Path of Exile 2 Meta builds in 0.3.0: Best endgame options for each class

Path of Exile 2 has a wide variety of builds you can try, and with patch 0.3, Grinding Gear Games has optimized many of them for the endgame. While the first week may tell a different story with Lightning Arrow being the most popular pick, most players are just reaching the endgame. Over the next few weeks, we’ll see other builds shine. For now, gamers are accumulating items and currency, and Lightning Arrow is considered the best League starter.

However, many other builds are also endgame viable despite having a rough start. Here are a few suggestions for various classes.

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Best endgame build options for each class in Path of Exile 2: The Third Edict

Endgame builds for Ranger in Path of Exile 2

The Ranger class in PoE 2 (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Acidic Concotion Pathfinder (or other Poison Pathfinder builds)

Patch 0.3 changed the Poisonous Concotion in Pathfinder Ascendancy - the Notable now provides various bottled destruction of multiple elements to choose from. While the Acidic Concotion can poison enemies, it will consume the already existing stacks to deal burst damage. If built correctly, you can draw a chunk of health from bosses or even one-tap them.

However, beelining for Acidic Concoction off your first Trial of Sekhemas is not the only way to do a poison-ranger in Path of Exile 2 League 0.3. You can, for example, crack Endgame completely with a Gas Grenade Pathfinder build.

Lightning Arrow Deadeye

LA Deadeye is the most common league starter for Path of Exile 2: The Third Edict, and for good reason. Lightning Arrow takes care of mobs pretty much on its own as long as you have a twin-projectile bow. Meanwhile, on bosses, you just stick a bunch of Lightning Rods, trigger them with Lightning Arrows, and watch the health bar go down rapidly.

When building for the endgame, the build won't be cheap - since almost three-quarters of the Path of Exile 2 playerbase are likely to try it at some point during League 0.3, but it's also the most stable build if you want the path of least resistance towards pinnacle content, LA Deadeye is the way to go.

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Endgame builds for Witch in Path of Exile 2

The Witch class in PoE 2 (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Minion Army Lich

Minions have been a very common playstyle for a Witch build, mainly due to their extremely smooth leveling experience and a strong endgame potential. Path of Exile 2 provides the option to pick from various Minion Skill Gems, be they melee-based or caster-based. The most obvious place for a minion-swarm build to shine is a Hardcore League-start, since you can get your meat-shields to do the dirty job at the frontlines form very early on.

Additionally, a few of the related skills saw some tweaks, making them more resilient and allowing them to utilize special abilities more frequently.

Essence Drain Abyssal Lich

Essence Drain paired with Contagion was one of the strongest map-clearing builds in Dawn of the Hunt, and it lives to see another update. Contagion saw some minor changes that allow it to spread to more targets based on Gem quality. The build isn’t as effective against bosses, but once the area is clear, you can Boneblast any remaining enemies.

Since the build mainly deals Chaos damage, it is highly scalable in Path of Exile 2 Endgame.

CoC Spark Blood Mage

A Spark-based Blood Mage is another popular pick for a Witch that serves as a strong league starter, but also provides great scalability. It’s easy to build and will get you to the endgame with minimal investment. You’ll be stacking as much critical hit chance as possible to use Cast on Critical for additional skills. However, the build does require an alternate weapon swapping to use the Sigil of Power if you plan to push the DPS further

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Endgame builds for Huntress in Path of Exile 2

The Huntress class in PoE 2 (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Lightning Spear Amazon

If you missed out on the (very stable) meta form the 0.2 League, it's a great time still to try out the Lightning Spear Amazon. Both the Skill and Amazon itself got nerfed in various ways, but the build can still deal a decent amount of damage - with the caveat that you can't quite bring it back to the pre-nerf power level.

If not Lightning Spear, you can pretty much just follow the Lightning Arrow Deadeye path with about the same setup, but instead of Tailwind, you get Amazon's propensity for crits.

Lighting Arrow Ritualist

Yes, this is yet another Lightning Arrow build. The sheer power Lightning Rod combo is just that hard to beat when it comes to bossing proficiency. Now, Ritualist is a particularly rough pick as a first character in a fresh economy.

The entire point here is to juice your build through pure quantitive advantage - one more Ring slot, and stronger Rings. So if you didn't League-start 0.3 with Lightning Arrow like what seems to be a majority of Path of Exile 2 players but have made a lot of currency still, Ritualist is arguably the best money-sink endgame build to push the numbers up.

Glacial Lance Amazon

If you feel like there’s too much electricity in the air, Glacial Lance may help you cool things down. While not the strongest build out there, it is incredible for map clearing and defense due to its ability to apply chill. The skill can make use of Frenzy charges to create even bigger AoE, covering almost the entire screen on ice. You'll have to find some other solution for bossing DPS, though.

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Endgame builds for Warrior in Path of Exile 2

The Warrior Class in PoE 2 (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Molten Fissure Titan

The Forge Hammer is a new Skill that you can throw at enemies from a safe distance. It deals damage in a small AoE with the initial hit, but when using a Warcry, the hammer explodes. This creates fissures in the ground, which can erupt when using a slam skill. There’s just one catch. Until you acquire Forge Hammer, you’ll need to use the Boneshatter with Seismic Cry for mobbing.

Ancestral Totem Warbringer

Totems recently saw a major buff with Grinding Gear Games removing the summon limit from Ancestral Warrior Totem. It does have increased cost and a 50% slower attack, but when paired with Answered Call Notable from Warbringer Ascendancy, you can have a spiritual party in the boss arena.

Additionally, the skill now also uses your equipped weapon to boost its stats, massively improving its damage.

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Endgame builds for Sorceress in Path of Exile 2

The Sorceress Class in PoE 2 (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Arc Stormweaver

With the introduction of Elemental Infusions, you can now supercharge Arc to deal even more damage. It deals single-target damage and can chain between enemies for crowd control.

The only issue you’ll face is keeping the abilities charged with other elements, something a Stormweaver can take care of with the recent Ascendancy rework. Her Notables can grant up to three times the benefit from collecting a single infusion. This build is similar to Spark.

Lightning Warp Stormweaver

For anyone who prefers a two-tap shotgunning build in Path of Exile 2 The Third Edict, Lightning Ball into Lightning Warp is a great combo. This will take care of all trash mobs and even Rares atimes, the only problem being maps/Magics with high Lightning Resistance. For bossing, you can try a cast-on-Ailment Lightning Warp, and Orb of Storms to chip away at the boss as you do your ususal Ball-Warp rotation.

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Endgame builds for Mercenary in Path of Exile 2

The Mercenary class in PoE 2 (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Explosive Shot Gemling

Cluster Grenade received a decent chunk of buff in damage, with both primary and secondary explosions. Not only that, but the number of secondary explosions and their radius is also larger, meaning more AoE and damage.

However, grenades take time to explode, and to resolve the issue, Explosive Shot comes in handy, as it can detonate everything in its AoE. While the build isn’t the fastest, it deals a significant amount of damage and is much more enjoyable compared to several other builds.

Galvanic Shards Tactician

Galvanic Shards have been on the good side of Grinding Gear Games once again, receiving a damage buff. Paired with the ability to reload without compromising your movement, the build can be the shotgun you have been looking for. There are other skills you can use, but since Lightning has been a dominating element due to its ability to inflict even more damage, it’s the best pick.

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Endgame builds for Monk in Path of Exile 2

The Monk class in PoE 2 (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Hollow Palm Chonk

One of the most notable builds of this season is the Hollow Palm Technique on the Monk. The ability to punch your enemies into oblivion will make you feel strong, since players are deleting pinnacle bosses in just one hit after prepping a combo.

The best part is that you don’t need a weapon at all. The Keystone allows you to use all Quaterstaff abilities bare-handed. This build can be equally potent for both Invoker and Acolyte of Chayula Ascendancy due to the recent rework.

Flicker Strike Invoker

If you want to go for a more old-school Monk build, Storm Wave + Flicker Strike is your best bet. Flicker Strike is for the spectacle of zoomies, slicing through Monster packs across the maps. When Flicker Strike isn't getting in on the action, your bedrock on this build is Storm Wave - which is still one of the best Quarterstaff skills in Path of Exile 2 patch 0.3. Unlike many other endgame build ideas listed here, this one is very endgame-viable.

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Check out our other guides and features:

• Path of Exile 2 Forgotten Bounty quest: All Torn Map Piece locations
• Path of Exile 2: Yama the White Boss Guide
• Path of Exile 2: Great White One boss guide
• Path of Exile 2: What to do with the Shark Fin (Tribal Medicine)
• Path of Exile 2 The Third Edict Meta: Biggest winners and losers of 0.3.0 so far