PoE 2 DPS Build Tier List - Highest Damage Builds in Path of Exile 2

Path of Exile 2 introduces a plethora of builds with unique mechanics, offering players a wide selection of playstyles for tackling the game’s challenging content. This PoE 2 tier list evaluates the highest DPS builds in Path of Exile 2, ranking them according to their damage output, versatility, and overall effectiveness.

Related Read: PoE 2 Exalted Orb Farm

Best PoE 2 DPS Build Tier List (All Classes)

This Path of Exile 2 DPS build tier list offers a comprehensive look at the current meta, ranking builds based on their overall performance, clear speed, boss-killing potential, survivability, and gear requirements. Check out the best PoE 2 DPS build for each class ascendancy. 

1. Minion Army Infernalist - S Tier Witch DPS Build

The Minion Army Infernalist build is ranked at the S tier in the PoE 2 DPS tier list due to its exceptional ability to combine multiple damage sources through a unique dual-threat approach. What sets this build apart is its capacity to simultaneously utilize both minion mechanics and direct spell casting, specifically by summoning Raging Spirits through Flame Wall casts, which effectively doubles the build's damage output potential compared to traditional single-focus builds. The build's power is further amplified through specific gear optimization and strategic use of passive tree nodes such as Power of the Dead and Fear of Death, which enhance both minion effectiveness and projectile capabilities. This versatile approach not only provides superior offensive capabilities through the combination of skeleton army damage and spell effects but also offers robust defensive benefits through the protective presence of minions, creating a well-rounded and highly effective build that excels in both clear speed and survivability.

2. Archmage Stormweaver - S Tier Sorceress DPS Build

The Stormweaver build earns its S-tier position through its exceptional combination of crowd control, mobility, and overwhelming lightning damage output. As an Archmage specialization, this build stands out for its ability to create visually spectacular displays while delivering devastating effectiveness, primarily through the synergistic use of Lightning Conduit and Spark skills that form the core of its impressive DPS potential. The build excels in speed farming and map clearing, capable of paralyzing and obliterating large groups of enemies simultaneously while maintaining high mobility for efficient progression through challenging content. While the build might face some mana management challenges in the late game for players with lower-tier gear, this potential weakness is easily addressed through the Sorceress's inherent tools and can be completely resolved with minimal gear optimization - requiring just a single stat roll on weapon or equipment. The build's ability to fill entire screens with lightning sparks and clear hundreds of enemies within seconds makes it one of the most efficient and powerful choices for players seeking both spectacular visuals and top-tier performance.

3. Grenade Witchhunter - S Tier Mercenary DPS Build

The Grenade Witchhunter Mercenary is also one of the best DPS builds in Path of Exile 2 now. The build's core strategy involves freezing enemies using Permafrost Bolts, which creates a strategic advantage by immobilizing targets while setting up the main damage combo. Once enemies are frozen, the build allows players to deploy explosive grenades and detonate them using Explosive Shot, creating massive chain reactions of damage. This synergy is particularly effective against both boss encounters and large mob groups, as the freezing effect provides crucial crowd control while the explosives are being set up. The build's superiority is further demonstrated by its ability to clear entire areas with area-of-effect (AoE) skills once the detonation sequence begins, while offering the highest "explosions per button press" ratio among all Path of Exile 2 builds, making it not only effective but also visually spectacular and satisfying to play.

4. Armour Breaker Warbringer - A Tier Warrior DPS Build

The Armour Breaker Warbringer build is ranked at A tier in the build tier list due to its powerful synergy of offensive and defensive mechanics, making it both versatile and effective. The build centers around the Stampede skill, which charges the character forward and creates patches of jagged ground that explode upon the skill's final slam, dealing massive area-of-effect damage. This damage is amplified by the use of the Ancestral Warrior Totem with the Jagged Ground support gem, which doubles the patches of jagged ground and triggers additional explosions, allowing for the efficient clearing of large groups of enemies in a single strike. For leveling and mid-game progression, the build utilizes a two-handed mace, leveraging the Anvil's Weight and Imploding Impacts to maximize strength and impact. Later in the game, the build unlocks its full potential with the Giant's Blood Keystone, enabling the use of the two-handed weapon in one hand while equipping a shield in the off-hand for added survivability. 

5. Poison Pathfinder - A Tier Ranger DPS Build

The Poison Pathfinder should be placed at the A tier as it excels at dealing massive amounts of damage over time primarily through poison effects, leveraging skills like Gas Arrow and Vine Arrow, which allow players to rapidly eliminate trash mobs in mere seconds. The build's gear and skill tree are optimized for maximizing poison damage, ensuring both efficiency and lethality in clearing maps. Additionally, its ability to maintain high mobility while delivering significant area-of-effect damage makes it ideal for fast-paced farming. Against tougher enemies like rares and bosses, the combination of Plague Bearer and Toxic Growth provides devastating single-target damage, obliterating foes with ease. For players seeking to stack poison damage to its peak and utilize one of the strongest damage-over-time mechanics in the game, this build is a top choice.

6. Tempest Flurry Invoker - A Tier Monk DPS Build

The Tempest Flurry Invoker in Path of Exile 2 earns its A-tier ranking through its powerful and unique combination of abilities and mechanics even after balance adjustments, particularly centered around the Tempest Fury skill. Despite a recent nerf, the build maintains its effectiveness through a sophisticated damage delivery system that combines mobility and area control. The build's strength lies in its ability to generate massive amounts of damage through a chain reaction of effects: utilizing Tempest Fury's speed and distance buffs to trigger Cast When Shocked mechanics, which then produces hundreds of lightning balls that strike surrounding enemies. The damage potential is further amplified by Cast on Critical triggers that spawn Orb of Storms, enhancing both crowd control and DPS output. The build's effectiveness is particularly evident in its boss-fighting rotation, where it begins with Vaulting Impact followed by Tempest Fury to fill the screen with damaging lightning balls, and can be followed up with Infel and Tempest Belt spam for sustained damage output. 

7. Boneshatter Titan - B Tier Warrior DPS Build

The Boneshatter Titan build is ranked in the B tier primarily due to its focus on survivability over pure damage output, utilizing a specific combat rotation that requires careful timing and positioning. The build's core gameplay involves a two-step approach: first priming enemies with leap slam to build up stun threshold (requiring at least 40% heavy stun buildup), then following up with bone shatter for pack clearing. While it offers defensive advantages through block mechanics (aiming for a 75% block cap) and the ability to use both a two-handed weapon and a shield through the Giant's Blood node allocation, its damage output is somewhat limited by this defensive orientation. The build's unique mechanic of intentionally taking damage to trigger perfect strikes for increased DPS adds an element of risk-reward gameplay, but this tactical approach results in slower clear speeds compared to more aggressive builds, hence its B-tier placement despite its robust survivability features.

8. Fireball Blood Mage - B Tier Witch DPS Build

The Fireball Bloodmage is also a B-tier build because of its unique but somewhat challenging gameplay mechanics and resource management requirements. The build combines frost-based damage with fireball projectiles, utilizing Frost Wall for strategic positioning and Blueflame Bracers to enable freezing effects. While it offers impressive visual effects with projectiles, crystal shattering, and comet strikes, its effectiveness is limited by high resource costs, particularly for the comet skill which demands substantial mana and life investments. The build requires careful flask management and specific gear optimization, including crafted prefixes for improved life and mana recovery. Although it shows promising scaling potential through life stacking and critical strike damage in the late game, with additional life bonuses from the ascendancy tree, these higher gear requirements and the complexity of sustaining resources while maintaining damage output justify its B-tier placement rather than a higher ranking.

9. Hammer of the Gods Chronomancer - B Tier Sorceress DPS Build

The Hammer of the Gods Chronomancer is the final B-tier build based on its reliance on cooldown management and the recent nerfs to its core abilities. Although the build incorporates powerful skills like Hammer of the Gods and Time Snap, which synergize to enable frequent use of high-damage attacks, its effectiveness still hinges on the player’s ability to manage these cooldowns efficiently. The build utilizes nodes such as Ultimate Command and Now and Again, allowing for cooldown resets and a 33% chance for skills to bypass cooldowns, which enhances its potential for sustained damage output. However, despite these advantageous mechanics, the overall damage and reliability of the build do not reach the levels of higher-tier builds, resulting in its B-tier classification. The gameplay loop involves building up stuns through abilities like Leap Slam and then unleashing powerful attacks, but the need for careful timing and cooldown management can limit its effectiveness in high-pressure situations, positioning it as a solid yet not exceptional choice for players seeking melee damage.

10. Gas Grenade Deadeye - C Tier Ranger DPS Build

The Gas Grenade Deadeye is ranked at the C tier because of its mana sustainability issues and the complexity of its damage delivery system, despite having some notable strengths. While the build offers impressive mobility through lightning warp and high movement speed and can clear large groups effectively by combining gas grenades with explosive shots for multiple explosions, it heavily relies on careful mana management and requires the Inspiration support gem to offset its high mana costs. The build's damage potential is enhanced through specific gear choices and skill tree nodes like Cluster Bombs and Point Blank, and it incorporates tactical elements such as using oil grenades to apply exposure debuffs against tougher enemies, but these requirements for specific setups and the need to execute multi-step combos (deploying gas grenades followed by detonation) make it less straightforward and potentially less reliable compared to higher-tiered DPS builds.

11. Gemling Legionnaire - D Tier Mercenary DPS Build

The mixed performance characteristics and conditional effectiveness make Gemling Legionnaire be ranked at the D tier. While the build offers some notable advantages through its gem field ascendancy, allowing players to double up on support gems for improved clearing speed and single-target damage, its overall defensive capabilities rely heavily on scaling armor, evasion, and maximum resistance, which may not provide sufficient protection in high-end content. The build's run-and-gun playstyle, centered around detonating gas grenades with skills like an explosive shot or explosive grenade, creates screen-wide explosions but requires careful positioning and timing, making it less reliable than higher damage builds. Additionally, while the build does offer strength stacking as a late-game option, the investment required to make this build fully functional may not provide returns comparable to other more efficient build options, thus warranting its lowest-tier placement on the PoE 2 build tier list.

12. Acolyte of Chayula - D Tier Monk DPS Build

The Acolyte of Chayula build in Path of Exile 2 is currently ranked at D tier in terms of damage, despite its strong defensive capabilities and unique gameplay mechanics, it significantly lacks in damage output compared to other available builds. While the build offers impressive survival tools through embracing darkness mechanics, life and energy shield leech, and potential synergies with keystones like Eldritch Battery and Mind over Matter, its damage potential falls short of being competitive. Although the build features interesting mechanics such as Embrace the Darkness, Grasp of the Void, Chayula's Gift, Consuming Questions, and Waking Dream that allow for sustainable gameplay, none of the current implementations have proven powerful enough to warrant a higher tier ranking. It's worth noting that since the game is relatively new, there's potential for this ranking to change as players discover more optimal ways to utilize the Acolyte's unique darkness-based mechanics and Spirit sacrifice system.

This Path of Exile 2 DPS build tier list provides a starting point for players looking to maximize their damage output. As the meta evolves and new strategies emerge, these rankings may shift. For players seeking a reliable source of PoE 2 currency to support their chosen build, AOEAH.COM offers a wide selection of orbs and other essential items to help you reach your full potential in Early Access SC and HC. Whether you're aiming for a top-tier S-rank build or refining a more specialized approach, having access to the right resources can make all the difference.