If you're new to Path of Exile 2 or struggling to progress, choosing the right class can make a huge difference. Some classes have simple mechanics, strong survivability, and powerful skills that make progressing through the campaign much easier. This Path of Exile Tier List 2025 ranks all 12 Ascendancies from easiest to hardest and also provides the best budget builds for each class.

PoE 2 Easiest Class Tier List (Ascendancy Ranked from Easiest to Hardest)

Below, we rank all 12 Ascendancies based on how beginner-friendly they are, considering factors like damage output, survivability, ease of gearing, and how well they perform in early and mid-game content.

S-Tier (Super Easy, Beginner-Friendly)

1. Warbringer (Easiest)

The Warbringer is the best option for beginners due to its well-rounded playstyle. This Warrior Ascendancy excels in survival with strong defensive mechanics, including war cries that grant massive self-healing and totems that help control enemies. Its damage output is also impressive, allowing players to deal heavy melee damage while remaining tanky.

2. Titan (Easiest)

Another Warrior Ascendancy, the Titan is all about high durability and massive slam attacks. It’s slower compared to Warbringer but compensates with huge stun potential and high resistances. If you prefer a tanky playstyle that can take on bosses with ease, this is a great choice.

3. Stormweaver (Easiest)

Stormweaver is one of the strongest Elemental spellcasters, making it an excellent choice for beginners who enjoy ranged combat. This Sorcerer Ascendancy can freeze, shock, and burn enemies simultaneously, creating powerful chain reactions that wipe enemies quickly. It also has access to energy shields for added survivability.

A-Tier (Easy, but Requires Some Understanding of Mechanics)

4. Chronomancer (Easy)

Chronomancer is a highly mobile Sorcerer that can manipulate time. Its ability to rewind cooldowns, regain lost health, and reset fights makes it incredibly forgiving for new players. However, it requires good positioning to maximize its strengths.

5. Deadeye (Easy)

The Deadeye is the best bow-wielding class in PoE 2, offering high mobility and long-range damage. With auto-aiming arrows, insane attack speed, and excellent AoE, it’s a fantastic choice for players who want to clear content quickly. However, it lacks strong defensive tools, so positioning is key.

6. Pathfinder (Easy)

Pathfinder specializes in poison and mobility, making it a fantastic choice for players who like damage-over-time mechanics. It offers fast clearing speed and can move while attacking, making it easier to kite enemies and avoid damage. However, it requires managing poison stacks effectively for maximum damage.

B-Tier (Moderate Difficulty, Requires More Planning & Gear Dependency)

7. Bloodmage (Moderate)

Bloodmage is a high-risk, high-reward caster that spends life instead of mana to cast spells. It has high sustain via life leech and healing mechanics, but the playstyle can be tricky for new players since mismanagement of health can lead to quick deaths.

8. Infernalist (Moderate)

Infernalist is a fire-focused Witch Ascendancy that summons hellhounds and even transforms into a demon. While its minions and DoT (damage over time) effects are powerful, it lacks mobility and requires good positioning to avoid damage.

9. Invoker (Moderate)

The Invoker Monk is a fast-paced melee spellcaster that relies on Elemental damage and critical hits. While it has good AoE and mobility, it can be squishy, requiring quick reflexes and skillful play to survive tougher encounters.

C-Tier (Challenging for Beginners, Requires Mastery & Optimization)

10. Acolyte of Chayula (Hard)

This Ascendancy turns the Monk into a darkness-wielding melee fighter, replacing Spirit with a Darkness meter. While it offers strong defensive buffs, it requires careful resource management and advanced understanding of its mechanics.

11. Witchhunter (Hard)

Witchhunter is a crossbow-based Ascendancy that focuses on traps, grenades, and high burst damage. While it can deal massive damage, it requires good positioning, trap setup, and awareness of enemy patterns, making it difficult for new players.

12. Gemling Legionnaire (Hardest Class for Beginners)

The Gemling Legionnaire is the most complex class due to its reliance on gem synergy and skill management. It requires constant gem swapping, min-maxing gear, and a deep understanding of PoE’s mechanics. While incredibly powerful in skilled hands, it is not recommended for new players.

PoE 2 Best Cheap & Eeasist Build Tier List (For Each Class Ascendancy)

Here are the best beginner-friendly and budget builds for each Ascendancy, considering factors like cost, ease of play, survivability, and damage potential.

1. Warbringer – Totem Slam Build

The Warbringer Totem Slam build is one of the tankiest and most beginner-friendly builds in PoE 2. It revolves around placing totems that deal massive melee damage while also buffing the player with war cries. Warbringer’s self-healing mechanics make it nearly unkillable, and its strong AoE slam attacks allow for fast and efficient clearing. This build is ideal for new players who want a forgiving, durable melee character that can handle both bosses and large enemy groups with ease.

2. Titan – Stun Slam Build

The Titan Stun Slam build is all about stunning enemies with powerful melee attacks while maintaining high durability. This build uses slow but devastating slam attacks that can lock enemies in place, preventing them from retaliating. Combined with high armor and resistances, it allows players to tank heavy hits while dealing massive crowd-control damage. It’s a great choice for those who prefer a methodical, hard-hitting melee playstyle that dominates in both campaign progression and endgame fights.

3. Stormweaver – Elemental Chain Reaction Build

The Stormweaver Elemental Chain Reaction build excels at using fire, ice, and lightning spells to create devastating chain reactions. By freezing enemies for crowd control, shocking them for extra damage, and burning them for sustained DPS, this build wipes out entire enemy groups effortlessly. It also benefits from energy shields for added survivability, making it a safe and effective choice for ranged spellcasters. This build is perfect for players who enjoy elemental magic and flashy spell effects.

4. Chronomancer – Time Rewind Build

The Chronomancer Time Rewind build is one of the most unique and fun builds in PoE 2. It allows players to manipulate time to reset cooldowns, regain lost health, and reposition instantly. This build thrives on high mobility and skill synergy, allowing for continuous spell-casting with minimal downtime. The ability to rewind mistakes and reset fights makes it highly forgiving, making it an excellent choice for beginners who want a fast-paced caster with high survivability.

5. Deadeye – Lightning Arrow Machine Gun Build

The Deadeye Lightning Arrow Machine Gun build turns the Deadeye into a ranged turret, firing multiple lightning arrows that chain between enemies. This results in incredible clear speed, making it one of the fastest farming builds in the game. While it lacks strong defensive tools, its mobility and long-range attacks make it easy to dodge incoming damage. This build is perfect for players who enjoy fast, ranged combat and clearing entire screens of enemies in seconds.

6. Pathfinder – Poison Cloud Build

The Pathfinder Poison Cloud build specializes in spreading poison effects across the battlefield, leading to massive damage over time. The ability to attack while moving makes it highly efficient for both clearing and boss fights. Pathfinder’s high mobility and poison stacking mechanics allow players to apply damage and reposition safely, making it an excellent hit-and-run build. This build is best suited for players who enjoy damage-over-time effects and kiting enemies.

7. Bloodmage – Life Drain Caster Build

The Bloodmage Life Drain build is a high-risk, high-reward spellcaster that uses life instead of mana to cast powerful spells. To compensate for the life cost, this build focuses on life regeneration, leech, and healing mechanics to maintain high uptime on spells. The damage output is immense, but players must be careful not to overextend and drain too much life at once. This build is great for experienced players who enjoy aggressive spellcasting with strong self-sustain mechanics.

8. Infernalist – Demon Fire Build

The Infernalist Demon Fire build revolves around summoning hellhounds and transforming into a demon to unleash fiery destruction. It excels at burning enemies with powerful damage-over-time effects. The transformation ability grants increased power at the cost of defense, so positioning is crucial. This build is best for players who enjoy summoner-style gameplay combined with devastating fire magic.

9. Invoker – Elemental Crit Build

The Invoker Elemental Crit build is a fast-paced melee spellcaster that infuses attacks with powerful elemental effects. By stacking critical hits, this build can trigger devastating area-of-effect explosions. While it has excellent burst damage, it is also relatively fragile, requiring good reflexes and positioning. This build is best for players who like hybrid melee-magic playstyles and enjoy fast, high-damage combat.

10. Acolyte of Chayula – Darkness Tank Build

The Acolyte of Chayula Darkness Tank build is a defensive powerhouse that replaces Spirit with a Darkness meter, which can be used to reduce incoming damage or boost offensive power. This build is one of the tankiest caster builds, allowing players to survive heavy hits while dealing consistent damage. However, it requires managing the Darkness meter effectively, making it more challenging to master. This build is perfect for players who want a tanky spellcaster that can withstand difficult encounters.

11. Witchhunter – Trap Grenade Build

The Witchhunter Trap Grenade build focuses on setting explosive traps and grenades to deal massive burst damage. The playstyle is very tactical, requiring players to set up traps, lure enemies in, and detonate them for maximum effect. While Witchhunter is capable of high single-target damage, it requires careful positioning and awareness of enemy movement. This build is best for players who enjoy strategic gameplay and methodical combat.

12. Gemling Legionnaire – Blink Auto Bomber Build

The Gemling Legionnaire Blink Auto Bomber build is one of the most complex but devastatingly powerful builds in PoE 2. It uses Blink to automatically trigger massive explosions that clear entire screens instantly. The residual damage lingers, allowing the player to keep moving while dealing continuous damage. This build relies heavily on cooldown management and proper gear setup, making it difficult for beginners but incredibly strong for experienced players. If you enjoy fast-paced, high-damage spellcasting with an automated trigger system, this build is for you.