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Minion Army Lich Build Guide

Dawn of the Hunt 0.2.0Early Access

Last Updated:April 14, 2025|Changelog|FAQ

This Minion Army Lich Leveling Build Guide for the Witch Class uses a variety of Minions, Spells and Curses to deal with enemies. You can follow it from the start of the campaign and continue all the way into the endgame. If you're into commanding an army of minions this is the build for you!

The general gameplay of the build is to summon Raging Spirits by casting Flame Wall and Ember Fusillade. Then, use the Minion command skill provided by Skeletal Sniper to deal damage in a wide area and corrode the armor of your enemies. You also cast Flammability to increase your Minion's damage. Unearth is cast on enemy corpses to spawn an army of temporary Minions that explode when they reach low life through Minion Instability. You also buff your army of Minions with Pain Offering to increase their damage.

For defenses, the build relies on stacking energy shield, energy shield recovery and block chance. You also rely on Eternal Life which combines with Soulless Form and Heavy Buffer for 15% less damage taken.

This build doesn't require any Unique items to function. But the build does benefit from common Uniques including Enfolding Dawn and Trenchtimbre (If you prefer extra damage over block chance).

Note: If you find Exalted Orbs or Chaos Orbs during the Campaign, use them to buy the mentioned Uniques.

Minion Army Lich Build Guide Example Gear
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Resistances and Attributes

You do not need specific resistances and attributes on any item, just get the required total resistances and attributes amongst all gear combined. You need to cap your Resistances at 75% unless otherwise specified in the guide!

Early Access

Path of Exile 2 is currently in early access, this means rapid development including frequent changes to builds as there are balance fixes and we learn more. Pin this page to be notified of any updates.

Skills

Early Access - Dawn of the Hunt
Minion Army Lich Build Guide
Act 1
Act 2
Act3
  • The two most important skill gems to get first are Skeletal Sniper and Flame Wall since you can explode ignited enemies with the gas arrows that your Skeletal Snipers shoot with their command skill. This deals a lot of single target damage against rares and bosses. Cut Scattershot as your first support gem for your Skeletal Snipers.

Note: Do not use Spirit on more Skeletal Warriors from your Rattling Sceptre.

  • After defeating The King in the Mists, you get an Uncut Spirit Gem. With this you must get Raging Spirits (you need to change from the Occult skill tab to the Elemental tab to find it). Raging Spirits are summoned by casting Flame Wall and Ember Fusillade. Make sure to keep 10 raging spirits up at all times during a boss fight. Move Martial Tempo and Fire Infusion into your Raging Spirits for increased damage.

Note: You need to activate the Raging Spirits buff for them to be summoned when you cast Flame Wall. To do this, go to the Skills Panel and right click the Raging Spirits icon.

  • Do not level up your Flammability skill gem higher than level 10. This is to reduce the mana cost. Later, when you finish your second Ascendancy trial and get Soulless Form, you can level up Flammability without worrying about mana cost.
  • If you have Enfolding Dawn and Flammability, you now have the option to swap out your Skeletal Snipers with Skeletal Arsonists. If you do not yet have this unique, then wait at least until you are able to summon 4-6 Skeletal Arsonists. The Skeletal Sniper command skill is just too powerful to give up if you do not have multiple extra Skeletal Arsonists.

Note: Make sure you update your support gems according to the skills display!

  • The first Lesser Jeweller's Orb you find is used on Skeletal Sniper or Skeletal Arsonist. Cut Feeding Frenzy and place in the third slot.
  • When you reach the end of Act 3 in the "Utzaal" area you have the option to replace your Skeletal Arsonist with Spectres. Use the Bind Spectre gem to get Vaal Guard (Bombers). Make sure you bind the one that casts bombs, there are three different type of monsters with the exact same name "Vaal Guard". One of them is melee (60 Spirit cost), one is ranged (60 Spirit cost), one casts bombs (50 Spirit cost). Use the same supports for Bind Spectre as you do for Skeletal Arsonist and change your Flammability curse to Despair instead.

Note: Be warned this Spectre can cause performance issues but it is very powerful, if your computer is unable to handle these Spectres or if you find them unbearable keep using Skeletal Arsonist instead.

Minion Army Lich Build Guide Skill Progression
Use the <Prev and Next> arrows to navigate.

Gem Engraving Priority

Skill Rotation

Act 1 Step 1 & 2
Act 1 Step 3
Act 2
Mapping & Bossing
  1. Cast Flame Wall to ignite enemies.
  2. Command your Skeletal Snipers to fire a gas arrow that explodes when hitting an ignited enemy.
  3. Cast Contagion to deal Chaos damage and to spread a damage buff to your Unearth Minions.
  4. Cast Unearth on enemy corpses to spawn an army of bone constructs.
  5. Cast Essence Drain to deal high Chaos damage to bosses and rares.
  1. Cast Flame Wall to spawn two Raging Spirits and to ignite enemies.
  2. Command your Skeletal Snipers to fire a gas arrow that explodes when hitting an ignited enemy.
  3. Cast Flame Wall to spawn two more Raging Spirits.
  4. Cast Ember Fusillade to spawn two more Raging Spirits.
  5. Cast Pain Offering to buff the damage of all your Minions against bosses and rares.
  6. Cast Unearth on enemy corpses to spawn an army of bone constructs.
  1. Cast Flame Wall to spawn two Raging Spirits and to ignite enemies.
  2. Command your Skeletal Snipers to fire a gas arrow that explodes when hitting an ignited enemy.
  3. Cast Flame Wall to spawn two more Raging Spirits.
  4. Cast Ember Fusillade to spawn two more Raging Spirits.
  5. Cast Pain Offering to buff the damage of all your Minions against bosses and rares.
  6. Cast Flammability to curse bosses and rares so that your Minions deal more damage to them.
  7. Cast Unearth on enemy corpses to spawn an army of bone constructs.
  1. Cast Flame Wall to spawn two Raging Spirits and to ignite enemies.
  2. Command your Skeletal Snipers to fire a gas arrow that explodes when hitting an ignited enemy.
  3. Cast Flame Wall to spawn two more Raging Spirits.
  4. Cast Ember Fusillade to spawn two more Raging Spirits.
  5. Cast Pain Offering to buff the damage of all your Minions against bosses and rares.
  6. Cast Despair to curse bosses and rares so that your Minions deal more damage to them.

Ascendancy

Early Access - Dawn of the Hunt
Minion Army Lich Build Guide
How to Ascend

Learn how to Ascend with our guides:

  • Take Necromantic Conduit to give your Minions Unholy Might, a buff that grants 30% of all damage as extra Chaos. Your Presence has a base radius of 4m, so stay near your Minions to ensure they get the buff.
    The downside is that you now need to deal with losing 5% maximum mana per second. This is mitigated by Open Mind early on and later Soulless Form.
  • Soulless Form is taken to deal with the mana degeneration from Necromantic Conduit. It also makes it so that 10% of damage taken passes your energy shield and hits your life instead.
  • Eternal Life is a very powerful defensive mechanic which makes you immune to poison and bleeding as long as you have energy shield. It also gives you 15% less damage taken when combined with Soulless Form and Heavy Buffer.
  • Crystalline Phylactery gives you an extra jewel socket and increases the effects of that jewel by 100%.
Minion Army Lich Build Guide Ascendancy

Passives

Early Access - Dawn of the Hunt
Minion Army Lich Build Guide
Minion Army Lich Build Guide Passive Skill Tree
Click the arrows to open the full tree in a new tab.
  • For the attribute nodes, take enough Strength, Intelligence (205) and Dexterity to meet gear, skill gem and support gem requirements, then use the rest on Strength for more life.
    • You can use your Gold at the Hooded one or Doryani to respec and change your Attributes if a new skill or gear upgrade leaves you unable to use your skills/items.
  • Relentless Fallen and Fear of Death are taken early on to increase damage and to increase the movement speed of your Minions. You want more Minion accuracy to make sure your Minions hit enemies, the in game tooltip is not entirely accurate for melee Minions.
  • Open Mind is taken to help deal with losing 5% maximum mana from the Necromantic Conduit Ascendancy notable.
  • Growing Swarm, Restless Dead and Crystalline Flesh are taken to improve the defenses, revive timer and damage for your Minions.
  • You take Profane Commander to increase the size of your "presence" effect since the base radius of this "aura" is 4m and as a bonus you also gain more Spirit.
  • Right Hand of Darkness is taken to increase the area of effect size of a few of your Minions attacks and to have a chance to apply the Wither debuff.
  • Post-Campaign Tree - The Early & Mid & Late Game skill tree takes more maximum energy shield, energy shield recovery and Minion damage nodes to make sure you can deal with the increased difficulty of the endgame. There are a few respecs in this skill tree but it should be easy to follow.

There are a few different options to instill on your amulet, but the recommended ones are:

  • Essence Infusion (Cheap notable that gives +10 Int & 40% Recharge rate)
  • Defensive Reflexes (Cheap notable with 12% block chance)
  • Relentless Fallen (Expensive and only used later on)

Stat Priorities

Early Access - Dawn of the Hunt
Minion Army Lich Build Guide

Offensive Scaling

  • The by far best modifier to scale this build is Level of all Minion skills.
  • +# to Spirit and #% Increased Spirit.
  • Minions and Allies have #% Increased Damage.
  • Minions and Allies have +# to +# Additional Attack Lightning Damage.
  • Minions and Allies have #% Increased Attack Speed.
  • Minions and Allies have #% Increased Crit Damage and Crit Chance.

Defensive Scaling

  • Sufficient +#% to Fire, Cold, Lightning and Chaos Resistance to cap your Resistances.
  • Maximum Energy Shield.
  • #% Increased Energy Shield.
  • A shield with a high % Block Chance.
  • #% faster start of Energy Shield Recharge
  • #% increased Energy Shield Recharge Rate
  • +# to Maximum Life.
Campaign
Early-Mid
Late
Learn more

If you're struggling to survive, or want to learn more about damage and defenses in Path of Exile 2 check out these additional resources:

Gearing

Early Access - Dawn of the Hunt
Minion Army Lich Build Guide
  • As you enter the Atlas of Worlds and begin mapping, your first goal is to cap your resistances and meet Attribute requirements.
  • You want a sceptre, helmet and amulet with the modifier +# Level of all Minion Skills to increase your Minions damage.
  • Your Vaal Guard (Bomber type) Bind Spectre Minion scales very well from added flat damage modifiers from your Sceptre. The best one being Minions and Allies have +# to +# Additional Attack Lightning Damage since it gives them a chance to shock enemies for even more damage.
  • You also want a body armour, amulet and sceptre with % Increased Spirit and +# to Spirit to be able to summon more Minions.
  • You want as much energy shield as possible on your body armour, boots, helmet, gloves and amulet to make yourself tankier.
  • You want a shield with as high block chance as possible (40%+).
  • In the late Endgame, you want to transition into using two Ventor's Gamble to gain Spirit from your rings.
Minion Army Lich Build Guide Gear Progression
Use the buttons to navigate between gear sets.

FAQ

Early Access - Dawn of the Hunt
Minion Army Lich Build Guide

Make sure your Elemental Resists are at 75% and around 60%+ Chaos resistance. Furthermore, make sure you have the appropriate bases equipped to gain as much Energy Shield as possible.

Video

Early Access - Dawn of the Hunt
Minion Army Lich Build Guide

Summary

Early Access - Dawn of the Hunt
Minion Army Lich Build Guide
  • This Minion Army Lich build guide uses a large variety of Minions such as Unearth, Skeletal Sniper, Raging Spirits, Skeletal Arsonist, Skeletal Cleric, Bind Spectre, Skeletal Storm Mage and Skeletal Warrior to progress from the start of the campaign and all the way into the endgame.
  • Support your Minions with Curses and Spells such as Flammability, Despair, Flame Wall, Pain Offering and Ember Fusillade.

Credits

Written by: Helm Breaker
Content Reviewed by: Tenkiei
Language Reviewed by: Tenkiei

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