Path of Exile 2 throws a lot of “oh, that looks harmless” enemies at you, and Areagne, The Forgotten Witch, is one of the nastiest examples. She looks like a side character, no big intro, no giant health bar, but she hits as hard as any story boss and can delete you in a heartbeat if you stroll in unprepared or wearing the wrong PoE 2 Currency gear setup. If you have been face‑tanking your way through acts, she’s the fight that suddenly reminds you this game still expects you to move and react, not just stand there and trade blows.

Finding Her In Grelwood

You bump into her out in Grelwood, tucked away in this little shack on the west side near the river, and the whole thing feels like a setup. You walk in, see a woman crouched on the floor, and you think, cool, quest NPC, maybe some lore. The moment you step close she shrieks, vanishes, and that’s your signal to get out of the hut right now. She’ll blink back into existence outside and start swinging spells. Fighting her inside that tiny room is a free death, since there’s barely any space to dodge and her skills fill the place fast. Before you trigger the encounter, it’s worth clearing all the werewolves and stray packs nearby so you’re not trying to dodge her spells while some random mob chews on your back.

Understanding Her Element Mix

The weird thing with Areagne is that she doesn’t lean into just one element, so you can’t cheese the fight by stacking a single resistance and calling it a day. Most players see “witch” and swap to fire res gear, but it’s usually the cold side of her kit that ruins you. She’s got this Icy Breath cone that can freeze you on the spot, and if that lands while you’re standing in the wrong place, you’re basically done. On top of that, she drops Frost Sigils all over the floor that pulse damage and force you to keep shifting position. While you’re trying to work around those, she’ll wind up an expanding ring of fire that looks slow and fair but hits ridiculously hard when it pops. If you’re chilled or half‑frozen when the ring starts, you don’t always make it out in time.

How To Actually Beat Her

The safest way to handle her is to treat the whole area like a kiting arena instead of a normal boss room. Standing still, even for a second too long, is usually how you die. Builds that can attack on the move or reset position fast — bows, traps, totems, even some melee with good dash setups — feel way better here. You want to tag her with a couple hits, then reposition before her teleports and cone attacks line up on you. She loves short‑range teleports to get on top of ranged characters, so if you tunnel vision on damage you’ll eat a full combo without really seeing what happened. Short animations, instant skills, and mobility flasks do a lot more for you in this fight than raw armour or energy shield numbers.

Rewards And Why She’s Worth Farming

So is all this stress actually worth it? For most players, yeah, she’s not just a random side mini‑boss. On top of mid‑tier drops like Rope Cuffs or basic currency shards, she’s one of the more reliable early sources of Uncut Support Gems, which can give your build a huge bump before the rest of the campaign catches up. You can slot them in straight away or flip them on the market if people are hunting upgrades and you’d rather stack some extra divine orbs for sale instead. Once you’ve learned her patterns, she turns into a repeatable check on how solid your defenses and movement really are, without the long lead‑up or stakes of a main storyline boss.