PoE 2 Passive Tree and Dual Specialization

Path of Exile 2 has a massive Passive Skill Tree which you can use to customize your build. There are a variety of nodes that support different weapons, playstyles, and damage types. You have some passives that are always active and others that change based on your current weapon. In PoE 2 your Passive Tree changing when you switch your active weapon is called dual specialization. You can automate this process by assigning your Skills to a specific weapon. Then, when you use the Skill your character automatically swaps to the correct weapon!

PoE 2 Passive Tree

In Path of Exile 2 your Passive Tree provides a variety of bonuses which you can use to enhance your Skills. Most of these are generic modifiers that increase a damage type, but a few may give unique bonuses when wielding a specific weapon. As you level up and progress the campaign, you gain more passives to customize your build with. The exact passives available in each portion of the tree vary based on your starting class. These are NOT permanent choices! If you regret any of your decisions or simply want to change your build you can spend Gold to respecialize your Passive Tree.

Passives are broken into four major categories:

• Travel nodes (1), which grant your choice of Strength, Dexterity, or Intelligence.
• Minor Passives (2), which grant a small bonus such as an increase to Fire Damage.
• Notable Passives (3), these are found at the end of a sequence of minor passives and grant a more substantial bonus such as a larger increase to Lightning Damage and a chance to lower enemy Lightning Resistance.
• Keystones (4) are unique Passives found on their own they have powerful effects that are often build defining. For example, a Keystone might transform your build to be reliant on Energy Shield instead of Life.

You can use Path of Exile 2's dual specialization system to further customize your build. Assign each of your Skills to a specific weapon. This provides much more granular control over the bonuses that are active when you use a given Skill. Dual specialization is easy for newcomers to use, but leaves a lot of room for veterans to min-max and ensure their Skills are as strong as possible!

Changes from PoE 1

The PoE 2 passive tree works differently from the original in Path of Exile. At ExileCon 2023, GGG revealed that there are no Life nodes on the PoE 2 passive tree! This means the amount of Life available across different builds is much more consistent.

Another big change is the lack of masteries. Instead, the Passive Tree offers different nodes depending on your starting class. For example, elemental nodes on a Sorceress instead of the Minion nodes available to a Witch. This is to support 2 classes per attribute combination. There are changes to small attribute nodes as well, allowing you to pick between Strength, Dexterity, or Intelligence.

Dual Specialization

Path of Exile 2 supports dual specialization, a way to dynamically shift your Passives based on your active weapon. You get these passives by leveling up and by completing objectives during the Campaign. The passives obtained from the Quest Books are the ones that allow for dual specialization. These dynamic passives are limited in number but incredibly powerful.

In the picture below, you see a build with several Cold nodes allocated on the left and Lightning nodes on the right. Right now the Cold nodes on the left are active. You have a lot of control over this as you assign passives on a per-weapon basis. Then, you assign which weapon you want to use when casting a Skill. For example, if you want to cast Spark and maximize the damage, simply assign it to the weapon with the Lightning Passives allocated then cast the Skill.

You're better able to build into multiple elements by using these dynamic passives. As a whole PoE 2 passives are more generic with less weapon-specific bonuses to further encourage players to mix and match different damage types or playstyles. The goal is to encourage builds that combine multiple synergistic Skills even when they don't share an element or weapon class.

Summary

• The PoE 2 passive tree supports dual specialization to encourage players to combine multiple Skills into their build.
  • Most of your passives remain the same.
  • Some dynamically change when you swap your active weapon.
  • Assign which weapon (and therefore Passives) your Skill uses.
• There are no life nodes on the PoE 2 passive tree.
• Nodes also change based on your starting class to support 2 classes per Attribute.
• You can pick whether small Passives grant Strength, Intelligence, or Dexterity.

Written by: Tenkiei

Reviewed by: Havoc616, Palsteron