Summary
- PoE 2’s latest patch brings balance changes and nerfs to fastest-clearing endgame builds.
- Players can still find success with new endgame builds like Shockwave Totem Warrior and Bonestorm Witch.
- Unique gear like The Three Dragons helm and Widowhail quiver can maximize build effectiveness.
With Path Of Exile 2‘s latest patch, Dawn of the Hunt, the game has received balance changes across the board that have changed both the endgame and the leveling experience. Many of the previous fastest-clearing endgame builds have received severe nerfs in an attempt to shake up the endgame meta and increase the viability of alternate builds.
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There are still plenty of ways to get strong in Path of Exile 2, and players have already been hard at work testing out new builds that are capable of clearing endgame content quickly and efficiently. The builds here have all been tested for endgame clear speed in the 0.2.0 patch, and they’re all performing well. These are the best endgame builds for fast farming in Path of Exile 2.
1
Shockwave Totem Warrior (Warbringer)
Huge Area Clear
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This Warrior build focuses on high AoE damage from a combination of Shockwave and Ancestral Warrior Totems. This is where most of the build’s damage comes from, with the player using Mace Strike mostly to build Rage. Scavenged Plating and Time of Need act as passive skills that players don’t need to worry about, and Hammer of the Gods will allow players to get a bit of extra damage against stunned single-target enemies like bosses.
This is about as easy to play as endgame builds get for the Warrior, as players don’t often need to get into melee with enemies, relying on the Totem AoEs to clear packs before they’re a problem. Close Combat and Overpower are two very important passive skill gems for the Shockwave Totems, and Sunder for the Ancestral Totems. The other supports are less essential but still useful. Players should also note that the Cultist Greathammer is practically necessary for Armor Breaker to work with Mace Strike after the latest patch, and Scavenged Plating works off this interaction here.
2
Explosive Shot Mercenary (Witchhunter)
Explosions And Shock
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This Mercenary build is all about using Explosive Shot to trigger the three Herald skills at once and deal massive AoE elemental damage to mobs. The Shockburst Rounds are there for when players need single-target damage, as this setup lets Explosive Shot trigger Shock, meaning Shockburst Rounds can then be switched to in order to drain the rest of the enemy’s health bar.
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To get this build to work, players must have one unique item, The Three Dragons unique helm. This item allows Explosive Shot to contribute to shock buildup instead of ignite, which is how we’re triggering the Herald skills to get big damage and how we’re making Shockburst Rounds more effective. The Witchhunter Ascendancy is just used for culling strike and the defensive buff of Sorcery Ward.
3
Bonestorm Witch (Blood Mage)
High Crit Bone Spears
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This Witch build relies on high crit chance to deal big single-target damage, with a high max life pool to take full advantage of the Blood Mage ascendancy. Playing this build involves using Bonestorm and Bone Cage to deal with mobs and integrating Bone Blast into the rotation to help with damage to elites and bosses. The Life Remnants skill comes from the Blood Mage ascendancy, and players need to ensure they keep picking up the remnants to keep up their survivability.
This build is fairly straightforward; most of its damage comes from the base damage of the skills, the high crit chance synergies from support gems and gear, and the damage per max life buff from Blood Mage. So, players don’t need to keep a lot of information in their heads during combat and can focus on dealing damage.
It’s worth noting that it’s not advisable to spec into the Blood Mage ascendancy as early as possible, though. Players may want to wait until they have four ascendancy points to spend if they want to offset the life cost of skills that come from Sanguimancy. This can hurt more than it helps early in the game.
4
Ice Shot Ranger (Deadeye)
Lightning Arrow Deadeye Rework
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This endgame build for the Ranger functions in a very similar way to previous Lightning Arrow Deadeye builds, with the ability to clear enemies in seconds over a wide area using both Herald of Ice and Herald of Thunder. This build uses Ice Shot as its main skill over Lightning Arrow but still uses Lightning Rods and Orb of Storms to add some single-target bossing potential.
The gear listed for this build does contain three unique items, but they’re not essential for the build to function, they’ll just help get the most out of it. The most essential part is having Widowhail and the Primed Quiver, as this will give the player a huge attack speed boost, which translates to a big DPS increase.
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The Deadeye ascendancy provides additional projectiles, movement speed, and defenses. Players can mostly just use Ice Shot, fire once, and clear most mob enemies with the interactions here. For bosses, players will place down Orb of Storms first, then use Ice Shot and Lightning Rods to get a boost to their single-target damage from the shock effects.
5
Time Freeze Sorceress (Chronomancer)
Chrono-Master
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This Sorceress build is a Spark build at its core, as that’s where most of the damage will come from. However, the advantage of this endgame setup comes from the high survivability offered by the combination of Time Freeze and Time Snap. Both of these skills come from the Chronomancer ascendancy, and getting both will require all eight ascendancy points. Time Freeze is a powerful skill that stops time for affected enemies, and Time Snap can be used to reset ability cooldowns, meaning that both can be used together to keep enemies frozen in time until death.
To do damage with this setup, players will mostly be able to use Spark on its own against the majority of mob enemies, as this build also requires high crit chance stacking, meaning the DPS from Spark will be quite high. For bosses and elites, players will need to use a more complex rotation of Temporal Chains into Conductivity, then Time Freeze with Soul Offering, and start casting Frost Wall and Spark to deal big damage until the target dies. It’s easier than it sounds once players get used to the rotation and are capable of very fast endgame clear speeds.
9/10
- ESRB
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M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Nudity, Violence
- Engine
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Proprietary Engine
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Franchise
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Path of Exile
- Early Access Release
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December 6, 2024