The gates to Wraeclast have swung open again, and with Path of Exile 2 now in early access, players are diving headfirst into new systems, skills, and mechanics. It hasn’t taken long for a meta to start taking shape. Some builds are balanced and fun, but there are a few that push the limits so hard they feel broken. These setups are tearing through maps and bosses at ridiculous speed, setting a new benchmark for what’s possible right now. If you’ve been experimenting, you’ve probably seen or even tried one of these. And if you’re looking to get ahead, stacking the right gear and skills can make you feel like you’ve got an endless supply of PoE 2 Currency to burn.

The Storm-Spirit Retaliation Monk

The Monk is new to PoE 2, and players love how smooth the combat feels. The Spirit resource adds a fresh layer, but one build flips it into something absurd. Storm-Spirit Retaliation turns blocking damage into a weapon. The core trick is combining Power Siphon with the keystone Patient Harbinger. That passive stores a chunk of blocked damage as raw Spirit, up to a limit. Then you’ve got Storm-Spirit Discharge, a counter-attack that dumps all stored Spirit in a huge lightning nova. The more you block, the bigger the blast.

What makes it nuts is how safe it is. With a good staff and shield, you can hit the 75% block and spell block cap. That means most hits don’t touch your health—they just feed your damage. In dense packs, you’re not even swinging; you’re walking into enemies, soaking hits, and detonating lightning that wipes multiple screens. Hardcore players love it because you’re nearly unkillable, but you still clear faster than most offensive builds.

The Crossbow Cascade Mercenary

The Mercenary’s crossbows and ammo types add tactical depth, but Crossbow Cascade ignores subtlety and goes all-in on chaos. It’s built around Siege Crossbow, firing a spread of piercing bolts. Add the support gem Echoing Munitions, which can duplicate projectiles on hit, and suddenly every shot is multiplying. The Mercenary’s passive tree and quivers give chain and fork effects, so each duplicated bolt bounces around the map. The last piece is the new weapon swap reload—switch to your secondary weapon and your main crossbow instantly reloads, removing downtime.

This one’s all about overwhelming volume. You don’t need a top-tier weapon because the damage comes from sheer projectile count. In maps, one click can start a chain reaction that erases several packs. Boss damage is a bit lower than the top single-target builds, but the burst from instant reload and the number of hits often staggers bosses, locking them out of their moves entirely.

The Chronomantic Echo Sorceress

The Sorceress has always been an elemental powerhouse, but time-themed skills have pushed her into a new league. Chronomantic Echo is the go-to for deleting bosses. The centrepiece is the Temporal Echo meta-gem. Link it to a spell, and it records your next three casts. Use the skill again, and all three fire at once. The busted part is how it snapshots buffs—you can pop every temporary damage boost you’ve got, cast three massive spells like Ice Spear or Arc into the echo, and then unleash them later. The stored spells keep the buffed stats even if the buffs have ended.

For single-target burst, nothing comes close. Endgame bosses meant to take minutes can vanish before they hit phase two. You skip mechanics entirely, turning fights into loot drops. It’s trickier to set up than the Monk or Mercenary builds, but if you get it right, the payoff is insane. As early access rolls on, it’s hard to imagine GGG leaving these interactions untouched. But for now, they’re the high-water mark for PoE 2 power—and if you want to push content fast, this is where you spend your buy PoE 2 Currency.