All PoE 2 Ascendancies Explained (0.5.5): Every Class Ascendancy, Ranked

Quick answer: how many ascendancies are in PoE 2?

Path of Exile 2 has 8 playable classes and 22 ascendancies in patch 0.5.5 (Forbidden Rites). Each class picks one ascendancy — a sub-class that reshapes how it plays — by completing an Ascendancy Trial in Act 2 and then earning up to 8 ascendancy points from the Trial of the Sekhemas and the Trial of Chaos. The full roster is: Warrior (Warbringer, Titan, Smith of Kitava), Sorceress (Stormweaver, Chronomancer, Disciple of Varashta), Witch (Infernalist, Blood Mage, Lich), Ranger (Deadeye, Pathfinder), Monk (Invoker, Acolyte of Chayula, Martial Artist), Mercenary (Witchhunter, Gemling Legionnaire, Tactician), Huntress (Amazon, Ritualist, Spirit Walker) and Druid (Oracle, Shaman). The 0.5.5 Forbidden Rites event didn't add any new ascendancies, but it reworked the Trial of Chaos (now up to Room 30 with Wager Modifiers), so how you earn your 8 points changed even though the roster didn't.

This guide explains every one of the 22 ascendancies — what it does, who it's for, and how the current meta ranks it for the Forbidden Rites reset — plus exactly how to unlock and respec them. If you want to click through each one interactively, the PoE 2 Ascendancy Explorer has a filterable card for every class.

How ascendancies work in PoE 2 (0.5.5)

Your class is the shell; your ascendancy is what actually defines the build. You choose a class at character creation, then unlock your ascendancy the first time you clear an Ascendancy Trial — either the Trial of the Sekhemas (reached via Traitor's Passage in Act 2, where you defeat Balbala) or the Trial of Chaos (opened in Act 3). That first completion unlocks your ascendancy and grants the first 2 of 8 ascendancy points. You then keep running trials to bank points in pairs: 2, 4, 6 and 8.

Three facts that trip up returning players in 0.5.5:

• Either trial can grant all 8 points. You are not forced to alternate — if you hate the Sekhemas honour system, you can take all 8 points from the Trial of Chaos, and vice versa.
• The Trial of Chaos was reworked in 0.5.5. It now extends to Room 30 with escalating difficulty and new Wager Modifiers (risk/reward stakes), per the official 0.5.5 Forbidden Rites patch notes. The Sekhemas floors are unchanged.
• You can fully respec your ascendancy since 0.5.0. You are not locked into your first pick for the whole character — see the respec section below.

The 0.5.5 patch also "Fixed a client crash that could occur when changing your Ascendancy class," so respeccing is safer than it was at league launch.

Here's the roster at a glance — how the 22 ascendancies split across the 8 classes and their attribute types:

Class	Attributes	Ascendancies	Count
Warrior	STR	Warbringer, Titan, Smith of Kitava	3
Sorceress	INT	Stormweaver, Chronomancer, Disciple of Varashta	3
Witch	INT	Infernalist, Blood Mage, Lich	3
Ranger	DEX	Deadeye, Pathfinder	2
Monk	DEX/INT	Invoker, Acolyte of Chayula, Martial Artist	3
Mercenary	STR/DEX	Witchhunter, Gemling Legionnaire, Tactician	3
Huntress	DEX	Amazon, Ritualist, Spirit Walker	3
Druid	STR/INT	Oracle, Shaman	2

That's 6 classes with 3 ascendancies and 2 classes (Ranger, Druid) with 2, for 22 total — the same count as the last several patches, since 0.5.5 added event content rather than new sub-classes.

Stuck on your last ascendancy points? Honour runs and the Trialmaster gatekeep points 6 and 8, and a fresh Forbidden Rites economy makes them brutal. A Trial of the Sekhemas / Trial of Chaos carry banks all 8 points on your character, on your build, today.

Every PoE 2 ascendancy, by class

Below is the complete 0.5.5 roster. Each class's attribute type is listed, then its ascendancies with the core fantasy of each. Tier ranks reflect the current community meta for the Forbidden Rites reset (S = league-defining, A = strong, B = playable-but-niche) and shift every patch.

Warrior (STR) — 3 ascendancies

• Warbringer — War-cry melee bruiser built around ancestral totems and shield-backed aggression. Tier: A.
• Titan — Colossal slams and raw physical power; the tankiest way to play Warrior. Tier: A.
• Smith of Kitava — Forge-priest who crafts empowered weapons and burns with fire melee. Tier: B.

Sorceress (INT) — 3 ascendancies

• Stormweaver — Elemental storm caster scaling lightning and raw spell damage; the classic screen-clear caster. Tier: S.
• Chronomancer — Time mage with rewinds, cooldown resets and cast-tempo manipulation. Tier: A.
• Disciple of Varashta — Djinn-pact conjurer who summons sand, fire and water djinn to fight beside you. Tier: B.

Witch (INT) — 3 ascendancies

• Infernalist — Demonform fire witch with a hellhound companion and infernal pacts. Tier: A.
• Blood Mage — Life-fuelled spellcaster who pays in blood for overwhelming spell power. Tier: B.
• Lich — Necromantic chaos caster built on undeath, decay and dark empowerment. Tier: A.

Ranger (DEX) — 2 ascendancies

• Deadeye — Pure ranged DPS: projectile scaling, extra arrows and Tailwind movement speed. Tier: S.
• Pathfinder — Flask-powered skirmisher leaning on poison, concoctions and permanent flask uptime. Tier: A.

Monk (DEX/INT) — 3 ascendancies

• Invoker — Elemental martial artist whose strikes are empowered by invoked spirit. Tier: A.
• Acolyte of Chayula — Breach-touched darkness monk with chaos strikes and the flames of Chayula. Tier: A.
• Martial Artist — Bell-ringing combo striker with spectral bells and illusion mantras (added in 0.5.0). Tier: B.

Mercenary (STR/DEX) — 3 ascendancies

• Witchhunter — Anti-caster gunner who culls sorcery and decimates with crossbow fire. Tier: A.
• Gemling Legionnaire — Gem-augmented soldier who flexes skill-gem requirements into raw stat power. Tier: S.
• Tactician — Battlefield commander using banners, called shots and squad-level control. Tier: B.

Huntress (DEX) — 3 ascendancies

• Amazon — Elemental-infused spear fighter scaling crit and accuracy. Tier: A.
• Ritualist — Sacrificial rite-weaver working with mist, blood offerings and the Queen's favour. Tier: B.
• Spirit Walker — Totemic shapecaller with whirlwinds and spirit-beast companions (added in 0.5.0). Tier: B.

Druid (STR/INT) — 2 ascendancies

• Oracle — Prophetic elemental seer of spellflux visions and foretold devastation. Tier: B.
• Shaman — Primal wildcaller who unleashes the elements through beast and storm. Tier: A.

Which PoE 2 ascendancy is best for the Forbidden Rites reset?

On a fresh economy, the best ascendancy is the one that clears the campaign safely and farms currency early, not necessarily the highest theoretical damage. For 0.5.5, the community-meta standouts are:

• Gemling Legionnaire (Mercenary) — the flexibility to over-level gems makes it the smoothest league starter and the strongest scaling shell.
• Stormweaver (Sorceress) — the go-to caster for screen-clearing map speed; easy to gear on a reset.
• Deadeye (Ranger) — the reliable ranged starter with the best clear-to-investment ratio.

A quick reality check on why "best" is slippery: raw damage rankings ignore how fast you can fund the build after the reset. That's the real bottleneck on a fresh league — which is why currency access matters as much as your ascendancy pick. If your ascendancy needs a specific unique or a wall of Divine Orbs or Exalted Orbs to come online, budget for it before you commit.

A simple way to pick your ascendancy

Skip the tier-list rabbit hole and choose on three questions:

• How much time do you have? A fresh Forbidden Rites league is a race. Gemling Legionnaire, Stormweaver and Deadeye all clear the campaign fast with cheap gear — pick one of those if you want to be mapping by the weekend. Blood Mage, Ritualist and Smith of Kitava are rewarding but reward investment, so they're better as a second character.
• Melee or ranged? If you die to on-screen chaos, a ranged ascendancy (Deadeye, Stormweaver, Witchhunter) keeps you out of it. If you like being in the fight, Titan and Invoker are the sturdiest bruisers.
• Do you want a summoner? Infernalist, Lich and Disciple of Varashta all field minions or companions that tank for you — the safest way to learn the game.

Every ascendancy in the roster is viable in 0.5.5 — none is unplayable — so the pick is about fit and funding, not a hard right/wrong. When you're ready to commit, the PoE 2 Ascendancy Explorer has the full per-ascendancy passive breakdown and current tier ranks for each one.

How do you respec your ascendancy in PoE 2?

Since patch 0.5.0 you can switch ascendancy entirely — you are not locked to your first pick. You refund your ascendancy points and re-allocate into a different ascendancy of the same class (a Sorceress can move from Stormweaver to Chronomancer, but cannot become a Deadeye — that's a different base class). Refunding costs gold, scaling with how many points you're moving, and 0.5.5's crash fix for changing ascendancy makes the process stable. The step-by-step is on the ascendancy respec tool.

Skip the trial grind

Points 6 and 8 are the wall — the Trialmaster fight and long Honour runs kill more builds than any boss, and a fresh Forbidden Rites economy means you can't just buy your way past a bad run yet.

Timesaver pros run your ascendancy trials for you, on your build:

- Trial of the Sekhemas / Trial of Chaos carry — all 8 ascendancy points, banked today

- PoE 2 Divine Orbs — fund the unique your ascendancy needs

- PoE 2 leveling — hit maps fast on a fresh reset

FAQ

How many ascendancies are there in PoE 2? There are 22 ascendancies across 8 playable classes in patch 0.5.5. Warrior, Sorceress, Witch, Monk, Mercenary and Huntress each have 3; Ranger and Druid have 2 each.

Is Deadeye a class in PoE 2? No — Deadeye is an ascendancy of the Ranger class, focused on pure ranged projectile damage. The Ranger's other ascendancy is the Pathfinder.

Is Oracle a class in PoE 2? No — Oracle is one of the Druid's two ascendancies (the other is Shaman). The Druid was added in patch 0.4.0.

Did 0.5.5 Forbidden Rites add a new ascendancy? No new ascendancy classes were added in 0.5.5. The event reworked the Trial of Chaos (now up to Room 30 with Wager Modifiers) and fixed a crash when changing your ascendancy, but the roster stayed at 22.

How do you unlock your ascendancy in PoE 2? Complete an Ascendancy Trial — the Trial of the Sekhemas (defeat Balbala via Traitor's Passage in Act 2) or the Trial of Chaos (Act 3). Your first clear unlocks the ascendancy and grants the first 2 of 8 points; keep running trials to reach 8.

Can you change your ascendancy in PoE 2? Yes, since patch 0.5.0 you can respec into a different ascendancy of the same class for a gold cost. You cannot switch to another base class's ascendancy.