In the world of Path of Exile, players take on the role of Exiles - people exiled into the ruined lands of Wraeclast from the island nation of Oriath. Throughout Path of Exile, players must guide their Exile on their way back home, fighting various ancient evils and revealing primordial horrors. One such Exile was the Witch, exiled to Wraeclast for unleashing the dark arts upon people who tormented her in the past. And throughout her journey, players eventually help the Witch unlock and tap into their fullest potential.
However, players may soon learn that the Witch is possibly one of the hardest Classes to manage in the game. Their sheer versatility in combat means players must carefully manage their progression to optimize their Witch into precisely the build they want. However, just what are the best ways to create a Witch to maximize their experience?
10 Bow Demolisher
While the Witch is the de facto “main” spellcaster in Path of Exile, the game doesn’t necessarily tie the Class to traditional weapons such as staves and scepters. In the Bow Demolisher build, Witches are proven to be more than capable of clearing even the toughest of challenges in the game with the right gear. With the right combination of Bow and general equipment, the Bow Demolisher boasts some of the highest DPS in the game, giving players enough capability to clear mobs and even bosses quickly. However, the biggest drawback of the build is to secure the right drops, which can be tricky at first.
At its core, Witches need to find the right Bow to capitalize on their DPS. Players should prioritize Attack Speed, making the Short Bow or Thicket Bow the most recommended. If possible, Bows and Quivers that can dish out extra element-based damage over time and overall Elemental Damage can do a great deal in ensuring the Witch’s overall performance. For Gear, players should still go for Attack Speed, as well as Spell Suppression, Resistances, and overall Life to boost survivability.
9 Back To Basics
With the Witch serving as the game’s primary Intelligence Class, it’s the go-to Class for players who just want to fireball enemies out of existence. And with the inherent flexibility in Path of Exile, the Back To Basics build is perfect for players who want a straightforward Witch that boasts decent damage and accessibility without hurting survivability. However, the build lacks inherent damage avoidance for Hardcore mode, as well as a requirement to reach the endgame to reach its full potential.
In the Back To Basics build, Witches rely heavily on Arc damage to dish out decent DPS as well as Shock, which means there’s a priority to boost Lightning, Elemental, and Spell Damage. For defense, Back To Basics relies heavily on Armour and Life for its defenses, with physical damage reduction and life regeneration boosting overall survivability.
8 Ice Spear Domination
When Witches in Path of Exile get their first taste of elemental power, one of their primary Spells as Elementalists would be the iconic Ice Spear. With this Path of Exile gameplay skill, a Witch releases an Ice Spear towards the opponent before transforming into a faster projectile that pierces all its targets with increased speed and crit multipliers. This Ice Spear Domination banks on the boosted criticals of Ice Spear to dish out a lot of damage, making this one of the more straightforward builds out there.
At its core, Ice Spear Domination becomes a reliable build with the right approach to stats. For instance, Mana sustains via Divergent Inspiration, as well as boosting Mana leech via Essence Sap can ensure players can cast Ice Spear more frequently. Meanwhile, select modifications to Ascendancy, Skill Trees, and acquiring Critical Strike Chance mods can boost the Ice Spear’s overall DPS. Moreover, Shaper/Crusader belt and boots as well as Awakened Cast on Critical can greatly reduce this Spell’s cooldown, making this viable for a Solo Witch in Path of Exile.
7 Absolute Decimation
When a Witch finally taps into the powers of darkness, they’re able to manipulate the very essences of Life and Death themselves as a Necromancer. Thanks to this Path of Exile Ascendancy Class, the Witch gets a lot of opportunities to summon various undead allies to do the dirty work for her, and this is something Absolute Decimation relies on to debilitate enemy forces. At its core, Absolute Decimation needs players to rely on the Absolution Spell to transform specially-killed enemies into powerful Absolution Sentinels, while at the same time setting up powerful minion buffs to ensure there are literal juggernauts prepared to protect players.
Perhaps the best benefit of this build is its adequacy to fit low-budget approaches, while at the same time meeting incredible damage numbers. Unfortunately, players do need to consider setbacks such as its niche summon-reliant playstyle, as well as the chance-reliant triggers of transforming enemies to Absolution Sentinels.
6 Shock Permafreeze Combo
Of all the variants of the Witch in the core Path of Exile experience, it’s the Elementalist that by far fits the role of the spellcasting DPS. This is especially the case with the Shock Permafreeze Combo, as it capitalizes the inherent Elementalist advantages that have the biggest per-hit damage, casting speed, and inherent elemental shielding. Not to mention, this build gives natural buffs to Shock and Freeze ailments, both of which inherently enhance the Witch’s offensive capabilities.
More specifically, the Shock Permafreeze Combo relies on a wide variety of skills to proc Freeze and Shock ailments, including Lightning Conduit, Crackling Lance, and Lightning Tendrils. Not to mention, equipping the Three Dragons allows players to greatly boost their ailment infliction, giving players more opportunities to enhance their DPS through tough debuffs.
5 Cold Edge Evolution
Respeccing is one of the most useful customization options in Path of Exile gameplay, where players can transition across various Ascendancies to pull off different skill combinations. In the context of the Witch, Cold Edge Evolution takes advantage of the innate high damage of the early-game Elementalist as well as the power scaling of the Occultist. With the right build, Cold Edge Evolution allows the Witch to clear mobs and bosses in the earlier parts of the game and then specialize in various departments to accommodate situations such as defeating elites and bosses.
At its core, the brunt of the damage from Cold Edge Evolution comes from maximizing Blade Vortex, a Spell that summons an ethereal blade that deals damage. Being able to release 10 Blades and combining this with Blast-Freeze gives players viable defensive options without relying too much on expensive tanking gear.
4 Low Life Supremacy
Given the glass cannon nature of the Witch in Path of Exile gameplay, it makes sense that they need the most defenses to outlast some of the toughest foes in the game. However, some builds like the Low Life Supremacy rely on the mechanical principle called “Low Life builds,” where some of the Witch’s most overpowered effects take place during high-risk, low-life situations.
For instance, this particular Low Life Supremacy build is a variation known as the LL/ED setup, where a low-life Witch can trigger the effects of Essence Drain, a Spell that unleashes low Chaos damage on top of a heavy Chaos DOT, with part of said damage being converted back into HP. With the right setup, this build is extremely budget-friendly and, thanks to Chaos DOT, can clear maps rather quickly.
3 Chaotic Ice Nova
Players of Witches in Path of Exile looking for more opportunities for higher-level play might want to consider Chaotic Ice Nova. This build relies heavily on a Chaos Inoculation that grants immunity to Chaos Damage in exchange for having a maximum 1 HP, and then unleashing the powerful Cold AOE Spell Ice Nova on the setting Cast on Critical Strike.
At its core, this high-level build serves as an alternative to the more straightforward Low Life approach. With the right combination of stats, Chaos Inoculation with Chaotic Ice Nova can easily transform players into a powerhouse that can clear maps easily while at the same time defeat most bosses easily. The only caveats of this build would probably be its expensive nature on top of its high skill ceiling, as well as tougher experiences against bosses in higher difficulties.
2 Chaotic Cursing Healing
When a Witch chooses to become an Occultist, they get access to powerful Curses or debuffs that can debilitate an enemy’s performance. In Path of Exile gameplay, this opens up a lot of opportunities to destroy enemies with little to no effort. An example of this is the Chaotic Cursing Healing build, another derivative of the Low Life mechanism, particularly Essence Drain.
This time around, Essence Drain in Chaotic Cursing Healing is paired with Bane, a skill that not only debuffs enemies but also deals yet another set of Chaos DOT in the area, further boosting the player’s health regeneration. On top of these are other debuffs such as Wither that boosts Chaos damage taken, as well as Curses that decrease an enemy’s damage (Enfeeble), lower speeds (Temporal Chain), and boost damage over time taken (Despair).
1 Keeping It Dangerous
Beginners to Path of Exile gameplay might be surprised to realize that a lot of the Witch’s skillset heavily relies on debuffing enemies to secure higher damage numbers. And in the context of more high-level gameplay, keeping the Low Life mechanic can actually give Witches more room to amp up their general DPS. This Keeping It Dangerous build heavily relies on clearing mobs with Chaos DOTs (Bane), killing tougher elites with big single-target DPS (Blight), and getting colorful but deadly explosions (Profane Bloom).
Likewise, maintaining a healthy balance between Clarity, Vitality, Arrogance, and even Pain Attunement can ensure a low life Witch won’t get to dangerous HP levels as their shields constantly go up to protect them anyway. Despite the seemingly complexity of Keeping It Dangerous, beginners can use this build to dabble into the more complex aspects of Path of Exile without being overwhelmed.
Path of Exile was released in 2013 for the PS4, Xbox One, PC, and macOS.