[1.3] Crit SWT /Self-found - New league friendly/ Torment (bloodlines version laters)

Hello, i am writing this small guide as i did not come across any fully updated 1.3 Shockwave Totem guides yet. First try at a guide, so beware

I am a Bloodlines player and was trying to choose a build that can achieve much with 0 currency for getting the Torment achievement (as well as some map full clears that i dont wanna do in HC). I played this build strictly with self-found and self crafted items until lvl 75 (at that point i bought a 5L white Occultist vestments)

As i wrote this i hit lvl 88 (still 2 spirits remaining) and doing 77 maps.

THE GUIDE (SC)

Positive:
+ Huge Dmg (i do near 50k aoe dps with the gear linked below)
+ No Reflect or Corrupting Blood problems
+ Shockwave totems have an excellent defensive support

Negative:
- It hurts if you get hit (4.2k ish HP at 88)
- Needs some practice to get full out of it
- People tend to dislike partying with SWT as it scatters mobs (if played badly)

The passives and justification
Spoiler

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgAABAcEswceCGcI9A5ID6sPxBEPEZYUsBZvFr8XLxg8GjgdFCaVJy8o-ioLOlg7fDvjPAU9X0GWRPtFnUlRTC1Ms1JTU1JVS1XGVdZY5VorXfJfKmHiZAlk52aeakNtGW1scFJw1XRVf8aApIIegpuCx4PbidOKKIw2jmSPRo_6kFWTOpUul5WX9Jo7muCboZ_fogCio6PypwismK6ztUi2-riTuMq5k70nwBrAVMBmwfPDCcMT0PXVptsL42rr7uv17DjtPO988NXyHfPq96b31_no-tI=

Life: Actually at first i went for the scion life wheel, but Shockwave totems being so defensive i decided to drop life slowly until i feel comfortable. Atm i got 4200 HP and it looks more than enough (95% of the time at least)

No Power Charges: I don't play in 5 man parties, and in a single map everything dies way too quickly for me to hold charges. So i spent those points elsewhere.

Aura Nodes: It is enough for hatred, clarity + 2 Heralds, pushing for 3rd herald is not worth it. Aura effect increase nodes doesnt effect Heralds


DPS and Defensive Stats: (text atm, i will take pics when i got more time)
Spoiler
Tooltip Dps:
23.681 per totem: Self Auras, lvl 19 gems, 5L
27.200 per totem: Self Auras, lvl 19 gems, 6L

4L dps depends on your gem choices but it is around 20k (unless u can play without inc. aoe, then it is same as 5L)

Defense:
4161 Life
1% Armor
10% Dodge
Artric Armor (Lvl 13)


Gems:
Spoiler

Shockwave Totem:
Spoiler

SWT - Faster Casting - Inc Area of Effect - Concentrated Effect - Added Fire Dmg - Physical to Lightning

I usually use Inc. Rarity instead of Conc. effect for trash, switch to Conc. Effect only for tough bosses.

I got also got a Crit Multi Gem, but after the nerf Physical to Lightning gives more dps, and shocking bosses is nice. This being said i dont know how good Crit Multi be with quality


Auras1: RM - Hatred - Herald of Ash - Clarity
Auras2: RM - Herald of Thunder (AA and Curse in remaining 4L Slots)

CWDT: CWDT - IC - EC - ID

Warp: Lightning Warp - Faster Cast - Red. Duration

Curse: Assassin's Mark (Vulnerability while leveling)

Other: Arctic Armor

Ice Spear - PCoC - Faster cast if you want to hold charges

There is still some room so u can add Aoe to your curse and stuff


Bandits:
Spoiler
Oak - Oak - Kill (or Alira)


My Gear:

"


As you can see, far far from optimal. Body armor(white) and Gloves are bought, rest is found or self crafted.

Basic Itemization guide:
Spoiler
a) Daggers or Wands:
The Dagger implicit gives more dps than Wand implicit, on the other hand wands are more craft friendly thanks to Catarina. I went for daggers as i already had a decent dagger at the time.

basically you take a dagger with 80% crit chance, roll spell dmg + global crit multiplier or global crit chance, regal it and craft crit multi or chance (from Vagan and Catarina)

For wands you got more options, you can craft more and they can roll cast speed.

Here is a small dps breakdown of what gives me how much dps, you can use this as a guideline or calculate the values for yourself for a more realistic result.

1% crit chance: 15,64 dps
1% spell dmg : 51 dps
1% crit multi : 45.1 dps
1% cast Speed : 125 dps

b)Body Armor:
There are also some unique options here, Cloak of Defiance for more defense or Carcass Jack for more AOE.
But on a budget, nothing beats a 5L Occultist Vestments. Take it, roll high life and a resist, craft more res if you need it or more ES if you dont.

c)Helm and boots:
As much as res and life you can get, dont bother about high ES. Also keep in mind that you will need a 4 Red Linked item for CWDT setup.

d)Gloves:
Same as boots and helm or Maligaro's Virtuosity.

e)Rings:
Don't bother with diamond rings at the start, go for a resistance ring. Get your missing stats, life and res. Once you get items you can switch to diamond rings and craft more crit on them etc.

f)Amulet:
Well until you can get the stats you need go for a STR+DEX amulet, after that mana regen amulet is the best base. Too many good things here, i went for Crit chance, crit multi and spell dmg which added considerable dps. But ofc if u need stats, res, life etc; get them first

e)Flasks:
I will say 2 insta pots, one with bleed removal and one with freeze removal. Granite is also needed.
You can skip quicksilver if you plan on teleporting around and Promise is purely optional


Final Words:
Looking at numbers, you may think this build lacks defense and dies a lot. But after getting the hang of it SWT is so defensive that 15 - 20 % more life or a bit more p.mitigation doesn't matter. Totems tend to kill everything or freeze those they cant kill.
Things that killed me so far are normally things that ppl skip (last 2 deaths was :-max res shrine piety with temp. chains @87, Double Necropolis merveil with +dmg @85 - i took both to 2nd stage at the same time and all hell broke loose)

If ppl are interested i will try to add a small section about playstyle (how to place totems and how to make your party not hate you for scattering the mobs :)

This is a first draft, so quite possible that i forgot some things. If u got a question or critic about the build, write here or pm me in-game.

Thanks for sharing this.

I am playing this build on Bloodlines, currently on level 57 and self-found. But I had to use some alts out of my stock because my luck with crafting items was, as usually, terrible. So far, it plays really well. I switched to Ancestral Bond waaaay to early (lvl 31), but it turned out well, so whatever.
Dunno, if I survive, OP said it was meant to be a SC build but I'll try. I will go more defensive in my jewellery and I just hope I will be fine :)
Oh, and I am a Templar.



My trashgear
"
Quasireel wrote:

If ppl are interested i will try to add a small section about playstyle (how to place totems and how to make your party not hate you for scattering the mobs :)

This is a first draft, so quite possible that i forgot some things. If u got a question or critic about the build, write here or pm me in-game.




I am interested ! :D

thanks alot for your guide, it made me respec into this. the build is really cool, really strong, but i lack in totem-placing knowledge so a playstyle guide or video would be greatly appreciated :D

RIP King of the Forest view-thread/1738625
yes, this post is really helpful. Thanks for the sharing.
Hope to see you add more sections! :)
what auras do u usuallly run or do u run all of em
"
Quasireel wrote:

If ppl are interested i will try to add a small section about playstyle (how to place totems and how to make your party not hate you for scattering the mobs :)


Thanks for sharing this.

Could I ask you to prepare such tutorial in some spare time?
Hey I was thinking about doing this in the 5 day self found. I think that the best way to get the gems in a solo self found league is to start duelist to get Firetrap (for leveling), Shockwave totem, and Hatred then go back to Scion. I have never done solo self found before, so I am uncertain on the likelihood of getting all the gems I need. What do you think?
- IGN: Aethaeri

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