10 Best Builds in Path of Exile 2 Early Access

Ben Author

Created - 23.01.2025 Updated - 06.02.2025

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Path of Exile 2 Early Access is a pretty enjoyable game that gives you the freedom to experiment with ascendancy nodes, items, and passive skills, among many others. The game has also received numerous balancing changes, including Patch 0.1.1, which was released quite recently.

Having said that, although there were plenty of broken builds that could make pinnacle bosses a trivial matter, some did not survive the adjustments implemented in the said update. So, which Path of Exile 2 builds have survived? Well, that is the main focus of this article!

Today, we are going to discuss the 10 best builds in PoE 2 Early Access so far!

Best Builds in PoE 2 Early Access

Among the ARPGs out there, Path of Exile 2 fosters build diversity, so much so that you can create something out of the ordinary with only your imagination being the limiting factor.

The PoE 2 builds that are going to be highlighted in this article are great in so many areas, including clear speed, survivability, and most importantly, how fun they are to use.

It is also worth noting that these builds have survived the changes made in Patch 0.1.1, so if you are to try any of them, you are assured that they’re worth your Divine Orb investment.

While we will present our picks for the top builds in PoE 2 Early Access in descending order, each one is definitely worth looking at regardless of placement on our list.

Anyway, without further ado, here are the 10 best builds in Path of Exile 2 Early Access:

10. Ice Strike Invoker

+Insanely fast attack speed

+Easily freezes monsters with quick attacks

+Can potentially achieve more than 15,000 energy shield

-Fighting in melee range makes build susceptible to boss slams

-May struggle in high-tier maps with increased monster ailment threshold

A favorite in the PoE 2 community from the start of Early Access till now, the Ice Strike Invoker just doesn’t disappoint. This is arguably the better build while leveling compared to Tempest Flurry mainly due to the fact that the build’s primary skill, Ice Strike, has no problems freezing enemies.

Speaking of which, Ice Strike allows you to strike the enemy three times in quick succession, with the last hit dealing the most amount of damage. With the right notable passive skills like Thin Ice and Heavy Frost, you can ensure that enemies won’t have a chance to fight back because they’ll be frozen in just a couple of hits!

Since Ice Strike converts 80% of your physical damage to cold damage, you can greatly benefit from having a rare physical damage quarterstaff, preferably with attack speed, critical hit chance, and critical damage bonus.

In boss fights, you can drop the Tempest Bell. You can hit this bell just as you would a normal monster, creating a powerful shockwave that hits multiple nearby enemies in the process. The resulting shockwave deals damage based on the elemental damage type of your attack (in this case, cold damage).

Being a hybrid class in Path of Exile 2, the Ice Strike Invoker can focus on improving both evasion and energy shield to keep him sturdy even while tackling the game’s pinnacle content.

In the endgame, this build can achieve a high amount of Spirit thanks to the Invoker’s “Lead Me Through Grace…” ascendancy node. Of course, you have to have a high evasion-based body armor to maximize that.

Although the Ice Strike Invoker has plenty of variations, we’ve found Zizaran’s version to be the most beginner-friendly given a modest investment. Of course, you could transition to the endgame version, which utilizes Chaos Inoculation to gain full immunity against chaos damage.

If you want a melee build in Path of Exile 2 that is not boring to use, then we can wholeheartedly recommend the Ice Strike Invoker!

9. Shattering Concoction Pathfinder

+1-button monster slayer

+Cause massive explosions of cold damage

+Impressive life regeneration and high energy shield

-May struggle with single-target damage against pinnacle bosses

-Needs to ascend to get the build’s main skill

Our next entry on the list of best Path of Exile 2 builds is rather interesting, to say the least. This is one of those builds that require an ascendancy node to work, so you must complete the Trial of the Sekhemas to gain access to “Brew Concoction,” which then enables you to pick Shattering Concoction.

Shattering Concoction is an unarmed skill that lets you throw a few flasks in a targeted direction. Enemies that are hit by the concoctions suffer from cold damage. With enough build-up, this skill can freeze enemies as well.

A noteworthy change from concoction skills in Path of Exile 2 compared to PoE 1 is that they now take charges from your mana flask instead of the life flask. This is a good thing, in our opinion, because having no life flask when you really need to recover your HP is not a fun time at all.

To make the Shattering Concoction Pathfinder shine, you need to use a unique bow called the Widowhail. Get a well-rolled Widowhail that has more than 220% increased bonuses from equipped quiver if you can.

Widowhail by itself doesn’t do anything because it needs an equally good quiver. That is why you want a Visceral Quiver (for its crit chance implicit) that has +2 to level of projectile skills. Along with the notable passive skill “Master Fletching” and the three small nodes that connect to it, you will get +9 to level of projectile skills from the quiver!

Now, each use of Shattering Concoction removes a few charges from your mana flask. Do not worry about this because there’s Connected Chemistry and Enduring Elixirs from the Pathfinder ascendancy class to address that.

Since you cannot have Shattering Concoction until you become a Pathfinder, you can use any bow skill that you like. However, we recommend Ice Shot because the skill itself goes in line with what you want to achieve with this build.

Overall, the Shattering Concoction Pathfinder is worth checking out in Path of Exile 2 Early Access!

8. Skeletal Sniper Infernalist

+Minions do all of the dirty work

+Amazing clear speed

+Has no problems tanking while minions slay enemies

-Minion playstyle may not suit everyone

-Requires items with high energy shield rolls

Do you want a Path of Exile 2 build that doesn’t require you to do anything other than run around looking for packs of monsters? If that’s the case, then the Skeletal Sniper Infernalist is the right one for you!

Your bread and butter for this build is your Skeletal Snipers. These minions deal a huge amount of damage and can populate the screen with numerous projectiles thanks to the Scattershot support gem.

As is customary for minion builds in Path of Exile 2, you will need a bunch of items that grant Spirit so that you can summon a lot of minions to your army. Fortunately, “Beidat’s Will” from the Infernalist’s ascendancy tree can help you get started. Unique items like the Oaksworn grant Spirit, as well as chaos resistance and increased block chance for defense.

If you want to take things up a notch, you can cast Flame Wall to conjure Raging Spirits. Interestingly, Raging Spirits is now a buff in PoE 2 that you can toggle on or off at any time. This is in stark contrast with its Path of Exile 1 counterpart, where you have to manually cast Raging Spirits to unleash a bevy of flaming skulls.

When you are ready to go fight The Arbiter of Ash or Xesht, you need to stack your maximum fire resistance as high as possible. This is so that you can take full advantage of Altered Flesh, which converts 20% of cold and lightning damage, and take that as fire damage instead. You can insert several Soul Cores of Puhuarte to improve your maximum fire resistance. Slot them inside your helmet, gloves, boots, and shield.

Altered Flesh also converts physical damage, though you need to have your chaos resistance capped for this to work well. You cannot allocate the Chaos Inoculation keystone here since you need life for Beidat’s Will and Beidat’s Hand.

This Path of Exile 2 build has a lot of passive skills on the left side of the tree, particularly those that increase Spirit, armor, and energy shield. Thus, socketing Against the Darkness is essential to gain another boost in Spirit.

Although this requires a budget of 20 to 30 Divine Orbs, the Skeletal Sniper Infernalist is an incredible build, especially if you are into the minion playstyle.

7. Weapon Master Crossbow Witchhunter

+An interesting twist to the conventional Galvanic Shards build

+Melee and Ranged playstyle all in one

+Higher energy shield than your average Mercenary build

-The crossbow reload mechanic is still clunky after the update

Galvanic Shards is one of the most popular skills for the Mercenary. It is often paired with Shockburst Rounds to deal significant amounts of damage to a single target affected by Shock. What if we tell you that there’s another way to inflict Shock other than Galvanic Shards? Well, that’s what this next build is known for!

The Weapon Master Crossbow Witchhunter still uses both of the aforementioned crossbow skills to great effect. However, the difference here is that the build relies on a second weapon to inflict enemies with Shock more quickly.

That said, the weapon in question is a unique quarterstaff called the Pillar of the Caged God, and the skill you’re going to use with this is Tempest Flurry. To maximize its potential, you will stack all of the base attributes, including strength, dexterity, and intelligence, as high as you can.

When fighting regular monsters, you are still going to utilize Galvanic Shards to decimate them with ease. It’s only when engaging with bosses, that you swap to the Pillar of the Caged God to inflict pain.

If you are wondering why the Witchhunter is chosen for the job, that is mainly because of its ascendancy node: Weapon Master. This converts 20 of your normal passive skill points into weapon set points. This enables you to allocate more passive nodes for each of your equipped weapons.

For the crossbow, you will prioritize critical hit, critical damage bonus, and attack speed. For the quarterstaff, you will allocate nodes that improve lightning exposure, shock chance, and curse duration.

Aside from Galvanic Shards and Shockburst Rounds, the Weapon Master Crossbow Witchhunter uses Eye of Winter, Voltaic Mark, and Conductivity linked to Cast on Shock as well. This is mainly to deal burst damage when you Shock enemies with your secondary weapon.

The Weapon Master Crossbow Witchhunter offers a dynamic playstyle, which we promise won’t bore you even when you’ve played the game for countless hours already!

6. Detonate Dead Bloodmage

+Blows enemies to smithereens

+Overflow HP and energy shield make you almost unkillable

+Impressive damage even with budget gear

-Must wait for corpses to detonate

-Relies on minions for leveling until the mid-game

Do you find the idea of blowing monsters to oblivion enticing? Then the Detonate Dead Bloodmage might just be the right build for you! This is another minion build that focuses on using Detonate Dead to kill enemies in a pretty large area thanks to a couple of support gems: Magnified Effect and Spell Echo.

As you can tell by the name, Detonate Dead can only be used when there are corpses nearby. Fortunately, you can make your minions explode by utilizing Sacrifice, which is a persistent buff that requires 60 Spirit to activate.

The build is a bit slow to level up because you will rely on your minions to help you get through the campaign. It is only until you reach level 58 that you can start using Sacrifice to enable you to cast Detonate Dead more consistently.

With the help of Enezun’s Charge, Meat Recycling, and the small nodes that connect to it, you will have a pretty good chance to not destroy a corpse when using corpse-consuming skills like Detonate Dead.

On the off-hand, your best weapon is a well-rolled Sceptre that has “% Increased Spirit” and “+ to Level of All Minion Skills” as explicit modifiers. Minions and spells in PoE 2 greatly benefit from increased level mods because of their health and damage scaling compared to attack skills.

Now, Detonate Dead is a physical damage spell in Path of Exile 2 that becomes more devastating when the corpse that’s exploded has a ton of life. That’s why this build also relies on the Skeletal Brutes because of their large health pool compared to the other minions.

The Bloodmage is meant for this build because of its ascendancy nodes. Blood Barbs give more oomph to Detonate Dead by granting 10% extra physical damage. Sunder the Flesh and Gore Spike allow DD to deal massive critical damage even on a minimal investment.

If you can push through with the relatively slow leveling process of this Path of Exile 2 build, your patience will be rewarded because the Detonate Dead Bloodmage is an incredible build that works, even when you’re on a budget!

5. Blink Autobomber Bloodmage

+One of the fastest map-clearing builds in the game

+Good utilization of meta skills can make quick work of pinnacle bosses

+Great survivability for a spellcasting build

-Requires several unique items to function

-Expensive

The Blink Autobomber Bloodmage is a build that requires a ton of investment. However, if you can afford all of the necessary unique items, it is a powerhouse unlike any other!

Right off the bat, this PoE 2 build relies on Choir of the Storm to cast Greater Lightning Bolt whenever you land a critical hit on target. Greater Lightning Bolt has an internal cooldown of 0.5 seconds, so you want to remove that by wearing the Temporalis.

Although Greater Lightning Bolt does not have any problems dealing with trash mobs, it still lacks more oomph against single targets. To address this, you will wear Trampletoe, which allows you to destroy Frost Walls to deal 30% overkill damage to enemies within a couple of meters from your location.

You’re probably wondering why this Path of Exile 2 build is called Blink Autobomber Bloodmage. Well, that’s because whenever you teleport using Blink, you trigger multiple meta skills to cast other spells automatically. These spells include Eye of Winter, Spark, and Frost Wall.

This build does not have Chaos Inoculation, but it does have an insanely large energy shield pool. Part of that is due to the equipment it uses. Notable passive skills that grant energy shield, such as Pure Energy, Dampening Shield, and Patient Barrier are also allocated.

Another thing that boosts this build’s survivability to the roof is Atziri’s Acuity. These unique gloves ensure that life leech from the Bloodmage’s Vitality Siphon ascendancy node is applied instantly when spells critically hit enemies.

We don’t expect you to try the Blink Autobomber Bloodmage anytime soon due to the unique items that it requires to function. However, if you have multiple Divine Orbs at the ready and you want a high-end Path of Exile 2 build, then the sheer power that it has is enough to warrant the high investment!

4. Lightning Arrow Deadeye

+Good leveling build

+Grows into a lightning damage behemoth in the endgame

+Can be set up in multiple ways

-May die from boss slams if Acrobatics is not taken

-Mana-intensive

Considered one of the best Ranger builds in Path of Exile 2 Early Access, the Lightning Arrow Deadeye is an awesome build if you want a ranged character that you can create from zero to hero!

This PoE 2 build offers impressive clear speed even at early levels. Spam Lightning Rod and then fire Lightning Arrow until the enemies die. Once you have enough mana intelligence, you can incorporate Orb of Storms and Cast on Shock to improve your damage output significantly.

A rare Dualstring Bow is the preferred endgame weapon for the Lightning Arrow Deadeye thanks to its +1 projectile implicit. This works perfectly well with Endless Munitions from the Deadeye ascendancy, allowing you to fire a few arrows every time you use your primary skill. Widowhail can also be considered, but you have to accompany it with a good quiver as mentioned earlier.

You can pretty much use all rare items on this build and it will work just fine. However, one of the main selling points of the Lightning Arrow Deadeye is it has plenty of upgrade paths you can take later down the line.

For instance, you can invest in the Hand of Wisdom and Action—a unique item that grants increased attack speed and added lightning damage based on your total dexterity and intelligence, respectively.

On the passive tree, you can take nodes that increase freeze build-up, such as Emboldened Avatar or Pressure Points. If you’re taking this route, you must have added cold damage on your bow or quiver (or both).

Taking Acrobatics is optional, though it certainly wouldn’t hurt. Having this keystone passive allocated gives you the ability to evade deadly boss slams with a well-timed Dodge Roll. However, this comes at a steep cost because it significantly reduces your total evasion. Rectify this by wearing evasion-based gear wherever possible.

Even though the Lightning Arrow Deadeye is awesome in so many aspects, one glaring issue with this build is that the skills can eat up your mana like there’s no tomorrow. This is evident when you start using Orb of Storms and Cast on Shock. You can address this problem by wearing Thief’s Torment or taking the Mental Toughness notable passive skill.

Anyway, the Lightning Arrow Deadeye is a fun build to play in Path of Exile 2. Whether you are still starting out or you’re well into the endgame, this will certainly not disappoint!

3. Attribute-Stacking Gemling Legionnaire

+Attacks quickly to move fast

+Insane damage, insane speed

+Multiple defensive layers ensure that you won’t die out there

-Extremely expensive due to popularity

-Must have certain uniques

Before anything, it is important to note that attribute-stacking builds in Path of Exile 2 are generally expensive. That’s because you will need multiple items that grant increases in the base attributes (STR, DEX, INT). This next build perfectly exemplifies that.

The Attribute-stacking Gemling Legionnaire does not use the typical crossbows that Mercenaries are known for. Instead, this swift killer opts for the Pillar of the Caged God to make quick work of the enemy! You already know what the Pillar of the Caged God can do, so we will explain the other unique items that this build requires.

Astramentis is a perfect amulet for this build, so much so that it is one of the most expensive unique items in PoE 2. This only has a couple of explicit modifiers but increases your attributes to an astronomical level that you can easily overlook its shortcomings.

Another clever way to get your stats up is by wearing a couple of tri-attribute rings and pairing them with Ingenuity. This unique belt enhances the modifiers of your equipped rings by up to 80%. If you are rich, obtain one that has a corruption that goes beyond 80% increased effect.

The Morior Invictus, specifically one that has increased attributes and increased elemental resistances, is the best choice for this Gemling Legionnaire build. Populate the rune slots of this unique body armor with Soul Cores of Puhuarte (Fire), Tzamoto (Cold), and Xopec (Lightning) to increase your maximum elemental resistance.

While not mandatory for the build, using Atziri’s Disdain greatly increases your energy shield. This helmet grants extra energy shield based on your life. Since this build has a large health pool, all things considered, you will get more than you ask for with Atziri’s Disdain.

This Path of Exile 2 build plays a lot like the melee portion of the Weapon Master Crossbow Witchhunter. Utilize Tempest Flurry to destroy all of your enemies. The only difference here is that you drop a Tempest Bell whenever you encounter stronger foes.

Funnily enough, because Tempest Flurry on this build works insanely fast, you can use the said attack skill to traverse the map instead of regular running. To combat its mana-intensive nature, invest in a Melting Maelstrom as soon as possible.

Now, Tempest Flurry and Tempest Bell are skills that are normally available to the Monk, right? So why does this build go for the Gemling Legionnaire? Well, that’s because of the ascendancy nodes available to him. Enhanced Effectiveness doubles the bonuses granted by each attribute. This means that you get double the amount of HP from strength, improved accuracy from dexterity, and more energy shield from intelligence. You get more damage and attack speed from STR and DEX because you’re going to wear Hand of Wisdom and Action as well.

Tempest Flurry can reduce your mana to zero if you don’t have Advanced Thaumaturgy. This reduces the mana cost of your skills by 30%. The higher attribute requirement for your skills doesn’t matter on this build, so don’t worry about that.

The Attribute-Stacking Gemling Legionnaire may be out of your reach due to the expensive unique items, but if you can accumulate Divine Orbs somehow, we highly recommend that you try this PoE 2 build out!

2. Ice Shot Deadeye

+Almost identical to the Lightning Arrow Deadeye in terms of items used

+Safer to use for endgame farming due to Ice Shot’s innate ability to freeze

+Able to transition to critical damage later on

-Crit damage gear may cost multiple Divine Orbs

-May have an issue with mana

The Ice Shot Deadeye is an efficient endgame farmer that can be enjoyed even with budget gear. Ice Shot is a cold-based attack skill that converts 70% of your physical damage to cold. As you can see, Ice Shot’s damage scales better than Lightning Arrow because the latter skill only takes 40% of your physical damage into account.

Now, in Path of Exile 2, you can inflict ailments depending on the damage type of the skill being used. Since Ice Shot deals cold damage, you can freeze enemies simply by using the said skill. This is fantastic for leveling because it prevents monsters from attacking you if you maintain your distance.

What we love about this build is that you can use the budget version that focuses on pure elemental damage to destroy enemies. If you have enough Divines to trade for items, you can switch to the crit version, where you stack as many critical damage bonus modifiers as possible.

Despite the choice of primary skill, this build also takes lightning damage nodes on the passive tree due to the presence of Lightning Rod and Cast on Shock. Additionally, both Herald of Ice and Herald of Thunder are utilized to greatly enhance your map-clearing speed.

If you want to capitalize on that, you can purchase a Headhunter later down the line. This unique belt grants all of the modifiers of a rare monster for 20 seconds after you have killed them.

The Ice Shot Deadeye packs some serious punch, and with its ability to freeze enemies, there shouldn’t be any problems dealing with monsters in T15 maps or higher.

1. Spark Stormweaver

+Fills the screen with lightning-based projectiles quickly and easily

+Handles all content in the game without a hitch

+Immune to chaos damage

-Requires two separate gear sets for pre- and post-CI

-May have an issue with mana

All of the Path of Exile 2 builds highlighted so far are great in their own ways. However, if you ask us what the best build is currently in PoE 2 Early Access, it is none other than the Spark Stormweaver. It is really interesting how this build can output so much damage while also being capable of tanking enemy attacks like it’s a non-issue.

Anyway, Spark feels so much better to use in Path of Exile 2 compared to its PoE 1 counterpart, mainly because it can be cast while moving. You can thank the new WASD movement scheme for that. You can cast Spark to flood the screen with multiple lightning-based projectiles in a matter of seconds. Support gems like Arcane Tempo and Acceleration are responsible for making that happen.

To boost the damage of Spark, this build utilizes a few mechanics. For one, there’s Archmage—a buff that increases the mana cost of spells in exchange for more lightning damage. Next is the use of Sigil of Power and Mana Tempest. These are spells that grant bonus damage whenever you cast Spark within their area of effect. Utilizing them is overkill while mapping, so only cast Sigil of Power and Mana Tempest during boss fights.

Flame Wall gives Spark projectiles the ability to ignite monsters on hit. This is because each projectile that passes through the burning wall gains added fire damage, which is more than enough to inflict the fire-based elemental ailment.

So, how does the Stormweaver ascendancy class factor into the equation? Well, the activation of Archmage greatly increases the mana cost of Spark, right? One way you can address that is by leveraging the effect of Arcane Surge (from Constant Gale), which is improved by Force of Will. You can allocate “Touch the Arcane” on the passive tree for another 40% increased effect.

Arcane Surge, for those who don’t know, is a temporary buff in Path of Exile 2 that greatly boosts cast speed and mana regeneration for a limited time. The improved mana regen works nicely when you think about the defensive layers of this build.

Speaking of which, the Spark Stormweaver is one of those PoE 2 builds that require a few keystone passives in the endgame. These are Mind Over Matter, Eldritch Battery, and Chaos Inoculation. Eldritch Battery effectively converts all of your energy shield into mana. You will take advantage of that by also allocating Mind Over Matter. By doing so, all of the damage you receive from attacks or spells is taken from mana. This keystone has a heavy downside of 50% less mana recovery rate, which is why Arcane Surge is important on this build.

To cap it off, Chaos Inoculation makes you immune to chaos damage. While having only one HP is terrifying, you don’t need to be afraid because you have plenty of mana to work with, making you incredibly sturdy even for a spellcasting build.

Early on, you can equip Ghostwrithe and Atziri’s Disdain to gain massive amounts of energy shield based on your maximum life. When you have enough PoE 2 currency, you can add The Everlasting Gaze for even more energy shield.

Now, you might think that this build is only meant for people who have deep pockets. However, that is actually not the case! You can certainly enjoy the Spark Stormweaver even on a limited budget. Of course, you should think about getting upgrades as soon as you’ve farmed enough currency.

If you have a hard time deciding which build you should play in Path of Exile 2, the Spark Stormweaver makes a particularly strong case! In other words, if you go for this build, you cannot go wrong!

Final Thoughts

Going back to what was said at the beginning of this article, Path of Exile 2 is an awesome ARPG because of the various builds that you can create. While there is no stopping you from letting loose your creative juices when putting up a unique character, there are certainly builds that are a cut above the rest.

The Weapon Master Crossbow Witchhunter and Attribute-stacking Gemling Legionnaire all come from the Mercenary class. However, their true potential is unlocked only by utilizing a completely different weapon from their default crossbow.

If you like commanding a legion of subservient allies, the Skeletal Sniper Infernalist and Detonate Dead Bloodmage are awesome minion builds with some unique twists up their sleeves that satisfy different tastes.

Do you have a need for speed? If so, the Ice Strike Invoker, Lightning Arrow Deadeye, and Ice Shot Deadeye can all quench that thirst. The Invoker build forces you to fight in melee range at all times, but its ability to quickly freeze enemies should quell any concerns about retaliation.

The Shattering Concoction Pathfinder is only possible after completing the first Trial of Ascendancy. However, once you’re able to do that, it will not disappoint! It can eliminate map monsters with good efficiency, and you can build it in such a way that it’s able to deal huge burst damage to bosses.

Finally, the Spark Stormweaver is simply amazing. You can start using it even on a budget, and it shines once you’ve invested in some good items in the future. Aside from its damage capability, the Spark Stormweaver has impeccable defenses that get better with the right uniques.

We hope that you’ve found this article useful, especially in helping you decide which build to play. Anyway, some builds require a pretty huge investment. If you need any help with currency and whatnot, be sure to visit our PoE 2 Store today!