Path of Exile 2's 0.2.0 update brings sweeping changes to the minion archetype, turning it into one of the most powerful and customizable playstyles in the game. From new ascendancies and support gems to expanded minion skills and revamped endgame crafting systems, GGG has made it clear that summoners are getting a huge spotlight. Here we talk about the best minion classes and present five of the best new spectre builds for both leveling and endgame content in Path of Exile 2 Dawn of the Hunt league.
Minion/Spectre Summoner Builds Meta in Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.2.0
Minion builds in PoE 2 have received a substantial overhaul in the Dawn of the Hunt league. The introduction of new classes like the Huntress and new ascendancies such as the Lich and Legionnaire has opened up fresh directions for summoners. The Witch now has access to the Lich ascendancy, which offers potent synergy with chaos-based minions and explosion mechanics, while the Mercenary's Jamling Legionnaire offers unrivaled energy shield scaling and army size.
GGG has also introduced a massive amount of new support gems - over 100 - bringing more depth and variety to minion customization. The ability to spectre bosses, summon weapon-animated companions, and use new animated options like the Smith of Kitava further expands the creative potential in minion builds.
Changes to crafting, such as the addition of Fracturing Orbsand recombinators, offer more ways to build perfect minion gear. Meanwhile, the new corrupted zones and cleansed maps bring a fresh layer to endgame progression, with minion builds being particularly efficient at clearing these dense and dangerous zones.
Top 5 Best Spectre Builds in Dawn of the Hunt
With these new changes in mind, below we are going to sort out the top 5 new best minion builds for top summoner ascendancies in Path of Exile 2 Dawn of the Hunt league that can ensure you the most effective league start, leveling, bossing, and endgame mapping!
1. Best Lich Minion Build - Chaos Explosion Lich Minion
If you're looking for a powerful and unique minion playstyle in Path of Exile 2: Dawn of the Hunt, the Lich ascendancy offers a compelling alternative to traditional summoners. Unlike Infernalist, Lich trades raw Spirit scaling for explosive utility and powerful chaos damage bonuses. The key node, Rupture the Soul, causes cursed enemies killed by your minions to explode for 25% of their maximum life as chaos damage, creating chain-reaction clears reminiscent of Profane Bloom. Combined with Necrotic Conduit, which grants all allies Unholy Might (30% of damage as extra chaos), the Lich can multiply minion DPS significantly - especially when playing with numerous low-cost minions like Reapers or Frost Mages. The Soless Form node offsets the mana drain from Necrotic Conduit by regenerating mana based on life, making a hybrid ES/life/mana setup viable. For mapping, Dominion Over Flesh ensures your curses can affect hexproof enemies, maintaining consistency in clear, while Blackened Heart offers huge bossing potential by scaling Unholy Might with your maximum mana. Overall, Lich is perfect for those who want to focus on curse synergy, chaos explosions, and stacking multiplicative damage, all while commanding a deadly and efficient minion army.
Leveling Setup
Early Game
Low-Spirit Minions: Since the Lich ascendancy doesn’t provide bonus Spirit like Infernalist, start with low-spirit reservation minions such as Reapers, Frost Mages, or Snipers.
Support Gems: Use Marshal Tempo, Brutality, and Feeding Frenzy to scale early minion damage. Avoid high-spirit reservation gems or Blasphemy early due to tight resource availability.
Curses: Manual curse casting is recommended early on. Avoid Blasphemy Support unless you’re sure you can afford the 60 Spirit reservation.
Main Minion Setup
Core Minions
Reapers / Snipers / Frost Mages: Choose based on preference. All benefit from the Lich’s chaos and curse synergy but don’t require Infernalist-level Spirit investment.
Main Supports:
Brutality: Pure physical scaling
Marshal Tempo: Huge attack speed boost
Feeding Frenzy: Aggression and damage
Bloodlust / Emolate / Splinter: Based on minion type and damage preference
Supporting Minions
Raging Spirits: Optional extra damage and utility. Use Lacerate, Fire Infusion, and Feeding Frenzy for bleed and exposure synergy.
Utility Skills
Pain Offering: Sacrifice one minion to massively boost the rest.
Bone Offering: Optional second sacrifice for bonus buffs (linked with Font of Rage).
Eye of Winter: Used to apply curses like Vulnerability or Frostbite.
Flame Wall: Can be linked with Fortress Support to boost projectile minions.
Unearth: For extra corpses and meat shields during mapping.
Grim Feast: Optional for energy shield sustain.
Movement: Use Blink and Leap Slam for mobility.
Lich Ascendancy Progression
Rupture the Soul:
Enemies killed while cursed explode for 25% of their max life as chaos damage. Requires enemies to be cursed. Works similarly to Profane Bloom.
Necrotic Conduit:
Grants Unholy Might to you and allies in presence (30% of damage as extra chaos). Huge minion DPS boost. Comes with a drawback: Lose 5% mana per second.
Soless Form:
Solves Necrotic Conduit’s drawback. Replaces mana regen with 6% of max life regen as mana. Synergizes well if your life is higher than your mana pool.
Dominion Over Flesh (Mapping):
Lets your curses affect Hexproof enemies. Crucial for consistent Rupture the Soul explosions in maps with curse-immunity mods.
Blackened Heart (Bossing):
Increases Unholy Might magnitude based on maximum mana. Great for boss fights if you're stacking mana (e.g. 2,000 mana = 54% Unholy Might).
Choose between Dominion or Blackened Heart depending on whether you're mapping or bossing.
2. Best Tactician Minion Build - Budget-Friendly SRS Tactician Minion
Playing a Tactician minion build in Path of Exile 2: Dawn of the Hunt is a powerful and creative choice because it allows you to scale your minions' damage using your own weapon’s base attack power. With the Watch How I Do It ascendancy node, all nearby minions gain flat attack damage based on your weapon, enabling explosive scaling when combined with large numbers of fast-hitting minions like SRS or Spectres. This means you can boost your entire army's damage without relying on traditional Spirit stacking or minion gem levels. It’s a passive, consistent damage boost that rewards smart gearing and high minion count, making Tactician a great alternative to more conventional summoner classes while offering strong support potential and unique build flexibility.
Leveling Setup
Early Game
Starter Minions: Begin with Summon Raging Spirits (SRS) or Spectres depending on what you have access to early. They’re fast, low-reservation, and scale well with flat added damage.
Weapon Choice: Equip a high physical damage two-handed weapon early on — not for attacking, but to scale your minions via the "Watch How I Do It" ascendancy effect.
Support Gems:
Marshal Tempo and Feeding Frenzy for SRS
Brutality or Fire Infusion, depending on your minion type
Minion Mastery or Elemental Focus for added scaling
Main Minion Setup
Core Minions
Summon Raging Spirits (SRS): Ideal for this build — they’re fast, numerous, and benefit greatly from flat added damage from ascendancy.
Spectres: Optional for extra support or ranged damage.
Supporting Fire (If Viable): If the Supporting Fire minion skill (artillery totem) performs well, it can be a core part of the build. It scales with minion nodes and weapon damage and only fires when you do.
Main Supports:
Use high-minion-count skills to take full advantage of the ascendancy bonus damage.
Utility Skills
Eye of Winter: Used to apply Vulnerability or Elemental Curses manually.
Grim Feast: Optional sustain layer if you go ES hybrid.
Blink / Leap Slam: For movement and positioning.
Flame Wall: Optional — can boost ranged minions.
Banners (Optional): Can be used if you take the banner-related ascendancy nodes, but may not be worth the reservation.
Tactician Ascendancy Progression
Watch How I Do It (Core):
Allies in your presence gain flat attack damage equal to 25% of your main-hand weapon’s base damage. This includes minions. Scales best with large, slow, high-damage weapons. The more minions you have, the better this node becomes.
Suppressing Fire:
Adds a pinning mechanic to your minions’ projectile attacks. Pinned enemies are immobilized and eventually can’t act, providing a strong defensive layer.
Solid Plan:
Persistent buffs (pseudo-auras) cost 50% less reservation. Helps you fit more buffs or minions into your Spirit pool.
Supporting Fire (Optional):
Summons a trailing artillery squad that fires when you shoot. Counts as minions and scales with minion bonuses. Great synergy with Watch How I Do It.
If Supporting Fire underperforms, skip it and focus on traditional minions with high flat damage scaling.
Passive Tree Summary
Key Nodes
Minion Damage & Quantity: Lord of Horrors, Living Death, Power of the Dead
Minion Attack Speed: Marshal Tempo, Minion Mastery clusters
Weapon Damage Scaling: Stack main-hand physical weapon damage — even if you don’t attack with it
Reservation Efficiency: Solid Plan, Spirit Reservation nodes
Defense: Optional Grim Feast, Energy Shield or Life as needed
Gear Overview
Weapon
Shield / Off-Hand
Helmet
Amulet
Body Armor
Rings
Belt
Jewels
Rare Jewels: Minion Damage, Minion Crit Chance/Multiplier, Max Energy Shield or Life
Optional: Against the Darkness if using many notables, Grand Spectrum (if Spirit-scaling is needed)
The build is unique in that it scales minions using your main-hand weapon’s damage, not gem levels or Spirit. The more minions you have, the more benefit you get from Watch How I Do It. SRS spectres are ideal for this due to high numbers and fast attacks. If viable, adds a fun artillery minion that synchronizes with your attacks.
3. Best Infernalist Minion Build - Fire Minion Infernalist
Minion builds in PoE 2 drastically reduce the difficulty of the campaign compared to other archetypes. With fire-based minions, this build scales naturally, deals heavy damage, requires minimal gear, and keeps you safe. Even in solo-self-found, you can expect over 3,000 combined life and energy shield without spending much. It’s a forgiving and rewarding playstyle - perfect for learning mechanics while still progressing smoothly.
Leveling Setup
Early Game
Act 1 Starter Minions: Begin with Skeletal Snipers and Unearth. These are temporary tools to get you to level 6–8.
Switch to Arsonists: As soon as you get access to Skeletal Arsonists, replace Snipers. They throw fire bombs and scale incredibly well.
Support Options: Use Scattershot to turn single projectile throws into three, effectively shotgunning enemies. Early on, also consider Essence Drain + Contagion to supplement weak minion damage.
Flame Wall and Spirits
Flame Wall: Use this to boost your Arsonists’ damage. Link it with Fortress Support to create circular zones your minions throw through.
Raging Spirits: These summon on Flame Wall cast. They serve as extra damage and tanks. Link them with Fire Mastery, Elemental Focus, and Minion Mastery to scale damage.
Main Minion Setup
Arsonists
These minions throw attacks that scale with flat fire damage and benefit from projectile and area buffs.
Infernal Hound (Ascendancy Minion)
Acquired in Act 2, this companion permanently ignites enemies around it and absorbs 20% of incoming damage to you. Boost its life with Meat Shield, and add Coining Strike or Utility Supports for fire exposure and crowd control.
Clerics (Optional)
Utility Skills
Pain Offering: Sacrifices one minion to boost the rest with massive damage.
Grim Feast: Keeps your energy shield full by consuming minions.
Flammability: Curses enemies to reduce fire resistance.
Movement: Use Mobility Support on Flame Wall for smoother positioning.
Ascendancy Progression
Infernal Hound: Your first pick — absorbs damage on your behalf and boosts overall survivability.
Altered Flesh: Converts physical damage taken into chaos; great for builds without armor.
Bat’s Will: Converts max life into extra spirit, letting you summon more minions.
Bat’s Hand: Rewards stacking life with more energy shield, synergizing with Grim Feast.
Avoid: Demonic Form disables weapons, which ruins shield/scepter setups. Pyromantic Pact isn’t necessary due to low mana usage.
Passive Tree Summary
Minion Damage and Life: Take wheels like Raw Destruction, Power of the Dead, Living Death, and Gravedigger.
Minion Quantity: Lord of Horrors and Restless Dead give more minions and faster revival.
Defensive Layers: Add energy shield and block nodes like Dampening Shield, Essence Infusion, and Patient Barrier.
Vile Mending: Grants minions regen and max life — useful during boss fights.
Gear Overview
Weapons
Trench Timber (Optional): Boosts minion level and lets you use Leap Slam for mobility.
Scepter with +Minion Level and Spirit: Ideal for maximizing minion damage.
Shield: Use Oathsworn, a low-level unique that grants +50 Spirit and block chance.
Armor & Accessories
4. Best Titan Minion Build - Skeletal Sniper Titan
Although Titan isn’t the default choice for minions, it works exceptionally well thanks to the Hulking Form ascendancy node, which boosts all small passive nodes on your tree by 50%. Since this build takes 35+ minion-related small passives, this ascendancy translates into a massive damage increase for your army. Add in the natural tankiness of the Titan class and the ability to stun bosses with overwhelming firepower, and you’ve got a build that feels invulnerable while crushing content.
Leveling Setup
Early Game
Act 1 Starter Minions: Begin with Skeletal Snipers and Unearth. These provide early coverage and decent damage while progressing through the campaign.
Transition to Main Build: As you gain access to Scattershot, Pain Offering, and better support gems, start scaling your Skeletal Snipers into a full auto-attack-focused army. Your core setup begins when you can equip gear with high Spirit and Minion Skill Levels.
Support Gems: Use Scattershot, Marshal Tempo, and Brutality early on. Avoid Gas Arrow — it’s mana-heavy and unnecessary for this build’s playstyle.
Main Minion Setup
Skeletal Snipers
Main Supports:
Scattershot: Adds two extra projectiles per shot
Marshal Tempo: Boosts attack speed
Feeding Frenzy: Increases minion aggression and damage
Brutality: Converts all damage to physical and scales it
Heft: Multiplies physical damage further
Snipers form the core of this build. With over 25 archers active thanks to high Spirit, they clear screens before enemies even react. Position them before boss fights using the ~ key to pre-stack damage.
Utility Skills
Tip: Pre-cast Font of Rage before boss fights to stack Rage to 30 for massive burst damage.
Grim Feast: Keeps your energy shield full while mapping. Trading one minion slot for permanent sustain is well worth it.
Skeletal Cleric: Used solely for resurrecting snipers after Pain Offering. Link with:
Meat Shield
Last Gasp
Minion Mastery
Ingenuity
Vulnerability: Apply manually for boss fights. Avoid using Blasphemy — it reserves too much spirit and has limited range.
Eye of Winter: Linked with Unleash, Acceleration, and Arcane Tempo for curse triggering and chill.
Flame Wall: Optional utility for spirit generation or Rage if linked.
Leap Slam: Use with Unbreak for mobility and escape.
Titan Ascendancy Progression
Hulking Form: Core to the build. Grants +50% effect to all small passive nodes, which massively boosts minion damage, life, and energy shield.
Crushing Blows: Adds stun chance. Helps lock down bosses.
Life Regen & Max Life: Increases survivability and synergizes with Pain Offering usage.
Titan works well because it indirectly scales your minions through passive bonuses and provides tankiness to the character.
Passive Tree Summary
Pathing & Nodes
Minion Damage & Quantity: Lord of Hordes, Power of the Dead, Restless Dead, Gravedigger. Living Death
Minion Crit & Speed: Minion Critical Chance and Multiplier, Minion Movement Speed and Attack Speed
Defensive Layers: Essence Infusion, Eatient Barrier, Energy Shield Nodes, Chaos Resistance Clusters
Reservation & Support: Lord of Horrors – Reduced spirit reservation allows more minions
Note: Minion life nodes are optional. Even with minimal investment, minions rarely die at high gem levels.
Gear Overview
Weapon
Scepter: +4 or +5 to Minion Skills, 60–70% Increased Spirit, Optional: Minion Damage, Crit Chance, or Allies in Presence bonuses
Shield / Off-Hand
Trench Timber (Bossing):+3 Minion Skills, 2 Sockets = +30 Flat Spirit, Use Soulpass Kappa for +15 more Spirit
Oathsworn (Mapping): +50 Spirit, Reliable block and resistances
Helmet
Amulet
+2–3 Minion Skills, +40–50 Spirit, Optional: Life regen to offset Pain Offering, Anoint: Two-Pronged Attack or Resourceful Ally (25% Minion Damage)
Body Armor
Unfolding Dawn: +120 Spirit, Enables 25+ archers, Low defensive stats — swap to rare high-ES armor if needed
Rare Chest (Alt): 50–70 Spirit, High Energy Shield, Resistances
Rings
Belt
Gloves & Boots
Energy Shield, Resistances, Movement Speed, Optional: Stun threshold, Dex/Int
Jewels
3x Grand Spectrum (Emerald): +6% Increased Spirit total
Rare Jewels: 20%+ Max Energy Shield, 12–13% Minion Damage
5. Best Gemling Legionnaire Minion Build - Skeletal Sniper & Reaver Gemling Legionaire
Playing a Gemling Legionnaire minion build in Path of Exile 2: Dawn of the Hunt is a top-tier choice for players who want a powerful, high-scaling, and visually explosive minion army. Thanks to the Gemling’s ascendancy bonuses - like increased skill gem quality, +1 to all skill levels, and the ability to double up on support gems - this build allows you to create incredibly strong and efficient minions, such as Snipers and Reavers, that benefit from both quantity and quality. By stacking Spirit and equipping gear that boosts minion skill levels, you can summon dozens of high-impact minions that melt bosses and clear maps with ease. The build also supports a hybrid of offense and defense, using energy shield, Grim Feast, and Pain Offering to maintain survivability while dishing out massive damage. Though it's more expensive than most builds and can suffer from minion AI lag or screen clutter in large packs, the sheer power, flexibility, and potential for "game-breaking" fun make Gemling Legionnaire minions one of the most exciting and rewarding ways to play summoner in PoE 2.
Leveling Setup
Early Game
Act 1 Starter Minions: Begin with Skeletal Snipers and Unearth. These provide decent early damage and summon bone constructs to tank for you.
Transition to Full Setup: As you progress, unlock Skeletal Reavers, Raging Spirits, and Ranged Snipers. All three form the core of your army. Use Snipers for projectile screen-clearing and Reavers for close-range burst and armor shreds.
Support Gems: Right away, start using Scattershot, Marshal Tempo, and Brutality. These scale well with physical-based minions like Snipers and Reavers.
Main Minion Setup
Skeletal Snipers
Main Supports:
Scattershot: Adds two extra projectiles for wide coverage
Marshal Tempo: Boosts attack speed significantly
Feeding Frenzy: Increases minion aggression and damage
Brutality: Converts all damage to pure physical
Heft: Further boosts physical damage
Use Snipers for fast-paced mapping and bossing. Position them ahead before engaging enemies for pre-fight setup.
Skeletal Reavers
Main Supports:
Marshal Tempo
Brutality
Heft
Bloodlust: Boosts damage against bleeding enemies
Splinter: Breaks enemy armor, enabling higher melee burst
Reavers are melee minions, great for bossing and close-range cleanup.
Raging Spirits (Support Minions)
Main Supports:
Fire Infusion
Lacerate: Adds bleed
Feeding Frenzy
Fire Exposure
Fire Mastery
Used more for support and added fire-based damage scaling.
Utility Skills
Pain Offering: Sacrifices a minion to give the rest a massive damage boost. Essential for pre-boss setups.
Bone Offering: Used with Font of Rage and Lust for Sacrifice to further amplify minion damage.
Eye of Winter: Applies Vulnerability and Chill. Link with Unleash and Wild Charms to maximize debuff uptime.
Flame Wall: Triggers Raging Spirit summoning; use Fortress Support and Arcane Tempo to improve uptime.
Unearth: Summons temporary scorpion minions for additional tanking during mapping.
Grim Feast: Regenerates your energy shield constantly while minions kill.
Movement: Use Blink + Leap Slam for mobility. Blink helps position; Leap Slam gets you out of danger.
Gemling Legionnaire Ascendancy Progression
Implanted: +1 to all skill gem levels, including minions.
Gem Studded: Lets you use two support gems of the same type — huge value for minions.
Crystalline Protection: Improves quality scaling on linked gems; reduces spirit cost via quality bonuses.
Integrated Efficiency: Further quality bonuses and utility.
These nodes form the core of the build’s identity, enabling superior gem scaling and spirit efficiency.
Passive Tree Summary
Key Minion Clusters
Damage & Life: Take Raw Destruction, Power of the Dead, Gravedigger, Living Death.
Minion Quantity: Lord of Horrors, Restless Dead provide more minions and faster revival.
Survivability: Nodes like Dampening Shield, Essence Infusion, Patient Barrier boost your energy shield and block chance.
Sacrifice Nodes: Lust for Sacrifice synergizes with Bone Offering for a second damage buff.
Vile Mending: Grants regen to minions — helps with longevity in prolonged fights.
Gear Overview
Weapons
Scepter with: +Minion Skill Levels (up to +5), % Increased Spirit, Minion damage, crit chance, or attack speed
Trench Chamber (Bossing): +3 to Minion Skills, Socketed Spirit gem for +15 more Spirit, Use this in place of your shield for burst DPS
Shield
Helmet
Amulet
+2 or +3 to Minion Skills, High Spirit roll, Resistances and rarity if possible, Anoint: Two-Pronged Attack (25% Minion Damage)
Body Armor
Gloves & Boots
Energy Shield, Resistances, Movement Speed, Optional: Dex, Int, or Strength for stat requirements
Rings
Ventor’s Gamble (Optional): Spirit, rarity, and resists, Expensive but useful for farming
Rare Rings: Prioritize resists, life, and Spirit
Belt
Jewels
Against the Darkness: +10 Spirit per notable passive allocated, Use with large pathing trees for big gains
Grand Spectrum (Emerald) x3: +2% Increased Spirit each (6% total)
Rare Jewels: Max Energy Shield, Minion Damage (12%+)
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