PoE Path of Exile Tier List

(SC Trade Week 1). This list is not exhaustive. PoE is a sandbox game with literally hundreds of viable league starters, but these are some of the most popular builds that will provide a really strong and enjoyable league start experience. Every single build on this list is going to destroy the game though, and the tiering is subjective. Even a C or D tier build will significantly outperform the content that is in the game until the Valdo level.

S-Tier

1. Luminary Destructive Link - Ruetoo Guide

Despite significant nerfs to the meta Flame Link Luminary build, other setups were hardly touched. Attack builds received a 20% nerf at the top end and survivability was shuffled. This setup veers towards more of a traditional aurabot, ensuring that your mercenary has great survivability. It leverages Augyre and Ungil's Harmony to get a ton of crit for your mercenary, and then gets flat damage from aura scaling. It was easily able to push billions of DPS last patch with insane survivability. Prior to swapping into the merc setup with some core uniques and a playable mercenary, it is recommended to play Cold DoT setups or Slams with a supportive mercenary (e.g. Bladebitter with Malevolence Grace).

2. Phys Dot Elementalist - Ventrua Guide

Small nerfs came to individual golems but Elementalist dot-based progression is still incredibly strong. This build offers an autobomber-playstyle that mirrors some of the fastest gameplay in softcore trade for early league. Damage really comes online once you acquire The Poet's Pen and can reach DoT cap (35m+ dps) in about a hundred divines invested while still keeping solid defenses. While lacking single target recovery at times, the playstyle and damage is catered to all kinds of mapping content. While early mapping and campaign is still stronger as a Cold DoT setup, this setup's scalability and playstyle really lets it surpass quite early.

A-Tier

1. Righteous Fire / Scorching Ray of Immolation - Chieftain - Pohx Guide

The best build for pushing level 100 right away, now featuring great single target damage with SR Totem tech. This was essentially untouched in patch notes.

2. Elemental Hit Slayer - Ruetoo Guide

The return of Screams of the Dessicated (Shrine Belt) boosts this build up again. This charge stacking slayer setup has really great clear, damage, and defenses while being significantly buffed with the new Wickerman system giving even greater options for melee strike range. Elemental Hit is also a great skill in that it can be played from level 12 without changing skills or even swapping weapons until maps.

3. Static Strike - Alohaa Guide

Alohaa's innovative setup on Guardian ensures a baseline of damage for all players due to the Guardian's Elemental Relic auras. Static Strike also has some of the fastest early campaign/mapping while being mechanically incredible for bossing if you choose to optimize your gameplay with Ruthless Support's snapshot.

4. Poison Bladefall of Impaling - isdos Guide

Bladefall of Impaling has a base critical strike of 25%, allowing you to easily cap crit while leveraging Perfect Agony. Pathfinder also received a significant QoL buff, essentially doubling your life flask duration. It really leverages Pact of Beidat. Even without it, Bladefall/Blade Blast is a great alternative, especially with Pathfinder's flask scaling with Silver Flask.

5. Cold DoT Spellslinger - Jungroan Guide

Still one of the best early game builds you can play with no investment. Buffs from last league were far bigger than the tiny golem nerfs. Its scalability is still incredible later with swapping to evasion stacking, though crafting the Breach Mod chests will be much more difficult with changes to recombnators.

6. Animate Weapon of Ranged Arms - Helmbreaker Guide

One of the most new-player-friendly builds is PRAW. Helmbreaker's progression guide is thorough and sets you up to clear all content in the game with relative ease. It's an SSF-friendly build that has various early game options if you don't want to farm out the transfigured gem right away like Summon Raging Spirit.

B-Tier

1. Elemental Hit of the Spectrum / Lightning Arrow Deadeye - Fubgun Guide

Bow builds are always great for softcore trade, offering easy access to damage and clear, especially when getting Elemental Hit of the Spectrum. This patch it easily pushes into the S-tier range once you acquire Reclaimed Malevolence due to an interaction between Ephemeral Bolts and Ice Shot of Penetration, allowing every single splitting projectile to shotgun hits for single target, essentially giving between 20-60x DPS depending on the setup you're going for.

2. Storm Burst Totems - aer0plane Guide

SB Totem is a great safe and high damage bosser. It's got really good early guide support from aer0plane who is a tested racer in SSFHC, but really loves to push early bossing in SC trade. While the mapping isn't fantastic, Storm Burst of Repulsion can be gemswapped for screen-wide clear.

3. Kinetic Blast of Clustering Necromancer - Redviles Guide

KBoC is still a great clearing build with a high floor of damage and speed with Necromancer's Corpse Pact. While nerfs brought it down from its god-tier state a couple of leagues back, it's still got great scaling options with both Chaos and Fire damage types as the endgame goals.

4. Penance Brand Ignite Elementalist - Goratha Guide

Penance Brand ignite is probably only outpaced as far as ignite casters go by Maw of Mischief, but that build is a bit more niche and daunting for some newer players. PBrand Ignite though has a great base number and incredible herald scaling later, especially once you get the Lost Unity ring. Prior to getting implicits on gloves for exposure, it can be a bit button intensive since Arcanist Brand is not a viable option for applying utility skills like curses, exposure, and Flame Surge.

C-Tier

1. Cyclone Slayer - Sanavixx Guide

For spin-to-win players, this build is still no slouch. Its rated lower on the tier list because Cyclone fundamentally struggles to clear quickly until really high investment but for a lot of players, it actually clears better than slams due to its simplicity.