Grinding Gear Games recently revealed all the passives for the Lich Ascendancy in Path of Exile 2, which will be released in the Dawn of the Hunt update. The Lich Ascendancy joins four other Ascendancies in the game, each offering something fascinating for the class they’re attached to. However, you’ll have to reroll to play this as a Witch, unless you haven’t picked an Ascendancy yet in the early access.
The Lich Ascendancy is all about becoming a powerful undead yourself in Path of Exile 2. It has passives like Crystalline Phylactery, Eternal Life, and Rupture the Soul that fulfill that particular fantasy. It’s built around non-channeling spells, having as much Energy Shield as possible, and doing more with Curses. This includes having access to an extra one and making enemies explode as a result.
If you’re curious about the Lich Ascendancy and its passives in Path of Exile 2, here’s everything they can do.
All Lich Ascendancy passives in Path of Exile 2
The Lich Ascendancy passives resemble a spider web in Path of Exile 2’s UI, which makes listing them in terms of branching pathways a little difficult. What we’ve done is break them up into left and right paths (by branch), so you can see what belongs where and what it does.
Witch players who want to do more with their Curses and smash through foes with non-channeled spells are really going to love the Lich Ascendancy in Path of Exile 2. Since all their summoned spells are non-channeled, summon builds are probably going to get a lot out of it.
Lich is also an Ascendancy that can grant you more damage based on how much mana you have or even prevent your life total from changing as long as you have Energy Shield. It’s a fascinating class fantasy and probably the one I’m looking forward to the most.
Note: Unholy Might is a buff that grants 30% of all damage as extra Chaos Damage.
Branch 1 (Left)
- Necromantic Conduit: You and the allies in your presence have Unholy Might while you are not on low mana. Lose 5% of mana per second.
- Mana: 3% increased maximum mana.
- Dominion Over Flesh: You can apply an additional Curse. Your Curses can affect Hexproof enemies.
Branch 1 (Right)
- Soulless Form: 10% of damage taken bypasses Energy Shield. No inherent mana regeneration. Regenerate mana equal to 6% of maximum Life per second.
- Life: 3% increased maximum Life.
- Eternal Life: Your life cannot change while you have Energy Shield.
Branch 2 (Left)
- Rupture the Soul: Cursed enemies killed by you or allies in your presence have a 33% chance to explode, dealing a quarter of their maximum Life as Chaos damage.
- Curse Area: 25% increased Area of Effect of Curses
- Blackened Heart: 4% increased Magnitude of Unholy Might buffs you grant per 100 maximum mana
Branch 2 (Right)
- Energy Shield if Consumed Power Charge: 30% increased Energy Shield if you’ve consumed a Power Charge recently
- Price of Power: Non-channeling spells consume Power Charges to deal 25% more Damage
Branch 3
- Energy Shield: 20% increased maximum Energy Shield
- Eldritch Empowerment: Non-channeling spells cost an additional 3% of maximum Energy Shield. Non-channeling spells deal 30% more damage. Spending Energy Shield does not interrupt Recharge.
Branch 4
- Energy Shield: 20% increased maximum Energy Shield
- Crystalline Phylactery: Can socket one non-Unique basic jewel. 100% increased effect of socketed jewels. 50% more mana cost if you have no Energy Shield
A few of the nodes are not revealed towards the beginning of Path of Exile 2’s Lich Ascendancy passive tree. We’ll update this article once we know exactly what they do.
Several of these abilities carry negative side effects, such as constantly losing mana or a greater mana cost if you have no Energy Shield. This means players must really consider which passives are the most important to their play style and what will get them the most damage.
Check out our other Path of Exile 2 guides and features:
Edited by Rachel Syiemlieh
