The Huntress Class - Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.2.0
16.03.2025 - 17:33:21
Game Guides , Path of Exile 2
It is official! The Huntress is the newest class that will be introduced in PoE 2 Patch 0.2.0. Although the game’s next major update won’t be implemented until next month, we have key information that can help you theorycraft possible Huntress builds, assuming that you want to play this spear-wielding vixen.
Now, the Huntress is definitely a new class to watch out for. If you do not want to waste time farming currency and would like to outfit your Huntress Build with the best items, then do visit our PoE 2 Store for all your needs!
Why Choose the Huntress?
With the classes that are already available in Path of Exile 2 Early Access, why should you consider playing the Huntress? Well, aside from being a new addition to the roster, the Huntress offers a completely unique playstyle to the game.
In case you do not know, the Huntress wields a spear, which is a two-handed weapon that is never before seen in the franchise. In many of the gameplay trailers that developer Grinding Gear Games has already showcased, the spear can be utilized for stabbing and slashing.
That said, the Huntress in PoE 2 is a force to be reckoned with. The main selling point of the Huntress is that she is a balanced character who is able to go into a thick pack of mobs and out in several seconds due to her sheer power and abilities.
While she can utilize the two-handed weapon in melee range really well, it also seems that the Huntress is a proficient mid-ranged fighter who can throw the spear at her enemies, particularly those who are trying to run away.
Let’s explore the Huntress’ repertoire, shall we?
Huntress Skills
To be clear, any class in Path of Exile 2 is able to wield the right weapon type and get access to skills available to those weapons. However, we are talking about default skills in this section. Since the Huntress likes using the spear, then we will go over the skills specifically for the said weapon only.
In addition, there is limited information about the other skills available to the spear-wielding Huntress at the time of writing this PoE 2 guide, so we will only explain the ones that have been revealed so far.
With that out of the way, here are the Huntress Skills in Path of Exile 2:
Whirling Slash
Whirling Slash is a rather interesting skill. When used, you initiate a slash that creates a storm that continuously damages nearby enemies. You can utilize Whirling Slash a few times, and each time you do so, the storm gets bigger and bigger. What’s more, whenever you go out of the storm’s area of effect, it will explode and deal even more damage!
This skill does not have any specific damage tags. Normally, the game tells you if this skill deals physical, fire, cold, lightning, or chaos damage. The Whirling Slash does not have that description, which is actually a good thing. Why is that, you ask?
Not having a specific damage type enables you to use something like Cold Infusion to give it the ability to deal considerable cold damage. This setup, of course, necessitates that you equip something that “Adds Cold Damage to Attacks,” like this endgame Breach Ring that we have available in our PoE 2 Store!
Here are the support gems that we believe are perfect for the Whirling Slash:
- Cold Infusion
- Close Combat
- Cold Penetration
- Ice Bite
- Magnified Effect
Spearfield
In Path of Exile 2, you are going to be surrounded by a lot of enemies. That is why you need to use skills that can hit more than one, which is what this next skill does.
Spearfield is a physical damage skill that prompts you to stab the ground using your weapon to burst forth a bunch of spears that spread in a large cone in front of you. These spears can linger on the ground for a relatively long duration. The reason why is that any monster that goes near them goes kaboom!
So in essence, Spearfield is a skill that damages enemies via an initial hit and then makes them explode like they are in a minefield. This is perfect for dispatching groups of monsters at once. You just have to be mindful of its mana cost because it increases by a considerable amount at each level.
Since Spearfield is an ability that deals physical damage, here are some of the support gems you can use to amplify its effectiveness:
- Heavy Swing
- Brutality
- Physical Mastery
- Execute
- Inspiration
Rapid Assault
The Huntress Skills that have been discussed so far all deal area damage that can effectively wipe out multiple enemies. But, what can you do if you want to deal significant single-target damage? Well, you have the Rapid Assault for that!
Rapid Assault is a skill that allows the Huntress to initiate a series of fast stabs, making quick work of the enemy unfortunate enough to be at the receiving end of her spear. This is likely the skill that you will use often, especially when trying to whittle down the enemy’s HP.
Similar to Whirling Slash, Rapid Assault does not have a specific damage tag, giving you a whole world of possibilities when it comes to the support gems you can use. That said, here are the possible support gems that may amplify the damage of Rapid Assault to a greater extent:
- Splinter
- Rage
- Heft
- Demolisher
- Armour Explosion
Puncture
Being a melee character, you need to have the ability to close in the gap. Fortunately, the spear-wielding Huntress is capable of that by using Puncture. This skill prompts the Huntress to lunge forward and attack the enemy, dealing up to 200% more physical damage depending on the distance traveled.
To get the most out of Puncture, use it at its maximum range so that you can deal the full 200%. This is crucial because the skill itself guarantees that the enemy is left bleeding, which you can then scale by using the appropriate support gems, such as:
- Deep Cuts
- Stomping Ground
- Ingenuity
Impale
Impale is another movement ability, but unlike Puncture which forces you to lunge toward the enemy, you are actually moving away by jumping backward. This skill has one important component that you have to keep in mind. It is that you need to target an enemy before you can utilize it.
Upon use, Impale has a huge chance to pin the enemy. Once the target is pinned, the affected enemy cannot move for several seconds, which is more than enough time for you to hit them with everything you've got until they die!
Having said that, here are some of the support gems that will maximize Impale's capabilities:
- Pin
- Lockdown
- Concentrated Effect
Blazing Lance
One of the most compelling reasons to play the Huntress Class in Path of Exile 2 is her versatility. Not only can she dispense pain quickly via Rapid Assault, and hit multiple monsters at once with Whirling Slash, but she can also hurl her spear as a powerful projectile capable of eliminating enemies foolish enough to think they can escape her grasp! This is exemplified by her Blazing Lance ability, of course!
Blazing Lance prompts the Huntress to throw her spear a couple of times. The first spear creates a trail of fire in its wake, and the second expands the flames outward to hit more targets.
Now, the skill's description says that you can take advantage of modifiers that provide additional projectiles, though this effect only applies to the second spear. This implies that you can have one or two more spears fired for the second volley, thus increasing the trail of fire's area of effect significantly.
If you are going to use Blazing Lance extensively, you can amplify its damage by wearing a rare amulet that has "+ to Level of All Projectile Skills." Additionally, use the following support gems:
- Scattershot
- Fire Infusion
- Fire Penetration
- Fire Mastery
- Searing Flame or Heft
Storm Spear
If you want to deal significant damage to the enemy in Path of Exile 2, you need to use a mechanic that would allow you to inflict Shock somehow. Shock is an elemental ailment that makes enemies take more damage from all sources and you can only apply it if you deal lightning damage.
Storm Spear not only deals lightning damage (and therefore, enables you to inflict Shock) but also has a very high chance of ensuring that enemies will be affected by the said elemental ailment.
This is a projectile skill that, at first, only prompts you to throw a single copy of your spear in a targeted direction. However, once it hits the enemy, the spear bursts and fires multiple bolts of lightning to nearby enemies. This makes Storm Spear a great opener and finisher as well.
Having said that, here are the support gems that we believe would make Storm Spear a worthwhile skill to use:
- Lightning Infusion
- Lightning Penetration
- Conduction
- Overcharge
- Coursing Current
Ice Spear
This next skill is a bit similar to Storm Spear in that you hurl a copy of your spear at the enemy as well. The main difference is that instead of bursting into bolts of lightning, the spear breaks when it hits the target, causing enemies behind it in a cone-shaped area to also get damaged in the process.
The Ice Spear is best used when fired from a relatively long distance because it "arms" itself while in flight, dealing 80% more damage as a result. Since its damage scaling involves converting 70% of your physical damage to cold damage, you can take advantage of a couple of Breach Rings that have "Physical Damage to Attacks."
In addition, you can amplify the effects of those Breach Rings by using the Ingenuity belt. You can buy Ingenuity from our PoE 2 Store if you want.
What are the best possible support gems for the Ice Spear skill? Here are our recommendations:
- Cold Infusion
- Glaciation
- Ice Bite
- Concentrated Effect
- Primal Armament
Tips
Even though the Huntress won't be available in the game until Path of Exile 2: Dawn of the Hunt drops on April 4, we can speculate some things that will help you get the most out of this new class. Here are some tips:
Focus on Three Skills
There are plenty of skills that the Huntress has access to. However, if you want to maximize their damage potential, and given that you can only use one copy of a support gem at a time, it is best that you only focus on using a few skills.
For example, you could build on Whirling Slash, Rapid Assault, and Puncture to defeat any monster that you see on the screen. Or maybe you want to add a projectile component to your PoE 2 Huntress build, so it's best that you choose between Blazing Lance, Storm Spear, and Ice Spear, and add Puncture and Spearfield to complete your primary attack skills.
Enhance Physical Damage
Several of the Huntress' abilities convert physical damage to another damage type. If you want to capitalize on that, you have to make sure that your innate physical damage is high so that you can maximize your damage output.
That said, physical damage can roll on a few items: the spear, rings, and gloves. On the spear itself, you want "% Increased Physical Damage" and "Adds Physical Damage." The weapon slot is where you can get the most physical damage out of all your equipment, which is only fitting that you go for the aforementioned modifiers.
On the gloves and rings, go for"Physical Damage to Attacks" and another damage type depending on the skill that you want to use. So, if you intend to utilize Storm Spear as your primary damaging ability, you can have "Adds Lightning Damage to Attacks."
We highly recommend mirror-tier Breach Rings because you can increase their quality to 50%, thus massively boosting their damage modifiers.
Activate Herald Skills
Barring any nerfs to the Herald Skills, you must use at least one of them to take advantage of their screen-clearing capabilities. We advise you to activate either Herald of Ice or Herald of Thunder (or both). If you are going to use them both at the same time, you will need a considerable amount of Spirit. You can refer to our PoE 2 Spirit Guide for more information about this resource.
Take note that the effects of the Herald Skills only work if you are able to inflict ailments associated with their respective elements. So, if you are using Herald of Ice, you either have to utilize Ice Spear as your primary skill or Rapid Assault with Cold Infusion.
Take Acrobatics
The Huntress is another DEX-based class in Path of Exile 2. As such, she has easy access to nodes on the passive tree that increase evasion rating. Now, if you have a relatively high amount of evasion, you can take the Acrobatics keystone passive.
Once allocated, Acrobatics enables you to evade all hits, including those killer boss slams that can one-shot you each and every time. However, this keystone has a very huge downside, where your evasion rating is reduced significantly.
To address that, you must allocate the right evasion nodes on the passive tree and wear the appropriate evasion-based gear. We happen to have just that, so do visit our shop if you want to get a hold of it as soon as Path of Exile 2: Dawn of the Hunt is released.
Get Ingenuity
It seems that the Huntress can greatly benefit from Ingenuity seeing as though her skills get amplified immensely by adding physical damage and another damage type.
For those who do not know, Ingenuity is a unique belt in PoE 2 that increases the bonuses from equipped rings by a whopping 80%. Not only that, but you can get even crazier bonuses if you activate the Omen of Corruption, which allows you to go higher than 80%. Yes, that means that gaining 98% increased bonuses from equipped rings is possible!
Are you curious about what the Omen of Corruption does? Well, you can read all about it in our PoE 2 Omen of Corruption Guide.
Final Thoughts
And there you have it! Those are the things that we know about the Huntress Class in PoE 2 so far! Despite the limited information out there, we can infer that this spear-wielding vixen has the potential to become one of the most-played classes in the game for a couple of reasons.
For one, it is the first time that the spear is introduced to the franchise. The fact that you can use the said weapon to stab, slash, and throw it at the enemy already shows you its amazing versatility.
Aside from that, given that the spear is the default weapon of the Huntress, we can surmise that she has ascendancy nodes that will improve it in more ways than one. We would have loved it if GGG revealed those ascendancy nodes early, but maybe they want you to wait until March 27 to get all the answers.
With all of that said, are you going to play the Huntress class once Path of Exile 2: Dawn of the Hunt launches on April 4? Please share your thoughts in the comments!
While you are waiting for the new class to come, you can head to our Path of Exile 2 Store to find a wide assortment of uniques, rare items, and different types of PoE 2 Currency!