Plants/Entangle
Blood Mage Build

Updated for Path of Exile 2 Early Access

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The new Plants Archetype consists of 2 main Plant Spells and one Thunderstorm to Overgrow your plants, boosting their effects. The Entangle creates a fissure that attaches vines to nearby enemies every 0.1 second, dealing Damage upon each attachment. You can attach up to 6 Vines to a single Enemy regardless of the number of Fissures, but the extra Fissures can be used to cause additional explosions with the Accelerated Growth Support. Another Skill in your arsenal is called Thrashing Vines. It creates a growing area with larger Vines that hit nearby enemies once. It creates 2 Vines for each Cast Time over its duration, which means you can scale it up with modifiers to your Cast Speed. 

The Wildsurge Incantation Keystone grants a massive bonus of 50% More Damage for Plant Skills, but cuts their duration by 75%, leading to a quite active playstyle. You will weave your Plants, boost them with the Thunderstorm, and optionally apply Critical Weakness with Ball Lightning. However, you shouldn't use your Spells too fast, as they need some time to deal their Damage properly. You can also use Cast on Critical Setup to automate the Thrashing Vines, which makes the gameplay simpler and easier to execute, but your overall DPS will be slightly worse. 

The Vines deal Physical Damage. They are not suitable for Ailment Builds, but can inflict Impales and break Armour to deal more Damage. The Thunderstorm can easily Shock Enemies for another 20% Damage boost. With this in mind, there is only one way to scale your Damage, which is Critical Strikes. The Plant Skills have quite a high base Critical Strike Chance at 10%, but you can make it even better by picking the Blood Mage Ascendency and setting it to 15%. The Oracle Ascendency is also a good pick, as the Inevitable Critical Hits and optional Passives can provide quite a sizeable boost to Damage as well. However, the Blood Mage provides much better defensive capabilities thanks to Spell Leech, delaying 25% of incoming Damage, and extra maximum Life via Overflow and Crimson Power. You can also boost your Energy Shield and recover it via Zealot's Oath if you include the Undying Hate Jewel, although this route requires considerably higher budget. 

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1. Gameplay

Use Entangle against most Enemies, and empower it with Thunderstorm when needed. Against particularly dangerous foes, weave in the Thrashing Vines, apply Critical Weakness with a fast-hitting Spell such as Ball Lightning, and place a Curse. 

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

The Plant playstyle is available right from the start. You will start with the Entangle, and unlock additional Skills in your Arsenal very quickly. At first, getting enough Critical Strikes can be hard; it is better to use the Controlled Destruction Support instead. You won't have the tools to Break Enemy Armour at lower levels, so you should include the Vulnerability Curse. 

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

Click on the image to open the Passive Tree preview in a new window, or use the Path of Building (PoB) tool.

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in this order:

1. Sanguimancy
2. Vitality Siphon
3. Sunder the Flesh
4. Gore Spike
5. Crimson Power/Grasping Wounds

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Entangle setup Weapon Set 1
	Entangle - creates Fissures that attach Vines to nearby Enemies, dealing Damage. Overgrow allows attaching more Vines to the same Enemy.
	Accelerated Growth II - causes explosions when the Plant becomes Overgrown, dealing Damage and Blinding Enemies.
	Kaom's Madness
	Considered Casting
	Magnified Effect II
	Zenith II

[DPS] Thrashing Vines setup Weapon Set 1
	Thrashing Vines - causes Vines to grow in the targeted location, each dealing heavy Damage with a single Hit. Overgrowing the area creates stronger Vines that deal More Damage.
	Zenith II
	Blindside
	Considered Casting
	Concentrated Area
	Atalui's Bloodletting/Brutality III

[UTILITY] Thunderstorm setup Weapon Set 2
	Thunderstorm  - This storm causes your Plants to Overgrow, boosting their Effects. It also Drenches Enemies, making it easier to Shock and Chill affected foes.
	Prolonged Duration II
	Magnified Area II
	Rapid Casting II
	Shock Conduction II
	Living Lightning II

[DPS] Cast on Critical setup Weapon Set 1
	Cast on Critical - accumulates Energy when you inflict a Critical Hit. The Energy is used to automatically Trigger socketed Spells.
	Thrashing Vines - the Fissure deals a decent amount of Damage, and can create additional explosions while Overgrown for even more initial Damage.
	Thunderstorm  - automatically Overgrowns your plant. You still need the manual Setup against Bosses.
	Zenith II
	Boundless Energy II
	Accelerated Growth II

[UTILITY] Ball Lightning setup Weapon Set 2
	Ball Lightning - creates a Projectile that rapidly Hits nearby Enemies. Use it to apply Critical Weakness Debuff.
	Unleash
	Pinpoint Critical
	Projectile Deceleration II

[UTILITY] Curse setup
	Temporal Chains - a defensive Curse that slows down the affected foes. You can also use the Blapshemy to automatically apply it to nearby Enemies.
	Heightened Curse
	Prolonged Duration II
	Magnified Area II
	Efficiency II

[UTILITY] Life Remnants setup
	Life Remnants - the baseline effect of every Blood Mage, it causes you to spend Life to cast your Spells, but creates Remnants that heal and Overflow your maximum Life.
	Remnant Potency III
	Harmonic Remnants II

6. Gear Setup

The Staff provide slighty more Damage than Wands now and is usually cheaper than a similar Wand and Focus combo. You will look for extra Gem Levels, increases to Spell Damage, Spell Crits, and added Extra Damage, preferably of a Physical type, which is obtainable via Desecration. Cast Speed is also useful to have, but it shouldn't be your main priority. To ensure you can always benefit from the Zenith Support, you will need plenty of Mana Regeneration as well. For defence, simply look for high amounts of maximum Life and cap your Resistances. You will also need a bit of extra Attributes and Item Rarity.  

(Weapon) Rare Staff or Wand - additional Gem Levels are a very powerful way to improve your Damage, but you will also need a large amount of Spell Damage and Critical Hit bonuses. Desecration can provide very powerful bonuses as well. Staves and Wands provide similar DPS, so pick whatever you can find on the market for a lower price.

Min. requirements: 130% increased Spell Damage +6 to Level of all Physical Spell Skills 85% increased Critical Hit Chance for Spells Optional affixes: Gain #% of Damage as Extra Physical Damage  5% increased Spell Damage per 100 Maximum Life % increased Critical Spell Damage Bonus

(Weapon) Rathpith Globe - this Focus grants you an immense amount of Damage and Critical Hit Chance without the downside of higher Mana Costs that come with higher Skill Gem Levels.

(60—100)% increased Energy Shield +(60—100) to maximum Life Non-Channelling Spells cost an additional 6% of your maximum Life Non-Channelling Spells have 3% increased Critical Hit Chance per 100 maximum Life Non-Channelling Spells deal 6% increased Damage per 100 maximum Life

(Weapon) Effigy of Cruelty - use your second Weapon Set to apply Critical Weakness Debuff, granting you up to 10% Base Critical Hit Chance.

+(20—30) to maximum Energy Shield (40—50)% increased Spell Damage +10 to Intelligence +(7—13)% to Chaos Resistance Critical Hits with Spells apply (1—3) Stack of Critical Weakness

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - here you can get up to 3 additional Gem Levels for your Spells. It should also grant you Critical Strike bonuses, Attributes, and maximum Life or Resistances.

Min. requirements: +50 to maximum Life +3 to Level of all Spell Skills Optional affixes: % total Elemental and Chaos Resistance  % increased Critical Hit Chance % increased Critical Damage Bonus % increased Rarity of Items found +# to Attributes

(Ring) Rare Ring - your Rings should provide a bit of Cast Speed and Mana Regeneration. The remaining modifiers should be focused on the usual defence.

Min. requirements: +25% increased Cast Speed +80 to maximum Life  +40% total Elemental and Chaos Resistance  Optional affixes: % increased Rarity of Items found +# to Attributes

(Belt) Rare Belt - the Belt is a good piece to get tons of maximum Life, Mana, and Strength or Resistance. Extra Charm Slots are also very useful to have.

Min. requirements: +100 to maximum Life +80% total Elemental Resistance Optional affixes: +# Charm slots +# to Strength

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - look for high amounts of Life and Energy Shield, but the Helmet can also improve your Critical Strike Chance. Other than that, get Resistances or Attributes.

Min. requirements: +100 to maximum Life +30% increased Critical Hit Chance +40% total Elemental and Chaos Resistance  Optional affixes: % increased Rarity of Items found +# to Attributes

(Body Armour) Rare Helmet - the Rare Body Armour can provide copious amounts of maximum Life if you allocate the Crimson Power Notable. You might want to include Spirit to use additional Setups.

Min. requirements: +200 to maximum Life +400 to Energy Shield +40% total Elemental and Chaos Resistance  Optional affixes: % increased Rarity of Items found +# Spirit +# to Attributes

(Body Armour) Kaom's Heart - you can give up on the Spirit Setups completely and get tons of maximum Life instead. You can also Corrupt this Armour to get even more Life.

(30–40)% increased Stun Threshold +1500 to maximum Life You have no Spirit

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - you can get plenty of Damage on your Gloves via Critical Damage Bonus, a Rune with Cast Speed, and a Desecrated modifier that grants Arcane Surge on Critical Hit.

Min. requirements: +100 to maximum Life +30% increased Critical Damage Bonus +40% total Elemental and Chaos Resistance  Optional affixes: % chance to Gain Arcane Surge when you deal a Critical Hit % increased Rarity of Items found +# to Attributes

(Boots) Rare Boots - the main focus of your Boots is mobility. You will need a high amount of Movement Speed, but you can also Desecrate a modifier to lower the Slow Potency on you.

Min. requirements: +100 to maximum Life 30% increased Movement Speed +40% total Elemental and Chaos Resistance  Optional affixes: % increased Rarity of Items found % reduced Slowing Potency of Debuffs on You % reduced Movement Speed Penalty from using Skills while moving +# to Attributes

(Jewel) Heart of the Well - you can greatly improve your Leech by getting a small amount of it instantly. This Jewel can also provide a bit of Damage as well, but it will be very expensive to mix multiple useful modifiers.

Recommended modifiers: Gain (9–15)% of Damage as Extra Cold/Fire/Lightning Damage (6-12)% increased Critical Spell Damage Bonus 10% of Leech is Instant

(Jewel) Rare Jewel - you can get tons of Critical Damage Bonus on your Rare Jewels. They can also improve your Sustain, enhance your AoE. or prolong the Duration of your Plants.

Min. requirements: 15% increased Critical Damage Bonus 15% increased Critical Spell Damage Bonus Optional affixes: % increased Critical Hit Chance % increased Spell/Plant Damage % increased Area of Effect % increased Skill Effect Duration Recover #% of maximum Life on Kill

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.

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