Path Of Exile 2 Powerful Flame Witch: How To Build It?
Witch in POE 2 is a very interesting summon class, however she can be a bit weak in the later stages. Here is a very powerful Flame Witch build that you might want to try as a pyromaniac in the game.
Witch in Path of Exile 2 is a very interesting class. She can be called strong in the early stage. With the protection of summons, she can face the monster group without pressure. However, Witch in the later stage seems to be a little powerless, because Witch’s summons cannot face the powerful boss, which causes Witch to face the boss alone. The survivability of a witch without summons is not high, so players who want to play a powerful witch need to have the correct Ascendancy, weapons and skills.
DPS of Witch is a little lower than other characters in Path of Exile 2, so Witch cannot rashly re-enter the boss field and instill your damage to the boss. This will not have much effect, and you will die. So the following recommends an extremely powerful Flame Witch build.

Equipment
Witch is very dependent on minions, and it takes a lot of Spirit to summon more minions. Therefore, Witch’s equipment should be matched by Spirit. The more Spirit you have, the more summons you can drive.
The most direct way to increase your Spirit is to rely on equipment. Some scepters will directly provide you with Spirit, and you can also use POE 2 Chaos orbs to replace some of your equipment affix with affix that increase Spirit, which is even better.
Weapons
Many scepters can directly provide you with a large amount of Spirit, and among them, Rattling Scepter is the most suitable scepter for witches. This scepter not only provides 100 Spirit for witches, but also allows you to summon some minions.
These minions are not too strong, but they can perfectly contain the enemy and put you in a safe position to attack without worry.
You can choose to place Shield or Focus in the off-hand position to improve your survivability, or if you are confident enough, you can also equip a wand in the main hand and a scepter in the off-hand, abandoning the ability to defend and turn all to offense.
Some flame wands can make the enemy suffer from burning, such as the Volatile Wand, which can turn the corpse into a fireball that chases the enemy. Leaving the corpse can also be used to summon minions, and Focus is very useful at this time. How you want to use the corpse depends on whether you need flame or minions.
Armor And Accessories
For armor and accessories, the first choice is still items that can increase Spirit. The second is items that enhance summons. Spirit is the key to determining how many summons a witch can control, which is crucial.
There are not many armor and accessories that enhance Spirit. You can try to get Alpha’s Howl Armored Cap and Ventor’s Gamble Gold Ring, which are both equipment that can enhance your Spirit.
You can also choose to use currency to exchange more POE 2 items that enhance Spirit with other players.
Skills
In POE 2, players can learn skills at will. However, a powerful build requires a specific combination of some skills to exert greater power.
Skill Gems
- Skeletal Arsonists: Paired with Support Gems: Fire Infusion, Scattershot, and Immolate
- Flame Wall: Paired with Support Gems: Arcane Tempo, Fortress, and Spell Cascade
- Detonate Dead: Paired with Support Gems: Magnified Effect, Corpse Conservation, and Spell Echo
- Flammability: Paired with Support Gems: Burning Inscription, Impending Doom, and Magnified Effect
- Pain Offering: Paired with Support Gems: Font of Rage, Persistence, and Ablation
- Unearth: Paired with Support Gems: Corpse Conservation, Persistence, and Feeding Frenzy
The core of Flame Witch’s skill set is flame and minions. You need to allocate your skill gems and support gems mainly to these skills.
Skeletal Arsonists
Skeletal Arsonists allow you to summon skeleton hurlers that throw flaming projectiles. Yes, they are ranged characters. Rattling Scepters allow you to summon warriors. Put warriors and hurlers together and you have an army.
The key is that the flames thrown by Skeletal Arsonists can be combined with your other flame skills, which allows these poor skeletons to do more damage.
Flame Wall
Flame Wall creates a Flame Wall in front of you, and enemies that enter it will be set on fire and receive continuous damage.
With the support gem equipped for this skill, you can create three Flame Wall, which can effectively prevent enemies from getting in front of you.
The support gem Fortress can double all your flame skills, and your flame wall will be greatly amplified.
The remaining Pain Offering and Unearth focus on increasing the damage of minions, while Detonate Dead and Flammability make your enemies suffer from flames.
Passive Skills
Passive skills are still built along the lines of increasing flame damage and minion damage, but fortunately there aren’t many passive skills in POE 2 that increase fire skills, so you only need to focus on increasing minion damage.
Ascendancy
When Witch chooses Ascendancy, we still have two options: Infernalist and Bloodmage. Among them, Infernalist is Ascendancy that controls hellfire and hell minions, which is very suitable for a flame witch.
The first skill you need to unlock is Hellhound, which will be another minion you summon. After you complete the remaining two trials, you will continue to gain Ascendancy, and you need to add Pyromantic Pact and Bringer of Flame.
Pyromantic Pact will allow Infernal Flame to replace your mana, and when Infernal Flame is sufficient, Bringer of Flame skill will allow all attacks of you and your minions to set the enemy on fire.
Also Read: How To Level Up Faster For Witch In Path Of Exile 2?
The above is an introduction to POE 2 Flame Witch build. As the only summoner in POE 2, this class is very interesting to play. However, it may require a lot of currency to fully build her. Interested players can try this build.
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Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0c Bear Druid Buffs | Rampage & Walking Calamity Fixes And Modify Build
Just a few days ago, Path of Exile 2 released a patch note for 0.4.0c, which included several modifications to the original patch 0.4.0 that was released alongside The Last of the Druids league. These modifications included buffs to Temple, increased drop rates, and other bug fixes.
However, in fact, the most attention-grabbing part of the lengthy patch notes is the change to Bear Form Druid Build, which allows for rapid farming. This is a very important game optimization that will bring players a richer gaming experience. However, the official patch notes are so long that it’s impossible to know where to begin.
Therefore, to help all Druid players easily utilize the latest patch for the best speed-farming experience, this guide will provide a specific introduction to the positive and useful changes that patch 0.4.0c brings to this powerful class, their benefits, and how to modify your build accordingly.
Rampage Changed
First, let’s look at the most important positive change, which is the two fixes for Rampage skill gem: fixing the bug that it ignored movement speed changes after being activated; and fixing the bug that it would sometimes stop after a collision. Although it was only two short lines, the impact was enormous.
Under the influence of these two fixes, after casting Rampage skill, you will be unstoppable, with nothing able to hinder your rampage through enemy ranks, causing extremely severe damage. Theoretically, you can hold down Rampage to keep running indefinitely, even you enter Abyssal Pit.
This trap contains many strange collision detection boxes that should theoretically block you, but after Rampage effect is fixed, those walls will no longer affect you. In view of this, you can absolutely consider this skill as the most powerful combination of movement speed and damage skills in your current Druid build.
In subsequent battles, you no longer need to carefully tap the skill release button; instead, simply hold it down and charge straight at the enemy until you reach the target within attack range. Of course, every skill has a certain cooldown time, and you need a very short cooldown time to continuously cast this high-intensity skill.
Therefore, it is highly recommended that you buy POE 2 currency from EZG.com and invest it in boots, gloves, or other gear that can reduce cooldowns for the most effective results. By the way, we’re having a Christmas special here. From now until December 31st, use “XMAS” Code to enjoy 10% off, making it an even better value!
Walking Calamity Changed
In this PoE 2 patch 0.4.0c, the developers also made some changes to Walking Calamity Gem. One particularly noteworthy change is that the large meteors cast by this skill will prioritize attacking bosses. This will make subsequent boss encounters faster and more efficient, something many solo exploration players have been hoping for.
Additionally, it reduces the number of meteors that fall when there are few enemies nearby, while increasing the number of meteors that fall for each nearby enemy by 50%. This will significantly reduce the waste of meteors in combat and increase Gain Fire damage and Rage regeneration you can use from meteor drops.
At the same time, this gem will no longer provide the skill effect of generating a large meteor for every two meteors that fall. This seems like a debuff, but in fact, it has been offset by the two meteor-related changes mentioned above. The frequency of large meteorites will decrease, but large meteorites are more likely to hit the leader, and more meteorites will not be wasted. Overall, it has been improved.
Moreover, Walking Calamity skill has now gained a buff effect: 10% of the damage received is converted into fire damage, doubling the skill’s combat effectiveness! Some players in the community are even exclaiming that they will switch from Rampage Druid builds to Walking Calamity Druid builds because the ability to reflect damage back to enemies is simply too powerful.
How To Modify Your Druid Build?
So, how should you change your Druid build for the mid-to-late game in Path of Exile 2: The Last of the Druids, taking into account these two significant changes to skill gems? Just keep the following points in mind.
Regardless of which of these two significantly reworked abilities you build around, equipping Idol of Eeshta on your helmet is never a bad idea, as it increases the duration of your meta-ability by 12%. With its help, Rampage allows you to keep charging forward, and Walking Calamity allows you to keep dealing damage with meteors.
At that time, you will no longer need to rely on Tzamoto’s Soul Core of Ferocity, which can also be placed on the helmet, to accumulate your maximum Rage. You can directly rely on Meteor or other passive skills to quickly accumulate it, which will greatly help improve your gaming experience.
Speaking of passive skills, Price of Freedom is one you really need to pay attention to. In fact, many players feel that it’s not worth unlocking specifically because, aside from increasing attack costs and converting mana consumption into health consumption, it doesn’t seem like a useful node at all.
However, it’s important to correct something here: when choosing a Notable to activate, you shouldn’t just look at its own effect, but also the effectiveness of the smaller nodes around it. For example, the one to the left of Price of Freedom can increase your health regeneration rate by 10%, which is very useful in some magic or rare boss encounters.
Of course, there’s also Reverberating Impact passive node, which can reduce enemy armor by 25%, making them more vulnerable; and it increases attack range by 12%, making it more effective when dealing with groups of enemies.
If you want to further improve your character’s movement and attack speed, consider adding Lunar Assault skill gem to your build. This will give the seemingly clumsy bear form of Druid more agility and significantly increase farming efficiency.
In summary, POE 2 0.4.0c patch is a significant enhancement to Bear Form Druid build, providing a more seamless experience whether for speed runs or challenging high-difficulty encounters. We hope you enjoy exploring the current league!
Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Shaman VS. Oracle Druid: Which Should You Choose As Your Ascendancy Class?
After completing Ascent to Power quest in Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0, you'll receive Ascendancy Classes as a character progression reward. As transformative subclasses, they grant your character unique abilities.
If you're a Druid player, you'll need to choose between Shaman and Oracle. This choice will significantly impact your character's playstyle and strategy in the late game, so careful consideration is essential.
Below, I'll provide detailed information about these two classes and their compatibility. After reading this, you should be able to make the most suitable choice.
Shaman
Key Features
Shamans channel the power of nature, using Rage to enhance spells, and can transform into meteors, lightning, and ice to deal massive damage.
- Turning of the Seasons: Reveals nearby enemies and deals an additional 10% random elemental damage;
- Bringer of the Apocalypse: Gains Apocalypse Skill, summoning a powerful storm after dealing sufficient elemental damage;
- Druidic Champion: Increases spell damage by 1% for every 2 Rage;
- Reactive Growth: Reduces elemental damage by 10% and adapts to the highest elemental damage type received each time. For each match of this adaptation (up to 3 times), each elemental damage type also receives an additional 10% damage reduction;
- Avatar of Evolution: Converts physical damage received into frost, fire, or lightning damage;
- Furious Wellspring: Prevents Rage loss, regenerating maximum Rage per second in different forms. Rage regeneration rate is affected by mana regeneration status;
- Sacred Flow: Grants +40 Spirit for each free Charm slot;
- Wisdom of the Magi: Gains Bonded modifier bonus on Runes and Idols.
If you want to comprehensively improve Druid's elemental damage output, prioritizing any of Shaman's Ascendancy nodes is a good choice, regardless of element type.
Advantages & Disadvantages
Advantages:
- Focuses on a combination of spellcasting and aggressive melee combat. Powerful spells can be cast in human form, creating conditions for Rage in beast form.
Disadvantages:
- More suited to bear form due to Rage resources;
- Combines aggressive gameplay with precise spellcasting, requiring a high level of understanding and effective synergy of all skills;
- Requires ample gear or gems to generate good Rage, which can be a burden for players without sufficient POE 2 currency in the early game.
Passive Tree
In PoE 2, Shaman's passive skill tree focuses more on damage output and damage reduction, allowing for effective control of elemental damage in combat while reducing the likelihood of fatal damage.
Node Activation Focus:
- Provides elemental damage resistance and increases Flask efficiency;
- Increases Rage output and elemental damage;
- Helps players obtain better Runes bonuses from gear.
It doesn't matter which ability nodes you unlock first; unlock them according to your personal playstyle. Almost all your skills are passively triggered, except for one node - Apocalypse, which is one of the most powerful nodes in Patch 0.4.0.
Overall, if your Druids focus more on elemental damage output as their primary combat method, and you prefer a straightforward playstyle, Shaman will be your top choice for Ascendancy.
Oracle
Key Features
Oracles can perfect the power of Foresight, gaining a significant advantage in combat by anticipating monster movements and even allocating passive skills from parallel timelines.
- Entwined Realities: Allows players to allocate Keystone Passives without connecting them to the current passive skill tree;
- The Unseen Path: Unlocks Paths not Taken, revealing additional passive nodes accessible only to Oracle;
- Harmony Within: Damage taken is absorbed by Mana Pool if current mana is higher than current life;
- Converging Paths: Gains Moment of Vulnerability ability, allowing multiple instances of damage to a target's current and future states;
- Fateful Vision: Gains Align Fate ability, increasing skill damage output when your used skill matches one foretold by Oracle;
- Unnamed Heartwood: Increases the maximum number of Totems that can be summoned;
- The Lesser Harm: Turns enemy critical hit chance and damage against you into Unlucky;
- Forced Outcome: Gains Inevitable Critical Hits ability, allowing skills to trigger critical hits when the player meets specific conditions shown in Oracle's prediction.
Advantages & Disadvantages
Advantages:
- Can use skills to peek into nearly 130 passive nodes exclusive to Oracles;
- In human form, Oracles can foresee the future and control their environment to increase damage.
Disadvantages:
- Requires equipment or gems that provide reasonable mana regeneration;
- Characters have low health and are relatively fragile.
Passive Tree
The biggest advantage of Oracle Druids in Path of Exile 2 is the ability to unlock Paths Not Taken passive nodes, which are only available if you choose the Oracle class.
Other nodes can be unlocked around the attributes that increase Chaos spells and physical attack. These nodes are distributed across various branches of the passive tree, including the branch at the end exclusive to animal form.
Oracle Druids unlock many additional perks and fun, such as the two new spells Moment of Vulnerability and Align Fate, which are not available to Shaman Druids.
Therefore, Oracles are more suitable for players skilled at managing different spells, especially Wyvern Druid builds which always maximize Oracle class's advantages. However, the other three beast forms are also good choices.
The above covers the two Ascendancy Classes added for Druid in Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0. Hopefully, this information will help you make the most suitable choice and enhance your character's strength in the endgame.
POE 2 The Last Of The Druids League Anomaly Boss Guide | How To Find And Defeat Them All?
Currently, the latest league of The Last of the Druids in Path of Exile 2 is in its mid-stage, and many players have completed the main campaign and entered the endgame through the interlude. In this more challenging game content, you will no longer face low- to mid-level monsters, but bosses with extremely high health and damage output.
In particular, Anomaly bosses added in the last league, and their encounters, although difficult to complete, are very valuable because you can find exclusive Lineage Support Gems from their drops, which can make your character’s endgame builds more effective.
After the changes in patch 0.4.0, there are 4 Anomaly bosses existing in POE 2, who previously appeared in Act 4 and three interludes. Since these encounters are all in the endgame, they are much more difficult to complete than those in the main campaign. So, you might really need this guide to killing Anomaly bosses from EZG.com.
1. Manoki, The Chosen
The first character introduced here is Manoki, the Chosen, whose prototype is Karui Chieftain, Tavakai from Act 4. It appears in Jade Isle map, but the way to enter the map is a bit peculiar: because its outer perimeter is shrouded in a vortex, you need to remove it before you can enter.
To clear the whirlpool, you need to explore Atlas near the water until you see a white whirlpool. Don’t interact with it yet; you need to clear the map connected to it and deactivate a Karui Beacon. This will unlock Jade Isle map.
Following the route explored on this map, you will soon find Manoki, the Chosen, the boss who has been waiting for you. Your encounter with it is still divided into three phases. Below are the key points and combat strategies for each phase.
Phase 1
In this phase, you will fight Manoki in semi-human form. Once its health drops to around 60%, the boss will transform and flee towards Tukohama’s shrine. Be sure to catch up with it and attack it during this time, otherwise it will regain full health. At the same time, be aware of its heavy blows.
Phase 2
Manoki will then launch attacks that have a corrupted effect, as well as some powerful heavy blows, which you need to dodge in time. Many attacks will cause the ground to grow spikes, but there is no need to worry too much, as their generation time is somewhat delayed. When its health drops to around 80%, the boss will transform again and regain full health.
Phase 3
At this point, the boss’s movement and attack speed will increase significantly, and it will also unleash numerous area-of-effect attacks. Therefore, you cannot prolong this phase of the battle, otherwise the entire arena will be covered by its area-of-effect damage, which will consume a lot of your healing potions and pose a significant threat.
However, this is merely a delaying tactic. To completely avoid immediate death after being attacked, you need to buy PoE 2 currency from EZG.com, where can enjoy a 10% OFF here using "XMAS" Code, allowing the equipped items to provide you with the maximum healing power.
After you have gone through all the hardships to complete this encounter, you will receive the following rewards:
- Kaom’s Madness
- Rakiata’s Flow
- Tawhoa’s Tending
- Tasalio’s Rhythm
2. Varloch, The Ashen Lord & Avelyne, The Withered Rose
This boss combination is located in Derelict Mansion map in Atlas of POE 2 The Last of the Druids league. This map and the encounter are sampled from The Curse of Holten Interlude. To enter it, you need to activate Draioch Hengestones in the connected maps first, which is very simple and can be done in two minutes.
Although bats fly around the map, they pose no threat to you, so you can safely search every house on the map to farm POE 2 currency and experience points by killing some low-level monsters. At the end of the map exploration, you will encounter Varloch, the Ashen Lord, and Avelyne, the Withered Rose.
Varloch’s attack style is very similar to Draven’s in Act 1, but more lethal; and Avelyne is a variant of Asinia, both possessing similar attack moves and the same weaknesses. Therefore, you only need to pay attention to the following two points.
Varloch will slam his sword into the ground, which is easy to dodge. However, you should pay more attention to the shockwaves that follow the slam and spread to the sides, which will cause you to lose a lot of health. Remember to use potions to replenish your lost health points promptly.
Avelyne will occasionally trap you in a Bone Cage and summon an Orbital Strike in that area, a brief but continuous damaging attack. You need to break Bone Cage quickly and escape. Defeating these two bosses will you receive the following rewards:
- Rigwald’s Ferocity
- Ailith’s Chimes
- Einhar’s Beastrite
3. Zahmir, The Blade Sovereign
Your encounter with Zahmir will take place on Sacred Reservoir map. You’ll need to remove Temporal Sandstorm in the desert to find it, which requires you to disable the three Temportal Tethers located in the connected maps.
This boss is a bit different from the previous ones; although its prototype is Azmadi, the Faridun Prince from The Stolen Barya Interlude, the challenge is somewhat reduced, making it less difficult. That being said, this battle still consists of two phases, as follows:
Phase 1
Although Zahmir will launch some combos at you, these attacks are predictable, so you can easily dodge them. It’s worth noting that these attacks not only damage you but also inflict a stagger effect, stunning you, so be extremely careful. When its health drops to around 40%, Zarokh, the Temporal, will pause time and restore the boss’s health to full.
Phase 2
Although he has entered the second phase, Zahmir’s attack power has not increased substantially. He will only unleash multiple time-related attacks, each with a slight delay. You can use this delay to observe the attack trajectory and dodge, but some attacks will miss the target, so be extra careful.
After completing all the dodging and killing maneuvers, you will receive the following rewards:
- Varashta’s Blessing
- Khatal’s Rejuvenation
- Zarokh’s Refrain
- Garukhan’s Resolve
4. Ytzara, Blood Oracle & Maztli, Flesh-Shaper
This last group of Anomaly bosses are Vaal brother-sister duo from Interlude 3 of Path of Exile 2. You can find them in the mountains area of Estazunti’s Vault map; they are surrounded by a ring of corruption oozing, making them easy to spot. With the changes in the latest patch 0.4.0, you no longer need to search for Idol of Estazunti in connected maps to unlock this map.
Nowadays, once you defeat the bosses in these maps, a floating pillar will appear, allowing you to enter Estazunti’s Vault map. The only thing to be careful about in this encounter is not to focus on damaging or killing one of the bosses, because if one dies, the other will receive an unprecedented boost. Here are some things you need to pay attention to:
The primary concern is Claw attack from the female boss, which drains some of your health to heal herself. So, try to avoid this type of attack as much as possible and increase your own defense. And Corrupted Beam cast by the male boss will also deal you significant damage.
Additionally, you need to be aware that the male boss will transform into Vaal Goliath during the battle, granting him an additional area-of-effect attack. To counter this attack, you must stay as far away from the area of effect as possible.
After successfully defeating these two bosses, you will receive the following rewards:
- Atalui’s Bloodletting
- Tacati’s Ire
- Paquate’s Pact
The above are the methods and precautions for finding and defeating all Anomaly bosses in the latest League of Path of Exile 2. Hopefully, this guide will help you complete all the encounters faster and claim the very generous rewards. Enjoy the game under the influence of patch 0.4.0!
POE 2 Patch 0.4.0 100% Reduced Skill Effect Duration Build Guide | Enjoy Continuous Attacks With Zero-Delay Skill Casting!
Among numerous action RPGs, Path of Exile 2 boasts the most complex descriptions and calculation methods for affixes. Players in some regions even jokingly describe its gameplay as more difficult than a fiercely competitive exam, leaving many players struggling to create a perfect build to meet all campaign challenges.
The most difficult aspect to manage is Reduced Skill Effect Duration, which affects the duration of the skill’s effects, including delayed attacks and buffs. Since Reduced Skill Effect Duration exists as a percentage in POE 2, once it reaches 100%, your skill can be cast instantly without delay, allowing you to deal sustained high-intensity damage to enemies.
This is very important for builds that focus on using Ember Fusillade skill to achieve machine gun-like damage, as this affix allows for continuous and sustained fire damage to enemies. If you’re aiming to achieve this effect in the latest The Last of the Druids league, this guide offers a way to effectively stack the affix to 100% and create a complete build around it.
How To Achieve?
First, to minimize the duration of Ember Fusillade skill, you need to choose the right class. The best choice is Warrior, as its Titan Ascendancy class provides some passive nodes related to that affix. Combined with several nodes on your existing passive skill tree, reaching 100% is incredibly easy.
Therefore, we will directly build the character accordingly for level 70, which will give you 69 assignable passive skill points, and the 24 passive skill points provided by Book of Specialization, which is sufficient.
First, it’s crucial to clarify that Hulking Form Ascendancy Passive must be activated, as it increases the effectiveness of your smaller passive skills by 50%. By pairing these following nodes that have Reduced Skill Effect Duration affix, the trigger interval of your skills, especially Ember Fusillade skill, will differ by less than one second.
- Near at Hand: It provides 16% Reduced Skill Effect Duration, and the two smaller nodes leading to it each provide an 8% effect. Under the influence of Hulking Form, these effects rise to 12%, for a total of 24%.
- Forthcoming: As a primary Notable, it provides you with a 16% Reduced Skill Effect Duration, while the two smaller passives leading to it each provide a 12% reduction under the influence of Hulking Form, for a total of 24%.
- Two Smaller Passives Near Boundless Growth Notable: Each provides you with 4% Reduced Skill Effect Duration, which becomes 6% under the influence of Hulking Form, for a total of 12%.
- Searing Heat: This Notable provides you with an 8% Reduced Skill Effect Duration and a 100% Flammability Magnitude buff, which is very important for Ember Fusillade skill, which also deals fire elemental damage.
With this combination and the help of Hulking Form passive, you can easily achieve 100% Reduced Skill Effect Duration - 16% + 24% + 16% + 24% + 12% + 8%! Under this affix, your skill casting interval will be minimized, allowing you to unleash sustained high-damage attacks on a single target or a group of targets.
By the way, the last 8% can also be added by annotating your amulet using Liquid Despair, Concentrated Liquid, and Liquid Disgust, which will give you more opportunities to invest skill points in more effective damage boosts.
Builds Ideas
Once you reduce the duration of your skill effect to almost zero, you can create corresponding builds around that affix. The first option is to combine Ember Fusillade skill gem with Time of Need Spirit gem.
Previously, your active skill would generate tiny fire Embers that could briefly stay in place, and after a second or two of inactivity, they would automatically strike an enemy. Under the influence of this affix, these Embers will immediately launch an attack, giving the enemy no chance to breathe.
Also, remember to equip Dusk Vigil Ashen Unique Staff, which will trigger Ember Fusillade when you cast spells. Since you don’t cast the skill directly, Embers will fire and deal damage immediately after they form.
With damage output at its maximum, your defense also needs a boost, making Time of Need Spirit Gem essential. It continuously removes all debuffs and periodically restores health.
That sounds powerful, right? But it’s actually far from enough. With this best affix, this gem will continuously provide healing, which is extremely useful in both the leveling and endgame content of Path of Exile 2.
If you are using a build focused on spell-casting, you can also use Time of Need to convert mana consumption into health consumption to cast spells. This is somewhat risky, but not very threatening, because its health regeneration rate is faster than its consumption rate.
Of course, if Ember Fusillade doesn’t suit your playstyle, you can directly use other skills with an Aftershock effect, such as Earthquake Skill. This skill usually has a slight delay in its effect, but combined with this perfect affix, Aftershock will take effect immediately. With Time of Need, your builds will be virtually unbeatable!
The above outlines the method for achieving 100% Reduced Skill Effect Duration in PoE 2 The Last of the Druids league, along with the build strategy around it. Hopefully, this method will allow you to easily complete all main campaign content and the improved endgame content of this league, ultimately climbing the leaderboards and claiming more rewards.
Path Of Exile 2 The Last Of The Druids League Ice Shot Amazon Build Guide | Skills, Ascendancy Passives, And Best Item Affixes
In the recent Path of Exile 2 The Last of the Druids league, various builds centered around Lightning Arrow skill gem have become the preferred choice for players, as its extremely high ranged damage and fast attack speed are important for effectively farming experience and loot in the early and mid-game of the league.
If you’re looking for both an exploratory experience and a unique style, then using Ice Shot as the core of a niche build would be your best choice. This skill, combined with Amazon’s Weakness mechanic, makes it incredibly easy to inflict devastating damage on magic and rare enemies in all campaigns.
However, it must be pointed out that relying solely on Ice Shot skill and the strength of Amazon Ascendancy class itself is insufficient to complete parts of PoE 2 Interludes and endgame. So, it is essential to find some build options that can be placed in Ice Shot Amazon build from this guide, such as skills, passives, and item affixes of interest.
Precautions
It’s worth noting that while Ice Shot skill is powerful and visually appealing, you can only obtain it by using a Tier 9 Uncut Skill Gem, which is extremely difficult to acquire through regular exploration. Since there are a few things to keep in mind before you find that tier gem.
Since Ice Shot skill pairs best with bows, it’s recommended to use this weapon type from the start. Simultaneously, pair it with Lightning Arrow and Lightning Rod skill combinations for the fastest loot and experience gain. These factors will affect the attack damage you gain after crafting Ice Shot skill gems, as they are both projectile and elemental skills.
Once you equip Ice Shot skill, you don’t need to change your passive skill setup much, but you should change the item affixes from increasing lightning damage to increase frost damage to maximize the skill’s effectiveness.
Skills & Rotation
Due to the unique skill gem mechanic in Path of Exile 2, you’ll most likely have a complete skill setup after completing the main campaign but before starting the farming map. Before that, you just need to accumulate as many Uncut Skill Gems as possible for later one-time uncutting. At that time, you can choose the following skill gems and support gems.
- Ice Shot: Elemental Armament - Cold Penetration - Frost Nexus - Fork
- Herald of Ice: Cold Penetration - Deadly Herald - Cold Attunement - Overreach
- Freezing Salvo: Freeze - Concentrated Area - Ice Bite
- Snipe: Window of Opportunity - Concentrated Area - Close Combat - Inexorable Critical
- Ball Lightning: Shock - Blind - Considered Casting
- Freezing Mark: Prolonged Duration
- Barrage: Cooldown Recovery
For killing regular small monsters, you can use Ice Shot and Herald of Ice damage combination; if the monster level increases, you can add Freezing Mark skill to make them easier to freeze, and at the same time cast Ball Lightning for subsequent lightning attacks.
For situations where you can farm experience points and POE 2 currency by engaging in high-difficulty boss encounters, you can first use Freezing Mark and Ball Lightning to reduce the enemy’s health, then cast Freezing Salvo to freeze them, and finally cast Barrage and Snipe for continuous attacks to achieve a one-hit kill.
Ascendancy Passive Skill Tree
Since your character’s passive skill tree is basically complete by this point, and the gameplay and core mechanics of farming and leveling are similar, you don’t need to drastically change your original passive skill upgrade path. Just focus on increasing movement speed as needed.
Regarding Ascendancy passive tree provided by Amazon, it’s recommended that you first activate Predatory Instinct, which allows you to increase damage through Reveal Weakness mechanics. Then focus on nodes that provide critical strike chance buffs and activate Penetrate after completing the interlude.
The last passive node can be selected according to your exploration needs, but Stalking Panther is highly recommended here, as it will maximize the dodge chance provided by your helmet, gloves, and boots. This further enhances your character’s mobility, thus ensuring greater safety in combat.
Recommended Item Affixes
Finally, let’s look at the affixes of items that can be placed in Ice Shot Amazon build. It’s important to note that Bow and Quiver are crucial in this build, so you should maximize the affixes on these two items, no matter how much Path of Exile 2 currency you spend.
Furthermore, after selecting Stalking Panther passive skill node, you need to select a chest armor with hybrid ES/Evasion buffs to further increase the build’s mobility. In this case, you can pay attention to the following affixes on each item slot.
Bow
- Fixed Physical Damage
- Physical Damage
- Level of All Attack Skills
- Attack Speed
Quiver
- Damage with Bow Skills
- Fixed Physical/Cold Damage
- Level of All Projectile Skills
- Critical Hit/Damage
Wand
- Cast Speed
- Chance to Shock
- Level of all Spell Skills
Helmet
- Energy Shield/Evasion
- Life
- Attribute
- Resistances
Body
- Fixed Evasion
- Evasion
- Life
- Resistances
Amulet
- Spirit
- Resistances
- Energy Shield
- Global Defense
Rings & Gloves
- Fixed Damage
- Life/Mana
- Attribute
- Resistances
Belt
- Life/Mana
- Resistances
- Flask Life Recovery Rate
Boots
- Movement Speed
- Life/Mana
- Resistances
The above is a detailed introduction to the skills, passives, and item options in Ice Shot Amazon build in The Last of the Druids league of Path of Exile 2. Hopefully, this guide will help you create this excellent character more quickly and use it to complete more exploration missions. Have fun playing the game!
Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Vaal Temple: How To Unlock, Build And Run It?
Vaal Temple is the core of Fate of the Vaal league mechanic in Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0. Its most innovative aspect is that players need to build and complete their own dungeon. Vaal Temple tests not only players' combat abilities but also their planning and spatial awareness.
While this new mechanic presents a challenge, mastering its operation allows you to acquire abundant resources and exclusive rewards. Therefore, I will introduce you to all the important information about Vaal Temple, teaching you how to successfully operate it from unlocking methods, design, completion, and management.
What Is Vaal Temple?
A Vaal Temple is a player-customizable dungeon, or you can call it a Vaal Ruins. Players enter by activating Vaal Beacons scattered throughout the world. Unlike ordinary areas, it allows players to construct their own dungeon layout using room tiles unlocked through exploration and combat.
Then you'll need to experience the temple dungeon you built yourself, battling through numerous obstacles to finally find and defeat the final boss – Atziri, the Red Queen.
How To Unlock Vaal Ruins?
To enter the temple, you first need to create a character choosing Fate of the Vaal. You'll then see Vaal Beacons in some normal areas of PoE 2; these are circular areas glowing with a dark red light, where many ferocious monsters gather. Clearing Vaal Beacons is necessary to unlock Vaal Temple.
Players need to clear a total of 6 Vaal Beacons. Each major area on the map has at least one Vaal Beacon, so you'll have plenty of opportunities. Simply kill nearby enemies and successfully step into the circular area within the beacon to unlock it. Sometimes, valuable items may drop during the monster-killing process.
Successfully clearing six Vaal Beacons will unlock Vaal Ruins. Once unlocked, the ruins will be permanently open, accessible via teleportation points until you complete a full temple challenge.
Vaal Temple Core Mechanics
Central Area
Upon entering Vaal Temple, you'll arrive at a safe starting area. This area includes:
- A teleportation point;
- Your storage;
- Temple Console (the core system for dungeon creation).
Temple Console is the most important. All dungeon planning, upgrades, and saving are done through it. Use Temple Console to create your own dungeons.
Layout Rules
In Temple Console, you'll see a grid map. You can place room tiles connected by corridors on the map. These tiles represent combat, reward, boss, and support spaces. When building your map, make sure to connect the different rooms in a logical and reasonable way, as you'll later need to enter your own dungeon and explore it independently.
Key Layout Rules:
- Rooms must be connected by effective corridors to avoid dead ends;
- Paths only need to lead to rooms;
- Routes must be continuous. You can plan a main path leading to the boss room first and then expand from there.
Room Types
Each room in the temple is different, and the types of items dropped will also vary, including equipment, POE 2 currency and certain rare items. As you progress through the story and complete Vaal Temple challenges, you'll gradually unlock more powerful room sections. Each room also has a corresponding card that clearly shows the enemy type, reward category, and special mechanics or dangers.
The specific rooms are as follows:
- Commander's Chamber
- Sealed Vault
- Bronzeworks
- Workshop
- Dynamo
- Prosthetic Research
- Thaumaturge's Laboratory
- Chamber of Souls
- Guardhouse
- Spymaster's Study
- Surgeon's Ward
- Depot
- Ancient Reliquary Vault
- Kishara's Vault
- Jiquani's Vault
- Extraction Chamber
Room Upgrades
As the challenge progresses, you can upgrade rooms. By fulfilling the conditions specified on the room card, you can increase the loot drops within, but the potential danger level will also increase.
If the room outline on the panel glows green when you place a room, it means that when you confirm its placement, one of the adjacent rooms will be upgraded.
Therefore, you should pay attention to balancing the challenge difficulty of each room. Over-upgrading in the early stages will make later challenges increasingly difficult.
Challenging Vaal Temple
After completing the dungeon layout, select "Run Temple" from Temple Console to start the challenge. Before entering, remember to bring your best gear, empty your inventory, and prepare Portal Scrolls.
There will be some resources and regular monsters in the corridors. Your map will mark the rooms you named during setup; these are your main objectives. You must clear all rooms to successfully complete Vaal Temple challenge.
Once you enter a room, the door will automatically lock until you fulfill the room's requirements, such as killing all enemies and opening the chest. If you are killed or teleported away for any reason, you will need to re-enter from the temple entrance, so be sure to unlock available checkpoints to reduce travel time.
You will need to fight your way through, searching for powerful equipment and weapons. The final objective is the boss room at the far end of the map, where the powerful boss Atziri resides-the strongest boss in the entire dungeon. Defeating her will reward you with many unique items, such as Atziri's Contempt, Atziri's Rule, or Vaal Siphoner.
Completing all of the above will complete Vaal Ruins. If you wish to challenge it again, you will need to clear six Vaal Beacons before you can re-enter.
Vaal Temple Decay Management
After completing your exploration of Vaal Temple, you need to use Temple Console to close the temple and save your progress. This is necessary after completing each new map, allowing you to continue your exploration the next time you return.
Each time you return to Ruins, you will find your temple Decay and destroyed, with some rooms randomly becoming corrupted, unstable, or even inaccessible. This can ruin your carefully crafted dungeon map, so you need to collect Vaal Medallions dropped by defeating bosses in different rooms. These medallions not only provide substantial rewards but also protect rooms from Decay.
Vaal Temple in Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 is a highly replayable dungeon mechanic, catering to whether you're seeking rare items and gear, testing your character build, or challenging Atziri.
Don't be afraid of death, create your own Vaal Temple, and bravely launch your attack!