It is a Skill Gem.
Minion
Spell, Buff, Duration, Aura
Tier: 5 (Witch)
Level: 6
Cost: 10 Mana
Cast Time: 0.60 sec
Requires: Level 21, 38 Int
Impales a Skeleton on a bone spike to empower nearby Minions into a frenzy as long as the spike remains, causing them to use skills more quickly. The bone spike is itself a Minion. If it dies, the effect ends immediately.
Skills can be managed in the Skills Panel.
In Path of Exile 2, Pain Offering is a potent minion-focused spell that can turn the tide of battle by empowering your minions with an aura of increased speed and damage. This spell is particularly beneficial for Witch and Necromancer builds, enhancing the combat capabilities of your summoned creatures, making them faster and deadlier. However, its effectiveness is dependent on the survival of the Pain Offering Spike, which grants the powerful buffs.
When you cast Pain Offering, you impale a skeleton on a bone spike that functions as a minion. This spike serves as the focal point of the aura, which boosts your nearby minions’ abilities.
These buffs make your minions significantly faster and more powerful, turning them into frenzied attackers, ready to decimate enemies at an accelerated pace.
Minion Spike: The bone spike itself is treated as a minion. If it dies, the aura’s effects will end immediately, so it’s crucial to protect the spike from enemy attacks to maintain the buffs on your minions.
Aura Duration: The spike lasts for 5 seconds, and during that time, all your nearby minions are significantly enhanced, making it an excellent tool for minion-based builds that focus on maximizing damage output and speed.
Limitations: Only one Pain Offering Spike can exist at a time, so you’ll need to time your casts carefully to maintain continuous empowerment for your minions.
Pain Offering is an essential spell for minion-based builds, especially those that rely on summoned creatures to do the bulk of the damage. It synergizes particularly well with skeletons, zombies, and other minions, granting them substantial attack speed, casting speed, and damage increases.
Minion Speed and Damage: The 30% increased attack speed and 38% more damage make your minions significantly more effective in battle. Whether you have a Necromancer summoning skeletons, zombies, or spectres, the boost to attack and cast speed makes these minions much more efficient in combat.
Skeleton and Zombie Builds: Pain Offering is particularly effective with builds focused on skeletons and zombies. These minions benefit greatly from both the attack speed and damage buffs, allowing them to overwhelm enemies in a fraction of the time.
Buffing Other Minions: This skill also works well with other minion types, especially if your build incorporates minions with fast attack speeds or skills that benefit from faster casting (like minions with spells).
Positioning: Ensure that the Pain Offering Spike is placed in a location where it can affect as many minions as possible within the 6-metre radius. It’s particularly useful when your minions are clustered together during combat.
Minion Protection: Since the Pain Offering Spike can be destroyed, ensure it’s placed in a relatively safe area, ideally behind other minions or in areas where enemies cannot easily reach it. Using minion protection mechanics can help keep the spike alive longer.
Keep the Spike Alive: The aura will last only as long as the spike remains intact. Consider using minion defense strategies or summoning minions that can act as a buffer to protect the spike from enemies.
Manage Aura Timing: With the 5-second duration, you need to recast Pain Offering often to maintain its effects. Try to time your minion damage bursts around this window to maximize effectiveness.
Pain Offering is a vital skill for minion-focused builds in Path of Exile 2, offering a substantial buff to your minions’ attack speed, cast speed, and damage. Its effectiveness is tied to the survival of the Pain Offering Spike, a minion that empowers your other minions in an aura radius. While it’s not without its challenges—especially the need to protect the spike—it’s an invaluable tool for Necromancer, Witch, and minion-focused builds that want to amplify their army’s destructive power. By carefully managing the aura’s duration and protecting the spike, you can turn your minions into a relentless force of nature.