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Today I'm thrilled to delve into the intricacies of one of the most exciting and versatile classes in the game: the Witch. Renowned for her mastery over minions, the Witch is the go-to class for players who revel in commanding an army of dark and mystical creatures. Let's explore how Path of Exile 2 elevates the Witch's gameplay, focusing on her potent ability to summon and command a diverse array of minions.

Minions: Your Dark Army

Most classes in Path of Exile 2 have access to some kind of minion, but if you truly want to control an army, the Witch is the ideal choice. Unlike the first game, where summoning minions often required manual effort and significant micromanagement, Path of Exile 2 streamlines this process. Many minions now come pre-summoned or can be summoned through various in-game mechanics, allowing for a more fluid and engaging gameplay experience.

For instance, wielding a particular sceptre can automatically grant you a couple of free warriors, but it also introduces a new resource called spirit. Spirit can be used to summon additional minions, giving players more flexibility and strategic options. You'll notice the spirit bar situated above the mana bar, providing a clear visual indicator of your available resources.

Customizing Your Army

The skill screen in Path of Exile 2 allows you to meticulously select the composition of your army. In a level two area, you might only afford to summon one additional minion, such as a sniper. As you progress and gather more resources, you can expand your army with various minions, each offering unique abilities and playstyles.

When minions perish in battle, they aren't gone for good. They will revive automatically, provided no other minion has died recently. This ensures that your army remains robust and ready for the next confrontation, minimizing downtime and maintaining a steady pace of action.

Commanding Your Minions

One of the standout features for the Witch in Path of Exile 2 is the ability to order your minions around with a dedicated command button. This allows for precise control over their actions, whether you want them to move to a specific location, attack a designated enemy, or even open chests and doors for you. This level of control enhances the strategic depth of the game, enabling players to adapt to various combat scenarios effectively.

Temporary Minions and Debuffs

In addition to your permanent minions, the Witch can summon temporary minions using spells like Unearth. This spell creates bone constructs from the corpses of fallen enemies. These constructs have a limited lifespan and can't take many hits, but they can be invaluable in overwhelming your enemies with sheer numbers.

While your minions are engaging the enemy, the Witch can cast powerful debuffs to weaken foes. Contagion, for example, spreads from monster to monster upon their death, increasing in damage each time it spreads. This makes it a potent tool for decimating groups of enemies. Additionally, minions summoned from infected corpses will carry the infection, spreading it further with each hit.

Essence Drain is another devastating chaos debuff that works well in conjunction with Contagion. This skill inflicts substantial single-target degeneration damage, and when used alongside Contagion, it can cause the Essence Drain effect to spread, creating a plague of destruction that can decimate enemy ranks.

Diverse Minion Types

As you progress to higher levels, the variety of minions available to the Witch expands significantly. At level 30, for example, you can experiment with different combinations of minions, each bringing unique abilities to the battlefield. You might choose Storm Mages to shock enemies, Clerics to heal and revive your minions, or Reavers for their high damage output. Reavers can even be enraged before battle, increasing their damage at the cost of slowly killing them—a trade-off that can be mitigated by your Cleric's healing abilities.

Command skills further enhance your tactical options. For instance, your Sniper can deploy a Gas Arrow to inflict damage over time, while Skeletal Arsonists can throw fire grenades or detonate low-health minions to deal area-of-effect damage. This synergy between different minion types and their command skills adds layers of strategy to your gameplay.

Powerful Spells and Offerings

The Witch's arsenal isn't limited to minions and debuffs. Channelled skills like Bone Storm unleash devastating volleys of sharp spikes, wreaking havoc on your enemies. Storm Mages can call down lightning storms to strike the locations of fallen skeletons, turning the tide of battle in your favor.

Offerings are another unique aspect of the Witch's skill set. These spells allow you to sacrifice one of your skeletons to grant powerful buffs to your other minions. Pain Offering, for example, increases the speed and damage of your minions, making them even more formidable in battle.

After a fierce battle, leftover corpses can be used to your advantage. Profane Ritual consumes a corpse to generate a Power Charge, which can then enhance other spells. Summoning zombies with these charges creates super zombies, which are more powerful and do not require a corpse for summoning. Power Charges can also be used to amplify channelled spells like Bone Storm, adding a devastating area-of-effect component.

Facing Formidable Foes

In Path of Exile 2, even non-boss monsters can present significant challenges. Take the Faridun Impaler, for example. This enemy boasts a wide array of abilities and can be tough to defeat. However, with the Bind Spectre gem, you can capture the spirit of any enemy and turn it into a minion. Capturing a powerful enemy like the Faridun Impaler requires a significant amount of spirit, necessitating the unsummoning of other minions. But the payoff is a powerful ally that can turn the tide of battle.

Spectres, like other minions, will respawn after a short time if they die, ensuring that your investment in capturing them isn't wasted. This mechanic opens up new strategic possibilities, allowing you to harness the strengths of your fallen foes.

Confronting Bosses

Finally, let's talk about boss battles. In a level two area, you might face the Carrion Crone, a formidable foe that tests your early-game strategies. As you progress to higher levels, bosses become even more challenging, requiring you to leverage all the tools at your disposal.

For instance, in a level 30 area, you might encounter Tor Gul, the Defiler. To defeat such a powerful enemy, you'll need to carefully manage your minions, utilize debuffs effectively, and deploy powerful spells and command skills. By mastering the Witch's diverse toolkit, you can overcome even the toughest adversaries.

Conclusion

The Witch in Path of Exile 2 offers a rich and rewarding gameplay experience, centered around summoning and commanding a diverse army of minions. With streamlined summoning mechanics, a wide variety of minion types, powerful debuffs, and strategic command skills, the Witch provides unparalleled depth and versatility. Whether you're a seasoned veteran or a newcomer to the game, the Witch's mastery over dark forces promises an engaging and thrilling journey through the world of Path of Exile 2. So, gather your minions, hone your strategies, and prepare to unleash a torrent of destruction upon your enemies!

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