Best Sorceress starter build in Path of Exile 2

GamesRPGPath of Exile 2Best Sorceress starter build in Path of Exile 2When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Grinding Gear Games)

Path of Exile 2 Sorceress build

Jump to:Best skills and support gemsStat prioritiesPassive skillsGear

Thebest Sorceress buildfor the early game inPath of Exile 2is one that makes use of frost, fire, and lightning abilities, combining all of those effects to deal as much damage as possible. Lacking inherent defensive strength, the Sorceress needs to deal plenty of damage, have good evasion and energy shield stats, and keep away from enemies where possible to improve survivability.

The Sorceress’ passive skill tree is set up to improve her spellcasting and elemental damage. Here I’ll run through my best starter build for the Sorceress class, explaining important skills to grab right away. I’ll also explain key support gems for those skills and passive nodes to unlock within the game’s huge passive skill tree. Beyond the initial few acts, it’s up to you how you level the Sorceress and round out your build.

Path of Exile 2 Monk build: Flow like waterPath of Exile 2 Warrior build: Shock and awePath of Exile 2 Mercenary build: Hail of boltsPath of Exile 2 Witch build: Summoned army

Path of Exile 2 Monk buildPath of Exile 2 Warrior buildPath of Exile 2 Mercenary buildPath of Exile 2 Witch build

Path of Exile 2 Monk build: Flow like waterPath of Exile 2 Warrior build: Shock and awePath of Exile 2 Mercenary build: Hail of boltsPath of Exile 2 Witch build: Summoned army

Best Sorceress skills and support gems for the early game

(Image credit: Grinding Gear Games)

Path of Exile 2 Sorceress build - Fire spells burning monsters

These are the Sorceress skills that are key to this build. Ideally, you’ll want to find the elemental damage that you enjoy playing with the most, but in the early game you can spec into all of them with your skill choices, which is what I suggest doing to combine different effects.

You should grab these early and use these support gems with them:

Spark

Spark is the first main skill you get as a Sorceress in Path of Exile 2. It launches a spray of sparking projectiles that travel randomly on the ground until they hit an enemy or expire. This is the main lightning damage attack in the game, and Conduction makes it more effective at shocking enemies, causing them to take even more damage. Arcane Surge is also good early in the game purely because you’ll have low mana. Over time you will want to increase this significantly, but during act one and early parts of act two, this can help you recover mana quickly.

Flame Wall

The damage increase is significant early on, and the wall can act as an extra defence between you and a group of enemies or a boss. Since you want to fight from a distance, I used this ability in almost every encounter, as the burning helps finish off enemies with low health.

Frost Bomb

Frost Bomb is a skill that can really help during act one, but you may want to drop it as your slots become full. This throws out a bomb that passes along the ground, dealing frost pulses that make enemies more susceptible to frost damage. You can then combine this with your weapon and Ice Nova (listed below) to freeze enemies quickly. This skill requires precise aiming, but it can be useful early on to freeze groups of enemies in their place or kill them quickly. Magnified Effect simply makes this more useful, covering a wider area.

Ice Nova

Ice Nova is likely a skill that you’ll use consistently throughout your playthrough. This causes an explosion of ice around you, knocking enemies back and freezing them with the frost damage it does. With additional frost damage buildup from your weapon, Frost Bomb, or other skills, you can quickly freeze or wipe out a whole group around you.

With the Glaciation support gem, your freeze buildup is enhanced even further, and this can be vital against many of the act one and early act two bosses. The playstyle that works best is to freeze an enemy or boss quickly, place a fire wall, and then use Ember Fusillade (listed below). You can then stack both freeze and fire damage to knock off huge chunks of health or slay big groups.

Ember Fusillade

As you play through act one, you’ll eventually get to choose your first Spirit skill. Make it Ember Fusillade. This conjures a blazing ember that hovers above you, which, after a short duration, launches at an enemy, dealing fire damage in an AoE on impact. You can cast this spell up to seven times, giving you seven free small attacks that deal dire damage. This is incredibly strong against enemies who are frozen. Stacking these embers to their max also increases the damage of each one.

The only downside is that the hover time for these embers is fairly long. This can be decreased with Fast Forward, a support gem that reduces the time the ember hovers for. This doesn’t show up on the curated support gems list, so you will need to uncheck that option in the menu to see it on the full list of support gems.

Sorceress stat priorities

These are the stats I recommend you prioritise via your gear and passive skill tree:

Swipe to scroll horizontallyRegular stats1. Intelligence2. Dexterity3. Strength

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Regular stats1. Intelligence2. Dexterity3. Strength

Swipe to scroll horizontally1. Energy shield2. Evasion3. Movement speed4. Cold/Fire resistance5. Maximum mana6. Regenerate life per second7. Maximum life

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Energy shield2. Evasion3. Movement speed4. Cold/Fire resistance5. Maximum mana6. Regenerate life per second7. Maximum life

Energy shield is far more useful with the Sorceress than the traditional armor stat. Gear with this requires high dexterity and/or intelligence, and the energy shield naturally regenerates, giving you a layer of defence before you need to worry about taking damage.

Adding some stats that improve your maximum mana plays into the class’ natural strengths too. Finally, regenerating life per second and overall maximum life are worth keeping amongst your defensive stats if you have gear with it on. It shouldn’t be core to your build, but the bonuses definitely help if you get caught in a tight spot.

Swipe to scroll horizontallyOffensive statsSpell damageCritical hit chance+ level for elemental spell skills

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Offensive statsSpell damageCritical hit chance+ level for elemental spell skills

You can also find weapons with stats that increase levels for base elemental attack. This effectively gives you free support gems and can really power you up early on in Path of Exile 2’s campaign. I killed most of the act one bosses with enhanced Freezing Shards on an ice staff quicker than I did with my Warrior build that did not have these increases for its physical damage.

Best Sorceress passive skills to grab early

These are Sorceress skill nodes that I’d suggest getting due to their power to improve your spellcasting:

Swipe to scroll horizontallyPassivesSkillDescriptionPure Energy30% increased maximum energy shield, +10 to intelligencePracticed Signs6% increased cast speedRaw Power20% increased spell damage, +10 to intelligencePath of Flame18% increased fire damage, 30% increased chance to ignitePath of Winter18% increased cold damage, 30% increased freeze buildupPath of Storms18% increased lightning damage, 30% increased chance to shockCritical Overload15% increased critical hit chance for spells, 15% increased spell damage if you’ve dealt a critical hit recentlyDampening Shield28% increased maximum energy shield, gain 12% of maximum energy shield as additional stun thresholdRapid Recharge25% increased energy shield recharge rate, 25% faster start of energy shield rechargeFlow Like Water8% increased attack and cast speed, +5 to dexterity and intelligence

Swipe to scroll horizontally

PassivesSkillDescriptionPure Energy30% increased maximum energy shield, +10 to intelligencePracticed Signs6% increased cast speedRaw Power20% increased spell damage, +10 to intelligencePath of Flame18% increased fire damage, 30% increased chance to ignitePath of Winter18% increased cold damage, 30% increased freeze buildupPath of Storms18% increased lightning damage, 30% increased chance to shockCritical Overload15% increased critical hit chance for spells, 15% increased spell damage if you’ve dealt a critical hit recentlyDampening Shield28% increased maximum energy shield, gain 12% of maximum energy shield as additional stun thresholdRapid Recharge25% increased energy shield recharge rate, 25% faster start of energy shield rechargeFlow Like Water8% increased attack and cast speed, +5 to dexterity and intelligence

Most of these skills lead directly down the main path from where the Sorceress starts. However, Flow Like Water can be found in the Monk tree to the right of where you start.

Best Sorceress gear

(Image credit: Grinding Gear Games)

Path of Exile 2 Sorceress build - Character selection screen

For the Sorceress, you want gear that has a lot of energy shield buffs, as well as some evasion. When it comes to weapons, the staff is your main option, and you can choose from either a fire staff, lightning staff, or ice staff. Go with what you have or which element you prefer, but I’d suggest an ice or lightning one. Gear to keep hold of includes:

Armour is highly dependent on the stats you roll, but the Face Mask will provide you with some extra evasion as well as solid boosts to your energy shield. The same goes for the Jacket of the Seal, which can help improve your evasion without needing to actually spend points in the passive tree on it. The Sapphire Charm will boost your cold resistance (extremely helpful during act one’s final boss), and the Azure Amulet provides a flat mana regeneration rate increase.

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Best Sorceress skills and support gems for the early game#

Spark#

Flame Wall#

Frost Bomb#

Ice Nova#

Ember Fusillade#

Sorceress stat priorities#

Best Sorceress passive skills to grab early#

Best Sorceress gear#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

Best Sorceress skills and support gems for the early game

Spark

Flame Wall

Frost Bomb

Ice Nova

Ember Fusillade

Sorceress stat priorities

Best Sorceress passive skills to grab early

Best Sorceress gear

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals