Path of Exile 2 Classes and Ascendancies: Full List (2026)

Path of Exile 2 has eight playable classes in Early Access: Warrior, Ranger, Huntress, Mercenary, Monk, Sorceress, Witch and Druid. Each one has two or three ascendancies, the specializations you unlock partway through the campaign. Two more classes, the Duelist and the Shadow, arrive with the 1.0 full release on December 11, 2026.

Last checked: November 9, 2026 (patch 0.5.5).

All Path of Exile 2 classes and ascendancies

Your class sets your starting attributes and where you begin on the passive tree, which all classes share. It doesn't lock you out of gear. Any class can pick up any weapon, but your starting area of the tree makes some styles much easier.

Warrior

The Warrior hits hard with maces, stuns enemies and relies on armour, shields and a big life pool.

• Titan: the slam specialist. Slams create extra aftershocks, hits become crushing blows, and it gets more maximum life and more armour from body armour. It also carries a chest that adds extra inventory slots.
• Warbringer: built around breaking enemy armour, warcries and totems. It can summon ancestral spirits from totems and turns shields into a reliable block source.
• Smith of Kitava: a body-armour specialist. You choose bonuses your chest piece grants, such as fire resistance, life or Spirit, and its fire resistance modifiers also give partial cold and lightning resistance. It also grants skills like Manifest Weapon and Temper Weapon.

Ranger

The Ranger fights from range with bows and stays mobile.

• Deadeye: fires an extra projectile with its skills, builds speed through Tailwind and gets more out of Frenzy Charges and marks. It can also create a Mirage that repeats your ranged attacks.
• Pathfinder: focuses on flasks and poison. It ignores slows, can't be heavily stunned while sprinting, and turns part of its evasion into elemental damage reduction.

Huntress

The Huntress, added in the 0.2.0 Dawn of the Hunt update, mixes close-range spear attacks with thrown spears.

• Amazon: turns high accuracy into critical hit chance and extra physical damage, and reveals weak points on rare and unique enemies for big damage bonuses.
• Ritualist: gains an extra ring slot and an extra charm slot, boosts bonuses from rings and amulets, and has blood-sacrifice skills.
• Spirit Walker: added in 0.5.0. It calls on stag, owl and bear spirits for different abilities, can tame unique beasts and fights alongside a spectral companion.

Mercenary

The Mercenary uses crossbows and swaps between ammunition types, such as freezing, fire and lightning rounds.

• Witchhunter: executes weakened enemies with Culling Strike, breaks enemy concentration for extra damage and protects itself with a ward that soaks up elemental damage.
• Gemling Legionnaire: the gem expert. It gets bonuses based on the colors of its support gems, can meet gem requirements with its highest attribute and gains extra effects from gem quality.
• Tactician: a support-style leader. Its banners have no placement limit, allies near it deal more damage, and it can pin enemies in place. It also gets totems that fire when you do.

Monk

The Monk fights with quarterstaves, chaining fast strikes into combo finishers.

• Invoker: adds extra lightning and cold damage, lets critical hits ignore enemy elemental resistances and gains Spirit from evasion or energy shield on its body armour.
• Acolyte of Chayula: trades Spirit for a chaos-themed Darkness resource that absorbs damage, doubles chaos resistance and gains void-themed skills.
• Martial Artist: added in 0.5.0. It creates illusions, summons spectral bells and specializes in unarmed fighting. It can tattoo runes onto its body for extra rune sockets.

Sorceress

The Sorceress is the elemental spellcaster, using fire, cold and lightning.

• Stormweaver: always has Arcane Surge, calls down storms on critical spell hits and can stack two shocks or two chills on the same target.
• Chronomancer: controls time. It gets skills like Temporal Rift and Time Freeze, gives spells a chance to echo or repeat, and slows nearby enemies.
• Disciple of Varashta: added in 0.4.0. It summons three djinn, each with its own skills, and builds its defenses around energy shield and mana.

Witch

The Witch commands minions and uses chaos and bone magic.

• Infernalist: replaces mana with Infernal Flame, can transform into a demon and summons a hellhound. It reserves life in exchange for strong stat bonuses.
• Blood Mage: pays for spells with life, has a high base critical chance for spells and leeches life from spell damage. It also works well with curses and bleeding.
• Lich: socket a jewel into its Phylactery for doubled bonuses, apply an extra curse with infinite duration, and lean heavily on energy shield.

Druid

The Druid arrived in the 0.4.0 update, The Last of the Druids. It shapeshifts into a Bear, a Werewolf or a Wyvern and uses storm and earth magic.

• Oracle: changes how the passive tree works, including allocating some skills near keystones without connecting to them. It also makes enemy hits against you unlucky.
• Shaman: an elemental specialist. It inflicts exposure on nearby enemies, adds extra elemental damage, adapts to the elements that hit it and gets Spirit from empty charm slots.

Shapeshifting isn't exclusive to the Druid. In-game tips note that any class can shapeshift with a Talisman.

Duelist and Shadow: coming in 1.0

The Duelist and the Shadow join the game on December 11, 2026, when Path of Exile 2 goes free-to-play. GGG revealed the Duelist in a gamescom trailer in August, then showed the class and its new weapon type in a deep-dive video. The Shadow was announced during the ExileCon 2026 keynote on November 6. We'll add both classes and their ascendancies to this list once they're live. See our Path of Exile 2 release date guide for everything else in 1.0.

How to unlock your ascendancy

Ascendancies unlock through Trials of Ascendancy during the campaign:

1. Act 2: the quest Ascent to Power rewards Balbala's Barya. Take it to the Trial of the Sekhemas, reached from the Ardura Caravan.
2. Act 3: the quest The Trials of Chaos rewards a Chimeral Inscribed Ultimatum. Take it to the Temple of Chaos for a Trial of Chaos.

Your first completed trial lets you choose your ascendancy and gives you 2 ascendancy points. You can earn 8 points in total. The later points come from higher-level versions of the same trials later in the game.

Which class should you pick?

There is no wrong first choice, since every class can finish the campaign. Pick based on how you like to play:

• Melee and tanky: Warrior, or Monk if you prefer speed over armour.
• Ranged attacks: Ranger (bows), Huntress (spears) or Mercenary (crossbows).
• Spellcasting: Sorceress for elemental spells, Druid for nature magic and shapeshifting.
• Minions: Witch, the class built around commanding the dead.

Since 0.5.0, the game also supports downloadable build guides from community creators. Load one and the game shows which passives, ascendancy skills and gems to take. New players should read our system requirements guide before installing.

Frequently asked questions

How many classes are in Path of Exile 2?

Eight are playable in Early Access: Warrior, Ranger, Huntress, Mercenary, Monk, Sorceress, Witch and Druid. The Duelist and Shadow arrive with 1.0 on December 11, 2026, bringing the total to ten.

How many ascendancies does each class have?

Two or three. The Ranger and Druid have two each, and the other six classes have three.

When do you unlock your ascendancy in Path of Exile 2?

After your first Trial of Ascendancy in the campaign. That's either the Trial of the Sekhemas in Act 2 or the Trial of Chaos in Act 3.

How many ascendancy points can you get?

Eight in total. Your first trial gives 2 points, and the rest come from later, higher-level trials.

Can any class use any weapon?

Yes. Your class only sets starting attributes and your position on the shared passive tree. Equipment needs the right attributes, so off-class weapons take more passive investment.

What was the last class added to Path of Exile 2?

The Druid, added in December 2025 with The Last of the Druids. The Duelist and Shadow are next, launching with 1.0 on December 11, 2026.

Path of Exile is a trademark of Grinding Gear Games. mgame.gg isn't affiliated with or endorsed by Grinding Gear Games.