In Path of Exile 2, players can build their character in any way they want, but one style familiar from MMORPGs fails.
Who feels disadvantaged? In Path of Exile 2 there are few limits to creativity when building your own character. Players can combine the skills of different classes and build a character according to their own ideas. The stronger this becomes, the more your own fantasy of a strong character comes true.
But if you would like to play a tank like in MMORPGs or Souls-likes, you will quickly reach your limits in PoE2.
You can see the Path of Exile 2 gameplay trailer here:
Path of Exile 2 shows new gameplay trailer for Early Access
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Glass Cannons > Tanks
What is the situation with the tanks? Being a tank in Path of Exile 2 is possible. There are many different skills and uniques that give defensive values and also shields that enable blocking. This means that normal enemies and elite opponents can only do little harm to the characters.
However, it becomes problematic with the bosses in the game. They have some abilities that can destroy even the best ARPG tank in one hit. Otherwise, a tank’s abilities are rather limited compared to characters that only rely on attack and not defense at all, so-called glass cannons.
The players who play a tank feel disadvantaged. They express their opinions on Reddit. Introducing this is 0re0n, who wrote the article entitled “Why is ‘ruining the game’ acceptable when it happens offensively but not defensively?”
In it he describes that there are builds that can instantly take down bosses, for which the developers actually designed fights that lasted between 1 and 3 minutes. This bothers him because there is no tank in Path of Exile 2 that all bosses simply cannot harm.
This kills the fantasy of a steel warrior for him and puts him at a disadvantage when it comes to the possibilities of an OP build for tanks.
How does the community see it? There are also many tanks in the community who feel left alone. One of them is Ok-Basis-7274, he writes on Reddit: “This is a dream of mine. Building a warrior that’s so tanky and so spiky that it runs slower through the maps, but is much safer. Getting hit by a bullet as an overpowered Sorc is fine, Glass Cannon is super fun. Getting shot as a super tank is unplayable.”
Enevorah also weighed in on Reddit: “I think there just aren’t enough options right now. Defensive options are pretty darn limited right now compared to POE1. Armor is practically worthless. Blocking can be good if you invest a lot. Evasion is pretty good, but you’re just playing Russian roulette if it’s your only defensive layer. Then there’s Energy Shield, which is just the obvious best choice at the moment. I would rather see them buff the weaker options than nerf the best ones, but they never do it that way lol.”
Spendinit sees it similarly on Reddit: “I actually completely agree. My first ARPG was Diablo 3. I never dodged in that game. I played it for years, came back a dozen times, etc. Getting into PoE and seeing the boss fights was a rude awakening years ago. […]“
Not all of Path of Exile 2’s classes and skills have been published yet and further balance patches have already been announced. So it’s quite possible that there will be innovations that will make tanking in the game better. However, it remains uncertain whether it will be enough for OP builds that no longer take damage. You can find a good build here: Path of Exile 2: Beginner build lets you freeze the battlefield as a Sorcerer