HUGE Bossing Damage - Forbidden Rite Totems Hierophant Build Guide - Path of Exile 3.15

--------------------- INTRODUCTION --------------------- Please check the build guide on my YouTube channel at https://youtube.com/c/bigducks Liking my Videos and Subscribing to my YouTube channel helps me to keep bringing you more content like this, if you just grab the PoB please consider giving me a like to help me out, I appreciate all of your support! Keep in mind there may be multiple videos per build, always look for the most recent video. Holy Flame Totem + Purifying Flame -> Arma Brand + Cremation -> Forbidden Rite Totems This build is focused around totems. LOTS of totems. At peak gigabrain levels we can use as many as 10 totems but most people will end up at 7 (I think 7 is better btw) We use 4-5 for Forbidden Rite, 2 for Wither and for the giga minds we use alt quality Searing Bond for 3 more. We utilize a lot of Self-Curse mechanics due to our chestpiece, make sure to double check the self-curse section below. ------------ RATINGS ------------ BOSSING DAMAGE -> 5 / 5 - This build has some of THE BEST bossing damage per currency invested in the game at the moment. CLEARING SPEED -> 2 / 5 - We don't move SUPER fast but we have quite solid clear potential. Unfortunately due to our survivability we can't always move as quickly as we like through maps. SURVIVABILITY -> 3 / 5 - This build relies on Mind Over Matter as well as Block early on. The problem with most totem builds of this variety is that there just isn't really a way to get meaningful defenses. Most of our "defensive layers" are built into the playstyle. That being said the build doesn't just fall over if it gets hit. PLAYSTYLE -> 3 / 5 - Bossing is a dream on this build. Set your totems and let them do the work. Clearing on the other hand can be difficult for some people to get accustomed to. In more difficult content we can't just drop totems and run through enemies without sometimes dying. COST -> 4 / 5 - This build functions at basically every gear level. It has solid performance on a low budget and scales extremely well with every bit of currency invested. That being said, the build is currently very meta and some of the gear is in my opinion overpriced. DIFFICULTY OF PLAY - MEDIUM-HIGH While this build performs extremely well in most circumstances it is a VERY different playstyle if you are not accustomed to totem builds. This build requires that you do not simply rush head first into enemies and has multiple layers of "waiting" inbetween you wanting to do damage and the damage actually hitting the target (Put totem down, wait for it to cast, wait for projectile to land). This build also requires you to use quite a few different abilities and to know WHERE to use them. Totem placement is important. ----------------------- CONFIGURATION ----------------------- The current configuration is set to reflect the damage you would do while clearing maps and then finishing off a map boss. It does not do any "PoB warrioring" and should reflect typical boss damage you could do during a map. Settings of Note: Skills - The # to the far right of Forbidden Rite is important, as it signifies how many totems to count for "Full DPS" at the bottom of the left panel. Make sure you set this to the correct number depending on your gear. Frenzy Charges - We use Cold Snap + Vaal Cold Snap in a CwDT, this should allow for relatively high uptime of frenzy charges, however they are not ALWAYS up, so I have not enabled them. # Of Totems Summoned - This will need to be modified depending on what level of investment you are currently at. Without the +1 shield it will be 6, with the shield it will be 7, and with the giga brain alt quality Searing Bond it will be at 10. Withered Stacks - This should easily be 15 on bosses, 2 totems casting constantly with our stats should maintain 15 stacks most of the time. That being said, if you have difficulty keeping the Wither totems down you can adjust this to 8 to be more realistic. Hindered - This only really matters if you have the cluster notable Touch of Cruelty. Enemy on Consecrated Ground - This no longer has base stats and can be left as enabled at all times. It is important that it is enabled if you are a rich boi and using Bottled Faith, Sulphur Flask. Is the Enemy a Boss - I always set this to Sirus as it will show what the build is capable of in that regard. Set it to whatever you like depending on the content you are running. --------------------------------------------- FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS --------------------------------------------- Q: Bandit? A: Kill All. --- Q: Pantheon? A: Brine King and Yugul or Shakari (Read section on Self-Curse below for info on Yugul). --- Q: I can't find an item with those exact stats what do I do? A: You don't need the exact stats on every single item, Jewels are a big culprit for people getting confused. Get what stats you can and prioritize the stats in the defensive and offensive sections below. --- Q: The leveling skills are all level 1, do I keep them at that level? A: No, this is to signify that it is a leveling skill and you level it up as you go. --- Q: The chestpiece curses me a ton and I'm dying, how do I deal with that? A: There is an entire section dedicated to this below, it can't be covered in a small amount of text. Either read that section or watch the section in the video. --- Q: What about Multiple Totems Support for the main skill? It feels better! A: Multi totem is a trap, we already have insane placement speed and it prevents you from using the Multi Totem tech on our wither totems. --- Q: These items are expensive! I can't afford any of the higher end stuff... A: That isn't a question but... this build is one of the few Meta builds this patch and is getting nerfed next league. On top of that the economy is kind of in shambles this league, stuff might be expensive. Look up my heist farming guide to make easy money. --- Q: How do I stop dying? A: BOSS SLAMS WILL KILL YOU ON ALMOST ANY BUILD. YOU CANNOT TANK BOSS ATTACKS IN PATH OF EXILE WITHOUT A *VERY* SPECIFIC BUILD. That being said, Make sure you have the following: 75+ of ALL Elemental Resist (Resistances max at 75, having a bit over will help for ele weakness maps etc.) 50+ (Ideally 75+) Chaos Resist. Enough mana regen to cover having The Agnostic keystone, if you are finding yourself running out of mana consider dropping The Agnostic until you are able to sustain. In the early versions of the build you will use Block, make sure not to skip the block nodes and attempt to use a shield with solid block. You can also use a gain % of life on block shield, this will be more expensive and is not exactly needed. High tier Life roll on every piece that can have life Some pieces can have % Life, such as Jewels, Belt, etc. Mana is also considered life on this build due to Mind Over Matter, get mana on any piece that you can. Keep your Flasks up at all times while clearing. Understand that this is a totem build, and totem builds typically are not built to run into the enemy's face. You need to play defensively and keep back a bit while clearing. --- Q: How do I do more damage? A: This build scales damage in an interesting way, Forbidden Rite scales base damage depending on health, so if we give our totems more health, it will scale the base damage substantially. We scale mainly totem health, crit, and chaos damage. That being said, you will need to invest into the higher tier versions of the build to get the higher tiers of damage. --- Q: Can I level as Forbidden Rite right away? A: You CAN, but it isn't suggested that you do it until you can equip the chestpiece and have the uniques required in the Self Curse section. --- Q: I'm having trouble keeping my mana up, what should I do? A: You will need to make sure your mana amount and regen can cover using Mind Over Matter, as well as The Agnostic. Make sure that you are getting mana regen on the tree, any that you can obtain on gear is also useful. Make sure you are using a mana flask, either an enduring or a caustic. Caustic is significantly more mana but is slightly dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. --- Q: What about (insert other ascendancy here) A: Other ascendancies will not work for the build as is. If you want to play other ascendancies look into CoC or Self Cast Forbidden Rite. --- Q: Can I play this in SSF? A: Almost assuredly no. Unless you are a god of SSF and have insane luck, this build simply requires too many difficult to get uniques to have it function properly. --- Q: I'm scared of Cluster Jewels, can I play without them? A. You SHOULDN'T, but you can. Clusters are very powerful and will provide you massive benefits. There is a tree that is dedicated to not using clusters. --- Q: My question isn't in here, what do I do? A: Double check that you have looked through the video and this PoB. If you can't find it you can join my discord, linked in the description of all of my videos. Please remember that the people in the discord channels are very helpful but it is not their job to assist you. This is a knowledge based game and you have to put in the work to be successful. ------------------ LEVELING UP ------------------ Prioritize The Gems you need immediately, Main Links > Movement > Auras > Utility. Check the "Skills" tab for which gems to grab. Levels 1 - 27 || Purifying Flame + Holy Flame Totem In an effort to require as little respeccing as possible, we are going with PF + HFT. You can play anything else you like including Storm Brand / Orb of Storms or even a Hollow Palm Dex Stack start, whatever works. Place Flame Wall down directly infront or underneath of HFT to buff the damage of your totem, beyond this use PF as your main damaging ability. For the most part with leveling gear you should be able to place HFT and FW down and then run away and let them do the work. Levels 28 - 48 || Armageddon Brand + Cremation At 28 we gain access to one of the better leveling skills in the game, Arma Brand will allow you to simply drop your brands and run without having to think twice about actually clearing. Our goal is to gain as much chance to ignite as we realistically can and proliferate that ignite. We use mainly DoT gems here. For Bosses we will be using Cremation as it has insane damage scaling on bosses and requires very little to get going, all you need is a 4 link and a Desecrate somewhere in your links. Spawn corpses with Desecrate and maintain 3 Geysers at all times. Place an Arma Brand to help with damage. Levels 49 - Endgame || Forbidden Rite Totems At level 49 you will be able to use the chestpiece Soul Mantle, Spidersilk Robe this will give you a TON of totem life, a free Level 20 Spell Totem link as well as an additional maximum totem. There is a downside however, you will be cursed CONSTANTLY, by basically every curse. If you want to level as FR Totems you will need to gather a few specific uniques, if you don't have access to these I suggest leveling with Arma Brand + Cremation while taking Ignite / Fire Damage nodes as close to the final tree as you can until you can afford the uniques, they shouldn't be expensive mid league. First you will need the following unique items Soul Mantle, Spidersilk Robe Kikazaru, Topaz Ring x2 Next you will need to respec your tree as shown in the Level 49 Respec tree. The goal here is to obtain 100% Reduced Effect of Curses through the 80% from rings and 20% from Sanctum of Thought. More info about Self Curse in the dedicated section. Gearing - Focus on getting Movement Speed boots, Gear with the Links that you need, Life and Resists as well as Sapphire Rings for the Merveil fight. Act 1 has become significantly more difficult this patch so be aware that you might have a rough time. - Pick up Blue/Yellow items and sell them unidentified to the vendor for Transmutation Shards and Identified for Alteration Shards. - Focus on topping off your resists early on and re-checking them after the Act 5 Boss and Act 10 Boss, grab as much life as you can. - Do not ignore links, if you feel your damage is lacking it is 100% because you are not setting up your links properly. Every ability is important, and you should be prioritizing links in softcore. You can run a few white pieces of gear with resists crafted on them from the bench in your hideout (talk to helena in act 2) with proper links until you can get your items together. - Don't ignore Essences, they can be very powerful for turning white pieces of gear that have proper links into resist / life gear. - Don't forget about your flasks, update your life and mana flasks consistently and make sure to stay on top of getting new flasks as they become available to you. There is a quicksilver flask available from both Mercy Mission (Act 1) as well as The Great White Beast (Act 2) A Silver flask is available from The Key to Freedom (Act 5) There is a Quartz flask available from The Silver Locket (Act 7) Tips - Make ample use of Smoke Mine if you want to move faster through the acts, you can make your life easier by putting Detonate Mine on left click. - Don't underestimate the new changes to mana, they will potentially make mana regen much more valuable, you should attempt to keep your mana flask updated at all times. ------------------------------ GENERAL PLAYSTYLE ------------------------------ The video guide will be MUCH better at showing how to do this but I will give you some basics. - Place a Forbidden Rite totem for each pack you see as you walk around, more difficult packs can take a few totems. - For difficult enemies or bosses make sure you place down your Wither totems as well as maximum Forbidden Rite totems. You can also precast a ton of Wither totems before the bossfight starts to stack up curses for damage with Self-Flagellation, Viridian Jewel. - Use Flame Dash for crossing Gaps or for dodging boss abilities and such. - Use Shield Charge to apply Fortify to yourself and move through maps / enemies. - Use Arcanist Brand to Apply Assassin's Mark as well as debuff with Frost Bomb for when Maven shows up. ------------------------ CLUSTER JEWELS ------------------------ Clusters are important for this build! You do not NEED them but they are a HUGE dps boost. Look for 8 Passive Large and 4 or 5 Passive Mediums, if they are too expensive you can get ones with more on them, but expect to spend more passive tree points to accomodate. I have the nodes I would suggest on the Skill Trees but you can use whatever you find available unless I state otherwise below. - Large Cluster Chaos Cluster - We are mainly looking to get as many solid damage nodes as we can. Anything that gives us Damage is good to go. - Medium Clusters Totem Damage - You are looking for one very specific node, Ancestral Preservation. Go for this node and any other one that provides damage. Later on in the expensive version you can go for one off of each of the Onslaught and Arcane Surge nodes as well if you like. Projectile Damage - This is a one off, we are looking for Shrieking Bolts and any other solid damage node. Shrieking Bolts causes the totems to taunt which helps keep monsters in place, causing them to get hit more often as well as take some damage from our boots. ------------------- ASCENDANCY ------------------- Heirophant - Our ascendancy is focused on Totems, Mana, and Utility. Conviction of Power - Provides +1 to Maximum Power / Endurance Charges and +4 to Minimum Power and Endurance Charges. You cannot spend minimum charges. Solid amount of Offense and Defense with no real downside. Pursuit of Faith - This provides us an additional totem as well as making the totem playstyle not feel terrible due to placement speed. Ritual of Awakening - Most of the Damage Scaling of the Heiro, also gives us significant mana and life regeneration as long as we have totems down. Divine Guidance - Provides some additional Mind Over Matter as well as letting Mana scale our damage. ---------------------------------- SELF-CURSE MECHANICS ---------------------------------- There are 4 separate ways that we will be obtaining either 100% reduced effectiveness of curses or being unaffected by curses. Method 1 - Budget - 2x Kikazaru, Topaz Ring and Sanctum of Thought Method 2 - Upgraded Soul of Yugul - 1x Kikazaru, Topaz Ring, Yugul Soul (Varhesh, Shimmering Aberration - You can type Yugul into the search on the Atlas to find it.) and then Sanctum of Thought + Asylum. Method 3 - Maven Helmet - Equip Viridi's Veil, Praetor Crown and place a blue / magic ring in the right side ring slot. Method 4 - Rich Boi using RMT gear (only really useful if you're doing Shako memes) - Equip Atziri's Reflection, Golden Buckler. For the vast majority of people only the first 3 are useful. The reason that we want to become unaffected by curses is due to our chestpiece Soul Mantle, Spidersilk Robe. Every time a totem dies or is removed due to maximum totem limit we are cursed with a random curse. By obtaining 100% reduced curse effect or unaffected by curses it allows us to nullify this downside, while also being able to use the Self Flagellation, Viridian Jewel as a way to boost our damage significantly. Later on in the expensive section we can use Coward's Legacy, Chain Belt to obtain the effects of Pain Attunement and Low-life. It also provides us an additional damage % due to cursing us with Vulnerability. -------------------------------------------------- CRAFTING AND OBTAINING THE GEAR -------------------------------------------------- This build is almost assuredly being nerfed in the upcoming patch so I am not going to invest the time to do all of the crafting notes for this build. The vast majority of the items are Uniques and must be farmed or bought. For other items simply use the http://craftofexile.com tool to see what the most efficient way to create the rares is. ------------------------ FINAL THOUGHTS ------------------------ This build does some pretty nutty single target damage and will be nerfed next patch. Play it while you can! If you have suggestions or just want to hangout with the community make sure to join my discord linked here -> https://discord.gg/aDtqeDC Thanks for taking the time to read through all of this! If you enjoy the build make sure to let your friends know about my YouTube Channel / Twitch Stream and have them join the discord server! Thanks, have fun and stay safe out there in Wraeclast, and I'll see you all next time!!