Anticipating the arrival of Path of Exile 2 which will have early access sometime late 2024. Let’s take a look at this game’s passive skill tree and skill progression to find out where it differs from the prequel. Even though Path of Exile 2 passives and progression are not expected to be too different from the previous game, a revamped version of the skill tree with new passives and a key new feature of weapon-set-specific passives keeps us excited for the future of this game.
Path of Exile 2 Class Passive Attributes
To really understand how Path of Exile 2 skill progression, we need to understand the base attributes of each class because they are the basis that decides your starting passives.
Path of Exile 2 is shaking things up with new playable classes based on attribute combinations. Those attributes are Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence. In the original game, the Strength and Intelligence combo belonged to the Templar class, and while a spell-casting and beast-transforming class might seem natural to be a Strength+Intelligence character, it is not quite fitting for what a divine templar would do.
Hence Path of Exile 2 takes a different approach – the thematically fitting “Druid” class now embodies this combination instead. Each new class will share a starting point on the massive skill tree, but they’ll have unique “ascendancy” options that shape their development in exciting ways.
From Path of Exile 2 official website, 12 playable characters for the game have been confirmed, including the following: Warrior, Ranger, Huntress, Sorceress, Mercenary, Monk, Druid, Witch, etc. These (revealed) playable characters represent the following attribute combinations:
- Warrior for Strength
- Ranger for Dexterity
- Sorceress, Witch for Intelligence
- Huntress for Strength, Dexterity
- Mercenary for Strength, Dexterity
- Monk for Dexterity, Intelligence
- Druid for Strength, Intelligence
Path of Exile 2 All New Starting Classes Leaked
Path of Exile 2 Passives Skill Progression
Although there are certainly more playable classes and ascendancies. The attributes combination remains the same from POE 1. Thus we can deduce that, in Path of Exile 2, the starting point within the passive skills tree should be the same as in the previous game:
- Marauder for Strength
- Ranger for Dexterity
- Witch for Intelligence
- Templar for Strength, Intelligence
- Shadow for Dexterity, Intelligence
- Duelist for Strength, Dexterity
- Scion for Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence
On that note, we can positively predict the starting points of each class within the passive skills street in Path of Exile 2 as follows:
Even with all the new playable classes added to the game. Passive skills progression in Path of Exile 2 will still closely mirror that of the original Path of Exile.
- Strength at Bottom Left
- Dexterity at Bottom Right
- Intelligence at Top
- Strength, Intelligence Top Left
- Dexterity, Intelligence Top Right
- Strength, Dexterity at Bottom
- Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence at Middle
This is further confirmed by the Warrior (Strength) also starting out in the bottom left in Path of Exile 2.
Path of Exile 2 Duo Weapon-set skills tree
One key feature we get in Path of Exile 2 is weapon-set-specific skill points. These are a limited amount of skill points from your total skill points that can be assigned interchangeably and are tied to your weapon set. With this addition, the game incentivizes the players to utilize the weapon swap mechanic to add more layers to their character customization.
For example, a character can utilize a dual-damage build such as cold and lightning damage at the same time, or, in the case of Druid, invest in both spell damage and melee damage. However, no need to worry that such a mechanic will reduce the RPG aspect of the game since these weapon-set points are limited and can only be obtained from spell books.
