Path of Exile 2: Sorceress Class Overview

Path of Exile 2 New Class: Sorceress Guide

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.

Sorceress Class Overview

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.

Sorceress Skill Gems

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.

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 Sorceress now instead of Witch.

• Spark
  • Shoots out sparks of lightning that travel on the ground and bounce around.
• Frost Bomb
  • Places a icy bomb that pulses and eventually explodes. Reduces enemy Cold Resistance.
• Arc
  • Fires an arc of lightning at an enemy, dealing more damage to the first target.
• Ice Nova
  • Shoot a nova of ice outward from your character.
• Frost Wall
  • Places down a wall of ice.
• Arctic Armour
  • Reserves Spirit. Increases your durability when standing still.
• Mana Tempest
  • Places a circle of power that drains your mana when you stand in it. Powers up your spells while inside.
• Comet
  • After a long cast time, calls down an icy meteor, dealing large damage.
• Unleash
  • Repeats the next spell you cast 3 times. Has a cooldown.

Meta Gems

In this 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.

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.

Select which weapon set to use for each skill in the bottom right

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.

Putting it Together

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 Beta.

Ascendancies

We don’t have information on the Ascendancy Classes for the Sorceress, but we do know there will be 3 different ones. There’s a chance we see the Elementalist come back from PoE 1. This was a Witch Ascendancy catered toward elemental spells.

With the Sorceress now carrying the torch, we can see Elementalist come back for her. There are many ways Ascendancies can work. One might increase your damage even further, another might focus on Elemental Ailments, etc.

As we learn more, we’ll be sure to update this section of our overview.

Conclusion

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.

Thanks for Reading! Be sure to check out our other resources on Path of Exile 2:

• Path of Exile 2 Beginner Guide
• Path of Exile 2 Release Date and News
• Path of Exile 2 Classes