[0.11.0] v1.12 ~HC/Lagger Friendly~ Dual Elemental Hit Totem + Tri-Curse, Traps, Frost Wall

Witch variation as hardcore support: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/428093





First off, I'd like to say that this is no perfect guide or anything. I just thought I'd share my build, and yes, there will be parts where it can be improved. So if you find out anything that will make this build better, I would gladly take a look at it and consider adding it on.

Intro:
This is a build I came up with because I enjoy using the skill Elemental Hit. It mainly revolves around the idea of having dual EH totems as your main AoE DPS, and Bear Traps as single target DPS.
What makes this build such an effective source of AoE DPS is mainly the support gem Elemental Proliferation. This allows any status ailments inflicted on enemies to affect others in a certain radius (mainly focusing on shock stacks).
Shock status increases the damage taken by 40%, and can stack up to 3 times. Traps/Curses are used as well. Oh, and I am playing in HC, so it is definitely viable in HC.



Pros:
Safe/Defensive
Triple curses that never expire
Easy to make changes
Status ailments

Cons:
Quite equip dependent
Hard to face a single target that has the Purity aura and Life leech
Magic attacks rape your totem if you don't use Frost Wall
Life is rather low IMO (unless you go to the Marauder side rather than Iron Reflexes)
- I have ~3.3k at level 80

Reasons why I chose to go with this build:
I lag - especially in parties, I'm literally watching a slideshow with 3 FPS. Having totems that inflict 3X Shocks is probably the most effective way I can contribute to my party
Safety - having both life totem nodes makes face tanking rhoa charges or goatmen leaps seem like nothing (for the totems that is)
I enjoy the skill EH
Reflect won't kill me
Triple Curses
Frost Wall - refer to tactics section below
I get to travel across the whole passive tree while getting useful nodes on the way

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Main Keystones:
Ancestral Bond
Eldritch Battery
Iron Reflexes
Hex Master
Whispers of Doom
Inner Force
Mana Flows
Unwavering Stance*


*Not too sure on US yet, because I never get hit by attacks that stun in my own experience.

Build:

20 Points
40 Points
60 Points
80 Points
END GAME
END GAME v2

v2 yields more DPS through more WED and a few Crit nodes with the tradeoff being HP.

Alternative Build:
This build yields more HP at the cost of IR, US, and potentially an aura due to the lack of Mana nodes. You might need some DEX equips to sustain EH and other supports if you choose to go this build.



Early Game Tips:
Your main objective early on is to stay alive. You won't be able to use dual totems off the bat at 31 and make it effective, so from level 1-30 (or until you can make the build work well, really), I would suggest going with Ice Spear or Fireball as your single target DPS, and Ice Nova as your AoE. An alternative would be to use both Ice Spear and Fireball, and put an LMP gem into one of them as your AoE instead.

If this is your first character and you really want to go this build, you should really consider doing this into your upper 50's or even 60's. Either that, or you would have to spend quite a bit of time farming the equips you need in order to make this build work effectively.

If you opt to use EH the moment you hit 19, you should be grabbing the Agility Node (+30 DEX) that is near Inner Force. This will help with your early-game DEX crisis, until you beeline for IR.

The Importance of Quality:
Know your needs, and don't overspend. If you're a new player, try to spread your wealth amongst your equips and non-Q gems before investing any into quality. And when the time comes to get some Q gems, prioritize effectiveness/needs:

Rating from 5 = Extremely Important to 0 = Not Important at all
(This is my opinion, if you choose to put a little twist into the build, your priorities may differ)


[6] Temporal Chains: 0.5% slower effects per Q.
[6] Elemental Weakness: 0.5% less elemental resistance per Q.
[6] Enfeeble: 1.5% reduced Accuracy Rating per Q.
[5] Elemental Hit: 4% Increase Chance to Crit per Q.
[4.5] Bear Trap: 0.75% Increase Phys Damage per Q.
[4.5] Added Fire: 0.75% Increase Fire Damage per Q.
[4] GMP: 0.5% iAS per Q
[4] Faster Attacks: 0.5% iAS per Q
[4] Frost Wall: +0.75 units Wall length per Q.
[2] Ranged Attack Totem: 1.5% duration per Q

[0] Chain
[0] Elemental Proliferation
[0] Auras
[0] Reduced Mana
[0] Blood Magic


Explanation:
Auras only increase AoE for quality, and for solo play, this is completely useless. Even in parties, having a high level gem has massive AoE (not to mention other people running the same auras).

By the time your status ailment expires, you would have already inflicted another one by then. A small percentage of a few seconds is not worth spending much on.

Reduced Mana: Quality is super expensive, and it does not work with mana reserves from auras. If you want to replace something in the EH link with it, it's possible.

Blood Magic: You will never be on low life.

Chain: Projectile speed doesn't help this build as much as others (EK/FP) because the projectiles by default can go off screen already.


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Note that the DPS calculation doesn't accurately calculate the DPS of EH

Bow & Quiver vs. Wand & Shield:
This spec works with both actually. If you want to dish out more DPS, go for Bow & Quiver; the base damage on a bow is higher than that of a wand (plus, you can get some nice offensive mods on a quiver such as crit, WED). The only reason why the above comparison is showing that a Wand out DPS's a Bow is because my old Bow was pretty crappy (as you can see below). As well, I had a few equip changes during the taking of the two comparisons.

The smart thing to do is to have both; one set as main, the other as secondary. A shield is undeniably one of the best defenses you can get in HC, which is why I'm currently using it while running maps. Gaining more armor means more damage reduction, and more ES (if you choose to get an Archon Kite Shield) means more mana pool, thanks to Eldritch Battery.

[Updated 03/21] One thing I'd like to note is Poison Arrow. I've tested it out, and Poison Arrow's DoT actually does damage, ignoring the Ancestral Bond downside. This might be another reason why you might want to choose Bow and Quiver over Wand and Shield. You will have lots to do as a dual totem build: tri-curse, frost wall, traps, poison arrow. You could potentially scrap a set of auras and decide to buff up poison arrow instead (with AoE, LMP, etc.)

Auras:
You don't have to choose exactly what I have chosen. It's pretty much preference. You may choose to run Blood Magic on one or two auras because you don't have enough mana pool to sustain X amount of auras. I've been playing around with this too, and I ended up taking out Wrath for Purity (Haste later when I decide to chromatic my equip). With Wrath instead of another 40% aura (29% after Reduced Mana), I will have about 750 mana, which is way more than I need. With another 40% aura, I' down to almost 400; this is enough to summon one totem and curse/trap, or wait a few seconds for my mana to regenerate for my second totem. However, doing this, I had to run Discipline on Blood Magic.


End game (Passive Tree Only):
HP increase: 220%
HP Regen: 2.5%
Increase Mana Regen Rate: 100%
Increase Max Mana: 40% + 20 Base
Increase WED: 81%
Increase Resistance: 25% All, 5% Max
Increase Chaos Res: 16%
Increase Armor: 84%
Increase Max ES: 44%
Increase ASPD: 27%
Increase Totem Life: 44%
Increase Totem Range: 15%
Increase Totem Duration: 22%
Increase Buff Effects: 30%

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HP at level 80: ~3.3k
MP at level 80: ~2.2k, ~400 after reserves
This HP is with the equips listed below; only about 2/3 of my equips have HP on them.




Bandits:
Normal - Help Oak (40 HP)
Cruel - Help Kraityn/Kill All (6% ASPD/1 SP)
Merciless - Kill All (1 SP)


Current Equips:


Old Equips:


End Game Goal on Equips:



What to look for on equips:
1) HP/Res/Armor - like all other builds, building survivability is #1, even if you're playing such a safe build like this one.
2) Attack Speed - the faster your totems attack, the more chances you can score elemental ailments over a short period of time.
3) Critical Chance - each critical strike that is dealt inflicts a status ailment on the enemy
4) Elemental Mods - to boost your DPS


Current Gem Build:
[6L Chest] EH --> Chain + GMP + Faster Attacks + Ele Prolif + Ranged Totem (-Chain/FA for 5L)
[4L] Bear Trap/Fire Trap --> Culling Strike + Added Fire
[4L] Reduced Mana --> Wrath/Anger/Grace
[4L] Reduced Mana --> Determination/Haste/Elemental Weakness
[3S Wand] Temporal Chains, Enfeeble, Frost Wall
[3L Shield] Reduced Mana/Blood Magic --> Purity

Please note that this is just what works for me. You may not have the mana pool (or have more of) and your aura choice may vary as mentioned previously.

Viable Gems:
WED, Added Lightning, Raise Spectre/Zombie, Additional Accuracy, Increase Crit Chance, Poison Arrow

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Tactics:
For maps, what I generally do is totem every corner/new entrance and try to be defensive. I will almost never run in without knowing what/how many mobs are in there, gather them all, and set totems.

Abuse Frost Wall: Casting this skill near the enemy will cause them to flee, but my main purpose of FW is not that; I use FW to block magic projectiles. Also, if I miss my Bear Trap, I can use FW to push the enemy back into it.
Watch your Mana: I have about 550 Mana after reserves, and currently it costs me about 350 per totem. I have to keep in mind how long it takes for me to regenerate (not too long if I start with full) enough for a second totem, and whether my totem is places well enough for me to cast a second one in time before the first one dies.
Curse Priority: Not usually something I consider, but it'd be important to know which curse to use first, due to mana problems, and well... being in the moment. I usually use EW first, but when there's a full pack of champ Rhoas/Goatmen, TC & Enfeeble take priority in that order.

Totem Placement: You want to have at least one of your totems far away from the mobs, so that the general direction your totem aims for, hits almost all of its projectiles. Sometimes I like to place one totem in the middle for distraction/tank, and my second one quite a distance behind it for all the projectiles on the second totem to hit (you can witness the difference this makes in the video from above).


Map Encounters:
Playing cautiously by summoning totems at every corner, every few steps, every entrance is how I do maps. Sometimes on lower level maps, I kind of know what to expect, so I may run in, throw down all my curses, then run away and place my totems.

One of the things I want to mention off the top of my head is this mod:

'Players recover HP/mana 50% slower'

This really affects your game play esp. when you're like me and have only 400 total mana pool after reserves. In solving this problem, I take off GMP so my mana multiplier is 200% less and I can proceed as normal. Your single target DPS shoots up, but at the cost of your AoE DPS.

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FAQ:

Why don't you get Elemental Equilibrium with your build? It's right there in your skill path.


Elemental Hit is a projectile in this build... What's up with not getting Iron Grip?


Should I be using a Wand+Shield or Bow+Quiver with this build?

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Things I'm still testing/working on



Would appreciate any feedback ^^

^/reserved

updated ele hit stats & gameplay footage

v1.04 now live; updated poison arrow's viability with this build

Wondering if unwavering stance is needed for this build though.
any feedback would be nice

Hi,

Just to let you know Im building a HC templar with your build, still lvl 24 tho

It would be nice some advice about lvling until get the totem, what weapons/skills to use, im using 2 maces with glacial hammer for single target, and ice nova for aoe until now hehe

What's the importance on the quality for Elemental Hit ?

Ty.

"

furiousrox wrote:

Hi,

Just to let you know Im building a HC templar with your build, still lvl 24 tho

It would be nice some advice about lvling until get the totem, what weapons/skills to use, im using 2 maces with glacial hammer for single target, and ice nova for aoe until now hehe

What's the importance on the quality for Elemental Hit ?

Ty.

Hi. I believe I did start using Elemental Hit at level 19 off a Wand & Shield; however, that was only possible because I had the right funds from my other characters. At level 24, you would have a lot of the Elemental Nodes, so going anything spell related is your best bet (much similar play styles than compared to a melee starter).

Early game, you just want to get through it. Staying at range is your best bet in doing so. Ice Spear/Fireball and maybe even Arc for single target DPS and Ice Nova for AoE wouldn't be a bad choice.

I wouldn't advise mixing up Physical attacks with Magical ones. I know (from watching Kripparian's stream) that he uses Ice Nova and Glacial Hammer in his ele-cleave racer. But if you think about it, you're not going to be swapping weapons every time you decide to use single target DPS/AoE. Your two maces do no good for your Ice Nova. Wand + Shield is the way to go.

Quality on EH gives more chance to land a critical strike (4%/Q). When you hit a critical strike, it will always inflict a status ailment (i.e. shock/burn/freeze).

Thanks for the question, I might update a section on tips at lower levels later on. Hope this helps :)

EDIT: If I didn't have enough funds to start EH at 19, I think I would have used Freeze Pulse/Ice Spear. I like Ice Spear because it's a really safe skill to go with.

Pretty cool build. I think I'll try your build with a twist of my own.

Here's my theory craft:



My main focus was attack speed and life:
- 87% increased Attack Speed
- 6% increased Attack Speed while Dual Wielding (wands)
- 245% increased maximum Life

Strategy:
- With 20% EH, Elemental Proliferation, Faster Attack, and GMP, you're bound to stack ailments all over the place. Freezing one will freeze all and with the insane attack speed bonus, it shouldn't be a problem.
- Gears should revolve around life, attack speed, elemental damage, resists, mana + mana regen.

Another thing, the lacking of Dex on the build - at least on the beggining, to use the Elemental Hit, the lvl 1 gem requires 48 dex, I just bought a 11% quality one and can't use it :( QQ

Gotta find some dex gear to use it now.

"

furiousrox wrote:

Another thing, the lacking of Dex on the build - at least on the beggining, to use the Elemental Hit, the lvl 1 gem requires 48 dex, I just bought a 11% quality one and can't use it :( QQ

Gotta find some dex gear to use it now.

That's right, I forgot to mention that I did take that 30 DEX node near Inner Force, and respec'd out of it later on.

I really like this build. I might try this on my next character over a crit wander.