Path of Exile 2: Which Class to Pick in Early Access

With the highly anticipated hit ARPG sequel Path of Exile 2 finally coming to early access within a week from writing this, a lot of players are already wondering what classes to pick as they have added a bunch of new ones to the fold. In this guide, we will try to help you make a decision in the event that you have earned or bought access to the game’s early access release!

Which Class to Pick in Early Access

If you are a returning player from the original iteration of Path of Exile and have not caught up with the known information about its upcoming sequel, then you may be surprised by how there are a handful of new classes in the game.

On top of that, there are also ascendancies to pick for each of them. These are essentially subclasses that will further push you towards a certain build path. Of course, the overwhelmingly large skill tree is still present, as it would not be Path of Exile without it.

Finally, there is so much depth in this game, just like the first one. With such little information out so far, even from those who have even managed to lay their hands on it before everybody else, nobody really knows what the “best” class is yet. Not that it matters, as the meta is not the be-all and end-all in Path of Exile.

With all of that in mind, let us go through some of the general details we do know and help you decide which classes to go for depending on your playstyle. Right now, it is confirmed that only six classes out of the twelve confirmed ones will be playable, so let’s start with the Warrior.

The Warrior – Strength Powerhouse

It goes without saying, but the Warrior is going to be the choice if you are gunning for a physical brawler type of build. Are you looking for a build that can be insanely tanky while still dealing a decent amount of area of effect damage? Then this guy is very likely the choice for you!

There will be two ascendancies for each class in the early access. In the case of the Warrior, depending on what you choose, you can lean in harder towards survivability and summoning by becoming a Warbringer or focus on crushing blows and impactful slams with the Titan ascendancy.

Either way, this is probably going to be your go-to choice if you want a class that gets right up to enemy’s faces and can clear large groups with relative ease.

The Monk – Lightning Fast

On the flip side is the Monk, who is also a brawler that excels in quickly dashing in and out of combat. If you have played Diablo III before, then this might seem a bit familiar to you. In addition to having a lot of mobility, this class can create and detonate marks on enemies and utilize various other elemental attacks.

Having said that, one of its ascendancies is the Invoker. This one heavily leans towards elemental damage and sustaining oneself with energy shields. Meanwhile, the Acolyte of Chayula ascendancy makes use of a resource known as “Darkness” and chaos damage.

If you are looking for some fast-paced momentum-based melee combat rather than plain “unga bunga big weapon go boom”, you should consider looking into the Monk class instead.

The Ranger – Agile Archer

Needless to say, the Ranger class is focused on shooting enemies with their bow and doing flashy flips all around the field. Much like the previous entry, this class can also make use of various elemental attacks and has decent mobility.

One of its ascendancies is the Deadeye, which further improves your performance with the bow and potentially boosts your mobility as long as you can avoid getting hit. On the other hand, its Pathfinder ascendancy is focused on dealing elemental damage through various deadly brews and plants.

It should be obvious by now that this is likely to be the choice for players who want a fast-paced ranged playstyle revolving around the DEX stat. With that said, the early access comes with an alternative that others might resonate with more…

The Mercenary – Crossbow “Gunner”

In comes the Mercenary, which seems to be a slightly more grounded Ranger that utilizes both the DEX and STR attributes. This class makes use of a wide range of ammunition and firing styles, potentially letting you play around with impactful sniper-like shots or rapid medium to close range sprays.

The Witchhunter ascendancy allows a mercenary to become more resistant to special damage types at the cost of being more vulnerable to physical attacks. It will also allow them to deal more damage to certain types of enemies, such as the undead.

On the flip side, the Gemling Legionnaire ascendancy is centered around improving skill gems and even granting you bonus slots in order to utilize even more abilities in your setup. This particular ascendency twists one of the core mechanics of Path of Exile to seemingly allow for some potentially crazy and/or silly builds.

The Sorceress – Elemental Mage

The Sorceress debuts as the game’s elemental mage and is going to be the likely choice for players who want a very straightforward magic class. Simply put, she can combine various elemental damage types to wipe the floor with all the trash mobs you will run into.

Her Stormweaver ascendancy, as the name implies, focuses mainly on boosting the lightning element and dealing tons of damage in quick succession. If you find this damage type particularly appealing, then choosing this ascendancy should be a no-brainer for you.

On the other hand, the Sorceress also has the Chronomancer ascendancy, which is centered all around time magic. Unlike your typical elemental stuff, the Chronomancer plays around with the concept of time with its ability to completely freeze every enemy around her for a brief moment.

Apart from that, Chronomancers are also capable of rewinding themselves to a previous point in time, essentially restoring their health, mana, or even ability cooldowns in rather unorthodox ways. It is an interesting subclass that grants this fragile mage a bit of extra survivability.

The Witch – The Summoner

Finally, the Witch is a returning class and has always been my personal favorite due to me always going for summoner builds in Path of Exile. There are new ways to customize how your minions work in this upcoming sequel, and the Witch herself can cast various curses to further improve her army’s effectiveness.

With her Blood Mage ascendancy, which comes with a drawback that everybody probably saw coming with that title, her spells will now cost a fraction of her life to cast. Ironically, her survivability is also slightly boosted by this subclass as you gain extra HP and even a bit of spell leech to offset the health costs.

Finally, the Infernalist ascendancy turns the Witch into more than just an agent of the occult. She gains the ability to summon an Infernal Hound that soaks up a portion of damage for you. In addition to that, she will be granted the ability to shift into Demon Form, which boasts significant DPS buffs.

As mentioned earlier, this class is particularly good for those who like to play as a summoner. That is not to say that the others can’t satisfy that itch to some degree, though. She just happens to do it the best, at least as far as we know right now.

Wrapping Up

As you can see, the best class to pick in early access will be highly subjective, especially since we are only really going to be given half of the playable classes during this testing period. For now, the ideal thing to do is figure out what play style you are going to have and picking a class that will let you do that.

With the game still being in early access, balance will shift a lot, so expect these classes to get tuned a bunch as you play. Just pick whichever you think you are going to enjoy the most and roll with it until you finish the current campaign, which is supposedly only half of the content that players will experience at launch!