[3.9] Holy Totem Chieftain * Cheap & Strong League Starter with new holy spells! All content!

Boy, I'm so glad Dual Flame Totems are relevant again. Haven't played this build since Sacrifice of the Vaal, and it's more broken now than it ever was back then. I literally cannot believe the power of this build and I've only spent maybe 4-6 Ex on it at maximum. I could easily spend more and make it even more OP, but there's no point; it's strong enough to down Uber Elder as it is, and I'd rather invest that Ex into something like an IIQ/R Bow farmer or some sort of WOrb variant.

Anyways, I didn't see many (if any) videos of this build at end game, so I just threw together a random clip of a T15 Shaped Mesa I ran earlier today (hovered over it in map device for a second to give an idea of the mods). Had quite the scare with a group of porcupines that all popped as I zoomed around the corner, but as usual with this build, everything turned out alright. Shout out to bashtart and Mercielle, as this is mostly their build (with just a little bit of my own twist). I may upload a video demoing some of the Guardians later, and maybe even Shaper and/or Uber Elder (if I can be bothered to set him up again).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aczb7QeSWfI

Figured I'd probably get some questions, so I tried to think of what the common ones might be and answer them preemptively below.

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Verdale wrote:

Boy, I'm so glad Dual Flame Totems are relevant again. Haven't played this build since Sacrifice of the Vaal, and it's more broken now than it ever was back then. I literally cannot believe the power of this build and I've only spent maybe 4-6 Ex on it at maximum. I could easily spend more and make it even more OP, but there's no point; it's strong enough to down Uber Elder as it is, and I'd rather invest that Ex into something like an IIQ/R Bow farmer or some sort of WOrb variant.

Anyways, I didn't see many (if any) videos of this build at end game, so I just threw together a random clip of a T15 Shaped Mesa I ran earlier today (hovered over it in map device for a second to give an idea of the mods). Had quite the scare with a group of porcupines that all popped as I zoomed around the corner, but as usual with this build, everything turned out alright. Shout out to bashtart and Mercielle, as this is mostly their build (with just a little bit of my own twist). I may upload a video demoing some of the Guardians later, and maybe even Shaper and/or Uber Elder (if I can be bothered to set him up again).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aczb7QeSWfI

Yeah it does seem pretty strong.
I've not had much time to play, so am only lvl 78 so far and haven't tackled any serious content, but it's been a breeze so far.
I'm obviously getting something wrong in how I'm scaling though, my DPS is showing way below yours, even if I equalize by filling out my skill tree in PoB and upping my gem levels.
Bunch of my gear isn't optimised either yet, but still, I expected to be a bit closer! Guess I am using rain of splinters, and you aren't which is basically like you haveing 2 jewels worth of stats over me. I like the coverage though.

My gear, for info



Helm is mostly a thematic thing, and to finally make use of it. Hrimnors or a rare almost certainly a better option!
Ring is a placeholder, I need to sort out resists on belt/boots and maybe a jewel before I can put in another Circle of Anguish.
Boots are nice apart from the low life roll. Problem in general actually, I hardly have any flat life.

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Carlovski wrote:

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Verdale wrote:

Boy, I'm so glad Dual Flame Totems are relevant again. Haven't played this build since Sacrifice of the Vaal, and it's more broken now than it ever was back then. I literally cannot believe the power of this build and I've only spent maybe 4-6 Ex on it at maximum. I could easily spend more and make it even more OP, but there's no point; it's strong enough to down Uber Elder as it is, and I'd rather invest that Ex into something like an IIQ/R Bow farmer or some sort of WOrb variant.

Anyways, I didn't see many (if any) videos of this build at end game, so I just threw together a random clip of a T15 Shaped Mesa I ran earlier today (hovered over it in map device for a second to give an idea of the mods). Had quite the scare with a group of porcupines that all popped as I zoomed around the corner, but as usual with this build, everything turned out alright. Shout out to bashtart and Mercielle, as this is mostly their build (with just a little bit of my own twist). I may upload a video demoing some of the Guardians later, and maybe even Shaper and/or Uber Elder (if I can be bothered to set him up again).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aczb7QeSWfI

Yeah it does seem pretty strong.
I've not had much time to play, so am only lvl 78 so far and haven't tackled any serious content, but it's been a breeze so far.
I'm obviously getting something wrong in how I'm scaling though, my DPS is showing way below yours, even if I equalize by filling out my skill tree in PoB and upping my gem levels.
Bunch of my gear isn't optimised either yet, but still, I expected to be a bit closer! Guess I am using rain of splinters, and you aren't which is basically like you haveing 2 jewels worth of stats over me. I like the coverage though.

My gear, for info

Helm is mostly a thematic thing, and to finally make use of it. Hrimnors or a rare almost certainly a better option!
Ring is a placeholder, I need to sort out resists on belt/boots and maybe a jewel before I can put in another Circle of Anguish.
Boots are nice apart from the low life roll. Problem in general actually, I hardly have any flat life.

I tried Rain of Splinters (I know Mercielle also used it) but didn't really notice much difference in clear speed, but noticed a drop-off on bosses and some really tanky rares (Abyss stalkers, etc). The value of having an extra jewel with flat life/% life, or more damage mods, is priceless in my opinion (especially since you don't have all your jewel slots on your tree yet). Your belt is alright and wands could maybe be improved (even though mine aren't the best either). Boots are OK I guess, some good resists at least.

And yeah, definitely need to change out that helm (even though it has the proj speed enchant). Even if you just go for a rare with resists and life, it might give you the option to swap that other ring with another Anguish and would significantly boost your DPS (taking out one my Anguishes results in a 18%/25% loss in my Shaper DPS on PoB). If you do grab another, the reduced mana reservation one is a nice QoL if you are still having mana issues.

I used to have around 6k HP before I changed out my gear in favor of more damage (the totems keep you pretty safe with the taunt/good positioning). The 5500 I have now is still a bit under where I'd like to be, but keeps me alive for the most part (walking over a pack of exploding bugs in Delve is no good, but probably never will be). I'm also rolling with 34% physical damage reduction, which along with IC, makes the 5,500 feel a bit bigger (especially against the phase shifting or leaping mobs). The damage is nuts though and most of the time my life/defenses don't even matter except for when I charge into a pack of mobs before my totems come online (or against a boss obviously). Even more rediculous is that I don't have the %crit enchant for my boots yet, or a 21 Flame Totem, which together will add almost 100k totem DPS when I do. One of these days I'll get the proj speed enchant from Uber Lab as well (build farms ULab just fine). Then I'll have two Hrimnors, one for bossing and one for mapping. Much excite.

Here's a Chimera run with a pretty modest map roll (from Zana). Build can also manage rippy mods (Damage/Ele mods, %Atk Speed, %Crit Chance) but really depends on RNG (from boss crits and smoke cloud position). Otherwise, without juiced map mods, 100% easy and deathless clear everytime (as you can see from video and me failing to find him until last cloud during first one).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi4g5Eq0wpk

Of all the Guardians, Minotaur might be the most difficult for this build. We risk death by being near him (not enough eHP/defenses/leech to survive most attacks with any sort of damage mod). Unfortunately, it's harder to just run away from him like the other Guardians because A.) his smash will one shot your totems and you have to stand there to re-summon them and B.) electric walls can troll sometimes. But I've also killed him with rippy mods like increased attack speed, increased AoE, increased life, etc. so it's not impossible or anything, just requires more finesse.

On the other hand, Hydra and Phoenix are pretty much a joke and are on farm status. Just drop your totems, pop your flasks/VRF, sit in a corner, (maybe dodge one or two things) and collect your fragment.

Shaper/Uber Atziri/Uber Elder videos still to come. Uber Atziri is actually laughable, as the mirror reflect does 0 damage to our fire immune totems, and getting the "5 second double Vessel kill" challenge is as easy as putting one pair of totems down on each boss as they come up, and then going AFK.

Hey guys, sorry for the delay, was focused on grinding challenges for a while (finally got the wings).

Here's a couple videos while I work on the rest. Tried to get a good variety to showcase the build in all sorts of different content, situations, bosses, et cetera.

Phoenix Kill in under 10 seconds.

Unidentified T16 Hydra (definitely had some tank/damage mods)

Unidentified T16 Chimera Pit with Purifier Elder Guardian

T16 Constrictor Elder Guardian (easy last phase)

T15 Abyss Lich Ulaman (easiest 1.5ex I've ever made)

Delve Depth 327 (Vaal City)

Delve Depth 331 (Vaal City)

That's all for now. I keep forgetting to record Uber Atziri (don't get the fragments that often, may just buy a set for once).

Still working on a deathless Uber Elder video. Elder's slow debuff keeps getting me caught in Shaper combos and I am contemplating using Kaom's Roots just for this fight (but then I'd need to find a way to replace 40% cold res on current boots and rearrange gems). Other than that, the fight is pretty easy, and we can push to the halfway phase of the fight in well under 1 minute (about 40-50 seconds for both bosses at 50%). The benefit of the totems really shines in this fight, since they can deal insane damage while we focus on dodging mechanics. However, they can also make the fight unpredictable on occasion -- sometimes bosses will target your totems with their skills, instead of you, which can potentially cause you to walk right into a Shaper beam or something.

Let me know if you guys have any requests for a video, or if you have any questions, and I'll see what I can do. Just sharing my love for this build and hoping to get some more people to give it a shot!

nice videos. defiantly helping me out a lot so i say thank you. im a newbie to this game and was looking for a build to try out. this one seems to be the ticket.going well for me thus far!!

You think this is worth picking if i want to do a League Starter for uberlap?
So that i level up with flame totems and later on turning into juggernaut or are the respec to high at league start?

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Baddragon555 wrote:

You think this is worth picking if i want to do a League Starter for uberlap?
So that i level up with flame totems and later on turning into juggernaut or are the respec to high at league start?

I think this is one of the strongest league starters atm and uberlab will not be problem.

I don't quite get why we want Herald of Purity. It doesn't trigger from totems.

Edit: To answer my own question: It _does_ work of HoA explosions

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zz9za wrote:

I don't quite get why we want Herald of Purity. It doesn't trigger from totems.

Edit: To answer my own question: It _does_ work of HoA explosions

I never used HoP. Simply no room on the mana with Anger and HoA, and probably Clarity, and the Totem Taunt makes the constructs that are spawned useless as meat walls. But it is really nice to use while leveling instead of Anger. Anger only becomes really strong with the higher levels and/or with the Watchers Eye.

Anyway, yea I'm back on the build for the Flashback event. Originally wanted to do a Hierophant version this time but simply found no reason why it would ever be better. Apart from some QoL stuff like no mana problems and much higher placement speed. So Chieftain it is, just with a different endgame weapon setup that I am aiming for.

Saw the Rain of Splinters discussion somewhere on the last page. It gave me a huge, measured by a stopwatch, clear speed boost. I only started using it around level 93, but it sped up my T16 Elder map clear by around 20%. The damage lost is really nothing much. I went from around 790k Shaper DPS per totem to 760k, according to my final PoB. So a total loss of 120k Shaper DPS leaving me at 3.04m Shaper DPS. Nothing I would ever notice during normal clear or for T16 Guardians. I took it out for my Uber Elder kill.

I was obviously geared pretty nicely when i made the switch, so its possible the damage loss is more noticeable with worse gear. That said, I am using it while leveling right now and it made everything so much faster, even at level 20.

I would just tell everybody to get one, try it, and if they don't like it for whatever reason, sell it for the same price :D