With the reveal of Legion League, Grinding Gear Games teased massive changes to an entire archetype of POE builds. And when the 3.7 patch notes dropped, players saw just how much melee was about to change in the best ARPG ever. It became pretty obvious to anyone paying attention that pure melee builds in Path of Exile, based around iconic skills like Sunder, Cyclone, Molten Strike and many more, were about to become extremely popular.
This had the predictable effect of driving up in-game demand for a wide array of items that were seemingly purpose-built for melee players. This means that as we close in on the end of the first month of the league, more and more players will be looking for something new to play. That’s why we’ve compiled this list of a few builds that break away from the pack and offer a playstyle that isn’t defined by a certain melee attack.
If you want some more thorough recommendations for melee-based builds as well, check our full Legion starter builds guide.
Other Path of Exile 3.7 Guides:
- Path of Exile Best Builds
- Path of Exile Legion Guide
- Path of Exile 3.7 Skills Overview
- Legion Beginner’s Guide
- Legion Loot Filter Guide
Now with that out of the way, let’s talk about some cool non-melee builds in POE Legion.
Righteous Fire Chieftain – This is the truest endgame passive DPS build that has ever graced the storied halls of Path of Exile. If you want a build that’s challenging to get going, but exceptionally rewarding once you do get the right gear, this is the build for you. Whether farming bosses, Labyrinth or Delve, the amount of Life, Regen and other defensive layers this build archetype offers cannot be beaten.
MF Windripper Ranger – The quintessential Magic Find build in modern POE. Magic Find involves using increased Item Rarity and Quantity rolls to leave the player literally swimming in new and shiny loot. If you want a more thorough explanation, check our Magic Find in POE guide. This build takes the rather popular Bow-based variant and updates it for Legion, leaving it in a rather strong state.
Blade Vortex Assassin – Blade Vortex and its stacks and stacks of DPS will always be popular among POE fans. Blade Vortex can be used in a variety of different ways, and can be tailored to a more active or passive playstyle. And with the buffs to the Assassin Ascendancy these last few expansions, it’s probably one of the better choices out there. Running plenty of Evasion and Crit Chance gives this beast lots of bite too.
Frostbolt Totems – An iconic starter build in POE if there ever was one. Many a build guide has been created off of the back of this simple setup. If you want a ranged Totem build that offers great early mapping potential in a League, this is it. It features good skills setups for both map clearing and boss killing, with plenty of offense and defense to deal with most content on a shoestring budget. Legion League and POE 3.7 may not have handed huge buffs to this Ascendancy or skill combination, but it’s still relatively easy to play and offers decent DPS.
Glacial Cascade Totems – A true league starter through and through. It’s a very safe and tanky build which can handle any content with the right amount of prep work. And by choosing Life over extra Crits, you can even scale this build for hardcore play. A great build to choose if you want another Totem option.
Freezing Pulse Inquisitor – A rather unique and powerful take on an archetype that’s typically a lot harder to play. With this build, the caster is a lot less squishy than one would expect. This Path of Exile build uses Mind over Matter and several other defensive layers to create what is essentially one of the better caster archetypes in Legion.
Caustic Arrow Trickster – A ranged build in Path of Exile Legion and 3.7 may not be the most glamorous, but some people really like bow builds in POE. For that reason, we put together a fairly simple and easy-to-gear build made around one of the strongest ranged attacks in POE 3.7. The gear on this build can even be shifted around for a big of Magic Find potential, meaning slightly better loot overall when running with this build. And since its offenses are built around Chaos Damage, it’s a bit stronger on offense than some other more common Bow builds.
Armageddon Brand Tank – The powerful skills that is Armageddon Brand was left relatively stable and strong in 3.7 This particular version of the build may be a little difficult to manage for extremely new players at first, it’s actually very easy to get used to. The amount of tanking and DPS potential for this build makes it well-suited for farming endgame content on a budget, including the very difficult Uber Elder.
