PoE 2 AFK Ritualist: How to Farm Simulacrum with Zero Input

Summary

Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.5 has unveiled a build that redefines endgame farming—the Immortal Simulacrum AFK Ritualist. This build leverages Atziri's Rule and the Mirror of Refraction skill to create an infinite projectile loop capable of melting 1 billion HP bosses while requiringaWhether you're farming Simulacrum for Voices or clearing all endgame content, this build generates massive POE2 Currency passively while you AFK.

Core Mechanics

The Infinite Projectile Loop

The build's power comes from a technical interaction between two weapon sets that exploits snapshotting mechanics.

Weapon Set One uses a bow and quiver setup maximizing projectile damage, pierce chance, and critical strike chance. You cast a single Force Spout while in this set, snapshotting all damage bonuses from this configuration.

Weapon Set Two utilizes Atziri's Rule, a unique staff that grants the Mirror of Refraction skill. This creates mirrors in your presence that persist even after weapon swapping. When your snapshotted projectiles hit these mirrors, they shatter and replicate 7 times per mirror hit, creating an exponential chain reaction.

When the chain reaches critical mass, projectile animations disappear entirely—a visual indicator that infinite scaling has begun. In confined spaces like Simulacrum arenas, bounces happen faster, delivering devastating damage.

Snapshotting Explained

Snapshotting is the key mechanic. Cast Force Spout in Set One with all damage bonuses active. Weapon swap to Set Two, and the original projectile retains those bonuses while bouncing off mirrors. This means you benefit from offensive nodes on one weapon set and mirror-creation mechanics on the other simultaneously.

Defensive Core

The build achieves near-immortality through stacking life, energy shield, and mana recoup. By collecting damage-taken-recoup modifiers across gear, you recover over 100% of damage taken across all three resource pools.

Key defensive layers:

Damage Taken Bypasses Energy Shield: Forces damage to hit life, enabling recoup mechanics

Damage Taken from Mana Before Life: Splits incoming damage across multiple pools

Oak Charm: Provides 20% damage reduction with elemental threshold boost

Mageblood flask setup with Bismuth, Gold, and Quicksilver flasks

Unique Chest Piece: Damage recouped as life, mana, and energy shield simultaneously

The result? You can AFK in fire, poison ground, or face-tank boss attacks without dying.

Essential Gear

Core Uniques

Atziri's Rule is mandatory. Prioritize quality 20 and level 20. The staff provides:

Mirror of Refraction skill

+3-5 to Corrupted Spell Skill Gems

Damage conversion bonuses

Additional sockets help but aren't essential for the loop

Mageblood enables a powerful flask setup. The Gold Flask pushes item rarity over 276%, dramatically improving farming efficiency. Target a 40% roll with duplicate effects.

Helmet requirements:

Damage taken from mana before life

Damage taken bypasses energy shield

Maximum life as extra maximum ES

Cooldown recovery socket (Soul Core)

Chest Piece must provide:

19-20% damage taken recouped as life

Damage taken recouped as energy shield

Three sockets minimum

The Prism of Belief for Force Spout scales damage significantly. +3 is optimal for maximum effect; +2 works as a budget alternative.

Heart of the Diamond: Requires skill effect duration and cooldown recovery for optimal mirror uptime.

Weapon Setup

Set One (Force Spout):

Bow with 250-300% increased damage

Quiver with 63%+ projectile breakpoint

Focus on projectile damage, pierce chance, critical chance, critical damage

Set Two (Mirror Creation):

Atziri's Rule (quality 20, level 20 minimum)

Stack cooldown recovery to reduce mirror cooldown from 2s to ~0.8s

Jewelry and Jewels

Megalomaniac Diamond: Hallowed Heart or Abyssal Flesh (anoint the other on amulet)
From Nothing Diamond: Allocates three powerful recoup nodes in Narcotic Talisman region
Split Personality: Access to Hunter's Path and Witch Path
Oak Charm: 20% damage reduction, 60% elemental threshold
Mana Potion: Auto-recharge for AFK farming

Ring Setup: Stack item rarity. With 276%+ rarity, you'll consistently find valuable drops including Voices and Omens.

Ascension and Passives

Ritualist is the preferred ascension, offering:

Life recovery per missing unreserved life

Additional ring sockets for rarity/resistance stacking

The "Black Boy" node for extra defense

Passive priorities:

Cooldown recovery (enables mirror spam)

Damage taken from mana before life (damage splitting)

Recoup stacking (life, ES, mana recovery)

Recovery rate amplification

Life and ES nodes for survivability

Weapon Swaps: Use offensive nodes for snapshotting, defensive nodes for AFK farming. The offensive set provides 24 extra skill points that persist after swapping to defensive.

Skill Gems and Supports

Force Spout (Set One): Cast once to initiate the loop. Snapshots all damage bonuses from Set One.

Mirror of Refraction (Set Two): Socket Cooldown Recovery, Over Abundance, Prolongation, and Dallas Desire. Dallas Desire helps hit quality breakpoints for +3 reflection count.

Force Wall (Set Two): Triggers weapon swap. Can be actively cast for extra boss damage by shattering mirrors.

Support Skills:

Blood Boil (physical mastery)

Time of Need (optional)

Barkskin (optional)

Basalt Flask (reduces enemy damage)

AFK Farming Strategy

The build excels at AFK farming Simulacrum and Rituals. Position your character centrally and let the infinite loop clear everything. With over 276% rarity, you'll consistently find valuable drops.

Content Applicability:

Simulacrum (Voices farming)

Ritual altars (Omen farming)

T16+ maps

Uber bosses

Expedition encounters

All endgame content

The more confined the area, the more effective the projectile bouncing becomes, increasing damage against bosses. Open areas still clear effectively but may take slightly longer.

Budget Considerations

Full cost (~500+ Divine):

Atziri's Rule: ~150 Divine

Prism of Belief (+3): ~340-350 Divine

Mageblood: Varies significantly

Helmet: ~25 Divine

Heart of the Diamond: ~9-50 Divine

Budget alternatives:

+2 Prism of Belief (~70 Divine)

250% bow instead of 300%

35% Mageblood instead of 40%

3-socket chest instead of 4-socket

18-second Oak Charm instead of 20-second

Important: Acquire gear before this guide releases—prices typically spike after popular content goes live.

Important Caveats

Performance: The projectile replication can strain systems, but reaching the visual breakpoint (where projectiles disappear) actually improves FPS compared to other high-density builds like meteor or twister builds.

Known Bug: Mirror detonation issues sometimes break the visual loop. This appears to be a visual bug only—damage continues normally even when projectiles are invisible.

Cost Consideration: This is not a league-starter. Full effectiveness requires significant currency investment. However, even budget versions can clear most content effectively.

Conclusion

The Immortal Simulacrum AFK Ritualist represents peak Path of Exile 2 build crafting. Infinite damage scaling plus near-immortality creates the ultimate farming machine. While expensive, it's arguably the strongest all-content AFK build available in Patch 0.5. Special thanks to Royal for developing and sharing this incredible setup.