| S TIER |
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The Amazon is probably the new go-to pick for any Attack Build, as the Critical Strike Notable is simply too good. Critical Strikes are the easiest way to scale your Damage for most Builds, even the ones that rely on Damaging Ailments like Bleed or Poison. The Elemental Infusion is undoubtedly very strong for the new Spear archetype, but other Attacks can greatly benefit from the generic Damage bonus against Enemies with Open Weakness. It does not provide defense, but opens up interesting opportunities for unusual setups with the Stalking Panther Notable, and the Elemental Leech or double Flasks provide great recovery. |
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The Lich is a powerful option for any Spellcaster or Summoner. It strongly favours hybrid builds that utilise both maximum Life and Energy Shield. The defensive capabilities are not as strong as predicted initially, but still higher than most other Ascendencies anyway. Additionally, you will probably want to use a defensive Curse with the Blasphemy aura to enable the chaos explosions for a massive boost to Clear Speed. The scalable Unholy Might Buff is also a great, especially for Chaos Builds to fully elevate bonuses from the Wither Debuff. In later stages you will be able to use the Original Sin Ring to unlock all Elemental Skills as well. It is not a league-starting option, obviously, but definitely not as excessive as its precursor in Path of Exile 1. |
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If you want to focus on defense, look no further than the Smith of Kitava. This embodiment of defense will allow you to easily reach 90% Maximum Resistance against all Elemental types and apply it partially to the Physical Damage. It will greatly reduce any need for Elemental Resistance on your Gear, allowing you to pick up more Damage there instead. It is great for typical Warrior builds, but not limited to them. The position on the Passive Tree might seem unfavourable, but this can be fixed with a new Deepest Tower Unique Helmet that makes enemies count as having Low-life status and stacking bonuses against such Enemies. |
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Surprisingly, the Deadeye received a buff for Frenzy interactions, and nothing else. It is still the best choice for fast Clear Speed thanks to the Tailwind buff, which also offers decent Damage Reduction for evasive builds. Bows are still fundamentally one of the best Skills for Clear Speed. The Lightning Rod interactions will no longer instantly delete Bosses in a few seconds, but the intended combo with Magnetic Salvo is still very strong. Of course, this Ascendency can be used for many other archetypes, such as the new hot topic, the Spears. Tailwind, extra Damage with Projectiles against distant Enemies, and a decent chance to generate maximum Charges at once will work greatly here. Most Spear Skills don't consume more than one Frenzy Charge, but generating them more reliably will increase your overall DPS.
Build examples: Magnetic Salvo Deadeye, Lightning Arrow Deadeye
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The Invoker is the best pick for anything involving Quarterstaves. Ignoring Elemental Resistances with Critical Strikes is a massive help with Damage consistency, especially against Bosses and Rare Enemies with extra Resistance. The nerf to Tempest Bell shouldn't be too surprising, considering it was used by almost 25% of high-level players to instantly burst down Bosses. It is still an insanely powerful ability that pairs well with the Invoker's Avatar, which grants you a short boost to Damage. Furthermore, the Meditate ability now gained a lot of defensive value, as you can no longer use the Grim Feast Skill to Overflow your Energy Shield. It will continue to be one of the best archetypes in the game so far, both in terms of performance and gameplay enjoyment.
Build examples: Ice Strike invoker
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The Warbringer received two very impactful changes that bring this Ascendancy to the top for Physical Attack Builds. The reworked Jade Skill now simply grants you Guard based on your maximum Life, making it a very good source of Damage absorption that pairs well with Block. Another change that is easy to miss is that Broken Armor now causes enemies to take 20% increased Physical Damage. It will work very well with the Warbringer's ability to Break Armor with all Hits for a consistent Damage boost. Thanks to the Giant's Blood Keystone, you can use Shield together with a Two-handed Weapon, and this Ascendancy excels at boosting your Block Chance. The Turtle Charm is a Block version of the Acrobatic Keystone, which is, for many, considered a mandatory Keystone for any Evasion Build. It allows you to Block Area Attacks and Spells, which are usually the most dangerous. Overall, this Ascendancy might not be as durable as Smith of the Kitava, but requires much lower investments to reach comfortable levels of defense and offense. |
| A TIER |
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The Tactician is another interesting option. it is not as good at raw Damage Reduction like the Smith of Kitava, but provides a very valuable Stun and Ailment Thresholds. Losing control of your Character is both deadly and frustrating, so this node alone might prompt you for this Ascendency if you primarily look for a comfortable Mapper. The ability to Pin with all Damage types, and enhancing it to block all actions, is also great for general Mapping. It won't be that great against Bosses as the build-up takes a bit of time. This Ascendency is, however, more restrictive for scaling Damage as you still need to cover your base Defenses and Resistances. It is a mixed bag of Projectiles, Totems, And Minions. It is a safe pick for decent results, but it might not excel at everything. |
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The Pathfinder is the best choice for anything related to Poison due to the doubled amount of stacks you can reach. Additionally, the Contagious Contamination is the only way to spread Poisons applied by Spells, as the Herald requires a Martial Weapon now. However, the poison is not the only theme of this Ascendency. The new Notables provide a unique way to get immunity against Elemental Ailments, and you will be able to use Evasion Rating as a way to mitigate Elemental Damage. It will be especially powerful for Builds that stack a lot of Evasion for the Queen of the Forest Armour, or potentially some new Unique items like the Dreamfeather from the Path of Exile 1. That said, the Concoction playstyle is most likely not a viable choice now, the Buff to the Magnitude of their related Ailments is not enough to offset the lack of Skill Level scaling.
Build examples: Gas Arrow Pathfinder
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The Stormweaver received some serious nerfs, but it is still a very good Ascendancy for Elemental Casters. It is also the easiest one to plug and play - you don't really need to worry about some gimmicks or downsides. Extra Shock with any Damage type, or extra Chill, also with any Damage type, are always useful to have. Your Exposure now takes away only 12% Elemental Resistance, but it still scales with Exposure Effects. Scaling Arcane Surge with Mana is probably not the right move now, although the baseline effect is still decent. Alternatively, the Elemental Storms adds a decent amount of Clear Speed and Damage if you have a moderate chance to Critically Strike.
Build examples: Archmage Stormweaver
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The Witchhunter was already a good Ascendancy, but it received a decent boost to your Damage against Enemies with Broken Concentration, and the Sorcery Ward applies a lesser penalty to your Evasion and Armor Rating. Arguably, the biggest advantage of the Witchhunter is the chance to explode Enemies on Kill, which is now much more valuable as you can no longer use Herald Skills to obliterate entire hordes of enemies at once. This Ascendancy does not really have a theme - the bonuses are generic enough to apply to almost all playstyles. It will not excel at anything in particular, but will be good enough to have a fair share of fun with it.
Build examples: Snipe Witchhunter
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| B TIER |
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The Ritualist has only two good aspects. An extra Ring and the effectiveness of Jewellery is a decent option to scale your Damage if your Gear is good enough, but it is not really exciting or build-enabling, especially with the new state of the Ingenuity Belt. The other, arguably more characteristic aspect, is the Blood Ritual. Without the animation time, this Ascendency would be the top pick for any Map-focused player, imitating the famous Headhunter Belt. The reality is, the Cooldown, animation time, and short Duration of the Buffs granted by Ritual are simply too annoying to play around in the long run. The other Notables are rather weak. The extra charms are decent, but not at the high cost of four Ascendency Points, and the Blood Boil skill seems very bland, barely adding any impact to your usual gameplay. |
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The Blood Mage fulfills a specific niche for Critical Strike Spells. It is now extended to include Bleeding Skills, as with the new Blood Barbs Notable, you can inflict Aggravated Bleeds on Cursed Enemies. The popularity of this ascendency will heavily depend on the new tools brought in this update for the Bleed archetype, which seems to be rather plentiful. Unlike Path of Exile 1, Bleed and Critical Strikes pair quite well thanks to the higher Hit damage and bonuses that grant higher values of Magnitude of Ailments inflicted by Critical Strikes. The Life Cost of Skills is problematic and requires some effort to be fixed, usually with a pair of Atziri's Acuity Gloves that grant you Instant Leech. This makes the leveling process rather daunting, so we can't recommend this Ascendency for your League Start. |
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The Infernalist received major changes, but most of them are not good. The initial start with this Ascendency will be much better, but the endgame potential is much lower. The Demonform now drains a flat amount of Life per second, so sustaining higher amounts of Demonflames will be much harder. It, however, doesn't lock you to a certain set of Unique Items like before, opening new opportunities for more interesting Builds in the future. The Spell Damage bonus caps at 10 stacks by default now, which is equivalent to a good Caster Weapon. It saves you plenty of Currency, but you will need to spend it on Gear with Life Regeneration. The good change is that Infernal Flame depletes very fast now, which changes your approach to the Mana sustain. It is a non-trivial issue for most Spell Builds, especially as Archmage is not a very attractive option to scale your Damage anymore. It is great Ascendancy for the early and midgame, but the endgame viability remains a mystery.
Build examples: Skeletal Sniper Infernalist
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It is a very specific Ascendancy that works only in particular setups. At the highest level of Gear, the Attribute stacking Gemling Legionnaire with Hands of Wisdom and Action is probably still the top build you can create. It is obviously gated behind absurdly expensive items, so you probably shouldn't worry about it too much, as even before the changes, the Gemling required a high budget to overperform other Ascendancies. We will definitely see some crazy setups with new Unique items, especially as most of them are targeted for the Endgame, but it is too early to rate this Ascendancy higher. |
| C TIER |
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Unfortunately, it is still not the time to shine for the Chronomancer Ascendency. It is definitely not bad, but could have been better. Slowing down or stopping in time your enemies is a massive boost for your survivability, and reversing your Life and Energy Shield to previous values can definitely save you in some situations. However, it is hard to keep track of your older Afterimages in the chaotic nature of the gameplay, so it can be just as deadly as it is helpful. The other feature of this Ascendency is resetting or bypassing the Cooldown of your Skills. Currently, there are no good Skills to make use of it properly, as even the Hammer of the Gods no longer has a Cooldown now. The saving grace might be the new Flameblast or the Unleash skill, which is not an ideal situation for the League Start. The rotational Cast Speed Buff is decent, but hardly a reason to pick the Chronomancer over anything else. |
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On the other hand, the Acolyte of Chayula is not in the great spot. The Darkness mechanic continues to disappoint, as the Spirit Skills are too valuable to give up. However, the Leech side received a substantial buff. You will be able to Leech Mana with all Damage types, and it will also recover your Energy Shield. It is a huge Defensive buff that might make this Ascendency much more popular in later stages of the game. Unfortunately, Leech requires solid amounts of Damage to be effective, and you will need to source it from good Items, as the offensive bonuses of Acolyte are not great. The lack of good Chaos-based Attack Skills greatly holds back this ascendency as well.
Build examples: Flicker Strike Acolyte of Chayula
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