The Best Starter Builds for the Metamorph League and Patch 3.9
including our predicted Top 5 End-game builds

The newest and biggest 2019's Path of Exile Expansion: Conquerors of the Atlas with the new Metamorph League are heavily oriented on two things - end-game Bosses and Bow-archetype builds. This kind of makes it clear what types of builds will be the most popular; not to mention the nerfs to Zombies, Spectres, Icicle Mines which were the most popular builds in previous Patch 3.8. Our first list consists of the best Starter builds for the upcoming Metamorph League and it's not a coincidence that two out of the five listed are based on the Ranger class which we expect to be the best. This is also intentional as they will both offer an easy transition to the predicted meta in 3.9.

Unlike the previous Leagues, you will want to optimize your build for Bossing - apparently, this is the main theme of the Conquerors of the Atlas Expansion, so clear speed and AoE are not going to be your main priority. You will need to focus on high single-target damage and maintaining decent defenses and we have several recommendations that will fit this style perfectly. All of the listed Starter builds not only will do fine during the leveling phase but will also give you the ability to take down most of the Bosses in the game. 

PLEASE NOTE: The list of the best builds is based on the Patch notes and our predictions for the upcoming Patch. We will verify it over the course of the next few weeks, and all builds will be thoroughly polished when new Metamorph Items can be fully included.

#1

Artillery Ballista Deadeye  - this is our top recommendation for a Metamorph Starter build. While there are surely more efficient and more budget-friendly builds for the upcoming League, you will definitely want to pick a class that will offer the easiest transition to a meta build that easily copes with end-game content. Patch 3.9 primarily addresses the Bow-archetype and Deadeye will be among the best classes when it comes to farming the new Conqueror of the Atlas Bosses. This build offers solid area coverage and single-target damage with 100% Elemental Damage Conversion to Fire. With Totem playstyle and high Evasion, you will feel completely safe in any encounter, and while your Ballistas obliterate enemies, you can apply debuffs via Combustion, Curse, and Wave of Conviction to further increases your DPS output. With the new Ballista Totems and updated Passive Tree you will be able to summon up to 5 Powerful Ballistas

#2

SRS Baron Necromancer - Summon Raging Spirit has been one of the most popular Spells for Starter builds for quite some time. With the buffs to Minion builds in 3.8 it also offers amazing Bossing capabilities. While it's not getting any better in Patch 3.9, this is still an extremely solid build with very low item requirements and good clear speed. We also expect players to be saturated with the Minion playstyle, and the items should be relatively cheap in the upcoming Patch. Also, unlike Zombies and Spectres, we didn't see any significant nerfs to Raging Spirits so if you didn't play a Necromancer in 3.8 it might be a great idea to do that in the upcoming Metamorph League

#3

Toxic Rain Pathfinder - another very good Starter build which offers very high damage regardless of your equipment and solid clear speed with Poison/Toxic Rain explosions spreading all around your screen. It's also a Bow build which means upgrades thanks to 3.9, as well as Toxic Rain, which is getting a direct damage buff. This build may be more popular when played as the Trickster, but Pathfinder does it just as fine, and as a Ranger Ascendancy, it offers more end-game viable options in Patch 3.9. This is among the best Starter Bow builds in Path of Exile which will surely not fail you in the upcoming League

#4

Arc Miner Saboteur - with the recent buffs to Arc, this is the most popular build in Patch 3.9 currently. It offers insane AoE and clear speed while maintaining reasonable single-target DPS. Miner builds are known for their Bossing capabilities and quite low Item requirements. You simply had to find a Miner build on our list and whether you choose to play Arc, Glacial Cascade (another great starter build created by us can be found here: Glacial Cascade Miner), Pyroclast Mine, Ball Lightning Mine, it's all up to you - all those builds will do more than fine in Patch 3.9 and the Metamorph League. Both listed Miner/Saboteur builds will do just fine as League Starters and will allow you to farm any Boss in the game, however, Arc will definitely do better during earlier levels, and when you are farming your initial Currency and struggling through low and mid-Tier Maps

#5

Holy Flame Totem Hierophant - Totem playstyle is known for being the top for PoE's starter builds. You get solid single-target damage and the ability to kite enemies' attacks and spells while you are dealing with your maximum DPS. Holy Flame Totems worked wonder for us in the past and appeared to offer one of the highest single-target DPS out of all Totem Spells. At the same time, Mind over Matter, decent Life Pool will let you farm any Boss in the game.

Below you will find our predicted best builds for the upcoming Metamorph League and Patch 3.9. These builds are based on our assumptions on what will be the best way to take down the new Conquerors of the Atlas Bosses. All this build offer solid defenses and very high single-target DPS while maintaining decent clear speed to not slow you down when farming the Atlas. We may need to update the list within the first few weeks of the League when we will know more details about the upcoming encounters. Stay tuned

#1

Ice Shot Raider - Ice Shot is one of the best Bow Attacks in PoE which offers very good clear speed and amazing single target damage. With the nerfs coming to Tornado Shot, this might become the number one Bow Skill in Patch 3.9. This Raider build also offers insane damage scaling via Dexterity which gives it nearly unlimited potential power. The sky is the limit (or well, the number of Mirrors in your stash). As a Raider, you will also have amazing mobility and high Evasion Rating which will allow you to kite all potential Attacks and Spells in the upcoming end-game Boss encounters

#2

HOWA Molten Strike Jugg - when it comes to Bossing, it's hard to pick a better Attack than Molten Strike, and with Juggernaut Ascendancy you gain nearly immortal status. The build is relatively expensive but allows endless stacking of Damage via Intelligence which at the same time increases your defensive capabilities by raising your maximum Energy Shield Pool. Since Metamorph and 3.9 are oriented on Bow-archetype, and nearly 50% played Witches during Blight, we expect Intelligence/Energy Shield Items to be relatively cheap. This build utilizes Hand of Wisdom and Action which has flat added Lightning Damage based on your maximum Intelligence Attribute. It's also a Chaos Inoculation build which gives us Chaos Damage Immunity. Not to mention, Molten Strike received direct damage buff in PoE's Patch 3.9

#3

Lancing Steel Champion - Champion is a very sturdy class, and Impale Attacks are known for their insane single-target damage scaling. This build utilizes Lancing Steel which shoots multiple projectiles that deal massive base Damage and has increased effect of Impale allowing it to reach absurd levels of DSP. We also get permanent Fortify, high Physical Damage mitigation, which will let you effortlessly farm any Boss in the game. The casual mapping may require you to add extra Projectiles to your Attacks, but we will surely check it out in the actual game when the Patch goes live - it's going to be one of the first projectiles we will pursue in 3.9

#4

Pyroclast Mine Low-Life Saboteur - insane single-target burst, Stun Immunity, and great self-sustain? Sounds like a perfect Bossing build, right? That's exactly what our Pyroclast Low-Life Saboteur/Miner is. It requires quite a bunch of specific Unique Items, but you can easily choose Saboteur for a League Starter following the Standard Life/Crit. path and respecc later on when you have farmed enough Currency for your final build requirements. Pyroclast Mine was the second most popular Mine Spell in Patch 3.8 and with the current nerfs to Icicle Mines AoE we can expect it to be even better in 3.9 and the Metamorph League

#5

Skeletons/Zombies Necromancer Summoner - Summoner/Necromancers were the best Class in Path of Exile in the previous Patch 3.8 and even with small nerfs in the current League we would be all wrong if we didn't include this build on our list. Necromancers offer amazing Bossing capabilities with very solid defensive mechanics and Minion builds, in general, don't require much gear to work perfectly. Our variation of this build is less reliant on Zombies for the DPS, so the current nerf doesn't affect it that much, making it a great pick for Metamorph League, so if you didn't play a Summoner previously now will be a great time to try it out

If you have any suggestions towards our listed builds, or you would like us to make a different build that for some reason may not be already available on our site, let us know in the comments below! We also appreciate constructive criticism - it helps us improve our content!

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Grinding Gear Games