[2.6] Totems of DOOM (Dual Crit Flameblast totems)

This is my first build guide so I'm going to keep it straight and simple :)

Idea of the build is to use two totems that cast high crit flameblasts and FAST. This build is primarily intended for softcore players, but experienced players can adapt this build for HC (more life, different gear, etc).

I'm not very active PoE player myself and thus I have not tried this build against uber Atziri or any other very-end-game-boss. Atziri and endgame lab Izaro are easy to beat with this build.

Videos:
T10 Courtyard

Some Pros & Cons:
+Cheap, can be your first build of the league
+Good clearspeed
+Can do reflect ez
+Lot's of big explosions. Explosions are fun.

-No leech or good regen. Flasks are only source of HP
-Fast movement speed and dodging is primary source of defence (against tough enemies mostly... rest will die quick enough)
-Dex... high lvl grace and haste require ton of dex.

Skill tree:
Level 87

Ascendancy: Assasin
Ambush -> Assassinate -> Unstable Infusion -> Deadly Infusion

Bandits:
HP & Cast Speed & Power charge (I took skill point, which was a mistake imo)

Leveling: Whatever you find to be the fastest way to clear normal & cruel. I found good bows so I used rain of arrows. I switched mid cruel to self-cast flameblast + 1 flameblast totem. As for passive points, I first picked all big nodes near Shadow and Witch (excluding power charges), then went to Ancestral Bond.

Build Mechanics:
Idea is to have two flameblast totems that can flameblast very fast and with high crit rate. This allows to clear packs of enemies fast and bombard bosses with lot's of flameblasts, dealing tons of damage. This build uses power charges as major source of critical strike chance, because Deadly infusion boosts crit chance and damage per power charge. Power charges can be obtained very quickly with lvl 1 blade vortex. Weak enemies die without charges.

Ambush increases crit chance and damage against Full HP enemies, killing most of the packs (blue and rare) with single flameblast. Assassinate gives flameblast "extra strong" culling strike (more damage against enemies with 35% or less hp left + culling strike).

Cast speed is obtained via 20% Faster casting gem, two good faster casting wands (or daggers if you get lucky roll with essence), faster casting passive nodes and haste. At level 88, my totems flameblast casts per second is 13.33.

Gem setup:
Chest: Flameblast + Spell totem + Faster Casting + Crit chance + Fire penetration
6:th link could be crit damage or controlled destruction. With good Faster casting daggers, crit chance gem could be replaced with other gem.
Auras: Grace + Haste + Enlighten or Haste + Blasphemy + Flammability
Charges: Blade Vortex + Spell echo + Power charge on crit
4:th link can be knockback (keeps those enemies away) or crit chance gem if your crit chance is low without charges
Movement: Light warp + Reduced Duration + Faster casting + Reduced mana cost (optional)
Optional golem: Whatever you need boosted most. I use flame golem. Using golem is risky; if it deals damage to enemies before flameblast, totems do not receive Ambush bonus.
CWDT: Cwdt + Arctic breath + GMP + Immortal call
Curse: Manually casted Flammability.

Current gear:
This build works well with self found gear early on, even with 4-l flameblast totems. 5-l Carcass jack should be acquired first.


Wealthier players can use two Void batteries to get even more damage and crit chance. Downside is that without power charges, flameblasts will be weak.
With very high crit rate, Marylene's Fallacy can be used to boost crit damage +210-240%, which is, by the way, insane damage boost. With 6-link Carcass Jack, Two void batteries and Marylene's Fallacey, most bosses will drop dead before they even pose danger. I may not be ever able to test this combination, because I don't really have the time and interest to grind PoE all day every day. I usually just make one build per league, level it to 80-90'ish and quit.

Stats screenshots:


If you have any comments, ideas, suggestions or expertise to share, feel free to do so. I will try to improve this guide based on new experiences and on your comments if requested or if it gains popularity. I can also post videos later.

Edit 25.6.2017: Tested in 2.6 and still viable! Fixed passive tree link.

Still viable in 2.6?

Updated for 2.6 (I did a quick respec and tested on one map). Still Viable.

Dunno about 3.0 tho, too lazy to rebuild in beta.