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Discover everything you need to know about the Witchhunter Ascendancy guide in Path of Exile 2 and what makes this Ascendancy powerful.
Path of Exile 2 has received an initial release on December 6, 2024. The full-release schedule is still TBA, but the developers have confirmed that we will be getting 6 out of the 12 planned Classes in the early access itself. Grinding Gear Games has already decided which ones we will see in the early access. 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. The Witchhunter is an ascendancy of the Mercenary class in Path of Exile 2 focuses on dispatching the occult.
Everything about Witchhunter Ascendancy in Path of Exile 2
Witchhunter Ascendancy is an assassin-like class blending sorcery and ruthless crossbow combat. This one is best for boss fights and crowd control. The Witch Hunter focuses on critical strikes and utility. This is the best choice for taking down the magic user’s enemies. It boosts your defense against magic but offers less defense against physical attacks. This Ascendancy disrupts spell casters, slowing their cast interval. It can explode enemies and doubles for undead enemies and demons. Witchhunter is ideal for players seeking a hybrid playstyle that combines physical combat with tactical versatility.
Ascendancies are the specializations for your character, granting you additional options to customize them to your playstyle. Path of Exile has three Ascendancy Classes for every Class. At the beginning of the game, only two will be available per Class. As you progress you will unlock powerful Ascendancy options to refine further and enhance your build.
Witchhunter excels at fighting demons, and undead with bonuses, making them effective against these enemy types. Passives like No Mercy boost damage as enemies lose life to make sustained damage stringer. Sorcery Ward grants defense against elemental damage for heavy spell encounters. If you enjoy precision-based combat and strategic planning, then this ascendency is for you.
| Witchhunter Pros | Witchhunter Cons |
|---|---|
| Increased Single-Target Damage | Requires High Skill |
| Counterplay | Gear Dependency |
| Scaling with Missing Life | Limited AoE |
| Concentration Mechanics | Weaken Against Non-Occult Foes |
| Defensive Utility | |
| Crowd Control |
Witchhunter Nodes in Path of Exile 2
The Witchhunter Ascendancy offers a unique playstyle focused on countering occult enemies and precision. Here are all the Witchhunter nodes in Path of Exile 2.
- Weapon Master- Converts 20 Passive Skill Points into Weapon Set Skill Points.
- Pitiless Killer- Grants Culling Strike to instantly kill enemies.
- Judge, Jury, and Executioner- Grants Decimating Strike, removing life before damage.
- Witchbane- Introduces the Concentration mechanic
- No Mercy- Enhance damage dealt based on broken Concentration.
- Obsessive Rituals- Gives the Sorcery Ward skill and reduces Armour and Evasion Rating.
- Ceremonial Ablution- Increase Sorcery Ward by increasing its effect by 50%.
- Zealous Inquisition- Doubles the chance against demons and undead and enemies explode chance increases.
Weapon Master
20 passive skill points become weapon set skill points. You have a total of 120 passive points with 20 of them being designated as weapon passive points. This allows you to specialize in both weapons. For example, when you equip your primary weapons, you can allocate 20 points in the weapon skill trees and when you swap to your secondary weapon you can access the same points again. While you lose 20 passive points, they will be converted into 20 weapon set skill points and this gives you a total of 40 flexible points to allocate within the weapon skill tree. The strength of this Ascendency point will probably depend on the power of the weapon skill tree. This is a great node when paired together with unique weapons.
Pitiless Killer
In Path of Exile 2, the mechanics of the Culling strike change. The Cull threshold is based on the rarity of the monster (30% vs. normal, 20% vs. magic, 10% vs. rare, 5% vs. unique). There are actually ways to increase the cold threshold but here’s a rough calculation of the base increase damage you can achieve against different monster types. More increased damage against the monster (42.8% vs. normal, 2% vs. magic, 11.1% vs. rare, 5.2% vs. unique). This calculation is based on the percentage of HP you need to reduce before reaching a call range.
For instance, against a normal monster, you call it at 30%, meaning you only need to deal with 70% of each HP before the call’s tax effect. Therefore, you can calculate the damage increase as 100% divided by 70% resulting in a multiplier of 1.14. This corresponds to about a 42.8% increase in damage. This is considered to be weak against bosses but for mapping, this will result in an estimate of 26% damage increase against three types of mobs. This node also leads to a decimating strike.
Judge, Jury, and Executioner
Hit against full-life enemies removed between 5% and 30% of life, before the damage of the hit is applied. This skill grants the decimating strike. On average, this amounts to a 17.5% reduction in monster HP like a reverse cult. When your path to decimating strike, you also have to take colon strike which slightly alters the calculations.
Decimating Strike + Culling Strike are very strong multipliers for increased damage against monsters (on average: 90.4% vs. normal, 60% vs. magic, 38% vs. rare, 29% vs. unique). An average of 62.8% damage increased during maps, 29% damage increased vs. bosses – meta-defining Ascendancy and can combine with explode. This grants you a 62.8% damage increase while mapping against the three monster types and a 29% damage increase against bosses. When you combine this with the exploding ascendency you’ll become a map blasting powerhouse. Your first hit can deal up to 30% of an enemy’s life.
Witchbane
Enemies have a Maximum Concentration equal to 40% of their Maximum Life. Break enemy Concentration on Hit equal to 100% of Damage Dealt. Enemies regain Concentration every second if they haven’t lost Concentration in the past 5 seconds. Concentration is a new mechanic introduced and when you break the enemy’s concentration it reduces their cast speed. Concentration can end up really strong because making an enemy cast for your spell allows you to have more uptime to deal damage.
This skill is really good against bosses with single-hit burst damage and you have lots of crowd control for explosives. Your unique mechanics provide strategic depth with concentration. On the other hand, your defensive stats are reduced due to sorcery reward and you rely on precise target, tarting, and setting up optimally.
No Mercy
Deal up to 30% more Damage to Enemies based on their missing Concentration. No Mervy and Witchbane are primarily designed for boss encounters. You can think of it as a soft multiplier in addition to the 30% increase, assuming you’re consistently breaking enemy concentration.
Depending on the boss’s abilities, these combinations can be extremely powerful for your optimal damage rotations and benefit you both offensively and defensively. However, a potential downside is that if the boss has multiple phase or immunity skills, this can diminish the concentration effectiveness.
Obsessive Rituals
Grants Skill: Sorcery Ward. 50% less Armour and Evasion Rating. You cannot cast this spell directly and elemental damage from hits is taken from the buff before your life and energy shield. Buff recharges after 9.4 seconds and this spell is triggered when gained. This is a defensive Ascendancy node that is weaker at face value because you need to damage Ascendancy nodes. This is the key feature that grants sorcerer rewards, improving your elemental defenses but reducing your armor and dodge.
You can link it with support gems to make it more effective. A 50% reduction to Armour and Evasion Rating doesn’t scale well in the passive skill tree, making it potentially overpowering. In Path of Exile 2, the life nodes are no longer available on the tree and your passive skill tree is mainly used to scale your defensive stats.
Ceremonial Ablution
50% increased effect of Sorcery Ward. Sorcery Ward recovers 50% faster. Sorcery Ward can be supported and has high scaling potential. Creates a protective barrier that takes elemental damage from hits for you until depleted. The barrier will be restored to its full value after a short delay if you stop taking elemental damage from hits, or if depleted.
Zealous Inquisition
10% chance for Enemies you kill to Explode, dealing 100% of their maximum Life as Physical Damage. Chance is doubled against Undead and Demons. This is an incredibly powerful mapping node and is effectively compared to exploding mechanics from POE1. This is very potent when farming breaches, beyond, and expedition contents. Combining this with Culling and Decimating Strike will make the Witchhunter one of the best mappers in early access.
Witchhunter Base Class
Witchhunter is an Ascendancy Class of the Mercenary in Path of Exile 2. The Mercenary Class in Path of Exile 2 offers ranged battles while focusing on crossbows, ammo, and attachments. It is a Strength/Dexterity hybrid Class that is centered around crossbows. This Class offers an experience that feels more than any other RPG. This Class doesn’t depend on skills or passive nodes. You can customize your playstyle by choosing different crossbows, ammo, and attachments. Each one of them influences how to tackle enemies.
Witchhunter is the best Ascendency to choose because it is dedicated to eliminating occult threats like witches, demons, and undead. Complete specific trials tied to lore and mechanics to unlock the Witchhunter. Focus on defeating magical or difficult enemies and precision and agility. If you want to combine offensive power and defensive utility but can trade tankiness for better survivability, then this is your ascendency.
This Strength/Dexterity hybrid Class is centered around crossbows. It wields crossbows with different firing nodes and each one grants a different playstyle. Crossbows allow the players to fire weapons that act like guns. The crossbows grant a specific firing skill to your character that they can utilize in intense battles.
FAQs about Witchhunter in Path of Exile 2 (POE2)?
1. Question: How is Witchhunter Ascendancies unlocked in POE2?
Answer: Complete Ascension Trials (Special Dungeons) specifically made to unlock the Witchhunter Ascendancy class.
2. Question: What makes Ascendancies different from base classes?
Answer: Ascendancy passive skills are significantly more powerful than regular passive skills, granting more unique roles and customizing your gameplay.
3. Question: How customizable are Ascendancies?
Answer: Ascendancies allow you to specialize your character’s abilities with unique passive nodes. They can change your build to specific playstyles. Marge Ascendancy bonuses with ample passive tree.
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