Spelltotem - the unwanted child ?

So, there is spelltotem.. and there are hundreds of spells, which could be usable with it.. could.
But without one single item - soulmantle - and one single jewel - selfflaggelation - no normal casual player would come very far in the game, would/should ever use it.

Why is that ?

fun question .. does someone in NZ does not like spelltotem..knibbling
away its capabilities slowly but constantly over the
years ?


And yes I know the + 1 crafting option and the unique shield, but this is not viable for a casual gamer with limited time, especially in SSF or HCSSF. If you have a daily job, family, hundreds of hours of game grin-ding making spelltotem viable is not an option. If you are at school, college or you are a full-time streamer, things are different.

And even in trade league you would buy a soulmantle. Crafting the jewel is the easiest part.

Every totem-build guide expects soulmantle as a mandatory item.

Hundreds of possible spells but one mandatory unique.. why ?

regards

Arkon

Very Simple:

Spell totem support takes a gem link. Soul mantle allows you to have a 7link totem instead of a 6link totem.

Totem are ok without soul mantle.
It's just that soul mantle is really good for way too cheap simple.

@ Thror2k5

are you sure you have understood the topic ?

Is it not about how soulmantle works. That is trivial and commom knowledge. It is about why the majority of the players wont/cant use it without it.
It is the decision behind it.

Hundreds of spells and no build-guide or active player without soul-mantle.
Except for one super-rare unique shield and one much more rare craft-mod.

"Totems are ok without soulmantle."

No, imho witout soulmantle, without the rare unique shield and without the much more rare crafted mod, spell-totems lack heavily in mid-tier maps and are not suitable for high tier maps.
That said for SSF, HCSSF and a normal budget, not related to a playstyle with TWO + 1 all and + 1 element wands with further Tier 1 rolls.

The casual player wont get far with spell-totem without soulmantle.

Whats the purpose of a spell - spelltotem - with a very wide range of supportable active spell-gems, if it does only work under certain, very
limited conditions ?

Every game needs a 'I have a job and other shit to do' play option. It'll give players who chose that option everything in the game whenever they want it. It'll also segregate them away from the ones who would rather use normal modes.

That way hopefully we'll stop seeing these 'I want stuff in a game but I don't want to work for it, because I also have other obligations' threads.

"No, imho witout soulmantle, without the rare unique shield and without the much more rare crafted mod, spell-totems lack heavily in mid-tier maps and are not suitable for high tier maps."

Yea dude, welcome to the world of 'hey I can't beat the game without investing time / currency'.

It's perfectly fine to use Spell Totem for utility setups like Wither totems for chaos builds for example..

Soul Mantle is the cheap way to get a totem build going, but it also forces you to use Kikazarus and a unique chest that gives 0 life.

It's easy to start a build with totems on a budget, but if you want to min-max you gotta invest a lot more than just that.

:::Heart:::First time i beat uber elder SSF was with spell totem and freeze pulse and those cheap ass rings. Think hiero was nerfed since but still was OP.

Dropped a 6L mantle this season maybe i should try again...as opposed to my janky build

"

ArkonHC wrote:

So, there is spelltotem.. and there are hundreds of spells, which could be usable with it.. could.
But without one single item - soulmantle - and one single jewel - selfflaggelation - no normal casual player would come very far in the game, would/should ever use it.

Why is that ?

fun question .. does someone in NZ does not like spelltotem..knibbling
away its capabilities slowly but constantly over the
years ?


And yes I know the + 1 crafting option and the unique shield, but this is not viable for a casual gamer with limited time, especially in SSF or HCSSF. If you have a daily job, family, hundreds of hours of game grin-ding making spelltotem viable is not an option. If you are at school, college or you are a full-time streamer, things are different.

And even in trade league you would buy a soulmantle. Crafting the jewel is the easiest part.

Every totem-build guide expects soulmantle as a mandatory item.

Hundreds of possible spells but one mandatory unique.. why ?

regards

Arkon

They used to be a thing, to the point where hardly anyone self cast. They got nerfed, so now things are different. They're probably rotate back in, one day.

"

Bleu42 wrote:

Every game needs a 'I have a job and other shit to do' play option. It'll give players who chose that option everything in the game whenever they want it. It'll also segregate them away from the ones who would rather use normal modes.

That way hopefully we'll stop seeing these 'I want stuff in a game but I don't want to work for it, because I also have other obligations' threads.

"No, imho witout soulmantle, without the rare unique shield and without the much more rare crafted mod, spell-totems lack heavily in mid-tier maps and are not suitable for high tier maps."

Yea dude, welcome to the world of 'hey I can't beat the game without investing time / currency'.

They have that it's called permanent leagues. Standard, HC standard and the SSF variants. Granted difficulty is still same but you have infinite time and access to legacy gear which is OP AF like 70% crit multi, like real Acuities, like a real kaoms heart ...but they like 8 mirrors now so maybe not lol. Anyway, option is there if you dont need the latest league mechanic to keep you interested.


PS only reason I'm allowed to post right now is it's girls night out so I have a window... back to poe

I played a lot of speelltotem builds on my Hiero in the past as a league start in SSF. Damage was okayish but drops off fast once you reach higher content, considering the downside of the gem itself (less DMG + cast speed).


Also they die a lot (also getting often stunned or frozen) since they have little HP (less than Ancestral Warchief).

Even with the recent introded totem def nodes (near Duelist) on the tree they are still squisy.

Maybe get rid of either less cast speed / DMG and additionally give the gem an HP boost and maybe make totems in general either stun or freeze immune.

It feels like they are slowly being replaced by brands but without the downside of an dmg-entity that could be destroyed by the enemy. Also brands dont mess with AI as totem do (see below).

Both offer doing constant dmg while you can evade attacks/spells but totems can get destroyed while brands can not.

Also playing totems has downsides when fighting bosses with slow ramped attacks/spells. They usally attack totems when spawned right next to them and their attacks are kind of snapp-shotted for a moment, which players sometimes dont see coming and get themself a massive hit.