News Tag: PoE 2 Patch 0 4 0

Diablo 4 announced at 2025 TGA that Paladin class would be launched in season 11, which brought surprises to players, and Path of Exile 2 patch 0.4.0 was not to be outdone either. In addition to the previously announced new class Druid, the official also announced a new Ascendancy class, Disciple of Varashta, without any warning.

Disciple of Varashta is a Sorceress Ascendancy class. Its gameplay is mainly summoning, and it may be the strongest summoning Ascendancy currently. It has many ways to play, and today we will mainly introduce the gameplay based on Sand Djinn.

Disciple Of Varashta Overview

Disciple of Varashta has three main summons that you can manipulate to cast spells. They are very powerful, but they play differently from a traditional summoning build, and it is more like a spellcaster build.

• Ruzhan, the Blazing Sword: A pure output Djinn that can burst out with powerful damage.
• Kelari, the Tainted Sands: It can not only release spells to cause damage, but also apply a shield to the character.
• Navira, the Last Mirage: A support-oriented Djinn that provides health regeneration and freezes enemies.

Players can choose which Djinn to fight together and order them to use specific skills. Each Ascension talent point grants a Command Skill.

Djinn are invulnerable. Even if all the player's other summoned army dies, the monsters alone can easily clear the map and kill the boss.

You need to increase the damage by stacking summon damage, command skill-related talents, critical strikes, and support gems (Support Gems). All skills of each monster share the same set of auxiliary gem links, and universal damage support gems work well.

Sand Djinn Disciple Of Varashta Build

Advantages And Disadvantages

This build not only has powerful burst damage, but also has a huge energy shield pool. Its ability to regenerate energy shield builds is unparalleled, energy shield regeneration activates extremely quickly, and the farming map experience is smooth and enjoyable.

However, if you pursue maximum damage, Boss battles require frequent button presses, high-intensity operations, and no particularly fast movement methods.

Djinn Select

This build mainly uses Flame Djinn and Sand Djinn to fight together to cause extremely high damage. Additional skill slots for each monster are unlocked at character levels 40, 65, and 90.

Kelari, The Tainted Sands

Its base can cause physical damage, has a high base critical hit rate and additional critical hit damage bonus, and can apply multi-layer critical hit vulnerability effect.

Kelari's Brutality

Djinn throws a row of blades at the cursor, which explodes after a short delay. Store 2 times of use. Both clear map and single target damage are good. It is recommended that you use it before bursting into a combo to apply the critical vulnerability debuff.

Kelari's Deception

Creates an area-of-effect explosion at the cursor, leaving a short-lived clone behind. Store 3 times of use. Continuous use will cause 50% more damage each time, and each surviving clone will copy the explosion effect. Casting 3 times in a row can produce up to 5 explosions. This is one of the most damaging skills in the build and can significantly reduce the boss's health.

Ruzhan, The Blazing Sword

Whenever the player uses a damaging skill, Ruzhan will automatically attack near the cursor, causing moderate damage and applying a basic Exposure effect.

Ruzhan's Brand

The brand is attached to the enemy. Up to 3 of them can exist at the same time and can be stacked on the same target. They will automatically explode after 3 seconds. The damage is acceptable but the priority is low. It is only recommended for players who like extreme active play. It can be cast three times quickly between skills to supplement the damage or clear out dense monster groups.

Ruzhan's Trap

Throws a sword at the cursor, then generates 8 randomly located runes on the ground. If an enemy steps on the rune, a static flame whirlwind will rise that lasts for 4 seconds. The damage of multiple cyclones can be stacked. By casting it close to a wall or in an enclosed area, you can narrow the rune generation area and make the whirlwind more concentrated. This is an excellent map-clearing skill and the single-target damage is also good.

Skill Gems And Gear

• Ruzhan, the Blazing Sword: Bidding II, Muster, Long Fuse II, Hulking Minions. Magnified Area II.
• Kelari, the Tainted Sands: Bidding II, Brutality III, Muster, Hulking Minions, Heft.
• Skeletal Reaver: Fire Attunement, Muster, Feeding Frenzy II, Heft, Immolate.
• Skeletal Storm Mage: Shock, Overcharge, Muster, Feeding Frenzy II, Rapid Casting II.
• Skeletal Sniper: Fire Attunement, Muster, Feeding Frenzy II, Heft, Immolate.
• Skeletal Frost Mage: Rapid Casting II, Muster, Minion Mastery, Multishot II, Projectile Acceleration III.
• Skeletal Arsonist: Fire Attunement, Muster, Multishot II, Feeding Frenzy II, Heft.
• Skeletal Cleric: Meat Shield II, Last Gasp, Rapid Casting II, Minion Mastery.
• Skeletal Brute: Muster, Fire Attunement, Feeding Frenzy II, Heft, Immolate.
• Elemental Weakness: Heightened Curse, Efficiency II, Focused Curse, Magnified Area II, Rapid Casting II.
• Frost Bomb: Potent Exposure, Overabundance I, Spell Echo, Cooldown Recovery II, Short Fuse II.
• Skeletal Warriors: Culling Strike II, Hulking Minions, Muster, Fire Attunement.

Since Ascendancy cannot be performed until the second act, you still need to upgrade in the normal way in the early stage. After obtaining Disciple of Varashta class, the talent tree requires more options to increase the life of the summoned object.

There are no special requirements for equipment. You can even choose all rare equipment, as long as their affixes include increasing the damage of the summons or the level of the summons. However, you can prepare a set of weapons with talent gems that increase the minion area of effect to obtain a larger clearing range. Djinn are very powerful on their own, but the more POE 2 currency you invest in them, the more damage they do.

How To Farm The Map?

Ruzhan's Trap, keep moving and let the enemy trigger the rune. Even if there may be fish that slip through the net, your army of summons will clean them up.

In the boss battle, the exposure effects of Elemental Weakness and Frost Bomb are maintained. If Kelari's Deception has 3 charges, cast it three times in a row to cause a huge burst. Ruzhan's Trap and Kelari's Brutality are both served after cooling.

If you have a lot of Spirit, you can use it to summon Skeletal Reavers and occasionally press Enrage to get a damage boost.

This is just one way to play Disciple of Varashta. You can also play it without playing a pure summoning build and combine it with other spells, as long as they give you a comfortable experience in the campaign.

Path of Exile 2's class and skill combinations are incredibly complex, resulting in numerous playstyles. Unfortunately, summoner builds have consistently lacked a place among the top-tier builds.

While it's unclear whether the new Druid class can change this, each league has a dedicated group of players researching minion builds. Below, we'll examine the performance of minion builds in Patch 0.3.0 and the adjustments in Patch 0.4.0 to see which ones will perform best in Fate of the Vaal league.

Tier S

Spectre Builds

Since skills in Path of Exile 2 aren't tied to classes, you can choose either Spectre Infernalist build or Spectre Shaman build.

Of all summoning skills, Spectre performed best in Patch 0.3.0, allowing you to enslave Spectres to fight for you. The strongest Spectre was Frozen Mandibles. Unfortunately, it was removed in Patch 0.4. As compensation, the developers stated they will buff some summon variants.

Therefore, as long as Spectre builds aren't significantly nerfed, you can use Powered Zealot Spectre to clear monsters and single enemies, or Death Knight Spectres to deal with single enemies.

Ascendancy Recommends

If you're only focusing on the early game, Spectre Shaman has a greater advantage because its Sacred Flow talent can provide a large amount of Spirit by sacrificing charm slots. Thanks to the changes in Act 2 quest Valley of Titans, Shaman can obtain a belt that grants +2 charm slots at lower levels, allowing for a large amount of Spirit early on.

Later in the game, you can respec to Oracle, as Oracle talent tree contains many summon-related nodes, providing strong late-game defense or damage.

Alternatively, you can choose the classic Infernalist build from patch 0.3.0, or Ritualist and Lich using Evergrasping Ring. Shaman and Infernalist may perform similarly with a moderate PoE 2 currency investment, but Lich and Oracle are likely the strongest with top-tier gear.

Tame Beast Builds

This build requires you to control Tamed Beast by switching weapons and using Infernal Legion auxiliary gem to deal area-of-effect fire damage.

Patch 0.4.0 did not significantly nerf its damage, and while the reduction in high-density maps may diminish its value for clearing, Tamed Beast builds remain consistently strong in single-target damage and overall performance, its strength proportional to your PoE 2 currency investment.

Ascendancy Recommends

The energy shield nerf in patch 0.4.0 may make Titan Tamed Beast better, but you can also choose to start as Shaman and transition to Oracle later, again due to the summon life and defense nodes included in the talents, and the higher your summons‘ HP, the higher their damage.

Tier A

Skeleton Archer Ritualist Build

This build requires Ritualist to equip Evergrasping Rings, granting summons additional Chaos that also affects enemies within range. It typically requires Chaos Inoculation to mitigate the additional Chaos damage taken.

This build performs exceptionally well with high investment, but it's not a comfortable early-game choice. Upgrading with summons is not recommended without transitional gear; other skills are usually needed for early game progression, followed by a gear swap to reach full potential later.

In Patch 0.4.0, any summoner build relying heavily on Spirits was affected by reduced reservation efficiency and weakened Relics. However, this build, primarily reliant on the ring's damage boost, was relatively less affected.

Tier B

Skeletal Reaver Builds

Skeletal Reavers gain attack speed and damage by stacking rage. Patch 0.4.0 fixed this skill's description; now, its attack speed bonus only applies when they are enrage-enhanced.

The challenge was ensuring Skeletal Reavers survived after enrage was active. Tecrod's Revenge support gem enhancement solved this problem. It allows summons to survive longer after their health reaches 0, increasing this time from 10 seconds to 20 seconds. Dialla's Desire support gem can improve skill quality, further increasing rage effects, which might potentially lead to higher damage.

Ascendancy Recommends

This skill gem can be used by Titans, Ritualists, Shamans, and Liches, but its effectiveness depends on which class allows Skeletal Reavers to stack rage more efficiently.

Unearth Raise Zombie Builds

This build primarily relies on summoned enhanced zombies that consume Power Charge. Its damage bonus has changed from a fixed 100% to a dynamic value that scales with skill level, meaning high-level zombies have significant damage potential.

You can use Unearth to quickly generate summons for clearing maps. When single-target damage is needed, summon 10-12 enhanced zombies for burst damage. This build is completely unaffected by the reduction in reservation efficiency, but it heavily relies on Power Charge.

The best method is to use new Lineage support gems, which generate one Power Charge every 4 seconds. Additionally, Profane Ritual can consume corpses to generate critical strike orbs.

Sacrifice aura can treat permanently resurrectable summons as corpses, consume them with Profane Ritual, and then resurrect them with Skeletal Cleric, allowing you to continuously generate Power Charge.

Ascendancy Recommends

For this build, Ritualist is the best ascendancy choice because it doesn't rely on a lot of spirit and benefits from Evergrasping Rings and Uul-Netol's Embrace. The problem with this build is that it's relatively cumbersome to operate, and the summoned creatures are temporary and cannot exist indefinitely. Furthermore, using Raise Zombie is very mana-intensive, so you need to be mindful of your resource consumption.

The above minion builds are just basic concepts. You can research how to increase minion damage in new leagues, and perhaps you can even create a stronger build.