Questions About Templar Totem Build

Hey there.

I'm currently levling a templar and planning to build something with totems.
I got a few questions which I hope people here could help me with.
Mainly about what works / is doable, and how to best set it up.

I want to use Sire of Shards, to make my flame or spell totems cast novas. (got the staff 5L)

Also thinking of building it with spell crit.

Here's my current theoretical passive tree:

https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwUBBLMJqicvMtE62DwFQ8hFR08EUlNboGjybRl8DnyDgpuLjJBVl5WX9J_fogCnVcBmwJrZ_Ovu7DjvfPAf-d3VpleUKU9rt4V9FkBmnljlwxNaKyoTo_KvbAthxq4QzP6HeyD4kyu2jEYFQkGWrrPQ9aeUXl3R_SL0bAuTJ3_GwcXsGI_66_XDCbmT8h1knRGWDkhd8nDVidNwUioL8-oN0WNDTLMgblAw214EB4PbVcanCI9GE3FepViuNsWD806usTauEkSh2CQ9XyycES2FMpo77TwdFI5k96a2-g==?accountName=schattenwulf&characterName=Rorkan


1.) How well does building crit with totems work? Should I use specific spells on spell totem?

2.) Flame Totem vs Spell Totem (considering Lightning Ball, Fireball, Freezing Pulse, Arctic Breath, Ice Spear. Incinerate can't crit, right?).

3.) I'm not sure with how much spell crit chance I'd end up with the above passive tree, but I'm afraid my survivability will be very low since there's not much points left for survivability. How important are defenses / life pool / sustain on a totem build? Can you just let the totems tank most damage for you?

4.) Single Totem vs Dual Totem vs Tri Totem. Can't quite decide if I should use the +1 totem passive, and if I'll be using Soul Mantle (though will definitely try both out). The more totems the better? Does Soul Mantle only curse you if the totem life reaches 0, or also when the duration runs out or you summon a totem when you're already at max totems? The downside doesn't seem too harsh since you can just use a anti-curse flask whenever a totem dies, especially compared to the downside of the passive +1 totem. Also with multiple totems, is it mainly to increase the damage output by having the same totem 3x, or use them versatile with having different types of totems out?

5.) Charges. I've planned for power charges, having the 3 base, 3 from passives, and 1 from bandit. So 7 power charges or 350% global crit chance. Overall not sure if I should spread out that far over the passive tree, or rather not go that far towards the Shadow area and instead pick up more survivability. Then I'm not sure about how to generate and sustain the charges. I noticed that 'charge on kill' doesn't work when the totem is doing the killing, so assasin's mark won't work. Using Staff, so Siphon isn't an option either. I'd probably have to use PCoC, but not sure what to put it with. I've also read that Romira's + Incinerate is a possibility, since Incinerate can't crit (does Romira's make you lose power charges if your totems crit?). Then there's frenzy charges, which could be nice to have for castspeed and -more- damage, but I don't think there's any good options to generate them. Melee frenzy with staff would be too risky. Bloodrage doesn't work cause the totems do the killing. Same for Poacher's mark. Guess I won't be using frenzy charges? Not sure about endurance charges, since I'm not sure how tanky my char needs to be.

6.) Armor, evasion or Energy Shield? It doesn't seem like I can spend much passive points on either of them. ES could be the best option since optimally you don't take damage often with totems (... I think?), but can be expensive to gear for good ES.

7.) Mind over Matter. Should be a good thing to take, right? I only need enough mana to cast the totems, then they do their own thing. Though I don't really have much increased mana or mana regen nodes, so also here not sure if it's the right decision.

8.) Curse(s). Assasin's mark could be nice for the extra crit chance + damage, but the power charge part would be wasted. Maybe manual casting temporal chains? So the totems get more time to kill the enemies / survive longer. Or a curse-on-hit setup.

9.) Auras / Heralds. Do Auras affect totems? Is there any gain by using offensive auras or heralds with totems? Or better to just run defensive auras, or none at all so MoM can mitigate more?

10.) Any particularly useful uniques I should consider? Aside from Sire of Shards which I definitely want to be part of my build, Soul Mantle that I'm going to try out, I've also thought of using Voidbringer for the extra spellcrit.


...sorry for the many questions. Hope someone is kind enough to take the time and help with them :3
Open for any suggestions. And thanks in advance~

...anyone? :s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-nDcpIUzLY

I sugest to watch this video guide. I have tested this build in HC leagues and it is very powerful with 4l (i use Flame Totem linked with faster casting, fire penetration and iron will - after 5l i will add quality faster projectiles). Until you get Clear Mind jewel you can play with 2 sceptres.

This is my current passive tree for 82 lvl Templar in HC:
https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwUABLMGDgagCaoJ9gthDjwQWBDMES0UIBRxGS4aOBo-JbwnLyftKS4rtiycLKcy0TWSOtg8LT38RUdG10rESshQR1cNWOVZ81orXl1fP2P9ZIRmnmjybqpxhXIPeGl65nyDfLh99YIHgpuDX4PMh2WLjIxGjM-QVZo7ogCj8qeUrY2vbLFCtfK3PsBmwJrDE8QVxFjE9sauz37R_dIh1HzVpti92WHZfNn82rnbT9-_4MPhc-vu7DjtPO8O8B_xrPJB8kX2SPau-JP5vfnd_go=?accountName=SevenKnives&characterName=OldManWithTotems

Flame Totem is better than Spell Totem in my opinion.