Warrior is a classic ARPG class with groundbreaking skills from Path of Exile 2. However, many players are already calling for buffs for the Warrior due to his slow abilities and weak attacks in the early stages of Early Access. In Endgame. Warriors could very well be buffed in the future, but for now they are designed for more advanced Path of Exile players.
Of course, it doesn’t matter how many hours you’ve played in the series, as long as you follow the right build guide. Below you will find the only viable Warrior builds in Path of Exile 2’s current state.
Path of Exile 2 Warrior Overview
As you might expect, warriors are the definition of a melee class in Path of Exile 2. The main damage dealers of the class are two-handed weapons such as hammers and maces, each with their own unique skills. However, players can switch things up and use a one-handed weapon along with a shield if they want to play more defensively. Shields also have their own defensive abilities that can block attacks, but they don’t do much damage in this kind of build.
Fortunately, Path of Exile 2 allows you to freely switch between two different builds. So in one build you can use a two-handed weapon and in another build you can use a one-handed weapon/shield. This allows you to easily change your play style depending on whether a particular battle requires an offensive or defensive strategy. You can also dual-wield one-handed weapons, which works with certain skills.
But in general, the best builds for warriors in Path of Exile 2 rely on dealing damage with two-handed weapons. If you try to take a too defensive approach, it’s very easy to get overwhelmed by mobs or bosses.
As a warrior, you’ll want to invest as many attribute points into Strength as possible. The other two attributes, Dexterity and Intelligence, aren’t that important unless you want to be a more agile warrior. In this case, adding a few points to Dexterity might be a good idea for that particular piece of equipment.
Path of Exile 2 best warrior skills
Now that we’ve finished our overview of warriors, it’s time to talk about skills. Warriors have access to a variety of powerful attacks, but their main drawback is their overall slowness. You’ll find yourself pressing buttons to launch attacks faster. However, warriors are just a slow class that requires a lot of patience.
In most cases, warriors rely on AoE damage to harm and kill their enemies. You need to be as close to your enemies as possible to deal as much damage as possible, but this also means you’ll take more damage in return. Here you can again swap out different weapons and shields. Using AoE attacks, then switching to your shield to survive undead enemies and repeating the process is an effective gameplay loop you’ll find yourself using.
Below you will find the recommended skills for warriors in Path of Exile 2.
- mace strike
- earthquake
- Bone Crushing
- Shockwave Totem
- Hellfire’s Cry
- leap slam
- divide
- ancient warrior totem
- hammer of the gods
The best warrior build won’t really come to fruition until you’ve completed Act 3 on Path of Exile 2’s standard difficulty. The best skills in your build won’t come out until you get back into action on Brutal difficulty. Skills like Sunder, Ancestral Warrior Totem, and Hammer of the Gods are very effective against mobs and bosses, but unlock late.
Therefore, at the beginning of the game in Acts 1-3, it is best to use skills such as Earthquake, Boneshatter, Shockwave Tote and Infernal Cry. Your build will really improve once you unlock Leap Slam, which pairs perfectly with Bone Shatter and two-handed weapons. These two skills can be used together to deal massive damage and even dodge enemy attacks in the process. Also, try not to spam Infernal Cry as much as possible as it increases the damage you deal if you use it before performing a combo.
Early in the game, Mace Strike is an effective way to take out mobs, but it is slowly outpaced by other skills. Earthquake, Boneshatter, and Shockwave Totem are decent skills that deal AoE damage, but take time to unlock.
Best warrior support and soul gems
Continuing with the build, the next task is to equip your skill gems with the correct support gems, as well as some spirit gems to give them persistent buffs during combat.
Here are some recommended support gems for a few skills, as well as some of the best spirit gems to use.
support jewelry
- Martial Arts Tempo (all skills, especially Leap Slam)
- Momentum (Leaf Slam)
- Holy Descent (Leaf Slam)
- Magnification effect (all skills, especially except Earthquake/Shockwave Totem)
- Shock shock wave (bone crushing)
- brutality
- Fist of War (Hammer of the Gods)
- Primal Weapon (Hammer of the Gods)
- Supercritical (Thunder)
- Concentration effect (Thunder)
- Plan (Hell’s Cry)
- Cry of Anger (Cry of Hell)
- rage
- Deep Cut (Mace Strike)
- Heft (Mace Strike/Hammer of the Gods)
- Well of Fury (Ancestral Warrior Totem)
- Splinter (Forerunner Warrior Totem)
soul gem
- Overwhelming presence
- scratched sheet metal
Best warrior passive skill
As your warrior levels up, you gain 1 passive point to allocate to your passive ability skill tree. The Warrior’s skill tree is very simple, as it primarily awards points in strength, physical damage, and AoE damage.
Here are some passive abilities we suggest for warriors:
- cruel
- solid metal
- smash
- an unstoppable barrier
- blade catcher
- beef
- sudden anger
- ongoing trauma
- Skull Crusher
- split the earth
- solid technology
Additionally, since a warrior can never have too much strength, you’ll want to place points into as many different strength attribute nodes as possible.
Path of Exile 2 Best Warrior Advancement
I have finally reached the warrior level. You can select it after going through the level-up process with your job. There are two choices for Warrior’s Ascension: Titan or Warbringer.
The main difference between the two Ascendencies is what they want to prioritize. Titans focus on dealing damage, while Warbringers have more defensive abilities that help them survive against large mobs and bosses. I recommend Warbringer because the current status of the warrior has weakened a bit. You can utilize abilities like the Jade Heritage skill to absorb damage without affecting HP, making boss fights much more bearable.
However, in the future, Titan Ascendancy will likely be a stronger choice after some buffs to warriors as a whole.
