Path of Exile 2 All classes overview – everything we know so far

Compared to Path of Exile’s five classes, the sequel PoE2 will have more than double. That’s right, the roster in Path of Exile 2 will number 12 different classes to pick from. Most of the familiar names are back, along with plenty of newcomers. In standard PoE tradition, each one has its distinct niche, but can also cross over to other classes’ nodes in the skill tree. We’ll break down all classes currently in Early Access, as well as offer predictions based on what we’ve learned so far for the rest.

All classes in Path of Exile 2 Early Access

Early Access for Path of Exile 2 will be released with six classes, with Witch and Ranger being the two familiar faces in the crowd. Each of them has a weapon specialization tied to their skills, though you can theoretically mix and match to suit your build. Each class will have three total Ascendency paths, but only two of them will be available during PoE2 Early Access.

Class	Main stat	Weapon class	Ascendencies
Warrior	Strength	Hammers and Maces + Shield	Warbringer Titan
Ranger	Dexterity	Bows + Quiver	Deadeye Pathfinder
Witch	Intelligence	Wand + Scepter	Bloodmage Infernalist
Sorceress	Intelligence	Staves and Wands + Focus	Stormweaver Chronomancer
Mercenary	Dexterity + Strength	Crossbows	Witchhunter Gemling Legionnaire
Monk	Intelligence + Dexterity	Quarterstaves	Invoker Acolyte of Chayula

Warrior

The Warrior is a heavy-hitter who can by default opt between two-handed hammers and mace/hammer and shield. Their skills revolve around slow heavy hits, melee AoE, crowd control, stunning enemies, and breaking their armour. There’s also an interesting line with warcries, totems, and fire damage that you can go into. As a Strength class, they can be very tanky, with a high health pool supplemented by flat armour stat.

Ranger

The Ranger is back in her most familiar form – as a bow-wielding threat from afar. PoE2 lets you move and shoot at the same time, making the old play pattern of repositioning between shots largely obsolete. Ranger has plenty of acrobatic shots in her arsenal, as well as elemental damage focusing around poison, ice, and lightning. As a pure Dexterity class, her main armour gear will largely be evade-based.

Witch

Another returning member of the original squad, the Witch carried over her undead army signature quirk. In PoE2, her minion power comes from Scepters, which she can dual-wield with Wands. With the revised reserve system, now focused on Spirit, you’ll have to juggle your gear to accommodate your minion numbers. In addition, the Witch can cast chaos and bone spells, along with curses that debuff her foes to make them easy prey for her skeletal bodyguards. The Witch is once again a pure Intelligence class, so gear with energy shield will work well to protect her small health pool from harm.

Sorceress

The newcomer Sorceress may seem like a splinter of PoE1 Witch’s old elemental identity, but she brings much more to the table than that. The elemental spell affinity is still there, with skills focusing on comboing elemental debuffs from fire, lightning, and ice spells. Still being a pure Intelligence class, weapon-wise, you can opt for a two-handed staff, or for a wand + focus combination. The Sorceress can really benefit from dual weapon specializations as well, with different equipment quick-swapped to combine into powerful spell combos.

Mercenary

The Mercenary is the first hybrid class on our list, combining Strength and Dexterity stats. While the Ranger can find benefit from the redesigned movement system (with WASD controls), the Mercenary is a class that truly wants to lean into it. Wielding a crossbow, you can leverage slow methodical shots with powerful effects that are further enhanced by the ammo you’re using. In addition, you can lob grenades which come with a variety of effects of their own. Furthermore, you can then combine the effects of your grenades and shots, like throwing a gas grenade, then detonating it with a flaming shot.

Monk

The Monk is another newcomer and a hybrid with Intelligence and Dexterity stats. He’s a highly mobile fighter wielding a Quarterstaff with a few unarmed skills sprinkled in for flavour (and devastation). Monk skills are varied and come as a neat toolbox of various uses – there are AoE skills, precision strikes, defensive, and manoeuvrability skills. While mostly a melee class, the Monk doesn’t boast the highest health pool, so you have to keep on your toes and dash in and out of combat to stay alive.

Additional classes expected on launch

In addition to the abovementioned classes, there are six more classes expected to appear upon release. Understandably, we don’t know as much about them as we do the previous ones we’ve tested – but there are snippets that we can draw from. With that in mind, it bears mentioning that much of what we know about these following classes is still subject to change. Four old classes are returning with this bunch, but most notably – there is no Scion class present from PoE, making it the only one not to make the cut.

Class	Main stat	Potential weapon class
Marauder	Strength	Greataxes and Axes + Shield
Huntress	Dexterity	Spears
Duelist	Dexterity + Strength	Swords
Shadow	Intelligence + Dexterity	Daggers
Templar	Dexterity + Strength	Flails + Shield
Druid	Strength + Intelligence	Staves

Marauder

Returning from PoE1 not much is known about the brutal Marauder class in the sequel. We can assume that they will be the second pure Strength class and that their niche will be moved from maces (now inherited by Warrior) to axes. Similarly, we’d speculate that their skills will lean even further into totems and war cries, but how much remains to be seen.

Huntress

The Huntress is a new class, occupying the pure Dexterity slot with the Ranger. Besides that, we know that she’s planned to wield the spear as her main armament. Those skills are not in the game yet, but from previous showcases, we can infer that they will likely revolve around using weapon range, limited mid-range attacks, and likely bleed, poison, and elemental damage. Speed and evasion seem to be equally important aspects of her kit, and we’ve seen skills that allow her to dash in and then disengage after attacking.

Duelist

The duelist is another returning class, still occupying the Strength and Dexterity stat bracket. Their identity was tied to swords in PoE and we expect that to continue in PoE2. They could wield two-handers, dual-wield two swords, or opt for a duelist approach with a rapier. The Duelist could go for a fast mobility build or slower heavy hits with a wide arc. Similarly, we can expect that many sword skills will use bleed as part of their identity.

Shadow

The stealthy Shadow is back as a Dexterity and Intelligence class from PoE1. They were among the most devastating classes in the game, wielding daggers and traps to great effect. Of course, poison was one of their fortes, along with debuffs and grenades. We’ll have to wait and see how that translates to PoE2, now that other classes, like the Mercenary, use some similar abilities.

Templar

The last returning class is the Templar, a Strength and Intelligence hybrid. They used to rely on auras and high tankiness to wade through enemies. In PoE2, we know that they will use the flail as their main weapon class, both two-handed, as well as combined as one-handed and shield. We won’t be surprised if auras make a return in their class identity, along with them leveraging the new Spirit system to sustain buffs, much as they did in the first game.

Druid

The final new class is the shape-shifting Druid, filling the niche of Strength and Intelligence alongside the Templar. We have seen a few showcases for this class, but so far only the Bear form as a shapeshift they can assume – though we’ve been told there will be more. Druids will also have limited minion potential, with Summon Wolf being the one that was showcased. Lastly, the Druid will also have some elemental spellcasting capabilities, which makes us think that they will be another class with great potential for weapon specialization sets to maximize their effectiveness.