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PoE 2 Build

FrostFerno Witch Hunter

Mercenary

Witchhunter

Starter

FearlessDumb0

Verified

By FearlessDumbo

Updated on Dec 23, 2024

Dec 23, 2024

Build Overview

WitchHunter is extremely strong with Grenades and Ignite has absurd multi-ailment synergies so lets abuse them.

Completely deletes everything through T15s. And you can go deep into maps even on a 4L once you equip Gas Grenade.

Extremely good mapping. Extremely good boss damage through campaign and into your first T15 bosses. With investment I've done all content in the game, but importantly it's a really comfortable build even for new Path of Exile players. Login.

Build Variants

T15 Endgame

Act 3 - Early Maps

Act 1 - Act 2

IMPORTANT - DONT SKIP THIS

There is now a progression and tree / gear / skill toggle. The tabs above for A1-2, A3-Maps, and T15 Endgame will give you a progression.

T15 Endgame Variant

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Equipment

Set 1

Set 2

Crossbow

Advanced or Expert Bombard Crossbows are the base of choice as they give an additional grenade. Look for Flat Physical Damage and %Increased Physical Damage are by far the most important. Flat Fire Damage is a plus, and Attack Speed is always helpful as it reduces the amount of time it takes to fire ammunition.

Offhand Bow/Quiver for Shocks

Go cheap, you don't need to invest much in this. High flat lightning roll with a modest amount of physical damage works great. Your quiver should have a high flat lightning roll too, and probably some accuracy.

Gear Priority

Chest: Resist Cap > Life > Armour/Evasion

Gloves: Resist Cap > Armour > Life

Boots: Movement Speed > Life > Armour/Evasion

Jewelry: Resist Cap > Life > Mana Management > Rarity

Belt: Resist Cap > Life > Flat Armour

All Gear: Mana somewhere. The more mana you have, the easier constant sustain will be. Mana Regen is also a great stat to have somewhere.

For defenses make sure you are regularly updating the Base Type of your gear, look for pure Armour bases on Gloves (to take best use of Leather Bound Gauntlets at the bottom of the tree which gives 1 evasion per 1 armour node on passive tree) and Armour/Evasion hybrid everywhere else.

Solving for Mana

Gas Grenade costs a disgusting amount of mana. Flat mana will improve both your pool and regen amount. You can also roll flat %Inc Mana Regen on gear to help with that, and I've annointed a notable that grants %Inc Mana Regen too. The more mana you have, the easier it will be to sustain constant grenades.

Radiant Grief

This helmet will automate your grenades for you. It provides a 6m aura that Ignites anything around you, which causes your grenades to explode on hit. Because we throw 5 grenades in a single shot, these 5 grenades have a chance to AoE shotgun instead of form a single cloud, giving us 5x damage. You can accomplish the same thing with Explosive Shot on Oil Grenade's, but this helmet makes gameplay much smoother.

Death Rush

Once you get Resistances Sorted out, if you can squeeze more into your rings and other gear you get Onslaught on kill which grants +10% movement speed and +20% skill speed, boosting our movement speed considerably and reducing our grenade attack time by about 0.2s. It feels amazing, particularly because movement speed is so rare. This is COMPLETELY OPTIONAL QoL only.

Runes

Prioritize resistance capping first. If you've got that down, put %Increased Armour/Evasion Runes in your Chest and Gloves. If you aren't Chaos resistance capped, do that next, then again %Increased Armour/Evasion everywhere.

You want as much Armour and Evasion as you can get to offset the Sorcery Ward penalty.

Amulet Annoint

Step Like Mist

Use Despair, Despair, Ire to annoint this. It has to be in that order.

Beastial Skin

Another option for more defense. Use Greed, Disgust, Envy for this one.

Once you acquire the delirium currency right-click it to open the window to annoint the amulet.

More Information

See the accompanying video for a thorough explanation of which gear pieces to choose, and why.

T15 Endgame Variant

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Skill Gems

Support Gem Requirements:

Str 40

Dex 45

Int 20

Crossbow Shot

Item

Gas Grenade

Oil Grenade

Flash Grenade

Herald of Ash

Wind Dancer

Attrition

Stormcaller Arrow

Explosive Grenade

Skill rotation

Mapping

Mapping is one-button if you have Radiant Grief. Throw Gas Grenade Check the video for an explanation on why this setup with this gear works the way it does.

If you run into a tankier pack of mobs, lay down Oil Grenade first and kite them into it while laying down Gas Grenade

Bosses
- Get close enough to Ingite them with Radiant Grief, about 6m (this is pretty far away, most of the screen in 1080p).
- Hit them with Stormcaller Arrow to apply a 50% shock which will increase the damage they take by 50% and is a more multiplier with post-hit mitigation.
- Put an Oil Grenade at their feet. The ignite will trigger a burn that will further debuff them with Fire Exposure removing -26% fire resistance.
- Spam Gas Grenade and alternate Explosive Grenade until the burning oil expires, then lay down another Oil Grenade .

Permanent Shocks on Bosses

I keep an offhand Bow with high flat Lightning Damage and any reasonable Physical Damage amount, coupled with a Quiver that has Flat Lightning and Accuracy on it (only those two mods matter). Use Stormcaller Arrow ~ Stormfire ~ Overcharge ~ Conduction which will trigger a high shock even on 15+3 level map bosses. The Stormfire support paired with the unique ability of Radiant Grief will give you permanent Shock, causing the boss to take a HUGE chunk of additional damage for almost nothing.

Note that this does NOT work with Voltaic Grenade without considerable investment on the tree and in ailment effect/chance. You literally need nothing to get Stormcaller Arrow to shock a boss.

5L Setup

If you don't yet have a 5L, you can get one easily by using the Lesser Jewellers Orbs to 4L an level Uncut Skill Gem, then use a Vaal Orb to corrupt another socket on it. This will likely take several tries but it's vastly cheaper than buying a Greater Jewellers Orb at current market prices.

Get Inspiration if you need it as it can hard carry mana requirements. If you can get a Radiant Grief it turns into a one-button build. With the hat you can trade one of the Fire supports from the 4L setup above for Immolate . If you'd prefer more damage, you can skip Inspiration and socket Fire Infusion instead

Gas Grenade ~ Scattershot ~ Immolate ~ Elemental Focus ~ Inspiration

Mapping Auras

Use Wind Dancer and Herald of Ash, though I've heard Herald of Ash might currently be bugged. There aren't better options at the moment.

Bossing Auras

Swap Herald of Ash and Wind Dancer out for Attrition, which gives a significant damage increase even for fights that only last 20-30 seconds.

What happened to Cold to Ignite?

It turns out the investment needed to make Frostfire functional was terrible. It needs a massive amount of investment to be 1/2 of the damage a hit build like this build guide is. I was really hopeful after seeing the numbers but... I don't see Ignite being the way forward without some numeric changes to the game. Or new skills. Or something. The current configuration of the build guide is setup to take you deep into endgame.

T15 Endgame Variant

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Passive Tree

main:

122

set 1:

set 2:

PASSIVE TREE ABOVE IS LEVEL 90, SELECT LEVELING TREES ABOVE, NEW FEATURE!

Defense is crucial in maps once you have the maps tree from the other planner tab laid out we want to stack as much Armour and Evasion as you can find, and get a big pair of Armour gloves and take Leather Bound Gauntlets and General's Bindings.

Backup Plan on the tree is also fantastic and should be a staple in any hybrid Armour/Evasion setup

Take all the armour nodes left of the main trunk like Devastation and Sturdy Metal then path over to Blade Catcher last.

Attributes

Take as much Str as you can, only as much Dex as you need for gear. Accuracy doesn't help us, so stacking Dex isn't important.

Ascendency

1. Zealous Inquisition

2. Obsessive Rituals

3. Ceremonial Ablution

4. Pitiless Killer

Jewel Priority

I have 4x Fire Penetration jewels, which help on bosses after you get more levels on them and they gain resists. There are several excellent mods on both Ruby and Emerald jewels though:

- %Inc Armour

- %Max Fire Res

- %Crossbow/Projectile/Fire Damage

- %Inc Damage against Uniques/Rares

- %Weapon Swap Speed (for Stormcaller Arrow perma shocks)

- %Movement Speed