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This is a Bleed Bow Witchhunter Mercenary build for Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2). Check out the Bleed Bow Witchhunter Mercenary build, including its gear, socketables, skills, and playstyle!
List of Contents
This Bleed Bow Witchhunter starter build is based on a build by JayTX over at JayTX (Youtube). The video includes details on how to gear up to get the build online. You can check JayTX's Twitch Channel for more Path of Exile 2 content and ask questions about the build!
※ Switch tabs to view build progression: Early Game (Acts 1-2), Mid-Game (Act 3 to Cruel Mode), Endgame (Atlas).
| Build Setup | |
|---|---|
 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.  Blink Replaces your dodge roll with a short-cooldown Spell that allows you to tunnel through space, instantly reappearing a medium distance away. |
 Great for Bossing Huge Burst Damage Low Defenses High Mana Usage | |
| Build Setup | |
|---|---|
 Bleed Bow Mercenary |   Escape Shot Leap backwards and fire an arrow which can Chill or Freeze enemies around the location you escaped from. 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.  Freezing Salvo Passively coalesces icy missiles from the air over time. Using the skill fires a missile, firing an additional missile for each that has been accumulated. Rain of Arrows Fire arrows into the air, causing them to rain from above. Consumes your Frenzy Charges to fire more arrows. 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. |
| Great for Mobbing and Clearing Huge Burst Damage Low Defenses High Mana Usage | |
The Bleed Bow Witchhunter starter build focuses on maximizing your damage with Combo Frenzy and unleashing huge burst damage with Spiraling Volley and Snipe which are great for clearing mobs and taking on Bosses.
When starting, you can keep using your default Bow Shot attack until you reach Act 3 for Rain of Arrows, which turns into your main clearing skill that synergizes well with Combat Frenzy to deal even more damage.
※ Switch tabs to view build progression: Early Game (Acts 1-2), Mid-Game (Act 3 to Cruel Mode), Endgame (Atlas).
| Gear | Modifiers | |
|---|---|---|
| Helm | ・Maximum Life ・Armor and Evasion ・Lightning Resistance ・Chaos Resistance | |
| Armor | ・Elemental Ailment Threshold ・Maximum Life ・Evasion Rating ・Stun Threshold ・Lightning Resistance | |
| Gloves | ・Armor ・Maximum Life ・Increased Armor ・Cold Resistance | |
| Ryslatha's Coil (Belt) | ・Reduced Charm Charges Used ・Maximum Life ・Flask Life Recovery Rate ・Maximum Physical Attack Damage ・Minimum Physical Attack Damage | |
| Boots | ・Maximum Life ・Movement Speed ・Armor and Evasion ・Fire Resistance | |
| Sapphire Ring | ・Cold Resistance ・Maximum Life ・Fire Resistance ・All Elemental Resistances | |
| Serpent's Egg (Amulet) | ・Rarity of Items Found ・All Attributes ・Chaos Resistance ・Mana Regenaration Rate ・Additional Charge when you gain a Charge | |
| Topaz Ring | ・Lightning Resistance ・Maximum Life ・Accuracy Rating ・Lightning Resistance ・Cold Resistance ・Leech Physical Damage as Mana | |
| Bow | ・Increased Physical Damage ・Adds Physical Damage to Attacks ・Leech Physical Damage as Mana ・Critical Damage Bonus | |
| Quiver | ・Chance to cause Bleeding ・Adds Physical Damage to Attacks ・Accuracy Rating ・Damage with Bow Skills ・Level of All Projectile Skills ・Dexterity |
| Gear | Modifiers | |
|---|---|---|
| Helm | ・Maximum Life ・Armour and Evasion ・Fire Resistance | |
| Armor | ・Maximum Life ・Armour and Evasion ・Cold Resistance ・Lightning Resistance | |
| Gloves | ・Maximum Life ・Accuracy Rating ・Fire Resistance | |
| Belt | ・Armour ・Maximum Life ・Strength | |
| Boots | ・Maximum Life ・Movement Speed ・Cold Resistance | |
| Ring | ・All Elemental Resistance ・Adds Physical Damage to Attacks ・Maximum Life ・Cold Resistance ・Lightning Resistance | |
| Amulet | ・Dexterity ・Maximum Life ・Lightning Resistance | |
| Ring | ・All Elemental Resistance ・Maximum Life ・All Attributes | |
| Bow | ・Increased Physical Damage ・Adds Physical Damage to Attacks ・Level of All Projectile Skills | |
| Quiver | ・Attacks have a Chance to cause Bleeding ・Adds Physical Damage to Attacks ・Accuracy Rating ・Increased Projectile Speed ・Dexterity |
The most important part here would be acquiring a Warden Bow with an Increased Physical Damage modifier, and your Quiver to have the Adds Physical Damage to Attacks modifier as these will be the key towards fully maximizing the Bleed Bow Witchhunter build.
Once you reach endgame, start farming for Ryslatha's Coil to boost your maximum Physical damage, and Serpent's Egg to increase your Frenzy charges for Spiral Volley. Make sure to get Movement Speed on your boots as well for faster clearing of maps.
| All Armors and Accessories | |
|---|---|
| List of Armors | List of Accessories |
Note: The modifiers listed are arranged according to priority.
 Emerald |
・Chance to Inflict Bleeding on hit
・Increased Magnitude of Bleeding you Inflict ・Increased Bleeding Duration ・Global Physical Damage |
|---|
For your jewels, focus on getting Emeralds that boost your Bleeding effects as this will help you maximize your damage and consistency.
 Antidote Charm |
・Increased Duration
・Increased Charges ・Recover Life when Used |
|---|
The best charm to slot in would be the Antidote Charm as many of the enemies you encounter will have Poison effects that can hinder your survivability for endgame.
| Equipment | Sockets |
|---|---|
| Weapon | |
| Armor | - |
The best slot-in for the Weapons is the Iron Rune as this will provide you with more Physical damage to maximize your damage output.
| All Runes and Soul Cores | |
|---|---|
| List of Runes | List of Soul Cores |
※ Switch tabs to view build progression: Early Game (Acts 1-2), Mid-Game (Act 3 to Cruel Mode), Endgame (Atlas).
| Skill | Support Gems |
|---|---|
| Spiral Volley |  Perpetual Charge Perpetual Charge Supports skills that consume Power, Frenzy, or Endurance Charges on use, giving them a chance not to remove each Charge while still gaining the benefits of Consuming them.  Pin Pin Supports any skill that hits enemies, allowing its Physical damage to Pin enemies but making it unable to Stun.  Lockdown Lockdown Supports any skill that hits enemies, causing any Pin buildup it inflicts to be stronger the closer the enemy is to you.  Inspiration Inspiration Supports any skill, making it cost less to use. Cannot support skills which reserve Spirit.  Martial Tempo Martial Tempo Supports Attacks, causing them to Attack faster. |
| Snipe |  Window of Opportunity Window of Opportunity Supports Channelling skills that have special effects if released with Perfect Timing, causing them to deal much more damage if released with Perfect Timing but reducing the Perfect Timing window.  Heft Heft Supports Skills which deal damage, increasing the maximum Physical Damage of their Hits.  Brutality Brutality Supports any skill that deals damage, boosting its physical damage at the expense of all other damage types.  Concentrated Effect Concentrated Effect Supports any skill with an area of effect, causing that area to be smaller but any area damage it deals to be higher.  Supercritical Supercritical Supports any skill that Hits enemies, causing it to deal more damage with Critical Hits but have less Critical Hit chance. |
| Barrage |  Premeditation Premeditation Supports skills that can Empower skills other than themselves, causing skills they Empower to deal more damage.  Ingenuity Ingenuity Supports skills with Cooldowns, increasing the rate at which those Cooldowns recover.  Second Wind Second Wind Supports skills with cooldowns, giving them extra uses of that cooldown. Cannot support instant or triggered skills. |
| Rain of Arrows |  Acceleration Acceleration Supports Projectile skills, making those projectiles travel faster.  Overpower Overpower Supports any skill that hits enemies, causing it to build up Stun more quickly.  Inevitable Critical Inevitable Critical Supports any skill you use yourself that Hits enemies, causing it to accumulate Critical hit chance over time. |
| Sniper's Mark |  Profusion Profusion Supports skills that can generate Charges, giving them a chance to generate and additional Charge when they do so.  Persistence Persistence Supports any skill that has a duration, making that duration longer. |
| Combat Frenzy |  Precision Precision Supports Persistent Buff Skills, causing you to gain increased Accuracy while the skill is active.  Clarity Clarity Supports Persistent Buff Skills, causing you to gain increased mana Regeneration while the skill is active.  Vitality Vitality Supports Persistent Buff Skills, causing you to gain Life Regeneration while the skill is active. |
| Wind Dancer |  Blind Blind Support any skill that Hits enemies, causing them to Blind on hit.  Maim Maim Supports Attacks causing them to Maim enemies. |
| Blink |  Arcane Tempo Arcane Tempo Supports spells, causing them to cast faster |
| Skill | Support Gems |
|---|---|
| Bow Shot | Brutality Brutality Supports any skill that deals damage, boosting its physical damage at the expense of all other damage types.  Chain Chain Supports Projectile skills and any other skill that Chain, causing them to chain additional times.  Lacerate Lacerate Supports any skill that hits enemies, giving it a chance to inflict Bleeding. |
| Freezing Salvo |  Cold Infusion Cold Infusion Supports attacks, causing them to gain Cold Damage but deal less Fire and Lightning Damage.  Hourglass Hourglass Supports any damaging skill that you use yourself, causing it to deal significantly more damage but gain a long cooldown. Cannot support skills which already have a cooldown. |
| Escape Shot |  Deep Freeze Deep Freeze Supports any skill that hits enemies, causing Freeze it inflicts to last longer. |
| Rain of Arrows | Concentrated Effect Concentrated Effect Supports any skill with an area of effect, causing that area to be smaller but any area damage it deals to be higher. |
| Snipe | Window of Opportunity Window of Opportunity Supports Channelling skills that have special effects if released with Perfect Timing, causing them to deal much more damage if released with Perfect Timing but reducing the Perfect Timing window. Supercritical Supercritical Supports any skill that Hits enemies, causing it to deal more damage with Critical Hits but have less Critical Hit chance. |
| Spiral Volley | Pin Pin Supports any skill that hits enemies, allowing its Physical damage to Pin enemies but making it unable to Stun. Perpetual Charge Perpetual Charge Supports skills that consume Power, Frenzy, or Endurance Charges on use, giving them a chance not to remove each Charge while still gaining the benefits of Consuming them. |
| Combat Frenzy | Profusion Profusion Supports skills that can generate Charges, giving them a chance to generate and additional Charge when they do so. |
| Wind Dancer | Clarity Clarity Supports Persistent Buff Skills, causing you to gain increased mana Regeneration while the skill is active. Blind Blind Support any skill that Hits enemies, causing them to Blind on hit. |
During the early game before Act 3, you will be using your default attack Bow Shot a lot with a few support gems you can slot in such as Brutality and Lacerate which you will be swapping around once you get Rain of Arrows and Spiraling Volley.
As for your other skills, Spiral Volley will replace Bow Shot as your main clearing skill, Snipe for huge burst damage against bosses, Freezing Salvo for crowd control and freezing large mobs, and Escape Shot as your mobility skill for when you start getting surrounded. Freezing Salvo and Escape Shot are only used for the leveling build so you can opt to remove them once you reach endgame.
Combat Frenzy will work wonders for this build as it works well with Rain of Arrows and Spiral Volley to deal 120% more damage which is great for both clearing mobs and taking on bosses, while Wind Dancer can be your failsafe to trigger Knock Back on surrounding enemies and Blink for better movement around maps.
※ Switch tabs to view build progression: Early Game (Acts 1-2), Mid-Game (Act 3 to Cruel Mode), Endgame (Atlas).
| Ascendancy Tree | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Passive Nodes | |||
| 1. |  | 2. |  |
| 3. |  | 4. |  |
| 5. |  | 6. |  |
| 7. |  | 8. | - |
| Ascendancy Tree | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| | |||
| Passive Nodes | |||
| 1. |  | 2. |  |
| 3. |  | 4. |  |
| 5. |  | 6. |  |
| 7. |  | 8. | - |
The Witchhunter Ascendancy nodes, Zealous Inquisition will give you a chance of exploding your enemies on kill which helps you greatly when mobbing, while Judge, Jury, and Executioner will give you a chance of procing Decimating Strike. Take Witchbane last for the the added damage on breaking enemy concentration.
As for the passive skill tree, this focuses on boosting your Bleeding effects with Aggravation and Wasting, while also increasing your survivability by stacking evasion nodes such as Afterimage, Escape Strategy, and Beastial Skin.
Make sure to get Fervour as well as this will increase the stacks of your Combat Frenzy which is your most ideal way of boosting your Snipe damage.
Passive Skill Tree Guide and List of Passives
The Bleed Bow Witchhunter build for mobbing revolves around freezing your opponents with Rain of Arrows and Freezing Salvo and finishing them off with Bow Shot or Spiral Volley. The rotation is as follows:
The Bleed Bow Witchhunter build for bossing revolves around dealing huge burst damage with Snipe and consistently damaging them with Rain of Arrows and Spiral Volley. The rotation is as follows:
 Mercenary |
 Monk |
 Witch |
 Sorceress |
 Warrior |
 Ranger |
| 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: DoT, Burst Damage, Bossing, Mobbing |
| 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: DoT, AoE, Mobbing |
 Gunslinger Gemling Legionnaire |
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.
 Fragmentation Rounds Loads your Crossbow with Piercing bolts that fragment in flight. Bolts that hit a frozen enemy consume the Freeze and cause an explosion of Shrapnel. Bolts that hit an Ice Crystal cause it to explode.
 High Velocity Rounds Loads your Crossbow with Piercing bolts that can consume Fully Broken Armour on enemies to deal extra damage.
 Herald of Plague While active, killing a Poisoned enemy spreads its Poison to other nearby enemies, and has a chance to also Hinder them.
 Attrition While active, causes you to deal more Hit damage to Rare and Unique enemies the longer you've been fighting them, and gain Culling Strike against them once you've been fighting them for long enough.
 Cast on Freeze While active, gains Energy when you Freeze enemies and triggers socketed spells on reaching maximum Energy.
 Emergency Reload Instantly relaods your active Crossbow Ammunition and Empowers the loaded bolts to deal more damage.
 Galvanic Shards Loads your Crossbow with a clip of charged bolts that fragment in flight, releasing Chaining Lightning beams when they Hit enemies. Using this skill again reloads the clip.
 Withering Presence While active, periodically Withers enemies in your Presence.
Blink Replaces your dodge roll with a short-cooldown Spell that allows you to tunnel through space, instantly reappearing a medium distance away.
Focus: DoT, Crowd Control, Bossing |
| Grenadier Gemling Legionnaire |
 Explosive Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade that unleashes a devastating fiery blast when its fuse expires.
 Flash Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade that unleashes a Blinding, Stunning explosion when its fuse expires. This explosion can Blind both Allies and Enemies.
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.
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.
 Cluster Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade That explodes when it's fuse expires, throwing out a nova of mini Grenades that explode when they come to a stop.
Focus: AoE, Burst Damage, Crowd Control |
| Base Class | |
|---|---|
| Mercenary |
|
| Ascendancies | |
| Gemling Legionnaire |
Witchhunter |
PoE 2 Bleed Bow Witchhunter Mercenary Build
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Iron Rune
No, as you level up your regular auto attack gets more slots without orbs. Orbs are for the socketed skills only.