[2.0] Semi-Budget Non-BM Crit Flame Totem (40k-100k+ DPS)

BACKGROUND
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This post more or less outlines the progress of this character since the start of the league. I'm a fairly new player, but I've played FT for a few months now and it's easily one of my favourite (easiest :P) builds in the game. My build probably isn't the most optimised, but it gets the job done, and it gets it done FAST.

The build is based mostly on Zaun's BM Crit Totem and Moon's (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLatyXVzLgIlymCqDfWTh5A). The main reason I decided against BM was that you don't really need it, and that you get to run Herald of Thunder/Ice for added DPS. (I've actually tested both builds and in terms of raw damage, Non-BM comes out slightly ahead per level, while still maintaining decent HP stats.)


BUDGET STATS (with a Tabula, self-founds and gear bought for less than 2-3C each.)
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Herald of Thunder + Flame Golem


Herald of Thunder + 4 PC + Vaal Haste + Flame Golem


CURRENT STATS
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Char Sheet


Herald of Thunder + Herald of Ice + 4 PC + Vaal Haste


-I'm easily running 76s Maps at the moment, and maybe if 77s actually drop, I can try those...
The only mod I'd avoid besides Temporal Chains is Ele reflect. It's definitely doable, but you have to spam your Totems since they insta-pop.


SKILL TREE
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The leveling process should be pretty straight forward. Rush Bond as soon as possible. Fill out the left side of the tree until you have Sanctity/Retribution/Light of Divinity, before progressing to the right. Initially, you have the option of running both Heralds and pop mad mana pots, or just run HoT and Clarity. I chose the latter since I CBF. Once you have better gear (Infernal Mantle, you can switch to EB and drop Clarity)

For solo play, you don't need the additional Power Charges. You can always skill them instead of the Crit Chance nodes if you reaaally want to maximise DPS. At my current point, I'm just looking to grab the rest of the 5% life nodes.

Bandits: Oak - Skill - Alira


GEAR
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Helm:

Three Dragons: 10% chance to ignite + Whatever Crit Chance you're at makes the 50% increased damage taken from Shock insane. The resist is mint as well. If you want survivability, maybe go for one with +Life. A 30% should be no more than 6C.

Armor:

Tabula Rasa (FT - Faster Casting - Fire Pen - Faster Projectiles - Crit Damage - Crit Chance) is very very good until you can get yourself a Infernal Mantle (FT - Faster Casting - Faster Projectiles - Crit Damage - Crit Chance - Added Chaos Damage).

Weapons:

You basically want to prioritise 1. Spell Damage 2. Crit Multiplier 3. Chance/Speed. Dual Wand is probably the better setup, but I found it to be too expensive personally. BiS are a pair of Void Batteries (lol, maybe some day).

Belt:

Prioritise Life and Resists with a bit of Armor. Doryani's doesn't actually add that much damage (~3% increase), not really needed. A Decent belt with 100+ Life and Tri-Res should be ~2-5C.

Gloves:

Maligaro's Virtuosity IMO are the best. The pure damage lacks a bit compared to Facebreakers, but the Dex can be very nice. Start off with a pair of Yellows (Life + Dual Resist + Stats) for ~1-2C.

Boots:

I got reaaaally lucky and found mine in A4M. The most important stat isn't actually Life or Resist, but Movement Speed (25% min). The reason is because Totems no longer draw aggro, and the mobs will rush straight at you, you NEED to be able to maneuver and kite the mobs around. A decent pair of yellows with 25% Move, 20% Resist all and 40+ Life should be no more than 10C.

Amulet & Rings:


Damage + Stats + Life + Resist. If you're going for full Power Charges, consider Romira's Banquet and run it with Incinerate to insta-charge.

Flasks:

Surgeons, Surgeons, Surgeons, Surgeons, Surgeons...Granites are a must also. The last two slots can be your flex slot depending on map mods etc.


MISC
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-I'm debating whether I should skill MoM. It actually makes use of your remaining mana pool, but there can be situations where your mana drops below 35% and they one shot you because of Mantle.

-When mapping, I usually place the DPS totem in front, and the culling totem a bit behind and pull. It's not the manliest build by any means...



-Let me know what changes you'd make to the overall build.

gems setup plz :)

The important ones:

-CDWT - Immortal Call - Increased Duration

-Self Cast: Enduring Cry

-FT - Faster Casting - Faster Projectiles - Increased Crit Dmg - Increased Crit Chance - Added Chaos Dmg (With Mantle) or Fire Pen (With Tabula)

-Summon Chaos Golem - Minion Life

-Vaal Haste - Increased Duration

-Herald of Thunder/Ice

Optional:

-Ice Spear - Power Charge on Crit - GMP - Faster Casting

-Phase Run (Free Quicksilver basically)

-FT - Item Rarity - Culling Strike

Is the Maligaro really worth it? I mean, its pretty much the same damagewise as Facebreaker - and in the new league Facebreaker is 2c and Maligaro 4ex, sound like too much furt just 30 dex...

Flame Totem has horrible damage effectiveness of 25%, which is why Heralds or Anger are not great for it in 1st place. HoT for example gives you about 55 average flat lightning damage (with a 20/20 gem), which becomes merely 14 after totem effectiveness. What more? This damage doesn't scale with any of the + Fire damage that you have.

Meanwhile, you run the risk of getting smashed by spell damage. It is NOT a good trade at all compare with going Blood Magic.

The boost of heralds to dps is very noticeable due to the crit multi. Also it's not just the dmg they bring, but also the chill freeze effect when crit. Spell dmg from mantle has never been a problem with me with eb.

I'm going to ditch vaal haste for something more defensive, maybe vaal skele. Also gonna replace the pcoc setup since its not needed for solo. Maybe raise zombie to draw aggro. With q20 gems, the dmg from a single totem is more than enough.

"

evilmindcz wrote:

Is the Maligaro really worth it? I mean, its pretty much the same damagewise as Facebreaker - and in the new league Facebreaker is 2c and Maligaro 4ex, sound like too much furt just 30 dex...

Yea I'm gonna drop vaal haste and replace Mali with fb I think.

With my gear, by using HoT (reserve from life), my DPS change from 72k each totem to 76k, which is far from noticeable. Even you have admitted the chance of getting 1 shot on low mana, so don't say stuffs like "with EB I never have the side effect of Mantle". While Shock is always good, chill-freeze is of little value as mobs die quick and you can not effectively chill-freeze boss at all. Your gear is low on ES and you will never have enough to keep casting totems + ice spear for a quick and efficient high map run (consider that ES stops regen completely when you cast anything, as opposed to mana).

The idea of no-BM Flame Totem is actually not bad, but that's when you run Clarity and have a sizable mana pool. The only thing you miss by then is Clear Mind jewel (and maybe Blood Magic map will be really hard). But as your build at the moment, it's just an attempt to go off the meta. No problem with being different, just wanna point out that the shortcomings are clear.

What is 4PC?

Just curious, why is this being advertised as up to 100k dps? Are you rounding up to 50k dps per totem (dont see it in the guide?) and doubling it for two totems (this is not conventional)?