Minion Army Infernalist Leveling Guide

Act 1

• With your first Uncut Skill Gem you want to get Unearth to deal AoE damage and to spawn more Minions from dead enemy corpses.
  Cut Minion Instability as your first support gem for this skill, you find this support gem by clicking the tab "All Gems".
• The second Skill Gem you get is Skeletal Sniper, it is used to deal damage to your enemies and to gain access to a command skill that allows you to send a Gas Arrow.
  Cut Martial Tempo as your first support gem for this skill.
• The third Skill Gem you get is Contagion it is used to debuff and deal chaos damage to your enemies and to spread a damage buff to your Unearth minions.
• The fourth Skill Gem you get is Flame Wall it is used to buff ranged projectiles with fire damage and to deal more AoE damage to enemies. Flame wall can also explode the Gas Arrow for more damage.
  Make sure to update your support links as they are in the skills display!
  

• Using a level 3 Uncut Skill Gem you get Essence Drain for improved single target damage.
  Cut Arcane Tempo as your first support gem for this skill.
• Next up replace your Skeletal Sniper with two Skeletal Arsonist. You can detonate your Unearth minions with the command skill Detonate Minion.
  Cut Scattershot as soon as possible to support these Minions.
• Cut Enfeeble for a curse to reduce enemy damage.
  Make sure to update your support links as they are in the skills display!
  

• Using a level 5 Uncut Skill Gem replace Essence Drain with Bonestorm, this deals a lot more damage and buffs the damage of your minions when you hit an enemy. However dodge rolling breaks the channeling of this skill.
  Cut Brutality to support this skill.
• After defeating The King in the Mists around level 10-13 you get a Uncut Spirit Gem, with this you must get Raging Spirits, you need to change from the Occult skill tab to the Elemental tab to find it. Raging Spirits are summoned by casting Flame Wall and they provide a massive increase in damage against enemies. You rarely cast Bonestorm now since you need to use Flame Wall to keep 10 raging spirits up at all times.
  Move Martial Tempo into your Raging Spirits and cut Concentrated Effect for your Skeletal Arsonist.
• Cut Pain Offering to boost the damage of all your Minions by offering one of your skeletons.
  Make sure to update your support links as they are in the skills display!

Act 2

• Using a level 7 Uncut Skill Gem replace Enfeeble with Flammability, this curse massively increases your damage against the cursed target. Remove Bonestorm, since keeping this curse and Raging Spirits up is much more important.
• Finish Trial of the Sekhemas when you feel confident enough to gain access to your Loyal Hellhound.
  Make sure to update your support links as they are in the skills display!

Act 3

Note: Support L2 begins dropping.

• The first Lesser Jeweller's Orb you find is used on Raging Spirits, Cut Feeding Frenzy to place in the new third support gem slot.
• The second Lesser Jeweller's Orb you find is used on Skeletal Arsonist. You want to swap over Martial Tempo from your Raging Spirits supports, cut Fire Penetration and place in the third slot for Raging Spirits.
• You use no new gems at level 9 Uncut Skill Gem. Upgrade your Skeletal Arsonist first.
  Update your links with level 2 Uncut Support Gems.
  Make sure to update your support links as they are in the skills display!

• You use no new gems at level 11 Uncut Skill Gem. You need more Spirit before you start using Skeletal Storm Mage.
  Make sure to update your support links as they are in the skills display!

Cruel

• Using a level 13 Uncut Skill Gem you get Skeletal Storm Mage, you use only one of these to shock enemies. Shock increases the damage the enemy takes.
• Cut Skeletal Cleric, use one or two depending on your maximum Spirit. They heal and resurrect your skeletons.
• Get Grim Feast around the middle or end of Act 2 Cruel for a defensive aura that grants you Energy Shield from dead enemies and minions.
• Update your links with level 3 Uncut Support Gems when possible.
  The three first ones you should cut are:
  1. Cut Fire Exposure first for your Summon Infernal Hound.
  2. Next cut Elemental Focus for your Raging Spirits and then swap over Feeding Frenzy to your Skeletal Arsonist by removing Concentrated Effect.
  3. Last cut Immolate and remove Fire Penetration.
• Make sure to update your support links as they are in the skills display!

For the attribute nodes take enough Strength and Dexterity to meet gear and support gem requirements, then use the rest on Intelligence.

• By far the best way to get passable gear in the campaign is to check the Vendor in Town each time you level up! As vendors change their offerings based on your level this is an excellent way to find extra upgrades.
• Most of the damage you take during the campaign outside of Boss/Rare encounters is Physical Damage. Armour massively reduces the damage you take from Physical Damage, so look out for hybrid Armour & Energy Shield rolls on your gear. Chaos resistance helps to deal with Physical mitigation when you have your second Ascendancy Altered Flesh.
• Prioritize +#% to Fire, Cold and Lightning Resistance as well as +# to Maximum Life on your gear.
• A great source is checking vendors occasionally for promising bases to craft on with Orbs of Transmutation, Orbs of Augmentation, Regal Orbs, Exalted Orbs, Chaos Orbs and Essences.
• Looks for Sceptres with the following modifiers:
  Grants skill: Skeletal Warrior or Malice.
  • 1-5 Level of all Minion Skills
  • Allies in your presence deal #% Increased Damage
  • Allies in your presence have #% Increased Attack Speed
  • #% Increased Spirit
  • Allies in your presence deal # to # Additional Attack Fire Damage
  • Allies in your presence deal # to # Additional Attack Physical Damage
    If you find a very good Sceptre with multiple of the above mods, but without the Skeletal Warrior or Malice skill you should still use it.
• Use resistance runes on your equipment!
• Make sure to check out where you can find all permanent character stat bonuses here!
• If you are still struggling check out our Survival Guide for additional useful information!

I don't have enough attributes to use all support gems, which ones should I not use meanwhile?

Low priority support gems are:

• Fortress
• Magnified Effect
• Spell Cascade
• Expanse
• Persistence
• Maim
• All support gems on your Skeletal Warrior

How do I get more damage?

Make sure to get a good Sceptre with correct stats to support your Minions damage!

Get more Spirit on your body armour and amulet to summon more Skeletal Arsonist.

Why is my single target damage low in the areas of Act 1?

Until you get Essence Drain or Raging Spirits the build does suffer from a lack of single target damage.

Which permanent buff should I pick in Act 3 & Act 3 Cruel?

You should take the 30% increased Elemental Ailment Threshold and the +10 to Chaos Resistance in Cruel.

• Congratulations on finishing the Minion Army Infernalist Leveling Guide! You beat the campaign and want to know how to further upgrade this build? Stay tuned for the Endgame version of the build that will be released soon!
• Meanwhile you can use the "End Game" skill setup and follow the "After Campaign" skill tree as a reference for now until the Endgame guide is finished.