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 a écrit :

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?

"

karsey#2995 a écrit :

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

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

i play both, while i do enjoy the improved way of skeletons in poe2, i dont see how Zombies in poe2 are in any way shape or form an improvement from poe1.

"

TechnicallBrains#4648 a écrit :

"

karsey#2995 a écrit :

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

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

i play both, while i do enjoy the improved way of skeletons in poe2, i dont see how Zombies in poe2 are in any way shape or form an improvement from poe1.

It does feel like a downgrade. As a zombieplayer on and off since when they where added in poe 1 i feel your pain. I want to use them, but dont really know how atm.

But poe 2 is still being worked at, so i choose to belive that there is more build tools inc we have not seen yet that will solve this questions for the zombie lovers :)

"

TechnicallBrains#4648 a écrit :

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.

Exiles, let's break down what's really going on with Raise Zombie in PoE2. This isn't just a nerf; it's a fundamental gutting of a core identity.

1. The Backbone of the Build is Now a Temporary Buff.
In PoE1, your zombies were your foundation. You invested in them on the tree, you geared them with helmets and body armours, and they were your permanent, reliable front line. They were your meat shields in maps, your single-target DPS for bosses, and they never left your side. Now, they're a timed duration skill. You're constantly recasting, watching your investment crumble to a random ground slam, and it feels awful. It's a 'set it and forget it' gem turned into a micromanagement nightmare.

2. They Swapped Identities with Skeletons.
The sheer irony of this design is staggering. Skeletons were always the temporary, on-demand summon. You cast them for a burst of clear, they did their job, and they expired. Now, Skeletons are the permanent minions. They stole the entire fantasy and gameplay loop of the classic Zombie build. Zombies have been relegated to the trash-tier, temporary role that Skeletons used to fill. It's a complete role reversal that makes no sense.

3. They Killed an Archetype, Not Just a Skill.
The "Necromancer with an endless horde of undead" is one of the oldest and most beloved ARPG fantasies. GGG took that fantasy and replaced it with "Necromancer who rents some zombies for a short period." This isn't a balance change; it's a design decision that fundamentally misunderstands why people play Summoners. We want to build our army, scale its damage and defenses, and see it persist. The current design is antithetical to that entire playstyle.

4. The Gem is Unbuildable as a Main Skill.
You can't build a character around a temporary minion. Why invest divines into a helmet for your zombies when they're just going to despawn? Why take ascendancy nodes or keystones that scale permanent minions when your core summon isn't permanent? The skill is no longer a viable foundation for a build. It's a secondary support skill at best, and a clunky one at that. For those of us who planned on rolling a Necromancer on day one, this was a slap in the face.

This change guts the entire identity of the Summoner class for no good reason. It's one of the most baffling and out-of-touch design decisions GGG has ever made.

You can go with perpetual charge when you raise.(which I call double zombie)

And then go brutality/heft/heavy swing/impale/execute/prolonged duration/feeding frenzy/rapid attacks...

Or combine with status effects like pin/blind/bleed/poison and so on.
They are okay, especially if you invest in the new duration nodes.

The main problem is that unearth exists. And it raises corpses too.

And unearth is very good. They are not worthless. They just lose to a better skill.