Path of Exile 2 promises to bring a host of exciting new mechanics, revamped systems, and fresh builds for both returning veterans and new players alike. Among the many builds that are expected to gain popularity, the Tactician build stands out as a versatile and high-impact choice for players looking to dominate both PvE and PvP content in this long-awaited sequel.

This Tactician Build Guide will walk you through all aspects of crafting and optimizing a Tactician in Poe 2 trade, covering everything from class choices to skill selection, gear recommendations, passive tree progression, and playstyle. If you're aiming to build a highly strategic, versatile, and devastating character, the Tactician is a fantastic choice.

What is the Tactician Build?

The Tactician build in Path of Exile 2 is designed to be both highly strategic and adaptive. It focuses on crowd control, damage manipulation, and mobility. Tacticians excel at positioning, setting traps, and using area-of-effect (AoE) attacks to overwhelm their enemies. This build works well for players who like to control the flow of battle through a combination of well-timed positioning, quick escapes, and devastating combos.

The Tactician archetype is built around maximizing both damage and utility, with a focus on:

Trap & Mine Mechanics: Exploiting traps or mines to set up powerful AoE damage.

Strategic Positioning: Leveraging mobility and terrain to gain an advantage over opponents.

Debuffing Enemies: Using debuffs to weaken or crowd-control enemies to make them more vulnerable to your attacks.

Key Features of the Tactician Build

The Tactician build can be crafted around a few core mechanics that blend strategy and high-damage output. Here's a breakdown of the main features:

1. Traps and Mines

Tacticians excel at utilizing traps and mines to deal damage from a distance, providing AoE burst damage while also offering crowd control. Mines are placed on the ground, and once triggered, they deal heavy damage in an area. Traps, on the other hand, are triggered by enemies, offering a reactive damage strategy.

The trap and mine skills also often come with additional effects, such as debuffs on enemies (reducing their defenses, or applying status ailments) or crowd-control effects (such as stunning or slowing enemies).

2. Mobility and Positioning

A Tactician relies heavily on superior positioning to stay out of harm's way while controlling enemies. Unlike pure DPS classes, the Tactician typically stays mobile to avoid being overwhelmed, using movement abilities to reposition during combat.

Abilites like Dash, Leap Slam, or Shield Charge allow for quick escapes or closing the gap between you and enemies. These skills often serve dual purposes: escaping danger and setting up your traps or mines.

3. Debuffs and Control

The Tactician is not just about raw damage; they can weaken enemies with debuffs. These could include:

Armor reduction or damage amplification to make enemies more vulnerable to your traps and mines.

Slowing or freezing enemies to buy time for your traps to detonate.

Poison or bleed effects to keep enemies damaged over time.

These debuffs synergize well with AoE damage from traps or mines, maximizing your damage output and creating a controlled battlefield where you dictate the pace of the fight.

Core Passive Tree and Ascendancy Choices

To build an effective Tactician, you'll need to choose a character that synergizes well with the Tactician playstyle, along with the right ascendancy and passive tree allocation. Based on Path of Exile 2's skill tree, your options may evolve, but here's a general idea of how to set up the Tactician's passive tree.

Ascendancy: Saboteur

The Saboteur ascendancy, which is likely to remain available in Path of Exile 2, is the go-to choice for any trap or mine-focused build. The Saboteur focuses on the power of explosives and traps, increasing the damage of mines and traps significantly, while also providing utility for debuffing enemies and surviving in high-risk combat situations.

Key Saboteur Ascendancy Notable Passive Skills:

Born in the Shadows: Provides a boost to trap damage and increases the duration of trap effects, letting you deal with enemies more efficiently over time.

Explosives Expert: Increases the damage of your mines and traps while reducing their trigger time, meaning that your explosive attacks become much faster and more efficient.

Pyromaniac: Provides passive health regeneration while using mines and traps, helping you to stay alive while you deal heavy damage from a distance.

Demolitions Specialist: Greatly increases the range and effect of your traps, helping you control large crowds of enemies from afar. It also adds a chance for buy POE 2 Currency mines and traps to deal critical damage.

By selecting Saboteur, you essentially boost your core mechanics-damage from traps and mines-while enhancing your survivability and crowd control capabilities.