[On Hold] Glacial Cascade Totems [ALL Content in the Game]

I'm sure we're all curious what Thi3n has to say, especially with the Shaper "stat sticks" being nerfed down to half strength. Those were big boosts to our DPS.

I don't think the Hiero changes are actually a nerf though.

crap my bad. Thanks for clearing that up man!

Will the build work with a 5L soul mantle?

This has been my favorite build for many leagues. I was going to use it as a league starter but it feels like it's not so great anymore. I'm waiting for Thi3n youtube video to make my final decision but here are some things that worry me.

From 3.5 patch notes:

Item Balance
"The Shaper weapon mods which cause you to gain a portion of Physical Damage as Extra Cold, Fire, or Lightning Damage, or Extra Damage of a random Element, grant half as much Extra Damage. Amulets are unaffected by this change, and this does not affect existing items. Existing versions can be updated to these new values with a Divine Orb."

- So this means that extra damage will be capped to 20% instead of 40%. For example my current dagger has "Gain 30% of Physical Damage as Extra Cold Damage" and "Gain 40% of Physical Damage as Extra Lightning Damage". In this league numbers would be 15% and 20%. While I'm using two of this kind of daggers the nerf to my damage will be real.

Ascendancy Balance
"Ritual of Awakening no longer grants +1 to maximum number of Summoned Totems. Instead it now causes skills that would Summon a Totem to summon two Totems instead, and grants 3% more Damage per Totem."

- We will lose 1 totem that was granted by this ascendancy node. Additional damage per totem won't be enough.


There will be veiled mod in shield that gives us one extra totem. But to use that we would need to give up second weapon. There will also be some support gem that gives us additional totem but cuts some damage made by supported skills. And we also can't use that gem spot to support skill that would actually give more damage.

So summa summarum it feels like there is pretty much nerfing to this build. I will probably use totems only as support from now on. :(

"

Ikankuupelo wrote:

snip

Not seeing this to be totally honest. With some quick fiddling on PoB you can get just short of 100k dps per totem with 1 void battery. Offhand still open for second void battery or shield with +1 totem. Not sure how hard the extra damage nerfs hit the build but it definitely still seems like a very viable option.

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UncleCoord wrote:

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Ikankuupelo wrote:

snip

Not seeing this to be totally honest. With some quick fiddling on PoB you can get just short of 100k dps per totem with 1 void battery. Offhand still open for second void battery or shield with +1 totem. Not sure how hard the extra damage nerfs hit the build but it definitely still seems like a very viable option.

Well I'm not saying this build would not work anymore at all. I meant to say that compared to earlier experiences it would not be so overpowered anymore. I used to do uber elders and all other end game content easily with this build. Now it seems like it would require more investment or skill to handle all the bosses out there.

The 100k dps per totem you mentioned is way lower than the one I had with my character. And now we have 1 totem less. So each totem deals less damage than earlier and we miss one whole totem. Not fun at all. I'm just sad with all the nerfs :(

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Ikankuupelo wrote:

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UncleCoord wrote:

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Ikankuupelo wrote:

snip

Not seeing this to be totally honest. With some quick fiddling on PoB you can get just short of 100k dps per totem with 1 void battery. Offhand still open for second void battery or shield with +1 totem. Not sure how hard the extra damage nerfs hit the build but it definitely still seems like a very viable option.

Well I'm not saying this build would not work anymore at all. I meant to say that compared to earlier experiences it would not be so overpowered anymore. I used to do uber elders and all other end game content easily with this build. Now it seems like it would require more investment or skill to handle all the bosses out there.

The 100k dps per totem you mentioned is way lower than the one I had with my character. And now we have 1 totem less. So each totem deals less damage than earlier and we miss one whole totem. Not fun at all. I'm just sad with all the nerfs :(

I think a lot of builds are going to be feeling the pain, definitely feels to me like GGG Want a lower powered league. That having been said however, we have no idea how strong the new veiled mods are going to be, so fingers crossed!

If multiple totems support is about the same as multiple traps support, this might be helpful with the loss of one totem on the ascendancy. The net would be an increase of 2 totems (4 goes to 6 for my version) with a loss of 31% damage each, or not much net change. However, that support gem has to displace something else good. Not sure what I could stand to lose.

Seems like it will be nice way to play though, with max totems taking only two casts.

Ok some changes made to the guide which are in the Update Log. I have added a section in "Questions I've answered" with my analysis on Multiple Totems Support. I will be filming a YouTube video for people who would rather listen than read.

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Just wanted to thank you again for providing this guide, I've used it twice, and am thinking of using it again for 3.5 stuck between this and the "OneShotKill Elemental Hit Totem Hiero" but I sort of want to go with something I know will carry me through the beginning of the league without any issues.

Let me know how it goes, I think this will be a great league starter for 3.5 so you know what my vote is!

"

Hey thi3n, thanks for the guide and also updating it going further into betrayal! My friend is starting with poe this league again, and I recommended him your build since I had great success 2 leagues ago with this ;)

Would you recommend an Elder chest with a + %crit to socketed spells better than a soulmantle? Just curious when it comes to super endgame dps

Keep up the good work!

Soul Mantle really is a great chest for totem builds. I know people hate the curse drawback of it but Totem Life, Extra Totem, and free Spell Totem Support make the chest the ultimate chest for totem users.

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So with the new totem support gem that grants 2 extra totems would that make Inquisitor better than Hierophant?
Hiero will go from 5 to 7 totems. Assuming a 20 less damage on the support gem. Instead of 500% damage Hiero would get 700*0.8 = 560. That is 12% more damage.
Inquisitor will go from 300% to (500%*0,8) and get 400%, which is 33% more.

One could also consider going Assassin.

I really do think Inquisitor is back on the table. The quality of life missing from extra totems and totem placement speed seem to be solved with Multiple Totems Support and remember Inquisitor makes it to where you no longer care about Elemental Penetration and you penetrate resistance of all types so Added Fire, Phys to Light, are all on the table! Would really love to see someone try an Inquis version of the build this league.

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New totem support gem IS SO FREAKING GOOD. POG

I think it's good but not made for Hierophants, check my "Questions I've Answered" section for my thoughts on it.

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Thanks thi3n for the build!
Managed to kill uber elder as well as uber atziri for the first time since i started playing. Used the build as well to get 36/40 which could have been 40/40 with more luck in the mines & more effort from my side for the end game grind.

Using Frigid Fossil & Pristine Fossil I managed to craft a nice helm, which could be mentioned in the description of the guide as well as it was quite cheap & easy. To use Clear Mind and Clarity at the same time I linked it with Blood Magic Support.

I will mention Frigid/Pristine Fossil crafting for helms in the guide. Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the build.

"

is stat stick nerf effecting this build at all?

This is indeed a nerf to one part of the build. However the mechanics of Glacial Cascade still make it a top tier ability and scaling it is still the same. One of the many more multipliers we had is simply going down a little.

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"The Hierophant node Ritual of Awakening no longer grants +1 to maximum number of Summoned Totems. Instead it now causes skills that would Summon a Totem to summon two Totems instead, and grants 3% more Damage per Totem."

The More damage multiplier from this Ascendancy Change isn't quite Extra-Totem levels of overpowered but is still very good and a must-grab if you are a Hierophant totem user.

"

Given the nerf to statsticks I am definitely considering a void battery variant now. Waiting on tree release to decide on 2nd VB or shield with +1 totem. Seems like a significant nerf overall though.

Interested to know how this goes! Let me know if you follow through with this.

"

Will the build work with a 5L soul mantle?

I was able to do all content with a 5 link except for Uber Elder.

"

This has been my favorite build for many leagues. I was going to use it as a league starter but it feels like it's not so great anymore. I'm waiting for Thi3n youtube video to make my final decision but here are some things that worry me.

From 3.5 patch notes:

Item Balance
"The Shaper weapon mods which cause you to gain a portion of Physical Damage as Extra Cold, Fire, or Lightning Damage, or Extra Damage of a random Element, grant half as much Extra Damage. Amulets are unaffected by this change, and this does not affect existing items. Existing versions can be updated to these new values with a Divine Orb."

- So this means that extra damage will be capped to 20% instead of 40%. For example my current dagger has "Gain 30% of Physical Damage as Extra Cold Damage" and "Gain 40% of Physical Damage as Extra Lightning Damage". In this league numbers would be 15% and 20%. While I'm using two of this kind of daggers the nerf to my damage will be real.

Ascendancy Balance
"Ritual of Awakening no longer grants +1 to maximum number of Summoned Totems. Instead it now causes skills that would Summon a Totem to summon two Totems instead, and grants 3% more Damage per Totem."

- We will lose 1 totem that was granted by this ascendancy node. Additional damage per totem won't be enough.


There will be veiled mod in shield that gives us one extra totem. But to use that we would need to give up second weapon. There will also be some support gem that gives us additional totem but cuts some damage made by supported skills. And we also can't use that gem spot to support skill that would actually give more damage.

So summa summarum it feels like there is pretty much nerfing to this build. I will probably use totems only as support from now on. :(

I will be explaining this in the YouTube Video but yes it is a damage nerf in perfect scenarios. That is, when all your totems are up and attacking at the same time then you can consider the More damage uneven compensation for losing a totem. However, there is more to this game than sheet DPS. Being able to place 2 totems at a time is HUGE for this build. In hectic fights this may even translate into MORE damage than before. A stick-and-go playstyle loves the fact that you can now place 2 totems at a time. In my opinion this build was BUFFED in this patch.

How does this compare to arc? Looks a lot more satisfying to play, but in terms of numbers and cost, is there a difference?