Path of Exile 2 Builds - Witch Minions, totally unplayable - Forum

Minions are terrible and the build is almost unplayable . Constantly running away and dodging is not my idea of fun. The build is squishy beyond the point of enjoyment. At level 12 in a level 10 zone I was getting torched by trash mobs if i tried to run it a bit quicker. Not my idea of fun the game feels very clunky the Withc moves in slow motion constantly hitting my potion I may go back to POE 1 since I was having a lot of fun playing a templar minion build that worked very well, maybe not the best combo but it was certainly better than the Witch that seems like pure garbage	Posted by Crypton1#6221 on Dec 8, 2024, 6:23:04 AM Quote this Post
So, came back to PoE for this game and was excited to build a minion army, but so far (level 8) i have 4 warriors that died very easily even with support gems and one archer - myself i have a debuff hec that is kinda good and the only thing carrying me and unearth which helps on maps, but is utterly useless in boss fights. Boss fights all i can do is run around avoiding constant endless aoe attacks and if the boss catches me, i die in one hit (very souls like) which sucks hugly. As bad as D4 is, at least necromancer felt hardcore from the moment i started playing it. PoE1 definitely has better minion builds and the game actually feels fun. PoE2 while graphically pretty... is not fun right now.	Posted by Sideshow_Mo#5233 on Dec 8, 2024, 6:32:23 AM Quote this Post
I completely disagree with the sentiment of these posts. I am currently a 42 infernalist minion build and am killing it. My advice to those that are struggling at the start, the early minion nodes are also spell damage nodes, take ED/Contagion as a starting setup with pets. The pets will act as supplementary damage rather than primary damage. Once I was able to get spirit skills I got SRS and have never looked back. Just be patient guys, POE2 is supposed to be hard, learn the boss patterns and make adjustments, you will be fine.	Posted by ian2312#5884 on Dec 8, 2024, 7:17:03 AM Quote this Post
" Suhuy#2176 wrote: I'm currently at lvl 22. Permanent minions are far too weak at low level. Their survivability is the main issue, I cannot judge for the DPS as they are destroyed by white mobs. Something need to be addressed here, at least for low levels. Contagion + Unearth works at low level, so you're not stuck. But permanent minions are just bad. The best minion spell at low level is SRS, from sorceress class, but you have to wait for your first spirit gem. You can at least have some decent temporary minions without relying on corpses (especially usefull on boss fights). Some balance changes are needed. Rathbreaker fight, in particular, will make minion players ragequit: no minion in a fight where your are swarmed with hyena and no DPS to clear pack (ignoring the boss bug that has already been reported and will be fixed in the next few days). This fight teach you to go play something else. If you didn't pick SRS with the first spirit gem, I think you're toast. I suppose most new players will probably follow their class and will not explore other classes options, so they will have a very hard time. My solution was to use Enfeeble + Impending Doom / Decaying Hex for hyena AOE Clear as casting Essence Drain + Contagion was too slow for this fight (you will end dead due to casting time). Also, there are not enough options in ascendencies for minions. Some ascendencies could be slightly modified so some effects can be proc'ed by minions, or, in some case, having a chance for minion kills to be counted as your own kills. That would open possibilities Blood mage had thematically a high potential for minions. It's a bit disappointing to see such potential unexploited. At least every witch ascendency should offer a few minion related things, as witch is actually sold as a minion user class. Unironically found easiest way to fight rathbreaker is just sit in melee on him and keep dodge rolling, i went from 0 dps to insane dps and my minions melted him Also flame wall(or anything that will spark the gas cloud.. like infernalist flame hound) + skeleton archers command for gas cloud causes insane nukes and im clearing act 2 and just starting act 3 nuking with it too, like im doing 9k nukes per cast i also didnt use my mouse at all in the executioner fight, minions did everything and i just ran around	Posted by Blackrock2318#6841 on Dec 8, 2024, 7:21:45 AM Quote this Post
Bro, you are level 8 ^^ There are so many builds, even in PoE 1, that don't work until level xx... Maybe you should leave early access for players who try to make builds work with creativity and different approaches, and then just copy-paste the build guide in 6 months ;)	Posted by philbow91#3736 on Dec 8, 2024, 7:22:56 AM Quote this Post
" TheMrBenis#4005 wrote: I beat Geonor on my 5th or 6th attempt by a combination of using bone shards to stun him and pure luck because he never entered his 3rd phase and died too quickly to transition. In my opinion that fight is especially miserable because of the mist attack where he summons something like 20 werewolves at you. It is the same lazy attack pattern seen in Tsogoath in POE1 when the siren comes out, the same as act9 act boss. The primary skills available to a level 15-19 necromancer are either DOTs or require wind-up phases. What spells do you also have tied into minions? I'm using Essence Drain and Contagion. There's a curse too I use for larger fights that has the Doom Curse thing with it. For maps its....ok. For bosses I spend most of my time fleeing. After about ten attempts, I had to link up with someone to knock out Geonor. I could only get to just beyond 50% on phase two. By the end I was out of pots. For those that have played minions as well as other classes, how do minions compare? Are they really wet noodles compared to a straight Sorc or Merc? I only know minions right now. And the white guys says, I'll have a Coke then.	Posted by Westwood1121#4481 on Dec 8, 2024, 7:39:30 AM Quote this Post
" ian2312#5884 wrote: I completely disagree with the sentiment of these posts. I am currently a 42 infernalist minion build and am killing it. My advice to those that are struggling at the start, the early minion nodes are also spell damage nodes, take ED/Contagion as a starting setup with pets. The pets will act as supplementary damage rather than primary damage. Once I was able to get spirit skills I got SRS and have never looked back. Just be patient guys, POE2 is supposed to be hard, learn the boss patterns and make adjustments, you will be fine. This is where I sort of am too. A lot of builds in POE1 didn't kick off until you had a specific item or node at 55+. Using straight up spell damage then switching to minions wasn't uncommon. And the white guys says, I'll have a Coke then.	Posted by Westwood1121#4481 on Dec 8, 2024, 7:48:20 AM Quote this Post
Yea, having quite a bit of the minion life passives did not seem to help. I can try farming minion life gear too but I dunno if that'll help since it feels like a drop in the bucket. Are these passives working yet? Or are they just user interface place holders for when minion life is implemented? Hopefully they'll be implemented soon.	Posted by centrumsilver#4052 on Dec 8, 2024, 8:01:27 AM Quote this Post
" ian2312#5884 wrote: I completely disagree with the sentiment of these posts. I am currently a 42 infernalist minion build and am killing it. My advice to those that are struggling at the start, the early minion nodes are also spell damage nodes, take ED/Contagion as a starting setup with pets. The pets will act as supplementary damage rather than primary damage. Once I was able to get spirit skills I got SRS and have never looked back. Just be patient guys, POE2 is supposed to be hard, learn the boss patterns and make adjustments, you will be fine. You disagree with early minions being bad, by suggesting to not use minions? Also SRS seems to be the only minion skill i see mentioned early on that are remotely useful. You're providing no useful info outside of "do something else until it works" What if i dont wanna use SRS ? Why is a meat shielded warrior skeleton with 100% life from the tree dead in a second	Posted by Darqion#3624 on Dec 8, 2024, 8:08:06 AM Quote this Post
" Westwood1121#4481 wrote: " ian2312#5884 wrote: I completely disagree with the sentiment of these posts. I am currently a 42 infernalist minion build and am killing it. My advice to those that are struggling at the start, the early minion nodes are also spell damage nodes, take ED/Contagion as a starting setup with pets. The pets will act as supplementary damage rather than primary damage. Once I was able to get spirit skills I got SRS and have never looked back. Just be patient guys, POE2 is supposed to be hard, learn the boss patterns and make adjustments, you will be fine. This is where I sort of am too. A lot of builds in POE1 didn't kick off until you had a specific item or node at 55+. Using straight up spell damage then switching to minions wasn't uncommon. in poe 1 minions absolutely clap from start to finish (campaign) without issue. And have a whole build archtype not be useful until lvl 50 is just ass. Makes little sense why they couldve buff them a little to make it viable.	Posted by Darqion#3624 on Dec 8, 2024, 8:10:00 AM Quote this Post