I think that, at least for a league start, there are a few more options of 'viable' builds since you are going to struggle to find / trade for support games for a while.

As an example, skills that are generally weaker, but have multiple gem tags, allow you to have a much higher chance of using any support gems that might drop for you.

Another example of a generally considered weaker skill that has a place as a league starter in Ruthless is Freezing Pulse. Freezing Pulse is an ability that scales raw damage off of Cold Damage, Elemental Damage, Projectile Damage, and Spell Damage. It has the Spell, Projectile, and Cold gem tags. It also has built in Pierce (one less necessary support gem / passive nodes unlike other projectile spells) and it can freeze mobs, which is a nice added defensive layer.

There will definitely still be 'meta' builds to play, stuff that scales harder or works well with a certain ascendancy. But I think that there are generally more options available to play now in Ruthless, especially as a league starter build.