TLDR

I'm theorycrafting an Ascendant Shockwave Totem character and don't know how to get a decent amount of damage (let's say 30M), while retaining high levels of tankyness and mobility. Any help or suggestions are welcome.

Unoptimized pob: (https://pobb.in/Umb_ejeWMFcS)

 

Background

I like to play allrounders. What I mean by that is that I like to play a build that I can scale up to do all content somewhat comfortably. Speedclearing maps in less than a minute or deleting bosses in 3 seconds doesn't particularly interest me, but I like to be able to do 98% of map mods comfortably, be able to kill ubers with maybe 1 or 2 deaths, and generally just play most/all the content that the game has to offer.

I've played a few characters this league (Boneshatter, Artillery Ballista, Kinetic Blast, Boneshatter again, self-cast Blazing Salvo), and came to the conclusion that totems (and possibly mines, from previous experience) is essentially the only way I can play the game. Allow me to explain, using the builds I played this league as examples (pasted in the comments as it's quite a long story).

 

Requirements

Thus, my requirements are as follows.

• Must use a totem playstyle
• High movement speed (140%+, preferably not shield charge)
• Solid defense (effective hit pool of 50k+)
• Decent damage (30M+)

To solve movement speed, I see 3 options: Pathfinder, Mageblood, or Ascendant Pathfinder. At the same time, these 3 options are also some of the best ways to achieve the level of defense that I'm looking for (Progenesis, magic Elemental Flasks, Quicksilver Flask).

The main issue is damage. I think Toxic Rain pathfinder is the most well-known build that fulfills all of these requirements, as it has tankyness, speed, sustain, and can reach regular DoT cap with high investment. There are some other Pathfinder builds that use attack totems for poison (Scourge Arrow or Tornado Shot with a Darkscorn), but from what I can see those are not stronger than Toxic Rain. But let's imagine that Toxic Rain doesn't exist.

 

The idea

In comes my idea of Shockwave totem Ascendant. Ascendant can achieve perma (unique) flasks (Progenesis, Taste of Hate, Quicksilver, etc.) for speed and defense, has +1 Totem from Hierophant and Totem Leech from Chieftain.

Shockwave Totem is a skill that, from what I've heard, can be scaled into endgame damage very effectively. Additionally, I believe the playstyle suits mine very nicely with Astral Projector, and I'm a big fan of the idea of instant leech from my totems.

Combining these ideas, I've come up with the following (unoptimized) pob: (https://pobb.in/UEBFTKxzMNv8)

 

The problem

As it stands, I've focused very hard on defense, which has resulted in a build that does a quite pathetic 8M dps with everything up. And that is assuming I max my alternate ailments on Uber content, which I definitely don't. Realistically we're talking more like 5M dps. My main question is:

How can I get my damage to reasonable levels, without losing much defense?

I don't have much experience with Shockwave Totem scaling, and all of the guys that I've seen on poe.ninja are basically full glass cannons with an effective hit pool of 10k, especially if you look at the previous league (Sanctum).

 

Additional considerations

There's a few additional problems to solve / choices to make in this build, and I'd love to have anyone's input.

Leadership's Price (+ Devouring Diadem) versus Heatshiver

• Leaderships's Price allows for alternate ailments, which makes capping crit much easier, is strong defensively (Sapped), and allows for damage from all elements to work effectively (due to Scorch + Elemental Weakness), making gems such as Awakened Added Fire Damage a strong choice.

• Heatshiver however, is a classic because of its massive damage boost for freeze builds. Unfortunately it takes up the helmet slot, which means you lose Devouring Diadem, and capping crit will be more challenging.

Skill cost

Auras are very effective so most mana will always be reserved. There's a few options to deal with skill cost:

• Enduring Mana flask, with a little (15%?) unreserved Mana. Takes up a flask slot, which is extremely valuable.

• Reducing the cost through a magic flask suffix, Inspiration, and the Life Mastery that makes 30% of skill Mana cost a Life cost instead. The issue with this is that Ascendant Hierophant has an 8% MoM effect, which means that if you're affected by degens, your mana will stay at 0 for a while. This means you can't cast movement abilities, curses, guard skills, etc.

• Standard Eldritch Battery setup. Either on the tree or through Devouring Diadem; unfortunately, the 8% MoM will again be a problem, as it stops the natural energy shield recharge from occuring. Some investment into Energy Shield recovery will be required.

• Eldritch Battery setup with MoM. Maybe it's an idea to go with the 8% MoM instead of against it, take the real MoM on the tree, and invest more heavily into Energy Shield not just as a method of dealing with Mana costs, but also to increase the EHP pool of the build. Heavy Energy shield recovery required.

Recovery

Life recovery is handled nicely by leech (10% instant), a bit of recoup on a ring/jewel/passive tree, and perhaps some regeneration from the tree / gear / a flask suffix. The issue is Energy Shield recovery. I don't know of a way to keep strong life recovery, and have strong energy shield recovery at the same time. Options are:

• Zealot's Oath to convert Life Regen to Energy Shield regen. Losing the Life Regen means the build's weakness against dots is exacerbated. Generally speaking this might not be an issue due to leech handling life recovery, but if there is no enemy to hit such as during Exarch ball phases or Eater drain phase you're left without recovery, and will probably always die. Also no leech maps are impossible.

• Ghost Reaver to convert the Life leech to Energy Shield leech. However, then most of the build's life sustain is lost. This might be compensated by stacking as much Life regeneration as possible or ...

• Stun jewels (Immutable Force + Bloodnotch) can take care of Life recovery vs hits very well, but do not protect against dots at all.

Passive Tree

The tree is quite spread out, due to needing flask nodes, totem nodes, crit nodes, suppression, life, and reservation. Also a bare minimum of 2 medium cluster jewel setups are required (totems + flasks). Some questions:

• Is it worth to invest in the ranger side of the tree? There is suppression there, and flask nodes (Natural Remedies is very strong), as well as Charisma and a Cold Cluster (the Mastery is very valuable).

• Is it better to path more in the witch direction, and take some more templar nodes? I'm thinking Power Charges, Divine Judgement, recoup nodes, etc. However, without the ranger side, how do I get enough suppression?

• How do these options compare to the Scion area, with lots of life available, and potentially some Unnatural Instinct setup?

 

Conclusion / TLDR 2

I can't help but feel like there is potential in a character like this, but I can't seem to get it out in pob. This might just be a case of me wanting a build to do literally everything, which means it ends up doing nothing. There's probably a reason nobody plays Shockwave Totem Ascendant after all.

I'd love to have input on some of the things I'm discussing here, or any suggestions for a different kind of totem build that also meets my requirements.

Unoptimized pob: (https://pobb.in/Umb_ejeWMFcS)