[2.2] Iron Will Dual Totem Bladefall [CHIEFTAIN] - updated for ascendacy

Q: Is this hardcore viable?
A: I only play hardcore, every build I plan out I plan out for hardcore in mind (I also hit 100 in tali-hc with this build so, very much yes)

Q: Is this expensive?
A: No, But if you are willing to spend some money you can make the build extremely strong

Q: Can i do this self found?
A: Well... as a Marauder highly unlikely as he doesnt get a whole lot of spell gems, and we do need an excessive amount of dexterity for the build itself.

Q: Why didn't you pick up Totemic Zeal?
A: 5 Points to get there, 5 points i'd rather spend elsewhere. The whole point of getting that wheel (imo) is because of the placement speed, a quality spell totem does the job just fine.
Ontop of this we do also gain 8% cast speed, but Bladefall doesnt seem to scale all that impresively with cast speed so in my personal opinion, this wheel is a waste.

Q: Why didn't you pick up Light of Divinity?
A: I really, really tried to get LoD into the build but for what i was going for, there wasnt enough passive points left over. The only "sacrifice" I see possible is to take LoD instead of Combat Stamina, which would give us 1.8% less life regen, 30% less armour and 5% less life. Since I really like Life regen I couldnt pass this up, but maybe you can?
If you've watched my stream you may have noticed that at lvl 99 i actually picked up Light of Divinity, simply because at that point i could. it was more damage than taking the witch nodes.
If you're looking for damage instead of regen i would suggest picking up LoD which gives us: 8% elemental damage (scaling our auras) 7% cast speed, 15% spell damage and 10 strength.

Q: Why didnt you take Sovereignty?
A: First of all, 5 points to get there, 5 points I'd rather spend elsewhere. Second of all the ONLY reason to go there is so that we can run clarity off of mana, even then we MIGHT (as in i actually dont know) even need righteous decree, adding 2 passive nodes (that's 5-7 nodes we could put into life or damage). However with a life pool of 7k (mine is currently 7,5) running a lvl 15 clarity is reserving 419 life, that puts you anywhere between 6-7k depending on your gear. As long as you actually use Rallying Cry, you should have no mana issues. a lvl 20 rallying gives the same mana regen a lvl 15 clarity would. to save 5-7 points i'll gladly give up 419 life.

Q: What's your tooltip and stats?
A: With a lvl 21 bladefall and 20/20 support gems @ lvl 100:
Tooltip With auras: 26,7k
Adding Rallying: 29k

(stats below are old:ish)

Life: 7368
Life regen: 657

Mana regen: 33.5
With rallying: 60
With lvl 15 clarity: 60
Adding Rallying: 86,6

Armour: 12589 (55%)
With Granite: 21289 (68%)

Strength: 919
Dexterity: 160

6L mana cost: 100

Q: Why Iron Will?
A: It has no mana multiplier and it allows me to make the build very tanky. I get to focus on life and as a bonus, that life is giving me damage

Q: Why aren't you using Added Fire?
A: Added Fire is less damage then any of the other support gems and generally people seem to be using Added Fire over Concentrated Effect. This is less damage BUT by using Added Fire over Conc we gain alot of AoE, however personally I dont feel the AoE reduction with Conc is all that significant. If you want as much damage as possible there's no argument really. If you want more AoE and can't get the colours for conc, then by all means use Added Fire.

Q: Why all the life regen nodes?
A: Life regen is really strong defensively, its a personal flavour. if you dont want life regen, spend these points elsewhere.
Also when i FIRST planned out the tree i wanted to make room for possible Righteous Fire transition, however the damage is already too absurd but i still kept the life regen because I like it.

Q: Which classes gets Bladefall as a reward?
A: Shadows and Scions gets it as a reward from killing Gravicious in act 3 normal, Witches can buy it from Clarissa in act 3 by killing Gravicious.
To get the gem as a Marauder you either have to mule or trade for it.

Q: How did you level before swapping to Bladefall totems?
A: I cleaved until i was 13, then I used sweep until i had Ancestral Bond, Amplify and was able to use Spell Totem for Bladefall.
If you want to, you could use cyclone until you have the AoE nodes (make sure you level Bladefall gem somewhere) and respec when you have the gear you're comfortable with

You could also use Firestorm + Flametotem until you can use Bladedall.

Q: How do you deal with the dexterity issues?
A: Unless you have lots and lots of dexterity on your actual gear you may need to use the unique jewel Fluid Motion, which transforms strength to dexterity in radius.
You could also just put in jewels with dexterity in your sockets.

Q: How much dexterity do i need for Bladefall?
A: http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Bladefall

Gem level 19: 151 dext
Gem level 20: 155 dext
Gem level 21: 159 dext

Q: What gems do I need to buy/Trade for as a marauder?
A: These are unavailable for marauders: Controlled Destruction, Faster Casting, Concentrated Effect, Bladefall, Clarity, Flame Dash
These you get as a reward or can buy from the vendor: Iron Will, Spell Totem, Vulnerability, Blood Magic (Library reward), Rallying Cry, Enduring Cry, Firestorm, Fire Trap, Flame Totem, Hatred

Q: I did not find the question I was looking for
A: Then please ask me personally, im forgetful, your question should maybe even be on this Q&A.

Alberon's Warpath - Decent armour, some chaos res, acceptable movement speed, 15-18% increased total strength, usually only a couple chaos. Well worth if you dont need the additional resists!

Doon Cuebiyari - Basically best in slot for any iron will build. A wand, sceptre, dagger with %spell damage and flat elemental damage will do fine.

Tabula Rasa - I was using a tabula until lvl 89 and still had 6k armour, if you have the resists a Tabula can be surprisingly tanky.

lvl 79 tree: poeurl.com/yM1

lvl 90 tree: poeurl.com/yM0

lvl 100 tree: poeurl.com/yMZ

I got rid of the "Alternate classes / tree's part 'cause of Ascendacy, MIGHT add some later

Please NOTE this leveling tree guide is merely a suggestion, if you wish to level it differently please go ahead and do so. You could even simply pick up the two hander nodes and cyclone your way to merciless instead of leveling as a caster.

Leveling uniques suggestions:

I would suggest cleaving until level 12, Once we're level 12 we can start using Firestorm, fire trap, flame totem (or if you prefer, sweep).
At level 28 we can use Bladefall, i'd say compared to firestorm they're close but i dare say Bladefall scales better with levels (after the nerf firestorm is probably better, i dont really know).
If you want to you could rush Ancestral Bond earlier and do dual FLAME totem. Don't do dual BLADEFALL totems too early because it's way more efficient to self cast bladefall until we're around level 45-50.
Personally I would do Firestorm + Flame Totem through all of normal until cruel act 1, NOT going ancestral bond in normal makes act 4 actually alot easier.

Auras: Use Herald of Thunder along with Herald of ice and Clarity, if you cant substain the mana drop one herald. Once you go Bladefall Totems drop ice and thunder and use herald of ash, dont add hatred until you feel you can use clarity on blood magic (a life reservation between 3-400, dont level it all the way)
Also dont forget how strong Rallying Cry actually is for mana regen. If you cant substain the mana you are probably spamming the totems more than you need to.


The split up leveling tree's are gone 'cause i forgot to save them and offline skill tree planner's url doesnt work for some reason so here's a 8 minute video of me mumbling and reading off a note showing you have to place the nodes one by one: https://youtu.be/Y2IHFhN_caQ