Spell Totem

Trying out again a Spell Totem Build they're way too weak and die too easily compared to the dedicated Skill Totems. Even a gradual lesser penalty (Up to 10% less Cast Speed instead at Level 21 Totems) While I do get that Placement Speed is a more usable "All-Purpose" Quality effect the Life Boost much like the regular Skill Totems as well.

This also applies to Ranged Attack Totems in a way I guess.

Inquisitor with inevitable judgment, using ice nova with dual spell totem. 75 % Crit with 500 % crit multi. It clears groups quite well, but takes forever on rares and bosses.

Switched ice nova for shockwave totem and spell totem for phys to lightning and I've suddenly doubled or trippled my dmg (and can even use taste of hate). Same build otherwise. I was so angry, realizing I wasted so much time when I could have it so much easier. Screw you, spell totem.

how do you guys get flask charges with totem ?! ..

does criticals from totem spells/skills being used for flasks with surgeon mod ?!

For Flask charge generation Totems,Minions & Traps give kills to you which will generate the charges. Surgeon Mod is useless for Totem Builds though.

"Spell Totem Support now has a smaller damage penalty, at level 1 it has changed from 50% less to 35% less. At level 20 it has changed from 31% less to 26% less.
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This means now spell totem deals

0.74 (damage penalty) * 0.5 (cast speed) * 2 (number of totems) * gem slot (0.5*)(*0.7 for some skills)
= 0.37

So basically totem builds deals 37% of self attack and cast builds.

If you have 3 full damage totem from the unique chest, then around 65% of self attack and cast builds.

Since GGG has nerfed the totem see range, and in addition, GGG has changed so that when the totems are off screen, they do not deal any damage since the change, so players are forced to be close to the enemies. Totem builds are like semi-melee builds like ground slam now, and still they deal only 37 % of damage with 2 totems.


Now, I suggest to increase the base totem see range for 10% to equivalent to the non totem support builds.

Edit :Current zoom setting does not allow totem builds to be ranged. When monsters are in screen, already when you place totems, monsters are in close combat range. For totem builds to be semi-ranged, it requires around + 80 totem placement speed, which can only be gotten from the bad totem nodes. Why bad?

If you pick up a lot of totem nodes, there would be no diversity in builds, and most build get good DPS from other passives, specifically notable nodes with mechanism, so putting a lot of points in totem nodes prevent to put points in other nodes for other mechanism.

So, alternatively, to solve the current problems, it is reasonable to give +40% totem placement speed for 20/20 totem support gems.

Or it is recommended to introduce uniques with totem placement speed boosts.

"Spells Cast by Totem have 30% less Cast Speed" so the math isn't accurate

0.74 * 0.7 = 51.8%

Of course, you're loosing one gem slot in the process but getting, in exchange, general safety, time to cast curses/utility spells and totem nodes which always pack higher values than their equivalents. All in all I would say that it leaves you in a good position if you like the playstyle

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xmaniac wrote:

"Spells Cast by Totem have 30% less Cast Speed" so the math isn't accurate

0.74 * 0.7 = 51.8%

Of course, you're loosing one gem slot in the process but getting, in exchange, general safety, time to cast curses/utility spells and totem nodes which always pack higher values than their equivalents. All in all I would say that it leaves you in a good position if you like the playstyle

Can you show any specific example of totem builds that deal 50% of damage of self cast casters? I am almost certain there are not a single such build. On sheet you might achieve 50% for only a part of gems, but in reality there aren't.

If I ask if there are any spell totem build that provide 50% of clear speed of self casters, that probably is even less possible.


Edit: Indeed it is players choice and preference to play spell totem builds, but dealing maximum of 50% of damage and considering even if spell totem could have 100% of damage, the clear speed would be the half of self cast casters, the overall clearing speed of spell totem seems to be 0.5 * 0.5 = 25% of self casters, which for the most spell totem players agree with from the real in game experiences.

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xmaniac wrote:

"Spells Cast by Totem have 30% less Cast Speed" so the math isn't accurate

0.74 * 0.7 = 51.8%

Of course, you're loosing one gem slot in the process but getting, in exchange, general safety, time to cast curses/utility spells and totem nodes which always pack higher values than their equivalents. All in all I would say that it leaves you in a good position if you like the playstyle

I dislike that kind of reasoning.
True, having totems enables you to play a save style - but if you don't run a crit totem build you have to invest heavily into totems to overcome the immense penalty of using spell totem and losing out on 1 gem slot.
If I use your train of thought every build that has a rather save style like animate weapon, melee totem builds or summoners need to get a penalty similar to using spell totem.
Did you take a look at ancestral warchief and how ungodly good that totem is compared to a spell totem an its heavy drawbacks?

The assumption that totems builds are safe is false.

In prophecy I played a self cast blade vortex build, and also I have a firestorm totem build in permanent league, both of them are around lv.90, 6L, good armour rating.

Both has good single target damages, neither have reflect issues at all, and both are semi-melee ranged builds.

Assuming the player has general knowledge of the in game enemies and mechanism, the difference is, VB build has almost no safety issue in any scenarios while the totem build has a lot of safety issues in many scenarios.

There are many players who prefer to play spell totem builds a lot, and also there are many players who rarely play spell totem builds. Both of them tend to say totem is safer than self cast, but it is not true.

To add a minor issue, the firestorm totem build clears like 20% of speed of the VB self-cast build. I would say if you choose to play slower build is matter of taste, but spell totem builds has no pros playing slower at the moment.

I know GGG has some players playing ladders but they only play fast clearing builds, so I suggest to update the knowledge about the spell totem builds internally in GGG. I also suggest compare any VB build and any spell totem build to compare as to the safety level of spell totem builds. It wont take time and the result is obvious.

Please buff Spell Totem gem life or resistances or both. They die way to fast in comparison to their dedicate cousins such as Flame Totem, Shockwave Totem, etc.