2.1 Crit Flame Totem - Blood Magic - 91k DPS each totem, fast clear speed, Atziri viable
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2.1 doesn't bring many changes to this build. Flame Totem now cast faster, but deal less damage per cast. So if you can raise its level to 22+ (with Empower), you will gain some damage. It's a small buff at very end-game, but with good gear, we don't lack damage anyway.
A> Intro I don't claim to "invent" the build. Many people have been running with variations of this build since the new patch. Here I present mine, which I tested and has been having a blast with. 1. What is this build?
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A witch build running Flame totem as main skill. The build uses Ancestral Bond for 2 totems at once, Blood Magic to avoid harmful effect of low mana when using Infernal Mantle.
2. Why Blood Magic, crit ?
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Blood Magic because of Infernal Mantle (which has deadly effect if you are on low mana) and Clear Mind jewel (which only works if you reserve no mana). Heralds and Anger are not great for flame totem due to low damage effectiveness (25%). Some people run non-BM and use Clarity as the only aura(which is also a decent setup), but going down the path of Blood Magic also open us to more life and totem damage nodes, so I still think this is the better route. Crit because although non-crit build is a bit tankier, the damage of non-crit is not great. This build has great damage, and it's not even a glass canon to begin with. 3. Why Power Charge? How do you get Power Charge?
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Power charges give more crit chance, more spell damage (even more so when using Dual Void Battery). As the build don't extend to the Shadow area for more crit, crit from PC is valuable.
I get easy PC by Incinerate + Romira ring (a single touch of Incinerate will give 1 PC and I reach max PCs within half a second). A crucial reason here is I use 2x Void Battery, which means my damage will suck if I can't keep PCs up, so the more reliable I can get them, the better. If you don't use Void Battery and instead use 2 rare wands, you can use Ice Spear instead, which will save you 1 ring slot. Just remember, the Incinerate - Romira setup is WAY MORE RELIABLE and Romira is a decent offensive ring in its own right. B> Pros & Cons 1. Pros: + One of the quickest/ most effective build to level up with, requires little respec and transition. + Can start from a budget, then upgrade gradually. Massive damage end-game. + Relatively safe, can run all map mods. 2. Cons: - Less HP than non-crit version. - Low armor, no block, no evasion/dodge - thus require manual dodging and paying attention. C> Tree, Bandits, Stats 1. Passive tree at lvl 92: https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwMABAcEswVCBg4J9gxfDjwQzBEtFHEWQBZvGjgcpxzcHRQfAiBuJKolvCcvJ-0snCynMtE1kjbFNuk6WDwtQZZEq0VHSsRMs06uUDBTpVWuVcZY5VnzWiteXWZUZp5oZWjycg9yqXaseyB8g4IHghCCm4Nfg8yD24PzhX2OZI8aj0aPppBVlG-aO6IAo_KnCKeUrKqtja4SrrOxNrb6tz7AZsMTxPbGrs9-0B_Q9dH91HzVpti92XzbT9te37Dfv-DD4XPjauoY6-7tPO_r8B_z3fau9zL3pviT-Ov60v4K_of-jw== - There's just so many great stats that jewels can offer, therefore I spec out to 5 jewel slots. Except Clear Mind, all the other are simply self found magic/rare. There's room for improvement here. - Shadow area has good crit nodes, but terrible pathing with little strength and many Int nodes (which is of very little value for our build). Going there and you will miss lots of life-regen, thus making the build extremely clunky (you can't sustain your spells without constant potion usage). I would NEVER recommend anyone going that route. - I don't go dual-curse because it's totally not necessary. If I have to stop to curse 2 different spells for every rare pack, that just slows me down. To give an idea of how massive the damage is: I kill each phase of Atziri in just 1 second! Dual-curse for defensive purpose could be good, yet I don't want to waste points for it either. The build has enough defense and distraction when needed. 2. Bandit choices: Normal Oak (40 life), Cruel Kill all (point), Merc Alira (Power Charge). 3. Stats: 4622 Life - 835 ES 76% Fire/ 75% Cold/ 75% Light / -40% Chaos resist in Merciless Over 90k damage with max PCs, totem up, no other damage buff. And that's just each totem!  Damage with 5L (without Empower)  D> Gear requirement and suggestions: - 5L or 6L Infernal Mantle is the only must have item here. All the other slots can be filled with rare items. - 3 dragons is a great item. Defensively, it's just OK with 30% all res, but offensively 50% increase damage (due to the shock effect) is nothing to laugh at. - Dual Void Battery: Provide the highest spell damage when max on PCs. Use them with Incinerate + Romira to constantly have 25*8*2 - 80*2 = 240% increase spell damage (not including their implicit). If you use rare wands, look for cast speed > spell crit > crit modifier > spell damage. - Headhunter: pure luxury item, not mandatory by all means. However, it provides high Dex to meet gem requirement, more damage on rares and getting rare mods (which all in all will speed up your map run). - Maligaro's Virtuosity: best gloves. The Dex helps with gem requirement and Crit chance/multi are just sexy. Facebreaker are also decent choice. Otherwise, use a rare pair with good defensive stats (life, resists...). I don't recommend Voidbringer. - Clear Mind is a great jewel to use. - For general jewel mods, there are so many good one and it's hard to evaluate which mod is better than the other. However, specific mods generally have higher roll than global mods (for example you can get 8 to 10% crit modifier for spell, while global crit modifier range is only 6 to 8%), so try to get those specific mods. E> My gear and links: F> Leveling process - From level 1 to 30: grab some life nodes, totem damage nodes and path to Ancestral Bonds. Avoid crit nodes. - From level 30 to 60: at this point, you can already support totem in a 4L - 5L (Totem - Faster Cast - Faster Proj - Added Chaos - Fire Pen). Path down to Blood Magic (but do not take it yet!!!), taking life/life regen nodes along the way. Still avoid crit nodes, instead focus on Totem nodes/ spell damage nodes. - From lvl 60: follow the skill tree I post above. Take crit nodes - Power Charges nodes - Blood Magic... and finalize the build. That's all for now. Good luck with your characters and the journey through Wraeclast. Last edited by Taxi_Driver#0073 on Dec 20, 2015, 7:56:12 PM Last bumped on Mar 13, 2016, 3:08:23 PM
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Nice looking build.
More efficient tree: https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwMABAcEswVCBg4J9gthDF8OPBBYEMwRLRRxFkAWbxo4HKcc3B0UHwIgbiSqJbwnLyftK7YsnCynMtE2xTbpOlg8LUGWRKFEq0VHSsRMs06uUDBTpVWuVcZY5VnzWiteXWZUZp5oZWjycg9yqXasfIOCB4IQgpuDX4PMg9uD84V9h2WMRo5kjxqPppBVlG-aO6IAo_KnlKyqrhKus69ssTa2-rc-wGbDE8T2xq7PftAf0PXR_dR81abYvdl820_bXt-w37_gw-Fz42rqGOvu7Tzv6_Af8932rvcy96b4k_jr-tL-Cg== same life regen, but more armor/life. [2.2] KuteKitteh's CI EA Regen Tank - Durable w/10k ES, instant clear, EZ-Atziri, affordable!: /1625757
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" The problem atm is I am actually lacking on Int for gear requirement (Prophecy wand) and need that 10 Int to just reach 245 req. Besides, I have decided to respec some damage nodes (Totem crit chance and fire damage) to take Combat Stamina as well (for a high 5.6% life regen). The damage is just slightly reduced, still over 71k. Last edited by Taxi_Driver#0073 on Jul 23, 2015, 7:47:12 PM
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[2.2] KuteKitteh's CI EA Regen Tank - Durable w/10k ES, instant clear, EZ-Atziri, affordable!: /1625757
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" The tree was made when I haven't got Headhunter and the Dex node was needed (back then I use 1 different ring with + Dex). My current, updated skill tree include BOTH Warrior's Blood and Combat Stamina, and reaching 5.6% Life Regen for a smoother gameplay, so neither of your "solutions" serve any purpose. https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwMABAcEswVCBg4J9gthDF8OPBDMES0UIBRxFkAWbxo4HKcc3B0UHwIgbiSqJbwnLyftK7YsnCynMtE2xTbpOlg8LUGWRKtFR0rETLNOrlAwUEdTpVWuVcZY5VnzWiteXV8_ZlRmnmebaGVo8nIPcql2rHyDggeCEIKbg1-D24PzhX2MRo5kjxqPppBVlG-aO6IAo_KnlKyqrhKuPq6zr2yxNrb6wGbDE8T2xq7PftAf0PXR_dR81abZfNtP217fsN-_4MPhc-Nq5FHqGOvu7TzvDu_r8B_z3fau9zL3pviT-Ov60g== And between 10 STr + 10 Dex and 20 Int, we surely should take 10 Str + 10 Dex. If you are nitpicking about my DPS dropping from 73.5k to 71.9k, there, I changed it. Last edited by Taxi_Driver#0073 on Jul 23, 2015, 9:06:52 PM
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Question, what does the "increased critical strike chance with fire spells" on Jewels do to Flame Totem?
And yeah, Clear Mind doesn't stack, does it? Some more specific fun things to look for in the jungle of jewels would be nice :) Great build, btw, having fun with it :) |
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" I'm glad you enjoy the build, for your questions: - Flame totem is a Fire spell, so that mod works for it. The effect is exactly the same as crit chance for spell or global crit chance, they are additive to each other. For example you have 25% global crit, 25% crit chance for spell, 25% crit chance for fire, 25% crit chance for totems, then overall you have 100% more crit chance. - I don't really get what you mean by "stack". Clear Mind is limited to 1 only, so you can't use 2 Clear Mind jewels. If what you ask is whether it stacks with spell damage you already had, I think yes, cuz otherwise 60% more spell damage is OP as hell, and the jewel, though great surely does not give that much thru my testing. - About jewel in general, as I said, there are too many good stats. I can only give 2 advices: + Use jewels with no useless mod for you (mana gain on hit, mana regen for example are worthless) + Prioritize specific mods than global mods: for example, crit multi with spell can roll higher than global crit multi, so it's better if you can get crit multi with spell instead. |
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" Are you playing a bullet hell? うにゅ?
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So if I understand this correctly. You cast totems and then incinirate to stack up power charges?
Also Three Dragons make no sense with Flame Totem after change to shock. It's only good versus normal mobs that melt down easy anyway. 3.3 RF Trickster SSF HC guide : https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2147256 Last edited by Rusherboy#5889 on Jul 26, 2015, 5:42:02 AM
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" Incinerate is there to buff the totem, but they don't have to follow each other in a rigid way that you imagine. Incinerate stacking is only needed for the 1st mob (and even then, it is less than 1 second to reach maximum 6 PCs or 8 with 2x Batteries). After that, use it whenever the timer of PCs goes low. Full PCs with full duration will be back up right at the moment Incinerate touch any monster. Shock duration depends on how much damage you can do with your hit (60 ms for each 1% health), so let's point out these cases: - Your totem 1 or 2 shot mob: in this case, shock is useless. However, this only occur in low level maps, and won't happen in very high end maps (78+), as mobs there (even white) can be tanky. And what am I doing at level 90+ in a sub-70 map anyway? - Requires multiple hits to kill the target: my totem cast over 10 times per sec, so as long as the 1st hit deal over 2% of the target's max health, it will work just fine. Of course big bosses can be immune to this, but vs anything in between (rares, magic), you will always benefit from the shock and get 50% increase damage. Therefore, if your damage is not too low (like under 5k - where you can't shock anything long enough) or not too high (like unrealistic 300k where you one shot anything), 3 dragons will be effective. |
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