GGG has set up a large and complex occupations system for poe, players can freely choose their favorite occupations, and even if the player feels appropriate, transfer is not a difficult thing. The comparison between different occupations has never stopped, players are happy to discuss, just like raider and pathfinder. Here is a simple comparison of raider and pathfinder. Firstly, pathfinder makes flasks stronger and makes it a lot easier to sustain them . For example - you get 26% flask effect from the alchemist passive but if you were to get pathfinder's passives with it you'd get 46% flask effect and now dying sun adds 3 projectiles instead of 2 , taste of hate adds 29.2% phys dmg as cold instead of 25,2% with only alchemist or 20% without it , but most importantly +2% more maximum elemental resistance from the elemental flasks and 6.9% more physical damage reduction from the basalt .Pathfinder is just so lackluster without the 50% flask effect. That means you have to dedicate points to travel to the Witch's flask nodes and a jewel to boost this effect bonus to 50%. If you don't go up there (as many builds do not), Pathfinder just isn't worth it and instead go Raider. Secondly, raider's move speed meant that if you could cap QotF then Raider was faster. Pathfinder's flask effect on Alchemist's Quicksilver of Adrenaline wasn't enough to catch up, and also, all that attack/cast speed may mean you don't stand still as long to kill things. It's significantly easier to cap QotF with Pathfinder. Lastly, as a raider, you generally go for the Duelist leech node. This means you have 100% uptime on leeching. As long as you're attacking, you are healing, and won't die unless it's to something stupid like running into volatiles. With Path, you only leech with a flask up - generally Atziri or Vinktar. Keeping them up isn't a problem, you have 100%+ uptime. They refill almost every pack. Pathfinder is strictly superior when it comes to the frenzy charge of the tree unless you have items that deal explicitly with frenzy charge interactions like Terminus or Hyaon's. However, the new Rapid Assault changes the situation. With onslaught on hit, you actually get decent benefits from this path and real options here. The important thing to note is making use of your status ailments. With Pathfinder, considering the 20% chance to cause an ailment even with non-crit, it almost feels like a total waste to throw away your ability to cause elemental status ailments. With Raider, you might as well as use elemental focus because honestly, the main times you actually need the ability to cause them, they pretty much serve no purpose unless you have something like Razor's Edge which only depends on the status ailment itself. The above discussion is not absolutely correct, and players should have their own opinions. PoE is an excellent game in which to constantly explore maps, upgrade experience, get poe orbs and equipment is a pleasure things, and every player can enjoy it.
