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

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jalkarai wrote:

Thoughts on hierophant version of this build for 3.0? With the MoM buff doesn't hierophant have the ability to get some solid survivability+utility dps from its ascendancy?

Also thanks Milky for keeping this guide updated before 3.0 hits.

I came to the same conclusion after playing Chieftain with Milky's original build.

Beta Herald of Ash's More Modifer gave MoM the edge over BM.

Here is my Heirophant version of RF Totems for 3.0, Keep in mind, PathOfBuilding does not calculate the multiplier from Herald of Ash for whatever reason.

https://pastebin.com/uPJmbmyt (Note: damage displayed is with only a 5-link)

Basically with my OK gear (bought everything for 5-15c each), I have 6k HP, 1.5k ES, and 1.5k mana (after reservation). Regen is very stout and makes lab running a cake walk. 9k combined total is decent protection against one shots. Damage is very high and ramps up much faster than most spell builds.

Hierophant, after playing him 2 times on the build, is shit.

Sanctuary of Thoughts is only useful with proper scaling for ES and if we spend any mana (which the build rarely does). You basically get a bit of es > get hit once > es is gone for like forever.

This node gets good if we travel in the shadow area for the life/es nodes.

Divine Guidance is the only good node.

Illuminated Devotion is great for leveling, but bad once a 4link soulmantle is aviable. Leech? no use for that. Penetration? nothing works. AoE? maybe fine for a blasphemy curse.

Pursuit of Faith is good against Rares in a pack and bad against bosses.

Practically the only thing a hierophant gains for the build is a slightly better MoM and manaregen.

I´d rather play a Hybrid life/es/mom (or CI / low life) Occultist than a Hierophant


Herald of Ash does nothing. It gains damage based on pyhsical dmg (we dont have any) and the overkill dmg is only triggered by kills via attacks (we dont attack).



I have played a hierophant rf totem dude in the beta and i was disappointed.

Edit: ive imported the hierophant tree into my character setup with 6l mantle and stuff like that. Its less than halve the dps (210k vs 460k) and around 600 less life while having 900 more mana and higher manaregen (140 vs 40 mana/sec).

The 10% MoM looks good but actually just changes where the damage lands. 8% less damage from the chieftain is overall better

Great stuff Milky, the work you're doing is amazing :) It's your guide that has convinced me to try the RF totems build as a league starter for the upcoming league. Fantastic job, mate, it's too bad this forum doesn't have a "like" functionality :)

(You can aso interpret the above as: I will probably keep pestering you with my dumb questions as I plan and play my character ;)

my first wave of Updates:

25.7.16

- Added Efficacy in the General Information section
- Bm/Mom/aura section updated. MoM is now more favourable and go to choice in most cases
- tukohama/soulmantle section. Changed my preference. I recommend dropping ancestral bonds one one of those items is used.
- Chieftain, Berserker or Ascendant? added the Ascendant class
- Gem section includes Burning Damage and Efficacy in some setups. had to remove some links to the gems because the beta doesnt allow me to link the updated/new gems. Will add it in 3.0
- Bandits updated
- Changed some order and text in the gear section. Added Starkonjas Head
- Outsourced the "gear, skilltree and gem excamples" in a few posts below the mainpost

I basically updated everything in the mainguide except the Skilltree section, where i will add 2 different versions... one with the mainroute and another with dualcurse and the witch area.
The first one has priority since its the easier route, the 2nd will be 'hidden' in a spoiler. New pictures are coming as well.

A Pantheon section will be added

After the mainguide i look over the other posts if they need changes.

I will change the 3.0 post to make it more structure and list all changes (which are not that big).

The leveling guide will be updated until act 8 and a skip to maps. I dont expect drastic changes in act 9-10, but they may add a replacement for the charges from the bandits or similar.


All this is done with the current beta state, some things might change with the patchnodes or new/updated uniques are added when they are released.

If you find anything missing/wrong let me know about it or if there are some suggestions.

I will keep out most of the "this changed in 3.0" stuff in the mainguide since it will confuse newer players that join at 3.0. I try to present it as a guide written in 3.0 :P


and thank you Daemon :) If you have questions ask here. There are no dumb questions except they are already answered in the FAQ :P

Milky, another clarification if I may: is Ngamahu in the Chieftain tree actually useful for us in 3.0, or do we just take it on the way to Ramako? Do we benefit from the increased damage to burning enemies? I'm asking because you mentioned in your video guide that this node is essentially useless for the RF build, but I see that the node description has changed in 3.0.

This is a very detailed, very well written guide. It does not assume everyone reading it is a veteran with a good understanding of PoE and all the acronyms and reasons to go one path and not another.

The color coded explanations on the skill map to know where to go first, the leveling guide, the fact we can start it at level 32 instead of 65+...

Seriously, this is the standard other guides get to be measured against: 'Yes, but is it as good as Milky's RF guide?'


I've always played totems but my only downside to them is that we rarely are tanky (though this build and the 3.0 changes seem to shift that). The second downside is their slowness for map clearing. It does not matter if we one shot mobs (and most builds do that anyway) if we have to be constantly putting them down, then wait a couple of seconds for the totem to activate and start doing damage in what is a 'small' stationary radius. That was my experience with the stunner chieftain totem. Great build, amusing to watch all bosses flail in place as they are killed, great damage. But that 'small' radius and the totem activation time...

Some totem builds get around that with frostbolt or ballista, both who are piercing and off screen reaching making for screen clearing. At this point I'm still unsure if RF or one of those.

Anyway, once again, great job, Milky!

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DGTLDaemon wrote:

Milky, another clarification if I may: is Ngamahu in the Chieftain tree actually useful for us in 3.0, or do we just take it on the way to Ramako? Do we benefit from the increased damage to burning enemies? I'm asking because you mentioned in your video guide that this node is essentially useless for the RF build, but I see that the node description has changed in 3.0.

It was always useless, they just rewrote the text.


Also just finished 6 new pictures. 3 skilltrees for the 2.6 version, the 'old' version with a curse focus and a scion version. just have to add text later the day :P

then 3 seperate of the ascendancy classes (chieftain, berserker and ascendant).

Like i said, i will keep the focus on the 2.6 version and add the others seperate, since its the easiest and most solid route (less of a hassle with mapmods)

I appreciate this guide very much. is there any chance you could show what links you want in each stage in the leveling section as its easy to get confused in the text. Also i was wondering if feel like this build is a very active build in that you are constantly spamming all your abilities or is it a bit more passive, not looking to get carpal tunnel. Thanks for your time.

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akeldama1984 wrote:

I appreciate this guide very much. is there any chance you could show what links you want in each stage as its easy to get confused in the text. Also i was wondering if feel like this build is a very active build in that you are constantly spamming all your abilities or is it a bit more passive, not looking to get carpal tunnel. Thanks for your time.

Well the gem section lists the gems by priority.

The rf setup is obviously important and then it depends on the aviable gear/sockets what you pick.

Grab Elemental overload: add orb of storms
Elemental Equilibrium: add lightning/ice trap
have a free three link: add orb of storms + curse on hit + curse.

I am also updating the leveling section the next days which covers when to use which gems.


Under the main post i got a section about the playstyle.

tldr you use movementskills and rf totems only for the majority of the time. For bosses or tougher enemys the other skills see more use.

Atm i overhaul the whole guide for 3.0 and i am going to slim or split a few things as well.

Currently i have the whole mainpage covered with posts and different topics related to the build. Those are advanced information, but can be tightened into 1-2 posts for a better visualization.