Path of Exile 2 Early Access: Which Classes Should You Play?
Path of Exile 2 Early Access is set to release tomorrow, and gamers are already anticipating some potentially powerful builds. New players wanting to jump into PoE 2 are also figuring out which classes they should pick at the start of their journey. This guide will show you what each playable class can do and what it entails.
Unlike most other ARPGs, Path of Exile’s “classes” are more like starter templates that do not limit what gear and skills you can use. While each “class” starts on a different section in the massive Passive Skill Tree and has an initial weapon proficiency, you can allocate your passive skills anywhere on the tree to create your own bespoke build. If you feel like it, you can also make a Strength build while using the Witch class. While PoE 2 will feature 12 character classes, the early release will only have 6: Warrior, Ranger, Witch, Sorceress, Mercenary, and Monk. GGG recently released its own detailed blog post on the 12 ascendancies available for the 6 current classes, which you can check out here. Now, let’s jump right in.
Table of Contents
Warrior
- Pure Strength
- Weapon proficiency: Hammers, Maces
- Ascendancy classes: Warbringer, Titan
The Warrior is the classic sword and board class, focusing on pure physical power. He thrives in melee combat while having the endurance to survive against his enemies up close.
His first Ascendancy, Warbringer, allows him to channel primal energies as totems into the battlefield, giving him a few magical buffs to fuel his power. The Titan ascendancy, on the other hand, focuses on slow and heavy strikes that can ripple out as earthquakes, functioning as a damage and crowd control build.
Ranger
- Pure Dexterity
- Weapon proficiency: Bows
- Ascendancy classes: Deadeye, Pathfinder
For players who prefer ranged combat over melee, the Ranger is one of the original PoE classes that specialize in bows. Her high Dexterity makes her very evasive and accurate, dealing precise strikes to enemies at range. Many of her skills are oriented toward critical strikes, making her a powerful DPS option for any endgame build.
The Deadeye ascendancy augments all bow skills with faster attack speed buffs, full accuracy, and projectile count multipliers. The Pathfinder ascendancy, on the other hand, allows her to utilize Poison damage in her kit while giving her utility effects like more Flask charges, making her extremely versatile for different situations.
Witch
- Pure Intelligence
- Weapon proficiency: Wands
- Ascendancy classes: Infernalist, Bloodmage
As an outcast from her village, the Witch is an Intelligence class that can summon minions on the battlefield to do her bidding while casting curses and diseases on her enemies to sap away their strength. Though the Witch may be a fragile class, her spells can keep her alive with the ability to generate barriers that soak up any damage she might take.
For her ascendancy, she can spec into either the Infernalist or Bloodmage. The Infernalist grants her the ability to summon hellhounds and transform into a powerful Demon. For the Bloodmage, she gains increased vitality while wielding blood magic to leech life from her foes.
Sorceress
- Pure Intelligence
- Weapon proficiency: Staves
- Ascendancy classes: Stormweaver, Chronomancer
The Sorceress is a master of elemental magic, slinging fire, ice, and lightning magic at her enemies to deal massive burst damage. She’s the classic burst damage magic caster who can exploit the elemental weaknesses of her foes while inflicting status effects like Freeze, Shock, and Ignite.
The Stormweaver ascendancy allows the Sorceress to unleash powerful storms that inflict Shock on all her enemies, which are applied to all her spells. As for the Chronomancer ascendancy, this gives the Sorceress unrestricted mastery over time, allowing her to stop time and rewind it as her new active skills to survive otherwise lethal damage.
Mercenary
- Hybrid Strength and Dexterity
- Weapon proficiency: Crossbows
- Ascendancy classes: Gemling Legionnaire, Witch Hunter
The Mercenary class takes elements from shooter damages, which fundamentally changed the way he plays over the other classes. Unlike the point-and-click playstyle of traditional ARPGs, the Mercenary moves with WASD keys and has mouse aim, playing more like a twin-stick shooter. His abilities match with this shooter theme, with shotguns, sniper rifles, and assault rifles as abilities, along with gadgets like grenades and turrets for tactical use.
As for his ascendancies, the Gemling Legionnaire unlocks the full potential of his skill gems by adding more gem slots and increasing their overall quality, while the Witch Hunter gives him more resistance against magic damage and the ability to detonate enemies on kill.
Monk
- Hybrid Intelligence and Dexterity
- Weapon proficiency: Quarterstaves
- Ascendancy classes: Invoker, Acolyte of Chayula
Players who like a classic battlemage-type class will love the Monk, as he can imbue his melee strikes with magical effects. The Monk can deal fast melee combos on his foes to charge his next attacks with Ice, Lightning, and Wind damage, displaying his mastery over the magical and martial arts.
For his ascendancies, he has the Invoker and Acolyte of Chayula. The Invoker allows him to add more bonuses for his Lightning and Ice skills while giving him bonus defensive stats. The Acolyte of Chayula, on the other hand, exchanges elemental for Chaos damage, giving players an option for a more versatile damage type while granting fast mana leech.