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PoE 2 Build

[0.5.5] SSF Sand & Fire Djinn Varashta - Campaign & Endgame Build Guide

presentationSorceress
presentationDisciple of Varashta
Starter
0.5 RotA
SSF
HC
Creator
Featured
By BlazeworksTV
Updated on Sep 1, 2026
Sep 1, 2026

Build Overview

This (HC) SSF Varashta Sorceress leveling & endgame build guide will allow you to complete the campaign safely and quickly, while melting bosses and transition easily into the endgame.

⭐ Please Favorite this guide to stay up to date with all of its changes.

⭐If you have any questions about the build, please feel free to ask while I'm live streaming here.

What this guide will teach you:

  • How to quickly reach level 21 and Ascend to the Disciple of Varashta.
  • All the information about skills, how to use them, and what the best Passive Tree choices are to enhance your build.
  • Important gear suggestions and crafting tips to help you stay alive.
  • How to easily progress your character through the campaign, early endgame, into T15 maps and Pinnacle Bosses.

BUILD OVERVIEW

  • This build utilizes Djinn Minion Command Skills Kelari's Deception, Kelari's Brutality & Ruzhan's Trap from the Discple of Varashta Sorceress, while using Muster and as many different Reviving Minions to decimate our enemies.
  • Defensive wise, we rely on Armour throughout the campaign to get us into maps.
  • Once it maps, we can reach insanely high EHP and Max Physical Hit due to having a ton of Energy Shield, which also translates to additional armour rating through our 4th Ascendancy nodtable Sacred Rituals. This armour can not be broken or removed. If you thought Energy Shield was OP, wait until you try this.

SKILLS & ROTATION

The goal is to reach level 21 and become a Discple of Varashta ASAP. After testing, I believe the best way to approach this is by using Grenades. If you're not into the Grenade playstyle, no worries. There is a Minion and Elemental Spell variant that you can find below!

We start by using Grenades from Level 1 to 21. Use a combination of Explosive Grenade, Flash Grenade, Gas Grenade to clear areas and defeat bosses. We use Frost Bomb to apply Elemental Exposure. For mobility, we use Pounce with a Talisman on Weapon Swap 2 to dractiscally increase movement speed, while also allowing us to jump across difficult terrain.

After we Ascend to the Disciple of Varashta in Act 2, we use Kelari's Deception (AoE explosion) & Kelari's Brutality (Critical Weakness Daggers) for clear and single target damage. We pick up Ruzhan's Trap (AoE fire tornadoes) after getting our second Ascendancy points for extra clear. We use Pain Offering and Thunderstorm to enhance our single target damage further. We also use Pounce supported Mark for Death bosses to break their armour.

Kelari's Deception deals 50% more damage per consecutive use, up to 300%. This is extremely broken.

IMPORTANT BUFFS

We take advantage of the INCREDIBLY POWERFUL Archon of Undeath, which completely removing our cooldowns for Kelari's Deception during boss fights. It provides the following benefits:

  1. Your Minions deal 25% more Damage.
  2. 200% More Cooldown Recovery Rate for Command Skills.
  3. 100% More Limit of Temporary Minion Skills.

In the late endgame we annoint Dominion to effectively have no cooldown on Archon of Undeath.

We also take advantage of investing in Puppet Master chance, which provides the following benefits:

  1. You have increased skill speed and reduced Movement Speed penalty of Command Skills
  2. Your Minions deal increased Damage with Command Skills, and have increased Movement and Skill Speed

This is amplified based on how many stacks of Puppet Master we have at any given moment. After investment, we will have 6 stacks at all times, greatly improving our mobility.

DEFENSIVE & SPIRIT SKILLS

For Spirit Skills, we use Attrition in Act 1 / 2 for increasing our single target damage against rares and bosses. After we become a Varashta, we replace Attrition with more Minions, and pickup Convalescence after we get Chaos Inoculation.

HELPFUL CAMPAIGN UNIQUES

  1. Enfolding Dawn is amazing, giving you 100 additional spirit for more Minions, which translates to more Damage with Muster.
  2. Luminous Pace & Wanderlust to keep you movin'.

WEAPON SETS

This build takes advtanage of two different Weapon Sets to use a Talisman and Sceptre. Not sure how that system works? No worries, I've got you covered. I've broken it down in a video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtzgJVSFLB4

LOOTFILTER LINKS

Campaign : WIP

Endgame WIP

MY LEVEL 99 VARASHTA POE2NINJA

📢 A special shoutout to Arjac and Zleepi for assisting with the Level 1-21 variants of this build guide.

Strengths and Weaknesses

  • Incredible single target damage, deleting bosses.
  • Smooth map clearing with three buttons.
  • Easily scale damage with +Minion levels and multiple revivable minions.
  • One of the tankiest characters in the endgame.
  • Fun, active playstyle.
  • Plays around Cooldowns early which can be slightly annoying.
  • Technically a Minion build.
  • Build comes online after completing First Ascendancy (Level 21).

Build Variants

Part 1️⃣. The Journey To Disciple Of Varashta -

During Act 1 and Early Act 2 we take advantage of the Sorceresses increased Elemental Damage nodes like Elemental Force, Exploit the Elements & Breath of Fire to use Crossbow & Grenades Skills for a smooth leveling experience.

You will comfortably hit level 15 by the time you reach Geonor, allowing you to take advantage of Gas Grenade and Explosive Grenade along with having the Exploit the Elements notable on your passive tree for a significant damage boost.

Equipment

item
9
item
8
item
4
item
3
item
7
item
6
item
5
item
10
item
2
item
Equipment Priority
+10

IMPORTANT: It is vital to be constantly searching for +Levels to Minion items (Helmet, Sceptre, Amulet) while in Act One and Act Two. You can use this regex to highlight these items as you shop at vendors.

Vendor Regex (make sure to copy quotation marks as well): "minion skills|movement"

💰 Gold: Save up 7000 gold for your Varashta Respec in Act 2 - sell rares and jewelery items and you'll easily have more than this.

🛡️Defences: For defences we will be prioritizing Pure Armour or Armour & Energy Shield hybrid pieces for the entire campaign, then swapping to pure Energy Shield in the endgame.

🚨Your weapon matters so much while playing Grenades. It makes all the difference.

Crafting a good Tense Crossbow will carry you to Act 2 and through the Trials of Sekhemas.

⚒️Crafting Steps:

  1. Find a white or magic base item of a Tense Crossbow
  2. Use an Augment and Transmute on the item to roll the first two modifiers if the item is White.
  3. If the outcome doesn't have atleast one desirable modifier (Attack Speed, +Levels to Projectiles, Flat Physical or Elemental, % Increased Physical Damage), try again.
  4. If it rolled something good, continue to craft on it using a Regal Orb
  5. Fill out the rest of the modifiers using Exalt Orbs
  6. Finish the item off by adding sockets with Artificier Orbs, along with adding Quality with Blacksmiths Whetstones. We use Lesser Storm Rune for extra lightning damage and Shock Chance.

📈 Modifier Priorities:

Crossbow: Flat or Elemental Damage To Attacks, Increased Physical Damage %, Attack Speed

Boots: % Movement Speed > Life, Resistances

Gloves & Rings: Flat Damage (Lightning is the stronges to increase shock chance) > Life, Resistances

Body Armour & Helmet: Life, Armour & Resistances

Amulet: + Level to Projectiles > Life, Resistances, % To Armour & Evasion

Belt: Resistances, Life & Armour, Strength

Skill Gems

Support Gem Requirements:

Str 10

Dex 20

Int 0

1

Explosive Grenade

supportmultishotplayer
supportelementalarmamentplayer
2

Flash Grenade

supportmultishotplayer
supportpinplayer
3

Gas Grenade

supportmultishotplayer
supportelementalarmamentplayer
4

Frost Bomb

5

Pounce

6

Attrition

Gem Priority
+6

Grenades require a specific type of movement to be played effectively, and it takes a little bit of practice. Make sure to try and fire your Grenades where the monsters will be, while also trying to lure them into your explosion radius using your character.

Clearing Rotation:

  1. Gas Grenade
  2. Detonate the gas cloud with Explosive Grenade
  3. Flash Grenade for Croud Control & Blind

Boss Rotation:

  1. Frost Bomb for Elemental Exposure
  2. Gas Grenade
  3. Detonate the gas cloud with Explosive Grenade
  4. Flash Grenade for Croud Control & Blind

Passive Tree

main:
123
123
set 1:
20
20
set 2:
20
20

Important: Satisfy all the attribute requirments for your Gear, Skill Gems and Support Gems with the help of your attribute passive points. Then use the rest in Strength to increase your maximum life.

Quest Rewards

Check which quests you’ve completed on your character
Clearfell — Beira of the Rotten Pack
+10% to Cold Resistance
Freythorn — The King in the Mists
+30 to Spirit
Ogham Manor — Candlemass, the Living Rite
+20 to maximum Life
Hunting Grounds — The Crowbell
Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points
Ogham Farmlands — Una's Hut
Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points
Valley of the Titans — Medallion
30% increased Charm Charges gained
+1 Charm Slot
The Spires of Deshar — Sisters of Garukhan
+10% to Lightning Resistance
Keth — Kabala, Constrictor Queen
Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points
Deshar — Final Letter
Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points
The Venom Crypts — Venom Draught
25% increased Stun Threshold
Jiquani's Machinarium — Blackjaw, the Remnant
+10% to Fire Resistance
The Azak Bog — Ignagduk, the Bog Witch
+30 to Spirit
Jungle Ruins — Mighty Silverfist
Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points
Aggorat — Blood Sacrifice
Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points
Whakapanu Island — Great White One
+30% increased Global Armour, Evasion and Energy Shield
Eye of Hinekora — Navali's Rest
5% increased Maximum Mana
Halls of the Dead — Tawhoa's Test
+5% to Lightning Resistance
Abandoned Prison — Goddess of Justice
30% increased Mana Recovery from Flasks
Halls of the Dead — Tasalio's Test
+5% to Cold Resistance
Halls of the Dead — Ngamahu's Test
+5% to Fire Resistance
Journey's End — Captain Hartlin
Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points
Skill Gem(Lv 13)
Delirium Drop
Halls of the Dead — Yama The White
Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points
The Khari Crossing — Molten Shrine
5% increased Maximum Life
Qimah — Tabana's Pillar
+5% to all Elemental Resistances
Kriar Village — Lythara, the Wayward Spear
+40 to Spirit
Wolvenhold — Oswin, the Dread Warden
Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points
The Khari Crossing — Akthi and Anundr
Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points
Howling Caves — The Abominable Yeti
Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

Video Guide

Build Planner Export

Export all build variants directly to your game.

Table of Contents

1. Build Overview This (HC) SSF Varashta Sorceress leveling & endgame build guide will allow you to complete the campaign safely and quickly, while melting bosses and transition easily into the endgame. BUILD OVERVIEW SKILLS & ROTATION IMPORTANT BUFFS DEFENSIVE & SPIRIT SKILLS HELPFUL CAMPAIGN UNIQUES WEAPON SETS LOOTFILTER LINKS MY LEVEL 99 VARASHTA POE2NINJA2. Strengths and Weaknesses3. Build Variants4. Equipment5. Skill Gems6. Passive Tree7. Quest Rewards

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