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

What spells should I use for early game and what should I prioritize for stats?
Frost Nova - AoE slows mobs down. Works well until later areas
Firestorm - I used this for brutus and bosses in the lower levels.
Molten Shell - Great for defense while doing bandits\graveyard\weavers.

I ran 2 shadows through to get traps.
I used bear traps and firetraps, but soon learned that just firetraps is actually more effective. Run a showdow through to kill Brutus and grab all firetraps on the way there and get clarity when u kill brutus.

I mostly used Frost Nova though it really works well un until cruel fellshrine with no supports. I would use molten shell, run into huge mob and blast frost nova until molten shell pops usually whole mob is dead. I picked up the strays w/ firestorm.

what should I prioritize for stats?
Follow my tree
I went str8 for Amplify.
Then I followed the path to Discipline and Training
Then I went for Prestigigation and Celestial Walker
Then Body and Soul
Up to Fitness
TO Shield Mastery and all but the 1 shield node
AVoid Cast Interruption
Fitness to the right of there
All the way up to minion Explode grabbing life and the shield block nodes
No EE yet though!
Then down to Ancestral Bond
then down to Elemental Adaption
Marauder resist + Life nodes
Now get EE
Then Dual curses last.
AFTer dual curses I filled in the spare life nodes like the +8% nodes and went for the Marauder shield block which helps alot.

Don't forget those +30 dex nodes to use fire trap.
Bear trap requires more dex than fire trap to beware if you want ot try that.

Should be a fun build when I get there :D

I missed out on clarity but on my way back to my stash to see if I had one already, I founda 7% one

I'm very interested in a trap build so I got some questions:

1. what skill/stat can affect the casting speed for laying traps? Is it casting speed or attack speed or what?

2. does the AOE passive skills effect the AOE splash fire dmg of the fire traps?

3. what dmg modifiers are there for fire traps? Does spell dmg on wands work? Spell dmg from passives, fire dmg from passives?

You may have answered this, and I apologize if I haven't read it yet, but do you know for certain if the +% elemental damage nodes affect fire trap? Traps work with dual totem because you yourself are not doing the damage, so wouldn't that mean that the passive node does not affect the damage of the trap?



would it be more beneficial to take the radius nodes? Or does % elemental damage nodes work with trap?


edit: I see in your "current" build link on the first page you did in fact take the area nodes instead of the elemental damage nodes. Is this why?


Edit2: Also have you thought about going eldritch battery? You seem to run out of mana relatively fast, plus you could have more auras available to you if you wanted them (haste, maybe determination)

+% ele dmg (on the weapon let say, on mace or scepter not sure atm u got +xx% elemental dmg) does not synergize with fire trap or spell dmg, but i think it works with those nodes - but i might be wrong
so lets say - u have fireball spell - if u add support gem, which gives you "ADD + x-y fire dmg" - it wont make your fireball spell stronger, but it will add dmg lets say to Glacial Hammer ability.
+ It works with any spell that does physical dmg (bear trap)

fire trap is actually a spell:

it is affected by your spell damage passives, as well as your +elemental damage passives and your +fire damage passives. the same applies to equipment bonuses to those things (i.e. wands, searing touch, sceptres and etc)

it is NOT affected by +weapon elemental passives or by bonuses like say a ring that gives +5fire damage and the like since it is a spell and not an attack.

same thing goes for totems, mines and generaly all remote skills.

"

vladrak84 wrote:

+% ele dmg (on the weapon let say, on mace or scepter not sure atm u got +xx% elemental dmg) does not synergize with fire trap or spell dmg, but i think it works with those nodes - but i might be wrong
so lets say - u have fireball spell - if u add support gem, which gives you "ADD + x-y fire dmg" - it wont make your fireball spell stronger, but it will add dmg lets say to Glacial Hammer ability.
+ It works with any spell that does physical dmg (bear trap)

wrong.

the reason the added fire damage support wont work for fire trap but will work for bear trap is that fire support adds +X% of your PHYSICAL damage is added as fire. BUT if you use say a lighting support that actually gives +x-y damage on a spell (or trap for that matter) then this gets added normaly

"

SkiperJack wrote:

I'm very interested in a trap build so I got some questions:

1. what skill/stat can affect the casting speed for laying traps? Is it casting speed or attack speed or what?

2. does the AOE passive skills effect the AOE splash fire dmg of the fire traps?

3. what dmg modifiers are there for fire traps? Does spell dmg on wands work? Spell dmg from passives, fire dmg from passives?

1. laying trap speed can only be augmented by the specific trap passive that adds +15% to this speed. neither cast speed or attack speed affect it

2. yes, although i think it doesnt affect the ground dot, but i could be wrong, in my fire trap build i have left aoe at 20% and its hard to see if it is affected or not.

3. yes to all those. whatever affects a spell affects a trap.

I want dual totem with eldrich battery at what point would it be best to get this? I love running a lot of aura's.

I really want to make this my second character (first one was a failure with no guide), but I have some important questions that I would really like you to answer:

1. Is this build FUN? I realize that the idea of fun is different for everyone, so I guess what I'm really asking is whether this build is engaging to play. I see the immense viability so there is no question about that, but I feel like spamming Totems for all your gametime is bound to be boring if nothing is able to be changed without redoing the whole build, which ties in with my next question...

2. Is this build DIVERSE? I mean, can you switch Totem spells on the spot (ex. going from Arc to some sort of fire Totem and then quickly switching to ice-type), is there a variety of traps at your disposal, and summons too? Or is it always going to be the Arc + Fire Trap + Summon Zombies combo which you do over and over for hours of gameplay (my Duelist only spams one move compared to 3 so I guess this isn't THAT bad).
And even if you can't switch *on the spot*, can you re-gear to go completely ice (Ice Traps (if they exist), Ice Totems, etc.) and fire too? Or are you always stuck with Arc?

Thanks a bunch, if the answer to both of the above questions is yes then I will definitely create my character and start playing him today :D

EDIT: I also forgot to ask one very important thing - can you have two different Totem types out at once? For example, lets say I wanted to have an Arc Totem and a Flame Totem out at once. Is this possible?

WOW! I am glad I am getting feedback on this build. Can anyone tell me how to submit this for build of the week?

1. Is this build FUN?
I think it is. There is alot more than just spamming totems. Watch my two gameplay videos and see. I spam totems, then I curse, then I must time throw traps in between totems attack w/ ARC to make full use of Elemental equilibrium. All while keeping my zombies up and when a champoin pack comes along make sure to dual curse them.

2. Is this build DIVERSE?
YES! But. I did extensive testing on Cruel ledge and the current build I have posted was by far the most efficient with the gear provided. Once you obtain better gear you must adapt the build to maximise the potential. I did Test throwing Ice Nova Traps Between each Fire Trap. Was fun but effective. What was also really fun was having lightning warp traps follow you along ledge while you throw fire traps, but again not as effective as Arc, but slightly more fun to play. Also to keep a boss on lockdown I keep a summon skeletons gem and switch it with a fire trap to spam skeletons to keep a boss occupied while totems destroy it. With 1 orb of Regret you can spec out of totems and become a caster using freezing pulse + fire traps which I also tested and was pretty effective but again not as effective as this build.


would it be more beneficial to take the radius nodes? Or does % elemental damage nodes work with trap?I took radius nodes. Since it starts w/ a decent size radius, the radius nodes are expanded by a % so i beleieve its definately worth it as opposed to only doing a slight % more ele dmg. The build does HUGE dmg as is. Radius hits way beyond what the burning ground shows.


edit: I see in your "current" build link on the first page you did in fact take the area nodes instead of the elemental damage nodes. Is this why? Yes.

"

I want dual totem with eldrich battery at what point would it be best to get this? I love running a lot of aura's.

Probably last when you have freed up points. Problem is you will have to sacrifice alot of nice points to run auras that do not make the build any better. Besides haste maybe. SO you'll most likely have to sacrifice some resists and life because that is so far on the other side of the tree. The dmg auras don't effect spells.