Spell Totem

If you are going to make the investment into totems more grave and with more sacrifice, at least make the totems decent. Spell totem is arguably the go-to support gem as the regular totems don't do nearly as much damage. Why the 40% damage reduction of the supported spell and why the spell cast reduction (30% IIRC)? I'm only level 43 and just getting into the totem style of game play and right now it is horrid. I expect it to be better with gear and more nodes into elemental damage, cast speed, and so on but it seems like you need a lot of those attributes to even try to negate the reduction on the item. Was it really that strong in alpha/closed beta? And if so, why isn't it still that strong? If I want to cast 2 totems I cannot directly damage enemies, therefore I am solely reliant on totems if I don't plan on using indirect damage abilities. Also, possibly add more clarification on which stats affect the totem. All in all I would like to see the totems be a little bit stronger if I have to sacrifice all damage from other direct abilities just to summon two!
In my humble opinion, I think that the damage a spell totem deals, if hitting a mob that reflects elemental damage, should be reflected back to the player instead of the totem. Purely on a balancing basis. As is I find it that playing with a spell totem build this somewhat renders these mobs useless. All you'll have to do is keep popping totems and you'll never have to worry. If you, on the other hand, play a spec that deals spell damage yourself you are at constant risk of nuking yourself to smithereens. If that is the way it's supposed to be I recon totem damage should also hit the player. Maybe not 100% of the damage as you don't really have control over that your totems hit, but at least to some extent.
As is, spell totem build seems a bit "drop totem and wait for the carnage".

Just my two cents. Keep up the good work guys!
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ParadoxPreacher wrote:
If you are going to make the investment into totems more grave and with more sacrifice, at least make the totems decent. Spell totem is arguably the go-to support gem as the regular totems don't do nearly as much damage. Why the 40% damage reduction of the supported spell and why the spell cast reduction (30% IIRC)? I'm only level 43 and just getting into the totem style of game play and right now it is horrid. I expect it to be better with gear and more nodes into elemental damage, cast speed, and so on but it seems like you need a lot of those attributes to even try to negate the reduction on the item. Was it really that strong in alpha/closed beta? And if so, why isn't it still that strong? If I want to cast 2 totems I cannot directly damage enemies, therefore I am solely reliant on totems if I don't plan on using indirect damage abilities. Also, possibly add more clarification on which stats affect the totem. All in all I would like to see the totems be a little bit stronger if I have to sacrifice all damage from other direct abilities just to summon two!


Totems in closed beta used to have 40% dmg reduction only; no cast speed penalty. Btw you still can do spell damage, not directly, but for example via Traps/Remote mine.
Imo totems needed some balance, but reducing cast speed by 30% is really heavy nerf. Imo it should be like 20% less cast speed, so faster cast lvl 1 can outbalance it. So making two totems just as strong as you would cast with your character.
a few questions:
-Do spell totem critical strikes proc surgeon's flasks?
-Do spell totems leech life/mana to myself through warlord's mark?
Don't know about Surgeon's.

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Snifflets wrote:
-Do spell totems leech life/mana to myself through warlord's mark?

Warlord's Mark allows leeching from Physical Attack damage. Spell Totems by definition never use Attacks.
They would leech for themselves either way.
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Etlau88 wrote:


Totems in closed beta used to have 40% dmg reduction only; no cast speed penalty. Btw you still can do spell damage, not directly, but for example via Traps/Remote mine.
Imo totems needed some balance, but reducing cast speed by 30% is really heavy nerf. Imo it should be like 20% less cast speed, so faster cast lvl 1 can outbalance it. So making two totems just as strong as you would cast with your character.


Yes I saw some video of the original totems. Some said they were a bit OP. My only quarrel is that they nerfed them once by changing the Ancestral Bond node. They then go ahead and nerf them again by reducing the cast speed of Spell Totem. IMO, I would prefer to see some re-balance, either get rid of the cast speed reduction on spell totem, reducing the damage reduction, or a changing Ancestral Bond, or any combination of the previously mentioned. I feel that they went a little overkill.

Also, I know that you can still do damage through spell gems and spells that are "indirect", meaning an object you create does the damage, but I don't think it's fair to limit a build in that sense.
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ParadoxPreacher wrote:
Also, I know that you can still do damage through spell gems and spells that are "indirect", meaning an object you create does the damage, but I don't think it's fair to limit a build in that sense.

It's a Keystone passive. It's what Keystones do; they provide benefits and are oft accompanied by downsides. They're inherently limiting.
My problems aren't with the Keystone, it is with the fact that the totems are kind of shitty, but I still have a lot of game left to play.
If you have the 2 x totem passive and hex mastery both, will the 2 curses stack properly?
Can i get the Spell totem as a Quest reward as Marauder or something? Bad Luck with dropping...

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