Low Life, Budget, Dual Shockwave Totem (Journey character)

Low life, budget, Dual Shockwave Totem (Journey character)

One thing that really bugs me sometimes about playing Path Of Exile is that most builds (read:skills) are not really viable unless you have grinded your way to level 80 with spark totems and then respec into the build you want to play.
I want to have none of that, I want to use my build right from the start and level up with them! for me the journey is more important than the goal, that's why I am calling it a journey character.


If you want to grind out lvl72 maps and end-game areas, you would probably be better off looking for another build.
1) because I don’t think this build will be able to handle all of that onslaught in maps
2) because I haven’t really leveled the build (playing along as I go) so I cannot really tell you if it is viable or not levels 70 or higher (Kripparian tried it out and didn't like it at level 72 or so? only doing a measly 900 dps with his build)

If you want to try out a unique and fun build from low level onwards and simply see how it goes, join me in this epic quest!

This build is coming from the dark corners of the most unused skills section in path of exile and I just want to have a go at it and see if I can make it work at least until Piety Merciless.

Shockwave Totem:
Popular opinion: Too slow, bad damage, bad range, and outclassed by all other totems.
So perfect to play around with at low level and see how far I can go with it!

The basics:
What you need to know about shockwave totem:

Secondary Damage: Though the totem technically casts a spell, this spell is a secondary damage effect and thus does not get bonuses from your spell power.

so the only thing boosting shockwave totem is Physical Damage, which is quite difficult to get good boosts for.

You cannot get any though the skilltree, so only items and support gems is what we are looking at here. So my skilltree can entirely be focused on defense and a little AoE.


So let’s go all out on Shockwave totem and try to get its potential damage to the max, whatever it takes. In this builds case: its life (more on that later).

How to boost the physical damage of Shockwave Totem:
- cruel Oak bandit reward (12%)
- Some (unique) items that boost Physical damage, most notable:
The Magnate belt
Blackheart ring
broadstroke quiver
Ezomyte Peak

or a simply rustic Sash will get you up to 24% easily.

How about support gems for Shockwave totem?
- Added Fire damage
- Faster Casting
- Increased Area of effect
- Concentrated effect

These 4 support gems are the core of the build, so really only a 5 link will hopefully be enough. If you happen to have a 6 link lying around, Culling strike, knockback or added Cold/Lightning/chaos damage will be a good addition.

Will this be enough for massive damage during early and mid-game? I did some number crunching and found it to be lackluster, so I decided to go all-in with my build and go Low-life.

Meet dual Redbeak.


Going low-life will mean a massive 200% increased damage for our Shockwave totems, and hopefully will bring them up to par to withstand Merciless difficulty... we'll see when (or if) I get there...

Now, I already told you that I wanted to play the build from the earliest possible, so how do I get to low life so early on in the game?

Before I get to that, let’s talk about out skill setup for "end" game, as you will, so you know what I am building towards:

Shockwave totem, Added fire Damage, Concentrated effect, Faster Casting, Increased area of effect

Single target:
Bear trap, Bear trap, added fire damage, Culling strike

Auras:
Hatred with Blood magic
Clarity
Discipline
and maybe if possible either Purity or Determination
Curse:
Probably Vulnerability and Enfeeble for tough areas/mobs.

Most of these skills are not available to use before level 31, so what can we use before that time?

I leveled up until level 24, using your normal attacks, some added damage from a single Shockwave totem and cleave for packs of monsters.

Then at level 24 I could start using the Bloodmagic support gem to get myself some low life and really start playing this build.

My setup at level 24:

Dual Redbeak swords, Shockwave totem and Ancestral Bond keystone to be able to have 2 totems out, Hatred on a blood magic gem and dual Beartrap with added fire damage.
Clarity as my best friend to get me some mana back.

Next to that, all the Energy Shield on items I can get my hands on, as my life went down to a measly 130.. I am now running around with close to 300 es. This should be enough to get me to level 31.
Is it doable to go low-life so early in the game? I think so. I leveled from 24-28 without any problems. Vaal was a joke if you know how to dodge his laser beams and big slam… so far so good.

First Bandit quest done: killed them all for the Skillpoint.
Cruel will for sure be the 12% increased physical from Oak and Merciless will be skillpoint.

Damage wise, my shockwave totems 1-shot most white monsters in act 3 now, and my beartraps make short work of any Rare that dares to stand in my way.
Since I do not have access to zillions of Ex orbs, I simply will try to build it without Shavronnes. That means I will have to boost my Chaos resistance through the roof once chaos damage actually start to matter.

Current items at level 28:

Current build at level 28:



Reason for this route is that Schockwave totem will cost close to a million mana in higher levels, so by going this way, I’ll have easy access to the 3 (-5% mana) cost reduction nodes in the Marauder area, plus the +2 max resist node. The 3 reduces mana nodes (plus the -7 one from the Templar area) will shave off 100 mana of a high level Shockwave totem, to I think it is worth it, but I’ll update when I actually get there…
After filling up the ES nodes in the template tree, it is off to the Witch area to get more.
At 93 points, I think my build will more or less look like this, but I don’t know for sure yet if Shockwave totem will get me there…:


Idea would be to grab close to all ES nodes in the skilltree, plus some increased Aoe nodes from the Witch area. Also all the Chaos resist nodes I can get close to of course.
Once I get to level 31 (and my mana allows it of course) it is filling up my Shockwave totem with faster casting and increased are of effect. Once I can wear a 5-link (I have one for level 35), Concentrated Effect will go with it to complete my build. That is, if my mana pool allows it at the point, I might need to wait for higher levels…

Playing the build is fun, fun fun. Even in parties, people are wondering where I get such high damage shockwave totems from. I tell you, standing between 2 Shockwave totems, throwing beartraps around is as safe as it gets, nothing really gets close to me…

Progress updates will come of course! Let me know if you like it or if I could improve certain areas. Thanks for reading!

Update #1: Level 32 and upgraded my gems!

Still hacking away with it in Normal difficulty, closing in on Piety.

(Please note that due to Real Life, I am not able to play everyday).

Getting to level 31 was a bit of a grind, but doable. Now everything just melts away at my double Shockwave Totems.

Added Faster Casting to my ShockWave Totem, and the DPS tooltip jumped to about 250 DPS. With 2 Totems out, everything just melts away, and standing in between them never felt safer.

I didn't add Increased Area of effect or Concentrated effect yet, as it will strain too much on my mana pool. each Totem is already a hefty 70 mana.

Also finally able to use Discipline, which upped my ES to 500. Lowlife went up as well to about 170 life.

Due to Low life, Beartrap is already starting to become ridiculous with 890 DPS tooltip damage per trap. And they're only level 8, I really want to know what the damage looks like at level 15-16. must be in the tens of thousands.

Survivability is fine. Casting a totem ahead of me and then one close makes no monsters able to close in on me. Ranged monsters are a bit more difficult, but nothing really scary to write off the build yet. I just need to recast a few totems here and there to get to the ranged mobs.

Died once in the sewers where I encountered a rare and 2 blue Poison bomb throwers, that simply was a bit too much. after some master kiting, they went down without much problems.

Rounded out the ES nodes in the Templar area, and now it's off to the Witch area for more ES goodness.

Having 2 totems out really is like having a 66% to be missed by attacks, as they draw so much damage away from you, awesome!

Current gem setup:
Shockwave totem
Added Fire Damage
Faster Casting

Bear Trap
Bear Trap
Added fire Damage

Hatred
Blood magic
(this is used to get to low-life. Blood Magic can be leveled up to level 11 max)

Discipline
Clarity

Not using any curse yet, but it probably will be enfeeble, together with either Vulnerability or Temporal chains.

And your most random ES gear you can find, together with 2 Redbeak swords.
(Not using 24% Physical sash yet, as the effect is too minimal to notice anyway at this low level...)

current skilltree:



now its off to Solaris, General, Piety and then see how this build goes in Cruel difficulty. I am bit bit over leveled right now (2 levels), as I really wanted to hit 31 first, to be able to up my ES and use Faster casting, as it are 2 main components for my build.

stay tuned!

Show us a video, friend.
Interesting ideas.

"

Feenz wrote:

Show us a video, friend.
Interesting ideas.

I will, when the time is right. Right now, a video of a lvl 35 character in beginning of Cruel doesn't really seem like a good idea. I'll probably do one when I hit 60 or so and the build is complete (save level grinding).

Right now level 35, leveling some bit on Cruel ledge. Piety on normal was a complete joke, I managed to get her almost stunlocked in a corner, and throwing 6 Beartraps on her in succession really did the trick. no issues.


Hillock in Cruel wept as a little girl when he couldn't even get close to one of my totems to do some damage.

Speaking of damage: I still bow to the God Boss on ledge. A single shock stack makes me run and scream.. hail! This also might have something to do with the absurd low resistances I have right now, but I refuse to spend currency on rerolling sockes just to be able to wear some slightly better gear for now. I just skip him.

On to Brutus!

edit:
current gear:

I've done a shockwave totem from ground up, also using lowlife build. Currently level 55, just too many chars to play but still working fine.

Also using 2 redbeaks at lowlife, also honourhome to get the resistances/reduced mana cost.
Loads of uniques for me, atm using atziri's foible, deshret's vise, the magnate, dream fragments and wondertrap for some bonus IIR.

The mana cost on shockwave totem is quite high when 5L, my armor sucks in general besides the 5L but still works fine. Totem is linked to increased area, concetrated effect, faster casting and added fire.

Curse of choice is vulnerability. Running hatred, discipline, clarity (sometimes), and purity on blood magic.

In general the build works fine, only running a single totem atm, will switch to soul mantle if i ever get a 5L one to run 2. But atm not using ancestral, instead i have EK as support spell since with all increase from gear its great (no passives for damage at all).

Most of my kills are the totem though, EK is just to finish of singles etc.
In general shockwave totem works great, have all the aoe size passives picked up, which is really needed when running concetrated.

I can REALLY recommend honourhome for a lowlife build.

But don't give up, build gets better 50+

Has anyone tested Facebreaker's effects on this skill gem?

"

AckwardNinja wrote:

Has anyone tested Facebreaker's effects on this skill gem?

no, doesn't work. Unarmed is for Unarmed ATTACK, so the multiplier does not work. if it did, it would be very, very op.

So, since its hot weather here in spain, and my boys like to go to the beach, instead of sitting in home, I didn't play as much as I would like.

but I made it through Cruel.. albeit not with some trouble.. Especially Sarn slums and Marketplace were very difficult areas with Multiple Projectile Chaos damage Snakes..

Besides that, still going strong! the Shockwave totem DPS is now up to 781, and still only using 3 links: SW totem, added Fire Damage, Faster casting.

As soon as I get to do a next play session, I'll be adding Increased Area of effect and Concentrated effect to it.

Currently level 52. Hillock and Brutus in Cruel and Merciless! cried like little girls.. hahaha..

Doing quests in Act II right now, leveling up to go to Sarn again.. ouch..

I simply dont seem to be able to find any Chaos Resist items, so I guess I just have to avoid them at any costs... Also I desperately need to upgrade my BLUE! ES chest... sigh...

I am hoping to be able to get to around 1250 DPS per totem, so together with another totem and Vulnerability curse, it should be able to handle some end game content. Ill see when I get there..

The Totems are really a tough nut to crack, since they are knocking back all melee monsters, only ranged projectiles can make their heath go down.. no issues at all in the survivability area for my totems.. for myself... no Shavronnes is hard, but not impossible for now.

getting enough DEX was a challenge, but i'm ok now, and will soon get even more dex for my Beartraps.

also will probably add more auras to my health.. dunno yet what.

Current skilltree and items:



skilltree:

Funny coincidence, i have just made one.

Viable, fun and power full.

i will made a tutorail later.

"

KikitheKing wrote:

Funny coincidence, i have just made one.

Viable, fun and power full.

i will made a tutorail later.

cool, let me know how it works out!

I am now in Sarn city, grinding away to level up a bit. currently level 59, and wow, I am really starting to do some damage with these shockwave totems.

current DPS at level 15 Shockwave Totems: 1240.
This is Shockwave totem linked with: Added fire damage, Increased area of effect, Faster casting.
Adding Concentrated effect to the mix would up the damage to around 2200 DPS, but it currently takes a too big amount of Mana to be used, so I need to level up some more to be able to use it.

I was hoping in the beginning of this build to get to a respectable 1250 DPS once I reach end game material, but I think my end goal will probably be closed to 3000 DPS, making it a possible end game build! Maybe even able to do maps?? we'll see when I get there.

Chaos damage is still a bitch without shavronne's, but I get along just fine for now. Dual Shockwave totems still is enough damage to 2-3 hit white monsters in Sarn City, and 4-5 hit Blues. Some rares need a bit of help from a few Bear Traps, but nothing to worry about.

Standing between my 2 shockwave totems still feels as safe as ever.

Will update again when I killed Piety, and added some 10 more skillpoints and probably leveled my Shockwave totem a level or 2. I should by that time have added Conc effect to the totems. I cant wait to see how high the final damage will be. if it is 3000 or more, I am going to get me a Shavrone's and start doing maps..

Force Push away boys!