Use your favourite features in-game with our Desktop App

PoE 2 Build

ED/Contagion Lich Leveling

Witch

Lich

Starter

Verified

0.3 TTE

By Waggle

Updated on Nov 20, 2025

Nov 20, 2025

Build Overview

Leveling (campaign) guide for a fresh start Essence Drain / Contagion Lich build. Covers campaign gear/gem progression, to get you prepared for early mapping.

*Act 3/6 venom vial quests -> stun or ailment threshold in A3, and chaos resistance in A6.

FOR ENDGAME BUILD GUIDE, CHECK https://mobalytics.gg/poe-2/builds/waggle-chaos-dot-lich

Build Variants

Act 1

Act 2

Act 3-6

Act 1, using Essence Drain and Contagion as soon as you get them, with Frost Bomb and later Bonestorm to help with single target damage. Gear is basically whatever you find, not much crafting to do here.

Equipment

Act 1

Act 2

Act 3-6

Set 1

Set 2

Gear in Act 1 is mostly random, using whatever magic/rare pieces you find. However it can be very worthwhile to regularly check Una in town for a wand/staff with +level of chaos spells, and socket with a Lesser Iron Rune if possible.

If you want to use Shield Charge for mobility, make sure to grab a low level shield, as ones you find later will have too high of a stat requirement. If you have a staff or a focus with useful stats, you can put a shield on your weapon swap set to use this.

Can use Transmutes/Augments on boots to try and get movement speed, but save exalts for now.

Cold resistance can help with the final boss in Act 1, but also keep in mind that fire/lightning resistance will become useful during Act 2.

Skill Gems

Act 1

Act 2

Act 3-6

Support Gem Requirements:

Str 5

Dex 10

Int 20

Expand all

Essence Drain

Contagion

Bonestorm

Withering Presence

SKILL GEM ORDER (starting from the first uncut for defeating Miller)

Tier 1: Frost Bomb > Contagion (get this from the abandoned stash in Clearfell)

Tier 3: Essence Drain > Shield Charge (important to get with a tier 3 gem for stat requirements, can also skip if not interested in using for mobility)

Tier 5: Bonestorm (replaces Frost Bomb for extra single target)

SPIRIT GEM Withering Presence

SUPPORT GEM ORDER (it is entirely possible you will not get all of these in Act 1)

Magnified Area I for Contagion

Unleash for Contagion

Swift Affliction for Essence Drain

Scattershot & Arcane Tempo, both for Bonestorm

Zenith for Essence Drain (can be annoying to use, need to be >90% mana when the ED hits the target) OR Chain for ED if you feel damage is fine/want easier clear.

Persistence for Withering Presence

Passive Tree

Act 1

Act 2

Act 3-6

main:

123

set 1:

set 2:

NOTABLES ORDER

Entropy, keep going up past notable for the 2 attribute nodes to get strength for Shield Charge.

Practiced Signs

Potent Incantation

How it Plays

Casting Essence Drain followed by Contagion is ideal for clearing trash, as contagion will auto-target enemies afflicted by ED. However sometimes damage may be too high and you will have to reverse the order.

Frost Bomb, followed by Bonestorm, followed by Dark Effigy are the single target damage abilities for bosses & tanky rare mobs. Once you get a new one of these, you can remove the old one.

When using Frost Bomb for single target very early on, you can just spam Essence Drain inbetween cooldowns, for the small amount of hit damage that it provides.

Once you get Dark Effigy, single target damage becomes all about keeping your 2 totems up & all DoTs active (Dark effigy shoots more projectiles for each chaos DoT on a target). The DoTs in this build are Essence Drain, Contagion, Decaying Hex linked to Despair, and Envenom (you may not use this until getting a 5L totem gem).