Path of Exile 2: A Comprehensive Guide to Building Your Warrior
Path of Exile 2, the much-anticipated sequel to the beloved ARPG, brings exciting new features while retaining the deep customization that made its predecessor a fan favorite. The Warrior class, designed for melee combat and high durability, offers a variety of paths for players to explore. If you're looking to build an effective Warrior in PoE 2, understanding the optimal skill gems, passive tree choices, and playstyle will set you up for success. This guide will cover everything you need to know to create a powerful Warrior character capable of clearing endgame content.
1. Understanding the Warrior Class in Path of Exile 2
The Warrior is a pure Strength character, designed for players who enjoy the thrill of close-quarters combat. Unlike other classes that may specialize in ranged or magic attacks, Warriors thrive on tankiness, high damage output, and area-of-effect (AoE) skills that allow them to control large groups of enemies. They are built to take hits and deal significant damage, making them excellent choices for solo play or tanking in group content.
Warriors have access to the Mace skill tree, which includes powerful skills that allow you to slam your enemies into oblivion. This class benefits from high max life and armor, making it ideal for tanking as you clear dungeons and bosses. Whether you're focusing on damage, defense, or a balanced build, the Warrior's passive tree has plenty of nodes that can be tailored to your preferred playstyle.
2. Best Skill Gems for Warriors in PoE 2
In PoE 2, skill gems are the backbone of your character's abilities. These gems modify your attacks, adding elemental damage, AoE effects, or status ailments like stun or burn. The Warrior class, with its focus on melee combat, has several standout skill gems that should be prioritized for your build.
Earthshatter: Exploding Earth Spikes
One of the best skills for Warriors is Earthshatter. This skill creates explosive earth spikes that can be detonated by other slam moves. It isn't high-damage on its own, but when combined with the Upheaval support gem, Earthshatter becomes a combo powerhouse. By creating more fissures and spikes on the battlefield, you can detonate them using other powerful skills like Leap Slam or Rolling Slam. This synergizes well with the Warrior's ability to clear multiple enemies in one go.
Rolling Slam: Stun and Knockback
A great starting skill for the Warriors is the Rolling Slam. This skill deals with a stun and knockback effect, which is perfect for early-game mobility. It follows up with a more powerful slam that travels forward, hitting enemies and causing significant damage. While Rolling Slam is less powerful than other slam skills later in the game, it's excellent for controlling crowds and preparing enemies for a follow-up Boneshatter attack.
Sunder: Rolling Shockwave
Sunder is another excellent skill gem for Warriors, providing significant AoE damage. This skill creates a rolling fissure that hits multiple areas as it travels and can release shockwaves to deal additional damage. While Sunder is not an instant attack, its rolling motion makes it highly effective against large mobs. However, it struggles against fast-moving enemies, so it's essential to use it with other skills for optimal mob clearing.
Boneshatter: Heavy Stun and Shockwaves
For builds that focus on stuns, Boneshatter is an essential skill. This move causes enemies to become "primed" for stun after accumulating stun damage from other abilities. Once primed, using Boneshatter will deal heavy stun damage and create a shockwave that spreads to other enemies. It's particularly effective for clearing groups of enemies and stunning bosses for easy follow-up damage.
Hammer of the Gods: High AoE Burst
One of the most devastating skills available to Warriors is Hammer of the Gods. This skill summons a giant hammer that falls from the sky and deals massive AoE damage. While it has a 24-second cooldown, its 1441% base damage makes it one of the strongest moves in the Mace skill tree. Although enemies can avoid the attack if they move out of the area, the potential damage output makes it worth using when clearing large groups of enemies or during boss fights.
Herald of Ash: Fire Damage Overkill
While not a primary damage skill, Herald of Ash is a great support gem for fire-based Warrior builds. This buff causes overkilled enemies (those who are hit with extra damage beyond their life) to explode and deal fire damage to nearby enemies. It can quickly spread elemental damage and ignite foes during large-scale fights, making it an excellent choice for Warriors looking to maximize their fire damage potential.
3. Choosing the Right Passive Tree Nodes
In PoE 2, the passive tree is where you'll define your character's core strengths. The Warrior's passive tree gives access to a variety of nodes that enhance physical damage, increase life, and boost armor, all of which synergize well with a melee-focused playstyle. Some key nodes to focus on when building your Warrior include:
Melee Damage
Opt for nodes that increase your melee damage, such as Dread Banner and Unflinching. These nodes boost both your damage output and your survivability in combat. Melee builds thrive on these nodes, so prioritizing them early on will help you hit harder while taking less damage.
Armor and Life
Since Warriors are built to take hits, it's essential to invest heavily in life and armor. Nodes like Unyielding Strength and Stone Golem will provide substantial increases to your maximum life and armor, allowing you to survive longer in tough encounters. These defensive nodes are especially important for tanking and being the frontline in a group setting.
Stun and Knockback
If you're focusing on stunning enemies, the passive tree has a wealth of nodes to help you out. Look for Stunning Strikes and Dread Fortress, which will increase the effectiveness of your stuns and knockback abilities, synergizing perfectly with skills like Boneshatter.
Elemental Damage
For Warriors who want to experiment with elemental builds, nodes that increase fire, cold, or lightning damage can be useful. Consider focusing on nodes that convert physical damage into fire damage to fully benefit from gems like Herald of Ash or Volcanic Fissure.
4. Playstyle and Strategy for Warriors
The Warrior excels in close combat, and your primary role in most scenarios will be tanking damage and dealing heavy AoE melee damage. Here's how to maximize your effectiveness:
Tank and Control: Use your high armor and life to engage enemies directly. Take advantage of stuns, knockbacks, and mobility to control crowds.
AoE Clearing: Combine skills like Earthshatter, Rolling Slam, and Sunder to clear large groups of enemies quickly.
Boss Fights: Focus on stacking your stun and shockwave abilities for single-target damage. Hammer of the Gods and Boneshatter are essential for dealing with bosses.
Elemental Damage Builds: Use Herald of Ash and Volcanic Fissure for additional elemental damage while maintaining your physical damage strengths.
5. Endgame Considerations
As you progress through PoE 2's endgame content, the Warrior can excel at both solo content and group play. Focus on upgrading your gear to increase your resistance, damage output, and mobility. Look for Path of Exile 2 items that increase your AoE damage and survivability, especially in tougher encounters like endgame bosses and maps.
Conclusion
The Warrior class in Path of Exile 2 offers a rewarding and flexible playstyle that blends high damage, tanking potential, and area-of-effect abilities. By selecting the right skill gems, focusing on the right passive tree nodes, and optimizing your gear, you can create a powerful Warrior capable of clearing some of the toughest content in the game.
Path of Exile 2 Currency and Path of Exile 2 items are critical to optimizing your Warrior's strength. Whether you're crafting your own gear, trading with other players, or farming endgame content for valuable loot, managing your currency wisely and acquiring the right items will ensure that your Warrior remains a powerhouse capable of taking on the toughest challenges in the game.