Path of Exile 2’s 0.5.0 patch, officially named Return of the Ancients, is one of the largest foundational updates in the game’s Early Access history. This massive patch goes far beyond minor bug fixes and balance tweaks; it brings sweeping changes to endgame systems, build diversity, class specialization, and core combat mechanics. This article is updated with new PoE 2 0.5 Ascendancy classes and their details.
Updated (May 8, 2026)
PoE 2 0.5.0 Confirmed New Ascendancy Classes (Official Reveal)
Previously leaked rumors of Ranger’s Arcane Archer and Huntress’ Wildspeaker have been replaced by two officially confirmed new ascendancies for the PoE 2 0.5.0 update: Spirit Walker (Huntress) and Martial Artist (Monk). These are the long-awaited third ascendancies for their respective classes, filling key gaps in PoE 2’s specialization roster. GGG also confirmed that all base classes will receive their full set of ascendancies by the 1.0 official launch, while some core classes and weapon types will continue to be released in post-1.0 updates.
1. Spirit Walker (Huntress Third Ascendancy)
Spirit Walker is a unique nature and spirit-focused ascendancy that lets the Huntress channel the power of three ancient Azmerian animal spirits: the Stag, the Owl, and the Bear. Players can specialize fully in one spirit for a focused playstyle or mix all three to unlock hybrid combat effects, delivering extremely flexible build options. It also features the game’s exclusive mechanic of taming beast bosses to fight alongside the player.
Core Spirit Effects
Stag Spirit: Triggers stampede attacks, focuses on mobile area-of-effect damage, and forward leaps toward enemies. It also delivers lightning nuke damage for burst offensive pressure.
Owl Spirit: Empowers projectile attacks, adding extra projectiles and massive projectile speed boosts. Empowered skills leave a special Soaring Ground trail that grants 30% increased evasion and 40% extra damage.
Bear Spirit: Summons a permanent spectral bear companion that actively attacks enemies. It also provides passive life regeneration and damage absorption to boost the Huntress’s survivability.
Spirit Walker Ascendancy Nodes
Vivid Stampede: Grants a new skill that spawns up to three Vivid Wisps after moving 20 meters. Attacking enemies turns these wisps into spectral deer that charge forward in a damaging stampede.
The Morrigan’s Guidance: Spawns one Vivid Wisp after every stampede ends. Each spirit leap increases spirit damage and shock magnitude by 20%.
Primal Bounty: Generates up to three Primal Owl Feathers every 4 seconds. Dodging consumes one feather to gain two extra projectiles and up to 68% projectile speed.
The Mhacha’s Gift: Allows dodging to consume all three Owl Feathers at once, empowering attacks by 100% per feather consumed. It also cuts the feather cooldown by 50% for faster buff stacking.
Wild Protector: Permanently summons a rampaging spectral bear companion to assist in combat.
The Catha’s Balance: Makes the bear companion deal additional damage equal to 60% of the player’s main hand weapon damage.
Idolatry: Grants stacking bonuses based on equipped Idols. Each Idol increases companion damage by 10% and spirit reservation efficiency by 2%. Every non-Idol augment applies a 4% elemental resistance penalty as a trade-off.
Natural Order (Signature Node): Unlocks the unique ability to use Tame Beast on beast bosses, turning powerful foes like the Chimeral Beast and Frozen Talon into permanent allied combatants.
2. Martial Artist (Monk Third Ascendancy)
Martial Artist redefines Monk gameplay with skill-based, momentum-driven combat that rewards precise player timing and positioning. This ascendancy focuses on spectral illusions, resonant bell damage, and exclusive runic tattoo mechanics, creating a unique high-skill melee playstyle distinct from all other PoE 2 classes. It prioritizes active player input over passive stat scaling, making every attack and ability chain feel impactful.
Core Unique Mechanics
Spectral Illusions: Summons shadow clones of the Monk that replicate the player’s attack skills, multiplying overall damage output.
Resonant Bells: Spawns spectral bell constructs that trigger shockwave stuns and area damage on critical hits, perfect for clustered enemy fights.
Runic Tattoos: Adds permanent character rune sockets independent of gear, enabling unique customization no other ascendancy offers.
Stonefist Gloves: Transforms standard gloves into powerful custom base items with enhanced martial affixes.
Martial Artist Ascendancy Nodes
Hollow Form: Grants a channelable skill gem that creates multiple Monk illusions around the player. These illusions replicate linked attack skills at 70% base attack speed and 80% damage, auto-targeting nearby enemies. Each active Power Charge creates 2 additional illusions.
Hollow Focus: Spawns spectral bells around the player. Shattering these bells triggers socketed skills and creates a shockwave that heavy-stuns all stun-primed enemies.
Hollow Resonance: Attaches a permanent ghostly bell to the player’s back. Every attack critical hit rings the bell, dealing automatic area damage to surrounding enemies, providing a universal crit buff for all attack builds.
Way of the Mountain: Stacks Mountain’s Teachings whenever immobilizing enemies. Active stacks grant 50% higher stun threshold and 20% increased damage for all player and illusion attacks. Reduces damage taken from low-hits (less than 30% of total HP after mitigation) by 70%. Stacks expire after 8 seconds of no new gains.
Runic Meridians: Adds 5 exclusive character-only rune sockets (1 Helmet, 2 Body Armour, 1 Glove, 1 Boot) separate from regular gear rune slots, greatly expanding rune build potential.
Way of the Stonefist: Converts all equipped gloves into the unique Fists of Stone base type, replacing standard affixes with powerful martial-focused modifiers. Adds implicit +3 Evasion and +1 Maximum Energy Shield per item level on all gloves.
PoE 2 Duelist (Unconfirmed, Not Included in 0.5.0)
For months, the PoE 2 community has speculated that the Duelist would arrive as the brand-new playable class in the 0.5.0 update. This theory is backed by solid data-mined evidence and the game’s unfinished attribute class framework. Right now, PoE 2’s Strength-Dexterity hybrid class group only has the Mercenary available. The Duelist, a classic Strength-Dexterity melee class from Path of Exile 1, would perfectly complete this paired archetype system, matching the structure of other attribute-based class sets. Data miners have uncovered complete Duelist base stat layouts, unique voice lines, and core thematic identity files hidden in early game assets. The leaked details paint the Duelist as a stylish, high-impact melee fighter focused on sword combat, precision strikes, bleed damage, and retaliation mechanics. If added, it would launch with three reworked ascendancies—reimagined versions of Slayer, Gladiator, and Champion from PoE1, rebuilt entirely to fit PoE 2’s modern combat and balance rules. Despite strong speculative evidence, multiple key factors confirm the Duelist is very unlikely to release in 0.5.0.
First, GGG has never released new playable classes in consecutive Early Access patches. Second, every major new class in past updates (Huntress in 0.2, Druid in 0.4) was heavily teased in official trailers and preview content. The entire “Return of the Ancients” teaser focuses solely on ancient precursor lore and endgame system overhauls, with zero hints of a new class. Most importantly, GGG has openly stated its top priority for 0.5.0 is a full endgame rework, including Atlas Tree overhauls, revamped mapping systems, and new campaign-to-endgame questlines. All development resources are focused on polishing these foundational systems, rather than building a new playable class. To make up for the missing new class, GGG has added highly anticipated new ascendancies for existing classes, greatly expanding build variety for all current players.
Leaked Duelist Class Core Details (Future Release Candidate)
The datamined Duelist is a male Strength-Dexterity hybrid class with low Intelligence stats, designed exclusively for sword-based combat. Its confirmed base attributes are 11 Strength, 11 Dexterity, and 7 Intelligence. The class’s core theme centers on flashy, impactful combat instead of passive survival, summed up by its official leaked voice line: “Life is all about making an impact. Leaving a mark. Simply surviving is not good enough. If you're not doing it with style, why fight at all? Put a sword in my hand. I'll give you a show you won't soon forget.” GGG has also confirmed that swords will be fully added to the game before PoE 2’s 1.0 full launch, directly tying this weapon type to the Duelist’s unique playstyle.
PoE 2 New Weapon Type: Swords (Datamined, Not Included in 0.5.0)
Swords are the most fan-requested melee weapon type for PoE 2, and full one-handed and two-handed sword assets have been datamined in game files. However, official confirmations prove swords will not launch in the 0.5.0 update. Swords are designed as Strength-Dexterity scaling melee weapons, perfectly matching the Duelist’s attribute requirements. A unique trait of sword gameplay is innate elemental damage integration, which will add massive build diversity for hybrid melee setups once released. Datamined sword-specific skills include Storm Blade and Energy Blade, alongside new strike, bleed, and mobility skills built exclusively for sword combat. Existing melee skills will also receive balance updates to support sword mechanics in future patches.
Full Datamined PoE 2 Sword Base Stats
All listed swords feature a fixed 5% Critical Hit Chance and 1.3 weapon range, with varying damage, attack speed, and level/attribute requirements:
Corroded Longsword: 9-16 Physical Damage, 1.3 Attacks per Second | No level requirement
Iron Greatsword: 13-23 Physical Damage, 1.35 Attacks per Second | Level 6, 9 Strength/9 Dexterity
Blessed Claymore: 19-32 Physical Damage, 1.3 Attacks per Second | Level 11, 14 Strength/14 Dexterity
Broad Greatsword: 25-42 Physical Damage, 1.25 Attacks per Second | Level 16, 19 Strength/19 Dexterity
Rippled Greatsword: 28-52 Physical Damage, 1.3 Attacks per Second | Level 22, 24 Strength/24 Dexterity
Arced Longsword: 31-58 Physical Damage, 1.35 Attacks per Second | Level 28, 29 Strength/29 Dexterity
Stone Greatsword: 40-67 Physical Damage, 1.3 Attacks per Second | Level 33, 34 Strength/34 Dexterity
Obsidian Greatsword: 49-73 Physical Damage, 1.25 Attacks per Second | Level 36, 37 Strength/37 Dexterity
Keen Greatsword: 45-94 Physical Damage, 1.3 Attacks per Second | Level 45, 45 Strength/45 Dexterity
Ancient Greatblade: 55-103 Physical Damage, 1.25 Attacks per Second | Level 49, 49 Strength/49 Dexterity
Flanged Greatblade: 51-106 Physical Damage, 1.3 Attacks per Second | Level 52, 51 Strength/51 Dexterity
Regalia Longsword: 61-92 Physical Damage, 1.35 Attacks per Second | Level 54, 53 Strength/53 Dexterity
Ultra Greatsword: 72-119 Physical Damage, 1.3 Attacks per Second | Level 65, 63 Strength/63 Dexterity
As one of the most polished and content-packed updates in PoE 2 Early Access, Return of the Ancients prioritizes endgame quality and build diversity over new playable classes or weapons. While the Duelist class and sword weapon types are confirmed future content, players will gain two fully fleshed-out, mechanically unique ascendancies to refresh existing class builds.
