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

why do we use pain attunement? is that applies to Totem also?

could you make some videos where you do blighted maps with this build :)
I would love to farm blighted maps

Will we see dark pacts again after the buff to the skill?

you need to return for 3.16 <3
we wanna play your build here

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TechnoMulen wrote:

you need to return for 3.16 <3
we wanna play your build here

Won't be playing, but I can share some thoughts about the 3.16 changes. But this is without some of the context of 3.15 nerfs (flask nerfs, support gem DPS nerfs, Expedition content).

In 3.16, totems are having their Life total decreased substantially. Dark Pact skill gem is receiving some DPS buffs to counteract this, but I'm not smart enough to know the math and I assume it will be a slight DPS nerf overall because of the loss of Totem Life.

Soul Mantle's totem life is getting a slight nerf, but the item is still 100% worth investing into. The cluster jewel passive 'Ancestral Preservation' is getting a significant nerf, and might not be worth using as a one-of (it is now strictly totem defense related, with no DPS upside).

Passive tree changes in 3.16 are huge, and the new Masteries might change ideal pathing. When making a build, the player will want to consider all possible Masteries that can apply to their build, and of course if they are good or not. For Dark Pact Totems, possible relevant Masteries are:

Shield, for "20% chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments while holding a Shield", "+1% to Critical Strike Multiplier per 10 Maximum Energy Shield on Shield"

Totem, for "Skills that would Summon a Totem have 30% chance to Summon two Totems instead", "60% increased Global Critical Strike Chance if you've Summoned a Totem Recently", "50% increased Totem Placement range"

Critical, for "+25% to Critical Strike Multiplier against Unique Enemies" (this is strictly for boss DPS), "+3 to Level of all Critical Support Gems" (if you use both Crit Chance and Crit Multi support gems)

Mana, for "Regenerate 5 Mana per second while you have Arcane Surge"

Life, for "10% increased maximum Life, 10% reduced Life Recovery rate", "Regenerate 2% of Life per second while moving", "+50 to maximum Life", "Vitality has 100% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency" (this makes Vitality cost half as much Mana, if you are using it)

Chaos, I'm not sure how the +1 skill gem one will work for us, worth checking out. "20% increased Effect of Withered" is also good if you're taking the Wither nodes on the tree, and if you are good about applying Wither to bosses.

Just remember that a lot of the Masteries will not be worth the opportunity cost of pathing there, especially if it seems out of the way. And at best, we can only take two Totem and one Chaos, for example.

This gear worked for me for everything up to Maven. I did not have a good time with Scourge or see the rewards to be worth the effort, however it is a smooth and powerful build, with unfortunate limitations due to nerfs stemming from the broken strength of Forbidden Rite. I was able to unlock The Feared, but unfortunately the battle itself proved too overwhelming.

I recommend this build highly, especially as a league starter, as there are many ways to affordably get the damage scaling you need to comfortably farm T15-16 content to your heart's content, while pondering what the current OP meta may be. Good luck! Cheers to Bluee for such refining such a cool build idea.

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Astrognomix wrote:

This gear worked for me for everything up to Maven. I did not have a good time with Scourge or see the rewards to be worth the effort, however it is a smooth and powerful build, with unfortunate limitations due to nerfs stemming from the broken strength of Forbidden Rite. I was able to unlock The Feared, but unfortunately the battle itself proved too overwhelming.

I recommend this build highly, especially as a league starter, as there are many ways to affordably get the damage scaling you need to comfortably farm T15-16 content to your heart's content, while pondering what the current OP meta may be. Good luck! Cheers to Bluee for such refining such a cool build idea.

Thank you Astro for giving the build another go-round!

I've rewritten about 90% of the guide, and have used your Level 93 character as a 3.16 post-nerf template.

More nerfs in 3.17. I recommend playing a different build, but Dark Pact Totems still works as a build and its one of the better choices if you must play Hiero Spell Totem. The build guide here, heavily updated for 3.16, should still apply for 3.17.

I'll be league starting Elementalist Explosive Arrow Totems :)

so , Huge DMG boost of Dark Pact today.... we waiting Upd of this build or no??????

Would this still be a good league starter for 3.18?