The developers of Path of Exile 2 have introduced the 22 Ascendancy classes that you can currently play in the early access version of PoE2.
What are Ascendancy classes? They were also present in the first Path of Exile and allow you to specialize your class by following the path of an Ascendancy. For example, the Duelist can become a Slayer, Gladiator, or Champion. Almost all classes from PoE have three specializations.
At the launch of the early access version of Path of Exile 2 on December 6, 2024, only 6 of the 12 planned classes were available to you. The number of playable archetypes has now grown to 8. You will learn which 22 Ascendancies these can be upgraded to in the following.
Update: from June 17, 2026: We have reviewed this article for relevance and updated it accordingly.
The gameplay trailer for the early access launch of Path of Exile 2:
The Ascendancies of the Sorceress
- Stormweaver: Can influence the weather and summon an elemental storm. The class focuses on turning the elements against opponents and inflicting as many powerful status effects on them as possible. This class is particularly suitable for builds that target the elements.
- Chronomancer: Manipulates time to prematurely finish cooldowns, freeze opponents, and teleport to places visited in the past. With its unique ability to stop time, powerful combos for various builds arise.
- Disciple of Varashta: With the Disciple, you receive a new Minion Ascendancy that completely redefines your class. You gain not passive companions that mindlessly rush into battle, but Djinns that you can unleash on your enemies at the push of a button. Each of the Djinns is unique and can even be equipped with self-selected skills to provide even more variety.
The Ascendancies of the Witch
- Blood Mage: The Blood Mage drinks the blood of her enemies to heal herself. Additionally, she uses curses that never expire. The more life the class has, the deadlier she becomes by landing critical hits even more frequently.
- Infernalist: The Pyromancer can transform into a demon, summon an infernal dog, and cast particularly powerful fire spells. This class is also the best choice for those who enjoy playing with minions. Her talents provide bonuses for your undead army and more spirit.
- Lich: The Lich is a master of chaos and curses. She uses a gem as her phylactery and has sacrificed part of her soul for power. In doing so, she benefits from an additional jewel socket with double modifier values.
The Ascendancies of the Warrior
- Titan: Titans possess increased armor and health points, can carry more due to their strength, and make the earth shake with their attacks. They are the tank class in the game and rely on slow but mighty attacks. They usually follow a somewhat slower and more tactical playstyle.
- Warbringer: These warriors summon ghostly servants through totems, protect themselves with a jade effect and a strong shield, and can activate a kind of corpse explosion. In melee combat, they combine battle cries and totems. The latter can draw enemies to themselves and deal damage, in addition to what one causes oneself.
- Smith of Kitava: These smiths are masters of their craft and can literally forge their weapons and armor themselves – equipped with powerful modifiers and high protection against elemental damage.
The Ascendancies of the Ranger
- Deadeye: The mobile sharpshooter operates from a distance and deals extremely high damage to marked targets with his projectiles. The class focuses on high attack and movement speed. Additionally, there are bonuses on projectiles that can be well utilized with elemental bow abilities.
- Pathfinder: This hunter brews flasks that deal different types of damage, and his poisons are particularly toxic. He aims to inflict a variety of poison stacks on enemies and use his damage-over-time abilities to eliminate entire armies of foes.
The Ascendancies of the Huntress
- Ritualist: The Ritualist dedicates herself to the dark side of Azmeri traditions and performs ritual sacrifices. She can steal rare monster modifications and equip a third ring.
- Amazon: Trained as an elite guardian of the Azmeri Elders, the Amazon has perfected her combat techniques. She relies on a high critical hit chance, open wounds, and powerful infusion strikes. Additionally, she can specifically improve helmets, gloves, or boots.
- Spirit Walker: The Spirit Walker can summon the spirits of various animals to fight for her. This may initially sound unspectacular, but through a node in the skill tree, you can even tame bosses and fill your group with powerful forms that can obliterate your enemies in a single blow.
The Ascendancies of the Mercenary
- Witchhunter: The Witchhunter disturbs the concentration of his victims and causes enormous damage as a result. He can also activate an absorption effect that intercepts opposing magic. The class is characterized by the fact that its first hit deals particularly high damage. Especially against bosses, her talents are useful.
- Gemling Legionnaire: The Legionnaire enjoys strong bonuses for skills, jewels, and various attributes. This class is a good all-rounder, suitable for all kinds of builds. Especially pros who use many abilities will benefit here.
- Tactician: This former soldier has an elite training background that provides access to valuable skills. He can pin down opponents, simultaneously place multiple banners, or even cover an entire area with arrows.
The Ascendancies of the Monk
- Invoker: Through meditation, the Invoker can build an energy shield and even overload it to temporarily gain double protection. He can also unleash his elemental powers to overwhelm all enemies. The class significantly enhances elemental attacks, making it strong for corresponding builds.
- Acolyte of Chayula: This fighter targets the mana of his enemies, which he can use to recharge his energy shield. Furthermore, he can summon useful flames and deal additional chaos damage. The survival abilities of this class are well enhanced by passive effects, without sacrificing extra damage.
- Martial Artist: The Martial Artist has mastered his martial arts to the core, and he demonstrates this in combat. He can summon spectral copies of himself and bells to the battlefield that fight for him automatically and cause explosive shockwaves – meanwhile, you can stand by and watch as the area is thinned out by your enemies.
The Ascendancies of the Druid
- Oracle: The Oracle relies on time and foresight effects. With them, he can guarantee critical hits and deal even more damage to enemies. Through the node “The Unseen Path”, you also receive more than 130 additional points in your skill tree to refine your build even better – but this also brings a new level of complexity.
- Shaman: As a Shaman, you dive into battle with a brutal combination of animal forms (bear, wolf, or wyvern) and raw elemental magic. You use rage as a resource, with which you can unleash automatic elemental storms on your opponents.
More about PoE2:
Developers of Path of Exile 2 reveal how much they have earned, have quadrupled their profits
Players of Path of Exile 2 are venting about a familiar problem, offering the developers a solution
As in the predecessor, the classes of Path of Exile 2 are, by the way, predefined characters that can hardly be customized. For example, you still cannot change the predefined gender. A witch is always female, a monk always male. All information on the release on Steam, PS5, and XBOX, early access, classes & crossplay of Path of Exile 2 can be found here.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
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