While you should always play whatever class speaks to you the most, from a playstyle and preferences perspective, choose the Mercenary as your first class if you want to see everything Path of Exile 2 offers. It's one of the all-new classes designed for the ARPG sequel, and as such, developer Grinding Gear Games spent a lot of time refining its abilities, gems, and passive skills, making for an exceptionally strong playstyle.
The Mercenary primarily utilizes crossbows with various round-based attachments and unique grenades to deal damage. One of the first skills you'll unlock as part of the game's prologue is Fragmentation Rounds, which essentially turns your crossbow into a close-range shotgun loaded with Dragon's Breath rounds. Every shot, while slow to fire and reload, unleashes a burst of fire that deals significant up-close damage to enemies.
On average, it will take players anywhere between 50-100 hours to max out a class through various end-game activities, depending on your playstyle and any assistance you receive. That's a lot of playtime if you're intent on trying out everything on offer.
You'll receive countless gems throughout your playthrough, allowing you to mix and match or outright remove and replace abilities depending on the challenges you encounter.
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