PoE2 Butchers a Classic: Raise Zombie Reduced to a Useless Shadow of PoE1

Path of Exile 2’s treatment of Raise Zombie feels like a complete betrayal of what made the skill iconic in the first place. Instead of evolving the classic minion playstyle, it was gutted and reduced to something unrecognizable—and for players who loved permanent zombie builds in PoE1, this shift lands like a slap in the face.

1: Zombies went from permanent, dependable minions in PoE1 to a laughably fragile, temporary gimmick in PoE2.
2: Skeletons—of all things—got upgraded to permanent summons, while zombies were shoved into a duration-based trash tier.
3: This design flips the identity of the minion class upside down for no good reason, removing one of the most beloved playstyles the game had.
4: Players who supported the game financially expecting to enjoy their classic zombie builds were met with a skill that can’t function as a main ability anymore.
5: The downgrade feels intentional, unnecessary, and completely out of touch with what minion players value.

This matters because stripping a core archetype of its identity doesn’t just change gameplay—it alienates the players who supported the game for years. Restoring Raise Zombie to permanent status would bring back a defining minion playstyle and fix one of PoE2’s most baffling design decisions.

Persistent (or how you call them "permanent") minions reserve spirit.
Persistent minions also automatically resurrect soon after they are killed.

So if zombies would be persistent, they would:

A) stop being raised from dead corpses
B) cost spirit for each one

Both of which seem to be very wrong.

I know you like your walking simulator from POE1.
Maybe you miss glorious mustache longneck butler.

But this is not the way.

"

Skellymancer#5263 เขียน:

Persistent (or how you call them "permanent") minions reserve spirit.
Persistent minions also automatically resurrect soon after they are killed.

So if zombies would be persistent, they would:

A) stop being raised from dead corpses
B) cost spirit for each one

Both of which seem to be very wrong.

I know you like your walking simulator from POE1.
Maybe you miss glorious mustache longneck butler.

But this is not the way.

Your argument ignores the core issue: PoE2 intentionally downgraded a once-viable main skill into a disposable button press, and pretending spirit reservation is some immovable law doesn’t change that design failure.

1: “Persistent minions reserve spirit” is a system choice, not a universal truth—GGG chose to make zombies temporary instead of adjusting their costs like every other persistent minion.
2: Losing corpse-based summoning is irrelevant when the entire archetype is already nonfunctional; nobody cares about raising from corpses if the minions themselves don’t survive long enough to matter.
3: Spirit cost isn’t an excuse when other minion skills do reserve spirit and still function as full builds—zombies were simply not given that same treatment.
4: Dismissing classic minion builds as a “walking simulator” doesn’t address the fact that PoE1 zombies had identity, power scaling, and build depth that PoE2 erased.
5: “This is not the way” rings hollow when the new way removes a major playstyle instead of modernizing it.

So.

If GGG replaces the persistent skeleton model, with the zombie model, and you have a horde of zombies, that reserve spirit and automatically resurrect, you will be satisfied?

Did I understood you correctly?

...you know you can still play poe1 right?

You don't have to play poe2 and be mad that it's not poe1.

My thoughts exactly. Is it a role-playing issue, or a fundamental minion mechanic issue?