PoE 2 LichA
Witch ascendancy · verified 2026-07-04 · INT
community tier · patch 0.5.4b (editorial)
An energy-shield chaos caster who trades defensive shield and mana for damage while spreading long-lasting curses that make enemies explode.
Your energy shield becomes both your health bar and an offensive resource — spells can sacrifice ES for more damage, and while you have ES your life stays locked. You blanket packs in curses, and cursed enemies you kill can rupture into chaos explosions for clear speed. Unholy Might and mana-stacking notables convert and amplify your damage into chaos.
Strengths
- Excellent, comfortable league starter — strong defense plus great mana/energy-shield quality of life
- Curse-driven clear via on-kill chaos explosions makes mapping fast and safe
- Beginner-friendly and forgiving thanks to a robust energy-shield defensive layer
- Flexible chaos/DoT and curse scaling supports popular Essence Drain / Contagion / Bonestorm shells
Weaknesses
- Lacks massive single-target burst compared to top-tier bossing ascendancies
- Limited inherent movement speed can make clears feel slower than faster classes
- Sacrificing energy shield for damage requires careful management to avoid dropping your defensive layer
Current standing (A-tier): One of the safest, most comfortable league starters with great defense and curse-based clear; held back from S only by modest single-target burst. [editorial] (community tier · patch 0.5.4b — editorial rank, community meta consensus (maxroll · mobalytics · game8 0.5 tier lists), editorial — checked 2026-07-03)
Key Lich notables
What each ascendancy notable actually does for the build — effect directions, not raw numbers (exact values shift every patch; check in game before committing points).
Eternal Life
Your life cannot change while you have energy shield, making ES your true defensive layer and buffer.
Eldritch Empowerment
Boosts non-channelling spell damage while making spells sacrifice energy shield, turning defense into offense.
Necromantic Conduit
Grants Unholy Might to you and allies (converting damage to chaos) at the cost of mana, a party-wide chaos buff.
Blackened Heart
Scales the magnitude of Unholy Might based on your maximum mana, rewarding mana-stacking builds.
Rupture the Soul
Cursed enemies you kill can explode for chaos damage, driving strong curse-based clear speed.
Incessant Cacophony
Gives your curses effectively infinite duration and lets you apply an additional curse, defining the curse-heavy playstyle.
Best Lich skills (0.5.4b)
Essence Drain
Contagion
BonestormHow to unlock Lich
Unlock via your first Ascendancy Trial in Act 2 (Trial of the Sekhemas or Trial of Chaos); 8 points total across the trials. See the full points & trials table + tracker → for exactly which run grants points 3–8, or the respec guide if you want to switch into Lich from another Witch ascendancy.
Want Lich online today?
Timesaver pros run the Trial of the Sekhemas and Trial of Chaos on your character — all 8 ascendancy points on your Witch, your build, usually same-day.
Other Witch ascendancies
Back to all Witch ascendancies, the ascendancy hub and full tier list.
Notables and effects verified against patch 0.5.4b (2026-07-02) — qualitative effect directions only; exact values change between patches. Tier ranks are editorial community-meta consensus, never game facts. Ascendancy art is in-game artwork © Grinding Gear Games, used for identification. Last verified 2026-07-04. Timesaver.gg is not affiliated with Grinding Gear Games. Source notes: High. Notables cross-verified on poe2db.tw and fextralife. Tier (A) sourced from Maxroll 0.5.1 league-starter list and corroborated by community discourse; 0.5.1 fix noted that Eternal Life no longer blocks life reservation. Exact 0.5.4b numbers not individually re-verified.