The Infernalist in Path of Exile 2 offers a dark twist on the summoner archetype, replacing the traditional undead army with short-lived but immensely destructive demons. This ascendancy thrives in chaotic, high-stakes combat, leveraging your own vitality as a weapon to fuel devastating spells and command hellish allies. Unlike the methodical Necromancer, the Infernalist embraces risk for explosive bursts of power, making it a perfect choice for players who crave intensity. For those investing into endgame strategies, resource management, positioning, and damage scaling are key — especially if you plan to trade for PoE 2 Currency to optimize gear faster.
Understanding the Infernalist's mechanics is crucial to building a successful character. Temporary demonic minions form the core of your offense, vanishing after a set duration or attack count, forcing constant resummoning. Life becomes a primary resource, with many skills reserving or sacrificing it, demanding strong recovery through regeneration, leech, or mitigation. You will actively cast spells that enhance or consume your minions, and damage scaling often blends minion, chaos, and fire bonuses. These elements combine into a playstyle that rewards aggressive engagement and quick decision-making.
Demonic Overlord Summoner Build
This approach focuses on maximizing uptime and output from your most powerful demons. You act as a battlefield commander, directing your summons with targeted support skills while staying protected behind them.
- Main Summon (6-Link): Summon Demon - Unleash Support - Minion Damage Support - Vicious Projectiles Support - Predator Support - Empower Support
- Auras: Pride, Haste, Determination, Vitality
- Utility: Assassin's Mark or alternative mark, Despair, Flame Dash, Convocation
- Defense: Cast when Damage Taken - Immortal Call - Increased Duration Support
Playstyle revolves around keeping demons active, using Predator Support to focus on bosses or dangerous rares, and applying curses to boost damage. Unleash Support accelerates resummoning, ensuring minimal downtime. Mobility and minion repositioning are essential, as is maintaining a safe distance while directing attacks.
Recommended Gear Priorities:
- Weapon: Convoking Wand with +1 to Level of all Minion Skill Gems, Minion Damage, Cast Speed
- Shield: High life, resistances, % Life, block chance
- Helmet: Bone Helmet with +2–3 Minion Skill Levels, high Life, resistances
- Body Armour: 6-link high-defense base with +1 to Socketed Gems, high Life, resistances
- Jewelry: Life, resistances, attributes; Ghastly Eye Jewels with Life, Minion Damage, Taunt chance
Blood Pact Annihilator Build
This hybrid caster-summoner style sacrifices minions to unleash massive area damage. The loop alternates between summoning fodder and consuming them with chaos-based spells for devastating bursts.
- Main Damage (6-Link): Dark Pact - Spell Echo - Increased Area of Effect/Concentrated Effect - Void Manipulation Support - Controlled Destruction Support - Empower Support
- Minion Fuel: Summon Phantasm Support or Summon Raging Spirit variant
- Utility Summon: Summon Demonic Golem for tanking
- Curses & Auras: Temporal Chains, Wither, Malevolence
The build excels at dense pack clearing, detonating clusters of minions for chain reactions. Boss fights involve stacking Wither totems and cycling summon-detonate combos for huge chaos bursts. It demands precise timing and positioning to avoid incoming damage while maintaining offensive pressure.
| Gear Slot | Primary Stat Priorities | Secondary Stat Priorities |
|---|---|---|
| Weapon | +1–2 Chaos Spell Levels, % Chaos Damage, Cast Speed | Chaos DoT Multiplier, Spell Damage |
| Body Armour | High Life, % Max Life, Spell Crit Chance, Resistances | +1 AoE Gems |
| Helmet | High Life, -9% Chaos Resistance to nearby enemies, Resistances | Increased AoE, Intelligence |
| Gloves | High Life, Cast Speed, Resistances | Chaos DoT Multiplier |
| Boots | 30–35% Movement Speed, High Life, Resistances | Cannot be Chilled/Frozen, Spell Dodge Chance |
Due to constant life costs, this build benefits from strong life recovery via chaos damage leech or rapid regeneration. It is a high-risk, high-reward choice that can obliterate endgame content when properly geared, especially if you secure upgrades through PoE 2 Currency for sale.