[3.25] Frostblink Totems - 70 million dps, all content

Intro

Hi everyone!

I want to share my build, it's probably the most powerful all-round totem char right now. Why Frostblink of the Wintry Blast?
- Frostblink has 'movement' tag, so it gets +5 levels from Bronn's Lithe, allowing extreme level scaling, up to 35 gem level for min-maxed version. It's huge base damage, level 20 Frostblink deals 916 to 1374 damage, while lvl 35 deals 3837 to 5755.
- totems are moving on their own, chasing mobs and going screens away from you on dense maps, it's pretty fun
- off-meta yet very strong


Videos

[3.25] Uber Elder (life version)
[3.25] Sirus
[3.25] T17 Sanctuary map boss (Uber Lycia)
[3.25] T17 Abomination map boss
[3.25] Pure Chayula's Breachstone full run
[3.25] The Feared
[3.25] Maven
[3.25] Searing Exarch
[3.25] T17 Fortress map boss
[3.25] Uber Cortex

Sanctum run:
[3.25] Floor 1
[3.25] Floor 2
[3.25] Floor 3
[3.25] Floor 4

Pros:
+ 40-70 million dps (depending on budget version)
+ Excellent Sanctum runner and bosser
+ Very fast for a totem build, totems move themselves toward enemies
+ Can be a league starter, just use any other totem skill you like until you get transfigured Frostblink and chest
+ Safe, freezes everything

Cons:
- Not a facetank build, you need to be good mechanically
- Frostblink teleportation range is rather short, GGG removed helmet enchant without any compensation. You have to place your totems near mobs, then they auto-target
- Gem swap for hardest bosses, until ubers don't bother
- Capping resists can require some effort

Mechanics
- Frostblink of Wintry Blast hits twice, dealing damage in areas at both ends of the teleport
- Frostblink of Wintry Blast removes chill and cannot chill on its own. That's why we use Cold Snap on bosses, chilled ground doesn't get consumed. Other chilling skills, however, are removed after hit, including Skitterbots chilling aura. We use Skitterbots anyway for shock effect. Also, during mapping it hardly matters, one hit is enough to kill almost every mob, we don't care about chill removed from shattered corpse.
- Frostblink of Wintry Blast has built-in scaling with chill effect, dealing 19% more damage per 5% chill effect on enemy. We chill for maximum 30%, which translates to 114% more damage.
- Low life version utilizes Petrified Blood, every regen source (notably Ritual of Awakening) is 2x stronger as they use %max life value and we have only half to recover
- Arcane Blessing gives 20% more damage. The thing is that this 20% more becomes a part of Arcane Surge effect, scaling with it. And we have 150% increased Arcane Surge effect, translating to 50% more damage.


PoB

Lvl 92 life version, 40 million dps
Lvl 96 life version with Forbidden Jewels, 44 million dps
My current Lvl 97 low life version, 72 million dps

DPS calculation:
PoB doesn't take into account that Frostblink hits twice, at the beginning and the end of movement. So when totems are on the top of boss (and they always are, see videos), they shotgun with both hits.


Ascendancy order

I personally like to level with totems, so: Pursuit of Faith -> Ritual of Awakening -> Conviction of Power -> Arcane Blessing

Bandits
Kill all. You can go for early Alira if you lack resists.

Pantheon
Major: Brine King for freeze and stun immunity.
Minor: Abberath to prevent burning ground from hurting us.

Items explaination


Gem links


How to make money

My strategy was:
1) Early league - run Betrayal, it's nice exp and cash. Gravicius in Transporation can be big money, but don't try too hard, if you gather enough intelligence just rush to Catarina.
2) Mid league - chain Maven witnessed Guardian, Conqueror etc. maps, then run their invitation. Sell Maven Writs, but run Shapers, Elders ans Sirus. Don't gamble, sell unidentified jewels.
3) Mid/late - run Sanctum, it's safe and fun with this build. Totems can block fireball traps, you freeze everything and Lycia just explodes. Highly recommended to leveling safely.

Map mods to avoid
Elemental reflect - doable, but totems die after one hit. Can run map with it if needed to atlas, can do Uber Atziri, but you mostly just reroll it.
No regen - also doable, but requires mana flask. Too annoying, reroll.
Other mods are fine.

This is brilliant, I have a lvl 100 Hiero that I'm not playing anymore, I love totems, and I will definitely try this.

Thank you so much for sharing!

can u lvling from start to end wioth this skil/build?

"

thomzon wrote:

This is brilliant, I have a lvl 100 Hiero that I'm not playing anymore, I love totems, and I will definitely try this.

Thank you so much for sharing!

Have fun, fellow totems enjoyer.

"

can u lvling from start to end wioth this skil/build?

Frostblink of Wintry Blast is a transfigured version of gem you can obtain from font at the end of the Labirynth, so you won't probably have if it's you first character in a league. You can level as Freezing Pulse totem, tree is the same. Switch to Frostblink once you get Bronn's Lithe.

I went for the most expensive version as I had the funds, but in all honesty it's clearly too expensive for what you get, on a purely performative level. It's also quite fragile, but most totems build are, especially if you keep dashing into packs like I do.

I love it tough! It's fast, the freeze shatters are very satisfying, and the damage is quite good even on the full clear setup.

I might farm some time with this to go for a mageblood, as I feel it would benefit the build quite a lot. I'm thinking quicksilver, silver, jade and stibnite (or bismuth to alleviate resists from gear). That would remove the need for sleepless sentries as well, maybe allowing to invest in a better cluster.

Thanks again for sharing, this is the totem build that I wanted all league but couldn't find.

"

thomzon wrote:

I went for the most expensive version as I had the funds, but in all honesty it's clearly too expensive for what you get, on a purely performative level. It's also quite fragile, but most totems build are, especially if you keep dashing into packs like I do.

I love it tough! It's fast, the freeze shatters are very satisfying, and the damage is quite good even on the full clear setup.

I might farm some time with this to go for a mageblood, as I feel it would benefit the build quite a lot. I'm thinking quicksilver, silver, jade and stibnite (or bismuth to alleviate resists from gear). That would remove the need for sleepless sentries as well, maybe allowing to invest in a better cluster.

Thanks again for sharing, this is the totem build that I wanted all league but couldn't find.

Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you enjoy it. Sure it's on the squishier side, but freezing is the best crowd control mechanic out there.

Regarding Mageblood - I've actually farmed it on this build (50/50 sanctum and bossing), was running with the exact flask setup you proposed. But I wanted to avoid showcasing anything with a 250 div unique, gave it to my wife who is grinding for 40/40, her build make a better use of it.

Another luxury upgrade I have planned is wand with "you are haunted by tormented spirits". It's 100% uptime 35%cast/movement speed with random ghost bonus, certainly worth trying before runecrafting go core in (probably) nerfed state.

Very nice idea with the runesmithing, did not even think about it.
I'll definitely try as well.

Also I never really played that much Sanctum, sounds like the perfect build to finally do.

which weapons can you recommend for early leveling?

edit: how do you sustain mana? it costs me 285 mana per totem and thus i cant reserve any mana by using auras?

"

which weapons can you recommend for early leveling?

I like to use dual Axiom Perpetuum for massive crit chance early

"

how do you sustain mana? it costs me 285 mana per totem and thus i cant reserve any mana by using auras?

Until you get expensive Fordibben Flame/Flesh (which are mandatory only for low life version), use small 2 passive cluster with Sublime Grace. In leaves enough mana to play comfortably with enduring mana flask. I see that you went to +30 dex passive below templar, so you can also take Tireless cluster, life and reduced mana cost should help a lot. You can respec some life nodes and Pain Attunement, it has no use in life version.

Hi I liked the idea and farmed the gem on SSF, & I loved the playstyle.
Currently at act 6, single target damage is a bit on the low side, but I'm sure I can get to maps.

If it isn't too much to ask, could you please give a rough idea on tree for SSF/league start scenario?

Actually I made my own SSF tree based on yours
https://pobb.in/sZB4wtEuHx3E
But not sure if it's good, I never make a build myself

I'm planning to drop grace, running only skitterbots+zealotry and also take whispers of doom so I can have 2 curse (frostbite+elemental weakness), since I never get anathema on SSF