This Pillars of Eternity 2 Best Classes Tier List will teach you about all the PoE2 classes and give you a good idea of which classes you want in your party.
When you’re playing Pillars of Eternity 2 (PoE2), you’re going to want to know what the Pillars of Eternity 2 best classes are. Maybe you’re like me and you spend hours in the character creation screen trying to min-max the best possible character, researching every class and companion in the game before you even start to make sure your party is fully planned out.
Some classes are definitely better than others, especially when it comes to fulfilling key RPG roles like Tank, DPS, ranged DPS and Support. Here’s the definitive tier list for all the Pillars of Eternity 2 best classes/PoE2 best classes.
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Pillars of Eternity 2 Definitive Companions Tier List
Table of Contents
S Rank – Pillars of Eternity 2 Best Classes
Wizard
Wizard is silly in the amount that it’s overpowered. It’s the best in category class when it comes to tanking, DPS and ranged DPS. Not only does it get insane nukes like Fireball (or, better yet, Ninagauth’s Shadowflame – the upgraded Fireball spell from Ninagauth’s Teachings that also paralyzes), which it can use right at the start of each battle, it also gets all sorts of ridiculous physical powerups, especially from Llengrath’s Martial Masteries.
If you choose to use the physical powerups, a melee wizard is among the best physical attackers in the game, between its defensive spells, Citzal’s Spirit Lance and Citzal’s Martial Power (+8 Might, Constitution and Dexterity). And, if you’re not using Citzal’s Martial Power, which disables spellcasting for its duration, you give up nothing – you can be an insanely powerful frontliner and still be chucking fireballs across the battlefield.
You’ll want either a vanilla Wizard or an Evoker (which gains +2 power level for Evocation spells – almost all damaging spells – at the expense of Conjurations and Transmutations). All the other specializations are not really worth it, especially Conjurer (gross). Wizard is easily one of the Pillars of Eternity 2 best classes.
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Monk
Among the frontline DPS characters, Monk is hands down the best. It gets all sorts of passive bonuses – increased accuracy with fists, increased crit damage, chance to double attack, etc. Then it also gets a ton of self-buffs, like Swift Strikes, which increases attack speed by 15% and causes double attacks on crits. Its kit is full of cool skills, from stuns to summons. It pumps out more damage than a rogue, but isn’t squishy like a rogue.
When it comes to subclassing, pure Monk, Helwalker and Nalpazca are the most popular. Helwalker turns your Monk into more of a glass cannon. Nalpazca is technically the best, but it requires you to constantly resupply with cumbersome consumables and use them regularly. Standard Monk is just fine, though. Monk is easily among the best classes in Pillars of Eternity 2 (PoE2), if not the best class.
When it comes to Pillars of Eternity 2 best classes, it’s hard to go wrong with monk.
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Chanter
Chanter is the best support character by far. The main reason being that Chanters don’t run out of spells. They’re not limited to a handful of revives, for instance — they can continuously revive characters as long as they stay alive to keep chanting.
On top of that, they have rather absurd healing capabilities with Old Siec, which grants 15% lifesteal to the party, and Mercy and Kindness, which doubles healing effects on the party.
They’re fantastic healers, and then additionally, they have all sorts of great invocations – especially summon spells. They’re also not squishy at all, and make a great multiclass option. When it comes to subclasses, you’re going to want to go with Troubador, which increases overlap between chants. This allows the lifesteal from Old Siec to benefit from the increased healing of Mercy and Kindness.
When it comes to Pillars of Eternity 2 best classes, Chanter is definitely the best support option available.
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A Tier – Pillars of Eternity 2 Best Classes
Rogue
A lot like the Monk – it has all sorts of passive and active abilities that increase damage. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have very good survivability. It makes a great main class, but also a fantastic multiclass option for either a Monk or Fighter.
Whether pure Monk or multiclass Monk is better is arguable though. None of the Rogue subclasses are particularly good, but Assassin increases DPS at the expense of defense and Streetfighter substantially increases DPS situationally if your rogue is getting ganged up on at the expense of lower DPS if it acts like a rogue.
As far as Pillars of Eternity 2 best classes go, Rogue is pretty good.
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Fighter
Fighter is a boring, vanilla, sort of plain-jane class, but it gets the job done. It makes a fantastic multiclass option. Very few physical classes aren’t made better by multiclassing with Fighter. Fighter/Rogue is great. Monk/Fighter (especially Monk/Devoted) is great.
Fighter gets all sorts of passive bonuses that benefit any frontline class. Among their subclasses, Devoted is probably the most worthwhile – it gives extreme bonuses, and most players aren’t constantly switching weapon types, so there’s not much of a downside. Fighter may not be exciting, but he’s among the Pillars of Eternity 2 best classes.
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B Tier – Pillars of Eternity 2 Best Classes
Cipher
Ciphers get some really good spells for dominating and charming enemies, and then a few solid DPS options like Recall Agony. It gets some great buffs and debuffs. The problem with Cipher is it doesn’t really have the versatility of a Wizard.
It almost screams “multiclass”. Multiclass Cipher/Rogue is good. Cipher/Paladin is incredibly popular. The most popular subclasses are Ascendant and Soul Blade, but I tend to think there’s a place for Beguiler as well, since Domination/Charm is sort of Cipher’s niche.
Cipher is a bit of a niche class, but it’s still among the Pillars of Eternity 2 best classes.
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Paladin
Paladins are excellent tanks and a very popular multiclass option, especially Paladin/Chanter and Paladin/Cipher. The thing about Paladin is that it gets a lot of survivability buffs, but it can’t really do anything on its own, so you typically want to slap it on a multiclass option you’d like to increase the survivability for.
Not too many of the classes need more survivability – mainly just Rogue and Cipher are squishy, and Rogue certainly benefits more from a Monk or Fighter multiclass. This is why Chanter and Cipher are popular. Chanter isn’t necessarily squishy, but increasing its survivability is certainly a benefit to keep its passive bonuses and invocations coming, and Cipher does need the survivability and doesn’t benefit much from a Monk or Fighter multiclass.
Paladin’s multiclass potential is what really secures its slot among the PoE2 best classes.
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Druid
Druids are great support mages. Unfortunately for them, Tekehu is better than a caster Druid you can make, and a Shapeshifting Druid is not typically as good as a Monk, Rogue or Fighter – though certainly a fun option to try.
If you’re using Druid purely as a support caster, it does a decent job with good heals and some decent damage options, but with the limited party size in PoE2 compared to PoE1, I often feel like I’m wasting a slot on an unnecessary support character.
Druid can be fun to play, but it’s not one of the Pillars of Eternity 2 best classes. If you’re really trying to have a powerful team and want a Druid, just use Tekehu.
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Barbarian
Barbarians are solid. They do good damage, they do a little bit of damage in an AoE. It’s kind of annoying that you can’t see their health bars when they go berserk, but they tend to survive, so it’s not really that big of a deal.
They’re exactly what you expect – Fighters who have higher health, but less deflection and finesse. Overall it’s just a different flavor of Fighter, but slightly weaker, especially because its abilities don’t benefit a multiclass quite as much as Fighter’s do.
It’s hard to say that Barbarian is one of the Pillars of Eternity 2 best classes, but it’s certainly decent and can hold its own.
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C Tier – Pillars of Eternity 2 Best Classes
Ranger
Rangers are just fine. They’re in C Tier because they’re not as dominating as any of the classes above them. They’re not… terrible. They’re fine. Not one of the Pillars of Eternity 2 best classes, not the worst.
As far as subclasses go, almost everyone goes Ghost Heart because it removes the Bonded Grief penalty Rangers are typically saddled with. Sharpshooter is another option that raises crit chance. Unfortunately for Rangers, one of the things they have going against them is that one of the companions, Maia, is a better Ranger than you’re capable of making – so why not just use her?
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D Tier – Pillars of Eternity 2 Best Classes
Priest
Priests just don’t have all that much to offer in Pillars of Eternity 2. Support classes aren’t that necessary overall, and Priest is the weakest among them, behind Chanters and Druids, which are capable of adding a whole lot more utility to a party.
They’re not useless. They’re a competent support option. They’re just not optimal. 9 times out of 10 you’d rather have a damage dealer in the party slot the support character is occupying, or at least a multiclass of support and damage dealer, and of those support options, again, you’d probably want a Chanter rather than a Priest.
If you use a Priest, it’s not like you’re going to feel especially weak, but it’s certainly not one of the Pillars of Eternity 2 best classes.
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That about does it for the Pillars of Eternity 2 Best Classes Tier List/PoE2 Best Classes. Check out thegames sectionfor more game guides and other game-related content, and click here for more articles related to Pillars of Eternity 2.
Ryan Night Ryan Night is an ex-game industry producer with over a decade of experience writing guides for RPGs. Previously an early contributor at gamefaqs.com, Ryan has been serving the RPG community with video game guides since 2001. As the owner of Bright Rock Media, Ryan has written over 600 guides for RPGs of all kinds, from Final Fantasy Tactics to Tales of Arise. View all posts
