Recent Hot Games News The latest patch for Path of Exile 2, The Last of the Druids, has begun. Do you prefer a familiar class, or are you eager to experience Druid? If you choose the latter, you'll eventually have to choose between Shaman and Oracle again.
Both are Druid Ascendancy classes, but you can only choose one at a time, and you can't change to experience the other one afterward unless you create a new character to continue playing.
To ensure you can progress more smoothly in the game with an Ascendancy class that suits you better, this patch will provide a detailed introduction to the features and gameplay of Shaman.
Shaman Overview
This Ascendancy class further expands upon Druid's ability to deal spell and elemental damage. By combining unique skill sets, it gains more charges and buffs, increasing damage output and skill rotation efficiency.
More specifically, Shaman can accumulate Rage during combat as a power source, then unleash it to amplify elemental damage, sometimes even creating powerful combos to quickly clear hordes of enemies within melee range.
How To Unlock Shaman?
Like other Ascendancy classes, unlocking Shaman requires completing Trial of the Sekhemas in Act 2 and Trial of Chaos in Act 3 to obtain enough points to unlock his unique ability. The specific process is as follows:
Act 2:
- 1. After arriving in hub town, find Traitor's Passage area and enter Trial of the Sekhemas.
- 2. Defeat the boss Balbala the Traitor to obtain a special token.
- 3. Place the token on Relic Altar at the trial entrance to officially begin the trial.
- 4. Upon completion, Ascendancy class mechanic will be unlocked, allowing you to choose one and immediately gain two Ascendancy points 1&2.
Act 3:
- 1. Enter Vaal Jungle and find Temple of Chaos.
- 2. Defeat the boss Xyclucian, the Chimera, to obtain the key item Chimeral Inscribed Ultimatum.
- 3. Use this item to unlock and enter Trial of Chaos. Successfully completing it will grant Ascendancy points 3&4.
While you can also unlock Ascendancy class by defeating the boss in Trial of Chaos, we recommend completing it as early as possible in Act 2. Both trials will also provide additional rewards, including gear, gems, and random types of PoE 2 currency.
It is rumored that a third trial will be added in Act 4, but details about the plan have only been revealed so far. For now, focus on the two existing trials.
Shaman's Unique Abilities
In Path of Exile 2, all basic class skills are used as skill gems (as was the case in the first game), resulting in cross-class skill equipping. However, Ascendancy class passive skills are unique to each class.
Sacred Flow
The passive effect of this skill is that it increases your Spirit by 40 for every empty Charm slot. Therefore, if your builds rely on Spirit consumption, you can selectively equip gear and utilize empty slots to keep your builds running.
Wisdom Of The Maji
Unlocking this node provides additional bonuses to your runes, such as increased damage or critical strike chance. This makes your overall strength even greater after equipping runes to gear.
Druidic Champion And Furious Wellspring
These two skills are discussed together because their effects are strongly correlated.
Every 2 Rage points you accumulate, Druidic Champion increases your spell damage by 1%, while Furious Wellspring restores 6% of your Rage per second while it naturally decays.
Combining these means that Rage is replenished as it is consumed, and the replenishment exceeds the consumption, allowing you to easily craft a Shaman build centered around Rage.
Bringer Of The Apocalypse
This skill, after you've dealt sufficient elemental damage through other attacks, will continue to inflict damage from different natural elements, such as fire or lightning, on enemies, culminating in a final burst to completely eliminate any remaining foes.
How To Choose Gear As A Shaman?
Based on Wisdom of the Maji skill effect, you should first add as many gears as possible that can be inlaid with runes to maximize their bonuses, ideally those with affixes that increase critical hit damage.
Secondly, you can add weapons that utilize Spirit or Rage mechanics, allowing other skills to also function. Of course, don't forget you don't need to fill all your gear slots.
How To Play It In Conjunction With Druid?
While Druid and Shaman skills belong to two separate systems, they are closely intertwined in practice. In human form, Druid primarily deals damage through nature spells, while Shaman skills amplify these damage effects.
If you want to diversify your gameplay, you can transform into an animal. For example, in bear form, you can ram enemies into a volcano created by Volcano skill, inflicting more fire damage; in wyvern form, you can launch aerial attacks.
What Are The Advantages Compared To Oracle?
Of course, each Ascendancy class is unique; none is inherently better than another. The key is how you utilize them.
Shaman excels at providing direct damage bonuses, attacking enemies with instant bursts of elemental damage, while Oracle's gameplay requires prediction and strategic planning in the early stages of combat, but ultimately yields reliable benefits.
Therefore, if you're an impatient player who enjoys a fast-paced, high-intensity playstyle, Shaman is a better fit.
That concludes our introduction to Druid Ascendancy class, Shaman. Based on the information we've provided, you can craft your own Shaman builds to conquer the challenges of the new league! Good luck!
