Frost Mage Infernalist Build Guide
The Frost Mage Infernalist uses Skeletal Frost Mages for both AoE and single target damage. They also freeze & chill enemies and bosses making them much less dangerous.
There are two skill gem options for this build, one that uses Raging Spirits with Flame Wall and the second option uses Frost Bomb with Blink. The latter has better visual clarity, better mobility, lower attribute requirements and is less button intensive at the cost of lower damage.
Cast Eye of Winter to further boost your Minion's damage by applying the Critical Weakness debuff. Damage is further enhanced by the Hypothermia Curse and the Pain Offering buff.
This build’s greatest asset is its primary defense. It has a massive Energy Shield pool and uses Grim Feast to double that during maps that allows you to reach extreme numbers like 15-30k Energy Shield.
All of this combined, allows you to clear quite aggressively while still being able to pull back and let your Minions protect you from enemies when needed. If you want a chill Minion playstyle then this is the build for you.
You do not need specific resistances and attributes on any item, just get the required total resistances and attributes amongst all gear combined. You need to cap your Resistances at 75% unless otherwise specified in the guide!
Path of Exile 2 is currently in early access, this means rapid development including frequent changes to builds as there are balance fixes and we learn more. Pin this page to be notified of any updates.
This guide assumes you are at least level 68 and have completed Act 3 Cruel, to learn more about the leveling process check out our Witch Minion Leveling Guide.
Skills
Setup 1
Pros
- Higher damage
Cons
- Higher attribute requirement
- Lower visual clarity
- Button intensive
- Lower Mobility
- Slightly more expensive
- Raging Spirits are used to deal damage against enemies and are summoned when casting Flame Wall.
- Flame Wall is used to summon Raging Spirits and increase the damage of all projectiles that travel through the flames.
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Setup 2
Pros
- Less button intensive
- Lower attribute requirement
- Slightly cheaper
- Improved visual clarity
- Improved Mobility
Cons
- Lower damage
- Frost Bomb is used to reduce enemy Cold resistance by 20%. If the gem has 20% quality and is supported by Strip Away it reduces their resistance by -30% instead.
NOTE: Keep this gem at a low level to reduce mana cost. - Blink replaces your dodge roll ability for a instant teleportation ability. It is used for improved mobility and to reposition your Minions when you blink far enough ahead for them to respawn next to you.
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Minions
- Skeletal Frost Mages are used to both deal damage and freeze enemies. Scattershot and Wildshards are used to support this Minion to increase the number of Ice Shards they cast. Add quality to this gem to reduce the Spirit reservation required.
NOTE: Swap Wildshards for Concentrated Effect when fighting pinnacle & map bosses, this massively increases single target boss damage.
- Summon Infernal Hound is your best friend that protects you and reduces the damage you take from hits by 20%. The Infernal Hound also applies ignite to nearby enemies.
- Skeletal Cleric heals all your other Minions and resurrects your other Skeletons. You only need one or two of these support Skeletons, use the rest of your Spirit on Skeletal Frost Mage or Clarity.
- Skeletal Storm Mage is used to apply the shock debuff on enemies. You should use one to start with and later two for improved shock uptime if you have more than 10 frost mages.
Note: When mapping you can despawn your Skeletal Storm Mages to instead summon more Skeletal Frost Mages for improved clear speed. The Skeletal Storm Mage is mainly used to increase damage against bosses.
Another option is to replace it with Blink if you are using the Raging Spirits setup to improve mobility.
If you use Blink make sure to support it with Second Wind and Ingenuity.
- Optional if you have Skeletal Warrior on your Sceptre. They are mainly used to tank enemies with this build. (You can find the recommended support gems in the FAQ section of the guide)
Buffs & Debuffs
- Eye of Winter applies a debuff that increases the chance for your Minions to deal a Critical Strike. Use a level 13 Uncut Skill Gem for this skill to reduce the mana cost.
- Hypothermia lowers enemy Cold resistances for more damage.
- Pain Offering increases the damage for all your Minions.
Persistent Buffs
- Grim Feast allows you to double your Maximum Energy Shield pool. Optionally supported by Clarity for increased Mana regeneration. Do not link this if it means you lose an extra Skeletal Frost Mage.
Skill Rotation
- Cast Flame Wall to summon Raging Spirits then cast Pain Offering to buff your Minions for a massive damage increase.
- Then cast Hypothermia if there are any Rare or Boss monsters to lower their Cold resistances.
- Lastly cast Eye of Winter one or two times to get 10 stacks of Critical Weakness and to apply Cold exposure. Make sure to cast a new Eye of Winter now and then to keep 10 stacks up at all time.
- If your Minions get stuck you can setup your second weapon set to have ZERO summoned Minions in the Skills tab. By doing this all your Minions despawn when you swap to your second weapon set. Then you can quickly swap back to your main weapon set which causes all your previous living Minions to respawn right next to you. A similar function to how the spell Convocation worked in PoE1. However if you have an active auto-resurrection pending the rest of your Minions cannot instantly respawn and you have to wait for them all to spawn when the auto-resurrection finishes.
- Cast Eye of Winter to apply Critical Weakness and Cold exposure, then cast Pain Offering to buff your Minions for a massive damage increase.
- Use Blink to reposition yourself and your Minions when necessary.
- Lastly Cast Frost Bomb on rares and bosses to apply a improved Cold Exposure and cast Hypothermia to lower their Cold resistance even further.
- If your Minions get stuck you can setup your second weapon set to have ZERO summoned Minions in the Skills tab. By doing this all your Minions despawn when you swap to your second weapon set. Then you can quickly swap back to your main weapon set which causes all your previous living Minions to respawn right next to you. A similar function to how the spell Convocation worked in PoE1. However if you have an active auto-resurrection pending the rest of your Minions cannot instantly respawn and you have to wait for them all to spawn when the auto-resurrection finishes.
Skill Leveling Priority
Passives
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For the attribute nodes take enough Intelligence and Dexterity to meet gear, skill gem and support gem requirements, then use the rest on Strength for more life. You can respec your attributes for gold if the requirements on your gear suddenly changes instead of waiting to level up.
There are many valuable nodes on the passive tree, but the most important stats to acquire are:
- Minions have #% reduced Reservation.
- #% Increased Maximum Energy Shield
- Minions deal #% Increased damage.
- Minions have #% Increased Critical Damage Bonus
- Minions have #% Increased Critical Hit Chance
- Minions Revive #% Faster.
- Minions have +#% to all Elemental Resistances.
- #% Faster start of Energy Shield Recharge.
- #% Increased Energy Shield Recharge Rate.
It's worth noting that nodes such as Ancient Aegis, encourage equipping a Body Armour with high Energy Shield. Check the Gearing section for more information.
Ascendancy
Learn how to complete the Trial of the Sekhemas and Trial of Chaos to earn your first 2 Ascensions with our Ascension Guide!
- 1st Ascension : Loyal Hellhound.
- For an extra Minion and reduced damage taken by 20%.
- 2nd Ascension: Altered Flesh.
- This helps deal with Phyiscal damage if you have Chaos Resistance. When you start stacking Maximum Fire resistances you take less Cold and Lightning damge.
- 3rd Ascension: Beidat's Will
- For more maximum Spirit at the cost of 25% life reservation.
- 4th Ascension: Beidat's Hand or two Life.
- The default choice is Beidat's Hand.
- However, if you have less than 1800 life and Low Chaos resistance, take two Life nodes instead.
Gearing
Offensive Scaling
- The by far best modifier to scale this build is Level of all Minion skills
- +# to Spirit and Increased Spirit
- Minions and Allies have #% Increased Damage
- Minions and Allies have #% Increased Crit Damage and Crit Chance.
- Minions and Allies have #% Increased Cast Speed
Defensive Scaling
- Sufficient +#% to Fire, Cold, Lightning and Chaos Resistance to cap your Resistances.
- Sources of +#% to Maximum Fire Resistances to scale your elemental defenses into the endgame.
- #% Increased Energy Shield.
- +# To Maximum Energy Shield.
- +# to Maximum Life.
- A shield with a high % Block Chance. Oaksworn is a solid option before you acquire a very good Rare Shield.
- If you are still struggling check out our Survival Guide for additional useful information!
Here's how you should gear your Frost Mage Infernalist. Sorted mostly in order of importance.
Note: A useful Essence when crafting many of the defensive items below is Essence of Enhancement and Greater Essence of Enhancement.
- The most important item to acquire is a Minion Sceptre with multiple modifiers that increase your Minion's damage. A Rattling Sceptre is the "best" option, but Skeletal Warriors provide almost nothing except two tanks for this build. Make sure to prioritize a Sceptre of another base type over a Rattling Sceptre if it has multiple of the modifiers below.
Specifically, look out for the following stats on them in rough order of importance:- +# to Level of All Minion Skills
- #% Increased Spirit
- Allies in Your Presence Deal #% Increased Damage
- Allies in Your Presence Have #% Increased Cast Speed
- Allies in Your Presence Have #% Increased Critical Hit Chance
- Allies in Your Presence Have #% Increased Critical Damage Bonus
If you prefer more damage over using a shield for passive block chance, you can dual wield a Sceptre together with Trenchtimbre for 3 extra +# to Level of All Minion Skills.
- In the Helmet slot search for only high Energy Shield bases.
Specifically, look out for the following stats on them in rough order of importance:- +1-2 to Level of all Minion Skills
- +#% to Fire, Cold, Lightning and Chaos Resistance
- #% Increased Energy Shield
- +# To Maximum Energy Shield
- +# To Maximum Life
- Attributes that you need to meet gem and gear requirements
- % increased Rarity of Items found (Luxury stat, do not prioritize)
- In the Body Armour slot search for only high Energy Shield bases with the best one being Expert Altar Robe.
Specifically, look out for the following stats on them in rough order of importance:- +#% to Fire, Cold, Lightning and Chaos Resistance
- #% Increased Energy Shield
- +# To Maximum Energy Shield
- +# To Spirit
- +# To Maximum Life
- Attributes that you need to meet gem and gear requirements
- For the Shield you want a high Energy Shield & Armour base.
Specifically, look out for the following stats on them in rough order of importance:- #% Increased Block Chance
- +# To Maximum Life
- +#% To All Maximum Elemental Resistances
- +#% to Fire, Cold, Lightning and Chaos Resistance
- Attributes that you need to meet gem and gear requirements
A cheap and very good unique to use early on is Oaksworn. You can later replace it with a very good rare one, but Oaksworn should be used for a long time since it gives you Spirit, Chaos Resistance and high block chance. You can get a corrupted Oaksworn with two socket slots to help deal with elemental resistances. There are other good corruptions such as a little extra Spirit and higher block chance from the shield.
Note: A shield provides a passive block chance to block both physical and spell attacks. This is a very strong defensive layer which is why a shield is favored over using a Focus that provides no block at all.
- In the Gloves slot search for only high Energy Shield bases.
Specifically, look out for the following stats on them in rough order of importance:- +#% to Fire, Cold, Lightning and Chaos Resistance
- #% Increased Energy Shield
- +# To Maximum Energy Shield
- +# To Maximum Life
- Attributes that you need to meet gem and gear requirements
- #% increased Rarity of Items found (Luxury stat, do not prioritize)
- In the Boots slot search for only high Energy Shield bases.
Specifically, look out for the following stats on them in rough order of importance:- +#% to Movement Speed
- +#% to Fire, Cold, Lightning and Chaos Resistance
- #% Increased Energy Shield
- +# To Maximum Energy Shield
- +# to Maximum Life
- #% increased Rarity of Items found (Luxury stat, do not prioritize)
A decent and cheap unique you can use for bossing is Bones of Ullr, but you have no extra movement speed or resistances with these boots. This makes them less attractive to use for fast mapping.
- There is no specific Ring base that you must use, prioritize the modifiers below first of all.
- +# To Maximum Life
- +#% to Fire, Cold, Lightning and Chaos Resistance
- Attributes that you need to meet gem and gear requirements
- % increased Rarity of Items found (Luxury stat, do not prioritize)
- +# To Maximum Mana
A very good unique ring is Ventor's Gamble if it has high rolls on all the modifiers, but the modifier values can vary a lot and can even be negative. Finding a very good one is difficult and buying one is very expensive.
Note: You can apply quality to your rings to increase either life or a specific resistance value with Catalysts such as Xoph's Catalyst, Tul's Catalyst, Esh's Catalyst and Flesh Catalyst.
- There is no specific Amulet base that you must use, prioritize the modifiers below first of all.
- +1-3 to Level of all Minion Skills
- +#% to Fire, Cold, Lightning and Chaos Resistance
- +# To Spirit
- #% Increased Energy Shield
- +# To Maximum Energy Shield
- +# To Maximum Life
- Attributes that you need to meet gem and gear requirements
- % increased Rarity of Items found (Luxury stat, do not prioritize)
There are a few different options to instill on your amulet, but the recommended ones are:
- Essence Infusion (Cheap notable that gives +10 Int & 40% Recharge rate)
- Flashy Deflection (Cheap notable with 12% block chance)
- Deadly Swarm (Increased damage for your Minions)
- Icebreaker (This notable should make you almost Freeze Immune with the amount of Energy Shield this build currently has)
- Endless Blizzard (The best one you currently can have, but it is VERY expensive)
- There is no specific Belt base that you must use, prioritize the modifiers below first of all.
- +#% to Fire, Cold, Lightning and Chaos Resistance
- +# To Maximum Life
- Attributes that you need to meet gem and gear requirements
- +# To Maximum Mana
- +1 Charm Slot or +2 Charm Slots
A very good unique is Ingenuity, but it is very expensive and should only be considered when you have a lot of currency.
There are quite a few good modifiers for the build that you can find on Sapphire.
This build allocates 6 Jewel sockets which provide an excellent way to further customize your build.
Prioritize damage modifiers on your jewel, have at a minimum two of the damage modifiers listed below on each of your Sapphire jewels.
Specifically look out for the following stats on them in rough order of importance:
- Minions have +#% to all Elemental Resistances (See note below)
- Minions have #% Increased Critical Damage Bonus
- Minions have #% Increased Critical Hit Chance
- Minions have #% Increased Attack and Cast Speed
- Minions deal #% Increased damage
- % increased Maximum Energy Shield
- #% Faster start of Energy Shield Recharge
- #% Increased Energy Shield Recharge Rate
Note: You only need one jewel with Minions have +#% to all Elemental Resistances to make sure your Minions are capped at 83% elemental resistances.
Any of these mods are also good on a Time-Lost Sapphire that affects a lot of nodes in the vicinity.
A very good but expensive unique jewel is Against the Darkness with Spirit and Maximum Fire resistance. Spirit is the most important modifier, if the combination of both Spirit and Maximum Fire resistance costs to much get one without the Maximum Fire resistance.
Atlas Passives
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- Generally aim for mechanics that spawn lots of monsters, such as Breach or Ritual.
- The build can do all map mods, but there are of course more dangerous ones like -#% To Maximum Elemental Resistances that you do at your own peril!
Map modifiers which increases enemies elemental resistances reduces the Cold damage your Minions deal. - Early on Waystones found have a % chance to be a higher tier, is good for progression. Make sure you use your highest waystones on bosses.
Learn about the endgame activities available to you in Path of Exile 2 with our guide!
FAQ
You can swap to Skeletal Frost Mage after the Campaign, but make sure you change all your skill gems and supports to have the correct setup for this build. Make sure to get Sapphires with at least two damage rolls to scale their damage.
If you follow the build guide the attribute you need the most for your skills is Intelligence. Pick it on your passive tree while traveling though the highway nodes and this should be enough to use all of you skills. If you want to equip some equipment that requires small amounts of Strength or Dexterity respec some of the attribute points. Make sure to still keep enough to be able to use all of you abilities. Using items with very high Strength and Dexterity is not recommended.
Make sure your Elemental Resists are at 76% and around 60%+ Chaos resistance. Furthermore, make sure you have the appropriate bases equipped to gain as much Energy Shield as possible.
- Relic: 15% increased Mana Recovery from Flasks
- Venom Drought: 25% increased Mana Regeneration Rate
- Cruel Relic: 15% increased Life Recovery from Flasks
- Cruel Venom Drought: +10% to Chaos Resistance
NOTE: These bonuses are minor, if you picked something different for the Venom Draught, don't worry too much!
Both flask options may be swapped for 30% increased Charm Charges gained after acquiring more Charm Slots. When you have 2-3 Charms for the build it is better to change both bonuses to 30% Increased Charm Charges gained.
If you have Skeletal Warriors from a Sceptre then the amount of gem sockets depend on the skill level from the Sceptre you are using.
The gem sockets for your Infernal Hound depend on your own level, at level 90 you get the last socket slot for it.
If you have Skeletal Warriors from a Sceptre I would recommend to move Culling Strike and Maim from the Summon Infernal Hound into the warriors support slots. The last two support can be Physical Mastery and Blind.
The two new supports for your Summon Infernal Hound depends on your setup.
Raging Spirits setup: Splinter and Demolisher.
No Raging Spirits: Heft and Martial Tempo.
If you think your Hound has enough Life, you can swap Meat Shield with Minion Mastery in your Skeletal Cleric.
Note: As mentioned previously in the weapon section, prioritize a different Sceptre base over a Rattling Sceptre if you can get a better one at the same price.
Sigil of Power is a skill that can only be found on a Chiming Staff. The skill creates a blue circle on the ground that buffs you and your minions with more spell damage while standing inside it. The buff becomes more powerful the more mana you spend while standing in the circle. A good support gem for this skill is Magnified Effect to make the circle larger.
Since this build uses either a Sceptre and a shield or a Sceptre with Trenchtimbre, you need to place this staff in your second weapon set. It is only used to pre-buff your minions before a boss fight or a Simulacrum wave.
To get the most out of this buff and your curses, you need to utilize the second weapon set skill points to increase curse effect, spell duration and spell area of effect. The skill point allocations for your second weapon set can be seen in the "End game time-lost jewels" skill tree.
Here is a video of when the skill is cast before the start of a Simulacrum wave and here is another when it is cast before a pinnacle boss fight.
Note: The only modifier that is important on a Chiming Staff is "+# to level of all Spell Skills", this modifier increases the level of the Sigil of Power skill and your curse.
Video
Summary
- Skeletal Frost Mages are the main damage dealers for both single target and AoE.
- Hypothermia is used to curse enemies to lower their Cold resistance.
- Eye of Winter is used to apply the Critical Weakness and Cold exposure debuff on enemies.
- Pain Offering is used to buff all your Minions for more damag
- Grim Feast is used to provide an extremely strong defensive layer setup by doubling your Energy Shield in maps.