Advice needed on Support Totem/Mace build.

Hi!

This is my first forum post, and, as I just now beat the game for the first time on Normal, I figured I should seriously being considering what I want to do as I approach end-game levels.

I know that there are many pre-existing builds out there, but I wanted to build my character myself, so that I can feel like it's my own. Of course, that doesn't mean that I shouldn't get tips/advice from my more-experienced peers before pursuing it!

The build itself revolves around Armor, ES, Maces, Shields, and both the Rejuvenation Totem and the Decoy Totem.

I've taken a liking to a few AOE skills:
- Lightning Tendrils
- Molten Strike (which has effectively replaced the normal attack)
- Molten Shell
- Vaal Righteous Fire
- Vaal Ground Slam.

My idea for this build is to fight aggressively with massive AOE damage while either making the job easier by clustering them with Decoy Totem or by keeping myself alive with Rejuvenation Totem and Molten Shell in more difficult situations. I favor the shield/mace combo as the shield increases my survivability and the mace has some really nice buffs in the skill tree.

Basically, for this build, I am the Damage, the Totems are my (and any other players' I suppose) Support.

Here is the passive skill tree I had in mind:


The one thing I haven't quite exactly figured out is what kind of gear/buffs/stats I should go for, as I don't yet feel experienced enough to make those kinds of judgments for myself.

Of course, I'm also not yet 100% about the passives I have selected either, or the spells, or the concept in general, really.

Thanks ahead of time!

~ Hammy

EDIT: I have added Molten Shell to the build. The skill adds survivability and a good degree of AOE to my arsenal, which is a welcome addition.
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Last edited by FrydHamstr on Apr 3, 2015, 12:11:32 AM
1. Don't try to do too many things at the same time. Focus on a few concepts in your build that synergize well with each other. I know, totem buffs synergize with maces, because you cast totems and then you can attack more with maces, if totems are longer up, but that is not what I mean. I'm talking of real synergies, where several nodes in your passive tree support totems as well as your maces... So don't try to be good at many things, thus being shitty at all, try to focus on the one concept that makes you a killing machine, that doesn't die so easy.

2. Optimize your build for 70 skill points or so. If it doesn't work on lvl 60, it will not work on lvl 80.

3. Pay the tradeoffs. Some boosts are so good, it is very reasonable to pay their prices. For example Resolute Technique. You will not do any critical strikes anymore, but every attack will hit. You might say "But I want to do crits!". Yeah well, a crit does +150% damage, let's assume you have some + crit multiplier, you end up with +200%, which means 3 times the damage. But your build does not do anything else for crits, so you have 5% chance to get one. This means you deal 10% more damage in average. Now you don't have much dexterity, only 1-2 accuracy nodes and even if you got some items with a bit +accuracy, it is very hard to get 90% chance to hit. But let's just assume this, then your 110% damage output ends up as 99%. So in this case, with Resolute Technique you would have 100% damage, which is more. But if you don't care at all about your accuracy, which is very likely with your build, then you will mostly have 80% chance to hit or less, where your average damage will be at 88% then. Resolute Technique is again 100% then. So this is just 1 point, give up a crit hit every 20th attack and you don't have to worry about your low dexterity, your shitty accuracy and can focus on other things. So Resolute Technique is an obvious pick in your build. Another Keystone with a tradeoff is Ancestral Bond. You have 1 more totem but can't deal damage by yourself. You might think this is crap, but it is not. If you want to go totems, it is a good choice. You can still cast curses, the totems will deal the damage, you dodge the projectiles and recast totems. Of course this does not work with maces. But if you want to go melee with maces, don't put any points in totem nodes. You can still use rejuvenation totem and decoy totem, they will die a bit sooner, but who cares. So make a decision. Are you a totem caster or a melee fighter?
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Hm. I see what you're saying. I suppose I'm much more of a mace fighter than a totem caster (as the totems were just support for my maces). Thanks for the advice, much appreciated!
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