[2.4]*Gear Update* Tri Totem Scorching Ray Hierophant - Stacking Damage! 13k+ES - Bye FB Totems!

Disclaimer - I do not play meta builds often, or play for speed. I don't like to be super slow but I most enjoy POE at a balanced pace. Do not come here if you are looking for insane map clear speeds. This build handles everything very well, just not at break neck speeds. You have been warned.

AWESOME NOW THAT YOU ARE HERE!!!



Take all passives from Bandits. Cast speed isn't as important, plus we get get what we need from tree easily.

CI Passive Tree - Made some changed. Totems were dying to fast in higher maps, so we lost a little dps (irrelevant) and some ES. And we added a new must have jewel. "Spire of Stone" It makes it so your totems can't be stunned, as well as increases their life per 10 strength in the radius of the jewel. We place this jewel near the jewel slot above the totem cluster "Totemic Mastery" This turned out to be a massive QoL and survivability boost. Why? Because totems dying less, equates to you dodge attacks and not risking standing still casting more totems, as well as your totems being able to continuously stream damage without being stunned. If you are ready to gear into CI, or have the gear ready to transition, then make sure you have or a about to have Chaos Innocculation selected.TRUST ME!




Hybrid Passive Tree for League Starters ~ Mainly follow this is you don't have any means to pure CI ES gear. Keep in mind thanks to Hierophant, getting ES isn't so bad. As long as you can get a 200+ ES helm, 400+ ES chest, 100+ gloves/boots, you should be floating around 7k+, which for a totem build at the beginning of the league isn't bad. If you want to be hybrid, you are welcome too, but staying hybrid goes against the ascendancy's perks a bit.




Gems in order of priority



Gear


Alternatives to Searing Touch are a +2 or +3 staff. If you only have a 5 link, drop Empower.

Also, I found my chest setup very good for Orb of Storms proc. Faster cast, inc crit strikes almost guarentees EO procs. Inc AoE makes a bigger circle for maximum range, and I put in blind which adds a bit of defense. Also, chain can be better than blind as the chains are able to hit mobs outside of the circle and tag more enemies at once. I also find that EO procs a lot more when chain is linked.

I changed enfeeble out for flammability but may go back to it. Depends on how much dps you want vs defense. I am only dual curse, so I dont get the Vuln curse from Witchfires Brew, however the smoke cloud, evasion, and damage over time bonus are more than enough to warrant using. You could use a +1 curse amulet, or doedres ring if you want triple curse. Totally up to you!



Playstyle

Move near a pack drop Orb of storms for Elemental Overload (It procs very often) as well as EE. EE isn't as important for map clears, but it is important on the boss. Orb of Storms is a huge damage boost for bosses as you proc the more damage from elemental overload, as well as EE for the -fire res. Place totems as you go, it's relatively fast now, and I can't imagine when I get a 21/20 Scorch ray + 4 empower. This skill may be an amazing totem skill to outclass Flameblast totems. They need to fix the AI though for targeting, but it certainly doesn't make or break the build.

Inquisitor dps too good to pass up but nice ES. How is the dps with this one?

I love the idea of Scorching Ray on totem, but could we get a video of map clearing to see how it plays?

Thanks for the guide!

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Agent_Wesker wrote:

I love the idea of Scorching Ray on totem, but could we get a video of map clearing to see how it plays?

Thanks for the guide!

I'll get on it as soon as the gem hits lvl 20. I want a good representation.

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Aziah wrote:

Inquisitor dps too good to pass up but nice ES. How is the dps with this one?

DPS is quite good since the degen layers stack (Not the -res). 3 totems can go through a map fairly quick with no issues. When it comes to bosses when all the beams focus on the boss it generally melts, especially with EE and EO up.

Inquisitor is actually poor for self cast as Occultist seems to be better. Only marginally as I've tested both.

I thought chieftain would give more damage and defense, especially for totems as well?

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count2potato wrote:

I thought chieftain would give more damage and defense, especially for totems as well?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUFv_dzs19E

Ziggy did a pretty good analysis

Thank you for that helped alot, one question though you use a staff if you used a shield you get more cast speed from inquisitor?

Was just thinking as ziggy said the AI on totems wit the ray does it need replacement alot?

Also you are playing hierophant, so chieftain would be better for totems?

Inquisitor self cast rf ray be perfect, unless I am missing something on hierophant?

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count2potato wrote:

Thank you for that helped alot, one question though you use a staff if you used a shield you get more cast speed from inquisitor?

Was just thinking as ziggy said the AI on totems wit the ray does it need replacement alot?

Also you are playing hierophant, so chieftain would be better for totems?

Inquisitor self cast rf ray be perfect, unless I am missing something on hierophant?

AI actually just got fixed a bit with recent update minutes ago.

Chieftain is life based, I wanted CI based. The totems on chieftain are a little tankier, but whatever. Since we now know the layered damage of Scorching ray from separate sources, i.e. totems, the degen can stack. The debuff can't, but just think for a moment three totems focus firing into a pack, or a boss, with a degen that can be layered. Yeah, that's what I thought. Hierophant provides for some interesting and fun gameplay.

Self cast trickster/occultist/inquisitor are just fine as well, but clear speed is the same, and as far as boss kills go, certain bosses will be easier self cast since you can target manually, where as with totems you are at their mercy in regards to whom they target and for how long.

I plan to invest heavily into this build and see what I can squeeze out of it. I will be giving shaper a go when I get empower 4 and a 21/20 scorching ray, and a +1 curse chayula. That may be a ways to go as I am self found much like Anuhart.

Oh man, try this with searing bond
so fun