Best Witch Beginner build in Path of Exile 2

Discover everything you need to know about Best Witch Beginner Build in Path of Exile 2 including skills, stats, and gear.

Path of Exile 2 has received an initial release on December 6, 2024. There is a total of 12 distinct Classes, each granting its own uniqueness in the game. Unfortunately, the Classes in Path of Exile 2 are gender-locked, meaning you cannot choose the gender of a specific Class as it is predetermined. Selecting the best beginner Witch build is crucial at the early stages because gameplay depends on it. Explore the Witch Build in Path of Exile 2 and see how he redefines early-access gameplay! In this guide, we’ll discuss the Best Witch Build in Path of Exile 2 including the best gear and passive skills to use.

Best Witch Beginner build in Path of Exile 2 Explored

Witch is designed to be the ultimate summoner. While some Classes can have access to a few minions, the Witch dominates in commanding large diverse armies. She has unique mechanics that allow for seamless summoning and advanced minion customization. We include active skills like Raise Shield, Raging Spirits, and Flame Wall to dominate any enemy coming to the path. Gears like Lupine Sceptre, Advanced Elite Greathelm, Advanced Steel Plate, and Advanced Braced Tower Shield are crucial for the initial stages of the game. Infernalist is the best Ascendancy to choose due to demon form ability and minion contribution to ignite chance.  

In this full overview of the setup, we will explain what skill gems and links you should focus on. Then as well, we’ll see what is the best gear and how to get it for both the leveling and midgame. And then finally we will go over the passive skill tree, stats, and your skill rotations, so we can get the highest damage possible, and much more.

Witch Build Pros	Witch Build Cons
High Damage Output	Fragility
Minion Ability	Gear Dependency
Flexible	Limited Early-Game Power
Defensive Potential

Best Witch skills and support gems in Path of Exile 2

Here are the best beginner skills and support gems for Witch build that you should use in the initial stages of Path of Exile 2.

• Raise Shield
• Raging Spirits
  • Bullseye (Support Gem)
  • Feeding Frenzy (Support Gem)
  • Execute (Support Gem)
  • Minion Mastery (Support Gem)
  • Fire Mastery (Support Gem)
• Flame Wall
  • Arcane Tempo (Support Gem)
  • Fortress (Support Gem)
  • Mobility (Support Gem)
• Skeletal Arsonist
  • Scattershot (Support Gem)
  • Immolate (Support Gem)
  • Elemental Focus (Support Gem)
  • Fire Infusion (Support Gem)
  • Martial Tempo (Support Gem)
• Flammability
  • Highlighted Curse (Support Gem)
  • Lifetap (Support Gem)
• Shield Charge
  • Ingenuity (Support Gem)
  • Maim (Support Gem)
  • Unbreakable (Support Gem)
• Skeletal Storm Mage
  • Overcharge (Support Gem)
  • Controlled Destruction (Support Gem)
  • Conduction (Support Gem)
  • Lightning Penetration (Support Gem)
  • Stormfire (Support Gem)
• Pain Offering
  • Expanse (Support Gem)
  • Font of Blood (Support Gem)
  • Magnified Effect (Support Gem)
  • Font of Rage (Support Gem)
  • Persistence (Support Gem)
• Summon Infernal Hound
  • Meat Shield (Support Gem)
  • Last Gasp (Support Gem)
  • Fire Exposure (Support Gem)
  • Strip Away (Support Gem)
  • Wildfire (Support Gem)

Raise Shield

Raise your shield to block all incoming blockable hits. Blocking too much damage while your shield is raised may stagger you.

Raging Spirits

While active, your fire spells will also summon Raging spirits, which are short-lived flaming skills that rush at nearby enemies and rapidly attack them. Enemies will not directly engage these minions and can pass through them.

• Maximum spirits summoned per spell cast
• +10 to the maximum number of summoned Raging spirits
• Fire area spells summon a spirit per 15 meters of radius projectiles from fire spells summon a spirit on hit
• Minions from this skill convert 70% of physical damage to fire damage
• Maximum (5-8) spirits summoned per spell cast

Bullseye (Support Gem)

Supports attacks, causing them to gain accuracy

• Supported Skills have a 50% more accuracy rating

Feeding Frenzy (Support Gem)

Supports skills that create minions, making them deal and take more damage

• Minions from Supported skills take 20% more damage
• Minions from Supported skills deal 30% more damage

Execute (Support Gem)

Supports any skill that hits enemies, causing it to deal more damage against enemies on low health.

• Supported skills deal 40% more damage with hits against enemies that are on Low Life

Minion Mastery (Support Gem)

Supports minion skills, granting them an additional level.

• +1 to the level of Supported minion skills

Fire Mastery (Support Gem)

Supports fire skills, granting them an additional level.

• +1 to the level of Supported fire skills

Flame Wall

Create a wall fire in front of the character, which ignites everything within its area. Any projectiles fired through the wall by you and allies deal added fire damage and inflict the ignite on hit.

• Deals 13 to 20 fire damage
• Flame wall grants 2 to 3 added fire damage to projectiles
• Deals (13-364) to (20-545) fire damage
• Flame wall grants (2-64) to (3-91) added fire damage to projectiles

Arcane Tempo (Support Gem)

Supported spells, causing them to cast faster

• Supported Skills have 25% more cast speed

Fortress (Support Gem)

Supports skills that create walls in a line, causing them to be created in a circle instead but deal less hit damage.

• Walls from Supported skills are created in a circle instead
• Supported skills deal 50% less damage with hits

Mobility (Support Gem)

Supports skills that can be used while moving, allowing you to move faster while using them.

• Supported skills deal 20% less damage
• 40% less movement speed penalty while using Supported skills

Skeletal Arsonist

Summons bomb-throwing, reviving Skeletal Arsonists that can detonate other minions on command.

Scattershot (Support Gem)

Supports projectile skills, making them fire extra projectiles. Alos lowers attack and cast speed of supported skills, as well as lessening their damage.

• Skills fire 2 additional projectiles
• Supported skills deal 20% less damage
• Supported Skills have 20% less attack and cast speed

Immolate (Support Gem)

Supports attacks, granting them extra fire damage against ignited enemies but making them unable to ignite enemies themselves.

• Cannot inflict ignite
• Supported attacks gain 30% of damage as extra fire damage against ignited enemies

Elemental Focus (Support Gem)

Supports any skill that hits enemies, causing it to deal more elemental damage but be unable to inflict elemental ailments.

• Cannot inflict elemental ailments
• 25% more elemental damage

Fire Infusion (Support Gem)

Supports attacks, causing them to gain fire damage but deal less cold and lightning damage

• Attacks gain 25% of damage as extra fire damage
• Supported attacks deal 50% less cold and lightning damage

Martial Tempo (Support Gem)

Supports attacks, causing them to attack faster

• Supported Skills have 25% more attack speed

Flammability

Curses all targets in an area after a short delay, lowering their fire resistance.

• +-30% to fire resistance
• Curse applies after 1 second delay
• +(-30+36) to fire resistance

Highlighted Curse (Support Gem)

Supports curse skills, magnifying their power.

• 25% increased effect of your curses

Lifetap (Support Gem)

Supports any skill, turning a portion of its Mana cost into a Life cost, It Does not support skills which reserve spirit.

• Skill Mana costs converted to Life costs

Shield Charge

Channel to charge in the target direction. You will crash into enemies on your path, stopping your charge and dealing damage to enemies in an area, and extra damage to the enemies you collided with. While charging, your shield is raised and you will block all incoming blockable hits.

• 2 to 3 added physical damage per 15 armour on Shield
• 4 to 6 base Off-hand physical damage
• (2-4) to (3-6) added physical damage per 15 armour on Shield
• (4-88) to (6-132) Base Off hand physical damage

Ingenuity (Support Gem)

Supports skills with cooldown, increasing the rate at which those cooldowns recover.

• 30% increased cooldown recovery rate

Maim (Support Gem)

Supports attacks, causing them to Maim enemies.

• Attacks always Maim on hit

Unbreakable (Support Gem)

Supports any skill that you can use, making you harder to get Stun while using it.

• 200% more Stun Threshold while using Supported skills

Skeletal Storm Mage

Summons reviving Skeletal Storm Mages that can call down a lightning storm on dead Skeletons on command.

Overcharge (Support Gem)

Supports any skill that hits enemies, making its shocks more effective but last for a shorter duration.

• Supported Skills have 50% less shock duration
• 75% increased magnitude of shock you inflict

Controlled Destruction (Support Gem)

Supports spells that hit enemies, boosting their damage but preventing them from dealing critical hits.

• Never deal critical hits
• Supported skills deal 30% more damage with hits and Ailments

Conduction (Support Gem)

Supports any skill that hits enemies, making it more likely to shock.

• Supported Skills have 100% more chance to shock

Lightning Penetration (Support Gem)

Supports any skill that hits enemies, making those hits penetrate enemy lightning resistance.

• Damage penetrates 30% lightning resistance

Stormfire (Support Gem)

Supports any skill that hits enemies, prolonging shocks they inflict on ignited enemies.

• Shocks from Supported skills do not expire on ignited enemies

Pain Offering

Impales a skeleton on a bone spike to send nearby minions into a frenzy as long as the spike remains, causing them to use skills more quickly and deal more damage. The bine spike is itself a minion. If it dies, the effect ends immediately.

• Limit 1 pain offering spike

Expanse (Support Gem)

Supports any skill that you use yourself, granting it a significantly higher area of effect but causing it to gain a long cooldown. Cannot support skills that already have a cooldown.

• Supported skills have +6 seconds to cool down
• Supported Skills have 50% more area of effect

Font of Blood (Support Gem)

Supports skills that create stationary objects. Objects created by supported skills generate a font of blood, creating an Aura that grants Life regeneration.

• Fronts of Blood from Supported skills grant 2% Life Regeneration per second to you and your allies
• Objects created by Supported skills create a font of blood with a 3-meter radius

Magnified Effect (Support Gem)

Supports any skill with an area of effect, making it larger.

• Supported Skills have 40% more area of effect

Font of Rage (Support Gem)

Supports skills that create stationary objects. Objects created by supported skills generate a Font of Rage, creating an Aura that grants Rage over time, as well as preventing Rage less.

• Fonts of Rage from Supported skills grant 2 Rage Regeneration per second to you and your allies
• Objects created by Supported skills create a Font of Rage with a 3-meter radius

Persistence (Support Gem)

Supports any skill that has a duration, making that duration longer.

• Supported Skills have 40% more skill effect duration

Summon Infernal Hound

Summons a reviving Infernal Hound which ignites enemies near it. The Hound takes a portion of the damage from hits from you.

Meat Shield (Support Gem)

Supports skills that create minions, granting them more life but making them deal less damage.

• Minions have 50% more maximum Life
• Minions from Supported skills deal 35% less damage

Last Gasp (Support Gem)

Supports skills that create persistent Minions, causing those minions to fight on for a short duration before dying when they are fatally wounded.

• Minions from Supported skills die 4 Seconds after their Life is reduced to 0

Fire Exposure (Support Gem)

Supports any skill that hits enemies, causing it to deal less damage but inflict fire exposure when it ignites an enemy.

• Supported skills inflict fire exposure for 8 seconds on igniting an enemy
• Supported skills deal 25% less damage

Strip Away (Support Gem)

Supports skills that apply exposure to enemies, increasing the effect of applied exposure.

• Exposure applied by Supported skills has a 30% increased effect

Wildfire (Support Gem)

Supports any skill that hits enemies, spreading ignites it inflicts to nearby enemies after a delay.

• Ignites inflicted by Supported Skills spread to other enemies that stay within 1.5 meters for 2 seconds

Best Witch Stat Priorities

Here are some stats that you should prioritize using your passive board and through gear as well.

Regular Stats

• Dexterity
• Strength
• Intelligence

Intelligence is your primary stat as a Witch in Path of Exile 2 as it increases the core abilities. Strength and Dexterity are also crucial to varying degrees based on the build. Intelligence stats boost Energy Shield, Mana, and spell damage. Strength increases Life, and auras, and enables the use of gear or gems. Dexterity increases accuracy and evasion.

Defensive Stats

• Energy Shield
• Life
• Fire, Cold, and Lightning Resistance
• Movement Speed
• Evasion
• Mana Recovery

This Witch build depends on archetypes like spellcaster, summoner, and chaos damage dealer. As a Witch, you depend on Energy Shield for survivability along with other layers of defense. Fire, Cold, and Lightning Resistances are essential to survive elemental damage. Life adds extra survivability by stacking life rolls on gear. Invest points in boots with high movement speed. Armour can reduce physical hits effectively in combat. Evasion is effective for summoners or chaos builds. Stats like mana regeneration rate and modifiers mitigate the mana cost of spells.

Offensive Stats

• Spell Damage
• Cast Speed
• Critical Strike Chance
• Minion Damage
• Minion Life

The Witch in Path of Exile 2 excels in a variety of damage types, including elemental damage, chaos damage, damage-over-time (DoT) effects, and minion-focused builds, like this one. Enhance the damage of your spells and reduce the time it takes to cast spells. Critical Strike Chance enhances the burst damage significantly. Boost the damage dealt by minions to keep your minion alive.

Best Witch Passive Skills

We include the passive skills that enhance the capability of your minion in combat, allowing them to dominate enemies on your behalf. However, some passive enhance your armour capability to soak all the incoming damage, reducing enemies’ damage output. Strength is also an important attribute that you should focus on, so we include passives that enhance the Strength stats of your character in the game.

• Raw Destruction- +10 to Intelligence. 16% increased spell damage. Minions deal 16% increased damage
• Power of the Deal- Minions deal 15% increased damage
• Relentless Fallen- Minions have 8% increased attack and cast speed. Minions have a 20% increased movement speed
• Necrotised Flesh- Minions have a 40% increased maximum Life. Minions have a 10% reduced Life Recovery rate
• Restless Dead- Minions revive 25% faster
• Lord of Horrors- Minions have a 12% reduced reservation
• Life Regeneration- Regenerate 0.2% of Life per second. You and nearby allies regenerate 0.2% of Life per second
• Relentless- +10 to Strength. 15% increased armour. Regenerate 0.5% of Life per second. Your and nearby allies regenerate 0.5% of Life per second
• Blade Catcher- +15 to Strength. Defend with 200% of armour against critical hits

How Skill Tree is Set in POE2

For most new players, the passive skill tree is extremely daunting but actually, it’s quite simple. A character is granted one passive skill point every time they level up and are sometimes even granted more from completing certain quests. In extremely simple we have the intelligence section which focuses on spell damage, summoning, and elemental damage.

Next, we have the Dexterity section which is more focused on ranged combat, evasion, and speed. At the bottom left, we have the Strength section which is more melee and defense-oriented. Next, we’ve passive nodes and they are split into two categories. The small passives that grant minor bonuses such as a small increase in attack speed, spell damage, melee damage, or attributes.

Second, we’ve notable passives. These are larger passive points that grant greater bonuses than the smaller ones but they have stats on them that are often closely related to the small passives leading up to them. Think of these as checkpoints to work towards. On top of this, we have a third passive point but is not entirely compared to the two others. For the third one, we have the keystones which are build changing character defining that often provide a massive amount of power with a downside. However, these downsides can be reduced or worked towards.

Following a specific setup is extremely useful and understanding the passive skill tree can make or break your character. Investing more time in this specific section will definitely upgrade your knowledge of the game.

Best Witch Gear

Gear in Path of Exile 2 is crucial for any build, including your Witch build. The Gears determine how strong and survivable your build will be in combat. Gear in the Witch build allows you to handle the tougher battle in Path of Exile 2. Armour reduces fire damage, lightning damage, and cold damage that you take in combat. Lupine Sceptre is the best weapon to use while playing as a Witch class.

Gear Slot	Gear	Requirement	Effect
Main Hand Weapon	Lupine Sceptre	12 level	(61-65) increased spirit +5 to level of all minion skills
Helmet	Advanced Elite Greathelm	59 level, 108 str.	+(200-214) to maximum Life +5 to level of all minion skills
Body Armour	The Advanced Steel Plate	55 level, 133 str.	+(200-214) to a maximum Life +(57-51) to spirit
Shields	Advanced Braced Tower Shield	48 level, 88 str.	+(200-214) to maximum Life
Gloves	Advanced Riveted Mitts	45 level, 73 str.	+(200-214) to maximum Life
Boots	Iron Greaves	11 level, 20 str.	+(200-214) to maximum Life 35% increased movement speed
Ring 1	Ruby Ring	8 level	+(20-30) to fire resistance
Ring 2	Sapphire Ring	12 level	+(20-30) to cold resistance
Amulet	Amber Amulet	8 level	+(10-15) to Strength +(200-214) to maximum Life +(57-61) to spirit

How to Play Witch in Path of Exile 2

Summon skills like Summon Zombies and Raise Skeletons to build your undead army. Essence Drain is used for early crowd control and damage over time. Increase minion health and damage by allocating skill points. While you learn the game mechanics, minions can carry you through the initial stages. Stay at a safe distance while your minions are handling the fights. Use the curse spells and ranged chaos to weaken enemies.

Use Support Gems to upgrade minions’ skills that enhance their damage output and survivability. You can summon more minions by investing additional in passives to increase spirit. Get access to summons like Golems and Skeletal Mages for additional utility. Combine Contagion with curses to multiply their effects. Equip gears that boost minions’ stats and chaos damage.

Gears with affixes +Minion Attack and +Minion Gems can enhance Chaos damage and cast speed. Aim for spells like Chaos Magic that deal damage over time and expand to nearby enemies. Use chaos DoT spells and curses to take down bosses while minions are busy handling aggro.

Choose Infernalist Ascendancy for Witch Beginner Build

The best Ascendancy to choose for the Witch Build is Infernalist. Infernalist summon a hellhound that deals fire damage and sucks a percentage of the damage they take. Ignite enemies by turning her mana into an infernal flame. The infernal flames in POE2 overflow because they cast additional skills. They can turn into a demon form to enhance their damage and gain quick movement speed but take more damage as well. The best passive skills to choose from Infernalist are:

• Domenic Possession- It grants Witch a Demon form, increasing your damage and cast speed. You can also receive damage over time while you are in this form and will transform back if your life reaches 1. This looks like a high-risk / high-reward skill, that can make you significantly stronger but deal damage to you.
• Pyromantic Pact- Maximum Mana is replaced by Maximum Infernal Frame. Gain Infernal Flame instead of spending Mana for Skill costs. Take maximum Life and Energy Shield as Fire Damage when the Infernal Flame reaches maximum. Lose all Infernal Flame on reaching maximum Infernal Flame. 10% of Infernal Flame lost per second if none was gained in the past 2 seconds.
• Bringer of Flame- While not on Low Infernal Flame, all Damage from you and your Minions contributes to Ignite Chance and Magnitude. That node just makes Pyromantic Pact a stronger option, it looks like an absolute must-have for all ignite-related builds. However, if you don’t play ignite or fire characters in general, then Bringer of Flame is not a good option.

Path of Exile 2 Best Witch Beginner Build Summary

FAQs about Best Witch Beginner build in Path of Exile 2(POE 2)?

1. How important is gear for my Witch build?

Gear in Path of Exile 2 is crucial for any build, including your Witch build. The Gears determine how strong and survivable your build will be in combat. Gear in the Witch build allows you to handle the tougher battle in Path of Exile 2, so always focus on improving gear through crafting, buying, or farming.

2. Can I respec my Witch build if I make a mistake?

Yes, you can respec your Witch build by refunding passive skill points through The Hooded One, an NPC located in the Clearfell Encampment. Complete the “Sorrow Among Stones” quest in Act 1, to unlock this feature. However, it will take you 2 to 5 hours, depending on your pace.

3. How do I acquire Witch new skills?

The Witch class in Path of Exile 2 has a wide variety of skills, primarily centered around elemental damage. Getting new skills involves obtaining skill gems that you can socket into the equipment to grant corresponding abilities. You can obtain the skill gems while progressing through the campaign or you can purchase the skill gems from the vendors. Use the support gems to increase the strengthen the effects of your primary skills.

4. What’s the best way to level up the Witch build quickly?

The best way to level up the Witch build quickly is by selecting skills, ascendancies, and equipment, and employing synergistic combat techniques. Enhance your gear and equipment and optimize the skill gem selection.

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