[2.2 Video Guide] Beginner's Build: Dual Flame Totem, Blood Magic Chieftain [Atziri & HC/SC Viable]

It's understandable, and I know you guys aren't exactly required to answer every question that comes in, especially since you definitely are quite busy.

However, being new to the game, I did want some direction, although no one else to my knowledge directly replied to anything I had asked.

Having said that, it was a fairly long post, and the gist of it was that I wanted to increase damage output a bit more (at roughly 13k listed DPS right now.)

My thought was to try and gear toward Crit and reallocate the points toward Heart of Flame to the nearby Crit nodes (Annihilation and Shaman's Dominion) but this won't be a huge amount of Crit.

Especially, days after I posted that query, details about 2.1's new support gems came out -- notably, Controlled Destruction. Since this build doesn't focus on Crit, I am wondering if you think this might be worth slotting into the Flame Totem chain, as it probably delivers more damage than Added Chaos/Lightning damage will provide.

Otherwise, I did try to see if I could take advantage of Righteous Fire to push the Totems' damage even higher, but I could not allocate enough Life Regeneration from the tree to counter the degen (while still retaining high MF.)

As far as the new content in 2.1, what do you think about:
Flame Totem - Fire Penetration - Iron Will - Faster Casting - Controlled Destruction
+ Empower for a 6L

Projectile speed will have to come from a Wand (~40%) along with extra cast speed. I'm using an Infernal Mantle, so I could also theoretically run a Consuming Dark and slot in Void Manipulation, but then I'd lose the Projectile and Cast speed from the Wand, which I feel is probably not a good tradeoff.

Edit:
I also wonder if Searing Bond could be useful in place of the "secondary" culling FT, so that you could run both high damage FT's on Bosses and Mobs, and simply cast the "free" culling Searing Bond Totem and run around culling things with your line of fire?

"

DarkRogue_3 wrote:

It's understandable, and I know you guys aren't exactly required to answer every question that comes in, especially since you definitely are quite busy.

However, being new to the game, I did want some direction, although no one else to my knowledge directly replied to anything I had asked.

Having said that, it was a fairly long post, and the gist of it was that I wanted to increase damage output a bit more (at roughly 13k listed DPS right now.)

My thought was to try and gear toward Crit and reallocate the points toward Heart of Flame to the nearby Crit nodes (Annihilation and Shaman's Dominion) but this won't be a huge amount of Crit.

Especially, days after I posted that query, details about 2.1's new support gems came out -- notably, Controlled Destruction. Since this build doesn't focus on Crit, I am wondering if you think this might be worth slotting into the Flame Totem chain, as it probably delivers more damage than Added Chaos/Lightning damage will provide.

Otherwise, I did try to see if I could take advantage of Righteous Fire to push the Totems' damage even higher, but I could not allocate enough Life Regeneration from the tree to counter the degen (while still retaining high MF.)

As far as the new content in 2.1, what do you think about:
Flame Totem - Fire Penetration - Iron Will - Faster Casting - Controlled Destruction
+ Empower for a 6L

Projectile speed will have to come from a Wand (~40%) along with extra cast speed. I'm using an Infernal Mantle, so I could also theoretically run a Consuming Dark and slot in Void Manipulation, but then I'd lose the Projectile and Cast speed from the Wand, which I feel is probably not a good tradeoff.

Edit:
I also wonder if Searing Bond could be useful in place of the "secondary" culling FT, so that you could run both high damage FT's on Bosses and Mobs, and simply cast the "free" culling Searing Bond Totem and run around culling things with your line of fire?

1. Controlled destruction can potentially be a good choice for a non-crit build. The more multiplier is tempting for sure. I won't be able to tell until the patch goes live though.

2. Going for crit is always a good choice for flame totem as it can significantly increase the damage of the skill. Crit FT does however require some fairly good gear to really shine. If you can manage to get that, then this is what I would suggest you go for. Don't ever pick up Heart of Flame, the notable is inefficient compared to the cost of points it requires to get there.

If going crit FT, you may wanna move into the shadow part of the tree.

I think the 2.1 has to be either the original one (as the ones posted for this build) or

Flame Totem, Faster Casting, Fire Penetration, Controlled Destruction, Faster Projectiles (yes it makes a significant difference) and Added Lightning/Chaos damage. If you get a ton of strength Iron Will may be better than added chaos/lightning.

Unfortunately Searing Bond wont work as a culling totem since it has no "on hit effect".

Hope this was of help =)

Thanks for your insight -- it is definitely helpful. As an aside, I spent some time watching your video with Hegemony and ProjectPT's thoughts on 2.1, as well as ZiggyD's -- as a newbie to PoE I love the breakdown and explanation of the mechanics and theories in this game.

To respond in order:

1. I feel like for non-crit (and certainly, this build doesn't appear to prioritize or emphasize Crit in any way) Controlled Destruction would be amazing for the added damage, but I will be waiting to see what your thoughts are on it post-release this weekend if you can get a hold of one. Considering FT's relatively low damage effectiveness, I can't imagine that "Added X Damage" gems would provide more damage. As far as Shocks go, I was thinking of using the Three Dragons for that, although I'm not 100% certain if the shocks will land without Crit.

2. I've heard that crit is good for FT, notably because of its high cast speed, but with the way the build is structured, going all the way down to Blood Magic, I don't think there's enough points to put anything on the right side to hit Doom Cast or the Shadow area. That means I would be ultimately limited to just the two notables, Annihilation and Shaman's Dominion, giving me just 225% Crit chance for the first 4 seconds of the Totems' lifetime, and 125% thereafter. The only other sources I'd have is the Infernal Mantle's 100%, maybe throwing in the Increased Criticals gem, and a Wand with Projectile Speed, Cast Speed and Crit Chance, which would be fairly expensive. Even then, I'd probably max out at around 500% Crit Chance, leaving the FT's with 25~30% chance to Crit? I really wish there was a way for me to test these two to see which setup works better, especially since method #1 would be much easier to gear and spec for.

3. Thanks for the comment on Searing Bond. I know with other spells, it didn't necessarily need to do any damage to cull, but I guess Searing Bond works differently if it's just a DoT. By the same token, I suppose that even if I managed to get RF manageable into this build, it also would not be able to cull everything around me because of it also being a DoT?

4. I'm using Iron Will as recommended in your guide, but I honestly didn't stack very much Strength. All I have is the ~300 or so from the tree (plus the Perandus Blazon giving me +30) but it does seem like it's giving me roughly the same amount of Spell Damage as Clear Mind does. This is one of the reasons I haven't wanted to swap it out, but I'm not sure if you're suggesting it's not worth it unless I go out of my way to stack more Strength from gear?

5. I forgot I also wanted to ask about Jewels -- Would Rain of Splinters be useful to FT's, or are its 3 innate projectiles good enough coverage to make the damage reduction not worthwhile? What about Spire of Stone for stun immunity?

I play this build atm ,and holy shit..i must say it rekt all i was rush normal in no time lv 34 when fight final boss lol.4 link searing touch do the job:)

DUDEEEEEEEEEE you changed the build (witch) after I started it and now I have no idea where to continue. You completly changed the beginning!
Well that sucks.

Do you thin it will still be viable to level with flame totem now they destroyed its damage? I was expecting a small nerf at the start but 40% has just ruined flame totem in my opinion. Think you will still use it to level?

It looks really simple and a good start to the new league.

"

Mental_One wrote:

Do you thin it will still be viable to level with flame totem now they destroyed its damage? I was expecting a small nerf at the start but 40% has just ruined flame totem in my opinion. Think you will still use it to level?

You defenately misread the update.

Hi Lifting;

First things first, been enjoying your builds a lot and using them on the beginning of the leagues since they're really good for a fresh start, specially in the case of flame totem right here, so, hats off.

Been loving flame totem as it is for quite some time, but since I found out the true power of the totems I wanted to do a pure chaos totem build. (Consuming and InfMant is the go-to, yea, but I wanted the real deal) and when the new gems came out, it was like "well dream come true" until I saw the new skilltree.

Lots of questions come here, but the most important one is: do you think that a Chaos Spell Totem build could be viable right now? Not talking about OP or gamebreaking or such; purely viable. Looking to the tree seems plausible, but not good enough, specially combined with the tanky totemer playstyle which I'm used to.

Thanks for your opinion.

"

gogofrisko wrote:

"

Mental_One wrote:

Do you thin it will still be viable to level with flame totem now they destroyed its damage? I was expecting a small nerf at the start but 40% has just ruined flame totem in my opinion. Think you will still use it to level?

You defenately misread the update.

Flame Totem cast speed has been reduced from 200ms to 250ms. Flame Totem now does 25% less damage at Level 1, up to 24% more damage at Level 20. When combined with the cast speed changes, this now does 40% less DPS at level 1, up to 0% at level 21. It does more damage at levels 22 and beyond.


Doesn't appear i read it wrong mate.