[3.4] lddiamond's Toxic Rain Penta RAT Hierophant, All Content, League Starter, Deathless Uber

What are the pros/cons of this build versus a Trickster using self-attack Toxic Rain with a secondary Toxic Rain Totem?

Has anybody tried both?

I'd hope someone with more experience would answer, but I can say this much as far as a pro: One self-casting and one automatic-casting totem versus five automatic-casting totems seem a no-brainer. The one benefit with using a trickster instead would be your dexterity requirements for gems and gear would be easier to obtain.

Otherwise, five self-casting totems while you stay stealthed with Phase Run would be the winner in my book. But, again, please take my opinion with a grain of salt as I didn't get far with a trickster. I'm rather fond of a lazy playstyle that is fire-and-forget or have-your-minions-do-everything while you loot.

I originally tried this build with a Herald of Agony as a ranger, then as a scion, and then as a shadow. Each time I gave up, before I went with this totem build instead sans Herald of Agony.

And I'm so glad I did.

Did someone try to complete hall of grandmasters? I just tried and i found a few ennemies that i couldn't hurt even with a totem casting wither... Is there a way to convert our damages or to find a way to debuff the ennemies?

I am tinkering with a lot of poison/dot/chaos builds atm. The idea behind this one is currently probably my favorite.

When working with the dot portion of Toxic Rain it is worth reading:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/9dc0di/some_toxic_rain_mechanics/

Especially the comments are worth reading.

After that I found this build:
https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/PathOfKappa/AcidSprinklers?i=0&search=class%3DHierophant%26skill%3DToxic-Rain

PoB: https://pastebin.com/e9gdexxa

He is following exactly what is described in the reddit comments. On top he is going for Kaoms, 8k life and Phase Acrobatics.

His links are:
Toxic Rain - Ranged Attack Totem - Void Manipulation - Vicious Projectiles - Swift Affliction - Increased Duration

Be aware that the 15% reduced duration on Swift Affliction is diminished the more skill effect duration you have. It is way less than 15% once you have a lot of duration. That is why increased duration is so good aswell.

He is using Barrage with Mirage Archer to apply Withering stacks on bosses. Smart move imo since it should allow you to weave in a Frenzy here and there on bosses.

You do not need hit chance for the dot from Toxic rain. Yet I am unsure if going for RT might not be worth it. It would allow 100% chance to hit on Withering stacks and Frenzy. Not sure why he opted for not going for it.

Damage calculation is as follows (Toxic Rain dot has 1sec base duration):

FINAL_DPS = POB_DOT_DPS * NUM_TOTEMS * NUM_ARROWS * DURATION * ATTACKS_PER_SECOND

Toxic rain dot duration is: 100% + 45% + 45% + 74% - 15% = 249% = 2.5sec duration

Example: 5k dot, 5 totems, 5 arrows, 2.5sec duration, 3.5aps = 1,093,750 dot dps.

That is without 3x spider web and without any withering stack and without 3 frenzy charges.

Gaining more arrows would increase the outer arrow spread. Not sure if this would have any effect on single target.

Going for attack speed is heavily diminished by the 37% less attack speed from Ranged Attack totem and Vicious Projectiles.

Is there a skill tree link.. instead pastebin?

Will this build be relevant in 3.5? I wanted to use it to start the League.

SO just a question, I will use that as my league starter to get as mch curr as possible quick.

wouldnt it be good to have a curse setup and run temp chains as an aura with blasphemy and stuff? Or would that be too bad for our MoM/effective eHP.

other than that, I will add vaal blight into my 4th link to IC, IcD stuff
dont know about the other links a 100% but enough time to figure it out :D

Im looking at this build so far as my 3.5 starter. But i wonder if anoyone thought about the gem problem with this as a league starter.
Also im unsure of the ascendancy order, which do i take and what order?

"

vildenadersteam wrote:

Im looking at this build so far as my 3.5 starter. But i wonder if anoyone thought about the gem problem with this as a league starter.
Also im unsure of the ascendancy order, which do i take and what order?

Same for me, easiest way would be either you play with a friend when they are going to be ranger/duelist to buy you the gems or buy them on the fly through trading and level with any spell, f.e. Arc.

As Ascendacy order goes Pursuit of Faith & Ritual of Awakening would be the first ones, after that you can either go the eHP with Divine Guidance or the offensive one Conviction of Power.

I would prefer Divine Guidance as our 3rd one cause we defo dont lack any dmg


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I tried leveling and in general starting with templar as a bow char - its okayish, wouldn't recommend using ranged attack totem until you can summon 2 totems and try to get atleast a 3L/4L asap - with a 4L toxic rain totem is insane when u have 2 :D bosses melt and from then on leveling feels super smooth.

If you cannot get the gems, would recommend either arc self cast cause its a strong clear + high single target and it can easily carry you in A3 where u can buy the gems after the library quest.

I've been MIA last few weeks while dealing with real life issues. I'll be doing an update for this build once Patch notes for 3.5 comes out, and going through the questions that kept coming up.