Path of Exile 2: Best Witch Build Guide - Fire Witch with Minions
The Witch class in Path of Exile 2 offers a unique and powerful playstyle that revolves around minions and fire-based damage. However, mastering this class requires careful planning and strategy, as the Witch's DPS is typically lower compared to other classes. To fully leverage the Witch's potential, you'll need to focus on crowd control, minion synergy, and spirit management to summon and control powerful minions that absorb damage while dealing consistent damage.
Here's a complete guide to crafting a strong Fire Witch build with Minions, perfect for players who prefer a more strategic and crowd-control-based approach.
Best Gear for Witches in PoE2
Since this build is Minion-heavy, it's crucial to focus on Spirit, the resource required to summon minions. The more Spirit you have, the more powerful your minions will be, and the more often you can summon them to protect you.
Weapons for Witch:
Rattling Scepter
Main Weapon: The Rattling Scepter is one of the best weapons for this build. It grants 100 extra Spirit, allowing you to summon more and stronger minions. Additionally, it enables you to summon Minion Warriors, which are fantastic distractions that draw enemies away from you, allowing you to attack from a safe distance. These minions may not deal a lot of damage but excel in crowd control.
Off-Hand Options:
Shield or Focus: For additional defense and Spirit boosts.
Wand: Alternatively, a fire-based Wand like the Volatile Wand turns Corpses into flaming fireballs that track and damage enemies. This synergizes perfectly with the fire aspect of the build.
Armor and Accessories for Witch:
Spirit or Minion-Boosting Gear:
The ideal gear will boost your Spirit and Minions. Look for armor pieces that provide Spirit regeneration or Minion level increases. These items help you maintain a steady supply of minions and power them up as you progress.
Alpha's Howl Armored Cap: Great for increasing Spirit.
Ventor's Gamble Gold Ring: Offers bonuses that may boost Spirit and Minion effectiveness.
Minion-Specific Armor: Items that enhance your minion damage, minion health, and minion movement speed will also help you control the battlefield while your minions fight for you.
Best Skills for Witches in PoE2
The key to mastering this build lies in selecting the right Skill Gems, Support Gems, and Passive Skills that complement the fire and minion synergy. Below are the most important ones you should focus on.
Core Skill Gems for Fire Witch:
Skeletal Arsonists:
Main Minion Skill: This skill summons Skeletal Arsonists, minions that use fire-based attacks to deal significant damage. Given that this build revolves around fire and minions, these will be your primary offensive tool.
Support Gems:
Fire Infusion (Increases Fire Damage)
Scattershot (Improves Projectile Spread)
Immolate (Boosts Fire Damage over Time)
Flame Wall:
Skill: A powerful fire skill that creates a wall of flame, dealing high damage to enemies in its path. This is a great way to deal with groups of enemies and set up additional fire-based damage effects.
Support Gems:
Arcane Tempo (Reduces Cast Speed but increases Area of Effect)
Fortress (Increases defenses and reduces damage taken while near)
Spell Cascade (Increases Area of Effect)
Detonate Dead:
Skill: This skill detonates corpses, causing them to explode and deal fire damage. It's a perfect match for the minion and fire theme of the build.
Support Gems:
Magnified Effect (Increases Area of Effect for Detonate Dead)
Corpse Conservation (Preserves more corpses for detonation)
Spell Echo (Increases casting frequency)
Flammability:
Skill: Flammability is a curse that increases the fire damage taken by enemies. This is essential for ramping up your fire damage output.
Support Gems:
Burning Inscription (Increases curse effectiveness)
Impending Doom (Adds doom-triggered effect when the curse expires)
Magnified Effect (Increases the area of effect of the curse)
Pain Offering:
Skill: Pain Offering boosts minion damage and attack speed based on the number of corpses in the area, making it a valuable support skill for summoning and boosting your minions' effectiveness.
Support Gems:
Font of Rage (Boosts your rage, enhancing minion power)
Persistence (Increases the duration of minion buffs)
Ablation (Reduces damage taken)
Unearth:
Skill: Summons corpses that can later be detonated. This is useful for creating more minions or detonating corpses for more fire damage.
Support Gems:
Corpse Conservation (Preserves corpses for future use)
Persistence (Increases the duration of summoned corpses)
Feeding Frenzy (Enhances minion attack speed)
Passive Skill Tree for Fire Witch Build:
The Passive Skill Tree plays a crucial role in determining your Witch's minion strength and fire damage scaling. Focus on the following:
Minion Damage: Max out the minion damage nodes to ensure your summoned allies hit hard.
Spirit Regeneration: Boost your Spirit regeneration and maximum Spirit to summon more minions frequently.
Fire Damage: Take all available nodes that increase fire damage and burning damage over time.
Minion Life and Defenses: Invest in nodes that increase minion life and defense to ensure your minions stay alive longer in the heat of battle.
Playstyle Tips for Fire Witch Build:
Minion Setup: Focus on using Skeletal Arsonists to keep enemies at bay while dealing damage. Make sure to summon minions early and frequently, utilizing your Spirit effectively.
Positioning: Since you're relying on minions and fire spells, keep a safe distance from enemies while using your Flame Wall and Detonate Dead for high-damage AoE.
Use of Corpses: Utilize Unearth to build up a stockpile of corpses, and then Detonate Dead or Pain Offering to deal massive damage to enemies.
Fire Support: Always cast Flammability on bosses or high-health enemies to maximize fire damage.
Conclusion
The Fire Witch build with Minions in Path of Exile 2 is a versatile and powerful option for players who enjoy crowd control and summoning minions to fight alongside them. By focusing on Spirit, minion management, and fire-based damage, you can create a Witch that excels in both defense and offense while keeping enemies at bay with your loyal minions. Make sure to select the right gear, skills, and passives to optimize your build and enjoy a smooth progression through the endgame content.
As you venture deeper into the game, having the right Path of Exile 2 currency and Path of Exile 2 items will be key to further enhancing your Witch build. Whether you're looking to upgrade your weapons, armor, or accessories, PoE 2 currency can help you acquire those essential upgrades, ensuring you stay ahead of the curve and tackle the toughest challenges in the game.