Spark-N-Arc Build ( a 3 Totem Build) Updated for v1.0.0 (update starts p6 of thread)

I guess I'll start chancing some Spidersilk Robes, your report on the Soul Mantle's effectiveness is interesting.

Just one thing: You really should replace that Pierce gem with a Fork gem. Instead of maybe having a spark pierce an enemy and hit another, you'll hit the first enemy and create 2 more sparks that will have a greater chance of causing damage. So that's 3 sparks from the first shot + 6 potential sparks from those first 3.

Edit: And a Faster Casting gem, please! It REALLY boosts your damage.

"

HaleBopp wrote:

still interested in ur build progres. RL stuff keeping me from playing

ur ingame name is? :)

and still would give out the lighting penetration cuz it has 150% multi
and try to swap with lighting dmg to increase the min dmg for more shock chance with 140% multi

how much does ur arc totem cost in mana? im trying to build a none totem arc build, alot ppl got stuck at this so ur input about every info is very appr :)

and the last question . the dmg output/clear speed.

would it increase with the 2 arc and 1 spark totem?

IGN is Electra_Spark

My Arc set-up is part of my update, below, but; I did swap the Lightning Pen for the Ele Prolif. And your remaining questions are also addressed in the update.

"

Os_Pirata wrote:

I guess I'll start chancing some Spidersilk Robes, your report on the Soul Mantle's effectiveness is interesting.

Just one thing: You really should replace that Pierce gem with a Fork gem. Instead of maybe having a spark pierce an enemy and hit another, you'll hit the first enemy and create 2 more sparks that will have a greater chance of causing damage. So that's 3 sparks from the first shot + 6 potential sparks from those first 3.

Edit: And a Faster Casting gem, please! It REALLY boosts your damage.

The Pierce for Fork swap out is something I do plan to play with, as well as all kinds of other things. I have Gems of all sorts, many of them leveled up quite a bit. That's what kept me off of the Ele Prolif Gem for such a long time. I had to level into it. Sometimes I choose to level into a Gem rather than level up my last one of that type. But I've been leveling the fork Gem...tried it for a bit and will try it again. I do have a faster casting gem leveled a bit, it's one of the things I'm planning for when I 6L my other Soul Mantle. I'm not sure what my final Gem set will look like at this point, as there are so many good options...


This link is just a Projected Skill Tree Passive skill tree build notice there are 5 points remaining. At this point I do not know if I will need to invest into a little more Max Mana or Resistance Nodes. It all depends on what my final Equipment Build looks like...so it could change a little from what's projected. Also I do not know yet if I will keep CI. There are also 3 Energy Shield Recharge Delay Nodes to consider, not to mention the Doom Cast Node (60% Crit Chance for Spells)...so a lot to consider...


Ok, Update time;

The only piece of Equipment I've replaced are my Gloves;

The empty socket is slated to have the Chain Support Gem. Currently, I had to make a choice between running Haste or using Chain. My Mana is 43 short of being able to cast an Arc Totem with Chain, if I'm running Haste. Mana Regen is not an issue.

Character level 71 Current Skill Tree Passive skill tree build

Auras used; Haste lvl 7, Clarity lvl 9, Purity lvl 17 and Discipline lvl 17.

Arc lvl 17;
Support; Spell Totem, Elemental Proliferation. Both lvl 17
Mana Cost; 104 (with Chain Support 208)
DPS; 359.2 (with Chain Support 200.9)
Cast Time; 0.75

Spark lvl 17;
Support; Added Lightning Dmg lvl 17, Pierce lvl 16, Superior Faster Projectiles lvl 16,
and Culling Strike lvl 16. Armor is the Totem Support.
Mana Cost; 98
DPS; 409.8
Cast Time; 0.59

As I mentioned briefly above, I'm currently trying out CI. So far I like not having to freak out because of the chaos dmg. The snakes still do phys. dmg, but it's no where near as bad as having the chaos dmg on top of it. A group of 5 magic snakes with extra projectiles or faster attacks can be dangerous, but it's manageable. I have found that in some situations it's better to cast 2 Arc Totems and 1 Spark Totem, other situations, 1 Arc and 2 Spark, and sometimes either 3 Arc or 3 Spark Totems. Although, IMO 3 Sparks are not as effective, the Arc Totem definitely impacts how well the Spark does, because of the shock associated with Arc. (I have a Superior Arc in my stash, found it with this character, considering leveling it, as it has 13% chance to shock vs 10%) As far as how fast the clearing is; it depends on how many magic monsters spawn (On one run I had nothing but magic monsters spawn in the first 4 rooms on the 1st level of the Vaal Pyramid) or bosses. But, in closed spaces, like the Pyramid, there are times when I can just steamroll through casting totems and minions, like nothing is in my way. One of the best ways I have of dealing with a Summoner raising the ones I've already killed, is to raise Zombies as they die. (Detonate Dead would work too)
What makes the "closed in spaces" so nice is the sparks just bounce off of the walls and go everywhere. A lot of times the next room ends up cleared and I've not cast a thing in there. I can run the Docks and Catacombs solo no problem. I've also run a few maps. Rolled a blue map, dropped a yellow map on the blue map I rolled, ran the yellow map and dropped a blue map.
There are times I'm thinking...wow...this is a little slow clearing...overall I'd say the clearing speed isn't too bad in most situations. There is some improvement needed, it should come with further leveling of Gems, swapping Gems, Skill Tree choices. I wanted to have some video for you with this update, but I recorded continuously, even when I was AFK. So the footage needs to be edited down quite a bit. I'll see what I can do, I've had a few RL things to tend to as well, So I haven't played for a couple days.

Again I thank you for your interest in this build, and your suggestions!!!

Take Care Everyone! And have FUN!!!


EDIT; My plans for now are to do Docks and Catacombs runs, with some Maps here and there, to level up some more. The one consistent, problematic encounter, Piety. And she is just a great big...well...you know...Witch... ;-)

thx alot for so much detailed information i hope to keep this post up :)
i ll add u asap

to the gloves a nice piece.
chains has 200% mana multi i did told you some with less.

Culling strike 110 mana multi green.
lvl 10 culling strike
15% dmg 6% reduced cast speed
10% rest dmg of a mob (imagine how much time u safe at piety / kole)

Iron will NO mana multi , RED



oh yeah - and forget the zombies

Go to merciless Lunaris tempel lvl 2 - and get urself "burning Miscreation"
With
-Raise spectre
- Incr Burning DMG
-Minion Life

u ll see a increase of clearspeed at maps and thats cuz of ur "shock" stacks which prof
and make ur Arc to a "shock debuffer" which increases the dmg of the burning miscreation 120%

good luck
and

have a nice spectre (not a zombie :) )

@Halebopp; I was actually thinking about adding Specter's to my repertoire, without loosing the Zombies or the Skellies...I've been playing this character more like a Summoner than anything else. The Totems are more like Artillery or "Heavy Weapons" support for the "Front Line Troops".

I rolled the gloves, it would have been really nice if the +life would have been the +Mana, and the +Mana would have been +Intel...yeah...that would have been really nice...because then I'd be able to add the Chain Support to my Arc...oh well...lol... ;-)

I thought I had a Superior Culling Gem somewhere, can't seem to find it...if memory serves me correctly, Superior on Culling adds Attack/Cast Speed...could someone confirm/correct my assumption on that one?

Keep the ideas/suggestions coming! Between my own imagination and the input here, I'm quite frankly having a real BLAST!!!

Take Care and Have FUN Everyone!!!

"

RutRoh wrote:

I thought I had a Superior Culling Gem somewhere, can't seem to find it...if memory serves me correctly, Superior on Culling adds Attack/Cast Speed...could someone confirm/correct my assumption on that one?

That's correct. Culling Strike

On a sidenote, do you use Frost Wall? That skill can be a lifesaver sometimes. You can easily block narrow pathways and protect yourself from projectiles while your totems kill the mobs. You can also use it to push enemies away from you.

And it's a good thing that you're leveling fork and faster casting gems. Those two are the optimal choices for any spark totem.

@ Os_Pirata; Thank you for the link and confirmation. I hadn't really thought about Frost Wall for this build. I have one leveled to somewhere in the 50's character level range, on one of my other builds. Something else to keep in mind as a good defensive option, Thank you!!

I forgot to post my Potions earlier;





I just ran the Docks. In the video below, you will see one of those scenarios where 3 Arc Totems work very well together. The video is a little over 9 minutes, at least a minute or so spent trying to get to a boss in an inaccessible area. I recorded a short version of that part for the Bug Report Forum.
EDIT 10/18/13: I discovered some time ago that the proper way to report a bug is to;
1) Type /debug in the chat window
2) Take a screenshot by pressing F8
3) Post the screenshot in the Bug Forum
link: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/18347

Hope you enjoy it!

Take Care and have FUN Everyone!!!

http://youtu.be/lcRoEB8HyFA

Yeah, frost wall can be quite good. I don't use it all the time, but sometimes it's a better option than just running back and forth to stay away from mobs.

I have some spare maps that I'd like to run with someone else, to increase the drop rate a bit. I'm all out of lvl 69 and up, but if you want to run some lvl 67 and 68 maps, message me in game. IGN: LolUShocked

Seeing sparks and lightning bolts frying the mobs will be fun :D

Wow...what a day it has been today! Been having a GREAT time!! I was just about to go AFK, when Halebopp and Os_Pirata came on. We arranged to run some maps a little later, and did so. On one of the maps Os spawned I got this.
Not bad low lvl boots, and I didn't have them...so it's all good, right ;-) But it gets better...Later I was running the Barracks solo, and dropped back to Uniques, a low lvl 2 hand Axe (have 3 now...lol) and this... Now that was sweet!! And just before they dropped I was thinking..."Dang...enough of the magic monster hoards"...pretty much over half of my encounters to that point were magic monsters and bosses...anyhow...it's been a GREAT run so far today!!!

A few nights ago, at character lvl 73, I attempted Piety, multi-player game 2 of us, the other guy died once and I died several times...no big deal, I had just been doing runs and leveling up anyhow. I had already run all the way to Piety, just didn't complete that part yet. I was planning on waiting until lvl 75 to try her. I'm 75, and did Piety solo, without getting killed. It was a 5 1/2 minute fight (video below)...so not exactly fast. But Piety is do-able with this build. Does this mean that this build is destined to be a slow killer of major bosses? I don't think so. Mainly because I've yet to take a significant amount of Crit Chance and Dmg from the skill tree. Currently my Crit chance is only 5%, and the multiplier is only 150%. This should be addressed by the "Projected Skill Tree" I posted earlier.

Current Skill Tree; Passive skill tree build, the Shock Nodes really make a noticeable difference.

She has no problems farming Lunaris, Catacombs, Docks or running maps. So I'd have to say, I remain satisfied with the build, and feel that, although she does die from time to time, she is one of the better characters I've made. Her full potential is yet to be reached and I think that, in the right hands, someone may even be able to prove this build viable as a HC build.

At this point I'll continue to lvl up; only I think I'll try fork for the next few lvls...see how that works out. I'll post my next update at lvl 80. My Equipment remains unchanged at the moment.

Piety Video; http://youtu.be/rCkWa84zyOY

Take Care and have FUN Everyone!!!

edit was adding a missing word "be"

get flame sentinels from solaris temple

with - life leech , fire penetration , minion dmg u ll manage piety in half the time.

im also missing the ele prof shock chance. Dont underestimate the ele prof.

1 Arc cast with ele prof with ur shock chance
most of the times u ll get 2 shocks which is 80% more dmg with 1 cast
if u dont have the ele prof gem u can borrow it from me :) to check the dps and clear speed