[3.6] Milky's Scorching Ray Totems (updating process)

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@milkyslice thoughts on this now? seemed ok to me but what do you think

The first 3.5 infos are here and i will cover all useful infos related to the build until the leaguestart.

+1 totem craft on shields!

No idea how hard/rng heavy it will be to unlock it or expensive to craft it. as we usually run 4 totems as a hierophant it's basically 25% more dmg with sr totems.

For RF totems while clearing it doesn't make a difference.

If it's easy to aquire other ascendancys will be stronger for this build than before with different benefits.
Hierophant is definetly the most solid, easy accessible class for this, but others could be stronger offensive or defensive.

Some occultist for excample can be near unkillable while mapping and the lost placementspeed of totems is not that impactful with the 0.3sec cd on rf totems.


Winter Orb

or other reworked skills can be potential replacements for orb of storms (cursing, EE, EO proccs)

Depends how it feels to play with and the excact mechanics.

Winter Orb sounds pretty good for bossing over orb of storms since the range is larger...we will see.

Lightning Brand

similar to winter orb, can be a replacement for orb of storms if it works fine (duration, clunkyness, frequency of dmg proccs,range, critchance). Frequency and range looks good so far.

Banners probably useless for us. bonis on kill don't work on totems, dmg buffs are attack related. If the dmg debuff is big enough without stages it might be decent (still has skillbar problems).


Unique Items

The Solstice Vigil looks great in almost any build. Blasphemy Temporal chains for 'free' and solid stats are fantastic.
Just needs to cover dex requirements on other items. It's probably expensive since it looks like a high demand item

Crafting in general

We got 3 coreitems with soulmantle and both ringslots (plx gimme curse effectiveness redu tion craft that can compete with kikazaru).

The rest of the slots are relatively flexible so it's possible that we can benefit from some new crafts besides +1 totem.

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plans for 3.5

After i got bored pretty quickly in Delve and RF totems were literally unplayable at the start (until the cooldown got reduced) i paused poe 'til 3.5 starts.

Delve just wasn't my thing with those clunky flares/dynamites and immunity areas in particular.

For 3.5 i will make a new passive tree pic and update the rest of the passive tree links.
A few sections will receive updates if there are definetive working changes coming and besides that i will make a particular 3.5 changes/possibilitys section at the top of the guide which will cover anything important.

This build will be to 95% my leaguestarter, except something else excites me so much that in decide otherwise. pretty unlikely (i tend to skip on reworked/new skills for 1-2 weeks in case something is heavily underpowered or OP af and gets nerfed quickly).


Maybe i will try a new version of this build just for a little change like a CI Occultist or Necromancer with support spectres (frenzyapes, curse necros, bubbledudes) and miniondmg converting into playerdmg.

@wpheinle I honestly dont't notice a difference to the state before a cooldown. It just makes totem placementspeed a bit worse as a stat and other classes a tiny bit better for the build.


Another 3.5 (well more 3.4, just found the mood again right now) is minion dmg nodes in the build.

As you know, spiritual Aid grants thhe ability to benefit from increased minion dmg on gear, jewels or the passive tree.

69% inc minion dmg is in the spiritual aid path alone, resulting in 13.8% inc dmg per skillpoint. On top the ability to properly use Bone Helmets (no universally good enchants anyway), minion dmg glove craft, other sources and ofc jewels with minion dmg (more possibilitys). 1% liferegen is in there as well

I like to compare the cluster to Breath of Flames which grants 102% in dmg (20.4% per point). Both cluster require no additional traveling in the skilltree.

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On the first look Breath of Flame definetly outperforms Spiritual Aid in terms of raw dmg.
Spiritual Aid is something to consider for min-maxing in the lvl 90s.

Since the 15% minion dmg craft on gloves is a prefix it doesn't compete with most other important stats on the slot (resists and dex are suffixes). It's often a easy craft.

Bone Helmets compete directly with Hrimnors resolve.

Hrimnors offers average life, up to 40% fire dmg and freeze/chill immunity basically all the time.

Bone helmets have up to 40% minion dmg with potential double the life and higher resists, but requires (probably flask) other ways for freeze/chill immunity.

in terms of min-maxing a expensive elder or even shaper bone helmet can be potentially pretty awesome.

Shaper versions offer inc aoe support (rf totem) and elder burning dmg (searing bond/rf mainly) coupled with increase burning dmg and thus higher dmg than a hrimnors resolve.

Minion dmg was a pretty high stat on incursion weapons or fossil crafting as well and opens the possibility to craft something very strong for the build.

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for 3 points we could grab spiritual command which lets us benefit from minion atkspeed. the cluster contains mediocre dmg as well.

In the end its just 7% atkspeed and probably not worth it over many other nodes!

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Overall a hrimnors and Breath of Flames is easier and VERY cheap to do

The minion dmg route is potentially stronger with a high investment in the lvl 90s+

So...

-1 Totem on the Hierophant passive tree, but +1 Totem is now craftable on shields. depending on how hard it is to get this mod it can be impactful beyond leveling or not.
Instead Hierophant got doubletotem placement and 3% more dmg per totem.

In the endgame it should be a overall BUFF if a +1 totem shield is used compared to what we have now.

The doubletotem placement should be pretty useless for RF Totems, but can be good for SR (faster setup ofc). RFTotems just don´t stack und the placement shouldn´t spread em enough for a significant impact.

Oh and i also assume that doubletotem placement won´t place 2 rf totems anyway because of the CD

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Depending on the patchnotes i might look into other classes for the build as well.

The -1 Totem on Hiero but +1 on gear allows more variety.

Some CI Occultist can be an option especially for the defence it offers, Chieftain is back on the menu or even the ascendant

What do you thing about the Multiple Totem support gem?

For SR totems combined with new hiero it should be very OP

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hitreza wrote:

What do you thing about the Multiple Totem support gem?

For SR totems combined with new hiero it should be very OP

It should result in less overall dmg once max totems are reached, especially since it takes away a support gem on top. Shouldn't be worth it.

Its useful for some cases:

- Utility totems

- for clearing (better coverage), not the case for RF and even SR (less dmg per beam, beam stays longer on a single target in a pack)

- if you have a low amount of basetotems life warchief on a regular melee build.


Maybe it works with Searing Bond totem since it already counts as a extra totem to gain the exta life and manaregen.

So from the information we have right now i consider an ascendancy change with some playstyle changes on top.

This might drastically change depending on the patchnodes tomorrow!

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Basically the Hierophant looses a totem and everyone gets access to +1 totem on shields as a craft (dunno how rare/pricey).

This makes other ascendancys better than before.

Hierophant will still be a top class for the build for sure, but i see the ascendant on par for 3.5 and i might create a seperate guide for that version IF the patchnodes go hand in hand with it.

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Both share similarit, lets sum em up first:

They have +1 totem and a buffed MoM effect (10% and 8%). the difference between the mom effects isn't really worth mentioning tho.


Hierophants big benefits are:

- dmg on kill (barely worth it, rares just die quicker)
- 80% manaregen
- +1 totem
- 0.5% manaregen and 1% liferegen per totem. Usually with 5 totems (4 rf/sr + 1 SR) we have 2.5% and 5% regen IF totems are alive (which is not guaranteed in uber elder etc fights)
- 10% max mana and 150 mana
- power and endurance charge generation coupled with 5% ele dmg reduction (roughly 1% max res)
- easier start with damage nodes at the beginning for literally any elemental spell
- either +1 totem in normal or cruel lab.
- utilizes kikazaru, soulmantle, self-flagellation combo
- 40% totem placementspeed

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For the Ascendant i would choose Hierophant (first) and Pathfinder. Chieftain is also reasonable (covered in ash and lifenodes in alternative start).

Ascendant offers:

- +1 totem
- 25% max mana
- 8% mom
- arcane surge on hit
- 20% spelldmg (sr only)
- flask refill every 3 sec
- 15% chance to not consume a flask
- atk/movementspeed for shieldcharge
- 40 dex which makes gearing a lot more flexible
- +4 passive points
- doesnt need the 5 templar starting nodes and instead can just spend 2 (the rest was skilled anyway). Saves 3 skillpoints for more potent nodes in life/dmg/mana.
- alternative start grants access to more lifenodes, regen, atkspeed and mana/flasknodes.
- can use kikazaru, soulmantle and sel-flagellation combos, but doesnt need to. Thats an important factor for later, since i wouldn't use the combo on ascendant!
- literally has 7 skillpoints to spend freely
- can have a higher healthpool than hiero
- flask sustain is way better especially for bossfight and compensates the lower hp/manaregen.

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How i would design a ascendant?

I would use almost the same skilltree, the difference is that the templar start is not required and instead the 20% manaregen and 8% mana nodes are picked at the scion start.

Uberlab isnt necassary to push since exceeding points just go over the ranger start, but we dont need it for a shortcut.

Besides the start we just have the option to skill more life/evasion nodes, Finesse, Pimal Spirit and Heart of Oak, all are pretty useful.

So nothing drastic changes, just more options and skillpoints for that.

Gear wise is would change major stuff.

Soulmantle is still a stable piece in the gear, but kikazaru and self-flagellation drop out.

To counter the curses i would use a stibnite flask of warding (curse removal) with reduced flask charges used/more gained/increased duration. It's easily possible to have a 100% flaskuptime with that ascendancy especially with a decent belt with flaskmods.
Stibnites are perfect for that with their low base charge consumption of 10 out of 30 charges with 6 sec baseduration (20%).
we regain 6 out of 10 charges in that duration, reducing the consumption, increasing the duration or charges gained via flask/belt/skilltree mods its easy to hit the sweetspot.

The benefit is that we can use 2 rare rings, preferable opal rings with life, resists and %firedmg and a rare jewel instead of self-flag.

We end up with more survivability thanks to a higher lifepool, no curses on us (even with 80% reduction they are still a downside) and even more dmg with decent rings. A jewel with totemlife and a dmg mod + 2x opal ring are worth at least 5 curses on us, even more factoring enfeeble in.

With the big amount of increased dmg mods we already got, self-flagellation doesnt grant that huge of a benefit.


For Flasks i would use:


Stibnite Flask (curse removal)

Jade Flask (Freeze + Chill removal)

Quicksilver Flask (movementspeed)

Eternal or Divine Manaflask (Bleed removal + 50% recovery speed or bubbling)

Eternal Lifeflask (shock removal + recovery speed or panicked).


Freeze removal is not necassary with hrimnors resolve. Shock removal debateable, could also be %evasion.

we sustain primarily via flasks and some baseregen which is not as strong as the hierophants.

Jade can be a single element resist flask for certain encounters. It just synergizes well with a stibnite.

Possible unique flasks are Blood of the Karui, Laviagnas Spirit or rumis concoction. Just matters that freeze, curse, movementspeed and bleed removal are covered in some way! gear/jewel corruptions can grant some immunitys as well.

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Ascendant can get more life, similar mana and at least the same dmg or even more than Hierophant.
The sustain relys on flasks mainly and we dont need self-flagellation + kikazarus which can be used for great rings and another jewel.

Hierophant has easier early lvls (til rf totems) with the better starting nodes and his totem placementspeed and power charge generation make mapping a bit smoother.
He relys more on regeneration and takes more physical dmg on average.
However the great totemplacementspeec is capped by the rf totem cooldown anyway.The animations are just quicker (which is good)

I would conclude that Hiero is better as a starter and for mapping, the Ascendant better for bosses.

If nothing major changes i would probably test the Ascendant (which can literally transition into anything if i want)

For those wondering wtf i am doing here. Just writing shit down as a memo to myself and there are maybe 1-2 ppl that care :D

btw my leaguegoal is killing uber elder with RAT tactical nukes :p

edit:

to add to the last post:

I didnt consider the 3% more dmg per totem hierophant will get, that gives him the dps edge

Hey,

TBH I've fallen in love with the build some leagues ago, and will again play it as a leaguestarter in Betrayal. I'm quite reluctant to play any character that would heavily rely on flasks for mere survival though...

It sounds like the choice comes down to Hierophant with higher DPS, Ascendant with higher survivability and higher maintenance (ie paying attention to flask), or Ascendant (with Kikazaru) with slightly higher survivability still, but potentially lower DPS (by a 10-15% margin?).

Hard choice: I like DPS, but I also like living. And you don't do DPS when you're dead (well your totems still finish bosses but eh).

If you really had to put numbers on this, in your best guesstimate, what would the difference in DPS / EHP end up being? I'll try and set up some POB, but work's getting in the way right now...

In any case, your guide's awesome for new and veteran players alike, and I hope you find it in you to keep it reasonably up-to-date :)

Cheers