St. ELMO's Fire (Dual Totem, Dual Curse, EE, Fire Trap Templar) NERFED :( RIP build

I'm very sorry to hear about your character's death, Pete. That had to have been very, very frustrating. Keep us posted on what you decide to make next!

I wanted to say thank you for all the work you put into making us an awesome build and guide! It is a pleasure to play. As a demonstration of how good your build is, I'm lvl 67 farming Fellshrine no problem with 30 unspent passives and only 1 piece of 4L armor for the basic arc totem combo(I know I'm an idiot but I'm indecisive).

It appears holding off on my points was a good idea though since I have a few last questions.

1) After playing this build and playing with many other players with good builds, would you still recommend this build over Kripp's wand build or a similar wand build? If so, why? (short answer is good enough because I know you highlighted a lot of the +/- of the build in the OP.) I'd just like your objective opinion since I'm torn between sticking with totems or going wand.

2) I was curious if you ever tested out going the crit route with the build and how it worked for PvE and/or PvP?

3) You said the build is not immortal, but you feel this build can really beat anything with your suggested changes. Do you really feel this build can go toe-to-toe with any other build in PvP still, or have you had other thoughts? I'm again just curious what your objective opinion is now that you aren't playing the build anymore and are instead reflecting back?

4) In regards to resists for PvP, I thought when another player cursed you with elemental weakness, it would subtract the resists only from your capped 75% (or 80%) even if you had higher than that total resists? Is that not the case? The reason I ask is if that is the mechanic, we don't have to pick up so many resist passives and can instead rely on gear for the resists. Perhaps I missed something though since I've never done PvP nor endgame yet.


My apologies for the long post, but I always appreciate your well thought out answers. Thanks again!

R.I.P. Pete and stay classy :)
your build has many followers (like that TV show) :-p

1) After playing this build and playing with many other players with good builds, would you still recommend this build over Kripp's wand build or a similar wand build?
Yes. I think that wand build blows but thats my personal opinion. Every wander I've played with has been a leech they just don't do any damage while leeching all your mana w/ that culling strike. Stay away from the wand build PLEASE!

2) I was curious if you ever tested out going the crit route with the build and how it worked for PvE and/or PvP?
No. I ran the numbers again and changed my mind. Crit is more for skills that hit many times a second such as firestorm. Since fire trap hits so few times a second the crit just isn't worth it to crit once every 4 firetraps since 1 firetrap usually does the job anyways :P.

3) You said the build is not immortal, but you feel this build can really beat anything with your suggested changes. Do you really feel this build can go toe-to-toe with any other build in PvP still, or have you had other thoughts? I'm again just curious what your objective opinion is now that you aren't playing the build anymore and are instead reflecting back?
I still think the build can beat anything pvp. I have won many pvp battles, but I have lost a few. Arc totem is sadly too small of a range for pvp. I went up against a spork totem man and he beat me mostly cause I wasn't prepared I forgot to stack lightning resist but spork totem keeps cast spork even if your off screen which is why spork wins in pvp. In pvp you'll need to really switch it up a bit and have gear ready to swap like resists rings / belts / curse rings and a few other skills like frost wall. Temp chains is a must in pvp.

4) In regards to resists for PvP, I thought when another player cursed you with elemental weakness, it would subtract the resists only from your capped 75% (or 80%) even if you had higher than that total resists? Is that not the case? The reason I ask is if that is the mechanic, we don't have to pick up so many resist passives and can instead rely on gear for the resists. Perhaps I missed something though since I've never done PvP nor endgame yet.
No. You can stack resists like in diablo. SO if you have 200 fire resist(80) and you get -60 in merciless now you have 140 fire resist (80). Next you get cursed w/ ele weakness and now your down to 100 fire resist (80). Now you get hit with flammibility curse -45 fire resist. Now you show up as (55) fire resist. Now they hit u w/ fireball w/ fire penetration -15% and now u got (40%) fire resist and you take 40% less fire dmg. This has been confirmed in dueling.

Stacking resists also makes you able to do maps w/ elemental weakness curse. Now there is a map mod that lowers your max resists so be weary of that map.


Sorry it took me so long to answer questions but I've been busy working on my garden and stuff weather is warming so I won't be getting much play time in. I'll check this thread at least once a week though.

R.I.P. Pete and stay classy :)
your build has many followers (like that TV show) :-p
thanx

I tried a melee build I made up but ended up dieing to lag @ Cruel Brutus so I may remake this build whever I start playing again.

No need to apologize at all for the responses. They were well worth the wait. Thanks!

"

YeahPete wrote:

2) I was curious if you ever tested out going the crit route with the build and how it worked for PvE and/or PvP?
No. I ran the numbers again and changed my mind. Crit is more for skills that hit many times a second such as flame totem, or incinerate. Since fire trap hits so few times a second the crit just isn't worth it to crit once every 4 firetraps since 1 firetrap usually does the job anyways :P.

That is an interesting way to look at it. A friend of mine said the same thing, and I was having a hard time understanding. It makes sense for FTs, but I'm still missing something with the Arc/Spark totem component.

One more question: doesn't the whole build benefit greatly from the shock status from the lightning damage? If that is the case, more crit = more shocks. Perhaps I missing that it is really the FTs and fire damage that really are the heart of the build since we have EE? In that case, it seems like stacking fire damage and burning for FT is the way to go with this build. Any chance you can help me clarify this small but important detail?

"

YeahPete wrote:

3) You said the build is not immortal, but you feel this build can really beat anything with your suggested changes. Do you really feel this build can go toe-to-toe with any other build in PvP still, or have you had other thoughts? I'm again just curious what your objective opinion is now that you aren't playing the build anymore and are instead reflecting back?
I still think the build can beat anything pvp. I have won many pvp battles, but I have lost a few. Arc totem is sadly too small of a range for pvp. I went up against a spork totem man and he beat me mostly cause I wasn't prepared I forgot to stack lightning resist but spork totem keeps cast spork even if your off screen which is why spork wins in pvp. In pvp you'll need to really switch it up a bit and have gear ready to swap like resists rings / belts / curse rings and a few other skills like frost wall. Temp chains is a must in pvp.

Yeah, it seemed like there was a lot that needed to be switched around for PvP. Thanks for the insights. For the Spark build for PvP, it seems like the only chance we would want would be to add LMP/GMP since fork doesn't really help in PvP with only 1 target, right? Or, does fork still help prevent them from fleeing since it generates 2 more sparks on hit and is more mana efficient?

"

YeahPete wrote:

4) In regards to resists for PvP, I thought when another player cursed you with elemental weakness, it would subtract the resists only from your capped 75% (or 80%) even if you had higher than that total resists? Is that not the case? The reason I ask is if that is the mechanic, we don't have to pick up so many resist passives and can instead rely on gear for the resists. Perhaps I missed something though since I've never done PvP nor endgame yet.
No. You can stack resists like in diablo. SO if you have 200 fire resist(80) and you get -60 in merciless now you have 140 fire resist (80). Next you get cursed w/ ele weakness and now your down to 100 fire resist (80). Now you get hit with flammibility curse -45 fire resist. Now you show up as (55) fire resist. Now they hit u w/ fireball w/ fire penetration -15% and now u got (40%) fire resist and you take 40% less fire dmg. This has been confirmed in dueling.

Stacking resists also makes you able to do maps w/ elemental weakness curse. Now there is a map mod that lowers your max resists so be weary of that map.

That is very good to know about resists. The way it is explained on the wiki and with example support in regards to mobs is different than how it works for PvP (or at least how I understood it).

One more PvP question: are you actually able to get zombies out and recast them at all?

Thanks for all the help!

"

One more question: doesn't the whole build benefit greatly from the shock status from the lightning damage?

Yes

"

If that is the case, more crit = more shocks. Perhaps I missing that it is really the FTs and fire damage that really are the heart of the build since we have EE?

Yes, it would be nice to have high crit, but you must sacrifice hp and in my opinion it isn't worth it for only adding another 7% chance to crit from passives while using like 15 passive points.

"

In that case, it seems like stacking fire damage and burning for FT is the way to go with this build. Any chance you can help me clarify this small but important detail?

Yes stacking fire dmg is the way to go, but stacking damage is not needed the build does plenty of damage as is. Survivability is much more important.

"

Thanks for the insights. For the Spark build for PvP, it seems like the only chance we would want would be to add LMP/GMP since fork doesn't really help in PvP with only 1 target, right?

No you still want fork. I would say Spark + Spell Totem + Fork + Faster Cast + Lightning penetration + Faster Projectiles + Iron Will
That is very good to know about resists. The way it is explained on the wiki and with example support in regards to mobs is different than how it works for PvP (or at least how I understood it). It works the same way in pvp as pvm.

"

One more PvP question: are you actually able to get zombies out and recast them at all?

They work well for people who deal close damage.

1.) use a speed flask and run to them and curse them, then run away.
The goal here is to curse them while they are casting their auras meuhahahaha!
Always hit them w/ temp chains then Elemental weakness.

2.)Cast your totems in center somewhere then run back to your corner.
This will keep them preoccupies for a bit while you cast your auras and raise some zombies

3.)Quickly throw 3 traps around edges of walkable areas, cast your auras, summon zombies
This trap is important because they will not see you lay it they will prolly think you are just dual totem.

4.) Use speed flask and quickly scout them
Speed flask so they don't curse you w/ temp chains try and see what attack they are using then run farthest away from them.

5.) Swap your gear accordingly.
This is the most important step you need many other gear combos to really be able to destroy very good players: such as frost wall totem, skeleton totem, fire trap mines, freeze mines.

6.) Engage enemy





Enemy engagements
Is is important to note that pvp is very dymanic combat and you must keep the opponent guessing at all costs.
Start by playing defensively and switch to more offensive later.

1st Kill.) Trap strategy - Set 3 firetraps all on top of each other. When opponent gives chase run to traps they shouldn't survive.

2nd Kill.) Undead Strategy - summon many undead if they are close combat hopefully minion explode will kill them.

3rd Kill.) Freeze mine Strategy - deploy all freeze mines. Be ready for when enemy enters area freeze them then spam fire traps

4th Kill.) Frost wall totem strategy (Helm) - deploy spork totems. WHen enemy is close to a corner deploy frost wall totems. Begin to unload firetraps as they get trapped close to the wall hoipefully before they remember to leap out of there

5th Kill.) Suicide Strat - deploy firetraps directly in front of yourself. when enemy runs at you to engage the firetraps will explode

6th Kill.) Circle Jerk - Firetraps w/ remote mine run around pillar many times w/ enemy chasing you. Lay firetrap remote mines. Detonate the mines and let him run into them.

7th Kill.) Knockback + Zombies - replace iron will support gem w/ knockback and knock them around throwing traps at them.

8th Kill.) Lower lightning - Use elemental weakness + Conductivity to lower thier lightning resist to nothing.

9th Kill.) Lower fire - Use ele weakness + flammibility to lower fire resist to nothing.


*You won't win them all. Simply put people play ALOT more than you and have alot better gear than you.
Wand that has +2 fire skills + 100% spell dmg
Shield +2 Fire skills 60% spell dmg + hp
Helm +2 minion Skills + life
Boots +30% runspeed + hp
Gloves unique spell dmg or cast speed or hella life + ES or resist swap gear
Belt Life + resists - have many belts to swap for resists

Thanks for a bunch of very good information again, Pete. Keep us posted if/when you roll something else in PoE.

Cheers!

Currently working on a 2H Elemental Melee STaff Templar in the 1 week race. im taking vids and such so I'll post if it works out well.

You said that crit is better for Incinerate but that skill cant crit so I dont think that would be a good idea.

i figured out something with flame totem it needs faster projectiles and it reaches across half ur screen. so that might be an option too. i know u said u were against it but i have it on one of my low life toons and its a nice dps increase. high mana costs though.

You said that crit is better for Incinerate but that skill cant crit so I dont think that would be a good idea.
Yeah sorry bout that I noticed that in the wiki. :/ Shame it would have been the perfect skill to crit with. Well a skill like firestorm is good for critting. Unless that doesn't crit either :/

i figured out something with flame totem it needs faster projectiles and it reaches across half ur screen. so that might be an option too. i know u said u were against it but i have it on one of my low life toons and its a nice dps increase. high mana costs though. Sounds like it would work. Only thing is flame totem doesn't shock, so you can't get as much of an exponential dmg increase.

Also died on my 2H Melee templar :(. Kole 2x ground slammed / ass blasted me when I should have been outta range. Caught it on video. no ads - 1 min nice fight
Pretty nice fight scene 1 min vid. No ads since the vid is so short. Would it be fair to blame this on lag?