Path of Exile 2’s Ranger Class Benefits Greatly from Recent Control Changes

ign.com:

After dying several times to an introductory worm boss that Path of Exile 2 had me face, I started to wonder if I was missing something while playing as the Ranger class. The grind to this early-level boss hadn’t unlocked a ton of Skill Gems for me, and the few I had slotted weren’t combining together to make a power combo like I had become accustomed to during the Affliction League that’s currently ongoing in Path of Exile. Speaking with other, much better players than myself who I met at the event it turned out I wasn’t the only one that took a try or two on the boss. It was time to get back to the grind and come back at it with better gear.

So far I had unlocked Lightning Arrow and Escape Shot thinking that the AoE ice projectile from escape shot would help me get out of any tricky situation I had found myself in. But it felt like I had made a mistake pairing this with Lightning Arrow which arced to 2 additional enemies near my target. I was also too slow, and the mouse controls made it difficult to stand in place and use my bow without walking into a pile of enemies. So I committed and made the change to WASD controls and that’s when this class really opened up.

The Ranger is very powerful, and being able to precisely move is a gift I didn’t realize I wanted from this action RPG. It made me nearly unstoppable, even in missions I’d tackle later in the day where I was definitely underleveled. WASD controls give you complete control of how your character moves on the screen in a PC game, and while I hadn’t used it before, it may now have become my favorite control scheme. At least for this particular class. An archer needs to have complete control over their movement, and as Jonathan Rogers said during his opening speech it helps sell the fantasy they’re trying to deliver: that’s you’re Legolas from Lord of the Rings, in complete control of every arrow you release from your quiver.

The first thing I’d do is start working toward my Honed Instinct passive skill which