[3.16] Dark Pact Totems | The smoothest spell totem skill around, now post-nerf updated

Thanks so much.
Now is everything clear

btw I like DarkPact totem build a few seasons ago with Apeps Rage wands

Now, just finished uber lab but I really dont know which point use. I think that Conviction of Power is better than Sanctuary of Though

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icinko wrote:

Thanks so much.
Now is everything clear

btw I like DarkPact totem build a few seasons ago with Apeps Rage wands

Now, just finished uber lab but I really dont know which point use. I think that Conviction of Power is better than Sanctuary of Though

In that case I would like to emphasise BlueeGreg's last post before yours. Throwing in Blade Blast gives the enemies a 10% spell damage taken debuff because of UnNerve

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BlueeGreg wrote:

As of 3.13, if you're taking "Conviction of Power" on your Ascendancy for the free Power & Endurance charges, then I would recommend this in your "trigger weapon" as a 3-Link:

Blade Blast (G)
Culling Strike Support (G)
Storm Brand (B)

I like Storm Brand here as a redundant source of Culling Strike, because Storm Brand has one of the fastest 'hit' rates in the game, and the spell lingers on the ground for future enemies. You can also change Storm Brand into a defense-focused spell, like Frost Shield or Tempest Shield.

Using Conviction of Power myself as well, as I think it's awesome to just jump in with all charges available at all times.

Thoughts on converting this build to CI if enough ES/Mana gear can be collected? Thinking of trying this out in SSF.

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MyNameIsGustav wrote:

Thoughts on converting this build to CI if enough ES/Mana gear can be collected? Thinking of trying this out in SSF.

I personally wouldn't try it, but the build is positioned well on the tree to give CI a try. You would have to drop quite a few DPS passive points, to grab CI + Zealot's Oath and then also a bunch of Energy Shield nodes on the tree, to really make CI worth it. And I'm not sure the EHP gains would be worth the DPS loss.

With current Harvest, CI becomes less valuable because Chaos Res can be reasonably added to most gear slots, which removes one of the main advantages of CI, which is 100% Chaos Res! :)

I would do some simulations on POB first, before taking the time to roll gear in SSF to see.

Heading into 3.14 League

The biggest change from 3.13 for this build was the addition of the Divination Card, "Haunting Shadows". This made the Astral Projector ring much cheaper and easier to obtain, which is great. You can buy and gamble 4x of these cards, to see if you get the ring, or you can buy the ring outright. This should all be true for 3.14!

https://pathofexile.fandom.com/wiki/Haunting_Shadows

So, why or why not play Dark Pact Totems for 3.14 league?

- Spell Totem builds are often cheap and straight-forward builds. They make reasonable league starters.

- I feel that Dark Pact is the best Spell that can be used for for a Spell totem build. And Hiero is obviously good for totems :)

- We stack Totem Life, for DPS and also for Totem tankiness. If you're ever played regular totems, you know how quickly they can get killed from big enemy attacks once you hit red maps. Dark Pact Totems do not have this issue.

- Astral Projector ring, which is integral to Dark Pact, is now affordable. This means you can make the switch to Dark Pact a lot earlier in the league.

- As a true league starter, you will have to start off as something like Freezing Pulse totems, or whatever fun alternative you can think of. This might take you through white and yellow maps, depending how fast and early you are in the league.

- Harvest nerfs shouldn't be an issue, since this build never needed Harvest crafting to obtain functional gear, and the good gear existed before Harvest did.

- The 'budget' version of this build is so cheap and strong! A +2 Tabula, a Shaper shield with the +1 totem and some basic stats, a +1 weapon with decent rolls, generic rares with Life Mana Res, Astral Projector ring, and even the Cluster jewels are fairly cheap to buy or roll.

I still need to decide what to play for 3.14 :)

Been looking for something simple to play with. Tried crit FP inquisitor but it just does not scale to endgame bossing (even with the new fancy flat cold ritual elm).

Guess it's time to use up all the regrets and switch to Hiero.

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dustofdeath wrote:

Been looking for something simple to play with. Tried crit FP inquisitor but it just does not scale to endgame bossing (even with the new fancy flat cold ritual elm).

Guess it's time to use up all the regrets and switch to Hiero.

I see you are trying self-cast Freezing Pulse! Best of luck to you; I tried that during Metamorph league (with the boss HP increase), and found good success in it only after dumping tons of currency. The build feels like poop when it's on a budget.

why do you need added lightning to spells when you already have storm brand that is shocking ?

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slatejupiter42 wrote:

why do you need added lightning to spells when you already have storm brand that is shocking ?

Storm Brand isn't shocking for us, since it isn't able to deal damage. Storm Brand is there to generate Power Charges, and/or be used with Culling Strike Support.

The Wand has Lightning Damage to Spells, because 'Chaos Damage to Spells' doesn't exist, and we might as well grab something for our Prefix. The ideal three Prefixes would be Spell Damage, +1 Chaos Spells, and +1 All Spells.