With 3.28 Mirage just around the corner, here's a rundown of how I'm approaching the league start: what I'm playing, why, and what the first couple of weekends look like. Whether you're a veteran or still finding your feet, hopefully something here is useful.
How I Decide My League Starter
League starting isn't just about copying the meta pick, though I do recommend checking meta guides, videos and resources, especially if you're newer. Knowing what's strong is useful context even if you end up choosing something different.
My rough checklist when picking a starter:
- Can it clear the campaign without needing specific gear?
- Does it have a smooth path into maps and Atlas completion?
- Is there a fallback option if it underperforms?
- Am I actually excited to play it?
That last one matters more than people give it credit for. A league start you're not enjoying is a league start you'll bail on early.
I remember choosing totems one league and it was miserable, hated the playstyle and it really ruined my leaguestart. I also chose minions during Ultimatum and watching all my minions die in the circles as they got smaller was pretty painful. Choose something you think you will enjoy for the league content too.
What I Chose: Holy Hammer Inquisitor
I'm going Holy Hammer Inquisitor this league. Holy Hammer is a brand new skill in 3.28, a lightning slam that looks fun.
Why it's appealing:
- It's new, almost always a bait but here we are for the ride
- Potentially strong AoE coverage from the slam
- Strong single target potential if you can generate enough Power Charges and get hit overlap working
- Templar has some solid backup options
The honest disclaimer: It's a new skill. It could underperform, have weird interactions, or just not feel good to play. That's the risk with new skills at league start. It's fine as long as you have a Plan B, and I do.
Other Options and Pivots
If Holy Hammer doesn't deliver, I'm not starting from scratch. The fallback options all share enough passive tree overlap that a respec isn't painful:
- KBOC Hierophant: Kinetic Blast of Clustering, proven and reliable, one of the best mappers in the game
- Kinetic Fusilade Totems: totem playstyle, very safe, solid damage scaling throughout the league
- Other Holy Skills on Guardian: continue the bait train
Impact of Exceptional Gems as the League Progresses
Exceptional Gems (also called Greater Gems) replace Awakened Gems in 3.28. These are powerful gems that can modify how skills or your character work in ways that weren't possible before.
The exciting thing is we genuinely don't know what's going to be cracked yet. There could be an endgame build enabled by one of these that nobody sees coming at league start. Fun to watch it shake out over the first couple of weeks.
First Weekend Goals
Primary goal: Complete the Atlas and get all Void Stones. I try not to get distracted by currency strategies, Sanctum, or Heist during the first weekend. Getting Void Stones unlocks everything:
- Higher tier map drops naturally
- Void Stone map mods add baseline juice to every map
- Atlas completion replaced chisels for quality
- More Atlas passive points to spec into your farming strategy
- Unlocks Astrolabe usage
What that realistically looks like:
- Finish the campaign efficiently. I almost always spend too long poking at league mechanics during the campaign when I shouldn't, it's genuinely not efficient
- Push through white maps into yellow into red as fast as your build allows
- Don't over-invest in gear during the campaign
Secondary goal: Get a real read on how Holy Hammer performs in actual maps. By end of weekend one you'll know whether it's the build for the league or whether a pivot is needed.
Initial Farming Plans
No fixed strat locked in yet. 3.28 is too new to commit to one thing before seeing how the economy and meta shake out. Things I have my eye on:
- Breach: the Atlas tree might still be the best source of solid rares early league, worth testing
- Expedition: big booms are fast and efficient; if Rog is back, logbooks could sell quickly early league
- Blight: the top end got nerfed but oils are always valuable early and the new anointable belt could be easy income
- Settlers: if the scarabs are cheap, it adds extra monsters and you can ship off resources for chip currency early
Astrolabes are also worth paying attention to. Whether they're generic buffs or mechanic-specific will change how you slot them into a strategy.
-Stay Sane Exile