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Discover everything you need to know about the Best Ascendancies Tier List in Path of Exile 2 Dawn of the Hunt and the best one to choose from.
Ascendancy in Path of Exile 2 allows players to specialize and enhance their character’s abilities by selecting from powerful subclass options. Players must complete a series of Ascendancy Trials to unlock an Ascendancy. Every Ascendancy comes with a set of passive nodes or skills that give the character specific advantages. Dawn of the Hunt update introduces a new class to the game, The Huntress. This update brings 5 new Ascendancies in the game, allowing players to customize their character and make it more powerful.
In this patch, you can get the Raise Spectre skill, more than 100 new Support Gems, more than 100 new unique items, new encounters with the Azmerian Wisps, Rogue Exiles, and a new strongbox encounter with new Corrupted Essences mechanics. All of these new features change most aspects of the game. Most of the Ascendancies are buffed and nerfed in this update, so we bring the updated Ascendancy tier list. This class tier list can help you choose the best class according to your playstyle and preference.
Ascendancy Overview in Path of Exile 2
Ascendancy is a specialized subclass chosen for your character, granting stronger passive skills and unique mechanics. They allow you to refine and focus your character’s build by customizing the gameplay. Path of Exile has three Ascendancy Classes for every Class. At the beginning of the game, only two will be available per Class. As you progress you will unlock powerful Ascendancy options to refine further and enhance your build. Be mindful of gear requirements to completely catch the ascendancy’s Potential.
Dawn of the Hunt not only brings 7 New Endgame Maps, Tower & Tablet Improvements, Unique tablets, 6 Portal systems reintroduced, and an Atlas Passive Tree Revamp, but also new ascendancies. While some ascendancies like Deadeye and Invoker become more powerful, the other ascendancies like Chronomancer and Acolyte of Chayula are less effective. This allows you to experience an immersive playthrough with new and unique changes. The Amazon and Lich in Path of Exile 2 bring a revolution in the meta as they can become top-tier choices in the game.
Path of Exile 2 Best Ascendancy Tier List
Here is the Best Class Tier List in Path of Exile 2:
| Tier | Classes |
|---|---|
| S-Tier | Amazon, Lich, Deadeye, Invoker, Stormweaver |
| A-Tier | Smith of Kitava, Gemling Legionnaire, Pathfinder, Internalist, Tactician, Blood Mage |
| B-Tier | Ritualist, Withhunter, Titan |
| C-Tier | Warbringer, Chronomancer |
| D-Tier | Acolyte of Chayula |
S-Tier
Amazon
Amazon is an S-tier ascendancy because it offers a dynamic playstyle with a focus on critical and elemental damage. It is just doubling down on the Huntress, making your spears more valuable using things like power charges and frenzy charges. This is only to get different elemental bonuses, increasing your abilities against rare and unique enemies with opened weaknesses. It allows you to deal 50% more damage and do some interesting things with your life and mana flasks. It also allows you to leech life with both elemental and physical damage. The next one here, the Forgemaster, is very interesting.
You can forge your weapon and increase its viability in the middle of battle. This adds explosions to your weapon with a tempered weapon. You can also craft your chest piece using the ascendancy. Your body armor will essentially be a blank slate where you can add different stats on top of it using your ascendancy. This is a unique thing, and it allows for some interesting customization. This is where you normally wouldn’t be able to get some of these mods or be able to just perfectly change your build on a whim if you get an upgrade somewhere else. However, the Amazon requires proper positioning and charge management as well. The Amazon’s kit scales well into the late game.
| Amazon Pros | Amazon Cons |
|---|---|
| Physical Damage | Charge Management |
| Damage Versatility | Positioning Required |
| Critical Strike |
Lich
The Lich is an Ascendancy class designed for players who wish to harness chaos damage and summon minions. This subclass offers a unique blend of offensive and defensive mechanics, making it a compelling choice for summoner builds. Rupture the Soul is the best passive skill from this Ascendancy because it provides a 33% chance for cursed enemies to explode upon death. It deals 25% of their maximum life as chaos damage. You must take Witch as your starting class and complete their Ascension Trials to become Lich. The Lich Ascendancy provides substantial bonuses to minion damage and survivability. If you build for Blackened Heart, you can scale your damage even higher by investing in maximum mana.
| Lich Pros | Lich Cons |
|---|---|
| High Chaos Damage Output | High Mana Cost |
| Strong Minion Synergies | Mana Dependency |
| Defensive Options |
Deadyeye
The Deadeye Ascendancy in Path of Exile 2 focuses on enhancing movement speed, damage, attack speed, and projectile manipulation. You can create powerful ranged builds, excelling at dealing damage from a distance. Deadeye improves the run-and-gun playstyle and can avoid foes while dishing out double damage. This class improves the area of effect for projectiles and adds utility through Marks. Nodes like Endless Munitions and Far Shot improve multi-projectile skills. The strengths of Deadeyes are High Mobility, Scaling Potential, Versatility, and Exceptional Clear Speed. Use Mobility skills and Tailwind buff to avoid damage and focus on critical strike chance and accuracy to boost damage output.
Deadeye emphasizes projectile synergy and ranged damage, while Pathfinder provides better flask utility. The Deadeye Ascendancy class enhances the Ranger’s mobility and damage output in POE 2. It has high speed and damage and can play with spears. Even with nerfed bows, this subclass is still a top-tier choice. The Deadeye has stronger early options for the passive skill, enhancing the initial survivability. However, if you want to min-max more, they are easily respec-ed. You will get a massive boost to attack power and rate without depending on flasks.
| Deadeye Pros | Deadeye Cons |
|---|---|
| High Mobility | Gear Dependent |
| Additional Speed | Mana Management |
| High Damage Output |
Invoker
The Invoker specializes in Ice or Lightning damage and enhancing the skill damage. Invoker looks like a strong choice for the cast on critical builds but lacks some defensive capabilities and the quality of life nodes. This makes it a more damage-oriented Ascendancy choice in Path of Exile 2. It uses elemental magic in its attacks and utilizes abilities more than its counterpart in combat. Invokers change into Unbound Avatars that deal additional damage and enhance the ailments inflicted on foes. The passive skills of Invoker Ascendancy in Path of Exile 2 offer increments to elemental damage and defensive capabilities.
These passives also introduce unique mechanics like Unbound Avatar and Elemental Expression in combat when activated. Use the Invoker Ascendancy to gain both offensive and defensive advantages and amplify their combat strategies. Invoker in Path of Exile 2 refers to a character focused on agility, melee combat, and sometimes elemental damage. It has stronger early options for the passive skill, enhancing the initial survivability. However, if you want to min-max more, they are easily respec-ed. You will get a massive boost to both attack power and attack rate without depending on flasks.
| Invoker Pros | Invoker Cons |
|---|---|
| Elemental Damage | Requires Elemental Ailments |
| Energy Shield | Less Healing |
| High Mobility |
Stormweaver
The Stormweaver focuses on the Sorceress’s capabilities and elemental mastery. It enhances the frequency along with the potency of elemental effects and attacks. This is done through skills like Shaper of Storms, Tempest Caller, and Strike Twice. Stormweaver harnesses everything lightning. When she deals critical damage, she summons lightning swords and stacks up her shock effects on enemies. Her damage can be amplified even further.
Choose the Stormweaver Ascendancy to apply and amplify the general principle of dealing Shock damage along with Lightning damage to foes. The key features of this class are elemental mastery, critical strike synergy, and status ailments. Inflict and manipulate status ailments to control the battlefield and increase damage output. Energy Shield is the most important defensive stat for Stormweaver than the traditional armour stat. Energy Shield grants an extra layer of defense in tough battles. Evasion allows you to avoid taking damage and being hit by projectiles.
| Stormweaver Pros | Stormweaver Cons |
|---|---|
| Regeneration Utility | Low Mobility |
| Ailments | Squishy Playstyle |
| Burst Damage |
A-Tier
Smith of Kitava
The Smith of Kitava is an Ascendancy class available to Warrior characters in Path of Exile 2. Warriors can enhance their smithing abilities by embracing the power of Kitava. They can forge weapons of destruction through fire and suffering. This path allows players to take their smithing skills to new heights by harnessing the power of Kitava. The Smith of Kitava offers a distinct gameplay experience, combining weapon crafting with fire-based combat. It offers weapon crafting capabilities, allowing players to create potent weapons.
| Smith of Kitava Pros | Smith of Kitava Cons |
|---|---|
| Enhanced Weapon Crafting | Resource Management |
| Fire-Based Attack Synergy | Difficulty to Balance Offense and Defense |
| Unique Playstyle |
Gemling Legionnaire
Gemling Legionnaire in Path of Exile 2 is an ascendancy that focuses on increasing their abilities by embedding gems into their flesh. Players increase their ability by utilizing gems and gain enhanced skill slot resistance based on the gems they use. This Ascendancy can also increase the quality of their gems. The utility skills are enhanced, which further increases the use of gems in the game. The key point of this Ascendancy depends on the power of gem quality. The Thaumaturgical Infusion is a unique node that grants enhanced elemental resistances, depending on the number of socketed support gems. On the other hand, Crystalline Potential enhances the quality of all equipped gems in combat.
The Gemling Legionnaire ascendancy is a different gameplay experience that ties deeply into the lore of Path of Exile, introducing mechanics that increase the Mercenary build. The additional slots give you more opportunities for combo-based playstyles. Pair the Gemling Legionnaire and Mercenary’s active skills to capitalize on combos and burst damage. Your goal is to trigger debuffs, swap ammo types, and release a massive single shot of damage on enemies. There are some risks involved in this Ascendancy, as it’s uncertain how the mechanics will work in Path of Exile 2. You can also wield two-handed weapons while meeting the requirements for other gems to make the build more flexible. The Gemling Legionnaire is a perfect fit for you if you’re looking for a build that rewards combos and experimentation.
| Gemling Legionnaire Pros | Gemling Legionnaire Cons |
|---|---|
| Enhanced Elemental Defenses | Gem Dependent |
| Strong Synergy | Resource Management |
| More Adaptive Capability |
Pathfinder
The Pathfinder Ascendancy is a class focused on poison damage and flask manipulation. This Ascendancy allows you to double the maximum number of poison stacks on the enemies. It can change flask charges into damaging concoctions, exploding on impact with enemies or monsters. Pathfinders can create powerful and versatile builds that dominate everything coming in their path. It excels at flask management and stacking poison-damage skills. This allows the Ranger to throw various concussions at the cost of consuming a flask charge. Each concussion serves a variety of uses under different scenarios. Using them can give players perks in combat.
The Pathfinder Ascendancy is the best choice for players who enjoy flask-centric playstyles and poison-based builds. However, it needs careful flask resource management and relies on flask effects. Use skills like Contagious Contamination and Overwhelming Toxicity to inflict poison on the enemies, enhancing the poison-based damage over time and crowd control. Master several concoctions to get significant advantages in combat.
| Pathfinder Pros | Pathfinder Cons |
|---|---|
| Poison Synergy | Less Damage Output |
| High Survivability | Less Defensive without Flask |
| Improved Movement Speed |
Infernalist
Infernalist is an Ascendancy class for the Witch in Path of Exile 2 that applies hellfire, summons angry minions, and unleashes devastating flames. The key features of the Ascendancy are Loyal Hellhound, Demonic Possession, and Pyromantic Pact. It offers several passive skills that increase its unique mechanics. You can cast your spell without focusing on mana consumption. Being an Infernalist, you need to adopt a high-risk/high-reward playstyle to dominate every enemy coming in your path.
Infernalist summon a hellhound that deals fire damage and sucks a percentage of the damage they take. Ignite enemies by turning her mana into an infernal flame. The infernal flames in POE2 overflow because they cast additional skills. They can turn into a demon form to enhance their damage and gain quick movement speed, but they take more damage as well. The Infernalist in Path of Exile 2 excels in a variety of damage types, including elemental damage, chaos damage, damage-over-time (DoT) effects, and minion-focused builds. As an Infernalist, you depend on Energy Shield for survivability and other defense layers. Fire, Cold, and Lightning Resistances are essential to survive elemental damage. Life adds extra survivability by stacking life rolls on gear.
| Infernalist Pros | Infernalist Cons |
|---|---|
| Minion Support | Health Management |
| Demon Form | Resource Management |
| Spellcasting |
Tactician
Tactician is an Ascendancy class available to Mercenaries in Path of Exile 2. It offers a unique blend of support capabilities and combat prowess. The Tactician excels in leading allies to victory, providing buffs through weapons or multiple banners. It can empower totems, increasing their skill speed and enabling them to activate skills. Skills like Suppressing Fire allow the Tactician to pin enemies. Their ability to buff allies and control the battlefield makes it ideal for cooperative gameplay. Skills that pin and snare enemies provide effective crowd control.
| Tactician Pros | Tactician Cons |
|---|---|
| Totem Synergy | Skill Management |
| Crowd Control | Requires Positioning |
| Defensive Strength |
Blood Mage
The Blood Mage in Path of Exile 2 taps into Life energy to make sacrifices for incredible power. Blood Mages offer vast amounts of vitality and use spells with their own Life. They can deal massive damage and can withstand punishment as well. They focus on controlling Life energy to amplify spells and boost combat capabilities. However, it requires sacrificing portions of the character’s Life to cast powerful spells. Life leech and enhanced critical strikes are the two major mechanics of this class, allowing for sustained health during combat and increased critical damage bonuses based on maximum Life.
Blood Mage looks like a great option for any crit-based caster build. The biggest issue is solving regeneration, especially for skills with high mana and Life costs. There’s also a huge chance that Blood Mage passes can improve minion damage. The Blood Mages offer a percentage of their health and mana in exchange for the boosts they gain. The common Blood Mage build depends on archetypes like spellcaster, summoner, and chaos damage dealer. As a Witch, you depend on Energy Shield for survivability, along with other layers of defense. Fire, Cold, and Lightning Resistances are essential to survive elemental damage.
| Blood Mage Pros | Blood Mage Cons |
|---|---|
| High Damage Potential | Risky Playstyle |
| More Flexibility | Gear Dependent |
| Enhanced Survivability |
B-Tier
Ritualist
The Ritualist has some unique abilities from blood boil, which would cause explosions that will give corrupted blood to nearby enemies. However, the big one that I see here is that you can get an extra ring slot. If somehow this pairs with Ingenuity, then this is busted. You’re also able to perform rituals on rare monsters, steal some of their mods, or even sacrifice your own HP to get a random mod that a monster could get. The Ritual Sacrifice allows you to sacrifice the corpse of an enemy to gain one of its monster modifiers for a short time. You also gain a third ring slot by unlocking the Unfurled Finger node. Mastic Attunement increases all stats on rings and amulets by 25%.
The Ritualist allows you to gain the ability to equip an additional ring for a total of 3 and enhanced effects from rings. You can further maximize the effects of having more accessory slots by increasing the ring’s effect. Unfurled Finger and Mystic Attunement are the two best skills from this ascendancy. They allow you to gain 3 ring slots and further increase their effects by 25% for a total of 75% bonus effects from the three rings combined. It’s worth mentioning that the effect of these two skills depends on the rings you get in the game.
However, the effects of Corrupted Blood are not confirmed right now. They can also consume monsters or invoke a ritual to achieve rare enemy monster’s modifiers. As a result, the Ritualist gains unique effects in combat and uses an enemy’s power against them. You can also gain multiple modifiers, as there’s no limitation of getting only one modifier. The Ritualist can also enhance Ring and Charm slots in their equipment.
| Ritualist Pros | Ritualist Cons |
|---|---|
| Damage Versatility | Ritual Mechanics |
| Ritual Sacrifice | Lower Damage Output |
| Unique Playstyle |
Witchhunter
Witchhunter Ascendancy is an assassin-like class that blends sorcery and ruthless crossbow combat. This one is best for boss fights and crowd control. The Witch Hunter focuses on critical strikes and utility. This is the best choice for taking down the magic user’s enemies. It boosts your defense against magic but offers less defense against physical attacks. This Ascendancy disrupts spell casters, slowing their cast interval. It can explode enemies and doubles for undead enemies and demons. Witchhunter is ideal for players seeking a hybrid playstyle that combines physical combat with tactical versatility.
Witchhunter excels at fighting demons and the undead with bonuses, making them effective against these enemy types. Passives like No Mercy boost damage as enemies lose life to make sustained damage stringer. Sorcery Ward grants defense against elemental damage for heavy spell encounters. If you enjoy precision-based combat and strategic planning, then this ascendency is for you. Evasion in Path of Exile 2 is a defensive stat for the Witch Hunter because it allows you to run away from enemies while firing your crossbow in combat. Positioning is important while playing in this Class, so use crossbows to maintain distance from melee enemies and swap between your two equipped crossbows.
| Witchhunter Pros | Witchhunter Cons |
|---|---|
| Counterplay | Limited AoE |
| Defensive Utility | Gear Dependent |
| Crowd Control |
Titan
The Titan Ascendancy delivers devastating melee attacks while maintaining strong physical defenses. It emphasizes powerful melee attacks, increased physical defenses, and effective crowd control through stuns. Titan gets enhanced armour from equipped body armour with passives like Stone Skin, and your hits cause Crushing Blows with passives like Crushing Impacts. Titan in Path of Exile 2 focuses on the Warrior’s ability to deal heavy damage. It uses skills like Crushing Impacts, Surprising Strength, and Earthbreaker to enhance the impact of slam and area attacks along with the stun effects. While focusing on high defense it also considers physical durability as well. It specializes in stunning enemies and Slam Skills.
| Titan Pros | Titan Cons |
|---|---|
| Melee Playstyle | Limited Mobility |
| Physical Durability | Gear Dependency |
| Enemy Debuffs |
C-Tier
Warbringer
The Warbringer in Path of Exile 2 is a C-tier Ascendancy due to the Dawn of the Hunt update. This is a melee-focused Ascendancy that influences totems and powerful warcries to deal massive damage. The synergy between totems and Warcry, combined with strong defensive and offensive capabilities, makes it the best choice for experienced players. It offers a unique and powerful playstyle, combining ability management and strategic positioning.
The Warbringer harnesses powers from ancestral spirits to boost the Warrior’s capabilities. Capabilities of putting down Totems skills like Answered Call and Greatwolf’s Howl and Warcaller’s Bellow enhance the potency. It also boosts the ability to detonate fallen foes and high melee damage. Warbringer is the Warrior class Ascendancy, offering a unique and powerful playstyle for those willing to invest in understanding its complex interactions. It focuses on harnessing the power and increasing the Warcry’s abilities to dominate the enemy on the battlefield. The main issue with the Warbringer is that it is clunky. You don’t have cool additional bonuses or clear spells.
| Warbringer Pros | Warbringer Cons |
|---|---|
| Totem Synergy | Resource Management |
| Warcry Synergy | Complex to Play |
| Crowd Control |
Chronomancer
The Chronomancer is an ascendancy class for the Sorceress that specializes in time manipulation to control the battle. This unique ascendancy offers a devastating playstyle, enabling reset cooldowns, freezing enemies, and rewinding their state in the game. Players can adapt to various combat scenarios by resetting skill cooldowns and immobilizing enemies. However, this ascendancy requires precise timing and strategic use of abilities. Manage cooldowns effectively and divine combat scenarios to boost the ascendancy’s potential. It is a subclass that offers an innovative approach to combat, allowing for powerful combos and strategic gameplay. Chornomancer in Path of Exile 2 controls the flow of battle, unlocks destructive combos, and turns the tide of combat in your favor.
The Chronomancer ascendancy aims at the Sorceress’s ability to exploit time to her perk. It stops time and changes into a last state to gain useful effects like resetting skill cooldowns and crowd control tactics. This has the power over time to be able to freeze time to give you time to attack your enemy, stopping everything around you. Energy Shield is the most important defensive stat for Chronomnacer, more than the traditional armor stat. Energy Shield grants an extra layer of defense in tough battles. Intelligence is a crucial attribute to level up for the Chronomancer. Strength and Dexterity are also crucial to varying degrees based on the build.
| Chronomancer Pros | Chronomancer Cons |
|---|---|
| Combat Control | Depends on Cooldowns |
| Increased Survivability | Difficult Mechanics |
| Enhanced Cooldown |
D-Tier
Acolyte of Chayula
The Acolyte of Chayula Ascendancy is a powerful class that focuses on darkness and shadow manipulation. It gains access to powerful defensive and offensive abilities by sacrificing Spirit for Darkness. The mechanics revolve around chaos damage, resource management, and defensive utility. This Ascendancy offers versatility, Chaos damage scaling, and resource management. It synergizes with the build that focuses on Chaos damage over time, Poison builds, and Breach-focused builds.
Acolyte of Chayula uses magic to deal damage and absorb power in the fight. They trade their Spirit resource for Darkness to deal and absorb damage. Acolyte of Chayula solves the mana issue together with an easier way to leech Energy Shield and can have some additional defense layers. Even if other passives will not be amazing, the 30% of additional Chaos damage can be fit in some particular builds for a bigger benefit.
| Acolyte of Chayula Pros | Acolyte of Chayula Cons |
|---|---|
| Chaos Damage | Limited Breach Utility |
| Flexible Build Options | Gear Dependent |
| Resource Management |
How to Choose the Best Ascendancy in Path of Exile 2
Selecting the best ascendancy in Path of Exile 2 depends on your preferred playstyle and skill level. Experiment with each ascendancy during your gameplay to see which favors your playstyle. Skill Gems and other gear can alter how a class plays, so try with several setups. Ascendancies in Path of Exile 2 can branch into different archetypes due to the new skill systems. Have a keen eye on your class’s Ascendancies and build flexibility. However, the best ascendancy is the one that you enjoy the most during your gameplay.
Choose the ascendancy that repeats with your preferred mechanics. Don’t hesitate to switch classes if your initial choices are not as good as they are supposed to be. Select a Sorceress or Mercenary class to handle both damage and survivability during solo play. Witch (minions) or Monk (melee DPS) shine in group play as they’re supportive and specialized classes. Choose a Mercenary and Ranger to deal damage while avoiding mechanics in the Endgame. The Ranger or Mercenary offers excellent ranged capability. If you enjoy devastating AOE damage or summoning allies, then Sorceress and Witch are the best options to utilize.
FAQs about Path of Exile 2: Best Ascendancy Tier List?
What is the best Ascendancy in Path of Exile 2?
The Amazon is the best ascendancy in Path of Exile 2 because it offers a dynamic playstyle with a focus on critical and elemental damage. It is just doubling down on the Huntress, making your spears more valuable using things like power charges and frenzy charges.
What factors determine the best Ascendancy?
Playstyle preferences, damage type, skill synergy, and survivability are the factors that determine the best Ascendancy to choose for your build.
Which is the worst Ascendancy in Path of Exile 2?
Acolyte of Chayula is the worst ascendancy to choose because it has limited breach utility and depends on gear.
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