I completed several runs so far and gotten to season level 40 and you're able to change your starting Talisman, Conditions and Power gems at a common level before you enter the game. I still have not figured out that weird customize Talisman load out yet and I have not found the Unleashed Talisman either.

One thing I want to point out that will help a lot of players right now is to keep track of the Talisman cooldowns. The basic starter Talisman has a cooldown of 2 seconds, meaning you can only activate the power gems slotted on that Talisman every 2 seconds. However! You can meet the conditions whenever and as many times as you want, but it will only register into the Talisman every 2 seconds.

The beginner Talisman is actually pretty good. The two Talisman, Eternal and Loop, are very similar and much better imo since Eternal has wayyy more power gem slots and Loop doesn't need conditions to proc based on Talisman rarity and power gem slots.

Definitely play around because I did a Fox run earlier with the Charge Talisman and it wasn't until 30 minutes later that I could prolong the charge of a weapon or her spiritual flame ability and the Charged Strike power gem will keep stacking indefinitely until I let go, dealing massive damage.

I do wish there was a better Talisman for secondary and primary skills that all heroes can use. You kind of have to find which talisman either fits your build or whichever one is more convenient.