Path of Exile: Mirage - Best Class Tier List

Ben Author

Created - 05.03.2026 Updated - 05.03.2026

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Path of Exile: Mirage is the latest expansion for the game, which takes you to the dangerous Vastiri Desert to fight the Afarud and free the Djinns that are detained by them. GGG has made plenty of endgame changes to the game, but I know that you are interested in which ascendancy classes have gotten better and which ones have gotten much worse.

If you are interested in knowing the ascendancy classes that you should choose in Patch 3.28, then read further. This is our best class tier list for PoE 3.28!

How This PoE: Mirage Tier List is Ranked

The ascendancy classes that you see in our tier list are ranked according to the following metrics:

• League start viability
• Endgame effectiveness
• Direct and indirect buffs/nerfs
• Gear Dependency

All of those factors are taken into account, so if an ascendancy class is in the S Tier, you know that it’s definitely one of the best in Path of Exile: Mirage.

It is also important to note that getting PoE Currency is a must, especially considering the new “Coin” currencies that add support gem effects to level 20 skill gems.

With that out of the way, let’s begin with our best class tier list for PoE 3.28!

Best Class Tier List for Path of Exile: Mirage

D Tier

Elementalist

The Elementalist is one of the hardest hit by the changes made in Patch 3.28. It is a fact that this ascendancy class used to be S Tier because of how powerful the golem buffs were in the past league. However, the Elementalist and other items that have something to do with golems have been nerfed.

Liege of the Primordial no longer grants a 50% increased effect of golem buffs. The Primordial Bond notable passive from cluster jewels now only provides a 20% increased effect as well.

While the Kinetic Blast Elementalist is still strong (just judging from the primary skill), the nerfs to the golem buffs cannot be ignored. Hence, the Elementalist has been downgraded from S Tier to D Tier in our PoE 3.28 best class tier list.

Gladiator

As a league starter, the Gladiator is a pretty good ascendancy class. However, the reason why he’s in the D Tier is that he only really excels in bleed builds, such as Bleed Eviscerate Gladiator and Boneshatter Bleed Gladiator. Bleed builds, in general, are mediocre in Path of Exile when it comes to the endgame because of the limitation of how bleed ticks.

What I will say is this: if you are going to play the Duelist Class in Path of Exile: Mirage, choosing the Gladiator is a good idea for farming PoE Currency effectively early on. While bleed builds are subpar later in the game, they are powerful during the first week of the Mirage League since you can have them up and running with budget gear.

Berserker

In the previous league, the Earthshatter Berserker was one of the most popular slam builds in the game. I mean, who wouldn’t use the said skill if it could obliterate pinnacle bosses with ease? Fast forward to Patch 3.28, and the said build has fallen off a steep hill.

So, what has changed? For starters, Earthshatter has its effectiveness of added damage reduced by roughly 20%. As if that’s not big enough, Overexertion’s damage bonus has been nerfed by 30%. With these adjustments combined, the Berserker’s most popular build now deals mediocre damage as a result!

If you don’t intend to play the Earthshatter Berserker in PoE 3.28, Flicker Strike and Kinetic Blast are viable alternatives.

Juggernaut

The Juggernaut’s strongest trait is that he has the ability to stack accuracy as high as possible for more damage. Well, that particular trait of his won’t be as effective anymore in Path of Exile: Mirage because certain items that utilize accuracy for damage have been nerfed.

For example, the Foulborn Hand of Thought and Motion now only grants 3% increased accuracy per 25 INT (instead of 5%). Shaper’s Touch also got nerfed in that it only gives +2 to accuracy rater per 2 INT.

With those nerfs, builds like the Reave of Refraction Juggernaut, Vaal Reave Juggernaut, and Lightning Strike of Arcing Juggernaut are no longer viable. So, where does that leave us?

Well, you could start with the Boneshatter Juggernaut because this build is capable of taking the self-damage portion of the skill (due to its insanely high armor). If you have tons of PoE Currency, the Molten Strike of the Zenith Juggernaut is still awesome, provided that you can buy Original Sin to make it count.

C Tier

Pathfinder

I am conflicted with the placement of the Pathfinder in our PoE 3.28 best class tier list. On the one hand, the Poisonous Concoction of Bouncing Pathfinder is still an incredible league starter, with some avenues for improving late-game progression (such as investing in Betrayal’s Sting and Voices). On the other hand, the Viper Strike of the Mamba Pathfinder has been nerfed significantly, so much so that it’s no longer great for anything other than being an alternate build.

Viper Strike of the Mamba was hit pretty hard in Patch 3.28. It now suffers an attack speed and dual-wielding penalty, resulting in a whopping 75% loss of damage! Besides that, the said skill can no longer inflict multiple poisons in the same hit, which effectively takes away its unique property of being a transfigured version of Viper Strike.

The Pathfinder ascendancy class itself has remained untouched in Path of Exile: Mirage. However, the most popular builds (the ones I just mentioned) have been nerfed, so you might want to look elsewhere if you are planning to stay in the upcoming league for a long period of time.

Chieftain

Hinekora, Death’s Fury got rebalanced in Patch 3.28. More specifically, it now procs more often (5% to 10% chance) but has its overall damage reduced (from 500% of maximum life to 250%). In terms of mapping, this should not be a problem. If anything, the more consistent explosions make your mapping experience a lot smoother.

However, from an endgame perspective, the nerf is quite huge. If you plan on using a Chieftain Build for bossing, using The Hateful Accuser for its Penance Mark phantasms might no longer give that oomph that is needed to eliminate the pinnacle bosses in under five minutes.

If you want to play the Righteous Fire Chieftain, you should know that the Foulborn The Red Dream has been nerfed. The life bonus it provides from the fire/elemental resist nodes has been reduced from 75% to 50%, resulting in considerably lower HP.

Whether you play the Righteous Fire Chieftain or Detonate Dead of Scavenging Chieftain, one thing is for sure: Both of them got nerfed in one way or another in Patch 3.28. Are they still good as league starters? Sure! However, they may not be the most ideal later on, when you’re trying to complete Nightmare Maps with eight modifiers.

Whether you play the Righteous Fire Chieftain or Detonate Dead of Scavenging Chieftain, one thing is for sure: Both of them got nerfed in one way or another in Patch 3.28. Are they still good as league starters? Sure! However, they may not be the most ideal later on, when you’re trying to complete Nightmare Maps with eight modifiers.

Saboteur

The Saboteur received a few buffs in Patch 3.28. Here is a brief rundown:

• The Perfect Crime has a more forgiving penalty (30% less damage with triggered spells instead of 35%).
• Like Clockwork now has 10% increased cooldown recovery rate than before (from 40% to 50%).
• Calculated Risk now makes damage received from enemies hitting you to be unlucky (overall, less damage dealt to you).

The buffs mentioned above are for ascendancy nodes that were the least popular in the previous league. Could that signal new Saboteur Builds in PoE 3.28?

Inquisitor

Energy shield is still the most useful defensive layer in Path of Exile: Mirage. Even though energy scaling through increasing INT has been nerfed, you can still improve your total ES through other means. The Ivory Tower and Shaper’s Touch, for example, are viable options. If you’re familiar with these items, you’ve probably been using the Inquisitor for some time now.

Well, the Inquisitor has been brought down a peg due to the changes made to Penance Brand of Dissipation, which was the most popular skill for the said ascendancy class in the previous league, now activates slower (1 second, up from 0.75 seconds and now deals lower damage (20% more damage with hits/ailments, down from 30%). Needless to say, the Penance Brand of Dissipation is not going to be popular in Patch 3.28.

The good news is that the Ice Spear of Splitting Inquisitor and Kinetic Blast of Clustering Inquisitor are still quite strong.

B Tier

Occultist

No changes have been implemented to the Occultist in Patch 3.28, and the most popular builds for this ascendancy class remain untouched as well. The reason for its B Tier placement is that the Occultist still performs relatively the same as it did in the past league, so there are no exciting changes to talk about.

Well, that can actually be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you look at things. No adjustments made to the ascendancy class and its associated skills mean that the Forbidden Rite of Soul Sacrifice Occultist and Kinetic Blast Occultist are pretty much strong contenders in the PoE Mirage League.

Cold Snap, Cold Snap of Power, and Blight of Contagion are good skills that you can use during league start. Just take note that energy shield scaling from INT has been nerfed in Patch 3.28, so you may want to hold off on allocating Chaos Inoculation until you have enough PoE Divine Orbs to improve your survivability in other areas.

Slayer

Do you love using Cyclone to spin your way to victory in Path of Exile: Mirage? If so, the Cyclone and Cyclone of Tumult Slayer are quite viable league starters, which you can scale into the endgame with the right investment.

Of course, the Flicker Strike Slayer remains a good option if you’re fine with some occasional nausea due to the nature of the skill. If there is one particular Slayer Build I no longer recommend in the upcoming league, it would be the Earthshatter Slayer for obvious reasons. The nerfs made to Earthshatter render it obsolete, especially considering that Cyclone and Cyclone of Tumult exist.

Champion

I think it’s safe to say that a sizable portion of the community will play the Champion in PoE 3.28. Why is that, you ask? For one, totems have been buffed in that the time it takes for them to emerge can now be scaled by increasing totem placement speed. Investing in totem placement speed nodes on the passive tree is quite easy to do, so we might see the rise of EA Ballista Champions in the Mirage League!

As a result of the totem changes in Patch 3.28, some people have already theorycrafted the Kinetic Fusillade Totem Champion as a potentially good league starter, though how effective this is still remains to be seen.

Assassin

The Assassin’s “Opportunistic” ascendancy node now makes all damage safe from being reflected (instead of just critical strikes).

For builds, the Spark of the Nova Assassin is still a pretty solid option for league start and endgame scenarios. While the Spectral Tigers from the Huntleader Bloodline Passive Skill now have significantly lower life, they deal more damage and have a higher attack speed to compensate. The Spectral Tigers are necessary to improve your critical strike chance considerably.

The Cobra Lash Assassin is still strong as a league starter, but heavily falls off in the endgame due to the cap imposed on the Follow-Through cluster jewel notable passive skill.

Ascendant

The Ascendant is probably one of those PoE ascendancy classes that can make good use of the new holy skills that will be introduced in Path of Exile: Mirage.

I should note that armor-stacking Ascendant Builds have dropped in power by a sizable margin in PoE 3.28. This is because of the removal of grafts, which used to provide you with more energy shield and lightning penetration.

Be that as it may, most of the Ascendant Builds should still work in the Mirage League. As always, PoE Currency is the deciding factor, whether you will have a good time with the Ascendant or not.

A Tier

Hierophant

The Hierophant is an ascendancy class that has been closely associated with Kinetic Blast of Clustering this past league. Thanks to the grafts, this build was able to deal massive amounts of damage. While grafts are gone in Patch 3.28, the power remains relatively intact, with only the grafts being removed from the equation.

However, I should say that the Hierophant becomes even stronger in PoE 3.28 due to the totem changes GGG has made. The Hierophant's Pursuit of Faith is incredible here because it provides 100% increased totem placement speed, which makes totems emerge much faster.

If you want to play this ascendancy class in PoE Mirage League, you might want to try out the Kinetic Fusillade Hierophant Totem build for sure.

Warden

If you are looking for a solid league starter in Patch 3.28, the Warden makes a strong proposition. In the Mirage League, the Warden's “Lesson of the Seasons” now makes you take far less damage from spell hits per bark. This is a good way for you to survive in the early maps when you don't have your ideal PoE items together yet.

Aside from that, the Avatar of the Wilds now grants 100% more elemental damage (up from 80%). The damage boost is huge, especially during league start scenarios where your weapon is still sub-optimal.

Deadeye

All Deadeye Builds in the previous league are still great in Path of Exile: Mirage. The Kinetic Blast Deadeye is likely going to be the popular choice since the Foulborn Items are here to stay. If you're going to play this build, invest in the Foulbron Esh's Mirror, specifically one that has “Damage Cannot Be Reflected” as its unique modifier.

It is worth noting that the power of the Deadye Builds in PoE 3.28 might be a bit lower due to the removal of the graft. However, the new exceptional support gems might give some of that power back.

Trickster

Amidst the ES scaling nerf from intelligence, the Trickster is still an amazing ascendancy class when it comes to survivability involving the energy shield. The Trickster has access to a couple of powerful nodes that have something to do with energy shield: Escape Artist and Soul Drinker.

In terms of Trickster Builds, those that use Kinetic Blast, Blight of Contagion, Flicker Strike, and Reap-Exsanguinate Mines are all safe in Patch 3.28.

Reliquarian

If you have played in the recently concluded Legacy of Phrecia Event in Path of Exile, you are probably aware of the Reliquarian. The power of the Reliquarian lies in her ability to get bonuses from various nodes named after PoE unique items, such as the Brass Dome, Victario's Influence, and Terminus Est, among many others.

Keep in mind that the first two nodes that you can get only provide you with two additional passive skill points and nothing else. The real power of this ascendancy class is unlocked once you have finished the second trial.

Now, the reason why I have placed this in the A Tier is that there are a lot of build possibilities with the Reliquarian. Just like the other ascendancy class for the Scion, you may need to spend a lot of PoE Currency to pull off an amazing Reliquarian Build in PoE 3.28.

S Tier

Necromancer

Minion build enjoyers are going to eat pretty well in Path of Exile: Mirage, especially those who use the Necromancer as their preferred ascendancy class. There are just so many buffs to minion builds in Patch 3.28 that make the Necromancer stand out. Here is a brief rundown:

• Absolution/Absolution of Inspiring: Higher duration and more damage
• Animate Guardian of Smiting: Now deals more damage. The Smite attack now has a larger radius.
• Dominating Blow: Chance to summon a normal Sentinel on hitting a unique monster now also applies when hitting rare monsters. Sentinel duration has also been increased (from 20 to 30 seconds).
• Raised Spectre: Monster level scales higher now, past gem level 20 (ex. Spectre is level 85 at gem level 30).
• Summon Holy Relic: Now has higher life regenerated per second.

The new Exemplar Support also increases the critical strike chance and critical strike multiplier of minions based on your recent critical strikes. This effectively powers up the Summon Holy Relic of Conviction Necromancer since you'll be attacking on your own with this build as well.

Guardian

Among the ascendancy classes available in Path of Exile: Mirage, the Guardian will see a massive jump in player count because of the massive buffs it received in Patch 3.28. What has changed?

The Sentinel of Radiance minion (from the Radiant Crusade) is now a permanent minion in the sense that it no longer has a duration. You still need to resummon it every time you enter a new area.

Furthermore, the Guardian also has a new ascendancy node called Marshal of Divinity, which enables him to inflict two stacks of Hallowing Flame on the enemy. Hallowing Flame is a debuff that grants an extra damage as fire damage buff to those who attack the affected enemy (other than the one who inflicted it).

Because of that node, we might see more minion builds that use the Guardian ascendancy class in Path of Exile: Mirage. All things considered, it is no wonder that the Guardian has shot up to the S Tier of our best class tier list for Patch 3.28.

FAQ

What is the Best Class in Path of Exile: Mirage?

It's a toss-up between the Necromancer and the Guardian.

Which Class Scales Best Into Endgame?

Reliquarian.

What Changed Most in Mirage Affecting Classes?

The removal of grafts results in an overall decrease in DPS (~10% to 30%).

Which Class is the Easiest for Beginners to Play?

Slayer.