POE currency Weapon Swap Takes Diablo 4’s Barbarian to the Next Level
In the ever-evolving competitive landscape of the action RPG genre, a near-seamless gaming experience is paramount to fan satisfaction, and developers are constantly tweaking and rolling out new features to take their titles to the next level of creative brilliance. Diablo 4 is a prime example of this, as Blizzard amplified customization by allowing players to craft characters tailored to their preferred playstyles, and each of its classes sported telling improvements from its predecessor. Diablo 4's Barbarian build, in particular, has the ability to swap weapons and receive unique perks for each tool chosen. Path of Exile 2, a spiritual descendant of the Diablo franchise, also incorporates this feature - but with a slight upgrade.
Weapon Swap Meets Passive Skills in Path of Exile 2
Quick thinking is essential for success when fighting against the creatures of Sanctuary in Diablo 4, and the Barbarian class encourages players to seek creative combat solutions. Skills that are labeled to require any complete arsenal weapon allow the use of almost any type, and gamers can use trial-and-error to find the best weapon for specific situations. For instance, if a fight with a two-handed slashing weapon isn't going as expected with the Barbarian, players can switch to one-handed tools. This can be done multiple times in a battle, although there's a cooldown time in which builds must stick with their chosen weaponry.
Some Aspects combined with the weapon-swapping mechanism can give players a much-needed boost in their travels. For instance, the Aspect of Tempering Blows grants a Fortify buff that helps Barbarian builds survive longer by reducing enemy damage. Despite the benefits of creative freedom and extra defensive potential, Path of Exile 2's Weapon Swap dynamic appears geared to expand on its Diablo 4 counterpart with increased availability and a selection of passive skills that can be assigned to specific weapons.
Weapon Swapping isn't new to the Path of Exile franchise, as the first installment incorporated the mechanism in its gameplay around a decade ago. However, the transition between weapons wasn't smooth, and the clunky implementation led to its underutilization by its player base. Manually switching between weapons for each skill proved to be a chore, and developer GGG is eliminating this hurdle in Path of Exile 2, allowing players to choose weapon sets that can access a skill instead - much like Diablo 4's Barbarian class. Path of Exile 2's distinguishing feature in this regard comes by way of its passive skills, giving its weapons a leg up with added buffs.
These skill points can apply to daggers and traps or ice and lightning according to user preference, and swapping between weapons activates the corresponding passive skills. This dynamic gives room for diverse gameplay, opening up a wide range of combat possibilities for builds in POE buy currency. Diablo 4's Barbarian may have gotten its Weapon Swap right, but Path of Exile 2 takes things to a different level with its passive skill application.
