Path of Exile 2 Early Access has arrived, and the excitement is off the charts! From seasoned veterans exploring Wraeclast once again to fresh adventurers stepping into the chaos for the first time, everyone can benefit from a strong leveling build. In the PoE 2 Leveling Tier List, we've gathered the best leveling builds for each class and valuable tips and insights to help you thrive in the early stages of PoE 2. Let’s get started!
Why Planning Your Leveling Build Matters in Path of Exile 2 Early Access?
Many players wonder how to approach creating their own build in Path of Exile 2. With the game's complex passive tree, new skills, and revamped mechanics, it can feel overwhelming. While going in blind might sound adventurous, understanding the tools at your disposal and generalizing your path can make a huge difference.
In PoE2, you'll have 122 passive points to allocate by endgame, and the massive skill tree includes notables (powerful nodes that define your leveling build) and keystones (game-changing mechanics with pros and cons). Add in the new support gem system, which limits each support gem to one skill, and build crafting with PoE 2 currency becomes both challenging and rewarding.
Related Read:
PoE 2 Best Endgame Builds for Each Class | Path of Exile 2 Endgame Tier List
Path of Exile 2 Best Solo Classes & Builds Tier List
PoE 2 Best Leveling Builds for Each Class
Here we rank the standout leveling builds that thrive in Path of Exile 2 Early Access based on available information:
1. Best Witch Leveling Build: Fire Storm Infernalist Infinite Explosion Minions (S Tier)
This witch build revolves around a minion-heavy playstyle, combining explosive Raging Spirits, Skeletal Arsonists, and Firestorms to create a chaotic battlefield. The synergy between minion detonations, fire damage, and constant healing from Vitality makes this build powerful, sustainable, and incredibly fun. If you’ve ever wanted to fulfill the fantasy of a hellspawn summoner, raining fire and destruction upon your enemies, this is the build for you. It excels at clearing large packs and handling boss fights, while maintaining strong survivability through life regeneration. Variants of this build include using Fireball Scattershot for a more traditional caster playstyle, but this guide focuses on the minion detonation + Firestorm setup.
Skill Gems and Setup
Main Skills:
Raging Spirits: Summon short-lived minions with low HP that are perfect for detonating. Core to the build’s damage output when paired with Skeletal Arsonist.
Skeletal Arsonist: Throws fire-based concoctions and detonates low-HP minions with Explosive Demise, dealing AoE fire damage. Works perfectly with Raging Spirits for constant explosions.
Flame Wall: Creates a wall of fire that burns enemies and enhances fire damage for projectiles passing through it. Useful for early leveling and provides additional fire damage to your arsenal.
Cast on Minion Death: Automatically triggers linked spells whenever a minion dies. Used to trigger Firestorm whenever minions are detonated or die naturally.
Firestorm: Devastating AoE spell that rains meteors from the sky, dealing consistent fire damage. Synergizes with Cast on Minion Death for continuous auto-casting.
Vitality: Provides 1% HP regeneration per second, ensuring survivability during intense fights.
Support Gems
Raging Spirits:
Minion Instability: Causes minions to explode for a portion of their max HP when they die, adding additional damage on top of the detonation.
Feeding Frenzy: Increases minion damage and makes them aggressive.
Fire Infusion: Boosts fire damage for minions and explosions.
Skeletal Arsonist:
Cast on Minion Death + Firestorm:
Impetus: Increases energy gain by 40%, allowing Firestorms to trigger more frequently.
Vitality: Provides consistent healing while Firestorm is active.
Flame Wall:
Arcane Tempo: Reduces cast time, allowing for quicker setup of Flame Wall.
Fortress: Converts Flame Wall into a circular area for easier placement.
Equipment + Gear Modifiers
Weapons:
Scepter:
+X% increased Fire Damage.
+X% spell damage.
+X to all minion skills.
Example Modifiers:
Look for +Spirit modifiers (e.g., +11%-15%).
Increased fire damage and spell damage are key bonuses.
Amulets and Rings:
Prioritize +Spirit and fire damage modifiers.
Example Modifiers:
+37 Spirit (or higher).
Increased fire resistance.
Increased minion damage.
Armor:
Focus on evasion + energy shield gear.
Look for gear pieces with bonus Spirit to sustain your summons.
Key Stats:
Resistances (Fire, Cold, Lightning).
Increased max HP or Energy Shield.
Minion life and damage bonuses.
Legendary Gear Example:
Ascendancy Points
The Infernalist Ascendancy is the backbone of this build, providing key bonuses to fire damage, minions, and survivability.
Recommended Ascendancy Points:
Loyal Hellhound: Summons a tanky minion that absorbs 20% of all damage you would take. Great for survivability in tough fights.
Altered Flesh: Sacrifice HP to gain increased maximum Spirit, enabling more simultaneous minions and skills.
Marshall Tempo: Provides 25% increased attack speed, which synergizes well with minion summoning and detonations.
Ignition: Boosts ignite chance, ensuring consistent fire damage over time.
Passive Tree (and Future Plans)
Core Passive Nodes:
Minion Damage and Revive Speed: Increases minion damage output and ensures faster resummoning of fallen minions.
Fire Damage Clusters: Invest in clusters that boost fire spell damage and AoE fire damage.
Reservation Efficiency: Lord of Horrors: Reduces the reservation cost of Vitality and other auras.
Life and Mana Regeneration: Nodes like Devoted Protector increase sustain with HP and Mana regen.
Key Passive Notables:
Minion Instability: Ensures minions explode for bonus damage when they die.
Aura Effectiveness: Improves the effectiveness of Vitality and other auras.
Lord of Horrors: Reduces reservation cost, improves area of effect, and boosts survivability.
Future Plans:
Fireball Variant: Transition to Fireball Scattershot if you acquire items like Stitched Gloves for increased spell damage. Use Scattershot for better AoE coverage and a more caster-focused playstyle.
Demon Form: While currently incompatible with minions, explore ways to incorporate Demon Form in future updates or gear changes.
Tips and Variants
Fireball Scattershot Variant: Use Fireball Scattershot instead of Firestorms for a more direct damage playstyle. Works best with unique items like Stitched Gloves for increased spell damage.
Spirit Management: Maximize Spirit with gear modifiers on scepters, amulets, and armor. Complete Spirit quests in Act 1 and Act 3 for permanent increases.
2. Best Monk Leveling Build: Shock Invoker Monk (S Tier)
The Invoker Monk focuses on lightning damage and the Shock ailment, leveraging the synergy between melee lightning attacks and triggered lightning spells. This build is centered around the Cast on Shock meta-skill, which automatically casts powerful spells like Ball Lightning when you apply Shock to enemies. For leveling, the build adapts to the early game’s challenges by using ranged lightning skills (such as Lightning Arrow) and transitional gear until the core melee lightning combos become viable. This approach ensures a smoother progression, even through the notoriously challenging early acts. The build excels at both AoE clearing and single-target damage, making it versatile for leveling and boss fights alike.
Skill Gems and Setup
Core Active Skills
Herald of Thunder (Act 1, Spirit Skill): Persistent buff that triggers lightning bolts after killing shocked enemies. Provides consistent AoE damage throughout the game.
Tempest Flurry (Unlocked after Act 1 Executioner Boss): A 4-hit melee combo where the 4th hit calls down a lightning bolt with bonus Shock chance. Augmented later to include a 5th hit for increased damage.
Stormwave (Unlocked in Act 2): A ranged lightning skill for safe damage application, especially useful in dangerous situations or against bosses.
Tempest Bell: Quarterstaff skill that creates a bell structure. When struck, it reverberates lightning damage to all nearby enemies. Synergizes with other lightning skills for additional AoE and single-target damage.
Lightning Arrow (Early Game): A bow skill used temporarily in the early game to handle groups of enemies safely from a distance. Combines with Lightning Rod to chain lightning effects.
Support Gems
Tempest Flurry:
Crescendo: Adds a second final strike, increasing damage output substantially.
Martial Tempo: Adds 25% attack speed, enabling faster execution of the combo.
Conduction (later): Increases Shock chance, improving synergy with Cast on Shock.
Stormwave:
Concentrated Effect: Increases damage at the cost of reduced area of effect.
Magnified Effect: Balances AoE size while boosting damage, synergizing with Concentrated Effect.
Lightning Infusion: Adds bonus lightning damage (moved to Tempest Flurry later).
Tempest Bell:
Herald of Thunder:
Enfeeble (Curse for Survivability):
Heightened Curse: Increases the curse’s effect, reducing enemy damage further.
Persistence: Extends curse duration.
Equipment + Gear Modifiers
Weapon:
Quarterstaff: Focus on flat lightning damage and attack speed modifiers.
Key Weapon Mods:
+X to all melee skill levels: Boosts overall damage and utility.
Physical damage to lightning conversion: Scales lightning damage effectively.
Increased Attack Speed: Crucial for faster Tempest Flurry execution.
Armor:
Prioritize evasion + energy shield gear for survivability.
Resistances are critical for reducing elemental damage.
Key Armor Mods:
Flat resistances (fire, cold, lightning).
Increased energy shield: For survivability and sustained mana use.
Bonus Spirit (Act 3+): Helps maintain multiple Spirit Skills (e.g., Herald of Thunder, Cast on Shock).
Sockets and Runes:
Weapon Sockets:
Storm Runes: Adds flat lightning damage to attacks.
Iron Runes: Physical damage boosts, converting to lightning through skills.
Armor Sockets:
Focus on resistance caps and survivability.
Accessories:
Ascendancy Points
Invoker Ascendancy Progression:
Critical Hit Chance: Increases crit chance for lightning attacks, boosting overall DPS.
Sunder My Enemies: Critical hits ignore elemental resistances, ensuring consistent damage against resistant enemies.
Shock Effect: Increases the magnitude of Shock, making enemies take even more damage.
Ion the Thunder: Adds 10% of your damage as extra lightning damage. 25% chance to create Shocked Ground, increasing uptime for Shock effects.
Future Points:
Triggered Spell Damage (synergizes with Cast on Shock).
Soul Springs Eternal: Boosts energy gain for meta-skills like Cast on Shock.
Unbound Avatar: Unlocks a special form after applying enough elemental ailments, granting bonuses to damage and ailment application.
Passive Tree (and Future Plans)
Current Tree Highlights:
Flow Like Water: Increased attack and cast speed, as well as bonus dexterity and intelligence.
Essence of the Storm: 5% of damage as extra lightning and increased Shock chance.
Echoing Thunder: General elemental damage increase after shocking an enemy.
Triggered Spell Cluster: Found near the meta-skill nodes, this cluster enhances triggered spells like Cast on Shock, increasing damage and energy efficiency.
Moment of Truth: Increases crit chance and crit damage, especially after non-critical hits.
Conservative Casting: Reduces mana costs and increases mana regeneration, ensuring smoother skill usage.
Future Plans:
Lightning Damage Clusters: Move toward key nodes like Pure Power, which increases lightning damage based on intelligence, and Shock Duration/Magnitude clusters for better scaling.
Ingenuity: Provides a large boost to intelligence, improving gear requirements and scaling for lightning damage modifiers.
Careful Assassin (Critical Path): Increases crit chance and damage, further boosting DPS and synergy with Sunder My Enemies.
Outer Track Expansion: Push toward outer nodes for additional evasion, energy shield, and resistances.
3. Best Warrior Leveling Build: Titan Shield Slam (A Tier)
This build is a Titan Ascendancy Strength-Stacking Juggernaut focused on creating a "meathead muscle masher" that wields two-handed weapons to smash enemies with massive physical damage while tanking through high life, armor, and life recovery mechanics. It’s all about stacking as much strength as possible for raw damage and survivability, ignoring dexterity and intelligence, and avoiding traditional mana management by using Blood Magic. The playstyle revolves around leap-slamming into packs, stunning enemies with rolling slam, and finishing them off with Bone Shatter, while using utility skills like Infernal Cry to amplify damage and explosions. It's a thematic, strength-stacking character that's less about being meta and more about being fun, tanky, and thematic.
Main Skill Gems and Setup
Rolling Slam (Primary Clear Skill)
Purpose: AOE clear and setup for stuns.
Linked with Support Gems:
- Brutality: Increases physical damage but removes elemental/chaos damage.
- Less Attack Speed, More Damage Support: Slows attacks but increases raw physical damage.
- (Optional): Consider Fist of War for bigger hits instead of slower attacks.
Bone Shatter (Single Target and Finisher)
Purpose: High-damage finisher for stunned enemies.
Linked with Support Gems:
- Shockwave Support: Adds an AOE aftershock for extra damage.
- Ancestrally Boosted: Increases AOE and damage on slams.
- (Optional): Add more life leech or utility gems.
Leap Slam (Mobility and Stun Application)
Purpose: Mobility + AOE shockwaves for initiating fights.
Linked with Support Gems:
- Overpower: Increases stun buildup.
- Shockwave Support: Adds AOE damage at the start and end of the leap.
Infernal Cry (Warcry Utility)
Purpose: Amplifies physical damage and triggers explosions on enemies.
Linked with Support Gems:
- Empowered Damage Support: Increases damage for empowered attacks.
Shockwave Totem (Optional Support Damage)
Purpose: Adds consistent AOE damage and detonates Jagged Ground it creates.
Linked with Support Gems:
- Jagged Ground Support: Creates terrain the totem can detonate for extra damage.
Herald of Ash (Utility)
Purpose: Overkill damage ignites nearby enemies for additional AOE clear.
No supports currently needed.
Support Gems
Universal Support Gems (For Damage Skills)
Brutality: No elemental/chaos damage but massive physical boost.
Shockwave Support: Adds AOE explosions to melee skills.
Faster Attacks: Helps mitigate the naturally slow attack speed of some heavy-hitting weapons.
Optional Utility
Equipment + Gear Modifiers
Weapon
Priority Stats:
% Increased Physical Damage: Core to scaling damage.
Flat Physical Damage: Adds raw flat damage for scaling.
Attack Speed: Improves clear and overall damage output.
Life Leech: Essential for sustain.
Example Weapon: A rare two-handed mace with high physical damage, added flat physical damage, and attack speed.
Helmet, Chest, Gloves, and Boots
Core Stats:
Flat Armor and % Increased Armor.
Strength: Adds life, damage, and scaling.
Life: Flat life and life regeneration are critical.
Resistances: Aim to cap elemental resistances (75%) as soon as possible.
Movement Speed (on boots): Crucial for mobility.
Belt
Priorities:
Flat Armor and Life.
Life Regen.
Strength.
Rings and Amulets
Core Stats:
Strength: More damage and tankiness.
Life Leech: Sustain through attacks.
Resistances: Fill gaps in elemental resistances.
Flasks
Health Flask: Look for modifiers like "Increased Recovery Amount" or "Gain Charges per Second".
Utility Flasks: Consider a flask with Bleed Removal or modifiers that mitigate other ailments. Armor or resistance flasks can also help with survivability.
Ascendancy Points
Titan Ascendancy
Giant’s Blood: Key to strength stacking and survivability. Provides tons of life and scaling.
Armor Scaling Nodes: Focus on passives that increase armor and add mitigation.
Life Leech and Recovery Nodes: Sustain is critical for a Blood Magic build.
Passive Tree (and Future Plans)
Current Progression
Strength Stacking: Focused on raw strength nodes, including Giant’s Blood for scaling.
Armor and Damage Mitigation: Invested in nodes that provide flat and percentage increases to armor. 25% of armor applies to fire resistance for added mitigation.
Life Recovery: Nodes like Savored Blood for better life leech and slower leech recovery.
Future Plans
Life Leech Scaling: Maximize life leech nodes to further improve recovery. Focus on nodes that slow leech recovery for prolonged sustain.
Resolute Technique (Optional): If accuracy becomes an issue, this Keystone ensures all attacks hit at the cost of critical strikes.
Stun and Damage Nodes: Invest in stun-related nodes to build up stuns faster and deal more damage to stunned enemies.
More Strength: Continue stacking strength nodes to scale both damage and survivability.
Weapon-Specific Nodes: Focus on two-handed weapon passives for additional damage and utility.
4. Best Sorceress Leveling Build: Ignite Chronomancer (A Tier)
The Sorceress’ Chronomancer Ascendancy excels at cooldown reduction and speed, making it ideal for an ignite-based build. Using fire spells with short cooldowns, you’ll rain fiery destruction on enemies. This build combines high mobility with massive AoE potential, making it excellent for clearing maps and dealing with bosses.
Skill Setup
Main Skills:
Firestorm: Deals consistent fire damage over a large AoE.
Time Snap: Resets cooldowns for burst windows.
Support Gems:
Increased Ignite Damage.
Fire Penetration.
Cooldown Recovery.
Passive Tree Focus
- Fire damage nodes for scaling.
- Ignite multiplier nodes for DoT scaling.
- Pick mana regeneration nodes to sustain spellcasting.
5. Best Mercenary Leveling Build: Explosive Grenadier (A Tier)
The Explosive Grenadier combines crossbow skills with damage scaling and AoE, making it a versatile and high-damage class. This build leverages Explosive Grenade for massive screen-clearing potential. This build is perfect for players who love massive explosions and fast-paced ranged combat.
Skill Setup
Main Skills:
Explosive Grenade: Your primary damage-dealing skill.
Tornado Shot: Used to amplify grenade damage via projectiles.
Support Gems:
Added Fire Damage.
AoE scaling.
Multiple Projectiles for grenades.
Passive Tree Focus
- Critical strike chance and damage for scaling.
- Projectile damage and AoE nodes.
- Pick up armor and evasion nodes for survivability.
6. Best Ranger Leveling Build: Poison Rain of Arrows (B Tier)
The Poison Rain of Arrows Pathfinder is a versatile and reliable build that uses poison to melt enemies over time. With Rain of Arrows as your main skill, you’ll apply multiple poison stacks across a wide area. Poison builds are reliable and offer both insane single-target and AoE damage. If you enjoy DoT playstyles, this is a great choice.
Skill Setup
Main Skills:
Rain of Arrows: Fires 50 arrows to spread poison.
Plague Bearer: Stores poison damage and releases it in an AoE.
Support Gems:
Multiple Poisons (to increase poison stacks).
Faster Projectiles.
Bursting Plagues (for poison explosions).
Passive Tree Focus
- Pick poison chance and chaos damage nodes.
- Invest in frenzy charge generation for synergy with skills like Barrage.
- Grab evasion and life nodes for defense.
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