Best Witch Builds in Diablo 2 Risen

Over 20 years after its initial release, Diablo II has made a comeback. This has, of course, led to an influx of players interested in rekindling their love for finding the best synergies and techniques to do in their quest to defeat Baal, Mephisto, and Diablo himself. In the list below, we cover some of the best builds for Witch, the only build that primarily focuses on Energy as a primary stat.

Best Witch Builds

Witches are a unique class where players very rarely invest in melee skills. With the witch, you will need to hold a lot more mana than health potions, which is different from all other classes. The Witch also trades defense for extremely powerful ranged magic attacks, making her capable of dealing some of the highest damage in the game, if built correctly.

Equipment

One important thing to note about gear is that choosing the right type almost always comes down to the player's methods rather than the build itself. Since loot is randomly generated as you kill enemies, it's always best to equip the gear that best suits your needs rather than hunting for specific items. However, we've listed the items below that best suit the witch class as a whole. If different gear is recommended for a specific build, it will be mentioned in the additional notes for that build.

• Helm: Dream
• Armor: Chains of Honor
• Gloves: Lay on Hands or Frostburn
• Belt: Arachnid Mail or Verdungo Nourishing Cord
• Bottes : Sandstorm Trek ou Silkweave
• Shield: Dream
• Amulet: Highlord's Wrath
• Rings: Passion or Call to Arms

Fireball

The fireball is commonly used as bread and butter for a witch. Most new players who don't know which direction to build their witch in, opt for a fireball witch because it's easy to build and proves to be quite essential from start to finish of the game. The biggest downside of this version is that on Hell difficulty, there are quite a few monsters that are immune to fire. However, this can be countered by investing in the right skills and alternate gear.

• Skill points
  • Fireball: 20
  • Fire Mastery: 20
  • Fire Bolt: 20
  • Meteor: 20
  • Blizzard : 20
• Stat Points
  • Strength: Enough to carry gear.
  • Dexterity: Enough to carry gear.
  • Energy: Enough to comfortably cast spells without waiting.
  • Vitality: Deposit nearly all points into Vitality.
• Notes added
  • This build is a great starter build, but can be considered lacking when it comes time to tackle the Hell difficulty. However, until then, this is the best build to take your character to higher levels. After that, you can reset your skill points to reinvest them.
  • Equipment
    • Try to find gear that increases fire damage more than any of the default options mentioned above. If you plan on taking this character to Hell difficulty, finding gear that lowers fire resistance will be critical to your survival.

Chain Lightning Witch

A Chain Lightning Witch focuses on quantity rather than quality. Lightning damage spells themselves don't do much damage, but if you invest in the synergies for Chain Lightning, you can increase the skill enough to deal massive damage to multiple enemies at once, all for a cost in mana which is nowhere near as high as Fire and Blizzard spells.

• Skill points
  • Not hellish difficulty
    • Chain Lightning: 20
    • Bolt loaded: 20
    • Lightning: 20
    • New : 20
    • Lightning Mastery: 20
  • Infernal difficulty
    • Chain Lightning: 20
    • Lightning: 20
    • Lightning Mastery: 20
    • Nova or Charged Bolt: 20
    • Frozen orb or wall of fire: 20
    • Cold Mastery or Fire Mastery: 20
• Stat Points
  • Strength: Enough to carry gear.
  • Dexterity: Enough to carry gear.
  • Energy: Enough to comfortably cast spells without waiting. Lightning spells are low mana spells, but you'll be casting them very frequently with this build, so you'll need a lot of mana.
  • Vitality: Regularly increase this level to keep your survivability high.
• Notes added
  • Equipment
    • Try to find gear that increases lightning damage (like Escuta's temper) or has a faster cast rate than any of the default options mentioned above. If you plan on taking this character to Hell difficulty, finding gear that lowers lightning resistance will be critical to your survival.
  • Hire a mercenary who uses an Infinity-imbued polearm. This will give the Mercenary the Aura of Conviction, which almost always breaks monster immunity when reaching higher levels.

Related: How to Identify Items in Diablo 2 Resurrected – Thekingplayers

Snow storm

Blizzard witches are skilled and well-timed spellcasters. Since it primarily focuses on dealing cold damage after a certain delay, players should plan ahead to round up enemies and destroy them collectively, rather than taking out one or two at a time. The Blizzard Witch can be detrimental to teams that focus heavily on summoning corpses, but can be a key asset to teams that focus heavily on physical damage.

• Skill points
  • Not hellish difficulty
    • Scoop of ice cream: 20
    • Ice Blast: 20
    • Ice Peak: 20
    • Blizzard : 20
    • Cold Mastery: 20
  • Infernal difficulty
    • Blizzard : 20
    • Ice Ball or Ice Spike: 20
    • Ice Blast or Cold Mastery: 20
    • Frozen orb or wall of fire: 20
• Stat Points
  • Strength: Enough to carry gear.
  • Dexterity: Enough to carry gear.
  • Energy: Enough to comfortably cast spells without waiting.
  • Vitality: Regularly increase this level to keep your survivability high.
• Notes added
  • Most people who run this build choose to exclusively start building their character with cold spells, then reset their skill points to run Cold and Fire/Lightning mode for Hell to counter resistances. However, if you have the right gear and mercenaries, you can break cold immunity and focus entirely on cold spells.
  • Equipment
    • Try to find gear that increases cold damage (like Death's Fathom) and Blizzard skills (Snowclash), or lowers the enemy's cold resistance. You can use a mercenary with the right buffs for red cast rate or faster than any of the default options mentioned above. If you plan on taking this character to Hell difficulty, finding gear that reduces cold resistance will be critical to your survival.

Related: Best Druid Builds in Diablo II Risen - Pro Game Guides

Meteorb

The Meteor Witch focuses heavily on her Meteor and Frozen Orb spells. This build is one of the best builds to run solo since you are able to counter cold or fire immunities. The biggest downside to building is that it relies heavily on skill and good timing, so the ability to plan ahead and react quickly is an absolute necessity.

• Skill points
  • Frozen Orb: 20
  • Meteor: 20
  • Fireball: 20
  • Fire Mastery: 10-15+
  • Cold Mastery: 10-15+
  • Firebolt: 1+
  • All other prerequisites: 1
• Stat Points
  • Strength: Enough to carry gear (Spirit Monarch is the perfect shield and requires 156 strength).
  • Dexterity: Enough to achieve around 70% block rate with shield/block.
  • Energy: Basic. This build does not rely on Energy Shield, so high energy is not a wise investment for this build.
  • Vitality: Deposit nearly all points into Vitality.
• Notes added
  • This build can be difficult in the early game as it drains your mana. It's essential to keep mana potions on you at all times for this build, otherwise you'll be useless in the early game. However, it improves a lot in the mid game and is almost no problem in the late game.
  • Equipment
    • This is a specialized build for the summoner, so it's best to use gear that buffs all of your skills and cast rate, or lowers enemy fire resistance. However, the absolute best gear to get is the full set of Tal Rasha Wraps, as it increases cold damage and lowers fire resistance.

Enchantress

The Enchantress focuses on optimizing her enchantment ability, which empowers a weapon to deal fire damage. The synergies for this skill are just as crucial as the skill itself. This is an extremely versatile build and allows for a wide selection of other skills to suit his or the team's needs.

• Skill points
  • Enchantment: 20
  • Heat: 20
  • Fire Mastery: 20
  • Energy Shield: 20
• Stat Points
  • Strength: Enough for gear, but going above 130 is not recommended.
  • Dexterity: Enough to increase attack rate and get 50% chance to block.
  • Energy: Spend almost all of your stat points into energy.
  • Vitality: Basic
• Additional Notes
  • The appeal of this build is its versatility. If you're a solo player or want to play with a witch in melee, you can assign extra skill points to defensive spells and synergies. If you are playing as a support for your team, you can put extra skill points into other elemental spells and their respective masteries.

Ultimately, the best build for you depends on your playstyle. However, the builds above are tried and tested by many experienced players in the game. If you have any builds that you think should be mentioned , tell us in the comments below!

Be sure to check our Diablo 2 homepage for all the latest news, guides, and information on this classic game!