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

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BlueeGreg wrote:

@Mecielle,

I like the Blind option, but both are solid choices. You should be at the point where overall DPS feels more than enough, so then defensive options become more appealing.

You can try crafting super gloves now, and put the Cast Speed suffix and Culling Strike suffix on those. Congrats on the boot craft though! Definitely worthy of being worn :)

I think for the sake of eventually reselling the gloves after I'm done with the build I'm gonna go with Faster Casting. Don't think there is a market for the blind suffix.

I also changed the CWDT setup to add blind into the build. The mod would be better of course, but in Ultimatums a lot of blind enemies are walking around even with just the setup I use.

CWDT + Storm Brand + Tempest Shield + Anomalous Blind

Remember that any CWDT setup like Storm Brand will likely cause you to crit, and the boot enchant will lose its purpose.

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BlueeGreg wrote:

Remember that any CWDT setup like Storm Brand will likely cause you to crit, and the boot enchant will lose its purpose.

Yea, its only for clear, where the damage loss from the enchant doesnt matter. I take out Storm Brand for big endgame bosses.

So, I finished gearing and reached level 95 and wanted to do a quick write up on how the build performs with real endgame gear. I always find these helpful to read when I decide on a new build, so maybe this will be helpful for someone else in the future.

I am sitting at 6.4m Sirus DPS per totem, so 44.8m DPS total with 15 Wither stacks and flasks up. To keep it comparable to the PoB used by OP in the guide, at 6 Wither stacks I am at 4.5m DPS per totem or 31.5m total.

So offensively the build is insanely strong, Sirus A9 last phase takes like 0.5 seconds, he can't do anything before he dies. Same goes for stuff like Maven or Uber Elder. They die or phase so quickly, they don't have time to do much.

Defensively it is very good too. I have been doing all endgame bosses and juiced T16's and haven't died since I was level 89. Doing all Ultimatums till the end. I think especially for Ultimatums the high DPS that has a 100% uptime while I can move around helps a lot on the defensive side too. Coupled with my CWDT+Blind setup, almost constant high effect Elusive, Phasing and some block, I feel very safe doing Ultimatums.

As for the gear, I made everything except the wand myself which saved me a ton of currency. I invested around 90ex. If I had bought the gear instead I think it would have easily cost three times as much. Assuming there even are any items even close to what I made on the market.

The boots I showed before, but here are all the rare items together:



I explained how to make the boots before. The gloves and shield can be pretty deterministically crafted too.

Shield: Pristine Fossils until good life and +1 totems. Craft prefixes cannot be changed and Harvest craft "Reforge with a caster mod, caster mods more likely". Repeat until good result.

Gloves: Awakener Orb faster casting and culling strike until good 3rd suffix. Craft suffixes cannot be changed and use any harvest caster reforge. Doesn't need to be the "more likely" one, we only want T1 spell damage which is the only caster prefix. Repeat until T1 spell damage is the only prefix or it is accompanied by something else good. If its the only one, use Aisling. Many good mods there. Finish with crafted life.

Overall an insane build I gotta say and I am baffled that it so unpopular when compared to Freezing Pulse totems, which having played both builds, is so much weaker in every aspect.

Here is my PoB: https://pastebin.com/TKCX096U

@Mecielle,

Thanks for all your input, and the work you've put into your gear. I'll add your POB and crafted gear into the Variants section, once I get a chance. This will be helpful for people who are looking for $$$ ideas, which I'll admit is not something my brain even goes towards, because this build makes that unnecessary.

Totems are inherently strong, and I do expect some kind of nerf in the near future. The Maven helmet really makes the Soul Mantle Combo affordable and even more powerful, so I would expect a nerf of rarity or usability of any of the key Soul Mantle Combo items. And knowing GGG, they'll triple down on the nerf by increasing the Less multiplier of Spell Totem, cutting the totem life in half, and making placement speed take twice as long :)

If you, or anyone else feels up to it, you could record short clips of gameplay that I can add to the guide here. The clips from 3.12 do a good job of showing what a mostly budget version is capable of, but I am missing solid $$$ footage from 3.14. And I don't see myself playing more, lol.

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Mecielle wrote:

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BlueeGreg wrote:

@Mecielle,

I like the Blind option, but both are solid choices. You should be at the point where overall DPS feels more than enough, so then defensive options become more appealing.

You can try crafting super gloves now, and put the Cast Speed suffix and Culling Strike suffix on those. Congrats on the boot craft though! Definitely worthy of being worn :)

I think for the sake of eventually reselling the gloves after I'm done with the build I'm gonna go with Faster Casting. Don't think there is a market for the blind suffix.

I also changed the CWDT setup to add blind into the build. The mod would be better of course, but in Ultimatums a lot of blind enemies are walking around even with just the setup I use.

CWDT + Storm Brand + Tempest Shield + Anomalous Blind

you can add blade blast to have the unnerved bonus as well if you dont have it on gear.

Insane build btw, was trying some early 50c budget PoB with dark pact apeps and some cheap stuff when i found this thread. After seeing this I expect a giga 3.15 nerf to the helmet its just too strong lmao

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BlueeGreg wrote:

@Mecielle,

Thanks for all your input, and the work you've put into your gear. I'll add your POB and crafted gear into the Variants section, once I get a chance. This will be helpful for people who are looking for $$$ ideas, which I'll admit is not something my brain even goes towards, because this build makes that unnecessary.

Totems are inherently strong, and I do expect some kind of nerf in the near future. The Maven helmet really makes the Soul Mantle Combo affordable and even more powerful, so I would expect a nerf of rarity or usability of any of the key Soul Mantle Combo items. And knowing GGG, they'll triple down on the nerf by increasing the Less multiplier of Spell Totem, cutting the totem life in half, and making placement speed take twice as long :)

If you, or anyone else feels up to it, you could record short clips of gameplay that I can add to the guide here. The clips from 3.12 do a good job of showing what a mostly budget version is capable of, but I am missing solid $$$ footage from 3.14. And I don't see myself playing more, lol.

I stopped playing shortly after I wrote that essay and didn't see your comment until now. Sadly I already started selling off my stuff now so can't really do any videos of it anymore.

Hope this build shines in expedition league!

Had lots of fun with it as a test-run this league but didn't take it too past white maps.

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Ktulu85 wrote:

Hope this build shines in expedition league!

Had lots of fun with it as a test-run this league but didn't take it too past white maps.

Closer to the patch notes, I'll clean up the leveling section and post a POB that has some basic gear and basic progression.

As for 3.15, my plan is to skip playing it for IRL reasons. I'll look at all the nerfs once they are made official, and see what still works and doesn't. I'm expecting big changes for the worst. The new 'tax' on triggered skills might apply to Totems, and I do expect them to nerf or remove Avoid Elemental Ailments. And of course losing 40% DPS from support gems :)

The Maven helmet with curse immunity, might also be nerfed as GGG doubles down on their flask nerfs and curse immunity nerfs. At the very least, that helmet will be more expensive for longer because more builds will want it just for reliable curse immunity.

Hi guys, am pretty glad this thread has taken off real nice since the last time I posted! looking forward to doing this build this 3.15.

I tried leveling dp totems simulated for league start in standard ssf, man that was painful. I will probably do this as a second character like what i did in ritual.

So far I've been looking at a few build iterations, some were similarly like mine back in 3.14 looking at cigarros build and some were pretty fascinating. I'm particularly interested in the cowards legacy version with LL and going sanctuary of thought instead of agnostic with the Cadiro Timeless Jewel.

Hopefully not much changes, when patch notes arrive. Really looking forward to this. :)