[1.1.x] Cursed General (Tri Totem Raging Spirit / Summoner)
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Quick Videos to Show Gameplay:
- Cruel Dominus Kill (2:27) - Level 54 - Merciless Piety Kill (1:44) - Level 64 Piety on Merciless is down on the first attempt. Quick video posted / OP updated. The battle was a bit chaotic. I always have problems finding the boss in all the mayhem. I think I'll be swapping out the shield for something with more ES / Resist. Then adjusting the other pieces to compensate for the extra resist. (1.1.x) Cursed General (Tri Totem Raging Spirit / Summoner)
(www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/854534) General Looting Advice for New Players (www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/827994) |
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Updated gear section:
Gear:
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Your primary gear focus is on anything that gives something to your minions.
Next, your focus is on any defense stats (getting resists to 75%, as much Armor / Energy Shield as possible). That's it! Gearing is simple. Tri Totem: By time you are level 50, you will have more than enough currency to grab this nice piece of gear. It is not necessary, but it puts the TRI in Tri Totem. When looking at this, keep in mind that it includes the spell totem, so a 4 link functions as a 5 link. You'll want to start with a 4 link (any colors) for ~ 5-8c. You'll then use your chromatic orbs that you've saved up to make this 3 blue and 1 red (or 2 blue 2 red). It also puts the Cursed in Cursed General. Essentially, you'll get a random curse every time a totem dies (even from summoning a 4th totem, which kills 1 totem). To negate this, at least one of your flasks should have the Warding flag on them (removes all curses / makes you immune to curses for the duration). You'll start a fight, cast 3 totems, hit your flask and watch everything die! Flasks:
Spoiler
For your flasks there are a few key things you are looking for.
- Before CI, set up 3 or 4 life flasks and 1 or 2 mana flasks. - After CI, you still only need 1 or 2 mana flasks. The important part is removing status, so health actually is a great option still. Important Suffixes are: - Dousing (Dispels Burning) - Heat (Dispels Freeze and Chill) - Warding (Removes Curses) - Staunching (Removes Bleeding) - Grounding (Removes Shock) Important Prefixes are: - While leveling you'll want whatever gives you the most per use (to health or mana). - At end game you are looking for whatever gets you the most uses (remove status) per charge/flask. - Perpetual / Ample do good things. - Hallowed Life Flasks are my favorite as they only take 10 charges and can hold up to 50 with the Ample flag. Great for removing status (even if you are CI). Chaos Inoculation: ANYTHING THAT REMOVES HEALTH WILL KILL YOU (Caustic is very bad) Keep for a rainy day: You'll want to duplicate your flask set up (Prefixes and Suffixes) for all 3 elements and armor/chaos: - Ruby for Fire - Sapphire for Cold - Topaz for Lightning - If not CI then Amethyst for Chaos - Granite for Physical I also like to keep a Quartz as well for panicked situations. You running through them and they getting blocked by your minions / totems is very helpful. Example Normal Bar: - Ample Hallowed Life Flask of Dowsing - Ample Hallowed Life Flask of Heat - Ample Hallowed Life Flask of Staunching - Perpetual Hallowed Life Flask of Warding - Ample Sanctified Mana Flask of Grounding Example Cold Boss Bar: - Ample Sapphire Flask of Heat - Ample Sapphire Flask of Heat - Ample Sapphire Flask of Heat - Perpetual Hallowed Life Flask of Warding - Ample Sanctified Mana Flask of Heat Swap Weapon/Shield and Quality Gems:
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A lot of summoners 'snapshot' where you can summon things with a bunch of mods, then change your gear/gem set up to something useful for running around. - I dislike the break in game play / time to set it up. So I do not follow this justifiable practice. - Instead, I use my swap 1H/Shield for leveling duplicate gems. You can use 1 glassblower's bubble and 1 level 20 gem to make it a Quality 20 Level 1 Gem. Those 6 slots can be used to keep duplicate gems leveled / re leveled so you can get yourself some quality 20 gems. There is not much from gear that can increase your damage output, so getting Quality 20, Level 20 Gems will be your route to improve your character end game. High Priority Quality Gems: - Minion Damage (Raging Spirit) gets a 15% increase in Damage. High priority. - Faster Casting (Raging Spirit) gets 10% increased cast speed. High priority. - Increased Duration (Raging Spirit) gets 10% increased duration. High priority. Medium Priority Quality Gems: - Raging Spirit gets a 20% increase to Movement Speed. Medium priority. - Raise Zombie gets 20% Movement Speed and Life. Middle priority. - Minion Speed gets 15% movement speed. Middle priority. - Minion Life (Zombie/Spectre/Skeleton) gets a 15% increase in Life. Medium priority. - Discipline (and any damage/defense aura) gets 20% increased area of effect. Medium priority. - Reduced Mana gets 10% reduced mana cost. Medium priority. - Enfeeble gets 15% reduced Accuracy Rating. Medium priority. - Flesh Offering gets 10% increased duration. Medium priority. Low Priority Quality Gems: - Minion Damage (Zombie/Spectre) gets a 15% increase in Damage. - Summon Skeletons (x1) gets 15% more damage. Low priority. - Raise Spectre (x1) gets 30% Movement Speed. Low priority. - Vaal Summon Skeletons (x1) gets 15% increased damage. Low priority. - Clarity (x1) gets 20% increased area of effect. Low priority. - Rejuvenation Totem (x1) gets 30% more life. Low priority. - Cast when Stunned (x1) gets 10% more damage. Low priority. - Molten Shell (x1) gets 30% chance to catch things on fire. Low priority. My gear at 63 as a point of reference:
Spoiler
Zombies:
They are now in a +2 helm with dmg/life/fire linked. With all the minion nodes, they rarely die on anything but massive boss fights. Skeletons: I've changed them to Life / Speed. With the added speed and life, they really can get to their target better and better defend. On bosses that instant gib lots of things, these skeletons have enough life and move fast enough to actually get in melee range so when they explode, they do nice damage. I also find myself casting them much less on trash as they can keep up. Spectre now shares Vaal Skeletons! Still linked with Damage/Life. The Vaal Skeletons are just, awesome. Picture a massive boss fight with 30 of these, 24 raging spirits, 8 Zombies and 12 Skeletons (oh, and 2 spectre). And then I get hit and proc Flesh Offering. This is what the Cursed General is about! Reactive (Cast on Stun) This is rather standard stuff, minus the Flesh Offering. Your minions taking you getting hit personally is really gratifying. Rejuvenating Totem Moved this to its own slot as it needs no linking. Now that I am CI, having this becomes really nice. It essentially acts likes a flask for your Energy Shield. Before CI, it negated most life damage (such as poison clouds) and get the army through fire and such. It is a key part of the build now. Of Course, Tri Totem / Raging Spirits: Nothing has changed here, still looking forward to saving up for a 5L Discipline and Clarity: Got my power figured out enough to get my second Aura (along with the nodes). The other stuff: (1.1.x) Cursed General (Tri Totem Raging Spirit / Summoner) (www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/854534) General Looting Advice for New Players (www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/827994) Last edited by MaddBomber83 on Mar 25, 2014, 12:54:57 PM
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Well, 69 now. Done a few maps, killed Dominus. I'll need to do a video of him.
Build is essentially done and very functional. (1.1.x) Cursed General (Tri Totem Raging Spirit / Summoner)
(www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/854534) General Looting Advice for New Players (www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/827994) |
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I like this concept, and especially like the fact that it seems to be viable without requiring very expensive gear.
I'm saving up to buy a 6L Soul Mantle for my current character, and I'll certainly try this build (or some variant) when I do. It'd be nice if you uploaded one extra video once you start doing high level (75+) maps, to see how it does there. Good job. (: | |
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Nice write up. I've been experimenting with a similar life based build, and have been clearing level 74 maps with my level 74 witch without much issue. Some thoughts:
- Self Casting raging spirits as you place tritotems is a great DPS boost. With this you can reach the Spirit cap. For reference, I can get 40 spirits off of my totems and 14 from my self cast. Skeletons are a good substitute if you have enough cast speed to cap out on spirits from just your totems. - There are three increased skill duration nodes in the bottom of the scion tree that together will buff your spirit duration by 45%. That's like using two increased duration gems. - Oddly enough, docks is a horrible place to level with this character. Voidbearers' AOE fire will destroy all of your spirits. Battlefront, however, is perfectly safe. Your spirits, minions and totems will disperse the arc witches, lightning thorns has no effect on you, and there is no AOE damage in the zone. - Using Nycta's lantern, you have effectively a six link for your self-cast raging spirits. You could corrupt one and get "supported by melee splash" for a seven link. - The Stone of Lazhwar provides cast speed, and can be corrupted to give you up to 20% minion damage. - Using remote mine to create your spectres increases their damage by 40%+. - Totem damage passive nodes help your raging spirits. Attack speed totem nodes will not help. This means that taking the Shamanistic Fury node cluster increases your spirit damage by 24% (less damage effectiveness of RS), and also buffs your totem's cast time, meaning more spirits. - Soul eater rares get fed very quickly from the massive hordes of raging spirits. - Haste is my favorite aura to boost raging spirits, because in addition to boosting the minions your totems will create more of them. - Melee Phys Damage is a "more" damage gem, and as such 40% more melee phys is stronger than 70% increased damage from minion damage once you pick up other damage nodes. My current passive tree:
Spoiler
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMAAuMHYwelCPQRlhbzGYUc3B2qHb4elCMYJDwkqiY8J6kn7Sj6KhMspy9vL50xiDGeNZI26TvhPC08jj8nQYdGcUlRSbJKyE3jVytXyVltWfNaK1ptWpFfmGaeaqxr220Zbqpwu3NTeLp5A30Yfll_xoLHgwmFbYjxi3qNHJMnn3uio6PyplenK6dcqH2sP6yqtAy18rc-wBrAVMHzxPbGrtP72RPcV-GI4vfquuyK-ej60v4K_o8=
My current gear:
Spoiler
Last edited by FutileEmotion on Mar 31, 2014, 4:16:02 AM
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For a tri totem :) i guess a scion would suit you better.
I would consider the skill duration cluster mandatory for this type of builds. http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgAACGdX4fllIcOQ1iymN2Y0Cuq6tAw8jpMnRnFXyRzc4YiDCSj6f8Ydquvugseio8HFEZa4k9P7wfMsv3C7pwiofRNsbRmGrtkTna6PRlqRBkk74RXXL28abB0U0NBqrOL314bkIqas-tKboacrVmMpT4hAZp4XL0jn99eLeuw4kDPAGnFNZOfMvDrYWfOaz1XWEJeFYHy7TdgqE0NjgKREBKrEJIuePIx2Wiu3MU2598GBbyynWPWj8p3EvryC5JARiq9KyD8nX5hZbR2-892nlA== and aim for: http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgAACGdX4fllIcOQ1iymN2Y0Cuq6tAw8jpMnRnFXyRzc4YiDCSj6f8Ydquvugseio8HFEZa4k9P7wfMsv3C7pwiofRNsbRmGrtkTna6PRlqRBkk74RXXL28abB0U0NBqrOL314bkIqas-tKboacrVmMpT4hAZp4XL0jn99eLeuw4kDPAGnFNZOfMvDrYWfOaz1XWEJeFYHy7TdgqE0NjgKREBKrEJIuePIx2Wiu3MU2598GBbyynWPWj8p3EvryC5JARiq9KyD8nX5hZbR2-892nlNWBsnVYGy-dFvMmPIVtIxiNHKbrN4M= or http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgAACGe-vFfhguT5ZZARIcOKr5DWSsgspj8npus3Zl-YN4M0ClltV8nquh2-KPo8jrQM6-6Cx5MnhW1GcbiT1YHT-xzcIxjhiIMJp5SnCLJ1qH0TbH_GjRwdqp2uj0ZYG1qRBknBxRGWL50abB0U0NBqrCy_Dkhwuxbz5CKmrPPd-tKboYau44TZEyY8KU-IQGaeFy9I5_fXFdeIay9v7DiQM8AacU1k58y814a29zrYWfOaz1XWEJeFYFZjmZoRL3y7TdgqE0NjgKREBKrE62Mki548jHZaK7cxTbn3wYFvLKdY9aPyncQ= minion stats: http://goo.gl/gQxs0w Modifiers: http://goo.gl/jGIr8b Zombie dps calculator: http://goo.gl/XIStJV Last edited by Galax201 on Mar 31, 2014, 5:04:34 AM
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Nice ideas and guide.
For those interested in a self-casting Raging Spirit build, here's a guide I just posted : [1.1.X] Self-Casting Raging Spirit Summoner Shadow : Covenant Pulser (504561) Ranger : 12 charges Frenzy Archer (65154), Dual Claws Elemental ST (709126) Witch : Self-Cast Arc Tanky Witch (770185), AoF EK/Bear trap (863970) Templar : Frenzy + AB/Fireball "Cast on Crit" Wander (611200) Marauder : Death Oath Staff User (498864) Last edited by Velkor on Apr 1, 2014, 11:11:31 AM
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FutileEmotion and Galax201; you both have given some very viable feedback and I'll need to take a look at your suggestions.
" - I need to do more research into life based builds. Chaos damage always gets to me, but currently leveling a life based MF/Culler/Aura type of character to play around with it. " - This is where we get some survivability vs damage for me. The second version of my trees dropped some damage in exchange for survivability because it felt like damage was enough. I am playing around with throwing summon skeleton on a totem as well for those insta gib bosses that require me to stand still to keep the horde alive. I'll play around with self casting RS and see how it goes. " - I did not think about this, thank you for pointing it out. I agree that this would be very important to maximizing this build. " - I see this here and there with posts about minion life and RS... I'm under the impression that they are somewhat immune to AoE. - My advancement usually follows Totems in Front, Then Skele in front of that, and then recasting (usually one or two are dead) the totems BEHIND the enemy line. This is likely why I would not notice if the AoE breath reduces the RS DPS. - I also tend to use my summons to break enemy concentrated fire (such as skeletons into archer lines; the object to make the enemy AoE attacks face all sorts of directions, letting my minions not be mass killed. " - Oh wow, I like the look of this. Thank you for the suggestion. " - I like the cast speed, but how do you think this compares to the Sidhebreath Paua Amulet? " - How does this compare to using a simple DMG increase (such as +minion damage or added damage) gem instead? " - I'm not sure this is true. My original build essentially took all the nodes for totem and I did not see the cast speed (it is very small increase, 2-6%) increase the number of summons appreciabley for the points invested to get there. - There is also a quote in this thread from GGG where they say the +totem damage nodes do not affect your minions from the totems. Do you know if this has changed or if I have misread it? " - I've not ran into difficulty with this, but I've also not really paid attention to this mod. I'll keep an eye out for it though. " - I've had groups run this before and really enjoy it. Unfortunately at this time I need Clarity and Discipline. When I finish off the last of these aura nodes I'll see if I can afford a third and give it a try. " - Run it all! I've got my 6s Soul Mantle now (4L/2L). If I ever get it to 5L (or 6L, fantasy) then I'll have to give this a shot. I've taken a look at your tree and like it. I really enjoy the minions though so I'll have to ponder the different sacrifices for the next tweak of the build. (1.1.x) Cursed General (Tri Totem Raging Spirit / Summoner) (www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/854534) General Looting Advice for New Players (www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/827994) Last edited by MaddBomber83 on Apr 1, 2014, 3:34:12 PM
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" I've had a look through your guide and will have to ponder it some more. One thing to note, up to the cap of 50 Raging Spirits, a Tri Totem does 105% of the damage that a self casting RS build does. After that point you are correct in saying the self casting RS build becomes more effective (as each RS is worth much more when self cast as compared to totem). (1.1.x) Cursed General (Tri Totem Raging Spirit / Summoner)
(www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/854534) General Looting Advice for New Players (www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/827994) |
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" On the surface yes. However by not investing in Totem nodes you can gain additional cast speed nodes that allow for more Spirits, countering this difference. IGN: Tresmere, Mariela, Manyella
Usually online M-F 5-6p EST - Varies on Weekends. |
