Path of Exile 2 has introduced an overhauled Witch class, igniting interest in how to best harness this intricate character. Currently, during early access, players can choose from six distinct classes, many of which excel in solo play. However, as confirmed by Grinding Gear Games, additional classes will become available throughout the planned six-month rollout.
Despite the updates, the Witch class remains deeply rooted in the themes of minions, damage over time, and curses. Initially, players may find the early game sluggish, but the character gains formidable power as advanced skills are unlocked. This iteration of the Witch benefits significantly from the newly implemented dodgeball mechanic, enhancing mobility and lending a soulslike feel to the overall experience of PoE 2.
Optimal Equipment for a Witch Build
Enhancing Survivability and Damage
While PoE 2 promotes class flexibility, each class still has specific gear and skills tailored to its strengths. For Witches, energy shields and maximum health are paramount. The energy shield functions as an auxiliary health bar that regenerates rapidly, mitigating damage to the primary health pool. As a result, optimal gear typically includes light armor such as robes and sandals that enhance energy shield stats.
In terms of weaponry, choices can vary based on gameplay style. Generally, Scepters are indispensable for minion summoning, which is essential to the Witch archetype. For offensive builds, pairing Scepters with Wands can maximize damage output, while combining them with shields can bolster defense. Lightweight shields often provide beneficial boosts in mana regeneration or energy shields, making them ideal for Witches.
Top Skill Gems for a Witch Build
Harnessing Fiery Minions of Destruction
Currently, the Witch class showcases two leading build options: burning minions and chaos damage. The burning minions build focuses on skills such as Skeleton Arsonists, Pain Offering, Flame Wall, Flammability, and Detonate Dead. Flammability decreases fire resistance for enemies within its range, allowing Skeleton Arsonists and Flame Wall to inflict greater damage. Pain Offering significantly enhances the strength of nearby minions, particularly beneficial for the regular Skeleton Warriors summoned via Scepters, while Detonate Dead provides a strategic explosion of corpses left by minions.
Although heavily based on fire resistance, this build may also venture into the Elemental path, making use of basic fire spells like Solar Orb or Fireball to supplement damage without detracting from the minion-based gameplay.
The chaos damage build, despite slight nerfs, remains a viable alternative. Given that chaos skills specialize in damage over time, players can utilize skills like Contagion, Profane Ritual, Despair, and Dark Effigy to optimize their performance. Contagion causes lingering damage that amplifies upon an enemy’s death, while Profane Ritual transforms corpses into zones of chaos damage. Dark Effigy acts as a totem that attacks foes afflicted with chaos debuffs.
The effectiveness of this build becomes evident with the Despair curse at higher levels, which reduces an enemy’s chaos resistance, maximizing the impact of damage-over-time effects. Skills such as Essence Drain can provide initial damage coupled with ongoing effects.
Essential Passive Skills for a Witch Build
Maximizing Minion Potential
The passive skill tree in PoE 2 encapsulates a comprehensive approach for all classes; however, the Witch’s paths remain relatively straightforward. For minion-focused builds, especially in the burning category, players should prioritize enhancing minion damage, health, critical statistics, elemental resistance, and attack/revival speed. Such enhancements transform minions into formidable components of gameplay, capable of efficiently clearing domains, especially when synergized with Pain Offering.
In contrast, chaos builds necessitate a more diversified approach, requiring an expansion beyond mere physical damage. Raising chaos damage and enhancing status duration are crucial areas to concentrate on, significantly increasing damage potential. Minion survivability remains pertinent, yet it can be limited to just health and resistance levels to strengthen their role on the battlefield.
Key Spirit Gem for a Witch Build
The Fundamental Passive Skills
In the world of Path of Exile 2, Spirit gems play a critical role in shaping effective builds, particularly for Witches. Regardless of build focus, Grim Feast is essential for maintaining health. By enabling enemies to drop Grim Remnants, players can replenish energy shields upon collection. The burning minions build effectively utilizes this alongside Raging Spirits from the elemental path, which conjures small fire skulls to aggressively target enemies before they expire.
For chaos-focused builds, Withering Presence serves as a beneficial Spirit skill, allowing for passive boosts to chaos damage. This skill inflicts a Withered debuff on enemies, stacking up to a 10% increase in damage dealt by chaos skills, effectively enhancing synergy with the Despair skill.
Recommended Ascendencies for a Witch Build
The Clear Choice
In PoE 2, every class features three Ascendencies; however, the Witch currently boasts two. The foremost choice is undoubtedly the Infernalist, a class designed to amplify fire damage alongside spell prowess. Key options within this Ascendency include Loyal Hellhound and Demonic Possession. The former conjures a reviving Hellhound that may lack in direct damage but provides significant tanking capabilities, absorbing 20% of incoming damage to the Witch. Meanwhile, Demonic Possession temporarily transforms the Witch into a Demon, enhancing cast speed, spell damage, and overall skill levels at the cost of some health during its activation.
On the other hand, Bloodmage serves as the lesser option, focusing on sacrificing health and defenses to strengthen overall skill damage. While it offers potent skills like Gore Spike and Sunder The Flesh to increase critical chance and damage, the Bloodmage’s overall effectiveness pales in comparison to the Infernalist, particularly as the Witch thrives in current gameplay.
Though the Witch has a slow start, she ultimately emerges as a formidable character in PoE 2. The primary limitation of the Witch lies in the reliance on minions as the core of the class’s design; diverting from this focus weakens overall effectiveness. Consequently, players seeking to maximize potential should fully embrace the minion-centric builds in Path of Exile 2 for a compelling and powerful experience.
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