GreatOne's Chaos Innoculation(CI) Dual Totem Guide

Hello exiles!

I want to start off this guide by making sure everybody is clear on one thing, this type of build is not recommended for newer players. It takes days or sometimes weeks of farming to get the required gear for you to stay alive when doing a Chaos Innoculation(CI) build. For this reason I try not to recommend this guide for anyone who is just starting out the game.

Personally I am a HUGE fan of CI and really enjoy gearing up characters and making them extremely powerful through excellent gear and a solid build plan. Playing as a dual totem build, you can expect to play in a more safe fashion, using your totems to tank and demolish mobs, which to me seems perfect for Invasion league. If this sounds appealing to you then you are in the right place!


Let's start with some general pros and cons so you can get a better idea if this is the right kind of build for you.

Pro's

- Huge Energy Shield(ES) pool due to the way energy shield nodes multiply and scale off ES gear.
- Ability to achieve insane amounts of damage/critical multiplier through more dps nodes since CI builds require less ES nodes than life builds require life nodes.
- Immunity to being frozen/stunned assuming you have the correct gear.
- Feel like a god as you blast trough the most difficult map mods and bosses in Path of Exile

Cons

- Power comes from wealth and wealth is required since high %es/+es is quite rare to craft or find. You need to be able to purchase proper gear(described below) for your build as well as craft gear if none is available. These skills fall hand in hand with accumulating wealth, both require good game knowledge and a decent amount of experience.
- Physical damage can destroy you in a heartbeat if you are not paying attention.
- Extremely vulnerable to stun/burn/freeze/shock stacks if not geared correctly.
- Difficult to run more than a couple auras without sacrificing ES or damage.



Leveling / Butterflies

Building a successful CI character is very similar to how a Caterpillar evolves into a Cocoon and then someday a Butterfly! Starting off a CI character is going to feel quite weak and sometimes lousy depending on your gear/wealth situation. Not to fear though, one day you will be able to flap your wings and fly through the game as if you were a God.

Leveling up can be quite slow as you are only taking a few life nodes and building your framework(as I like to call it) for your eventual transition to Energy Shield. This leaves your damage and surviavability quite lacking due to mostly picking up transition nodes while leveling. I highly advise against leveling with Energy Shield as it is a lousy way to level and is just not viable compared to life.

As you level up and find/purchase the correct gems for whichever build you want to do late game, make sure to SOCKET AND LEVEL UP YOUR GEMS. Most spell based builds in this game are successful late game due to having high level gems and proper gem combinations(all described below).

For bandits in most cases you want to kill them in Normal and Cruel, then Help Alira in Merciless for the power charge, since dual totem builds revolve around having maximum power charges up at all times.



The Transition

Once you are ready to evolve from a small life based Caterpillar into a Cocoon of Energy Shield, your life(no pun intended) will start to become a lot better. I prefer to level up to a minimum of Level 70 before transitioning to CI. At level 69 you are able to equip the highest base ES items: Hubris Circlet, Vaal Regalia, Sorcerer Gloves/Boots. It is very important that you have all the required gear before you switch to ES so that your transition is as smooth as possible.

75 point tree in "Caterpillar" Stage(before level 70): http://tinyurl.com/ppbjgq2

As you can see, all I had was life nodes and some burning damage as I leveled up with Searing Bond + Flame blast then switched to Dual Searing Bond totem. For this build in particular I took a LOT of life nodes as I leveled in Invasion League(the scariest league that GGG has ever created). I had to use about 15 regret orbs + 18 respec points to pull this transition off. If you don't need as much life as I did while leveling then it is possible to transition to CI without actually using any regret orbs.

I chose Searing Bond because it does good damage, offers survivability since you put the totem down and let it tank stuff, and also because you can level with a 3-Link in a +2 Fire Gems Scepter all the way to the end of Merciless. It is extremely cost-efficient for leveling and allows you to save up money for your end game CI gear as well as spending a little bit while leveling to ensure your survival. If you do not like searing bond/flameblast then level with whatever skill your heart desires, just remember, it will be difficult to get nodes that help your leveling build unless you pick something that enables you to grab nodes along the way of your Framework CI Build.

75 point tree right after I evolved into a Cacoon(level 70): http://tinyurl.com/nwmk2g9

After switching to CI, the MOST IMPORTANT thing is checking your energy shield and resists. If you do not have at least 4000 Energy Shield and fully capped resistances(77% all resist) then you need to find some gear upgrades or invest into some more energy shield/resist nodes.

Now that you have evolved into an Energy Shield Cacoon, you need to focus on picking up all your remaining Energy Shield nodes. Once you are comfortable with your Energy Shield pool, it is time to start picking up damage/crit nodes. This is when the build truly starts to become powerful. For my spec(dual freeze pulse totem) I decided to get as much Critical Chance as possible and every single Critical Multiplier node in the tree since it doesn't matter if your totems die to reflect, thorns, corrupting blood, etc. All you have to do ist replace the totem as soon as it dies. Note: Thorns can still hurt you if you hit thorned targets with self-cast spells.

112 points end game Dual Freeze Pulse Totem tree (BUTTERFLY TIME): http://tinyurl.com/qzlunx6




General CI Dual Totem Builds + Gems

Dual Freeze Pulse Totems

Dual Ice Spear Totems

Dual EK Totems

Dual Spork Totems

Dual Incinerate Totems

I have extensively tested all of the above builds with high level gems and characters(Level 90+). I feel like these are the most popular totem builds during the current game state. My favorite is definitely Dual EK Totems, but I chose Freeze Pulse over EK in Invasion League as the freeze and shock-stacks that the FP totems provide is a lot more powerful in terms utility. I will be updating this list as I try out different spells and combinations.




Gear / Flasks / Stats

- It is very important to have adequate Energy Shield gear so you can attain your maximum potential ES. Also having the correct flasks will greatly improve your chances of survival as you can dispel shock stacks/burn/freeze/bleed/curses with them.
- Dream Fragments ring or Auxium belt are REQUIRED so you do not get permanently frozen.
- Eye of Chayula Amulet is a great way to prevent stun if you don't mind sacrificing ES+dps.
- Void battery is definitely NOT REQUIRED but it is the Best in Slot weapon for ANY caster build.
- Currently at level 92 I have ~11,000 Energy Shield, 17.8k DPS per totem or 35k full potental DPS with 52.7% Critical Strike Chance and 650% Critical Strike Multiplier. I will be working on getting a lot more damage over the next few levels.


FAQ

Q: Why Scion over Shadow/Witch/Templar?
A: I chose Scion so I could maximize my Energy Shield pool for Invasion League and not sacrifice too much damage. I would choose shadow for more damage and witch for more mana. Templar is really good if you are using an AoE skill with your totems.

Q: How do I deal with physical Damage?
A: Equipping 2+ Granite Flasks with Surgeon's Affix will help a lot with keeping those granites up. Ideally you want to be able to "chain" your granite flasks together and activate the first one as soon as you expect phyiscal damage. Having a high ES pool helps to buffer a lot of the initial hit, MAKE SURE to pop your granite(s) whenever you feel like you are going to take a beating.

Q: Is Cast When Damage Taken useful in this build?
A: Yes, it is vital. Cwdt+Increased Duration+Immortal Call is an amazing 3-Link that could potentially save your life from physical damage. The brief physical immunity should give you enough time to either leave the instance or get out of harms way. Add Enduring Cry as a 4th link if you are somehow able to roll 4 red sockets on a piece of Energy Shield Gear.

Q: Why do you self-cast Ice Spear?
A: Two reaons. 1) To gain power charges with Power Charge on Crit Gem 2) To refill Surgeon's flasks faster. It does 0 dps but critical strikes still count.

Q: Are shield recharge delay nodes worth it?
A: No. Get Zealot's Oath and either Shaper or the 1% life regen node in the Templar tree. Unless you have vaal pact, I highly advise using ZO.



The End!

Thank you for making it to the end of my second Path of Exile guide! If there are any questions/concerns/anything at all, feel free to ask/post either in this thread or live on my stream @ www.twitch.tv/GreatOnePoE. I stream this game 8+ hours a day and I strive to help out as many players as possible while doing so. For those that are not able to catch me live, I will be making a youtube video showcasing my CI Dual Freeze Pulse Totem Scion in Invasion League. Hitting that follow button on my stream and subscribing to my youtube(www.youtube.com/GreatOnePoE) are great ways of showing your support if you liked my guide. Thank you once again and see you on the fields of wraeclast!

bump

Cool

Get a Jade flask so you can pop Jade and Granite at the same time.

Why not take Doom Cast?

"

Necrogue wrote:

Get a Jade flask so you can pop Jade and Granite at the same time.

I'm just starting as my first CI character even though I've been playing the game for 2 years. Is jade worth it over having an extra granite? I'm not doing this build, and I'm not taking IR

"

SlinkyInvasion wrote:

Why not take Doom Cast?

Forgot to take it in the build. Will add it into guide. Thank you.

"

laycast wrote:

"

Necrogue wrote:

Get a Jade flask so you can pop Jade and Granite at the same time.

I'm just starting as my first CI character even though I've been playing the game for 2 years. Is jade worth it over having an extra granite? I'm not doing this build, and I'm not taking IR

For non-IR build, no. I think granite is much better. If you are IR based though a jade or granite will do fine.

"

GreatOnePoE wrote:

... as totems are immune to reflect damage, corrupting blood, thorns, etc..

Totems are not immune to reflect damage. They can be shocked, chilled, frozen, take reflect damage, thorn damage.
It is auras and DoT that doesn't affect totems (i guess corrupting blood counts as DoT).
Searing Bond is a special case as it doesn't hit, but applies a degenerating effect on the target. Therefore it is immune to lightning thorns and reflect as those effects require a hit.

"

Necrogue wrote:

Get a Jade flask so you can pop Jade and Granite at the same time.

I misread it as poop - and was like WHAT THE ACTUAL F*CK?

A great guide nonetheless.
Nothing new to me but I will definitely forward it to some of the new players in our guild. Thanks a ton!