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

Hi, I've been playing that as a league starter (freezing pulse at first), invested my first dozen chaos to buy a few Haunting Shadows and was lucky enought to drop 2 astral out of them which gave me a nice start :). Anyway since it is another lot of currency league, astral is relatively cheap (hauting shadows is about 1C) so great time to play this fun build.

Wow great find on that new divination card. I didn't know they were adding that with 3.13.

https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Haunting_Shadows

8 chaos for a set of 4, to gamble for 1 of 4 possible Metamorph items. Sounds like a fricken steal. This should help correct the price of Astral Projector in this league, and in future leagues!

Quick Question i have a modifier that says

20% increased damage if you have killed recently "

does that work for totems?

"

macasdude wrote:

Quick Question i have a modifier that says

20% increased damage if you have killed recently "

does that work for totems?

No, modifiers like that with "If you have killed, hit, etc." don't apply to Totems.

The plus side is Totems can benefit from inverse statements like "If you haven't killed recently", like the Ele Pen boot enchant. Of course that doesn't matter here since we're Chaos damage, but it's nice to remember.

last question:

i just found a starkonja head with the 40% increased dark pact damage
would the 50% Reduced damage on low life effect totems? and if not would that be a good helm to run?

"

macasdude wrote:

last question:

i just found a starkonja head with the 40% increased dark pact damage
would the 50% Reduced damage on low life effect totems? and if not would that be a good helm to run?

Yes that "reduced damage on Low Life" modifier would effect your Totems, but the impact is minimal because you have to be Low Life (30% or less of your maximum Life), and the 50% Reduced is additive with all your Increased Damage, which should be more than 400%. The helmet is great for Attack-based builds that are also Dexterity starved, but that's a different build :)

Either way, it's not a helmet you want to use for the long term, but you could wear it from like Level 60 to 80, while you wait for something better.

Your end goal helmet is going to be a Rare helmet, with any Dark Pact enchant, Max Life and Max Mana, some Resistances, and then crafted "Avoid Elemental Ailments". An example can be found on this guy's poe.ninja profile
https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/binkyboy/Chocolate__Cake?i=5&search=allskill%3DDark-Pact%26skillmode%3DTotem

ahh ok, thanks for answering all my questions, if you're bored is there any chance you can look over my character Totemboiiiii and tell me if i missed something and what i should upgrade next? i have 13ex and 1135 chaos but i seem to still be getting 1 shotted by random stuff and sirus awake 5 kicked my butt but that might be because i dont know the figth mechanics to well thanks!

hey guys,

I am currently leveling this build in 3.13, and i have to say, it has been the worst leveling experience i ever had. I am level 40 and can wear astral protector, I have all the recommended alt gems, and been leveling them up until i could switch to dark pact totems and astral protector. The damage is just absolutely terrible, and on top of all of that, we are extremely squishy, like any phys hit from any rare mob will insta kill you, we have no defense at all, no block, no regen, no dodge, no phsy reduction, nothing, you get hit youre pretty much done for, especially if you get stunned, the dark pact totems take a long time to kill rares, like about 15 full seconds, i have 4 totems at the moment. My wands are decent, both have high lightning to spells, crit chance, and spell damage, and the damage is the worst i ever had with a tabula like i think ever by act 4.

I think if there was some other unqiques we could use for the build, maybe some unique wands, or something? i dont really understand how to scale the damage this early really. The leveling guide in this isnt really helpful at all, if i switch back to freezing pulse totems for example then rares die pretty quickly, so i dont understand, maybe i am missing something? i am even using wither when i can, but i cant stand for more then a second channeling or im dead.

I think this is the most i ever died leveling a build with twink gear ever. I usually never die not even once until i get to maybe yellow maps in league start, i died maybe 30 times already on this build. I suggest coming up with a decent leveling guide, maybe some uniques that work with this type of build? Im not really sure what to do, maybe should i stick to freezing pulse totems, until i can do a dark pact 20/20 gem? im guessing we will see more power with levels of the gem becasue right now it just feels so bad.

anyways, thats my experience so far, my suggestion would be to skip out on trying to level with the dark pact totems and maybe dont use them until you can equip a level 20/20 gems and get end game wand or something, becasue i dont think they are good to level with.

@Omega

Level 45 is still really early in, like ~2 hours of playtime. The char should feel a lot stronger once you get your 2nd Ascendancy, because that gives you a bunch of regen and 25-30% More Damage, depending on your totem count.

Your current char also has not a single point of flat Life on your leveling gear. While Life isn't needed for twink leveling, it is very nice! Also, a +2 AoE Gems Tabula is highly recommended, and only costs 15-20C. That will carry you until at least Level 80. Otherwise your leveling gear looks really good!

I'm still not sure why you feel like you're struggling and with low damage. In 3.12, I twink leveled my char and switched right at Level 40, and things felt amazing. By the time Blood Aqueduct rolled around, it was the fastest and smoothest totem char I had ever played.

"

macasdude wrote:

ahh ok, thanks for answering all my questions, if you're bored is there any chance you can look over my character Totemboiiiii and tell me if i missed something and what i should upgrade next? i have 13ex and 1135 chaos but i seem to still be getting 1 shotted by random stuff and sirus awake 5 kicked my butt but that might be because i dont know the figth mechanics to well thanks!

Your skill tree looks 100% perfect! Your tree and Cluster jewels are exactly where I would want to be at Level 94.

Congrats on your Skin of the Loyal chest. I see it is expensive again this league. I hope you didn't have to overpay too much for it!

Fix the crafts on your Helmet and Gloves. Both need 25% of the "Avoid Elemental Ailments", so your total becomes 100%. Unless you can get some on your boots too.

Feel free to change the skill gems in your weapon, since you aren't using the Trigger option, and you're getting Power Charges from your Ascendancy now anyway. Doesn't really matter what you end up doing here, since all your other gems and sockets are excellent.

Replace your Controlled Destruction with the Awakened version as soon as you can. The bonus 10% Cast Speed that comes with the quality there is very nice. You can also experiment with Conc Effect here, and see if you like it?

Start looking for or crafting a better belt, though your current one is very nice with all the Chaos Res. With Harvest crafting and the current trade market, you should be able to come up with a decent Abyss belt + jewel.

The majority of your regular jewels can be upgraded, and the two 'mandatory' stats for me are Maximum Life and Totem Life. You could swap out Totem Life for Maximum Mana, but that costs more.

Keep looking for good enough ring + amulet that can also be Frenzy crafted, and then throw on either Life catalysts or Resistance catalysts.

If your goal is to keep using the Atziri boots, then you should buy one with a good Enchant on it already, or go run Uber Lab yourself a few times. Also, your Life roll is the worst possible @ 55, so try to get that closer to 75 :)

Your three utility flasks should probably be re-rolled, and definitely craft that "Of the Order" crit suffix if you still have it on your bench!

Oh and check your !passives (typed into chat when logged in), make sure you haven't missed any free points from the story mode.