Path of Exile 2 is gearing up to be a monumental release in the action RPG genre, offering a plethora of new features, updates, and a completely overhauled gaming experience. With the beta set for June 7, 2024, here’s what you need to know about the best classes and ascendancies to explore in this highly anticipated sequel.
Best New Class (Ascendancy) & Build to Play in Path of Exile 2 Beta
Path of Exile 2 introduces six new classes, each with unique mechanics and ascendancies, which are specializations that define the character's development and gameplay style. Here’s a breakdown of the standout classes and builds:
1. Sorcerer
The Sorceress in Path of Exile 2 is a class that thrives on the raw power of the elements, making it an excellent choice for players who enjoy dealing massive area damage and manipulating the battlefield with a variety of elemental spells. Focused on Intelligence, the Sorceress stands out through its specialization in "pure elemental destruction," ideal for those who prefer a tactical, long-range combat style. The class's rich array of damaging spells combined with strategic utilities allows players to tailor their magical arsenal to their playstyle, whether it involves direct confrontations or controlling enemy movements and vulnerabilities. By choosing the Sorceress in the PoE 2 beta, players can experience the intricate balance of power and precision, exploring how elemental magic can be both beautifully destructive and tactically profound.
Stands out due to her ability to control the elements with devastating spells like the massive Comet. Her specialization in ranged magic attacks and the potential for high damage output puts her at the top.
Key Traits: Intelligence-based caster.
Gameplay: Focuses on harnessing elemental forces. The Sorcerer is the go-to for those who want to command the battlefield with devastating spells and powerful elemental synergies.
Sorceress Active Skill Gems
Spark: Lightning attack that rolls across the ground and cascades across the room.
Frost Bomb: Reduces enemy's cold resistance while ticking down.
Arc: Chains lightning between enemies, with increased damage for each remaining chain.
Ice Nova: Expands from the caster, knocking back and potentially freezing enemies.
Frost Wall: Creates a barrier of ice.
Solar Orb: Details not specified.
Rolling Magma: Details not specified.
Frostbolt: Creates an area of cold effect on the ground.
Cold Snap: Details not specified.
Flame Wall: Sets any projectile that passes through it on fire.
Arctic Armor: Provides physical and fire damage reduction while stationary.
Mana Tempest: Empowers spells with additional lightning damage.
Cast on Shock: Triggers socketed spells when maximum energy is reached.
Barrier Invocation: Triggers socketed spells upon taking energy shield damage.
Comet: Deals significant cold damage at a targeted location.
Fireball: Launches a fireball that explodes upon impact.
Unleash: Multiplies the effect of the next cast spell.
Sorceress Support Gems
Pierce: Causes projectiles to pierce through additional targets, but at reduced damage.
2. Druid
The Druid class in Path of Exile 2 offers a versatile and dynamic gameplay experience, appealing particularly to players who enjoy the flexibility of switching between different combat forms and harnessing the powers of nature. As a character that can alternate between human and animal forms—such as transforming into a bear—Druids provide a unique strategic element to combat. They can also cast powerful nature-based spells in their human form, making them formidable in controlling the battlefield through various elemental and physical attacks. The ability to instantly shift from human to animal form enhances their adaptability in fights, allowing players to respond swiftly to changing battle conditions. This shape-shifting mechanic, combined with the control over natural elements, makes the Druid a compelling choice for those who appreciate a blend of direct combat and tactical spellcasting in Path of Exile 2.
Offers a versatile hybrid playstyle with both shapeshifting abilities and elemental magic. The description of forms like the bear form, which includes AOE slams and the ability to build up rage, suggests a highly adaptable and powerful class.
Key Traits: Strength and Intelligence hybrid.
Gameplay: A spellcaster with the ability to transform into a bear, combining powerful melee attacks with spells. The Druid is perfect for those who like a versatile playstyle, balancing raw power with strategic magic use.
Druid Active Skill Gems
Lightning Storm: Creates a lightning storm that damages and shocks enemies within a specific radius.
Summon Wolf: Summons a wolf minion that enhances critical hits against nearby enemies.
Volcano: Erupts a volcano that shoots fire projectiles, with increased output when channeled.
Tornado: Generates a moving tornado that damages and hinders enemies.
Bear Maul: Allows the Druid to transform into a bear and perform a powerful melee attack.
Ferocious Roar: Transforms the Druid into a bear and triggers warcry skills, enhancing damage and area of effect.
Seismic Cry: A warcry that taunts and knocks back enemies, enhancing the next melee slam's impact.
Cast On Melee Stun: Triggers socketed spells when enemies are stunned by melee attacks.
Cast While Channelling: Triggers socketed spells when maximum energy is reached from channelling.
Druid Support Gems
Enraged Warcry Support: Increases damage of attacks exerted by supported warcries.
Fist of War Support: Enhances slam skills with increased damage and area effect.
Unbreakable Support: Raises stun threshold while using supported skills.
Shock Chance Support: Adds a chance to shock enemies with supported skills.
3. Monk
The Monk class in Path of Exile 2 offers a dynamic and strategic gameplay experience, ideal for players who appreciate a blend of intellect and dexterity in combat. This class, primarily using a staff, focuses on melee confrontations with the ability to manipulate battlefield positioning and enemy vulnerabilities. The Monk excels at generating and utilizing power charges to unleash devastating area-of-effect attacks, making it a formidable choice for players who enjoy controlling the flow of battle and executing powerful combos. The gameplay revealed at ExileCon 2023 highlights the Monk's potential for high damage output and crowd control, making it an attractive option for those looking to explore the new features of Path of Exile 2 during its beta phase.
Known for close-range combat effectiveness and utility, especially with abilities that can freeze enemies, including bosses. His fantastic movement skills provide significant battlefield mobility, making him a strong choice for active playstyles.
Key Traits: Dexterity and Intelligence hybrid.
Gameplay: Uses staves and fist weapons to deliver rapid, fluid attacks. The Monk's mobility and high utility make it a strong choice for players who value agility and control in combat.
Monk Skill Gems
Rolling Thunder: Sends out a wave of electricity at enemies, dealing widespread damage.
Windblast: Pushes enemies back, adding a strategic layer to positioning in combat.
Glacial Cascade: Creates a slow-moving wave of ice that deals more damage at the end of its path, capable of shattering frozen enemies for extra damage.
Ice Strike: Strikes thrice with ice, with the final hit potentially freezing and dealing increased damage.
Wave of Frost: Allows the Monk to move backward while casting a powerful freezing attack.
Shattering Palm: Places an ice bomb on the target, which explodes to cause damage and significant freezing.
Flicker Strike: Consumes a power charge to teleport to enemies and perform multiple hits, integrating mobility with aggressive attack tactics.
4. Huntress
The Huntress class in Path of Exile 2 offers a dynamic and agile gameplay experience, ideal for players who enjoy fast-paced combat and strategic positioning. Emphasizing mobility and ranged attacks, the Huntress excels in hit-and-run tactics with her spear and crossbow skills, making her a formidable adversary in both PvE and PvP scenarios. The class's unique ability to quickly engage and disengage from combat allows players to effectively manage battlefield positioning and control. Additionally, the variety of elemental and physical damage types available through her skills ensures that the Huntress can adapt to different enemy resistances and situations, providing a versatile and engaging playstyle.
Specializes in spear-based techniques and mobility. Her arsenal includes abilities that allow for dynamic combat engagement and disengagement, making her playstyle active and engaging with a focus on positioning and comboing skills.
Key Traits: Dexterity focus with high mobility.
Gameplay: Specializes in spear-based attacks and high mobility. The Huntress is ideal for players who prefer a fast-paced, hit-and-run style, making her excellent for dodging and weaving through enemy attacks.
Huntress Active Skill Gems (Spear)
Whirling Slash: Circular attack that creates a storm, dealing damage and impairing enemies' sight.
Spearfield: Stabs the ground to erupt spears that explode on contact with enemies.
Puncture: Charge attack that causes bleeding and deals more damage from distance.
Rapid Assault: Quick stabbing attacks that can maim enemies.
Disengage: Leap backward while throwing projectiles to escape danger.
Blazing Lance: Throws a spear that leaves a fiery trail, expanding outward with a second throw.
Storm Spear: Throws a lightning-charged spear that releases bolts on impact.
Dash: Quick movement skill that teleports the Huntress towards a targeted location.
Precision: Aura skill that increases accuracy and critical strike chance for the Huntress and nearby allies.
Huntress Active Skill Gems (Crossbow)
Permafrost Bolts: Shoots frost bolts at enemy groups.
Incendiary Bolts: Launches fire bolts at targets.
Armor Piercing Bolt: Empowers crossbow to use armor-piercing bolts with enhanced effects.
Siege Cascade: Fires arrows into the air that rain down on enemies.
Power Shot: High-damage attack aimed at individual targets.
Huntress Support Gems
Lesser Multiple Projectiles Support: Allows supported skills to fire additional projectiles at the cost of reduced damage.
Added Fire Damage Support: Converts a portion of physical damage from supported skills into additional fire damage.
5. Warrior
The Warrior class in Path of Exile 2 is designed for players who thrive in the thick of battle, offering a robust and straightforward melee combat experience. This class excels at close-range engagements, utilizing powerful slam attacks and a mix of physical and fire damage to dominate the battlefield. The Warrior's gameplay is characterized by its ability to break enemy armors, stun opponents, and deal massive area-of-effect damage, making it an ideal choice for those who enjoy a more aggressive and direct approach to combat. With skills that increase in potency following armor breaks and the ability to taunt enemies into attacking them, Warriors can control the flow of battle and withstand substantial damage, positioning themselves as both formidable attackers and resilient tanks in Path of Exile 2.
A more traditional class focused on melee combat with a twist of mobility. The warrior's ability to break through defenses and combo different attacks for enhanced battlefield control makes him solid but perhaps less unique compared to others.
Key Traits: Pure strength.
Gameplay: Excels with two-handed weaponry, particularly warhammers. The Warrior is built for players who enjoy crushing their enemies upfront with powerful, armor-breaking moves.
Warrior Active Skill Gems
Armor Break: Weakens the enemy significantly, preparing them for a subsequent attack that inflicts 500% increased damage.
Rolling Slam: Specific details forthcoming.
Boneshatter: Specific details forthcoming.
Leap Slam: Allows the Warrior to jump into the air, dealing damage and knocking back enemies upon landing.
Supercharge Slam: Gathers rocks on the weapon to unleash a powerful area of effect attack when released.
Sunder: Causes the Warrior to leap and slam down, creating a path of rocks that ripple damage outwards, very effective in groups.
Infernal Cry: A Warcry that taunts nearby enemies and causes them to combust upon death, enhancing subsequent attacks with fire damage.
6. Mercenary
The Mercenary class in Path of Exile 2 introduces an exhilarating blend of traditional RPG elements with the mechanics of a shooter game, making it a unique and engaging choice for players who enjoy dynamic and fast-paced combat. With the innovative implementation of WASD controls, the Mercenary offers a gameplay experience that closely resembles that of a classic shooter, providing a fresh perspective within the PoE universe. This class utilizes a variety of firearms, including crossbows that mimic sniper rifles, shotguns, and assault rifles, allowing for a diverse range of tactical approaches. Players interested in a more interactive and visceral combat style will find the Mercenary particularly appealing during the PoE 2 beta, as it significantly diverges from the more traditional, stat-heavy RPG mechanics to deliver a direct and impactful battleground impact.
Although not much detail is provided about the Mercenary in the text, typically, this class would include versatile, jack-of-all-trades features. However, without specific abilities or unique traits highlighted, it's harder to rank higher based on the available information.
Key Traits: Strength and Dexterity hybrid.
Gameplay: Focuses on using crossbows, incorporating mechanics from FPS games. Ideal for players who enjoy a tactical approach to combat, switching between different "gun" types for varied effects.
Mercenary Active Skill Gems
Rapid Shot: Functions similarly to an assault rifle, delivering rapid-fire shots.
Burst Shot: Mimics shotgun behavior, ideal for close-range burst damage.
Power Shot: Acts like a sniper rifle, allowing for powerful, precise shots from a distance.
Permafrost: Alters shooting mode to freeze targets, enhancing the tactical use of the Power Shot by creating an ice wall that slows enemies.
Incendiary: Adds fire damage to bullets. When used with Power Shot, it transforms the attack into a rocket launcher-like explosion.
Armor Piercing: Changes fire mode to armor-piercing rounds, useful against heavily armored enemies.
Mercenary Crossbow Attachments AKA Support Gems
Explosive Grenade Launcher: Launches a grenade that bounces and explodes after a delay, converting a portion of physical damage to fire damage.
Flash Grenade Launcher: Fires a grenade that blinds and stuns enemies upon explosion.
Oil Grenade Launcher: Shoots a grenade that creates a pool of oil, which can be ignited, covering enemies in flammable oil.
PoE 2 Game Mechanics and Features
Path of Exile 2 is not just a visual overhaul; it introduces significant gameplay enhancements that affect how each class performs:
Enhanced Mobility: All classes feature improved mobility, including dodge rolls that allow for quick repositioning and action cancellation, emphasizing a more dynamic combat experience.
Crossbow and Spear Weapons: These new weapon types bring additional strategic depth, with crossbows allowing for varied shooting modes and spears enhancing melee and ranged hybrid tactics.
Shape-Shifting and Elemental Magic: The Druid class showcases these features prominently, offering a blend of physical and magical gameplay that adjusts to the player’s tactical needs.
Ascendancy Classes: Each class in Path of Exile 2 will have three ascendancies, adding layers of depth and customization. These ascendancies allow players to fine-tune their characters towards specific combat roles or hybrid styles.
As Path of Exile 2 approaches its Beta, the game promises to revolutionize the traditional ARPG formula with its innovative class design and enhanced game mechanics. Whether you prefer the brute strength of the Warrior, the tactical versatility of the Mercenary, or the magical prowess of the Sorcerer, Path of Exile 2 offers a diversity of builds to cater to every type of player. With its upcoming beta, players will soon have the opportunity to explore these new classes firsthand, paving the way for new adventures in the dark, monster-infested world of Wraeclast.
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