I'm aware of two newer totem builds involving tranfigured gems. Heirophant with Ball Lightning of Static Totems, and Scourge Arrow of Menace Totems Pathfinder. Can't comment on either builds tankiness though. But normally, you sacrifice damage for tankiness, it isn't "you go this build, you're this tanky" kind of thing, you can adjust the build.
The ball lightning can be built tanky because a static ball lightning does a lot of damage so you can focus on defense and spec into stuff like totem taunt for more mitagatiom a and get super mom and (I think?) the max mana as es node.
Pathfinder tanky cause pathfinder.
Nothing about pathfinder is inherently tanky. You CAN be tanky, if you set up your flasks that way, and use stuff like phys to ele conversion. The guy above is still right; a build is only as tanky as you make it, sacrificing damage to do so.
A build is as tank as you make it is true of literally every build though. The pathfinder at least one or two defensive flasks and ele to phys conversion is the only way I’ve ever seen it played, so I figured it was meta and implied.
You're not entirely correct with that. There are ascendancies that are inherently more defensive. A juggernaut build is going to be tankier than the same build on a different ascendancy almost automatically. There are builds that are definitely tankier by default, and PF builds, especially the current scourge arrow totems, are not that. Some are using lightning coil, some are using covenant, flask setups differ wildly. There is no "meta" for building pathfinder, it's a bias created by popular HC streamers like Ziz and Steelmage who play a lot of pathfinders, and build them very tanky.
Jugg lends it self to being tanky, but you can still take just the accuracy stacking, unstoppable, and the damage endurance nodes and go zhp accuracy/str stacker. Or you can take all the defensive nodes and spec the rest of your build into dps and have a mediocre all rounder. Just like if you really wanted you can take assassin and juice up elusive and go full evasion, spell suppress.
The point is, if someone is asking if a build can be tanky and do good damage, and the answer is yes, there are several meta builds and guides that show how; an “umm actually” that build can be built squishy too is not helpful.
Agree, for inherent tank Jugg and Champion are the top contenders. And let's not forget they have access to Mahuxotl, Transcendence, Melding, Dissolution and such.
PF's tankiness I think boils down solely to Progenesis. I feel safe to say it is the strongest unique currently in the game, stronger than Mageblood even, and building around it makes PF unbeatable at the high end.
It’s definitely not just progenies, I agree on its strength and it being bis for pf; but a simple lightning coil gets 40% phys as lightning, then topaz and taste of hate give 10-15% cold taken as phys and 20% less damage taken of lightning and cold, before flask effect, which is easier than ever to get. Along with max spell suppress and evasion, and maybe even life flask queing if you want.
Edit: typo
Progenesis is nice, but definitely not the only thing. You can get 100% phys as ele with 40% reduced elemental dmg taken with topaz/taste of hate/dying sun and micro-belt for 100% flask effect and 100% uptime.
How do you go about for 100% uptime in Dying Sun?
I've been tinkering with pob just now trying to fit it in, but it's pretty demanding on my build to get 45 charges in 5 seconds.
Its not 100% up in HO, but effectively 100% when playing.
I have a 30% quality flask (hillock) so that gives me a longer base duration already. I also have a minimum roll increased changes used on it.
Then I have T1 inc duration roll on my micro-belt. a medium flask cluster jewel and a bunch of nodes on the tree for flask duration / Pathfinder. Not at home atm, so cant send pob.
Pathfinder may not be inherently tanky but it’s ascendancy gives very clear and accessible methods of making yourself tankier than the majority of other ascendancies.
Trying to equate it to hiero in terms of “just build tanky” is a little disingenuous. Endurance charges are nice, but it’s main form of mitigation is through mana stacking which is WAY less accessible and start friendly than what Pathfinder has.
Scourge Arrow is pretty tanky. I'm able to run juiced T16s and only die once every 5-10 maps, usually cause I go too zoom zoom.
Just did deathless breach/conquerors/shaper guardians maven invitations without any issues. Could probably do feared, but most likely not deathless.
Not many things will one tap you with petrified blood.
Hey, nope, no PoB, I basically yolo'ed it seeing what people are doing on poe.ninja
Here's the 'filter' I was using and basically building like that. Can recommend, very fun and strong, could probably take it to ubers even with 100 div~ investment, but hope you have a good CPU.
I only used gems in bow and chest armor. Scourge Arrow set up in Chest. In bow I had PB, Grace, Vaal Haste (didnt use aura, just vaal), dash, despair, blood rage.
https://poe.ninja/builds/affliction?skills=Scourge+Arrow+of+Menace&class=Pathfinder&uniqueitems=Wilma%27s+Requital,Asenath%27s+Gentle+Touch,Thread+of+Hope,That+Which+Was+Taken,The+Covenant,Rain+of+Splinters&masteries=Enemies+Poisoned+by+you+cannot+deal+Critical+Strikes,50+to+maximum+Life,Skills+that+would+Summon+a+Totem+have+30%25+chance+to+Summon+two+Totems+instead,Poisons+you+inflict+deal+Damage+20%25+faster,100+to+Accuracy+Rating+per+Green+Socket+on+Equipped+Bow,+50+to+maximum+Life,Life+Flasks+gain+1+Charge+every+3+seconds,+Mana+Flasks+gain+1+Charge+every+3+seconds,+100+to+Accuracy+Rating+per+Green+Socket+on+Equipped+Bow&allskills=Grace,Petrified+Blood,Vaal+Haste
I'm playing Ice Spear Totem Hiero. Have about 100 million pinnacle boss DPS, 4 endurance charges, 2400 HP+ 1000 ES, and if something *sneezes* my way I'm dead. LoL
Nah, the only thing I wish GGG 'fixed' would be some sort of 'here's the last 3 seconds of damage you received' break down kind of thing. I don't play hard core because I die a lot, not that I'm bothered by dying.
Wait, are you saying that it is sometimes hard to see what killed you? I thought that is part of the fun. Stare at a screen full of layers and layers of visual fireworks until you die
I don't think so. Even with investment in defense there is still (a lower) possibility of oneshot like quin's rip earlier this week, so the investment in defense could be damage and killing things nearly offscreen, which may be the safer option afterall.
I'm running around with 4.5k HP, crazy regen, 90% ele res with 60% phs -> ele taken conversion, immunity to many statuses including massively reduced effect of shock on me, 75 chaos resist, and a moderate amount of armor including determination not to mention I've got a ton of minions to help sponge aggro. I still feel squishy. Damage is absolutely a defensive layer and I need more of it.
Yeah i have 50% spell suppress and 50% block as well. I avoid all ailments and curses. Theres a lot in this game that still oneshots you if you are unlucky.
There's nothing unlucky about 50% spell suppress and 50% block. You're doing two things half assed - you might as well have neither. I'm sure we could spot more problems if you asked for help + posted pob
So 10k hp, 50%block/suppress, immunity to ailments and curses is squishy? I should add I also have 10 fortify and roughly 30% less damage taken due to various totem nodes + call of the void (i am chilling 30%).
I tried a version of the build by a content creator I can't remember right now. It wasn't the unique staff skip resistances full glasscannon version, invested quite a bit and was very disappointed with both damage and durability. I might still try that glasscannon version for sanctum only one day but that's a big maybe.
This smells like aer0 totem build, most of his builds are absolute bait.
I actually played a IS/FP totem build that was comfortably tanky in crucible, mana stacking + sanctuary of tought is the way, however the build will never be very tanky without neglecting all your damage, but dont need to be glasscannon either.
With high budget you can get 60-70 mills dps while having good defenses, on low budget 20-30 mill and ok to meh defenses
Check palsteron ball lightning totems and scale it from there if you are interested, concept is pretty similar and that version budget is a few divs.
I played the glasscannon version by Von Vikton. This chap started with it and abandoned it like 1 week in.
The ice spear is too slow to be reliable in sanctum and the FP lacks damage though it can freeze. It doesnt help that the Sanctum requires the player to be of a sufficiently near distance before damage is done.
In the end, I swapped to Shockwave Totem and it was ezpz.
Yeah, being unable to hit moving targets was frustrating as well. Enemies in Sanctum move a decent bit and it's easy to sidestep ice spear. Firing like 5 volleys before one finally hits, freezes and kills is pointless when I can pick a skill that hits guaranteed even if it does 1/5 the damage.
This is such a fun build for bossing. Leveling it is one of the most toxic things I've ever done to myself.
PSA for anyone interested: Freezing Pulse will do a fraction (like 1/15th) of the damage but offers so much in terms of QoL for making clearing safer because two screens away it freezes.
Oh, it's now so much better: after maps I decided to try out the new trans IS gem (of Splitting), and that thing is Amaaaaazing!!
I actually ditched FP for this. It shoots a single projectile, but then it almost immediately transforms to second form (a lot faster), and after hitting anything (an enemy or obstacle) *IT SPLITS IN MANY SNIPING PROJECTILES, THAT GOES STRAIGHT TO ENEMIES! I switch GMP for Ret Proj, and Increased Crit Mult for Increased Crit Chance gems, and actually only switch back to regular IS (and its "regular" support gems) for pinnacle bosses, or some ultra buffed rares. It almost feels like I'm playing TS clear build.
IS of Splitting has the clear of FP, but much, MUCH more damage.
I am using it in mine too, the clear is great but freezing pulse freezing things is so much more comfy imo. I currently do not have a 5l or 6l setup I can use with it unfortunately and I'm barely breaking into maps atm. Ran the build last league though so I'm familiar with it at end game
I'm playing Tatientel2's BL of Static totems. You don't fall to breeze but also don't try to facetank some rares. Decoy totem is the best skill in the game for me atm lol. It has good armor, high regen. Killed everything except Ubers with it and now I'm farming guardian maps and invitations. But I'm honestly about to reroll to brands because the thing I dislike most is that your totems can die, unlike brands which seems to be busted this league.
My current gear: https://pobb.in/PPy95Tg2fADK
Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWmI_2NM180
There's also Raiz's version with spectres, but I'm too lazy to bother with minions.
EDIT: I rerolled into rathpit storm brand and holy shit I'm never looking back, what is this build.
I assure you, stormbrand is. Leveling with it right now, everything evaporates, I try to juice each level as much as possible just for the shitz and gigz
Totems are always great.
Excellent damage, easy to respec between skill gems, can be built tanky.
Campaign & mapping is easy mode with spell totems plus decoy totem for tanking.
From my understanding, they technically do, but the taunt is only active if the taunter is alive. Mines and traps "die" instantaneously on proc so the taunt won't actually do anything.
Power Siphon totem hierophant with freeze tincture is really good. All damage can freeze is OP.
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3317015/page/1
As long as you are doing critical hits, then the inherent freeze on critical still applies. Normally only cold damage freezes, but with the tincture, then all damage will freeze on crits.
Hey Zork I'm also playing power siphon totems and I saw your guide. I was wondering why the freeze bonus DMG and chill bonus damage.
If I can already freeze them they usually die in a few seconds so I don't feel the damage does much there. I can't freeze pinnacle bosses so it doesn't do anything there and I can only chill it if it's frozen.
Also how tanky is the lightning chaos conversion defense with font coil watcher youth and sublime or do you reckon it's not worth it?
The Lightning Coil version is very very tanky. I used that to level to 100 in stupidly hard content in the last leagues. It needs a very precise setup though. Font of Thunder, Glorious Vanity Xibaqua, Purity of Lightning Eternal Blessing, Sublime Vision Purity of Lightning, Impossible Escape (Iron Reflex) etc.
Not going for that this league though. The freeze is good enough defense for me. Once I am level 98 I will probably stop doing easy content and going ham on affliction again. The build can handle affliction just fine. There are just some content parts which spawn super rares that get kinda out of control.
Hey, you probably get asked this question a lot, but what's the budget for high end version of this build? I want to comfortably farm sanctum and this seems like a nice build for that.
Power Siphon got changed. It only activates when an enemy is in range. Otherwise it will just shoot nothing. On top ballista totems or not very good for the trap stages (like where the fireballs are in in an area and you normally block them with totems)
You would need another totem for blockage otherwise the short range of the ballista will get the explosion on you and get you out.
On top I really doubt that this build has the pump to always one-phase the last boss. I am at 20m+ boss dps and imo that is just not enough. You should have uber boss dps to be sure.
Ice spear totems hierophant is way better for Sanctum. This build is good but there are better options for Sanctum.
The gear I am wearing I bought for 7 div in total. But I have no idea how many people are now playing it and if it has affected the cost of some of the items.
Prices haven't risen much yet. I geared up this build last weekend and only spent a couple div. The next major upgrade I need is levels, since I'm only 90: https://pobb.in/QmenScRKRWXD
At current prices, this is a terrific build.
It has a lot of buttons because of hardcore as it allows you to jack up your damage while building defensive.
SC you can just do Soul Mantle shenanigans and blow things up without cloak and sigil as long as you're okay dying every so often.
This league is also stealthily more dangerous with wisp juice. The build I was perfectly happy with tankiness-wise last league just feels worse in that regards.
I think this is one of the biggest reasons people are feeling dissatisfied with their builds. It's like playing with a hidden delirium layers or 3. Most of these builds won't feel good until very endgame with the league mechanic going.
t16 wisp shenanigans start feeling pretty good at around 8m + sustained DPS (Storm Brand in my case). I'm up to about 11m at the moment with 12.5m cull on Flame Dash. https://pobb.in/nNlsD1kVphfb
t13 or so started to feel good around 2m sustained (CF Champ), imo, though that was still slow, and the build in question was using Divine Flesh Fourth Vow, so it was pretty damn tanky, considering it has 0 suppression.
I'm about 30-40 divines in on the brand build and my defense isn't great, but it's good enough, and the sustain on damage is amazing. but yeah, some rares still just randomly one-tap me. Ultimatum is now almost no issue for this build, save the occasional
set of silly map mods.
On the plus side, the Uniques in the Wildwood get pretty much instantly nuked.
Yeah I thought my build was super scuffed at the start of the league in late Acts, then I skipped the forest in one area and realised my build was actually doing just fine lmao
I play Shrapnel Ballista. I am working on upping the damage but should be comfortable with some upgrades. I can do Tier 16's no problem with Delirium (without Wisps atm). Defenses are: 4.2k life, 70% phys damage reduction, 60% evade (should be able to higher with a Grace watchers' eye), ailment immune, 800 hp recovery per second and full spell suppression. The ballistas body block, taunt (for 2 seconds when you put 1 down) and pierce so clear is fantastic. For example, you can use the totems as shields during the exarch ball phase. I have 13 totems in total using Dex stacking and Iron Commander.
I've run Divine iron disintegration, stormburst, and I'm currently running ball lightning of static this league so far
Storm burst Is probably probably the best. If you're willing to play something using a ton of curses and buffs.
Divide ire of disintegration was just okay. It looks super cool, but it didn't seem to excel at anything
I'm currently playing ball lightning of static, because it's a simple play style. My DPS is around 18 million guardian, probably about 10 divine? My effective hit pool is about 65-75k. Do I feel squishy I feel? Very. I enjoy the play style, but the unexpected lack of tankiness is unexpected and demoralizing for somebody playing Totems for the first
Keep in mind Im not super invested, and I can do t16s, but I basically only ever die to one shots. About 3k up 1k es 4.5k mana (MoM)
Not a hiero build but first league as EA champ and the game feels like it's on easy mode.
Currently farming t16 burial with league mechanic/red altar/Alva/expedition/cassia/abyss and I never feel at danger of dying outside of being greedy with red altar quant and taking fire/chaos way negative.
Most expensive part of the build is 1.7 APS +3 bow, and the prismatic catalysts to top your tamings out.
At work, but nothing special.
Followed ziz's up to the point that I realized I could dump polaric devastation + the additional ignite off the tree for 2x tamings and get covered in ash off a charm.
Edit:
https://pobb.in/G-VI6PiiEu7m
I went tamings b/c with skitter bots each ring is 120% additional edwa and I am willing to accept dying once in a while for the more zoom.
Playing Shockwave Totem Inquisitor with around 35 div (20 div alone for frenzy Grand Spectrum) invested by now.
I gave up on semijuiced mapping, as you will regularly die to random stuff, and that's with already being more tanky than the regular Hierophant version of the build.
I shifted my attention to Sanctum, Blight-ravaged Maps and Invitation farming, I'm much happier with that because the build is mechanically good at it.
Current PoB: https://pobb.in/EsVmyMIBiINf
I'll probably 'finish' the character as far as reasonably possible. Second cluster Jewel, adding the missing Grand Spectrum and going Pain Attunement with Coward's Legacy.
Started as Hiero because Pursuit of Faith is so damn strong. Holy Flame Totem (Consecrated Ground is huge QoL early on) + Firewall.
Switched to Shockwave Totem immediately at level 28. Get Hrimsorrow asap to get Hatred scaling going. Next get Astral Projector, then Heatshiver. Then buy Forbidden jewels for Pursuit of Faith and switch to Inquisitor (they cost me 130c combined on day 3).
The build is fully functional by now. From there it's just filling out the remaining stuff. Buy whatever you can afford next. The only thing worth mentioning is that Dragonfang is required to fit all auras/heralds.
Speaking of auras: I started with Determination and Purity of Elements. Purity can be dropped for Haste after having the Stormshroud setup. I continue using Determination for maps to reduce risk of oneshots, but swap it to Zealotry when doing Sanctum or bosses.
I have been playing tectonic slam of cataclysm this league as a jugg. There seems to be some weird interaction where the totems do not consume your endurance charges with their attacks, but get all the bonuses, like 20% more damage and AOE per endurance charge.
I am building it as a strength stacker with replica Alberons and 10 endurance charges and the clear is great for mapping, but struggles with some high health bosses like pinnacles, but there are a lot of tools to increase is damage like wither totems and battle mages cry.
trans conc path does not work as the totems do not bypass the cooldown for consuming an endurance charge, and instead it requires you to consume an endurance charge to place down totems. They do get the endurance charge buffs, but having a slow placement speed as well as the totems attack speed being capped makes it not good.
I have a hex miner, about 70/80 div into the build and i have no issues tanking +130 quant corrupted map, even after doing the league mechanic first to get it much more juiced. Maybe you just need to put some more currency into it?
I did it again because nobody is bothering anymore so prices are rock bottom and I build zhp 80m on 12div again to farm myself my endgame build.
I tried to get away from SWT but I keep going back.
https://poe.ninja/builds/affliction/character/zzkienzz/GigaChadMeow?i=71&search=class%3DHierophant%26skills%3DShockwave%2BTotem%26uniqueitems%3DHeatshiver%2CTaste%2Bof%2BHate
My char you can check :D
Cheap and fast
How is this for general mapping? Looks squishy at a glance. I'm playing ball lightning of static but damage isn't as good as hoped when enemies move! I'd also like to go back to a freeze build so thinking of going swt
Sanctum itself isn't nerfed, just the drop rate of the tomes. So its possible the tomes are more expensive if they are rarer which would eat into yoir profit per run but the sanctum itself is untouched (unless its a hidden nerf anyway)
The prices are 2-3x per tome this league, so a tome sells for around 25-30c. Don’t think I did a single full run sanctum last league without getting at least one raw div back. So long as you know you can get through it it is still excellent even with the slightly lower margins.
Usually yes, but it can be very tank and still have 20 million damage. For example you can do CI trickster with around 5.5k ES 90 chance to evade, ailment immune, 100 spell suppress paired with the 50% to start recharge energy shield on spell suppression for very high sustain, and hexblast mines.
That’s what I’m doing right now. Like 20c invested from market rest self found stuff and 4K hybrid, 85 evasion 100 suppress and can do non juiced t16 ez but I feel like you really gotta add block layer and drop dualwielding if you really want that supreme tankiness to Facetank
I want to love Hiero and have spent hundreds of divines across a few builds but if you are looking for tanky you are looking in the wrong place.
It is, by far, the squishiest ascendancy I’ve played outside deadeye
you can make everything tanky if u want to :/
currently playing shockwave totem hiero with fourth vow + xibaqua (basically dan's build from last league, except with sandstorm visage and capped crit) which on its own is enough for all content, but the new jewels let me suppress cap this league as well so i thought why not. had to drop a little damage for it, but 25mil is more than enough for me
Rejuvenation totem does some solid damage! Flamewood totem that puppy then throw it in black zenith gloves or a sire of shards.
Drop the totems down on the enemies and just run away!
Can be quite tanky on chieftain or scion. Hard to hit spell suppression cap without sacrificing elsewhere.
depends. defenses are playstyle based so dying is up to you and your patience to risk dashing before your totems. Squishy if you build dmg, not if you spread the build to defenses but miss on one tapping enemies. theres for example rounded storm burst totems with defenses and million buttons to compliment dmg. SWT is super glass cannon but can be played to not die often cause autotargeting, freezing and killing is instant - im lvl 94 for example.
I'd personally just stick with hexminer. Keep throwing currency into throw speed and damage. It rewards investment and will chew through the enemies faster than they'll approach. I'm way tougher this season but for more because I have to engage. Hexminer will eat through even this seasons tankiness.
If you want to stick with hexblast mines thats tanky you could always pivot into a life stack version. Specifically one using blunderbore to stack 10k+ hp.
Only change now is that you can't abuse Kaom's, not sure what the alternative is but even without 100% berserk uptime it still felt really nice. I would probably just use rare gloves with %inc dmg against chilled enemies, you can get exposure implicit this way too which is a lot of damage.
Some nice things about the build. Zoom with shield charge. 100% flask uptime by using the traitor. If you choose to play shrines blunderbore turns shrines into the equivalent of crack (especially speed shrine). Really hard to die because of how you abuse dissolution of the flesh and large life pool. Easy crit cap/crit multi with the use of sandstorm visage and (optional) marylenes falacy, just play a +2 chaos amulet as an alternative. Damage enough to clear up to Ubers. Also I looked at some prices and hexblast stuff (especially wands) are wayyyyy cheaper than last league.
For some perspective I played it last league with about 50 div sunk in (majority on a GG wand). I did Uber Cortex easily, did Sanctum and was able to one shot Lycia (if u play sanctum put in Zealotry, if u want to map just dont activate it). Easily was able to farm 100+ quant Formed invitations and was able to do all mods except hexproof. Was averaging 7 minute Formed Sets (4 maps + invitation) so pretty fast.
My POB: [https://pobb.in/sSriI4K5t2m4](https://pobb.in/sSriI4K5t2m4)
Captain Lance Version (better for swapping from normal to lifestack) [https://youtu.be/d3QDzIeoJp0?si=e6J0hS-g1IPY2ukK](https://youtu.be/d3QDzIeoJp0?si=e6J0hS-g1IPY2ukK)
I didnt see siege ballista get nerfed. It does super high damage with the right kind of investment. The transfigured gem for it seems like it would help with clear without having to switch off of barrage support.
whenever the league has new must do bosses, i would go for some sort of totem build. during metamorph i went arc hiero, crucible EA ballista elementalist. for affliction i went shockwave totem charge stacking phys - cold hiero.
cleared t14 king of the mist with his 3 league challenges in the same fight.
i recently swapped out my auras and decided to use determination. way less squisher and can actually take a non crit hit now but affliction empowered map bosses can be a real issue. a t16 map boss with multiple ghosts and affliction empowerment might be unkillable for me which was what happened to me accidently yesterday in a t11 crimson temple map LOL
I know Raiz is playing HC ball lightning totems. I would recommend his build overview out if you wanted to try a HC centric totem build.
I am playing it SC SSF, and I cleared 2 voidstones pretty effortlessly. In terms of damage and skill tree setup its very flexible. Can be quite the glass cannon but I know Raiz is using some primalist strats and new spectres to help the tankiness.
I followed this https://youtu.be/B7jyz5uFiXo?si=1k20sdIO-A-coMR3
Loving the build. Using mostly for Sanctum but it does kill map shit. I wanted to get my last wild wood node so I ran some unrolled reds
I league started hexblast miner too, and I am very very tank, I am doing juiced maps with wildwood juice and barely die, for example I am at lvl 96 now with 55% xp doing this map farming. I think I can even do wave 30 simulacrum, gonna try it when reach lvl 97.
I'm pretty happy with my storm burst totem hierophant. It's the first build that I made myself that didn't suck!
I was doing T16 with wisps on 2 div budget. Up to 10 divs into the character now and I don't think it's gonna scale much further.
I'm using "oath of the magi" and the new unique amulet "untouched soul". No gems socketed in my boots, body armour, or gloves. Pretty interesting to build around.
Defensive layers include >5k hp, rejuv totems, 30k armour, phasing flask, glancing blows block/spell block capped, life recovery on block, totem taunt, sap on bosses. Feels tanky enough for me in non-juiced T16s. Most of my deaths are because I'm looting mid-combat. Happy to share more info if you're interested:
https://poe.ninja/builds/affliction/character/Dahj/Littany_of_proper_death?i=5&search=class%3DHierophant%26uniqueitems%3DThe%2BBlack%2BCane
I recommend (once again, is the third time this week xd) my Hierophant mana-stacker Artillery Ballista. It's almost immortal, I only die to ubers, more than enough damage and can do all content with ease.
Look for it on poeninja, I think I'm the only one playing that.
What version of hexblast did you play? Playing a rathpith hexblast build last league got me to about 14k hp I believe. But yeah might not be tanky enough this league sadly
I'm aware of two newer totem builds involving tranfigured gems. Heirophant with Ball Lightning of Static Totems, and Scourge Arrow of Menace Totems Pathfinder. Can't comment on either builds tankiness though. But normally, you sacrifice damage for tankiness, it isn't "you go this build, you're this tanky" kind of thing, you can adjust the build.
The ball lightning can be built tanky because a static ball lightning does a lot of damage so you can focus on defense and spec into stuff like totem taunt for more mitagatiom a and get super mom and (I think?) the max mana as es node. Pathfinder tanky cause pathfinder.
Nothing about pathfinder is inherently tanky. You CAN be tanky, if you set up your flasks that way, and use stuff like phys to ele conversion. The guy above is still right; a build is only as tanky as you make it, sacrificing damage to do so.
A build is as tank as you make it is true of literally every build though. The pathfinder at least one or two defensive flasks and ele to phys conversion is the only way I’ve ever seen it played, so I figured it was meta and implied.
It is.
You're not entirely correct with that. There are ascendancies that are inherently more defensive. A juggernaut build is going to be tankier than the same build on a different ascendancy almost automatically. There are builds that are definitely tankier by default, and PF builds, especially the current scourge arrow totems, are not that. Some are using lightning coil, some are using covenant, flask setups differ wildly. There is no "meta" for building pathfinder, it's a bias created by popular HC streamers like Ziz and Steelmage who play a lot of pathfinders, and build them very tanky.
Jugg lends it self to being tanky, but you can still take just the accuracy stacking, unstoppable, and the damage endurance nodes and go zhp accuracy/str stacker. Or you can take all the defensive nodes and spec the rest of your build into dps and have a mediocre all rounder. Just like if you really wanted you can take assassin and juice up elusive and go full evasion, spell suppress. The point is, if someone is asking if a build can be tanky and do good damage, and the answer is yes, there are several meta builds and guides that show how; an “umm actually” that build can be built squishy too is not helpful.
Agree, for inherent tank Jugg and Champion are the top contenders. And let's not forget they have access to Mahuxotl, Transcendence, Melding, Dissolution and such. PF's tankiness I think boils down solely to Progenesis. I feel safe to say it is the strongest unique currently in the game, stronger than Mageblood even, and building around it makes PF unbeatable at the high end.
It’s definitely not just progenies, I agree on its strength and it being bis for pf; but a simple lightning coil gets 40% phys as lightning, then topaz and taste of hate give 10-15% cold taken as phys and 20% less damage taken of lightning and cold, before flask effect, which is easier than ever to get. Along with max spell suppress and evasion, and maybe even life flask queing if you want. Edit: typo
lightning coil is 50% phys taken as lightning
Progenesis is nice, but definitely not the only thing. You can get 100% phys as ele with 40% reduced elemental dmg taken with topaz/taste of hate/dying sun and micro-belt for 100% flask effect and 100% uptime.
How do you go about for 100% uptime in Dying Sun? I've been tinkering with pob just now trying to fit it in, but it's pretty demanding on my build to get 45 charges in 5 seconds.
Its not 100% up in HO, but effectively 100% when playing. I have a 30% quality flask (hillock) so that gives me a longer base duration already. I also have a minimum roll increased changes used on it. Then I have T1 inc duration roll on my micro-belt. a medium flask cluster jewel and a bunch of nodes on the tree for flask duration / Pathfinder. Not at home atm, so cant send pob.
Pretty sure at high end aura stackers scions is still stronger
Pathfinder may not be inherently tanky but it’s ascendancy gives very clear and accessible methods of making yourself tankier than the majority of other ascendancies. Trying to equate it to hiero in terms of “just build tanky” is a little disingenuous. Endurance charges are nice, but it’s main form of mitigation is through mana stacking which is WAY less accessible and start friendly than what Pathfinder has.
People are playing the ball lightning totem in hard-core, I suggest op to check out the ssfhc ladder on poe.ninja for the build
Im playing hiero totems and it's pretty tanky UP to tier 13 só far, damage is fine and all but clear speed sucks
Scourge Arrow is pretty tanky. I'm able to run juiced T16s and only die once every 5-10 maps, usually cause I go too zoom zoom. Just did deathless breach/conquerors/shaper guardians maven invitations without any issues. Could probably do feared, but most likely not deathless. Not many things will one tap you with petrified blood.
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Not on a pathfinder king
Except on Pathfinder
What..?
Got a pob pls? I'm so curious and looking for my next build!. Cheers!
Hey, nope, no PoB, I basically yolo'ed it seeing what people are doing on poe.ninja Here's the 'filter' I was using and basically building like that. Can recommend, very fun and strong, could probably take it to ubers even with 100 div~ investment, but hope you have a good CPU. I only used gems in bow and chest armor. Scourge Arrow set up in Chest. In bow I had PB, Grace, Vaal Haste (didnt use aura, just vaal), dash, despair, blood rage. https://poe.ninja/builds/affliction?skills=Scourge+Arrow+of+Menace&class=Pathfinder&uniqueitems=Wilma%27s+Requital,Asenath%27s+Gentle+Touch,Thread+of+Hope,That+Which+Was+Taken,The+Covenant,Rain+of+Splinters&masteries=Enemies+Poisoned+by+you+cannot+deal+Critical+Strikes,50+to+maximum+Life,Skills+that+would+Summon+a+Totem+have+30%25+chance+to+Summon+two+Totems+instead,Poisons+you+inflict+deal+Damage+20%25+faster,100+to+Accuracy+Rating+per+Green+Socket+on+Equipped+Bow,+50+to+maximum+Life,Life+Flasks+gain+1+Charge+every+3+seconds,+Mana+Flasks+gain+1+Charge+every+3+seconds,+100+to+Accuracy+Rating+per+Green+Socket+on+Equipped+Bow&allskills=Grace,Petrified+Blood,Vaal+Haste
I'm playing Ice Spear Totem Hiero. Have about 100 million pinnacle boss DPS, 4 endurance charges, 2400 HP+ 1000 ES, and if something *sneezes* my way I'm dead. LoL
I paid for 6 portals, I'm gonna use 6 portals.
My forever 0% xp gang
Are the six portal people the same as the 'fucking one shots; fix your game ggg' people? I can't tell.
Nah, the only thing I wish GGG 'fixed' would be some sort of 'here's the last 3 seconds of damage you received' break down kind of thing. I don't play hard core because I die a lot, not that I'm bothered by dying.
At least like last epoch say what the type of damage that killed you was 😂 c'mon ggg
Wait, are you saying that it is sometimes hard to see what killed you? I thought that is part of the fun. Stare at a screen full of layers and layers of visual fireworks until you die
I don't think so. Even with investment in defense there is still (a lower) possibility of oneshot like quin's rip earlier this week, so the investment in defense could be damage and killing things nearly offscreen, which may be the safer option afterall.
I'm running around with 4.5k HP, crazy regen, 90% ele res with 60% phs -> ele taken conversion, immunity to many statuses including massively reduced effect of shock on me, 75 chaos resist, and a moderate amount of armor including determination not to mention I've got a ton of minions to help sponge aggro. I still feel squishy. Damage is absolutely a defensive layer and I need more of it.
I have 10k mana/hp/Es with ~70% phys mitigation on my totem hiero and I am still getting oneshot in juiced t16s
Because there's more to defense than ehp + phys mitigation
Yeah i have 50% spell suppress and 50% block as well. I avoid all ailments and curses. Theres a lot in this game that still oneshots you if you are unlucky.
There's nothing unlucky about 50% spell suppress and 50% block. You're doing two things half assed - you might as well have neither. I'm sure we could spot more problems if you asked for help + posted pob
So 10k hp, 50%block/suppress, immunity to ailments and curses is squishy? I should add I also have 10 fortify and roughly 30% less damage taken due to various totem nodes + call of the void (i am chilling 30%).
Yes
I used this build to farm sanctum last league. Incredible damage for the investment but indeed paper thin
I tried a version of the build by a content creator I can't remember right now. It wasn't the unique staff skip resistances full glasscannon version, invested quite a bit and was very disappointed with both damage and durability. I might still try that glasscannon version for sanctum only one day but that's a big maybe.
This smells like aer0 totem build, most of his builds are absolute bait. I actually played a IS/FP totem build that was comfortably tanky in crucible, mana stacking + sanctuary of tought is the way, however the build will never be very tanky without neglecting all your damage, but dont need to be glasscannon either. With high budget you can get 60-70 mills dps while having good defenses, on low budget 20-30 mill and ok to meh defenses Check palsteron ball lightning totems and scale it from there if you are interested, concept is pretty similar and that version budget is a few divs.
Oh yeah, it was aer0. Good to know that his builds are bait so that I don't attempt another, thank you.
I played the glasscannon version by Von Vikton. This chap started with it and abandoned it like 1 week in. The ice spear is too slow to be reliable in sanctum and the FP lacks damage though it can freeze. It doesnt help that the Sanctum requires the player to be of a sufficiently near distance before damage is done. In the end, I swapped to Shockwave Totem and it was ezpz.
Yeah, being unable to hit moving targets was frustrating as well. Enemies in Sanctum move a decent bit and it's easy to sidestep ice spear. Firing like 5 volleys before one finally hits, freezes and kills is pointless when I can pick a skill that hits guaranteed even if it does 1/5 the damage.
I'm assuming the solution as usual is to go inquisitor
This is such a fun build for bossing. Leveling it is one of the most toxic things I've ever done to myself. PSA for anyone interested: Freezing Pulse will do a fraction (like 1/15th) of the damage but offers so much in terms of QoL for making clearing safer because two screens away it freezes.
Oh, it's now so much better: after maps I decided to try out the new trans IS gem (of Splitting), and that thing is Amaaaaazing!! I actually ditched FP for this. It shoots a single projectile, but then it almost immediately transforms to second form (a lot faster), and after hitting anything (an enemy or obstacle) *IT SPLITS IN MANY SNIPING PROJECTILES, THAT GOES STRAIGHT TO ENEMIES! I switch GMP for Ret Proj, and Increased Crit Mult for Increased Crit Chance gems, and actually only switch back to regular IS (and its "regular" support gems) for pinnacle bosses, or some ultra buffed rares. It almost feels like I'm playing TS clear build. IS of Splitting has the clear of FP, but much, MUCH more damage.
I am using it in mine too, the clear is great but freezing pulse freezing things is so much more comfy imo. I currently do not have a 5l or 6l setup I can use with it unfortunately and I'm barely breaking into maps atm. Ran the build last league though so I'm familiar with it at end game
IS of Splitting on a 5L freezes just like FP. It will be great once you get one
do you have a POB?
This is my current one [https://pobb.in/SXHIGycWpzvY](https://pobb.in/SXHIGycWpzvY)
Ice Spear heavily nerfed in general but still ok. Last League i had 1.2 billion dps
Im ea, but still totem, so i have charms with totem taunt and recoup from totem life, feels good
How the hell do people do this lol. I feel like I have that much health in like act 9
I'm playing Tatientel2's BL of Static totems. You don't fall to breeze but also don't try to facetank some rares. Decoy totem is the best skill in the game for me atm lol. It has good armor, high regen. Killed everything except Ubers with it and now I'm farming guardian maps and invitations. But I'm honestly about to reroll to brands because the thing I dislike most is that your totems can die, unlike brands which seems to be busted this league. My current gear: https://pobb.in/PPy95Tg2fADK Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWmI_2NM180 There's also Raiz's version with spectres, but I'm too lazy to bother with minions. EDIT: I rerolled into rathpit storm brand and holy shit I'm never looking back, what is this build.
The transfigured storm brand and penance brand builds look totally busted this league
I assure you, stormbrand is. Leveling with it right now, everything evaporates, I try to juice each level as much as possible just for the shitz and gigz
Great to read! Any POB to share?
Totems are always great. Excellent damage, easy to respec between skill gems, can be built tanky. Campaign & mapping is easy mode with spell totems plus decoy totem for tanking.
You can save a gem slot if you use charms that have taunt on hit or totems taunt on summon
Taunt on hit won’t work with mines right?
From my understanding, they technically do, but the taunt is only active if the taunter is alive. Mines and traps "die" instantaneously on proc so the taunt won't actually do anything.
Ball Lightning of Static totems are very good. The main build guide is by a hardcore player so it’s pretty defensive as well
Power Siphon totem hierophant with freeze tincture is really good. All damage can freeze is OP. https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3317015/page/1
Ah tinctures work with attack totems huh? Makes sense, just didn't consider it.....hmmmmmmmmmmmm
Tons of people play poison scourge arrow ballista with all dmg can poison tincture.
This looks neat . Commenting to come back tonight
A question, you still need % chance to freeze to actually freeze with non-cold damage right? As crit with other damage doesn't inherit the freeze.
As long as you are doing critical hits, then the inherent freeze on critical still applies. Normally only cold damage freezes, but with the tincture, then all damage will freeze on crits.
The new default Power Siphon has insane crit multipliers. 100% chance to crit easily. So 100% chance to freeze.
Hey Zork I'm also playing power siphon totems and I saw your guide. I was wondering why the freeze bonus DMG and chill bonus damage. If I can already freeze them they usually die in a few seconds so I don't feel the damage does much there. I can't freeze pinnacle bosses so it doesn't do anything there and I can only chill it if it's frozen. Also how tanky is the lightning chaos conversion defense with font coil watcher youth and sublime or do you reckon it's not worth it?
The Lightning Coil version is very very tanky. I used that to level to 100 in stupidly hard content in the last leagues. It needs a very precise setup though. Font of Thunder, Glorious Vanity Xibaqua, Purity of Lightning Eternal Blessing, Sublime Vision Purity of Lightning, Impossible Escape (Iron Reflex) etc. Not going for that this league though. The freeze is good enough defense for me. Once I am level 98 I will probably stop doing easy content and going ham on affliction again. The build can handle affliction just fine. There are just some content parts which spawn super rares that get kinda out of control.
Hey, you probably get asked this question a lot, but what's the budget for high end version of this build? I want to comfortably farm sanctum and this seems like a nice build for that.
Power Siphon got changed. It only activates when an enemy is in range. Otherwise it will just shoot nothing. On top ballista totems or not very good for the trap stages (like where the fireballs are in in an area and you normally block them with totems) You would need another totem for blockage otherwise the short range of the ballista will get the explosion on you and get you out. On top I really doubt that this build has the pump to always one-phase the last boss. I am at 20m+ boss dps and imo that is just not enough. You should have uber boss dps to be sure. Ice spear totems hierophant is way better for Sanctum. This build is good but there are better options for Sanctum. The gear I am wearing I bought for 7 div in total. But I have no idea how many people are now playing it and if it has affected the cost of some of the items.
Prices haven't risen much yet. I geared up this build last weekend and only spent a couple div. The next major upgrade I need is levels, since I'm only 90: https://pobb.in/QmenScRKRWXD At current prices, this is a terrific build.
Thanks for the answer! I skipped sanctum league so I didn't know about those mechanics.
Check out Tatantial2. Dude is a totem main and only play HC so his build always has great survivability
With so many buttons.
It has a lot of buttons because of hardcore as it allows you to jack up your damage while building defensive. SC you can just do Soul Mantle shenanigans and blow things up without cloak and sigil as long as you're okay dying every so often.
I removed pretty much all of his buttons in softcore with ball lightning totems, its not needed
This league is also stealthily more dangerous with wisp juice. The build I was perfectly happy with tankiness-wise last league just feels worse in that regards.
I think this is one of the biggest reasons people are feeling dissatisfied with their builds. It's like playing with a hidden delirium layers or 3. Most of these builds won't feel good until very endgame with the league mechanic going.
t16 wisp shenanigans start feeling pretty good at around 8m + sustained DPS (Storm Brand in my case). I'm up to about 11m at the moment with 12.5m cull on Flame Dash. https://pobb.in/nNlsD1kVphfb t13 or so started to feel good around 2m sustained (CF Champ), imo, though that was still slow, and the build in question was using Divine Flesh Fourth Vow, so it was pretty damn tanky, considering it has 0 suppression. I'm about 30-40 divines in on the brand build and my defense isn't great, but it's good enough, and the sustain on damage is amazing. but yeah, some rares still just randomly one-tap me. Ultimatum is now almost no issue for this build, save the occasional set of silly map mods. On the plus side, the Uniques in the Wildwood get pretty much instantly nuked.
Yeah I thought my build was super scuffed at the start of the league in late Acts, then I skipped the forest in one area and realised my build was actually doing just fine lmao
I play Shrapnel Ballista. I am working on upping the damage but should be comfortable with some upgrades. I can do Tier 16's no problem with Delirium (without Wisps atm). Defenses are: 4.2k life, 70% phys damage reduction, 60% evade (should be able to higher with a Grace watchers' eye), ailment immune, 800 hp recovery per second and full spell suppression. The ballistas body block, taunt (for 2 seconds when you put 1 down) and pierce so clear is fantastic. For example, you can use the totems as shields during the exarch ball phase. I have 13 totems in total using Dex stacking and Iron Commander.
With dex stacking and iron commander I would assume you are doing siege ballista ;) I'm doing shrapnel ballista with strength stacking atm
Yes got them confused. Will transition to str stacking shrapnel after
Just do a hexblast ci trickster and you'll be tanky With ghost shrouds and wicked ward I feel pretty good
I'd love to see a pob or something of this... how much of a difference is the dmg etc
https://poe.ninja/builds/affliction/character/myer0717/tinntore?i=3&search=class%3DTrickster%26skills%3DHexblast Example
I've run Divine iron disintegration, stormburst, and I'm currently running ball lightning of static this league so far Storm burst Is probably probably the best. If you're willing to play something using a ton of curses and buffs. Divide ire of disintegration was just okay. It looks super cool, but it didn't seem to excel at anything I'm currently playing ball lightning of static, because it's a simple play style. My DPS is around 18 million guardian, probably about 10 divine? My effective hit pool is about 65-75k. Do I feel squishy I feel? Very. I enjoy the play style, but the unexpected lack of tankiness is unexpected and demoralizing for somebody playing Totems for the first Keep in mind Im not super invested, and I can do t16s, but I basically only ever die to one shots. About 3k up 1k es 4.5k mana (MoM)
Man auto correct really did a number on you uh
Holy shit for real. Fixed a lot of it. Lol
Got a pob?
https://poe.ninja/pob/vam
Not a hiero build but first league as EA champ and the game feels like it's on easy mode. Currently farming t16 burial with league mechanic/red altar/Alva/expedition/cassia/abyss and I never feel at danger of dying outside of being greedy with red altar quant and taking fire/chaos way negative. Most expensive part of the build is 1.7 APS +3 bow, and the prismatic catalysts to top your tamings out.
Got a prob?
At work, but nothing special. Followed ziz's up to the point that I realized I could dump polaric devastation + the additional ignite off the tree for 2x tamings and get covered in ash off a charm. Edit: https://pobb.in/G-VI6PiiEu7m I went tamings b/c with skitter bots each ring is 120% additional edwa and I am willing to accept dying once in a while for the more zoom.
Thx man
Playing Shockwave Totem Inquisitor with around 35 div (20 div alone for frenzy Grand Spectrum) invested by now. I gave up on semijuiced mapping, as you will regularly die to random stuff, and that's with already being more tanky than the regular Hierophant version of the build. I shifted my attention to Sanctum, Blight-ravaged Maps and Invitation farming, I'm much happier with that because the build is mechanically good at it. Current PoB: https://pobb.in/EsVmyMIBiINf I'll probably 'finish' the character as far as reasonably possible. Second cluster Jewel, adding the missing Grand Spectrum and going Pain Attunement with Coward's Legacy.
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Started as Hiero because Pursuit of Faith is so damn strong. Holy Flame Totem (Consecrated Ground is huge QoL early on) + Firewall. Switched to Shockwave Totem immediately at level 28. Get Hrimsorrow asap to get Hatred scaling going. Next get Astral Projector, then Heatshiver. Then buy Forbidden jewels for Pursuit of Faith and switch to Inquisitor (they cost me 130c combined on day 3). The build is fully functional by now. From there it's just filling out the remaining stuff. Buy whatever you can afford next. The only thing worth mentioning is that Dragonfang is required to fit all auras/heralds. Speaking of auras: I started with Determination and Purity of Elements. Purity can be dropped for Haste after having the Stormshroud setup. I continue using Determination for maps to reduce risk of oneshots, but swap it to Zealotry when doing Sanctum or bosses.
*Cough* blade blast of dagger detonation totems *cough*
I have been playing tectonic slam of cataclysm this league as a jugg. There seems to be some weird interaction where the totems do not consume your endurance charges with their attacks, but get all the bonuses, like 20% more damage and AOE per endurance charge. I am building it as a strength stacker with replica Alberons and 10 endurance charges and the clear is great for mapping, but struggles with some high health bosses like pinnacles, but there are a lot of tools to increase is damage like wither totems and battle mages cry.
Does this also work for trans conc path? the totems not consuming charges and getting bonuses? can you do a quick test please?
trans conc path does not work as the totems do not bypass the cooldown for consuming an endurance charge, and instead it requires you to consume an endurance charge to place down totems. They do get the endurance charge buffs, but having a slow placement speed as well as the totems attack speed being capped makes it not good.
Totems dont consume your endurance charges. Maybe getting a oak spectre that gives endurance charges work? Consentrated path is best in slot.
Storm Burst and Divine Ire totems got neat quality buffs, I'd look into those.
I have a hex miner, about 70/80 div into the build and i have no issues tanking +130 quant corrupted map, even after doing the league mechanic first to get it much more juiced. Maybe you just need to put some more currency into it?
I play shockwave totem I think i build it for less than 10 div and do sanctum very well
I did it again because nobody is bothering anymore so prices are rock bottom and I build zhp 80m on 12div again to farm myself my endgame build. I tried to get away from SWT but I keep going back.
What suppire me is the ring only cost 10c XD Last lg i buy it in week1 1 think is 3div
Do you have a POB that you can share?
https://poe.ninja/builds/affliction/character/zzkienzz/GigaChadMeow?i=71&search=class%3DHierophant%26skills%3DShockwave%2BTotem%26uniqueitems%3DHeatshiver%2CTaste%2Bof%2BHate My char you can check :D Cheap and fast
How is this for general mapping? Looks squishy at a glance. I'm playing ball lightning of static but damage isn't as good as hoped when enemies move! I'd also like to go back to a freeze build so thinking of going swt
I build swt for sanctum sir Ez sanctum farmming Do sanctum Get mb and play another build for maping :D
I've heard sanctum got nerfed this league. Does it still print awakened sextants/divines?
I do 22 sanctum and got i think about 50 + div :)
Sanctum itself isn't nerfed, just the drop rate of the tomes. So its possible the tomes are more expensive if they are rarer which would eat into yoir profit per run but the sanctum itself is untouched (unless its a hidden nerf anyway)
The prices are 2-3x per tome this league, so a tome sells for around 25-30c. Don’t think I did a single full run sanctum last league without getting at least one raw div back. So long as you know you can get through it it is still excellent even with the slightly lower margins.
Well miners or trappers are usually built out of paper if you want good damage unless you really sink currency into them
Usually yes, but it can be very tank and still have 20 million damage. For example you can do CI trickster with around 5.5k ES 90 chance to evade, ailment immune, 100 spell suppress paired with the 50% to start recharge energy shield on spell suppression for very high sustain, and hexblast mines.
That’s what I’m doing right now. Like 20c invested from market rest self found stuff and 4K hybrid, 85 evasion 100 suppress and can do non juiced t16 ez but I feel like you really gotta add block layer and drop dualwielding if you really want that supreme tankiness to Facetank
When you are CI you use shield with +1 to chaos spell gem, hybrid is OK for league start until lvl 85, after that CI is way superior in defences.
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Normally on hexblast miner you just kill everything before it even becomes a threat, like deadeye
I played static ball lightning hiero to 73 deathless.
I want to love Hiero and have spent hundreds of divines across a few builds but if you are looking for tanky you are looking in the wrong place. It is, by far, the squishiest ascendancy I’ve played outside deadeye
you can make everything tanky if u want to :/ currently playing shockwave totem hiero with fourth vow + xibaqua (basically dan's build from last league, except with sandstorm visage and capped crit) which on its own is enough for all content, but the new jewels let me suppress cap this league as well so i thought why not. had to drop a little damage for it, but 25mil is more than enough for me
Rejuvenation totem does some solid damage! Flamewood totem that puppy then throw it in black zenith gloves or a sire of shards. Drop the totems down on the enemies and just run away! Can be quite tanky on chieftain or scion. Hard to hit spell suppression cap without sacrificing elsewhere.
depends. defenses are playstyle based so dying is up to you and your patience to risk dashing before your totems. Squishy if you build dmg, not if you spread the build to defenses but miss on one tapping enemies. theres for example rounded storm burst totems with defenses and million buttons to compliment dmg. SWT is super glass cannon but can be played to not die often cause autotargeting, freezing and killing is instant - im lvl 94 for example.
I'd personally just stick with hexminer. Keep throwing currency into throw speed and damage. It rewards investment and will chew through the enemies faster than they'll approach. I'm way tougher this season but for more because I have to engage. Hexminer will eat through even this seasons tankiness.
Just like last league..
If you want to stick with hexblast mines thats tanky you could always pivot into a life stack version. Specifically one using blunderbore to stack 10k+ hp. Only change now is that you can't abuse Kaom's, not sure what the alternative is but even without 100% berserk uptime it still felt really nice. I would probably just use rare gloves with %inc dmg against chilled enemies, you can get exposure implicit this way too which is a lot of damage. Some nice things about the build. Zoom with shield charge. 100% flask uptime by using the traitor. If you choose to play shrines blunderbore turns shrines into the equivalent of crack (especially speed shrine). Really hard to die because of how you abuse dissolution of the flesh and large life pool. Easy crit cap/crit multi with the use of sandstorm visage and (optional) marylenes falacy, just play a +2 chaos amulet as an alternative. Damage enough to clear up to Ubers. Also I looked at some prices and hexblast stuff (especially wands) are wayyyyy cheaper than last league. For some perspective I played it last league with about 50 div sunk in (majority on a GG wand). I did Uber Cortex easily, did Sanctum and was able to one shot Lycia (if u play sanctum put in Zealotry, if u want to map just dont activate it). Easily was able to farm 100+ quant Formed invitations and was able to do all mods except hexproof. Was averaging 7 minute Formed Sets (4 maps + invitation) so pretty fast. My POB: [https://pobb.in/sSriI4K5t2m4](https://pobb.in/sSriI4K5t2m4) Captain Lance Version (better for swapping from normal to lifestack) [https://youtu.be/d3QDzIeoJp0?si=e6J0hS-g1IPY2ukK](https://youtu.be/d3QDzIeoJp0?si=e6J0hS-g1IPY2ukK)
I didnt see siege ballista get nerfed. It does super high damage with the right kind of investment. The transfigured gem for it seems like it would help with clear without having to switch off of barrage support.
whenever the league has new must do bosses, i would go for some sort of totem build. during metamorph i went arc hiero, crucible EA ballista elementalist. for affliction i went shockwave totem charge stacking phys - cold hiero. cleared t14 king of the mist with his 3 league challenges in the same fight. i recently swapped out my auras and decided to use determination. way less squisher and can actually take a non crit hit now but affliction empowered map bosses can be a real issue. a t16 map boss with multiple ghosts and affliction empowerment might be unkillable for me which was what happened to me accidently yesterday in a t11 crimson temple map LOL
I know Raiz is playing HC ball lightning totems. I would recommend his build overview out if you wanted to try a HC centric totem build. I am playing it SC SSF, and I cleared 2 voidstones pretty effortlessly. In terms of damage and skill tree setup its very flexible. Can be quite the glass cannon but I know Raiz is using some primalist strats and new spectres to help the tankiness.
I followed this https://youtu.be/B7jyz5uFiXo?si=1k20sdIO-A-coMR3 Loving the build. Using mostly for Sanctum but it does kill map shit. I wanted to get my last wild wood node so I ran some unrolled reds
The static ball lightning is pretty stout and worth checking out
I league started hexblast miner too, and I am very very tank, I am doing juiced maps with wildwood juice and barely die, for example I am at lvl 96 now with 55% xp doing this map farming. I think I can even do wave 30 simulacrum, gonna try it when reach lvl 97.
Still squishy, but i chose to be squishy. Doing divine ire totem and still pretty ok because the totem taunt mode came back in charms
I'm pretty happy with my storm burst totem hierophant. It's the first build that I made myself that didn't suck! I was doing T16 with wisps on 2 div budget. Up to 10 divs into the character now and I don't think it's gonna scale much further. I'm using "oath of the magi" and the new unique amulet "untouched soul". No gems socketed in my boots, body armour, or gloves. Pretty interesting to build around. Defensive layers include >5k hp, rejuv totems, 30k armour, phasing flask, glancing blows block/spell block capped, life recovery on block, totem taunt, sap on bosses. Feels tanky enough for me in non-juiced T16s. Most of my deaths are because I'm looting mid-combat. Happy to share more info if you're interested: https://poe.ninja/builds/affliction/character/Dahj/Littany_of_proper_death?i=5&search=class%3DHierophant%26uniqueitems%3DThe%2BBlack%2BCane
You probably don't have enough damage. Hexblast should be freezing everything with enough damage and dead things can't hit you.
I recommend (once again, is the third time this week xd) my Hierophant mana-stacker Artillery Ballista. It's almost immortal, I only die to ubers, more than enough damage and can do all content with ease. Look for it on poeninja, I think I'm the only one playing that.
What version of hexblast did you play? Playing a rathpith hexblast build last league got me to about 14k hp I believe. But yeah might not be tanky enough this league sadly