In Path of Exile 2, each class has its own unique weapons, combat style, and attributes. The full version of Path of Exile 2 is expected to include 12 classes, but at the time of the early access release, players can only choose six of them: Ranger, Witch, Warrior, Monk, Sorceress, and Mercenary.

Below is a brief introduction to these classes and their key features. After reading this guide thoroughly, you will choose PoE 2 classes that are best for you.

PoE 2 Early Access Classes

As one of the most anticipated ARPG versions since Diablo 4, PoE 2 early access has attracted the attention of many players. When starting to play an ARPG, one of the most difficult decisions player’s face is which class to choose.

Each class has its own unique skill tree, play style, and combat mechanics, and when unlocked with POE 2 Currency, players need to carefully consider their play style and preferences. Generally speaking, the best starting classes are Mercenary and Sorceress.

Sorceress

Sorceress is ranked alongside Witch as a spell user. She is proficient in elemental destruction and can use her staff to release elemental magic, such as fire, frost, and lightning, to damage enemies. Although she is relatively fragile, Sorceress can freeze, stun, or burn opponents with powerful elemental attacks, and also has some defensive skills, able to push enemies away to protect herself when necessary.

Compared with other professions, Sorceress is easier to start and manage. Grinding Gear Games recently released a potential Ball Lightning Sorceress build example, showing how to use support spells, buffs, and a unique Lightning Staff to build a powerful character. This build is not only exciting but also stimulates players’ interest and desire to explore Sorceress.

Witch

As a classic profession, Witch returns, not only inherits the elemental control ability of the traditional mage but also incorporates unique summoning and chaos spells. Witch is adept at using her wands to unleash powerful spells that are not limited to direct elemental damage, but also include more insidious disease-spreading skills that can gradually erode the vitality of the enemy and weaken its combat effectiveness.

In addition, she can summon undead minions as her servants. These loyal followers will perform various tasks according to her orders and distract the enemy. In addition, she is also proficient in the art of giving the enemy a critical blow, through carefully calculated bone spells and various debuffs, making her a deadly ranged mage.

Monk

Monk is a melee fighter who can skillfully combine spells with melee attacks. And he is very good at using the three elemental powers of lightning, ice, and wind, which not only provide them with powerful ranged attack means but also are the key to their rapid shuttle on the battlefield.

As a result, Monk can easily shuttle between enemies, use elemental damage to initially weaken the target, and then complete the kill with a series of powerful melee strikes. This seamless switching between ranged and melee makes Monk elusive on the battlefield.

Ranger

Ranger is a versatile class that excels at long-range attacks with bows and arrows. She can enhance the effect of her arrows by infusing them with elemental power, making them effective against both close-range enemies and distant targets.

In addition, Ranger has mastered a series of earth-based skills, such as using vines to entangle and poison enemies. When faced with a difficult situation, Ranger can also flexibly escape with actions such as backflips. Not only does she have a large amount of AoE, but she can also continue to shoot while riding a mount, showing extremely high mobility and adaptability.

Warrior

Based on powerful strength, Warrior is good at sending out war cries and using one and two-handed melee weapons such as maces and clubs to fiercely attack the ground and cause heavy damage to groups of enemies. In addition, Warrior can also use shield skills or protective armor for effective blocking.

Mercenary

Mercenary is designed with the shooting gameplay of a crossbow in mind, and is a class that focuses on medium and long-range shooting. Mercenary’s crossbow can use a variety of special ammunition types, allowing it to function like a traditional firearm, such as an assault rifle, shotgun, or sniper.

In order to make Mercenary operate efficiently, Grinding Gear Games chose WASD control mapping. It seems to be designed to cater to fans of the looter-shooter genre.

Besides traditional ammunition types, Mercenary can also use a variety of elemental ammunitions, such as releasing a Glacial Bolt to slow or freeze enemies, or firing an Explosive Shot to set everything on fire. Mercenary’s emphasis on mobility and a careful mix of various ammunition types seems to be a very tempting choice.

Please note that the above information is based on the current known game data, and the specific details may change with subsequent development. I hope this guide can help you better understand the differences between the various classes and find the one that suits you best!

In Path of Exile 2, Sorceress is a class that focuses on elemental damage, manipulating the three elements of fire, ice, and lightning to cause devastating blows to the enemy. As one of the 12 classes that will be released soon on the release date of Path of Exile 2, she can weaken the enemy and deal a lot of damage through these powerful spells.

For players who like spell-based builds, Sorceress is undoubtedly an excellent choice. Next, this guide will take you to look at her abilities, ascendancies.

Sorceress Overview

Sorceress is designed as a class that focuses on elemental magic damage, which differs from PoE 2 Witch. Although both are good at using spells to attack, Sorceress here focuses more on causing devastating blows through various elements instead of relying on summoned creatures to assist in combat.

As an intelligence-based class, Sorceress can learn and master skills that can cause elemental destruction. These skills are not limited to the default melee attack and mods, and players can change the types of spells that Sorceress can cast and their effects by equipping different types of staffs with PoE 2 Currency.

Lacking effective means of defense, Sorceress cannot withstand damage like melee-style characters, making her particularly vulnerable when fighting against powerful enemies. She can only use the staff to reduce the enemy’s elemental resistance and enhance her own elemental damage.

But there are spells that can help her fight, such as Arctic Armor. In addition, there are different upgrades depending on how you plan to build the class like a subclass:

• Stormweaver: After becoming an elemental master, the casting speed is significantly improved, the attack is more fierce, and the ability to cool and deter enemies on a large scale. As a master of elemental magic, Stormweaver can summon devastating Elemental Storms to cause tremendous damage to the enemy. These Elemental Storms are not only powerful but also have a wide range, capable of creating chaos and destruction on the battlefield.
• Chronomancer: Using powerful temporal magic, you can reset your own skill cooldowns, so that you can release powerful skills more frequently. Additionally, Chronomancer can slow down enemies and even freeze time to create a favorable combat environment.

Sorceress Skills

While Sorceress is relatively fragile in Path of Exile 2, her caster weapon has been modified to flexibly switch between unique elements, allowing her to cope with a variety of combat situations. Sorceress has the following series of AoE, single-target, and buff skills suitable for her passives:

• Spark: A bolt of lightning shoots from one wall to another, perfect for narrow corridors, causing chain damage to multiple enemies.
• Arc: Fires a powerful arc of lightning at the enemy, perfect for single-target, causing high damage.
• Ice Nova: Releases a stream of cold air around itself, hitting nearby enemies and slowing them down, increasing the control effect.
• Arctic Armor: An icy armor that gradually accumulates when Sorceress stands still, causing enemies to take cold damage if attacked.
• Frost Bomb: Places a bomb on the ground, reducing the enemy’s resistance to cold.
• Comet: Consumes a lot of manas and takes a long time to cast. During the casting process, it will cause a lot of damage to enemies in the range and cause the character to retreat, creating distance.
• Mana Tempest: Creates a circle of power in which Sorceress suspends and continuously consumes mana, enhancing all spells to cause further damage.
• Frost Wall: Places a shattering ice wall to block enemy attacks or change the terrain of the battlefield.

Best Sorceress Build

When building a Sorceress, it is particularly important to make full use of the improved weapon swap. Compared to PoE, changing weapons is now smoother, and although it will take a little time, this switching is worth it in order to adapt to different combat situations and maximize elemental damage output.

In Path of Exile 2 co-op, Sorceress’s ice powers seem to be the most versatile and practical. Although the situation in the game and the monsters encountered may require you to adjust your equipment to meet unique challenges, ice powers can complement other classes well.

Since Sorceress itself has poor defense, especially when facing numerous enemies, Arctic Armor is particularly important. It can provide additional defense to help you resist attacks and repel enemies.

Frost Bomb can effectively reduce the cold resistance of enemies. Comet is a powerful teleportation and attack combo skill. When you cast this skill, you will teleport yourself a distance backwards and cause an icy blow to all enemies in the path.

In PoE 2, each staff has a spell that can be used without consuming any resources. If you start with a staff with a fireball as the default skill, you may find more advanced weapons as the game progresses, such as the Unleash staff, which allows your next spell to be repeated three times.

In addition, witches also face the problem of limited Spirit. Therefore, it is particularly important to arrange the equipment properly. Besides carrying a powerful staff for main combat in the main hand, you can also consider equipping some auxiliary scepters in the off-hand position to help restore the status or provide additional protection.

Installing the right modules can also significantly improve the performance of some key skills, such as Arctic Armor mentioned above.

In short, exploring and optimizing the various builds of Sorceress will undoubtedly bring great fun and satisfaction to players.

Among MMO hack and slash games, Path of Exile series is undoubtedly one of the most attractive. The game’s meticulous environment, fascinating combat, and rich and complex content ensure that you can find MMORPG experience you are looking for.

According to the latest news, the game developer will launch an early access version of Path of Exile 2 on December 6, aiming to elevate many aspects of the game to a new level based on the first game. And both games will be running simultaneously, rather than putting the first game on hold, ensuring you can switch between what you want to experience at any time.

Although the solid performance of the first game has already made POE series well-received, the amazing changes in POE 2 will definitely further stimulate your interest. They will make the game more immersive and ensure it feels fresh and engaging for both new and experienced players.

Based on this, we will introduce to you the 5 most significant changes in the early access version of Path of Exile 2 compared to the first one.

1. Add Local Couch Co-Op Function

Previously, players have been hoping that the game official can add co-op cooperation function to POE series. Now it has finally appeared in the highly anticipated sequel, and it is not a onetime addition, but a long-term presence.

Based on this feature, you will explore the vast game map with friends or family in the same house without having to create another account. And couch co-op also means you don’t need an extra console or copy of the game when you’re trying it out for the first time.

Path of Exile was already a fun game to play with friends in the first game, and even more so when facing the same powerful boss on the same screen in POE 2. Thanks to the addition of couch co-op, Path of Exile 2 can attract more players to join the game, making the series more popular.

2. Integration Of Cross-Play And Cross-Progression

Although the benefits of cross-platform play may not be obvious to you, it is always popular with most people, especially the addition of local co-op mode, which will further bridge the gap between players.

And Path of Exile 2 not only introduces cross-platform play but also adds cross-platform progression, allowing you to use the same game character on different devices. Thanks to this change, you will not have to create a new character because of changing device, resulting in POE 2 Currency in your original account being nowhere to be used; and you can also go on adventures anytime, anywhere without restrictions.

This change is especially useful for players who want to play games on the go. Because being able to switch between various mobile gaming devices is a huge convenience after all. And with the development of technology, device types will become more and more abundant, so cross-platform games are a wonderful development.

3. Gold Will Replacing Shards

According to the current known information, POE 2 will set gold as the core resource and main currency of the game, which differs from the mechanism of the first game. As for the ways to obtain POE 2 Gold, it can be obtained from monsters you defeat or by selling items to suppliers.

In addition, the original Orb of Alteration and Orb of Scouring will be replaced by gold-centric mechanics, although Alchemy and Transmutation shards can still be obtained by disenchanting items.

This change in currency will mostly come as a change in the dynamics between you and vendors compared to the first game, and this change will make exchanging items a more versatile tool when selling high-quality gear. Get more bang for your buck.

In Path of Exile 2 Early Access, gold can also be used to redistribute passive points or gamble for a unique gear with random rarities. This change may make it easier for new players to adapt to the game, as the currency system will be easier to understand and learn than in the past.

4. Enhanced Gem Functionality Changes

In POE 2, the gem system will also face some major reforms. First, the weapon no longer contains gem slots, but provides an additional gem menu with 9 slots for inserting various skill gems. You need to find uncut gems in the game and apply skills of your choice to them, rather than looking for gems that already have skills on them like in the past.

In fact, the changes to the gem mechanics in Path of Exile 2 are designed to help you have more customization of your character and your character’s class. For example, compared with general damage buffs, auxiliary gems will provide more unique mechanisms based on skill and class differences after functional changes.

Ultimately, you’ll find that the changes to the gem system give you more control, allowing for greater customization while also giving each class and weapon more personality than before.

5. Flask System Upgrades

Compared to the first game, normal enemies in POE 2 will no longer drop resources to recharge your flask when defeated. Only killing unique or magical monsters will drop these resources. And you have to activate specific wells in towns to fully recharge the flask, rather than automatically recharging upon entering a town. This will force you to manage related resources more carefully.

Although some people are dissatisfied with these changes, considering that the early access version of Path of Exile 2 is a new game, its difficulty settings are bound to have some adjustments. And this adjustment is likely to revolve around changes like the flask system.

While you might be concerned that different types of flasks will be removed, it can be seen from the related trailer that aside from the changes regarding charging resources, the design of the flasks has been relatively unchanged, and there are even many flasks that will be returned from the original game (except for the removal of Quicksilver flasks).

While it’s currently uncertain how much of an impact these changes will have on POE 2, there’s no doubt that they are interesting developments. They signify the game developers’ goal is to give you a better gaming experience. So let us look forward to its official arrival!