Overview
This is a chaos-flavoured take on Demon Form Infernalist that leans on automation rather than manual casting. Instead of standing still and hard-casting a single nuke, the character keeps Despair rolling on packs while Cast on Elemental Ailment fires Hexblast and Spellslinger feeds Thunderstorm into the same targets. The result is a screen that clears itself while the player concentrates on positioning and curse uptime.
Despair is the load-bearing skill. Supported with Impending Doom, Unleash and Compressed Duration, it stops being a pure debuff and becomes the opening burst — the curse lands, the doom explodes, and the trigger package picks up from there. Thunderstorm’s job is shock application via Shock Conduction, with Overcharge raising the shock magnitude so the chaos damage lands into an already-amplified target.
What separates this from the more familiar fire or minion Infernalist setups is the scaling axis. Everything is routed through spell levels, chaos spell levels, curse effect and cast speed rather than minion damage or ignite, and the defensive budget goes into energy shield, life and recovery so Demon Form can be held for long stretches instead of being dipped into for short bursts.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Highly automated once the trigger chain is online — the player is mostly moving and refreshing Despair
- Very strong pack clear; Impending Doom explosions chain through screens quickly
- Single-target is respectable thanks to a dedicated Sigil of Power opener
- Demon Form uptime is comfortable with Master’s Darkness plus energy shield and recovery stacking
- Not a glass cannon — capped resistances, life and energy shield are all part of the plan
Cons
- Gear-gated: the intended wand wants +1 to all spell skills and +5 to all chaos spell skills, which is not a league-start item
- The amulet asking for +3 to all spell skills plus spirit is another expensive prerequisite
- Kalandra’s Touch is called out as an upgrade, which puts the ceiling well past a modest budget
- Multiple trigger skills, two weapon sets and a curse to maintain make the setup fiddly to learn
Key Skills
- Despair — main curse and the damage opener, supported by Impending Doom, Unleash and Compressed Duration
- Hexblast — the automated payoff, triggered by Cast on Elemental Ailment with Energy Retention and Boundless Energy keeping triggers frequent
- Thunderstorm — run through Spellslinger with Shock Conduction and Overcharge purely to guarantee and amplify shock
- Demon Form — the scaling engine; Second Wind, Cooldown Recovery and Efficiency keep it maintainable
- Sigil of Power — the single-target multiplier, placed before committing to a boss
- Blink — repositioning and escape, freeing the build from walking through ground degens
Gear & Anointments
The primary weapon set is dual wands built around spell levels: +1 to all spell skills, +5 to all chaos spell skills, added damage as cold and fire, increased chaos damage, and mana on kill. The second weapon set swaps to a chiming staff for the Sigil of Power package, carrying added cold damage, maximum mana, cast speed and intelligence.
- Focus — cast speed, energy shield, spell damage, +2 to all spell skills, resistances
- Helmet — high energy shield, increased energy shield, maximum life, reduced attribute requirements, resistances
- Body armour — armour and energy shield, spirit, damage taken recouped as life, attributes, chaos resistance where possible
- Gloves and boots — energy shield, cast speed, life, resistances, rarity
- Amulet — spirit, +3 to all spell skills, maximum life and energy shield, recoup, attributes
- Rings — cast speed, spell damage, life, resistances, added chaos damage; Kalandra’s Touch mirrors a strong ring as a late upgrade
Jewel sockets are filled with From Nothing, Flesh Crucible, Prism of Belief and Horik Strategy. Ascendancy order is Demonic Possession, then Master’s Darkness, then Bringer of the Flame, then Pyromantic Pact. Specific unique breakpoints beyond these should be confirmed against the source video.
Endgame Notes
The build is pitched squarely at maps rather than campaign progression — the curse-plus-trigger engine only feels complete once the wand, amulet and jewel sockets are online. Boss pressure comes from setting up Sigil of Power first, applying Despair, then holding the target inside the Thunderstorm and Hexblast trigger radius while using Blink to stay mobile.
Credits & Source
Build credited to KaidGames2. See the source video for the full build’s gameplay footage and voice commentary: NEW BEST MOST POWERFUL BUILD IN POE2 0.5.5 - POE 2 Build Guide (NEW META).