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

Currently leveling the build ssf (just because it has no trials activated/empty stash) in the beta again.

recorded that at the ledge until start of a4 atm.

i level slow as fuck no matter which build i play in the first 4 acts and made some big mistakes, so it wont be the best leveling showcase :p

what i learned so far:

- onslaught is great in the setup with cleave/sunder
- i will never use chance orb to try my luck on jewelry until a4. burning damage and swift demise (void manipulation rename) cost chance orbs at siosa, had to sell 2 fusings for 2 chance just to get the gems for rf
- chance to bleed is fine for leveling, but in most cases added fire/melee phys are better
- ruthless is only good if a singletarget setup is aviable
- sunder is carrying you with some shitty blue weapons
- if you got a decent weapon its probably better to wait until lvl 40 to switch to rf totems. lvl 40 is a levelup for rf which grants +1 radius and the aoe gem is aviable. I switched with 31.

i will just record until the end of act 4 + lab... maybe until the first a5 bossfight since after that point its just "playing the build".

For the explosive impact cluster, did you mean to take the 6% fire 4% cast speed node over the 10% fire damage node? I thought the cast speed would barely help if at all (possibly activation time for RF after placement?), but I was pretty sure that once they introduced placement speed, they made it so that cast speed no longer affected placement speed.

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Warranx wrote:

For the explosive impact cluster, did you mean to take the 6% fire 4% cast speed node over the 10% fire damage node? I thought the cast speed would barely help if at all (possibly activation time for RF after placement?), but I was pretty sure that once they introduced placement speed, they made it so that cast speed no longer affected placement speed.

doesn´t really matter :P

Path of building tells me that i gain 4% more castspeed with the left past and 0.4% "more" damage with the right path.
On grants a unnoticable speedbuff and the other one a unnoticeable dps buff :P

Hi Milky and other readers. I want to share some thoughts on this build in a SSFHC racing setting as Milky has previously advertised this as a very good SSF build. In SSFHC turmoil I leveled two RF totem Chieftains -- one to 90 and one to 92.

1) Damage was becoming a slight issue as I got into red maps. One of the most important thing for SSF is to be leveling 6x Spell Totem Support gems in your alternate loadout. Getting level 21 Spell Totem is a ton of damage and it takes some time investment as opposed to simply adjusting your skill tree for more damage nodes... so you should keep it in mind from early on.

2) Finding a good weapon. I actually used a +1 magic sceptre for so long... it was really sad. Having to try to SSF a Doryani's Catalyst in a race setting is not nice. To counter this difficulty, it's a good idea to use Chance Orbs on normal Vaal Sceptres and Estocs in hopes of getting either Doon Cubeiyari or Daresso's Passion. Also, identifying rare sceptres can go a long way and sceptres will be even better in 3.0 (just make sure you don't get 'added fire damage to spells' due to anti-synergy with elemental equilibrium).

Some other normal items I would use Chance Orbs on are Full Wyrmscale (Belly of the Beast) and Desert Brigandine (Lightning Coil). I can't think of others right now but those would be the most important.

3) Jewels. You would be lucky to find a Spire of Stone and you can't really count on it. The best way to craft jewels is with alteration spamming and then regaling a nice looking 2-stat jewel. The sad part is that you cannot alteration spam an "increased player life" and "increased totem life" jewel because they are both prefixes. So you are stuck choosing between player life and totem life on jewels. It isn't the worst thing ever but in a trading league you can easily get totem life, player life, then some damage or resists on top. Not likely to happen in SSF in a reasonable amount of time.

Those are the main issues I could think of and perhaps I'll edit in more later if I think of it. It's still manageable with some planning and foresight and it's easier to SSF than other builds. I had a lot of fun with it.

1. yes spelltotem lvl 21 is desired later on in a ssf enviroment for sure.In red maps it needs some links and totemlife jewels or the dmg will fall down. Obviously offensive gearing can be tougher in that enviroment.

2. This will be way easier in 3.0 with firedmg rolls tripled and the new burning dmg rolls. farming atziri for a sceptre in a race is not a great option i agree.

3. jewels can be a pain selfcrafted since there is only one really desired stat namely totemlife. spire of stone is not THAT important compared with magic/rare jewels. It doesn't make or break anything.

In a non ssf enviroment they are cheap as fuck because its the only build that wants the roll.


Thanks for the feedback.

I think it is a easy to start build in ssf especially with the flexibility of using 1-2 puritys until the gear is better. starting maps wasn't an issue for me in any case as well.
But sure it takes some effort with ssf running red maps due to the rng of jewelcrafting (its just waaaay easier to buy 5-6 12% totemlife jewels on poe.trade). Links are another thing that can add a lot of dps and harder to get except you farm tabula rasa cards.

recorded the leveling process until act5 town. After that point its nothing special to level further - every gem can be used and its just following the skilltree, upgrading the gear and getting dem links.

Will edit the footage this evening and upload over night.
There were some crashes/dc's in the playthrough and 1 time enourmous back and forthtracking (fuck vaal ruins)

also wanted to add some notes inbetween when necassary why i do something or what i do wrong.

Overall i would say lvl 40 is the perfect level to switch (basically entering act 5). RF gains +1 radius, we can have the aoe cluster and gem and the damage starts to feel better

I'm trying to decide on a variant for this starter in 3.0 for HC. I've played it in the past as Chieftain and Inquisitor. I prefer the Soul Mantle playstyle because it is dirt cheap with insane dps, and the downsides of it are almost inconsequential in my experience. What I'm trying to decide on now is which variant of the build is going to get the most effective HP. I've played around with a couple PoB options and it seems MoM is the way to go, but totally impossible to have a proper HP/Mana ratio.

What are you thoughts on best defensive variant using Soul Mantle? Without Soul Mantle is only an option for me if the character survives a few weeks to get a fully open Atlas and a lot of extra currency laying around.

I've also seen you mention that you don't like Templar/Inquis option for this build, but in my experience it seemed by far the most efficient for MoM and general clearing. Could you elaborate on why you feel this way about templar?

Thanks!

for general clearing and to unlock the atlas a hierophant can work. He at least has better manasubstain and could even go for some es on top. The damage will be overall lower, but that doesn't matter until like t13 maps.

Inquisator seems shit. on paper it looks good with the es/mana/liferegen, but i rarely play stationary. The rest is meh as well.

Some low life guardian can work but is far away from a starter. Esh's shield in addition to a soulmantle can work tho.

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a chieftain takes lower damage in the first place and can still go for BM in the worst case. What i don't like about the Hierophant is that he's doing nothing besides MoM substain, except you travel to the shadow area for some life/es nodes and a hybrid build + mom

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i also liked occultist a lot, can do anything from hybrid, ci and low life or barely low life (eshs). easy triplecurse (with the blasphemy buff, 2 defensive ones are nice if you reroll curse immunity), es on the chest is not wasted, the life(es)loss on rings doesnt hurt that much... but is more expensive/harder to gear in 3.0. made a post about it 2-3 pages ago

With only 2 (3 if you count searing) totems I find casting decoy totem to be really clunky in most fights as there will be space while you're waiting for RF to activate. Also I'm using up all my hotkeys....walk, orb, searing, shield charge, RF, enduring, golem, and decoy. If I want to fit in traps for EE I'd have to get rid of something, probably either decoy or golem depending on fight...that's a LOT of skills to be cycling through.

I guess general mapping would be a lot simpler...less uses of searing probably, just move RF, ORB, move, maybe enduring?

I really like always having enduring off of cooldown as a zerker and the heals are awesome, but it feels like Chieftain might end up being safer/more relaxing to play...makes me feel conflicted as to which ascendancy for 3.0 start.

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Warranx wrote:

With only 2 (3 if you count searing) totems I find casting decoy totem to be really clunky in most fights as there will be space while you're waiting for RF to activate. Also I'm using up all my hotkeys....walk, orb, searing, shield charge, RF, enduring, golem, and decoy. If I want to fit in traps for EE I'd have to get rid of something, probably either decoy or golem depending on fight...that's a LOT of skills to be cycling through.

I guess general mapping would be a lot simpler...less uses of searing probably, just move RF, ORB, move, maybe enduring?

I really like always having enduring off of cooldown as a zerker and the heals are awesome, but it feels like Chieftain might end up being safer/more relaxing to play...makes me feel conflicted as to which ascendancy for 3.0 start.

1. thats why i try to combine as many skills as possible or automate it. cwdt + stonegolem, ednurance charges on kill with chieftain, no AB later on to not rely on traps.
Decoy is used (for me) more as a backup when shit gets scary. I rather have a dps loss than a dead character in uberlab :P

2. got a playstyle section about this topic. normally you just spam rf totems, from time to time oos on tougher mobs with a couple of defensive (for the mobs) mapmods. Enduring cry ofc for a berserker and shield charge to move (or just a quicksilver). For bosses you can unload everything you have in the arsenal.

overall pretty relaxing while mapping and active in bossfights.

3. Chieftain is like you said more relaxing to play with his QoL stuff and receives fewer/lower dmg spikes (8% less dmg taken vs 10% more dmg taken). Berserkers heal (dont underestimate the 1k life over time on top!) and higher damage make him more rewarding if you play correct, but is more stressful.


I will decide while i play.
Currently the selfdegen on rf totems is VERY low compared to 2.6. This might be intended or a bug.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS_f5Bsu3FA

If it stays like this i will pick a berserker, if not i will pick a chieftain :P


Berserker would actually fit better to my goals. I wanna farm bosses/uberlab, unlock the atlas and don't care about rips that might happen due to a incoming dmg spike.
A longer totem uptime (if it is intended) makes cycling totems way easier on some bosses and they are more tanky in general (lower degen > can take more hits before it dies).

I would even say that a decoy totem is not optimal on a berserker since the taunt competes with enduring cry spamming, which is less frequent on a chieftain.


Chieftain is better if you wanna avoid death, want a chilled, smoother gameplay, don't need maximum dps (i still killed shaper on a chieftain), wanna stay safer or are new to the build.

i've played the build like every league since 1.3 or something like that... i like to change the class from time to time for a more refreshing experience ;)