Exploding totem part 3: trickster, hatred and leveling

Edit: If anything I underestimated Chain Reaction. It looks like it just about doubles our DPS.

Side-by-side comparison, taken from this clip. This is with 110% trap trigger aoe.

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Hey. This builds on the previous thread by /u/Knuckledust, but brings some (hopefully) new info to the table.

Rejuvenation totem

Devouring totem's quality is a lot better than rejuvenation totem's, but it only scales with generic gem and spell levels. Rejuvenation totem on the other hand has the AoE and Aura tags. This lets us use body armours that aren't prohibitively expensive and/or useless outside of gem levels, such as this lovely Victario's Influence!

This badboy has actual stats on it!

Hatred

It's no huge secret that phys conversion hatred is the strongest aura in the game. Pathing along the top side of the tree we grab a lot of aura effect, which boosts it further. In my current setup it straight up doubles the build's damage, and since we're going EB/MoM trickster we can run it as a blessing on top of our five other reservation skills (Discipline, Grace, Herald of Purity, Herald of Ash, and Defiance Banner).

Heatshiver

With cold damage comes the strongest item in the game. For regular play we can use something nice and boring, but when it's time to get serious we equip Heatshiver to just straight up double our damage.

Do we freeze though?

Unfortunately we only freeze bosses with less than 2 757 885 124 ailment threshold :(

Chain Reaction

Without chain reaction, half your traps aren't even going to detonate. This is such a huge boost that I believe the most cost effective ascendancy for this build is actually Saboteur. As a Trickster (or, if you for some reason feel like you need more damage, an Assassin), you can get this via forbidden jewels.

Cluster Jewels

Medium jewels kinda suck for us, but using large (elemental, physical or cold) cluster jewels lets us socket some extra regular jewels with totem life modifiers on them. Totem life is huge for scaling damage on this build, so the more the better. These jewels can also fill out (player) life, stats, resists, or even more damage.

Leveling

This might be the fastest leveling build after Hollow Palm twink. The damage starts out really good, but unlike Hollow Palm it just gets better and better. It is also way cheaper, both in required gear and in regrets.

You can start off at level 4 when totems become available. Get your hands on either two one-handed weapons with the 200% mod, or one two-hander with the 400% mod. These are available on items without level requirements. You can unlock the crucible mods while leveling, but I'd recommend buying them unlocked or unlocking them on an already leveled character.

Use Rejuvenation totem to start with. It costs about half as much mana as Devouring totem, and mana is going to be enough of an issue as is. Rejuvenation will require quite a lot of strength when leveling, so if you're not on the left side of the tree you should make sure your gear has at least some strength, or that you grab some big strength nodes if you path past them.

At level 8 you can add trap- and multiple traps supports to your rejuvenation setup. This is when your damage (and mana cost) really starts poppin off. At level 9 you can optionally equip Hrimsorrow, to convert all your phys damage to cold for easier scaling. Get Clarity at level 10 to help out a bit with your mana issues.

In Act 2 you want to grab both Herald of Ash and Herald of Purity. You can also equip Deerstalker boots at level 22, and put your Rejuvenation totem and multiple trap support in them for an eventual pseudo 5L.

In Act 3 you can grab Discipline and spec into Eldritch Battery if you're at the top of the tree. This should more or less solve your mana issues. If you're at the bottom of the tree you should probably consider ditching your auras and just running blood magic. If you feel like it you can replace your heralds with hatred.

At the end of Act 4 you get Cluster Traps and Multiple Totems support. With this your Links are complete (Rejuvenation Totem - Trap Support - Multiple Traps Support - Cluster Traps - Multiple Totems), and you will pretty much just one shot the rest of the game (when you aren't out of mana).

That's it. All the build needs for leveling is the weapon mod(s) and 5 gems. I played with Rejuvenation totem in my Deerstalkers up to level 92, and only switched because I wanted to crush uber bosses.

Links?

https://youtu.be/AcqFKrtH5gU clear is fine I guess

https://youtu.be/N2c8RHAncDg boss damage is kinda nutty

Normal PoB: https://pobb.in/Q5tO35xSks8w

Heatshiver: https://pobb.in/QMdUkDAQi9X9

Further improvements?

The build is still kinda scuffed. It could use some real boots and actually good jewelry. It could switch into Asenath's gloves for some actual clear.

The damage can be scaled a lot further if you're willing to sacrifice defenses. With a Hatred Watcher's eye, Hatred Sublime Vision, and crit scaling from assassin you could probably get crit capped, but at that point it would probably be cheaper to just play an ice trap glass cannon.

Aside from getting more synergistic nodes on the crucible trees, switching to a bow+quiver combo has a lot of potential with phys as ele affixes.