[3.10 HC] Apep's Darkpact Totems are BACK (original build 3.1-3.3)

"

whiskeyjoel wrote:

That's a good question about the 4vs5 totems, and unfortunately I really don't have an answer, maybe one of the more mathy players can shed light on it. Right now, I'm generally running with the full amount for bosses. I drop two decoys, either on opposing sides, or front and behind, and the other three are DP. I find having more than one Decoy adds a strategic value that another DP totem wouldn't, since the two decoy totems are basically sharing the damage and hate. I imagine you could do the same thing with a 4 totem setup, but whether that would be more damage or less, I really don't know.

The simple way I've been managing 4 totems so far is basically 1 of 2 things.

For easier bosses i just go 1 decoy 3 DP, I know that if i resummon the decoy then the period between when it dies and when the next one starts drawing aggro can allow the boss to attack me but like I said, easier boss, I don't worry about it too much. If i notice one of my DP totems dies to boss aoe after exhausting it's health then I'll cast a decoy first before refreshing the DP totem (and presumably the other totems are low health too) That way theres no down time between decoys.

If I'm more afraid of the boss i alternate, decoy, DP, decoy, DP, so on and so forth until the boss dies.

I'm still doing low tier maps but I'm just working the system slowly and casually so I don't get in over my head by accident since I've never gotten to maps before this character.

"

Lysithea wrote:

Haven't had time to look much into it myself yet, thanks a lot for crunching some numbers. Am I assuming correct that those dps calcs doesn't factor in new jewels? I'd imagine less dex req and +res on armor would free up quite many dpsmod slots on jewels. If that's the case it's definitely the way to go forward.

Yeah, I didn't use your gear, just a quasi-idealized set with life/mana/12area/12spell jewels. Using my own gear (except normalizing for 21/20 gems) where I have more 3-dps jewels (because I'm fairly broke having just come back to the game and life+dps jewels are crazy expensive on standard) and my dps is higher, the gap closes to 4.6%, so it's probably possible to close or even overcome the gap if you truly min-max.

If you're looking for things to throw currency at, I think deafening essences of envy on amulets would be the best bet. Imagine an amulet with 34% increased chaos damage, 24% increased spell damage and 13% cast speed...

"

Anteloptics wrote:

i fee obligated to post a recommendation for this build since I've been playing with Orion basically the entire league so far. The survivability and dps of this dark pact setup is genuinely very impressive.

While running higher tier maps on my (really well geared) SRS necro I have legitimately asked OP to carry me through sketchy maps when I was about 10 levels higher than him and equipped with gear worth roughly 4-5x the cost of his items.

I also recommend checking out OPs flame golem build and anything else this guy posts, he's definitely got some top-tier game knowledge and build sense.

Definitely glad for people like him who have done the research and notice the synergy and other elements that make a build. Getting back into the game, the build variety/complexity is almost as daunting as that of Grim Dawn...

"

Heracleitus wrote:

Definitely glad for people like him who have done the research and notice the synergy and other elements that make a build. Getting back into the game, the build variety/complexity is almost as daunting as that of Grim Dawn...

Yeah, the depth and complexity of PoE mechanics is pretty astounding. There's a lot of guides out there and it can be difficult (especially for newer players) to tell how good they really are. That's why I felt I should take the time to vouch for Orion's content here. I actually went through the process of putting together a totally new (and fairly whacky) build from scratch with him the other day and I can definitely say he's got an excellent approach to build design.

Really it comes down to a good familiarity with the huge variety of options (build defining keystones/uniques/etc.) and a strong understanding of the mechanics behind them. Given that you can start with some specific concept (I.e. primary skill gem) and figure out how to make it work

"

Heracleitus wrote:

Definitely glad for people like him who have done the research and notice the synergy and other elements that make a build. Getting back into the game, the build variety/complexity is almost as daunting as that of Grim Dawn...

Oh, man. I know this is the wrong forum for this, but I am super looking forward to the Grim Dawn expansion. PoE is flashier and has the crazy gem synergy system, which I do love, but I love the creativity and near-endless possibilities of Grim Dawn's class and Devotion systems.

I love both games, tbh. But for different reasons.

According to this you start taking decreasing returns at 8 totems.
https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Ritual_of_Awakening

"

HappyHarry wrote:

According to this you start taking decreasing returns at 8 totems.
https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Ritual_of_Awakening

never occurred to me the wiki may have done this math already. Good to know, though i question how one can possibly obtain 8 totems.

When You are templar Iron commander build ;)

there is new description of dark pact on wiki :

https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Dark_Pact


Important note

"

It is also important to note that using a totem to cast Dark Pact does not count as self-casting and will NOT trigger the radius or damage multiplier bonuses for self-casting.

"

wodzik wrote:

When You are templar Iron commander build ;)

there is new description of dark pact on wiki :

https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Dark_Pact


Important note

"

It is also important to note that using a totem to cast Dark Pact does not count as self-casting and will NOT trigger the radius or damage multiplier bonuses for self-casting.

Good to know. Also i like the idea of using dark pact as a utility with skeletons and minion instability. Probably not optimal but could be fun at least.

By the way, why do we use Decoy Totem? Does it do anything else then taunting the enemy?

"

Shoxu wrote:

By the way, why do we use Decoy Totem? Does it do anything else then taunting the enemy?

That's exactly what it does, and it's incredibly important in almost every totem-based build. Since we aren't dealing damage ourselves, we rely on our totems to do it for us, and so using Decoy Totem to taunt mobs/bosses is a direct increase in dps, because it allows our damage totems to do what they do best. If we didn't use Decoy Totem, bosses would A) Go after the closest thing dealing damage to them, our DP Totems, and B) once our DP Totems died, the boss would just come for us