The Witch can ascend into an Infernalist or Blood Mage in Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2). Check out more information on the Witch's ascendancies, class guide, skills, and how to play Witch!

Witch Ascendancies

The Witch has two available Ascendancy classes for the Early Access, with another Ascendancy coming soon. Below is a list of the confirmed ascendancy classes for Witch:

Infernalist

The Infernalist commands devastating powers of hell. She can summon a Loyal Hellhound that ignites enemies and absorbs a portion of the damage the Infernalist suffers. She can transform her mana into Infernal Flame, igniting her enemies, but the more spells she casts, the greater the risk of the flame overflowing, ultimately damaging her.

The Infernalist can also morph into Demon Form, amplifying her spell damage, casting speed, and mobility. However, this form comes at a cost as her life force drains away the longer she maintains it.

Infernalist Ascendancy and Skills

Blood Mage

The Blood Mage excels at sustaining herself by transforming her energy shield into additional maximum life and leeching life from enemies through her spell damage. Her mastery over blood magic allows her to amplify critical damage based on her maximum life.

In return for these potent abilities, the Blood Mage sacrifices a portion of her health and mana to cast her spells. However, she can recover from this cost as slain enemies drop Life Remnants, enabling her to regain lost health and stay in the fight.

Blood Mage Ascendancy and Skills

Should You Pick Infernalist or Blood Mage?

The Infernalist is the Meta Pick

As of patch 0.1.0e, the Infernalist ascendancy leads the meta, overtaking the Blood Mage in popularity.

The Infernalist gains extra tankiness through the Hell Hound, which absorbs a portion of damage for her, making it perfect for minion builds. It also offers Demon Form for spell damage builds, along with abilities that boost Energy Shield and Spirit. On the other hand, the Blood Mage, despite having powerful tools like infinite-duration curses, demands more resource management since mana costs also consume life.

Note that this is a meta recommendation: while most players prefer the Infernalist for its ease and efficiency, the Blood Mage remains a powerful class with the right build.

Witch Class Overview

Overview

The Witch
Attribute	Intelligence
Weapon	Wand

The Witch specializes in Occult magic and necromancy, allowing you to build an army, use bone spells, and spread debuffs to attack enemies from range or start a plague.

Witch Skills

All Occult Skills

Unlike many classes, the Witch doesn't need specific weapons to cast her Occult spells, though equipping her with a Wand and Scepter is highly recommended. Below is a list of Occult Skills available:

Tier	Skills
1	Skeletal Warrior			Skeletal Sniper			Unearth			Contagion
3	Enfeeble			Skeletal Arsonist			Bone Cage			Essence Drain
5	Raise Zombie			Skeletal Frost Mage			Pain Offering			Bonestorm
7	Detonate Dead				Vulnerability				Profane Ritual
9	Skeletal Reaver				Despair				Dark Effigy
11	Skeletal Storm Mage				Bone Offering				Hexblast
11	Skeletal Brute				Skeletal Cleric				Soul Offering

List of All Gems

All Witch Persistent Skills

Witches have 7 Persistent skills, each of which granting passive buffs that are helpful to most builds.

Tier	Skills
4	Grim Feast						Withering Presence
8	Barrier Invocation				Cast on Minion Death				Blasphemy
14	Cast on Critical						Sacrifice

List of Spirit Gems

Recommended Skills

Skill	Effect
Pain Offering	Impales a Skeleton on bone spike to send nearby Minions into a frenzy as long as the spike remains. The bone spike itself is a minion. If it dies, effect ends immediately.
Detonate Dead	Causes a Corpse to violently explode, damaging surrounding enemies.
Skeletal Brute	Summons hard-hitting, Reviving Skeletal Brutes that can Stun Primed enemies.

Detonate Dead is the Witch's deadliest spell, making corpses explode by dealing damage equal to a portion of their life. It’s a go-to spell for many Witch builds.

Skeletal Brutes are tough, tanky minions that not only soak up damage but also stun enemies, giving the Witch some much-needed breathing room. Meanwhile, Pain Offering sends the Witch’s minions into a frenzy, drastically boosting their DPS.

How to Play Witch

Useful Tips for Witch
Makes Use of Minions Can Utlilize Enemy Corpses Has Access to Curses and Buffs Can Use Sorceress Skills

Makes Use of Minions

Focus on building your skeletal army early on, especially while leveling. These minions will not only absorb damage but can dish it out too, giving you some extra firepower and a solid buffer between you and the enemies.

Can Utlilize Enemy Corpses

Witches have a knack for turning corpses into powerful tools. Use Raise Zombie or Unearth to bring the dead back to fight for you, Detonate Dead to deal damage based on a corpse’s life, and Grim Feast to consume the remains and boost your Energy Shield.

Has Access to Curses and Buffs

Curses like Vulnerability, which reduce enemy armor, and buffs like Pain Offering, which send your minions into a frenzy, make battles faster and more efficient.

Can Use Sorceress Skills

Since both the Elemental and Occult spells rely on Intelligence, these skills complement each other perfectly, enhancing your playstyle, with some Sorceress spells fitting seamlessly into some endgame Witch builds. Flame Wall and Raging Spirits are fantastic early-game Sorceress spells to pick up.

Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) Related Guides

List of Classes

List of Early Access Classes

List of Upcoming Classes