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The Witchhunter is an ascendancy of the Mercenary class in Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) that specializes in dispatching the occult. Learn more about the Witchhunter's mechanics, its confirmed skills, and its base class!
List of Contents
The Witchhunter ascendancy revolves around knowing the weaknesses of the occult forces of Wraeclast. Listed below are the skills shown in the Witchhunter Ascendancy showcase:
| Skill | Effect | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Weapon Master | ・20 Passive Skill Points become Weapon Set Skill Points |
| 2 | Pitiless Killer | ・ Culling Strike Culling Strike Culling Strikes kill Normal enemies if their life is at 30% or below. Magic enemies are instead killed at 20%, Rare at 10% and Unique at 5%. These thresholds are checked before the damage of the Hit is applied. |
| 3 | Judge, Jury, and Executioner | ・ Decimating Strike Decimating Strike Hits against Full Life Enemies remove between 5% and 30% of Life, before the damage of the Hit is applied.
|
| 4 | Witchbane | ・Enemies have Maximum Concentration Concentration Enemies have less Cooldown Recovery Rate the lower their Concentration, scaling down to 50% less Cooldown Recovery Rate when Concentration is 0%. equal to 40% of their Maximum Life.
・Break enemy Concentration on Hit equal to 100% of Damage Dealt ・Enemies regain 10% of Concentration every second if they haven't lost Concentration in the past 5 seconds. |
| 5 | No Mercy | ・Deal up to 30% more Damage to Enemies based on their missing Concentration. |
| 6 | Obsessive Rituals | ・Grants Skill: Sorcery Ward Sorcery Ward Passively manifests a protective barrier which takes Elemental Damage from Hits for you until depleted. The barrier instantly recharges to its full value a short time after it stops taking damage or is fully depleted. .
・50% less Armour and Evasion Rating |
| 7 | Ceremonial Ablution | ・50% increased effect of Sorcery Ward. ・Sorcery Ward recovers 50% faster. |
| 8 | Zealous Inquisition | ・10% chance for Enemies you Kill to Explode, dealing 100% of their maximum Life as Physical Damage. ・Chance is doubled against Undead and Demons. |
| Skill | Effect |
|---|---|
| Pitiless Killer | ・ Culling Strike Culling Strike Culling Strikes kill Normal enemies if their life is at 30% or below. Magic enemies are instead killed at 20%, Rare at 10% and Unique at 5%. These thresholds are checked before the damage of the Hit is applied. |
| No Mercy | ・Deal up to 30% more Damage to Enemies based on their missing Concentration. |
| Zealous Inquisition | ・10% chance for Enemies you Kill to Explode, dealing 100% of their maximum Life as Physical Damage. ・Chance is doubled against Undead and Demons. |
Listed above are the best Ascendancy skills for the Gemling Legionnaire. The Pitiless Killer node is one of the best damage passives in the game since its Culling Strike is unique where it can also affect Normal enemies.
No Mercy is also extremely helpful for Witchhunter since it can deal up to 30% more damage according to their remaining Concentration, which you can break most of the time.
Lastly, the Zealous Inquisition node is perfect for clearing mobs as it allows you to proc Explosions on kill, with a higher chance against Undead and Demons.
The Witchhunter has a straight forward Ascendancy tree that mostly focuses on dealing more damage and gaining hit effects such as Culling Strike, which allows you to insta-kill enemies when their life reaches a certain threshold and Decimating Strike, which is a one-time hit effect that can shave off up to 30% max life against full health enemies.
Concentration is a mechanic unique to the Witchhunter ascendancy class where it gives your enemies an additional buildup that starts at 100% and decreases on hit. The less Concentration an enemy has, the more damage you will deal up to a maximum of 30%.
With Sorcery Ward, you are given a protective Barrier that can block all Elemental Damage until its depleted. This scales with 30% of your Armor and Evasion Rating so keep this in mind if you are building for this.
| Witchhunter Builds | |
|---|---|
 Bleed Bow Witchhunter |
 Barrage Ready a volley of arrows, Empowering your next Bow Attack to repeat multiple times. Consumes your Frenzy Charges on use to add additional repeats.
 Snipe Channel to charge up your bow before releasing a powerful shot. Releasing the moment you fully charge causes the arrow to explode on impact for a guaranteed Critical Hit.
 Sniper's Mark Marks a target. The next Critical Hit the target receives consumes the Mark to deal extra damage and grant you a Frenzy Charge.
 Rain of Arrows Fire arrows into the air, causing them to rain from above. Consumes your Frenzy Charges to fire more arrows.
 Spiral Volley Loads your Bow with a volley of enchanted arrows and fires them in a circle as you spin forward, firing directly at targets if possible. Consumes Frenzy Charges to cause the arrows to deal more damage and Chain to other targets. Each target can only be Hit once.
 Combat Frenzy While active, grants you a Frenzy Charge when you Freeze, Electrocute, or Pin an enemy. This can only occur once every few seconds.
 Wind Dancer Grants a buff that gives you more Evasion per stage. Being Hit by a Melee Attack while you have this buff consumes all stages to damage and Knock Back enemies around you.
|
| Focus: Leveling, Endgame, DoT, Burst Damage, Bossing, Mobbing | |
|
Summary: This Bleed Bow Witchhunter maximizes your damage with Combo Frenzy and unleashing huge burst damage with Rain of Arrows and Spiraling Volley that are great for clearing mobs and taking on Bosses. |
|
| Fire Grenade Witchhunter |
 Herald of Ash While active, enemies you sufficiently Overkill with attacks will cause an explosion that ignites nearby enemies based on the Overkill damage dealt.
 Gas Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade that causes a burst of Poison gas when its fuse expires, damaging enemies and leaving behind a growing Poison cloud. Burning effects or Detonator skills will cause the cloud to explode in a fiery blast.
Wind Dancer Grants a buff that gives you more Evasion per stage. Being Hit by a Melee Attack while you have this buff consumes all stages to damage and Knock Back enemies around you.
 Incendiary Shot Loads your Crossbow with flaming bolts that fragment in flight, damaging and igniting enemies on hit and in a small cone behind their final target.
 Blasphemy Turns socketed Curse skills into vile Auras, applying their effects to all nearby enemies.
 Oil Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade that bursts in a spray of Oil when the fuse expires or when it impacts an Enemy, dealing minimal damage but covering the ground and nearby enemies in Oil. Oil created this way can be Ignited by Detonator Skills or Ignited Ground.
 Explosive Shot Loads your Crossbow with flaming bolts that explode on impact. The explosion will cause any Grenades in its area of effect to also explode.
|
| Focus: Leveling, Endgame, DoT, AoE, Mobbing | |
|
Summary: The Fire Grenade Witchhunter makes use of igniting your enemies with the Oil Grenade + Explosive Shot combo to clear large packs of mobs easily. |
|
To become a Witchhunter, one must take on the Mercenary as their starting class and complete their Ascension Trials. The other ascended option of the Mercenary would be the Gemling Legionnaire.
Due to the Mercenary's high AoE damage yet immobile nature, consider taking on trials that focus more on dealing with big groups of weak enemies that you can blast through!
Mercenary Class Overview and Ascendancies
| Class | Ascendancy Classes |
|---|---|
| Mercenary | ・Witchhunter ・Gemling Legionnaire |
| Monk | ・Invoker ・Acolyte of Chayula |
| Ranger | ・Deadeye ・Pathfinder |
| Sorceress | ・Stormweaver ・Chronomancer |
| Warrior | ・Warbringer ・Titan |
| Witch | ・Infernalist ・Blood Mage |
| Druid | Huntress |
| Templar | Shadow |
| Duelist | Marauder |
Witchhunter Ascendancy Overview and Skills
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