In the dark ARPG Path Of Exile 2, Warrior has become one of the most anticipated classes with its fierce fighting style. This iron fortress holding Mace and Shield can be both a team guardian and a devastating damage dealer.
This article will deeply analyze the gameplay of this quintessential melee brawler class to help you find Ascendancy classes that are more suitable for you.
Warrior Class Basic Mechanics
As a pure Strength attribute class, Warrior has shown amazing tactical flexibility in POE2. Although its iconic Mace weapon has a slow attack speed, it can cause terrifying AOE strikes to enemies through range skills such as Earthquake and Sunder. When facing a powerful boss, Armour Breaker can weaken the target’s defense, and combined with the burst bonus of Infernal Cry, it can achieve instant high damage.
It is worth noting that Warrior’s Totem abilities have created unique tactics. For example, his Shockwave Totem can slam the surrounding ground, causing continuous damage to nearby enemies and thus controlling the field. Ancestral Warrior Totem will imitate your attack movements. This summoning warrior gameplay is rare in the melee class. To fully exert your strength, it is recommended that players plan their POE2 Currency and reserve some resources for strengthening equipment related to Totem.
In addition, Endurance Charges is also one of the core features of this class. Through Support Gem Break Endurance, players can obtain Endurance Charges when they completely break the enemy’s armor. However, players should note that the acquisition of Endurance Charges is probabilistic. Only after fully understanding the mechanism and familiarizing with practice can Warrior’s strength be greatly improved.
Three Ascendancy Classes
- Warbringer
This Ascendancy class emphasizes tactical coordination, and completely changes the breaking armor mechanism through Anvil’s Weight and Imploding Impacts – the former allows each attack to break armor equal to 10% of damage dealt, and the latter allows Break Armor below 0. This makes him the nemesis of high-defense enemies and a favorite of players who like the playstyle of the base class.
In addition, its iconic Ascendancy Skill Encase in Jade creatively transforms defense into a strategic resource: the accumulated Jade layers per second can be converted into an invincible shield that absorbs all damage, at the cost of being unable to move or attack during the casting period. This skill can be used as a rescue skill at a critical moment, but it also requires players to be able to accurately grasp the timing of casting.
Warrior’s Totem abilities have also been fully enhanced in this Ascendancy. Answered Call triggers Ancestral Spirits every time a totem is summoned. With the damage transfer buff of Wooden Wall, players can build a perfect combat method of Ancestral Spirit Minion output and main body output, causing higher damage to the target while increasing their own defense.
For this Ascendancy, my suggestion is to combine it with Renly’s Training to improve Warbringer’s basic Block Chance and build a real steel defense.
- Titan
Titan Ascendancy, which specializes in defense enhancement, is built on the basis of Warrior’s melee abilities and adds additional armor and melee damage. This also makes this Ascendancy fit the characteristics of the name Titan – it can absorb more damage and strengthen Slam Skill.
More importantly, players can use Crushing Impacts to bring Heavy Stun to the enemy. Combined with the 40% more damage increased by Surprising Strength, you can kill the enemy who is trapped in Heavy Stun.
In addition, you can get 20 additional inventory slots through Colossal Capacity. Hulking Form can increase the effect of Small Passive Skills by 50%, and also allows players to gain a lot of additional stats, from additional damage to defense or health.
However, most players should come to Titan for Earthbreaker and Ancestral Empowerment, because this is its main DPS boost, which greatly increases the damage that Slam Skills can cause.
- Smith Of Kitava
In my opinion, the most interesting Ascendancy is Smith of Kitava, which allows players to choose any of 12 unique passives on Normal rarity Body Armour through Smith’s Masterwork to give it different effects. From the 20% Strength increase of Support Straps to Critical Damage reduction of Internal Layer, each piece of Body Armour is no longer ordinary, but a personalized work of art.
It should be noted that it may be dangerous to rely on Normal Body Armour alone before unlocking the required Smith’s Masterwork nodes. Players can POE 2 currency buy and use it to exchange for much-needed equipment in the market, so as to safely survive the early stage.
Meanwhile, I suggest players prioritize unlocking the two essential Notables, Coal Stoker and Forged in Flame, which allow players to grant Maximum Cold and Lightning Resistance while increasing Fire Resistance and Maximum Fire Resistance, significantly improving the survivability of this class.
As the most traditional melee class in Path Of Exile 2, Warrior achieves amazing gameplay diversity through its three Ascendancies. Whether it is the basic Warbringer, the defensive Titan, or the creative Smith of Kitava, they all show the strength of this class to players.
