Path of Exile is an incredibly challenging and complex game. Not just a beginner, but also an experienced player, has a very difficult time trying to understand which build or class to choose. This is exactly what our team wants to help you figure out in our Path of Exile Best Builds Tier List with the current Secrets of the Atlas and 3.26 Patch meta in mind.
4.9| Tier | Build |
|---|---|
| S | Explosive Concoction Slayer, Siege Ballista Hierophant, Poisonous Concoction of Bouncing Pathfinder, Volcanic Fissure Berserker, Penance Brand of Dissipation Inquisitor |
| A | Lightning Arrow Deadeye, Tornado Shot Deadeye Ranger, Power Siphon Archmage Ballista, Crit CoC Discharge of Misery Assassin, Flicker Strike Warden, Spectral Shield Throw Gladiator |
| B | Explosive Arrow Ballista Elementalist, Toxic Rain Ballista, Summon Raging Spirit, Boneshatter Slayer, Detonate Dead Elementalist, Shield Crush Champion, Explosive Trap Trickster |
| C | Seismic Trap Saboteur, Venom Gyre Deadeye, Wave of Conviction Elementalist, Arc Elementalist |
| D | Hexblast Mine Saboteur |
Even though the gameplay of each build in Path of Exile is individual and not similar to the other, it is still possible to identify the most optimal builds for any stage of the game. Our Path of Exile builds tier list provides all the best builds for the Mercenaries of Trarthus league. And if you a looking forward to the end game content, you can buy our PoE League Starter Bundle with a custom-made PoB for your character.
S-Tier
Simply the best. Choose one you like the most, and don’t worry about it being hard to level or min-max. And if you’d like to make a specific build, we can assist you in preparing a perfect PoE Custom Build that suits your purposes.
Explosive Concoction Slayer
In PoE, Explosive Concoction Slayer is one of the most explosive melee-ranged hybrid builds in the current meta of the Mercenaries of Trarthus league. It has already become players’ favorite choice for all types of content. The build utilizes unarmed attacks to throw flasks as grenades that deal Fire and Chaos Damage in wide AoE bursts. Also, the skill tree for this build is focused on the nodes that allow you to stay alive while dishing out serious damage.
Explosive Concoction Slayer is suitable for both mapping and bossing scenarios, especially with high flask uptime and Critical Strike scaling. It requires minimal gear to get going, but benefits from flask-focused Uniques like Olroth’s Resolve and Taste of Hate for extra layering. A solid choice for anyone who loves blowing things up from melee range.
Check Explosive Concoction Slayer PoB for build details.
Siege Ballista Hierophant
Siege Ballista Hierophant is one of the classic Path of Exile budget-friendly totem-based bow builds that rains arrows from afar. It’s a solid choice for players who prefer a safe, hands-off playstyle. This setup focuses on stacking Ballista Totems that auto-target enemies while you dodge incoming attacks.
Thanks to the Hierophant’s totem bonuses and mana stacking, Siege Ballista Hierophant has strong uptime, consistent damage, and excellent survivability. It also scales well into endgame content if you invest in rare gear with mana and totem multipliers. Overall, a great pick for players who enjoy tactical gameplay and staying out of danger.
Here’s a Siege Ballista Hierophant PoB for the build details.
Poisonous Concoction of Bouncing Pathfinder
Poisonous Concoction of Bouncing Pathfinder is a very strong, unarmed, budget-friendly build option based on the Poisonous Concoction of Bouncing gem. This unique variation of the well-known PoE Poisonous Concoction takes advantage of poison scaling from Master Toxicist and Nature’s Reprisal skills.
The build clears fast, has great scaling with Chaos and DoT multipliers, and offers strong survivability thanks to permanent Flask uptime. It’s very beginner-friendly and cheap to gear up. Perfect for those who love fast-paced chaos damage and don’t want to rely on weapons.
Check Poisonous Concoction of Bouncing Pathfinder PoB for the details.
Volcanic Fissure Berserker
Another meta build for PoE Mercenaries of Trarthus league is Volcanic Fissure Berserker. It is a brutal two-handed melee build that excels in raw AoE power and screen-wide destruction. With each slam, you fracture the ground and send lava fissures toward enemies that explode on contact.
Thanks to Berserker’s insane damage bonuses and Rage stacking, Volcanic Fissure Berserker build melts packs and bosses alike. However, it’s not the tankiest option, so movement and positioning matter a lot. Ideal for players who want big numbers, fiery visuals, and high-speed brutality.
Full build is available on Volcanic Fissure Berserker PoB.
Penance Brand of Dissipation
Penance Brand of Dissipation is one of the best builds to start the Mercenaries of Trarthus. It offers great, clear, and single-target damage, exceptionally tanky for casters, and deals huge damage against bosses. It’s also a good option for solo SF.
The damage of Penance Brand is immense, as it provides a large amount of Flat Physical Damage. It is a Physical to Lightning converted Ignite build that deals fire Damage and scales through Physical Damage as Extra Chaos. Even though it has been nerfed somewhat in Mercenaries of Trarthus and Patch 3.26, it still works great.
Find build details on Penance Brand of Dissipation PoB.
A-Tier
These builds are good, but there are a few moments during the leveling and mapping that make them quite more expensive and tough in comparison with S-tier.
Lightning Arrow Deadeye
Lightning Arrow Deadeye is one of the most popular builds in 3.25 is coming to PoE 3.26! Whenever you shoot an enemy with the arrow, a bolt of lightning strikes this enemy and all enemies around in a great AoE. The Lightning Arrow Deadeye is a ranged bow build that uses flat Elemental Damage to achieve high DPS, so consider getting it from our team. It is efficient for both the campaign and maps, but has low defense.
The Lightning Arrow Deadeye League Starter is a mapping build that offers great farming with a moderate budget. It also has a very high attack speed and can fire multiple projectiles that Pierce and Return through enemies, making it a good choice for those who prefer a high-speed playstyle.
Here’s a Lightning Arrow Deadeye PoB link for the build details.
Tornado Shot Deadeye Ranger
Tornado Shot, also known as PoE Ice Shot / Lightning Arrow Deadeye, is one of the strongest builds with great mapping, clear speed, and single-target damage. And it’s really good for endgame bosses, despite some nerfs in Mercenaries of Trarthus and patch 3.26.
The Tornado Shot build offers a play style focused on concentrating damage on a single enemy while clearing a large area with secondary projectiles. With Deadeye’s Tailwind and the use of Ballista Totems for tougher enemies, the build provides solid single-target damage output. It is simple to play with automated setups and defensive layers to minimize deaths.
A gorgeous build in all respects, although you will encounter some difficulties with Uber Pinnacle Bosses due to low survivability, and it also requires a high investment.
You can copy the build from Tornado Shot Deadeye Ranger PoB.
Power Siphon Archmage Ballista
Path of Exile Power Siphon Archmage Ballista build combines old-school Power Siphon with Archmage mechanics and Ballista Totems. That means you can stack Mana for huge Lightning damage via Archmage Support while Ballistas do the heavy lifting for you.
It’s a highly technical build that rewards gear investment, especially for stacking mana, lightning damage, and spell crit. With the right setup, the screen lights up with crits and chain reactions.
The build is available on Power Siphon Archmage Ballista PoB.
Crit CoC Discharge of Misery Assassin
This Crit CoC Discharge of Misery Assassin resurrects the classic Cast on Crit archetype with a twist — Discharge of Misery. It is now used to detonate Power and Frenzy Charges for devastating elemental explosions. As an Assassin, you get guaranteed crits and extra charge generation.
It’s one of the flashiest and fastest builds in PoE that chains spells in a split second. But it also demands high investment and precise gearing to maintain uptime and survivability. Best for experienced players who want to feel like a walking nuke.
Check out Crit CoC Discharge of Misery Assassin PoB.
Flicker Strike Warden
This fast-paced crit Flicker Strike build uses the combination of Flicker Strike and Warden ascendancy mechanics to create a non-stop teleporting storm of hits. Thanks to Warden’s natural tankiness and charge sustain, you keep Flickering without worry.
Use the Brainstorm skill to add extra projectiles and AoE bursts, turning the battlefield into chaos. It’s perfect for players who want something different from standard melee or spellcasters and love jumping into fights like a pinball.
Here’s a link to Flicker Strike Warden PoB.
B-Tier
These builds fit you only if you’ve played with something from above (or just didn’t like it), but they are not in meta, so it will take a lot of time to level up with them and then min-max.
Explosive Arrow Ballista Elementalist
The Explosive Arrow Ballista Elementalist is a versatile all-rounder league starter build. It can kill bosses with large Ignites and clear bunches of monsters with Ignite Proliferation Support. But you should know that the build has intricate mechanics, so paying attention to detail is important.
It doesn’t need any specific Unique items or stats to begin with, but can become very powerful in the late game with The Taming rings, Hyrri’s Ire, Wilma’s Requital, and other Unique gear. That makes it ideal for starting a League.
Find the build details on Explosive Arrow Ballista Elementalist PoB.
Toxic Rain Ballista
Speed, sweep, ease of improvement, and leveling are all about PoE Toxic Rain Ballista build. The Toxic Rain Ballista Pathfinder is a build that takes advantage of game mechanics and powerful Unique Flasks. It is designed to be a versatile choice for starting a new League, allowing players to clear most, if not all, of the content with minimal currency.
There’s nothing complicated about leveling; you just have to survive 12 levels to get Toxic Rain. If you enjoy firing a multitude of arrows that spread Chaos pods across the entire screen using mechanical contraptions, this build is perfect for you. With a safe Totem playstyle, extremely low budget, easy gearing, and constantly slowed enemies, Toxic Rain is one of the best League Starter builds.
Full build is available on Toxic Rain Ballista PoB.
Summon Raging Spirit
As one of the top minion builds in Path of Exile, the Summon Raging Spirit build receives additional buffing in Patch 3.26 and the newest league! It’s perfect for leveling up and endgame content, you can choose the SRS build variant with or without poisons, to make it even more low-budget.
To optimize the SRS build, it’s recommended to focus on maximizing the duration of minions and ascendancy nodes as soon as possible. The playstyle is summoning Raging Spirits to damage enemies. The minions can’t be directly targeted, but will take projectiles and AoE. This can cause the build to feel vulnerable on higher-level maps, and positioning and adapting your strategy is necessary to not getting overwhelmed by enemies.
Explore the build details at the Summon Raging Spirit PoB page.
Boneshatter Berserker
The Boneshatter Berserker is a melee blaster build that is highly effective at clearing maps and stunning bosses. It is a budget-friendly method of map clearing and can be used to stun non-Uber bosses at a higher budget.
The build uses a Piledriver two-handed mace or axe for shattering the skulls of enemies and not allowing them to fight back. Boneshatter Berserker is a good build for fast leveling and also very good in an SSF setup. While not as good for bossing, it clears maps very well. For people who enjoy speedy gameplay.
More about the build on Boneshatter Berserker PoB.
Detonate Dead Elementalist
Explosions! That’s the first thing that comes to mind when you see a Detonate Dead Elementalist build in PoE. But other than that, there are some defenses and a lot of DPS (especially single-target damage). Fire damage just doesn’t allow anyone to live. One build for all content types, and the cheapest build in this tier. With two simple buttons, Desecrate and Detonate Dead, this build can kill any monster in the entire PoE easily.
You explode enemy corpses or the ones that you summon, dealing Ignite damage over time and refreshing it with Defiled Forces and Arcanist Brand. This makes the DD Elementalist a great pick for SSU and HCSSU Uber Boss Racing builds. Once you have Maps and all the required items, you can now transition to Detonate Dead and have the ultimate Path of Exile’s universe fun.
Copy this build from Detonate Dead Elementalist PoB.
Shield Crush Champion
A classic tank-meets-damage melee build, PoE Shield Crush Champion strikes using your shield, not your weapon. That’s offense and defense in one. With Champion’s inherent tankiness and endurance charge synergy, this build is nigh unkillable.
Clear speed is mediocre, and there’s bossing potential with high armour scaling and physical burst. Simple to league start with and a great pick for anyone who desires a stress-free melee build that ignores damage.
All stats and setup can be found on Shield Crush Champion PoB.
Explosive Trap Trickster
Explosive Trap Trickster In this Explosive Trap Trickster build for Path of Exile, we utilize Explosive Trap, a skill that detonates several explosions and transforms physical damage into fire damage.
With this build, we gain more DPS and explosion number, and therefore, decent bossing capability. This build can be played with a League Starter on a relatively low budget, but a lot of currency is required to maximize its potential in the end-game.
Explore the full build breakdown at the Explosive Trap Trickster PoB.
C-Tier
These PoE builds are the least preferable in the current meta. They fall short of showing decent performance, lack damage, and are generally outdated. Try to avoid playing with these builds, unless you know tricks for making them work.
Seismic Trap Saboteur
PoE Seismic Trap Saboteur is a mid-to-low budget and mediocre League starting build. It’s a single-target high-damage dealer and an end-game boss fight specialist. It can also map decently, although it may not be a speed demon. The build is focused on trap mechanics, where you put down lethal gadgets on the ground while being mobile and evading attacks from monsters.
See the complete build setup on Seismic Trap Saboteur PoB.
Venom Gyre Deadeye
This build is similar to other bleeding or poisonous builds, but in fact, it is pretty average in performance. However, the Venom Gyre Deadeye build maximizes attributes for Crystallised Omniscience and Venom Gyre, resulting in extensive coverage and high elemental penetration. Trinity Support provides a lot of Elemental Damage, and Spell Suppression halves all incoming damage from spells.
Venon Gyre Deadeye is okay in mapping and is capable of defeating all end-game bosses. If you’re looking for a build that unleashes numerous projectiles to deal huge damage to enemies, with good recovery and high movement speed, this is the ideal choice. Unfortunately, this build is quite expensive, and you can expect lots of deaths during leveling.
Dive into the build mechanics via Venom Gyre Deadeye PoB.
Wave of Conviction Elementalist
Wave of Conviction Elementalist is a solid choice to start with, cause it requires no expensive gear, but provides insane damage and good clear speed. The Spell Suppression is the key. This is a good choice for those who want to start the Mercenaries of Trarthus without spending a lot of currency, but we recommend switching to a better build later on.
Detailed setup is available on Wave of Conviction Elementalist PoB.
Arc Elementalist
This Arc Elementalist build is perfect for new players, moderately experienced players, and min-maxing players. Suited for any budget, it has high boss damage and effective health while mapping. It is easy to get started with the recommended gems. You can also choose to stack power charges for extra power.
As Arc has been buffed and is now stronger due to increased base crit chance and access to what used to be Divergent Inspiration Support, allowing for more damage and value for your investment. Also, Vaal Arc with all new reworks and buffs now provides a single target mechanic that increases damage per remaining chain. On the downside Arc Elementalist build requires a decent amount of high-end gear at the later stages and is not Uber-viable.
Check stats, gear, and skills on Arc Elementalist PoB.
D-Tier
PoE builds that are placed in D-Tier are no longer viable and shouldn’t be prioritized in any way. They simply can not compete with the current meta builds, or even B or C-Tier builds, and you will most likely die at the start of any encounter.
Hexblast Mine Saboteur
In 3.26, the Hexblast Mine Saboteur is one of the least preferable builds out there. The only purpose it is good for is leveling and having fun with explosions. How to do leveling with Hexblast Mines? From level 1 to 27, you use Stormblast Mine with the Orb of Storms combo, which will grant a huge damage output in the early stage. After level 28, you just destroy the campaign with. For more details, check out our Hexblast Mines guide.
Everything you need for this build is at the Hexblast Mine Saboteur PoB.
PoE Best Builds Tier List for Beginners
If you are a beginner in Path of Exile, you should check out our list of the best beginner-friendly builds. We provide a short description of each build, and you can learn more in our PoE League Starter Builds guide.
4.9That’s where we conclude our Path of Exile Best Builds Tier List. We’ve provided you with all the information that you will need when starting a new league, and in the middle of the League, this information will be relevant. Hope this guide was useful to you, and Overgear is always ready to lend you a hand with any aspect of the game!
