The best beginner builds in PoE 2 are usually the ones that are easy to follow and can take you all the way to the endgame. They might not perform particularly well compared to a min-maxed build, but they get the campaign done smoothly.
Even with all the nerfs, these builds should let you breeze through the campaign. Here are the best beginner builds for Path of Exile 2’s Dawn of the Hunt.
Bow Amazon Gas Arrow
Fubgun’s Amazon Gas Arrow is a proven beginner build since the Gas Arrow only had a slight nerf with a slight buff, making it almost untouched since the early access launch.
The Gas Arrow build excels in fighting enemies while kiting and dealing massive damage through poison. Poison is chaos damage, making it extremely powerful in the endgame. The Amazon’s mobility is also amazing with all the movement speed and skill speed bonuses. Everything feels a bit smoother.
Deadeye should also make the build work and should be in the same league as the Amazon class. If you are looking for a speedy map clearer that is also ranged, you won’t be disappointed with Fubgun’s Gas Arrow build.
Sunder Smith of Kitava
Alkaizerx’s Sunder Smith of Kitava is one of the best melee builds in the game. Smith of Kitava brings a ton of survivability with its ascendancy nodes. Even if Armor needs a little work, Smith of Kitava gets so much, including quickly maxing out resistances and increasing your resistance limits for the endgame.
Sunder is still a powerful skill after Dawn of the Hunt. It isn’t the fastest in clearing enemies, but it makes up for it in elites and boss fights. Most players go for the Smith of Kitava for survivability, so this one is perfect for those who hate dying or even want to try hardcore.
Bone Minion Lich
Ronarray’s Bone Minion pretty much works on Raging Spirits, which was somewhat popular in PoE 2’s early access, but instead of using an Infernalist, you’ll use the new Lich ascendancy from the Witch. Skeletal Sniper is your other minion skill. The build runs Flame Wall to complement the Skeletal Snipers since it is just free damage when their projectiles go through the Flame Wall.
Specters did get a nerf in Spirit, so it’ll be harder to reach the previous highs of minion builds. However, most minion builds are still strong and safe since you’ll rely on your minions to tank enemies and deal damage.
Deadeye Lightning Arrow
Fubgun’s Lightning Arrow is basically an alternative to the Amazon Gas Arrow. However, it uses the Ranger class and the Lightning Arrow as the primary skill. The build has proven strong in the endgame since PoE 2’s early access launch.
While it did receive a few nerfs, it isn’t as bad as the other skills like Detonate Dead or Spark. You’ll switch in and out of the Lightning Arrow and use skills like Stormcaller Arrow and Freezing Salvo, but it is also easy to switch back to Lightning Arrow when you have the proper setup already.
Lightning Arrow excels at clearing monsters from far away, even killing some outside your screen. The clear speed is terrific since you are using the Deadeye class with Tailwinds, but many tweaks are needed to defeat bosses. Single-target situations aren’t really good for Deadeye Lightning Arrow unless you switch some skills out.
However, Deadeye Lightning Arrow is still the fastest build to play in PoE 2. That alone draws many players to the build already.
Amazon Rake Bleed
The Amazon Rake Bleed build makes it to the list since it is the “newest” from the Dawn of the Hunt patch. It uses a spear and shield and relies on stacking bleeds and using Disengage to get around. However, the clear speed is a bit slow, especially if you are grueling through the campaign. It is hard to scale up early, so some builds use alternatives first.
You can use your “parry” to “expose” parried enemies, giving you more attack damage to those targets. The typical combo goes like this: parry attacks -> use the disengage skill to go to a clear space -> throw a charged-up Lightning Spear.
The expose lets the Lightning Spear deal massive damage to everyone hit by the projectiles.
Once you get decent gear and a high enough level to get some needed auras, you’ll use Rake for your map clearing and a simple spear attack (normal spear stab) for single-target fights. You can use Woolie’s Rake Leveling Leaguestarter, but it is quite slow in the campaign, and the playstyle could be awkward for some.
