How to faceroll Hardcore: Totem Templar Build

I notice that there are no real totem templar builds on this forum, so decided to give it a shot. If you follow this build, you'll be starting off pretty slow. But once you reach level 31, the fun begins. Feedback is appreciated, feel free to discuss possible fun spell totem combinations!

Pros of this build:
- High survivability. You can stand on the other side of the room from enemies and still fight them.
- Relatively high damage output.
- Very versatile. You can adapt to party situations by providing tank totems, heal totems, damage-dealing totems or crowd control totems.

Cons of this build:
- Starts off pretty slow, you'll only see the true potential of this build at level 31.
- Soloing is generally quite slow (but safe), and you may want to join parties to speed progress through missions.

The base of this build is the following:


IMPORTANT: DO NOT GET THE ANCESTRAL BOND PASSIVE UNTIL AT LEAST LEVEL 31! If you get this keystone passive before level 31, you will be relying solely on the shockwave totem's abysmal damage to kill enemies. Before getting it even when reaching level 31, get a sense of where to place your totems to efficiently deal damage while avoiding death. Once you get this passive, you will be relying solely on your totems.

After this, you can go pretty much anywhere. I would recommend going for minion and/or curse nodes.

Curse + Minion + Totem end-game build:
It focuses on minion life instead of damage. Summon Skeletons spell totems re-summon skeletons often before they get a chance to attack.


Skill Gems

You will be getting Ancestral Bond, so skills directly used by your hero will do no damage. However, this doesn't mean your hero is useless. You can still deal damage by placing traps, summoning minions and using totems.

Clarity = Definitely needed to maintain your use of totems.
Rejuvination Totem = Your healing totems, generally only used in party situations.
Shockwave Totem = Your crowd control totem. Great for splitting enemies apart so you can deal with them 1v1.
Decoy Totem = Your tanking totem. It has more health than other totems, and can be used to draw fire away from other totems, or to force melee enemies to run around mindlessly towards wherever you summon it.

Spell totem can be used as you please. Some popular combos include:
Spell Totem + Spark + Fork
Spell Totem + Freezing Pulse + Lesser/Greater Projectiles
Spell Totem + Summon Skeletons + Minion Life/Damage
Spell Totem + Ice Nova

Flame totem is your main damage dealer, and also has some pretty fun combos. I would recommend trying the following:
Lesser/Greater multiple projectiles are a must here. Use reduced mana as well if you are having mana issues through using this spell.

Flame Totem + LMP/GMP + Fork: Not so good for single enemies, but great at dealing with packs.
Flame Totem + LMP/GMP + Chance to Flee: Melee enemies will never reach your flame totem. Note this is an extremely safe combo, but slows down your killing ability tremendously.
Flame Totem + LMP/GMP + Fire Penetration: Fire penetration will increase the damage of your flame totem further.

Gear

Since you have Ancestral Bond and can't deal any damage yourself, you should mainly just be looking for gear that allows you to take enemy hits if required. I would recommend using armour/energy shield gear.

Spell damage will also benefit the damage of your Spell Totem spells, so use a wand and any other gear that will give you spell damage.

This build is very specific about which colour/link sockets are needed in your gear, so keep an eye out for the required sockets, even if it's on a white.


Bandit Quest Rewards

Normal Difficulty: +40 hp from Oak. Plenty of %life nodes near the templar tree.
Cruel Difficulty: Skill point, though 4% cast speed from Alira is not a bad choice.
Merciless Difficulty: Skill point, you won't be using charges.


Totem-Related FAQ

I'll answer some pretty popular questions about this build here, so please read before posting.

Q: How can I increase the damage and life of my totems?

A: The obvious answer is to level up the totem gems and related passives in the skill tree. Getting spell damage from passives and gear properties also increases damage of spells used through Spell Totem and the damage of Flame Totem.


Q: Do auras affect my totems?

A: As much as this would be nice (imagine totems with energy shield!), auras do not work on your totems.


Q: How should I be using my totems?

A: A good strategy is to put a decoy totem and a flame totem down together, allowing the flame totem to deal damage while the decoy totem tanks. A summon skeletons spell totem can replace decoy totem if placed where enemies will not attack it.


Q: You seem to have completely ignored the Devouring Totem in this build, why is that?

A: The Devouring Totem consumes corpses to heal your hero, beginning at 25 health per corpse at level 1. Not only does it consume corpses, hindering summoners in your party, but in all honesty you are better off using the much more reliable rejuvination totem for healing.

Bump, I've been testing out some combinations with flame totems. Some of these seem promising. Note that all of these are with lesser multiple projectiles also equipped.

Flame totem + Chance to flee = melee enemies will never reach your totem.
Flame totem + Chance to ignite = due to the rapid attacks, enemies will always be ignited.
Flame totem + Fire penetration = allows your flame totems to deal extra damage.

One little thing to note - you don't actually want to start out directly with the build core you have linked. You'll complete that by midway through the twenties range of levels, but you can't use offensive totems (except Shockwave Totem) until level 31, so you definitely don't want to actually put the point into double totems until at least that point. Even then, I think it's better to play around a little and get a sense of whether your totems are at a place where you could realistically expect them to be carrying you.

You wrote that spell damage nodes increase the damage of your spell totems. Clear. However you didn't mention the Flame Totem there, so do spell damage nodes and equipment alos buff your Flame Totem?

Is it viable to use two different Flame Totems?
I was think about:
Flame Totem 1: LMP/GMP - Chance to Ignite - Fire Penetration - Reduced Mana
Flame Totem 2: LMP/GMP - Chance to Flee - Fire Penetration - Reduced Mana

I'd place them near to each other so enemies will run araound while taking burn damage.

Yeah, you definitely do not want to get the Ancestral Bond keystone passive until you reach 31, I should have added that in the main post. If you get it before level 31, you'll be relying solely on shockwave totem's abysmal damage to kill enemies.

Recent testing leads me to believe that spell damage does indeed increase the damage of your fire totems as well as spells linked to spell totems. It is very much viable to use multiple flame totems if you have the gems, but it does mean that your gear will need very specific sockets.

I was thinking about seeing what this combination would do tomorrow. Do you think it would restore health to the totem, your hero, or just not work at all?

Flame Totem + LMP/GMP + Life on Hit

If it works on the totem, it can sustain itself from anything but huge burst damage. If it works on your hero, then there is no need for rejuvination totem (other than to heal party members / summons)

Wouldn't Added Lightning Damage work with the flame totems as well to get shock stacks? The totems attack incredibly fast and it seems like it'd stack up quickly (especially with a point or two in the 10% shock chance passives).

Does spell crit chance apply to your totems attacks as well, such as flame totem?

You've inspired me to roll a totem templar.

I hope you finish out your build soon!

I noticed flame totems do not have the biggest range. I believe in A3 merciless the flame totems will get owned by the ranged mobs.

Afaik, elemental nodes don't affect totems? Why have you chosen fire elemental+ at the beginning of the Templar tree?