Path of Exile 2: Witch Minion Build

Build crafting is one of the most essential aspects that makes Path of Exile 2 interesting. You have access to multiple classes, and you have the choice to build them in numerous ways where you get to make them strong enough to demolish hordes of enemies in an instant.

One of the classes you get to play with in the game is Witch. If you are interested in playing as a Witch and overwhelming your enemies with undead skeletons and zombies, here's a detailed guide that will help you get going right from the first level to the endgame.

Witch Overview In Path Of Exile 2

Witch is the Necromancer class in Path of Exile 2. You get to summon multiple minions which include skeletal warriors, archers, bombers, and witches who can act as a distraction while also dealing damage to enemies and helping you clear some of the hardest bosses in the game.

However, while this sounds good on paper, it's not quite as easy, since the minions in the early access of the game are incredibly weak. They will die in just one hit and, in most cases, leave you exposed if you rely too much on them. This means, as a Witch, you'll have to rely on dealing damage and focus on your survivability despite having multiple minions at your disposal.

Additionally, summoning minions requires a stat called Spirit. The more Spirit you have, the more minions you're able to summon, which definitely makes things easier in the endgame. However, early on, you'll be limited on how many skeletons you can summon. Combined with their lack of survivability and damage, you'll have to rely on your own skill to clear content.

In fact, the bosses will ignore the minions in most cases and directly jump onto you. However, there are ways in which you can make the minions useful, especially the archer skeletons, who can help deal massive burst damage to enemies and bosses.

When it comes to Ascendancy, the Witch has two: Infernalist and Blood Mage. As per the performance in early access, Infernalist is pretty strong, but Blood Mage feels extremely weak. In fact, if you're going for Blood Mage, you'll struggle even in endgame content, as despite the best gems and gear, the class itself won't help you much. This makes the Infernalist class a must-pick, irrespective of the scenario.

As a final note, the Witch has access to both Occult abilities as well as Sorceress skills and spells. You'll have to mix and match them until you gain enough levels where the Occult spells start dealing considerable damage to enemies.

Path of Exile 2 is in Early Access, and builds will be nerfed or buffed frequently until version 1.0 launches.

Witch Minion Build Leveling Guide

Witch is a difficult class to play. If you make a mistake, your damage against bosses will feel underwhelming. Here's a detailed leveling guide across every Act for Witch to make sure your damage does not fall off and you can stay on par with other characters:

Act 1

Act 1 will be the most difficult for you as you'll have to mix between Sorceress and Occult abilities to deal damage. Here's how you should be focusing on your skills while you're going through the first Act of the game:

• Unearth: This is the skill you'll unlock when you receive your first Uncut Skill Gem. This skill allows you to deal good damage while summoning more minions than your average skeletons.
• Skeletal Sniper: This is the next skill you should be focusing on. This is because you get access to the Gas Arrow skill from them. Additionally, Skeletal Snipers deal decent damage and you'll need them against bosses.
• Flame Wall: This is the third most important skill that you'll unlock in Act 1 as you get access to the Flame Wall and Gas Arrow combo. You'll drop the Gas Arrow from the Skeletal Snipers and use Flame Wall to deal burst damage, which is good for both clearing mobs and dealing damage against bosses.
• Contagion: This skill acts as a debuff and is good against bosses as it deals Chaos damage. It's not mandatory, but you should go for it as the Chaos damage debuff will help take down bosses quicker.
• Continue with these skills until you receive a Level 5 Uncut Skill Gem.
• Bonestorm: The Level 5 Skill Gem allows you to unlock Bonestorm, which will be your primary source of DPS for a while. Just be careful that you'll have to charge this skill and if you dodge, the skill loses its potency.
• Defeat the King of the Mists boss, and you'll receive your first Uncut Spirit Gem. Use it to unlock the Raging Spirits skill and put it on auto-cast. You can do this by simply right-clicking on it in the Skill Menu. This will make the Raging Spirits summoned along with Flame Wall and your damage will be significantly enhanced.

Act 2

Act 2 will be all about improving the potency of what you have so far and moving towards Ascendancy.

• Flammability: Its time you got the Flammability skill that can increase the damage of your Flame Wall. You can drop the Contagion spell here as it won't have any more use.
• Unlock Infernalist: Complete the Trial of Sekhemas and unlock the Infernalist Ascendancy class for the Witch. Use the two Ascendancy points to unlock the Loyal Hellhound Skill.

Act 3

Here, you'll start progressing towards the endgame.

• You will get access to a Lesser Jeweller's Orb to unlock a third gem slot. Use that slot for the Raging Spirit and place Feeding Frenzy here.
• Feeding Frenzy is available from the Skeletal Snipers.
• Unlock Skeletal Arsonist and replace the Skeletal Snipers with these. Use a Lesser Jeweller's Orb to unlock a third slot for Skeletal Arsonist and use a Martial Tempo support gem here.
• You can also use a Fire Penetration gem and slot it into Raging Spirit.

Cruel Mode

Once you're done with the standard mode, you'll have to jump into Cruel Mode, where the endgame begins. Here's what you need to do to push your build to its final state:

• Unlock Skeletal Storm Mage, as this will be your primary source to apply Shock status on enemies. You can't unlock this before due to lack of Spirit.
• Unlock Skeletal Cleric, as these will raise your dead minions and also heal them.
• Replace Fire Penetration with Immolate for your Raging Spirit Skill.
• Use Elemental Focus on your Raging Spirit for even more Elemental Damage.
• You can use Feeding Frenzy on Skeletal Arsonist at this point.

Passive Skill Tree

When it comes to the Passive Skill Tree, you'll have to focus on minions. In Path of Exile 2 this is easy to accomplish as you can simply type Minions on the top right corner of your Passive tree, and the game will highlight the nodes you need.

Focus on the nodes that increase the health of the minions while reducing their revive timers. The less time it takes to revive them, the easier it will be for you when fighting the endgame bosses. Apart from that, use your points on Intelligence mostly and a few on Strength and Dexterity, depending on the items you might be using.

Overview of Endgame Witch Minion Build

Since you now have an idea of how to level your character, here's a full overview of what your character should look like once you reach the endgame with the Witch Minion build:

Key Skills

• Flame Wall with Raging Spirits
• Loyal Hellhound
• Unearth
• Skeletal Arsonist
• Skeletal Storm Mage
• Skeletal Cleric
• Flammability
• Bone Blast

Key Passives

• Power of the Dead
• Crystalline Flesh
• Restless Dead
• Lord of Horrors
• Gravedigger
• Relentless Fallen
• Living Death
• Regenerative Flesh

Key Items and Stats

• Any Wand with Bone Blast Skill (Deal significant damage to bosses)
• A Rattling Sceptre with Minion Skills
• Skill to increase ally damage
• Resistances against various elements
• Additional Spirit as passives from armor pieces
• Life Regeneration for survivability

Tips To Play A Witch Minion Build

The Witch Minion build isn't too hard to execute. Your minions will spawn automatically, so let them perform their tasks. In the meantime, use your Raging Spirits to deal massive damage to bosses. Use Unearth on smaller enemies to spawn the small minions, and let them keep the enemy's attention as long as possible.

In the meantime, you can use your Flammability skill to put a curse on enemies and continue spamming Flame Wall. Finally, you can use the Bone Blast ability of your ward to deal damage to bosses.

As a Witch, you must ensure that you maintain a safe distance from your enemies as you're quite squishy even in the endgame. Keep your HP full as much as possible or otherwise, you'll die in a single hit.

As a final note, always let your minions walk forward instead of being overly aggressive. The whole point of being a Necromancer is playing around your minions. There's no point in being too aggressive and dying when your minions can tank for you even if it's for a short duration and create space to deal damage.

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