$$$ Grave Intentions Flame Totem MFarmer: I'm Cheap 'n' Easy $$$

1.3 Dual Flame Totem Farmer - Set the World on Fire (And profit!)

By Grave_Intentions



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(added 01-09-14) General strategy for totem placement - Level 75 Plateau ***New***

Solaris Lorica - 3L Flame totem + Rarity Gem:
(added 29-08-14) Man-mode 1700 ES Low Life @ Level 74
(added 24-08-14) Map L71 Colonnade

Shavronne's - 4LFlame Totem + Rarity + Quantity Gems:
(added 18-08-14) Map L71 Colonnade.
(added 20-08-14) Map L71 Twin Temple Piety

(added 24-08-14) Strongbox Strategy


(added 24-08-14) Farming at Level 60 in A2M Crypt


Player Submitted Videos:

Brutus kill in 4 seconds, level 60 Solaris Lorica 4L (Posted by CrYFu12)
Strongbox instant-kill, level 60 Solaris Lorica 4L (Posted by CrYFu12)



Introduction

This is my new-league, no-currency build which is also very newbie-friendly. You can do some serious MF with some pretty common uniques to start, and then upgrade later with your currency. Aurseize, Goldwyrm, Redbeak, Solaris Lorica, Perandus Blazon, Wheel of the Stormsail, and Eye of Chayula can be self-found easily, or purchased for 1-5 chaos. They also have a very low level requirement so they can be put to use quite early.

It's also pretty easy to play. Drop 2 totems, curse the group and let them chase you around till the totems turn the group into a summer BBQ. In most cases, if the content is 5 or more levels below you, just set the totems and run around collecting the drops.

With Full MF gear, my damage at level 84 is over 4268 per lmp stream (25,750 dps for dual shotgun). Current MF% are 479R/87Q (with Divination Flask).

I can spam totems all day long, and my elemental resist are all over-capped by at least 20% each. At level 82, I am currently doing 70-73 maps at a very quick pace, and rolling through maps less than level 70 (alched 66-69 maps).

The reason this particular build works so well, is that it's not crit-centric - no passive investment into crit or burning nodes leaving you a lot of points for survivability and very low gear requirements (aside from Shavs in 70+ maps). Because Flame Totem has a low base crit chance (4%), it would take all your survivability passive points, and/or take up valuable MF gear slots/modifiers to spec crit+burn. Flame totem does allow you to run 5 supports with it, unlike any other spell totem skill which can only socket 4 supports.

The build is also pretty flexible in terms of MF gearing. You can run a 6L totem in your chest, and if you equip a Reapers Pursuit, run a second 6L setup with out losing any MF (40% in axe vs shield) - plus the innate Culling strike from the axe means you would be running two 7L setups(Flame totem and Cold Snap Trap for example). You would lose out on block, a 3-link, and the dps from the weapon, but it should be a good compromise if you are designated the culling MF for a group.

The second example of how versatile the gearing is for this build, is how the shield slot acts as a great utility slot. Need more dps? Add a second Redbeak or Doryani's. Need spell block or more spell resist? Throw in Saffel's. Rathpith give you more ES if that is where you are lacking. And of course, you have Phoenix to bump your max fire resist if you are on a map with crazy fire mods.
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Leveling guide (Updated August 23rd 01:00 PST)

Your key objective starting out in a new league, is to LEVEL as fast as you can. Your Magic Farming career doesn't actually begin until level 52 - where some of the more valuable uniques and 6 socket gear can drop. Farming is more about grinding (facerolling) content that you have out-leveled and provides a great margin of safety if you stack MF. This is not always in-line with leveling, because your equipment and damage requirements to handle a zone that provides optimal xp, may not allow you to stack your MF gear.

The required uniques can be bought later, if you haven't found them by the time you are 50+. In my time leveling to 50, I found Wheel of the Stormsail, Sadima's Touch and aa few others that can be converted (player sold/traded) into chaos.

You need to race to the farming zones and skip clearing areas with low pack density or an area with tricky geography. Act 1 hosts some decent areas to get a couple levels such as Tidal Island off the Coast, The Ledge and The prison (Brutus). Don't stay in these areas too long (over-level by 3 levels) because there is more exp and unique possibilities ahead (Always).

At level 1, your best form of currency is Wisdom scrolls. The best way to get wisdon scrolls, aside from picking them up, is to grab every peice of white jewelry, belt or flask. A full backpack of these will get you about 10 Wisdom scrolls. ID only blues you need to upgrade. Example: I would ID a blue Dagger, Sceptre, or Wand. I would not ID 2h weapons, swords, axes.

Save every chaos, chance, jeweler, fusing, Chrome, scouring, regret.. etc.. you can. You will be replacing gear every couple hours, so just keep your 4-links in some target gear like this:



As your gems and gear requirements grow, you will need to keep swapping out equipment as needed for resists, additional dex/str stat bonues and mana regen. Keep all jewelry and belts you find. You never know when you need an extra couple points of dex or str.

Flasks - At the very beginning, you want to hold at least 2 Life flasks, and 3 Quicksilver flasks. 2 Life/1 Mana/2 Quicksilvers is also a nice loadout.

Fireball + Firetrap is essential at the start. Then you want to get Clarity, Heral of Ice, Added Lightning Damage, LMP, Fire penetration, Faster Casting, Flammability, Item Rarity and Reduce Mana (Pretty much in that order)

Early leveling, will be pretty basic - drop traps then nuke away with fireball. Once you pick up the shotgun (LMP gem), fireball's damage really shines.

Your first auras will be a low level Clarity combined with Herald of Ice (leveled as much as possible).

When you get Fire Penetration, you can make a 4-link of: Fireball, LMP, Fire Trap and Fire Penetration.

At the point where you can finally get Flame totem as a quest reward, you will create the 4-link: Fireball, Fire Penetration, LMP and Flame totem. Fire trap can be paired up with Added lightning damage, and eventually, Increased Burning Damage.

Once you get to Ancestral bond, your Fireball becomes something to blow up crates and barrels with, so that will be moved out of the 4-Link.

Here is an example of the setup once you get the required gems pre-50 level:





The skill tree:


Full Skill Tree:



Stats and Itemization at Level 84 (6L Shavronne's Version):



Stats and Itemization at Level 83 (5L Solaris Lorica Version):



Notable Passives:

Pain Attunement
Ancestral Bond
Totemic Mastery Cluster
Ironwood Cluster
Shamanistic Fury
5 Key aura enhancement clusters


Auras:

Clarity, Discipline, Purity of Elements, Purity of Ice, Purity of Fire, Purity of Lightning.

If you are not running with dual Andvarius rings, you can substitute Purity of Elements for Haste or 2 Herald buffs (mana reservation permitting).


Defensive Skills:

20%Q/Level 1 Arctic Armour (Level to sustain your mana regen)
Lightning Warp
Cold Snap (on trap)


Offensive Skills:

Flame Totem x2
Curse with Flammability


Bandits

Kill all in each difficulty for 3 Passive Points.


Flasks
I rarely need to use flasks at all unless I have a "Holy Sh|t" moment, in which case I hit all 5 + Lightning Warp (Evacuate Keybind).



Interesting Note about Dual Doryani's Catalyst. Replacing 40% Rarity shield with a second Doryani's will not only add an extra 1% life leech for your totems, but also raises your dps to 5337 per stream (shotgun = 32,000 dps!)



Dont have a second Doryani's? A 1 chaos Redbeak will get you most of the way there:

Doryani's + Shield = 4078 per LMP stream
Doryani's + Redbeak = 4850 per LMP stream
Doryani's + 2nd Doryani's = 5337 per LMP stream
Doryani's DPS Set* = 6283 per LMP stream

*Full DPS Version

Hi

let's address a few concerns here :
- 3.349 ES at your level is WAY too low. And that's with a Shavronne's Wrappings.
- The "cheap" option of going for solaris + redbeak + moonstone has to be a joke. Best case scenario the two rings would give ~130 ES (with max rolls). That would mean going low life with less than 3.000 ES total. Also, GL with finding a 6L lorica.
- Bouncing of both previous points, I highly doubt that this build is anywhere nere "easy" to play, considering that any pack of ranged monsters / any rogue exile can instagib you.
- I'll agree on one statement though, the whole thing is cheap.

One last thing, during the intro you wrote "Substitute culling strike (group MF) for Quantity gem (solo MF)." Do you actually chrome your chest piece every now and then ? Talking about chromes, gl getting those 5-off on the solaris.

I do group play a lot, so I made a choice on my support gems. Do I re-chrom for each encounter? No, I make a decision on my play-style and stick with it.

If it's any consolation, I do have a second Shavs rolled with RRBBGG if I am feeling anti-social, or need more wisdom scrolls :P

To address your concerns, you can look at any build that uses Solaris Lorica for their low-life builds. Can you stack MF like my Shavronne-equipped character? No, but close.

For early content you can certainly farm with a good amount of IR/IQ. You don't need a tonne of ES if you are just dropping totems and watching things burn. Plus you need to balance the cost of rarity/quantity gear versus the options. If you can drop 40 Rarity, you can put on a nice ES shield to pick up your ES value where everything else can stay the same. Shield and a couple rings are a good compromise till you can find/buy your upgrades.

Don't forget that this is a farming build, and as such, you will be clearing content as fast as your dps and es will let you. I guarantee you, that I am doing 72/73 maps (not super fast, however this is for leveling only). I clear 66-69 for farming and my ES is more than plenty.

Thanks for the questions though.

Edit: I am not sure if you are aware, but chroming off-colours on an item that has a low level requirement is very easy. 5 Chroms got me from RRRRRG to:

Updated the low-life "cheap" Solaris Lorica 5L version with stats and equip layouts.

Just to clarify: It doesnt matter what level requirement it is, it's about the stats requirement, e.g 53 strengh.

I should know better - thanks for the correction. :)

Bookmark :)

Updated numbers for the "Premium" version, added flasks and resists values, as well as, an enhanced skill tree for more dps.

Edit: Just updated the "Economy" version!

how do you leveling before lv 31

"

undyingmoon wrote:

how do you leveling before lv 31

I have been playing a very long time, and have a huge collection of leveling uniques. My personal favorite is facebreaker mitts with Infernal blow.

For anyone starting out though (as a new player or in a new league), fire trap and fireball is a great way to level early. Just stack all the hp and mana regen items you find. Once you get to level 24, switch to Searing bond + fire trap till you can get to ancestral bond and the aura reduction clusters.