Path of Exile 2: Ailment Sorceress Leveling Build (January 2025)

If you’re interested in playing a leveling build that focuses on applying every Elemental Ailment at once in Path of Exile 2, this Sorceress build is for you.

This build can apply Shock, Chill, and Ignite with ease on foes. Not only will these Ailments weaken foes, this build is also designed to deal even more damage to afflicted foes. It can snowball through mob encounters extremely fast, and is pretty solid for taking out bosses too. Plus, it can use every Element!

Read on and we’ll tell you everything you need to know to make use of this powerful Ailment Sorceress leveling build in Path of Exile 2.

Ailment Sorceress Leveling Build (January 2025) | Path of Exile 2

Gear & Stats

When it comes to gear and stats, the Ailment Sorceress leveling build is actually pretty standard in Path of Exile 2. It doesn’t really have any special things to look out for. On the upside, that does mean the build is very much not reliant on hunting down specific loot!

Nonetheless, these are some of the more important stats you should look for in gear:

• Energy Shield
• Life
• Life per Enemy Killed
• Lightning Damage
• Mana per Enemy Killed
• Spell Damage

Based on the gearing flexibility we mentioned, you can also go with either a Staff or a Wand & Focus combination for your weapon set. Staff should be stronger, but Wand & Focus would have more survivability. Either way, it’s up to your preference!

Skill Gems

This Ailment Sorceress build gets Spark as one of its main Skills really early on. This helps make the leveling process in the early game simple! Use Spark to carry you through the early game until you can start getting other Skills.

With that said, this is the Skill and Support Gems setup you want to aim for with this build:

• Spark – Your main projectile attack throughout the whole game. Fires a set of projectiles that spread all over the area, damaging enemies. Can quickly take out groups of weaker mobs with ease.
  • Support 1: Arcane Tempo
  • Support 2: Pierce
• Frost Bomb – Summons a pulsing Frost Orb which explodes after a short delay. Each pulse applies Cold Exposure to enemies and the explosion itself deals Cold damage and applies the Chill Ailment. Useful against fast mobs if you stand near it to bait them. Also great for burst damage on stronger foes.
  • Support 1: Fast Forward
  • Support 2: Magnified Effect

• Flame Wall – Creates a wall of fire pillars in front of you, though we’ll turn it into a circle around you with our Support Gems. Firing projectiles through the fire pillars will imbue them with Fire, granting them extra damage and the ability to apply the Ignite Ailment. Basically, cast this down and then spam Spark through the fire!
  • Support 1: Fortress
  • Support 2: Persistence
• Orb of Storms – Summons a Lightning Orb which shoots deals Lightning damage and applies the Shock Ailment to nearby foes. Using Lightning Spells near the orb makes it attack more frequently, so stay close and use Spark.
  • Support 1: Energy Barrier
  • Support 2: Conduction
• Grim Feast – Makes it so that enemies and minions that die near you have a chance to drop Grim Remnants. Pick those up to refill your Energy Shield, bolstering your survivability.

Passives and Ascendancy

The overall Passives Tree progression for this Ailment Sorceress leveling build in Path of Exile 2 should look something like the image above as you progress.

You go straight up from the Sorceress branch of the Passives Tree to get as many increases to Intelligence and Cast Speed as possible early on. Make sure to pick +5 Strength for your first Attribute node so that you can use all the Support Gems you need. Other than that, go for +5 Intelligence every time.

The main thing of note in the Passives Tree is that you first want to go for the cluster of Notable Passives to the right. We circled it out for you in the image above. These will greatly boost all of the damage you deal with your Elemental Spells, especially after applying an Ailment.

After that, go straight to the left to pick up the cluster of Exploit the Elements passives. They’ll boost your chance to inflict Elemental Ailments, as well as the damage you deal to any enemy that’s suffering from an Ailment.

Lastly, just continue going up to the top of the Passives Tree. Make sure to get the circle of Elemental Ailment Chance passives. Then get the Lightning Passives at the very top of the tree to further power up your Spark and you’re all done.

Ascendancy: Stormweaver

When it comes to the Ascendancy, you’ll want to pick Stormweaver. Get the first Shock Chance node and then the Strike Twice Notable Passive to make it easier to apply the Shock Ailment on your enemies.

Then just go down the path to Force of Will so that you can have Arcane Surge on permanently. This will give you a permanent buff of 10% More Cast Speed and 20% More Mana Regeneration Rate. Essentially, it will let you spam your spells faster. It doesn’t have a trigger condition either, unlike the Support Gem version of Arcane Surge!

That’s the end of your Ailment Sorceress leveling build guide for Path of Exile 2. This build works best when you use all of your Spells in tandem. Put down Fire Wall and Orb of Storms while spamming Spark near them to deal constant damage. Top it all off with a Frost Bomb or do and you’re all set!

If you would prefer to do some more direct damage instead, check out our Critical Arc Sorceress build instead. It focuses on constant high damage through critical chain Lightning strikes.