[3.25] neoCrown's Int/Mana Hierophant Kinetic Bolt Totems - 7 Totems/90 million Guardian DPS

Hi neoCrown, thanks a lot for the advice, and sharing your build. I'll stick with Stormburst totem for now as I like the damage output.
Eager to grind a bit and switch to this :-)

I would appreciate if you could take a look at my build and say what am I doing wrong :)
There must be something inherently bad with my build as my damage is very low and survivability is mediocore at best. Also there is something wrong with my mana, when using Arcane Cloak and summoning totems I am at most at 1k mana to use. Which is too low considering increased mana cost from Indigon.
Was really excited to try this build :(

Edit. I think that I was able to fix the build on my own. Now need to work on more levels and scaling up

"

GiMNiK wrote:

I would appreciate if you could take a look at my build and say what am I doing wrong :)
There must be something inherently bad with my build as my damage is very low and survivability is mediocore at best. Also there is something wrong with my mana, when using Arcane Cloak and summoning totems I am at most at 1k mana to use. Which is too low considering increased mana cost from Indigon.
Was really excited to try this build :(

Edit. I think that I was able to fix the build on my own. Now need to work on more levels and scaling up

This is easy to fix. Your damage, ES regen, and mana regen scale based on the number of totems you can summon. We need to anoint the amulet with the node 'Watchtowers' using a tainted oil, 2 silver oils, and 1 indigo oil. Lastly, we need to reach the Surveillance node in the tree. With all of the above, we get 7 totems total which scales our damage, mana regen, life regen, etc.

This should fix the feel of the build.

The healthy mind jewel is best placed in spots where you can allocate '% Increased maximum life' nodes as it converts them to mana at 200% the value, effectively doubling the amount of mana you can get. I would recommend moving it to the Witch area jewel slot so you can allocate some of the life nodes in the tree.

Also, we need the Haste aura in the build for attack speed and movement speed - you need to drop the Zealotry aura as it does not benefit attack builds. I only used Zealotry in my levelling setup as it works with spells but once we swap to Power Siphon, it carries no further benefit.

"

GiMNiK wrote:

I just finished the campaign and would like to slowly level up and transition into using the build. However, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by the skill tree and the different sets of items.I have around 50 div to spend

1) Could you take a moment to advise me on the order of skill tree pathing?
Should I prioritize getting cluster jewels, wand nodes, or maybe rushing to Iron Will?

2) What about items?
Which set should I use at this stage?

3) Is it also the right time to switch to the endgame gems?
I would like to start using Power Siphon.

1) Pathing would be to get the mana nodes on the left and then work our way to the big circular wand cluster at the top right while taking the relevant totem nodes for crit chance, crit multiplier, and intelligence wheel as well as a cluster jewel setup for the jewel sockets. We then path towards the scion area for more mana nodes. Lastly, we path down bottom for Point Blank and the Surveillance node in the bottom right for more damage to round out the build. We can unspec the initial cluster jewel setup in the top right and move it to the bottom right once we acquire the split personality jewels.

Taking mana nodes equate to more survivability, ES, and comfort of play as we have a big mana pool to play with.

Allocating more damage nodes is nice if focusing on clearspeed.

2) Gear wise, the main core would be the Forbidden Jewels, a lightning damage per int mana wand (does not have to have the spell damage per intelligence modifier at this stage as we can upgrade this later), astramentis amulet with the Watchtower anoint, Prism guardian, Ivory Tower, Indigon, and Shaper's Touch - all the gear above are very cheap at this point in the league except for the wand and Forbidden Jewels but with 50 Divines, you can probably get the best rolls for each slot.

3) Best time to swap would be level 85-90 as we would have most of the mana and damage nodes by now. The damage scales of Indigon and intelligence so the more we level up and allocate intelligence nodes, the stronger the build gets. I was clearing Tier 16s even at ~ 1000 intelligence.

"

neoCrown wrote:

"

GiMNiK wrote:

I just finished the campaign and would like to slowly level up and transition into using the build. However, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by the skill tree and the different sets of items.I have around 50 div to spend

1) Could you take a moment to advise me on the order of skill tree pathing?
Should I prioritize getting cluster jewels, wand nodes, or maybe rushing to Iron Will?

2) What about items?
Which set should I use at this stage?

3) Is it also the right time to switch to the endgame gems?
I would like to start using Power Siphon.

1) Pathing would be to get the mana nodes on the left and then work our way to the big circular wand cluster at the top right while taking the relevant totem nodes for crit chance, crit multiplier, and intelligence wheel as well as a cluster jewel setup for the jewel sockets. We then path towards the scion area for more mana nodes. Lastly, we path down bottom for Point Blank and the Surveillance node in the bottom right for more damage to round out the build. We can unspec the initial cluster jewel setup in the top right and move it to the bottom right once we acquire the split personality jewels.

Taking mana nodes equate to more survivability, ES, and comfort of play as we have a big mana pool to play with.

Allocating more damage nodes is nice if focusing on clearspeed.

2) Gear wise, the main core would be the Forbidden Jewels, a lightning damage per int mana wand (does not have to have the spell damage per intelligence modifier at this stage as we can upgrade this later), astramentis amulet with the Watchtower anoint, Prism guardian, Ivory Tower, Indigon, and Shaper's Touch - all the gear above are very cheap at this point in the league except for the wand and Forbidden Jewels but with 50 Divines, you can probably get the best rolls for each slot.

3) Best time to swap would be level 85-90 as we would have most of the mana and damage nodes by now. The damage scales of Indigon and intelligence so the more we level up and allocate intelligence nodes, the stronger the build gets. I was clearing Tier 16s even at ~ 1000 intelligence.

Thank you for detailed answers! I got the build working and focusing on leveling up more :) It seems that I am sitting at ~16m damage, assuming best situation for me, which I am happy about. However I need much more to reach your levels :D

Couple more questions, there are two different skill tree setups. Budget leveling and Endgame MB setup.
1) Is the latter should be respeced into ONLY after obtaining the MB (btw any or 4 flasks)?
2) Is it okay to use Eyes of the Greatwolf in the leveling setup? I am quite low on strength. However, I plan to buy the Split Personality after I reach required level to socket all of the jewels.


Hope you don't mind more questions. I'm not that experienced so there comes up small things that I need more explanation on :)

The split personalities I am using now are very cheap - +mana and +intelligence. Last time I checked, they cost 5-10c each. This league stacking Strength and getting Iron Will only confers marginal benefits than purely stacking intelligence but it does have a higher damage ceiling as we get increased mana from both Strength and Intelligence.

Levelling with Eyes of the Greatwolf is perfectly fine if you can anoint it with Watchtowers. Unless it is a high rolled attribute Eyes of the Greatwolf, Astramentis might be easier to cap out attribute requirements.

Yup, Mageblood tree is after acquiring Mageblood as the flasks help out cover what we lack - maximising crit chance/filling in resistances/getting onslaught for free. With Mageblood, we won't need the medium cluster jewel with Sleepless Sentries anymore as we have Onslaught for free from the flask. The choice of flasks depends on what stats we are missing in the build - if I am already at close to 100% crit chance, then I won't need any crit flasks and instead focus on defences.

The Mageblood tree can still be used but we would need to allocate the Balbala timeless jewel in one of the Jewel Sockets. This allows us to only use 3 flasks and we get free flask charges for each empty slot, allowing the flasks to technically be used continuously/automatically with a high uptime - similar to a weaker Mageblood setup.

16M DPS is a great start. With each item upgrade, it will slowly add up. I'm still looking for upgrades this league too and I haven't even purchased an Awakened Elemental Damage with Attacks support gem or a level 4 enhance/+2 curse helmet. Already clearing Ubers even without this but the ceiling of the build scales with investments.

Hey! It’s me once again :)

I need a bit more assistance. My damage is fine now, but I’m struggling with survivability when mapping. At first glance, my build seems okay for surviving hits and DoTs, but in practice, it feels much worse.

I’m wondering if this is due to my playstyle or if there’s something I don’t understand about the build. When mapping (T16), I’m constantly dying to one-shots or DoTs that slowly deplete my ES without giving me enough time to recover. I’m using 6 portals per map. :/

I tried mitigating this with a flask that has % of Life Leeched, as I read that leech applies to ES regen too. I’ve also done what you suggested by obtaining 7 totems, so I now have 7% regen thanks to Ritual of Awakening, plus another 2% from Ivory Tower and 0.8% from Endurance Charges.

I’m sitting at 12k Evasion, 7.1k ES, and 6.9k Mana, with capped resistances except for Chaos. On paper, it sounds good, but the reality is different.

For my Pantheon, I’m using Lunaris and Ralakesh (to mitigate bleeding).

All that said, I feel like I’m either not understanding something or just playing poorly—I’m not sure which!

Oh, and for my Atlas tree, I’m running Harbinger + Delirium + Destructive Play, boosted by Scarabs for Harbinger. Before that, I was running Abyss and was getting one-shotted by the bosses too.

So I’m hoping for some advice on survivability, mindset, or playstyle with this build. In one of your videos, I saw you zooming through monsters while placing totems—I’m doing the same but with poor results. Unless I kill them faster, I end up getting randomly one-shotted.

"

GiMNiK wrote:

Hey! It’s me once again :)

I need a bit more assistance. My damage is fine now, but I’m struggling with survivability when mapping. At first glance, my build seems okay for surviving hits and DoTs, but in practice, it feels much worse.

I’m wondering if this is due to my playstyle or if there’s something I don’t understand about the build. When mapping (T16), I’m constantly dying to one-shots or DoTs that slowly deplete my ES without giving me enough time to recover. I’m using 6 portals per map. :/

I tried mitigating this with a flask that has % of Life Leeched, as I read that leech applies to ES regen too. I’ve also done what you suggested by obtaining 7 totems, so I now have 7% regen thanks to Ritual of Awakening, plus another 2% from Ivory Tower and 0.8% from Endurance Charges.

I’m sitting at 12k Evasion, 7.1k ES, and 6.9k Mana, with capped resistances except for Chaos. On paper, it sounds good, but the reality is different.

For my Pantheon, I’m using Lunaris and Ralakesh (to mitigate bleeding).

All that said, I feel like I’m either not understanding something or just playing poorly—I’m not sure which!

Oh, and for my Atlas tree, I’m running Harbinger + Delirium + Destructive Play, boosted by Scarabs for Harbinger. Before that, I was running Abyss and was getting one-shotted by the bosses too.

So I’m hoping for some advice on survivability, mindset, or playstyle with this build. In one of your videos, I saw you zooming through monsters while placing totems—I’m doing the same but with poor results. Unless I kill them faster, I end up getting randomly one-shotted.

Looks like your build is coming together and the damage is sufficient for most if not all content. In terms of defences, I don't think the leech flask modifier works on ES - I could be mistaken here but based on my previous testing a league or two ago, this does not seem to be the case. For the build, we need quite high uptime on arcane cloak as it is both our damage source and defence. When we take damage, it does deplete the Arcane Cloak shield buffer and our damage buff as well. For that reason, the quicker we can cycle to another arcane cloak trigger, the better. I would drop the more duration and see how that feels. In POB, with the buff up and without flasks, your effective hitpool is 200000 HP when I imported your current setup.

I think you are also missing Arcane Surge in the build which will give a big boost to Mana Regen. If you still find that you cannot upkeep your mana, maybe allocating the 'chance to recover 10% mana when using skill or % of damage taken recovered as mana' node.

For chaos resistance, with Mageblood it is easy to mitigate with an Amethyst flask. Without it, we need to rely on Balbala Timeless jewel and allocate the Traitor keystone to automate our flasks. This way, my Coruscicating elixir is up most of the time and that means chaos damage is taken from Energy Shield first. Once we have Mageblood, we can drop this entire setup and focus more on damage instead as permanent flasks makes the build relatively tanky.

Pantheon's help with the chaos damage and bleed damage over time if we ever need to allocate it. I've done Delirium + Legion farming without dying at all and i just spam my totems on the ground as we run around the map.

On POB, it looks like your defences are sufficient. I can showcase a Tier 17 map clear. It won't be much different to how I cleared the Juiced Legion map farm.

Good luck.

What the best way to deal with bleed?

Loving the build so far - and bleed is the only thing that ever seems to get me.

Hi neoCrown, I was immediately intrigued by the build and wanted to try it.
I tried to follow the POB to the letter but I think I have big damage problems especially in relation to how much I spent.
can you give me a hand? I'll also leave you my pob thank you very much!!!

POB : https://pobb.in/FCWChdLzi0sZ