Path of Exile 2: League starter Blood Mage build guide (0.3.0)

Path of Exile 2’s Blood Mage is getting multiple Ascendancy reworks and quality-of-life improvements. A major complaint was its dependency on dealing critical hits to generate Remnants that recover and overflow health for casting spells. That restriction is no longer present in the Third Edict update, and while you can build around critical, you won’t need to neglect other stats.

Patch 0.3 also lowered the Skill Gem attribute requirements, in addition to several buffs across the board, allowing you to create diverse builds. In this build guide, we’ll be using a strong yet easy-to-grasp League starter by harnessing the power of the elements.

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Blood Mage League starter build for Path of Exile 2 patch 0.3

Spark will be a strong League starter in Path of Exile 2 patch 0.3 (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

As a Witch ascending into Blood Mage, you’ll have plenty of leveling options in the early game. Minions and Chaos DoT are popular picks that can help you level up fast. Alternatively, she also shares the same passive tree and weapon choices as the Sorcress, allowing you to go with a Spark leveling build, a popular pick for Blood Mage.

This guide is based on Spark, because it’s a strong League starter that can also scale well in the early endgame. There are also the Elemental Infusion mechanics with Path of Exile’s patch 0.3, which allow even more combinations between different elemental skills and improves the damage significantly.

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Blood Mage core skills and gameplay explained

Reap will provide free Culling Strike (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Spark is one of the most popular League starters, and for a good reason. It has great mobbing potential and previously had a great synergy with Flame Wall. However, after the update, the Elemental Infusion mechanics also allow you to add Cold Infusion to the skill, completing the elemental trifecta.

Since there are several easy ways to create an Elemental Infusion, the build will also contain various other skills. You may notice some Support Gems appearing across many skills; that’s because patch 0.3 allows you to equip multiple copies of support gems. Here’s what your campaign setup will look like:

• Spark: Pierce - Chain - Arcane Tempo - Rising Tempest (optional)
• Flame Wall: Spell Cascade - Fortress
• Orb of Storms: Arcane Tempo - Fast Forward - Overabundance
• Frost Bomb: Fast Forward - Arcane Tempo
• Living Bomb: Overabundance - Persistence
• Elemental Weakness: Arcane Tempo - Magnified Effect
• Comet: Consecrated Effect - Arcane Tempo
• Life Remnants
• Reap (optional)

Spark and Flame Wall are an age-old skill combination in Path of Exile 2. The gameplay was simple yet effective in clearing the entire screen. Drop a Flame Wall and shoot your Spark to create flame-infused projectiles.

Orb of Storms, Frost Bomb, and Living Bomb are there to create Infusions. While they will add some extra damage, their primary function will allow you to infuse Spark with the corresponding element. The exact numbers aren’t yet available, but it may be somewhere around 20% additional damage.

Elemental Weakness is there to strip enemy resistances. Before the update, each element had a different Skill Gem, but Path of Exile 2: The Third Edict update combined Cold, Fire, and Lightning into a single gem and an increased Mana cost.

Comet is purely for burst damage, which is helpful during a boss fight and against strong (rare) enemies. If you want, feel free to replace the skill with something of your choice. However, the skill can also acquire infusions.

Life Remnants is an Ascendancy skill that has a 25% chance of creating a Remnant Orb on hitting enemies for eight seconds. The orb recovers health and overflows your health bar, which is essential as Blood Mage also uses her life to cast spells.

Reap will be available alongside your weapon and provide Culling Strike. It will help you to take down bosses and other monsters in general with a single hit if they are below a certain health threshold. In the process, you’ll also gain some health.

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Blood Mage Passive Tree setup (up to Level 80)

Passive tree recommendation (Image via PoB || Grinding Gear Games)

You don’t need to follow the exact pathing, as the gear you use can heavily influence the passive node choices. However, the primary skill in the build is Spark, meaning you’ll need to focus on Lightning damage. Pairing this with your need to deal critical hits to enemies as Blood Mage, related nodes will also be helpful.

Critical Exploit, Critical Overload, and Sudden Escalation are some of the early critical nodes you can pick up in the game. Similarly, there are several nodes for Lightning damage and exposure, but a few are essential. This includes a new node, Branching Bolts, which gives you a 60% chance for Lightning spells to chain an additional time.

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Ascendancy passives

• Sanguimancy (available for free)
• Gore Spike
• Sunder the Flesh
• Vitality Siphon

Blood Mage has received several changes to the Ascendancy passive tree. For starters, you’ll get the Sanguimancy node for free. Additionally, the passive only requires you to hit enemies to generate Life Remnants instead of dealing a critical hit.

Open Sores is now called Whispers of the Flesh and does not provide infinite curse duration. Instead, the passive will reserve 15% of the enemy's life. It’s unclear if this will affect the overall health bar or the existing health. If it’s the latter, the passive may be worth picking up.

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Gear recommendation for Blood Mage in Path of Exile 2 patch 0.3

Beacon of Azis is a good unique for the build (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Items	Modifiers
Head	% To Energy Shield/Energy Shield Resistances
Body	Armor/Energy Shield Mana/Life Resistances
Amulet	+1 To Level of Skills Spirit (Optional) Mana Regen Cast Speed
Rings	Resistance Life Cast Speed
Gloves	Mana/Life per enemy killed Resistances Energy Shield
Boots	Movement Speed Life Mana Resistances
Weapon (Reaping Staff is optional)	Physical Damage Converted to Elemental +1 To Level of Skills Raw Damage (Elemental) Increased Elemental Damage

Since the Spirit acquired from the campaign does not have much use, you can convert it into a permanent aura using Blasphemy support. If you want to add more Persistent Buffs, use a Sceptre instead of a Staff, along with the Prism Guardian unique shield.

If you do not plan to use a Persistent Buff Skill, Kaom’s Heart might be a good option for body armor. It will provide an additional 1,500 health and a stun threshold of up to 40%. There are several more options to choose from, so we recommend using something that meets the build requirements.

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Check out our other Path of Exile 2 guides and features:

• Path of Exile 2 0.3 patch notes: Everything new in The Third Edict
• Path of Exile 2: 5 biggest changes in patch 0.3.0
• Path of Exile 2: Summoner Lich leveling guide (0.3.0 League starter)
• Path of Exile 2’s Support Gem rule change in 0.3 is a big buff to all builds