First totem build... Templar or witch?

Hi, for the upcoming league (essence league) I was thinking of making my first totem build! I've been thinking about it for a while, but I just can't see which of the two classes is better for this, templar or witch.

I wanted it to be a shockwave totem build with Empire's grasp to drag them in instead of knocking them back, a single searing bond totem for extra DPS, and i want these totems to crit.

The templar can have +2 totems, at the cost of -8% damage per totem, so with 4 of them out, it would be 32% less damage. The witch (elementalist) has "Liege of the primordial" which, with the fire golem and the stone golem, would be a massive DPS increase. Then of course you should take the elemental conflux passive and most likely pendulum of destruction.

(The wiki says "While the golems from Summon Chaos Golem and Summon Stone Golem won't gain elemental damage immunity or increased buff effect, players can still gain the increased damage bonus from these golems." And since shockwave totem does physical damage, stone golem would increase its damage.)

How do i know what crit chance totems have? And could someone post a good link for both of the totems?

I'll go ahead and post the current skill tree that I've been working on for this build: http://poeplanner.com/AAIAAUxBQUlEQWdBQWVmQWZvZ0FFczhCbVBBWHZmSl9mbWp2dFBOV21acDVZNVNvVFdpdWo4a1ZITXRIcjdueURwNVJlWGRIOWhUSTJ4WVB6UktHdUVoRXRMSnhWcmtTcmo2YUNFTi13QlVKQmx0RDFyclA2MGgwVWptVDNwcmI2VExPWGxWSlRQVi1YOUcwWkNQVEFWR3BESXZSc0M1TW43NGo1TjlmUFNiRlROVkJDakRhSjAzQlNLZ3RkOGhadjQycFZTMkhpSktvMjZScHM1Q0pfeGhHV0J4NlZMdkRWU1ZHUC11djFaSjN5SFFRSGc5dFZ4aDhDd2NXSVFvSWUyd3VhNEVXZFUxSTZXQ2FWdk9xZHJnTjFrU3RZZDE4RWdwc1NhUmNjY1hseUQzR0Y4eEd4UWxjcFJ0ZlVCOXlORjZRVE5XdDZ5TC1RLXQ5dAAIQUFBQUFRQUEAAA==

TL:DR - Is more totems better than stronger totems?
Thanks for reading!

Afaik elemental conflux doesn't work with totems (as it isn't you that kills).

Imo chieftain (marauder) is the best ascendancy class for most totem builds. To leech 1% of the totem's damage and get endurance charges on kill (and extra regeneration) is better than anything the witch or templar can offer. The extra fire damage/fire penetration also gives a very good damage boost for physical or fire based totems.
A flame totem or incinerate totem build can pick blood magic and run anger on an Essence Worm unset ring, while having a huge life pool and high regeneration (really convenient for running überlab).

I'm not sure if shockwave totem is that good anymore. I tried it recently on a hc char and the damage without crit was really underwhelming. A bladefall spelltotem seems to be much more potent (and doesn't need crit to do decent damage). You can have a look at my char BackFromTheGrave if interested in a bladefall totem build, although i would choose Hinekora and Ramako as ascendancies now.


Totem crit chance depends on the skill you use. Shockwave and flame totem both have a base crit of 5%. An incinerate spell totem would have 0% base crit.

EDIT:
BTW the low base crit of flame totem/swt hardly justifies the investment in crit passives. You need a shitload of them and lots of increased critical damage too. At least for flame totem it is much more efficient to spend those points elsewhere and just pick up elemental overload. As totems can't proc it you have to use for example ice spear-gmp-increased critical strike chance and cast it every now and then. Even though the ice spears don't do any damage they can still crit and thereby proc elemental overload.

Hmm. I have read through your post several times. I must say, it made me doubt the efficiency of a totem build in general, and maybe it isn't the best way to start of the new league.

You are most likely correct about the elemental conflux.

Perhaps it's better to just run a standard elementalist as a league starter instead...?

Anyhow, thank you very much for your extensive reply, it really helps!

I'm not saying that dual totem builds aren't efficient. They are still the best for a fresh start in a new league because no other build has that low gear requirements.

The point is that the witch ascendancies don't go well with dual totem builds. Occultist only offers dual curses while the rest doesn't work well (or at all) with totems. Elementalist has liege, pendulum and mastermind that aplies to totem, but the rest (in case you go for a forth skill) doesn't (paragons reflect reduction is irrelevant if you run totems).
IF you want to play witch, you are better off playing selfcast in regard to the available ascendancies.

IF you want to play totem on the other hand, go for mara/chieftain. Imo it is better than hierophant. A char that is life, armour and strength based still has low gear requirements (using iron will as support to use some of the red sockets) but can be really tanky. One of the best choices if you want to farm the lab (because of the armour, endurance charges and the life regeneration).

Flame totem (or incinerate spelltotem if you have a 6 link) or bladefall spelltotem are very solid builds that also work versus atziri and in überlab and high maps.

Liftingnerdbro changed his witch flametotem build to chieftain if you are looking for some info:
[2.2 Video Guide] Beginner's Build: Dual Flame Totem, Blood Magic Chieftain [Atziri & HC/SC Viable]
I would pick Ngamahu -> Hinekora -> Ramako -> Arohongui as ascendancies though.

Yeah, you are correct again. I'm still new to totems, so i forgot that the anti-reflect ascendancy wasn't needed, nor that conflux wouldn't work.

Well, I'll take some time to think about what to do next. I quite like the elementalist ascendancies so im leaning towards that right now more than totems. I never really liked chieftain. Anyhow, many thanks again for such a great reply.

I'm currently testing an Inquisitor dual crit bladefall totems build for the next league. I'm rocking 66k dps in hideout on a 6L lvl 19 bladefall gem. Whenever I whirl (attack) and drop a totem (spell) Instrument of Virtue pushes the dps up to 82k. If you want to check it out, the character name is izaromorghulis. I also have a scion triple warchief totem character that is really strong.