[Top 10] Path of Exile Best Builds For Witch

10. MrJim’s Cast on Crit Forbidden Rite Occultist

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While it has fallen out of favour a bit, since Sentinel league, with the nerfs to % Global Defense and other, stronger meta-skills popping up, FR is still one of the most powerful skills, mechanically, in the game, and it is, personally, the strongest build I’ve ever played.

What Cast on Crit Forbidden Rite Excels in:

• Immortal build.
• Can do any content, even Uber Bosses with Height of Hubris and insane Mods.
• Perfect Simulacrum Farmer can play while watching a show or a movie without needing to focus.
• More than respectable damage and clearing.

Pick FR CoC if you Like:

• Having a build that can do everything and anything without gear swaps.
• Able to play a build without more than a button press, gliding across the screen cycloning.
• Face tanking pretty much everything without a care in the world.

Cast on Crit Forbidden Rite details:

• It’s a build that can do any content, any of the Uber Bosses,100% Delirious Maps, The Feared, Sanctum, you name it.
• Forbidden Rite gets its damage scaling off 5% of our Energy Shield (we’re CI), so the more ES we have, the more damage we deal. This means you’ll want to be as tankier as possible because you’ll be dealing the most damage.
• As such, things like Global Defense Fractured Chests are the way to go, as you can scale your FR’s level insanely high with Faceted Fossils and get a ton of ES from your Grasping Mail.

For more information, check here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdzV1hwo3BM

9. Tripolar Bear’s Cold Dot Elementalist

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It’s one of those builds that can do pretty much all bosses (not ubers, unless you’re massively geared, and it’s not worth investing that much), all the content in the game, it’s particularly amazing at Sanctums, but also a fantastic mapper.

What Cold DoT Elementalist Excels in:

Fairly Tanky
Buttery Smooth to play when you have all the main components
Extremely strong at crowd-controlling enemies
Perfect for League Starting, both HC and SC, as well as SSF and Ruthless viable.
Great at Sanctum and TotA

Pick Cold DoT if you Like:

• Using multiple spells for dealing your damage
• Chilling, cursing and freezing your enemies into submission
• Seeing the life of your enemies drain as they struggle to get to you
• Buttery smooth playstyle.

Cold DoT Elementalist details:

• The beauty of this build comes from the fact that you get so much power and safety from the passive tree with a couple items, that it makes most of the nuisances that PoE has a non-issue. It’s elemental ailment immune, Corrupted Blood Immune, Stun, Maim and Hindered Immune, as well as being super easy to cap your Chaos Resistance and getting some Poison Immunity with a couple jewels.
• The biggest issue of the build, though, is single target damage. While you can clear all content (except Ubers) with relative ease, unless you invest a lot into getting +2 weapon, +2 amulet, lots of Cold DoT Multipliers on your jewels and gear, as well as scaling your curses, you’ll be sore for damage against Conqueror and Guardian’s level of damage.
• Clearing with this build is fantastic and easy because Vortex kills as you walk. Using Creeping Frost and Cold Snap is also quick with the amount of Cast speed we have from so many Frenzy Charges.

For more information, check here: https://youtu.be/lXu78B7AohU

8. Crit Mage Skeletons Necromancer

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A clear favorite of past leagues, this build continued its dominance over Necromancers due to its flexibility in gear, ease of playing, and straightforwardness. It’s not for those of faint computers, however, as your Skelies can and will demolish your frame rates, but it’s a well-rounded build capable of everything!

What the Crit Mage Skeletons Excels in:

• Extremely Tanky with several layers of defense.
• Can do all Content.
• Can League Start and is HC viable.
• Clears reasonably well.

Pick Crit Mage Skeletons If you Like:

• Starting from scratch and becoming a god.
• A build where each upgrade is meaningful and impactful.
• Face rolling any content you throw yourself into it.

Crit Mage Skeletons details:

• Minions want as much Gem Level as possible since they scale mostly through base damage. So you’ll want a +2 Convoking Wand, a +1 Amulet(Ashes of the Stars is the best choice) with +1 Skeletons, and, if you can, Fleshcrafter, which is what makes our Skelies ignore the enemies’ Elemental Resistances.
• Our defence comes from having a substantial life pool, a good amount of ES, and having full block due to Bone Offering and Aegis, as well as a ton of armour, to boost the ES recovery from Aegis.
• We also have a cast supporting Spectres and Animate Guardian to protect us and buff our Skelies, giving them tons of damage and Charges.

Full build details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtIy5VftSTQ

7. BikespokesARPG’s Cast on Crit Ice Spear Occultist

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This is what CoC Ice Spear looks like when you have a near-infinite budget and can toy around with one of the best and most broken uniques in the game, Nimis. It’s a ring that makes it so all projectiles return to you, regardless of their travel. This means they can also double-hit and shotgun. However, it comes with a drawback (which isn’t a big drawback depending on the skill): it fires your projectiles in random directions.

What Cast on Crit Ice Spear Excels in:

• Insane clearing.
• Buttery smooth gameplay. You kill as you spin.
• Amazing single-target damage.
• Can clear all content.

Pick Cast on Crit Ice Spear if you Like:

• CoC Builds
• Clear as fast as you move
• Demolish all content

Cast on Crit Ice Spear details:

• Nimis, as I said before, makes it so all your projectiles fire in random directions and then return to you, hitting enemies on their path once again. And since Ice Spear is an exceptionally quick projectile, and Sniper’s Mark creates over a dozen more projectiles with Nimis, you’re dealing, by sheer virtue of projectile count, a buttload of damage.
• You can either go with a Cospri’s Malice as your weapon, or you can use a dagger with Vagan Mod to not worry about Accuracy at all while also getting a ton of good benefits, like Crit Multi, Crit Chance, +1 to all Cold (levels for spells are the best to increase their damage) and attack speed.
• That is important because there are certain thresholds you wanna reach with CoC builds, those being 7.57 and 10.10 attacks per second (with all buffs active). So you need a quick weapon to reach that attack speed threshold (and not go over it), as it will significantly ruin your damage. So aim to get it as close but UNDER the point. As well as getting a ton of CDR, with 52% being required for 10 aps.

For more information, check here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmXiubciIlE

6. Allie’s Death’s Oath Caustic Arrow Occultist

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This lovely old build continues to be a treat to play, especially if you can afford a Headhunter and just zoom around without a care in the world. It got significantly buffed a few leagues ago, with its new Vaal Version, which has a baseline 3 times as high as regular CA!

What DO Caustic Arrow Excels in:

• Fantastic Clearing, you clear as you walk
• Good single target with investment
• Can do most content
• Perfect for League Starting

Pick DO Caustic Arrow if you Like:

• Builds that essentially play by themselves
• Play the same build right from level 1
• Purple and massive BoomBooms

Death’s Oath Caustic Arrow full details:

• Death’s Oath is an Aura that degens you for 450 Chaos damage per 3 seconds after killing an Enemy. While this seems like a lot, when you’re an Occultist and have easy access to a lot of Chaos res, at 75% Chaos Res, that 450 Chaos Damage becomes a measly 133 (ish) Damage, which can easily be out-sustained. That’s not even considering if you’re using Divine Flesh for another 5% Max Chaos Resistance!
• Vaal Caustic Arrow has a damage ceiling that easily tops all other DoT base gems in the game, overtaking Fire Trap. It also has 2 charges, so you can have near-permanent upkeep of it during bossing, and it’s a delightful build to play.
• This type of build promotes investment and a lot of movement speed, and there’s no better movement speed belt than Headhunter. You could use a Bisco’s Leash or a Mageblood if you have it. Otherwise, a regular, strong Stygian Vise will serve you well.

For more information, check: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4zAoBSSWwU&ab_channel=Allie

5. Palstrom’s Explosive Arrow Ballista Ignite Elementalist

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Obviously one of the best builds in the game, both for league starting and Uber Bossing farming, EA Ballista ignite has dominated the meta with the sheer ease to deal millions of damage while running around and dodging skillshots.

What Explosive Arrow Ballista Ignite Excels in:

• Tankyness.
• Can reach the DoT Cap (~37 million damage) easily.
• Very cheap to get started with, and can do all content
• Perfect for league start.

Pick Explosive Arrow Ballista if you Like:

• A jack of all trade build
• Clearing all content in the game without issues
• Drop your damage and run around like a headless chicken!

EA Ballista Ignite details:

• Because of how Elementalist works, any source of flat damage becomes fodder for your ignite damage. As such, you’ll want as much Flat damage, physical, chaos, elemental, doesn’t matter, as possible. In fact, you don’t want Flat Added Fire damage to attacks because that would brick Elemental Equilibrium and cost you millions of damage.
• The name of the game for EA is attack speed, combined with Faster Ignite. You must reach 20 stacks on the enemy, explode, and then do it repeatedly. The more ballistas you have, the quicker you get there, increasing your overall damage per second.
• Since the ballistas can cost a lot of mana, as EA has one of the highest base cost skills in the game, you can either use Lifetap or go with a Devouring Diadem. It also helps increase the amount of damage you deal, allowing you to fit in an extra aura and providing you with a lot of damage with a Focus button.

For more information, check here: https://youtu.be/x2U0lKR1HvQ

4 – mbXtreme’s Ethereal Knives Ignite Elementalist

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Similarly from the Cast on Crit, this requires a massive budget, and when you have it, it’s glorious to see in action. This is the stronger, better looking, faster brother to Wave of Conviction Ignite, and often what you play as before transitioning to EK.

What Ethereal Knives Ignite Excels in:

• Amazing clearing
• Feels great to play
• Explosions with Oriath’s End
• Can clear all content

Pick Ethereal Knives Ignite if you Like:

• Reaching DoT Cap easily
• Being able to scale your damage however you like it
• Smooth playstyle with Ignite Prolif.

EK Ignite full details:

• Being an Elementalist means that all types of damage you deal will matter for your ignite. And since Ethereal Knives is a physical spell, you want to convert it to an element to get as much damage as possible out of it, since % elemental damage would then increase both the hit and the ignite damage you dealt with it.
• This also double dips with Cold to Fire Support, so your cold damage gets even more fire damage and is converted to fire. You get your conversion from Phys to Cold through a mastery as well as a glove mod, and with a good Watcher’s Eye, since you’re specced into Hatred, for more Cold Damage (as well as Gain Phys added as Cold), for another 35%.
• And as an ignite build, you want as many Faster Ignites as possible to reach your total dot quicker, reapply, and deal more damage faster. If you equip a Headhunter, your build becomes insanely tanky (which is an issue for this otherwise squishy build), especially when your only source of real defence is 30k armor and evasion, as well as spell suppression.

For more information, check here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX6e8vCoKSw

3. BalorMage’s Poison SRS Necromancer

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While not necessarily a new build, it became popular thanks to Balormage. As such, people took the build and threw their own spin to things. And thus was born Poison SRS.

It requires a few unique items to work, and some jiggery pokery with poison chance for minions, but it excels in Blight because your minions are super aggressive and will hunt down enemies while you stay behind near your pump!

What Poison SRS Excel in:

• Insane single-target damage
• Extremely Tanky
• Fantastic clear
• Doesn’t need much to start but excels with investment.

Pick Poison SRS if you Like:

• Tiny little minions that demolish brutes with thousand little bites.
• Reach Dot Cap on a minion build with nearly no investment
• A one-button build

Poison SRS details:

• SRS has 100% of Physical damage converted to Fire, which is a wasted stat for us, since Poison only scales off of Physical and Chaos. So the way to get around that is by stacking as much Flat Added Chaos damage as possible. And the strongest poison Body armour in the game does exactly that. With The Covenant, you get a whopping Level 29 Added Chaos gem. That’s basically 3x an Awakened Chaos damage gems as a free 7th link!
• Most builds use United in Dream, which gives your minions a 60% chance to poison, so you’d only need 40% left to make it work. You get that through Ghastly Jewels combined with the unique Ghastly for even more DoT Multi for minions.
• One of the cool things is that because you’re using Eldritch Battery, you can use a Divine Blessing + Vaal Haste to have insane movement speed, both for yourself and for your little skulls!

For more information, check here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASf98VLyXTo&ab_channel=BalorMage

2 – Tenkiei’s Poison Spark Occultist

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With the introduction of Nimis, and the resurgence of poison builds, combined with the vastness ‘overpoweredness’ of Occultist, it makes sense Poison Spark would also return to the meta. And all you need is an Ashes, a Nimis and a Mageblood (I’m kidding, you don’t need a MB, wink-wink).

What Poison Spark Excels in:

• Fantastic Clearing
• Great at Sanctum, can hit behind walls.
• Insane amounts of damage.
• One of the best Maven Invitations Farmer because of the arena being small ish.
• Quite tanky.

Pick Poison Spark if you Like:

• Instantly exploding everything in sight
• Dealing millions of damage without a worry in the world
• Purple Explosions with Profane Bloom

Poison Spark details:

• Nimis makes it so all projectiles you fire go off in random directions at the benefit of them returning to you at the end of their flight. This means your sparks will hit the enemies very often because whenever they bounce, they reset their enemy count, and once again, when they return to you.
• And you need Ashes of the Stars to increase your Phantasmal Spark’s quality to over 50%, meaning you get to convert 100% of your lightning damage into chaos, enabling the total damage of your spell as a poison application.
• You also use the borderline broken Incandescent Heart interaction with CI, making it so you take 25% reduced elemental damage for free. And not only that, but you also gain 20% of your Elemental (Lightning) damage as Chaos, for even more poison damage.

For more information, check here: https://youtu.be/Tdupi4Pq8Xs

1. K2Gaming’s Crit Impending Doom Occultist

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This is the sort of build that, while it can be done on a budget, requires a whole different setup, and with essentially only 2 rare item slots, you need a Mageblood to cap out Resists. And that means you can get A LOT of damage from other slots.

What Crit Impending Doom Excels in:

• Great one-button clear and single target.
• Insanely high damage potential
• Exceedingly satisfying to play

Pick Crit Impending Doom if you Like:

• Big and dark explosions
• Melting bosses with a button
• Playstyle similar to Crit Reap

Crit Impending Doom details:

• As I said, this build relies entirely on a Mageblood for the resistance and defences, but this means we get to use all the fun toys because we don’t worry about Res. And, of course, we’re Low Life, so we are using Shavronne’s Wrappings to deal with the Chaos damage.
• This build uses a tech created a few leagues ago, the combo of Ralakesh’s Impatience and Malachai’s Loop, combined with Badge of the Brotherhood and Militant Faith’s Inner Conviction Keystone. This means that we, as an Occultist, stack as many Power Charges as possible, which also becomes our maximum Frenzy Charge thanks to BotB. We get 1 PC from Void Battery, 2 from Malachai’s Loop, 1 from being an Occultist, 1 from helmet Corrupted implicit and 3 from the passive tree, for a total of 11 Power Charges and Frenzy Charges.
• But there are a couple of caveats. Inner Conviction ruins and removes all sources and ways of generating Frenzy Charges. And Malachai’s Loop makes it so whenever you reach your maximum Power Charges, you lose them all, shocking you in the process. So we circumvent both of these issues with Ralakesh’s Impatience, which makes it so while you’re standing still, your Minimum Charges are equal to your Maximum Charges. And since we’re always standing still when we are casting our spells, we’re always at maximum Power and Frenzy Charge!

For more information, check here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9ZQcz_bOkA

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