The PoE2 Duelist Will Have a Squire to Gear

In the PoE2 Duelist demo shown on November 6, the character struck with two swords. Behind them, a companion (an ally controlled by the game that follows you) carried a spear and cast its own skills. According to Output Lag, that companion, the Squire, gets its own equipment screen: a Duelist who picks the Knight will have two characters to gear.

Among the ExileCon 2026 announcements, the official Path of Exile 2 site lists two Ascendancies (class specializations) for the Duelist at Full Release, on December 11, 2026 (Pacific time; the exact hour has not been published). Only one has been shown in game: the Knight. Here is what the sources say about the PoE2 Duelist, its Stances, and what they still leave out about the Master-at-Arms.

Three Stances for the PoE2 Duelist’s Sword

The Duelist learned the sword in the arenas of Oriath. Raised in the slums, the Duelist went into the arena out of vengeance, according to the official page. The class’s own mechanic is Stances, which Grinding Gear Games (GGG) presents as “a new mechanic in Path of Exile 2 that the Duelist masterfully utilises in battle”. What was known before ExileCon, Cyclone included, is in the September 4 article on the Duelist and its swords.

The official page describes Ready Stance as a power-up: it improves every sword skill, each in a different way, from “intimidating shouts” to “deadly slashes” by way of “huge tendrils”. Two variants build on it, according to the same text: Sand Stance and Blood Stance.

Stance	How you enter it	Effect announced by GGG
Ready Stance	The Duelist’s base stance	Enhances each sword skill in a different way
Sand Stance	Stun enemies	Unleashes sand discs across the battlefield
Blood Stance	Parry attacks	Makes enemies bleed on every hit

GGG gave no values: no damage, no bleed duration, no number of discs. In the demo, Output Lag saw the Duelist parry with a blood blade, which released waves of blood, then use Hemorrhage to speed up the bleeds.

The Knight Recruits a Squire

The PCGamesN report from November 6, by Ken Allsop, sums up the Knight in three elements: a companion, War Banners and a chariot of light. Output Lag (Steven Mills) and Inven Global (Jaihoon “Laffa” Jeong) give the detail.

On the official page, the Ascendancy entry takes two sentences (translated from the French official page): “The Knight leads his men to glory by fighting on the front line. Charge through enemy ranks, galvanize your allies, seize the battlefield and defend your honor.”

The Squire is recruited from the first Ascendancy point. It wields any melee weapon and learns your skills through the Skill Gems screen. In the demo, it held a spear with Blood Hunt and Bloodhound’s Mark, two skills that exploit enemy blood.

A presenter in the demo, whom the source does not identify as a developer, summed up the trade-off: “Once you’ve got someone under your command it’s your responsibility to feed and equip them.”

The sources reviewed do not say what happens to the Squire if it dies, or whether there can be several. GGG has not detailed the question.

Banners, Glory, Valour and the Chariot of Light

War Banners increase the attack speed and damage of allies in range, Squire included. Each banner is paid for in Glory. The Bannerlord node adds an effect depending on the empire represented. Output Lag noted Maraketh, Karui, Vaal, Ezomyte and Kalguuran. With the Vaal standard, the banner leaves a zone of blood on the ground, and Cyclone pulls enemies into it.

The table below sums up the resources and the mounted charge, which PCGamesN describes as “a golden chariot of light”. Output Lag writes “Valor” where Inven Global writes “Valour”, and neither spelling comes from the official page.

Element	What the sources report	Source
Glory	Resource that pays for placing banners	Inven Global, Output Lag
Valour	Another node converts spent Glory into Valour, for defensive purposes	Output Lag
Honor Bound	Above a Valour threshold, waves of justice go out with every attack	Inven Global
Mounted Charge	An ethereal chariot knocks back and stuns the enemies it hits, Rares and Uniques included, then plants a banner	Inven Global, Output Lag

The three factions of the Conquerors of Wraeclast league bear names close to those of the standards (Karui, Ezomytes, Maraketh, according to the press), but none of the sources reviewed links the two systems.

The Master-at-Arms, Shown Nowhere

On the official page, the Master-at-Arms takes two sentences: he “has dedicated his life to his art, to the point of mastering countless forms of combat. Whatever the opponent or the type of confrontation, he has the skills and the arsenal needed to win.” Output Lag specifies that the Duelist’s second Ascendancy was not presented.

It is not postponed, though: “In 1.0, we are introducing two Ascendancy Classes for Duelist: the Knight and the Master-at-Arms,” writes GGG. For the PoE2 Duelist, the nodes, skills and values of both Ascendancies are still missing, like those of the whole reworked Passive Skill Tree. That official sentence does not say whether the Master-at-Arms plays with Stances, with varied weapons or otherwise.