How Path of Exile 2 combat differs from the first game: A primer for returning players
Path of Exile 2 is set to become the next big thing in the ARPG market. Despite being a sequel to an already-established title, the game is slated to bring some interesting combat changes. Grinding Gear Games has put extensive efforts into diversifying Path of Exile 2's various systems, so players don't feel like the game is a rerun of the original.
There are many aspects to Path of Exile 2's combat and its associated intricacies — be it the general pacing, skill systems, support gems, gear, etc. This article will discuss all the changes coming to Path of Exile 2's combat and how it differs from the original.
What has changed about combat in Path of Exile 2?
One of the fundamental tweaks to Path of Exile 2 is the inclusion of two input systems, as opposed to the standard point-and-click system. The title will have an omnidirectional W-A-S-D system that will greatly aid the ranged combat classes, such as Ranger and Mercenary.
Compared to the first game, combat has been slowed considerably, and the enemy density has been reduced to compensate for that. Encounters in Path of Exile 2 are much more methodical in the early game, with more skills and passives hastening the pace later on. While the mobs are still pretty easy to kill, rares and bosses require precise planning and skill usage.
Bosses in Path of Exile 2 are perhaps the strongest aspect of the game's combat system, with each one being designed from the ground up. From bosses from the campaign acts to pinnacle bosses in the endgame, Path of Exile 2 throws players into lengthy battles against foes with diverse attack patterns.
Compared to Path of Exile, this is the biggest change, as only the pinnacle bosses of the prequel were mechanically challenging; even then, those mechanics could be avoided completely with high DPS output builds. The studio promises that endgame bosses will require less time to defeat with good gear in Path of Exile 2, but the mechanical complexity will not be diminished.
Path of Exile 2's skill gem system has been overhauled quite a bit compared to the previous title. Many older Active skills have gone through balance changes and function in wildly different ways. As of this writing, skills are tied to individual weapons and even come baked in with certain weapon bases.
These can be boosted by Support gems, which have retained the core ideal, but offer potentially different and new bonuses.
The inclusion of six fresh classes and the associated Ascension classes in Path of Exile 2 will inevitably change combat significantly. Players can expect to encounter new interactions and build variants as the community discovers the intricacies of each new system.
Ascendancies, such as Gemling Legionnaire, Infernalist, and Chronomancer, look extremely interesting conceptually, and players will no doubt spend time finding out what works best for them.
Weapons, and more importantly, weapon swapping, will be a huge feature in Path of Exile 2. In PoE, players are mostly locked into one well-crafted rare or a difficult-to-obtain Unique weapon as their main weapon, while the swap section is generally left unchecked or used for leveling up gems passively. Path of Exile 2 will allow players to swap weapons to dynamically adapt to situations.
The weapon swapping in Path of Exile 2 will allow players to invest in two different Passive skill trees through the Weapon Mastery system. Players will be able to specialize two separate Passive trees and bind them to each weapon set, therefore enabling different passive bonuses for each weapon.