[3.5] Soul Mantle Dark Pact Totems - League Starter - All Content

hey! I'm loving this guide, and am currently leveling this build right now

BUT since I am not playing on HC and have a few friends to play with (and be tanked by) lol
This is my second "serious" char and thus I'm not really used to the huge passive tree... you said in the guide that the current build is more defense oriented and way higher damage could be achieved, and I'd like some help with that

Red Elder easy: https://youtu.be/JCl4i4zp_fQ

Just did shaper as well, no deaths.

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henriquearoeira wrote:

hey! I'm loving this guide, and am currently leveling this build right now

BUT since I am not playing on HC and have a few friends to play with (and be tanked by) lol
This is my second "serious" char and thus I'm not really used to the huge passive tree... you said in the guide that the current build is more defense oriented and way higher damage could be achieved, and I'd like some help with that

You'd need to change a lot in the build, but I can point you to a direction. This is someone who had really good gear and went for an offensive version.

If you take a look at the character and compare it to the guide, you can see some ways how to improve your damage:
-Drop some life/mana passives to get damage passives in the Shadow area (Doom Cast/Atrophy). This is only worth if you have enough skill points to spare to actually reach the damage nodes.
-Use Hierophant instead of Guardian. This allows you to get free Power Charges, adding some damage and allowing you to easily use the best weapons for DPS - Void Battery or Shimmeron. You can also put a
Wither Totem in your helmet that way so you don't have to selfcast it.
The drawback of this is that you're only 80% resistant to curses, which means you have to get 90%
resists (instead of 75%) to counteract elemental curses.
-Use offensive items (like Voidbringer) instead of defensive rares.

I don't recommend this if you don't know what you're doing because the game punishes dieing quite heavily. Even if your friends are tanking, AoE can kill you very fast.
You'll still do more damage with a meatshield, because you get more time to cast Wither.

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fladsongomes wrote:

Red Elder easy: https://youtu.be/JCl4i4zp_fQ

Just did shaper as well, no deaths.

Wow I did not expect him to die that fast (he has 15m HP).

Mind if I add that to the video section?

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SHEPUUURD wrote:

Mind if I add that to the video section?

Not at all, go ahead, I will record shaper as well...

Hello! Great build and easy-to-read information.
Leveling to 50+ was easy with fire skills. AoE was killing everyging.

My question is about no-regen maps. How to deal with it, if we use MoM. Only flasks, or there are some items with leech / mana-life on cast?

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My question is about no-regen maps. How to deal with it

We don't, it's as simple as that really, just reroll map.

Couple of questions, what about a CWC blight summon skeleton setup with the blight gems for the more % damage multi? Do you think summon skeletons would be that much worse in damage then using totem life?

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trueZurg wrote:

Hello! Great build and easy-to-read information.
Leveling to 50+ was easy with fire skills. AoE was killing everyging.

My question is about no-regen maps. How to deal with it, if we use MoM. Only flasks, or there are some items with leech / mana-life on cast?

As already pointed out, the best thing to do is ignore them.

If you absolutely need to complete them, then you can either get 1-2 mana flasks (Lavianga's Spirit is great) or spec out of Mind over Matter.

"

Bruenor_Battlehammer wrote:

Couple of questions, what about a CWC blight summon skeleton setup with the blight gems for the more % damage multi? Do you think summon skeletons would be that much worse in damage then using totem life?

Wither is better than Blight and you can't effectively use both of them without making the build very clunky.

After the nerf, skeletons should be pretty close to selfcast damage. Maybe even a bit better if you invest into life (with passives and a gem).
Again, you should find a way to use them without weakening the build (i.e. leaving out Wither Supports or Arcane Surge). Vaal Summon Skeletons could be a good way.

anyone try the champion ascendancy for taunt instead of guardian? how's that work? do totems die too fast or do they kill most things before it gets there?

Hello, lvl 90 dp scion.
Dont know how to post my equip here...
Ive got several questions.

1. Im using 2 void batteries and always get 7 charges. When i have maximum of curses my DPS (on skill icon) is about 65k. If i use diamond flask + stibnite flask, my DPS comes to 80-90k.
Is it normal or not enough for 90lvl?

2. Because of using 2 VB, a cannot use movement skills for shield or dagger, thats why i use Phase run with faster casting and increase duration. And i feel that my overal defence not good, and i have to spam my flasks (on maps tier 10 or higher). Does fortify support with whirling blades gives much more overall defence and i have to change VB to knife and shield?

3. Ive got 6L soul mantle with skill gems as its shown in the 1st post.
And im lvling Empower support gem. As far as i get 2lvl ES gem thinking to equip it to my SoulMantle. What you think will it give me more profit and what supporting gem should i change for it? Chaos damage or controlled destruction maybe? Or its not good idea while im not get Empower sup gem lvl3?

4. Stupid question. As far as we get curses when a totem dies, why we have to increase its resistances?
And one more question. The DP skill takes own life and damage as higher as an owner (totem) has more life. Right? Maybe its useful to maximize totems life? But not resistances?

5. Cannt understand why we shouldnt get chaos resistance? Ive got -40 now....

6. What you think about Cobalt jewel CLEAR MIND?
" + 30% Mana regen; 53% incr spell damage while no mana is reserved"
I dont use CLARITY now and get that bonus. Cannt write right now about my overall mana regen rate, but i feel comfortable without Clarity on maps ifven if there is an affix "-x% to players regen rate".
If there is a map where i cannt regen at all, i just use my mana flask and no problems up to 10 tier.. after 10 tier i can have problems becuase of unlucky affixes...
BTW, i choose the passive skill (from Sin) when my flasks recharge every 3 seconds.
Am i correct with that or missing something?