Mana Stacking Thorns Infernalist Build Concept - PoE 2 0.3 The Third Edict

THIS POB IS INCOMPLETE - If I decide to League Start this build I will do my best to find the time to flesh it out when the patch notes and PoB update comes out Act 1-3 we will play a minion build. This is what Witch is built for, and we can't play Thorns until we get access to trading I've copied over the act 1 of the Maxroll Minion Army Infernalist levelling guide, as it's the best guide I could find. The rest of that guide is here: https://maxroll.gg/poe2/build-guides/minion-army-infernalist-leveling-guide I assume that the early minion levelling process will change with the patch, so we will have to thumbsuck our first three acts After first ascendancy prioritise Fire and Chaos resistance rolls on gear, as we will take Altered Flesh and that converts 20% of other sources of damage to those types We will still take cold/lightning/physical damage so don't completely ignore cold and lightning resistance For our second ascendancy we'll just take the small %inc life nodes, as reserving life or self igniting at this point will probably a death sentance Act 4 we switch to Thorns as soon as we get access to Quillburst and Barbs and can afford a Crown of the Pale King (pre-patch T3 Support gems only drop from lvl 53+, this will probably change) We will be running PHYSICAL thorns until our third ascendancy, as we will be prioritising resistances at this point and that'll make it hard to get a decent amout of life and mana This means we'll be using a spear with rake for clear/movement and rapid assault for single target. If we can find a good way to armour break w/ new support gems Scavenged Plating will be huge at this point There is a world where third ascendancy can be done already at this point. If that's the case we'll skip physical thorns and go straight to lightning thorns. Read the notes in the next paragraph before you ascend! Spend any excess early currency on Briarpatch and physical thorns runes Don't do 3rd ascendancy until your Shield Charge can fit THREE support gems - Quilburst, Crackling Barrier and Lifetap - as at this point we'll be reserving 50% of our life and using Mana as a health pool You should have a few lesser jewellers orbs at this point, so it should be fine, but RNG can be a bitch sometimes Make sure to take Mind Over Matter on your passive tree around this point, otherwise you'll get one shot a lot DO NOT LEVEL SHIELD CHARGE. LEAVE IT AT LEVEL THREE, ALL THAT HIGHER LEVELS DO IS RAISE THE LIFE COST Before you do 4th ascendancy make sure that you have a decent dowsing charm - we will be self igniting for a lot of damage but a dousing charm can completely negate that If you get a decent belt you can stack dousing charms if necessary I'm not sure what our crit chance will look like in the endgame. If it's under 100% socket thorns crit chance runes in your helmet. If it's 100% go for Greater Runes of Tithing (1 - 100 Lightning thorns) All other armour runes are greater runes of tithing as they provide an insane amount of flat thorns damage Rare gear priority in the end game will be: Fire & Chaos Resistance > Cold & Lightning Resistance > Life > Mana > Int > Str > ES Thorns on gear will do very little for us once we have Greater Runes of TIthing and a decent mana pool Mana and life regeneration are good filler rolls as they provide us recovery Beira's Anguish and Window to Paradise are priority endgame uniques, everything else I've put into the perfect build is fluff If you ever unequip Crown of the Pale King you'll do zDPS so don't do that. Briarpatch is similarly the best source of crit we have, so that's also non-negotiable If you're dying a lot pick up Midnight Braid and/or switch out your shield for Alkem Eira as these will provide us with an insane amount of mana recoup Red hits kill all builds. Dodge them. The quest bonuses we get throughout the acts will probably change If they don't, take 2x mana regeneration rate, charm charges over life recovery from flasks and chaos resistance for the last one