10 Best Builds for New Players in PoE 3.25

Do you plan on playing Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur anytime soon? Are you a complete beginner with no knowledge about the game whatsoever? Still searching for a build that you can start the game with? If the answer to these questions is yes, then you have come to the right place!

Today, we will talk about the builds that are great to use and do not require you to learn complex mechanics. If this sounds good to you, then read further. This is our guide for the best builds for new players in PoE 3.25!

What Makes a Build Good for New Players?

Before we talk about our recommendations, we will discuss the things that make a PoE build good for new players.

It is without question that Path of Exile is the most complex ARPG out there. This game features so many mechanics that can easily overwhelm beginners, so much so that new players may be deterred from picking the game up.

However, if you take the time to learn the inner workings of each build, you will find that Path of Exile is not that bad at all.

Anyway, this guide will only cover builds that allow you to enjoy the game without any complicated stuff whatsoever. Of course, if you like PoE and would like to learn about the more complicated builds, then we have a full section dedicated to that on our website.

Back to the question asked earlier, what makes a build good for new players in Path of Exile? Here are some qualities to look for:

Must Be League-Start Viable

There is a class of builds in Path of Exile called "League Starters." To understand why they are called as such, Grinding Gear Games, the developer of PoE, typically launches a new league every three to four months.

During this time, players will start from scratch with no items and currency to their name. The term "league starter" just refers to builds that can work without any specific items. You just equip gear with the right mods and you should be able to enjoy them.

Easy Playstyle

Beginner builds should be quite easy to use. For instance, you should put your primary skill gem along with the necessary support gems to bring the most out of it. After that, you simply use that skill while you traverse the map without having to worry about complicated things like cooldowns and whatnot.

Good Survivability

Dying in any game sucks and that is even more so in a game like Path of Exile. Once you have reached the higher levels, dying would mean that you lose 10% of your EXP, which is something that takes time to build up again.

Therefore, a good beginner-friendly build should have sufficient survivability. Some of that is dependent on gear, but the other part must already be taken care of by the choice of ascendancy classes and nodes on the passive skill tree.

Seamless Transition to the Endgame

A good build for a completely new PoE player should not only be a good league starter, but it must also have enough power to transition well into the endgame.

Even if the build ends up changing some stuff to deal more damage, for example, the transition should still be seamless in that it feels (and plays) relatively the same since you have started.

Plenty of Upgrade Options

Lastly, a build in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur is considered good if there are plenty of avenues to upgrade it later down the line. For instance, if you have the option of switching from the base skill gem to its transfigured version, then that is part of what makes a build great!

Best Builds for New Players in PoE 3.25

Path of Exile is filled with plenty of skill gems, items, and ascendancy classes that you can use to create awesome builds. While there are some that are indeed very powerful, they require some technical know-how to pull off.

Don't worry, the ones that we are going to talk about here are those that a complete beginner can use without a hitch. They employ a plug-and-play setup wherein you only need to use the necessary skill gems, support gems, and items. After everything is in place, you should be good to go!

So, without further ado, here are the best builds for new players in PoE 3.25:

Righteous Fire Chieftain

The Righteous Fire Chieftain is arguably the better league starter version of RF compared to the other ascendancy classes. It is tanky, has enough power to destroy map monsters with ease, and is able to work with a minimal investment.

What makes this great is that you can slap on any armor-based gear with a high life roll on it. That is because Righteous Fire itself now scales better with more HP. The Marauder class is perfect in this regard, even more so when you ascend to the Chieftain.

The Chieftain has incredible modifiers that help it become a good ascendancy class for beginners. For one, Hinekora greatly improves your map-clearing speed as it makes enemies you kill explode on death, dealing huge amounts of fire damage even on a budget.

Next, you have Tasalio and Valako – two ascendancy nodes that aid in capping your elemental resistances. When you have these allocated, all you have to do is concentrate on your fire resistance, and your other elemental resistances will be taken care of as well.

Although Righteous Fire is great at blasting maps, this build does suffer from mediocre single-target damage. For this reason, you are also going to use Fire Trap to deal with tougher enemies.

If you are on the fence about choosing the best build for new players in PoE 3.25, then go for the Righteous Fire Chieftain. You can never go wrong with it!

Poisonous Concoction Pathfinder

The vast majority of builds in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur would require you to equip a certain weapon (or two). However, the Poisonous Concoction Pathfinder is different in that you only rely on your flasks to deal damage.

When used, Poisonous Concoction prompts you to throw a bottle that explodes upon impact. The damage of this skill is increased if a portion of the flask charges is taken from your Life Flask.

With the Pathfinder's Nature's Adrenaline notable ascendancy passive, you have near-permanent uptime of your flasks. In other words, you gain so many flask charges that any amount deducted by every use of Poisonous Concoction becomes negligible.

Your primary goal here is to attack fast so that you can apply multiple poison stacks to your enemies. Although this build works without unique items, there are some that you can invest in that will make things a whole lot better. For example, the Snakebite unique gloves significantly increases your chance to inflict poison on hit.

The Poisonous Concoction Pathfinder is one of the beginner-friendly builds in PoE 3.25 that can scale well into the endgame. With enough investment, you can take on pinnacle bosses with relative ease!

Arc Elementalist

The Arc Elementalist is similar to the Lightning Sorceress in Diablo II: Resurrected. It utilizes a lightning spell that chains to multiple enemies. Furthermore, the skill itself deals more damage on a single target, making it ideal for taking on bosses early on.

This can be built in a number of ways, but the Elementalist version of the build utilizes Shaper of Flames to a much greater extent. Normally, elemental damage in Path of Exile deals a certain type of ailment depending on the main element of the skill.

Since Arc is technically a lightning-based spell, you would only be limited to applying Shock and nothing else. However, with the Shaper of Flames, the chain lightning that Arc produces can actually inflict Ignite, which is a fire elemental ailment that deals damage over time.

That is the reason why you will see support gems like Deadly Ailments and Unbound Ailments being used here because these elevate the damage of Ignite. To further improve your damage output, you can rely on the Convergence buff from the Elementalist's Heart of Destruction node. This grants 30% more elemental damage, which is calculated multiplicatively rather than additively.

Now, if you somehow do not like the performance of the Arc Elementalist but have already amassed some PoE Currency, the good news is that you can transition to other builds like the EK Ignite Elementalist. Alternatively, you can use the other ascendancy classes available to the Witch if you want to try something else.

Poison Blade Vortex Assassin

This next build is similar to the Righteous Fire Chieftain in terms of ridding maps of monsters, albeit it utilizes potent poisons to deal with the enemy.

The Poison Blade Vortex Assassin is a build that can easily destroy enemies on a minimal investment. It utilizes two different skills, namely Blade Vortex and Plague Bearer.

Blade Vortex is a physical spell skill gem that allows you to create up to 10 ethereal blades at a time. Due to the nature of these blades, you can inflict poison much faster than hitting your foes with other spells or attacks.

Early on, you will use the aptly named Chance to Poison support to enable your character to inflict deadly poisons. Once you have saved up enough PoE Currency, you could transition to wearing the Dendrobate to make your poisons even deadlier!

In addition, the notable ascendancy passive skills available to the Assassin, such as Noxious Strike and Toxic Delivery, ensure that you are able to apply poison more consistently.

Aside from that, the Poison Blade Vortex Assassin utilizes another skill called the Plague Bearer as well. This is akin to Righteous Fire in that it deals damage in an area when activated. However, the difference is that you will have to "incubate" poisons by using Blade Vortex first. This does take time to get used to, but it is not too hard to learn.

Dealing chaos damage is a great way to eliminate the enemy without breaking the bank. This is part of the reason why the Poison Blade Vortex Assassin is incredible as a starter build for beginners in PoE 3.25!

Elemental SRS Guardian

The Elemental SRS Guardian is a minion build that uses a rather unorthodox skill called Summon Raging Spirit.

Also known as SRS, Summon Raging Spirit prompts you to create multiple flaming skulls that seek nearby enemies out, alleviating the need for manual aiming. This spell naturally converts physical damage to fire damage, so you only need to utilize certain buffs to improve the build's damage output.

Fortunately, the Guardian's ascendancy nodes can help you with that. Unwavering Crusade enables you to summon another minion that grants buffs that significantly boost elemental damage for a brief period.

The Guardian excels at surviving on the battlefield thanks to the increased block chance granted by Bastion of Hope, and the curse removal provided by Time of Need. The Radiant Crusade calls forth a minion that also soaks a bit of damage.

Since this build already uses minion skills, you might as well lean into the summoner archetype. You have the option of adding Raise Spectre and Animate Guardian if you want to. The former lets you raise a minion from nearby corpses, while the latter allows you to summon a powerful ally from the armors and weapons that are lying on the ground.

By putting the trigger mod on your weapon, you can automatically cast a few spells, such as Desecrate, Flesh Offering, and Tempest Shield, one after another.

Okay, things could get more complicated from here. But one thing that you have to remember is that you simply just use Summon Raging Spirits and everything will be set in motion. You can read our full build guide to learn the inner workings of the Elemental SRS Guardian.

Lightning Arrow Deadeye

Bow builds had reigned supreme in Path of Exile for quite some time until the Settlers of Kalguur League came and buffed up the vast majority of melee skill gems. Be that as it may, there are still some bow builds that are worth putting your time and attention to — one of which is the Lightning Arrow Deadeye.

This build is an effective mapper capable of destroying enemies without a problem. It utilizes a bow skill that converts half of your physical damage to lightning damage. Besides that, Lightning Arrow hits three additional enemies near the main target.

Despite Lightning Arrow's inherent damage conversion, you are not actually going to fully convert your physical damage to lightning damage. Instead, you will utilize a bow with three different elemental damage mods so that you can take advantage of the damage boost provided by Trinity Support.

On top of that, you will link the Returning Projectiles Support to make your arrows return to you after traveling their maximum distance, effectively hitting enemies twice.

Admittedly, the Lightning Arrow Deadeye suffers from mediocre single-target damage at the beginning. To address that, you can either use the Artillery Ballista to summon a few totems for added firepower or leverage the Manaforged Arrows Support to automatically trigger a couple of bow skills for improved damage.

Despite the nerf to some nodes in Patch 3.25, the Deadeye is still a good ascendancy class for bow builds. Endless Munitions allows you to fire two additional arrows without any downsides. Far Shot and Gathering Winds got nerfed and the adjustments made to them are definitely noticeable. But, the value they provide is still there.

It is important to note that bow builds, in general, are squishy in PoE. In this case, you must consider your offense as part of your defense, where you kill enemies first before they have a chance to hit you.

Other than that, the Lightning Arrow Deadeye is definitely one of the best builds for new players in PoE 3.25 for sure!

Lacerate Gladiator

The rework GGG has done to the Gladiator ascendancy class has definitely made bleed builds great again, and that is best exemplified by the next entry on our list.

The Lacerate Gladiator uses a physical skill gem that allows you to apply the bleeding status effect on enemies. Although Lacerate interacts with the skill called Blood and Sand, it is not really mandatory for the build to work.

Anyway, what has changed for the Gladiator in Patch 3.25? Well, it has got a new ascendancy node called Jagged Technique. This basically allows you to deal triple damage with bleed at all times.

In addition, the Lacerate Gladiator is no slouch when it comes to defenses. In fact, this build is incredibly tanky on a minimal investment thanks to Determined Survivor and More Than Skill.

Now, Lacerate is just a placeholder skill for this build. What we mean by this is that you will ultimately change it with its transfigured version, Lacerate of Haemorrhage, for better damage scaling. You can read our dedicated build guide if you want to learn more.

Spectral Shield Throw Gladiator

If there is one thing that the Gladiator ascendancy class excels at, it is dealing huge amounts of bleed damage per second. This next build is slightly better in terms of overall feel than the last entry, but the damage is relatively the same.

The Spectral Shield Throw Gladiator is an awesome build where you throw a spectral copy of your shield that splits into smaller projectiles, hitting nearby monsters in the process. This projectile has a huge chance to apply bleeds to those that are hit, so it is basically a means to administer pain.

This skill gem got a slight damage improvement in Path of Exile 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur, and most of that comes from your equipped shield. The more armor or evasion value your shield has, the better the damage output of SST is.

As for the shield you are going to use, you can go for the Colossal Tower Shield for its high base armor, though we highly recommend that you opt for the Emperor's Vigilance instead. This unique shield not only has an insane amount of armor, but it significantly increases your chance to block attacks and spells as well.

Now, you might think that the Spectral Shield Throw Gladiator is more of a defense-oriented build, but that is not necessarily true. In fact, you have the option to go for pure offense simply based on the notable ascendancy passive you take.

The new Weapon Master notable passive grants a 30% more damage buff against enemies that are below 50% of their maximum life. Additionally, War of Attrition enables you to slay bosses on a budget, especially if the encounter has already taken too long to finish.

Since you are required to use a shield on this build, you can utilize Shield Charge to traverse maps quickly. If that is not your thing, you could do a simple gem swap and replace it with Leap Slam instead.

The only thing that might deter you from trying this build out is that it still deals bleed damage to delete monsters on screen. But, if that is fine with you, then the Spectral Shield Throw Gladiator does not disappoint!

Wave of Conviction Elementalist

Do you want to see enemies burn to a crisp? If so, the Wave of Conviction Elementalist is the right one for you!

The Elementalist's Shaper of Flames plays a crucial role in this build because it causes your attacks and spells to inflict Ignite upon your enemies. Speaking of which, you will use Wave of Conviction to apply those Ignites.

Wave of Conviction simply acts as a vehicle here, applying both Ignite and Fire Exposure for maximum damage.

For a caster, the Wave of Conviction Elementalist is surprisingly tanky. It is capable of achieving a maximum life of over 5,000 HP and you can take nodes on the passive tree that allow you to increase armor, energy shield, and even spell suppression if you want to.

During league start, you can use a crafted wand with cast speed, spell damage, and fire damage modifiers. When you have enough PoE Currency or if you have managed to find one during your leveling journey, you can equip Obliteration — a unique wand that causes enemies to explode on kill, dealing damage to nearby monsters.

If you are satisfied with the build and would like to take things a step further, you can invest in certain unique items including the Polaric Devastation, Replica Dragonfang's Flight, and a better weapon.

All in all, the Wave of Conviction Elementalist is not hard to recommend. It is an excellent mapper that allows Ignites to proliferate, killing enemies in the most efficient way possible!

Cyclone Slayer

The last entry on this list is one of the most beloved builds in Path of Exile and that is none other than the Cyclone Slayer! This has a very familiar playstyle where you simply hold down the button for Cyclone and watch as you decimate any foe you come across!

Cyclone got a huge damage buff in the SoK League. More specifically, its effectiveness of base and added damage has increased from 59% to 111% at gem level 20. Although it no longer has added physical damage, that is sort of a good thing in that you do not have to deal with damage conversion mechanics whatsoever.

One major selling point of the Cyclone Slayer is that it has enough power to tackle any content that you wish to do in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur. You will mainly rely on Impale to deal significant amounts of physical damage, which you can scale with gear and the appropriate nodes on the passive tree.

As to how the Slayer factors into the equation, the Brutal Fervour ascendancy node is utilized to a great extent here due to Cyclone's innately fast attack speed. The overleech it provides can help you survive even with just self-found gear.

The combination of Bane of Legends and Headsman lets you deal with tough monsters by granting more damage and attack speed, respectively. Headsman even allows you to slay enemies immediately once their HP drops to below 20%.

In addition, the Cyclone Slayer has plenty of gearing options if you decide to elevate the build's potential. You could use a two-handed sword, axe, or warstaff for maximum damage. You can invest in more expensive unique items like a Headhunter or Mageblood later down the line.

Although this build struggles with survivability early on, we promise that it will get better as soon as it is equipped with the right gear.

With the damage that can delete enemies and a playstyle that is not complicated at all, it is without a doubt that the Cyclone Slayer is one of the best builds for new players in PoE 3.25!

Honorable Mentions

The builds that we have listed above are considered the best of the best. However, there are those that deserve some recognition, which is why we are also going to include some honorable mentions.

Splitting Steel Trickster

The Trickster ascendancy class is quite popular in the Settlers of Kalguur League because of its incredible defensive nodes and energy shield scaling. That said, the Splitting Steel Trickster is a solid build that allows you to deal huge amounts of lightning damage.

This is done by utilizing Splitting Steel — a projectile-based skill gem that prompts you to throw a single projectile at a targeted direction. This projectile would then split to multiple targets, making it great for clearing maps of monsters.

The only reason why we did not include this in the list above is that it requires a unique weapon to make things happen. The weapon in question is none other than the Ephemeral Edge. This one-handed sword grants added lightning damage based on a portion of your maximum energy shield. Without the Ephemeral Edge, the build just does not perform up to standards.

However, if you are able to snag the Ephemeral Edge for a cheap price, then the Splitting Steel Trickster is an appealing build to use!

Explosive Arrow Champion

The Champion got nerfed hard in Patch 3.25, so much so that it is one of the least-played ascendancy classes in the SoK League. Despite that, the Explosive Arrow Champion is actually not that bad.

This build heavily relies on Ballista Totems to fire the explosive arrows quickly. The reason for this is that totems have a significantly higher attack rate, allowing you to stick the maximum number of arrows on your enemies before they detonate.

Aside from that, there is a slight change in the notable ascendancy passive skills that the build uses. Instead of getting Unstoppable Hero, you will now spend points to take Conqueror and Worthy Foe.

Conqueror enables your totems to taunt enemies on hit, while Worthy Foe makes taunted enemies take 20% increased damage.

The Explosive Arrow Champion is SSF-friendly as well. This is mainly due to the fact that it can work with gear that you can find during your level journey.

Exsanguinate Mines Trickster

This is one of those builds in PoE 3.25 that relies on damage conversion mechanics, which is why we did not include it on the initial list. However, this deserves a special mention due to it being one of the most popular league starters in the Settlers of Kalguur expansion.

The Exsanguinate Mines Trickster uses a spell skill gem called Exsanguinate. When used by itself, it prompts you to unleash several blood tendrils that deal physical damage to those that are hit. The problem with this is that it has a cast time of 0.8 seconds which, in Path of Exile, is considered a long time.

Fortunately, you can turn it into a Mine Skill by linking it with High-Impact Mine Support. This allows you to throw multiple mines at once, which will then be automatically detonated shortly after with the help of the aptly named Detonate Mines and Automation Support.

As mentioned above, this build utilizes conversion mechanics, where physical damage is converted to cold damage. This can be achieved early on by equipping the Hrimsorrow unique gloves. Since you will now be dealing cold damage at this point, you have the chance of freezing enemies with critical strikes. This is complemented by Heatshiver – a popular unique item that grants extra fire damage against frozen enemies.

Although the Exsanguinate Mines Trickster requires certain unique items to work, the good news is that they are relatively easy to obtain.

Boneshatter Juggernaut

The Boneshatter Juggernaut is another popular build in Path of Exile. This has the potential to deal huge amounts of damage with a minimal investment. The only thing that is holding us back from recommending it is that it has a self-damaging mechanic that is tough to mitigate without the proper equipment.

Although there is a version that chooses the Slayer, we prefer that you go for the Juggernaut. The Unbreakable ascendancy node essentially bolsters your defense against physical damage, which can be helpful while you are still leveling up.

Undeniable works really well with Boneshatter because it increases your attack speed based on your total accuracy rating. If you have a high enough STR value, you can gain even more benefits from this one node alone!

The Boneshatter Juggernaut, despite its self-damaging component, has a very easy playstyle. You just use Leap Slam to search the area for monsters, and then whack them with your two-handed axe until they die a quick death.

Melee Builds That Use Slam Skills

There is a resurgence of melee builds in Patch 3.25 mainly due to the changes GGG implemented in the SoK League. In case you do not know, almost all melee skill gems received damage improvements in one way or another.

Having said that, you can always choose builds that utilize slam skills. The ones we recommend are the Earthshatter Juggernaut, Volcanic Fissure Berserker, and Ground Slam Berserker, just to name a few.

Even though they have a relatively clunky playstyle, they deal massive amounts of damage with modest gear.

How to Use the POB

In each of the builds we have highlighted in this article, we have included POB links so that you can try them out for yourself. All of the skills, support gems, items, passive nodes, and ascendancy classes that each build uses are already laid out; you just have to import a specific code to the program.

If you are new to the game, POB is short for Path of Building — a third-party software that enables you to import builds, as well as modify builds in any way you like. You can download the program from its official page.

Once installed, click on any POB link above, and you will be directed to another page. Take the Earthshatter Juggernaut, for example. A collection of numbers, letters, and symbols are contained in a box on the right side of the page. Press the aptly named "Copy" button and the code that you need will be copied to the clipboard.

Next, run Path of Building. At the top portion of the initial page, click on "New." Doing so will direct you to the main interface. On the left-hand side, click on "Import/Export Build" as you can see in the screenshot below:

Under the "Build Sharing" section, right-click on the input box. Doing so will automatically paste the code you have copied earlier. There should be some text indicating that the code is valid. If that is so, press the "Import" button and it should be good to go!

Final Thoughts

Path of Exile is a really complex ARPG, so much so that it can overwhelm complete beginners. Fortunately, there are certain builds that are simple to understand and easy to play for new players. Just choose whichever build we have highlighted above because you can never go wrong with any of them.

Now, all builds in PoE 3.25 need pieces of gear to elevate their potential. If you do not want to go through the hassle of farming these items yourself, do not worry! Our dedicated PoE Store has a wide selection of items that can make your character go from zero to hero in an instant!

So, what are you waiting for? Visit our PoE Store today!