The Witch is a hybrid class in Path of Exile 2 that conjures specialist magic along with summoning an army of minions to aid her in battle. Here’s the best Witch build in Path of Exile 2.
Much like Necromancers in other ARPGS, the Witch is Path of Exile 2’s resident dabbler in the dark arts. The class is a magic user to be sure, but unlike the Sorceress, the Witch doesn’t use traditional elemental magic; they prefer practices like necromancy, infernal, and chaos magic—three much more volatile schools of sorcery.
Those who enjoy playing as the more macabre classes will be drawn to the Witch class in Path of Exile 2, and if that’s you, you’ll likely want to know the best build to use after the Dawn of the Hunt update. Here’s everything you need to know.
What’s The Best Witch Build in Path of Exile 2?
The best Witch build we’ve seen so far in Path of Exile 2 is the Flaming Minion Infernalist Witch – which is a mouthful, but we’ll break it down in full.
As Path of Exile 2 is still in early access, the game doesn’t yet have an established and comprehensive meta quite like the one Diablo 4 has. This makes ranking classes and building difficult, as the game is still a work in progress.
However, the periodic updates do buff and nerf certain skills and items, so while we can’t say that this is the only excellent Witch build in Path of Exile 2, we can say it’s the best we’ve used so far – and that’s after trying many of the others the community has put forward.
We can also say that it’ll take a real shake-up of the meta to convince us to respec to another Witch build, but this will happen eventually.
What’s The Best Ascendancy For The Witch?
Like the name suggests, the best Ascendancy for this build is the Infernalist Witch.
Ascendancies are basically sub-classes that let players decide what type of Witch they want to be and what skills they’re going to focus on. Every class has at least two Ascendancies, but they’ll be even more once the game launches in full.
Once an Ascendancy is chosen, it cannot be changed, even when respecing a character’s skills, the Ascendancy is locked. The only way to change this is to start a new character, so when you choose a path, be sure it’s the one you want.
What Are The Best Passive Skills For This Build?
Now that you’ve got your Ascendancy locked in, you’ll want to choose your key Passive Skills. For the Flaming Minion Infernalist, select the following passives from the Skill Tree:
- Spell and Minion Damage
- Minion Life
- Loyal Hellhound
- Life
- Altered Flesh
- Life (2)
- Beirut’s Will
From here, you’ll be let loose on the main Skill Tree and will be able to select many more Passive Skills. There are far too many to list, however, for this build, we recommend choosing any skills that buff your minions or fire magic.
Which Skills And Support Skills Should You Pick?
To pick skills in Path of Exile 2, players can add Support Skills or “Gems” that they cut to a main skill to buff it further.
As this is a minion and fire damage-focused build, we’ll primarily be using spells like Flammability and Fire Wall alongside summoning Skeleton Warriors and Infernal Hounds to battle alongside us.
Below, we’ll list the best Main Skills for this build, as well as the best Support Gems/Skills to use alongside them.
| Main Skill | Support Gem 1 | Support Gem 2 | Support Gem 3 | Support Gem 4 | Support Gem 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skeleton Warrior | Maim | Sacrificial Lamb | Culling Strike | Blind | – |
| Spectre | Scattershot | Martial Tempo | Feeding Frenzy | Muster | Minion Mastery |
| Flammability | Heightened Curse | Cursed Ground | Ritualistic Curse | Inspiration | – |
| Skeletal Arsonist | Scattershot | Martial Tempo | Feeding Frenzy | Muster | Minion Mastery |
| Flame Wall | Mobility | Arcane Surge | Arcane Tempo | Energy Barrier | – |
| Summon Infernal Hound | Fire Exposure | Meat Shield | Loyalty | Fiery Death | Strip Away |
| Raging Spirits | Elemental Focus | Fire Infusion | Last Gasp | Fire Mastery | Immolate |
| Pain Offering | Font of Rage | Ablation | Persistence | Danse Macabre | Font of Blood |
What Are The Best Items to Equip?
The items characters equip are an important part of any build in Path of Exile 2, as many offer additional buffs that boost a particular build.
In fact, the buffs are more important than the items themselves, but each piece of gear contains several of these, so when crafting a build, hunting down a specific item is a great way to fortify multiple attributes.
Remember, there are multiple versions of these items, but the good news is, you’ll be able to replace one with a more powerful version later in the game once it drops as loot.
| Item Type | Item Name | Socket | Key Buffs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Rattling Scepter | Primate Talisman | Boosts Minion Skills, Damage, Spirit & Mana |
| Painted Crest Shield | Off-Hand | Soul Core of Tacati | Boosts Resistances |
| Helm | Kamasan Tiara | Soul Core of Puhuarte | Boosts Resistances, Minion Skills & Life |
| Armor | Sacramental Robe | 2x Iron Rune | Boosts Energy Shield & Resistances |
| Gloves | Vaal Gloves | Soul Core of Puhuarte | Boosts Energy Shield & Resistances |
| Boots | Sandsworn Sandals | Soul Core of Puhuarte | Boosts Energy Shield & Resistances |
| Belt | Late Fine Belt | – | Boosts Life, Mana & Resistances |
| Ring 1 | Ventor’s Gamble Gold Ring | – | Boosts Resistances & chance of finding rare items |
| Ring 2 | Evergrasping Peal Gold Ring | – | Boosts Energy Shield, Resistances & Movement Speed |
| Amulet | Solar Amulet | – | Allocates Relentless Fallen, Boosts Energy Shield, Minion Skills & adds 24 points to all attributes |
| Charm 1 | Antidote Charm | – | Makes player immune to poison |
| Charm 2 | Staunching Charm | – | Minions have increased attack and casting speed |
| Charm 3 | Thawing Charm | – | Makes player immune to freeze |
It takes time to hunt down all these items as they’ll likely be random loot drops from enemies or chests. So don’t be afraid to use other gear in the meantime.
The endgame versions of these items are displayed here and are simply examples of the gear and type of gear you’ll want to use. If you find an item that suits you better, then feel free to continue to use it instead of these.
Will you be using the Witch class in Path of Exile 2? us know via the Insider Gaming forum, where you can get involved in all the latest Path of Exile 2 discussions.
Be sure to also check out our other Path of Exile 2 best class guides, such as the Monk, Sorceress, Mercenary, Huntress, Ranger, and Warrior.
