This is a guide of Path of Exile 3.23 Affliction League. I thought SRS was nerfed for Minion Instability because the more damage mod was removed, and at Gem level 31 it's a whopping 59% more damage gone. But with the new SRS of Enormity, we gain 88% more Minion Life. SRS hits always critical strikes and a plus 40% to Critical Multiplier. We combine these changes with Necromantic Aegis, which gives the bonuses of our shield to apply to our minions, and using Qotra’s Regulator Shield, which gives a dotty multiplier when you critical strike. The Shield has a downside of losing life and ES whenever we critical strike, but since we want our SRS to die, this is very useful for the build.

We are also freeing up our Amulet Slot since we won't need Tavukai anymore to kill our SRS. This opens up more equipment options to boost either our damage or defenses. These changes, combined with a few tweaks to the tree and equipment significantly increase the high budget version DPS of the build compared to the 3.22 version. This is without the Sentinel of Radiance and using only the level 20 version of the Gem mods.

For the Ascendancies, Radiant Crusade is the number one priority. It grants us the ability to summon the Sentinel of Radiance, which is our main clear skill. It has a burning Aura which deals fire damage to a huge area around it. You can get 500k damage overtime DPS with little to no investment and reaching 1.5 million with the high budget version. Allocating this first will carry you from act four to late yellow maps easily. Note that the Sentinel has a 22nd duration so you need to remember to re-summon it once in a while. It also has a very slow movement speed, but this is easily solved using convocation.

Next one we get is Bastion of Hope as it can greatly help us in maxing out our attack and spell block. We trigger the attack block using shield charge and the spell block using any of our spells. Allocating Radiant Faith next gives us a lot of Armor and energy shield with Time of Need for last to help us with curses and elemental ailments, and regenerates 100% of our life every 4 seconds. For the passives, focus on getting the Minion Life and Damage nodes on the left side of the tree. When you get the Sentinel, allocate convocation CDR in the minion defense master and the minion AOE in the Offense Mastery.

Then we get the Reservation Efficiency nodes so that we can fit our defensive auras and path to Eldrich Battery to help with our Mana costs. All the while, Allocating Life, Minion Life and Minion Damage nodes along the way. After that, we focus on maxing out our block chance by allocating Shield nodes and using a Rumi's concoction flex. We path to Necromantic Aegis when we acquire Qotras Regulator Shield. The minimum level for the Shield is 54. For the league start version, we get Whispers of Doom for the double curse.

The next big upgrade would be getting an Elegant Hubris Timeless Jewel with two minion notable, either for minion life or damage. Early in the league, Amanamu's Gaze is a big help to our Sentinels DPS, but we swapped this with Forbidden Flesh and Flame Jewels for Augury of Penitence for the high budget version. Since we are already getting a huge amount of minion life for the SRS, focusing on minion damage for our cluster is much better.

The rest of our Jewels are Ghastly Jewels. The most important mods are maximum life-Minion Life. Minions deal increased damage if you've used a minion skill recently, and minions deal additional fire damage. Get one Jewel with minions deal additional cold damage, so we can freeze mobs since we have 100% crit chance for SRS.

In 3.23, we get access to the new Wildwood Ascendancies. Going for the Warden of the Maji Ascendancy would be the best for league start especially in the campaign, since we can get more movement speed with both of the Maji and more tankiness with the Bark Skin Skill. We can change to the Wildwood Primalist Ascendency if we can get charms that complement our build, like minion mods from the Necromancer Ascendancy or defense mods from the Juggernaut Ascendancy.

Let's go to the Equipments.The only required unique for the build is Qotra's Regulator Shield which gives our minions damage over time multiplier and this kills our SRS for the minion instability. For the low budget version, all of the other equipments are the standard rares. We focus on maxing out our resists and getting as much life as we can. If you have the POE Currency to spare, get a helm or wand with plus one to level up all minion skill Gems. You also need the trigger mod for the wand to help with casting all of our skills. For the high budget upgrades, we want to get our hands on a replica siege breaker so that our SRS leaves burning ground on death. Since we are not using Tavukai anymore, we can go for a plus two amulet for more DPS or go Defiance of Destiny for more tankiness, since we lost our Shield boards. A hunter influenced body Armor for the double curse is a great upgrade.

Crafting this first with Essence of Loathing would give us Mana reservation efficiency so that we could fit in the Malevolence Aura. Make sure to have full suffixes before Metacrafting. The rest of the rares for the high budget version are basically the same as the leak start version, but more focused on getting more reservation efficiency, minion damage, minion life, minion resists and Gem levels.

Don't forget to get a quartz flask for the phasing since we're always diving in the middle of mobs. For the animated Guardian equipment, we use Eye of Malice, Explode Body Armor, Grave Bind, Legacy of Fury, and Dying Breath. Upgrade to a Kingmaker for the high budget version. Don't invest too much in your AG if it's not at least level 19 or if you haven't started transitioning to the high budget version with the minion defenses in life.

For the Specters, we use the Pale Seraphim and Tukahamas Vanguard. If you can reach the level 25 gem level, for the third Spectre, you can use Wild Bristle Matron for more defenses or Carnage Chieftain for more DPS.

For the Gem links, we link SRS with Minion Life, Critical Damage and Unleash for the four link. When you get additional links, you can slot in Concentrated Effect and Predator.The rest of the Gem links are unchanged. Animate Guardian linked with Minion in the shield so we can easily weapon swap and despawn the AG if it's in danger. Determination, Defiance Banner, Summon Skitterbots and Tempest Shield for our Aura adding malevolence for the high budget version. Raise Spectre and Stone Golem is linked with Feeding Frenzy and Combustion. We equip our curses in our wand with one free gem slot of your choice.

This build's standard gameplay is popping our flasks then summoning The Sentinel. Use Shield charge to place yourself in the center of a pack and convocation to recall your Sentinel and watch everything around you die. Use your SRS and Signal prey for tanky rares and bosses. Remember to re-summon your Sentinel every 20 seconds or you could end up dying when you dive in a pack and your Sentinel is not up. Also remember to Shield charge once every 4 seconds to keep your block chance maxed.

In this guide, I want to go over my 5 choices for league start builds in Path of Exile 3.23 Affliction League.

With the absolute massive overhaul that Transfigure Gems is providing us, I wanted to make sure that I chose builds that were minimally or not affected by such changes.

If you also want to make these builds, please prepare enough POE Currency!

1. RoA Raider (Fuzzy Duckzy)

The first build on this list and my personal top rated build is the Rain of Arrows Raider by Fuzzy Duckzy.

This build is simplistic, very thorough, very detailed guide and easy to pivot if you decide to do so. Fuzzy demonstrates every step of the process, how he gets each Watchstone, each tier of map and each boss in his guides.

The Raider ascendancy is cozy a league start due to easy spell suppression and ailment immunity. With this build, you’ll have a very smooth league start and you’ll also have the option to transition into either Lightning Arrow or Tornado Shot Deadeye if you’re looking to mid-max.

Fuzzy has a guide on Tornado Shot as well. I have personally played Fuzzy’s builds before with no issues and I would recommend any of his builds as a solid starting point.

2. Poison BV Pathfinder (Lolcohol)

The next build on my list and my personal build choice for this league is Poison Blade Vortex Pathfinder by Lolcohol.

Now, I haven’t played Pathfinder in a while, but the Giga flask’s effect and duration is a fantastic quality of life that I look forward to taking advantage of.

Now, because of the changes to quality on Blade Vortex, you will not only be hitting more often due to increased hit rate of each blade, but the flat physical damage Blade Vortex provides has also been buffed on the top end. This means more physical damage we can then convert to chaos damage.

The build is relatively cheap to gear at league start with uniques, such as Obliteration, Cold Iron Point, Dendrobate and Asenath’s Gentle Touch.

In my personal opinion, Pathfinder feels like a great choice for this particular league in general, and not just with this build.

3. Lightning Arrow Deadeye (Crouching_Tuna)

The third build on my list is Crouching_Tuna’s Lightning Arrow Deadeye.

This is the quintessential bow build alongside Tornado Shot, but it’s a bit hard to league compared to Rain of Arrows Raider, but it has a higher ceiling.

If your personal plan is to play either Lightning Arrow or Tornado Shot as an end goal, it’s up to you whether you want to start those builds or transition to them from something easier, such as the Rain of Arrows Raider.

I have no problems recommending you start Lightning Arrow Deadeye, however, I do not recommend that you league start Tornado Shot. Kaom’s Spirit for rage generation has been completely destroyed, it might as well be deleted from the game, so obviously do not use them.

We don’t have the tattoos this league for additional projectiles that made this build feel incredibly comfortable, but the Quality in Tornado Shot does have built-in secondary projectiles if you choose to go that build or transition to it later.

As for Lightning Arrow Deadeye, it’s a great mapper. It’s very fast clear, and its flexibility on investment level, so you can choose how much you want to invest in it.

Tuna has also started putting himself in his own thumbnails, so that’s 100% more reason to trust this man.

Also Read: Path Of Exile 3.23 Affliction Update Notes - New Content & Highlights

4. Corrupting Fever Champion (Ruetoo, Video By Tripolarbear)

Number 4, we have Corrupting Fever Champion by Ruetoo.

Now, this is the only build on the list that I haven’t personally played. However, I have played Corrupting Fever and Champion separately before.

Champion is one of the tankiest mappers that you can play that doesn’t sacrifice a lot of clear speed. However, this particular build is not the best choice for very new players due to the mechanics involved.

Activating Corrupting Fever procs Adrenaline, giving a permanent buff up time. You can get this running as early as Act 3. This particular build should shine in the returning Ultimatum mechanic due to the tankiness and the speed to dodge in the circle.

Corrupting Fever Champion is a great choice if you want to play what is arguably the most overpowered ascendency.

5. Ele Guardian SRS/Poison SRS (Subtractem/Balormage)

For my final build, I have sort of a two-parter here. I have the Elemental SRS Guardian from Subtractem, and I also have the Poison SRS Necromancer from Balormage.

On the Elemental SRS Guardian side, we have the Sentinel of Radiance, which is completely busted or personal favorite that I’ve played over the past few leagues, Poison SRS Necromancer.

On the SRS Guardian side, it is one of the smoothest campaign experiences due to the Sentinel of Radiance being absolutely busted.

As for the Poison SRS, it’s great damage, and it’s very durable in the late game. And I’ve done many characters over different leagues that have done 80% deli with basically zero deaths.

The changes to SRS via the Transfigured Gems mean a little less minion movement speed, and it’s more so a nerf to the Popcorn Variant.

Both SRS builds have decent, clear, great single target and unfortunately Divergent Melee Splash is gone, but hopefully a substitution can be made to not lose so much clear speed.

These are also 2 builds that I may be keeping a close eye on due to the Primalist and the access to charms that are coming in this league.

Personally, I would have no trouble running Poison SRS Necromancer again, but I figured I would try something new.

To sum up, those are my 5 builds that I recommend for the up climbing POE 3.23 Affliction League. This will be one of the biggest shakeups that Path of Exile has ever seen and I’m personally very excited to see what sort of ridiculousness comes out of it. I hope you enjoyed the guide and have a fruitful league launch.