Devouring Totem

Im a little disappointed with this totem.
When i was making new toon i thought that it will be some interesting alternative to a very useful decoy.
I leveled the gem to level 15 now and the amount of gained life was never satisfying :/
Sadly it felt underpowered all the way...

Would be nice if it could fetch some mana as well - this way it would benefit the user more when there are no necros around (cos its so far the only sittuation that puts devouring on top of a decoy).

The effect of corpse leech and the creepy noise the totem makes is very cool :)
I would like to see it causing additional debuf on the "living" foes when they are around.
Like i.e. chance to scare them (make them flee) while consuming those dead bodies :p

I just hope that incoming patch (general hp reduction) will balance it out some more.

got 3 small questions, if anyone could help out

a) does it have a taunt component?

b) what's the speed/frequency of corpse eating? (and could it be improved with Faster Casting)
can 2 DTs beat Reanimators/Morality Experimenters in Luanris 1?

c) does it trigger at all if my character is at a ~33% HP Low Life state? (not sure about DT behaviour here if nothing could be gained for my character but HP <100% at the same time)
(edit) max low life'd HP = no DT! this is bad, have to cast them with BM support then :(

idea is to destroy corpses around zombies and specters before reanimators can nuke them (Lunaris 1).
got the gem but still low level and it seems to be one of those high XP gems.

"

Mune wrote:

got 3 small questions, if anyone could help out

a) does it have a taunt component?

b) what's the speed/frequency of corpse eating? (and could it be improved with Faster Casting)
can 2 DTs beat Reanimators/Morality Experimenters in Luanris 1?

c) does it trigger at all if my character is at a ~33% HP Low Life state? (not sure about DT behaviour here if nothing could be gained for my character but HP <100% at the same time)
(edit) max low life'd HP = no DT! this is bad, have to cast them with BM support then :(

idea is to destroy corpses around zombies and specters before reanimators can nuke them (Lunaris 1).
got the gem but still low level and it seems to be one of those high XP gems.

1) it shouldn't taunt, but if a mob is closer to it, then that mob will go "oh a target" unless it takes some damage from you or is already targeting you over a period of time.

2) sorry i can't answer this, i'm assuming every .8 seconds though.

3) either you found a bug, or you need to explain. it definitely should not trigger if full health (or up to new limit due to reserve) and it must trigger reguardless of amount actually gained if owner can be healed. please be warned that existing regen will make leeching (and potions) potentially end early due to (or to be exact, when) reaching max hp.

Let me try to explain

character: Low Life summoner
map: Lunaris level 1

situation:
Bunch of blackguard melees and the reanimators standing *in the shadows* (hard to see due to low life on my character)

Blackguards getting mowed down quickly, resulting in lots of corpses.
Reanimators nuke the corpses before I can get to them.


problem:
i would ignore the reanimators and proceed to next spawn if not for their nuking skill.
my character's HP never move, sitting around 550/1600 or thereabout (Low Life).
DT doesn't trigger so long as *my character* cannot benefit from the 2ndary effect (the life leech)
It doesn't care for minions or their HP and neither for my character being Low Life (with HP not moving in its Low Life state)

Can't explain it any better, hope this helps.

I tried Detonate Dead on a Spell totem as well and the problem here is that it does not seem to go off when there's no mobs in proximity to the explosion radius.

It leaves *my best friends* (my minions) in a bad spot.
Blackguards go down in 1 or 2 volleys of tentacle specters' AoE.

Casting DT with a BM support didn't help much since the amount healed from 1 corpse easily caps HP and it stops working then.
I'll try other skills now (got Hatred running but w/o crits it's hard to shatter Blackguards)
(edit) going to try Freeze Mine now


TL;DR
the DT totem does cast, but it does not trigger/cast so long as the character has their HP capped, max or Low Life capped
It does not care about our minions' HP

I've found that this totem aggravates nearby monsters in perhaps every encounter, not to say it's very fragile(easier to destroy than a spell totem). Some examples:

1. I was traveling in the Forest and found a group of monkeys about 40ft in front of my character(cleaver). I threw a Devouring Totem about 20ft behind my character, stood still and prepared the fight. Some monkeys would circumvent me and go direct to my totem. Without my active protection(that is, go to its position and kill them) it would be dismantled in seconds.

2. I was in the Docks. The maneuver was same as above while facing a group of dock wraith hammerers and archers. These melee wraiths would go straight toward me while these ranged ones preferred to attack my totem.

My suggestion is to make the totem either more life, or possess only visual threat. As a melee character it is very annoying to use not only it's destroyed quickly but it distracts monster to its position which requires additional running, slashing and picking up items etc.

After the 1.0.0 change Devouring Totem becomes a quite different gem from the previous one. It was a strategic skill in the old days, providing intelligent heals when you involved in fight and got damaged. Now with the addition of the mana component it triggers every time when there are available corpses and you have less than full mana(sure to happen when cast skills). Nevertheless it sees some uses since the new patch:

- Provides constant health & mana recovery during a combat, pretty much like a rejuvenation totem. May be good for Mind over Matter builds for its mana component. May also be good for mana-hungry builds...

- Consume, or "compete for" corpses with other nasty monsters. Surprisingly I've found it to be the best skill for such task. Very recommended for fighting corpse eaters in act3, may work against necromancers and mortal experimenters as well.

- Provides a cost-free heal after a combat to save you a charge of health potions.

This totem is actually worthwile now. Since most players will have a "Cast when damage taken" linked to Enduring Cry + Curse of choice it's kind of perfect for that 4th slot (in a 4-socketed item). Works great with Vaal Pact (+ Ghost Reaver) using it on my lvl 86 EK marauder.

Besides the obvious necro useage, unless you have vaal pact and maybe mind over matter, I've found the rejuv totem to be more useful.

Questions I have about Devouring Totem:

• Is the rate it consumses corpses affected by cast speed?
• If the devouring totem is re-cast, is the corpses (charges) the previous gained lost?
• If you've killed a group of monsters, place a Devouring Totem and run away on the other side of the map to take a bit of damage, does it still leech life to you or is there a maximum range involved?