Demon Form Reap Infernalist POE 2 Build
A powerful Demon Form Infernalist that overwhelms enemies with one of the highest DPS.Demon Form Reap
Infernalist Build
Updated for Path of Exile 2 Early Access
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| Guide notes |
| July 11, 2026 - Created for Early Access. |
| Build Overview | |||
| Tags: [CASTER] [PHYSICAL] [ARCHMAGE] [DEMON FORM] | |||
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Budget: Defenses: |
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Boss DPS: AoE: |
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The build revolves around a basic Reap ability that can be found on all Reaping Staves. The ability deals high Physical Damage, inflicts Critical Weakness, and Recovers Life on Cull. To increase the DPS, we will allocate Demonic Possession Infernalist's passive, which grants Cast Speed with more Spell Damage, and use the Archmage Spirit Skill. Around 100% of the original damage will be added as extra Lightning Damage with it, but that depends on your Maximum Mana. To get more Mana, allocate Eldritch Battery and Mind Over Matter to reassign your Mana as Life Pool. Now, with Mana Remnants and Mana on Kill, your character can withstand the high Mana Cost and all the other Mana drains. Maximum Life is designated to get you Spirit with Beidat's Will, and to serve as a last bastion in case you run out of Mana. Demon Form and self-Ignite constantly drain Life, but that won't be an issue. Beidat's Will also puts us in a great spot to take advantage of Coward's Legacy and combine it with Pain Attunement and Execute Support. Now, what's left is to get as much Crit Chance as possible (mainly from the Skill Tree), and get Critical Bonus Damage. Grinning Immolation is a big damage boost for us. Overall, you're looking at over 1000% Crit Multiplier with nearly capped Crit Chance, insane Cast Rate, and lots of added Lightning Damage. These are very fundamental stats, but cranked up to elevel. Defensively, you rely a lot on Mana sustain, and so you will have to use Mana Remnants and a Flask to not run out of this resource. As an Infernalist, you also shift a lot of Damage to be taken as Chaos and Fire, so these Resistances have to be high.
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1. Gameplay
Reap is the only ability that deals damage directly. Demon Form should be kept on most of the time as it increases Cast Speed, thus clear speed. Against bosses, you can deploy an additional Vulnerability Curse, place Sigil of Power, and cast Mana Tempest. By spending Mana, you'll grow progressively stronger. Your Passive Skills are Blasphemy-linked Temporal Chains, Archmage, and Mana Remnants.
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2. Build's PROS & CONS
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| CONS |
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3. Leveling tips
The Demon Form is not recommended as a starting skill because it requires a high level of Life Recovery. Such Recovery can be achieved with Life Remnants from The Covenant Body Armour (Level 40 onward), and Life Regeneration from Byrnabas, Mask of the Stitched Demon, Cat O' Nine Tails, or Igniferis. Don't forget to use Vitality, Clarity, Cannibalism, and Mana Remnants. The high Cast Speed will also drain your Mana, so be prepared to have that covered with The Everlasting Gaze and Dream Fragments. The third Ascendancy Passive is the one that grants Spirit, and at this point you can start using Coward's Legacy. Slowly lean towards Critical Hits instead of increases to Elemental Damage (we assume you're using an Elemental Skill, as Reap is not the best choice early on). We recommend starting with something very basic, like the Arc/Orb of Storms combo, but anything you're more comfortable with will work.
| [DPS] Arc setup | |
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Arc - A Lightning Projectile Spell that you can Infuse with Lightning. |
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Deliberation |
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Considered Casting |
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Controlled Destruction |
| [UTILITY] other skills | |
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Orb of Storms - Creates Lightning Infusion Remnants and damages enemies nearby when you cast a Spell. |
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Elemental Weakness - A curse that lowers Elemental Resistances. You should link it with Blasphemy after gathering enough Spirit. |
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Flame Wall - Adds Fire Damage to projectiles. |
4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon
Final Skill Tree:
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Click on the image to open the Passive Tree preview in a new window Or import the build into PoB: |
Ascendancy points:
Preferably in this order:
- Demonic Possession
- Altered Flesh
- Beidat's Will
- Grinning Immolation
5. Final Gems links
| [DPS] Reap setup | |
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Reap - A Skill that comes with a Reaping Staff. It deals Physical Damage, has Culling Strike, Recovers Life on Culling Strike, and applies Critical Weakness. It's the main damage source. |
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Zenith |
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Physical Mastery |
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Considered Casting |
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Deliberation |
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Execute |
| [UTILITY] Demon Form setup | |
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Demon Form - Ascendancy Skill from Demonic Possession. While Shapeshifted, it increases Cast Speed and grants progressively more Spell Damage at the cost of losing Life, which is to be recovered with Reap. |
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Cooldown Recovery |
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Second Wind |
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Efficiency |
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Armour Demolisher |
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Helbrym's Hide |
| [UTILITY] Blasphemy setup | |
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Blasphemy - Expend Spirit to have a linked Curse constantly affect nearby enemies. |
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Temporal Chains - Temporal Chains slows nearby enemies and causes all effects on them to expire more slowly. |
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Slow Potency |
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Magnified Area |
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Ritualistic Curse |
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Heightened Curse |
| [UTILITY] Vulnerability setup | |
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Vulnerability - A second Curse. It lowers Armour of affected enemies by a fixed amount. If you have a way to quickly break Armour even on pinnacle bosses, you won't need it. |
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Prolonged Duration |
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Magnified Area |
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Ritualistic Curse |
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Efficiency |
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Cursed Ground |
| [UTILITY] Mana Tempest setup | |
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Mana Tempest - Create a zone that empowers your Spells with extra Lightning Damage. It increases the Mana Cost of Skills and drains Mana, so be careful. |
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Efficiency |
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Cooldown Recovery |
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Lightning Mastery |
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Advancing Storm |
| [UTILITY] Archmage setup | |
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Archmage - Once you have good Mana sustain, you should start using Archmage. It grants extra Lightning Damage scaling with Maximum Mana but increases the Mana Cost of Skills. At 2500 Maximum Mana, it's 100% of damage as extra Lightning. |
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Lightning Mastery |
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Her Declaration |
| [UTILITY] Mana Remnants setup | |
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Mana Remnants - Creates Mana Remnants on kill and on Critically Hitting an enemy affected by Elemental Ailment. It grants Mana. Ataziri's Communion is very optional. |
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Harmonic Remnants |
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Remnant Potency |
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Ataziri's Communion |
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Khatal's Rejuvenation |
| [UTILITY] Sigil of Power setup | |
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Sigil of Power - A skill that comes from a Chiming Staff in your second weapon slot. It creates a zone that grants more and more Spell Damage as you keep spending Mana in it. |
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Overabundance |
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Magnified Area |
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Efficiency |
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Prolonged Duration |
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6. Gear Setup
The build uses Eldritch Battery with Mind Over Matter, so defensively it relies on Maximum Mana and Mana sustain. It reserves at least a quarter of Maximum Life with Beitat's Will; thus, combined with Coward's Legacy, you can take advantage of Pain Attunement. On Items, seek primarily Maximum Mana, Maximum Life, and Maximum Energy Shield, the last one of which will count towards Mana. The Mana pool also increases damage via Archmage. To get damage, get Physical Skill Levels, Cast Speed, Crit Chance, and Crit Damage. Spirit should not be needed. Chaos Resistance and Maximum Resistances are more effective here due to the Altered Flesh passive. Fire Resistance will help with self-ignite from Grinning Immolation, and so will Dousing Charm. Your output damage is mainly of Physical and Lightning type.
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Stat priorities on items:
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(Helmet) Rare Helmet - Helmet should be high in Maximum ES, maybe Mana, and have a Crit Chance Suffix. You can socket a Bear Idol in it for more AoE. |
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| Min. requirements: +400 to Energy Shield +40% total Resistance Optional affixes: Intelligence Maximum Mana increased Critical Hit Chance |
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(Weapon) Rare Staff - You will need a Reaping Staff with Skill Levels, Cast Speed, extra Crit Chance, and increased Spell Damage. A good Staff will undoubtedly be very expensive. |
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| Min. requirements: +6 to Level of all Physical Spell Skills 30% increased Cast Speed increased Critical Hit Chance for Spells increased Spell or Spell Physical Damage Optional affixes: Gain #% of Damage as Extra Lightning, Cold, or Fire Damage increased Critical Spell Damage Bonus increased Spell or Spell Physical Damage Maximum Mana |
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(Off-hand) Rare Staff - For the Sigil of Power, you will need a second (Chiming) Staff. It will be used only to cast one Spell, so you don't need much on it. |
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| Min. requirements: +6 to Level of all Lightning Spell Skills increased Cast Speed Optional affixes: Maximum Mana increased Mana Cost Efficiency |
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(Gloves) Rare Gloves - Gloves are basic - Maximum ES with Resistances are the most important stats. There is not much more going on here. You may socket a Rune for Cast Speed in it. |
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| Min. requirements: +200 to Energy Shield +80% total Resistance Optional affixes: Resistance Maximum Mana Maximum Life |
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(Boots) Trampletoe - With an extremely high Hit Damage and poor AoE per Cast, Trampletoe are the best choice to improve mapping. Socket something for Movement Speed here. |
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| 15% increased Movement Speed (50-100)% increased Armour 50% increased Attribute Requirements Deal 30% of Overkill damage to enemies within 2 metres of the enemy killed |
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(Amulet) Rare Amulet - Try to get Skill Level for Reap with Maximum Life, Mana, and Resistances. Cast Speed or Crit Chance will be excellent additions. |
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| Min. requirements: increased Critical Hit Chance +2 to Level of all Spell Skills Maximum Mana or Maximum Energy Shield (flat) Optional affixes: Resistances Maximum Life increased Cast Speed Anointment: Barbaric Strength Cooked |
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(Ring) Rare Ring - Rings are mainly for Resistances and maybe Cast Speed. For Prefixes, search for Maximum Life, Maximum Mana, or Mana Regeneration. |
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| Min. requirements: +100% total Resistance Optional affixes: increased Mana Regeneration Rate increased Cast Speed Maximum Life Maximum Mana |
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(Belt) Coward's Legacy - With just Beidat's Will, you're always at Low Life, letting you take advantage of Execute Support of Pain Attunement. The Belt also improves Flasks' Recovery. It can be Cultivated. |
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| Has (1-3) Charm Slots (15-10)% reduced Flask Charges used -(20-10) to Strength +(20-30) to Dexterity (30-40)% increased Life and Mana Recovery from Flasks You are considered on Low Life while at 75% of maximum Life or below instead |
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(Body Armour) Rare Body Armour - If you prefer a Rare Body Armour, it must grant a lot of ES, Spirit, and Resistances. |
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| Min. requirements: 600 Energy Shield +40% total Resistance +30 to Spirit Optional affixes: Maximum Mana #% of Damage taken Recouped as Mana (Desecrated Suffix) |
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(Body Armour) Morior Invictus - We heavily recommend this chest with modifiers to increase Resistances, Chaos Resistance, Life, Mana, or Spirit per socketed thing. |
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| (300-400)% increased Armour, Evasion and Energy Shield Has 4 Augment Sockets (Hidden) <3 random socket modifiers> |
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(Jewel) Rare Jewels - Try to get mods from the list, prioritizing Critical Damage bonus. They're often found on Sapphires, but similar stats can be found on Heart of the Well Jewels. |
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| Optional affixes: Damage Penetrates Lightning Resistance increased Spell Damage increased Cast Speed Recover #% of Mana on Kill increased Critical Hit Chance for Spells increased Critical Spell Damage Bonus increased Damage while Shapeshifted |
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If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.
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(Helmet) Rare Helmet - Helmet should be high in Maximum ES, maybe Mana, and have a Crit Chance Suffix. You can socket a Bear Idol in it for more AoE.
(Weapon) Rare Staff - You will need a Reaping Staff with Skill Levels, Cast Speed, extra Crit Chance, and increased Spell Damage. A good Staff will undoubtedly be very expensive.
(Off-hand) Rare Staff - For the Sigil of Power, you will need a second (Chiming) Staff. It will be used only to cast one Spell, so you don't need much on it.
(Gloves) Rare Gloves - Gloves are basic - Maximum ES with Resistances are the most important stats. There is not much more going on here. You may socket a Rune for Cast Speed in it.
(Boots) Trampletoe - With an extremely high Hit Damage and poor AoE per Cast, Trampletoe are the best choice to improve mapping. Socket something for Movement Speed here.
(Amulet) Rare Amulet - Try to get Skill Level for Reap with Maximum Life, Mana, and Resistances. Cast Speed or Crit Chance will be excellent additions.
(Ring) Rare Ring - Rings are mainly for Resistances and maybe Cast Speed. For Prefixes, search for Maximum Life, Maximum Mana, or Mana Regeneration.
(Belt) Coward's Legacy - With just Beidat's Will, you're always at Low Life, letting you take advantage of Execute Support of Pain Attunement. The Belt also improves Flasks' Recovery. It can be Cultivated.
(Body Armour) Rare Body Armour - If you prefer a Rare Body Armour, it must grant a lot of ES, Spirit, and Resistances.
(Body Armour) Morior Invictus - We heavily recommend this chest with modifiers to increase Resistances, Chaos Resistance, Life, Mana, or Spirit per socketed thing.
(Jewel) Rare Jewels - Try to get mods from the list, prioritizing Critical Damage bonus. They're often found on Sapphires, but similar stats can be found on Heart of the Well Jewels.