Path of Exile is one of the most unique ARPGs out there. Aside from the gem and equipment interactions that make builds work, there are plenty of classes to choose from.
We acknowledge the difficulty of choosing which class to play in Path of Exile here at RPGStash. That is why we have created a class tier list to help you decide. We will not only provide you with information about what makes a certain class stand out, but we are also going to give you some builds that work best with a particular ascendancy class.
So, without further ado, this is our Path of Exile classes tier list in Patch 3.25!
Classes and Ascendancies
Before we begin, we must define some terminologies to help you navigate our class tier list. An important distinction has to be made between "Classes" and "Ascendancy Classes" so that you can better understand what we are going to talk about here.
"Classes" refer to the base classes in Path of Exile. These are what you will choose at the very beginning of the campaign. That said, there are seven character classes in the game, such as the Marauder, Ranger, Witch, Duelist, Templar, Shadow, and Scion.
The first three classes are considered pure classes primarily because they are aligned with the core attributes of the game. The Marauder is known for his brute power and has the highest STR attribute for a base class.
The Ranger, as you can tell, is an agile combatant that has a naturally high DEX stat. This class is best known for utilizing bows and fast-attacking weapons like daggers and one-handed swords.
Then, there's the Witch — a base class that is adept at spells and arcane magic. This class can wield wands and sceptres to great effect, mainly because of its naturally high INT attribute.
The Duelist, Templar, and Shadow are deemed as "hybrid classes" because they excel in more than one attribute. The Duelist is a great class to use if you utilize Strength (red) or Dexterity (green) skill gems.
The Templar, which is a class that represents both Strength and Intelligence quite well, is pretty good at wielding staves and sceptres. Thus, this class is perfect for builds that require the use of many red and blue skill gems.
The Shadow is proficient at using Dexterity and Intelligence skills. This is the only hybrid class that can use traps and mine skills effectively, so if you want these skill archetypes, then the Shadow, as well as its ascendancy classes, are the way to go.
To round out the base classes, you have the Scion. Unlike all of the other classes mentioned above, the Scion needs to be unlocked first by playing the campaign. More specifically, there is a mini-quest that you can do to help free her from captivity in Act 3, thus allowing you to choose her once you create a new character.
What about "Ascendancy Classes" in Path of Exile? What are they exactly? Think about them as subclasses that provide you with a different set of notable passive skills. Also known as ascendancy nodes, these passive skills can greatly influence how a build performs.
For example, the "Demolitions Specialist" from the Saboteur increases the effect of auras from mines by a significant degree, which makes this ascendancy class an appealing choice if you are going to use a Mine skill.
Each character class in Path of Exile has three different ascendancies, except for the Scion which only has one. You can choose an ascendancy class after finishing the first Labyrinth (or "lab" for short).
Here is a rundown of all the classes and ascendancies in PoE:
Marauder
- Berserker
- Chieftain
- Juggernaut
Ranger
- Deadeye
- Pathfinder
- Warden
Witch
- Elementalist
- Occultist
- Necromancer
Duelist
- Champion
- Slayer
- Gladiator
Templar
- Inquisitor
- Hierophant
- Guardian
Shadow
- Assassin
- Trickster
- Saboteur
Scion
- Ascendant
How We Came Up with Our Tier List
As you can see, there are a lot of classes and ascendancies in PoE. To help you make an informed decision, we created our tier list based on different criteria, such as build popularity, map-clear speed, bossing potential, and ease of use.
The choice of skill gems and spell skill gems also factor into the equation. For instance, projectile-based skills like Tornado Shot or Lightning Arrow will not work well with, say, the Necromancer, but they are definitely perfect for the Deadeye.
In Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur, GGG has made substantial changes to make melee skill gems great again. Hence, you will find that there is a shift in ascendancy classes, particularly favoring those who have nodes that improve a melee style of play.
With all of these things settled, here are our picks for the top classes in Path of Exile 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur League:
PoE Tier List
S-Tier
The S Tier is composed of ascendancy classes that are quite popular in the current league. These are what we consider the cream of the crop, mainly because they can take on whatever content there is in the game without any issues!
Trickster
Previously placed in the A Tier, the Trickster has gotten a lot better due to the changes in melee skill gems in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur. In case you do not know, Grinding Gear Games (aka GGG) has pretty much buffed the damage of almost all melee skill gems in the game.
Having said that, the Trickster has a good mix of offense and defense, utilizing high amounts of evasion and energy shield to keep him alive. There is also an ascendancy node that boosts damage, which can be very much felt in the endgame.
A huge part of the Trickster's tankiness comes from Escape Artist. If you have a pretty good self-crafted body armor or helmet, you get insane amounts of evasion and energy shield as a result. This is now improved thanks to the new item base types GGG introduced in the Settlers of Kalguur expansion. For instance, you could craft yourself using the new Necrotic Armour as the base. This provides the highest amount of flat evasion and energy shield compared to its body armor counterparts.
Spell suppression is a defensive layer in PoE that essentially mitigates the spell damage you take from the enemy's attacks by half. Although you can roll some spell suppression chance on your gear, you can simply take the Spellbreaker node to give you a huge boost to your "Chance to Suppress Spell Damage."
The Trickster has a huge amount of energy shield as well. To help you recoup that faster, you can take advantage of ES leech with the help of Soul Drinker. This notable ascendancy passive skill acts like an "overleech" which means that you continually get the energy shield leech effects even if your ES is already full. Additionally, you gain a huge boost to your attack and cast speed while leeching.
Most builds in Path of Exile take at least five or six different Masteries. Polymath capitalizes on that by providing you with a 3% damage boost for each different type of Mastery you have allocated. The life/mana/es recovery on kill is just a nice bonus!
In terms of the best skill gems to use on the Trickster, the current meta suggests that builds that utilize Mine Skills, like Power Siphon with Locus Mine Support, as well as Hexblast Mines, are the most popular in Patch 3.25.
Hierophant
The Hierophant specializes in spells, most notably brands and totems. This ascendancy class gives you access to nodes that not only increase your mana, but make you efficient in utilizing the said resource as well.
Divine Guidance gives you a significant amount of mana. Furthermore, any mods that increase your mana can boost your damage at 30% of their value thanks to this node's inherent "Transfiguration of the Mind" effect.
Sanctuary of Thought has three noteworthy effects. First, it improves your mana reservation efficiency by 25%, allowing you to activate another aura. Second, it reduces the mana cost of your attack skills and spells by 50%. This acts as a defensive node as well since it provides you with extra energy shield based on 20% of your maximum mana.
As previously mentioned, the Hierophant is the best ascendancy class when utilizing brand and totem skills. Pursuit of Faith enables you to summon one additional totem with increased totem placement speed to boot. This makes it so that you can set your totems up quickly without wasting a lot of time.
Sign of Purpose is one node that you should take if you like to use brand skill gems like Penance Brand of Dissipation. That is because it increases the brand's activation frequency by 100% if it's about to be detached from the enemy.
In terms of utilizing spells, the Hierophant can take advantage of an improved Arcane Surge buff thanks to Arcane Blessing and Illuminated Devotion.
With so many useful nodes, why is the Hierophant well below the C Tier as opposed to the higher tiers on this class list? To put it bluntly, this ascendancy class only shines when you spend a ton of currency. The Hierophant is typically played either as a "mana-stacker" or a totem/brand specialist, but to maximize this ascendancy class, you'd have to get your hands on some pretty expensive items, such as the Mageblood and Forbidden Jewels.
The vast majority of people playing the Hierophant have opted to use Ice Nova of Frostbolts coupled with the Archmage Support gem in Patch 3.25. This tech enables one to clear maps and bosses like there's no problem. But, to truly bring the best out of this build, you'll need an exorbitant amount of PoE Currency to pull this off.
This is not to say that the class is bad; it's just that it is not that good without a high investment. Having said that, if currency is not an issue, the Hierophant deserves your attention.
Slayer
Due to the massive melee overhaul that GGG has done in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur, the Slayer has risen all the way to S Tier in our best classes tier list. This is primarily due to the fact that this ascendancy class has some of the best melee offense nodes in the game.
For starters, Impact helps resolve any accuracy issues you may have early on. Plus, it increases your melee strike range by quite a bit, making it the perfect first node to take if you use Boneshatter or Cyclone.
Enemies can run you over if you are not careful. Fortunately, the Slayer has Brutal Fervour – a notable ascendancy passive skill that provides you with increased life recovery from life leech. If you have heard of the "overleech" mechanic from other players, this is the node they are referring to.
Flicker Strike builds utilize Frenzy Charges to a great extent. The Masterful Form node from the Slayer ascendancy not only increases your Frenzy Charge by one, but it also makes your Maximum Endurance Charges equal to your Maximum Frenzy Charges, thus giving you some survivability as well.
Headsman is another amazing node to take if you choose the Slayer. When this is allocated, you instantly slay monsters that are below 20% of their maximum life. Besides that, you gain a 10% attack speed and movement speed boost when you kill a rare or unique enemy.
Although nothing has been changed on the ascendancy class itself, the Slayer's existing nodes make it an amazing choice for those who want to play melee in the Settlers of Kalguur expansion.
Gladiator
If you had told us that the Gladiator would be one of the best ascendancy classes in Path of Exile 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur prior to the reveal, we wouldn't have believed you. This is because the Gladiator was very bad and it only had a couple of viable builds before the launch of this league. However, things have certainly changed for the better thanks to the recent overhaul of the said ascendancy class!
Grinding Gear Games has practically changed all of the notable passive skills available to the Gladiator, with most of the nodes having different names except for Gratuitous Violence.
Speaking of which, Gratuitous Violence no longer grants 20% more physical damage over time buff. Instead, it now causes bleeding enemies to explode upon death, dealing 20% of their maximum HP as physical damage to nearby monsters (up from 10%). This makes Bleed Puncture bow builds incredibly fast at clearing entire maps on a minimal investment.
If you want a more cautious playstyle, you can use the new Retaliation Skills that are enhanced by the notable passives available to the Gladiator. Determined Survivor essentially grants a huge chance to block attacks when wielding a shield. This enables you to execute Retaliation Skills, such as Eviscerate and Glacial Shield Swipe, more often. This is even more enhanced when you take "More Than Skill" — an ascendancy node that makes your attack and spell block Lucky if you have blocked recently.
In addition, Measured Retaliation gives you a couple more seconds to use Retaliation Skills, giving you a more relaxed playstyle. On top of that, you have a 50% chance for Retaliation Skills to remain usable and not consume a cooldown on use.
Then you have the Weapon Master. This is a notable ascendancy passive skill that grants different bonuses depending on the type of weapon you use. Thanks to this node, Varunastra, a one-handed weapon with a unique effect that makes it count like all of the melee weapon base types (sword, axe, dagger, claw, and mace), has seen a massive spike in usage in Patch 3.25.
Does the Gladiator rework make it an appealing choice to use in PoE? Absolutely! This ascendancy class has proven that it can decimate map monsters with ease. However, its bossing potential just went up a notch thanks to War of Attrition.
What War of Attrition does is it increases your damage by up to 100% for each second an enemy has been in your presence. This provides you with a huge damage boost, especially if the boss fight has dragged on for quite a while. And, did you know that the boost in damage does not dwindle or get removed when you die? That's how amazing it is!
All in all, the Gladiator has truly come back to the game, and in a good way. The new notable ascendancy passive skills make great use of the new Retaliation Skills. But more importantly, the Gladiator is no longer a dog that knows a couple of tricks as it has certainly proven itself really well in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur!
A-Tier
The ascendancy classes that are in the A Tier are great but not better than the ones mentioned in the S Tier. However, do not sleep on these classes because they are definitely fun and worth your time.
Deadeye
The Path of Exile community has deemed the past few leagues as the "bow leagues" simply because of the popularity of bow-based projectile skills like the aforementioned Tornado Shot and Lightning Arrow. For this reason, the Deadeye is placed in the top spot of the S Tier due to the fact that this ascendancy class can use projectile skills to great effect.
Endless Munitions is amazing because it gives you the ability to fire two additional projectiles just by taking this node.
Gathering Winds greatly boosts your attack speed and movement speed, thus enabling you to clear maps and slay bosses with incredible efficiency. It got a slight nerf in the Settlers of Kalguur expansion where the effect of Tailwind now only goes up to 100% (down from 150%). This is not surprising at all and the good news is that it does not diminish the power of the Deadeye.
Tornado Shot, which is still a popular attack skill gem in PoE right now despite the nerfs in the previous league, can make use of the Ricochet ascendancy node. This allows projectile-based skills to chain one additional time. Furthermore, there is a slight chance for projectiles to chain when colliding with walls or other terrain.
Far Shot is another passive skill worth noting. This node essentially makes your projectiles hit harder, especially when they are fired from a considerable distance. You can always take advantage of this effect when you use the Returning Projectiles support gem and couple it with Lightning Arrow, for example.
In the Settlers of Kalguur Expansion, the Far Shot ascendancy node has been rebalanced in that it no longer provides a 60% more damage bonus when enemies are hit with projectiles at their maximum travel distance. Rather, they only receive 30% more damage now.
Sure, that is a straight-up nerf, but you also have to consider that the effect no longer has that "20% less damage" modifier when enemies are hit by projectiles at the start of their movement. In other words, the 30% damage of the current Far Shot is now more consistent, whether you’ve just fired the projectiles from your preferred skill, or they’ve traveled their maximum allowable distance.
Since "Mark" skills are always included in almost every build that utilizes projectile-based attacks, taking Focal Point is a no-brainer. This grants a 75% increased effect of Marks, making your attacks more lethal as a result.
In the 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur League, the best builds for the Deadeye include those that use Elemental Hit of the Spectrum, Tornado Shot, and Lightning Arrow.
It is important to note that projectile-based builds are still pretty good. However, when compared to builds that utilize melee skills, they pale in comparison. For this reason, the Deadeye has now been demoted to the A Tier. Despite the dip in rank, you can never go wrong with the Deadeye in PoE!
Chieftain
After being left in the dust by other ascendancy classes for the past several leagues, the Chieftain has become one of the best in the game, and that is still true in Path of Exile 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur.
This ascendancy class is the go-to when it comes to playing Righteous Fire. However, there are some melee skill gems it excels at, including Ground Slam of Earthshaking, Earthquake, and Sunder, among others. These melee skill gems got buffed considerably in Patch 3.25, which is why it is being used along with the Chieftain for its notable passive skills.
On that note, many players who go for the Chieftain often take Hinekora, Death's Fury as the first notable passive skill. This thing causes enemies you kill to explode, dealing massive fire damage to nearby monsters.
Elemental resistances are an essential part of your defenses in Path of Exile. If you do not have them capped, you will definitely have a hard time surviving out there. Having said that, thanks to the Chieftain's "Tasalio, Cleansing Water" node, you only have to think about increasing your fire resistance and your cold and lightning resistance will follow suit.
Now, your fire, cold, and lightning resistances are normally capped at just 75%. If you go beyond that, the extra numbers will be considered as "overcapped resistances" and have no bearing on your survivability. Although you can raise that limit, in most cases, you only have the power to increase just one of the three. Well, with Valako, Storm's Embrace, you just have to increase your maximum fire resistance and it will apply to your maximum cold and lightning resistances as well.
If you intend to use Righteous Fire as your main damaging skill, you can take Ramako, Sun's Light to weaken the enemy's resistance to fire damage, effectively burning them to the ground with ease.
In the Settlers of Kalguur expansion, the previously useless ascendancy node "Arohongui, Moon's Presence" has now been replaced with a vastly superior passive skill in the form of "Sione, Sun's Roar."
Sione, Sun's Roar makes it so that you always get the full power from any Warcry Skill in PoE. If that is not enough to convince you, this node enhances the buffs provided by warcries by 30%.
To illustrate how powerful Sione is, the newly rebalanced Battlemage's Cry can grant a huge amount of critical strike chance when taking this node. Now you know the reason why people go for the Chieftain when utilizing fire-based melee skills like the ones mentioned previously.
Juggernaut
The Juggernaut is still a top dog despite the controversial changes GGG has made to the ascendancy class.
One of the biggest adjustments the Juggernaut received in Patch 3.25 has something to do with Unbreakable. This notable ascendancy passive skill has been tweaked in that armor now mitigates chaos damage rather than elemental damage. If anything, this has become better from a survival standpoint, mainly because more enemies deal chaos damage in the endgame. However, this change also made builds that relied on the Transcendence keystone passive pretty much obsolete.
Untiring is an aptly named passive skill that gives the Juggernaut access to immortality. Just kidding! You can still get hit by the enemy, but because of the massive life regeneration this node provides, any damage you sustain is negligible.
Undeniable is great for STR-stacking and Boneshatter builds primarily because this node gives you not only heaps of accuracy rating but attack speed based on the amount of STR attributes that you have as well.
Due to the buff to Endurance Charges in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur, the Unrelenting ascendancy passive skill has become even more appealing! This node now grants a 1% additional elemental damage reduction per Endurance Charge, which goes in line with what these charges already do!
As of right now, PoE players who go for the Juggernaut use Molten Strike of the Zenith, Earthshatter, or Sunder as their primary skills.
Warden
If you thought that the massive rework to melee skill gems is the only major thing that GGG did in Patch 3.25, you're in for a big surprise! The company actually deleted the Raider from the game. Taking its place is a new ascendancy class called the Warden.
As you can surmise, the Warden takes inspiration from the Warden of the Maji, which was one of the secondary ascendancy classes from a couple of leagues ago. And true enough, that is quite evident in the notable passive skills available to the Warden.
The Warden specializes in dealing huge amounts of elemental damage, while also utilizing Tinctures and the ever-trusty Barkskin Skill to stay alive.
Oath of Summer, Oath of Winter, and Oath of Spring grant different effects that harness the power of the elements, such as reduced enemy elemental resistances via Scorch, increased freeze duration, and vastly enhanced Shock effect, respectively.
Avatar of the Wilds is great as it provides a huge elemental damage boost when active. You'd have to gain a new resource called Unbound Fury by inflicting elemental ailments on enemies. Once you've gained 100 points of Unbound Fury, you become "Unbound," gaining 80% more elemental damage for 10 seconds! This should be more than enough time to obliterate even the pinnacle bosses in PoE!
Tinctures have returned to the game as well, albeit with some modifications. For one, they now have inherent cooldowns before they can be used again. Moreover, they inflict a debuff on you called "Mana Burn," which as you can tell by its name, gradually eats up your mana while the Tincture's effect is active.
Fortunately, the Warden has some amazing nodes that improve Tinctures. Enduring Suffusion allows Tincture effects to linger for up to six seconds and reduces the mana burn rate by 30%. Do you want to apply more than one Tincture? Thankfully, the Warden has the Experienced Herbalist node for that.
If you're wondering what the best skills are for the Warden, you have Lightning Strike, Elemental Hit of the Spectrum, and Frost Blades. It seems that the PoE Community is getting the most out of the newly buffed melee skills in Path of Exile 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur!
B-Tier
Ascendancy classes that are on the B tier of this list are generally good enough. They just lack a few things to make them increase their ranking. Still, we can recommend any of these classes because they are incredibly fun and relatively easy to use.
Pathfinder
Flasks are an important part of any build in Path of Exile and no other ascendancy class can utilize them better than the Pathfinder. Due to the notable passive skills available to the Pathfinder, you can enjoy near-permanent uptime of your flasks, which is quite similar to the highly coveted Mageblood belt.
Nature's Adrenaline gives you free flask charges every three seconds. So, even if you are not attacking any monsters, you can still get your flasks filled and ready for use.
Utility flasks like the Jade Flask (evasion) or Quicksilver Flask (movement speed) are enhanced when you take Nature's Boon.
On the offensive side of things, the Pathfinder is one of the only classes in PoE that can use chaos skills really well. Nature's Reprisal is a node that increases the effect of the "Wither" debuff, causing enemies to take more chaos damage.
If you use the Caustic Arrow of Poison, which is an incredibly popular skill gem in the Affliction League, you can boost its damage immensely just by allocating points to get the Master Toxicist. This gives you a small chance to deal even more damage with your poisons, so long as you are under the effect of any of your flasks.
Now, it should be mentioned that the Pathfinder is not bad by any means. It's just that other ascendancy classes are favored more due to their synergy with melee skills.
The Pathfinder excels at flasks and chaos damage, so if you are into these things, then this ascendancy class will not disappoint!
Berserker
Rage, the temporary resource that used to grant more damage, attack speed, and movement speed, has been reworked in the Settlers of Kalguur expansion. Basically, it is now much easier to gain and sustain Rage. But, it no longer gives bonuses to attack speed and movement speed; just more damage (fortunately, a lot of it).
Despite the relatively lower attack speed, you can still bring some of that back by choosing the Berserker. This is because some of its nodes have been reworked to improve the effects of Rage in various ways.
If you do not like a slower-attacking character despite having huge amounts of damage, then Crave the Slaughter can address that. This notable ascendancy passive skill now grants a 1% increased attack speed per point of Rage. Besides that, it makes Rage only start draining after two seconds of not attacking anything.
The Berserker, you could say, specializes in slam skills due to the fact that it can "exert" more attacks with War Bringer. That's right, this ascendancy node has an entirely different effect in that it doubles the amount of exerted attacks, which alleviates the need to recast Warcry Skills often.
Rite of Ruin also got changed. Instead of boosting the effects of Rage by three times, it now causes Rage to have a 50% increased effect. This translates to more damage, of course, but at the cost of losing a tiny bit of HP per second. Don't worry, the downside can easily be rectified with leech or more life regeneration.
It is just nice to see the Berserker being great again in PoE. The Rage rework coupled with the tweaked notable passive skills make this ascendancy class worth using in Patch 3.25 for sure!
Inquisitor
If you want a class that can deal significant amounts of damage via critical strikes, then the Inquisitor is one of the top contenders. Righteous Providence and Inevitable Judgement pretty much give you the power you need to eliminate any monster foolish enough to come your way. The former increases your critical strike chance based on whichever is lower between your STR and INT attributes. The latter ignores enemy monster elemental resistances, provided that you've landed a critical hit. In the off-chance that you did not deal a critical strike, you still penetrate 10% of their elemental resistances.
The Inquisitor is the best choice, particularly when you are using any elemental-based attack skills. That is because of Augury of Penitence — a notable ascendancy passive skill that makes nearby enemies take increased elemental damage. This node also acts as a defensive layer for you since it causes nearby monsters to deal less elemental damage.
Because of the ascendancy nodes just mentioned, the Inquisitor is a pretty good choice for elemental damage-based skills. Some of the skill gems that are very popular right now are the Penance Brand of Dissipation, Righteous Fire, and Hexblast of Contradiction.
While not as interesting as in the previous leagues, the Inquisitor is still relatively good in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur, particularly if you play builds that primarily destroy monsters with devastating elemental skills.
Necromancer
Among the ascendancy classes available to the Witch in PoE, the Necromancer is the most popular in Path of Exile 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur.
The reason for that is the Necromancer specializes in using minions to do her bidding. Some of the best minion skills in this league include Summon Holy Relic of Conviction, Mirror Arrow/Blink Arrow of Bombarding Clones, and the poison version of Summon Raging Spirit (aka Poison SRS).
For her passive skills, she has a Bone Barrier that can help her survive while mapping and bossing, especially if she has summoned a lot of minions on the battlefield.
Offering Skills normally only affect minions. However, with Mistress of Sacrifice, you will also gain the effect of these skills, albeit at a 50% effectiveness.
Of course, the Necromancer can toughen up her minions thanks to Mindless Aggression. This notable ascendancy passive skill grants minions 20% more life and 10% more damage. Take note, those are "more" modifiers which, in PoE, means multiplicative bonuses rather than additive!
So, if you are looking for a PoE ascendancy class that allows you to summon a minion army to destroy enemies, then look no further than the Necromancer!
C-Tier
In this part of our class tier list, you will find ascendancy classes that are just average at best. You can make them better, but then, you'd have to invest a boatload of currency to make that happen. Even if you do that, the ascendancy classes found in the higher tiers still trump them with relative ease.
Occultist
The Occultist is a great ascendancy class to choose if you are going for skill gems that deal cold or chaos damage. In the 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur League, Hexblast Mines, Caustic Arrow, and Icicle Mine of Fanning are the preferred skills people use when playing this ascendancy class.
Anyway, Profane Bloom is a very popular node from the Occultist's kit. This makes cursed enemies explode upon death, dealing a quarter of their maximum life as chaos damage.
Speaking of curses, Unholy Authority is an undeniably good node to take simply because it allows you to apply an additional curse on your enemies. If you are unaware, you can only apply one curse in PoE unless you have the "Whispers of Doom" passive skill or the Unholy Authority from the Occultist.
In addition, Void Beacon reduces the chaos and cold resistances of monsters within your vicinity. Not only that but you have Withering Presence and Frigid Wake to elevate your chaos and cold damage, respectively.
If you plan on stacking Power Charges later down the line, the Occultist is definitely the way to go. That is largely due to Forbidden Power, which is a notable passive skill exclusive to this ascendancy class that grants plus one to your maximum Power Charges. This synergizes well with Cyclone because every Power Charge you have increases the skill's damage and area of effect by 6%.
Despite the lack of meaning changes, the Occultist is still good, especially for builds that focus on dealing chaos or cold damage.
Elementalist
When it comes to build diversity, the Elementalist is one of the ascendancy classes in Path of Exile that you can consider. Whether you want to run a minion build or use a skill gem that can ignite enemies, the Elementalist has got you covered.
Right now, the top three skill games that other players use in the 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur League are Explore Arrow, Wave of Conviction, and Ethereal Knives of Massacre. This is not surprising at all considering the nodes that you have access to when choosing this ascendancy class.
One of the most common notable passive skills that other players take when using the Elementalist is Shaper of Flames. This makes all of your hits inflict the Ignite status effect on your enemies, causing them to take fire damage over time in the process. This is further improved by Shaper of Storms — a node that causes you to Shock enemies, making them take increased damage from all sources.
Now, the next two passive skills depend on the build you are running. But for the purpose of this class tier list, let's say that you are going to use Ethereal Knives of the Massacre. In this instance, you take Mastermind of Discord and Heart of Destruction to improve your elemental damage output. The former reduces the monsters' elemental resistance depending on the elemental exposure you have applied, while the latter grants you a buff that gives you more elemental damage for several seconds after hitting a unique enemy.
If you are asking whether it's possible to use a minion skill gem on the Elementalist or not, the answer is a resounding yes! This ascendancy class enables you to maximize golems thanks to Liege of the Primordial. With this node, you not only have the power to summon one additional golem, but the buffs these golems provide are amplified by 100%. Besides that, whenever your golems die, they are resummoned automatically after several seconds, thus alleviating the need to press buttons!
You can even take things a step further by allocating points to acquire Elemancer. This notable passive skill allows you to summon another golem to add to your minion army. But more importantly, your summoned golems are immune to elemental damage, which is actually huge since most enemies in higher-tier maps attack you and your minions with damaging elemental spells!
Even though there is a lot to love about this ascendancy class, it does have one glaring weakness: its defenses. Most of the nodes focus on improving damage or providing utility, with only a couple that boosts defenses in some way.
However, if you are fine with its shortcomings, the Elementalist is a solid choice for your next build!
Assassin
The Assassin class is still in the C Tier because it did not receive any changes in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur. That said, this is a purely offense-oriented class that enhances critical strike chance and critical strike damage to kill enemies.
Right now, the most popular skill gems for the Assassin are Hexblast Mines, Penance Brand of Dissipation, and Lancing Steel of Spraying. If you're wondering why Hexblast is really popular in this league, it is because of the buff to wands, specifically that these now have a higher base critical strike chance, which is further enhanced by the nodes available to the Assassin.
On that note, Power Charges are a great way to improve your crit chance and the Assassin has a couple of notable passive skills that can enhance their effects. Unstable Infusion gives you a higher chance of gaining a Power Charge if you hit enemies with a non-critical strike. Deadly Infusion is the real deal because it amplifies the effect of Power Charges by granting you a 5% critical strike multiplier and 1.5% to your critical strike chance for every charge that you have.
Rare or unique enemies will cower in fear at the mere sight of you when you take the Opportunistic notable passive skill. That is because you deal 25% more damage if there is at least one of such monsters within your vicinity.
Ambush and Assassinate is a node that can be a great opener and closer depending on the enemy's current health. For instance, if you intend to attack enemies that are on full life, you deal 40% increased critical strike damage to them. This node also makes it very likely that you will land a critical hit!
In terms of the Assassin's viability when it comes to using poison skill gems, Noxious Strike increases your chance of inflicting poisons on your enemies. Toxic Delivery capitalizes on that by making your poisons deal more damage with critical strikes.
Surely, from an offensive standpoint, the Assassin should be a home run, right? However, its lack of defensive capabilities makes it a hard ascendancy class to recommend, especially in the late game.
As to whether you should pick the Assassin or not, that really depends. Do you want to see those high damage numbers via critical strikes? Then, go ahead with the Assassin. However, if you like a well-balanced character in PoE, you are better off choosing another class instead.
Ascendant
The Ascendant is a niche ascendancy class in Path of Exile primarily due to the fact that it can only perform well when you sink a ton of PoE Currency into it.
Having said that, several key nodes have been tweaked in the Settlers of Kalguur expansion, mainly to accommodate the changes to the original notable ascendancy passive skills they are named after.
For instance, the Berserker node no longer grants the Ascendant the ability to gain Rage. Rather, it delays the loss of Rage one second after not attacking for a while.
Aside from that, the Deadeye ascendancy passive skill no longer grants a damage bonus to projectiles that travel far. Instead, it only provides Frenzy Charge generation every three seconds while mobile.
The ascendancy node aptly named "Gladiator" grants a watered-down version of War of Attrition. Specifically, you gain up to a 50% damage boost the longer the fight lasts.
Because the Raider essentially got deleted in Patch 3.25, the newly renamed "Warden" ascendancy node gives you the ability to apply an additional Tincture on your melee weapon.
With all of these changes, some popular builds from the previous leagues are still functional, such as the Wardloop Ice Spear Ascendant.
But, it is worth noting that the Ascendant is only really viable if you are willing to invest in it.
D-Tier
The ascendancy classes in the D Tier are just not that good. You could choose them if you want to try out some niche stuff. However, in the current state of Path of Exile, we do not recommend them at all.
Guardian
Even though this next ascendancy class did not receive any changes, the Guardian is just bad when compared to its brethren, the Hierophant and the Inquisitor. For this reason, the Guardian has been demoted to the D Tier in our PoE best class tier list.
In terms of defenses, the Guardian is still one of the best out there in Patch 3.25. It has defensive nodes like Bastion of Hope that greatly increase your block chance against spells and attacks. There is also the Time of Need, which is a node that regenerates 100% of your life over one second and removes any debuffs on you every four seconds.
Despite the notable passive skills mentioned, the Guardian is best played using a minion skill gem, specifically the elemental version of the Summon Raging Spirits and Summon Holy Relic of Conviction. This is due to Unwavering Crusade which allows you to summon an elemental relic that grants a buff equal to a level 27 aura gem. The auras in question are Hatred (cold), Anger (fire), and Wrath (lightning).
Thanks to the notable passive skills available to the Guardian, you can use this class as a league starter, which has the capability to take you well into the red maps.
Sure, this ascendancy class does not boast impressive damage numbers. But, what the Guardian does offer is a tanky character that does not go down without a fight!
Saboteur
The Saboteur was one of the darlings of the previous league because of its ascendancy nodes that improve the damage and utility of traps and mines. However, the Saboteur has been defeated by the Trickster in just so many ways, which is why it is now at the bottom of our tier list in Patch 3.25.
Hexblast Mines is still the preferred skill to use for the Saboteur, but that's about it. You can enhance the damage of the said skill by taking Explosives Expert, which grants additional critical strike multiplier, crit chance, and damage penetration if the enemies are affected by Ignite, Shock, and Chill, respectively.
Demolitions Specialist boosts the effectiveness of the auras inherent in your Mines, making them deal significantly more damage. Then, you have Pyromaniac that helps you survive by making you immune to Shock and Ignite, as well as regenerate a portion of your life per second for each mine or trap your enemies have triggered recently.
Of course, you have Born in the Shadows to further improve your chances of survival by not only granting you the ability to blind enemies but amplifying its effects as well.
While the Saboteur is good when utilizing traps, mines, and certain skill gems, it does fall short in other areas. But, if you really like the playstyle, then you can go for this one over the others.
Champion
The Champion, in its current state, perfectly exemplifies "how the mighty has fallen." This ascendancy class used to be on the top of the charts, but has now been thrown away due to the massive nerfs GGG implemented in the 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur League.
Unstoppable Hero is essentially useless now, particularly if you play solo. That's because this node no longer grants bonus evasion, armor, attack speed, and stun immunity. Instead, it now provides your allies the same amount of Fortification stacks.
Speaking of which, Fortitude, which used to provide you with 20 permanent stacks of Fortification, now only gives 15 stacks. On the surface, you might think that the nerf is not a big deal. However, if you think about it from the perspective that Unstoppable Hero is useless for soloing in Patch 3.25, then you'll realize that Fortitude is equally just as bad. If there's any consolation, Fortitude can be taken by spending only two ascendancy passive points as opposed to four in the previous league.
Okay, the Champion does have some redeeming qualities despite the nerfs. First to Strike, Last to Fall and Master of Metal are still the same.
Inspirational still grants a 30% increased effect of non-curse auras from your skills. Moreover, this node now provides life regeneration based on the Valour consumed when planting your preferred Banner Skill.
To be honest, the Champion is an incredibly mediocre ascendancy class in PoE Settlers of Kalguur. That is why it is not surprising that it is now the worst one among the other ascendancy classes in the game.
Final Thoughts
Path of Exile has a wealth of classes to choose from. That is why it is great to put them on a tier list so that it will be easier for you to select the best.
The noteworthy changes GGG implemented in Path of Exile Settlers of Kalguur have made certain ascendancy classes stand out above the rest. Gladiator was previously on the D Tier, but has now risen to the S Tier, and rightfully so. The nodes available to this class are just so incredible, whether you are just new to the league or have been playing it for some time.
Additionally, the Raider was very disappointing and we're happy that the company replaced it with the vastly superior Warden. If you love using elemental damage skills, the Warden is simply too good to pass up!
There were previously OP ascendancy classes, such as the Inquisitor, Occultist, Elementalist, Guardian, and Pathfinder that got downgraded to the C and D tiers. They are not bad; they just pale in comparison to other ascendancy classes in PoE, primarily those that enhance melee attack skills.
The biggest disappointment in the Settlers of Kalguur expansion is, by far, the Champion. This ascendancy class is just in a very bad state right now, so much so that we can hardly recommend it for any build, apart from very niche ones.
Anyway, we at RPGStash hope that you found our class tier list helpful. Be sure to bookmark this list for future reference.
With all of that said, good luck on your adventures in Wraeclast, Exile!
