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Discover everything you need to know about Lich ascendancy in Path of Exile 2 and what makes this ascendancy powerful.
Ascendancy is a specialized subclass chosen for your character, granting stronger passive skills and unique mechanics. They allow you to refine and focus your character’s build through the customization of the gameplay. Lich is the new Ascendancy for the Witch Class that excels in offensive playstyle with more curses and chaos damage. The ascendancy nodes allow Lich to become a minion overlord or a strong spellcaster. In addition to the offensive bonuses, the nodes also offer some defensive stats, allowing Lich to take less damage and making it immune to poison and bleeding. Furthermore, Lich has the ability to have an additional jewel socket slot with double the modifier values. In this guide, we will discuss Lich Ascendancy in Path of Exile 2, including its pros and cons.
Everything About Lich Ascendancy in Path of Exile 2
Lich is a brand new Ascendancy for the Witch class, added with the Dawn of the Hunt (Patch 0.2.0) update. It mainly focuses on an offensive playstyle with the ability to curse more enemies. Moreover, while playing Lich, you can also curse the Hexproof enemies, those who are immune to curses. In addition to the increased limit of curse, Lich drastically excels in dealing Chaos damage to enemies. The Rupture of the Soul node allows the enemies to explode (33% chance) when they are near you or your allies. The explosion on enemies deals 25% of their maximum Life as Chais damage.
Moreover, Necromantic Heart and Blackened Heart nodes also allow you to deal extra Chaos damage. The Necromantic Heart gives you and your allies the Unholy Might, which grants 30% of all damage as extra Chaos Damage. If you pair it with the Blackened Heart, you will increase the effect of Unholy Might by 4% for every 100 maximum mana. Attaining these main nodes will help you become a stronger spellcaster, allowing you to deal extensive damage to a group of enemies.
Not only is Lich good for mapping and the campaign, but the ability to have an extra Jewel Socket will allow it to scale well into the endgame content. However, the Crystalline Phylactery node only grants the additional Jewel socket for non-Unique. It means you can only have an additional Jewel Socket for the basic Jewel. However, the effect of the socketed basic Jewel will be increased by 100%, allowing you to have twice the amount of buffs. Moreover, if you do not have Energy Shield, the spells that you cast will cost 50% more Mana.
Pros and Cons of Lich Ascendancy in Path of Exile 2
Here are the pros and cons of the new Lich Ascendancy in Path of Exile 2.
| Lich Pros | Lich Cons |
|---|---|
| Strong Chaos Damage Potential. | Overall Low Defensive Stats. |
| Ability to apply an additional curse, even on Hexproof enemies. | Relies on Energy Shield and Mana. |
| Ability to have an Additional Jewel Socket | Requires Uniques for Energy Shield and Mana regeneration. |
| Strong Spell Caster and a Minion Overlord | |
| Good choice for the Endgame Content |
Lich Ascendancy Nodes in Path of Exile 2
Here are all the Lich Ascendancy nodes available in Path of Exile 2.
- Mana: 3% increased maximum Mana.
- Curse Area: 25% increased Area of Effect of Curses.
- Energy Shield: 20% increased maximum Energy Shield.
- Energy Shield if Consumed Power Charge: 30% increased Energy Shield if you’ve consumed a Power Charge recently.
- Life: 3% increased maximum Life.
- Rupture the Soul: Cursed Enemies killed by you or Allies in your Presence have a 33% chance to Explode, dealing a quarter of their maximum Life as Chaos Damage.
- Necromantic Conduit: You and Allies in your Presence have Unholy Might while you are not on Low Mana. Lose 5% of Mana per second.
- Eldritch Empowerment: Non-Channelling Spells cost an additional 3% of maximum Energy Shield. Non-Channelling Spells deal 30% more Damage. Spending Energy Shield does not interrupt Recharge.
- Dominion Over Flesh: You can apply an additional Curse. Your Curse can affect Hexproof enemies.
- Blackened Heart: 4% increased Magnitude of Unholy Might buffs you grant per 100 maximum Mana.
- Crystalline Phylactery: Can Socket one non-Unique Basic Jewel. 100% increased effect of Socketed Jewels. 50% more Mana cost if you have no Energy Sheild.
- Price of Power: Non-Channelling Spells consume Power Charges to deal 25% more Damage.
- Soulless Form: 10% of Damage taken bypasses Energy Shield. No inherent Mana Regeneration. Regenerate Mana equal to 6% of maximum Life per second.
- Eternal Life: Your Life cannot change while you have Energy Shield.
- Unholy Might (Buff): Unholy Might is a buff that grants 30% of all damage as extra Chaos Damage.
Rupture the Soul
Rupture the Soul is purely for clearing out the packs of enemies swiftly. It grants a 33% chance to make the cursed killed enemies explode. As you will be using curses on enemies as one of the base move sets with Lich, this node is a must-grab. Every cursed enemy you kill will have a 33% chance to explode in your or your allies’ presence. It is super effective in clearing out the packs as it can generate a chain of explosions, allowing you to clear all enemies in an instant.
To make this skill more effective, make sure that you invest in Chaos Damage scaling with Lich. Use the high-range curses like Despair or Vulnerability to deal damage to enemies. It will make your mapping runs smoother.
Necromantic Conduit
Necromantic Conduit is one of the strongest bonuses to have, especially for the Minion and Party builds in POE2. It grants the Unholy Might buff to you and your allies while having Mana above 30%. If you are efficient in regenerating Mana, then you can have it activated at all times. With Unholy Might, you will gain 30% of all damage as extra Chaos Damage. It will allow you and your allies to deal potential Chaos Damage with the attacks. However, while this active, you will lose 5% of your mana per second.
Eldritch Empowerment
Eldritch Empowerment is an excellent node to have, especially for the spellcasting builds. It allows your Non-Channelling spells to deal 30% more damage at an additional cost of 3% maximum Energy Shield. Moreover, spending the Energy Shield for the spells will not interrupt its Recharge. Now, if you are able to sustain the Energy Shield, you won’t have to worry about the cost. You will be able to deal significantly high damage with spells.
Furthermore, this node goes well with the Price of Power. If you want your spells to deal more damage while with low Energy Shield, having Power Charges at your disposal will let you do that. The Price of Power increases the overall damage of the Non-Channelling Spells by consuming Power Charges.
Dominion Over Flesh
Dominion Over Flesh allows Lich to apply an additional Curse on enemies. Moreover, the curses can also be applied to Hexproof enemies, which are generally immune to curses. With the ability to grant an additional curse on enemies, it will help you fight against Elite mobs. You can combine this with Whispers of Doom and Doedre’s Damning to apply up to four curses on an enemy. Furthermore, eliminating the cursed enemy will also have a chance for them to explode, only if you have the Rupture the Soul node. Overall, it is a decent passive to have on Lich, whether you are running a minion or a spellcasting build.
Blackened Heart
The Blackened Heart node provides significant damage scaling to Unholy Might. Activating this node will increase the Magnitude of Unholy Might by 4% per 100 Mana. The magnitude here is basically the multiplicative effect of the Unholy Might. It does not increase the extra Chaos Damage by 4%; instead, it increases it by 1.2% per 100 Mana. So, instead of your attacks dealing 30% damage as extra Chaos Damage, they will deal 31.2% per 100 Mana.
Since the Intelligence builds in POE 2 has near 1,000 Mana during the endgame content, this can significantly make a huge difference. If you want to take the Necromantic Conduit for your Lich character, better take the Blackened Heart as well. This will allow you to deal extensive Chaos Damage to enemies.
Crystalline Phylactery
Crystalline Phylactery allows you to have an additional Non-unique Jewel Socket with doubles the effect. However, it does increase the Mana Cost by 50% while having no Energy Shield. There are various potential basic Jewels that you can socket for almost everything you want for the build. You can place Jewels for extra damage, defense, or utility. Now, if you are someone who wants to make use of a basic Jewel to strengthen the build, then it is a very good choice to take. However, taking this node without any potential cause might prevent you from taking another potential node in the ascendancy skill tree.
Price of Power
Price of Power is very much similar to Eldritch Empowerment, which increases the overall damage of Non-Channelling Spells. With this node activated, it consumes the Power Charges to deal 25% more damage with the spells. As you can gain Power Charges through various means, this node might be handy for you, especially for the spellcasting build. Moreover, if you can potentially generate Energy Shield, then it is sufficient to get the Eldritch Empowerment as well. This way, you will always deal more damage with the Non-Channelling Spells.
Soulless Form
Soulless Form alters the mana regeneration for Lich, allowing it to cast spells without worrying about Mana. It regenerates Mana equal to 6% of your Maximum Life per second. As the downside, 10% of Damage bypasses through the Energy Shield, which sounds like a significant drawback. However, this particular node goes well with the Eternal Life node. As Eternal Life neglects any damage directly to Life while having an Energy Shield, you will not have to worry about taking any damage as long as you have ES. The Soulless Form node, in particular, is a bit optional, yet quite effective to cast spells without worrying about Mana.
Eternal Life
Eternal Life is one of the main passives with defense bonuses. Not only small bonuses, but something that can make Lich almost immortal. Activating the Eternal Life neglects any damage on Life while you have an Energy Shield. This means Lich will take no damage even though it has only one point of Energy Shield. So, if you are sustaining Energy Shield efficiently, you will not have to worry about taking any damage. One of the best ways to get bonuses for the Energy Shield is to acquire Uniques. Make sure to find unique items that grant bonuses for Energy Shield as well as Mana to be an unstoppable spellcaster.
Lich Base Class
Lich base class is Witch in Path of Exile 2. The necromantic Witch Class in Path of Exile is the perfect Class for you. 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. The Scepter is the primary weapon that grants you and, minions, like Warriors, while also generating a resource called spirit.
The spirit bar displayed above your mana is key to your summoning abilities. Use spirit to tailor your army’s composition on the skill screen. The Witch deploys chaos-based spells that inflict damage over time and weaken enemies. Infernalist is the Witch Class specialized Ascendancy which focuses on harnessing hellfire and demonic powers. Minions also revive upon death automatically, and you can issue a command to control minion behavior and send them to certain locations or targets.
The Witch Class in Path of Exile specializes in occult magic, utilizing skills that summon an undead army or deal chaos damage with contagion and poisons. The Witch can summon Skeletal Warriors, Skeletal Mages, Zombies, and other undead creatures. The Spirit determines the number and strength of minions you can summon. Contagion and Essence Drain are the skills that can apply continuous damage to enemies and spread effects to close enemies.
FAQs about the Lich Ascendancy guide in Path of Exile 2 (POE2)?
How to unlock Lich Ascendancy in POE2?
Complete Ascension Trials (Special Dungeons) specifically made to unlock the Lich Ascendancy class.
What makes Ascendancies different from base classes?
Ascendancy passive skills are significantly more powerful than regular passive skills, granting more unique roles and customizing your gameplay.
How customizable are Ascendancies?
Ascendancies allow you to specialize your character’s abilities with unique passive nodes. They can change your build to specific playstyles. Merge Ascendancy bonuses with an ample passive tree.
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