Ever since the 0.4 patch hit, chat's been flooded with "Ritualist is back" takes, and yeah, the buffs look fine on paper. But once you actually play a few hours, you can feel why Amazon's still the safe bet, especially if you're trying to gear fast and keep momentum. If you're stocking up on PoE 2 Currency for crafting or early upgrades, Amazon pays you back quickly because her crit scaling comes online with way less fuss, and the whole campaign just doesn't fight you as much.

Why Amazon Still Feels Like the Default Pick

The big thing isn't some secret tech. It's how forgiving the Ascendancy pathing is when you're building around Critical Hits. You can run "good enough" gear and still delete rares, which matters more than people admit. You'll also notice fewer awkward damage gaps while leveling. With other classes, you hit spots where you're waiting on a key support or a specific weapon. With Amazon, you're usually just… fine. It's not flashy, but it's consistent, and consistency is what keeps your maps rolling instead of turning into a repair-bill simulator.

Werewolf Amazon: Freeze Locks and Boss Pressure

Shapeshifting being universal is the real spice this patch. If you slot Amazon into Werewolf form, the kit gets kind of rude in the best way. For clear, Shred with Long Fuse, Cold Attunement, and Close Combat keeps packs pinned down because freezes happen mid-swing, not after you've already been hit. Gap closing is simple: Pounce with Freezing Mark and Fist of War gives you that chunky opener, then you ride the tempo. When Lunar Blessing is up, linked to Second Wind and Efficiency, the Moonbeam procs make mapping feel like you're cheating. On bosses, you swap your brain into "setup then pop" mode and use Cross Slash to pull all those ice fragments into one nasty burst window.

Bleed Amazon: Tag, Run, Let the Map Do the Work

If you'd rather play slippery and mean, Bleed Amazon is still one of the most satisfying loops around. You lead with Rake linked to Momentum, Overextended, and Deep Cuts, then you stop standing still. That's the whole point. Moving turns it into Aggravated Bleed, so enemies chasing you are basically signing their own death note. To speed up the screen clears, Herald of Blood with Magnified Area and Execute chains those Blood Loss explosions so you're not manually finishing stragglers. And if a map starts feeling sketchy, Bloodhound's Mark with Stun and Close Combat buys you space because the stun ramps off your bleed damage instead of your weapon needing to be perfect.

Picking Between Them Without Overthinking It

I'd treat it like this: Werewolf is for players who want to stand toe-to-toe and bully bosses with freeze control, while Bleed is for folks who like tagging targets and staying mobile when the screen gets messy. Both work, both scale, and both feel better than forcing a "buffed" class that still needs extra steps to get comfortable. If you're planning your upgrades and trading smart, u4gm poe2 can fit naturally into that prep so you spend more time mapping and less time staring at stalled damage breakpoints.