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PoE 2 Build

[0.3] Waggle's EXPLODING Shattering Palm Witchhunter

0.3 TTE

Mercenary

Witchhunter

End Game

Verified

By Waggle

Updated on Nov 20, 2025

Nov 20, 2025

Build Overview

**UPDATED BOTTOM SECTION OF GUIDE WITH STEP BY STEP CRAFTING FOR ALL THE RARE PIECES OF GEAR**

This is a Witchhunter build centered around clearing with Shattering Palm, getting enough damage to one shot with the initial hit, which instantly triggers the explosion. And then adding on more explosions from Zealous Inquisition and Herald of Ice.

THIS IS AN ENDGAME BULID AND NOT BUDGET FRIENDLY! You will need some entry level of gear in order to have enough damage for Shattering Palm to one shot trash mobs, which enables the playstyle.

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Campaign permanent stat boost things:

act 3 venom quest: stun threshold

act 4 tattoos: resists or attributes can both work (you shouldn't need the attributes, but if your gear is strong enough you also don't really need the resists, so the attributes kinda all just turn into extra strength = extra hp)

act 5 shrines: resists/attributes if needed, otherwise global defenses. You can swap this one whenever you want so don't worry about it too much

Strengths and Weaknesses

Fantastic clear
Very tanky for mapping
Explosions are fun :)

Expensive
DoT from enemies can be annoying

Equipment

Set 1

Set 2

**IT IS IMPORTANT THAT THE QUARTERSTAFF IS IN WEAPON SET 2, this is for Rigwald's Ferocity on Tempest Bell

*Check bottom section of guide for crafting steps on gear*

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Weapon = BIG phys dps (flat cold also good), +melee skills, crit

Constricting Command gives huge stat boosts with the surrounded passives on tree, and lets us ignore mana costs with Defy II

Ingenuity is good once you have 2 super strong rings (probably need full 6 useful mods), otherwise rare belt with life + resists

Heart of the Well is a very strong unique jewel option with the right mods, with gain % as extra cold + 2 other useful mods generally beating out a rare jewel

For rings you want life + resists + %cold damage, and then ideally flat cold damage, but flat physical damage should also be fine

Make sure your weapon swap quiver for Stormcaller Arrow does NOT have any pierce chance, if the arrow pierces it will not stick in the boss and you won't get your big shock

Amulet is a HUGE source of stats, and is also fairly craftable from an appropriate magic base. Solar Amulet base will allow you to fit in War Banner (but not until the quality bonus on the gem is fixed, currently does not provide any reservation efficiency)

Skill Gems

Support Gem Requirements:

Str 85

Dex 45

Int 55

Expand all

Shattering Palm

Ice Strike

Tempest Bell

Wind Dancer

Ghost Dance

Herald of Ice

War Banner

Hand of Chayula

Stormcaller Arrow

Sorcery Ward

You must to assign Shattering Palm, Ice Strike, and Tempest Bell to weapon slot 2, in order to enable Rigwald's Ferocity on the bell working correctly.

Lifetap on Hand of Chayula is mandatory, because unlike all the other skills we use, Defy II will not help with paying the mana cost of the Voltaic Mark that gets triggered, so it just wont trigger if you have no mana.

If you really like wasting currency, you can socket Sorcery Ward with Dialla's Desire, Cold Mastery (or fire/lightning, doesn't matter), and Uhtred's Augury, instead of Uhtred's Exodus

War Banner currently isn't usable unless you have extra spirit somewhere, due to a bug with the quality bonus on the banner not working. Once it is fixed, you can get just enough to run it with a 20% quality gem, a +15 spirit implicit on amulet, and a 6% herald reservation node at the bottom of the tree.

Passive Tree

main:

123

set 1:

set 2:

Small stat passives: enough dex/int for gear/gems, rest into strength.

Ascendancy order: Zealous Inquisition -> Obsessive Rituals -> Ceremonial Ablution -> Pitiless Killer

How it Plays

press shattering palm, watch screen explode

On bosses: Hand of Chayula -> Stormcaller Arrow -> hold down Ice Strike and press Tempest Bell whenever it gets 4 combo stacks

How it Works

**HOW TO CRAFT THINGS FOR BUILD**

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AMULET

1) Buy magic amulet base with +3 melee and %evasion.

2) Homogenising regal omen + perfect regal, looking for a big %ES roll, can settle for flat ES as well though. If this misses (hits armor or accuracy), you are probably best off just restarting with a new base.

3) Desecrate prefix with guaranteed Amanamu mod, omen of abyssal echoes + unveil. Looking for MINION DAMAGE if you've hit recently, NOT global defences (yet).

4) Homogenising Exalt + Perfect Exalt (can do greater as well but I like perfect), this will add crit damage

5) Homogenising Exalt + Perfect Exalt again, this will add crit chance. Needs to be done in 2 steps, can't do it in 1 go with a double exalt omen unfortunately.

6) Omen of Light + annul off the minion mod, add desecrate with guaranteed Amanamu again, omen of abyssal echoes + unveil, looking for global defences

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WEAPON

1) Buy Lunar Quarterstaff or Razor Quarterstaff bases with tier 1 flat physical damage, or tier 2/3 %physical damage. Recombine until you get a base with both mods.

2) Exalt random suffix, use Omen of Dextral Crystallisation + Perfect Essence of Ice to fill last prefix with damage gained as cold.

3) Exalt random suffix, use Omen of Dextral Crystallisation + Perfect Essence of Haste to add onslaught on kill.

3) Exalt random suffix, use Omen of Dextral Crystallisation + Perfect Essence of Battle to add +6 to level of attack skills. If this removes the onslaught modifier, repeat the Omen of Dextral Crystallisation + Perfect Essence of Haste. If unlucky, you may need to keep trying on these until you end up with both modifiers together.

4) Desecrate & use Omen of Abyssal Echoes for 2 attempts at unveil, looking for attack speed, crit chance, or crit damage. Can use Omen of Light to wipe the desecrate mod and try again if it doesn't hit any.

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RING

1) Buy magic base with life and all resistances

2) Essence to add preferred resistance (fire/cold/lightning/chaos, depends on needs)

3) Add cold quality to 20%, or 40% if crafting a Breach Ring

4) Greater/Perfect Exalt with Omen of Catalysing Exaltation + Omen of Greater Exaltation + Omen of Sinistral Exaltation, looking for both cold damage modifiers

5) Desecrate suffix, if you want a hybrid chaos resist you can force Amanamu (fire + chaos), Kurgal (cold + chaos), or Ulaman (lightning + chaos), to greatly increase odds of success. Omen of Abyssal Echoes + unveil

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BOOTS

1) Buy 2 socket evasion/ES hybrid base

2) Regal/Annul/whatever to make it a 1 stat rare item. Chaos spam for tier 1 deflection modifier.

3) Greater/Perfect Exalt with Omen of Homogenising Exaltation + Omen of Greater Exaltation + Omen of Sinistral Exaltation, looking for flat evasion/ES and % evasion/ES

4) Add desecrate suffix modifier, do not need to unveil it. Fracture, hoping to hit the deflection mod, but any other tier 1 mod being hit here is ok (if you fracture a t1 prefix, you CAN try to sell the base here to get your costs back, if you don't want to risk messing the item up in the next steps)

5) Omen of Dextral Crystallisation + Essence of Hysteria, this will add 30% movement speed and (hopefully) remove the veiled desecrate suffix (guaranteed to work if deflection is fractured).

6) Exalt once, then Omen of Dextral Crystallisation + Essence of Horror for 100% effect of socketed items (again hoping it doesnt delete the deflection suffix). If you lose your deflection suffix here, this may be another time where you can try to sell the item and restart the craft to recoup some losses.

7) Desecrate last modifier, Omen of Abyssal Echoes, looking for a resist roll.

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GLOVES

1) Buy 2 socket evasion/ES hybrid base

2) Regal/Annul/whatever to make it a 1 stat rare item. Chaos spam for tier 1 deflection modifier.

3) Greater/Perfect Exalt with Omen of Homogenising Exaltation + Omen of Greater Exaltation + Omen of Sinistral Exaltation, looking for flat evasion/ES and % evasion/ES. Hitting hybrid evasion/ES/life here can be ok, but it means your last prefix may hit a life roll instead of the missing evasion/ES roll. Up to you if that's something you are fine with.

5) Greater/Perfect Exalt with Omen of Homogenising Exaltation + Omen of Sinistral Exaltation, looking for the last missing evasion/ES roll.

6) Omen of Dextral Crystallisation + Essence of Horror for 100% effect of socketed items (looking for this to remove the desecrated suffix). If you lose deflection here, you have the option of gambling a 50/50 Homogenous + Greater/Perfect exalt to try and get it back (may hit ES recharge instead).

7) Desecrate last modifier, Omen of Abyssal Echoes, looking for attack speed, crit damage, +melee skills, or a resist roll if needed.

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BODY ARMOR

1) Buy a magic base with tier 1 % evasion, flat evasion, or hybrid % & flat evasion and tier 1 deflection

2) Essence for resistance depending on needs (fire/cold/lightning/chaos)

3) Greater/Perfect Exalt with Omen of Homogenising Exaltation + Omen of Greater Exaltation + Omen of Sinistral Exaltation, looking for the other 2 evasion prefixes (don't really want the evasion/life hybrid)

4) Either desecrate + Omen of Abyssal Echoes to look for second resist roll, or Greater/Perfect Exalt with Omen of Homogenising for the resist roll