Path of Exile 2 vs. Diablo IV: Which is the Better Game?
30.12.2024 - 04:19:19
Game Guides , Path of Exile 2
Diablo IV and Path of Exile 2 are two of the biggest names in the ARPG space right now. You are probably confused as to which game to play because they have plenty to offer. If you have only a limited time to play in a day, you want to make sure that the game you devote your time to is worth it.
Do not worry about that! In this article, we will go over which game is better: Path of Exile 2 or Diablo IV? Let’s begin!
Developers
Let’s start with the developers that created the aforementioned games. Diablo IV is made by Blizzard—the company that started the genre. The first installment in the franchise was slow and clunky but it paved the way for other companies to follow the formula that we know and love.
On the other hand, Path of Exile 2 (aka PoE 2) is developed by Grinding Gear Games. Although this is still the second installment in the franchise, PoE 1 was developed for more than 12 years. The company took its time to perfect the original, producing fresh content every time a new league was released.
That is also the reason why it took over a decade for the company to launch the sequel, though that’s okay considering that PoE 2 right now is amazing even if it’s an Early Access game.
Now, there is an important thing to note here. In the next sections of this article, we will discuss the various aspects that are relevant for both of the games in question. We are going to declare the winner for each category so that you can make an informed decision based on the things that are said.
Lore
Blizzard has always been known to produce beautiful cinematics throughout their games and that is also true for Diablo 4. From the start of the campaign up to the endgame, you are treated with a bunch of well-crafted visuals that tell you everything you need to know about the story as it unfolds.
The dialogue and the voice-acting are on point. The company hired some pretty good actors to play their respective roles very well. If you do the side quests, you will also learn a thing or two about the previous games, such as the disappearance of the Paladins from Diablo II: Resurrected.
The storytelling in Path of Exile 2 is, to put it bluntly, a little too simple. There is no dedicated dialogue box that pops up whenever there is a cutscene. You are forced to listen as the characters speak because the text box, where you can find the transcript, is a bit too small for people playing on laptops or smaller TVs. This was also the case in the original game.
To be clear, the story is okay, though after completing the first three acts, it can certainly be better. To be fair, the game is still in Early Access, so a lot can still be done to improve it. Given the company’s track record, there is no doubt that GGG will end PoE 2’s campaign on a high note.
Winner: Diablo IV
Graphics
Diablo IV runs on its own unique engine built by Blizzard from the ground up. The company is known for optimizing its portfolio of games and it’s quite evident here in D4. Even though the game is visually appealing, you can run it on an average system without a problem, provided that you are willing to tone some of the settings down.
PoE 2 runs on the same engine as PoE 1, so you can see some similarities between the two. However, there are noticeable visual improvements in the sequel that make it stand out from its predecessor.
When you put both of these games together, you will find that PoE 2 has a slight edge over Blizzard’s ARPG. Still, both of them look great, especially if your system can crank all of the graphical settings to the max!
Audio Design
Blizzard wins when it comes to the cinematics of Diablo IV but for the overall sound design, we are going to give it to Path of Exile 2. The in-game sound is just punchier and more vibrant, particularly when you use headphones while playing the game (and we highly encourage that you do so).
If you don’t believe us, just have a taste of the game’s sound design.
Winner: Path of Exile 2
Gameplay
The lore of Path of Exile 2 Early Access might not wow you, but its gameplay certainly will! The game is slow and deliberate, so you might need some time to adjust if you’re an ex-PoE 1 player. Despite the difference in pace, there are a lot of exciting new things, especially when it comes to combat.
First of all, you can initiate a Dodge Roll to get out of harm’s way. Although you can spam it by continually pressing the spacebar, there are certain situations where you have to time a Dodge Roll perfectly. The Act 2 final boss is a good example of this.
If you perform a Dodge Roll way too early, you will get damaged by the projectile he hurls at you. However, when you time it right, you escape unscathed, and you are given enough time to retaliate.
Additionally, the boss fights in this game are pretty challenging. They are so difficult, in fact, that some people deem PoE 2 as the “Dark Souls” of ARPGs!
One of the reasons why is that the bosses in Path of Exile 2 have their own mechanics. Each boss encounter becomes increasingly difficult as they reach certain thresholds. For instance, the final boss in Act 2 will populate the screen with multiple wind- and lightning-based attacks once the second phase of the battle begins.
The boss fights in the game are quite difficult, though they feel pretty rewarding whenever you come out victorious. You just have to make sure that your resistances are in check and that you use the most devastating skills in your arsenal.
So how does D4 compare to the gameplay of Path of Exile 2? Well, Diablo IV is pretty straightforward. Despite the vast array of skills available to you, the game itself is not complicated in terms of the things that you can do every time you encounter a monster. You simply run around the map spamming the skills available to your class until the enemies are dead.
While there is a similar mechanic to the Dodge Roll called Evade in Diablo IV, this has a five-second cooldown, so you cannot spam it as much as you like. That is fine actually; just use the occasional healing potion whenever you receive substantial damage from a recent attack and you should be fine.
This is not to say that there are no complicated mechanics in D4. There are bosses like Uber Lilith that can put you in a world of hurt if you do not give the proper time and attention to study her moves. However, situations like these are quite rare, so you are more than likely to survive anything the game throws at you.
In summary, Path of Exile 2 wins this round because its gameplay mechanics are fun, though D4’s straightforward experience might be more appealing to those who are new to ARPGs.
Winner: Path of Exile 2
Classes
When Diablo IV was released in June 2023, the game launched with five different playable classes, namely the Barbarian, Necromancer, Rogue, Sorcerer, and Druid. Blizzard then launched the game’s first expansion—the Vessel of Hatred—the following year, where it introduced a completely new class never before seen in the franchise: the Spiritborn.
Conceptually, the Spiritborn is great because this class can harness the power of several guardians to eliminate enemies, including Balazan (Centipede), Rezoka (Jaguar), Kwatli (Eagle), and Wumba (Gorilla) to kill the forces of evil.
Each of the guardians just mentioned grants the Spiritborn some unique abilities. For instance, using a Centipede Skill like Withering Fist heals a sizable portion of HP based on how many monsters were poisoned with the said ability.
Be that as it may, let’s not forget that Blizzard has fully launched Diablo IV. In fact, the game received its first expansion not long ago, so you should have more classes to choose from rather than just six.
So, although the game is fun to play, especially when using the Spiritborn, we feel that Blizzard could have done better. After all, the company is known for paving the way for Path of Exile 2 and Last Epoch to exist, right?
Even though Path of Exile 2 is still in Early Access at the time of writing, the game has considerably a lot more to offer when it comes to classes. Right now, this ARPG consists of six base classes, which include the Warrior, Ranger, Mercenary, Sorceress, Monk, and Witch. That’s not all! These characters can ascend, giving you access to two ascendancy classes for each one.
Ascendancy classes in PoE2 are just sub-classes that offer something different depending on which one you choose. The Witchhunter, for example, is one of the ascendancy classes that you can select when playing the Mercenary. He has the power to obliterate foes in a jiffy with Zealous Inquisition. What’s more, the Witchhunter can take a huge chunk off the enemy’s HP on the first hit thanks to Decimating Strike.
How about the Stormweaver? This is the most popular ascendancy class in PoE 2 Early Access because of her power to eliminate everything that comes her way. Survivability is not her strongest suit, but who cares about that if she can melt monsters in a matter of seconds?
In total, Path of Exile 2 gives you the freedom to choose among six playable classes and twelve ascendancy classes. That’s a lot of variety for a game that is not even fully released yet. For this reason, this game is the clear winner!
Winner: Path of Exile 2
Skills and Passive Tree
This is probably the most interesting topic that we’re going to discuss in this article. Time and again, people think that the passive skill tree in the original Path of Exile is complicated. To some extent, yes, it is. However, you don’t have to learn the entire thing; just the right knowledge about your particular build will suffice.
The same thing goes for PoE 2. Although the sequel has over 1,500 passive skills on the tree, making your way through it is much easier than you think. You see, a bunch of life nodes have been removed from the game, so all you have to think about is taking the right passive nodes for your build.
Furthermore, your starting point on the passive tree depends on the class you’ve chosen. For the Warrior, you begin at the lower left side, giving you easy access to nodes that improve armor, melee damage, and rage generation. The Ranger class, on the other hand, starts at the right side of the tree, which is abundant with projectile damage nodes, as well as those that enhance lightning or poison damage.
If you need some assistance with pathing, you can use the handy search tool at the top-right corner of the interface and type the particular stat you wish to improve. Do you want to have a high critical hit chance? You can key in those words in the search bar, and the nodes that have anything to do with critical hit chance will be highlighted.
What about PoE 2 skills? The skills in the game can be engraved using Uncut Gems. Now, there are three types of these things that you have to know about. Uncut Skill Gems lets you create any of the active skills that you want regardless of the standard weapon archetype of your class.
For instance, if you started out as a Ranger (a PoE 2 class that wields a bow and arrow by default) and would like to equip a Crossbow at some point, you can select the appropriate tab on the left side of the Gemcutting interface. Doing so will show you a list of crossbow skills that you can engrave, which will then be placed in your inventory afterward.
Support gems, or gems that enhance your active skills in various ways, are also present in the game. You just have to utilize an Uncut Support Gem for that. An important thing to note here is that, unlike in PoE 1, you can only use a single copy of a support gem to encourage you to come up with new and interesting build possibilities.
For persistent buffs like Herald of Ash and Herald of Thunder, you need to have the Uncut Spirit Gem. In case you don’t know, Spirit is a new resource in Path of Exile 2 that is specifically meant for buffs and minions.
That may seem like information overload to you but trust us when we say that the entire concept is much easier than you think. Thanks to the new skill system in PoE 2, you can use a lot of skills, even those that are not originally presented to you when playing your preferred class.
If the skill system in Path of Exile 2 is too convoluted for your taste, then you might like what Diablo IV has to offer in this regard. The D4 skill system is less complicated. As you level your character up, you will receive points that you can allocate to your favorite ability.
Once you have selected some active skills, you have the option of improving them by taking their upgraded versions. The Rogue’s Twisting Blades, by default, damage enemies and impale them for a short period of time. After a few seconds, the blades return to you, piercing through monsters unfortunate enough to be in the way.
Contrast that with the Enhanced Twisting Blades and you have a skill that deals 30% increased damage on the blades’ return. Most skills in Diablo IV have two or three upgrades, so you may choose which one you prefer based on the outcome you desire.
It is hard to pick a clear winner for this round because there are a lot of things to consider. Path of Exile 2 has a complex skill system for sure but GGG has done an incredible job of simplifying things in the sequel compared to the original game.
The passive skill tree, on the surface, looks quite daunting. However, as you play the game, you will have an idea of which nodes are best to take to make your character stronger. The gemcutting system also enables you to create various skills, so much so that your imagination becomes the limiting factor.
Conversely, Diablo 4’s skill system is known for its simplicity. If you are an ARPG beginner and you’re still trying things out, then this game is more suited to your tastes. Just remember that the skills that you can use here are pretty much limited to the class you’re playing.
Winner: Draw
Accessibility
In terms of accessibility, Diablo IV was given more feedback due to it being more than a year old at this point, thus Blizzard was able to make suitable adjustments based on that. The game has come a long way and it has been well-optimized to run even on modest systems.
Diablo 4 also provides visual indicators that lead you to where you should go next. Additionally, NPCs and items are highlighted whenever you hover over their name. Other accessibility features in this game include a screen reader, speech-to-text, and persistent target lock, among others.
Path of Exile 2 is much more accessible than its predecessor, though when you compare it with Diablo IV, it still has a lot of room for improvement.
During the main campaign, for example, there are some indicators that tell you which area you need to explore to further your progress in the story. However, the quest information does not provide you with anything substantial, so you’re still left wondering how to complete certain quests.
On top of that, there are plenty of on-death effects that occur when you eliminate monsters. These effects are so dangerous that you could get killed in one shot if you’re not careful. What’s worse is that some of these are not telegraphed, so you will experience situations where you’re unsure how your character died.
Fortunately, the game is still in Early Access, so GGG has plenty of time to refine certain areas of the game before the full release.
Winner: Diablo IV
Gear Progression
Diablo IV has had a very rough start when it comes to gear progression. The game was in such bad shape that Blizzard was forced to do something about it in Season 4 with Loot Reborn due to community backlash.
Along with the improvements to the Masterworking System, the game is now pretty good when talking about gearing your character. For those who don’t know, the affixes on Legendary Items in D4 can be enhanced by increasing their rank. To do this, interact with the Blacksmith in any major city and have the necessary crafting materials ready.
On the other hand, Path of Exile 2 has a different story. You see, crafting items was a huge part of PoE 1, though the complexity of the system drove some players away. The reason is that it was just too complicated, and without a dedicated crafting guide, you’re clueless as to how exactly you can get the right modifiers for your build.
Fast forward to the sequel and GGG has made the crafting system more accessible, albeit to a fault. It is now oversimplified that you have to change the way you approach crafting in PoE 2. For one, the Crafting Bench has been removed in favor of runes and soul cores for additional mods.
Aside from that, you had items like the Orb of Alteration and Orb of Scouring back then. The former allowed you to reroll the mods on a magic item, while the latter gave you the power to restart from scratch if you did not get the outcome that you wanted. These things are no longer available in the game.
The removal of Orb of Scouring, in particular, is so brutal because it now forces you to save a bunch of items as crafting bases if you want to create the ideal piece of gear. Besides that, the crafting system itself is so heavily based on RNG. If you are lucky, you could get the best modifiers in just a few tries. However, if that is not the case for you, then you will be forced to buy items from those who are more fortunate in this particular endeavor.
While we give credit to GGG for simplifying the once-complicated crafting system in PoE 1, the company must make the necessary adjustments so that crafting becomes so much better in Path of Exile 2 than it is right now. Adding the Crafting Bench, for example, is a good place to start.
Winner: Diablo IV
Trading
Trading for items in Path of Exile 2 and Diablo IV is nearly identical, though the former is a bit more streamlined in our opinion. Take note that both of these games require the use of external platforms when trading with other players.
The PoE 2 trade website should look familiar to you if you have played the original game. This platform still has multiple filters that allow you to specify the modifiers that you want on an item.
What makes trading in Path of Exile 2 easier is that you can place your items in the Premium Stash Tab and price each one accordingly. Shortly after, the things that you put up for sale will be visible on the trade website.
The process in Diablo IV is relatively easy but it does require some extra steps to finish. When you want to trade an item in this game, you have to take a screenshot of it, and then create a listing on the diablo.trade website. Wait until someone contacts you, then you party up, give them the item you’re selling, and say thank you once the deal is done.
It’s safe to say that Blizzard copied GGG’s trading method probably to prevent the auction house fiasco in the early days of Diablo III from happening ever again.
What about currency? You can trade PoE 2 currency directly within the game itself by going to the aptly named Currency Exchange. In every Act, there should be an NPC you can talk to that will bring up the feature for you. For instance, you can interact with Alva in Act 3 and select the appropriate option.
Thanks to the Currency Exchange, you do not need to visit the trade website anymore. Just choose the desired Path of Exile 2 currency, input the desired ratio, and wait until the order is completed.
Endgame
Diablo 4 received its first major expansion, the Vessel of Hatred, on October 7, 2024. That means that the game has more than enough time to introduce a bunch of content that you can sink your time into.
After you have completed the campaign, you can farm the Nightmare Dungeons frequently to get some good gear. These are just juiced-up versions of the dungeons you have visited in the past, so you should be familiar with their layouts.
You can also select higher difficulty levels known as “Torment.” Torment IV, for example, significantly increases the drop rate of Legendary, Unique, and Mythic Unique items, though your armor is reduced by 1,000 and your resistances by about 100%.
At level 50, you will unlock one of the best features in Diablo IV called the Paragon Board. This is another form of progression that will make your character stronger. It’s sort of like PoE 2’s passive tree, except that you take whatever glyphs you need for your particular D4 build. You can earn Paragon points by leveling up or by maxing out your Renown.
If you want to test the capability of your character, you can run The Pit. This is essentially the Greater Rifts in D3, where you are transported into a dungeon that you have to complete in 10 minutes or less. Every time you finish a run, you can get to the higher tiers depending on how quickly you’ve eliminated everything in the dungeon.
For Path of Exile 2, you can engage with some familiar endgame systems, such as Breach, Delirium, Ritual, and Expedition. Breach seems to be the best in terms of currency farming at the moment because of the monsters that swarm you whenever you initiate the encounter.
Delirium is also profitable due to the good monster density, in addition to the enemies that are already on the map. What’s more, you get “Distilled Emotions,” which is a series of new PoE 2 currency items that enforce Delirium content on Waystones, as well as instill notable passive skills on your amulets.
We praise GGG for providing a variety of content that can be done at the endgame. It’s quite impressive actually when you consider that this game is still in Early Access.
However, given the amount of time that Diablo IV has been released at this point, we have to be objective here and give props to Blizzard for the number of endgame activities they have implemented so far.
Who knows, we might give the crown to PoE 2 when the game fully releases within a year.
Winner: Diablo IV
Which Game is Better?
Before we answer the question of which game is better, we must thank you for reading this article in its entirety. We appreciate the time that you have spent reading our content and we hope to see you again soon.
Anyway, the overall winner for the best ARPG in 2024 is, of course, Path of Exile 2. Despite lacking some content in the endgame, the other aspects of this ARPG are actually quite good. The graphics are impressive and a step up from its predecessor. Much thought and effort have been put into its sound design as well. The amazing audio truly immerses you as you explore Wraeclast 20 years after the conclusion of the original game.
Although it lacks in the cinematic department, the music and environmental audio in PoE 2 are just superb. You can really tell that GGG has upped the ante when it comes to the highly anticipated sequel of Path of Exile 1.
Now, Diablo IV is not a bad game at all. In fact, it has come a very long way with the item changes implemented in Loot Reborn, and the slew of new content introduced in the Vessel of Hatred expansion.
If you tally the total points, D4 scored four while PoE 2 got five points. As you can see, the battle between the two is tight, with only a single point separating the winner from the loser.
It is now up to you which one you will spend your time in. If you want a more beginner-friendly game that has a fleshed-out endgame, then Diablo IV is the one for you. However, if you feel that a challenging experience is more rewarding and that you’re willing to accept that the game is still in Early Access, then play Path of Exile 2. Whichever game you decide to play, you will never go wrong with either of them!
Now that you know which game is objectively better, do you agree with our opinion or not? Let us know in the comments!
In the meantime, visit our D4 Store and PoE 2 Store for all of your gearing needs! We offer amazing bundles at discounted prices. Have your items delivered to you quickly! Here at RPGStash, we are happy to serve you!