Path of Exile 2: Gameplay Mechanics and Class Changes Explained

Path of Exile 2 emphasizes diverse gameplay mechanics, rewarding players for skill switching while maintaining options for simpler builds.

### Path of Exile 2: Innovations in Gameplay and Mechanics
* 🎮  Zen and Jonathan discuss the new features and mechanics of Path of Exile 2 at Gamescom, highlighting **significant changes from the first game**.
* 🛡️  The introduction of the mercenary class offers a fresh gameplay experience, with Jonathan noting that the **crossbow mechanics differ greatly from the bow**, emphasizing a **more strategic loading and firing system**.
* 🔄  The game now allows for **quick ammunition swapping**, enhancing gameplay dynamics similar to first-person shooters, which **adds depth to combat strategies**.
* 💣  The skill design philosophy aims to provide specific scenarios for skill usage, encouraging players to **think critically about when to deploy abilities** like grenades for **maximum effectiveness**.
* ♿  Jonathan reassures that while there is an incentive to use multiple skills, builds like **Righteous Fire** remain viable for players who prefer **less intensive button-mashing gameplay**, albeit with trade-offs in **damage and defenses**.
* 🔥  The game introduces varied resistances among enemies, requiring players to **adapt their strategies** and **utilize multiple elements** for combat effectiveness.
* 🌞  New mechanics, such as the **removal of phasing** and the introduction of a **dodge roll that alters character size**, create a more challenging environment, pushing players to **adapt their playstyle**.
* 📅  With the release date set for November 15th, the developers are keen to ensure that the game maintains a **high quality, akin to endgame boss battles**, throughout the campaign experience.

hi Zen here, and I am joined here by Jonathan. We are at Gamescom, and this is Path of XL 2. I figured we would do a little bit of a chat while I play and try out the mercenary. Uh, yeah, it's a pleasure to be here. Yeah, if you want to try out the mercenary, I'll actually move on to this other character class, which you can, uh, which we can do here. So, it's very different from PE1. Mhm. And, uh, actually took me a little bit of time to figure out that, uh, like the mouse button one is like changed by like the different wants, like Q if you have like the quick burst attack here. Yeah, so we, um, we wanted the crossbow to play differently than the bow. Like, it sort of felt like, um, you know, every, I mean, we just sort of have the philosophy that we want every weapon type to feel like way more different in PE2 than it does in PE1. And so, we were thinking, and so we're thinking like load

first and you fire second whereas uh well I mean I guess they're both technically like that but you know what I mean like a bow. It's like you have to load fire in one action whereas a crossbow you can load beforehand and so that kind of changes the gameplay significantly. So the idea of like you know pre-loading what ammo you're using is the thing but uh one thing that we um recently did that's actually quite different is that we now have a difference between swapping ammunitions and um uh and loading them. Yeah so that means that uh you can switch between two um uh ammo types really really quickly if you've got rounds in the chamber but if you don't then you have to do the reload cost so it actually works like a um like uh an an FPS in that way where like you want to actually have rounds in all the different guns a lot more like a gun. Exactly um so uh yeah that's quite a quite a different quite a different

feeling so this one. This one has been really hard for me to like work with. I've mostly been trying to like shoot it up against the wall to try. Yeah, so the thing with the grenades is they're supposed to be hard because, uh, when they're good, they're amazing. And that's actually one of the other things with um pee2 uh skill design philosophy in general is we want to try to make each skill have a place where you want to use it um and you know the fact that every skill can be a six link now means that um like we want to get away from just Spam one skill right and in order for that to happen you need it's like okay here's a situation where a grenade is good here's a situation where a grenade is bad and then uh if you you should be rewarded for taking advantage of those things. See, I I have a question about that like you said there does seem to be a more focus on switching between skills um and I figured um some of the bill

guides I have, for example, righteous fire, which is like a very, like you don't even need any buttons. I will actually intro that with like this is actually really good for disabled players that might be live. How does that fit into Path of Exile 2 if you are heavily incentivized to use multiple skills? It is going to be the case that, um, okay, so we still have automation, right? We still have things like our righteous fire and so on. It's just that the rewards for switching are higher, and so what that means is like I have no doubt that there will be builds that will be like zero button builds or, you know, like I'm sure that will be a thing because we give the tools, the, you know, the capabilities of that. What it's going to mean is you're going to be getting more Spirit in order to be able to support those things, and you're probably therefore going to be getting less damage nodes or things like that, or maybe less defenses or whatever it is you're trading off in order for that to

be able to happen and so effectively like you are going to be paying a penalty for that, and I think that is um that is how it needs to be um. I don't think it can be okay for a zero button build to be beating a uh build where you're like hammering buttons constantly um. So, so basically like you will be heavily rewarded for using more complicated, but you should still be able to do most things for everything I would say so um. I mean it'll it's interesting though because um. I mean okay like I I certainly have cannot claim to have balanced rightous fire, but it is absolutely a um a uh tricky one as far as like the universe of uh skills go right. Like it's uh it's be can be pretty crazy yeah. So I think is it this one yeah. So this like when I was playing on the other PCS, this is what I've been using the most um. And I've been sort of like this very similar to how I played

the ranger B build with the um. I had like the. I found a lot like toxic rain. It was like the. the Trap and I remember you said you hadn't seen anyone using that as a main ability before. Yes, that's true. Yeah, so I. It's very similar to how I'm uh. Oh wow. Oh, this is brand new news to me that ritual exists. Yeah, very cool um. But yeah, so I've actually been like running around kiing like this. This is how I'm playing usually then different abilities for bosses. So one thing that I would recommend though is like at the very least throwing grenade in there occasionally is going to improve things. But the other thing as well is that I. I do want. I'm up against a wall right right a resistance um. Are a thing that like there's a lot more variety of resistances within areas in po2 as well. So for example in this area you've got the tree monsters and so those are vulnerable to fire being B of wood um. And so you're going to like want

to, but there are other ones that are, um, the resistant to fire and so that kind of thing means that like even just within area like it's more reasonable in poe2 to expect that you'll have more than one element to be able to um, uh, to be able to utilize and that sort of should mean therefore that you can um, uh, you know, like get more advantages from switching between them as well. Yeah, yeah, 'cause you can see here that's what the red is on the bar similar to pxl one with the, all right, well, you've actually got um, so there's these little symbols now um, that I don't think are in poe1. I don't, maybe they did get added. Mark might have even added them. I, yeah, yeah, if you mean the like that they're vulnerable to, yeah, that, that, that was added at some point. Okay, cool, right. I don't even know which of these features Mark cribs and put in very one a lot of quity. Yep, yep, um, that's very good now.

one thing um this was I I don't know if it was it was a little bit better on the ranger I think but uh a big change for me as a p ofl one player is well sort of the removal of phasing. Yes um and and it does actually feel quite bad I would say getting locked in by monsters. The thing is it is important to make them dangerous. Now one thing we have done recently is that the Dodge roll actually changes your character size when you do it. Previously we wanted to make so that Dodge R stores a viable option to get out but that being said if you really trap yourself with like a lot of monsters um we want to make sure that it's you still is possible because um I I think it is bad to be able to um uh just phase whenever you want to. Now that being said there is a spirit reservation uh for 100 Spirit you can turn your Dodge roll into a uh a Teleport and uh so that is an ability you have available.

to you if you need to do that. There's also a unique that gives you phasing on Dodge roll. Okay, um, so there are options for you, but what I'm saying is that I do think, though, that at least by default, it is important to be able to SC up and uh, and trap yourself and uh, like, like now. The other thing as well I suspect you're running into is that you're probably gaking quite a lot uh, uh, because you're a pee1 player used to doing like, you're not necessarily used to the danger that a monster can pose in poe2 and so uh, as you get used to the amount of monsters you can actually take on like and the sort of stuff um. You probably won't make those mistakes as much. It definitely is a thing you can counter with a slower play style, but I think a lot of poe1 players will like get into like the or have those habits where they or just more op items that that too. That's the thing I have.

not fun in year and stuff so like that is exactly why it was not a problem on the uh the ranger as because I I had found gear and I was right right the the ranger felt incredible right okay I'm glad to hear that yeah um um so that was like a very that it was such a different uh Vibe for me cuz at Exelon we only had like the 30-minute demo 40-minute demo whatever and you didn't get to play Path of Exile because um finding gear and upgrades and stuff like that is such a big part of it so that was very darring for me but then at the LA event when I got to play like 3 or 4 hours and find gear upgrades that was that was so like it felt PE weird again so let's um let's move over to the warrior now yeah okay and uh this one might okay so the funny funny story about this character when I played it uh I mean I know how to play poe2 I would hope right so I get this

demo character and um I go in here and I'm like and Octavian is the one who sets these up by the way. I'm like Octavian, this character is so underpowered. You need like way more damage on the weapon. You need like all the stuff, you know, like. And so like I start like God Dam. I'm going to add mods to these. I'm going to like change all the stuff, right. And um eventually get to the point where um the character feels like it's uh like it's. It's actually powerful enough to not die. And um then uh someone else to come is like man the warrior is just so op uh like you know that that character is invulnerable. There's just no way you're going to die. And then I go back to the original state that he left it in and I play again and um then I found that that character was actually perfectly fine. Was a play skill issue. And so what I'm saying is is that like even someone who knows how the abilities work and like

like just playing a character for a little bit of time really gets you into how to play that thing. So you are going to get destroyed. I'm just warning you right now. You're going to get destroyed walking in here. So many PE want habits, but I'm saying after half an hour of playing this character, um, you're going to be, you're going to be doing a lot better. Um, so what I'll tell you about this is so if you use the middle click ability here, okay, um, it's going to create these, uh, these Molten lines. And if you use double slam on those lines, it like re-triggers the, uh, the, the, the, the lava. Oh, so, uh, you want to probably have more than one line out for optimal damage, but also, um, there are other skills that are going to, um, be, uh, more, um, uh, going to do more slams, right? 'Cuz every slam will trigger it. Yeah. So, um, what we can do is, uh, there's a skill down there called Rampage just at the bottom there, uh, that

sorry Stampede. We've renamed it. Throw it in the uh throw it in the in the skill screen there and um then when you use that um it like does this thing and then jump and then does like these triggers now so if you do that and and then Rampage through it um then um that will trigger the like a lot of a a lot of the things so um you can imagine how uh you know like that can be uh that that can be pretty good so the Rampage is pretty strong oh by the way you're near the Sun so you're going to be taking damage continuously while you're here um so get in the get in the shade if you want to oh wow to oh wow stop that so yeah I'm definitely feeling getting destroyed a little bit yes yeah no for sure you will be as said it takes some time to used to how to play the character class oh you Mana um is very very different yeah yeah but uh as I said you get used to the stuff

now the um uh that Stampede ability um there's a few other support Gams you might want to throw in there so if you open up I guess I'm doing the build guide now yeah it's nice nice so um yeah if you go let me just K away from for sure for sure for sure um um D just careful of that guy he's got a pretty nasty uh nasty ability uses sometimes yeah uh no he's not going to use it it's all right you're you're good if he uses this like beam attack that's pretty uh pretty crazy see I really like the the right click ability double rolling slam yeah anyway so if you open up um uh we've got some sport jams here so uh on the bottom here we've got uh bottom the bottom sport Jam this is our stomping ground so any skill that where you do a step it will trigger an extra shock wave on the step. So if you throw that on Stampede, that's going to just be a straight-up DPS upgrade. But it does

technically work on anything that involves stepping, like Shield charge, but also even just um uh like that rolling slam that's steps in it. There's like other things like that it can work on um then over there in the middle just up a little bit. You've got um armor explosion and Brake endurance. So um armor explosion if you put that on um armor breake uh it's up there a bit uh that's going to make it so that it triggers um an extra explosion when you break armor and then that one gives you an endurance charge when you break armor. Okay so um then uh this is obviously you know obviously beneficial and the other thing as well is that leap slam when you use it on an unbroken enemy it does a large amount of stun damage and removes the armor again. So uh you can use that to um to stun things uh pretty effectively and see leap slam looks really nice for being able to get out of packs and stuff. Yeah yeah yeah so you can that's the other thing we do have travel skills.

like that, but do bear in mind that leap slam has that, uh, it's not instant, right? So, uh, if you go to use leap slam, you are in danger because you're not damaging stuff while you're leaping. And so, like, if you use it in advance to get out of a bad situation, that's very good. But if you're already surrounded, uh, that is going to, you might have trouble. How early do classes get access to something like leap slam or, um, some sort of escape? Um, so it does vary a little bit. So, on the ranger, you have escape shot, and you get that from level two. But that skill is not useful to get out of a, uh, corner because it takes you backwards. Um, for skills that we want that can just, like, just a pure, just get out of, get out of the thing, that's kind of more around, like, um, act three, side of act three, that you start to get that. I think might, some of them might be end of act two, um, but yeah, it's a little, a little bit.

later on um with mechanics like this, we have to avoid being in the sun. How do you balance that around melee and R um? So, not every area has to be exactly equivalent on Mele and range, right? Like, there's some areas where range has more of a tough time, and I do, I feel like I want to have in every a, like, one or two areas that have kind of slightly interesting things going on with them that are a bit unusual. I wouldn't necessarily do it in a non-unique map um, because I think that gets annoying if you're talking about like, you know, the more Mindless grind of mapping, you know uh, but I think in campaign it's interesting to have these kind of mechanics where it kind of forces you to do something a little bit different and uh, and do that sort of stuff. And also in a unique map, you can obviously do those kinds of stuff where it's like a completely different type of experience. So uh, yeah um, now another one is so we

generally, as you're probably aware, avoid cooldown skills where possible. Yeah, but um, I think by the time you get up to uh the higher levels, it is okay to have the occasional cooldown skill. So uh, oh, that's that skill I was talking about, the uh nasty uh flame blast. Yeah, like that, that one is uh, is pretty nasty. Uh, anyway, so there's a skill called Hammer of the Gods in your inventory if you want to throw that on. Yeah, uh, once you've dealt with uh this guy to fa, the rolling slime does also feel very good as like a one-got ability for clearing. Yeah, so uh, oh uh, Hammer of the Gods. So this is a cooldown skill you might want to put Fist of War on it, by the way, because um, it's a very long cooldown skill. And uh, so Fist of War just works well in it. Um, and you could put Second Wind on there if you want, but it will take a bit longer to cool off then um, so what what Second Wind does is it

gives an extra cooldown to a cooldown ability so that it charges up again, but in exchange for, uh, the cooldown is a bit longer. I think it's like 25% or something, yeah. So, throw Hammer of the Gods on that thing, uh, and then it takes a while to, but when it does, it does a lot of that feels very good, yeah. Yeah, so, um, this thing got a long cooldown, but the thing is, is that so you've got um, seismic cry that can double the number of slams you do, you got F of water improve, you got second win to be able to get two of them, like you can actually nuke a boss pretty damn hard with that ability volan while this is going, yeah. Yeah, ex exactly, then it slams and then gets all of them. So, uh, this kind of thing can be uh, that can be quite fun as very cool. I mean, that's been one of my favorite things so far, has been like every boss is a bit more like Dark Souls C, right.

right, and like honestly, it almost feels like you're fighting endgame bosses in the campaign. Well, you know, in a way, you are because, um, I mean two things. One of them is that like all the same guy, Mark, designing the endgame bosses of bb1, is making all these early game bosses, and uh, the quality standard is the same as an ingame boss as it is for an early game Boss. But the second thing is, is that all of these campaign bosses will be used in in-game as well, so they have to have mechanics and interest and stuff that's going to um, uh, stand up to that. And um, in some cases, there'll be um, like more skills. That's a total waste of that skill, by the way. Use it to use it on some random guys, but uh, yeah, um, in some cases, the um, uh, you know, so the nice thing is in endgame, right, we can be a lot more ruthless with regard to like the uh, the cooldowns that the bosses have on the on their more difficult abilities, and

things like that and uh you know like when they use also a lot of the skills in campaign like they have upgraded versions they use in like the last quarter of life in ingame we can just be like it just uses that ability all the time uh you know uh that kind of thing so uh yeah hey any other questions that you have to to while we so you said that strength has like a lot of flat life uh how do you balance that around uh like people are going to want int and Dex in in getting minor so if you need to solve your Mana problems you're getting um uh you know you're getting you're getting in and anyone can pick it at any time if uh um if you need um strength then um uh sorry if you need life you picking strength and any class can do it and then if you need accuracy then um you pick deck and anyone do it so that's a bug there that you know there's one last thing I just want to show you as well because um there's been a couple of uh

changes to the skill system since the last time you saw the game. And I just want to go over that very quickly before you um. One thing is that um the skill system now you uncut gems, both level gems, and uh give new gem. So we no longer have experience on gems anymore um. You actually have to pick uh like you have to pick the skills you want to level up. And this actually changes the game quite significantly because previously you know the number one newbie question is like why do I have to manually level up my skills like it was just a common thing. And like I realized that okay if someone's asking that it's because they're not having fun doing that right. And as soon as we made it so you pick what skill to level up and then or you pick a new skill like just the fact that there's a decision you're like do I want more damage on Armor break or do I want to get CH wave totem. It's just immediately like a uh like a a cool thing. And so this actually works more

like the Diablo 2 skill tree now where like you effectively you need enough uncut gems as you go through the campaign to level all your gems up and um and then and at endgame um getting getting a level 20 gem just requires level 20 uncut gem um and so effectively that's the thing like if you want level 20 gems you need to be finding level 20 uncut and they're hard to find you know that that's like the challenge okay um so that's uh one so you will be able to like still change your building and we not but the thing is is that it's a um it's just a lot more fun during the leveling process to do that so that's um one of the uh major um always like plus scale of points in Diablo as well so right right so yeah that's a that's that's one one thing that I thought was more difficult in poe2 than poe1 was figuring out what support GS actually linked because in poe1 you have the the

things like appearing, so we're doing that. Um, two other, two, two other things. Um, so, and I want to go over this too. Um, so, uh, the way that um, support gems work now is um, so first off, you've got the screen, which I think you've seen before, and that other um, thing. So we've got that s of the recommendation system. Um, but also uh, this screen here, which um, currently doesn't do this, but uh, effectively shows you all the gems that will work with a given skill. Um, so that means that you'll be able to see like, you know, what exactly works. But the other thing as well is that um, we now uh, we've actually changed the way attribute requirements on support gems work now. So effectively, every five, every single travel node you allocate is one extra support Gem of that color. So if you want more red support gems, so you can see here, like, I could have 27 'cause I'm a strength car. I can have, I have room for 27 red supports, only room for one dick.

support and room for five un supports 'cause of the amount of attributes I've got, but even if I want another deck support, all I have to do is allocate one travel node, and I then I can do another one. So that means there's always a situation where you can, and effectively the... okay, we'll wrap it up. Thank you so much for taking time to show me some more poe2, and looking forward to release on 15th of November. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So thanks for watching, so for like the video, but more importantly, try to die less than I do. Okay, awesome.

"You are not used to the danger a monster can pose in PoE 2" - Jonathan Rogers Interview

I'm Zizaran, Path of Exile & ARPG content creator since October 2015.
I stream daily on www.twitch.tv/zizaran



Zizaran

Path of Exile 2: Gameplay Changes and Skill Design

Path of Exile 2 introduces significant gameplay changes, with a focus on making each weapon type feel more distinct.

The crossbow now allows for pre-loading ammunition, offering a gameplay dynamic similar to first-person shooters.

The skill design philosophy emphasizes the importance of skill switching, while still providing automation options for players who prefer a more passive playstyle.

The game rewards players for using more complex builds, while still allowing them to succeed with simpler ones.

There is a greater variety of resistances within areas, making it essential to switch between elemental abilities for advantages.

New features, such as symbols indicating enemy vulnerabilities, have been added to enhance gameplay strategy.

The removal of phasing has made it challenging for players to escape from monsters, but there are now options like a spirit reservation for a teleporting dodge roll and a unique ability for phasing on the dodge roll.

The character size change during the dodge roll aims to make it a viable option for escaping danger.

Players may need to adjust their playstyle to handle the increased monster danger, and finding gear upgrades is crucial for a smoother gameplay experience.

The speaker discusses their experience with a character in a game, initially feeling underpowered and making modifications for better performance.

They later realize that the character's strength was adequate, and it was a matter of play skill.

The speaker offers tips on using abilities and skills for optimal damage and emphasizes that it takes time to get used to playing the character effectively.

Build Guide for Stampede Ability and Support Gems

The Stampede ability can be enhanced with support gems that trigger extra effects on stepping skills.

The Stomping Ground gem provides a DPS upgrade for skills that involve stepping, while Armor Explosion and Brake Endurance offer additional explosions and endurance charges when breaking armor.

Leap Slam is a useful escape skill, but its non-instant nature can be risky if used while surrounded.

The game design aims to create a balance between melee and ranged combat, with some areas offering unique challenges for each.

Cooldown skills are generally avoided, but their occasional use is acceptable at higher levels.

The Hammer of the Gods skill, with its long cooldown, can be paired with Fist of War and Second Wind for a powerful boss-nuking effect.

The same designer is responsible for both early and endgame bosses, maintaining a consistent quality standard.

Campaign bosses will also be used in-game, requiring them to have interesting mechanics and skills.

The skill system has changed, allowing players to pick and level up skills, making the decision-making process more engaging.

Gem Leveling and Support Gem Changes in PoE2

In PoE2, leveling up gems requires finding uncut gems of the same level, creating a challenge for players.

The game introduces a new system for linking support gems, with a screen showing all compatible gems for a given skill.

Attribute requirements for support gems have been changed, allowing players to gain additional support gems by allocating travel nodes.