Embarking on your Path of Exile 2 journey during early access? Choosing your starting character can feel overwhelming with six classes and their respective Ascendancy options. This guide highlights some top-tier builds to help you navigate the early game and beyond. Prepare for even more choices as the game expands!
Table of Contents
- Best Witch Build in PoE2
- Best Mercenary Build in PoE2
- Best Monk Build in PoE2
- Best Warrior Build in PoE2
- Best Sorceress Build in PoE2
- Best Ranger Build in PoE2
Best Witch Build in PoE2
For a Witch build that's both powerful and beginner-friendly, the Minion Summoner Infernalist excels. Unlike the riskier Blood Mage, the Infernalist offers a balanced approach, summoning creatures to fight alongside you and even transforming into a demonic form for added flair.
Minion Summoner Infernalist Important Skills
- Skeletal Brute + Martial Tempo & Heavy Swing
- Skeletal Cleric + Arcane Tempo
- Pain Offering + Ablation
- Skeletal Arsonist + Feeding Frenzy & Scattershot
- Detonate Dead + Magnified Effect & Spell Echo
- Flame Wall + Fortress & Persistence
- Raging Spirits + Fire Infusion & Immolate
- Vulnerability + Focused Curse
- Summon Infernal Hound
Minion Summoner Infernalist Gameplay Tips
This build commands a horde of undead and abyssal demons. Maintain fire support for your minions, utilize strategic movement during boss fights, and remember to cast Vulnerability for crucial debuffs. Flame Wall provides area damage and summons Raging Spirits, while Detonate Dead offers AoE damage using corpses (which can also be temporarily converted into other minion types). Skeletons are particularly useful due to their longer lifespan, especially with Skeletal Cleric support. Pain Offering sacrifices a skeleton to enhance the others. Experiment with different minion combinations for optimal battlefield control.
Best Mercenary Build in PoE2
The FrostFerno Witch Hunter offers a unique and effective Mercenary build for both early and late game. This hybrid build utilizes fire and ice skills with two crossbows, leveraging two passive skill trees for maximum impact.
FrostFerno Witch Hunter Important Skills
- Permafrost Bolts + Glaciation & Ice Bite & Deep Freeze
- Explosive Grenade + Frostfire & Concentrated Effect & Primal Armament & Eternal Flame & Searing Flame
- Gas Grenade
- Explosive Shot + Wildfire & Nimble Reload
- Herald of Ash + Clarity & Vitality & Precision
- Galvanic Shards + Lightning Infusion & Pierce
- Herald of Thunder
FrostFerno Witch Hunter Gameplay Tips
This build's strength lies in its unique playstyle: freezing enemies and then unleashing fiery explosions. Early game, use Permafrost Bolts and Galvanic Shards with Herald of Thunder for crowd control. Later, Explosive Shot unleashes devastating pyromaniacal power. Explosive Grenade, Gas Grenade, and Explosive Shot provide area-of-effect destruction. Use Permafrost Bolts to freeze enemies before detonating them. Enhance your freeze duration with Hypothermia and Biting Cold gems. Optimize your weapons and skills for maximum fire and ice damage.
Best Monk Build in PoE2
The Herald of Thunder Invoker is a top-tier Monk build, balancing strong offense with excellent defense. It's a great option for newcomers due to its survivability. Herald of Thunder is the core skill, transforming you into a lightning-wielding powerhouse.
Herald of Thunder Invoker Important Skills
- Tempest Flurry + Martial Tempo & Lightning Infusion & Crescendo
- Tempest Bell + Persistence
- Staggering Palm + Overpower
- Vaulting Impact
- Orb of Storms + Unleash
- Storm Wave + Concentrated Effect & Magnified Effect
Herald of Thunder Invoker Gameplay Tips
Early game, Quarterstaff Strike provides effective crowd control. Once you obtain Herald of Thunder, your attacks unleash lightning bolts. Tempest Flurry showers enemies with lightning, while Orb of Storms controls crowds. Tempest Bell and Storm Wave provide powerful AoE damage. Vaulting Impact offers mobility, and Staggering Palm stuns and electrifies opponents.
Best Warrior Build in PoE2
For Warriors, the Armour Breaker Warbinger offers a well-rounded build. Using a two-handed mace, you'll deal significant damage while maintaining strong survivability in melee combat.
Armour Breaker Warbinger Important Skills
- Mace Strike + Rage & Close Combat & Maim
- Stampede + Momentum & Fist of War & Brutality & Stomping Ground
- Leap Slam + Martial Tempo & Holy Descent & Culling Strike
- Ancestral Warrior Totem + Rolling Slam & Jagged Ground & Ancestral Urgency & Heavy Swing
- Scavenged Plating + Vitality & Cannibalism
- Hammer of the Gods + Second Wind & Hourglass & Execute & Concentrated Effect
- Seismic Cry + Premeditation
- Attrition
Armour Breaker Warbinger Gameplay Tips
Early game, Earthquake combined with Shockwave Totem excels at clearing hordes. Mace Strike with enhanced gems deals high single-target damage, while Rolling Slam provides mobility and defense. Later, Warbinger ascendancy skills like Anvil's Weight and Imploding Impacts break enemy armor, boosting your damage. For a mace-and-shield approach, focus on Giant's Blood, Glancing Blows, Turtle Charm, and Renly's Training for increased survivability.
Best Sorceress Build in PoE2
The Ember Fusillade Stormweaver Sorceress build offers a balanced approach, enabling quick progression through the campaign. Its damage and survivability make it a strong choice.
Ember Fusillade Stormweaver Important Skills
- Spark + Pierce
- Flame Wall + Fortress
- Ember Fusillade + Scattershot & Controlled Destruction
- Solar Orb + Magnified Effect & Fire Exposure
- Firestorm + Overabundance & Spell Echo
- Flammability
- Blasphemy + Enfeeble
Ember Fusillade Stormweaver Gameplay Tips
Start with Spark and Flame Wall, progressing to more powerful spells. Use Flame Walls for protection and fire damage amplification for Sparks. Once you get Solar Orb, phase out Spark. Enhance Ember Fusillade with Scattershot and Controlled Destruction. Flammability weakens bosses and increases damage. Focus on Exploit the Element, Potent Incantation, and Dampening Shield nodes. Utilize a rotation of Flammability, 3x Fusillade, Flame Wall, Solar Orb, and Firestorm for maximum boss damage. Use Blasphemy Enfeeble for extra defense if needed.
Best Ranger Build in PoE2
The Deadeye Grenadier Ranger offers excellent mobility and area-of-effect damage, ideal for both clearing areas and tackling bosses. However, its lower survivability makes it challenging for beginners.
Deadeye Grenadier Important Skills
- Permafrost Bolts + Pierce
- Fragmentation Rounds + Double Barrel
- Flash Grenade + Scattershot & Magnified Effect & Ingenuity
- Gas Grenade + Corrosion & Deadly Poison
- Explosive Shot
- Explosive Grenade + Fire Infusion & Execute
- Rapid Shot + Martial Tempo & Blind
Deadeye Grenadier Gameplay Tips
This build focuses on freezing, poisoning, and exploding enemies. Use a crossbow for high physical damage and elemental bonuses. Prioritize Evasion, Elemental Resistances, and movement speed. Fragmentation Rounds and Permafrost Bolts are your early-game staples. Flash Grenade stuns bosses, setting them up for Explosive Grenades. Gas Grenade creates a poisonous cloud, weakening armor before Explosive Shot detonates it for massive damage.
These are some of the best builds currently available in Path of Exile 2. Keep in mind that new content and balance changes will inevitably shift the meta. We hope this guide helps you choose your champion!
