[3.6-3.7 (Planned Update for 3.16) HC] Trickster DOT totems. Solid Clear, Fast leveling. Videos

I ripped to a lag spike, but here's what I used brand new in the league and it seemed to run pretty smoothly. This is from a Ed/Contagion build which worked just fine for me (until I eventually switch over) from Optaka:

"
Optaka wrote:
I threw together a leveling checklist to help out myself and the other peoples league starting this build.

General rule: Always be looking for movespeed boots at the start and items with more blue links. B-B-G is what you are looking for at the start of the game and as you level mo blue=mo better

Temporarily start as witch. Grab arcane surge from the beach. RIP to shiny new Murder Hillock.

Enter Lioneye’s watch. Sell all gear except wand and arcane surge and take blight for Hillock murder reward. Look for movespeed boots.

Start a shadow. Die to Hillock again. Take explosive trap. Equip blight with arcane surge as your trash clear and explosive trap as boss damage.

Go to tidal isle and RIP to Hailrake. Get quicksilver flask as reward. Take infused channeling and link to blight

Complete “Breaking some eggs” and take contagion as reward. Can now link contagion and arcane surge and drop this on packs as you run by. Explosive trap and blight provide extra boss damage. Alternatively, Frost bomb linked to onslaught is good for dropping on packs and getting the extra move speed from onslaught.

Grab the new dodge skill (dash or frostblink) for dodging nasty attacks and steelskin for when you can't dodge. NOTE: these are new so not sure exactly where you get them.

Make a +1 Chaos gems wand by vendoring one chaos gem (use your gems from the beach) with a blue wand in colors you want (G-B-B) if possible and socket contagion-blight.

Proceed to the prison. After killing Brutus take (G)Void manipulation and socket that into your +1 chaos wand. Links at this point should be Contagion-Blight-Void manipulation

Purchase flame dash and link to arcane surge. Also purchase wither and a second Void Manipulation. We can drop fire trap at this point. Wither won’t be used until we get spell totem from the library, but start putting experience on it now.

Upon reaching Mervail's caverns port back to town and get Essence drain.

At this point your ideal gem setups would be:

Spoiler
+1 chaos wand: Essence drain-contagion -Void Manipulation

+1 Chaos wand: blight-infused channeling-Void Manipulation

Wherever: Flame dash-arcane surge.


Most of the time you can still just drop contagion on packs and move along. Add in Essence drain and blight as needed for tougher packs/mobs. (NOTE: with the new monster health buffs in 3.7 this may no longer be possible) Essence drain and contagion combo is much slower to cast both so I avoid this until later when you have some cast speed.

After completing “The Root of the Problem” take Faster Casting and link it to your flame dash. Purchase 2 Controlled destruction gems, which should be linked to contagion and blight.

Gem links now:
Spoiler
+1 chaos wand: Blight-Controlled Destruction-Void Manipulation
+1 chaos wand: Contagion- Controlled Destruction-Void Manipulation
Wherever: Flame dash-faster casting-arcane surge
essence drain


At after completing “Lost in Love” take Bane as your reward and purchase the Malevolence aura and despair curse.

Ideal links are

Spoiler

+1 chaos wand: Blight-Controlled Destruction-Void Manipulation
Wherever: Bane-despair-void manipulation-controlled destruction.
Wherever: Flame dash-faster casting-arcane surge
essence drain


At this point Bane will be your trash clear and essence drain and blight will be our single target. Continue to level contagion in an off hand for now. As before, you can use contagion and essence drain if you prefer but I personally feel you need more cast speed first.

Once you reach the library and complete the quest there pick up spell totem and link it to wither. Efficacy and swift affliction are now good support options for your damaging skills.

After completing “Breaking the Seal” take the stone golem as your reward for more regen or flame golem for more damage. Linking this to a Cast When Damage Taken is nice quality-of-life improvement. You can also pick up Phase run at this point for more zoom-zoom.

Once you feel your cast speed is high enough to comfortably cast contagion and essence drain combo you can switch over to that and drop bane. Once you do this you will need a different way to curse enemies with Despair.
Last edited by seigejet on Jun 10, 2019, 7:41:32 AM
I have a question for anyone using this build in legion. I was wondering how well this build does for clearing the legion mechanic. I know ed contagion wrecks those things hard so I was thinking this should as well maybe. Also has anyone tried self cast contagion with ed totem and soulrend I know you deal no dam with spell but the contagion effect should apply right?
Can confirm that the totems do a decent job of waking up the legions and clearing them out. (At least so far). I haven't actually tried self cast contagion with totem ED. It's an interesting idea. Not sure if it would be fun or clunky. If you try it out, please let us know.

-O
Re: Blight vs. Wither

After some further experimentation, my favorite set-up is blight, but only with an inc AOE in the links. Now looks like Blight>Spell totem>Multi totem>Inc AOE. Guide has been updated.

Re xp/hour: A few folks have asked how to get to that 400M+ figure. Three key steps:

1. Alc your maps for pack size
2. Run the lowest tier map you can without taking an xp penalty
3. Don't dawdle.

-O
Last edited by Orion72 on Jun 13, 2019, 12:23:44 PM
Just wanted to say thanks for the great build.Just hit 90 on HC shaped my atlas and made around 15 exalts :) ..Works really well with the league mechanic aswell as the totems just melt everything.
Last edited by Bossma007 on Jun 13, 2019, 8:21:58 AM
I'm currently running a six linked Cane of Unravelling staff and cast my curses via bane until I get the right gloves. Still debating if I should try to get a six linked staff with despair on hit or try to craft it. Build has been a blast since I got the Rain of Splinters, but before then I struggled quite hard :D For low tier maps I swap out void manipulation for LMP because it just wrecks everything and it's easier to get the legion down. Delving is super fun with this build, I currently got to depth 110 and hit lvl 90 yesterday. Only now some mobs are hitting hard and I sometimes have to play it classic totem style with hiding behind walls haha! So far I have no problem with bosses though, I mostly don't realize there are bosses standing until they go down (Alzheimer league did its toll on me and I forget quite easily which boss is on which map).
My gear is still shit (still running a Mindspiral helmet which is awesome for leveling btw) but there is just so much potential for this build. I just wanted to give a quick feedback to this guide in case anyone wonders if it's fun to play :) I was running a tabula from my first maps until only recently and my six linked Cane cost me 3ex, but I had no troubles progressing with a six socket 2L cwdt-immortal call and any 4link in the staff with soulrend in Chest 6L. Would definitely recommend as a league starter but I would suggest just playing Essence Drain and NOT rushing to Ancestral Bond until you have Rain of Splinters! I think it took about 2 days into league start for me to finally get one for 8 chaos. Great guide, exactly what I was looking for, 1000% fun potential with cat soulrend :D
Very glad you are both having fun with the build. Appreciate feedback on leveling pre-ROS--I agree that it is not as much fun until you have that jewel. Go get em!

-O
And we just got our explosions back on Asenath's Gentle Touch Silk Gloves.
I got a pair of asenath gloves and they absolutely wreck me and my totems. the explosions seem to do damage to me and totems. Is there any advice? im on console and its hard place totems where you want. As it stands now I cannot run those gloves the do way too much damage to me and my totems.
Re: Asenath's gloves

They just fixed this bug in the last patch, at least for pc. I am using Asenath's now and they are marvelous. Hopefully either you are reporting what happened before the patch or they patch the console version soon.

-O

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