When Grinding Gear Games (GGG) unveiled the new content of Dawn of the Hunt version in the latest developer live broadcast, all players were watching this major update that will change the fun of Path of Exile 2. Among them, the appearance of the Huntress class and its iconic weapon Spear skills has received mixed reviews from players, and many people are worried about the operational burden that the combo mechanism may bring.
Huntress Class
In the northern snowfields of Wraeclast continent, Huntress is an Azmeri warrior. In order to protect the tribe, she unsealed the forbidden magics without authorization. Although she successfully repelled the threat, she was permanently expelled for violating the iron law of the tribe. Since then, she has been trying to atone for her sins through her actions.
This background setting with both tragic colors and moral tension makes Huntress the first playable class in the Path of Exile series to bear the identity of Atoner.
She is an agile expert with a spear who can fight in close combat or attack from a distance by throwing the spear at enemies and the ground. And she can use Buckler to parry and stun monsters after various attacks with the spear, and sweep and stab with the spear at close range. This flexible combat mode makes her more attractive.
At the same time, her iconic starting skill Whirling Slash also shows amazing strength in actual combat. When Huntress jumps into the air to trigger Whirling Slash, it not only causes basic physical damage, but also adds a Blind state for 3 seconds to the enemy involved. It is worth noting that this Whirling will also be detonated when Huntress leaves.
Additionally, it interacts with many other skills on the skill tree. Therefore, for players who are eager to deeply develop the potential of Huntress, they can buy POE 2 Currency to create a more breakthrough Huntress build, so as to give full play to her greatest strength and cause more damage.
In addition, Huntress has two other more attractive abilities. The first is her ability to tame a beast and make it a combat partner.
Unlike the traditional mode, Huntress can only make a temporary contract with a single beast at a time, which means that she must release one to tame the other.
This mode forces players to adjust their strategies according to the actual situation-for example, choose the high-burst Rock Bear in a narrow cave, and switch to Karui Warhound with charging ability in open terrain. This is not a pet training system, but a tactic that requires instant decision-making.
The second ability is to summon Rhoa mount. This magical creature that looks like a terror bird subverts the traditional concept of mounts-when the player activates the corresponding Skill Gem, Rhoa will not only assist in combat but also allow the player to move at full speed while riding and attacking.
However, it should be reminded that since the developer does not want every player to use the mount all the time, its duration and cooling mechanism as part of the skill set need to be regulated by POE 2 Orbs and specific Support Gems and is limited to certain classes at specific times.
Spear Skills
Although Spear Skills showcases Huntressβs combat aesthetics, Spear Skills may still encounter difficulties when it is launched.
GGG revealed in the live broadcast that they have designed more than 20 basic skill modules for Spear, and all actions are built around combo-centric. In other words, Spear will be designed to be the most combo-centric weapon to date.
In this regard, some veteran players pointed out that this design may lead to build rigidity in the endgame stage. So many skills are designed to be used in conjunction with each other, which is difficult for players to operate and not very practical. The current version of the staff skill also has a similar combo mechanism, but most players usually use the single skill with the highest DPS.
In other words, unless GGG completely redoes the monster resistance system of the endgame, Spear skills are likely to repeat the same mistakes. In response, the development team said that they are testing a new Combo Multiplier system, which can activate hidden damage bonuses by using a specific skill sequence continuously. This mechanism may be gradually unlocked with the endgame content.
However, judging from the battle scenes shown in the live broadcast, the combination of Huntress and Spear skills does show amazing combat power. Through the three-stage combo of Whirling Slash + Shield Bash + Rhoa Charge, the entire arena can be quickly cleared. This kind of smooth battle rhythm may be the new element that GGG wants to inject into Path of Exile 2.
In short, even if Spear Skills ultimately brings a bad experience to players, GGG is likely to handle fan feedback in a relatively timely manner, and may even enhance spear skills if necessary. Letβs wait and see.