[3.15] Elemental Hit Ballista Totem Hiero | Budget Friendly | League Start to Endgame

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skjutengris wrote:

expected

Quote"
As mentioned above, the Chainbreaker Keystone no longer causes you to lose 5 Rage when you Hit an Enemy, but now instead has skills cost +3 Rage. The Keystone allowed certain skills that either didn't hit such as Bane, or skills that didn't count as you such as Totems and Mines to completely bypass the downside."end quote

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pphnx wrote:

"

skjutengris wrote:

expected

Quote"
As mentioned above, the Chainbreaker Keystone no longer causes you to lose 5 Rage when you Hit an Enemy, but now instead has skills cost +3 Rage. The Keystone allowed certain skills that either didn't hit such as Bane, or skills that didn't count as you such as Totems and Mines to completely bypass the downside."end quote

We had nearly %75 Berserk uptime. I wonder how much uptime we lost.

"

Vei wrote:

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D. Initial Thoughts/Comments for New Leagues
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This will be where I post my thoughts on upcoming new league's info that is relevant to this build.

3.14 Initial Thoughts/Comments
*This post will be updated as GGG releases more info that I find worth mentioning(i.e. related to our build)*

10th Apr 2021 - Nerf to Non-Channelling Skills have -X to Total Mana Cost

In the Ultimatum Content Reveal yesterday, I spotted a nerf to the bench crafted mod "Non-Channelling Skills have -X to Total Mana Cost" It now has a maximum value of -7 compared to the previous maximum value of -9 at Tier 3 as can be seen in the below screenshot.

Spoiler

What does this mean for this build?

So I did some test with Lethal Pride(Akoya) Jewel slotted and Chainbreaker Keystone taken, which means our Mana Regeneration will be converted to Rage Regeneration and thus making us rely on having the "Non-Channelling Skills have -X to Total Mana Cost" Crafted Mod.

With the new maximum value of -14(From 2 x -7 Mana Rings)

Hierophant Ascendancy
Hierophant has the "Regenerate 0.5% of Mana per second for each Summoned Totem" from Ritual of Awakening Ascendancy Notable, and thus this nerf doesn't affect Hiero much. The Mana Regeneration is still fast enough for our Totem Placement needs.

Non Hierophant Ascendancy
I ran out of Mana quickly when placing lot of totems in a short time which means -14 Mana is not enough to support our Totem Placement needs. My idea on how to tackle this issue is explained in the next section below.

12th Apr 2021 - Non Hierophant Ascendancy Mana Needs Plan

With the nerf to the bench crafted mod "Non-Channelling Skills have -X to Total Mana Cost", we will face Mana Issues playing Non Hierophants since the old 2 X Bench Crafted -9 Mana on Rings are no longer possible.

My current preliminary idea/plan is something like this:

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Stage 0 - Leveling Stage(Before Level 60)

This will be the leveling stage with Holy Flame Totems(If you are following the guide) At this point, buy a Praxis Paua Ring with "-8 to Total Mana Cost of Skills" and use it(Together with one more Xopec Ring as mentioned in the Leveling Guide if you need). It's main use for Holy Flame Totems is the Flat Mana Regeneration. The -8 helps but is less impactful for Holy Flame Totems. This Ring will be very important later.

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Stage 1 - Just converted to using Frostferno/Tabula Rasa at Level 60

Frostferno User

Instead of using the Default Gem Setup for Frostferno, which is

Elemental Hit + Ballista Totem + Combustion + Elemental Damage with Attack

we will instead use

Elemental Hit + Ballista Totem + Combustion + Inspiration

Inspiration will be taking the place of Elemental Damage with Attack until we have our 2 x -7 Mana Rings and Replica Conqurer's Efficiency(More below)

With Inspiration Support and Praxis Ring, we will be able to support our Totem Placement Mana Needs.

For those who are concerned about DPS loss from using Inspiration, it's not a lot when our damage are still low so don't feel like you are losing out too much in terms of DPS when using Inspiration.

Tabula Rasa User

For Tabula Rasa users, I am looking at using the "New Blood Magic" Support called Lifetap Support

Spoiler

as the 6th Gem(Replacing Fire Penetration/Cold To Fire). There isn't much info out yet on the gem for now, but if the "More Damage" part of the gem can have a high uptime, then it looks to be a very good fit.

Our Life Regen plus Life Flask will be enough cover the life usage from Lifetap.

For Ascendant(Chief/***) and Chieftain, they have Totem Leech life to them to recover the life loss and can either go for this option or the Blood Magic + Mortal Conviction Keystone option(At the cost of being unable to use Summon Skitterbot).


We will still be using Praxis Ring with either of the above as we need the - Mana for our other skills like Frenzy, etc

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Stage 2 - Gotten a Replica Conqueror's Efficiency and have 2x -7 Mana Rings Ready

When we get a Replica Conqueror's Efficiency, we will go for a Jewel Socket, in this case, the one near to Point Blank Keystone will be the most ideal.

To get the Passive Skill for this Jewel Socket, We will change our Bandit Choice from Alira to Eramir. This will contribute 2 out of 3 Skill Points needed for the Jewel Socket. We will get the remaining Skill Point from somewhere in the Passive Tree.

Note that switching from Alira to Eramir will reduce 15% of our Elemental Resistances(Which was one of the benefit from helping Alira) so make sure you have enough Elemental Resist to be at the 75% or 109% Mark after you make the switch.

*Note: Ascendant don't need to do this since they have easy access to an extra Jewel Socket along their path in the Passive Tree.

With Replica Conqueror's Efficiency and the 2x -7 Mana Rings(One which will replace Praxis Ring), we will remove Inspiration Support Gem and put back Elemental Damage With Attack Support Gem on our Frostferno.

This will be the main setup for the most part or for some, the remainder of the game.

Alternative to Replica Conqueror's Efficiency

If you somehow can spare a slot for an Extra Gem(Level 1 Clarity), maybe through an Unset Ring or something, you can consider using a Watcher's Eye with the following mod:

Non-Channelling Skills have -(10-5) to Total Mana Cost while affected by Clarity

Since a Watcher's Eye can have life and some Grace(Or Precision, etc) Mods on it, it's a much stronger option(At the expense of a Gem Slot)compared to Replica Conqueror's Efficiency

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Stage 3 - Gotten a nice +2 (Dex + Fire) Rare Amulet that has crafted -7 Mana

For those who managed to get their hands on an amazing +2 Rare Amulet to replace Marylene's Fallacy, the Rare Amulet will take over the place of Replica Conqueror's Efficiency/Watcher's Eye and we can then use the Freed up Jewel Socket for a nicer Watcher's Eye or reallocate it to other parts of the Passive Tree, depending on individual's preference.

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Note that the above is a preliminary idea that I did some testing on but not a very extensive one so some slight adjustment/changes/tweaks might still be needed. Also these test are done with Chainbreaker taken so Mana Needs will be less tight if you are not using Chainbreaker yet.

If anyone has some other ideas(Other than using an Enduring Mana Flask), feel free to post in this thread, maybe it might work better than my idea above :)

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LINK BACK TO THE GUIDE

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3005581/page/1#p23724373

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Archives
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3.13 Initial Thoughts/Comments

25th Jan 2021 - Arn`s Anguish

Note: I don't recommend this to non-Hiero Classes unless you have some way to maintain 3 Endurance Charge consistently(Enduring Cry + Call to Arms Keystone is not good enough imo)

3.13 released this new Unique Belt:

This belt basically converts Endurance Charges into Brutal Charges.

So what does Brutal Charges do?

1 Brutal Charge = 3% chance to deal TRIPLE damage which means
4 Brutal Charge = 12% chance to deal TRIPLE damage

This is a Huge gain in DPS, around a whopping 300k increase in the default POB Pastebin!
(Note that POB doesn't have this item yet and is unable to calculate "Chance to Deal Triple Damage" so I made some modifications to "Chance to Deal Double Damage to calculate the amount gained")

Other than DPS increase, the belt also provides 12-15% Maximum Life and 40-60% Fire Resist which makes it even better.


However, I also want highlight that we will be sacrificing 2 things for this:

1. The belt will not have an Abyss Jewel Socket for the Dual Taunt + Blind on Hit abyss jewel.

After taking a look at the possible options, it seems to me that the most ideal solution will be to take the Jewel Socket near Point Blank keystone to make up for the loss of the Abyss Jewel Socket since we will always want to use the Dual Taunt + Blind on Hit Abyss Jewel.

That said, investing 3 Passive Tree Points to get the Jewel Socket actually doesn't make the DPS gained from the Belt a lot less attractive(Maybe just a slight bit), because we can now Corrupt the belt, and looking at the possible corruption options for belts:

DPS Corrupts(In order of DPS)

- +(20–25)% to Critical Strike Multiplier during any Flask Effect
- (8–12)% increased Attack Speed during any Flask Effect
- (35–40)% increased Critical Strike Chance during any Flask Effect

Other nice Corruptions

- (6–8)% increased maximum Life
- Grace has (15–20)% increased Aura Effect
- (12–15)% increased Skill Effect Duration
- (8–12)% increased Movement Speed during any Flask Effect
- (3–5)% increased Quantity of Items found

It kind of covers up the 3 Passive Point cost we now need to get a Jewel Socket on the Passive Tree.

Oh, I haven't mention double corrupt yet. I think you can see the loss of the Abyss Jewel socket isn't that bad now.


2. Not having the 4 Endurance Charges means We will be losing 16% additional Physical Damage Reduction + 16% Elemental Resistances. That is quite a bit of defense we will be sacrificing.


To conclude, for those who are just looking at maximizing your DPS and don't mind the Endurance Charges loss, this is definitely your go to belt.

I suggest buying it soon since it's still pretty cheap currently at around 10-15c(As of the time I post this), just in case it goes up in price as more people find out about it.


I'll not make any changes to this guide's POB for now since the item is not implmented in POB yet but I'll make references to this item in "11. Mid-Tier Equipment Details"

15th Jan 2021 - Please Read Before Venturing into 3.13 with this Build

This is a 1 stop info and summary of things for people to catch up quickly. For people who are already following the thread and news, there might still be some info that is useful more to the bottom.

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Things to Know

We only place ONE totem per cast now, just in case you are not following the news.

Estuary Map is Tier 15 - This means Frostferno will be rarer and not that accesible early which will make it more expensive. For Reference, in Harvest 3.11, Estuary was T14 and Frostferno costed 50c on Day 4.

For Early League Rushers, Refer to 10.3 Note for Early League Rushers and 10.4 Farming Tabula Rasa/Chaos Orbs in my guide on what is the alternative to do after leveling to 60 with Holy Flame Totem.

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What's New

Now that we only put 1 totem per cast, some other ascendancies become possible options for this build. Here's a summary with some info for you to see what are the possible choices:

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3005581/page/12#p23750951

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Ascendancy Chosen, where's the POB?

(18th Jan 2021) Malachai's Artifice + Summon Lightning Golem setup has been removed from all POB

Ascendant(Chieftain/Raider)(Defensive Focused/For Starting/leveling): https://pastebin.com/9MNdkk2u(Updated added Sniper's Mark)

Ascendant(Chieftain/Raider)(Offensive Focused/For switching to later): https://pastebin.com/yAnRPQXp(Updated added Sniper's Mark)

Raider: https://pastebin.com/dxGw0Ta0

Chieftain: https://pastebin.com/nHNrtHG9

Hiero(With almost same setup/settings as above for comparison): https://pastebin.com/9cDJvvkr

*Note 1: Have ran through the Gem positions in the POB but might not be the most optimized positions
*Note 2: Other than Hiero, and Offensive Ascendant POB, the build uses Enduring Cry Gem. To use it, bind the skill to your left mouse button so it will auto cast as you walk around as long you have Call to Arms Keystone
*Note 3: Enduring Cry, if on the Bow, shouldn't be linked to the other 5 gems because Increased Duration will increase Enduring Cry's Cooldown


Ascendant POB
A bit of detail on Ascendant's POB, the Defensive one is the one to follow when leveling, after which you have 3 options:

A. When you have about 6.5k HP, switch out Kaom's Heart for other Body Armour like Hyrre Ire, Kintsugi, Replica Shroud of the Lightless(If you can get 6 nice Abyss Jewels) or if you have some Favourite Armour you like.
B. Before reaching 6.5k HP, along the way, slowly respec into the Offensive Focused one.
C. Stay with 6.5k HP no change

Raider POB
There are 2 Options under Gloves, one is based on Clarity + Vitality(Enabled), the other is base on Grace(Disabled).

Chieftain/Hiero POB
Nothing to Note

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What is the priority for the Ascendancy Notable?

The following is my recommendations:

Chieftain
1) Tukohama, War's Herald
2) Ramako, Sun's Light
3) Hinekora, Death's Fury
4) Arohongui, Moon's Presence

Raider
1) Rapid Assault
2) Quartz Infusion
3) Avatar of the Veil
4) Avatar of the Chase

Ascendant(Ascendancy Choice)
1) Chieftain
2) Whichever you selected as 2nd Ascendancy Choice

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Where's the leveling guide?

For Scion/Ranger/Maurader here you go:

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3005581/page/14#p23752320

For Hiero, please refer to the main guide's "09. Leveling Guide(Level 1 to 60)"

Note that my leveling guides are meant more for Casuals not are not suitable for rushing to Maps.

Alternatively, if you are leveling a Ranger and didn't like Holy Flame Totems or want an alternative, definitely check out crimsonraziel9's post on leveling the Ranger for this build with Toxic Rain(Ballista Linked) + Caustic Arrow.

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3005581/page/21#p23759651

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Mana Issues

We will encounter this issue at some point, for Hiero, generally it's after using Lethal Pride, for others, it will be before using Lethal Pride. To resolve this issue, our goal is to get TWO sources of "Non-Channelling Skills have -9 to Total Mana Cost"

Possible Sources for this Affix
- Crafting the Mod on Rare Rings/Amulet(Note: We use Unique Amulet)
- Natural Roll on Incursion Rings (Ranges from -8 to -6)
- Replica Conquerer's Efficiency
- Using Clarity and Watcher's Eye with Clarity's mod(Up to -10)
- *Praxis Unique Paua Ring (-8 to -4) to Total Mana Cost of Skills (Special Thanks to Abelun for suggesting this!)

*Praxis is actually a great buy(One with -8 mana) early because we can use it for Holy Flame Totem leveling too. We might not be able to use 2 due to requiring Resist on Rare Rings, but using 1 is definitely highly recommended until there are better solutions.


Before having the two sources of "Non-Channelling Skills have -9 to Total Mana Cost"

Scion/Marauder
If you have problem, as long you have already took the "Totem Leech Life to you Ascendancy Notable", just spec into Blood Magic(No more Auras) Keystone and Mortal Conviction(Choose 1 Aura, since Skitterbot doesn't work with this Keystone, we will use Grace) Keystone until you get the 2 x "Non-Channelling Skills have -9 to Total Mana Cost", then use back Skitterbot.

kikuey gave a nice tip saying if not using Skitterbot, Vaal Lightning Trap could be used(If one doesn't mind an additional button) to boost Ele Hit's Damage(EH gets 10% more damage per ailment) and also for the 15% increased damage from the Shock itself, especially useful for those who want to squeeze out more DPS during boss fights!

Raider/Deadeye
Please refer to these 2 post on my idea on how to go about it(Includes HP Regen) It's might not be the best but it's a start and we can improve from there:

Post 1: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3005581/page/16#p23754336
Post 2: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3005581/page/16#p23754694

For these 2 class I would highly suggest using 2-3 Life Flask and remember to drink more!

Please be careful when using Blood Rage Gem/Forbidden Taste Unique Flask especially if your Chaos Resist is at -40%! Recommended at least be at positive with Chaos Resist.


Tips on getting the "Non-Channelling Skills have -9 to Total Mana Cost" bench craft

Spoiler

1.((17th Feb 2021) I read that it's not working atm, not sure if intended or not, this didn't work for me this league when I tried quite a number of times) Buy a Kalandra's Craft prophecy. Before choosing the options(Interrogate, Kill, Bargain, etc) of Elreon when you encounter him, use the Kalandra's Craft Prophecy then select your option. There's a chance the prophecy will proc and Elreon might drop 4 of his Jewellery. If the prophecy doesn't proc, go back to hideout to seal the prophecy so it don't get wasted on other Syndicate Members or Monsters.


2. Look for someone to help craft it, not from people advertising in the in game trade chat(That's too risky) but in the community forums, the ones with good reputations, with lots of vouches in their Thread.

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-forum/communities

Alternatively, if you use discord, you can also join the Forbidden Trove Discord to look for Reputable people that are selling Benchcrafting services.

https://discord.com/invite/tftrove

Note that for the above 2, when you are at the crafter's hideout, Pay Attention to the name that you are trading your item to and make sure it's the crafter's. Sometimes there are some bad guys that stay in the crafter's hideout and trade unknowing people into passing their item to them.


3. This one requires you to have Aisling in Research

If you happen to have an Elreon's Ring/Amulet with the Elreon affix(Not the incursion Xopec Affix)

Wrong One - This is incursion Affix

Correct One

It also has to have 3 suffix already, if not it's a 50/50 chance. and note that the affix must be gotten through unveiling.

Use the bench to remove the crafted "Non-Channelling Skills have -* to Total Mana" then use Aisling Research Bench Craft on the item which will create an unveiled mod on it and this guaranteed to be a prefix one since the item already has 3 suffixes.

When you try to unveil the item again, it should have "Non-Channelling Skills have -* to Total Mana" as one of the options for unveil. I haven't personally try this but I saw this tip from 2 popular twitch streamer/youtuber so I believe it works.

Alternatively, a Mana Flask with the Enduring prefix will also help if you prefer this option.

Note that if you are going for the Tabula Rasa Setup(i.e. Early League Rushers), that will make the totems cost 34 Mana per cast compared to 27 on Frostferno. Enduring Mana Flask is probably the way to go for solving the Mana Cost issues in this case.

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Other things to note

Please try to avoid maps with these mods:

- Players cannot Regenerate Life, Mana or Energy Shield
- Players have 20%/40%/60% less Recovery Rate of Life and Energy Shield(For Raider/Deadeye)

They are not good for our builds.

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Thanks for reading and I wish you lots of fun and good luck in Ritual!

13th Jan 2021 - 3.13 Patch Notes

Ballista Totem Support
Now causes supported skills do deal 32% less damage at gem level 1 (from 42%), up to 20% less damage at gem level 20 (from 33%).

This is a big buff to Ballista Totem and it's roughly around a 17% increase to our DPS! To put that into perspective if we have 1 more max totem its like around 14% more DPS so it's like we got 1+ totem for "free" but we don't need to place it down to gain it effect which is nice considering that 2 become 1 nerf :)

Estuary Map at T15

Frostferno is going to be rarer and more expensive this league. Unless you are playing the league much later, will have to farm that Tabula Rasa and use the 6L setup until getting access to Frostferno. More info at "10.3 Note for Early League Rushers" and "10.4 Farming Tabula Rasa/Chaos Orbs"

For references, when Estuary was at T14 in Harvest, it costed 50c at Day 4.

Hiero Ascendancy Changes

I have already commented on this further below, refer to the "3.13 Live Reveal + Announcement Page (8th Jan 2021)" Spoiler comments


There was also some very negligible nerf(To us) to some aura gems quality(Divergent Clarity/Divergent Precision) that we might use which I think is not worth mentioning.

Easiest Patch Note evaluation for me. :P

12th Jan 2021 - 3.13 Ascendancy Classes

For those who are not aware, GGG has revealed the updated Ascendancy Classes for all 19 in the game https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3008762

After going through it, I think the possible classes for consideration for this build is as follows(Not in any Order of preference)

Ascendancy Choices

Hierophant - If you want highest total DPS(Because 7 Max Totem) + Life/Mana/Placement Speed Quality of Life

Ascendant(Chieftain/Hiero)*** - If you want 2nd highest total DPS(Because 7 Max Totem) + Life Leech and with customization options(In terms of Gear/Ascendancy "shuffling")

Ascendant(Chieftain/Raider) - If you want Good Defense + with Life Leech and with customization options(In terms of Gear/Ascendancy "shuffling")

Chieftain - If you want Good Defense and/or Offense + with Life Leech and not looking to invest so much like Ascendant

Raider - If you like Max 95 Evade/75 Dodge/75 Spell Dodge but don't mind pressing and carrying 2-3 Life Flask

Deadeye - If you like seeing Tons of Projectiles Flying All Around the screen and don't mind pressing and carrying 2-3 Life Flask and getting hit more

***This combination has a bad interaction which is the Ascendant's Hiero option has the "Divine Guidance Mind over Matter effect" which means if we stand on those damage over time piles of fire/poison say in delve, our mana will be sucked dry and unable to cast totems(Have to stay out of those piles).

After going through it, I think there are 4 possible classes for consideration for switching this build to as follows(Not in any Order of preference)

- Chieftain
- Raider
- Deadeye
- Ascendant(Chieftain/Raider)

Note on Pathfinder, I am not a Piano Flask person so I am not sure how effective that Class will be so I'm giving it a pass for now.

I'll just give a general guide since I personally only played Ascendant(Chieftain/Raider) before.

Chieftain - Defensively I think Chieftain is probably the strongest with Totem Leech Life to the Player plus some great defensive Ascendancy Notable. Though Chief also has the option to spec a bit offensively if one wishes. Historically it's also the other "official" Totem Class besides Hiero. Very solid can't go wrong option.


Raider - With the buffed Ascendancy letting us obtain Max 75/75 Dodge/Spell Dodge and 95% Evasion, it's defense very strong. That said, Raider doesn't leech or have life regen so we will be reliant on Life Flasks. Maybe a Vitality Gem might be needed for fights with no minions. It's inevitable we will get hit at some point. I am aware these days are about "Less" Damage, if that is necessary, we can implement the 40+ Sec Fortify Buff method to compliment it's defense.


Deadeye - If you like lots of projectiles flying everywhere! However, I am not sure if Tailwind interacts with Totems, I'll quote what I saw about Tailwind

"

Tailwind - Base on the info I saw when I looked around(As best as I can). Might be wrong so if anyone knows better, feel free to correct it.

- Totems doesn't activate the Tailwind buff when it shoots
- Totems doesn't get the Tailwind buff through Gathering Winds Ascendancy(even though Totems are considered Allies)
- Totems also doesn't inherit our Action Speed
- Tailwind does helps in our Totem Placement Speed

References
https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/8ljt10/discussion_tailwind_and_totems/

So if it doesn't interact with Totems, then the benefit of Tailwind will be mainly for the Gale Force buff. Also, most of the points I mentioned above for Raider also apply for Deadeye.

And to add another point for both Deadeye and Raider, it's unknown whether there's any Normal Mob spawn during the 10 boss fights, if not gaining Flask Charges might be an issue.


Ascendant(Chieftain + ?) - is kind of a hybrid that is very very flexible and its up to how one wants to approach it, like maybe you can combine it with hiero ascendancy for the + 1 Totems if you want or maybe go Pathfinder for the Piano Flask. She also has lots more Points in the Passive Tree so you can go for some Cluster Jewel setup if you have some Cluster Jewel Notables you like (e.g. Cremator).

Potentially she can reach 7k+ Life with Kaom's Heart after doing the 2x Might of the Meek + Unnatural Instinct combo in her starting area and taking all the nodes in the Constitution Area which lets us switch out Kaom's Heart for another Armour.I can see that she could be the strongest(as in most steady) for the 10 boss fights since she has leech plus at the same time being able to invest in dodge/spell dodge.

Her equipment will much cost more due to Unnatural Instinct and maybe other customizations.

8th Jan 2021 - 3.13 Live Reveal + Announcement Page

TLDR at the end

I think most will have already know the news by now but for the benefit for those who are not aware, GGG mentioned that they rebalanced every Ascendancy Classes for 3.13. Although Hierophant's Ascendancy was not shown in the Live Reveal, we are able to see a preview in the Announcement Page

3.13 Hierophant Ascendancy

Removal of "Skills that would Summon a Totem Summon two Totems instead"

The biggest one here is definitely the missing "Skills that would Summon a Totem Summon two Totems instead" from Ritual of Awakening.

The overall reaction including my own to it is definitely not good. However I would like say that the build is not dead, but rather it's less smooth and the clear speed will be slower compared to the past, especially to people who are used to Hierophant's "2 Totem per cast", since the deployment of the totems will be much slower.

The other thing will be the double amount of mana required to place the totems which will make the "Non-Channelling Skills have (-9–-8) to Total Mana Cost Bench Craft" or an Enduring Mana Flask necessary for more players.


DPS

DPS wise, I did some number crunching base on the following differences(Between the New and Old)

- No more 6% increased Damage per Enemy Killed by you or your Totems Recently(Pursuit of Faith)
- No more 10% increased Attack and Cast Speed while you have a Totem(Pursuit of Faith)
- No more Damage Penetrates 5% Elemental Resistances while you have a Power Charge(Conviction of Power)

- We gained 2% more Damage per Summoned Totem(Ritual of Awakening) (So 14% more wth 7 totems up)
- We gained 1 more Power Charge(Conviction of Power)

With the above changes applied to 3 Scenarios:

1. Against Normal Monsters

Although we lose the Pursuit of Faith's "6% increased Damage per Enemy Killed by you or your Totems Recently" but considering normal monster die pretty fast generally, the less damage isn't as big an impact in this scenario for many situations(Except on harder maps(like 100% delirium) and deeper delves where we want as much as DPS we can get)

2. Against Boss that has/generate some Normal Monster during the fight

Depending on how many Normal Monsters that the fight have access to, I would say on average its roughly around the same/slight bit lower in terms of DPS.

3. Against Boss without any Normal Minions during the fight

This is actually a DPS increase.


Overall, I think it averages out.


Conviction of Power

With regards to Conviction of Power changes, we now have permanent 4 Endurance and Power Charges!

I did a test just to confirm, took a +1 Minimum Endurance Charge notable(Disciple of the Unyielding) and it seems like after I generate the one Endurance Charge, it does carry across different instances, including my hideout!

This means before we set off to do anything for the day, just go to a random area to get the 4 minimum Endurance Charge(With an Enduring Cry Gem) and 4 minimum Power Charge(With Power Charge on Critical Gem) and we will permanently have those for the whole session.

Though the bad thing about the Conviction of Power change is the endurance charges no longer interact with Immortal Call, i.e. Immortal Call doesn't consume the Endurance Charge to buff itself so the CWDT + IC setup might not be that good now and we might want to switch to another alternative say CWDT + Steelskin. Will have to test and see.


Others

There have been speculation/mentions(Note: 100% talk, 0% fact!) that the "Skills that would Summon a Totem Summon two Totems instead" might be moved to a Keystone on the Passive Tree, I am not betting on it but I think that will be nice and allow more Ascendancy as viable options for Totem builds.

And I think it's good that at least we got to know about these Hiero changes earlier, and players have time to able to react to it, adjust to this change or change build etc. Imagine if we only got this information on Patch Notes Day(12th Jan), that will be so terrible!


TLDR

Build is not dead, DPS wise it averages out to be about the same, people who are used to playing the Totem build with Hiero will definitely feel bad being unable to place 2 Totem per Cast and feel the much slower Totem Setup speed thus clear speed, plus probably need to make some adjustments to support the mana required for additional Totem Cast.

Considering that all class/ascendancy is now equal in terms of being only able to put 1 totem per cast, I would see this as an opportunity to explore ascendancies outside of Hiero for this build.

3.12 Initial Thoughts/Comments

21st Sept 2020 - Alternate Quality(Inc Range) Ballista Totem Test

So we wanted to find out if the "Increased Range" of the new alternate quality Ballista Totem(Called Divergent Ballista Totem by the way) is referring to the Max Range that the totem can "see" for the purposes of targeting enemies with attacks.

To test this out I looked for an Enemy Totem since Totems can't move, which is perfect for the Test and tested the Maximum Range of both Ballista Totem.


Here's a picture showing a 14% Quality(which means 14% increased range) Divergent Ballista Totem shooting at the Enemy Totem




And Here's a picture showing the Original Totem shooting at the Enemy Totem with added notes/drawings highlighting the Maximum Range of each totem



Base on the Test Results, it shows that indeed, the "Increased Range" is referring to the Max Range that the totem can "see" for the purposes of targeting enemies with attacks which means this alternate quality is the best Ballista Totem option for us.

Lastly here's a link to the Divergent Ballista Totem Gem for those want to take a look

17th Sept 2020 - Alternate Quality Gems Comments(Last Update: 21st Sept)

These are the few that we will go for(For Ballista Totem, assuming it is as what I expect it to be)

- Frenzy - Alternate Quality 1: Fires an additional Projectile

We can then remove GMP and free up a Gem Slot.

(Update: 21st Sept 2020) - Name of Gem is Anomalous Frenzy



- Cast When Damage Taken - Alternate Quality 1: Supported Skills have 20% increased Skill Effect Duration

Longer Immortal Call, fantastic!

(Update: 21st Sept 2020) - Name of Gem is Anomalous Cast when Damage Taken Support



- Combustion - Alternate Quality 2: Supported Skills deal 20% increased Fire Damage, Ignites from Supported Skills deal Damage 10% slower

We don't deal much ignite damage so a slower ignite in exchange for 10% Increased Fire Damage is a great deal.

(Update: 21st Sept 2020) - Name of Gem is Divergent Combustion Support



- Ballista Totem: Alternate Quality 2: 20% increased Totem Range

This is different wording compared to the Ancestral Reach Notable which says "25% increased Totem Placement range" which by the way I tested it before it doesn't increase the range that we can place our Ballista Totem. If this quality refers to the aggro range which determines how far they can "see" for the purposes of targeting enemies with attacks, then this is awesome!

(Update: 21st Sept 2020) - Name of Gem is Divergent Ballista Totem and it's confirmed that it increases the "Aggro Range"

16th Sept 2020 - Patch Notes Comments(Last Update: 20th Sept)

Overall not too much changes to this build, main ones are the changes to curses and maybe a new skill implementation to our build.

New Skill

Flame Wall looks like it could work well with our build, will wait for Gem Info on the 17th to evaluate again.

(Update: 17th Sept 2020) - Tested the numbers with a 20/20 Flame Wall Gem, doesn't provide a big DPS increase, might be better if the Gem is linked to some Support Gems, but we might not have gem slot for that. Not implementing it for now.

Curses Outlook

Spoiler

Single Curse Setup
Considering we don't really need to Curse normal/magic mobs as they die pretty fast, this mean Curse for us are usually used versus Bosses or sometimes rares when they take a while to be killed. In this case we would like to maximize the effect a Curse provides for us which means going for Marks as they have 100% effect compared to 66%/33% effect Hex have on Bosses/Shaper respectively.

As for Mark choices, we have 2, Sniper's Mark and Assassin's Mark. Sniper's Mark looks to be a clear winner since Cursed enemies take 35% increased damage from projectile hits at gem level 20 taken is HUGE since it's multiplicative damage. Nevertheless I'll verify with POB in case I miss something.

Going for Mark also means we no longer need Curse on Hit gem as that doesn't work with Marks so we free up a Gem Slot for us to use.

(Update: 20th Sept 2020) Path of Building was updated with the latest Gem Info and it seems like Flammability Hex is still stronger than both Sniper's Mark and Assasin's Mark even with the 100% effect on Bosses/Shaper. We will stick to using Flammability Hex.
Refer to Announcement dated 25th Sept


Double Curse Setup
This will mean using 1 Mark(Sniper) + 1 Hex(Flammability) and that means an additional Gem Slot required. I'll have to play around to see if it's worth the Gem Slot cost.

(Update: 17th Sept 2020) This is worth going for.

(Update: 20th Sept 2020) We will be using either
- Flammability Hex + Elemental Weakness Hex or
- Flammability Hex + Sniper's Mark


Other Curse Related Info
There are some new "areas" in the Passive Tree for Curses, specifically

- Marked for Death(southeast of the Duelist)
- Mark the Weak(southeast of the Ranger)

Mark the Weak seems to be very strong as Marked enemies have reduced accuracy, take increased damage and cause hits against Marked Enemies to have increased Critical Strike Chance.

Mark for Death provides increased Effect of our Curses, Culling Strike against Marked enemies, and increased damage with Hits and Ailments against Enemies Marked us.

Both look very strong and definitely something I will look further into.
(Update: 17th Sept 2020) - Both not good enough to be worth pathing to.

Other Changes

Spoiler

Precision Gem
With these considered

- Nerfs to Crit Multiplier Precision mod on Watcher's Eye
- We are using Precision mainly for mods on the Watcher's Eye Jewel
- We don't have any spare Jewel Socket in our current Passive Tree for Watcher's Eye(Nearest costs 3 Passive Points)

My current plan is to drop it and replace it with Vaal Haste(Just for the Vaal Part) assuming there is no better options for the Gem Socket.

We currently have Berserk and when we use it, its also usually the time we will want to use Vaal Haste. Berserk multiplies the Speed provided by Vaal Haste so I think they synergizes very well with each other when both are used together.

On the other hand, if you manage to lay your hands on a Double/Triple Precision Watcher Eye, it's definitely still worth using a Precision Gem for it. We just don't use it by default.

(Update: 17th Sept 2020)I will be dropping Precision for Vaal Haste but will put a note to swap Vaal Haste for Precision for those who are using a Precision Watcher's Eye or just prefer 1 less button to press.


Glancing Blow Keystone Nerf

For those who are interested in the Iron Reflex Version of this build which uses this Keystone, I am not sure how good Glancing Blow will be after the nerf so I will label the Iron Reflex version as "Experimental" for now for those who are still interested in exploring it.

Ultimately we are not a tank build and the default build is still the Dodge version so this nerf doesn't affect us as much.

10th Sept 2020 - Replica Shroud of the Lightless

So GGG released this armour preview a few days back. This armour is very interesting because we don't use any Gems on our Body Armour slot so we can replace Kaom's Heart with this Armour easily.

My first impression is, it definitely will do a lot more Damage(With decent Abyssal Jewels) compared to Kaom's, but by how much? Since it will not be easy to get 6 decent Abyssal Jewels. I did a comparison to see and here goes...


The below comparison is using the Default 7 Totems EV Pastebin(Pre 3.12 Patch Notes) with some slight modifications(To get the 6 Jewel Sockets for the Abyss Jewels)

I will be comparing between:

A. Kaom's Heart with 40% Fire Damage

B. Kaom's Heart with 40% Fire Damage and 50% Increased Damage Corrupted Implicit

C. Shroud of the Lightless with 6 "Reasonable" Searching/Murderous Eye Jewel

Jewel stats as follows:
- +30 to maximum Life
- +10% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier
- +5% increased Attack Speed

This should be a Reasonably Obtainable Jewel that we can get 6 of in Heist(Assuming Trade Leagues)

D. Shroud of the Lightless with 6 Perfect Searching Eye Jewel

Jewel stats as follows:
- +40 to maximum Life
- Adds 18 to 32 Fire Damage to Bow Attacks
- +12% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier
- +5% increased Attack Speed

Just to see how the best case scenario looks like cos why not. This actually is definitely possible with Harvest League but unfortunately not quite with Heist(At least not 6 of)


Shaper DPS(Per Totem without Berserk active)
A. Kaom's Heart (40% Fire Damage) - 513k
B. Kaom's Heart (40% Fire Damage) with 50% Increased Damage Implicit - 541k
C. Shroud with 6 "Reasonable" Abyss Jewel - 630k
D. Shroud with 6 Perfect Abyss Jewel - 682k

Life
A/B. Kaom's Heart - 500(1300 with *160% Inc Life)
C. Shroud with 6 x 30 Life Jewel - 210(468 with *160% Inc Life)
D. Shroud with 6 x 40 Life Jewel - 240(624 with *160% Inc Life)

*From Passive Tree


Definitely quite a big increase in DPS with Shroud if you can get 6 decent Abyss Jewels but also quite a big tradeoff with the 832(1300 minus 468) less life. Obviously we can get even more DPS from a corrupted Shroud with **% Increased Damage Implicit like the Kaom's.

Overall I think it's definitely something to go for if one wishes to min max their DPS and don't mind the much lesser life.

"

Beverice wrote:

You could always just use a mana flask as well. That's how I dealt with my mana issues last league.

"

If anyone has some other ideas(Other than using an Enduring Mana Flask)

"

Beverice wrote:

The real thing I'm curious about is how chain breaker will interact with our totems costing 3 rage * multipliers

"

Kile18250 wrote:

Hi, thanks for the build, cant play a lot this season but have clean all the content on two first week with litterally no currencies PogU

At 3.14, some sources from reddit tells chainbreaker gonna be hard nerf, any solutions for replace it ?

"

bartpio wrote:

Remember there is still hope - Tier 4.

We still can count on have -9 mana cost on tier 4 craft, although who knows how it will work ...