Season context and purpose
Historical Season 5, patch family 1.5. Frequent Poison triggers and area damage for Infernal Hordes. Preserved author plan explicitly marked for this season; present-day tooltip coefficients are not reused. Optimization applies to the named activity and gearing stage; this is not a current or cross-season ranking promise.
Andariel’s Visage supplies the decisive Poison novas. Barrage creates many Lucky Hit opportunities; Fists of Fate increases trigger frequency. Umbrous maintains Dark Shroud without occupying the bar.
Six bar slots and class system
Use Preparation and Close Quarters Combat. Shadow Clone requires the documented pair of Ultimate cooldown tempers; otherwise switch to Death Trap with appropriate Trap cooldown tempers.
| Slot | Skill |
|---|---|
| 1 | Barrage |
| 2 | Shadow Step |
| 3 | Smoke Grenade |
| 4 | Poison Trap |
| 5 | Poison Imbuement |
| 6 | Shadow Clone |
Skill points for the selected variant
Complete base-point allocation for the selected “Infernal Hordes” variant: 58 points. Item-granted ranks are additional; allocated skills need not all be equipped. This table is not a level-by-level order.
| Talent / upgrade | Base points |
|---|---|
| Puncture | 1 |
| Enhanced Puncture | 1 |
| Barrage | 1 |
| Enhanced Barrage | 1 |
| Improved Barrage | 1 |
| Sturdy | 3 |
| Shadow Step | 1 |
| Enhanced Shadow Step | 1 |
| Disciplined Shadow Step | 1 |
| Rugged | 3 |
| Unstable Elixirs | 3 |
| Dark Shroud | 5 |
| Enhanced Dark Shroud | 1 |
| Exploit | 3 |
| Malice | 3 |
| Poison Trap | 1 |
| Enhanced Poison Trap | 1 |
| Subverting Poison Trap | 1 |
| Smoke Grenade | 1 |
| Enhanced Smoke Grenade | 1 |
| Countering Smoke Grenade | 1 |
| Poison Imbuement | 1 |
| Enhanced Poison Imbuement | 1 |
| Mixed Poison Imbuement | 1 |
| Deadly Venom | 3 |
| Alchemical Advantage | 3 |
| Debilitating Toxins | 3 |
| Frigid Finesse | 3 |
| Innervation | 3 |
| Second Wind | 1 |
| Close Quarters Combat | 1 |
| Shadow Clone | 1 |
| Prime Shadow Clone | 1 |
| Alchemist's Fortune | 1 |
Equipment, aspects and stat priorities
Prioritize Lucky Hit and attack speed. Barrage does not need five base points because the nova carries damage. Reach total rank 7 Second Wind through points and tempers. Cap armor and resistances even without Tyrael.
| Role | Equipment / mechanic |
|---|---|
| Required | Andariel’s Visage; Fists of Fate with strong Lucky Hit |
| Core | Branching Volleys; Creeping Death; High Velocity; Noxious Ice; Umbrous |
| Optional | Tyrael’s Might; Ring of Starless Skies; Umbracrux for a dedicated boss variant |
Rotation and resources
Place Smoke Grenade and Poison Trap on tough enemies, activate Poison Imbuement and fire Barrage nearby. Shadow Clone resets cooldowns through Preparation. Use Shadow Step for movement and control breaks.
Season mechanic and targeted choices
Infernal Hordes supply materials and equipment. Reputation and Journey rewards support gearing; they are not additional equippable vampiric powers.
Paragon: boards and glyphs
Bring normal rare glyphs to rank 15 for increased radius, then rank 21 for the period’s maximum rank bonus. Additional bonuses require enough purchased attributes within range.
| Board | Glyph |
|---|---|
| Start | Control |
| Cheap Shot | Canny |
| No Witnesses | Fluidity |
| Deadly Ambush | Bane |
| Exploit Weakness | — |
| Eldritch Bounty | Tracker |
Leveling, transition and patch limits
Play conventional Barrage first and target-farm Andariel. The mythic helm is mandatory for this Poison nova version; Tyrael and Starless are later upgrades.
Umbracrux enables the strong boss-ricochet variant but is not silently assumed in every Hordes loadout. Do not apply present-day Andariel triggers or new skill values retroactively.
YOUR NEXT STEP
Your checklist
Saved locally on this device, shared between both languages. This counter measures guide tasks, not game progress.
Sources & editorial reference date
Independently written guidance. Linked sources support verification of game systems, versions and described changes. Editorial reference date: 2026-10-23.
- Blizzard: Season of the Infernal Hordes news.blizzard.com
- Sanctum: preserved S5 Andariel Barrage plan mobalytics.gg
- Blizzard: archived patch families 1.3–1.5 news.blizzard.com