[0.11.0] The Ultimate Support v2.01 — [Dual Elemental Hit Totem/Conduit/Tri-Curse] REVAMPED!

This is a revamped version of my old guide that can be found HERE
There were so many changes (incl. starting class), that I've decided to just recreate it under the Witch part of the forum.


Intro

"

From watching the classic Weekly Build videos from GGG, the one that used Crit Elemental Hit caught my interest. After that, I played around with the skill, and realized Mana was a problem. It was then I decided if I could place it with a totem, it would only be a single cast, and I wouldn’t have to worry about not having enough Mana (I hate having Mana pots as my potions). Then I figured I wanted to do more than placing totems and sitting around, so that’s when I played around with stuff like Frost Wall, Bear/Fire Traps, Conduit, Curses, etc.

I’ve spent tons of time trying to perfect this build in every possible way, and I think I’ve found the one. I’m going to try to keep the format as similar as possible for ease in reading.


With that being said, here’s a brief summary of what this build consists of:


1) Dual Elemental Hit Totems as your main ‘DPS’
2) Triple Curses
3) Conduit


Those three things make the core of the build. From there, you can branch off into other ways to mold the character you want. A list of options can be found in the skills section below.

"

This is the ultimate support build for many reasons. The most obvious ones are Conduit for sharing charges to fellow party members, and triple curses. The Dual Elemental Hit Totem is VERY strong in both parties and solo when supported by Chain, GMP, Elemental Proliferation, and if you have a 6L, Faster Attacks.

The main concept behind the Dual Elemental Hit Totem is that each hit from your GMP & Chain proliferates whatever status ailment you inflict on one enemy. Now imagine that, but on several screens. This is made possible because of the range you get from grabbing the Totem Range passive, as well as each hit Chaining twice on enemies that can go off screen. Another benefit of this build is that your added damage from Elemental Hit is not nullified by the damage reductions of GMP & Chain—only the Weapon Elemental Damage (WED) you grab from equips/passives get reduced. So even if you barely do any damage from the reductions, you will never drop below what Elemental Hit can add itself.

In parties, providing 3X shock stacks INSTANTLY (even faster than Dual Spork), sets the stage for your main DPS to do immense damage. In addition, you also have a chance to Freeze and Burn everything as well. This is made possible by Critical Strikes, and passives that allow you a chance to strike these status ailments. This build does not focus on inflicting Critical Strikes, as I feel it is not needed, and a waste of points that can be better spent elsewhere (but it is viable to some).

I feel if I hadn't done stupid stuff like afk-ing in the middle of a map or tether 3G on my computer when my Internet was down, I would have made it really far with this build. As of today, the highest I've gotten with this build is 84, and several times around 80.

Pros:
1) Safe/Defensive – You lay your totems down, and you can safely stand back to cast your curses/Frenzy/Enduring Cry/etc.
2) Triple Curses – Need I say more?
3) Status Ailment Proliferate – the main pro of this build that can act offensively (shocks), and defensively (freeze)
4) Conduit – Providing party members with the charges you gain
5) Auras – With the insane Mana pool I had, I was running 7 Auras + Arctic Armour and still had about 450 usable Mana and ~200 MPr/s
6) People want you – every party is bound to have some sort of core DPS, such as Dual Spork, LA, Ele Cleave, etc. But it is rare to find a pure supporter that can dish out some nice DPS at the same time.

Cons:
1) Very equip dependent
2) Single target DPS is not great if you don’t use Bear Traps
3) Magic attacks rape your totem if you don’t use Frost Wall
4) Survivability is weak – the core build (level 81) has 176% Life; this is about 18% less than what I had on my Onslaught Witch which had 3.1k HP. However, you shouldn't be getting hit often, so it's not that big of a deal.
5) Flask Charges may be hard to get – since you’re mainly support, you might have a hard time getting last hits for the flask charges
6) Early game is very boring
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Build:




Main Keystones:
Ancestral Bond – 2X Totems
Eldritch Battery – increase maximum Mana pool
Totem Range
Inner Force – to buff up all the auras you will be using
Hex Master/Whispers of Doom – for your curses
Mana Flows – increase maximum Mana pool
Catalyse – increase WED
Static Blows/Freeze/Shock/Blaze – your status ailment inflictors
Conduit – share your charges


Why Witch?

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I started this build as a Templar in the early stages of Open Beta. It worked well, as I had tons of armour from grabbing Iron Reflexes and stacking Grace/Determination. I decided to try the Witch because the starting nodes seem to be very beneficial for support (MP/MPr/ES for more Mana pool to sustain more auras, and some HP). Not only that, but the Witch starting area was in the middle of everything.

Early Game

"

I pretty much used Freeze Pulse/Ice Spear for 70 levels because it was when Onslaught first came out. If you're well funded, you could probably start with Elemental Hit at level 19.

Another option would be to transition from Dual Spork.
Ele-cleave isn't great on Witch unless you have a good start in funds, as most of the WED nodes are at the starting side of the Templar tree.

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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)

"

*’s indicate that the gem is an option depending on which build you choose to go

[6] Temporal Chains
[6] Elemental Weakness
[6] Enfeeble
*[6] Critical Weakness
[5] Elemental Hit
[5]Frenzy
*[4] Bear Trap
*[4] Added Fire
[4] GMP
*[4] Faster Attacks
*[4] Frost Wall
[3] Elemental Proliferation
[3] Enduring Cry
*[3] Summon Skeletons
[2] Chain
[2] Ranged Attack Totem
*[2] Spell Totem
*[0] Power Siphon
[*0/5] Auras
[0] Reduced Mana


Explanation



Auras:
You don't have to choose exactly what I have chosen. It's pretty much preference.

Purity - I did not have capped resistances without it
Haste - No one ever has enough mana to run this, so I run it.
Vitality - An option to use over Haste if you need the regen early game.
Determination - You have little armour, there is no need to run this for yourself; your party members will probably cover this anyways.
Discipline - You have to run this no matter what. You're pretty much gaining more mana for running this aura (EB).
Wrath/Grace/Anger/Clarity - Usually your party members will have these, but since these are number specific reserves and not %'s, it takes up pretty much no room in your insane mana pool.

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Wand + Shield vs. Bow + Quiver

"

I’ve played both, and I can say that the Wand + Shield is by far the more beneficial way to go. The damage difference is not that big, unless you get an insane offensive quiver. But this doesn’t outshine the power of an Archon Kite Shield in my opinion. Not only do you get 24% to all resistances by default, but you also get a butt load of armour, energy shield (that gets converted to Mana by EB), life, and additional resistances. You will not get 3k Mana at level 80 with a Bow and Quiver.
Either way, you are looking for pretty much the same mods on each: WED, iAS, Crit, any form of INT/MPr (can only be gained on Wand+Shield).

CI vs Life

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I chose Life because you cannot get 3k Mana pool without Eldritch Battery. You cannot sustain 7 auras without Eldritch Battery. And as a personal preference, I am more comfortable playing a Life-based character where I can pot when I make a mistake.

I'm not used to seeing ES as my life bar, so I haven't tried it out yet. I will update a CI version of this build soon.

Which Curses to Use

"

1) Elemental Weakness – not everyone will be using solely 1 element
2) Temporal Chains – defensive & offensive as explained above
3) Enfeeble – less accuracy, less crit, less threat overall
4) Critical Weakness – offensive curse that can help improve your whole party’s overall DPS, and gives you more chances to crit and land a status ailment

These are just my preferences; you can choose other curses based on your needs and your group’s needs. I generally use EW, CW, TC for normal mobs, and based on the boss, I may decide to drop CW for Enfeeble.
i.e. if you’re working with 4 sporkers, it might be a good idea to level a conductivity.

Level of Gems

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Leave Frenzy and Power Siphon at level one. There is no benefit of leveling these gems.
You can stop leveling Clarity when you have enough MPr, and Arctic Armour until you can sustain it well.

Bandits:

"

Normal – Help Oak for 40 HP // Kill all for 1 Passive (mainly for CI)
Cruel – Help Kraityn (8% iAS)
Merciless – Depends on what charge you use the most, or if you want an extra passive.

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Gem Build:
This is the current gem build on my level 80:

4L Helmet – Reduced Mana, Enduring Cry, Frenzy, Clarity
5L/6S Chest – Elemental Hit w/ Chain/GMP/Elemental Proliferation/Ranged Totem, Arctic Armour
Grab Faster Attacks as your last support if you have a 6L
4L Windscream – Reduced Mana, Haste, Anger, Discipline
4L Gloves – Reduced Mana (swapout for Spell Totem after casting Auras), Wrath, Summon Skeletons, Grace
2L/3S Archon Kite – Reduced Mana w/ Purity, Critical Weakness
3S Imbued Wand – Temporal Chains, Elemental Weakness, Enfeeble

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What to look for in equips

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- Attack Speed
- WED
- Survivability (HP/Res/ES)
- Mana/ES/Int/MPr
- Crit

Spoiler

This is from my Onslaught Witch (just 2-3 weeks into the league)

Windscreams // Doedre’s is a must for the +1 additional curse. Other uniques that are viable with this build include Starkonja’s (HP/iAS/CritC), and Maligaro’s (iAS/CritC/CritM).

It is very hard to roll the right colors on an Armour/ES chest, but successfully doing so is very beneficial. You gain well needed armour, as well as ES for more mana pool. If you don't want to spend so many chromes on trying to roll the rarer colors on an armour/ES, EVA/ES is the way to go.

Flasks

"

I went with 3 health potions, 1 Quicksilver, and 1 Granite. At 200 MPr, there is no need for any sort of MP potion; instead I decided to grab 3 HP pots because of the chance of not being able to get many flask charges.

Spoiler

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Tactics

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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. I'll try to upload a video for this asap.

Solo - Play leap frog. Be very cautious and place totems one ahead of another to see how close the monsters are. If you choose to not go Bear Trap, take off GMP/Chain on single targets. If not, try to bait other monsters closer to the single monster so that you will Chain more hits.

Group - It depends on your party. If you have a designated group you run with all the time, and know what you guys are doing, you would want to prioritize your curses and charges first. This is the same for fast paced parties. Because you don't have much cast speed, your totem cast time isn't great, so by the time you cast your totems, half the stuff is already dead. In a good party, sometimes you won't even have time to put your totems up.

Map Encounters

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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.

1/2 regen is kind of annoying with this build because you aren't running any MP pots.
I generally don't do any Blood Magic or no regen maps either.

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 multi-target DPS.

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FAQ
Q: Why don’t you run Hatred?


Q: Why don't you get Elemental Equilibrium?


Q: Why Life over CI?


Q: Why not Bow?


Q: Why you no Crit?


Q: What's up with getting Skel Totem?

/reserved

Here is a CI=to your life build in terms of life vs ES. I also droped Mana Geyser and totem range. To pick up the full Power Charge Nodes and some Crit hit/Crit Dmg that will turn this build into a beast ether solo or party.



Nice build by the way :)


The reason I did the crit is that your right you will be a main source of dmg for party but also becouse CI is not going to run alot of aura's so it kind of makes up for that fact.

That build is based on my exp with other builds but not with this one so take it with a grain of salt.

I do play alot of CI builds so the CI changes should be realy close to surviablity of your life build.

In place of some of the auras your not running I would recomend Blood Rage and Warlords mark both for charges and added surviablity with the combo of CI+Ghost Reaver. But I truely don't even know if Blood Rage or Warlords works with Totems. So it mite be a mute point.

"

Balthizar1903 wrote:

Here is a CI=to your life build in terms of life vs ES. I also droped Mana Geyser and totem range. To pick up the full Power Charge Nodes and some Crit hit/Crit Dmg that will turn this build into a beast ether solo or party.

Spoiler

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMBAP0HYwx9D8QQfxFQFLAVUBXXFkAXUB0UKPopTyynLL8t0jKJOVI6MDrYO3w74UNjRwZMLU3YTm1QMFZjVytX4lgHWPVZ81orWqZb9F76XypfamNDZk9mnme9bRlwUnDVcU1zU3RVd-V8zoFJgW-CHoKbhX2GrohCi3qMdo9Gj_qVIJrPm6GdxJ48oqOj8qcIpyusmLI4tzG4k7jKu9a8N8AawFHAVMHFwfPC7MNtxp7Q0NeG2t3bXtvn3Mfi9-OE5oHr5Ovu7BjsOO5v8uH31_rS_Ks=

Nice build by the way :)


The reason I did the crit is that your right you will be a main source of dmg for party but also becouse CI is not going to run alot of aura's so it kind of makes up for that fact.

That build is based on my exp with other builds but not with this one so take it with a grain of salt.

I do play alot of CI builds so the CI changes should be realy close to surviablity of your life build.

In place of some of the auras your not running I would recomend Blood Rage and Warlords mark both for charges and added surviablity with the combo of CI+Ghost Reaver. But I truely don't even know if Blood Rage or Warlords works with Totems. So it mite be a mute point.

That looks really solid, thanks for the input! As for Blood Rage with totems, I'm not sure either, but I will test it out whenever I can. Warlord's Mark would be good for charges, but in 99% of the parties I've played in, Warlord's Mark is one of the few curses people dislike. Endurance Charges aren't that hard to maintain because of the AoE Enduring Cry gives anyhow.

Looking back at the original CI build I made, it doesn't really look like it's worth going for Totem Range & Mana Geyser.

I've made some tweeks to your build:


I took away Ghost Reaver because you won't be having any life leech on any of your skills. I also took away the Crit nodes on the shadow side of the tree because it was kind of costly to travel all the way there. Instead, I grabbed the WED nodes for Wand right below Static Blows for more offensive power, and the middle ES nodes for more survivability.

Thanks!

^

tried to organize it better with them quote boxes

finally updated some witch gameplay

Hey, starting to level up this build up in onslaught, and I'm really excited to see how it works out!

So if u don't need to crit. Would Resolute Technique be a good keystone for this build?

Here's what I have came up with so far working with the Ranger.



It might not be perfect but just let me know if there's anything off.

I'd most likely use a bow because it's easier to roll and I wouldn't need the high crit chance of a wand with RT. Also you can use a quiver which can roll IAS + loads more great stats for this.

I just don't feel your build is viable for making it to level 90+ because 3k health just isn't enough. You're going to desync at some point and just flat out die. This way it's possible to use a Kaomm's Heart.

Bump. Currently working on a elemental hit totem build. Hardcore.