I really like this Path of Exile build. It features good skills setups for both map clearing and boss killing, with plenty of offense and defense to deal with most content on a shoestring budget. Legion League and POE 3.7 may not have handed huge buffs to this Ascendancy or skill combination, but it’s still relatively easy to play and offers decent DPS. Totems can be a lot of fun once you get used to them. The amount of DPS this POE build puts out is pretty surprising as it’s all about keeping your totems up at all times. Just drop your totems and clear the screen of enemies.
Offensively, the game is to cap out Power Charges as Power Charge generation, as well as buffs scaling from those, will also help DPS a fair bit. Head down to the gear section for some recommendations on that front. Once you drop your secondary skills, drop your main Totems and let them roll through mob packs at their leisure.
Defensively, this build guide will be focusing on a Life-based variant of this archetype. One thing to keep in mind is that when using Soul Mantle, the Curse effect applies when a Totem dies, so your need Kikazaru rings to keep that from gimping you too badly. Using Ascendancy buffs to Totems and Mind Over Matter, we need tons of Mana, which can help augment our Life pool. We’ll also have a bit of ES to back us up. Fortify off of Shield Charge adds another layer, but you don’t want to always be charging into the middle of packs. It takes practice, but try to hit the side of packs to drop your Orb of Storms followed by your Totems. Then let your DPS melt them down.
You’ll find all you will need to construct this build down below. The guide assumes that you’re going all-out and are maximizing every aspect, but you don’t have to go that far at all to reach a point where the build is enjoyable. Even in the low 90s with less-than-perfect gear, the build runs Maps and Delves just fine. And it’s a great choice as a league starter build for any POE player. If you are a brand new Path of Exile player, feel free to check out our various POE guides for noobs.
Build Pros
- Great league starter with cheap gear
- Good clear speed
Build Cons
- Have to swap skills and jewels depending on type of content
- Totem builds aren’t for everyone
Passive Tree(s)
Here is the Endgame Passive Tree
Pantheon
Upgrade all of these.
Major God: Soul of The Brine King
Great defensive option for mapping to deal with stuns. If facing some bosses with lots of DoT, opt for an upgraded Arakaali.
Minor God: Soul of Shakari
The poison immunity is really useful for some content. Abberath offers decent defensive help as well for fire damage.
Bandits
Help Alira for the bonuses Resistances
Ascendancy skill points
Hierophant
Ascendancy points:
Preferably in that order:
- Pursuit of Faith
- Ritual of Awakening
- Divine Guidance
- Sanctuary of Thought
Enchants
Helmet:
40% increased Glacial Cascade Damage (Best)
Boots:
0.6% of Damage Leeched as Life and Mana if you’ve Killed Recently
Damage Penetrates x% of Enemy Elemental Resistances if you haven’t Killed Recently
x% increased Attack and Cast Speed if you’ve Killed Recently
Gloves:
Commandment of Commandment of Light or Force.
You could also use these Corruptions on Gloves:
Curse Enemies with Level (10–12) Elemental Weakness on Hit
+1 to Maximum Power Charges
(4–6)% increased maximum Life
(8–10)% increased Attack Speed
Leveling General Tips
Efficient Farm Locations:
Act 1: The Ledge
Act 2: The Fellshrine Ruins
Act 3: The Docks
Act 4: The Dried Lake
Act 5: The Chamber of Innocence
Act 6: The Ridge
Act 7: The Temple of Decay lv1-2
Act 8: The Harbour Bridge
Act 9: The Blood Aqueduct
Act 10: The Ossuary
Avoid these map mods:
* Players cannot Regenerate Life, Mana or Energy Shield
Be careful of these map mods:
* Monsters have #% increased Critical Strike Chance / +#% to Monster Critical Strike Multiplier
With high evasion, attack should almost never crit you. Spell on the other hand can still hit hard.
* Monsters fire 2 additional Projectiles
Scary mod on some bosses and monster types. Some monsters are still able to spam out too many projectiles to handle.
* Area contains two Unique Bosses
Your goal to survive this mode is a combo of extreme DPS and Life. The faster you can down the bosses, the less threat they pose.
* #% increased Monster Movement Speed / #% increased Monster Attack Speed / #% increased Monster Cast Speed
Some bosses are going to be too fast to hit effectively, meaning you’ll spend more time than you normally should kiting them. This combination with Temporal Chains is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.
* Players are Cursed with Vulnerability
Negated during mapping with a Warding Flask, but not against bosses. Bleeds from bosses can kill you easily.
* Players are Cursed with Temporal Chains
I would personally avoid this on high-tier maps.
Final Skill Gem Setup
You’ll find recommendations for different attack skill setups for this build below. The basic buff and aura setups are down there too. The basic idea is to swap out to your single-target skill before taking on the boss, so keep that in mind.
=== CLEARING SKILL ===
Frostbolt -> Spell Totem -> Faster Casting -> Controlled Destruction -> Increased Critical Strikes -> Hypothermia
=== SINGLE-TARGET ATTACK ===
Glacial Cascade -> Spell Totem -> Faster Casting -> Controlled Destruction -> Increased Critical Strikes -> Hypothermia
=== MOVEMENT ===
Flamedash -> Faster Casting -> Arcane Surge
=== AURA/UTILITY ===
Orb of Storms -> Faster Casting -> Increased Critical Strikes -> Power Charge on Crits
Shield Charge -> Faster Attacks -> Fortify
Clarity (Can use Clear Mind Jewel to replace it though at high-level)
Build Uniques / Example Rare Gear
In this section you will find all the suggested items for this build. We always try to include optional gear in our listing, or try your own assuming you get similar stat rolls. Aim for high-quality Rares if you’re replacing Uniques. The Minimum/Optional requirements listed assume you’re using Rares as a replacement for listed Uniques (where possible).
Depending on your gear choices, you can go for either a lot more DPS at the expense of Life, or go for more defensiveness by sacrificing a portion of DPS. This is your choice. In most cases, I would prefer Life personally, as it’s just a bit more forgiving. If you’re a new player, this may the path for you.
Stat Priorities:
Life is super important for survivability, especially at end-game. Although be careful not to forsake too many damage mods for it or you won’t be able to kill mobs quick enough for your defenses to handle incoming DPS.
Mana is very important for Mind Over Matter, we get a fair bit from Intelligence, but just be careful not to compromise other Attributes or your main damage types getting it.
Totem/Spell/Cold Damage is your primary DPS, get this in any way you can, as long as you don’t compromise defenses.
Resistances until capped.
Critical Strike Chance and Multiplier can help increase your damage a fair bit.
Cast/Attack Speed means that you simply attack faster the higher it is. This stat becomes vital for scaling overall DPS. Attack speed is great for Shield Charge to keep Fortify up.
Weapons
The listing below assumes you’re using the high-end Rare, which needs to be an Elder Rare to roll certain needed mods. You’ll get peak base DPS with this, but the Attribute requirements mean you’ll have to sacrifice some Affixes for Attributes, likely on most of your Jewels. In terms of what weapon type combo to use, I would rcommend going for a Dagger/Shield setup.
Dagger:
Min. requirements:
40% Increased Spell Damage
Crit Buffs
5% Increased Elemental Damage
Optional affixes:
Elemental Resistances
Socketed Gems are supported by Level # Cold/Lightning Penetration/% Increased Cold/Lightning Damage (Shaper)
Shield:
Min. requirements:
40% Increased Spell Damage
80 Maximum Life
20% Increased Attack Speed
5% Increased Elemental Damage
Optional affixes:
Elemental Resistances
Helmet
A Rare works best here, the enchant is where most of the power of this slot comes from. I would say going for enchants which increase single-target damage (Glacial Cascade)
Min. requirements:
90 Maximum Life
Maximum Mana
Attributes (Dexterity, Strength)
Optional affixes:
Chaos Resistance
Increased Maximum Life (Elder)
Reduced Attribute Requirements
% chance to gain a Power Charge on Kill (Shaper)
Body Armor
Soul Mantle is the absolute best choice here. The major downside of applied curses can be mitigated with our rings though. With this slot, we gain so much DPS potential, especially since we can run Cold Penetration support, that it’s pretty worth it.
A high-end Rare can do really well with this build. Aim for a Life base. If going the Rare route, prepare to get needed attributes on the chest in order to get more DPS from your Jewels and other Affixes.
There are several ways to further increase the effectiveness of a Rare here, but they will massively increase the currency cost, as a high-end Armour that fits these parameters would be Mirror-service-worthy.
- A +1 Level to Socketed Gems Corruption is extremely useful.
- Getting Reduced Attribute Requirements can really help if you’re struggling with attributes. This can also free up Jewel Affixes as you no longer need to waste them. This would allow you to further increase your DPS. Although getting this mod combination will be extremely hard, and will cost a lot of currency, so bank on just using a crafted affix instead.
- Getting a high, or possibly Legacy, Increased Life and/or Chaos Resistance roll really helps with survivability.
Min. requirements:
100 maximum Life
Elemental Resistances
Optional affixes:
Chaos Resistance
Increased Maximum Life (Elder)
Reduced Attribute Requirements
% Increased Intelligence (Elder)
Belt
Abyss Belts with Life and Resistances are a good option for more difficult end-game sections and bosses. Other Rares might do in a pinch, but not having good rolls can make you a lot more squishy than is tolerable. Abyss Jewels are also a great source for damage buffs as well. Buffing your damage and Life is the best bet here with Jewels.
Elder/Shaper variants are good too, assuming you can get a good combo of Life and Resists on them.
Your best bet is a Cyclopean Coil. Although this will be really expensive as it’s pretty high-demand. The added life and Attributes are extremely useful, so this is a definite necessity for full potential.
Min. requirements:
70 Maximum Life
Increased Flask Duration
Attributes (Dexterity, Strength)
Optional affixes:
Reduced Flask Charges Used
Gloves
Gloves can be one of the more flexible gear slots while leveling, pick any Unique Gloves which focus on buffing needed Attributes or damage types and you’ll be fine for leveling. Once you hit end-game, opt for a high-end Rare ASAP. If you need help choosing Unique Gloves, refer to the leveling items section above, or go to this list.
Rare Gloves with buffs to main damage types are great.
Min. requirements:
70 Maximum Life
Maximum Mana
Attributes (Dexterity, Strength)
Increased Spell Damage
Optional affixes:
Chaos Resistance
Reduced Attribute Requirements
% Increased Attack and Cast Speed (Elder)
Boots
Rare boots with max rolled Life, Resists and Movement Speed are great as a generic choice, but you may find yourself a bit more prone to taking hits than you would like. This one is more of a personal judgment call. Here’s the basic requirements for Rare in this slot.
Min. requirements:
70 maximum Life
30% increased Movement Speed
Any Uncapped Resistances (>25%)
Once you’ve gotten decently into end-game, you may want to switch to a Unique that’s more tailored for the playstyle of the build.
Kaom’s Roots – This is the best Unique pair of Boots for this build, and will provide decent defensive stun immunity, just be sure you don’t compromise your resists or other defenses using these.
Amulet
When using a Rare, Get a Shaper/Elder and stack as much Life as you can on your Amulet to prevent feeling too squishy. Extra flat added damage of multiple types is good here too. Gain x% Physical as Elemental or Elemental Penetration work great in this slot as well. Stack multiple mods for Physical and Elemental Damage for optimal setup.
Min. requirements:
50 maximum Life
Added Physical Damage as Extra Elemental Damage
Gain % of physical damage as extra Elemental/Chaos Damage (only for Glacial Cascade)
10% All Elemental Resistances
Attributes (Dexterity/Strength)
Optional affixes:
Crit Buffs
Rings
If you’re using Soul Mantle, you absolutely must use Kikazaru rings here. If using a Rare body Armour, use the following start priorities to help guide your selection. Since your Elemental Damage is your primary DPS, aim for Steel Rings as a base.
Min. requirements:
60 Maximum Life
Added Cold Damage to Attacks
x% Elemental Damage with Attacks
Uncapped Resistances (>25%)
Optional affixes:
x% Increased Cast Speed
Flasks
Atziri’s Promise – A great defensive layer with Chaos Damage scaling the helps keep you alive.
Other Flasks:
- Seething Life Flask of Staunching (Immunity to Bleeding)
- Ample Silver Flask of Heat (Immunity to Freeze)
- Diamond Flask of Curing (Removes Poison – useful if using a different Pantheon)
- Sulphur Flask
You can swap these mods around if needed due to RNG.
Jewels
As in every totem build, it is recommended to use Spire of Stone. Your totems can get stun locked sometimes and it feels very clunky and annoying when this happens. Clear Mind Clear Mind can be used if you decide to not run Clarity. Obviously The Long Winter (x2) and Frozen Trail (x2) are mandatory depending on the skill you are using.
Abyss Jewels that have a chance to gain Onslaught can also be used in a slot for a damage increase.
Rare Jewels can run with the following stats:
Recommended affixes:
x% Increased Maximum Life
x% Increased Maximum Mana
x% Increased Totem Damage
x% Increased Spell Damage
x% Increased Cold Damage
x% Increased Totem Life
Optional affixes:
Attributes (Dexterity/Strength)