimatum back in the mix.

[@mgee9130]

I always try to hype myself for the league start but then I remember that it will take 4-6hours before the fun part of the game begins.I was really hoping that they would do something about the fact that we need to run the same acts again and again when poe2 comes out but sadly thats not happening.😒

[@Tsuihidaka]

Is there a way to put the Toxic Rain Ballista Pathfinder build in PoB?

[@vikingjack9994]

please make one of these for current league!

[@Maizan24]

Thanks for this. I've played poe a bit but crafting a good build is a bit out of my realm of understanding at my level of game knowledge. Think I'm going to try that Templar build.

[@Gamer9o]

I think you can go to lab and if lucky get special gem even at act 3

[@isaacbenrubi9613]

Of course, the best build is COC Cyclone Ele-Conversion Poison Mine Traps

[@Shadowfex]

Great video. However, I would say the Boneshatter build isn’t as user friendly as stated, UNLESS you just really want a melee build. I’ve tried it multiple times, and just couldn’t keep going as it was super annoying to play. I’d actually put Rightous Fire Chieftain instead. Super easy. Super simple. And has a TON of support to help get it started. I’m loving it.

[@user-xv8ff4no3z]

is this the TR champion in the video? how can PF have 20 fortify?

[@awayman86]

About toxic rain pf, i don't understand lifetap linked to immortal call

[@matheus8106]

which build does more damage than any build off all game ???

[@gamingforever006]

Yo guys which boneshatter is better slayer or the juggernaut?

[@coreyjohansen9823]

Would boneshatter slayer be ok for a noob? And with this build would i be able to get my void stone?

[@beowulf1001]

yes. if you follow Zizarans recent boneshatter slayer guide with carndarak they made a day ago you shouldnt have much trouble getting your first 2 voidstones. it is possible to get the last 2 voidstones with the build but boneshatter isnt too great with bossing so that will come down to your own skill.

[@doakesanddrax]

Is poison concoction still a thing? I might do that

[@dubleshooter]

im gona start mine build with explosive arow. i hade it last league its stat stacer buts its wery fun adn easy for run tier 6 maps like breze

[@iFishSLO]

Hey, Diablo 4 Guy. Welcome back to PoE.

[@mindsettrader4747]

New to PoE. good class recommendations?

[@Mo-tzu]

we are really waiting the guid on DD Elementalist, plzzz

[@Lann91]

Can you scale toxic rain pathfinder to endgame/uber bosser build? And is it worth it?

[@m.h.4907]

Sorry for the late response. Basically you can probably scale almost every single skill into Ubers. The issue is that some require an unholy amount of currency to do so. But yes Toxic Rain is able to kill all endgame bosses for 50-60 divine budget I would say

[@Not____Applicable]

I love how all of you completely missed the part where he referenced the actual creators of the builds and start drilling him with questions like he’s a build maker. You’re all so smart I love it HAHAHHAA

[@PhilosophicalDrummer]

Wow you are telling me that my fav Corpse Explosion based on corpse life from D2 is in PoE but in a better version ? Im downloading PoE as we speak !

[@emilhellberg1095]

Never played poe, but love d2 and last epoch. I'm to afraid to get in to it, seems so overwhelming.

[@chicomanara]

Boneshatter and trauma support lost a lot by the removal of a attack Speed variant on trauma stacking, that let you stack more, get more damage, etc. I might start with trickster tr, selfcast, as the trickster sustain is based on the kills being attributed to you, not your totem (sometimes It is fine still). The problem is that I saw a guide for trickster explosive trap, and that got me thinking on How can I pile bad decisions after another and still got away with a medium result. Aka: I think on getting a tottaly fine build and try to force Warlock on it, just so that I can meme some added phys, low life shenannigans.

[@kirkfletcher9707]

Uh what... srs gaurdian doesnt touch psn srs which is virtually untouched.

[@AdjointGaming]

No elementalist or Hierophant at top 5 ? hmmm. Maybe they aren't good at this patch ?

[@Gostooo666]

7:56 bro lost his words when divine droped

[@relsus1383]

Where PoB for TR ballist?

[@jalengibbs5403]

It this game had the polish that d4 had… Poe 2 is gonna take over the industry

[@synen]

I like this PoE content, a testament that D4 is disappointing your viewers, all on Blizzard. Keep up the good work.

[@jesuz999]

How can you play with a map on? xD

[@ShortySeconds2Mars]

trauma stacking works waaaay better on juggernaut

[@Khobadan]

No spectre build ?

[@asakapa0003]

I prefer ea ballista over tr ballista

[@davidmaltais2912]

Help me I want something tanky that can farm all bosses except Uber situs Uber maven, but I don't want to have to spend over 50 div. I'm torn between TR trickster TR path. Champ CF, EA champ EA chieftain EA elementalist hiero balistas dex stacker explosive trap trickster or Sabo and last but not least hexblast ocu trickster or sabo

[@Mike-jm4gg]

All build you said are good…..they can do boss but are more maper then bosser….maybe go build that are more bosser like hexblast for example.

[@davidmaltais2912]

@@Mike-jm4gg the only build that's not a bosser is cf champ. All bossing builds

[@Mike-jm4gg]

@@davidmaltais2912 what I mean is there are builds that are cheaper then those one for bosses…….but yes they all can do bosses. I did play ballista dex stacker last league and its awesome for mapping…I did bosses with the build but if I would whant to go more focus on bossing I would play none of those builds.

[@user-xt1hf5to2h]

Well the SRS guardian starter sounds great but...... Where's the guide? ?? I guess I'm used to playing by the seat of my pants and making it up as I go along soooo . I get SRS, take the guardian ascendancy and hit up minion buffs on the passive tree. OK, Here gooooooesssss............. Something!?*!

[@hakz6777]

is it fine for a begginer to chose one of those build ?

[@m.h.4907]

Yes I play mainly solo self found and Toxic Rain, Detonate Dead or Explosive Arrow are great choices. They require almost no gear to clear the atlas and scale into late game too. All 3 builds are very versatile and all arounder for almost all content probably except deep delving

[@nicolasmora7210]

Im a minion player, probably i will play something like zoomancer or SRS Templar, buuut, star with something different would be nice, like bonershatter

[@troikas3353]

I've always disliked "Minion" builds focused on Raging Skulls, it's such a copout of a "minion" spell and really just feels like a reskinned magic missile or something.

[@AsHx47]

Detonate dead i think, i like fire.

[@rudidekok]

I still have never finished PoE campaign i get overwhelmed everytime think my highest level was 30 or less cant remember maybe i should try it again

[@johnbong9640]

Finally covering a real ARPG!

[@johndoe-qo8cy]

POE, finally a good ARPG.

[@ogge9296]

I definitely prefer diablo. Both games have their pros and cons

[@DeedlyDood]

@@ogge9296 Uh huh, the con of Diablo is having to play it.

[@oOGamaRayOo]

@@DeedlyDoodthe only con I have with Poe is that it cost more than Diablo when you factor in all the damn shit you have to buy. Edit: started playing this game season 1 of Diablo 4 after it bored me to death. I just found out now that there is league challenge’s that you can do to unlock cosmetics which I didn’t know as a new player and god did I pay for it.

[@streicherPRIV]

@@oOGamaRayOo45€ in stash tabs on sale is all you ever need. Even less for more casual players. Which is less than diablo right now. Not including any potential extra class packs or dlc

[@pablo098965818]

​@oOGamaRayOo quad tab, map and currency tab, maybe essence stash tab? Everything else is just flavor on top, that's not even close to 60 and it carries on for ever. I bought my tabs with a support pack in like, 2018.

[@Furrythighs]

Are any of these good on SSF?

[@learnway8016]

Boneshatter Slayer and DD Elementalist work very well in SSF

[@Furrythighs]

@@learnway8016 Ty!

[@Furrythighs]

@@learnway8016 What about boneshatter jugg?

[@epyjacek]

​@@Furrythighsthis one could I suppose, but slayer may have better sustain. It depends on the items you find.

[@F4nt4zm499]

starting a generals cry blade flurry zerker... no clue if theres even a guide for it😂

[@copenormcbrokelegsproperra2909]

There's various guides as it's a pretty old build, not sure how much different it's going to be in 3.23 but should still be good. Just google around and you should find build guides for it.

[@F4nt4zm499]

last time i played it generals cry was new and it worked without guide in ssf... this time il have a look on the guides, thanks❤

[@utmastuh]

Is it me or is maxroll getting fewer PoE builds on its site each league? The ones there are almost always the same as well

[@zachlewis9751]

Maxroll is not the place for PoE content. People in the community have websites dedicated to the game like PoE Vault.

[@chicomanara]

May be that some guys over there got away, but in reality, leaguestart is when people scout more for builds, but not many tive on that restriction. And after that, notions on what is noob friendly, what can or cannot be considered budget and etc, vary a lot.

[@andrewpaul8732]

You and palsteron posted basically the same video 8 hours apart. Guess im not in the discord

[@yosi1653]

Im so glad RF wasnt included..

[@ntma]

lol the toxic rain footage is champ not pf

[@myorigaccisbroken]

very cool video. d4 is just not interesting enough to keep you in. poe it is!

[@The3eka]

Look at this....total madness one the screen. I have no idea how one see what it hits or what hits him....Press assigned buttons for win

[@SitKid721]

D4 bad YEP

[@august3777]

No Golemancer? What!

[@zachlewis9751]

Before 3.23 golemancer wasn't really a good build anymore, with the reveal of the new t-gems it seems Golemancer will have a come back. I am going to league start it and give it a good try in in semi-SSF.

[@daspoopen6842]

same as every league xd

[@Stefiou974]

RIP RF 🥲

[@theOwnuts]

5 seconds into the video and I'm allready yelling at my screen "Pick up the Chaos Orb!"

[@fandomkiller]

keep your dirty blizzard hands off my poe

[@noyce.]

Save you 13 minutes. 2:07 Toxic Rain Ballista Pathfinder 4:02 Lightning Arrow Deadeye 6:13 Detonate Dead Elementalist 6:42 Summon Raging Spirits Guardian 9:24 Boneshatter Slayer It's impressive how he can get a 13minute video outta this 😂 edit: Those that wanna try SRS Guardian can check out PhazePlay's (No AG/Spec)

[@MrLeanath]

Dude, he does an excellent job at explaining the builds in detail on a comprehensible level for beginners. This video is not for you if you're a seasoned player like myself.

[@JointSnipe]

you have way too much bass on your mic. it's a little bit obnoxious to listen to it in a good pair of headphones at a reasonable volume.

[@xxxxFORSETIxxxx]

👍😎👍

[@Hypelloo]

where pob

[@itszhu]

doesnt play the game, probably doesnt even know what PoB is tbh...

[@demonwaterdemonwater4993]

i never beat the first onei just played it for a while..

[@CryptoPunk_]

D4 tried to rap battle PoE but ended up getting roasted beyond come back lol .

[@borislavangelov3697]

Do you like what you see? The game is very very good to a point! In mid to late endgame you barely see anything on the screen - everything is soo fast especially with moving skills as dmg dealers... heavy rng on drops and crafting, overly complicated passive skill tree - more that 10 clusters for swords dmg, spred out! And guess what - even if you take them all, you swordsman dmg will still suck... need to read and follow internet guides for almost every ingame system, because even small mistakes have negative impact. No ingame trade system, need again internet trade listing sites... Hope POE2 is different

[@spencerlake5710]

So all the same builds as the last two seasons. I really don’t understand why Poe doesn’t buff other builds more often.

[@ChristianHeid7]

Nothing other to do than start playing POE since D4 suxks this bad right now. Imagine if Blizzard had some compident devs to create good and engaging content NOW rather than milking the franchise like all the others.

[@adamhenry9132]

It's nice to see PoE content. While interesting, it keeps convincing me not to dip my toes in. The game looks way too busy for me. I also really dislike the aesthetics.

[@derekjsabourin8822]

I had the same mindset, 8 months since I started playing PoE and it's completely ruined D3/D4 for me. I say give it a try at the very least.

[@arvydas5017]

​@@derekjsabourin8822and poe 2 will completely destroy what remains of d4

[@zachlewis9751]

It's a perfectly fine game to sink 20-100 hours every few months for a new league, you don't need to fiend it to enjoy it. and it really will kill D3/D4 for you if you actually get into it.

[@HaychD]

The clips hes showing of the builds is definitely not a good representation for what most players will experience when copying it lol

[@franciscoduran998]

Ice crash, Ice crash all the way cheap

[@Nostromo2144]

Who cares about builds? Play Detonate Dead nekkid, win! ;)