[Build of the Week][0.3] "Dissociative Bomber" Witch Hunter

Let's build one tree entirely focused on offense, and another entirely on defense!

This build is still in progress (currently clearing 6mod T15 maps), but I've uploaded it to poeninja for those who want to reference it: https://poe.ninja/poe2/profile/VirtualTrident-7346/character/Tree_SchizzoMaNizzo

With the recent changes to Witch Hunter giving us 100 weapon set skill points, we can now have two entirely different skill trees. This build aims to exploit this by snapshotting fully offensively with Mortar Cannons and then swapping to a defensive weapon set for survivability while the cannons do their thing.






As this build relies heavily on weapon swapping, please make sure that the skills mentioned below are only used with their respective weapon sets:


PROS:
+ Very budget-friendly (no expensive uniques)
+ Has both good clearing (albeit not zoomer level) and boss damage

CONS:
- Your eyes may or may not bleed.
- Weapon set skill points cannot path through jewel sockets or allocate keystones. But we don't care, because boom boom.


Weapon Set 1: Focus on offense with snapshotting Mortar Cannons. We use Explosive Grenades for their excellent added damage scaling.



The "Demolitionist" notable at the bottom of this tree gives us 4% added fire damage for each different grenade fired in the past 8 seconds. For this reason, we use Mirage Archer to fire the other grenade types and acquire this buff. (though I'm not sure if this buff resets when swapping weapons or even if mirage archer triggers the effect, pending testing)



---Note: Mirage Archer has a 6 second cooldown after it disappears. This cooldown resets when dodging, but since we only use this skill on our first weapon set, the cooldown will not reset when we dodge on our second weapon set.

Since we have enough Spirit left for a Tame Beast companion, we can choose any beast with an aura of choice. Personally I opted for an Energy Shield Aura to increase our chances of survival in case I get hit while putting down cannons.

---Note: Our companion will be pretty squishy, but that's okay. As long as the companion isn't dead, resummoning it with weapon swaps will put it right back to full health. Knowing this, we can support our companion with Loyalty to redirect 10% of the damage we take, and Last Gasp to give us more control over its survival.


Weapon Set 2: Focus on defense and utility through Energy Shield and Mana Regeneration nodes.

Additionally, our second weapon set will support our explosive cause. We pick up a wand and focus to raise the level of our fire spells as high as possible. This way, we can use Flame Wall for extra added damage to our grenades to use against bosses or tanky monsters.



Orb of Storms will serve as our low-cost spell to easily swap weapons, and also for lightning infusions to further buff our flame wall for added lightning damage.


Since we only equip Mirage Archer and Tame Beast on our first weapon slot, we can use Elemental Weakness with Blasphemy to debuff nearby enemies and Mana Remnants to have enemies drop mana remnants when they get killed by our cannons

Gameplay:

In total, we have up to 4 cannons:
* 1 base
* 1 from the Overabundance support gem
* 1 from the Artillery Strike passive on our tree
* 1 from the cheap Idol of Uldurn unique amulet

There are ways to get even more cannons like the Soul Mantle body armour or the Desecrated +1 ballista prefix on crossbows, but those come with considerable drawbacks. Use at your own risk.


For clearing, gameplay looks something like this: we put down 1 or 2 Cannons and then cast Orb of Storms. Because Orb of Storms will swap to Weapon Set 2, this will apply Elemental Weakness to nearby enemies, allow Mana Remnants to drop, and give us a much higher ES pool and very fast (+-1.20 seconds) ES recharge delay. We repeat this until everything is obliterated (possibly including your PC).

For bosses and tougher opponents we deploy the maximum number of cannons and infused flame walls.


I have a feeling I've forgotten to mention a few things but I'll make sure to update if necessary. If you have any questions or suggestions feel free to leave a reply, I'll leave notifications on for a bit.

Happy bombing!