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Best Path of Exile 2 Ascendancy classesFind the best Ascendancy for your Path of Exile 2 class
Find the best Ascendancy for your Path of Exile 2 class
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Grinding Gear Games
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Grinding Gear Games
WhilePath of Exile 2remains in Early Access, you canchoose between two Ascendancies per class(12 in total). When you reach Act 2 of the campaign, you gain access to the first Ascendancy trial: theTrial of the Sekhemas. Complete this trial to obtain your first two Ascendancy points, which you may spend on your chosen Ascendancy’s skill tree. You’ll be able to gain more Ascendancy points in theTrial of Chaoswhen you reach Act 3.
Once you’ve chosen, you won’t be able to change your Ascendancy. It goes without saying that you should choose your Ascendancy carefully, as it will greatly affect your playstyle and build options. To help you make that decision, here’s an overview of the best Ascendancy classes in Path of Exile 2.
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Best Ascendancy class in Path of Exile 2
In my opinion,the best Ascendancy class in Path of Exile 2 is the Infernalist, a Witch Ascendancy. The Infernalist deals phenomenal elemental damage, and although her powered-up state depletes her health, you can always back out, making her surprisingly easy to manage. The Stormweaver Sorceress Ascendancy and its shockingly high damage output are averyclose second.
The edgy demon-summoning fire lady is the best Ascendancy. |Image credit:Grinding Gear Games
That said, since you can only choose the Ascendancies within your chosen base class, it’s useless to recommend the Infernalist Ascendancy to a Monk or a Ranger. We’ll therefore pick the best Path of Exile 2 Ascendancy for each of the six classes below.
Best Witch Ascendancy class
It’s best to steer your newborn Witch towards the Infernalist Ascendancy. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Grinding Gear Games
Best Sorceress Ascendancy class
The best Sorceress Ascendancy is theStormweaver, an incredibly popular choice among ranked players inPath of Exile 2’s endgame. As a master of the elements, Stormweaver deals elemental damage and especially lightning damage like it’s nothing, inflicting Shock on any opponent who dares to come near.
Best Ranger Ascendancy class
The best Ranger Ascendancy is theDeadeye, a.k.a. the ultimate ranged DPS. Maintaining high accuracy even at a significant distance, the Deadeye must avoid getting hit in return for a massive attack speed, movement speed, and evasion boost. It’ll take some practice, of course, but if you do get hit, the Wind Ward ability will mitigate the damage.
Perhaps more importantly, the Deadeye makes it far easier to stack up on Frenzy Charges, which will then be consumed to boost your most powerful attacks. You should definitely use Sniper’s Mark in yourDeadeye Ranger build, as this skill can place an additional mark through the Called Shots Ascendancy ability.
The other Ranger Ascendancy, Pathfinder, is all about poison affliction and Flasks. You could use the Mana Flask to trigger elemental explosions, but although it’s fun, it’s not particularly damaging. I’d say the reduced movement speed penalty and protection against slowed movement are the best characteristics of this highly mobile class, but it’s fairly weak compared to the deadly Deadeye.
You don’t want this sniper’s mark on your head. |Image credit:Grinding Gear Games
Best Monk Ascendancy class
The best Monk Ascendancy is theInvoker. One of its major advantages is the Invoker’s ability to turn evasion into physical damage reduction, which is very useful for a melee character. It’ll be easier to use persistent buffs too, as the Invoker cangain more Spiritbased on his energy shield and evasion stats.
It won’t be hard to get a properMonk buildif you focus on elemental damage and ailments; as an Invoker, you can pick Cold or Lightning damage and then boost your damage output of that type. The Invoker is particularly rewarding if you also have a high critical stat, as the Elemental Expression ability deals additional elemental damage upon landing a melee critical hit.
Truthfully, it’s quite easy to appoint Invoker as the best Monk Ascendancy since the other option, Acolyte of Chayula, just isn’t very good. Yes, the extra Chaos Damage is great, but the mana leech ability isn’t reliable at all, since it only leeches with physical attacks. It’s hard to not constantly run out of mana with this Ascendancy.
Best Mercenary Ascendancy class
The best Mercenary Ascendancy is theWitch Hunter. As a highly mobile base class, choosing an Ascendancy capable of slowing the enemy’s cooldown recovery feels like a perfect fit. The same mechanic that lowers their cooldown can also boost the Mercenary’s damage, allowing you to easily gain the upper hand.
The Witch Hunter’s Culling Strike is very useful when you’re trying to clear the field of weaker enemies, as it has an insta-kill threshold, but Decimating Strike is even better since it can chop a large chunk of HP from any enemy at full Life.
Despite these amazing Witch Hunter abilities, picking the best Mercenary Ascendancy was very tough as the Gemling Legionnaire has some very unique qualities of his own. Not only is this the only Path of Exile 2 Ascendancy that can use two Support Gems of the same type, but he can use up the three additional Skill Gems and boost their quality. The reason why I prefer Witch Hunter is that I can’t see the benefits of the additional skills as much, especially before reaching endgame; it’s easier to double-down on the enemy’s cooldown increase instead of trying to create a betterMercenary buildwith what you already had.
The Witch Hunter’s strategy is simple; just be 10 times faster than the enemy. |Image credit:Grinding Gear Games
Best Warrior Ascendancy class
That’s not to say that the Warbringer can’t deal good damage, as this Warrior Ascendancy makes it very easy to constantly break the enemy’s armour while uttering Warcries to buff your attacks. It’s a straightforward but effective playstyle: break armour, get a Warcry buff, and unleash a devastating skill.
The Titan Ascendancy is a close second though. The Titan can also buff himself while weakening the enemy (through stunning, in his case), but he doesn’t have the same survivability as the Warbringer, which makes him far less reliable.
And that concludes our guide on the best Path of Exile 2 Ascendancy classes. If you’re new to the game, you might want to look at our list ofthings to do first in Path of Exile 2, and make sure you understand thecharacter attributes. Don’t forget to use thePath of Exile 2 crafting systemto get better gear, anduse the gemcutting systemto obtain new skills.
