Path of Exile 2 wears its inspiration on its sleeve, and homages to Diablo 2 are manifold. The Sorceress was a popular class in Diablo 2, and if you’re a Diablo veteran hankering for some turn-of-the-millennium nostalgia you may just be inclined to play a Sorceress in Path of Exile 2, as well. Or maybe you just like the idea of spewing elemental death and are completely unburdened by any attachment to action role-playing games of yore. Whatever the case, this page will help you navigate the intimidatingly expansive passive skill tree in Path of Exile 2 and pick the best starter skills that’ll get you to Act 3, at the very least!

Page Breakdown¶

Sorceress Passive Skill Choices for Act 1 and 2¶

Path of Exile 2 is not a forgiving or easy game, and you’ll need to leverage whatever resources you have at your disposal to make significant progress… especially if your RNG isn’t exceptional when it comes to drops. You’ll want to spend passive skill points to remain strong enough to survive, and while you can respec by spending gold if you don’t like some of your early choices, the beginning of the Sorceress tree is pretty generalized. Below are the skills we suggesting aiming for, in order, after which we’ll discuss our picks:

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In the early game, you can focus mainly on boosting your damage output, with a bit of Energy Shield and Mana if your gear isn’t providing sufficient amounts.

Passive Skill Breakdown¶

As you may have noticed, this build likes damage, and the reasoning is simple: the more dead enemies are, the less dead you probably are. Raw Power, Path of Storms, Path of Flame and Potent Incantation all serve to boost our damage (along with various minor skills in between them). We also grab Pure Energy and Rapid Recharge to help keep our Energy Shields up, and after the major passives mentioned above you might want to grab Melding and Insightfulness to further improve your survivability.

This can be a mana-hungry build, too, so if you find yourself burning through mana quickly, consider spending an extra point to grab Mana Blessing as well. How much Energy Shield and mana you need will vary depending on your gear - some good RNG and you might need less passives providing these stats.

Early Game Spark Sorceress Build¶

While fancier builds will ultimately be your goal, you’ll need something to tide you over in the meantime, and the humble Spark skill actually has a lot of promise when it comes to clearing mobs in the early game. If you played Diablo, you’ll be familiar with the Charged Bolt spell, which unleashes numerous relatively weak bolts of lightning that crawl erratically on the ground. If you’re lucky, one might even hit an enemy! It’s an inherently unreliable spell, but it makes up for this by shooting out a lot of bolts per cast, and if you get close enough to an enemy, the odds of multiple bolts hitting per cast becomes pretty good. Spark is the Path of Exile version of Charged Bolt, and functions much the same - for a modest mana cost you’ll send seven drunk bolts to meander around at enemies. The key is volume, positioning and most of all, casing in conjunction with Flame Wall.

Flame Wall is an area denial spell that creates a short line of fire that deals damage to enemies that cross it, but in Path of Exile 2 projectiles shot through the Flame Wall deal increased fire damage. This isn’t a lot of damage, granted, but when you’re shooting seven or more Sparks through it each cast, that extra damage adds up. Cast Flame Wall and shoot Sparks through it until everything is dead - that’s the core concept, but in practice things are a bit messier.

First, spamming spells takes time and Flame Walls don’t move, so you’ll have to lead a fight with Flame Wall, position yourself behind it, then cast as many Sparks as you can without dying. The trick is to become a proficient dodger, position yourself well, be patient, and if all else fails, boost your Energy Shield by equipping better gear and purchasing passives. Flame Shield is a nice damage boon, but don’t let it be an anchor - you can always recast it if need be. Use Pierce and Arcane Tempo support gems into Spark and you’ll be really cooking.

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The goal of this early build is to cast Flame Walls and cascade Sparks through the flames to stack damage.

For enemies you can’t tank and/or must remain mobile for, be sure to keep skills like Ember Fusillade handy - Spark may be a fine shotgun for strong foes and AoE spell for mobs, but when the risk outweighs the reward, fall back on range.

The biggest threat to this build is, surprisingly, enemy damage-over-time effects. Rooting in place makes us prone to taking hits, but it’s easier to spot and dodge a massive foe swinging a maul at your face, but some fire, frost or damage indicator on the ground can get a bit hard to spot when you’re spamming Flame Walls and Sparks. A good counter to this is to always keep moving, even if you’re just pacing or circling a bit, and keep an eye on your Energy Shield meter - if it starts plummeting, it’s time to dodge roll out of there!

With this overview of the Sorceress’s early skills you should hopefully be able to lightning-shotgun your way to Act 3!