5 Best Classes to Play in Path of Exile

The enigmatic realm of Edgar Allan Poe’s literary universe beckons you to a class that delves into the depths of his macabre tales, haunting poems, and twisted psyche. Amidst the shadows cast by Poe’s vivid imagination, we embark on a journey to unravel the complexities of his genius and the enduring legacy he left behind. This extraordinary class promises to ignite your curiosity, leaving you spellbound and craving more.

Step into the labyrinthine corridors of Poe’s mind, where darkness and beauty intertwine. We will dissect his iconic works, such as “The Raven,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and “The Cask of Amontillado,” examining the themes of death, madness, and the uncanny that permeate his writing. Through meticulous analysis and lively discussions, we will explore the psychological depths of Poe’s characters, unlocking the secrets of their tormented souls.

Beyond the realm of his fiction, we will delve into Poe’s personal life, tracing the threads that shaped his own tormented existence. His struggles with addiction, love, and loss will shed light on the origins of his haunting imagery and the tragic beauty that infuses his work. Together, we will unravel the tangled web of Poe’s life and legacy, gaining a deeper appreciation for the enduring power of his literary contributions.

Path of Exile’s Best Class for the Current Meta

1. Witch

The Witch is one of the most versatile classes in Path of Exile, boasting potent spellcasting abilities and access to a plethora of elemental damage options. Her inherent Intelligence enhances mana regeneration, enabling her to maintain a steady stream of devastating spells, while her Dexterity provides a respectable evasion rating for survivability. The Witch excels as an Elementalist, harnessing the power of fire, cold, and lightning to unleash elemental fury upon her foes. This mastery over elements grants her access to potent damage-over-time effects, area-of-effect spells, and defensive buffs that bolster her resilience against various threats. With a well-rounded skillset and adaptable playstyle, the Witch stands as a formidable choice for those seeking a versatile and effective class for the current meta.

2. Duelist

The Duelist is a formidable melee combatant renowned for his exceptional swordsmanship and unwavering determination. His innate Strength grants significant physical damage potential, while his Dexterity enhances his accuracy and evasion. The Duelist is a natural choice for the Gladiator class, embracing the arena’s brutal tactics to devastate enemies with ruthless efficiency. His mastery of dual-wielding allows him to unleash a flurry of attacks, and his access to bleeding effects amplifies his damage output over time. Additionally, his defensive capabilities are not to be underestimated, as he can utilize various block and counterattack techniques to mitigate incoming damage.

3. Shadow

The Shadow is an enigmatic assassin, adept at stealth, deception, and lethal precision. His inherent Dexterity grants him unmatched dexterity and evasion, allowing him to swiftly navigate the chaos of battle. The Shadow excels as an Assassin, harnessing the power of critical strikes and poison to eliminate targets with pinpoint accuracy. His ability to apply various status effects, such as bleeding and poison, enables him to inflict sustained damage even when his foes are out of his immediate reach. Moreover, the Shadow’s innate agility lends itself well to the use of traps and mines, expanding his offensive capabilities and providing versatility in combat scenarios.

Class	Innate Attributes	Recommended Ascendancy Class	Strengths
Witch	Intelligence, Dexterity	Elementalist	Versatile spellcasting, a plethora of elemental damage options, enhanced mana regeneration
Duelist	Strength, Dexterity	Gladiator	Exceptional swordsmanship, dual-wielding mastery, bleeding effects
Shadow	Dexterity	Assassin	Unmatched dexterity and evasion, stealth and deception, critical strikes and poison application

Ladder Dominating Builds for Every Level of Play

Necromancer

The Necromancer is a versatile class that excels at summoning minions and controlling the battlefield with curses. They are a solid choice for both solo and group play, and their builds can be tailored to suit any playstyle.

The Summoner

The Summoner build focuses on raising an army of undead minions to do your bidding. This build is relatively easy to play, but it can be very effective in both the early and late game. The key to playing the Summoner is to keep your minions alive and supported, and to use your curses to debuff your enemies.

Some of the key skills you’ll want to focus on for this build include:

**Raise Skeleton:** Summons a skeleton minion to fight for you.
**Summon Zombie:** Summons a zombie minion to fight for you.
**Skeletal Mage:** Summons a skeletal mage to fight for you.
**Blood Golem:** Summons a blood golem to fight for you.
**Decrepify:** Lowers the physical resistance of enemies.
**Amplify Damage:** Increases the elemental damage taken by enemies.
**Corpse Explosion:** Explodes a corpse, dealing damage to nearby enemies.

Here’s a look at what a typical skill setup for a Summoner build might look like:

Skill	Level
Raise Skeleton	20
Summon Zombie	20
Skeletal Mage	20
Blood Golem	20
Decrepify	20
Amplify Damage	20
Corpse Explosion	20

The Ascendant: A Versatile Swiss Army Knife of a Class

The Ascendant class in Path of Exile is a true jack-of-all-trades, offering a diverse range of skills and abilities that cater to various playstyles. Its inherent versatility makes it an ideal choice for both seasoned veterans and newcomers seeking a class with limitless possibilities.

Subclasses

The Ascendant offers four subclasses, each with its own unique set of bonuses and enhancements:

Subclass	Bonuses
Pathfinder	Increased movement speed, evasion rating, and flask charges
Slayer	Increased damage over time, area of effect, and physical damage
Berserker	Increased attack speed, critical strike chance, and damage
Deadeye	Increased projectile damage, critical strike multiplier, and attack range

Ascendency Passives

At the heart of the Ascendant class lies its powerful Ascendency passives. These passives further enhance the class’s capabilities, enabling players to configure their build to specific playstyles and strategies. Notable Ascendency passives include:

Nature’s Boon

Nature’s Boon grants increased maximum life, mana, and energy shield, bolstering the Ascendant’s survivability and mana sustain. This passive is particularly valuable for energy shield-based builds.

Deadly Infusion

Deadly Infusion converts a percentage of physical damage taken as fire damage. Not only does this provide additional resistance to physical damage, but it also synergizes well with fire-based builds.

Overwhelm

Overwhelm bypasses a portion of enemy physical damage reduction, making it highly effective against heavily armored foes. This passive is ideal for melee and physical damage-focused builds.

The Elementalist: Harnessing the Power of the Elements

4. Weaponry and Mechanics

The Elementalist excels in using a variety of weapons, each attuned to a specific element. Their primary weapons are:

a. Daggers: Lightning-attuned, daggers provide high burst damage and swift mobility.

b. Scepter: Air-attuned, scepters grant control over the battlefield with crowd control and utility spells.

c. Staff: Earth-attuned, staffs provide sustained damage over time and defensive capabilities.

d. Focus: Water-attuned, focuses offer healing abilities and crowd control.

The Elementalist’s unique mechanic lies in their ability to attune to each element. By attuning to an element, they gain access to that element’s skills and bonuses. This allows them to adapt to different combat situations and fulfill multiple roles within a group.

For example, by attuning to fire, they excel at dealing burst damage, while attuning to earth grants them increased durability and control. Switching between elements on the fly enables Elementalists to maximize their effectiveness and become versatile spellcasters.

Element	Attunement Bonus
Fire	Increased critical hit chance
Water	Bonus to healing and condition removal
Air	Increased energy regeneration and mobility
Earth	Increased armor and health regeneration

The Necro: Commanding the Hordes of the Dead

The Undead Army

As a Necro, you have the power to summon a vast army of undead minions, each with its unique abilities. From towering Skeletons to shadowy Wraiths, you can unleash a horde of creatures to overwhelm your foes.

Corpse Manipulation

Necros have an uncanny ability to manipulate corpses, turning them into puppets that fight for their master. They can create powerful Bone Golems from slain enemies, bolster their minions with Corpse Explosion, and even resurrect fallen comrades.

Bone Prison

The Necro’s Bone Prison spell is a devastating crowd control ability that traps foes within a swirling vortex of bones, stunning and damaging them over time. This makes it an excellent tool for controlling enemy movements and isolating targets.

Poison Nova

Poison Nova is a powerful area-of-effect spell that sprays a deadly poison around the Necro, poisoning nearby enemies. It inflicts continuous damage over time, making it ideal for weakening large groups of foes.

Summon Revived

Summon Revived is the Necro’s ultimate minion-summoning spell. With it, they can resurrect slain monsters, transforming them into powerful allies that inherit the abilities and stats of their original form. This allows Necros to create a highly customized army tailored to their strategic needs.

Minion	Abilities	Strengths
Skeleton	Melee, Bone Shield	Durable, Blocks attacks
Wraith	Ranged, Spectral Strike	Fast, Ethereal, Ignored by physical attacks
Golem	Tank, Crushing Blow	High Health, slow, deals heavy damage

The Gladiator: Unstoppable Melee Might

The Gladiator, a formidable class in Path of Exile, embodies the essence of melee combat. With unparalleled strength and resilience, they charge into battle, wielding razor-sharp swords or crushing warhammers.

Unleashing Unmatched Damage

Gladiators excel in close-quarters combat, utilizing a variety of melee skills to inflict devastating damage on multiple enemies simultaneously. Their skill tree boasts an array of bonuses tailored to enhance their physical damage output.

Exceptional Defensive Prowess

Despite their offensive prowess, Gladiators also possess exceptional defensive capabilities. They have access to powerful defensive skills, such as the “Fortify” support gem, which reduces damage taken from melee attacks.

Unwavering Resolve and Endurance

Gladiators are renowned for their unwavering resolve and endurance in the face of adversity. They have high base life and armor, coupled with access to life regeneration and armor-boosting skills, making them exceptionally difficult to defeat.

Crowd Control and Suppression

While Gladiators primarily focus on melee damage, they also have access to skills that provide crowd control and suppression abilities. These skills allow them to stun, slow, or disrupt enemies, giving them an edge in chaotic encounters.

Versatile Build Options

The Gladiator class offers a range of build options, catering to various playstyles. From the traditional sword-and-board duelist to the devastating two-handed berserker, Gladiators can adapt their skills and equipment to suit different combat scenarios.

Unstoppable War Machines

With their unmatched melee might, exceptional defenses, and crowd control capabilities, Gladiators become unstoppable war machines on the battlefield. They excel in both solo and group play, making them a formidable choice for those seeking the thrill of close-quarters combat.

The Deadeye: Precision and Critical Perfection

Precision Enhancement: Sharpened Aim and Focused Dodging

The Deadeye’s passive ability, Sharpened Aim, amplifies their critical hit rate by a significant 15% when their Focus Meter is full. This allows them to consistently deliver devastating critical strikes, significantly increasing their damage potential. Additionally, the Deadeye’s Focused Dodging ability further enhances their critical prowess by granting them increased critical hit damage whenever they successfully evade an enemy attack.

Critical Specialization: The Legendary Bullet and Flurry of Bullets

The Deadeye’s legendary bullet ability transforms their basic attack into a highly potent critical strike, with a cooldown that resets when an enemy is eliminated. This allows them to chain critical strikes together, decimating enemies with swift and deadly precision. Furthermore, their Flurry of Bullets ability unleashes a barrage of arrows, each with the potential to deal critical damage. This skill is perfect for clearing out large groups of enemies or landing heavy blows on formidable bosses.

Deadly Control: Steady Aim and Enhanced Mobility

The Deadeye’s Steady Aim ability provides exceptional crowd control by rooting enemies in place, giving them ample time to unleash their critical attacks. Additionally, their enhanced mobility, granted by the Swift Draw skill, allows them to quickly reposition themselves to optimize their critical hit opportunities or evade enemy attacks with ease.

Overwhelm: Bullet Hell and Moonlight Symphony

When the Deadeye activates Bullet Hell, they enter a state of heightened critical power. Their attacks become more frequent and piercing, allowing them to effortlessly shred through enemy defenses. Moonlight Symphony, on the other hand, unleashes a storm of moonlight arrows, each hitting with the devastating force of a critical strike. These abilities are ideal for overwhelming enemies with an onslaught of critical damage.

Enduring Precision: Endless Fire and Concentration

The Deadeye’s Endless Fire ability reduces the Focus Meter consumption rate of their skills, enabling them to sustain high levels of critical hit potential for extended periods. Concentration further enhances their Focus Meter management by granting them increased Focus regeneration when they successfully hit their target with a critical strike, ensuring they can continuously maintain their peak critical performance.

Tactical Advantage: Superior Scope and Awareness

Superior Scope increases the Deadeye’s range and accuracy, allowing them to dominate combat from a safe distance. Awareness, on the other hand, provides them with increased movement speed when their Focus Meter is full, enabling them to swiftly reposition themselves or chase down fleeing enemies.

Exceptional Critical Damage: Dead Eye and Keen Eye

The Deadeye’s passive abilities, Dead Eye and Keen Eye, synergize to further amplify their critical damage output. Dead Eye grants a temporary damage buff after performing a critical strike, while Keen Eye increases their critical damage by a substantial amount. These abilities combined ensure that the Deadeye’s critical strikes are both frequent and devastating.

Critical Hit Rate	15%
Critical Hit Damage Increase	20%
Range Increase	50%

The Pathfinder: Master of the Hidden Path

The Pathfinder’s Pathfinding

Pathfinders are masters of navigating treacherous terrains and discovering hidden secrets. Their Pathfinding abilities allow them to move through obstacles unimpeded, locate hidden paths and objects, and even teleport short distances.

The Pathfinder’s Trap Mastery

Pathfinders have an uncanny ability to detect and disarm traps. Their Trap Mastery skills enable them to spot hidden traps, disable them with ease, and even use them to their advantage in combat.

The Pathfinder’s Ranged Prowess

Pathfinders are not only skilled navigators but also capable archers. Their Ranged Prowess grants them increased accuracy, damage, and range with bows and other ranged weapons.

The Pathfinder’s Lore Mastery

Pathfinders possess a vast knowledge of lore and history. Their Lore Mastery skill allows them to identify ancient artifacts, decipher hidden inscriptions, and uncover forgotten secrets.

The Pathfinder’s Diplomacy

Pathfinders have the ability to resolve conflicts through diplomacy. Their Diplomacy skills enable them to negotiate with hostile creatures, persuade them to cooperate, and even form alliances with them.

The Pathfinder’s Mobility

Pathfinders are exceptionally mobile and agile. Their Mobility skills allow them to move quickly and fluidly, jump over obstacles, and avoid traps.

The Pathfinder’s Exploration Mastery

Pathfinders are experts in探索. Their Exploration Mastery skill grants them bonuses to survival skills, allows them to establish safe camps, and increases their chance of finding hidden treasures.

The Pathfinder’s Trap Creation

Pathfinders are not only adept at disarming traps but also capable of creating their own. Their Trap Creation skill allows them to craft a variety of traps, ranging from simple snares to complex mechanical devices.

Trap Type	Description
Snare	A simple device that restrains a target’s movement
Tripwire	A thin wire that triggers a mechanism when stepped on
Spike Trap	A bed of sharp spikes that impales a target
Pit Trap	A deep hole that ensnares a target
Poison Trap	A mechanism that releases a toxic substance when triggered

The Raider: Swift and Deadly as a Shadow

Lightning Fury: An Electrifying Assault

The Raider’s Lightning Fury skill unleashes a flurry of lightning projectiles that pierce through multiple enemies, dealing massive damage. Its speed and multi-target capability make it an invaluable asset for clearing hordes of minions and staggering bosses.

Frenzy: Unbridled Bloodlust

When the Raider channels Frenzy, their attacks gain increased critical strike chance and attack speed. This skill transforms the Raider into a whirlwind of blades, tearing through enemies with relentless fury.

Onslaught: Shadowy Burst of Strength

Onslaught grants the Raider enhanced movement speed and cooldown reduction, allowing them to dart across the battlefield with lightning-fast reflexes. It also buffs the Raider’s attack power, making it a potent tool for initiating combat or finishing off weakened foes.

Veil: Shadow’s Embrace

Veil casts a shroud of shadows around the Raider, granting them physical damage reduction and evasion chance. This skill makes the Raider exceptionally durable against melee attackers, allowing them to engage in close-range combat with impunity.

Skill	Description
Lightning Fury	Rapidly launches multiple lightning projectiles, damaging multiple enemies.
Frenzy	Increases critical strike chance and attack speed, providing a burst of damage.
Onslaught	Enhances movement speed and cooldown reduction, granting increased mobility and attack power.
Veil	Grants physical damage reduction and evasion chance, improving survivability against melee attackers.

The Occultist: Curses, Chaos, and Forbidden Knowledge

1. Curse Specialist:

The Occultist excels in casting curses, inflicting debilitating effects on enemies. Curses range from damage over time to hindering buffs, making them a versatile tool for both solo and group play.

2. Chaos Bringer:

Chaos abilities allow the Occultist to manipulate reality, creating powerful effects such as summoning void orbs, summoning pets, and detonating corpses to deal area damage.

3. Forbidden Knowledge:

The Occultist has access to exclusive skills that grant unique bonuses. These include buffs that increase curse effectiveness, debuffs that weaken enemies, and the ability to summon powerful totems.

4. Curse on Hit:

Certain abilities apply curses to enemies when they are hit. This passive effect provides a steady stream of debuffs, allowing for continuous control over mobs.

5. Profane Bloom:

Corpses of cursed enemies explode, damaging nearby foes and spreading curses. This chain reaction can clear entire packs of mobs, creating chaos and destruction.

6. Bane:

The Occultist’s signature skill, Bane, deals chaos damage and applies a powerful curse that increases the damage enemies take from all sources.

7. Despair:

Despair reduces enemy resistance to chaos damage, making it a potent tool for maximizing damage output against challenging foes.

8. Enfeeble:

Enfeeble lowers enemy attack damage, making them less threatening to melee characters and allowing for safer engagement.

9. Temporal Chains:

Temporal Chains slows enemy actions, reducing their attack speed, cast speed, and movement speed. This debuff is invaluable for controlling bosses and managing large groups.

10. Vile Bastion:

Vile Bastion provides damage reduction and chaos damage bonuses for the Occultist and nearby allies. This defensive buff enhances survivability while boosting offensive capabilities.

Poe’s Best Class: A Detailed Analysis

Edgar Allan Poe is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of all time. His darkly imaginative tales and poems have captivated readers for centuries. While Poe is perhaps best known for his short stories and poetry, he also wrote a number of essays and articles on various topics, including literature, philosophy, and science. One of his most famous essays is “The Poetic Principle,” in which he argues that the best poetry is characterized by its beauty, originality, and suggestiveness. In this essay, Poe also discusses his own concept of the “best class” of poetry, which he believes is the most “rhythmical” and “euphonious.”

Poe’s definition of the best class of poetry is somewhat subjective, as it is based on his own personal preferences. However, he does provide some specific criteria that he believes distinguish good poetry from bad poetry. For example, he argues that good poetry should be “rhythmical” and “euphonious,” meaning that it should have a pleasing sound and flow. He also believes that good poetry should be “original” and “suggestive,” meaning that it should offer new and thought-provoking ideas. Finally, he believes that good poetry should be “beautiful,” meaning that it should please the senses and evoke a sense of wonder and awe.