Ever since early access hit, Path of Exile 2’s been the kind of game that steals your evenings. You log in “just to check a build” and suddenly it’s 2 a.m. The Druid arriving alongside The Last of the Druids season, plus the Fate of the Vaal stuff, has made gearing feel like a whole second endgame. People aren’t only chasing damage now. They’re chasing the right temple rooms, the right drops, the right chain of upgrades, and yeah, the right poe 2 currencies to actually make those upgrades happen without living in the trade window.

Tank brain, big slam

If you watch Zizaran, you already know the vibe: don’t die, ever. His Bear form setup leans hard into that. Tons of life, piles of armor, and the kind of steady play that looks “slow” until you realise nothing can really push him off the map. The Bear Slam Earthquake angle is simple and it works. Walk in, set up the hit, and delete a chunk of the boss bar. Precursor Tablets are doing work here too, mostly by smoothing out the awkward bits—extra reach, better pack contact, fewer whiffs when things scatter.

Speed clears and screen control

Then there’s the other crowd. Mathil’s Wolf Lightning Strike hybrid is pure dopamine. It’s fast, it’s flashy, and it punishes mistakes, but that’s the point. You’re dashing through lanes, tagging packs, and letting chains do the cleanup before anything even swings. Steelmage’s Raven Frost Nova style sits in a nicer middle spot. It’s not “unkillable,” but freezing the whole screen is its own kind of defense. Bosses that usually feel frantic get turned into a pacing test—keep the mana up, keep the rhythm, don’t panic.

Gear pain, RNG wins, and the weird builds

The rough part is cost. The Vaal Temple modifiers can be absurdly good, but getting the exact combo you want is a lot of runs and a lot of luck. Crafting isn’t gentle either; it’s easy to torch a stack of premium currency chasing one clean affix and end up with a helmet you can’t even sell. Still, the off-meta stuff is thriving. Kripparrian’s Bleed Wolf Flicker Strike looks like a glitch when it gets going, but the bleed ticks are nasty on single target. Quin69’s Vaal Summoner is the lazy farmer’s answer—stack buffs, let minions do the work, and save your wrists for another day.

What’s wild is how different the “best” builds feel depending on what you enjoy: surviving, sprinting, freezing, or just letting pets do everything. You’ll also notice the same pattern across all of them—once you hit that mid-to-late gear wall, progress becomes less about talent and more about access. That’s why players keep talking about trading routes, temple planning, and picking up path of exile 2 currency early so the fun part—testing, tweaking, and actually playing the build—doesn’t get stuck behind weeks of bad RNG.