Totembringer: Campaign to endgame - Huge AOE & 430K+ Boss DPS - (2H + Shield | 2H + 2h)
|
Endgame cheek clapping T15 bosses (200k dps in this setup):
 Some early game Cruel Rathbreaker's cheek clappin:  Videos:
 Introduction: This build is designed to work from level 6 all the way to endgame. Shockwave is a powerful spell with amazing AOE clear and thanks to the weaponswap mechanics gives smooth boss fights as well. I'm pretty happy how this build turned out and I think it's a great starting point for new players. The build is really flexible, don't stress too much about your points or gear. Focus on boosting the levels of your character's melee skills and focusing on your Shockwave Totem game play. If you glaze over most of the build make sure if nothing else you remember that # to Level of all Melee Skills is your most important modifier. It scales your Shockwave Totem damage past the level of your content. The maximum level of Shockwave Totem is 40, which for my low-mid range gear did around 177K with a single totem for a staggering 530K~ damage. You can level Shockwave Totem with the following item slots:
Update 2024-12-21: I updated build with a new video including all gear, passives and map gameplay. Update 2024-12-20: Since I'm using Maxroll now I can link my weapon swap setup I use to maximize weapon damage against bosses. I think this is a really powerful mechanic with a lot of dormant opportunity yet to be discovered. We just need to understand the exact mechanics of them, e.g. what snapshots and what applies in real time still. I know it's more then just the Skill Level, since Skill Effect duration works as well. I'm curious what other people are using with their weapon swaps? To help everyone experiment I'm also posting my "base" build to make it easier for other people to try out different weapon swap setups. In case anyone doesn't understand how it works entirely just yet, what you want to do is create a fully linked tree first then make sure to refund the total number of available weapon swap points you have. Then you can apply the weapon swap points to branch off of your main tree. Really the only rules seem to be: 1) You can't disconnect / reconnect your tree during swaps 2) You can't share any nodes between swaps The second rule is kind inconvenient because the pathing on some nodes means you have to go through a weapon swap specific node you don't want. This influences the design of the base tree a little but it's not too limiting and will likely prove to be worth an extra node or two of pathing for the payoff we see eventually with some builds. The weapon swap version below I think should have a little more overlap, but I think leveraging all 24 weapon swap nodes will create the most impact on gameplay if you can find the right pathing.
Update 2024-12-19: I'm now easily clearing T15 at level 86 with 3500 life and what I finally feel like is a smooth setup for POE2 endgame content. I run a 2H (+7 to melee skills) + Shield while clearing which does enough damage to kill whites in 1 hit and blues in 1 or 2. For most rares I simply keep my shield out and drop 3 totems and they die in about 2-3 seconds without ever being able to move. For bosses I'll swap to my offhands which is two +7 to melee skills 2H's for a total of +14 (weps) +3 (amulet) +2 (gloves) skills and around 300-400K tooltip DPS depending on my gems. The damage from +to level of melee skills is snapshotted on the totems, so after I drop them I pop a potion and swap to my shield for safety. The boss dies. GG. I've updated the passive tree in the Endgame section to match exactly what I'm running right now. I am grabbing a good bit of jewel sockets because they are pretty strong and give a nice flexible way to compensate gear. Early Game:
Spoiler
Early Passives:
Early Skills: You can add as many additional melee skills as you want, but Shockwave Totem is our core damage ability. Everything else is optional, do what you think is fun and feel free to experiment. Read the spell descriptions to see how things synergize, for example how grounding slam interacts with Jagged Ground and sources of that such as Earthquake.
Endgame:
Spoiler
Skills: This is my current end game gem setup, I've decided to use lifetap and increased AOE because it just makes mapping feel smooth, can stay farther from danger. I keep a Concentrated Effect in my inventory for boss fights, but I don't need it for maps with only rares.
Passives: Feel free to copy but you really should adapt some for your gear, playstyle, etc. Let your gameplay serve as a feedback loop for you to iterate on defense / offense until things feel smooth. That's what I do, so this runs smooth for me right now in T15s, but it might not be so smooth for you. Keep that in mind. If you're strugling post your current tree here and tell me a little about how you're dying and I'll try to help. Weapon swap versions:
Older versions without weapon swaps:
Weapon Setup: POE2 Uses snapshotting for totem levels (not all stats are snapshotted, but the totem base level is). This means that you can run a setup like the one below to setup some big totem damage then swap to the safety of your shield for high hp bosses. Makes a huge difference in T15+ boss fights. Weapon Set #1 Main Haind: - 2H Mace with +7 to level of all melee skills Off hand: Shield with high life and res Weapon Set #2 Main Haind: - 2H Mace with +6 to level of all melee skills Off Haind: - 2H Mace with +6 to level of all melee skills Experiments / Testing Skills:
Spoiler
Some other notes / experiments that I think might be useful. Rage Generation (Shield): Resonating Shield (Tier 5) -> Rage -> Mobility Lifetap, increased aoe, are other options. You can hold this down then click a direction to generate rage pretty quickly. The attack speed is decent on this Skill so it may open up some rage options on the tree with a decent speed weapon. Gear Requirements and Explanations: If you're dying too much get some defenses and delay some damage. It's up to you to balance your tree and gear a little as you level. Not killing stuff fast enough? Get damage. Dying too often? Get defenses. Both? Take some time to understand your character, if you're new and stuck feel free to come post here I'll try to help. Items: You should pick up a Hrimnors Hymn Oak Greathammer as quickly as possible. It's cheap and is a huge improvement to the build, it causes your Shockwave Totem to have aftershocks. Item Modifiers: Here are some of the most important item modifiers, generally speaking balance them based on your needs. Your goal should be to dual wield 2H weapons as early as possible. It opens up a lot of options and is a massive damage boost.
Important: I can't stress enough how powerful +# to level of melee skills is for this build to shine (really this applies for any early league abilities with flat base scaling). You want to try to keep a +4 to +12 total. Lots of ways to do this, really early on dual wielding 1h maces with +2 to skills for example. The goal is just to keep your Shockwave Totem's Gem level way ahead of the content level. If you start having mana issues you are probably doing too much damage too, feel free to tone down the + levels until you can sustain it better. You also don't need to use other skills which can save mana, unless you're bored and want to. Also can consider using Inspiration for 40% less mana cost instead of lowering +levels, you can end up with more damage then using less +levels depending on your setup. Updates (old):
Spoiler
Introduction: I made a quick guide while the servers patched on how to steamroll the campaign without much trouble, using mostly self found items and maybe a 1 exalt trade or two if you want to splurge. I haven't made a public guide since my low life culler 10 years ago, but I'll improve it if it takes off. For now it's just a little mini-guide to help people who are really struggling and want some basic direction. This build is really flexible, don't stress too much about your points. Focus on boosting the levels of your character's melee skills and focusing on your Shockwave Totem game play. Update 2024-12-20 Possible bug / cap with skill level, I got my hands on a jewel with + to level of shockwave totem skills. It raises the level of shockwave on the skill list by +1 but does not increase the damage. This means one of two things: 1) Shockwave totem has a level cap of 39 or 40 2) Jewels are bugged right now with + to level of skills The theoretical maximum right now is below, but I haven't reached 40 yet without the jewel (I don't have a corrupted +21 jewel to test). 21 skill 3 amulet (24) 2 gloves (26) 7 2H Wep #1 (33) 7 2H Wep #1 (40) 3 jewel (43) The only unknown for me is if corruption can boost a +7 to +8, currently unknown for me. I have seen it boost mods up to 35% so far. May or may not boost a melee skill. If it does that means the max will be +45. Update 2024-12-15: Got to play a good bit this weekend, with deaths causing you to lose your maps I've decided to run the weapon setup below. This is really nice because you have benefits of shield for most of map while you're on shotting the white monsters, then for rares or uniques you can quickly just swap to off hand for triple the damage and delete them in a second or two. My damage is pretty crazy, level 78 and 23k totem tooltip and I don't really die unless I let my guard down around chaos damage. I'll keep maintaining the build as long as I keep playing it. I do think it's possible the Titan may have been more to my liking if I was to do it over again, I've been underwhelmed by the little minions I spawn but I'm still looking for interesting interactions with them. I've done some cast on minion death triggers with corpse explosion and minion instability and other silly stuff. Right now our totems hit so hard it just isn't really needed to do much else other then for fun. Update 2024-12-13: I am now in endgame maps, just cleared my first couple with ease. Totems at 10k damage, 65K dps with all totems up on bosses. Nothing really has a chance to attack me back. Definitely fun and will keep updating as I go. Current Gear: Until we can easily link items (please tell me in thread if there is a way) I'll copy paste everything into spoilers real fast. My gear isn't amazing but right now with no totems down in town my dmg is 4,417 with a radius of 4.0 which I really like for rushing through the acts.
Spoiler
2H Axe #1
Spoiler
Item Class: Two Hand Maces Rarity: Rare Blight Bane Advanced Oak Greathammer -------- Physical Damage: 117-206 (augmented) Cold Damage: 29-54 (augmented) Critical Hit Chance: 5.00% Attacks per Second: 1.05 -------- Requirements: Level: 45 Str: 104 (augmented) -------- Sockets: S S -------- Item Level: 66 -------- Convert 40% of Requirements to Strength (rune) -------- Causes 44% increased Stun Buildup (implicit) -------- 50% increased Physical Damage Adds 19 to 28 Physical Damage Adds 29 to 54 Cold Damage +19% to Critical Damage Bonus +6 to Level of all Melee Skills Grants 3 Life per Enemy Hit 2H Axe #2
Spoiler
Item Class: Two Hand Maces Rarity: Unique Hrimnor's Hymn Oak Greathammer -------- Quality: +16% (augmented) Physical Damage: 32-60 (augmented) Critical Hit Chance: 5.00% Attacks per Second: 1.05 -------- Requirements: Strength: 11 -------- Sockets: S S -------- Item Level: 15 -------- 40% increased Physical Damage (rune) -------- Causes 34% increased Stun Buildup (implicit) -------- 60% increased Physical Damage +14 to Strength Gain 15 Life per Enemy Killed Slam Skills you use yourself cause Aftershocks -------- "The crack of bone, the spray of blood. Is there sweeter music?" - Hrimnor of the Ezomytes. Amulet
Spoiler
Item Class: Amulets Rarity: Rare Onslaught Charm Solar Amulet -------- Requirements: Level: 44 -------- Item Level: 69 -------- +10 to Spirit (implicit) -------- +22 to maximum Energy Shield 24% increased maximum Energy Shield +65 to maximum Mana +2 to Level of all Melee Skills +12 to all Attributes +25 to Strength Ring #1
Spoiler
Item Class: Rings Rarity: Rare Ghoul Circle Ruby Ring -------- Requirements: Level: 8 -------- Item Level: 10 -------- +27% to Fire Resistance (implicit) -------- Adds 2 to 3 Physical Damage to Attacks +27 to maximum Life +11 to maximum Mana 8% increased Rarity of Items found 2.9 Life Regeneration per second Gain 2 Mana per Enemy Killed Ring #2
Spoiler
Item Class: Rings Rarity: Rare Apocalypse Knot Prismatic Ring -------- Requirements: Level: 35 -------- Item Level: 35 -------- +9% to all Elemental Resistances (implicit) -------- Adds 3 to 8 Physical Damage to Attacks Adds 12 to 20 Fire damage to Attacks +159 to Accuracy Rating +11 to Dexterity +14% to Fire Resistance +18% to Cold Resistance Belt
Spoiler
Item Class: Belts Rarity: Unique Meginord's Girdle Rawhide Belt -------- Charm Slots: 1 -------- Item Level: 78 -------- 21% increased Life Recovery from Flasks (implicit) -------- +47 to Strength +12% to Cold Resistance 50% increased Flask Charges used 100% increased Flask Charges gained -------- Kaom's strength was rivaled only by the great Meginord of the north. Helm
Spoiler
Item Class: Helmets Rarity: Rare Morbid Peak Warrior Greathelm -------- Armour: 171 (augmented) -------- Requirements: Level: 44 Str: 66 -------- Sockets: S -------- Item Level: 71 -------- +12% to Lightning Resistance (rune) -------- 17% increased Armour +142 to maximum Life +97 to maximum Mana +14 to Strength Body Armour
Spoiler
Item Class: Body Armours Rarity: Rare Woe Carapace Cloaked Mail -------- Armour: 125 (augmented) Evasion Rating: 106 (augmented) -------- Requirements: Level: 26 Str: 31 Dex: 31 -------- Sockets: S S -------- Item Level: 29 -------- +24% to Lightning Resistance (rune) -------- +30 to Armour +23 to Evasion Rating +63 to maximum Life +12% to Cold Resistance 6.2 Life Regeneration per second +8 to Stun Threshold Gloves
Spoiler
Item Class: Gloves Rarity: Rare Oblivion Grip Stocky Mitts -------- Armour: 18 (augmented) -------- Requirements: Level: 4 -------- Sockets: S -------- Item Level: 5 -------- +12% to Cold Resistance (rune) -------- 19% increased Armour Adds 2 to 4 Cold damage to Attacks +15 to maximum Life +1 to Level of all Melee Skills 6% increased Attack Speed +10% to Cold Resistance Boots
Spoiler
Item Class: Boots Rarity: Rare Soul Sole Laced Boots -------- Evasion Rating: 38 -------- Requirements: Level: 11 Dex: 20 -------- Sockets: S -------- Item Level: 12 -------- +12% to Cold Resistance (rune) -------- 10% increased Movement Speed +35 to maximum Life +26 to maximum Mana +12 to Dexterity +10 to Stun Threshold Charm
Spoiler
Item Class: Charms Rarity: Magic Sunny Silver Charm -------- Lasts 3 Seconds Consumes 40 of 80 Charges on use Currently has 80 Charges Your speed is unaffected by Slows -------- Requirements: Level: 10 -------- Item Level: 11 -------- Used when you are affected by a Slow (implicit) -------- Gain 15 Guard during Effect -------- Used automatically when condition is met. Can only hold charges while in belt. Refill at Wells or by killing monsters. Offhand #1
Spoiler
Item Class: Sceptres Rarity: Magic Coercive Rattling Sceptre of the Student -------- Spirit: 100 -------- Requirements: Level: 18 Str: 15 Int: 34 -------- Item Level: 18 -------- Allies in your Presence deal 34% increased Damage +10 to Intelligence Offhand #2
Spoiler
Item Class: Shields Rarity: Rare Rune Refuge Advanced Rampart Tower Shield -------- Quality: +10% (augmented) Block chance: 39% (augmented) Armour: 233 (augmented) -------- Requirements: Level: 55 Str: 70 (augmented) -------- Item Level: 55 -------- 50% increased Block chance 62% increased Armour +33 to maximum Life 30% reduced Attribute Requirements +17 to Strength +152 to Stun Threshold Last edited by Pls#2816 on Dec 22, 2024, 10:07:17 AM Last bumped on Jan 3, 2025, 6:30:26 AM
| |
|
reserved
Last edited by Pls#2816 on Dec 11, 2024, 10:34:42 PM
| |
|
reserved
Last edited by Pls#2816 on Dec 11, 2024, 10:34:50 PM
| |
|
This build works so good!!! I've been playing the same thing. POE 2 has been a little disappointing at times for me so far. The bosses are just unbelievably difficult and have definitely shed a few tears during the fights. Luckily I have this amazing person and his build to help carry me through campaign. I legit had to re-roll multiple times trying as sorceress, witch, mercenary, and landed on warrior. Originally, was going to try out a minion/warrior tank build, but after some testing and a lot of work/research, he created this build which I followed. After this, the game has been a lot more fun and I feel like I'm actually playing a game rather than struggling to get 10 dmg on a werewolf while dodging ridiculous one shots.
TLDR/ GET DOWN: 10/10 recommend - high dmg - feels tanky - good clear -aoe and single target - scales well - no super specific uniques - low cost base |
|
|
PLAY THIS BUILD!!!!
|
|
|
Wow! Astral projector not work with Shockwave tottem! *shoked*
Sorry for my English - i't not my native language.
|
|
|
Thanks! I really like this build.
Does % increased melee damage from skill tree and on weapons affect totem damage? And + flat damage on weapons and rings, like "adds X to Y physical/ele damage"? |
|
" Yes, it's very nice. When I was figuring out my skill I did some testing and noticed the massive amount of tags on Shockwave Totem: Attack, Totem, AoE, Melee, Slam, Physical, Duration, Nova Then after reading my tree the Melee Damage description is: #% Increased Melee Damage Melee Attacks are those that directly hit with a melee Strike or a Slam, dealing Melee damage. Melee attacks usually scale from Weapon or Unarmed damage. So I checked Shockwave Totem and sure enough its damage scaled as I added the Melee damage nodes, as well as big buffs when I added flat damage on rings and gloves. The most powerful aspect of this build is you get to use a 2H weapon in your main hand thanks to "Giant's Blood" and another 2H in your offhand. Opens up a lot of options, one being the cheap unique that gives 100% aftershocks, which also work with shockwave totem. Last edited by Pls#2816 on Dec 12, 2024, 2:02:28 PM
| |
|
man you´re my hero i struggled so much now i can lvl my build and finally test corrupting cry :)
|
|
|
may i ask where the defensive layer comes from this build? i'm currently running a similar build with 1 hand mace and shield but it looks not nearly that strong tbh my totems attack way slower and deal way less dmg. i'm thinking about getting the 2 hand weapons node and then run the unique hammer+shield. Might switch to ur build even tho it'll be expensive
|
|
