Minion Army Infernalist Build Guide
The Minion Army Infernalist mainly uses Skeletal Reavers for single target damage and Skeletal Snipers for both single target and AoE damage.
There are two skill gem options for this build, one that uses Detonate Dead with Blink and the second option uses Raging Spirits with Flame Wall. The former has better visual clarity, lower attribute requirements and is less button intensive at the cost of slightly lower damage.
Buff your minions with Pain Offering and debuff enemies with critical weakness through Eye of Winter.
This build's primary defensive layer is a very large pool of Energy Shield which is doubled when mapping by the defensive aura Grim Feast. Combine this with a shield in your off-hand that provides a high block chance and you can survive the most dangerous encounters.
All of this combined, allows you to challenge the to most difficult maps and bosses.
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 Leveling Guide.
Skills
Setup 1
Pros
- Less button intensive
- Lower attribute requirement
- Slightly cheaper
- Improved visual clarity
Cons
- Lower damage
- Detonate Dead is used to explode enemy corpses in maps improving clear speed. As soon as your Skeletal Snipers or Skeletal Reavers have killed an enemy, cast Detonate Dead to deal damage to all enemies near that corpse. This causes a chain reaction since more enemies die to the explosions creating even more corpses.
Note: Use a low level (7-10) Detonate Dead skill gem. The mana cost increases a lot each level and it is not worth using a higher level gem for this skill. - Blink An optional skill you can fit in. You can use Blink without removing any Minions if you utilize weapon swapping as it is explained in the "Skill Rotation" section part 5.
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Setup 2
Pros
- Higher damage
Cons
- Higher attribute requirement
- Lower visual clarity
- Button intensive
- 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.
Use the <Prev and Next> arrows to navigate.
Minions
- Skeletal Snipers are your main damage dealers. Scattershot is used to support this Minion to increase the amount of arrows being shot by 2, which in turn increases the clear speed. Add quality to this gem to reduce the Spirit reservation required.
You want as many of these Minions as possible, but you still need the minimum amount of Mages, Clerics and Reavers. You should have double the amount of Snipers compared to Reavers.
Note: You gem swap Scattershot with Physical Mastery for improved single target damage against bosses.
The Skeletal Sniper command skill is used to cast Gas Arrows, which explodes ignited enemies for AoE and single target burst damage, this ability is great to use against rare enemies and in tight corridors.
- Skeletal Reavers are used to deal high single target damage against enemies.
You want around 4-8 Skeletal Reavers depending on your maximum Spirit.
Note: You gem swap Physical Mastery with Lacerate for improved single target damage against bosses when you can use 5 support gems. You can use their command skill Enrage against map and pinnacle bosses to deal even more damage. Avoid using this skill while clearing in maps.
- Skeletal Storm Mages are used to debuff rares and bosses with the Shock elemental Ailment. This increases the damage enemies take with 20-35% depending on if you have them supported by Overcharge. With Stormfire the enemy is permanently Shocked as long as there is an active ignite on them. You only need one or two of this support Minion.
Note: When mapping you can despawn your Skeletal Storm Mages to instead summon more Skeletal Snipers for improved clear speed. The Skeletal Storm Mage is mainly used to increase damage against bosses.
Another option is to replace it with Blink for improved mobility.
If you use Blink make sure to support it with Second Wind and Ingenuity.
- 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 which is why it is supported by Fire Exposure to apply the exposure to all 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 Snipers or Clarity.
- Optional if you have Skeletal Warrior on your Sceptre. They are mainly used to tank, apply debuffs and cull enemies at low life.
Buffs & Debuffs
- Eye of Winter applies Critical Weakness debuff on enemies for increased Critical Strike Chance. Use a level 13 Uncut Skill Gem for this skill to reduce the mana cost.
- Pain Offering is used to impale one of your Minions, which in turn buffs all your other Minions with more damage, increased attack and cast speed. The Pain Offering itself is a Minion that can be killed, which interrupts the buff.
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 Sniper or Skeletal Reaver.
Skill Rotation
- Cast Eye of Winter and cast Pain Offering to buff your Minions for a massive damage increase.
- In maps you cast Detonate Dead as soon as an enemy has died near a large pack of enemies to explode their corpses for improved clear speed.
- Against rares and doors blocked by enemies use the Skeletal Snipers command skill Gas Arrow to explode them when they are ignited.
- Against bosses use the Skeletal Reavers Enrage command skill and cast Eye of Winter to apply the Critical Weakness debuff.
- 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 Flame Wall to summon Raging Spirits then cast Pain Offering to buff your Minions for a massive damage increase.
- Against rares and doors blocked by enemies use the Skeletal Snipers command skill Gas Arrow to explode them when they are ignited.
- Against bosses use the Skeletal Reavers Enrage command skill and cast Eye of Winter to apply the Critical Weakness debuff.
- 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
Click the arrows to open the full tree in a new tab.
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.
- #% Increased Minion Accuracy Rating
- #% Faster start of Energy Shield Recharge.
- #% Increased Energy Shield Recharge Rate.
It's worth noting that nodes such as Illuminated Crown and Ancient Aegis, encourage equipping a Helmet and 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 Attack Speed.
- Minions and Allies have +# to Accuracy Rating.
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 Minion Army 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, ideally on an Rattling Sceptre. That said, if you acquire a Minion Sceptre with multiple good modifiers on another base that is fine.
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 Attack Speed
- Allies in Your Presence Have #% Increased Critical Hit Chance
- Allies in Your Presence Have #% Increased Critical Damage Bonus
- Allies in Your Presence Have +# to Accuracy Rating
- Allies in Your Presence Deal # to # Additional Attack Physical Damage
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 Boots slot search for only high Energy Shield bases.
Specifically, look out for the following stats on them in rough order of importance:- #% Increased Movement Speed
- +#% 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
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.
- 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
- 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
- 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)
- 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% increased block chance)
- Deadly Swarm (Increased damage for your Minions)
- Dark Entries (The best one you currently can have, but it is VERY expensive)
- There is no specific Ring 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
- % 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 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 Attack and Cast Speed
- Minions deal #% Increased damage
- Minions have #% Increased Critical Damage Bonus
- Minions have #% Increased Critical Hit Chance
- % increased Maximum Energy Shield
- #% Increased Minion Accuracy Rating
- #% Increased Skill Effect Duration (On the Raging Spirits setup only)
- #% 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.
- For the Shield you want a high Energy Shield & Armour base. (Check the weapon swap for an example)
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 as long as you can reach your elemental resistance cap with it. 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 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.
Other Modifiers to Consider
- Specific reduced duration or effect of ailments, such as Reduced Poison or Ignite Duration on your Body Armour are desirable.
- Mana and Mana Regeneration Rate is useful since Minion Command Skills, Eye of Winter, Pain Offering, Flame Wall and Detonate Dead are very mana hungry.
- Rarity is desirable to improve loot drops while mapping.
Runes, Soul Cores & Sockets
- During early item progression, most gear is socketed with Resist Runes (Desert Rune, Glacial Rune or Storm Rune).
- Once elemental and Chaos resists have been capped and resistance runes are no longer necessary, players can opt to increase their Maximum Energy Shield with Iron Rune or consider socketing Soul Cores. The Soul Core of Puhuarte for +1% To Maximum Fire resistance is of particular interest.
General Note: During the early stages of a character, it’s worth it to equip items on the proper Energy Shield bases without Life. This means prioritizing 75% Elemental Resistance or more and as much Chaos Resistance as possible.
Atlas Passives
Click the arrows to open the full tree in a new tab.
- Generally aim for mechanics that spawn lots of monsters, such as Breach or Ritual.
- Skeletal Sniper and Skeletal Reavers combined with Pain Offering have strong single target damage so farming Boss Maps or Essences are also welcome. With a massive Energy Shield pool you can survive most attacks.
Learn about the endgame activities available to you in Path of Exile 2 with our guide!
FAQ
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.
- Use a low level (7-10) Detonate Dead skill gem and a level 13 Eye of Winter.
- Make sure you support Pain Offering with Inspiration.
- Use Clarity with Grim Feast if you have 10 spare Spirit.
- Support Flame Wall with Arcane Surge.
I have considered it and personally I do not think it is worth using a Focus at the cost of loosing +50% chance to block attack and spell damage.
- Venom Drought: 25% increased Mana Regeneration Rate
- 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!
- Act 2 Normal: 15% increased Mana Recovery from Flasks
- Act 2 Cruel: 15% increased Life Recovery from Flasks
Note: Both 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.
Video
Summary
- Skeletal Snipers and Skeletal Reavers are used for single target damage and AoE clearing.
- You can improve clearing by either using Detonate Dead or Raging Spirits.
- Eye of Winter is used to apply the Critical Weakness debuff on enemies.
- Skeletal Warrior applies Culling Strike, Maim and Blind.
- Grim Feast is used to provide an extremely strong defensive layer setup by doubling your Energy Shield in maps.
Credits
Written by: Helm Breaker
Content Reviewed by: havoc616
Language Reviewed by: Tenkiei
Changelog
- January 26, 2025
Added Early game skill tree with new jewels
- January 25, 2025
Added note about despawning or replacing Storm mages while mapping.
- January 24, 2025
Added multiple gear setups in the equipment display.
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