Discover everything you need to know about the Best Mercenary Witch Hunter Build in Path of Exile 2 including skills, stats and gears.
Path of Exile 2 has received an initial release on August 14, 2025. There is a total of 12 distinct Classes, each granting its own uniqueness in the game. Unfortunately, the Classes in Path of Exile 2 are gender-locked, meaning you cannot choose the gender of a specific Class as it is predetermined. Each class offers two distinct Ascendancies to choose from that further enhance your survivability due to its bonuses and buffs in the game. Selecting the best Witch Hunter build is crucial because your gameplay depends on it. Explore the Witch Hunter Build in Path of Exile 2 and see how it redefines your gameplay! In this guide, we’ll discuss the Best Witch Hunter Build in Path of Exile 2 including the best gear and passive skills to use.
Mercenary Witch Hunter build in Path of Exile 2 Explored
The Witchhunter focuses on critical strikes, utility, and crowd control. This is the best choice for taking down the magic user’s enemies. It boosts your defense against magic but offers less defense against physical attacks. This Ascendancy disrupts spell casters, slowing their cast interval. It can explode enemies and doubles for undead enemies and demons. We include active skills like Punch, Gas Grenade, and Oil Grenade in this build to dominate any enemy coming in the path. It offers huge defensive utility along with increased single-target damage.
In this full overview of the setup, we will explain what skill gems and skill links should you focus on. Then as well, we’ll see what is the best gear and how to get it for both the leveling and midgame. And then, finally, we will go over the passive skill tree, stats, and your skill rotations, so we would be able to get the greatest damage possible and much more.
Best Mercenary Witch Hunter skills and support gems in Path of Exile 2
Here are the best skills and support gems for Witch Hunter build that you should use in Path of Exile 2.
Perform an unarmed strike.
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.
Additional effects from quality:
Immolate (Support Gems)
Supports attacks, granting them extra fire damage against ignited enemies but making them unable to ignite enemies themselves.
Elemental Focus (Support Gems)
Supports any skill that hits enemies, causing it to deal more elemental damage but be unable to inflict elemental ailments.
Primal Armament (Support Gems)
Supports attacks that use a weapon, causing them to deal more weapon elemental damage.
Fire Infusion (Support Gems)
Supports attacks, causing them to gain fire damage but deal less cold and lightning damage.
Oil Grenade
Fire 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. Oil created this way can be ignited by Detonator Skills or Burning Ground.
Strip Away (Support Gems)
Supports skills which apply exposure to enemies, increasing the effect of applied exposure
Persistence (Support Gems)
Supports any skill that has a duration, making that duration longer.
Encumbrance (Support Gems)
Supports any skill, causing inflicted slows to be more powerful.
Flash Grenade
Fires a bouncing grenade that unleashes a blinding stunning explosion when its fuse expires. This explosion can blind both allies and enemies.
Maim (Support Gems)
Supports attacks, causing them to be Main enemies.
Ingenuity (Support Gems)
Supports skills with cooldowns, increasing the rate at which those cooldowns recover.
Brutality (Support Gems)
Supports any skill that deals damage, boosting its physical damage at the expense of all other damage types.
Ripwire Ballista
Deploys a Ballista totem that fires pinning bolts which Maim enemies.
Lockdown (Support Gems)
Supports any skill that hits enemies, causing any Pin buildup it inflicts to be stronger the closer the enemy is to you.
Herald of Ash
While active, enemies sufficiently overkill with attacks will cause an explosion that ignites nearby enemies based on the overall damage dealt.
Clarity (Support Gems)
Supports persistent buff skills, causing you to gain increased mana regeneration while the skill is active.
Cannibalism (Support Gems)
Supports persistent buff skills, causing you to recover Life in a kill while the skill is active.
High Velocity Rounds
Loads your crossbow with piercing bolts that can consume fully broken armour on enemies to deal extra damage.
Unbreakable (Support Gems)
Supports any skill that you can use, making it harder to stun while using it.
Double Barrel (Support Gems)
Supports crossbow ammunition skills, causing them to load an extra bolt at the cost of reload speed.
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.
Lightning Infusion (Support Gems)
Supports attacks, causing them to gain lightning damage but deal less cold and fire damage.
Pierce (Support Gems)
Supports projectile skills, making their projectiles pierce an enemy but deal less damage after doing so.
Voltaic Grenade
Fires a bouncing grenade that discharges an electrocuting lightning blast when its fuse expires.
Second Wind (Support Gems)
Supports skills with cooldowns, giving them extra use of that cooldown. Cannot support instant or triggered skills.
Conduction (Support Gems)
Supports any skill that hits enemies, making it more likely to shock
Best Mercenary Witch Hunter Stat Priorities
Here are some stats that you should prioritize using your passive board and through gear as well.
Regular Stats
Dexterity is a crucial stat for Witch Hunter because it allows you to equip gear with high evasion and combine evasion and armour. Strength and Intelligence are also recommended to equip powerful support gems like Double Barrel and Frost Nexus and stronger early access abilities like Herald of Ash.
Defensive Stats
Evasion in Path of Exile 2 is a defensive stat for the Witch Hunter because it allows you to run away from enemies while firing your crossbow in combat. Also, consider the movement speed that you can obtain from the Ranger skill tree to the right of the Mercenary tree. If you somehow get swarmed in melee there’s no harm in some armour.
Offensive Stats
Projectile damage is best for Witch Hunter in the game. We recommend you focus on buffing your ailments to freeze and ignite enemies with ammo types. Add some additional AoE to boost the effectiveness of your grenades. Grab weapon swap speed because it allows you to quickly swap crossbows for combo ammo types and unique devastating effects.
Best Mercenary Witch Hunter Passive Skills
We include the passive skills that enhance the area of effect for attacks and increased projectile speed. However, some passive boost your armour capability to soak all the incoming damage, reducing enemies’ damage output. Strength is also an important attribute that you should focus on, so we include passives that enhance the Strength stats of your character in the game.
How Skill Tree in Set is POE2
For most new players, the passive skill tree is extremely daunting but actually, it’s quite simple. A character is granted one passive skill point every time they level up and are sometimes even granted more from completing certain quests. In extremely simple we have the intelligence section which focuses on spell damage, summoning, and elemental damage.
Next, we have the Dexterity section which is more focused on ranged combat, evasion, and speed. At the bottom left, we have the Strength section which is more melee and defense-oriented. Next, we’ve passive nodes and they are split into two categories. The small passives that grant minor bonuses such as a small increase in attack speed, spell damage, melee damage, or attributes.
Second, we’ve notable passives. These are larger passive points that grant greater bonuses than the smaller ones but they have stats on them that are often closely related to the small passives leading up to them. Think of these as checkpoints to work towards. On top of this, we have a third passive point but is not entirely compared to the two others. For the third one, we have the keystones which are build changing character defining that often provide a massive amount of power with a downside. However, these downsides can be reduced or worked towards.
Following a specific setup is extremely useful and understanding the passive skill tree can make or break your character. Investing more time in this specific section will definitely upgrade your knowledge of the game.
Best Mercenary Witch Hunter Gear
How to Play Mercenary Witch Hunter in Path of Exile 2
Witch Hunter is an Ascendancy of Mercenary class in Path of Exile 2. This Strength/Dexterity hybrid Class allows you to use heavier gear and attack speed. Use only those gear that complements both attributes and increases the utility skills and crossbow damage output. Choosing the right Ascendancy is crucial as it customizes your playstyle to the next level. Positioning is important while playing in this Class, so use crossbows to maintain distance from melee enemies and swap between your two equipped crossbows.
Upgrade your attachments and ammo skills but begin with basic crossbow skills. Look for unique gear that also enhances elemental damage, cooldown speed for grenades, and ranged attack damage. Invest in those nodes, ensuring you increase projectile damage, attack speed, and utility effects. You need to practice switching between crossbows and ammo types to maximize the Class potential.
Best Mercenary Witch Hunter Build in Path of Exile 2 Summary
FAQs about Best Mercenary Witch Hunter Build in Path of Exile 2 (POE 2)?
How important is gear for my Witch Hunter build?
Gear in Path of Exile 2 is crucial for any build, including your Witch Hunter build. The Gears determine how strong and survivable your build will be in combat. Gear in the Witch Hunter build allows you to handle the tougher battle in Path of Exile 2, so always focus on improving gear through crafting, buying, or farming.
How do I acquire Witch Hunter’s new skills?
Getting new skills involves obtaining skill gems that you can socket into the equipment to grant corresponding abilities. You can obtain the skill gems while progressing through the campaign or you can purchase the skill gems from the vendors. Use the support gems to increase the strengthen the effects of your primary skills.
Can I respec my Witch Hunter build if I make a mistake?
Yes, you can respec your Witch Hunter build by refunding passive skill points through The Hooded One, an NPC located in the Clearfell Encampment. Complete the “Sorrow Among Stones” quest in Act 1, to unlock this feature. However, it will take you 2 to 5 hours, depending on your pace.
What’s the best way to level up the Witch Hunter build quickly?
The best way to level up the Witch Hunter build quickly is by selecting skills, and equipment, and employing synergistic combat techniques. Enhance your gear and equipment and optimize the skill gem selection.
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