Adam Beck is an Editor-at-Large at DualShockers with more than two decades of experience covering the video game industry. He began writing about games in 2003, with his first published review covering Disgaea: Hour of Darkness for PlayStation 2, and has since written news, reviews, previews, features, guides, and interviews across a wide range of genres.
Before DualShockers, Adam contributed to outlets including Hardcore Gamer and Advanced Media Network, and has experience managing writers as well as covering major industry events such as E3, GDC, Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival, and private preview events. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems.
It has been almost two years since Path of Exile 2 was first released into Early Access, and ever since then, Grinding Gear Games have slowly been adding to it with new leagues, classes and entire acts that have helped reshape what the sequel to one of the most beloved free-to-play action games has to offer.
With that, we are quickly approaching the 1.0 launch, and with it comes a brand-new class to dig through. It’s something a lot of players have been highly anticipating for quite some time, and rightfully so, as Path of Exile 2 is one of the best isometric action games out there. At Gamescom this year, we were able to get some extensive hands-on time with the new class, Duelist, and it could very well be the best melee class yet.
Unfortunately, while we were able to get some playtime with Duelist, a lot of it was relatively guided. Not in the sense that we were led down a narrow corridor and forced into the same exact encounters, but instead, we weren’t able to change any of the abilities or adjust any of the skill points in the massive skill tree. Because of that, we weren’t even able to look at the skill tree itself.
Even so, we got a pretty good grasp of what the Duelist has to offer. For starters, this is a strength and dexterity class, and for good reason. It can equip a one-handed sword, a sword and shield or dual blades. It has quite a range of weaponry at its disposal. This is because, depending on its abilities, it’s able to utilize those blades to its advantage.
One of the flashier moves is the Worldcutter ability, which is a channeled skill. This essentially starts off as a two-handed, over-the-head swing attack, but channeling it will increase its size up to 3x and deal even more damage when it’s fully unleashed. It’s one of the hardest hitting attacks in Duelist’s arsenal if used correctly.
A big component to its combat is elemental attacks, specifically sand, blood and lightning. There are others, but these two are the two that were highlighted in our gameplay session. So, for example, when using Earthrend, an attack that places blades in the ground, if you use Blade Conduit, it will unleash a lightning AOE around you, electrifying those blades and unleashing persistent damage in the area. Then you pair that with Blade Plunge (being held down), which is normally a simple AOE ability, and it will charge up the electrified blade and have them explode, dealing incredible damage.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.dualshockers.com/gamescom-2026-preview-path-of-exile-2-duelist/
