PoE2 Needs Love for Underutilized Abilities

Hey Exiles,

I’ve been experimenting this season with some less conventional builds—specifically trying to make **Tactician/Smith** work with thorn and minion interactions. I knew it wouldn’t be meta, and I was fine with that… but the number of broken or inconsistent mechanics I’ve hit along the way is kind of discouraging. I’m posting this not just to vent, but to ask the community: **what other underperforming or bugged abilities have you run into?** Let’s gather feedback to help GGG make more of the skill gem system *actually playable*.


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Here are a few issues I’ve run into:

**Barb Support + Manifest Weapon**:

*Barb* is supposed to support *melee attack strike* skills. It lets you socket it into *Manifest Weapon*, which implies compatibility—but it does nothing. If it’s not meant to work, the gem system should prevent the socket.


**Twisters Lack Projectile-End Effects**:

Unlike other spear projectile skills, *Twisters* don’t leave caltrops at the end of their travel path. This inconsistency feels like a bug or at least a missing feature.

**Manifest Weapon vs. Companions**:

You’re limited to **one companion** in PoE2. So why would I choose to manifest a floating spear that just auto-attacks when I could instead summon a companion that gives me **actual auras** and utility? *Manifest Weapon* needs either a rework or some serious buffs to make that tradeoff make sense.

**Supporting Fire is Near Useless**

- Doesn’t benefit from “in presence” auras

- Has a **40-second** base cooldown

- Scales with **minion modifiers**, which are mostly located on the *opposite side* of the passive tree

- Encourages stat stacking for big damage… but gives you tiny uptime


As it stands, it’s extremely hard to justify using. This skill would make far more sense as a **passive aura-style effect** that shoots while you're in combat.



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These are just a few things I’ve personally noticed—but I know I’m not alone. There are so many skills, supports, and interactions that feel half-implemented or not thought through for real builds.

**Please share your own broken, bugged, or just plain underwhelming skill interactions below.** Whether you're playing meta or off-meta, the more visibility we give these issues, the more likely GGG can prioritize them in upcoming patches.

Let’s get more of the PoE2 skill system to the level of actually fun and viable.


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**TL;DR:**
PoE2 has a growing list of skill gems and supports that are either bugged, misleading, or way too underpowered to be worth using. From minion interactions to strike skill supports, there’s a lot that needs tuning. Sharing your own findings here could help bring attention to the underdogs GGG forgot.

100% with you on this. I have tested barbs on every socket able minion including raging spirits. The buff shows up on screen when socketed which leads me to believe that it’s supposed to work. However it never once goes down from 4 even when I am running like hell. Definitely broken. Wish they would fix it because it would open the door to so many of my ideas lol. Or, as you suggested, if it’s not supposed to be used there then remove the ability. I made a post about this but figured I’d add comments here so that ggg hopefully sees the message.