[No longer updated] Pizza Sticks: Flameblast Totem Hierophant

Thank you for your build. This is a great guide. I just started playing and as a first character, I am really enjoying this build. I do find myself fairly squishy and I'm not sure if I should be switching to some cast speed gear and where to get cast speed in order to make the change from bladefall to flameblast totems. I'm working my way through Act 4 Cruel right now and I'm wondering if I'll end up getting stuck in merciless as the mobs start hitting even harder. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you.

I got this enchant on my helmet:

Adds 14% cast and attack speed. It's incredible

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frost21 wrote:

Making my first post here, this is my second character I've played since starting late last league.

I've just recently switched to CI after spending around ~15-20c on ES gear. (Not including using 60fuses to 5L my chest).


My ES is only about 7k with disc on. I know this is on the low end so I'm looking for suggestions, I want to be able to farm shaped mesa/strands and such efficiently primarily. I realize I can use a shield to help increase my survivability and low ES issue but don't really wanna give up the cast speed from dual wielding daggers.


How much do you guys think it'll cost to upgrade my gear so I can farm those maps efficiently? Also any other recommendations/suggestions would be super helpful.


I'm currently running Disc and Anger but might switch Anger out for something else? I also only am using 1 vaal disc so might start using 2 soon. (Realize I also need new flasks lol)



Thanks.

Pls halp

Changing out my second dagger for an shield was a significant improvement toward less squishy-ness, but I can see why the cast speed is hard to give up too.

So, after hitting 92 and spending 20 ex on this build, I have to say that the author really oversells it at the guide. Don't get me wrong, this build is not weak. But it is not as strong as he claims either.

It IS very save for maps of tier 15 or below.
It is moderatly fast and has a decent clearspeed, comparable to other high tier builds.
Reaching a level capable of doing t12-14 and easy t15 maps is really easy! Easyer then most other builds. You can propably chainrun t14 maps with a 2 ex budget, so long as you play the boss safe.

It is, however, generally very weak against large zones of aoe and enemies swarming you with strong aoe (breaches; *shivers*).
It is EXTREMELY vulnerable if you play without paying attention. It took me a while to get used to pay attention to every single whirl so i dont pancake myself into a mobgroup that will happilly finish me off before i can retalliate.
It is very vulnerable in t16 maps, uber atziri and shaper.

Gearing yourself to a point, were you can do ALL these maps savely with atleast one dmg mod and with guaranteed deathless is INSANELY costly. Bosskiller builds can gear to the same level with about 20% of the investment. With 20 ex I can run minotaur and phoenix somewhat save. Hydra is a pushover without dmg mods and a small nightmare with them, but always takes forever thanks to totems either dieing or bullshit targetting. Chimera is.. well chimera is chimera. Actually here totem builds even have a little advantage but it's still chimera.

Gearing yourself to a level were you can do t16 maps with ANY mod and carry them vaaled in 6 man parties is IMPOSSIBLE. Atleast I can not imagine any human being doing it and I will only change my mind if I see a FB totem person carry hydra/chimera with 3 dmg mods and reduced shield regen in a 6 man party.

I think OP should really stress more that this is a beginners/hardcore/totemfetishist build, and tell more about the weaknesses regular players (those who do not have 100ex to gear themselves to 300% castspeed and 12k es) will face. Overall I kinda felt Trumped by this whole build.

@Vallenhael I think you are bit too harsh in this build judgement. Yes your concerns are valid, but IMO you should only compare this build to other totem builds. In this category it's very good. Ofc some non-totem builds are much better, but for players who want totem - playstyle they are not option. Major problem of this build is lack of leech in form of totem or fire dmg leech like it have marauder - chieftain. Its ofc possible to make this build as cheftain, get Vaal Pact and Ghost Reaver but dps loss will be huge.

Overall if you don't do breaches at all its very strong build. It needs off-screen playstyle, very fast dodging ( that combo is best thing to survive ever crated ). But its menagable. Definetly not Yolo build, but I love when uber Izaro dies in 2 sec.

btw, solo & deathless Abaxoth kill :)

http://i.imgur.com/Un8oJUn.jpg

How do you decide when it's best to switch from life to ES/CI?

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FrodoFraggins wrote:

How do you decide when it's best to switch from life to ES/CI?

I think optimal moment is 80 lvl and 60 chaos for poe.trade almost all new gear purchases.

I am a bit confused for the life based gearing recommendation.

Is evasion gear really that safe for hardcore? It kinda feels like gambling to me.

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Elua wrote:

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FrodoFraggins wrote:

How do you decide when it's best to switch from life to ES/CI?

I think optimal moment is 80 lvl and 60 chaos for poe.trade almost all new gear purchases.

ah OK TYVM!