The Warrior is Path of Exile 2's Strength-based melee class who specializes in big, hefty swings. They are slow, technical fighters who bide their time and strike when the right opportunity presents itself, offering an almost Soulslike game experience that rewards patience and quick thinking.

Playing as a Warrior early on is difficult for many reasons, but most of those can be addressed by approaching this class with the right mindset and a good build that takes advantage of its core strengths. Here's one of the many possible Warrior setups that should make the max level grind in PoE 2 smoother.

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Updated April 8, 2025 by Marc Santos: The Dawn of the Hunt patch negatively affected most builds, though this PoE 2 Warrior leveling build remains as viable as before. Grinding Gear Games is constantly balancing the game out, so instead of making any drastic changes to this build, we've instead added a section containing alternate Support Gems for players to consider. This should help anyone who's having trouble progressing through the campaign and early endgame.

Warrior Leveling Skills in PoE 2

Rolling Slam in PoE 2
Path of Exile 2 Rolling Slam skill

The following is a starter build that revolves around using stunning targets, breaking armor, blowing up large packs of mobs, and lighting bosses on fire. This should serve as a decent build up until before players start choosing their Ascendancy class in PoE 2.

Core Warrior Leveling Skill Build

Skill

Support Gems

Mace Strike (Basic Attack)
  • Rage
  • Overpower

Rolling Slam
  • Close Combat
  • Brutality

Boneshatter
  • Execute
  • Impact Shockwave

Perfect Strike
  • Eternal Flame
  • Fire Infusion

Armour Breaker
  • Martial Tempo

Leap Slam
  • Stomping Ground

Herald of Ash
  • None

Active Skills

Rolling Slam into Boneshatter is your bread-and-butter combo for mobbing. Hit once with Rolling Slam, then immediately cancel into Boneshatter if at least one enemy is Primed for Stun. This results in Boneshatter instantly stunning the target, often killing them while emitting a shockwave that damages every other nearby enemy. With Herald of Ash active, this two-hit combo is enough to kill entire screens' worth of common mobs.

When fighting bosses, use Perfect Strike to melt their health bars. Hold Perfect Strike's skill button until you see your weapon flash, then release it. This guarantees an Ignite proc on any enemy hit. Use Leap Slam to build up the stagger bar, and make sure to use Armour Breaker to reduce the enemy's Physical defenses.

Alternate Support Gems

Dawn of the Hunt added a ton of new Support Gems, and some of them can drastically affect how this Path of Exile 2 Warrior Leveling build plays. If you're having trouble with progression, consider picking up these gems:

  • Unabating (T1): When using Supported Skills, you gain bonus armor. Great for when you're starting to die often.
  • Unyielding (T1): A percentage of the damage you take while using a Supported Skill is recouped as Life. Does not work on channeled skills, and works great with Rolling Slam due to its long cast time.
  • Life Thief (T2): Physical damage from Supported Skills leech Life. Good for all physical damage skills.
  • Heavy Swing (T2): Supported Skills have 10% less attack speed but deal 35% more melee physical damage. Excellent for Rolling Slam, which saw a cast time buff in Dawn of the Hunt.
  • Syzygy (T3): Hits from Supported Slam skills count as Crushing Blows against Ignited and Fully Armour Broken enemies. Inflicting Heavy Stun on such targets also Intimidate them, increasing the damage they take and reducing the damage they deal.

Warrior Leveling Build Passives

Armour break warrior passive tree in PoE 2
Path of Exile 2 Warrior passives

Priority Passives

Level 1-10
  • Brutal
  • Smash
  • Sturdy Metal
  • Relentless

Level 11-28
  • 6 points into Strength Nodes
  • Jewel Socket
  • Skullcrusher
  • Split the Earth

You can type the names of these passive nodes in the search bar of the Passive Skills Tree to see where they are.

Like the skill build above, this passive skill setup is a general one that focuses on increasing damage and stun build-up while favoring Mace-specific passives, such as Increased Damage Against Heavy Stunned Enemies and Chance to Aftershock. From here, you can spec into either Heavy Stun or Armour Break effects.

If you're having trouble surviving, then delay Skullcrusher and Split the Earth to get Polished Iron and Made to Last. The latter increases your Armour by a significant amount, while the latter lets you recoup 15% of prevented Physical Damage as Life. If your Accuracy Rating in PoE 2 is too low, consider getting Resolute Technique. WIth it, your attacks will never miss, but they'll never critically hit either.

A 2H hammer with high Physical damage in PoE 2
Path of Exile 2 Two Handed Mace Physical Damage

To keep things simple, look for items with the following modifiers:

  • Increased Physical Damage
  • Bonus Strength
  • Bonus Armour
  • Accuracy Rating/Dexterity
  • Maximum Life
  • Elemental Resistances

You'll get the most damage out of this build with two-handed weapons. Dual-wielding maces or using a shield can also work, but your individual attacks won't pack as much of a punch. Keep in mind that you can farm gear in PoE 2 by resetting instances and targeting bosses.

Path of Exile II Tag Page Cover Art
Path of Exile II
9 /10
Released
December 6, 2024

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL

ESRB
Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Nudity, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Language, Users Interact, In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items)
Developer(s)
Grinding Gear Games
Publisher(s)
Grinding Gear Games
Engine
Proprietary Engine
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
Franchise
Path of Exile
Early Access Release
December 6, 2024
Genre(s)
Action RPG, Hack and Slash, MMORPG
Path of Exile 2 Cover
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