[3.5] Ghostly Quad Totem HOWA. 10k ES, 77% Evade, 1.9 Mill Shaper DPS



3.5 Update
Buffs
+ 3% more damage per totem
+ 60 flat ES
+ Summon 2 totems per cast
+ Option to craft +1 totem on shield
+ 3% spell block on tempest shield

Nerfs
- Lose 1 max totem
- Lose 10% ES recharge rate

Losing +1 totem really hurts but the Qol of summoning 2 totems per cast along with some extra damage should make things feel smoother. Multiple totems support gives about the same damage as ruthless and more totems should be better for clear making this a Penta totem build.

Unfortunately atziri's mirror will be outpaced by crafting a +1 totem rare shield now, getting back to quad totem this way seems best for DPS and potentially ES

Build
This build utilises cheap unique items, most of the end game best in slot items have low cost

Can do any map mod and clear all of the content. Many people now have used this build and taken down all guardians, shaper and uber atziri deathless.
Really only 2 content, while conquerable is more hassle then its worth
- Elemental reflect maps
- Hall of the grandmasters

Defence
- Fortify
- 10k+ ES
- 43% Chance to block
- Shaper evade chance: 53% base, 77% with blind and 84% with blind and jade flask
- 5% ES regenerated per second + faster ES recharge rate and start time
- 4 Distracting totems end up taking most of the damage anyway
- Ignite and shock immunity

The deterministic entropy system of block/evasion in poe won't allow you to 'get unlucky' with a series of hits, you are guaranteed a certain amount of recovery time after they score a hit for your ES recharge to kick in.

Damage
- Inc aoe against normal mobs for mapping 294,424 x 4 = 1,177,696
- Conc effect Shaper DPS with flasks 480,493 x 4 = 1,921,972
- Shaper DPS on a 5-link 345,312 x 4 = 1,381,248

Heirophant Pastebin Link
Spoiler

https://pastebin.com/PW3xBY1B

Endgame version of this build



Playstyle

Quad totem has a drop and move playstyle and lets you loot while the totems kill the things spawning from boxes or Abyss cracks. Melee DPS numbers are only active while you are actually attacking but I like that totems keep damaging even while positioning and doing other things

Words cannot describe how much smoother 4 totems feel over 2. Heirophant is definitely the totem king

Even without flasks or blind guardians just won't be able to hit you with most of their attacks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MNbXK18zQQ&feature=youtu.be
The evasion and block protection is really strong on an ES character.

Videos
Spoiler


T16 Boss Kill - Hydra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPsSR3onnhU

T16 Clearing - Sea witches + Beyond is pretty funny, Minotaur Kill
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFTU_ydexpc

Shaper Full run
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y88ndw87psc




Gear
Spoiler



Gear Breakdown

Weapon
Hand of Wisdom and Action. Kinda need one for any HOWA build to function. Hand of thought and motion are the preupgraded form for leveling. These claws scale damage off intelligence which is why we focus so much of our tree and gear around getting intelligence

Rings
With heirophant turning mana into base ES we are even more incentivised to scale Int then before. These rings have a decent amount of flat mana on them as well as turning each unique item we pick up into a 4% more Int item. This is really solid value as most of the good ES/evasion gear is unique

Gloves
Here is where the synergy really kicks in. Shapers gloves are really the core of the build, their accuracy give us more dps then any other item while also give us massive evasion scaling which is what allows us to reach such high evade chance without evasion focused gear. The build also incidentally gets a hefty amount of strength which is converted into flat mana and %ES through these gloves.

Amulet
Astramentis is best in slot here. Up to 116 Int while also solving Dex and Str problems. Good rares can come close but no rare can beat this item in endgame

Helmet
The vertex. Pretty boring but its unique and got great evasion and ES. +1 to socketed gems is just a bonus that pushes it over the edge as best. When you have some more currency you can buy a high ES roll one but a cheap rolled one will do until then

Chest
The chest is just good. Tri resistances along with evasion and ES. Make sure to buy the double ES variant with 500+ ES. Due to the rings bonus even when I test with top rolled ES rares Splendor ends up being better. Splendor also has the bonus of being easy to chrome into our desired colours

Belt
Since its introduction Cyclopean Coil has dominated the other options for belt slot and luckily its even common. 15% increased all stats gives more DPS and ES then the previous options plus the 5% increased damage for lowest stat is wonderful for this build since its lowest stat is around 250-300. The build should end up with Int highest and Dex lowest which means it grants immune to shock and ignite for extra bonus.

Shield
Atziri's mirror is great due to its Int and resistances. It happening to have good evasion, movement speed and extra block is just a bonus

The fated version would add some interesting options like soul mantle self flagellation combo for really good damage. Either the prophecy chance is bugged or its just too rare to reasonably aim for at the moment though

3.5 Update
The new +1 totems craft will now beat any unique. Ideally on an ES base with resistances but you will need to work around it

Boots
Sin Trek are such good boots. They have everything we want, Int, Evasion, Move speed and the best ES you'll find. Pity they don't have resistances but they can't be perfect and they still beat any rare

There are two uber lab options that give great DPS on boots. 1-160 lightning damage if you haven't killed recently and 10% penetration if you haven't killed recently so you have a 1/7.5 chance of getting a good one whenever you run lab. I got lucky and got one on my 5th run.



Flasks
Spoiler


Make sure that you have a removes bleed and freeze flask. Removes curse is also nice to have unless you have the Atziri's Reflection upgrade which grants curse immunity and makes it redundant.

Ideally you want a higher "reduced charges used" roll on the silver flask so it has 2 uses on bosses

Do not underestimate the Grace flask. We have so much %increased evasion rating from our INT that sources of flat evasion are really good

Vessel of Vinktar penetration/lightning damage variant is cheap and better damage with its shock then wise oak or atziri's but I don't like that it has only 1 use before running out since it means It won't constantly be up during mapping

Since all our resistances will always be balanced wise oak also provides us defense against all elements


Is a solid defensive option too for some extra block


Jewels
Spoiler


Things to remember when looking at jewels

Depending on the rolls on your chest and shield you'll need somewhere between 0-8% all resistances. Grab one jewel give +% all resistance and you're sorted

Make sure none of your jewels have a random "+% fire or cold resistance" on them or it will mess up your Wise oak flask that only works while lightning resistance is highest or tied for highest

You don't want your dex total getting higher then Str or your belt with stop giving you ignite immunity. Look to get a few +Str & Int jewels in your setup. Str is pretty decent anyway since it gives ES


Unique Jewels

Brute force solution is needed for the left hand side of the tree for good Int value

Watchers eye with one of the following. Or 2 for the lucky/rich

"Gain 18% of Maximum Mana as Extra Maximum Energy Shield while affected by Clarity" Has the best value in a jewel with its absurd ES. These are stupid expensive though so one of the others is easier to get

"Damage Penetrates 15% Lightning Resistance while affected by Wrath" Better damage then a 4 stat rare jewel

"40% faster start of Energy Shield Recharge while affected by Discipline" improves survivability and also a great option. I do recommend for hardcore players

Watchers has other useful options but not good enough unless paired with one of the above

Pure Talent is great value on par with a top rolled 4 stat jewel even including the 2 extra skill points you need to spend to connect to the scion start. I haven't included that in the tree but I recommend connecting to the scion after getting one

Emperor's Mastery is another jewel on par with good 4 stat rares but is generally not worth its high cost

Emperor's Wit is better then a 3 stat jewel but worse then a 4 stat one. Not worth the cost

Might of the Meek In the top left sockets has the value of a 3 stat jewel but loses to a 4 stat one. Not worth the cost


Normal Jewels

Priority is Attack Speed > Intelligence > %Increased damage
Rolls are important. Bad attack speed (3%) is still worse then high roll %damage dmg

Prefix List
Attack speed while Holding a Shield
Attack speed with One Handed Melee Weapons
Attack speed with Claws
Increased Energy Shield
Increased Lightning Damage
Increased Totem Damage

Suffix List
Increased Attack Speed
Increased Area Damage
Increased Melee Damage
Increased Damage
+# to Intelligence
+# to Dexterity and Intelligence
+# to Strength and Intelligence
+# to All Attributes

Search for jewels with at least 3 of of any of these and it'll be fine

Abyss Jewels

Normal jewels tend to be better then Abyss jewels. Flat lightning damage gives less damage then the same tier attack speed. Flat ES does beat %ES but we don't need ES all that much.

Normal jewels are much more likely to roll with 4 relevant stats since Abyss jewels don't have as many desirable rolls




Skill Tree
Spoiler


Skill Trees

Level 70 Tree
www.poeurl.com/b2DT

Level 90 Tree
www.poeurl.com/b2DW

Level 95 + Pure Talent Jewel Tree
www.poeurl.com/b2DY

Things to get Last:
- Heart of thunder
- Top 2 jewel sockets behind 4% mana/ele nodes.

These nodes have no Int and so have lower value. People who take them early often find themselves running into survivability problems. INT = ES

Ascendancy Order
Pursuit of Faith - Divine Guidance - Sanctuary Of Thought - Ritual Of Awakening



Gem Selection
Spoiler


Chest - Basic totem setup and the main skill. The 6th gem is a choice between lightning pen or ruthless and I chose ruthless for better damage. Vaal ancestral warchief was added to the game. No reason not to use that here now

Even where penetration is most effective (Shaper) ruthless starts giving better damage then lightning penetration after getting 26% pen. This build reaches up and over that threshold reasonably easily from tree/jewels/flask. Lightning pen will then only be better on EE maps

3.5 Introduced multiple totems support which by my math gives equal damage to ruthless and the convenience of more totems while mapping. Good option

/


Helm - You need a level 3 enlighten, vertex and sanctuary of thought before you can run wrath. Before then use herald of thunder. You can pick up some extra "reduced mana reserved" nodes in the tree if you have a low level enlighten



Gloves - CWDT setup. I like auto casting golem and curse for convenience. I added tempest shield in there because there was space so might as well get +3% block. Enhance is the other option to make enfeeble a bit better



Shield - I put the shield charge in here. Colours can be tricky so can use whirling blades if short on chromes



Boots - This will quickly and easily proc elemental overload and blind on bosses



Claw - Filler space for vaal gems if you wish. Vaal disipline, Vaal grace, Vaal haste are all options. I don't really use vaal gems as they annoy me but Vaal discipline is pretty good on hardcore players since it acts like a panic flask



Offhand Slots
Don't forget to fill these up with gems for leveling too. I tend to level popular gems like glacial cascade and then sell them once they hit level 20 to fund gear upgrades. You can also level 6 wraths and then vaal them looking for a level 21 version for better damage.



Pantheon
Spoiler

Soul of the Brine King Pantheon for the stunlock immunity. Evasion prevents stunlock from attacks but its good being able to charge away from a stunning firestorm. None of the other options appeal that much anyway

Soul of Abberath is my preferred minor pantheon bonus. Immunity to burning ground is really handy


Leveling and Gear Progression
Spoiler


Skill Choice
lvl 1-28 Molten strike with ancestral call
lvl 28+ Ancestral warchief taking ancestral bond in the tree for +1 totem

Leveling Gear

Leveling gear and path into endgame stuff. The highlighted items cost 1c or less. You should be able to start mapping wearing just these highlighted(cheap) items. For a smoother experience keep an eye on level requirements and upgrade right when you hit them

Chest - Zahndethus Cassock Lvl 37 - Geofri's Sanctuary lvl 64 - Atziri's Splendour lvl 75
Weapon - Hand of Thought and Motion lvl 22 - Hand of Wisdom and Action lvl 68
Helm - Doedre's Scorn lvl 39 - Vertex lvl 62
Gloves - Lochtonial Caress lvl 1 - Asenath's Gentle Touch lvl 25 - Shaper's Touch lvl 66
Boots - Shavronne's Pace lvl 32 - Sin Trek lvl 62
Belt - Bated Breath lvl 22 - Cyclopean Coil lvl 68
Shield - Crest of Perandus lvl 8 - Atziri's Mirror lvl 54
Ring - Timeclasp lvl 22 - Perandus Signet lvl 1
Amulet - Astramentis lvl 20

Priority order for gear upgrades
Assuming you are already wearing the highlighted cheap items mentioned above this is the order I would look to buy the final gear.

Shaper's Touch > Astramentis > Vertex > Cyclopean Coil (14% or 15% increased attributes) > Hand of Wisdom and Action > Perandus Signets > Atziri's Splendour (500+ ES)

Check the FAQ for some common questions about gear choices/alternatives

Once fully geared there is still room for improvements, don't forget to check possible rolls on the items. Getting a near perfect Atziri's Mirror, Sin Trek and Astramentis is usually achievable. There is also a big ES difference between a min rolled Vertex and a max rolled one.

Ascendancy Order
Pursuit of Faith - Divine Guidance - Sanctuary Of Thought - Ritual Of Awakening
First lab gets +1 totem. 2nd lab has little impact, it can wait. 3rd lab gives great ES. 4th lab for +1 totem. Again.

Defense
The build paths near plenty of life nodes and most players will pick up several of these while leveling then unspec out of them later when you swap into pure ES. How many you get will depend on how squishy you are comfortable being.

I recommend picking up mind over matter while leveling but probably wouldn't bother with the nodes behind it. While using mind over matter the only auras you would be using are clarity and discipline so it can absorb more damage. Hardcore characters in particular will pick up alot more life and probably take Divine Guidance for their first ascendancy point for an early protective mana boost

CI
When your Es is large enough that things are not hitting through it and making you rely on life as a backup swap mind over matter into CI. I generally swap sometime after level 60 when I have enough gear to reach about 5k ES. Just keep a life flask on you and watch for chaos damage until then

Jewels
Here is a search for 3 stat jewels. Anything in this list should be fine to use and there are plenty for cheap
http://poe.trade/search/orumarikaruwok

Don't hold back on keeping an eye out for jewels, even cheap ones make the difference



F.A.Q.
Spoiler


Why Atziri's Mirror not a ES shield?
Spoiler

You cannot remove the mirror without losing damage. Even with a really good (very expensive) ES shield with double ES rolls and triple resistances you still lose 60 Int and 4% more Int worth of damage. If you start cutting ES nodes and adding damage ones to make up that loss you end up with worse ES and damage then before you started.

Just using the mirror is easier, cheaper and also has 6% movement speed, good evasion and +10% block


Rings are expensive!?
Spoiler

More people running using the signet rings has raised their price

Timeclasp rings make perfectly fine replacements and you can only lose about 9% damage and 1400 ES so it won't really prevent you from advancing just give you something to save for, even at their current price they are cheaper then the endgame opal/steel rings that most other builds start looking for.



What about a Shaper/Elder ring or amulet?
Spoiler

There are some neat mods on them but no they cannot beat the uniques.

Give it a go and boot up the path of building link and craft something that could beat what we currently use. In order to do it you end up needing to craft something so perfect that it doesn't exist in the market. I have looked here and there but never found anything that can beat out the balance of ES and damage that the rings and amulet provide


Splendor is underwhelming what about Incandescent Heart?
Spoiler

Incandescent Heart is a sidegrade that is more complicated. Assuming a max rolled one the change results in
+12.7% dmg - 6ish% lost to cap resistances with jewels = +6.7% dmg
+25% less elemental damage taken
-1250 ES
-1900 Evasion

The small evasion loss isn't noticeable and it does give a bit more damage. 25% less ele damage taken is more then 1250 ES but the ES works on physical hits and elemental dots which the heart doesn't so its a judgement call which is better there

A higher ES total can also give psychological comfort, the tiebreaker for me is the hassle of needing to find 3 more jewels with +%elemental resistances which makes jewel hunting less flexible

None of the other chests compare with these two options though


Uber Elder?
Spoiler

Our evasion and block protection is very effective while mapping and taking down guardians so its unfortunate the new biggest boss is almost entirely spells making a large section of our defenses useless

This fight like uber atziri is mostly about learning the mechanics of the fight and how to effectively avoid their biggest damage hits. Here is an example (Credit to scott4040 for vid)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqeRdCnray4&t=4s

In order to be comfortable in this fight its suggested to swap out of damage and into more defenses, there is many options and I'll list some in order of how efficient they are. Its probably best to pick 2 of these options.

#1 - Clarity watchers eye. Biggest defense increase

#2 - High ES shield with resistances. This will unbalance your wise oak and you might need to get extra resistances on jewels too (Atziri's reflection BIS but very expensive)

#3 - Incandescent heart chest. This swap also puts pressure on getting jewels with resistances but 25% less elemental damage taken is more then the ES you lose in the swap

#4 - Cut damage nodes like heart of thunder, sanctity and the 3 point mana jewel socket in order to pick up pure ES like Arcane focus, deep wisdom and Written in blood. On my character this was 25% less dmg to gain 20% more ES

#5 - Cut Sanctuary and some damage to pick up Sovereignty and Influence in the tree. This allows you to drop wrath and purity of elements to instead run purity of fire/ice/thunder and gain +5% all max resistances which equals 20% less elemental damage taken. This option is probably better then option #4 if you were not using a 15% penetration wrath watchers eye and so don't need to find a replacement

#6 - Flat ES jewels. This could be #1 or #6 depending on how good the damage jewels you are removing were and how good the flat ES jewels are. +50 flat ES is a good boost so even if its just a 2 stat jewel it can be worth swapping into when cutting damage to get ES

#? - Totem life. Its hard to measure how efficient this is but the uber elder fight is littered with spread damage that takes down your totems fast, the longer they live the more damage you will be doing and the less often you need to stop moving. previously I had ignored this stat but in this fight it seems worth investing in some good jewels with totem life



Why is there nothing in the claw/should I level gems for profit?
Spoiler

I really can't think of anything more that would be worth putting in a CWDT setup. Even the current one has tempest shield which only has the purpose of giving +3% block and might be better off just being another leveling slot.

Because I don't really like using vaal gems I use the 3 claw slots to level gems then sell to other players. Glacial cascade is a good example and when it reaches level 20 you can sell them and use the extra funds to buy upgrades to your gear faster.

The 6 sockets in your offhand is also used for this purpose, leveling popular skill gems or gems that need alot of experience like enlighten


My resistances are not capped, whats wrong?
Spoiler

Check you have Elementalist, Faith and steel and nullification in the tree. The build also needs a single jewel with +% ele resistances to hit the 75% cap. There is a good chance you will beat act 10 wearing a Geofri's Sanctuary which has lower resistances then the splendor and your purity of elements won't be level 20 yet. So you will need 2 resistance jewels until you have those upgrades

I find overcapping for ele weakness maps a waste of resources, you lose alot of ES or damage potential for the 1 in 20 maps that roll with weakness when you can just bring a Bismuth or removes curse flask for the same result. If your clear is slower and you can't reliably have the flask up all the time then just bring both and alternate between them


I can't run all the auras, whats wrong?
Spoiler

You cannot run Purity of elements, discipline and wrath until you have sanctuary of thought ascendancy and your aura setup including an enlighten gem socketed in the vertex helmet (+1 to gems)

If you have a
Level 1 enlighten = Take 2 reduced mana reserved nodes in the tree
Level 2 enlighten = Take 1 reduced mana reserved nodes in the tree
Level 3 enlighten = Take 0 reduced mana reserved nodes in the tree

If you are 1 node behind what is required based on your enlighten then you will still be able to run all the auras but it will reserve 100% of your mana. This means that you will only be able to drop totems while at full ES due to sanctuary of thought giving you 0 mana costs. This is annoying to play with and not recommended.


What about Shock?
Spoiler

Shock is best with builds doing one large hit intermittently. This build splits its damage into 4 different sources and gains a large amount of it damage via attack speed which is the opposite of what makes a good shock

Swapping from ele focus into lightning pen to allow shock loses us 18% damage so in order to make it worth the investment of getting shock chance and assuming that you get and maintain a shock every 2 seconds you also need to be getting *at least* 25% more damage from it.

To get a 25% shock you need to do 5% of their max HP in 1 hit. I have 3.44 attacks per second and 4 totems so if I was doing 5% of their HP in a hit then they are only going to be alive for 1.45 seconds without the shock anyway.

End result is that even with generous assumptions shock increases damage against things that are 0 threat while decreasing damage against anything that is actually a danger



Would Orb of Storms or Frenzy be a better trigger for EO & Blind?
Spoiler

Blind has a 10% chance to occur. Crit on bladeflurry is 18% and orb of storms would be 15% so you'll probably trigger an overload before a blind in either case

Orb of storms would have a 0.33 second cast time and then as far as I could tell hits once per second. This means it takes about 10.33 seconds to apply the blind, provided they remain in range of the orb

Blade flurry benefits from our attack speed and I had 7 attacks per second plus an extra 6 hits on releasing the channel so it has about 13 hits per second if done correctly which should apply blind within that 1 second

Frenzy has 4.4 attacks per second so it takes about 2.3 seconds to apply blind and would increase the dps on this build a decent amount. However keeping track of charges is annoying and frenzy requires an extra second of attacking plus the extra time of you character making sure they are in direct melee range

I considered using ancestral call to help as it adds a decent range to frenzy but I'd need to drop the increased crit gem which lowers the crit chance down to 7% which adds more standing still time to proc everything. Same reason why I didn't drop one of the gems to add increased aoe gem to flurry

All in all I decided that flurry was the way to go. Quick hit procs everything and then you are free to shield charge around dodging anything you feel like dodging. In my experience getting that blind on right at the start and halving their chance to hit for the rest of the fight was safer then any other option


Should I take Whispers of Doom for another curse?
Spoiler

Guardians/Shaper are 80% curse resistant so against them the answer is no. Against other map bosses who are only 60% curse resistant its decent. If adding ele weakness then its 4.4% more damage per point which is above average but it relies on getting hit before taking effect and against most bosses I killed them before taking a hit so it would have no effect.


Should I take X nodes in the tree instead?
Spoiler

Probably not. I've spent alot of time trying to get better value out of the tree and have considered most things. I recommended testing it yourself, open the build in path of building and write down the dps number and ES number and then make whatever changes you feel like and see if those numbers increased or decreased. Then you can link the result in the build and say how much those numbers increased and what you did. Its fun to test these things and there are endless possibilities

For a normal player the easiest thing to cut is the two last jewel sockets (top of tree behind 4% ele and 4% mana nodes) which are not that effective if you don't have really good jewels. I would look to get them very last as they are only worth the bad nodes if the jewel is quite a good one


Which Helm enchant is best/Should I add another aura?
Spoiler

Any of the warcheif totem enchants are good. Increased effect of lightning golem is also good.

Middle tier is curse effect or shield charge attack speed.

Reduced mana reserved enchants have been suggested but I don't think its worth the extra points on aura nodes in the tree to add in anything new to the setup. Things like herald of thunder are too low value and the only actually interesting ones of grace or haste require alot of investment to squeeze into the build and you get more value spending those points elsewhere

When running uber lab I prefer to use my enchant on my boots. Hitting Lightning damage or penetration is as good damage as a helm enchant but much much more likely.


Is this build or the molten strike scion build better?
Spoiler

Heirophant Pros
+ Generally safer, more block, can keep a distance from danger
+ Nice being able to drop damage at the edge of the screen
+ 10-20% more ES then scion
+ Can run any map mod, only thing that really slows it down are temp chains or ele reflect
+ Totems keep killing while you loot or dodge a telegraphed attack

Heirophant cons
- Pheonix/Shaper have big AOEs that can kill totems, annoying to play around
- Less damage
- Unevadable hazards in Minotaur/some elder guardians. Riskier with recharge then leech

Scion Pros
+ Higher damage potential
+ Expensive items to chase (dying sun, +3 proj helm)
+ Can swap into a clearspeed skill (although I also find that annoying so don't)

Scion cons
- 10-20% less ES
- In the face of everything can get awkward at times
- Danger whenever you stop attacking, freeze you didn't notice, mouse stopped working etc
- Can get caught in attacking animation and not dodge obvious telegraphs like slams
- Can't run ele reflect or no leech maps at all which is annoying

I had more fun with the Heirophant but I'm not sure if most of that is that it was my first character of Abyss league. I'm a fan of alc and go so the fact that Heirophant can do any map mod made it more enjoyable then rolling reasonable maps for the scion. The molten balls flying everywhere was pretty neat too though. Scion has the edge on speed for both clearing and bossing but not by a whole lot as the Heirophant would drop a totem and move on knowing that everything would die as it was charge into the next pack




HOWA Molten Strike Scion with same items can be found at
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1880917
Last edited by WaffleT on Jan 13, 2019, 11:24:18 AM
Last bumped on Jun 14, 2019, 2:45:30 PM
hi,
looks very intesresting :)
what about reflect?
guardians and shaper?

thx
IGN : Arrowgadji
"
Gadjou wrote:
hi,
looks very intesresting :)
what about reflect?
guardians and shaper?

thx


Totem builds in general don't tend to care about reflect much since the damage is reflected onto your totems not yourself. Purity of lightning and purity of elements affect your totems so they don't take much reflected damage and it doesn't even really slow you down

Shall update the video section with guardians. I only just wrote up the character as I think I've finished tweaking the tree and gear as I've been playing so I don't think there is that much left to improve. Still like any build I'm still aiming to improve it
Last edited by WaffleT on Sep 5, 2017, 11:55:10 AM
Do you think that this build is hardcore viable?
"
Yatunic wrote:
Do you think that this build is hardcore viable?


In lategame yes. Getting there could be sketchy depending on how safe you play. Most of the items have a low required level to wear so if you already have some currency to gear up for leveling then I think it would be good. ES based characters are in general more difficult in hardcore as you need to pick up life first and then swap into ES later and when and how to do that requires some judgement calls

My biggest problem was lab. You really want those ascendency points but running lab as a CI character with low ES is mechanically challenging. Or maybe I just suck, never died to Izaro but the damn floor traps got me once or twice
for the bandits? kaitrin or kill all i guess? or alira for the aal resistance?

what about the resists? we are capped but only with the wise oak right?
thx
IGN : Arrowgadji
Last edited by Gadjou on Sep 6, 2017, 2:22:36 PM
"
Gadjou wrote:
for the bandits? kaitrin or kill all i guess? or alira for the aal resistance?

what about the resists? we are capped but only with the wise oak right?
thx


I killed all. Kailyn isn't bad I guess but I prefer the points

If you have high rolled resists on the worn items then you are at capped. I have a bad roll on my chest and shield so I needed to have one of my rare jewels have 10% fire and cold resistance to get capped

I wouldn't rely on wise oak to hit the cap
about the brute force jewels :
the one near elementalist node gives 50int
the one below gives 20
the one on the right near totemic mastery gives 20 also

would a 4 mod jewel beat 54 int?

thx :)

IGN : Arrowgadji
Last edited by Gadjou on Sep 7, 2017, 9:39:25 AM
"
Gadjou wrote:
about the brute force jewels :
the one near elementalist node gives 50int
the one below gives 20
the one on the right near totemic mastery gives 20 also

would a 4 mod jewel beat 54 int?

thx :)



If two brute force jewels overlap over a strength node then that node becomes a -10 to strength and +20 to Int node so both jewels will still count as giving you more Int from the same node

The one near elementalist covers 7 nodes from our tree that give strength including light of divinity and Catalyse so gives 24 + 70 for 94 base Int

The one below in behind the crappy Armour nodes covers 4 nodes from our tree giving 24 + 40 for 64 base Int

The last one to the right of totemic mastery does indeed only cover 2 strength nodes from our tree for 24 + 20 = 44 Int. Its possible that a 4 mod jewel will beat this in value but it would need to be a pretty damn good jewel and you would have to have every other socket in the build with a jewel of similar level or you could just move it there
Last edited by WaffleT on Sep 7, 2017, 10:47:58 AM
thx for the explanations :)
IGN : Arrowgadji

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