[3.10 HC] Apep's Darkpact Totems are BACK (original build 3.1-3.3)

Hierophant with ritual of Awakening summons either 4 darkpact totems or 3 and a decoy.

Pure chaos damage scaled by dual wielding Apep's Rage wands in a tabula linking Darkpact>Spell totem>Added chaos>void manipulation>controlled destruction>faster casting.

Maintain 3 frenzy charges via frenzy>gmp>faster attacks. (variant drops these in favor of extra damage through wither>cast while channelling>summon skeletons>inc dur. or separate set-ups using Summon Skellies, wither, and despair. See FAQ 21)
Maintains Arcane surge at lvl 8 via Flame Dash>Arcane Surge>Faster Casting>Inc Duration.
Defends Via MOM+Divine Guidance (and sanctuary of thought post-uber lab).
Uses Vaal Summon skeletons for periodic higher burst damage.

Can use Wither>CWC>Summon Skellies>Minion life for good single target. [Edit] Alternately Wither, Despair and Summon Skellies/Faster casting/spell echo/minion life can be separated out for a more mobile but more complex variation. (See FAQ 21)

At level 76 against a moderately rolled T10 terrace (including brief tour of current gear, gems, and skill tree) https://youtu.be/aifBb9WvIQ0

At level 90 against a T12 Shaped Mudgeyser with Breach, Beyond, Ele Weakness +107% fire damage, and 2 Bosses. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3FmG0yGtJ8&t=4s

At level 93 (full build) walking over Atziri
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPhBNfz7MsY&feature=youtu.be

At level 65 using Wither>CWC>Summon Skellies walking over A10 Kitava
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iwg2ihH8Zg&feature=youtu.be

Because you love the Dark Pact concept and want to try it without either using the somewhat cumbersome self cast skeleton summoning version, or needing 4% life leech+vaal pact for the self cast version. Because you want to go forth and watch your totem army crush content while enjoying over 10k effective hp at level 76 in a tabula!!

Smooth leveling Acts 1-10 including all bosses without difficulty. Atziri down at lvl 72 and farmable, Uber Izaro down at lvl 75 and farmable, runs over maps up to T11 so far. Only level 76 at the moment. I would usually wait longer to post a build, but this build might be most fun I have had in this game since I started playing in invasion and I wanted to share it.

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As of hitting level 88, the build has run over some T15 content and successfully beaten a modestly rolled Guardian of the Chimera.

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As of level 91, the build has successfully defeated all four guardians in hc harbinger.


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Post hc death at lvl 93, succeeded for the first time at uber-Atziri in standard

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See page 27 for new variant that take on Shaper in HC and can farm Shaper in SC!

Defense:
Life: 5190 Regen 250/sec with golem 155/sec without
Mana: 3311 Regen 259/sec with arcane surge active 185/sec without
ES: 1706
Ele resses: Capped, but not yet overcapped
Chaos res: 31% (personal taste and available gear, probably not really necessary)
Armor and evasion both negligible

-edit-
Lvl 93 key Defense stats:
Life: 6132 Regen 503/sec with golem 398/sec without
Mana: 3948 Regen 369/sec with arcane surge active 263/sec without
ES: 2139

Offense--First a caveat. The tool tip numbers for Darkpact are highly misleading for a few reasons:
1. They do not appear to take into account the totem cast speed nodes at all
2. They do not take into account the 6% of totem life added to damage (Totem appears to act as "you" for all Dark Pact purposes)
3. They do not take into account the more multiplier inherent to Darkpact for non-skelly casting (This multiplier is 90% for a lvl 19 gem.

For all of these reasons, the best way for you to gauge the build's offense is go take a look at the short video posted above. But, for the sake of rough comparison only, the current tooltip shows as follows:

Resting in town, no totems summoned: 16k/totem/sec
4 totems summoned, no surge or frenzy: 12k/totem/sec
4 totems with surge (typical minimum): 14.5k/totem/sec
4 totems with surge and 3 frenzy (typical boss fight): 17.2k/totem/sec
4 totems with above+ 15-25 stacks of Pursuit of faith (typical map clear): Roughly 20k/totem/sec

Remember these figures don't include damage added from the totem life cost, some of the totem cast speed, or the Dark Pact More multiplier. My guess is that the actual damage output is in the neighborhood of a bit more than double the tooltip, though this could be way off. It also benefits from being 100% chaos damage, with fewer resistant enemies and ability to ignore enemy ES. Again, a quick look at the video will be a more accurate representation of offense than the numbers.

--edit--
Lvl 93 resting in town no totems tooltip (for reference): 30k/totem/sec

The build centers around a few key concepts:

1. Damage effectiveness: Dark Pact has added damage effectiveness of 100%. I imagine this is because it adds 100% of the life sacrificed to cast it, so it is set to simply include 100% of all added damage. But its cast speed can become quite decent, especially when dual wielding Apep's rage (which have 25-30% inc cast speed each). So added flat damage can give Dark Pact a disproportionate boost.

2. Frenzy Charges: The Frenzy skill gem reads melee or bow. But it actually means melee, bow or wand. Because we are going to dual wield Apep's rage for the BIS cast speed and added chaos damage to spells, we can also maintain 3 frenzy charges both during map clear and during boss fights. This results in about 26% more damage. give or take. {edit--Frenzies were my initial variation, later testing suggests dropping these in favor of Wither/Despair/Summon skellies. See FAQ 21 and page 39 for more detailed discussion.}

3. Arcane surge: Because each Apep's rage increases the mana cost of all skills by 40%, we end up (once fully ascended) with a flame dash that costs 41 mana. This will proc a level 8 arcane surge with every cast. This is another approximately 17% more multiplier that stays up for 6.4 seconds at a time. (Essentially 100% uptime)

4. Hierophant MOM: The divine guidance ascendancy grants a bunch of extra mana and adds another 10% to the damage taken that goes to mana before life, resulting in a 60/40 split of damage health/mana with the MOM keystone. This means that your unreserved mana, up to 2/3 of your life total, will act as effective HP. If you maintain roughly this ratio, it is particularly amazing for running lab, since the lab DOES NOT COUNT MANA in scaling trap damage. This is essentially an automatic mitigation of close to 40% of the trap damage you are used to taking (since lab will still count ES). Because this build uses no auras, it gets 100% of its considerable mana pool as extra life.

Tabula Can obviously be replaced by any 6-link BBBBRG.
I _strongly_ recommend playing this build with a 6 link, as every gem synergizes well and there are no wasted sockets. I also strongly recommend dual wielding the wands rather than using a shield. The dps drop from trading out one wand is dramatic.

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I left Clear Mind out of the guide originally. I was reminded of this wonderful unique jewel by one of the folks who commented below. This was a face-palm moment for me. This unique obviously belongs in the build, because we reserve no mana. It increases our offensive strength considerably and adds a bit of mana regen. I strongly recommend buying and slotting one of these at the earliest opportunity after hitting 28 (since before then you may want to use heralds for early leveling).

Lvl 76
Lvl 93:

Original gem links are below for reference, but the build has evolved significantly since they were first posted. I am now listing first the set-up that I currently favor in 3.1. As always, ymmv:

6 Link: Darkpact>Spell totem>Added Chaos>Cont Destruction>Void Manipulation>Concentrated Effect
4 Link: Flame Dash>Faster Casting>Arcane Surge>Inc duration
4 Link: Summon Skeletons>Faster Casting>Spell Echo>Minion Life
4 Socket/3Link: CWDT (fully leveled)>Stone Golem>Molten Shell & Decoy totem
3 Link: Despair>Wither>Faster Casting*
3 Link: CWDT (lvl 1)>Immortal Call (lvl 3)>Inc duration*

*If you do not care about immortal call and prefer a slight increase in potential damage at the high end use these 3 links instead:

3 Link: Despair>Faster Casting>Inc Aoe
3 Link: Wither>Faster Casting>Inc Duration

*For a less complex, slightly less mobile, but still highly effective set up:
1. Change the Summon skellies 4 link to Wither>CWC>Summon Skeletons>Minion life
2. Replace wither with inc aoe in the Despair 3L.


Original
6 Link: Darkpact>Spell totem>Added Chaos>Cont Destruction>Void Manipulation>Faster Casting*
4 Link: Flame Dash>Faster Casting>Arcane Surge>Inc duration
4 Link: Decoy Totem>Min&Tot ele res>Inc AOE>Inc Duration
4 Link: CWDT>Immortal Call>Inc Duration>Enfeeble
3 Link: Frenzy>Faster Attacks>GMP
3 Link: Summon Stone Golem>Minion Life>Vaal Summon Skeletons

Original notes on the original gem links
1. I originally used CWDT lvl 2, Imm call lvl 4, Enfeeble lvl 6. Once i was up over 10-11k EHP, I decided to level up CWDT and enfeeble all the way.
2. Arcane surge should be exactly level 8 once you are fully ascended. It can be lvl 11 until you take the Sanctuary of Thought ascendancy (because that ascnedancy reduces the mana cost of your skills, and you really want to proc arcance surge with every flame dash.)
3. In the 6L, faster casting can be subbed out for conc effect, yielding about 20% greater damage at the cost of some aoe. I found that I preferred faster casting here through most of the game, but conc has become my general set-up past T-13 or so. I would definitely swap in conc for non-mobile bosses, even if using faster casting.
4. The decoy totem links may look excessive, but the 3 dark pact totem+1 decoy totem set up is excellent for any difficult fight, and you want to make the decoy totem as tanky and effective as possible without investing skill points into it. With inc AOE, it appears that the totem's taunt can reach off-screen, which can be very useful in certain situations.
{Edit--if using the wither setup, just drop min/to ele res and move decoy to a 3 link}
4. If you are not aware of the comparatively low cost technique for getting 3 off colors for your Apep's (since one of the 3 Links is GGG) here's the quick tutorial:

A. Craft 2 green through Vorici (25 chrom)
B. Make the item a 2 socket at a cost of 1 jew
C. Make the item a 3 socket at a cost of 3 jews if third socket is green, gratz, if not
D. Make the item a 2 socket at a cost of 1 jew, it will maintain the 2 green you already crafted
E. Go back to step C and repeat until you have 3 Green, then link them.

On average this method is much less expensive than paying 125 chroms for GGG, and doesn't require a higher level vorici. For slightly more expense, you can get four off-colors on any piece of gear relatively inexpensively by adding a new step C-E between 3 sockets and 4 sockets instead of 2 and 3.

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAUCAAOaBAcEUQSzBqAI9AthEMwRLRZvGjgabBzcIuIkqicvKhMqTSsmLJwy0TWSNuk6FjpYPAU8LT1fPydDyESKRUdFnUfiSU9KyEyzTeNPBFJTU1JUglXGWOVZ81orW6BeXV8qZIRmVGaeaFpo8mpDbRluqnFicg91KnsgfA58g4Nfg8yD24UyhoKPGpBVlG-XLZeVl_Sa4KIAo--j8qQ5plenVaeUr2y1BLXytz68qrzqwGbGrtAf0f3Vpti942rkIuvk6-7vfO_r8B_4k_m9-tL-Cv6H_o8=?accountName=Orion72&characterName=Tru_Darkness

Link to skill tree at lvl 93
https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAUCAAOaBAcEUQSzBqAI9AthDF8QzBEtFm8YVhhdGjgabBynHNwkqicvKhMrJiu2LJwy0TWSNuk6FjpYOuE8BTwtPO89X0GHQ8hEq0VHRZ1JT0rITLNN408EUlNTUlOlVa5VxljlWfNaK1ugXl1fKmSEZlRmnmhaaHRo8mpDbRluqnFicg91Knsge8N8DnyDghCDX4PMg9uFMoaCiq-MRo8aj6aQEZBVlG-XLZeVl_Sa4KIAo_KmV6dVp5St8a9stQS18rc-vKq86r2CwGbDE8au0B_R_dWm2L3aYt-w42rkIuvk6-7vfO_r8B_yRfiT-b356PrS_gr-h_6P?accountName=Orion72&characterName=Tru_Darkness


--edit-- Modification: In the two larger totem wheels, you may find it easier to start with the route that goes through totem ele res (16% and 10%) rather than pathing as shown in the original tree. You will eventually need these and a 9% totem ele res mod on a jewel to cap totem ele res for higher lvl content. Better to just do it from the beginning.

Gear:
1-27: Pick your favorite aoe skill--anything will do. I happen to like lightning tendrils+orb of storms as a combo. For the bandit quest I killed all for the skill points.

28-61: Pick up darkpact and a tabula. Find two wands with the best flat added damage to spells and cast speed you can for your level. If they are available, grab a pair of Hrimsorrow gloves for the flat damage to spells. If they are available, grab a berek's pass or berek's grip for the same reason. (I had no gloves or rings while leveling and it was not a problem at all)
Until level 62, your gem set up will be DP>Spell totem>Added lightning>Added Chaos (added cold until 31)>Controlled Destruction>Faster Casting. You can ascend right around lvl 31 and 55. First two ascendancies are Pursuit of Faith and Ritual of Awakening. You may find self cast summon skeletons very helpful during this phase, both for increasing the base totem damage significantly and pinpointing the totems' castings.

62+: Ditch all of the elemental gear, equip your Apep's, destroy the world. Literally as soon as you hit 62 and equip the weapons, you can do your merc ascendancy and take Divine guidance, which will boost your tankiness significantly for A9 and A10.

Skill tree guideposts, in order:

Step 1: Begin with sanctity, retribution, MOM and the nodes behind it.
Step 2: Grab light of divinity, Purity of Flesh, and head to Ancestral bond. You should reach Ancestral bond right around level 28, and should not take it before then.
Step 3: Grab amplify and then take all of the Witch area nodes.
Step 4: Grab Quick recovery, then straight down to totemic mastery
Step 5: Grab totemic zeal and sentinel
Step 6: Take the remaining life, mana, and jewel sockets
Step 7: Finish the life wheel, Then take remaining life, mana and damage nodes to taste, trying to keep mana at roughly 2/3 of life as you go.

I plan to post the build's progress periodically, for as long as it survives, as I continue to test it in the harbinger hc environment. I hope some of you have a chance to test it out and let me know what you think.

-O

0. I keep dying, what's wrong with my gear?

1. Wither totem?

2. Soul Mantle?

3. Uber Lab farmer? Guardian farmer? Shaper viable? Uber Atziri Viable?

4. Change things for sc?

5. Pantheon Choices?

6. Do I really need 4 totems?

7. The tooltip says . . .

8. Wouldn't self cast wither/blight add more dps than frenzy?

9. Flame dash is the most limited movement skill. Do I have to use flame dash?

9a. But lightning warp can proc arcane surge, can't it?

10. Can I use a shield?

11. Can I use a 5L chest?

12. I have infinite currency, what's the best 6L chest for this build?

13. Is there a high level tree?

14. Why don't we path to _________?

15. What should I prioritize for jewels?

16. Can I do this as CI or lowlife?

17. What boot enchant do I want?

18. How can I improve my gear?

19. What's the best ratio of Life:Mana?

20. Is totem life important? (are totem resistances important?)

21. How do I get more single target dps?

22. What's different in 3.1?

23. Can I try___________?

-O