The early access launch of Path of Exile 2 has thrown players straight into a frenzy of testing, tweaking, and comparing notes. Within days, the community was buzzing about a few standout setups that feel way ahead of the curve. These builds are not just strong – they bend the new systems in ways that make them look almost unfair. Between the revamped skill gem mechanics and the ability to swap weapons mid-fight without losing linked setups, some characters are blasting through the campaign and chewing up the Atlas faster than ever. If you have been keeping an eye on the meta, you have probably heard people talk about them when discussing PoE 2 Currency trading, gearing, and endgame prep.
The Kinetic Tempest Juggernaut
Think of this one as the ultimate “brick wall that hits like a truck.” The Juggernaut already has a reputation for being hard to kill, but here it is taken to the extreme. You run two completely different weapon setups – one with a chunky shield and one-handed mace loaded with defensive auras and mobility skills, the other with a giant two-handed staff or axe carrying a big area damage skill like Earthshatter Cascade. The loop is simple: stay in your tank mode while moving and soaking hits, then swap to the big weapon and drop a devastating slam when enemies are locked in place. Because the new gem system lets each weapon set hold its own fully linked skill, you lose nothing by swapping. It is a build that can stand in the middle of boss mechanics without blinking, then unload massive damage when the timing is right. Players love it because it feels safe yet explosive.
The Corpse-Weaver Necromancer
Minion builds have been around forever, but this one flips the usual “summon and watch” style into something more frantic and active. The heart of it is Volatile Phantasm, a skill that summons short-lived minions which blow up when they die or when you tell them to. Combine that with the Necromancer’s new ascendancy perk Soul Harvester, which gives a burst of cast speed and spell damage every time you consume a corpse, and you have a loop that feeds itself. You start with Desecrate to make corpses, spawn Phantasms, they explode and leave more corpses, and those corpses fuel your main nuke – maybe the reworked Detonate Dead or a chaos nova. In dense maps, it turns into a chain reaction that wipes the screen in seconds. The damage scales with monster density, so the more mobs you find, the crazier it gets. It is one of those setups that makes clearing feel like setting off fireworks.
The Frost-Mark Sharpshooter
For players who prefer to keep danger at arm’s length, this Ranger build has quickly become a favourite. It revolves around Glacial Arrowhead, a bow skill that marks one target so every other projectile you fire homes in on it, stacking huge single-target damage. For clearing packs, you swap to something wide like Ice Shot to chill and freeze groups. The trick is that with high crit chance and multiplier, almost every hit freezes enemies solid. Add the Ranger’s natural evasion, spell dodge, and the new dodge-roll, and you get a playstyle that feels untouchable. You can keep bosses locked in place, frozen, while you pour damage into them. It is not just strong – it gives you total control over the fight, which is why so many people are calling it broken right now. If you are planning to try it, make sure you are ready to invest in the right gear and maybe look into PoE 2 Currency buy options to speed things up.