I really like this Path of Exile build. It combines a lot of speed, Life and DPS to create quite a strong build. And even with less-than-great gear, this build can still shine thanks to a few interesting Uniques that allow it to punch above it’s weight class, even while leveling.
This is one of the more fun niche builds I’ve written about. It’s an ultra-tanky monster with nearly 7,000 Life and some insane DPS to boot. The build is also really flexible in gear choices, even allowing for some niche Uniques that make map clearing a cinch. But if you take the time to sink the currency into this build, although it won’t be remotely easy, you’re going to find one of the strongest Infernal Blow builds in recent POE history at your fingertips.
You’ll find all you will need to construct this build down below. The guide assumes that you’re going all-out and are maximizing every aspect, but you don’t have to go that far at all to reach a point where the build is enjoyable. Even in the low 90s with less-than-perfect gear, the build runs Maps and Delves just fine.
Build Pros
- Great DPS and AoE makes it a good map farmer
- Very tanky with plenty of Life and Armour
Build Cons
- GG gear is EXTREMELY PRICEY
- Some map mods are extra dangerous, like Elemental Reflect
Passive Tree(s)
Here is the Endgame Passive Tree
Final Path of Building(PoB) link
Pantheon
Upgrade all of these.
Major God: Soul of Lunaris
Great defensive option for mapping. If facing some bosses with lots of DoT, opt for an upgraded Arakaali.
Minor God: Soul of Gruthkul
Gruthkul is a great option for defence during mapping. The damage reduction can get you out of some tight spots. Could also be replaced with Tukohama for more damage reduction if you find yourself playing a more sedentary style.
Bandits
Kill All for the bonus Passives
Ascendancy skill points
Chieftain
Ascendancy points:
Preferably in that order:
- Ngamahu, Flame’s Advance
- Hinekora, Death’s Fury
- Tawhoa, Forest’s Strength
- Ramako, Sun’s Light
Enchants
Helmet:
15% of infernal Blow damage Gained as Extra Fire Damage (Best)
Boots:
0.6% of Damage Leeched as Life and Mana if you’ve Killed Recently
Damage Penetrates x% of Enemy Elemental Resistances if you haven’t Killed Recently
x% increased Attack and Cast Speed if you’ve Killed Recently
Gloves:
Commandment of Force or Flames if not using gloves with a % Increased Melee Damage implicit
You could also use these Corruptions on Gloves:
Curse Enemies with Level (10–12) Elemental Weakness on Hit
+1 to Maximum Frenzy Charges
(4–6)% increased maximum Life
(8–10)% increased Attack Speed
Leveling Items and General Tips
You’ll find a list of different Unique items down below for weapons and other gear slots. These are not necessary by any means. We included the list in this guide to give you a wide array of options to choose from.
You can follow the guides below for a couple different leveling options depending on your preference.
Gem Progression:
Main Skill
Start with the skill the game gives you at the start, it’s decent enough to get through early levels as long as you’re slotting some supports to increase DPS. Pickup a Tabula Rasa to make this process much easier.
From Level 12 use the following link setup:
Infernal Blow – Melee Physical Damage (Level 18) – Faster Attacks (Level 18) – Ancestral Call (Level 4) – Added Fire Damage (Level 8) – Maim (Level 8)
Support Skills
Vaal Haste – Use ASAP, and then keep running it
Clarity – use for Mana Regen from Level 1, remove later when Mana Leech picks up the slack
Herald of Ash – Use ASAP, and then keep running it
Ice Golem – Use ASAP, and then keep running it
Once you get to 28-30, just transition to using the main skill gems setup down below. Keep your gear focused on Resists, Life and Fire Damage and leveling is easy.
Leveling Uniques:
- Victario’s Flight (Boots)
- Tabula Rasa (Armour)
- Wanderlust (Boots)
- Lochtonial Caress (Gloves)
- Slitherpinch (Gloves)
- Le Heup of All (Ring)
- Goldrim (Helm)
- Meginord’s Girdle (Belt)
- Worm’s Molt (Belt)
- Perandus Blazon (Belt)
- Giantsbane (Gloves)
- Blackheart (Ring)
- Wideswing (2H Axe)
Efficient Farm Locations:
Act 1: The Ledge
Act 2: The Fellshrine Ruins
Act 3: The Docks
Act 4: The Dried Lake
Act 5: The Chamber of Innocence
Act 6: The Ridge
Act 7: The Temple of Decay lv1-2
Act 8: The Harbour Bridge
Act 9: The Blood Aqueduct
Act 10: The Ossuary
Avoid these map mods:
* Players cannot Regenerate Life, Mana or Energy Shield
* Cannot Leech Life/Mana from Monsters
* Monsters reflect % of Physical Damage
* Monsters reflect % of Elemental Damage
Be careful of these map mods:
* Monsters have #% increased Critical Strike Chance / +#% to Monster Critical Strike Multiplier
With high evasion, attack should almost never crit you. Spell on the other hand can still hit hard.
* Monsters fire 2 additional Projectiles
Scary mod on some bosses and monster types. Some monsters are still able to spam out too many projectiles to handle.
* Area contains two Unique Bosses
Your goal to survive this mode is a combo of extreme DPS and Life. The faster you can down the bosses, the less threat they pose.
* #% increased Monster Movement Speed / #% increased Monster Attack Speed / #% increased Monster Cast Speed
Some bosses are going to be too fast to hit effectively, meaning you’ll spend more time than you normally should kiting them. This combination with Temporal Chains is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.
* Players are Cursed with Vulnerability
Negated during mapping with a Warding Flask, but not against bosses. Bleeds from bosses can kill you easily.
* Players are Cursed with Temporal Chains
I would personally avoid this on high-tier maps.
If you are a brand new Path of Exile player, feel free to check out our various POE guides for noobs.
Final Skill Gem Setup
You’ll find recommendations for different attack skill setups for this build below. The basic buff and aura setups are down there too. This build has been tested with the most common Bow skills, and it works will with any multiple projectile build, as long as you maximize the number of projectiles with support gems.
=== ATTACK SKILL ===
Infernal Blow -> Ignite Proliferation -> Ancestral Call -> Elemental Damage with Attacks -> Melee Physical Damage -> Combustion
=== SECONDARY ATTACK ===
Ancestral Warchief ->Blood Magic -> Melee Physical Damage -> Culling Strike -> Added Fire Damage
=== MOVEMENT ===
Leap Slam -> Faster Attacks -> Fortify -> Blood Magic
=== AURA/UTILITY ===
Herald of Ash
Vaal Haste
Blood Rage
=== CWDT ===
Cast when Damage Taken lvl 6 -> Immortal Call lvl 8 -> Phase Run lvl 8 -> Molten Shell lvl 13
Build Uniques / Example Rare Gear
In this section you will find all the suggested items for this build. We always try to include optional gear in our listing, or try your own assuming you get similar stat rolls. Aim for high-quality Rares if you’re replacing Uniques. The Minimum/Optional requirements listed assume you’re using Rares as a replacement for listed Uniques (where possible).
Depending on your gear choices, you can go for either a lot more DPS at the expense of Life, or go for more defensiveness by sacrificing a portion of DPS. This is your choice. In most cases, I would prefer Life personally, as it’s just a bit more forgiving. If you’re a new player, this may the path for you.
Stat Priorities:
Life is super important for survivability, especially at end-game. Although be careful not to forsake too many damage mods for it or you won’t be able to kill mobs quick enough for your defenses to handle incoming DPS.
Fire Damage makes up your primary elemental damage source, scaling this with different sources will help your DPS a bit.
Armour is one of your primary defensive options
Attack Speed means that you simply attack faster the higher it is. This stat becomes vital for scaling overall DPS.
Weapons
There are a couple of options for this build. The Unique “Meme” version which uses a specific fated Unique, and the Rare “try-hard” variant which uses a high-end Elder Rare. Either version works it just comes down to preferred playstyle.
Let’s start with the Unique version as it’s what inspired this build.
Panquetzaliztli – Leveling is chumpified by using the precursor version of this Unique, Quecholli, the added Attributes, Life Regen and OK damage make it a great pairing with Infernal Blow. And this potential only increases once you’re using the Fated version. This weapon allows for a bit more build freedom at the expense of a fair bit of Boss DPS, but it makes for an excellent mapper against packs.
The listing below assumes you’re using the high-end Rare, which needs to be an Elder Rare to roll certain needed mods. You’ll get peak base DPS with this, but the Attribute requirements mean you’ll have to sacrifice some Jewel Affixes for Dexterity and Intelligence, likely on most of your Jewels. Aim for 500+ pDPS on your Rare in this case to get the best DPS overall.
Min. requirements:
100% Increased Physical Damage
Adds # to # Physical Damage
20% Increased Attack Speed
5% Increased Elemental Damage
Optional affixes:
Elemental Resistances
Helmet
Devoto’s Devotion grants really good Life bonuses and increased Attack Speed. It’s an excellent choice for this build if you’re going for pure DPS over stacking tons of Armour.
The Formless Inferno – If you’re going pure defensive at some loss of DPS, this is your goto. The amount of Armour this beast generates is just nuts. And with the Infernal Blow enchant, the damage can be pretty good too.
Starkonja’s Head is a great choice due to massive damage buffs and crit chance, so use it as a cheap stop-gap, although replace it with one of the more expensive options above when ready, preferably when you have a Helmet with the Infernal Blow enchant.
Body Armor
A high-end Rare can do really well with this build. Aim for an Astral Plate or Glorious Plate base.
There are several ways to further increase the effectiveness of a Rare here, but they will massively increase the currency cost, as a high-end Armour that fits these parameters would be Mirror-service-worthy.
- A +1 Level to Socketed Gems Corruption is useful if you’re using a Wise Oak to plug resist holes.
- Getting Reduced Attribute Requirements can really help if you’re struggling with attributes. This can also free up Jewel Affixes as you no longer need to waste them on Dex/Int. This would allow you to further increase your DPS. Although getting this mod combination will be extremely hard, and will cost a lot of currency, so bank on just using a crafted affix instead.
- Getting a high, or possibly Legacy, Increased Life and/or Chaos Resistance roll really helps with survivability.
Min. requirements:
100 maximum Life
1500+ Armour
% Increased Armour
Strength
Optional affixes:
Chaos Resistance
Increased Maximum Life Elder mod
Reduced Attribute Requirements
Belt
Belt of the Deceiver can be a good starter Unique for really cheap. The stats on it are great all around for getting through the beginning of end-game content. Switch it out fairly quickly though as you’ll need more Damage and Life later on.
Abyss Belts with Life and Resistances are a good option for more difficult end-game sections and bosses. Other Rares might do in a pinch, but not having good rolls can make you a lot more squishy than is tolerable. Abyss Jewels are also a great source for damage buffs as well. Buffing your damage and Life is the best bet here with Jewels.
Elder/Shaper variants are good too, assuming you can get a good combo of Life and Resists on them.
Your best bet is a Cyclopean Coil. Although this will be really expensive as it’s pretty high-demand. The added life and Attributes are extremely useful, so this is a definite necessity for full potential.
Gloves
Gloves can be one of the more flexible gear slots while leveling, pick any Unique Gloves which focus on buffing needed Attributes or damage types and you’ll be fine for leveling. Once you hit end-game, opt for a high-end Rare ASAP. If you need help choosing Unique Gloves, refer to the leveling items section above, or go to this list.
Rare Gloves with buffs to main damage types are great. You can also get Leech here as well.
Min. requirements:
% Increased Melee Damage (Preferred over Lab Enchants)
60 maximum Life
7% Attack Speed
50% Increased Armour
Optional affixes:
Elemental Resistances
+ to Armour
Boots
Rare boots with max rolled Life, Resists and Movement Speed are great as a generic choice, but you may find yourself a bit more prone to taking hits than you would like. This one is more of a personal judgment call. Here’s the basic requirements for Rare in this slot.
Min. requirements:
70 maximum Life
30% increased Movement Speed
Any Uncapped Resistances (>25%)
Optional affixes:
High Armour
Once you’ve gotten decently into end-game, you may want to switch to a Unique that’s more tailored for the playstyle of the build.
Gang’s Momentum – This is the best Unique pair of Boots for this build, with the focus on Fire Damage and decent defensive setup, these can carry you a fair bit.
Amulet
If using a Rare, Get a Shaper/Elder and stack as much Life as you can on your Amulet to prevent feeling too squishy. Extra flat added damage of multiple types is good here too. Gain x% Physical as Elemental or Elemental Penetration work great in this slot as well. Stack multiple mods for Physical and Fire Damage for optimal setup.
Min. requirements:
60 maximum Life
Added min. 15 Fire Damage to Attacks
10% All Elemental Resistances
Attributes (Dexterity/Intelligence)
Optional affixes:
Added Elemental Damage (Fire)
% of Physical Damage Leeched as Mana
Rings
Essence Worm – One of only a few necessary Uniques for this build. This should be paired with Haste/Vaal Haste to increase mobility and DPS, while also making sure you don’t run out of Mana.
Rare Steel/Opal Rings are great for this build and it’s Fire Damage. Use the stats below as a guide for that.
Min. requirements:
60 Maximum Life
Added Fire Damage to Attacks
x% Elemental Damage with Attacks
Uncapped Resistances (>25%)
Optional affixes:
Flasks
Lion’s Roar – An incredible defensive choice for this build. Using this to keep enemies away from you can really help survive tougher fights, plus the added DPS is nice.
The Wise Oak – This is a must-have due to the way your Resistances are set up. You can use a regular Bismuth to get by while leveling though. The Fire Penetration and defensive buffs gained with this build can’t be beat though.
Other Flasks:
- Seething Life Flask of Staunching (Immunity to Bleeding)
- Ample Quicksilver Flask of Heat (Immunity to Freeze)
- Sulphur Flask of Curing (Remove Poison)
You can swap these mods around if needed due to RNG.
Jewels
Your Jewels slots, will be a primary source for extra damage and attributes. The PoB link has some example jewels, but you should generally aim for +20 to both Dexterity and Intelligence as a minimum between your Jewels. That leaves plenty of room for added buffs to Fire Damage, Ignite Duration, Stuns etc.
Abyss Jewels that have a chance to gain Onslaught can also be used in a slot for a damage increase.
Rare Jewels can run with the following stats:
Recommended affixes:
5-7% Increased Maximum Life
Increased Attack Speed with 2H Melee Weapons
X% Increased Global Physical Damage
Optional affixes:
Attributes (Dexterity/Intelligence)
