Overview
This is Ventrua’s endgame Infernalist Minion build, where the actual damage comes from Skeletal Arsonists doing the firebombing while you cast offerings and curses around them. The creator’s character cleared corrupted T15-T16 maps and Pinnacle bosses (Sanctum, Breach) with only 19 deaths across the entire run, half of which were in the campaign — making it one of the more durable minion shells in the patch.
The defensive backbone is Grim Feast on minion levels, which lets the build overflow energy shield to roughly double the sheet value (8.5k → 17k ES in the creator’s footage). Combined with a high-block shield setup (49% block from minimal investment), the build sits in the “never one-shot, never out of resources” sweet spot. The Infernalist Hellhound from the ascendancy is the auxiliary scaling — picking up sockets as you level, with the fifth slot landing at level 90.
This is an endgame guide. For the campaign / early mapping version, the creator has separate Act 1-3 + post-campaign videos on the same channel.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Lowest-input mapping pattern of any current minion shell — minions handle damage, you handle utility/buffs.
- Extreme survivability: Grim Feast ES overflow + block-shield + minion bodies between you and threats.
- Doesn’t lean on uniques — every slot is rare gear, which means SSF-viable and predictable to upgrade.
- Kills Pinnacle bosses cleanly with the single-target swap (Concentrated Effect drops in for the boss room).
- Minion Instability detonate-on-summon trick clears white packs without needing to redirect the arsonists from rares.
Cons
- Scepter is the money slot. Getting +levels to all minion skills AND spirit AND minion damage on one scepter is rare and expensive.
- Damage isn’t best-in-class — the creator explicitly says they haven’t pushed for top-1% minion DPS; this build trades that for tankiness.
- Helmet wants high ES + minion-skill levels + intelligence (you need ~191 int for level 19 gems), which compresses the rare-craft search.
- Curse selection is a constant micro-decision: Flammability + Focus Curse for boss, or swap to Hex Bloom + proliferation for Breach farming.
- Belt slot is awkward to craft cleanly — energy shield doesn’t roll on belts, so you settle for life-into-spirit + resists.
Key Skills
- Skeletal Arsonist — main damage carrier. Links: Last Gasp, Scattershot, Martial Tempo + Feeding Frenzy + Fire Infusion (via greater/perfect jewellers).
- Raging Spirit (spirit gem) + Their Emulate + Elemental Focus + Minion Mastery + Fire Mastery — secondary minion damage layer.
- Inferno Hellhound (ascendancy) — Elemental Army + Meat Shield (defenses) + Fire Exposure + Strip Away (damage prep).
- Flame Wall + Fortress Support — circular trigger for Raging Spirits, doubles as flat-damage zone for Arsonists.
- Grim Feast — ES overflow, the build’s defensive identity.
- Pain Offering + Ablation + Font of Rage + Font of Blood — damage offering, life-cost variant with extended duration and minion rage generation.
- Unearth + Infernal Legion + Minion Instability + Calling Strike — Scorpion spawner for white-pack clear (corpse → exploding scorpion).
- Flammability + Heightened Curse + Persistence + Focus Curse — boss curse, kept at low level for cost / int requirement.
- Detonate Dead + Unleash + Spell Cascade + Magnified Effect — filler button to use during minion windups.
Gear & Anointments
The shield is the cleanest upgrade path — a flat ES rare with a block-chance roll hits 49% block with minimal tree investment. Scepter wants +levels to all minion skills as the priority stat; +20% quality from Arcanist’s Etcher gives an extra spirit which is often the difference between one more minion or not. Helmet: +2 minion skills + high ES + intelligence. Body armour: max ES, or settle for ES + spirit if you don’t have spirit on the amulet. Belt is mostly resists + a little strength so the scepter is comfortable to wield. Boots: 20-25% movement speed minimum.
Don’t grab Eliminated Crown on the helmet line unless your helmet’s flat ES is genuinely low — the +15% ES from the alternative is usually a better trade. Skip Eldritch Crown specifically: it currently doesn’t grant the body-armour ES bonus, so it’s a wasted point.
Endgame Notes
For Pinnacle bosses, swap to Concentrated Effect on the Arsonist link if you need single-target. The block-shield route is recommended for general clear; for hardcore bossing you can swap back to a focus offhand for slightly more ES (the creator notes the practical difference is small enough to not matter). Atlas-side, prioritise rare-modifier nodes — they pay disproportionately well for this build.
Credits & Source
Build credited to Ventrua. See the source video for full passive tree, gem links, and corrupted T15/T16 + Pinnacle boss footage: TANKIEST BUILD in PoE2! | Minion Infernalist Build Guide.