The Best Builds and Starters for the Ritual League
Echoes of the Atlas - Patch 3.13

The Ritual League and Echoes of the Atlas expansion are launching soon so once again we have decided to make a list of the best 5 builds. Patch 3.13 introduces major changes to Elementalist, Inquisitor, and Deadeye classes, and numeric changes to most of the other ones as well. We are also getting new Skills, and tons of already existing skills will be changed, which opens up tons of new powerful build options. Furthermore, because of the newly introduced Boss encounters, the type of build you want to play while dealing with the end-game content, drastically changes in Patch 3.13. Both Rituals and Echoes of the Atlas mechanics will throw you into a circular area where you fight multiple Bosses and/or enemies. First of all, you are looking for a build with very good self-sustain and solid defenses that will allow you to survive during those encounters - mainly against multiple Bosses fights from Echoes of the Atlas. Obviously, you want good AoE damage to simultaneously deal high damage to all enemies in the area, but at the same time, you want a high single-target DPS skill that can be used to aim at a specific, most threatening enemy. For that reason, you may want to skip Totem and Minion builds, first of all, they may die easily, and also, they aren't the best when it comes to targeting a single enemy while in the middle of a crowded battlefield. The best builds will deal damage "passively" while you are running around in circles avoiding getting hit, and basically avoiding tons of other AoE effects and ailments you are surely getting inflicted on you. We expect the best builds to rely on Damage over Time and/or on-ground effects. Tanky Melee builds may also be good, with plenty of buffs for some popular AoE/Melee Attacks. Brands, Traps, and possibly Mines too, maybe really powerful. And, presumably the number one pick this League will be Chieftain. As a class, it offers amazing self-sustain, tons of extra Fire Damage. You can easily make greater budget-friendly Starter builds as a Chieftain. Our #1 recommendation, Blade Blast Chieftain is surely going to be extremely popular, the only downside may be how expensive the items get with so many players playing it. But you can also try out Righteous Fire/Searing Bond with good results for sure. As the League progresses, we will be updating and adding the most popular builds out there so stay tuned.

PLEASE NOTE: The following list is based on our team's overall experience from previous Patches and currently available data about Patch 3.13 and the upcoming Ritual League. We will be updating our guides as soon as the Patch goes live and we have more thorough testing completed.

#1

Blade Blast Chieftain (3.13 READY) - one of the best builds you can play in 3.13. It's tanky, with insane self-sustain, high Life Pool, and Glancing Blows greatly reducing your incoming damage will let you survive most of the Bosses from Echoes of the Atlas events. At the same time, you deal some massive Fire/AoE damage with greatly increased radius by detonating ethereal blades you create with Bladefall. The only downside to this build is the fact that you need to cast both Spells (Bladefall and Blade Blast) manually, which may make it feel less efficient when farming higher Tier Maps later on

#2

Creeping Frost Occultist (3.13 READY) - this was already one of the best Starter builds in the previous Patch, and currently, with the new Patch mechanics, Cold DoT jumps right into the highest Tier of builds. You can't go wrong with Cold/AoE/DoT Damage combined with powerful Chills that slow down swarms of enemies and Bosses allowing you to easily avoid most of the incoming damage while the enemies' Life decays over time from your various on-ground DoT effects. If you don't like Creeping Frost you may also try out different variations of these builds, for example, one that relies purely on Vortex and Cold Snap? The Occultist will surely offer some flexibility this League

#3

Storm Brand Hierophant/Templar (3.13 READY) - again, a tanky build with tons of damage which is a deal to all enemies all over your screen regardless of your actions. You can place your brands and focus on staying alive while all enemies Life melts all over your screen. At the same time, high damage mitigation from Arcane Cloak, and Mind over Matter will surely let you take plenty of Hits before you are teleported back to your Hideout. Also, there may be at least a few new interesting builds to try out as an Inquisitor, so leveling up a Templar this League is highly advised

#4

Puncture Bleed Gladiator Starter (3.13 READY) - Bleeding is another great DoT effect that we recommend planning your build on in 3.13. You can apply some extremely powerful DoTs with Puncture while running around as a sturdy Gladiator without worrying too much about getting hit occasionally. This build at the same time offers amazing AoE and clear speed thanks to entire screens of enemies exploding from Gladiator's Passives and Bleed effects. This build surely doesn't offer the highest single-target DPS out there, but by staying alive, you may be better suited to clear all the content in Echoes of the Atlas

#5

Cremation Archmage Necromancer (3.13 READY) - not exactly the best Starter build out there, but when it comes to dealing with the new Ritual/Echoes of the Atlas mechanics, it may be hard to find a more suited character setup. You get tons of AoE damage dealt by Cremation craters, which act as pseudo Totems that can't be damaged and hence destroyed. At the same time, you have tons of defensive features that let you nearly instantly recover your Mana and save your ass - not to mention, you can just run around avoiding damage spikes while Cremation does its job. This particular setup was indeed nerfed in 3.13, but a 20% Mana Reduction, in this case, shouldn't exceed approximately 4% damage loss overall, so this is still an insanely powerful end-game setup for the newest Patch

If you have any suggestions about other interesting Builds and/or Starter Builds for the Ritual League, or you want to request a completely new build (for example based on one of the newly introduced Skill Gems) let us know in the comments below! We always appreciate constructive criticism as it helps us improve our content!

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