Path of Exile’s 3.28 “Mirage” League features a new ascendancy: the Reliquarian, available for the Scion. This class arrives with a unique design, challenging players to rethink how their builds can benefit from powerful modifiers inspired by game's most famous Unique items—without actually equipping them. The new ascendancy breathes some fresh ideas into both league start and endgame build strategies, offering new approaches for those eager to try something off the beaten path.
This blog will give you a clear introduction to the Reliquarian's skills and mechanics, spotlight special gear and gems, then move onto starter build theorycrafting before touching on some early endgame possibilities.
PoE 3.28 Reliquarian Ascendancy Skills & Build Guide
Inspired by the Legacy of Phrecia’s exclusive "Scavenger" ascendancy, the Reliquarian lets you gain powers drawn from a rotating pool of Unique item effects. Unlike the Scavenger, the Reliquarian swaps its menu of options each league, so builds can feel different and fresh with every update.
What makes this ascendancy stand apart is that players pick a selection of "display" nodes, echoing three categories of Uniques: Armor, Weapon, and Jewelry. The result is a set of powers that interact in ways not possible with traditional itemization.
PoE 3.28 Reliquarian Skills (Minor Skills & Notable Skills)
The Reliquarian’s passive skill system revolves around selecting from a pool of minor and notable nodes, each inspired by classic Unique items. This setup allows Scion players to blend unique item effects directly into their ascendancy, creating custom playstyles based on the current league’s rotating selection.
Minor Skills
Passive Points: Grants 1 Passive Skill Point
The backbone of early Reliquarian progression is straightforward: Passive Points. These nodes grant additional Passive Skill Points (up to five, or six if you skip a jewellery notable), enabling more depth on the passive tree. This system lets players seize even greater customisation and reach for specific keystones or clusters suited to their strategies.
Notable Skills
Notable skills for the Reliquarian ascendancy are chosen from specific pools themed around Unique Armor, Weapon, and Jewelry, with each notable granting a powerful effect inspired by a well-known Unique item, such as increased aura levels, defensive mechanics, or specialized offensive bonuses. Players select one notable from each major category, allowing the combination of three distinct Unique effects without needing to equip the items themselves. The set of available notables changes with every league, creating shifting build opportunities and ensuring the Reliquarian’s options remain fresh each new season.
Armour Unique Skill Nodes & Skill Effects
Kiloava's Bluster: Grants a chance for your Elemental Resistances to count as much higher against enemy hits.
Victario’s Influence: Boosts area of effect for aura skills, and increases their level.
Brass Dome: (Replacing Howlcrack) Details pending, but likely defensively oriented.
Caster Weapon Unique Skill Nodes & Skill Effects
Maata’s Teachings: Channels your main hand weapon’s critical strike chance through to minion attacks.
Heartbreaker: Often associated with spell critical effects.
Mystic Refractor
The Burden of Shadows
Martial Weapon Unique Skill Nodes & Skill Effects
Jack, the Axe: Although details aren’t finalized, known for bleed enhancements.
Widowhail: (Recently reworked) Previously mirrored quiver bonuses, details may change.
Cerberus Limb, Grace of the Goddess, Terminus Est: Each draws from the unique item’s hallmark ability.
Jewellery Unique Skill Nodes & Skill Effects
Astramentis: Directly boosts attributes (+60).
Prospero’s Protection: Doubles armour from equipped shield, adds block, but removes body armour bonus.
Astral Projector: Transforms nova casts and expands area of effect, an excellent choice for certain spell builds.
Burden of Truth, Warped Timepiece: Defensive or interaction-based effects.
Each category presents a choice of five or six nodes, each emulating famous Unique mechanics. For example, one Armour Display node offers a Victario’s Influence effect (+2 to Aura Gems, AoE for Aura skills), while another grants a portion of Kiloava’s Bluster (chance for Elemental Resistances to act as 90% vs enemy hits). The available effects will change each league, and players must select one node from each display, up to three nodes overall—one per main category.
There’s both power and challenge here: building a Reliquarian is about identifying which combination of these item-inspired effects supports your intended playstyle. Notably, these notables cannot be accessed via Forbidden Flame or Forbidden Flesh, setting Reliquarian apart from other ascendancies.
Reliquarian Gear (Uniques & Gems)
Since the Reliquarian’s design grants the main Unique item effects through ascendancy, it changes gear decision-making. Instead of being required to wear that crucial helmet or amulet, those bonuses arrive from your skill tree.
Still, certain builds may benefit from doubling up: stacking ascendancy effects with real Uniques. For example, combining the Astramentis node with the necklace itself amplifies all-attribute stacking for a huge stat pool. Similarly, stacking a quiver effect (pre-nerf Widowhail, later replaced) with a real quiver multiplied its benefits, though some of these interactions were quickly revised.
For gems, the reliance on Unique effects broadens your freedom:
Aura setups love Victario's Influence or Brass Dome for extra levels and radius.
Bleed builds look toward Jack, the Axe, sometimes mixing with gems like Bleed Support.
Spell builds using Astral Projector shift nova spells to your mouse, like Glacial Cascade Mines or Volatile Dead.
Minion builds can seek out main hand crit transfer from Maata’s Teaching.
Gem choices remain broad, as nearly any active skill can benefit, depending on the Unique powers you select.
Reliquarian League Starter Builds (Theorycrafting)
Early Reliquarian builds for league start are all about combining Unique effects for practical leveling. Here are a few promising starter options imagined for patch 3.28:
Build 1: Pyroclast Mine - Astral Projector + Victario's Influence + Heartbreaker
The community has coalesced around this combination as one of the most coherent three-node packages in the current pool. Pyroclast Mine counts as an Aura skill, which means Victario's Influence's +2 to Level of Socketed Aura Gems applies directly — adding approximately 20% more damage at relevant gem level transitions. Astral Projector repositions the nova to your cursor rather than around your character, which converts what was historically an aim-dependent skill into something far more controlled in dense mapping. Heartbreaker adds culling strike as a finishing layer, catching targets that survive past the nova's primary burst. Together, the three nodes address Pyroclast Mine's damage ceiling, its accuracy problem, and its kill-confirmation weakness simultaneously.
The build levels through the acts with standard mine progression — Stormblast Mines early, transitioning into Pyroclast Mines around level 28. Prioritize reaching the first Ascendancy labs as early as possible so the node combination comes online before mid-acts. Gear requirements are light at the start: a damage wand, Carcass Jack when reachable, and resist-capped rares to maintain the defensive floor while currency accumulates.
Build 2: Bleed Axe - Jack, the Axe + Terminus Est + Astramentis
The Jack, the Axe node potentially restores a version of the high bleed damage multipliers that defined the axe-bleed archetype in earlier patches. For a league starter this is an appealing prospect — bleed scales off physical damage and attack speed, both attainable with a crafted rare axe without needing league-specific drops. Terminus Est in the Martial slot frees the physical weapon slot for a damage-optimized axe, and the Jewellery node fills out the attribute floor via Astramentis or the defensive layer via Burden of Truth depending on what the remaining gearing picture demands.
Level through the acts with a heavy-hitting physical axe and Brutality as a support gem. Haemophilia gloves are the one Unique worth hunting before early map clearing, providing reliable bleed explosion clear for packed groups.
Build 3: Kinetic Fusillade - Warped Timepiece + Grace of the Goddess + Astramentis
Kinetic Fusillade rewards high attack speed, flat elemental damage, and a reliable damage multiplier from the Ascendancy tree — this node combination addresses all three at once. The Scion's native passive tree position relative to the reduced duration cluster is an advantage no other class can replicate for this specific build, and Warped Timepiece's synergy with the skill's cycling behavior adds a structural efficiency bonus from the Jewellery slot. Grace of the Goddess brings the Wisp-adjacent offensive layer from the Martial node, which gives the build a damage floor that holds up into early red maps without demanding heavy gear investment upfront.
Level with a flat lightning wand and Storm Burst or Crackling Lance to carry through the acts, transitioning into Kinetic Fusillade once the attack speed and damage nodes are in place. A rare Titanium Spirit Shield covers the defensive budget through the acts, and the build scales progressively stronger as wand and quiver investment increases in maps.
Many of these starting setups offer a smoother path through early acts since you're not locked into strict unique requirements. Theorycrafters will want to mix and match nodes based on the league’s pool.
Reliquarian Endgame Builds (To Be Updated)
As more information comes available post-launch, expect this section to grow with powerful, efficient, and creative endgame builds using Reliquarian. Early impressions suggest:
Stat-stackers double-dipping with Astramentis.
Bow setups leveraging quiver effect amplification (as permitted by current nodes).
Spell combinations built around nova repositioning (Astral Projector) combined with culling or gem level increases.
Since the ascendancy changes each league, some build-favorites may only be present for one expansion. Flexibility and creative planning will be the hallmarks of long-term Reliquarian success.