Help with Cheap Hardcore Totem build?

Hi all,

I saw a bunch of different totem builds and am not sure which one to follow.

My main goals are:

Able to hit 90+ in HC
Tanky, safe
Budget build
Able to do Uber Lab/Endgame maps (not looking for Atziri/Guardian/Shaper viable at the moment)
OKish Clearspeed, doesn't have to be meta

The totems I am looking at are Flame, Flameblast, and Ancestral Warchief.

I'm not sure which build to follow since there are so many :(

Just looking for something relatively cheap and safe, maybe 1-2 ex budget with potential for more later on.

Any help would be appreciated!
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Last bumped on Apr 10, 2017, 12:02:38 PM
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Can't do much wrong with a Flame Totem Chieftain. Them taunting Flame Totems (after Cruel Lab) will make sure you'll be playing mostly unmolested. ;)

While it's very cheap to get going, for late endgame content you'll want to to invest in a 6l Infernal Mantle and Tukohama's Fortress to make this build really shine. You have the choice between Crit or Elemental Overload... while crit yields more damage, the non-crit variant is cheaper/easier to gear and indeed tankier as you can invest in a lot more life nodes rather than in crit chance/multi.
Last edited by tomay on Apr 8, 2017, 4:00:28 PM
Instead of flame totem I would suggest Incinerate Totems. Much cheaper and you can also benefit from chieftain ascendencies. Can also do any t15 content.
Incinerate Totems is always an option, the tree is identical really. But you will need to reserve two jewel sockets for Spire of Stones (stun immunity) and Rain of Splinters (two projectiles) which could be used for 2 x 7% max life jewels otherwise... not unimportant in HC. ;)

How Incinerate is cheaper I don't see though... with Incinerate Totems you must really focus on a lot of cast speed on your gear so the totems get to the last Incinerate stage as quick as possible while for ordinary Flame Totems cast speed is a welcome bonus but not essential.

As for late game content, my lvl 96 FT Chieftain can do the Guardians rather easy (with the exception of Hydra with its high fire resistance).
Last edited by tomay on Apr 9, 2017, 5:50:36 AM
Thanks for the replies :)

I'm sitting at 66 at the moment and not sure how to make it better yet.

My gear at the moment:

Spoiler



My tree at the moment has the right "base" for going either crit or non-crit, although I am leaning towards non-crit due to wanting to survive hits.

Spoiler
https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAEDAASzBg4J9gthDjwQzBEtFCAUcRkuGj4lvCftKS4qEyu2LJwspzLRNZI64TwtPfxFR0bXSsRXDVhjWOVaK15dXz9j_WZUZp5oZWjycYVyD3rmeyB8g3y4ffWCB4Kbg1-DzIV7jEaUb5o7ogCj8qZXp5SvbLc-uX7AZsRYxPbGBMauxtjR_dIh1HzYvdlh2XzbT9-_4MPhc-vu7DjvDvAf8azyL_JB8kXzm_ZI9q74k_4K_o8=


I am using Rain of Splinters at the moment, haven't thought about Spire of Stones. Would you recommend getting both or dropping them in favor of Life/Damage/Res?

Also, is it better to have a CWDT IC setup or rather spam Enduring Cry?

My main idea for links are as follows:

Flame Totem - Fire Penetration - Faster Proj - Faster Casting - Controlled Destruction - Elemental Focus
CWDT - Arctic Breath - Summon Skeleton - GMP
CWC - Wither - Detonate Dead - Flammability (corpse clearing + debuff)

Then either Flame Dash or Shield Charge Fortify depending on weapon.

There's obviously a lot of changes I need to make when I hit 70, my plans are obviously to drop the weapon for something different. Someone suggested Apep's Rage and another the Consuming Dark Dagger.

Any idea which is better?

Aside from Infernal Mantle I'm looking at Lioneye's Remorse as a shield.
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Don't use Rain of Splinters for regular Flame Totems, the damage penalty is much too severe. Spire of Stone is only required for Incinerate Totems so they cannot be stunned while ramping up their damage, again, not needed for regular Flame Totems.

Lioneye's Remorse is a cheap and solid choice but ultimately you really want Tukohama's Fortress.

Your tree looks OK so far, just refund the 2 x 10% Totem Damage from the Totemic Mastery cluster and get the 2 x cast speed instead. From Occultist Dominion, make your way up to Heart of Flames via Fire Walker and Cruel Preparation. Also get Quick Recovery and most important Elemenmtal Overload, use Orb of Storm (with Incr Crit Strikes) to trigger it.

As for your Ascendancies, leave Hinekora for last and get Tukohama as soon as possible. Life Leech from Totems is nice but by no means as important as Taunt for.

Keep in Mind that your totems can no longer ignite with Elemental Focus so you will lose the benefits from Ngamahu but this can be remedied with a nicely pimped Flame Golem: GMP (can be switched for Culling Strike at bosses), Spell Echo, Chance to Ignite will turn him into a formidable igniter. ;)
Last edited by tomay on Apr 10, 2017, 11:38:14 AM
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tomay wrote:
Don't used Rain of Splinters for regular Flame Totems, the damage penalty is much too severe. Spire of Stone is only required for Incinerate Totems so they cannot be stunned while ramping up their damage, again, not needed for regular Flame Totems.

Lioneye's Remorse is a cheap and solid choice but ultimately you really want Tukohama's Fortress.

Your tree looks OK so far, just refund the 2 x 10% Totem Damage from the Totemic Mastery cluster and get the 2 x cast speed instead. From Occultist Dominion, make your way up to Heart of Flames via Fire Walker and Cruel Preparation. Also get Quick Recovery and most important Elemenmtal Overload, use Orb of Storm (with Incr Crit Strikes) to trigger it.

As for your Ascendancies, leave Hinekora for last and get Tukohama as soon as possible. Life Leech from Totems is nice but by no means as important as Taunt for.

Keep in Mind that your totems can no longer ignite with Elemental Focus so you will lose the benefits from Ngamahu but this can be remedied with a nicely pimped Flame Golem: GMP (can be switched for Culling Strike at bosses), Spell Echo, Chance to Ignite will turn him into a formidable igniter. ;)


I had a Tukohama's drop from me in week 1 in LSC, wish I had it for HC Q.Q

I thought that since I am a non-crit build, I shouldn't focus on Elemental Overload? Or am I missing something?

So taunt is better than leech? Will have to get them in that order then when I do Cruel and Merc.

I dropped Elemental Focus at the moment so the totems still ignite. Still working on optimizing my gems for 70+.

What weapon do you think I should use? Apep's Rage, Consuming Dark, or a Rare Sceptre?

Thanks!!!
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Darksagex wrote:
I thought that since I am a non-crit build, I shouldn't focus on Elemental Overload? Or am I missing something?


On the contrary... Elemental Overload requires YOU (not the totems) to deal critical strikes, this can be done quite reliably with Orb of Storms (or Spark) + Incr. Crit Strikes. Although you do not deal any damage yourself with Ancestral Bond it is the hit that counts and not the damage. When EO is procced your totems will deal 40% MORE damage which is quite a massive boost. With EO any critical strikes your totems may land will not deal any extra damage (by default 50% before additional crit multipliers) but as a non-crit build they are quite rare anyway so the boost from EO over 8 seonds is quite substantial.

"
Darksagex wrote:
I dropped Elemental Focus at the moment so the totems still ignite.


Don't!!! The bonus from EF is too good to be missed out on. 49% MORE damage is much much more than the 35% increased damage vs burning enemies from the Ngamahu ascendancy. As I said, use your Flame Golem as igniter (with chance to Ignite), if you don't have enough sockets leave out Spell Echo and GMP, he will still ignite bosses reliably and this is where you want to bring to bear any damage modifier you can muster. With Spell Echo and GMP the golem will ignite large packs as well. GMP can be replaced with Culling Strike for bosses.

"
Darksagex wrote:
So taunt is better than leech?


By a country mile. 1% leech is a nice addition to your considerable life regeneration but taunted enemies and bosses in particular are much safer to deal with, they lose all interest in you and should you get hit by some AoE shenanigans, Taunt also reduces that damage. The leech from Hinekora only shines with capped crit chance and Atziri's Acuity otherwise it's just a nice bonus in late game but by no means a "life saver".

As for the weapon, my preference would be a scepter as it gives the choice between Shield Charge and Leap Slam. Doon or Doryani's are both good choices unless you can get your hands on a b@d@$$ rare. ;)
Last edited by tomay on Apr 10, 2017, 12:21:22 PM

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