The new league Trail of Ancestors will start very soon and I unconsciously had a lot of doubts in my mind:

Can I start the league on a Magic Find character? What is the best build for MF? When is it best to swap to MF gear? What will I start the league with? And will it be an MF character? I also have some questions about my starting Atlas.

That's why I wrote this article. And I hope it will help all of you who are planning to begin a new league on a Magic Find character.

League Starter - Lightning Arrow Deadeye

I am going to start with my build for Trials of the Ancestors. It's going to be Lightning Arrow Deadeye. And yes, it will be a Magic Find character.

Some of you may find my choice boring. But I think it's the perfect choice for MF, especially as a league starter. Even though we lost Vengeant Cascade, our damage is still quite high.

Besides, if it turns out we don't have enough DPS for the content I plan to farm, I have a backup plan, namely Tornado Shot.

So, when I have a lot of POE Currency, I can always buy expensive gear to make a swap to Tornado Shot and I will definitely have no problems with damage.

If, for some reason, you don't like Lightning Arrow Deadeye, I can suggest Corrupting Fever Champion or Caustic Arrow Pathfinder as alternatives. These are also good Magic Find builds that I played in the last league and had no problems with them.

When Should We Change Our Gear To MF?

The build is sorted out. Now, let's try to figure out when we should change our gear to MF and if we should progress to T16 Maps as fast as possible.

I advise you not to rush and the worst thing you can do is fast push to T16 Maps and buy MF gear.

With such a rush strategy, you will find yourself in a situation where your gear will be very weak and the progress of your Atlas will outpace the progress of your POE Items.

In this scenario, you will simply die a lot on maps or your map clearing will be too slow and your MF will be ineffective. So, take your time. 

Personally, after completing the X, I will not immediately change my gear to Magic Find. I will focus on items with the following modifiers:

• Life 
• Spell Suppression 
• Resistance 
• Damage 
• Increased Item Rarity (IIR)

But these will not be unique items that we are used to seeing in MF builds. They will be rare items.

Also Read: Path Of Exile 1 And Path Of Exile 2 Are Two Different Games! - Differences Between POE 1 & POE 2

Take Behemoth Idol Gold Amulet as an example. Frankly speaking, it's a very bad item. But I'm showing it as an example and 39 increased rarity of items found on one item at the beginning of the league is not bad, considering the fact that this amulet is not worth anything at all.

Many of you have a question why increased rarity of items found and why this modifier is important. But everything is very simple. It allows us to find more unique items. 

In most cases, unique items are almost worthless. But in the early days of the league, the situation was quite different. And even on the worst unique items, you can earn a lot of currency and this does not take into account the fact that you can always hit the Jackpot and find something really valuable.

So, to start with, I will focus on a minimum of 100% increased rarity of items found total. This is a realistic number to start the league because this modifier is available on rings, amulets, helmets, gloves, and even boots.

Unfortunately, it's not the most stable way to make money, and neither is Magic Find. But that's my plan and as it seems to me to start MF optimally with this strategy.

Also, I want to warn you that the increased rarity of items found does not affect currency drop. So, you will not have the rain of Divine Orbs.  

In general, this is quite a risky and not quite stable strategy because we do not know what unique items we will find. It could be meta items that we can easily sell or it could be some trash. But I believe in my luck. 

Besides, this will not be my only source of income at the beginning of the league. But I'll tell you about that a little later as for which maps are the best to start MF on. As I said earlier, don't rush.

If We Should Progress To T16 Maps As Fast As Possible?

And in my experience the best option will be maps starting with T8 and ending with T11. And only after you have good gear that will give you damage and some survivability, you can move to T14 Maps or higher.

At that point, you can also start slowly adding classic Magic Find items to your build. But don't do it all at once.

Replace one part of your gear with Magic Find first, for example, rare boots for Goldwyrm. Then, complete a few maps and see how much less survivable your character is.

If you don't feel any changes, you can continue to gradually replace your gear. If you start dying a lot, it might be better to stop and try to get currency for a good weapon. That will increase your damage because the more damage you have, the less chance monsters have of attacking you back.

Also, a few extra levels can improve your build. So, get farming some experience. 

My Atlas

Now, let's talk about my Atlas.

First, I plan to take these nodes (Adjacent Map Drop Chance & Kirac Mission Chance) with Kirac Missions because it will speed up my Atlas progress a bit:

Next, I'm planning on Ritual (Ritual Chance & Sacred Lands). 

And this may surprise many of you because Ritual is a bad mechanic. But personally, I like Ritual especially at the start of the new league. On the one hand, most of the rewards in it are very mediocre, but on the other hand, you can find very expensive items in it. It is a kind of mini jackpot, which will allow you to get a lot of currency and speed up your progress.

In addition, Ritual combines well with my strategy of finding unique items. Because there are more monsters on the maps with Ritual. And the more monsters, the more chances to find valuable loot.

Then, I will rush Wandering Path. I will do this not to get access to rid maps as quickly as possible, but to double the effective nodes that give increased quantity and rarity of items found. This will give me a total of 30% quantity and rarity of items found, which is a pretty nice starting point.

Next, I will continue to take nodtes for Ritual and my initial Atlas will look like this.

After that, I have two paths in mind and I haven't decided what I'm going to choose yet. It's either Expedition or Incursions. Expedition is a more stable mechanic, but Incursions combines well with Magic Find and will allow you to earn a lot of currency if you know how to do Temple correctly.

Alternatively, there is Legion. But it will depend on my gear. Because for Legion, I'll need a lot of damage and at this moment I can't say how the start of the league will go for me and what kind of gear I can buy. 

So, I have a pretty flexible Atlas where Ritual, quantity, and rarity of items found is the basis of my Atlas and the rest of the options I will determine as the league progresses.