Path of Exile 2 endgame is "Cookie Clicker but with fancier graphics" says Elon Musk

Path of Exile 2 has a reputation to newcomers for being a difficult game, but Elon Musk has something very different to say about his endgame experience. The controversial tech billionaire is well-known for his love of ARPGs and proved his gamer mettle with sub-two-minute Pit run in Diablo 4 a few weeks ago.

His recent X post suggests he hasn't found something as difficult in Path of Exile 2 yet:

"PoE needs something where the difficulty keeps scaling, like the pit in Diablo. My monk can go through the “toughest” content, popping monsters like balloons. Starts to feel like Cookie Clicker, but with fancier graphics."

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Elon Musk's claim about the ease of Path of Exile 2 endgame is as divisive as you'd expect

Choir of the Storm go brrr (Image via GGG)

To draw full context, Musk's comment was in relation to the showcase of a 150 Million DPS build against the Atlas pinnacle boss, Arbiter of Ash. Specifically, it is a homebrew Blood Archmage build based on low-cooldown procs from the Choir of the Storm unique amulet. For some build that clicks into place this well, it's indeed possible to trivialize most aspects of a game supposed to be harder than the first Path of Exile.

Elon Musk himself plays a Monk in Path of Exile 2, a class that's rough in the early game but presents easily the most potent framework for a melee setup in the endgame. The Invoker Ascendancy lets you stack Evasion to completely shrug off physical damage when mobbing, while the offensive components like Elemental Avatar or Elemental Expression make you an unstoppable force of nature.

Even with all of this, it's a misnomer to call it a "Cookie Clicker with fancy graphics". There's some intentional hyperbole involved here, and it's perhaps true to the DOGE chairman's experience as an overturned melee build, as apparent from his Starlink livestream earlier this month.

However, most players won't be lucky enough to strike out with an overturned build that early in the game, or indeed get across the finish line with the same build.

Warrior players particularly have the shortest end of the stick, thanks to Armor being abysmally weak and their Skill Gems locking them into sluggish animations that are unfit for the frantic pace of the endgame. Caster builds have it far easier, but they can struggle to scale builds into higher tiers. With the Cast on Freeze nerf, Path of Exile 2 developers have proved they won't hesitate from a crackdown on them.

Even considering you luck out with an easy-to-execute Minion-based build, the endgame can often be a perilous place where you can't let your guard down. An entourage of minions can hide the patches of burning ground that burn you faster than your Flask can sustain you; a Pillar of the Caged God Gemling powergamer can still die to on-death effects after one-tapping a boss. We can risk as much as calling it the Dark Souls of Cookie Clicker.