Path of Exile 2 — a Diablo-like ARPG, a sequel to the beloved 2013 game. Distinguished by its reverent attitude to flexible character upgrades, the PoE series has earned the respect of millions of players around the world and was able to compete with the main giant in this genre — Diablo. Knowing the success of the first part of the franchise, with the release of the sequel in early access, many newcomers the game, including those who may be scared off by the hero upgrade system. To fully enjoy the project, it is worth starting to understand it from the very basics, namely, with classes and their Ascensions.
Despite the fact that only 12 of the 36 planned character development paths are currently available, determining the best class in PoE 2 can be difficult even for Diablo veterans. In this guide, we will tell you who is best to play in PoE 2 for a beginner, describe in detail the game mechanics, the gameplay style of all characters, and also determine the strongest class at the start of the game.
Path of Exile 2 Class Overview
The question of who to choose in Path of Exile 2 arises immediately after launching the game, when the character creation screen appears. At the moment, there are six playable heroes available:
- Sorceress;
- Warrior;
- Huntress;
- Witch;
- Mercenary;
- Monk.
The initial playstyle and starting weapon set for each of them are radically different. Some use long-range attacks, while others prefer to fight the enemy at close range. It is worth considering that the skill tree is the same for all classes, and you will have to choose in which direction to develop yourself. To achieve maximum efficiency, you should focus on the ives and weapons that are suitable for the class, but no one forbids you to abruptly change the vector of your hero's development or even start pumping up an additional branch of abilities during the game.
Each of the six starting classes will later be able to choose their own, narrower skill tree. This is done using Altar of Ascension, which is unlocked by completing challenges in the second and third acts at any complexity. In early access, each class will have two specializations available. Later, a third Ascension will be added, as well as additional hero classes. The choice made at the altar will open access to an expanded skill tree with unique skills, on which the final character build will be built.
During the Early Access Open Beta, it is not possible to change your chosen Ascendancy class.
Monk
Monk in PoE 2 is a representative of the class that plays from dexterity и intellect. Specializes in delivering quick, precise strikes with a combat staff, which he can combine with powerful elemental AoE attacks. Thanks to his skills, he is extremely mobile and can break through large groups of enemies at great speed. Mobility allows him to retreat instantly in case of danger, and elemental spells will his opponents at a safe distance.
There are three martial arts schools available to the Monk: Ice, Winds и Lightning. They can be used either individually or in combination to achieve maximum effectiveness in combat.
The following specializations can be chosen for a Monk at the Ascension Altar:
- Elemental Summoner — depending on the chosen skills, can be either an excellent , distributing protection to the squad, or a powerful attacking character with high physical and elemental damage. Able to enhance his own elemental attacks and ignore enemy resistance.
- Servant of Chayula — specializes in dealing damage with Chaos and has increased resistance to it. Capable of enhancing his own attacks, as well as instantly stealing mana and energy shield.
Like any other class, the Monk has its pros and cons:
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Combining physical attacks with the staff with powerful elemental spells allows you to inflict significant damage on enemies. | Some offensive skills are more focused on execution speed than on the final damage, and after using them, it may take several more hits to finish off the enemy. |
| Thanks to his abilities, the Monk can close the distance with the enemy in a matter of moments, while attacking and dodging blows, maintaining a high pace of combat. | The need to adapt to dynamic gameplay makes the class difficult for newcomers to master. |
| The variety of skills allows you to fight equally effectively against both crowds of small mobs and bosses. |
Martial Artist
A classic role-playing class, represented in PoE 2 by the branch force. Has high health and defense and is distinguished by delivering slow but powerful blows. The ability to absorb a large amount of incoming damage allows the Warrior not to worry about his own attack speed and concentrate on aggressively destroying opponents. With the help of a heavy crushing weapon, the Warrior literally throws enemies around, shaking the ground with powerful AoE attacks.
The Warrior can choose one of the following Ascensions:
- Titanium — specializes in delivering crushing area-of-effect attacks that deal damage and stun enemies. Skills are aimed at increasing damage to stunned enemies and increasing your own health.
- Warcryer — in battle, uses a totem and cries to summon the Spirits of the Ancestors, who can fight and absorb part of the damage received by the character. Can strengthen his own attacks, pierce armor and explode the corpses of opponents.
The Warrior class has the following pros and cons:
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| High health and defense allow you to absorb a lot of damage and think less about dodging. | Low mobility makes it difficult to move around the battlefield. |
| The simplicity of the mechanics makes the class easy to learn for beginners. | Due to the class's limited melee capabilities, it may be difficult to fight enemies that attack from afar. |
| Attacks are mostly aimed at stunning enemies, rather than dealing lethal damage, which is why it doesn't have the highest DPS. |
Huntress
The Huntress in PoE 2 is a ranged class that specializes in archery. Developed exclusively with the help of dexterity She is able to move quickly around the location and deal critical hits both in ranged and close combat. Thanks to her agility, she is able to dodge damage, thereby compensating for her low health.
The Huntress's ascents look like this:
- Sniper — all skills are aimed exclusively at increasing the accuracy and damage of projectiles. Capable of greatly boosting her speed with the ability "Favourable wind".
- Pathfinder — an archer who uses throwing flasks in battle that deal physical or elemental damage, and can also impose negative poison or bleeding effects on enemies. Has skills that increase the speed of movement and actions.
The Huntress has the following advantages and disadvantages:
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| The ability to take out enemies from afar helps you stay at a safe distance and avoid taking damage. | If you fail to avoid an enemy attack, you may receive serious damage due to very low defense and health. |
| High movement speed allows you to easily change position, avoiding direct with the enemy. | Difficult to master due to the need for proper positioning on the battlefield and resource control requirements. |
| Can deal various types of damage and debuffs, including poisoning and bleeding. |
Mercenary
As the main characteristics mercenary relies on force и adroitness. In combat, he uses a crossbow that shoots different types of projectiles. You can switch between them on the go, thereby creating interesting combinations and adapting to specific opponents and situations. He can inflict damage both over an area and on individual targets. The mercenary's skills are aimed at controlling a large number of enemies and destroying them from a safe distance.
Different types of crossbow ammo have different feel in combat, allowing you to tailor your fighting style to your needs. A mercenary can use rapid-fire, volley, or long-range projectiles, and can also apply elemental effects to them.
The Mercenary's specializations are as follows:
- Witch Hunter — a character with high damage due to his skills of finishing off and removing a certain percentage of the enemy's health with the first attack. Able to put an elemental shield in exchange for armor and evasion indicators, and also with a 10% chance to explode defeated opponents. For demons and undead, this chance is 20%.
- Legionnaire of the Kamenites — a specialization aimed at obtaining bonuses from the use of skill stones. It can improve their quality, as well as increase the number of available slots for active abilities, due to which it seems universal and easy to master.
The gameplay for the Mercenary has its pros and cons:
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Exciting shooter gameplay with alternating different types of ammunition for different situations. | The inability to fight in close combat creates high demands for precise positional control. |
| Not bad survivability for a long-range class. | Using projectiles consumes mana, which must be constantly monitored during combat. |
| When ascending to Witch Hunter, he shows excellent damage due to his abilities, allowing him to remove a percentage of health with the first shot and deliver finishing blows. While the Stone Legionnaire is extremely balanced for the start of the game. | Spends time reloading the crossbow, causing him to periodically become unable to attack and be forced to retreat or dodge. |
Witch
The main attribute Witches is intelligence, allowing her to cast various spells, summon minions, and create shields. Technically, the Witch can be called a necromancer, since most of her skills are aimed at summoning undead and controlling minions. The Witch creates an army of undead by using a separate Spirit scale, which is located next to the mana. While the minions deal with opponents, the Witch can cast attack spells or curses from afar.
When choosing Ascension, the Witch will have access to:
- Blood Mage — to cast spells, he uses his own health along with mana and heals himself on the battlefield due to drops of blood falling from opponents and life theft. One of the most attractive nodes of the character is the node for increasing critical damage for every 20 units of health.
- Infernalist — specializes in fire magic and can increase his own damage by setting himself on fire. Takes a demonic form, in which the power of spells and movement speed increases, but at the same time, he loses health every second. He can summon a Hellhound as a minion, which deals fire damage and takes 20% of incoming damage onto himself.
Playing as the Witch and her Ascendancy has its pros and cons:
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| The ability to summon minions that provide comprehensive and protection to the character. | In the later stages of the game, character control becomes more difficult due to the presence of a large number of active abilities. |
| Capable of destroying large groups of small enemies with powerful AoE spells. | The need to monitor the consumption of the additional Spirit scale in addition to Mana. |
| It is universal, as it has a wide range of skills aimed at both attack and defense. |
Sorceress
Another magic class that uses intelligence as the main characteristic. Specializes in dealing ranged elemental damage with spells. In his branch, he has quick access to elemental spells, energy shields, as well as ives that increase casting speed and spell power.
After ing the test To the sorceress The following Ascensions will become available:
- Storm Weaver — the main skill is to create small elemental storms of one of the elements (fire, ice or electric), which can exist on the battlefield for some time, causing the corresponding damage to everyone it touches. The other abilities are aimed at increasing elemental damage and shocking opponents.
- Chronomancer — specializes in time management. With the help of skills, he can reduce the cooldown of his skills, stop all enemies in the radius of action, or roll back in time.
The Charodeika has the following advantages and disadvantages:
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Has a wide range of spells capable of inflicting any type of elemental damage, allowing it to adapt to different opponents. | Low health and defense make the character vulnerable. |
| Has a lot of crowd control skills, which makes him extremely useful as a team . | Heavily dependent on mana and requires careful resource management during prolonged combat. |
Who to play PoE 2 at the beginning
Having familiarized ourselves with all the Ascensions currently available in the game, we can draw conclusions and choose the best class for a beginner in PoE 2. Let's consider them from the point of view of efficiency, ease of learning and convenience of gameplay.
Herald of War (Warrior)
Picking a Warrior at the start will provide easy, familiar gameplay and will allow you to tackle most of the game's content alone. With a large health pool and devastating attacks, he can easily deal with most opponents without having to worry about positioning or resource management.
After Ascension to Warbringer, becomes even more versatile. Gains significant bonuses to armor penetration, and also summons minions that can fight, tank bosses, and absorb some of the incoming damage.
Witch Hunter (Mercenary)
Although the Mercenary may seem unusual and difficult to master, once adapted to the gameplay, it shows excellent damage numbers while remaining at a safe distance from the enemy. The mechanics, reminiscent of a top-down shooter, add variety to the Diabloid gameplay and allow you to reminisce about old games like Alien Shooter.
After Ascension to Witch Hunter, he gets the strongest abilities aimed at knocking down a certain percentage of the enemy's health at the beginning and end of the fight. These skills work not only on regular mobs, bosses will also take damage from them. All this makes the Witch Hunter one of the strongest characters in of DPS.
Infernalist (witch)
At the start of the game, the Witch can please with a large set of skills that allow you to summon many minions and control them. Such gameplay helps to stay at a safe distance and try on the role of a commander. While the minions fight enemies, the Witch can impose debuffs and curses, as well as strengthen the summoned undead.
After becoming an Infernalist, the Witch enters into a Pyromantic Pact and gains a boost to her fire abilities. The mana bar is replaced with Hellfire, allowing her to cast fire spells almost continuously. When the Hellfire sphere is full, the Infernalist takes fire damage, so special attention must be paid to this aspect in combat and the bar must be allowed to decrease periodically.
The Strongest in Endgame
Thanks to the flexible character leveling system, by the end of the game, the chosen initial classes often change dramatically both in of gameplay and in their effectiveness. Let's look at several builds that show the best results in clearing locations and in battles with bosses in the late stages of the game.
Legionary Kamenitov (mercenary)
One of the strongest builds at the moment is the build on the Kamenite Legionnaire through a stack of attributes. As a main weapon, such a character uses a combat staff with the skill Storm Wave, enhanced with a stone Disturbance.
However, in this build, the most important aspect is the items used. In order for such a character to work, he needs a unique staff The of the Captive God, and also gloves Hand of Wisdom and Action. This is the minimum set of uniques for this build, and it is already extremely expensive. A full set of unique items for such a build will cost a fortune.
In a separate article on the site you can read about various builds for the Mercenary and his Ascendancy.
You can learn more about this assembly from the video:
Stormweaver (Sorceress)
The build of the player with the nickname Lexyu shows incredible efficiency in clearing locations, while the price for such a build is not so biting. The basis of such a character is the shock mechanic, the stack of which on enemies allows the ability Lightning conductor cause huge damage. Of course, there are some disadvantages associated with survivability, since all points during pumping go to increasing lightning damage.
A separate article tells about the starting and later ones builds for the Enchantress and her Ascension.
The author of the build shared a video of his assembly on his channel:
Blood Mage (Witch)
By giving your Blood Mage a couple of elemental abilities, you can get a strong and interesting build that clears the map with the help of creation. Wall of ice and the caste in them Fireballs. This way, you can break fireballs into small exploding projectiles that fly all over the screen. At the same time, the walls themselves also explode and deal ice damage.
Despite the high final damage, this build has many disadvantages. The main disadvantage is the inconvenient gameplay, namely, the need to rearrange two sets of stones under bosses and clearing locations. In addition, the build requires a certain skill and adherence to timings.
The corresponding article on the website examined a wide variety of builds for the Witch and her Ascension.
You can see the assembly details in the video:
Pathfinder (huntress)
The Huntress can easily be made into an incredibly strong character, eating away at any boss's life bar in a matter of moments with poison. To do this, when Ascending to Pathfinder, you need to take the skill Poisonous mixture, which allows you to throw jars of poison using mana flask charges. In addition, the poisoning power with this skill increases by 100%.
Unlike many imbalanced builds, assembling a Pathfinder through Poisonous Mixture does not require large investments. To equip your character, you will need to find or buy on the marketplace just a couple of unique items: a bow and gloves. For everything else, it will be enough to choose the appropriate affixes.
The author of the build provided all the detailed information in his video guide:
Infernalist (witch)
If you really want to reduce the entire gameplay to holding down one button, you can try to assemble it from your own Witches Infernalist Autocaster. The essence of the build is to get the Pyromantic Pact ability from the Ascendancy tree. It will allow you to continuously cast Ice bite с Comet. These skills will deal area damage at a tremendous speed and will help to cope with both map clearing and any boss. In this build, it is important to maintain a high speed of HP and energy shield recovery. This is done with the help of unique items: you will need, at a minimum, gloves and a shield.
You can also read about other things in a separate article on the website. builds for the Witch and her Ascendancy.
You can learn more about this assembly from the video:
Path of Exile 2 Class Tier List
In the end, we will summarize and make a tier list of all playable classes available at the moment:
| S dash | Spearwoman, Witch |
| A-dash | Warrior, Sorceress, Huntress |
| B-dash | Mercenary |
| C-dash | Monk |
Spearwoman и Witch show themselves best both at the very beginning of the game and after entering the Atlas. Huge damage and convenient gameplay will allow you to easily close any content.
You can put it a little lower in rank Warrior, Enchantress и Huntress. The warrior is extremely easy to master and has high survivability. He will be an excellent choice at the start of the game. The sorceress is extremely adaptive and can adapt to any enemy by using skills that inflict various elemental damage. The huntress, moving quickly across the maps, allows you to complete locations in the shortest possible time.
Despite the fact that Monk has good combat abilities and high DPS, it is quite difficult to adapt to its gameplay. The character's reactive movements require the player to have increased concentration and the ability to quickly react to what is happening on the screen. However, if you adapt and learn to play the Monk, you can achieve good results and spectacular, dynamic gameplay.
We hope that this guide was useful and helped you understand the classes, as well as decide who to choose in Path of Exile 2 at the start of the game. If you have any questions or additions to the article, write about them in comments and we will definitely answer.
