[3.4 HC] Totems of Agony: Ele hit totems+Herald of Agony+Jugg=broken [NEW videos uber elder]

This is going to be a short write up, since I am so tired from play testing these ideas over the past few days I literally fell asleep at my keyboard and ripped about 10 ex worth of gear. That said, if you take the time to understand this Ele hit totem/Herald of Agony mashup, a good time crushing all the content awaits.

Gameplay Videos
Spoiler


Original HC videos
Delve while leveling at 61: https://youtu.be/O8Dvtn-_PWA
A10 Kitava at level 65: https://youtu.be/zbbdLzd8b3g

Because I play hc and this character died untimely due to misplay on my part, I didn't get many high level videos before moving on to other experiments. I have had several requests for those--in response I went back and did a few more in Standard and also cross-posted some videos of higher level content from a similar build I wrote up on the Scion Forum.

Standard Videos:
1. Uber Elder (Almost deathless):https://youtu.be/p5WCf1Y8Pfw
2. Uber Purifier (ez):https://youtu.be/OxyEFqXDyXA
3. Uber Eradicator (ez):https://youtu.be/TAvTdotz4go
4. Uber Constrictor (ez):https://youtu.be/uOKZy1xeIf0
5. Uber Enslaver (ez):https://youtu.be/6JXNb0yHBI0

Scion Variation videos crossposted for your convenience
1. Delve lvl 180 Vaal City: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwpDZOlnyQE
2. Atziri walk over: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaGWPepzWm8
3. Maze of the Minotaur: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jbEsy1iIT0
4. Lair of the Hydra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rltvKt5m_jo
5. Red Elder: https://youtu.be/MalDmt2Uudc


What the hell are you talking about?
Spoiler

There are a few elements to this build, so bear with me:

The totems
Spoiler
You will be casting two ele hit totems (second gotten via skirmish quiver), slotted into your frostferno (tabula until you get to 60) for general map clear. These are given additional power through rain of splinters, combat focus crimson (removing cold damage, which is cut by frostferno) and elemental equilibrium (More on this under Barrage, below)


The crawler
Spoiler
You will have herald of agony socketed into a quill rain (6L for endgame) with these links: Minion damage>Damage on full life>Empower>vicious projectiles>Vile toxins. At full power, the Herald will do over 300k dps/second and is indestructible. 95% of the time+ you will be standing toe to toe with your enemies keeping it at the full 40 stacks while remaining mostly indestructible. (More on this under barrage, below)



Barrage
Spoiler
You will use a level 1 barrage>>gmp>LGOH>poison (later Barrage>gmp>lmp>LGOH slotted in elder gloves that have poison and faster attacks) to maintain a 40 stack herald of agony when fighting anything not instantly melted by your totems. In addition to melting bosses, this will provide you roughly 5-6k life gain/second once you are fully geared. You will also maintain at least a tiny amount of added cold damage (and no other elemental type) on one of your pieces of jewelry. When bossing, this will keep elemental equilibrium at full effect for your totems, since you attack much faster than they do (up to 60 hits/second) and they do only fire and lightning damage.

Don't level the barrage, ever. It is providing negligible dps, and you want its mana cost to stay as low as possible.


Defense
Spoiler
Defensive layers are as follows:
8k-9k life pool, using Kaom's heart
10k+armour
7 endurance charges
Regen 1k+/sec
LGOH 5k+/sec using 20/20 LGOH and 2 elder rings providing 15-20 LGOH each
Blink arrow=teleport when used with Quill rain
Jugg cant be stunned/frozen/slowed and takes reduced damage


Ascendancies in order:
Unstoppable (stun avoidance key to maximizing value of LGOH)
Unflinching
Unrelenting
Unbreakable

POB pastebin: https://pastebin.com/g6hFZLjN

Leveling Guide:
Spoiler

Initial skill until level 12 when you get ele hit can be anything. I currently favor ice shot.

1. Come down through life and proceed straight to revelry, which you will need for barrage to function. (By endgame, playtesting suggests having at least +7 mana gained on hit total for comfortable play--Quill rain provides 2 and revelry provides another 2. This is enough to function fine while your barrage is only in a four link.

2. Grab Elemental equilibrium and totemic zeal, which is a huge QOL improvement.

3. Grab Resolute technique and the nearby life nodes.

4. Grab Ironwood Wheel and Art of the gladiator.

5. Fill out the rest of the tree. get the endurance charge nodes once you have completed your cruel ascendancy. Destroy the world.



The build plays like a dream and I am too tired to do any more explaining right now. I'll be back on eventually to answer questions if folks post them. Otherwise, have fun.

-Orion
Last edited by Orion72 on Dec 3, 2018, 11:33:36 PM
Last bumped on Dec 11, 2018, 2:37:35 PM
This is very interesting - my favorite build in 3.4 (and probably in the past year, which is saying a LOT) is the Guardian Holy Relic/HoA/HoP Cyclone/LGOH build. It's simply amazing (and few people seem to be playing it/know about it). Uber elder viable.

I do like the concept of this build; I think I'll give it a shot!
All that and a bag of chips!
can u post any vidoes of the gameplay, i really want to try this build
I'l try to find time for videos later this evening. It's been a blast so far.

-O

[edit] OK, I uploaded you a short video of a char I am leveling with this build right now showing a delve at level 61. Nothing spectacular, but gives a sense of the game play. See game play videos--new section at the top of the guide.

-O
Last edited by Orion72 on Oct 29, 2018, 9:04:01 PM
Another video uploaded, showcasing the build's power in the Act 10 Kitava fight at level 65, pre Kaom's heart or Elder rings.

https://youtu.be/zbbdLzd8b3g

-O
Last edited by Orion72 on Oct 30, 2018, 1:10:56 AM
This build is quite impressive - works as advertised! Can facetank pretty much any boss and the RaT + HoA take out everything. It's a fun alternative (non-meta) build that works well! Here's the order I took the skill nodes:

Revelry
EE
Totemic Zeal
Sentinel
RT
Ironwood Wheel, Art of Gladiator
Holy Dominion
Retribution
Sanctity
Get End Charges
Barbarism
Golem's Blood

Make sure you have Rain of Splinters as soon as your totems are up!
All that and a bag of chips!
Last edited by Mooginator on Oct 31, 2018, 12:28:38 PM
sounds interesting.
checked out ur profile, you actually dropped totem setup at all (on ripped character), wanted to ask, why?
is that enough clearspeed with just HoA?

also, did you try some endgame bosses, atleast shaper? (more interesting about uber elder)
seems like sustain and defensives good enough, but not sure about dps actually

it would be nice, if you could film some videos on std :)
tired of meta, it could be something new i guess

thanks
Re: dropped totem setup

I'm always experimenting further. A friend mentioned a guardian build that uses cyclone with HOA and HOP. I am playing around now with a Jugg variation on that theme with barrage. Clear without the totems feels a little slower, and less durable since need to take the minion nodes.

Re: endgame content: I can affirm that with just the dps from HOA I was able to do red elder without difficulty, and the totems can be used as blocks to protect shaper and help with clear during that phase. Pob puts the full dps setup (including 2 frostferno totems with ele req and empower for HOA) close to 400k/sec. With my apologies, the problem with doing videos from standard is the extra time there to make elder spawn, etc. But I may try to do that in between leagues. For now, you have my word that it's pretty easy for doing red elder which also makes me confident it is uber elder viable. But, with apologies, you'll need to prove it to yourself for now.

Best,

Orion

{Edit} Went back after end of delve and added the kind of videos you asked for, from standard.
-O
Last edited by Orion72 on Dec 3, 2018, 11:38:46 PM
What about bandits quest? Kill all? Thanks.
Re Bandits:

Yes, kill all.

Other notes:

Experimentation with a variation of the build on scion (chi/hie or chi/sla, currently the second) has proved very fruitful. I expect to do a write up on that variation in the Scion forum with video in the next day or so.

-O

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