Campaign start and rhythm
Start as a Witch with the initial skill and take Summon Raging Spirit after Breaking Some Eggs. The skulls are short-lived and must be resummoned regularly. Zombies can provide extra bodies, but do not replace your own life and resistances.
Summon several skulls before a pack, then move sideways. Against bosses, find safe summoning windows instead of standing still until the last moment. Unleash later helps summon in bursts; until then, resummon small groups.
Summoning from the first skull to Unleash
| Stage | Setup | Important limit |
|---|---|---|
| Breaking Some Eggs / level 4 | Take SRS as the Witch reward or buy it from Nessa; then add compatible supports. | The normal gem has a maximum of 20 spirits with a base duration of five seconds. They do not block enemies and cannot serve as a taunting front line. |
| The Caged Brute | Obtain Melee Splash for packs. In 3.29 socket colour does not prevent insertion; the gems must still share linked equipment sockets. | Do not apply a PoE 2 Spirit budget: here SRS is summoned directly for mana. |
| The Eternal Nightmare / level 38 | Take Unleash as the Witch reward or buy it from Petarus and Vanja. Let seals recharge before a safe summoning window. | Unleash repeats the summoning spell. It is not supporting each skull’s individual attack. Move again after a short burst. |
Fire minions as a clear starting variant
| Slot | Setup | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Early main link | Summon Raging Spirit → Minion Damage → Melee Splash | Splash helps with packs. Add unavailable supports only after the relevant vendor unlock. |
| Later four-link | SRS → Minion Damage → Unleash → Melee Splash | Unleash simplifies resummoning; for tough single bosses swap Splash for a compatible damage support such as Elemental Damage with Attacks. |
| Minion utility | Raise Zombie; later Desecrate + Flesh Offering | Offering requires corpses. Do not recast blindly; consider safe windows and mana costs. |
| Personal protection | Flame Dash; Steelskin; defensive aura as budget permits | Your character remains vulnerable. Leave telegraphs and avoid reserving all mana for offence. |
Minion damage is its own stat
Connect nearby minion damage/life nodes, your own life and a usable mana foundation first. Generic spell or fire damage on the Witch does not automatically scale summoned minion attacks. Explicit minion modifiers and gem levels are the important lens when shopping.
Necromancer: Mindless Aggression is an understandable offensive start; then plan defence and the actual minion variant. This starter remains a fire-hit variant. Do not mix in Unnatural Strength, poison items and chaos supports from a different SRS build without rebuilding; those setups change the damage logic.
Attributes and equipment
- Intelligence often comes naturally from the tree; add strength/dexterity for supports and guard gems. Do not level a gem further if the next level exceeds your attributes.
- Judge weapon/shield by minion stats, gem levels and defence; a weapon with high personal attack damage does not automatically give that damage to summoned skulls.
- Prioritise life and resistances on rare armour. Expensive Spectres and Animated Guardian belong in a later deliberate upgrade plan; a Guardian death can lose valuable equipment.
Who this setup suits
Useful if you want magic and minions and accept repeated summoning. Less suitable if you want a permanently autonomous army with no input. With poor damage, check active minion count, support links and gem levels before buying equipment.
Sources & editorial reference date
Independently written guidance. Linked sources support verification of game systems, versions and described changes. Editorial reference date: 2026-10-23.
- PoEDB: Summon Raging Spirit gem data poedb.tw
- PoEDB: Necromancer passive data poedb.tw
- GGG: Content Update 3.29.0 — Curse of the Allflame www.pathofexile.com
- GGG: Ascendancy classes www.pathofexile.com
- PoEDB: Unleash gem and vendor data poedb.tw
- PoEDB: Melee Splash support and Nessa vendor access poedb.tw