Overview
This Tactician build turns Supporting Fire, the ascendancy skill from Unleash Hell, into the centrepiece of a full minion army. Rather than keeping skeletons around purely for buffs, every summon is expected to contribute real damage, while Supporting Fire rains volleys from behind the front line. The character plays like a commander: walk behind the army, keep enemies inside your Presence, and let minions and arrow volleys finish packs together.
The key fix for Supporting Fire’s low base critical chance is Malice. A sceptre with increased Presence area lets Malice spread Critical Weakness across everything nearby, so crit chance ramps up quickly in both maps and longer boss fights. Because Supporting Fire reserves no Spirit, the build can pour its Spirit budget into a wide roster of skeletons and a Specter.
Defensively it is a shield build: a tower shield, max block on the tree and a Cast on Block setup with Repulsion give it a safety layer that is much stronger than its raw numbers suggest. The Tactician nodes add further mitigation, and the life/energy shield hybrid gear soaks random hits while the army takes most of the pressure.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Supporting Fire costs no Spirit, so the whole Spirit pool goes to minions
- Damage comes from many sources at once and keeps growing with minion gem levels
- Malice + large Presence solves the crit problem of Supporting Fire
- Max block, Cast on Block and a tower shield make it surprisingly tanky
- Flexible — can lean tankier, more minion-heavy or harder into crit scaling
Cons
- Feels weak early while many minions are still low-level placeholders
- Leans on Spirit, minion-level gear and good jewels to hit its ceiling
- Boss damage needs time for Critical Weakness stacks to ramp
- Large summon roster to level and maintain
Key Skills
- Supporting Fire — Tactician ascendancy skill and main damage, linked with minion and cooldown-timing supports
- Malice — applies Critical Weakness around you to lift Supporting Fire’s crit chance
- Skeletal minions (Sniper, Frost Mage, Storm Mage, Arsonist, Brute, Cleric, Reaver) — the army that tanks and adds damage
- Bind Spectre — an extra Specter slot for more damage and utility
- Cast on Block + Repulsion — reactive defensive layer tied to the shield
Gear & Anointments
The weapon is a sceptre; look for increased Spirit, increased Presence area and minion or spell levels. A tower shield with strong block is mandatory for the Cast on Block setup. The amulet is the long-term priority slot for Spirit and minion levels, while the rest of the gear covers life, energy shield, resistances and movement speed. Jewels with minion critical chance, minion critical damage bonus, life and energy shield become the main damage scaling once gear is stable.
- Passive tree: minion damage and crit, cooldown recovery, reservation efficiency, max block, life and energy shield, jewel sockets
- Ascendancy order: Unleash Hell → A Solid Plan → Polished Gear → Stay Alive, Use Cover
- Specific uniques to be confirmed against the source video; most showcased pieces are rares
Endgame Notes
In maps, send the army ahead and use Malice when needed while Supporting Fire clears. For bosses, stay close enough to keep the boss in your Presence so Critical Weakness stacks build, keep minions alive, and use the shield and movement to avoid big hits. The biggest late upgrades are higher minion gem levels, better Specters, stronger jewels and more refined Spirit gear.
Credits & Source
Build credited to KaidGames2. See the source video for the full build’s gameplay footage + voice commentary: THIS MINION BUILD JUST GOT MASSIVELY BUFFED IN 0.5.5! POE2 Witch Build 0.5.5.