Remember the vast passive skill tree in Path of Exile? Well, it’s back in Path of Exile 2, presenting over a thousand nodes for you to become lost in. If you are new to Path of Exile, the passive skill tree features many branching routes to choose from. Depending on the character class you select, you may start at a specific location within the tree. From that point, you can navigate through whichever direction suits you best, following the established paths, which enhances the experimentation element regarding different builds.
As you might expect, committing to one path over another can be challenging, particularly if halfway through the game you feel your current build lacks specific resistances or attributes. This is where respeccing becomes important. If you’re curious about how to respec passive skills in Path of Exile 2, there are a few steps and considerations to keep in mind, which we’ll outline below.
How to respec passive skills in Path of Exile 2
Don’t worry if you spend your initial hours in Path of Exile 2 unable to respec passive skills, as this is intended. To enable this feature, you will need to access The Hooded One NPC in the main camp hub.
To unlock The Hooded One, you will need to complete two lengthy questlines from Act 1, called The Mysterious Colour and Sorrow Among Stones. Since these quests are part of the main storyline, you don’t have to worry about missing them. That said, I recommend focusing on them before side missions to unlock the ability to respec as soon as possible.
Once you hand over Count Lachlann’s Ring to Una, The Hooded One will become available as an NPC. Interact with them to access the Refund Passives option. This will open the passive skill tree, enabling you to select any passive skills you have already unlocked and respec them—recovering the skill levels you invested in them.
In Path of Exile, respeccing required the use of Orbs of Remorse, which were a rare item. However, in Path of Exile 2, respeccing costs gold instead. This simplifies the process, at least on paper, as you can spend gold in various ways (for instance, to purchase equipment).
Managing your savings is crucial to avoid running out at critical moments during gameplay. Therefore, I suggest researching builds to gain at least an understanding of what works best with each class before committing to specific paths in the passive skill tree. Ultimately, Path of Exile 2 emphasizes experimentation, and that’s part of the enjoyment. You don’t have to min-max everything, especially during your first character. At the very least, you