Path of Exile 2 Best Warrior build, how to play, best skills and best equipment
Jump, scream and kill.
The Warrior proves that no challenge, in Path of Exile 2, is too difficult that one can't overcome it with large life bars and screaming at enemies.
While classes in Path of Exile 2 allow you to pursue more traditional builds, there is lots of room to experiment. You can go for a Ranger who can summon Flame Walls to a classic Fireball Mage. To make the most out of the Warrior's capacity to stun large bosses and explosively handle groups of enemies, we prepared this build.
In this guide, you find the best Warrior build with a complete rundown on how to play it, the best skills, passive skills, and equipment.
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How to play Warrior in Path of Exile 2
Warrior is inherently a melee, physical damage-centered, Strength-based class and in Path of Exile 2 it is no different. Known for its capacity to take large amounts of damage due to the heavy armor this class can wear and considerable vitality, Warrior is the right class if you don't mind exchanging damage potential for survivability. This doesn't mean that you can't make enemies disappear with only a couple of strikes when playing Warrior.
This build is meant to give you tools to face single and multiple enemies as you level up. Mixing the class ability to unleash a chain of explosions, area-of-effect attacks, and the use of totems with Warrior's ability to easily fill their opponent’s stun bar, you will be cleaning rooms quickly and handling major bosses without too much trouble. Instead of a mace and a shield, we will run a two-hand mace. You won't have a high damage-per-second output, but, by setting things up correctly, you can land explosive hits that hand take large portions of an enemy's health bar.
In the initial levels, you will focus on unlocking Earthquake, Boneshatter, Shockwave Totem, and Infernal Cry. Start an encounter invoking your totem, using the warcry, and hitting enemies with the Earthquake. Most bosses in Act I stand still for a period, giving you room to use the spikes to hit them. When dealing with groups of enemies, you follow the same order but, once at least one enemy has the Primed for Stun mark, you want to use Boneshatter to cause a shockwave which you most likely kill the whole group.
Once you unlock the Level Seven skills, your gameplay loop will change significantly because of the Leap Slam ability, which makes you jump toward enemies to hit the ground with your weapon. In addition to briefly stunning enemies, this skill also allows you to move around the battlefield to escape from attacks - you become invulnerable in the middle air - or to close the gap between you and enemies.
From this point our idea is to jump on enemies, use Boneshatter if it occurs, or hit them with Earthquake. You can then jump out to a safe place and use filler skills like Earthshatter to hit enemies or stay around them, dodging their attacks, and keeping pressure. Once it's safe again, you can use Leap Slam again. The idea is to run the Ruthless passive ability in the Leap Slam so the fifth hit causes 500% more stun buildup
Regardless of the level you are, there are two important practices to have. First, always cast Infernal Cry when it is out of cooldown and you should always invoke the Warrior's totem. The former increases the damage of your next attack, making it a great buff before using Leap Slam or Earthquake, and the latter is a key tool for you to keep causing damage to enemies, especially when you must stay away from them during mechanics.
Best Warrior skills in Path of Exile 2
We want to focus on area-of-effect abilities that can work well on single targets too. Path of Exile 2 constantly throws boss fights at you where eventually you need to deal with waves to weaker - but not less annoying - enemies, so having the potential to quickly end with multiple enemies is crucial.
Among the Level One and Three options, you want to primarily take Earthquake and Boneshatter. The first two are your main source of damage. Use Earthquake to hit enemies and make spikers appear where you slammed your weapon after a few seconds, which hits enemies around the location. On the other hand, Boneshatter is a single-target attack, but, if you hit an enemy with a Primed for Stun mark, you can instantly kill them and hit enemies close by.
The other skills you want to unlock in Level One and Three are Infernal Cry and Shockwave Totem. The first is a warcry that increases the damage of your next melee attack and places a mark on enemies within a certain area. Marked enemies combust when killed, which provokes a small explosion, damaging enemies around them. The second ability creates a totem that deals damage to enemies, calling their attention.
Another of the best skills for this Warrior build is the Level Seven Leap Slam ability. With this special attack, you can jump toward enemies or away from them. You knock enemies back when you land in addition to massively increasing stun buildup.
In higher levels, you may want to replace Earthquake for Sunder, Shockwave Totem for Ancestral Warrior Totem, and Infernal Cry for Seismic Cry. You can also add Volcanic Fissure and Hammer of the Gods depending on the Ascendancy class you end up choosing.
Best Warrior passive skills in Path of Exile 2
The passive skills we want to use for this build are meant to increase armor, life regeneration, area damage, and stun buildup primarily. You can experiment by adding different passive skills based on your needs. Spending passive skill points by yourself might be stressful, but don't forget that you can respec your character, refunding these points if you want to change them.
You want to start spending the first passive points with armor until you reach the Relentless node. From there, start going up, unlocking the Sturdy Metal and Brutal. You will need to spend a few points on attribute nodes to reach the next ones, which is not worthless since they help you meet the requirements for wearing some pieces of equipment.
A little bit further, you can unlock the Stand Ground node, which helps you regenerate Life in different situations during battle. Pretty close to this node, you also find the Impact Force one, which increases Stun buildup and Attack Area Damage.
When it comes to Weapon Passive skill points, you want to be mindful of which weapons are in each set. If you plan to carry a set with a onehand mace and a shield, then look for nodes like the Defender's Resolve one for these points. On the other hand, for the two-hand mace, nodes that increase armor and attack are great options.
Best Warrior weapons in Path of Exile 2
Having the best weapons in Path of Exile 2 is a matter of luck in most cases since you can't know for sure which mace or bow drops from an enemy. There are, however, some parameters to follow when picking a new weapon and investing orbs to improve it.
A great weapon for this build is the Dusk Ram Cultist Greathammer or any other version of it. What makes this two-hand mace so great is its passive makes it cause splash damage to targets around the area hit. As far as we know, all Cultist Greathammers come with this passive, which assists you in proccing effects and wiping groups of enemies faster.
If you don't have this specific mace, don't worry. Focus on running weapons that can increase physical damage and Stun buildup. Finding weapons with both suffixes is rare, so go for the ones you have that cause the most damage.
Best Warrior armor in Path of Exile 2
Since you also depend on luck to have the best armor pieces for your character, it is important to focus on running gloves, helmets, boots, and body armor with the right suffixes. The general rule is to always equip the ones with the highest armor value.
In addition to the suffix that gives you more armor, look for the one that increases your maximum life. These are pretty basic but useful suffixes that assist in keeping you alive. Warrior is not a class with burst damage, so fights tend to take longer to end. With these secured, you can start looking for more spicy suffixes.
Warrior benefits a lot from gain Life/Mana per Enemy killed suffixes, especially when exploring maps and facing groups of enemies. You don't have a lot of mana as a Warrior and you want to save your pots for close-to-death situations, so pieces with at least one of these suffixes are extremely important.
We suggest that, if you find pieces of equipment that are similar but with different elemental resistances, keep them in your stash. Path of Exile 2 bosses are different from each other, forcing you to adapt your gear for each encounter. By having a few pieces in your stash, you will be ready for any unexpected challenge.
Best Warrior accessories in Path of Exile 2
Although less visible, accessories are crucial when looking for minor improvements for your gear. As mentioned regarding pieces of armor, you should keep in your stash more than one option of replacements for your accessories. Their value is fairly situational, so having good ones to rotate will make your life way easier when playing Path of Exile 2.
Besides the elemental resistance suffixes, there are others that you should take into consideration for this build. First, the ones that increase Life Regeneration or increase your maximum Life and Mana. Having more of these is good make this build gameplay loop more viable since you end up exposing yourself to direct attacks when jumping at enemies.
While deciding which charms you must run depends on the place and enemies you're facing, the Belt can come with great suffixes from more armor to reducing Flask Charges used. But prioritize belts with more available charm slots.
Good luck playing as a Warrior in Path of Exile 2!