[Top 5] Path of Exile Best Witch Builds That Wreck Hard!

“Though she may look frail and delicate, do not underestimate her. Many have, and they are counted among the burned and withered corpses in her wake.”

Here are some of the top builds for this deadly lady to wreak havoc with her elemental and dark arts spells.

5. Shak’s Central Cold DoT (Damage over Time)

Witch on the Beach Fanart

If you want a well-rounded build, capable of nearly all content in the game without hassle, in a league-start environment, this is the one for you!

What Shak’s Cold DoT Excels in:

• Fast and safe leveling;
• Can self-craft most of your gear, SSF-viable (Solo self-found);
• Transition from CI to Low-Life variant easily after some investment;
• Can reach over 9000 Energy Shield and over 5 million DPS;
• Non-intensive playstyle, able to dodge attacks without effort.

Shak’s Central Cold DoT full details:

• Cold DoT, despite the incoming nerfs and past nerfs, has always been a staple of reliable, easy to achieve damage since the introduction of the archetype. You can use Vortex, Creeping Frost, and Cold Snap, or a variation of them, sometimes even all three;
• It works by stacking damage multipliers, energy shield, and auras, and since it has near-perfect uptime in DPS (you don’t have to stand there and keep attacking), you’re safe to curse and dodge, as well as freezing and blocking enemies;
• It has no required items unless you’re going for the Low-Life variant, making it a great choice for SSF and League Start.

You can find more information on how it works here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2661120

4. Lahkesis’ Queen of Chaos “Essence Drain/Bane/Contagion”.

Occultist Splash Art

Similar to her Cold DoT sister, Chaos DoT builds thrive in being able to consistently deal damage while on the move, having fantastic upkeep in damage and the inherent safety that provides cannot be understated.

What Lahkesis Queen of Chaos DoT Excels in:

• Very Strong League Start;
• Able to clear all content with investment;
• Safe and reliable;
• RSI-Friendly, no keyboard smashing.

Lahkesis’ Queen of Chaos full details:

• Build relies on heavy investment of Curses, increasing their effectiveness through the roof, which boosts the damage of both ED and Bane, while Contagion is used to spread Essence Drain if you prefer it instead of Bane for clearing;
• It has the same flexibility as the Shak’s Cold DoT in gear. You can start as a Life variant and then into Chaos Inoculation (CI), to later in the endgame swap to Low-Life (LL);
• Unlike with Shak’s, we can make use of Wither and its powerful effect, making enemies take up to 75% MORE damage from Chaos Damage;
• It has a very low floor of entry to deal enough damage to gear up as well as having a ceiling comfortable enough to beat any content in the game at a moderate rate.

You can find more information on how it works here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1963181

3. Summon Raging Spirits Bomber

Necromancer SRS Fanart

This build makes use of the Minion Instability Keystone and the Tavukai Unique Amulet to ‘pop’ the Raging Spirits and make them deal damage based of their life when they die or expire, creating the famously known ‘Popcorn SRS’.

What the SRS Bomber Excels in:

• Easy and cheap to gear, making it great for League-Start;
• Can do all content and all map mods without much hassle;
• Very tanky, reaching Max Block and Spell Block;
• Fairly good Clear Speed and good single-target damage

Summon Raging Spirits Bomber full details:

• The build works by increasing minion, in this case, SRS’, life to maximum, and then killing them through a combined degen of chaos damage (from Tavukai) and fire damage (Infernal legion), to pop the SRS and deal part of its life as fire damage (which can be scaled further) to enemies.
• As for defense, it makes use of Bone Offering to grant you Attack and Spell Block, as well as several passives and other uniques, such as Rumi’s Concoction to boost your Block rate to the cap, as well as Life Gained on Block modifiers on the shield, to keep you topped up.
• It has an easy learning curve to get used to, it's fairly flexible and has good upkeep of damage, and its defense is so high, you can tank several hits and ignore most of the content.

You can find more information on how it works here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2995833

2. Kay’s Summoner

Masters Vs Exiles

This build is the ‘one mold fits all’ build for regular necromancers. It can use any archetype (except Minion Instability) and most minion skills. It’s extremely flexible in skill choice, passive tree, sockets, and gear. You can be a General, commanding an Army of Minions, a Skelemancer (Both Warriors or Mages), full Spectres, Sentinels and Spiders, Poisonous Spiders, and much more.

What Kay’s Summoner Excels in:

• Extreme flexibility in gearing, skill choices, budget, clearing, or bossing orientated;
• Easy to level up;
• Great for League Start and SSF;
• Extreme High Ceiling of damage.

Kay’s Summoner full details:

• You can choose between several archetypes: Minion Army (Skeletons, Spectres, Zombies and a Golem), Full Skelemancer (Warrior or Mage variants), Pure Spectres (Often Syndicate Operatives), Sentinel&Spiders (Using Herald of Purity’s Minions and Arakali’s Fang), Pure Spiders (Either Occultist or Poison Variant).
• Each archetype has its own pros and cons, most being very safe due to the playstyle of a minion build. A few (Spiders and Spectres) are more gear-reliant and thus less able to be done in an SSF environment. They all share the same defenses, however, with high EHP and some extra form of mitigation.
• For most builds, you will want a Triad Grip glove, to be able to convert minion damage into another element (most often cold).

You can find more information here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3179145#p24300840

1. Gryph’s Cast on Crit Volatile Dead Necromancer

Necromancer picture

This build uses the regular tried and true CoC VD/DD Cyclone build and takes it for a spin (haha, get it?) by making it self-ignite whenever you ignite an enemy, which then triggers several Cast When Damage Taken (CWDT) spells and effects while mitigating that damage through Bone Offering.

It makes use of highly synergistic unique pieces to create smooth gameplay without much input and is very click-friendly to boot.

What Gryph’s CoC VD Necromancer Excels In:

• Extremely Tanky, with a life pool of over 7k, 75/50 block chance as well as life-on-block;
• Fast clear speed at the cost of frames;
• Over 4 million DPS single-target;
• Fun and lazy playstyle, with one-button goodness;
• Scales superbly well with high investment.

Gryph’s CoC VD full details:

• Whenever you ignite an enemy, you will trigger Eye of Innocence Unique Amulet’s passive, which makes you take 100 fire damage. Since we’re a crit build, you’ll be igniting constantly, ramping up the damage taken enough so that it procs CWDT. Then, it will make it a perpetual loop of self-ignite and self-healing on block, and other recovery mechanics, like life gained on hit or on ignite;
• CoC VD works by dealing critical strikes with your Cyclone, which then triggers Desecrate, to summon up several corpses, followed up by triggering Volatile Dead, dealing huge flat fire damage from our gear as well as a lot of % max monster life damage in auto-aimed orbs that follow your enemies.
• Whenever you proc CWDT, you not only proc several Ball Lightning linked to Combustion and Life Gained on Hit but also several utility spells, such as Wave of Conviction, to apply Fire Exposure, Flammability to reduce enemies’ Fire Resistance, as well as Bone Offering and Assassin’s Mark, without needing to aim or stop to cast.

You can find more information here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3007160

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