Barrier invocation uncapped demonform - drunkard variant

Hey guys, just want to share a build I’ve been working on with regards to uncapped demonform with barrier invocation. This is a variant of the barrier invocation spam with flask here.

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZOSlEDpLZg

As you can see in the video above, I am tanky with >7k shield, my flask heals for 2.5k/s and I can life recoup to about 1.9k which at my max life of 372 will allow me to get to about 1000 stack of demonflame if I want to. I can also move at full speed while casting. No need for life regen but I do get some in my gear so I dont need to be spamming at the start of demonform.

Core play loop for the build:

• Barrier invocation comet with pyro pact for constant (instant) casting without detriment to move speed
• Each BI cast will proc a pyro pact
• Each pyro pact proc will fully refill BI energy and recoup life to sustain demonform
• Damage to barrier will be sustained by Eternal Youth and flasks

Gear

Priorities are max ES and increased ES while balancing Life + ES total and Mana*. Resistance as usual.

For uniques, I use Ghostwrithe to help with demonform sustain and Coward’s Legacy for the reduced flask usage and increased life recovery from flask. I also slot a Ming’s Heart to help with more damage although that might screw up the ES requirement if you are just starting to build out. I use 2 max fire resist jewels to get to 80% fire resist and fill the rest with meta skills gain increased energy and increased maximum energy shield.

*Breakpoints to consider when gearing

• Damage to shield need to be sustainable by flask AND cap BI energy. To cap energy for BI with capacitor, you need a 4500 hit to your ES after fire resistance. This number can be reduced with increased energy gain: possibly 40% from impetus, 55% from tree and 15% per jewel. You adjust max life, ES and (max) fire resist for this.
• Each BI cast should ideally only overflow your infernal flame once so you don’t take twice the damage to your shield. This only happens if its cost is exactly your flame pool, so we just try to keep it as close to 100% as possible to reduce the number of double procs. I’m also not sure why but once you start spamming, the 2s wait for your infernal flame to start dropping stops happening and you will just continuously lose 10%/s. You adjust Comet level and support gems for this.

For passives, I go for increased ES, medium amount of recoup (76%) and as much flask effect/duration as possible.

Flasking

With %chance not to consume flask, flask effect duration, % increase flask charge gained, flask gain X charges per second, a life flask that also gives charges per second and alchemist’s boon, I can keep a 100% uptime on my flask even without killing mobs to refill.

Also, once you take Eternal Youth, your life flask effect no longer stops when you hit max life or ES AND it queues. What this means is you can just empty your life flask at the start of a map so you get an ultra-long regen while you kill stuff and recharge the flask. Although note that using your life flask at full ES will not proc the regen effect.

Recommended read on flask mechanics: https://www.reddit.com/r/PathOfExile2/comments/1he9hk4/some_interesting_science_about_flasks_in_poe2/