Path of Exile IIis very much still in its infancy, with 3 more acts and 6 more classes on the way. And yet, despite this, it seems to be very clear which characters are the most popular and the most powerful.
While some may say this is very much a matter of opinion, sometimes the numbers don’t lie. As patches come and go, classes will float up or down based on Grinding Gear Game’s decision-making.But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Path of Exile 2: Best Classes For Solo
It’s a little less dangerous to go alone with these classes.
While there may be differences in power, what’s nice about the starting 6 classes here, is that they’re all viable in one way or another.When played right, with the right skills or gear, anyone can make any class work.
Of course, this is more simple with some than others. This list will go over the first six classes and rank their power levels in the current patch ofPath of Exile II.
Bone-Shattering Destruction
At this moment in time, Warrior takes his place at the number six spot. This isn’t to say the Warrior is weak at all, but due to the way Armor works inPath of Exile IIright now, it’s difficult to place him much higher.
Without a doubt,Evasion and Energy Shield are far more important in the Endgamedue to their ability to keep you alive and allow you to tank way more hits. Especially when everything hits like a complete truck in T15 Maps.
While GGG did try and buff the Warrior by improving the effectiveness of Armor by around 15%, this wasn’t quite enough to match the other classes.
In addition,the Warrior is just quite a slow class, in a game that’s designed to have you zip around blasting everything on the screen to pieces. You have to get up close and personal with mobs and deal with the long swing animation of the weapons to boot.
Of course, with enough currency, you may make it work,but you can say the same for every class here, and they’re easier to play and cheaper to build (and more fun).
Necromancy and Nightmares
The Witch takes the next spot as a definite step up from the Warrior, yet still struggling on the current field.The main problem with the witch is her over-reliance on minions.
While this seems like quite an obvious thing, she’s going to be relying on raising the dead to do her bidding, something so simple as map design can really make this class feel powerless.
Once you reach the endgame and encounter maps such as Crypt, Seepage and Augury, you may struggle playing the Witch, as the AI for the minions isn’t the best in small, tight spaces.
In addition, due to the fact that the Witch relies so heavily on her summons,she can’t output a lot of damage herself.So, if you’re in a spot where your minions are struggling, your single target damage isn’t going to do much for you.
Path of Exile 2: Best Witch Build Guide
Melt through your enemies with this Flame Witch build.
Also, many of her abilities rely on there being a lot of corpses around, making extended boss fights particularly tricky for those without much experience.
The real problem is, compared to something like the Sorceress, another intelligence-heavy class,the Witch is just as squishy, yet she doesn’t have the insane damage to back up that feebleness,leaving her in a weird spot.
Only one of her Ascendancies is really useful, the Infernalist, due to the other being totally character-bricking until the very late game.
Nimble and Cunning
This is where we start to pick up a little bit. The Ranger has access to some absolutely fantastic builds utilizing both of her Ascendancies to great effect.
She can flash farm maps for quick experience, and you don’t have to pour a huge amount of money into her for decent builds.
With a mixture of high evasion and good positioning, Rangers are a great class for those learning the ropes, as she tends not to die as much as other classes.
The only caveat there is she may struggle a little bit with single target damage, due to many abilities like the Lightning rod + Lightning arrow combo being more for crowd control.
Despite this,she’s got two great Ascendancies, with Deadeye and Pathfinder.Nomatter which you pick, you’re bound to have something that works eventually.
As mentioned previously, lighting builds are great with Deadeye, and something like a Poison build with Corpsewade boots can do wonders for Pathfinders.
Path of Exile II: End-Game Breach Guide
To those attempting Breaches for the first time, our Path of Exile II: Endgame Breach Guide will give you everything you need to crush the horde.
Endgame Mapping is great as, 99% of the time, you’re going to be swimming through a sea of enemies, instead of the campaign’s focus on constant boss fights.
Of course, this may mean, that when a Citadel boss comes up, or something like Xesht, you may need to alter your strategy a bit and get those dodging fingers ready.
Tranquility in Action
One only needs to have a quick look at the officialPoE2high scores to understand why the Monk is such a powerful class.
While some may say he suffers due to being a Melee class and having to get up close and personal, the Monk has so much more maneuverability compared to the Warrior, allowing him to dash in and out of combat without even getting hit.
The Monk has two extremely powerful builds right now, one being the Storm Wave Lightning Build, and the other being the Ice Strike Variant. These are some of the most satisfying builds to use in the entire game,due to the incredible force of the Polcirkeln ring.
You only need a good staffand a single cheap uniquein order to make these builds flourish, allowing you to annihilate everything in sight in a shower of frozen chunks with a single click.
Plus, once you have the Blink ability and Hand of Chaluya, you can dash in and out, making your character fly across the screen like no other class can.
The Monk really does everything that the Warrior cannot.You’llneed torely on Acrobatics and building lots of Evasion while keeping your Energy Shield high.This way, your survivability will soon become next level.
The Invoker Ascendancy allows the focus on Elemental attacks to work, with abilities like Unbound Avatar skyrocketing the Monk’s power. While Monk may not be super beginner-friendly, for those focusing on the long game,Invoker Monk is a really solid pick.
2Mercenary
A Divine Opportunity
I have only one thing to say here. Gemling Legionnaire.
Mercenary is a fantastic class to choose for a number of reasons. The Mercenary is a great pick in the early game due to the class' solid AoE skills and great single-target damage. You don’t have to worry about getting up close and personal as many of the crossbows you can find early on will do all the work for you.
However, the Endgame is where this class actually shines, (if you’re able to afford it, of course).
The main way to play this class is called Stat Stacking, which, as you can imagine,relies on your getting your three main stats as high as possible with ridiculous results. Enhanced Effectiveness on the Ascendancy skill tree makes it so all your inherent stat effects are doubled.
Yes. Doubled.
In this case, most players actually play the Mercenary as a Melee class with a Pillar of the Caged God staff, which benefits from super high stats.
Now this build gets truly crazy when you pair it with other high-stat items like an Astramentis, or a Morior Invinctus.Yet these items can be extremely pricey as they’re rather broken.
Once you put all the puzzle pieces together, you have a crazy tank build that can output an extreme amount of damage, without worrying about getting one shot by a random rare mob.
1Sorceress
Watch the Sparks Fly
It’s difficult to place the Sorceress anywhere else really. At the beginning ofPoE 2’s life cycle, the original Cold Comet build was nerfed due to its overwhelming power,and yet even after the nerf, the Sorceress is doing better than ever.
Player’s mainly converted to an Archmage Spark build which depends on you having a huge mana pool and covering the screen in electricity.
For sustainability, you can count on a large energy shield to protect yourself from damage with passives like Mind over Matter.
While the Sorceress may be a little squishy at the beginning of the game, once your spells get powerful enough, you’ll be slaying mobs before they can even reach you.
Once more, it’s clear thatthe real winner ofPoE 2is the energy shield mechanic.Players can even choose the risky Chaos Innoulation perk, making their HP 1 to take 0 Chaos Damage.
The Stormweaver Ascendancy is the preferred pick here, because it simply blasts the other classes out of the water most of the time.
What’s really great about Sorceress, though,is that it’s very beginner-friendly and has a bunch of great cheap options.
Newer players can pick up some powerful uniques like Atziri’s Disdain and Ghostwrithe from thePoE2 Online Marketplacefor very low prices as they explore the Mapping Phase.
All of these points combined make the Sorceress our rather obvious pick for the best class ofPoE 2so far.
Of course, this can all change. As new patches come and fascinating classes join the fray, who knows how the tiers will end up.
Path of Exile II: How To Create Effective Map Nodes
For anyone struggling with Endgame Mapping in Path of Exile II, this guide will highlight the best ways to make the most out of the experience.
