3.6 Synthesis Arc/Freezing Pulse Totems, easy Shaperkills with less than 1-2 Ex investment!

First off, LOVE the guide and this build of Arc Totem. I've done a few Arc totem builds in the past and I've been moderately successful. This build feels MUCH better and stronger.

However, I'm at level 88 and a little squishy. I was thinking of dropping dual wand and going Sceptre/1H+Shield for extra survivability.

I also think that I'm doing something wrong. Why am I so squishy? I don't expect to face tank anything, but there are times as a Level 88 in like 150 Delve depth I get just smashed. I have capped resists and still getting rolled.

Much of my gear is +maxlife.

Can you guys make some recommendations to get better survival? You think I should drop some +DPS passives and go for the health box tree?

Click on my profile, the character is: SlickJimmy: https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Boschmorden/characters

Appreciate any thoughts.


Last edited by Boschmorden on Sep 6, 2018, 1:25:07 PM
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Boschmorden wrote:
First off, LOVE the guide and this build of Arc Totem. I've done a few Arc totem builds in the past and I've been moderately successful. This build feels MUCH better and stronger.

However, I'm at level 88 and a little squishy. I was thinking of dropping dual wand and going Sceptre/1H+Shield for extra survivability.

I also think that I'm doing something wrong. Why am I so squishy? I don't expect to face tank anything, but there are times as a Level 88 in like 150 Delve depth I get just smashed. I have capped resists and still getting rolled.

Much of my gear is +maxlife.

Can you guys make some recommendations to get better survival? You think I should drop some +DPS passives and go for the health box tree?

Click on my profile, the character is: SlickJimmy: https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Boschmorden/characters

Appreciate any thoughts.




What's ur HP and Mana at?
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Boschmorden wrote:

Can you guys make some recommendations to get better survival? You think I should drop some +DPS passives and go for the health box tree?

Click on my profile, the character is: SlickJimmy: https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Boschmorden/characters

Appreciate any thoughts.




Not directly related to HP/survivability - but your wands are pretty bad for level 88. You can pick up much better wands for just a few chaos, let alone if you're willing to sell 10+chaos. That will help in killing mobs a lot faster and giving them less time to reach you/hit you.
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icel3oi wrote:


What's ur HP and Mana at?


3807 hp
2379 mana
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mrpetrov wrote:
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Boschmorden wrote:

Can you guys make some recommendations to get better survival? You think I should drop some +DPS passives and go for the health box tree?

Click on my profile, the character is: SlickJimmy: https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Boschmorden/characters

Appreciate any thoughts.




Not directly related to HP/survivability - but your wands are pretty bad for level 88. You can pick up much better wands for just a few chaos, let alone if you're willing to sell 10+chaos. That will help in killing mobs a lot faster and giving them less time to reach you/hit you.


Good feedback :) Thanks will change 'em up!
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Boschmorden wrote:
Appreciate any thoughts.


This is not a tanky build by any means. You can survive a hit or so, but totems are meant to nuke everything and absorb hits for you. I personally play this for fast, 1-shot, full clears (pretty sure my Inpulsa drop last night was from a random basket in Delves that got zapped). I did a few T12's, but haven't gotten any higher maps yet. If you are looking for tankiness, you may want to consider a different build.

DPS Optimizations:
1. Wand - really low light to spells on left and low crit to spells on both. Cast speed might add more DPS, but the lack of damage has a lot of missed stacking effects. And low crit on both means your overall crit is hurting, so lots of untapped crit multi.
2. Speaking of crit, Diamond Flask is huge for DPS. You can look-up the chart if you really want the numbers, but there is crit chance, and there is overall crit chance with Lucky activated. Makes every missed crit roll a 2nd time for crit.
3. Helm should be bone helmet unless you find a cheap Arc enchanted. 35-40% minion dmg vs 21 on yours.
4. Belt - Just an FYI, WED does not affect this build. So you can get a higher resist/HP if you want or leave it as is for higher end.
5. Flasks, missing a bleed removal. Get a better mana flask. I like curse flasks because temp chains and defense debuffs. I had a night with like 5 back-to-back temp chain rare maps.
6. Passives - check the updated version or copy mine, I'm only 1 level higher and ignore the rare jewel because I got a nice rare one as drop. 2 out of minions after Spiritual Aid, extra near elemental after Holy Dominion, Lord of the Dead, and maybe Throatseeker (flat crit multi) until you get more crit chance. I would use those and maybe some other nodes to get the Herald of Thunder + Power Charge north of Lord of the Dead (yay damage and pen).

Hope that helps.
First of all, thanks for putting this guide together and responding to the comments.

I feel like I'm missing something with this build. I'm enjoying it a lot on low maps and delves, but feel like I should be doing more damage.

Is it just a matter of leveling up my gems? The only big switch I can see making is adding a bone helmet. Should I be looking more at the crit nodes?

https://pastebin.com/UQs3xfuT

Thanks!!
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Gosupancake wrote:
First of all, thanks for putting this guide together and responding to the comments.


OP only has 6 posts in this thread, most of the questions are getting answered by others, including myself.

For your improvements:
What is your hideout DPS with golem and Wrath only? I was 1-shotting with around 35k up to t10ish varying with mods. I also ran Elemental Focus for burst DPS by ignoring Shock damage since non-bosses died in 1-shot anyways. Later switched back to Light Pen once gear improved to continue 1-shot and help with bosses.

1. Bone helmet for reiteration. 35-40% damage is a good chunk.
2. Re-do your passives. Copy mine or check the updated one. New pathing for light pen on left side, remove 2 minion after Spiritual Aid, remove Lord of the Dead, etc.
3. More crit strike on weapon and shield. If you replace shield with another wand, opens up a lot more damage. I paid like 10 chaos for both of my wands and could definitely improve them. Waiting until I actually need more damage before spending more.
4. On your flasks, I find curses worse than burns, but to each their own.

Then yea, re-leveling should finish you up for 1-shotting trash in mid-tiers with no issues until next big upgrades like crit armor and 21/20 gems. Speed farm whatever you kill fastest to get some quick levels will add a bit of damage too.
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blackdeath101 wrote:
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Gosupancake wrote:
First of all, thanks for putting this guide together and responding to the comments.


OP only has 6 posts in this thread, most of the questions are getting answered by others, including myself.

For your improvements:
What is your hideout DPS with golem and Wrath only? I was 1-shotting with around 35k up to t10ish varying with mods. I also ran Elemental Focus for burst DPS by ignoring Shock damage since non-bosses died in 1-shot anyways. Later switched back to Light Pen once gear improved to continue 1-shot and help with bosses.

1. Bone helmet for reiteration. 35-40% damage is a good chunk.
2. Re-do your passives. Copy mine or check the updated one. New pathing for light pen on left side, remove 2 minion after Spiritual Aid, remove Lord of the Dead, etc.
3. More crit strike on weapon and shield. If you replace shield with another wand, opens up a lot more damage. I paid like 10 chaos for both of my wands and could definitely improve them. Waiting until I actually need more damage before spending more.
4. On your flasks, I find curses worse than burns, but to each their own.

Then yea, re-leveling should finish you up for 1-shotting trash in mid-tiers with no issues until next big upgrades like crit armor and 21/20 gems. Speed farm whatever you kill fastest to get some quick levels will add a bit of damage too.


Thank you!! This gives me some good concrete steps to take. Hideout dps is 18k w/ wrath and golem before making any of your suggested fixes.
You can actually add a loreweave as the chest if you want instead of the crit strike spell chest.

The dmg loss with a decent crit strike bonus and decent elemental dmg bonus isn't that much, and you lose -a little- hp but you also gain ES and mana.

And ontop of that you gain 5% max res if it's 80% max res, meaning you'll gain overall EHP, plus loreweave gives main attributes, which also gives more mana.

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