Some questions about playing totems

Been working on my old HFT pansless codger to see how changes will affect him. He started as MoM and specc'd out when he was able to craft a better chest and go full hybrid. Not squishy at all, but rather tanky with around 12k hp/ES standing in HO and 3/3 power/endurance and fortify while moving.

Totems in pairs: it matters for projectiles on totes (for density) and for HFT (mutual ES/hp regen to each member of a pair). I would imagine with some practice you could "drag" a perimeter or Line of Torres Vedras on the ground and spam place along this Line with about the same action speed as present.

The loss in clear is going to hurt the average totem jockey such that you are already looking for ways to get around Ancestral Bond so you can push the issue. Because mana will be tighter with more spammy totem "erections", you'll ditch anything that has a sustained cost or reservation. A golem however might be a real help here, or a triggercrafted curse on movement skill.

Multi support: competes with a "more" support for a socket. Elemental focus, pen, chain/fork, slow projectiles all help mitigate low numbers, whereas multi has a "less" and really only has a clear advantage for flexibility of placement. If you normally rock 4 totems and this lets you get 5, then that's a 20% "more" and some added placement leeway. However, if you already place 5 and do not need the overlap/can't benefit from proximity effects or shotgunning, that 16.6% "more" may not be enough to outweigh the "less" from Multi.

I'd seriously watch build guides from folks who have designed and played Hiero for several leagues running. They have an affinity for this playstyle and I doubt Wallach or RamyeonPOE would throw up their hands and say "welp awakening is trash time to reroll".

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Odif wrote:

Heiro got a HUGE clearing nerf.

They lost the "6% increased damage for each enemy killed by you or your totems recently"

For fast clearing, this could be hundreds of % increased damage.

It's just GONE...poof.

Replaced by a small increase to the "more damge per totem"

ITs not 2014. The only thing that matters for clearing is how much area you can cover. You can one-shot packs literally with 3L skill.

Some people like to play totems, some like mines, some like melee, some like bow skills etc. You need to figure out what you like if you want to maximize your enjoyment of POE. Sometimes the meta isn't aligning with how you enjoy playing - that is the point of deciding whether you are willing to give up your fun for the meta. Only you can decide whether that is worth it.

Me? Totems are fine. Not my first choice but I have played them in the past and they were OK. If totems were meta would I use them? No.

I dont like totem, mines or anything ranged. Face tank only builds for me but they are safe and quite OP and cheap to get into end game. I killed uber edler just running in circles with like 5ex in gear with freeze pulse totems check out rashidun

Here is the thing. Doesnt have flow like with headhunter. Some builds do like cyclone, like BV, builds you never stop moving at 200+ MS through maps. Totems has a lot of start and stopping

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Drackenith wrote:

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Aynix wrote:

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AlienCrimeLord wrote:

p.s Hierophant got a nerf for totems. It looks like GGG are going to try force totem players to use multiple totem support if they want to cast two totems at a time.
Depending on what the patch notes bring, totems have so far been nerfed for next league. But they should still be fine to play.

Hierophant got BUFFED in 3.13

What world do you live in? There very best thing you can possibly say is it's a wash. But, in reality, its absolutely a nerf. Multi totem support is a garbage gem and forcing us to use it is bad.

Calling pretty much BiS support gem "garbage". I chuckled.[/quote]

Honestly, reading your comment on this and your statement about Soul Mantle leads me to believe you don't actually play totems. Maybe there's one top tier build that uses multi-totems in their main link, but I've never seen it. Multi, if used at all, mainly is in a 4L to give 2 additional utility skill totems vs bosses. I.E. frost bomb or something. Also, Soul Mantle with 100% curse immune gives you a massive DPS boost and is used in almost all top tier totem builds. It was nerfed a bit due to splitting curses into hexs and marks making it so that we miss out on a few curses being applied to us.

If you already have 4 totems, that gem provides 18% ((1 + 2/4)*0.79)-1) more damage / 28% if you have new Ritual of Awakening. BiS, I chuckled.

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Odif wrote:

Heiro got a HUGE clearing nerf.

They lost the "6% increased damage for each enemy killed by you or your totems recently"

For fast clearing, this could be hundreds of % increased damage.

It's just GONE...poof.

Replaced by a small increase to the "more damge per totem"

Coupling that with the fact you summon 1 instead of 2 totems per cast now, yes, clearing got cut in effectiveness quite a bit. Not that it'll really hurt totem builds honestly. Their clear has always been top tier and their single target damage seems buffed in 3.13 if you count in all changes.

You have to understand that we haven't seen all that has changed yet. There might be a reason for this change. Maybe the support gem got buffed or some new item will allow multiple totems.

My opinion about totems are mixed now :/

Its definitely nerf, i don;t think huge but totmes never was Top giga tier.