[1.1.1b] ~ Poorman's Culler ~ Cheap and versatile support culler.

- 20 points
Grab that first health cluster so you can go at a fast pace. You can skip that +30 Dex node (I took it because I used Spectral Throw to level), but you will need it later. Use whatever you like to use to go through normal. Make sure to start leveling your auras.

- 40 points
Going through cruel will be a bit harder than normal. Especially because we aren't taking any damage nodes. Join a party if it's taking you too long to advance.

We're going to pick another two health clusters on our way towards Ancestral Bond. You should also be getting your first three reduced mana nodes by this point. Once again, only pick that Dex node if you need it.

- 60 points
Time to grab more reduced mana nodes on the right side, and another life node at the top. It's also the time to get Ancestral Bond.

You should be around level 50 at this point. If you have a Heartbreaker, you can equip it now and start culling, and now that we have Ancestral Bond it's finally time to equip the spell totem.

- 80 points
By now you have a barebones version of the build: You're culling with whatever MF gear you've found/bought, you got all the reduced mana nodes, are now running six auras and have enough health to start doing maps. Everything you do from now on will just keep increasing your survivability and MF.
Don't forget to pick that totem cast speed node.

- 100 points
80 - 100 is nothing but life nodes. Allowing you to play higher level maps according to your level, without having to worry about getting killed with a couple of hits.

From here on, you can pick whatever you want.
I'll leave some examples of endgame builds:
- 120 points (Survivability)
So I heard you like life nodes...
Bunch of extra life, and +2% extra maximum resistance to each element.

- 120 points (Curser)
Double perma-curse and the rest on life and life regen.

- 120 points (Berserker Curser)
For those who fear none.
Double perma-curse. Extra Totem speed and resistances. No extra life nodes.


Notes: This tree allows you to easily pick one thing or another, without having to delay any important nodes, so feel free to get health earlier, or to pick the aura nodes before some health cluster. It's up to your needs.

When modifying this build to suit your needs, always make sure to check if there's a way for you to save one or two skill points by picking a different path.

Help Oak on Normal.
Kill everyone on Cruel and Merciless.

Must run: Purity of Ice, Fire and Lightning.
You can run all five 40% auras off your mana, and have Clarity on your health.

I selected these since, besides not requiring expensive gear, are the most rare ones in parties. There's always people running Haste, Anger, Wrath & Hatred. Grace and Discipline are pretty common as well, but those offensive characters rarely can afford the extra mana to run a much needed purity for each element.

That said, it's entirely up to your needs, gear and budget: If you only got MF gear with no res, you can stack a Purity of Elements along with the other three. Got a Prism Guardian? Add Determination to the mix.

You should level at least two curses (3 if you can double-curse) so you always have the right one for each situation.
I'll list the ones I consider the most useful.

1: Elemental Weakness. This one will greately increase map clearing speed for your party.
Use somethign else if the map or a player have Elemental Equilibrium.

2: Warlord's Mark. To keep tanks and other melee characters happy and healthy.

3: Enfeeble. Very good against powerful mobs. Reducing the accuracy and critical chance of a strong monster can turn a tough battle into a fieldtrip.

4: Temporal Chains. Great support skill which not only slows the enemies, but also increases the duration of status ailments and other stuff. Particularly good against packs of ranged mobs, to keep them at bay while you clear the melee ones.

Notes:This is for those who party with different people. Those who always play with the same party should use whatever suits that particular group.

5-6L: Item Rarity + Item Quantity + Faster Casting + Greater Multiple Projectiles + Spell Totem + Incinerate.
If you only have 5L, take away Item Quantity. If you don't have a Heartbreaker, replace Faster Casting for Culling Strike OR use a Flame Totem instead of Spell Totem + Incinerate.
If you have a 6L Soul Mantle, include Faster Projectiles.

4L: Reduced Mana + Purity of Lightning, Ice, and Fire.

The configuration for the rest depends entirely on what auras you are running, and what items you're wearing. Just make sure to run all auras with a Reduced Mana gem.

These are the things that you should aim for, as the final upgrades of your gear:

- Weapon. Get a Hearthbreaker as soon as possible. That should be your number one priority if you don't have one.

- Flask. Divination Distillate. A must have.

- Rings. You'll eventually end up with 2 Andvarius, but it's not a bad idea to upgrade to some cheaper ~50 IIR ones while you save up for them.

- Amulet. Get some +50 IIR one. Ideally with +hp.

- Helmet, Gloves and Boots. An unique with MF stats, or some rare with IIR and health. Whatever gives the most IIR/Q.

- Shield. Entirely up to your needs. Try to get one with +hp and chaos resistance, plus whatever mods you're looking for. Or maybe grab a Prism Guardian to stack some extra auras.

- Chest. Up to you. So many possibilities; A Soul Mantle to have an extra totem (and an extra socket). A Belly for the huge life boost.

Cost: Currency isn't an issue for this build, which was my main goal while designing it, since it was annoying to see that every build around started by asking you to be rich.

Offense: None. You aren't there to hit hard, you're there to cull and support.

Defense: You'll have enough hp. Some kiting is required, but you aren't supposed to be on the front line, so it shouldn't be an issue. I've died a couple times, but it had more to do with me being retarded than with the build.

Versatility: As good as it gets. You can easily change some nodes anytime to grab some extra hp, or whatever, without having to sacrifice key abilities. Your abilities can be changed just as easily to adapt yourself to any sort of configurations that your party might have.

Totem placement will be of great importance for this build, given that you want to maximize the ammount of enemies that are being touched by the flames of your totems at any given time.

- Your totems will always aim for the closest enemy, so when placing them you need to make sure that your totem and the cclosest enemy form a direct line towards the center of the pack of enemies. Avoid placing totems in such a way that they're only hitting one or two enemies, while the rest are fighting 180° away from the flames.

- Know the range of your totems. There are many factors which will affect this range: Incinerate Quality. Having or not a Faster Projectiles gem. Haste aura.
You'll eventually end up knowing by heart the area that each of your totems can cover. This is very important, because then you will be able to spread them correctly and cover over 95% of the enemies on the screen at any given moment.

- Learn to prioritize: When dealing with rares or bosses, use both totems to focus fire on them. You don't want them to kill your totem at the last second, just to have a discharger give the final blow to the boss. This is particularly important against special enemies which move all over the place, such as the spider with flickering strike, or a rogue exile who can teleport or leap slam.
That said, if you see that it will take a while to kill the boss, it's safe to focus on the whites first. That way everything will be cleared by the time the boss is on low health, making it so your totems will focus fire on it, no matter how far they are.

- Learn to find safe spots for your totems. Is there a cliff close to a melee boss? Perfect spot. Two areas separated by an empty space? Place a totem on each.
Always place your totems around the pack, never in the middle.
Use tanks as a shield for your totems, but don't place them behind a player who's constantly kiting.

- Your totems can do some other stuff: You can use them as outposts to lure enemies before entering a room. They also block enemies, so you can use them to block narrow areas such as tunnels or those 1x1 paths in the sewers.

- Keep an eye at the health bar of your totems and respawn them when necessary.
When dealing with rares or bosses, make sure that at least one of your totems has over 70% of its health at any given time.

- When dealing with rares or bosses, spread your totems. This allows you to cover a wider area in case the enemy moves, while also providing them safety.
Placing both totems together can result in a boss destroying them both with a single AoE attack.

- Don't be a cowboy. It may be hard for those of us who are used to be in the frontline, but it's very important that you always stay behind your party. You sacrifice a lot in order to have a high MF, and you an't afford to teleport into the middle of a pack, or to be running around a couple feet away from the boss.

- Related to the previous point: When entering a new room or area, do a quick check for rares or any important targets. Place your totems and move a few steps back, then keep moving back and forward to check the state of the battle and to recast your totems if necessary.
Just make sure that you don't back away too much, otherway your party wonn't benefit from your auras.

- Unless you already found your ultimate jewerly, and there's no way for it to be better, always pick up Gold Rings. Chance the white ones, I got and Andvarius that way. Also pick up blue Gold Rings and Amulets. I've seen tons of blue jewerly with way better MF stats than most yellows.

- If you need currency, look for a Dominus farming party. Make sure that they run multiple instances and have a fast killing speed (The whole thing should last less than a minute). Then vendor for chaos recipe, or trade the ones with good stats.

Good mods (look for at least on of these):
- Extra magic/Rare monsters.
- Double boss/Exile.
- Extra pack size.

Why are they good? More monsters and/or more special monsters = More and better loot.

Undesirable mods (avoid when possible):
- Enfeeble.
- Fractured.
- Curse immune.
- Elemental reflect. - Suicidal totems are useless totems.

Why should you avoid them? All of these mods result in slower clearing. Slower clearing means more time for the monsters to hit your totems or to spread out, making you less effective.

Terrible mods (avoid like the plague):
- Blood magic. - Will force you to turn off your auras.
- No life/mana regen. - You may run out of flask charges, impeding you to cast totems in key moments.
- Goatmen. - They jump all over the place, they can hit you and your totems, plus they are always spreading all over the place, making your totems less useful.

- I'd suggest that you get at least 200 IIR (without the gem) by the time you start using your totems and culling. You can get average IIR gear for really low prices, since what usually causes them to be overpriced is the mix of IIR with HP and multiple resistances.

- When upgrading your gear, focus on IIR before trying to get aura or hp gear. You'll be getting more hp everytime you level up, and your party will still hit hard without you throwing extra 60% auras. You're the culler, and your main task is to be there to get some nice loot for you and your party. Focus on that.

- Don't add quality to the reduced mana gems; they're useless. Upgrade your Incinerate and IIR ones before the rest.


Have fun. Hope to see some poor cullers around soon. (:

Note that I just returned after not playing for a while. This was a Domination character, and there were no IIQ items on that league. You should aim to get both IIR and IIQ on rare items if the league you play allows that mod.

Dropped. Get this asap!
Chanced.
Bought @ 1.5 exa.
Dropped. Pretty bad shield, tbh. I'm trying to chance a Prism Guardian to replace it.
Chanced.
Dropped.
Dropped a 47% one. Bought this for a couple chaos.
Dropped. I could buy a 12% one for a few chaos, but I'd rather save those for something else.
Bought for 1 or 2 chaos.
Bought for 8 chaos, only for the colors and links. I'm just using it until I'm able to get that color combination o this:

As you can notice, my gear is far from being godly and/or expensive. Hell, I can't even afford to max the quality of my gems, since I'm saving everything to get the unique flask.

But that's the point of this build: you can go at your own pace, and improve it bit by bit as your budget allows you.

With the gear linked above and using this build, I've been able to do maps up to level 76, which I think is fine for a level 83. Of course, maps level 73 and above can be very challenging with this low-tier gear and without all the life nodes, but my point is that it's a possibility to beat them while still being a good party member. I think that's really nice, since cullers might be the only builds which can get into high level maps while having low survivability and still be of use for the team.

Yoloing 78 maps. A glass culler, if there's such a thing.
Requires expert micro, and minmax is a killer, but the rewards are worth it.

Chanced another Andvarius. (:

This is a keeper. No need to change it, nor to improve it (for this build) with a Vaal orb.
Exalted it once. Got some nice cold resistance.
I'd like to change this for a similar one but with better stats, but it isn't a priority.
Will change it eventually.
I kind of miss my perfect rolled ones, but that +1 on the auras is great. Don't think I'll be changing these anytime soon.
Not a priority, but it'd be nice to get a 12% one and corrupt it. Chaos res or increased radius of auras would be a nice mod to have.
Same. Would be nice to have a better roll and corrupt it. Too bad their price skyrocketed since they removed IIQ from the game.
Exalted it and got that shitty lightning resistance. Will exalt it again when I have some currency.
Just chanced this one. (:
And this is the one I chanced some time ago. Will keep chancing whites, hoping for a better roll.

Next goal: A 6L Soul Mantle, and that flask.

Most of my gear remains the same. I've exalted some stuff, but the one important thing is that I got a 6L Soul Mantle.

With the free slot, and the extra totem, now I'm covering the whole screen with the flames of my totem.

This will be the last update of this build, since my current gear and gems sum up to 40-50 ex, which is far from the definition of "poor".
There's still a lot of room for improvement (those flasks! Perfect Andvarius rolls, a legacy Saffell's...), but all of that will come with time.

This build has proven to be really effective, allowing me to earn enough currency to move from that 10c chest that I had to an 18 ex Soul Mantle in only 7 levels, without farming Dom more than 2 hours total.

I've also been able to keep leveling up withotu any trouble, even while having very bad defense. So go ahead and try it out; this build is cheap, versatile, and good enough to do 78 maps and keep leveling up.

Now I'm going to make a new build which uses my new chest, since I'm convinced that there's no other combination that would make a better culler than what I've achieved.
EDIT: here is the new guide, for those of you who earned enough currency and want enjoy a good challenge with huge rewards.

[1.0.6] 10 Aura Low Life Support Culler -- Purity of Ice, Fire, Lightning. Discipline. Anger. Wrath. Hatred. Haste. Vitality. Clarity.
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/680357/page/1