How exactly does totem playstyle feel to play? Help create totem build!

Hi, everyone!

I never was into totems in this game, did not understand their mechanichs for it's full potential.
But I really like templar character design, also he really complements the totem style gameplay, so I decide to test it in the upcoming leage.

Watched some videos about this topic, really liked warp totem (also righteous fire looked not so bad) - looks like my own space kill sat :D

My understanding of totem builds in general goes like: you are obliged to drop your totems, lure mobs into their radius OR place totems in mob packs, you yourself are just moving around non-stop or controlling mobs with ele statuses. Drop totem -> Move non-stop -> Lure/control mobs.
Am I right? So you don't really need to tank/dodge alot of things, just big manapool (or walk the aether, but that's another story) to kite.
So, should I focus just on 2-3 skills in totem build? One - totem, second - movement, third - mob control?

Also, if I am going to play casting totems, I need high ele penetration?
I also noticed ancestral bond keystone, does it means that you cannot do any DoTs? Like with flame dash afterburn or with heralds or even with molten shield?

Can I create some sort of defensive bubble where I am safe and sound while my warping totems target enemies? Something like arctic armor + frost wall + molten shield/tempest shield (maybe + one more type of totem)?

Can I also add some minions to the mix? So, my totems are hunting mobs, I am sitting in my "bubble" and minions aggro+fear+blind everyone around me?
Another question is about equipment. What stats should I focus, beside the res/hp/mana? Something like % ele damage, added ele damage and global crit? Can somebody name really good uniques for such build? Should I go staves/wands/sceptre + shield?

Last but not least, skill forest. I want to take hierophant ascendancy with it's divine guidance and plus 2 totems. As for keystones would be cool to have mind over ammter and ancestral bond! But making a skill tree myself I end up with 140+ points. Can anybody make a little sample I could analyze to use points more effitiently?

Thanks for your time, folks!



TL:DR What is general playstyle with totem builds? How exactly does ancestral bond works here? How many skills should I use? What kind of equip I need look up to? What skill tree will serve me best (with hierophant's divine guidance and ritual + mind over matter + ancestral bond)?

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argonaftec wrote:

Hi everyone!

I never was into totems in this game, did not understand their mechanichs for it's full potential.
But I really like templar character design, also he really complements the totem style gameplay, so I decide to test it in the upcoming leage.

Watched some videos about this topic, really liked warp totem (also righteous fire looked not so bad) - looks like my own space kill sat :D

My understanding of totem builds in general goes like: you are obliged to drop your totems, lure mobs into their radius OR place totems in mob packs, you yourself are just moving around non-stop or controlling mobs with ele statuses. Drop totem -> Move non-stop -> Lure/control mobs.
Am I right? So you don't really need to tank/dodge alot of things, just big manapool (or walk the aether, but that's another story) to kite.
So, should I focus just on 2-3 skills in totem build? One - totem, second - movement, third - mob control?

You would be stupid as hell to place totems and then try to lure everything to them. Plan on being able to spam place them as much as necessary.

Plan on being tanky in some fashion. Going 2k effective hp with totems is a death sentence. You shouldn't have to constantly move around normal mobs.

Totems will definitely be your 5l or 6l. Movement skill kind of standard for any build. Control isn't really necessary.

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Also, if I am going to play casting totems, I need high ele penetration?
I also noticed ancestral bond keystone, does it means that you cannot do any DoTs? Like with flame dash afterburn or with heralds or even with molten shield?

Not sure about ele penetration. Depends on what skill you want to do.

You cannot do dot yourself so yes, flame dash and stuff does nothing. You can use traps if you so choose or minions. Heralds won't trigger since you aren't doing the kills. Not sure about molten shell.

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Can I create some sort of defensive bubble where I am safe and sound while my warping totems target enemies? Something like arctic armor + frost wall + molten shield/tempest shield (maybe + one more type of totem)?

Frost wall and tempest shield probably won't help much unless you are block heavy in tempest shield's case. AA and MS depends on end game setup.

"

Can I also add some minions to the mix? So, my totems are hunting mobs, I am sitting in my "bubble" and minions fear+blind everyone around me?
Another question is about equipment. What stats should I focus, beside the res/hp/mana? Something like % ele damage, added ele damage and global crit? Can somebody name really good uniques for such build? Should I go staves/wands/sceptre + shield?

You can use minions, but then you will want to invest in minion nodes as well, which will spread you thin. I personally would choose one or the other.

About gear, you haven't mentioned what skill you would like to totem so that is up in the air.

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Last but not least, skill forest. I want to take hierophant ascendancy with it's divine guidance and plus 2 totems. As for keystones would be cool to have mind over ammter and ancestral bond! But making a skill tree myself I end up with 140+ points. Can anybody make a little sample I could analyze to use points more effitiently?

Can't really help until we know what you want to do with the totems. What spell and crit based or no crit? I can start planning a generic totem build but can't do much else until we know more.

"

Frost wall and tempest shield probably won't help much unless you are block heavy in tempest shield's case. AA and MS depends on end game setup.

I am not really sure about my end game setup, in such I never reached more than 65 lvl, kinda new to the game, failed my 2 first builds spectacularly, settled for third one with Bowrauder, feels stable but boring. Want to focus now on my templar.

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You can use minions, but then you will want to invest in minion nodes as well, which will spread you thin. I personally would choose one or the other.

I thought of minions more like meatshields, not damage dealing, do they need alot of nodes to be minimally tanky?

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About gear, you haven't mentioned what skill you would like to totem so that is up in the air.

I have in mind those skills but can't choose: lightning warp (my favourite variant), righteous fire (second favourite), spark (or ball lightning, feels similiar), flameblast, searing bond, shock nova, vortex, raging spirits (would go with minion nodes, I think), arc. Hell, I really want lightning warp or righteous fire but what do you recommend?

About skill properties, I would focus on AoE + AoE damage and maybe some crit; in case of lightning warp totems I would also like cast speed.

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argonaftec wrote:

I thought of minions more like meatshields, not damage dealing, do they need alot of nodes to be minimally tanky?

Not really, but if you want distraction it's cheaper to use Chieftain and have totems taunt enemies, Scion can do that too with Champion passive but she's a bit lacking compared to other ascendancies. The disadvantage of Chieftain is you feel nudged to use fire skills.

Anyway, the point of a totemist is it leaves you free to run around so taunting totems or a meatshield aren't really a must. Meatshield is the most useful for builds that use skills that have a ramp-up, like Firestorm, Incinerate or Flameblast as your playing is more stationary with those.

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PleiadesBlackstar wrote:

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Can I also add some minions to the mix? So, my totems are hunting mobs, I am sitting in my "bubble" and minions fear+blind everyone around me?
Another question is about equipment. What stats should I focus, beside the res/hp/mana? Something like % ele damage, added ele damage and global crit? Can somebody name really good uniques for such build? Should I go staves/wands/sceptre + shield?

You can use minions, but then you will want to invest in minion nodes as well, which will spread you thin. I personally would choose one or the other.

Disagree somewhat with the minions. At least if you play HC. As Templar you can probably just get the 1.5% regen passive which makes the defensive minions Golem, Spectre, Animate Guardian survive very well. The cost - benefit ratio is IMO very good if you are not starved for gem slots. But you need to build/link the minions properly. Otherwise they will just die stupidly and you would be better off without them. Having more minions also helps to make them more survivable. Golem dies easier than spectre or Animated Guardian. Skeletons on cwdt can also help to distract mobs. And cost only 1 gem slot if you already use a cwdt.

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Zrevnur wrote:

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PleiadesBlackstar wrote:

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Can I also add some minions to the mix? So, my totems are hunting mobs, I am sitting in my "bubble" and minions fear+blind everyone around me?
Another question is about equipment. What stats should I focus, beside the res/hp/mana? Something like % ele damage, added ele damage and global crit? Can somebody name really good uniques for such build? Should I go staves/wands/sceptre + shield?

You can use minions, but then you will want to invest in minion nodes as well, which will spread you thin. I personally would choose one or the other.

Disagree somewhat with the minions. At least if you play HC. As Templar you can probably just get the 1.5% regen passive which makes the defensive minions Golem, Spectre, Animate Guardian survive very well. The cost - benefit ratio is IMO very good if you are not starved for gem slots. But you need to build/link the minions properly. Otherwise they will just die stupidly and you would be better off without them. Having more minions also helps to make them more survivable. Golem dies easier than spectre or Animated Guardian. Skeletons on cwdt can also help to distract mobs. And cost only 1 gem slot if you already use a cwdt.

I spoke of minions and totem builds from my experience which is usually why bother with minions when your totems (especially if aiming for more than 2 totems) has plenty of meat shield capability. Golems are fairly standard so I wasn't referring to them at all, just things like zombies. I find meat shields like zombies fairly worthless if you have to resurrect them after every small fight, which can happen often with little minion investment.

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PleiadesBlackstar wrote:

I find meat shields like zombies fairly worthless if you have to resurrect them after every small fight, which can happen often with little minion investment.

Zombies suck with small investment, but guardian and some spectres can be fairly durable with both minion regen nodes and linked to minion life and fortify.

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raics wrote:

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PleiadesBlackstar wrote:

I find meat shields like zombies fairly worthless if you have to resurrect them after every small fight, which can happen often with little minion investment.

Zombies suck with small investment, but guardian and some spectres can be fairly durable with both minion regen nodes and linked to minion life and fortify.

Yes to zombies needing investment - I didnt recommend them.
Regarding spectre & guardian: On my bow setup (doing only yellow maps with bow) I currently use them without any links nor auras. Since making this setup I have lost neither spectre (barring logout obviously) nor guardian. And I dont have any minion passives. Just flasks and IIRC 8% minion resistance on one jewel. For red maps they need to be linked/supported though. Ok or better kill speed is a requirement. If monsters (esp voidspawn) get too much time they will kill them.

Guys, I think, I will skip minions (though I noticed alot of good nodes along the path in skill forest).

Will this build work? I went for lightning warp as my main totem skill. Looked for some balance between mana/hp/ES. Bandit's: Oak/Alira, none, none.


Can you make good skill tree with totems as damaging sorce and minions as meatbags? With some ascendancy points and mind over matter keystone, please.

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argonaftec wrote:

Will this build work? I went for lightning warp as my main totem skill.

Can you link where you saw that one? No idea how good are warp totems these days and you might have been looking at an old build, the concept has certain problems these days.