In Path of Exile 2 players can build their character in any way they want, but one type known from MMORPGs is left out.
Who feels disadvantaged? In Path of Exile 2, creativity in building one’s character is largely unrestricted. Players can combine the skills of different classes and create a character according to their own ideas. The stronger they become, the more their fantasy of a powerful character is fulfilled.
However, those who want to play a tank like in MMORPGs or Souls-likes quickly hit their limits in PoE2.
Here you can watch the gameplay trailer for Path of Exile 2:
Glass Cannons > Tanks
What’s the situation with tanks? Being a tank in Path of Exile 2 is possible. There are many different skills and uniques that provide defensive values and also shields that allow for blocking. This way, normal enemies and elite foes can hardly harm the characters.
However, it becomes problematic with the bosses in the game. They have certain abilities that can wipe out even the best tank in the ARPG in one hit. Moreover, a tank’s abilities are rather limited compared to characters that focus purely on offense and not on defense, so-called glass cannons.
Players who play a tank feel disadvantaged. On Reddit, they express their views. Initiating this is 0re0n, who wrote the post titled “Why is ‘breaking the game’ acceptable when done offensively, but not defensively?”
In it, he describes that there are builds that can take down bosses instantly, for which the developers actually designed fights to last 1 to 3 minutes. This bothers him because there is no tank in Path of Exile 2 that all bosses could simply not harm at all.
This destroys the fantasy of a steel warrior for him and he sees himself at a disadvantage regarding the possibilities of OP builds for tanks.
What does the community think? In the community, there are also many tanks who feel left alone. One of them is Ok-Basis-7274, who writes on Reddit: “This is a dream of mine. To build a warrior who is so tanky and so spiky that he moves slower through the maps but is much safer. Getting hit by a bullet as an overpowered sorc is fine, glass cannon is super fun. Being shot as a super tank is unplayable.”
Enevorah also voices their opinion on Reddit: “I think there just aren’t enough options right now. Defensive options are pretty damn limited at the moment compared to POE1. Armor is practically worthless. Blocking can be good if you invest a lot. Evasion is quite good, but you’re basically playing Russian roulette if it’s your only defensive layer. Then there’s energy shield, which is simply the obviously best choice right now. I would rather see them buff the weaker options than nerf the best ones, but they never do it that way, lol.”
Spendinit shares a similar view on Reddit: “I completely agree. My first ARPG was Diablo 3. In that game, I never dodged. I played it for years, came back a dozen times, etc. When I came to PoE and saw the boss fights, it was a rude awakening years ago. […]”
So far, not all classes and skills of Path of Exile 2 have been released, and further balance patches have already been announced. So it is quite possible that new features will arrive that improve tanking in the game. However, whether this will suffice for OP builds that no longer take damage remains uncertain. You can find a good build here: Path of Exile 2: Beginner build lets you freeze the battlefield as a sorcerer
