Class: Ranger Witch Duelist Marauder Shadow Templar

This PoE 3.14 Ultimatum Occultist Vortex Witch Starter guide is your stop for all things Vortex. Whether you want a character easily geared in league start, a safe boss killer, or just a build that deals constant damage with maneuverability, you'll find what you need inside!

Quick Jump

Pros & Cons

  • + One of the safest builds in the game.
  • + Can do nearly all content and easily farm Sirus
  • + Damage Over Time cannot be reflected, so you can do Reflect maps by Vortexing at your feet and pulling mobs into the DoT or with Wintertide Brand
  • + Can reach 11-12k ES, 1-2 million DPS on Vortex alone, and a dizzying array of defensive layers
  • - Can't do all map mods easily. No regen is not possible, and Ele reflect is doable but slow.
  • - Not a god-tier clearing build (though you can still go fast if you get good with Cold Snap placement)
  • - Does not have truly infinite scaling like some attack builds
  • - Can't clear Hall of Grandmasters

 

Skill Tree

Ascendancy

Normal Lab - If your survivability is good and you want damage to push faster, you can take Void Beacon. If you're a little squishier, Vile Bastion gives you a ton of survivability.

Cruel Lab - Take what you didn't take in Normal Lab, Void Beacon or Vile Bastion.

Merc Lab - Take Frigid Wake. Tons of utility and our Freeze/Chill immunity. Hugely beneficial ascendancy.

Uber Lab - take Profane Bloom. The explosions help with damage, but applying curses to hexproof enemies is the real benefit here.

Pantheon

Major: Solaris is the go-to here, as trash mobs don't pose a threat, and will help more against high health bosses. Lunaris is an option for clear speed.

Minor: Garukhan and Gruthkul are great for smoothing of incoming damage. Abberath is helpful, as burning ground is a problem for ES. Shakari is an option for low-life builds that are concerned about Chaos damage.

Bandit: kill all

Passive Tree & PoB

Path of Building Link: https://pastebin.com/QTbDmYaB

 

Gems Setup

Vortex

Vortex - Efficacy - Hypothermia - Elemental Focus - Controlled Destruction - Swift Affliction

Vaal Cold Snap

Vaal Cold Snap - Bonechill - Efficacy - Controlled Destruction - Hypothermia

NOTE: If you are wearing Rimze Gaze or a generic helmet, Hypothermia is your 4th link. If you have a helmet with "Socketed gems are supported by Hypothermia", then use Controlled Destruction as your 4th.

Movement Skill

Flame Dash - Arcane Surge (lvl 6)

NOTE: There are 2 links available in your Flame Dash gear. See below for what to fill them with, as the CI and LL versions do different things with them.

Chaos Innoculation (CI) Links

Wand Gems BEFORE you have "Trigger a Socketed Spell Craft"

Orb of Storms - Frostbite - Hextouch

Wand Gems AFTER you have "Trigger a Socketed Spell Craft"

Orb of Storms - Frostbite - Storm Brand

4-Link: Vaal Discipline - Vaal Righteous Fire (NEVER turn on regular RF - only use the Vaal version for DPS) - Malevolence - Enlighten

Shield: Cast When Damage Taken lvl 1 - Immortal Call lvl 3 - Increased Duration

Flame Dash Item: Second Wind (Link with Flame Dash) - Faster Casting

Low-Life (LL) Links

Wand Gems

Orb of Storms - Frost Bomb or Hydrosphere (Needs testing) in softcore, Tempest Shield in Hardcore - Storm Brand

Gloves: Blasphemy - Frostbite - Temporal Chains - Vaal Discipline

Flame Dash Item: Cast When Damage Taken lvl 1 - Immortal Call lvl 3 Item links should be B-B//R-R

If Your shield is Prism Guardian: Zealotry - Malevolence - Hatred

If Your Shield isn't Prism Guardian: Malevolence - Blood Magic - Clarity (highest usable level)

 

leveling Setup

Leveling With No gear

If you are new to Path of Exile and/or starting with thousands of other players in a new league, you're starting with no items and no currency. Luckily for you, the build requires nothing to get going and is absurdly cheap even if you're switching to CI. Don't worry about unique items! My biggest recommendation is simply to save as much currency as possible for future crafting. Just move down a couple of sections and start with the Full Leveling Guide. Take your time and enjoy!

Leveling Item with trade link

There are a few unique items that will allow you to truly zoom through the leveling process. If you want to twink your character and get to maps ASAP, slap these bad boys on and crush everything.

Change Standard League to Ultimatum

Wanderlust, Goldrim, Lifesprig, Lochtonial Caress, Cheap PoE Tabula Rasa, Axiom Perpetuum

You can buy cheap PoE Power leveling Item within 1 - 10 min delivery!

Rares

30% MS Boots with 75+ Resists
5c or less ring with 120+ resists

Leveling Guide Summary

Passive Tree

Here is the full tree for leveling. See the full leveling guide for a section-by-section breakdown.

Gems

This is ripped straight from the full leveling guide:

Vortex + Efficacy + Elemental Focus + Hypothermia

(Vaal) Cold Snap + Efficacy + Elemental Focus + Bonechill

Creeping Frost + Efficacy + Elemental Focus + Controlled Destruction

Malevolence, Skitterbots

Orb of Storms + Onslaught + Increased Critical Strikes (For triggering Elemental Overload on bosses)

Flame Dash + Arcane Surge + Second Wind