PoE 2 Sorceress - Overview, Skills, and Ascendancies

Path of Exile 2 is releasing the Sorceress, one of the 6 playable classes releasing in Early Access.

The Sorceress is a new class that fulfills the elemental damage spellcasting role. In PoE 1, the Witch class covered both elemental and minion based builds. With PoE 2, those roles are splitting between the Witch and the Sorceress.

In this guide, I’ll be covering everything we know about the Sorceress class and how it works. Let’s jump right in.

Like the Witch, the Sorceress is an INT based class, starting near the top of the passive tree. This gives the class easy access to things like elemental damage, spell damage, energy shield, cast speed, and more.

The Sorceress doesn’t have a signature weapon like other classes, but her specialty will be Elemental Spells. In the gameplay showcase, we see the Sorceress using a Staff. However, we can expect other weapon types like Wands to be included as well.

There are some major changes coming to the spellcasting weapons, so let’s dive into that.

Caster Weapons

In Path of Exile 1, all weapons were able to do a basic attack. This basic attack was almost never used, but there are some changes coming to PoE 2. With PoE 2, caster weapons like wands or staffs will now come with a free to cast spell. This spell will cost no mana and will replace the basic auto attack for these weapons.

If you ever find yourself out of mana, there’s no need to walk up and smack monsters with your caster weapon now. You’ll be able to shoot fireballs from afar, sticking to the class fantasy of a Sorceress.

Dual Specialization

In the Sorceress gameplay showcase, GGG also showed off the new Dual Specialization system. In PoE 1, characters would often focus on single damage types like Fire, or Lightning, or Cold, or Chaos.

However, the Sorceress wants to use a variety of elemental types. In PoE 2, you’ll be able to utilize the weapon swap to have two weapons that specialize in different damage types. In the Skill Gem screen, you’ll be able to set each skill to either weapon, allowing you to swap weapons seamlessly when you use different skills.

There is a small delay when switching weapons, so you may want to set some skills to both weapons if there is no difference.

This image shows the Skill gem screen. At the bottom right, you can set each Skill to be used with either Weapon Set 1 or Weapon Set 2.

Furthermore, you’ll be able to spend some points on your passive tree in two different trees. Like the weapon swap, as you use different skills, you’ll automatically use one of two passive tree setups to maximize your damage.

All characters will be able to utilize this dual specialization system, and you can use it in a variety of ways as well.

We’ve gotten a quick look at some Sorceress gameplay from GGG, showcasing different skills. Here’s a rundown of what we’ve seen thus far. This image above also shows the available skill gems from the recent Gamescom demo.

If you’ve played PoE 1, the Sorceress won’t be too new, as many skill gems are coming back. These gems are simply categorized under the “Elemental” tag.

•  Spark

  • Shoots out sparks of lightning that travel on the ground and bounce around.

• Ice Nova

  • Shoot a nova of ice outward from your character.

• Flame Wall

• Orb of Storms

• Frostbolt

• Solar Orb

• Arc

  • Fires an arc of lightning at an enemy, dealing more damage to the first target.

• Cold Snap

• Rolling Magma

• Lightning Warp

• Frost Bomb

  • Places a icy bomb that pulses and eventually explodes. Reduces enemy Cold Resistance.

• Flameblast

• Flammability

  • Curse enemies, lowering their Fire Resistance.

• Hypothermia

  • Curse enemies, lowering their Ice Resistance.

• Conductivity

  • Curse enemies, lowering their Lightning Resistance.

• Mana Tempest

  • Places a circle of power that drains your mana when you stand in it. Powers up your spells while inside.

• Frost Wall

  • Places down a wall of ice.

• Fireball

• Lightning Conduit

• Comet

  • After a long cast time, calls down an icy meteor, dealing large damage.

• Firestorm

• Arctic Armour

  • Reserves Spirit. Increases your durability when standing still.

• Unleash

  • Repeats the next spell you cast 3 times. Has a cooldown.

Meta Gems

In the showcase video, we also see GGG show off some “meta gems”. These gems have special traits that make them quite different from regular skill gems.

• Cast on Shock

  • After shocking enemies, this gem will cast any skill gems in the supported sockets. Can be supported by both support gems and skill gems.

• Barrier Invocation

  • After taking damage and losing Energy Shield, builds up charges. Spend all your charges to instantaneously cast supported skill gems.

With all of these skills, you’ll be able to combine them together to deal massive damage. For a large burst of damage, set down Frost Bomb to reduce enemy Cold Res. Activate Mana Tempest to buff up your skills, activate Unleash, and cast Comet to deal a massive burst of damage.

For clearing packs of mobs, you can simply use Spark or Arc to clear. You can also use extra gem slots to put some meta gems to help you clear even more.

This is only a intro into what the Sorceress class is capable of, and there’ll no doubt be lots more to explore once the game releases in Early Access.

While every Class will have 3 Ascendancy Classes, the Early Access will start with two Ascendancy Classes. For the Sorceress, you can delve into more Elemental Damage with Stormweaver, or control time with Chronomancer.

Chronomancer

[See Chronomancer Ascendancy Page]

The Chronomancer is all about controlling time itself. You can reset your cooldowns, warp back in time, freeze enemies, and more. While the Chronomancer synergizes clearly with Spells, the utility surely can be combined with other Skills to make very unique builds.

Stormweaver

[See Stormweaver Ascendancy Page]

The Stormweaver is all about mastering the Elements. You can Shock enemies with any Elemental damage, Shock enemies twice, summon Elemental Storms on Crit, and more.

This wraps up everything we know about the Sorceress class in Path of Exile 2.

Elemental Spells or skills aren’t anything new to PoE, but the Sorceress class will help you specialize in that aspect further. If you’ve already played PoE 1, Sorceress will likely be quite familiar.

The class uses many spells we’ve seen before, but there will no doubt be new and interesting ways to combine them.