[3.9] Holy Totem Chieftain * Cheap & Strong League Starter with new holy spells! All content!

HOLY TOTEM CHIEFTAIN
Hi guys,

this will be my league starter for 3.6... and it was super strong. A few things changed since then but I will update it for 3.9 and it will be a super strong starter build.

Path of Building: https://pastebin.com/T6axEPtn (11.12.2019, Budget Setup and High Budget Setup, Skills: Holy Flame Totem, Divine Ire, Purifying Flame, Wave of Convinction)

For more Path of Exile Guides, Builds and Gameplay please also visit my YouTube Channel! I really would appriciate it if you could subscribe and like my videos!

Here you can find a list of my other build guides: MORE BUILD GUIDES

Don't hesitate to ask any questions in the comments below, please no PM's! I cannot answer every question so please be so kind to help out each other! Thanks you!

***VIDEO LEVELING GUIDE 3.6***
[3.6] Holy Flame Chieftain Build: A beginner friendly Path of Exile leveling guide!

Pro's & Con's:
+ Super Strong League Starter
+ Easy an fun playstyle
+ Beginner friendly
+ High dps (+3M SHaper dps are possible, for endgame setup check out the end of the guide "Mecielle's Setup")
+ Very safe, even HC viable
+ Budget friendly (even SSF viable)
+ You can chose between all holy spells (Holy Flame Totem, Wave of Convinction, Purifying Flame, Divine Ire)

- Clearspeed is not meta.

Holy Flame Totem Patchnotes
Skill Reworks
Flame Totem/Holy Flame Totem
Flame Totem has been renamed. It is now Holy Flame Totem.
Now creates Consecrated Ground at the totem's location. This consecrated ground grants Curse Immunity.
Now deals Physical Damage, and converts 50% of Physical Damage to Fire Damage.
Now deals 3 to 5 Physical Damage at gem level 1 (from 1 to 2 Fire Damage), up to 134 to 202 at gem level 20 (from 122 to 183).
Now costs 11 mana to cast at gem level 1 (from 12) up to 39 mana at gem level 20 (from 42).
Now has an added damage effectiveness of 30% (from 25%).
Now fires 2 additional projectiles at all levels (previously gained additional projectiles at gem levels 5 and 9). These projectiles fire in a wider cone than previously.
Now has 20% more Totem Life.
Now gains 1% increased Projectile Speed per 1% quality (previously gained 1% increased Totem Life per 1% quality).
Is now considered 'Channelling', and will be affected by things which modify Channelled skills.


Build Concept:
The build concept is pretty easy..the Flame Totem and all new Holy Spells deal physical damage and convert a part of it to fire or fire / lightning. We use chieftain to get 100% conversion to elemental damage. Chieftain makes this build also very tanky and has great damage synergies with those skills. The use of totems make this build a cheap league starter. We get up to four totems (+1 Ancestral Bond, +2 Mutiple Totem Support).

Gear:(current gear, check out the skill section for skill gems)

Gear and Gems lvl 33

Gear and Gems lvl 50

Gear and Gems lvl 70

Gear Details

Some useful uniques:
> Circle of Anguish rings: with inceased Herald of Ash buff effect are insane for more dps.
> Winds of Change: for dps, projectile speed and knockback


Skills:
Spoiler
Holy Flame Totem + > Multiple Totems > Infused Channelling > Controlled Destruction > Faster / Slower Projectiles > Added Fire Damage

Alternativly you can use one of the holy spells (Divine Ire, Wave of Convinction, Puryfing Flame) with a spell totem. I personally really like the offscreen clearing Kame-Hame-Ha totems best so far... very strong clear speed and single target dps.

Divine Ire + Spell Totem > Increased Area of Effect / Conc. Effect > Infused Channelling > Added Fire Damage > Controlled Destruction / Elemental Focus / Faster Casting

(Faster Casting and Increased Area of Effect is extremly important for Divine Ire to Charge up)

Flame Dash + Arcane Surge (low level) + Faster Casting

Storm Brand + Power Charge on Crit + Curse on Hit + Assassin's Mark

CWDT + Immortal Call + Enfeeble

Mana reservation:
Herald of Ash + Clarity + Herald of Purity / Anger / Zealotry + Enlighten (lvl3, in order to use Anger or Zealotry you need to reduce your mana reservation with things like enlighten)

Utility:
Vaal Rightious Fire
Vaal Haste
Summon Lightning Golem


Leveling:
Spoiler
When you start leveling you can use for example Molten Strike / Smite and with level 4 you get the Flame Totem. On the skill tree we rush to "Ancestral Bond" to get a second Totem. From the Point we spec into Ancestral Bond we cannot do any damage any more.

Link Flame Totem with:
> Added Fire Damage
> Combustion
> Spell Damage
>...

Try to get the skill combinations shown on overview picture as soon as possible. In Act to rush directly to the chamber of sins to get Herald of Purity & Ash. If you have mana problem you can use Clarity also.

On gear look for:
> Life
> Resistances
> Spell Damage
> Elemental damage
> Cast Speed
> Movement Speed

While leveling it makes sense to go for Elemental Overload and when you invest heavy into crit you spec out of it.

While leveling I would not spend to much time with picking up stuff. Use rare / unique items you find to upgrade your gear and very important also upgrade your flask once in while. When you find a new weapon and don't know if it is better then your current one - just make a quick check how you ingame dps change... (while leveling that should be more than enough).

For early leveling I normally use following flask setup:
2 x Life Flask
2 X Quicksilver Flask
1 x Mana Flask

Act 5: The Chambers of Innocence are a good place to farm some levels and gear before you encounter Innocence!

Many player's recommend to use Nycta's Lantern at level 41 for the Holy Flame Totems setup as a leveling unique.

If you feel too weak at some point - don't panic! Just take a step back and grind some levels and gear in some area you can farm easy. After that normally leveling feels easy again

After act 5 & 10 you will receive a resistances debuff - so it is important to check your resistances and try to balance them. (You can use for example "Purity of Elements")

When you finish the storyline with killing Kitava in act 10 I would recommend to spend your currency mainly on rare gear to cap your resistances at 75% and push your life pool as high as possible.


Skill Tree 3.6:
Skill Tree first few points
Skill Tree lvl 37
SKill Tree lvl 65
Skil Tree lvl 90

Ascendancy Chieftain:
1) Ngamahu, Flame's Advance: 50% physical to fire, 10% fire penetration and dps.
2) Hinekora, Death's Fury: 1% damage leeched as life, totems leech 1% life for us, 10% more strength and a chance to cover enemies in Ash.
3) Arohongui, Moon's Presence: Enemies receive more damage near totems and deal less damage.
4) Tukohama, War's Herald: 1% of totem's damage is leeched to us as life and increased area of effect.

Pantheon & Bandits:
Pantheon:
> Soul of Solaris
> Soul of Tukohama

Bandits: Kill them all for two extra passive points.

Q&A

How do you solve the mana problem?
First I am not sure if there is a mana problem. I think if mana is a problem I would drop Hatred and get Herald of Ash and Clarity instead. This will make our unreserved mana pool much higher and clarity would increase our mana regneration a lot.

Experience from Mecielle who killed UberElder 5days into the league

"
Mecielle wrote:
Next update from my side. Shortly after doing Shaper I spawned Elder Influence on T14/15 maps. Had originally planned to get level 94 or even 95 before going for Uber Elder but decided to give it a go. Did the T16 Elder Guardians with no problems yesterday.

And today I killed Uber Elder. Had 3 deaths, which was about what I expected at the stage I am in.

But it proves what I said: If built right, Holy Flame Totems are absolutely insane. I am nowhere near geared out. With a level 21 gem, a good +1 gems and spell crit Shaper chest, better Amulet, better wands and a -9% fire res helmet I would almost double my Shaper DPS to 4 million.

I know I already did a long post about stuff concerning the build, but here is another quick reference guide:

- Essence of Hysteria crafted Opal rings are BiS imo. It is possible to use Mark of the Shaper + Essence crafted Elder Opal ring. But that is little damage gain for huge investment. And you lose the stats a rare ring would give.

- get the 120% crit or the 10% penetration enchant on your boots, both are insane damage boosts for only a small time investment.

- Anger Watcher's Eye "x% phys as extra fire damage"

- Proj. Speed is MANDATORY: Flame Totem proj. speed Helmet Enchant, 20%Q on Holy Flame Totem gem and Winds of Change, until all three are obtained, use Faster Projectiles support gem

- Links if above mentioned three proj. speed sources are met: HFT - Multiple Totems - Elemental Focus - Infused Channeling - Controlled Destruction - Fire Penetatrion. If not, sub in Faster Projectiles for Controlled Destruction.

- Cast speed and crit multi beat spell damage and spell crit on wands. Get all 4 of them if possible of course, but the first two are the most important

- I highly advice everybody to get Tukohama instead of Ramako if the goal is to do endgame content. I can say with 100% certainty that I could not have killed Uber Elder without the taunt.

- the changes I did to the tree are easier shown than written about, I will put the PoB link of my character after killing Uber Elder at the end of this post

- get Arcane Surge in some way. I use my curse setup to proc a level 10 Arcane Surge. People forget how much damage it gives... While Arcane Surge is up I gain 18% higher total DPS, more than both rings cobined. And the mana regen is great too.

- level with EO procced by Orb of Storms or Storm Brand

- Solutions to the mana problem the build has: mana regen on the tree, rings and amulet. Flat mana where possible. Enlighten 3 linked to HoA, Anger and Clarity. Get Righteous Decree in the Templar area.

- Alira for Bandits obviously

All this is just my take on things. Do your own thing if you want, but everything I mentioned above is "Best Practice" in my opinion.

And here is the PoB after the Uber Elder kill: https://pastebin.com/1D44L6eT

Had planned to stick with the build for a while longer, but having done everything in the game I am not so sure anymore. It is a lot of fun, so maybe I will keep going to level 95 or something.

Thanks to OP for the initial build!

"
Mecielle wrote:

Yea, I'm selling my gear. I stayed with the character far longer then I ever expected. Was a lot of fun and I did everything the game has to throw at me, except Aul. And it felt simply incredibly powerful. To the level where it was actually kind of hard to decide what to do next without getting really disappointed :D

I'll still be checking in to answer any questions, but I wanted to leave my final PoB here. That should answer pretty much every question that could come up.

I don't claim that this is anywhere close to the ceiling. My gear was just the best I could accumulate in the first 6 days of the league. The tree is highly built around my specific gear. But this will give anybody that wants to start the build or is already running it a good reference point.

3.1m Shaper DPS: https://pastebin.com/VFZwc7sb

Now that read that insane number, I think I might have actually been the highest DPS character. At least I find nothing over 2.5m Shaper DPS on poe.ninja.


Have fun!
[3.2] Bashtart's Spark Inquisitor: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1838569
[3.2] Oni-Goroshi Frost Blades Trickster: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2077486
Last edited by bashtart#2403 on Mar 6, 2020, 10:41:51 PM
Last bumped on Jun 3, 2019, 4:12:31 AM
Interesting to see what Holy spells and extra totem(s) bring to the table.
I switched from fire totems to Ancestral Warchiefs many leagues ago because fire totems damage wasn`t really there already in mid-tier maps. Let see how far you can go :)
Last edited by Killhoven#6437 on Mar 3, 2019, 4:49:41 AM
This is basically what I'm planning as my starter too.

It will be interesting to see the actual skill gem and the passive changes for Holy skills next to the Templar area they have mentioned.

If Flame Totem has low added damage effectiveness, is added fire damage support worth it?
"
Killhoven wrote:
Interesting to see what Holy spells and extra totem(s) bring to the table.
I switched from fire totems to Ancestral Warchiefs many leagues ago because fire totems damage wasn`t really there already in mid-tier maps. Let see how far you can go :)

Pretty sure this build will be able to do the whole content with a bit investment. Obviously I have to test a bit and optimize the build but I think this gonna be really strong.

"
Dobster wrote:
This is basically what I'm planning as my starter too.

It will be interesting to see the actual skill gem and the passive changes for Holy skills next to the Templar area they have mentioned.

If Flame Totem has low added damage effectiveness, is added fire damage support worth it?

Yeah we will have to wait for the skill gems and the passive nodes in templar area maybe they are worth picking. I guess that added fire damage will be worth picking but I guess we have to see... I might change quiet a bit when all data is available. For now I planned the build using simulating a Flame totem with a Spell Totem linked with Glacial Cascade and a Pyre ring to convert most of the damage to fire.

So I am pretty sure I will have to adapt quiet a bit :) without knowing the details it is hard to plan.
[3.2] Bashtart's Spark Inquisitor: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1838569
[3.2] Oni-Goroshi Frost Blades Trickster: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2077486
Yeah, it's hard to plan without seeing the new tree and skill gem.

So looking forward to this now and will jump straight on PoB when we get more details. I've bookmarked this thread and will be following closely.

The other two old guides I could find for Flame Totem use Infernal Mantle as the Chest armour. I wonder if the new Flame Totem will keep the fire tag or it will be called Holy?
Hello! Im a bit new, how can I see the skilltree better?
"
Dobster wrote:
Yeah, it's hard to plan without seeing the new tree and skill gem.

So looking forward to this now and will jump straight on PoB when we get more details. I've bookmarked this thread and will be following closely.

The other two old guides I could find for Flame Totem use Infernal Mantle as the Chest armour. I wonder if the new Flame Totem will keep the fire tag or it will be called Holy?

I am pretty sure it will keep thw fire tag... but I guess have to see.

@Jack: On WednesdaY the new skill tree‘s will be released then I will update the guide and post link to the skill tree.
[3.2] Bashtart's Spark Inquisitor: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1838569
[3.2] Oni-Goroshi Frost Blades Trickster: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2077486
"
bashtart wrote:
"
Dobster wrote:
Yeah, it's hard to plan without seeing the new tree and skill gem.

So looking forward to this now and will jump straight on PoB when we get more details. I've bookmarked this thread and will be following closely.

The other two old guides I could find for Flame Totem use Infernal Mantle as the Chest armour. I wonder if the new Flame Totem will keep the fire tag or it will be called Holy?

I am pretty sure it will keep thw fire tag... but I guess have to see.

@Jack: On WednesdaY the new skill tree‘s will be released then I will update the guide and post link to the skill tree.
Oh many thanks!
I will be using this guide come Friday, thank you for the efforts.
I'm quite interested in doing something similar to this after seeing the patch notes today. I've thrown together a quick poeskilltree build



This is obviously a level 100 build and completely unlikely in most scenarios but I will likely be dropping off health or the channeling/projectile speed nodes in order to get it more in line with a level 85 build.

With the Holy Flame Totem getting the physical component of the spell, being considered "Channeling", getting 2 more projectiles at all levels it should be a fairly big buff to the skill.

I plan on trying to use EB and getting a shaper shield with the +1 totem mod to it instead of using Tukohama's Fortress. This should allow us to use Anger as well as the new aura Zealotry if we end up needing it while still giving us enough mana to cast our totems.

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