[1.3.0] [BL/TM] BM Flame Totem solo Magic Find/group culler. (78+Maps solo/Dominus)

Yo I just need to post here cause holy balls monkey chicken thanks for the build man it rocks my socks!

I played this build for 2 days in Ambush, got to level 66. I died a grand total of ONCE lol. With my skill I have never had a character dying less than 30 times into Merciless. And my only death was when I was like level 12 lol.

I switched to Flame Totem the moment I got a 5L at around level 50 and it's been demolishing everything ever since.

Here's my crappy gear:



I'm levelling up farming Piety now. Chaos recipes up the A awesomeness. Not a lot of super good uniques yet but I guess that comes with time.

Expjah if you're reading this I want to thank you for (by far) the most fun build I've ever played.

I also want to ask you a question about mid/lategame. Assuming I have no other currency except for the stuff I got from this character alone (e.g. a start of the league or something):

1. How was your own progression after level 60? My plan was to farm Piety until 75+ and then farming Dominus to accumulate wealth and get upgrades. But I also want to farm maps. So how did you strike the balance when leveling up this character?

2. In terms of upgrades (my crappy gear as a starting point) what do you think are the must haves and in what order do you invest your currency to get them? I would classify the most important ones as a 6L armour, 20% gems, Andvarius, and kick ass boots and helm.

Both questions are about mid/lategame progression and wealth accumulation. Hope to hear your thoughts!

elitedesolator, thanks!

Since you are using rarity atm in 5L i would advice getting an astral plate high ilvl (73+ is actually fine) and 6socket it (or buy an 6s).

While farming with your 5L start scrapping up an white astral plate and start fusing it, if you sell items for fusings and your alterations and such your bound to hit an 6L on an white plate with scraps. (still can be alot ofc, but its worth it)

6L will increase your dps the most, due to you having rarity in your 5L even more and thats why i use 1dps totem/1cull totem in diff slot, even with my 6L when i solo i use full dps in 6L and one culling.

And i manage to cull rares/bosses with the 2nd totem with ease. That way you can get around 1600dps tooltip dps without IIR in 5L.

I actually did maps/piety mixed at start of the league, both are quite efficient xp/loot wise and before i hit lvl 74maps i actually managed to link an astral 6L myself.

Bear in mind shock nova doesnt actually shock without quality for us, tho i would not get an qual if i were on low currency, rather go for gcp's on IIR gem or buying an qual one lvl 1.

So if i were you i would first try to get an 6L, and if you have that you can keep upgrading all the rest of the gear which is mostly much cheaper and if you have an 6L you can become an farming beast!

Awesome thanks man! So Piety farming and early maps to around 77-80, all the while trying to 6L an Astral Plate.

I want to follow up with some more detailed questions:

3. For any build there should be 2-3 worse-case scenarios. What, in your experience, are the worst case scenarios for this build, e.g. monsters, map mods, map layout etc.?

4. Are there some maps (Crematorium Maegara or Jungle Valley boss comes to mind) or bosses that you just cannot do (outside of the usual Shrine Piety / Palace Dominus etc.)?

5. I like how this build has a lot of free gem room, especially if you go Item Rarity on your main Flame Totem and skip the second totem. In this case what are your thoughts on including skills such as: Vaal Haste, Vaal Summon Skeletons, Vaal Grace, Projectile Weakness, Tempest Shield, Smoke Mine? Any other skills you'd think would be a very useful addition if you just happen to have some free gem slots?

Worst monsters are the ones that cast Lightning Thorns, tho it is manageable just by finding the girls and try to finish them off first.

Other then that it aint really that bad, ive actually solo'ed shrine piety many times (20x+) and also few times Maegara, at her you can just LoS and keep placing totems and Piety is actually quite simple.

But yeh the jungle valley boss im not going to even try(chaosdmg) and no need for it, tho ive also killed residence dominus 1to3times.

But the 6L helps alot at these fights due to dps, thats why i also run and 2nd totem for when they are in culling range, 1dps totem and 1culling when they are low+flask.

Anyway worst scenario ive been in is actually against the exile Highdove on an -18max,turbo shipyard map (posted screenshot few pages back)
He was going nuts with lightning warping towards me and also vaal spark did hurt with minus max+26%cast speed, also was pretty close quarters so got me down to atleast 1k hp, he was already low could finish him off.

Due to playing up to lvl 94 ive also found just easy ways and know how to fight the invaders, there arent much im skipping atm (can't actually thing of any invader im skipping)

I do actually use Vaal Summon skelly's in the portal slot i have in my shield in maps since the 2week race, enjoyed that one on the boxes with another char so figured it would work well with my MF'er. And im fine with only 1 gem slot for it.

@expjah what do u think is better to use:


vs

What works very well for leveling is to take Doedre's Damning Ring for +1 curse and use high quality Ele Weakness with Flamability.

Hey jahmillionaire, I have a few questions about this build. I plan on running this character in the next 4 month league so that's why I'm asking these questions here and not actually testing them in game. Assuming I have a 5 link my setup would be: Flame Totem > GMP > Faster Casting then I'm not sure about the last two. Which two of these 4 gems add the most DPS? Added Chaos Damage vs Fire Penetration vs Empower (level 3) vs Iron will vs Faster Projectiles. Another thing I'd like to know is that if faster projectiles though it has a lower dps output than the others(?) does it help clear speed enough to warrant the extra chromatics on the full strength chest piece, if not I assume added chaos + fire pen would be best?

"

skeptic93 wrote:

Another thing I'd like to know is that if faster projectiles though it has a lower dps output than the others(?) does it help clear speed enough to warrant the extra chromatics on the full strength chest piece, if not I assume added chaos + fire pen would be best?

Faster projectiles is the only way to get increased range. Without it you will have to put totems on top of archers pack for them to do anything.

Just unequip the gem and see for yourself if it works for you, for instance i was not pleased with default flame totem range at all (looks at arc's range <_<)

"

keroc wrote:

What works very well for leveling is to take Doedre's Damning Ring for +1 curse and use high quality Ele Weakness with Flamability.

Or you can cast projectile weakness and they will be pushing mobs around so they wont reach totems. Or use life leech gem and cast temp chains+enfeeble and watch totems tanking whole merciless maps. Our you can run into a shrapnelbearer on additional projectiles map and be killed by four chained projectiles coming out of nowhere. Its all looks good on paper.

But in fact are a trap for newcomers. You must look at curses as at a nice addition to your build but you should never rely on them. You be surprised how many mobs have curse immunity and i am not even talking about maps. Curse immunity is pretty often, too often for my taste. REMOVE CURSE IMMUNITAH OR RIOT

I am currently doing challenges on invasion so not much insight well be coming from me. Tho i miss seeing whole screens full of rare item drops after killing a unique. wtb 300+ iir

This was my build before the rip:


I say going after 300% hp increase was too much, it won't save you from a sure death it is not an aegis aurora build after all. Stay around 250% and you be good.

Oh and about four months leagues. I would like it to be the other way around - let hardcore have boxes and softcore may have invaders. You can ignore a box as long as you want but you can not ignore enraged WIraq, the Impaler.

"

keroc wrote:

What works very well for leveling is to take Doedre's Damning Ring for +1 curse and use high quality Ele Weakness with Flamability.

Three dragons helm too

"

LajtStyle wrote:

@expjah what do u think is better to use:

vs

Depends on your current IIR/IIQ stats and if you solo much or group alot, im fine with wearing rarity boots which give me more hp/resist and movement speed.

With flask and 12%iiq belt that puts me on 27iiq, and 495rarity and mostly when i solo maps i can barely get all the loot out of the map with 6 portals.

For grouping i would advice the ones with rarity due to the extra players are already gonna add quantity, last time i did courtyard boss with 5players we stood longer in the bossroom identifying stuff then clearing the map itself.

"

skeptic93 wrote:

Hey expjah, I have a few questions about this build. I plan on running this character in the next 4 month league so that's why I'm asking these questions here and not actually testing them in game. Assuming I have a 5 link my setup would be: Flame Totem > GMP > Faster Casting then I'm not sure about the last two. Which two of these 4 gems add the most DPS? Added Chaos Damage vs Fire Penetration vs Empower (level 3) vs Iron will vs Faster Projectiles. Another thing I'd like to know is that if faster projectiles though it has a lower dps output than the others(?) does it help clear speed enough to warrant the extra chromatics on the full strength chest piece, if not I assume added chaos + fire pen would be best?

As Teplokot explained its not only the tooltip dmg you should look at, flame totem without faster projectiles tries to hit mobs which they can't hit and youd have to recast them over and over since ranged mobs run away from the totems, and its not only that that makes faster projectiles good, due to hitting further away it also gets mobs off you and targeting your totems.
Other then that i still think Fire Pen will outperform empower, who has an lvl 3 empower at start of the league anyway :D Iron Will we have too less str for to benefit enough even with that str scepter (i tried) so yes FirePen/Added Chaos are still best options.