Overview

Path of Exile 2 is bringing exciting new features and changes to the Witch class, which appears to be evolving into a more dark mage archetype with powerful summons and a variety of skill options. In this guide, we will break down the Witch class, delve into the most promising skills and Ascendancy options, and explore potential combinations to help you optimize your Witch build for both early and late-game success.

Skills

The Witch class in Path of Exile 2 is all about versatility, with skills that cater to Chaos Damage, minions, damage over time (DoT), and more. Let's take a look at some of the most promising skills and combos you should consider, particularly in the early game.

Contagion & Essence Drain

This classic combination from PoE 1 is making a return in PoE 2. Contagion spreads Chaos Damage over time to enemies, and when monsters die while affected by Contagion, Essence Drain will spread the DoT debuffs to nearby enemies. This combo is excellent for clearing large packs of enemies, especially early on, and will allow you to stack DoTs quickly and efficiently.

Minion Skills

Minions play a significant role in Witch builds, especially with the new mechanics in PoE 2. Many of the minion skills are designed to summon creatures that will automatically be resummoned if they die, so you don't have to worry about manually keeping them alive.

Skeletal Warrior, Skeletal Cleric, Skeletal Arsonist: These basic minions are useful in both offensive and defensive roles. For example, Clerics can heal and revive other Skeletons, making them an excellent choice for keeping your minion army intact.

Skeletal Frost Mage & Skeletal Storm Mage: Both ranged minions have strong AoE capabilities. While the Frost Mage is a solid choice, Storm Mage might be more effective due to its cheaper Spirit cost and the ability to Shock enemies, adding additional damage output.

Skeletal Reaver: A melee minion that becomes stronger by enraging, resulting in higher damage. These minions provide a burst of damage but can be less consistent due to their health-draining mechanics.

Hexblast

Hexblast is shaping up to be one of the strongest Chaos skills in PoE 2. It can deal significant damage, and when combined with curses like Blasphemy Aura, it can be used effectively on enemies who are always cursed. However, the 1-second cast time may pose a challenge for some builds, requiring careful consideration of cooldowns and casting speed.

Corpse Skills: Detonate Dead, Unearth, Profane Ritual

These corpse-related skills are all capable of interacting with dead enemies in different ways. Detonate Dead, in particular, has been a reliable low-budget skill in PoE 1 and remains a strong contender in PoE 2. You'll need to choose carefully between these, as using one removes corpses, potentially limiting the effectiveness of others.

Curses: Enfeeble, Despair, Vulnerability

Curses are crucial to increasing both your damage output and survivability. Enfeeble lowers enemy damage, Despair boosts Chaos damage, and Vulnerability increases Physical damage. The Whispers of Doom Keystone allows you to apply an additional curse, and combining these with Blasphemy Aura will help to spread curses efficiently across the battlefield.

Dark Effigy

This skill summons a Totem that attacks enemies affected by Damage Over Time (DoT) effects. Combining Contagion or Essence Drain with Dark Effigy can add supplementary damage and is a great way to maximize your DoT build.

Offerings: Bone, Pain, Power Offering

These offerings improve the effectiveness of your minions. Pain Offering is particularly strong for increasing the DPS of your minions. For any summon-based build, incorporating at least one offering will be essential.

Bloodmage Ascendancy

The Bloodmage Ascendancy brings the potential to create powerful builds based around Life stacking, making it an attractive option for Witch players who want to mix damage with tackiness.

Key Passives:

Sanguimancy

This passive grants the chance to drop Life Remnants upon killing monsters, which can recover Life when picked up.

All Witch skills will have a Base Life Cost equal to the Base Mana Cost, so you'll need to manage both life and mana costs.

Blood Magic can completely eliminate mana cost, but you'll need to balance life cost-effectively to avoid running out of resources.

Gore Spike

Grants 1% increased Critical Damage Bonus per 20 Life.

This is incredibly strong for crit-based builds. With just 2000 life, you'll already get 100% increased Critical Damage, making it an excellent choice for crit-focused Bloodmage builds.

Vitality Siphon

Provides 10% of spell damage leeched as life, which is a great passive for sustaining your life pool while casting spells.

Combine this with Voracious for instant leech, or Vaal Pact for more immediate life sustain.

Crimson Power

Adds Energy Shield from Body Armour as extra Maximum Life.

This passive can improve your survivability and fits well with Gore Spike, but it may take more points to reach than other passives.

Infernalist Ascendancy

The Infernalist Ascendancy focuses on damage over time (DoT) and minions, with a bit of risk-reward gameplay centered around life and flame management.

Key Passives:

Demonic Possession

Grants a Demon Form that increases damage and cast speed, but you will take damage over time while in this form, and it ends when your life reaches 1.

This is a high-risk, high-reward mechanic that requires life sustain to mitigate the DoT damage.

Loyal Hellhound

Summons a Hellhound minion that burns enemies and absorbs 20% of the damage you would receive.

This is a great tanking option that adds survivability to the Infernalist build while still dealing damage.

Pyromantic Pact

Replace your mana with Infernal Flame.

As you use skills, you accumulate Infernal Flame, which can then be used to deal fire damage based on your Maximum Life + Energy Shield.

The main downside is that you'll lose 10% of Infernal Flame per second if you're not gaining it, but this is mitigated by other passives like Bringer of Flame.

Bringer of Flame

Enhances all damage, including that of your minions, making Ignite Chance and Magnitude more potent when your Infernal Flame is not low.

This node will boost Ignite builds, making it a must-have for those focusing on DoT fire damage.

Summary

Bloodmage is the better choice for crit-based caster builds and can provide superior survivability with Life stacking. It also opens up the potential for high damage output through Gore Spike and life sustain through Vitality Siphon.

Infernalist excels in damage over time and minion synergies. With Demonic Possession, Loyal Hellhound, and Pyromantic Pact, it offers more versatility, though it requires careful management of resources, especially the Infernal Flame mechanic.

Both Ascendancies offer powerful builds, with Bloodmage leaning towards crit and tackiness, while Infernalist leans into DoT and minion-based playstyles. Ultimately, your choice will depend on whether you prefer crit-based damage or the explosive potential of DoT and minions. Both builds can benefit from PoE Currency to optimize gear, allowing you to craft and buy the best PoE items for your Ascendancy. Whether you're focusing on crit-based damage or explosive DoT damage with minions, cheap PoE currency and proper itemization will be the keys to success.