Path of Exile Pure Summoner Witch Build

Path of Exile Pure Summoner Witch Build by Brixtan

Hey everyone,

I've been having so much fun with my summoner witch that I thought I would share her build with the community. She's a pure summoner (and by that, I mean I don't cast ANY offensive spells myself) that debuffs mobs via curses and let's the minions clean house.

Disclaimer: This is softcore tested only, but I'm sure it would prove viable on Hardcore as well. Currently progressing through Act 3 Cruel, so can't speak to Merciless/end-game viability yet. I don't anticipate any problems based on how easy it's been so far though.

Here is my current build as of LV47:

Skill Tree

Keystone musts:
1. Minion Instability (get this as soon as humanly possible, foundation of this build)
2. Necromantis Aegis (by late Act 3 normal or Act 1 cruel you should go for this)

(note: I've read a lot of negatives about this, but it's worked out fine with my build. Since I don't ever a) cast dmg spells or b) take dmg (rarely) it's a boon to give the benefits of my shield stats to my minions. They survive longer. Still in need of a decent shield, but I'm more of a fan of NA then opting against it. YMMV.)

3. Hex Master (personal choice, but I have recasting curses - will plan for whispers of doom eventually to run dual curses).

Make sure you also grab the +1 to Spectres (near the minion instability keystone) as soon as you can. Don't underestimate how powerful 2 spectres can be.

With every passive minion node taken, I've currently got 8 zombies, 12 skeletons, and 2 spectres.

I run 3 auras currently (Discipline, Wrath, and Clarity) and am toying with taking Eldritch battery so I can run 2 or 3 more.

My curse is Enfeeble, a solid debuff that reduces mobs dmg/accuracy/speed/crit chance which helps keep my minions alive longer.

My summon gem layouts are:

1.Raise Zombie linked to the following gems: minion life/minion dmg/added lightning dmg

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2.Raise Spectre linked to: minion dmg/chance to flee/added lightning dmg

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(Note: I particularly enjoy 'chance to flee' on spectres simply because I tend to raise spell casters and ranged mobs solely. It's really noticeable with chaos constructs/snakes in A2 or the miscreation tentacle shooters in Lunaris temple A3 (my current favorite spectre)

3.Raise Skeleton linked to: culling strike (for lols)/faster casting/spell totem

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Note: this gem layout is fairly standard, but I'll be honest...I was perfectly happy with manually casting my skeletons until I got spell totem (you get as a reward in A1 Cruel) and don't feel that it's a must have set-up. Some people prefer manually dropping their skeletons. The only benefit of running it through spell totem is the mana cost is far less when linked to spell totem (a single cast and the totem becomes a skelly factory). Culling strike, in my opinion, should be a mandatory support gem for skeletons. Their sole purpose for bosses is to swarm them, attack, and blow up like good little meat shields. But with culling strike attached, they can insta-gib bosses as soon as they hit 10%. Truly funny.

I'm running Enfeeble with enhanced area effect:

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I never ran into any trouble until I hit Act 3 normal. I had stretched myself to thin trying to lay the path for my build without picking up enough passive minion life nodes. Once I respecced and dumped points into the passive life nodes, I was fine. By end of Act 2 cruel, you should have grabbed every passive minion node (+minion/life/dmg) on the board.

My strategy is simple - drop a totem down (or summon skeletons manually) to create your meat shield of disposable skeletons. They'll do surpisingly decent damage (or blow up and wreck even more havoc) and allow your zombies and spectres time to really dish out the pain. Your zombies shouldn't be dying, at least not all at once (note: early game, expect them to die quickly. They don't have a lot of hp. By the time your Raise Zombie gem levels to 7 or 8, the hp starts ramping up significantly though). If they are, you probably need more passive minion life nodes, or are pushing faster than your current gear/gems/level will allow.

Best part about this build is that the areas that are normally super annoying based on the monsters (A2 pyramid chaos shooters/snakes, A3 Lunaris temple tentacle breast shooters, etc) end up being extremely easy areas once you're rolling with 2 of those spectres. Turn those mobs to your side and laugh as they mop the floor.

This build is not a super fast, clear the entire map in 5-minutes set-up. If you're looking for an extremely fast and efficient farming build, this is probably going to be far slower than you're going to want. You'll spend the majority of your time summoning your skeleton army and cursing mobs, then standing around waiting for your minions to clear everything out.
It's extremely rewarding if you truly enjoy a pure summoner-heavy build though.

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Thoughts on end-game build:

I'm going to likely take Eldritch Battery so I can roll 5 - 6 auras. I initially was thinking CI, but honestly you shouldn't be taking much damage (if any) if you play the build right. It makes gearing extremely simple in that you don't need to worry about resist gear, spell dmg gear, or crit gear. I'm mostly focusing on +mana/+mana regen/+ES.

I'll also eventually take Whispers of Doom keystone so I can run 2 curses at once.

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