Minmax'd Reflect Totems (RAT Nuke) in 3.24

Uber Maven Demonstration

PoB

I made a thread in 3.21 covering the core mechanics and gearing of a modern RAT Nuke build (originally created by Russelhentz) so if you want to really understand what is going on, I suggest looking at that thread first.

I want to make it clear that this isn't really a guide, it's more of a showcase. This version of the build has Progenesis, Mageblood, and Indomintable Resolve forbiden jewels. Those three alone cost at least 300 divines. The video highlights my basic t17 farming strategy which is more or less boss rush + harvest to take advantage of the extra pack size. Got pretty unlucky with this one, I usually average >5k juice.

I never really bothered minmaxing this build because I always wanted it to be in the realm of "cheap gimmick build that actually overpeforms" but after ending up with a decent amount of currency this league and Mageblood being relatively cheap, I decided to see what the build would actually be like with a good amount of investment. With the return of tattoos, a friend gave me the idea to use Supreme Ostentation so I could replace all the nodes on my tree with totem life (a whooping 105% extra totem life) and spell suppression. This also allowed me to forgo using The Siege for knockback and use Blunderbore instead which also has guaranteed knockback as well as %percent life from the shrine buffs and a sizable amount of armour. Neat little tech here is that shrine effect on the atlas tree will work on these buffs, giving you even more life. Since I built the tree with Mageblood in mind, I decided to go Chieftain for the easy 90 all res and totem recoup instead of Pathfinder. Going Chieftain also grants me access to the uber-exclusive Forbidden Jewel ascendancy, Indomitable Resolve, which grants me 25% less damage taken at the cost of dealing 10% less damage. Since reflect isn't affected by any generic modifiers to damage, this is just an unconditional 25% less damage taken. I initially tested totem recoup awhile ago but I never really appreciated how strong it was until I had some good base defensive layers. I never have to worry about dying to DoT damage as long as my totems are hitting something.

So is my build actually tanky or is it just using Mageblood and Progenesis? Yes. I haven't really played much without Progenesis but it was still possible to blast through T17s that weren't loaded with rippy mods. Progenesis really shines when the maps do have those (crit multi, multiple phys as ele, -res or less defenses, etc.) Besides Progenesis, the build has 90 all res, high chaos res, ele ailment immunity, 100% spell suppress, endurance charges, small amounts of %hits taken as ele + hits taken from totems, and a modest but useful amount of armor and evasion. It's not the tankiest build in the world, but it is beefy. I also want to make it very clear that even with all of this, this build can still die a lot, especially when certain combinations of T17 map mods show up together. It's not just a coincidence that my exp is basically 0% and I only had one portal left from my last run. That looks worse than it actually was because I had to actually dip out three times for sales, but I still died twice!

Would I recomemnd this route for people with the cash to fund it? Sure, it's a pretty substantial upgrade from the base version of the build but it is absolutely pricey. It's not the most cost effective way of getting power, but you will get a notiecable difference in build effectiveness.