Starting a game like path of exile its interesting, a mix of fun but also overwhelming for new players, this post is to show you the best class and ascendancy in path of exile for almost every league and update, it can be a bit difficult sometimes because there are small details that change with each league, the passive skill tree of this game it’s something that despite being it’s best feature there are high chances that if you do not use a guide, your first build will not be able to achieve the end game levels of the game.
Choosing a class is the first decision you have to make in path of exile, and despite the fact that a lot of people say, the best class is not always the one that suits your playstyle, of course, there are a lot differences between them when it comes to optimization, survival, and especially when requiring specialized equipment (therefore expensive) to fully optimize your character.
Path of exile trials of ascendancy: location and requirements. Your ascendancy is very important for your build, pass every trials and enter the labyrinth to obtain your ascendancy with this guide.
Click here if you want to see the meta builds to start the new league!
That said, this article’s main objective is to help you choose the class that best suits you, and the most used by veteran players to clear the objectives of every league, so, follow this tips to get the most out of the game, and try to read some guide if you want to clear every league objective in your first run of the game.
Generally speaking, every build focus on one or two main abilities, and some support gems to use some buffs, some builds are capable of farming and bossing while using the same abilities, sometimes even with random equipment, however with the last 3 leagues everything changed and you have to focus on a primary skill to focus on a very high damage output, if you want to know more about damage types and elements.
Main classes in path of exile
Marauder: This character main feature is strenght, we could say that the best class and ascendancy is found here, it starts with ideal attributes for the use of two-handed weapons and the increase in life and resistance, it is one of the best characters to start if you have never played path of exile since it resists many hits, and their builds do not require very expensive equipment, the ascendancy classes of this class are Juggernaut, Berserker and Chieftain.
Ranger: The Ranger uses her great skill with bows or daggers in high precision combat, starting with this character is also quite easy if you use a bow since basically, the enemies can’t touch because your ranged combat, you do a lot of damage from afar, however, rare or unique bows and quivers are generally more expensive than other types of gear, even so, playing the Ranger is quite fun, their ascendancy classes are Pathfinder, Raider, and Deadeye.
Templar: The templar is a good character for physical attacks and the use of spells, its main attributes are strength and dexterity, and its skill tree focuses on defensive abilities, it is a very good option to start with this class since it has good resistance, one of his Hierophant builds are probably the best build in the game, the ancestry classes are Hierophant, Inquisitor and Guardian .
Witch: The witch is one of the most fun characters to play, Intelligence is her main stat, using abilities and witchcraft to summon minions, Witch builds often need expensive items to be well optimized, specially to tackle endgame bosses, so I don’t recommend starting with this class as a beginner, but if you’re not worried about struggling a bit, in the beginning, to farm hours for currency to get one item, go ahead, the ascendancy classes are Occultist, Necromancer, and Elementalist.
Duelist: The duelist class focuses on strength and dexterity to deal damage while evading attacks, their builds are generally very good and interesting, however, they can be also expensive, for their need of great equipment, don’t worry as this does not means fun is ruined, having a duelist well optimized for battle is great. Ascendancy classes are gladiator, slayer, champion.
Shadow: This character class with his dexterity and intelligence is capable of generating critical attacks either with weapons or spells, he is a character with very interesting and complex builds, he is capable of generating a lot of damage and despite the fact that many of his builds use quite expensive equipment ( most of this builds being the trickster), he is one of the most fun characters to play, the ascendancy classes for the shadow are: Saboteur, assassin, trickster.
Scion (Heiress): We can unlock this character when we go through the labyrinth for the first time in act 3, she is the most balanced character class, we start in the middle of the skill tree, so we can do any build we want but only have one ascendancy and not three as the other classes have. the ascendancy of this class is Ascendant.
From act 3 we can choose an ascendancy, which is a specialization for our class, with a different skill tree, this makes the builds highly specialized, many people recommend playing with a guide so you don’t miss anything and don’t waste skill points on wrong passives.
Despite all this, I recommend that you just play and have fun, at least on your first playthrough, create your character as you wish in your first gameplay, if you like the game and want to start a new league with a well-optimized class, to clear every objective of the league, watch some videos, read some guides and keep having fun.
This is the best class and ascendancy for you
The following is a list from best to worst ascendancy based on character gameplay, quality of builds, survivability ti endgame content, and how expensive is to optimize.
1.- Hierophant, juggernaut, elementalist:
In first position we have two great builds, with these builds we will not struggle to reach the endgame content since with juggeranaut and hierophant we are tanky enough to get some hits, and we still do great damage, while the elementalist is practically the character with the highest damage per second in path of exile, probably not the best survivability, if you get hit you’re done, but it will be hard for them to hit your damage one shot everything.
2.- Occultist, Gladiator, Raider, Champion:
These 4 builds are excellent, fun and they are in this position and not in the first one because the first 3 are too good, occultist is excellent if you love summoning lots of undead minions to battle for you, and raider is the best class with a bow, both classes generally need very good equipment to stand out, however, gladiator and champion can usually become unstoppable with a low budget and you can even obliterate the hardest bosses with some builds, which is why they are also the first choice to reach the endgame.
3.- Chieftain, Guardian, Assasin:
These builds are ranked number 3 since despite being very good, they do need good equipment to survive, the chieftain build ancestral warchief is still one of the best builds to complete every league objective with a low budget so, it can be a great choice, however, the other two are totally dependent on very specific expensive items, they have still very good builds to try, good to play and probably if your first build is an assassin, it will become one of your favorite builds.
4.- Necromancer, Trickster, Berserker:
The berserker is not lower down because he can really shine sometimes, however he has received some nerfs on the latest updates and its now difficult to create a good Berserker without a budget, still is a very fun ascendancy to play, but he does not have enough skills to shine like his counterparts, trickster and necromancer are excellent classes, necromancer is the best summoner ascendancy of the game while trickster is fun, despite of being an expensive class, they are very fun to play but they do require quite expensive items to survive endgame.
5.- Saboteur, Slayer, Inquisitor:
Despite the fact that the saboteur at times is a build that with certain abilities and items can reach the endgame without problems, these three are here because they don’t stand out so much from the others and they quickly need good equipment to survive, also uploading them can reach be slow at first, however this does not make you go to another class, they are very fun builds.
6.- Deadeye, Pathfinder, Ascendant:
The deadeye build is only here because it really depends too much on items to be able to stand out, expensive items like Headhunter if you plan on farm the highest tiers of the atlas, however, if you are rich it is a very good build, an extremely powerful for endgame dungeons and high tier maps, plus the build tornado shot is the most popular for magic find, pathfinder is down here for the low popularity, but in the last updates some builds have become great, poisonous concoction as example.
Conclusión
The path of exile classes are fun and interesting to play, they have a great variety of passive skills to choose to grow your build, and as stated below, the best class is not always the best that suits your gameplay, some classes have advantages and some others have received skill nerfs, lowering their damage output or defense layers, there are builds in which the campaign acts and the survival of the end game maps and bosses is easy, another clases are focused on farming maps, another classes are made to farm endgame bosses, you will find very difficult to start with a necromancer, however, it’s worth the risk having so much fun summoning tons of undead skeletons.
If you still don’t have path of exile, download it by clicking here.
Crafting guide for path of exile for beginners: This crafting guide will help you on your first levels to optimize your character to run easy through every act in the game.
