How to use weapon set skill points in Path of Exile 2

Puzzling out weapon set passive skill points in Path of Exile 2 is perhaps the most cryptic part of the game I’ve encountered so far, mainly because the UI doesn’t explain it properly. These skill points are a special allotment you can attach to your first or second weapon set, effectively giving you two separate skill trees that are only active when you’re using each weapon. 

If you’re sticking to your class quite rigidly in terms of weapons, this might not be for you, but if you want a ranged weapon and a melee weapon, say, you might consider using these points to create a slightly different passive skill tree for either. This mechanic really comes into its own in the endgame, when you’ll have a lot more points to work with as well as more weapon set skill points. But for now, there’s no harm in finding out how it works.

How do weapon set skill points work?

So let’s start at the beginning. In Path of Exile 2, you can have two different weapons equipped at once using the I and II tabs in your character loadout. If you navigate to the passive skill tree, you’ll see two options in the top right saying ‘I weapon set’ and ‘II weapon set’ with a number listed in brackets next to it. This is how many weapon set skill points you have.