Double Arc Proliferation Totem/Fire Trap Templar

Update: After having played this for a bit in maps I'll probably be changing some things around later on, so keep that in mind. Short description of changes in one of my posts below.

~~~

Submitted this to Build of the Week, so decided to make sort-of a guide about it as well and have a place to discuss the build and whatnot. At the time of making of this thread, this character is level 72 on the HC league(character name: SuckMyTotem).

End-Game Build



What is this build all about?

I wanted to make a character that'd be very useful in groups and would have decent soloing ability as well, so I came up with this build. It utilises the combo of Arc+Spell Totem+Elemental Proliferation to spread shock stacks amongst groups extremely quickly, much quicker and consistent than a spork totem would and at a greater range, albeit with a little less damage output from it. As an additional debuff, I also use Elemental Weakness on the enemies to lower all of their elemental resistances to increase the damage of both me and my party members. Then I Fire Trap to melt the shock-stacked mobs, if my party isn't done with them due to the ridiculously fast spread of shock-stacks.

Also, the use of abilities with which you don't do damage yourself allows to stack a ridiculous amount of crit chance and crit multiplier since there's no risk of getting killed by a reflect pack. Not only does the crit multiplier improve crits, but it also makes the shock from the Arc totem proc last longer, effectively killing two birds with one stone.

You could also pull off this build with less crit and with minions, but I'm not a huge fan of them so they're not included. :)

Skills used and choices behind them

Arc + Spell Totem + Elemental Proliferation + Faster Casting + Lightning Penetration + Chain

Ideally I'd have this combo on my chest. By itself, Arc spell is pretty mediocre, however, supplemented by Elemental Proliferation gem, the Arc totem becomes an insane shockstack machine, since it goes from mob-to-mob directly and if it shocks the mob it shocks every mob around it, sort of getting the Closed Beta Lightning Arrow effect, albeit without the insane damage. But it's all good, since you've got your minions party and Fire Traps to do the DPS for you.

Fire Trap + Fire Trap + Fire Trap + Increased AoE + Chance to Ignite + Fire Penetration

That'd be the ideal setup on a 6-link Searing Touch. Since each Fire Trap gem has different cooldown, having three of them would pretty much allow you to practically never run out of them and spam them fairly freely. Also, the burn damage from the Searing Touch and the passives increases both the damage of the Ignite effect and the DoT fire damage Fire Trap leaves, which gets amplified by the shockstacks and Ele Weakness for some ridiculous damage.

Discipline + Clarity + Haste + Reduced Mana

Discipline to increase the mana through Eldritch Battery, Clarity to increase the mana regen, Haste to increase the cast speed, simple.


Bear Trap + Added Fire Damage + Iron Will + Culling Strike

Potentially massive single-target DPS, plus holds down those pesky tanky mobs that run away for the Fire Trap's burn to do the rest of the work. Also, huge help if you're going to PvP.

Freezing Pulse + Greater Multiple Projectiles + Faster Projectiles + Remote Mine

For that moment when you run out of Fire Traps, the Remote Mine gem becomes pretty useful. I decided to use the basic combo of GMP+Freezing Pulse since it has proven to be a great DPS spell, can be used at range since you can only place a Remote Mine at your feet and has a pretty nice AoE. With high enough quality Freezing Pulse you could probably drop Faster Projectiles in favour of Cold Penetration. Lesser Multiple Projectiles could also be used if you happen to not have GMP.

Gearing

As this build you'd want at least a 4-link Searing Touch and Armor-based HP/Resist gear, as well as,perhaps, cast speed/crit/mana regen/elemental damage jewelry later on.

Leveling and Passive Tree Progression

Level 9


First, your main goal is to get Discipline and Training ASAP, that ability is practically a must as a Templar. For leveling at this stage you'd use either Ground Slam or Frost Nova, depending on your gear and ballsyness.

Level 22


Next I'd go for Celestial Walker for the additional resists, then go get Body and Soul for even more, and, of course, more HP for more survivability.

Level 40


More HP, Elementalist on the way to it, big str and dex nodes(str for HP, dex to use some of the skills), and, finally, Arcing Blows. At this stage I'd strongly recommend to start using Arc+Proliferation and play in a group to kill stuff way quicker.

Level 58


Rush to Eldritch, chaos resist node, which would probably help out with leveling immensly, another big dex node, more HP, Inner Force.

Level 67


At this point, assuming you're ready with all the links and gear(You could do without a Searing Touch just using Freeze Pulse Mines for a while if you like, but not really recommended). Then, getting into the Shadow part of the tree and getting more HP and some crit on the way to it, along with yet another big dex node.

Level 82



Starting to take all the damage nodes from all around the path, first more crit and crit multiplier along with yet another big dex node from the shadow part of the tree, then more burn damage with Pyromaniac, then Serpent Stance, Arcane Potency and Bloodthirst.

Bandit Rewards
Normal - HP
Ruthless - Cast Speed
Merciless - Passive Point

Current Gear



Summary

All in all, this build has been very fun to play and is probably the most enjoyable for me from what I had the chance to play so far. This is my first formal "guide" type of post, so any feedback/criticism would be appreciated, thanks! :)

Other than the fact you can shock stack an entire group of mobs instanteously, there is no real bonus to Dual Arc Totem Builds. They don't deal enough dmg.

I've done it in HC and other than Supporting with Skellies, Shock stacks, and Double Curses at 60+, there's nothing that another build can't do better or with more damage.

Arc is a fun spell I love it, don't get me wrong, but it just doesn't deal the damage you'll need for it to be efficient enough to combat with other builds.

We grouped together, remember, ;), I died to loading times <3

"

armyguyclaude wrote:

Other than the fact you can shock stack an entire group of mobs instanteously, there is no real bonus to Dual Arc Totem Builds. They don't deal enough dmg.

I've done it in HC and other than Supporting with Skellies, Shock stacks, and Double Curses at 60+, there's nothing that another build can't do better or with more damage.

Arc is a fun spell I love it, don't get me wrong, but it just doesn't deal the damage you'll need for it to be efficient enough to combat with other builds.

We grouped together, remember, ;), I died to loading times <3

I've stated that, it's definitely not a main dps source, but more of a debuff kind of totem. But since my build is mainly oriented towards party-play it's not a problem, it's a bonus, since I want the shock stacks on the mob ASAP so the group can deal with it extremely quickly. If I'm behind the group for some reason or in town or whatever, I notice they're usually moving much slower than if I was there.

Skellies and Double Curses are cool and all, but summoning 2 totems takes long enough and elemental weakness is the only curse you'd ever need with today's metagame anyway, so I decided to invest those points in more HP and crit instead.

And yeah, that was a sucky death, RIP man. ;(

bring the cheese

nice shit there push

Nice guide, I noticed u go for Ancestral Bond at level 67

I always thought that u have to get that at around lv 32, because u dont realy use anythig other then totems and traps , was I wrong?

WOW... I literally posted almost the EXACT same build... Sucks you posted for build of the week and I did not. I don't even know how to submit for build of the week.

I would like to see a vid of your build I have 2 vids of mine in action. Owns everything.

I went to marauder defense nodes, dual curses, and EE though.

I did use same skills as you though.

"

amk1991 wrote:

Nice guide, I noticed u go for Ancestral Bond at level 67

I always thought that u have to get that at around lv 32, because u dont realy use anythig other then totems and traps , was I wrong?

You kind of want some means of dealing damage yourself before taking the double totem, IMO, you don't really want to just cast em and stand around doing nothing. At that stage you usually have that ability, since you can start actually using some orbs on the good gear.

"

YeahPete wrote:

WOW... I literally posted almost the EXACT same build... Sucks you posted for build of the week and I did not. I don't even know how to submit for build of the week.

I would like to see a vid of your build I have 2 vids of mine in action. Owns everything.

I went to marauder defense nodes, dual curses, and EE though.

I did use same skills as you though.

Dont feel EE is that good cause may cause problems for groups, also, shock duration wont be as long and Arc damage won't be as good, plus, the burn from the Fire Trap will be weaker. Commented on dual curse earlier.


Unfortunately RIPed @ lvl 75 due to not paying too much attention and getting charged by a bunch of rhoas in a map. If I'd do this again, based on my experience I'd take a bit different approach - drop bear trap and haste and pick up Determination instead and get a bit more mana reg and damage for the Fire Trap. Also, Freeze Pulse mines only for leveling, Fire Trap gets ridiculous later on.

Double Arc Proliferation Totem/Fire Trap Templar mk2

May I ask u to explain why u taking Eldrich Battery if u wear a Armor based gear not a ES?

BTW: Sry for my Eng.

"

Lamex wrote:

May I ask u to explain why u taking Eldrich Battery if u wear a Armor based gear not a ES?

BTW: Sry for my Eng.

I get enough mana from Discipline buffed with buff effect and the ES nodes, plus maybe one or two ES/hybrid ES items. For those colors in the chest, best bet'd probably be a hybrid Armor/ES(unless that particular armor is THAT good to waste a shitload of chromes). Also, armor armor is pretty important given the build is fairly fragile, that's why I'd swap out Haste for Determination as well.