[3.6] Milky's Scorching Ray Totems (updating process)

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dirin wrote:

Leveling question.

I'm playing this build in the Beta right now to get a feel for it, and there is a drop just after A4 called a Crystal Sceptre. Would this be a good upgrade to use with the +1 Fire gems if you can't get a hold of the uniques at the start of the new content / playing Solo Self Found SSF? Or is there a better 2h option to try and get a 4 link on?

Or maybe a Horned Sceptre which penetrates resistances?

go for a crystal sceptre, penetration does not work

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why tukohama is soo expensive?..anyway im selling all my rf gear and jewels , and respecting to try this guide..im done playing unsafe/useless guides for new players :P, maybe totems is the right/best/meant way to go with chieftain!!

Its so expensive because its very rare. I dont know the drop restrictions, but it seems like it can only drop at a certain maplevel and has a shavs like rarity. Cannot explain it otherwise why its so expensive... its a very niche item (totem builds only for life based bloodmagic characters) which means it doesn't have a high demand compared to other good uniques.

I don't know which are useless/unsafe new player builds :p Most guides out here work pretty good from what i see ;)

in 2.6 selfcast lifebased rf is not in a great state compared to low life rf. Those in general deal more damage and have fewer problems with mapmods.... but are relatively expensive.

can we run without rapid decay gem? my soul mantle is 5l , 4b+1 red..im afraid to ruin it trying to get one green!

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merovingian223 wrote:

can we run without rapid decay gem? my soul mantle is 5l , 4b+1 red..im afraid to ruin it trying to get one green!

as an es base the chance is pretty high to get 4b+1g... an average of 4.2 chromatics :P I would go for it ;)

So, with the new changes for 3.0 what do you think it will be more viable; chieftain/berserker or hierophant with all the new MoM hype?.

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ChavelaVargas wrote:

So, with the new changes for 3.0 what do you think it will be more viable; chieftain/berserker or hierophant with all the new MoM hype?.

too early to say. I would still tend to chieftain and berserker

Here i want to explain how i play the build, which skills i use when and so on.

This is mainly for mapping and bosses in maps, while leveling you probably wont have enough sockets for each skill and you can skip related steps.

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Regular packs with white, magic or rare monsters

- As a Berserker cast enduring cry at the start. recast it if you loose health or run out of endurance charges to stay safer. Chieftains gain endurance charges on kill and dont need to watch out for charges in general.
- Place the Righteous Fire Totems only in most cases.
- mobs die.

The placement is important.

- got a slow or stationary pack of monsters, like zombies or ranged mobs that dont move much palce the totem in the middle of the pack. If its a huge pack try to place them seperated so you cover the whole area.
- against charging enemys, flicker striker and similar mob types place one totem slightly in front of you and the next totem in the pack. This way you hit all monsters in the path and they cannot avoid the burning hell.
- against fleeing enemys like apes try to spread the totems as much as possible in a area around the pack. this way they cannot avoid the totems.

In normal cases this is enough to kill any pack. There are rare cases where one orb of storms can be used to debuff and buff yourself, like in maps with enemy resistance coupled with enfeeble on you (non soulmantle) and elemental resistance auras.

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Breaches

In general they are easier as a Chieftain. Totems dont loose health by themself (there is much dmg floating around), have some extra armour and are fire immune.

- before opening the breach place the totems and cast or of storms. The placement depends on the location. Got a room with 2 doors, place them there. Got a open map try to cover a big area around it.
- after opening the breach the first wave should be dead instantly. in open maps i regulary go to the edge and run in cicles through the breach, placing totems in front of me all the time.
- place a searing bond totem in front of you as far away as possible. This way it stays up longer and the beam follows you and the totems a longer time.
- a rare beachdude spawns, recast orb of storms on him. use a trap to trigger EE if you have ancestral bonds.
- keep the flasks up to remove bleeds, shock or chill/freeze, depending on the breach.
- If a breachlord spawns or some really tanky rare dude, use vaal lightning trap in a addition to the orb of storms.

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Essences

Some essence monster can be really nasty, tanky or dangerous. with some preperation they can be pretty easy.

- placement depends a bit on the mobtype, same as mentioned with the regular monsters. This means keep a rf totem up on yourself if there is some flickerstrike/charging monster.
- place vaal lightning trap on the enemy, cast orb of storms, 1 rf totem, 1 searing bond totem and 1 decoy totem on the essence monster. If you got extra totems via tukohama/soulmantle you can cover a bigger are with rf totems.
- most monsters shouldnt move much thanks to the decoy totem and die pretty fast and safe
- got a multimod (4+ essences) one? think about using concentrated effect instead of area of effect for this one. Normally not needed but it can be safer.
- dont stay too close to the totems or walls. Some essence monsters cast stuff that overlaps (like arctic breath) and can deal tons of damage.

in general those are not a big deal at all.

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Bosses

Some Stuff depends highly on the the boss but i try to generalize it here.

- Place a decoy totem except on shaper (he is taunt immune)
- watch your positioning
- place the rf totem on the enemy
- watch your positioning
- cast orb of storms
- watch your positioning
- throw vaal lightning trap on the boss
- watch your positioning
- use searing bond
- watch your positioning
- throw icetrap or lightning trap whenever there is time and you use ancestral bonds. Without ancestral bonds you dont need to do that.
- watch your positioning, watch your positioning, watch your positioning, watch your positioning


Positioning is the most important part.

If you are in the wrong place at the wrong time you can die or loose health which requires a flask use.

The priority is the keep at least RF on the enemy.

Dont think "izaro is jumping in my place but i neeed to finish the cycle". Just dodge and use the skills when youre in a safe spot.

orb of storms has a decent aoe, the curses, elemental overload and elemental Equilibrium have a duration and you dont need to recast everything instantly.

Heyo,

I started playing a week or two ago and just wanted to say thanks for the guide. A friend recommended PoE to me and I really didn't have any idea what I was getting into. I've played a lot of the Diablo games throughout the years, but hadn't heard about PoE. I took a look at several build threads and found yours to be really helpful as someone starting out. In particular, your detailed passive skill tree gave me a really great starting point.

As I explored the (overwhelming) skill tree a bit, I started to understand where the build was going without understanding much about the mechanics of the build. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I (obliviously) overlooked that you need spell totem for RF to be viable. I was playing through my first run up until the end of Act 3 with a lot of fire totem, searing totem, and +fire / +ele, looking at that RF gem like, "you made me die my only death!"

Understanding the mechanics of the spell totem for RF changed everything. At this point, I'm way over-leveled (largely due to my obsession with clearing areas for leaguestone bonuses), early act 4, but ultimately after run through Act 1 - 3 Normal, I feel at least a little competent. I've had a few tips and pointers along the way, but I've definitely used this guide as a crutch to help get a grasp on (a small portion) of the mechanics of PoE.

While I still have much to learn, I am grateful for your time and insight.
Cheers!

Question.
RF totems cannot taunt enemies because they don't hit. But, reflect from Tukohama - is that do Hit damage to enemies?

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Kursed_one wrote:

Question.
RF totems cannot taunt enemies because they don't hit. But, reflect from Tukohama - is that do Hit damage to enemies?

no reflected damage is not a hit. it does not interact with elemental Equilibrium if thats the thing you're thinking about ;)


@Luthimir

Great that the guide helped a bit stepping into PoE!

I would say as a build that you just follow blindly its pretty straightforward and easy to play.

The mechanics of everything in the build on the other are more on a advanced level. There are so many interactions between skills, buffs and debuffs that increase the damage but there is no indicator in the game by how much it does it (like no tooltip dps).

I hope you will go deeper into PoE, find interesting items that lets you explore other builds as well and gain experience with the game to be prepared for 3.0 :)

If you have any questions, dont be shy i answer them all once i have the time ;)