S-TIER | BUILD SORCIÈRE INFERNALIST LEAGUE STARTER (@Soawake) | SAISON 5

Build Video

Build Overview

This guide presents Soawake’s Witch Infernalist league starter for patch 0.5 « Return of the Ancients » of Path of Exile 2. The idea is to enjoy a smooth and budget-friendly league start thanks to a duo of chaos spells — Essence Drain and Contagion — which clears monster packs by skirting around them: you apply DoT, keep moving forward, and enemies die behind you. It’s the most comfortable leveling archetype right now.

The core of the specialization is the Infernalist ascendancy and its Demon Form: in exchange for a small demonic life reserve, you gain massive dashs and a movement speed that turns each act into a speed run. Soawake clears the campaign in just over 5 hours with this start. Against bosses, you switch to Bonestorm, a spell cast via your caster weapon (sceptre or staff), which already hits over 31,000 damage mid-campaign: bosses fall in just a few casts.

The build relies on two distinct weapon sets (a chaos set for clearing, a physical set for Bonestorm) to maximize both damage profiles simultaneously. Once leveling is done, the author plans to respec toward Spark then transition into Blood Mage Lightning Spear / bleed to tackle Endgame difficulty. This guide focuses on the league start portion: the most cost-efficient version for getting the season off to a great start.

Strengths / Weaknesses

Skill Gem Setup by Step

This build offers 4 progression steps from leveling to the final build. Select a step to see the corresponding gem setup.

1/14 Acte 1 14/28 Acte 2 28/38 Acte 3 38/65 Acte 4 and interludes

1/14 Acte 1

8 skills • 15 gemmes

EnchevêtrementEntangle

Contagion

Drain d'essenceEssence Drain

Bondissement

Tempête d'ossementsBonestorm

Bombe de givreFrost Bomb

Orbe des oragesOrb of Storms

Essaim voraceRavenous Swarm

14/28 Acte 2

8 skills • 17 gemmes

Drain d'essenceSet 1Essence Drain

ContagionSet 1

Tempête d'ossementsSet 2Bonestorm

Orbe des oragesOrb of Storms

Bombe de givreFrost Bomb

Forme démoniaque

Essaim voraceSet 2Ravenous Swarm

Armure arctiqueSet 1Arctic Armour

28/38 Acte 3

8 skills • 19 gemmes

Drain d'essenceSet 1Essence Drain

ContagionSet 1

Tempête d'ossementsSet 2Bonestorm

Orbe des oragesOrb of Storms

Bombe de givreFrost Bomb

Forme démoniaque

Essaim voraceSet 2Ravenous Swarm

BlasphèmeSet 1Blasphemy

38/65 Acte 4 and interludes

8 skills • 21 gemmes

Drain d'essenceSet 1Essence Drain

ContagionSet 1

Tempête d'ossementsSet 2Bonestorm

Orbe des oragesOrb of Storms

Bombe de givreFrost Bomb

Forme démoniaque

Essaim voraceSet 2Ravenous Swarm

BlasphèmeBlasphemy

Recommended Equipment

During leveling, gear remains intentionally simple: prioritize base items over uniques, and save your crafting orbs for the weapon. Here are the priorities act by act.

• Caster weapon (sceptre or staff): aim for a Voltaic Staff from Act 1 (more precise targeting, ideal without WASD), or alternatively an Ash Staff / a wand with over 80% spell damage. This is the weapon that carries boss damage via Bonestorm.
• Lightning Rune: essential from Act 2. Living Lightning summons minions when you deal lightning damage — so you need a lightning source in your sceptre/staff. Pick up the guaranteed Lightning Rune as well as Renley’s tools.
• Talisman: equip as soon as a level 3 gem becomes available (Bell Jar at the latest) to quickly unlock a Strength point and feed the gems.
• Rings: take the guaranteed lightning ring (rather than the ruby, sapphire or topaz) as well as the guaranteed Lightning Rune from the area — you never know when you’ll find an exceptional sceptre.
• Lesser Jeweller’s Orb: the first one obtained at Burning Trine is used to add Considered Casting to Bonestorm — a considerable damage boost.
• Weapon Set 1 (chaos): sceptre/staff focused on spell damage for Essence Drain and Contagion. Weapon Set 2 (physical): second weapon focused on physical damage for Bonestorm.

Gameplay Tips

• Clear while moving: apply Essence Drain + Contagion on packs and keep moving. The chaos damage over time kills monsters while you progress — no need to stand still.
• Switch to Bonestorm for bosses: swap to Set 2 and channel Bonestorm. Campaign bosses melt in just a few casts.
• Watch your life: the build is fragile — keep an eye on your healing flask and don’t hesitate to exit a map to refill it if survival becomes difficult.
• Demon Form with caution: the wolf hitbox is larger than your normal form. In tight areas crowded with monsters, stay in human form.
• Specialize your spell tomes: at each level, allocate your points in Set 1 (chaos: Essence Drain + Contagion) and Set 2 (physical: Bonestorm) to scale both damage profiles without unnecessary swapping.
• Act 1 tombs: a notoriously difficult area. Make sure to grab Essence Drain (level 6) before entering — the monsters there are brutal.
• Survival through curses: Blasphemy + Temporal Chains slow down enemies — a much safer choice than a resistance curse for this squishy build.

The Essence Drain + Contagion Duo: the Clear Engine

The entire fluidity of leveling rests on this pair of chaos spells. Essence Drain deals heavy chaos DoT to a target, while Contagion spreads that damage to all nearby monsters when the target dies. In practice, you cast Contagion on a pack, fire Essence Drain, then keep moving: the Chain reaction clears the area behind you without needing to stop.

To optimize this combo, Essence Drain gets Chain and Swift Affliction (more targets hit, faster DoT), while Contagion is supported by Magnified Area and Unleash to cover a wider area and stack charges. This is what makes the Infernalist one of the most relaxed starters for clearing the campaign.

Demon Form: the Infernalist’s Trump Card

The Infernalist ascendancy unlocks Demon Form, obtained at the level 19 ascension. The transformation trades a portion of your life pool for demonic life, but more importantly it greatly amplifies your mobility: long dashs, leaping over obstacles and packs of monsters in a single bound. This is what allows you to chain through the acts at a blistering pace.

One thing to keep in mind: under Demon Form, your hitbox takes on a wolf shape that is wider than your normal silhouette. In tight areas packed with enemies, it is better to stay in human form to avoid getting blocked. Soawake also plans to save the second ascension for later, in order to be able to respec into Blood Mage when the time comes.

Mastering the Two Weapon Sets

The build takes advantage of the weapon swap system in Path of Exile 2 with two distinct configurations. Set 1 (green) is dedicated to chaos: it carries Essence Drain and Contagion, with a sceptre or staff focused on spell damage. Set 2 (red) is physical: it houses Bonestorm and physical damage skills for bosses.

Concretely, at each level-up you receive a spell tome that grants two gem levels. Simply allocate your points to Set 1 for chaos spells and Set 2 for physical damage. Make sure to keep Essence Drain and Contagion exclusively in Set 1 to avoid unintended weapon swaps. Once the routine is internalized, the system becomes second nature.

Living Lightning: the Heart of the Boss Combo

The other key interaction during leveling is Living Lightning paired with Bonestorm. Living Lightning spawns minions every time you deal lightning damage — which is why having a Lightning Rune in your sceptre or staff is so important. Combined with the effect of Impale and Bonestorm (supported by Considered Casting and Zenith), this mechanic generates enormous damage pressure on bosses.

If you don’t yet have a good weapon, Orb of Storms can serve as a temporary lightning source to fuel Living Lightning, but it’s not ideal (one more button to manage on top of channeling Bonestorm). As soon as you get a decent sceptre with a Lightning Rune, the combo comes into its full potential.

Transitioning to Endgame: from Spark to Blood Mage

This guide covers the league start phase, but the build is designed as a launchpad. Once the campaign is done and the first maps are underway, Soawake plans to respec into Spark as soon as the required support gems are available, before transitioning to his endgame Blood Mage Lightning Spear / bleed version.

This flexibility is one of the great strengths of the archetype: you enjoy the comfort of Infernalist to get through the campaign content, then pivot to a more offensive ascendancy for endgame, without starting from scratch. Keep your respec orbs and plan your transition as you progress through the maps.

Skill Tree