The "Immortal Wasp" Couch Co-op Duo - Breaking the Infernal Legion HP Cap

I like to play two characters at once using a couple of controllers in couch co-op, so I enjoy theorycrafting around how two classes can synergize.

(The Support): Pathfinder

  • The Engine: Uses Alchemist's Boon + Enduring Elixirs to spam Life Flasks every 3-4 seconds, even at full health. Because Boon shares recovery with "Allies," this heals other character AND their minions.
  • Passive Tree: Invests purely in flask recovery effect (currently sitting at 220%) and curses (Temporal Chains + Elemental Weakness).
  • The Defense: Uses Shavronne's Satchel. Because Enduring Elixirs keeps the flask effect running, this acts as a permanent Energy Shield regenerator.

(The Carry): Shaman

  • The Payload: Infernal Legion III linked to Gargantuan Wasps.
  • Why Shaman?: Picked Shaman specifically to leave Charm slots empty for**+120 Spirit**
  • Exposure Debuff: Invested in the passive tree to push the Shaman's passive "Inflict Exposure in Presence" up to roughly 40%.
  • Defence: Also wears Shavronne's Satchel. The Pathfinder's Alchemist's Boon physically triggers the ES recovery on the Shaman, giving them ES recovery without touching their flasks.
  • Rage: I will consider rage later as you can have it increase minion damage

Level 85

At level 85, the Pathfinder equips the Sacred Flame sceptre.

  • It gives allies 3% Max Life regen per second, grants extra fire damage, and provides the Purity of Fire aura to help cap the Wasps' resistances against their own burn.
  • The Shaman gets to stick with a +Skill/Minion Life sceptre, perhaps Skeleton Warriors just to trigger the 7% damage boost from the Muster support gem.
  • The Shaman uses red jewels Minion Health, Presence and perhaps some time-lost jewels with increased passive effect in the future.

Why This Duo Excels

When looking at solo Gargantuan Wasp builds, I noticed they don't go as hard as they could on Minion Life nodes. I assume it's because solo players are fighting a sustain bottleneck: they have to perfectly balance the Wasp's Maximum HP against their passive tree regeneration, otherwise the 30% Infernal Legion self-burn kills the minion.

Pathfinder lets me uncap the Shaman's Minion Life scaling, pushing the Wasps' health bars—and therefore their base burn damage.

(tidied the post up with AI and then deleted all it's over the top claims..)

Happy for feedback on the duo, or better still any ideas for the next duo to try. The Pathfinder works great for a Blood Mage finding their feet before they become self sustaining.

Comments

Buksage4 months ago2

Thanks ChatGPT

neptoon11114 months ago1

How do you manage the game play ? Is it doable in PS5?

neptoon11114 months ago1

Nice setup bro, thanks for the info. I will try to do it for my ritualist aura bot nothing too much fancy in there

OtterJones_PoE4 months ago1

Interesting setup! I've never seen this self-coop playstyle.

I'd be interested to hear how alchemist's boon ends up working out for you. The hp pools of IL minions get so large that healing tends not to do much unless it is percentage-based - but I've never seen one with a flaskfinder support so maybe it'll work... I'm not sure if the Nurturing Guardian notable would work to heal a Tame Beast Wasp off the support's flasks, that is worth testing though.

In my experience, a Wasp is too mobile for a Purity of Fire aura to be reliable (this goes as well for a Wasp with an elemental resistance aura/es aura that does not reliably cover you). Sacred Flame is still good, though. You might need to invest in Presence aoe to keep buffs on the wasp, maybe with enough the PoF aura will also get consistent?

iv2b4 months ago1

If it's just flaming legion then what's the advantage over the the bogfelled commoner route where you just spam weapon swap and ignore the need to heal your minion?

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