PoE 2 Class Overview

Path of Exile 2 features 12 playable classes each of which have 3 Ascendancies to further customize the archetype you play. These are no mere nameless, faceless avatars for you to customize. Each character is unique with their own backstory, lore, and personality. Currently in terms of Early Access 7 out of the full 12 classes are available, each of which has 2-3 ascendancies. This means we currently have about a third of the total archetypes as more classes and ascendancies are added, more playstyles open up. For now, let's go over a quick overview of the classes available in early access.

Path of Exile 2 is a game that stresses player choice! You can use any weapon or play any skill on any class in the endgame. However, due to their starting location on the Passive Tree, Ascendancy bonuses, and skills offered throughout the campaign some classes are more suited to one playstyle over another. The class section of this post is written from the perspective of the fantasy presented. For example, you can make your Mercenary into a Greatsword wielding tank, but his section of the post is written from the perspective of the perspective of the Crossbow/Gun fantasy.

Each Attribute combination has 2 unique classes, one of which is taken from the original Path of Exile, the other of which is fully unique to PoE 2. For example, the 2 Dexterity classes are Ranger and Huntress. Each class and its Ascendancies have synergies for skills from the associated Attribute(s). However, you have a lot of freedom to use Gems from other Attributes and customize your build. As we learn more about all the Ascendancies available in Path of Exile 2, we'll update this chart to include the Ascendancies available to each base class.

Class	In EA?	Icon	Attribute(s)	Ascendancy 1	Ascendancy 2	Ascendancy 3
Warrior	Yes		Strength	Warbringer	Titan	Smith of Kitava
Huntress	No		Dexterity	Amazon	Ritualist	?
Sorceress	Yes		Intelligence	Stormweaver	Chronomancer	?
Mercenary	Yes		Str / Dex	Witchunter	Gemling Legionnaire	Tactician
Monk	Yes		Int / Dex	Invoker	Acolyte of Chayula	?
Druid	No		Str / Int	?	?	?
Marauder*	No		Strength	?	?	?
Ranger	Yes		Dexterity	Deadeye	Pathfinder	?
Witch	Yes		Intelligence	Infernalist	Blood Mage	Lich
Duelist*	No		Str / Dex	?	?	?
Shadow*	No		Int / Dex	?	?	?
Templar*	No		Str / Int	?	?	?

The Warrior is a Strength based class who specializes in crushing foes with oversized melee weapons. His favored weapon is the Mace which includes archetypes like Slams, and Warcries. But if you want to get spicy he can also use a variety of Shield Skills. You're heavily armored to help shrug off enemy blows and can always redirect your strikes mid-attack or dodge roll out if you desperately need to dodge an enemy attack.

Slams are hard-hitting melee skills that often have an area of effect component. Since they hit hard, you don't get to attack too frequently. But this also means they're the perfect archetype to combine with Warcries. Warcries are a buff that empowers subsequent skills. Want to do big damage? Seismic Cry to double your next slam! There are 20 active skills for Maces that you can experiment with on the Warrior.

The Warrior also has access to several totems. Some of these, like Shockwave Totem directly damage enemies. Others like the Ancestral Warrior Totem meta-Skill, use your Slam Skills. This is great if you want a more relaxed playstyle. But if you want to be even safer, use a Shield Skill. While you have a shield equipped you can actively block to prevent all incoming damage from one direction. You can also use skills like Shield Charge that blocks incoming damage while rushing into enemies dealing damage along the way. Don't hold your block for too long, each hit increases your stagger, and when the bar fills your block breaks. Also, watch out for red "unblockable" attacks from certain powerful enemies.

Warrior Ascendancies

• Warbringers specialize in breaking enemy armor and demoralizing foes with powerful Warcries. They also have potent defenses and can draw upon their ancestors to create totemic allies.
• Titans create Aftershocks, inflict Crushing Blows, and deal more damage to stunned enemies. As a Titan you possess superior physical abilities, you can carry more, shrug off blows, or have a higher life total.
• A Smith of Kitava forges his own destiny, empowering his arms and armor to unleash fiery devastation. You can also combine special modifiers to create your own custom chestpiece.

An Azmeri Huntress stalks her foes, with speed and grace. This Dexterity class specializes in using Spears from close to medium range to provide peerless control over the battlefield. Spears are a unique weapon class that can strike from both melee and range. Attack a nearby foe, then disengage before throwing the spear and leaping back in to detonate it for a grand finish. Like with the monk, this playstyle is dynamic and action-packed with lots of opportunities to combo different skills together

Spear Skills flawlessly combo into each other, for example, Whirling Slash strikes foes in a circle around you leaving behind a whirlwind that blinds foes. If you exit the whirlwind it explodes dealing damage, this can also be empowered by elemental surfaces for more damage. When you use the Projectile skill Twister within a whirlwind it generates extra tornadoes. There are also skills to inflict Bleeding on your enemies, arc lightning between foes, or use Thunderous Leap to deal massive damage by detonating the spears embedded in your foes or terrain. If all else fails, draw upon the power of Solaris to create a pillar of divine radiance to disintegrate your foes with holy flame.

Huntress Ascendancies

• An Amazon can infuse her weapon with extra power, strike true against an enemy's weak points or deal crippling blows to Wraeclast's most dangerous foes.
• Ritualists achieve power through Sacrifice. You can take the power of Rare enemies, equip an additional ring slot, perpetuate your charm effects or enhance all of your equipped jewelry.

The Sorceress is an Intelligence class who harnesses the 3 elements and bends them to her will. Wield powerful fire skills that Ignite enemies, or use Flame Wall in combination with Spark or Fireball to set your own projectiles ablaze, adding additional damage. Drop a Comet on your foes, wall them off with Frost Wall and use other cold skills to Freeze them in place. Or Arc lightning between enemies, Shocking foes making them easier to defeat. The Elemental Skills are made to combine with other spells of different elements.

Use Path of Exile 2's dual specialization system to combine multiple elements. You can wield a Fire staff in your main hand, to drop a Flame Wall then swap to a Lightning Staff to fire all your Spark through. Or use a Fire Skill with the Cast on Ignite trigger gem to unleash a devastating Firestorm! Blend 25 elemental skills to unleash peerless devastation.

Sorceress Ascendancies

• Stormweavers wield elemental magicks, creating Elemental Storms, inflicting ailments and amplifying their innate mana.
• A Chronomancer uses time itself against her foes. Unleash Time Freeze to prevent foes from acting, or use Temporal Rift to reverse time, sending you back to a prior location and restoring your life and mana values to what they were.

Path of Exile 2's Strength and Dexterity class, the Mercenary draws heavy inspiration from First Person Shooters. This led to a fundamental redesign of how movement is handled in PoE 2 and the addition of WASD controls. The Mercenary reveal focused heavily on the mechanics of Crossbows in PoE 2. You're able to use Burst (Shotgun), Rapid (Assault Rifle), or Power (Sniper Rifle) Crossbow Skills with a variety of special bolts.

In addition to his Crossbow, the Mercenary comes armed to the teeth with a variety of Grenades. They work exactly as you'd expect and detonate after a short delay. Some Grenades apply crowd control effects slowing enemies, others choke foes with noxious fumes, but most are just there to cause a big explosion.

For example, create unstable poison clouds with Gas Grenade then detonate them using Explosive Shot. Alternatively, you can freeze enemies solid with Glacial Bolt before shattering them for massive damage with Fragmentation Rounds. Due to the flexibility offered by the Mercenary ascendancies, once you reach the endgame you can play a wide variety of non-Crossbow builds.

Mercenary Ascendancies

• Witchhunters specialize in killing thamuaturgists. You can ward yourself from elemental damage, interrupt enemy spells or Decimate an enemy to remove a portion of their health.
• A Gemling Legionnaire, enhances the power of their virtue gems. Unleash your skill's true potential while leveraging strength, dexterity, and intelligence.
• Tacticians support their allies from the back line. They can pin foes, provide supporting buffs, and have a personal artillery squad able to unleash Supporting Fire.

The Monk is a highly mobile Intelligence and Dexterity Class. He dashes into combat to strike at foes with his Quarterstaff before executing a quick retreat before enemies can retaliate.

Quarterstaff Skills cover the elements of Lightning, Ice, and Wind. Killing Palm dashes to enemies killing them when they're on low life to grant you a Power Charge. Or drop a Tempest Bell that resonates when struck. Then hit it with elemental damage to empower all your subsequent strikes. Or spend your Power Charges to empower Falling Thunder and unleash devastation across the battlefield. There are 21 active skills for quarterstaves, providing you with a wealth of martial arts options.

Monk Ascendancies

• Invokers harness their inner strength to become an avatar of elemental power. They gain more energy to trigger skills, ignore enemy resistance and evade a wider variety of attacks. This is a powerful, flexible ascendancy able to enhance a wide variety of build archetypes and playstyles.
• An Acolyte of Chayula, harnesses the power of the Breachords. They can peer into the void for a variety of bonuses, transform Spirit into Darkness (a unique defensive layer), or leech mana from their foes.

The Druid is a hybrid shapeshifter-spellcaster class who is able to rapidly switch between different gameplay modes. Therefore a Druid blends their Strength and Intelligence to overcome foes. Each of your different Shapeshifting forms provide unique benefits. So far the only one which has been showcased is Bear Form. Maul your foes to build Rage then unleash it by going on a Rampage. Gameplay showcases so far have focused heavily on the Druid's ability to shift between a human-form caster and a rampaging bear, hell bent on turning enemies into red milk.

Casting in Bear Form automatically shifts you back to human form, so buffs and spells with a long duration are ideal for setting up combos with other skills. Jonathan also showcased the Summon Wolf minion skill during the Druid showcase, hinting that one of the Ascendancies may be animal companion themed.

Skill Options enable specific Spirit reservations for each weapon set you have. Bear Form counts as a weapon set offering you a great deal of flexibility to maximize your Spirit effects. This also means you can have one set of Passives for your Bear Form which focuses on maximizing Attack damage, then use a separate set for your human form which better enhances spellcasting.

Original PoE Classes

In addition to new classes, PoE 2 has all of the base classes from the original Path of Exile. However, some Ascendancies have moved around.

Templar*

Marauder*

Duelist*

Shadow*

After years away the Ranger explores her old hunting grounds. These once familiar forests have grown dark and now teem with sinister enemies. Wraeclast's master survivalist returns in search of new prey. All it takes is a determined woman and her bow to change the world. Because she can shoot while moving, and a lot of bow skills have built-in jumps you're going to be able to easily outmaneuver enemies. The Ranger uses a variety of bow skills focused around lightning, poison, ice, and physical.

Her Lightning attacks bounce between foes, electrocute them inflicting a stunning effect, and plant arrows in the ground to deal more damage. Cold skills slow and freeze foes, making it easy to escape their attacks. Poison skills generate highly flammable clouds of gas, deal damage over time, and create toxic plants to harry your foes.

Ranger Ascendancies

• The Deadeye is a projectile specialist. She gains additional projectiles to unleash a withering barrage on unlucky enemies, or draws upon the Tailwinds to increase her speed.
• Pathfinders specialize in ailments, throwing concoctions at foes or drinking brews to defend against harmful effects.

Surrounded by her loyal Minions the Witch makes a triumphant return to the land she previously bent to her will. Now armed with occult incantations and an army of minions she is here to tear through everything in her path. Use your Spirit to build a minion army, or attack foes directly through Chaos and Bone Skills. Then curse enemies to weaken them and make it easier to take out dangerous bosses.

Minions resummon when they die. You can use weaker Skeletal Warriors, or powerful Skeletal Arsonists. Each minion has a special active ability these are called "Command Skills" for example the Skeletal Arsonists can detonate your other minions. Use corpses for temp minions to grow the ranks of your minion army.

Witch Ascendancies

• Infernalists draw upon the demonic, empowering themselves with hellfire or transforming into an entity from the Scourge. They can also use various forbidden arts to summon allies or protect themselves from damage.
• A Blood Mage pays for their spells twice, with both life and mana and in exchange heals themselves using the vitality of their enemies. Blood Mages invest into life, excel at dealing critical hits and easily inflict bleed.
• Liches fracture their souls to transcend mortality. Curse enemies to make them explode, give your allies unholy might or ignore damage to your life so long as you have Energy Shield.

Summary

Path of Exile 2 has 12 playable classes, each of which has 3 Ascendancies making for 36 combinations to support a wide variety of playstyles and class fantasies. 6 of the playable classes are inspired by the original Path of Exile, and 6 are unique to PoE 2. Skill combos and incorporating movement into gameplay dominate the design philosophy behind the playable classes in PoE 2.

• The Warrior is a melee Brawler who demolishes his foes with Maces.
• As a Huntress you weave between foes, using your Spear to strike with precision.
• The Sorceress is a master of the elements, blending Fire, Cold, and Lightning.
• A crossbow-wielding Mercenary relentlessly hunts down his foes, filling them with bolts and then tossing in a few grenades for good measure.
• Monks blend elemental power with martial prowess, lashing out with Quarterstaves to quickly cull foes.
• The Druid is a shapeshifter, capable of using various animalistic forms.
• Rangers shoot their foes from afar, combining several Bow skills to lay down suppressing fire against all enemies.
• The Witch experiments with profane rituals, crippling foes, and summoning an army of minions.
• A Templar's main weapon is the Flail, but little else is known about him.
• Shadows look for opportunities to slip a dagger between the ribs of their enemies.
• Axe-wielding Marauders stand toe to toe with the Warrior as a front-line class.
• The Duelist uses Swords, but little else is known about his skills at this time.

Written by: Tenkiei

Reviewed by: Crouching_Tuna, Havoc616, Palsteron