The Witch is one of the most popular and most powerful classes in Path of Exile 2. But her early game might prove a bit complex, especially for a newcomer.
To make your first few hours with this class easier, here is our best early-game Witch build in PoE 2.
Optimal starting build for the Witch in PoE 2
The Witch can be played in one of three ways: an elemental utilizing fire damage, a summoner with tons of minions, or something in between (mostly leaning into physical damage). We’ll take a general look at her spells and potential items, highlighting the best among them for each scenario.
Skill gems
The most important part of any build for any character or class are the skill gems. They determine which spells you will have in your arsenal and basically place your class into a sub-category right off the bat. The Witch gains access early to the Unearth skill gem, which I’ve stuck with for the entirety of my run through the three available Acts. It dishes out tons of physical damage in a cone and has the upside of summoning undead skeletal scorpions if you kill a creature with it or use it on a corpse. It places it firmly in that latter mixed category, since it does physical damage primarily and creates an army of undead summons to help you out.
If you go down this route—or any of the other summoning skill gems, such as the Skeletal Sniper, Skeletal Warrior, or Aronist—I advise you also take Contagion as it synergizes well and your minions will spread it to your enemies for massive AOE damage.
On the other hand, the Witch can be a fearsome elemental mage, with the later option to pivot into the Infernalist Ascendancy (I find summoning or physical builds to be more attuned to the Blood Mage). Spells like the Flame Wall and Ember Fusillade can do tons of early-game damage, with the likes of the Solar Orb adding even more AoE fire damage on top of all that.
Passives
The second-most important part of any PoE 2 build is the passive skill tree. Since you will not have completed the Trial of the Sekhemas during this early stage of the game, I won’t be focusing on those passives, but rather the primary ones available right off the bat.
For any Witch, the left-hand side of the passive tree will immediately grant you great effects. After grabbing the three Spell and Minion Damage passives you can move into Raw Destruction and then again up toward Power of the Dead, Jagged Shards, and Entropy. This pathing will give you a massive boost to your damage, whether it be spells or minions or physical damage abilities. It’s a great path to take early on precisely because you’ll probably still be figuring stuff out with your build and what your ultimate goal is, so it’s a general “catch-all” solution that you can later turn into specifics with the Hooded One.
Weapons
In PoE 2 a lot of your abilities will directly be tied to the weapon, or weapon type, that you’re using. With the Witch, it becomes even more pronounced, as only certain types of weapons grant your Spirit (a separate bar required for summons and other effects), whereas some others focus on boosting your spell power.
As a Witch you’ll focus on three weapon types in PoE 2‘s early access (time will only tell what else the devs will add). These are the Scepter, the Wand, and the Focus. Secpters grant your Spirit, enabling you to summon creatures and to use some permanent buffs obtained via the Ascendancy or by other means. Wands primarily give you spell power and can come with a myriad different buffs, such as additional cast speed, extra levels to your skill gems, and so on. Scepters most often feature buffs tied to summons, granting them extra damage, health, and other buffs.
Focuses are the in-between weapon type and are placed in the off-hand slot. They usually buff your spell damage, level up your skill gems, etc—basically the same as Wands but without an extra spell for you to use. Both Scepters and Wands can and usually do contain a new spell or passive; Focuses do not.
What you should be on the lookout for as a caster Witch are Wands and Focuses boosting elemental damage, particularly fire damage, as well as those that carry bonuses to your resistances (this will become more of a focal point when we discuss gear). Summoner Witches should always carry a Scepter, especially if it grants extra spirit and significant upgrades to your minions. Wands and Scepters can be used together (Focuses also go with both), if you’re aiming for that mixed summon-caster build like I am.
Gear
There’s one thing you’ll quickly learn in this game: the monsters do not mess around. As opposed to other ARPGs, PoE 2 is a slower, more grueling, and much more difficult game, and you’ll need all the defenses you can muster, especially if you do not play as a summoner. Summoners should primarily focus on getting extra Spirit, which can be done through amulets, while also paying attention to having as much Intelligence and Energy Shield as possible.
Casters, on the other hand, need a ton of resistances. Fire resistance should come naturally once you become an Infernalist, but the rest need to come from items, and you should prioritize having great defenses over most other stats (except for spell damage, cast speed, and Intelligence, though even those can be sidelined if you have enough of them and are in dire need of resistances). I found Chaos resistance to be especially hard to get and you should see that you slam an item or two every time you can in the hopes of getting it (Act Three will be a slog if you don’t have it).
