[1.3.x] Dual Flame Totems: Solo, Self-Found, Beginner-friendly. AA+EB!

Actually I'm using tabula and have no problems with mana regen since about level 50. Before then I had to use mana potions and not level my AA to full, but it worked. After lvl 60, mana cost becomes irrelevant.

Main advantage of 6L is that faster projectiles make the gameplay a LOT easier, because of increased range. I can just seal an entire corridor off with frost walls and still have my totems do decent dps. If you're okay with default projectile speed or have it on your wands etc., you can go for iron will or even totem resists.

I considered switching to a 5L, but since I had tabula from a previous char I don't want to spend that money now since a 5L with decent shield + life isn't that cheap nowadays.

So, in my opinion, if you already have a tabula, use it and spend the money you would have spent on chest armor on other pieces. If you don't have a tabula, buy a 5L as Mivo said because they cost about the same.

Just a quick tip/reminder

Once you cast your aura's - Purity, clarity, discipline - you can remove them from the action bar and then use other skills. Your aura will stay active.

This way i'm running summon zombies and all kind of extra defensive stuff for bloodlines :)

Heh, just got a scion to 70 with this build and I'm loving it already.

I left the Added Chaos/Lightning gem out since it didn't feel any different besides adding like 300 damage on the Flame Totem's dps sheet, I used Item Rarity instead for a bit of MF-ing.

I'm also using Tabula Rasa but at this point I do feel that I'd need the extra armor and life from a 5L armor and disregard the Item Rarity gem.

"

Sethmancer wrote:

Heh, just got a scion to 70 with this build and I'm loving it already.

I left the Added Chaos/Lightning gem out since it didn't feel any different besides adding like 300 damage on the Flame Totem's dps sheet, I used Item Rarity instead for a bit of MF-ing.

I'm also using Tabula Rasa but at this point I do feel that I'd need the extra armor and life from a 5L armor and disregard the Item Rarity gem.

Eh, don't drop chaos damage for rarity in 6L. Better to drop faster projectiles or totem resistence instead.

I'd also drop Faster Projectiles before I dropped ACD. FPJ is great, at least objectively, but I always feel it obscures the screen almost too much (especially if you have the faster projectiles mod on the wand, too).

Well... just got a 5L with kinda nice stats imo, though without Faster Projectiles I have to plant totems more often in the face of ranged enemies. :\ I don't have Faster Projectiles mod in my wand either.

asked a few questions ~3pages back, came back to vouch for the build



farming dom solo since sunday with ever increasing mf, currently at around 420IIR 44IIQ, 4-7 min per run. Made around 15ex in assorted currency, not counting reinvestments (quite a lot looking at my gear, if i may say so myself!), and thats without any big drops (biggest drops were 2 carcass jacks and a romiras). Could make more if I made pub dom splits, but I dont like doing those personally.

Ive adjusted the tree to my needs, and since this is a dom farmer exclusively theres some stuff i can skimp on (like life lol, i have 3.1k, not even 100% increased)

DPS is 2.986k, which kills dom reasonably well. When I first started running him, I had 1.7 and it was fine, although in the interest of efficiency I should have levelled gems (16 at start) and char (low-mid 70s) a bit higher to get my runtime lower, earlier - noted for next league. I also never ever die, since totems are so safe, even with 3.1k life I dont have any problems at any point in the dom fight. For 2nd phase dom, I switch in perandus (dropping below 75res significantly) for 8% more IIQ, since theres no ele damage in that portion, just fyi if somone is doing dom as well.

I think scion start is fine, because after comparing, those %ele damage nodes at templar start arent worth taking anyway (theyre worse than 10% spell damage ones), so templar has no real advantage other than saving the mana nodes at scion start. Witch beats all of them, since she starts with 5 spell damage nodes that are great for the build, and I ended picking up as well.

I dont use totemic zeal, because its 8 (9) points away and Im next to a lot of interesting nodes still (currently lvl83). In my specific situation (current tree in spoilers) those 9 pointes can either get me 5% life, 10% res and totemic zeal OR my choice out of 14% Cast speed (4pts), the life mana wheel at witch start (6 pts), 26%ele (2pts), 30% spell damage (3pts), finishing dynamo for 2pts, -6% ele +24% fire in the illuminati wheel for 1pt, 8% life 8% chaos res (2pt)... Im close to a lot of juicy nodes without having to spend ANYTING on stat nodes in between, its quite literally impossible that totemic zeal (ive used it last league, didnt notice any of the behaviour you report) beats out spending 8 or 9 points on, lets say, 14% cast speed, 30% spell damage and 26% ele damage. The cast speed alone is half as good as the placement speed of totemic zeal already!

Mana is really tight, once my gems level i will drop damage nodes to maintain ~same dps and respec those to finish dynamo. Or maybe not, I think I could do dominus with 2k hp and be fine, after all. Still funny to finish domfarming sessions in the 80s and notice one suddenly has made 30% xp out of nowhere!

all in all, vouch for the build, and playstyle in general. One of the best ones for new leagues and players looking for something to MF with to start gaining wealth.

I just wanted to say thanks for this awesome guide, it got me to lvl 73 (so far) and I'm now doing maps for the first time. I've played a few characters in this game in the past but never got this high before. I think I spent a total of 5 chaos on the gear I have (apart from Tabula Rasa, got lucky with a drop) so it's definitely great for new players.

I'm now looking into buying The Three Dragons but my Flame totem tooltip only shows 5% crit and 10% chance to ignite - is this enough to profit from the item's bonus? I'm not really familiar with all of PoE's mechanics just yet so I'm a little confused at my real ignite chance - is it 0.5% (10% on each critical strike) or is it cumulative (5% crit + 10% flat bonus from talents)? Fwiw, I hear the critical hit sounds all the time on large packs but somewhat rarely on single targets.

"

Bawtzki wrote:

I just wanted to say thanks for this awesome guide, it got me to lvl 73 (so far) and I'm now doing maps for the first time. I've played a few characters in this game in the past but never got this high before. I think I spent a total of 5 chaos on the gear I have (apart from Tabula Rasa, got lucky with a drop) so it's definitely great for new players.

I'm now looking into buying The Three Dragons but my Flame totem tooltip only shows 5% crit and 10% chance to ignite - is this enough to profit from the item's bonus? I'm not really familiar with all of PoE's mechanics just yet so I'm a little confused at my real ignite chance - is it 0.5% (10% on each critical strike) or is it cumulative (5% crit + 10% flat bonus from talents)? Fwiw, I hear the critical hit sounds all the time on large packs but somewhat rarely on single targets.

Ignite chance is independent of crits. 5% crit and 10% ignite leaves you at 14.5% "chance to ignite". Every crit ignites.

However, to shock you need Shock chance, even with three dragons. It makes your fire damage be able to shock, it does not convert chance to ignite to chance to shock. I'm assuming though the 10% come from Elementalist and the Illuminati Wheel (2 notables in the templar start area), which give chance to shock as well, so you're good anyway.

Keep in mind that, unlike ignite, for shocking and freezing there is a minimum duration of 0.3sec or the status ailment will not be applied at all, even if you crit or your chance to shock/freeze rolls succesfully. Flame Totem has a lot of small casts, so the chances of you shocking bosses or even rares is probably pretty low - This is why Shock Duration (Static Blows cluster near Eldritch Battery) is important if you go 3Dragons. It also gives more chance to shock as well, but the duration it what makes it worth picking up.

As for the crit sound, crits are rolled per cast (chance is rolled per target hit), so it doesnt make sense you hear the crit sound on packs more than bosses. If a spellcast crits, all of its instances (e.g. all projectiles from that cast, on all targets) crit. Chance to X is rolled per target. What this means is on crit you will be shocking all the targets, but chance to shock will make you only shock SOME mobs of the pack usually.

Hope I could help.

Thanks for that explanation - as for why I hear crit sounds on every pack but rarely on single targets, I honestly don't know. At least I think I'm hearing crit sounds, it sounds like bones crushing - is that it? Maybe it's the sheer frequency of attacks on multiple targets since I'm basically attacking entire screen at once with two totems set up.