[3.28] Spark Nova TOTEM {Hierophant} - 75% Block Spell Damage /// VIDEOS SHOWCASE
  IF YOU LOVE SPARK OF THE NOVA, BUT PREFER OTHERS STYLES CHECK THESE: TRAPS - https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3874972 MINES - https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3923827 Welcome to my big Guide. I was try explanation as much as I can. For details and mechanics pls read below links or check POB section. Guide is still upgrading. PoE Ninja:https://poe.ninja/poe1/profile/Kaczu%C5%9B-2032/character/LuffyGearTotem 
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T16--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alleyways - https://youtu.be/wNyyJtb-l-M Marshes - https://youtu.be/5aE1Y0iPFKk Palace - https://youtu.be/2chZpVGbNKg Silo - https://youtu.be/oUV0k9VcWnA Maven----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maven try - https://youtu.be/dkkQ7H9G9ZY 
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---FINAL---
Standard Clearing Maps https://pobb.in/0z3xr63S0pmA Harder contents / Pinnacle Bosses https://pobb.in/JYTBVhOADFY- ---LEVELING AND SWAPS--- Spark of The Nova (around 70 lvl / after campaign) https://pobb.in/ohOVxAX1c_9Q 
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3.28 - Mirage League
This Build is from this League 
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BUILD RATING
There is rating points of Build: 1) Clear ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Destroyer of maps, Sparks cover the huge screen 2) Bossing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Ofcourse it isn't typical Boss killer, but has very mega burst Damage on single target. Even on Pinnacle Bosses it's very good. 3) Defense ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Tanky so much, even you can handle a lot of attacks from Maven 4) Price VERY CHEAP 💰 - With 150-200 Chaos you can already create a beast 5) Difficulty EASY 🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜ - Build is beginner friendly and easy, but need a bit clicking. You just run, place Totems and everythings just explode
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FOR WHO IS THIS BUILD?
- You like Totems? - You love Spark skill? - You hate self-cast with Spell Echo Support? Then it's Build exactly for you my friend! Also why Spark Totems comparing to for example other Totem Builds, cuz Sparks mechanic is great for that style, we are place Totems and run through map, but behind us Sparks still bounce from walls, objects and destroying everything, is super funny and have a great potential.
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WHAT I NEED TO START PLAYING THIS BUILD?
For level (check LEVELING section): - I recommend play it from around 70 lvl so it will be after campaign. Ofcourse you can play already earlier, but it won't be effective, cuz we need take a few things for Spark. Also Holy Flame Totem + Flame Wall + if you want Rolling Magma yet it's enough for leveling through the campaign. You need 2 Uniques for playing: Body Armour and Ring (check IMPORTANT MECHANICS section).
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DEFENSIVE LAYERS
What defensive layers have that Build: 1) Huge regen Life 2) Scaling Armour 3) Shield from Molten Shell and Vaal Molten Shell 4) Max cap of 75% Block Spell Damage 5) Immunity for Stun, Shock, Corrupted Blood
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TAGS AND SCALING
The main things we are based on this Build: 1) Spark Tags: Totem, Duration, Lightning, Spell, Projectile 2) Offensive scaling: Spell, Elemental, Lightning, Projectile Damage, Projectile Speed, Power Charge 3) Defensive scaling: Life, regen Life, elemental res, chaos res, Armour, Endurance Charge, Block Spell Damage 4) Utility scaling: Cast Speed 
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➕ Funny - Tons of Sparks
➕ Cheap ➕ Easy leveling ➕ Amazing clearing maps ➕ Very good single target Damage ➕ Even fast considering it's Totem Build ➕ Safe if it necessary on some maps / content ➕ Good Life and huge life regen ➕ Tanky and very good sustain ➕ Easy to get cap 75% Block Spell Damage ➕ Immunity for Stun, Shock and Corrupted Blood ➕ Awesome Mana regen ➕ Totems style so reflect Damage doesn't care ➕ Nice Delve runner ➕ Generally on budget gear we can start doing red maps ➕ Potential for T17 Maps & Maven ➖ Needs a bit invest into max fire Res and Life regen to open full damage potential from Righteous Fire boost ➖ A bit more clicking for summoning max Totems ➖ Vulnerable to DoT Damage 
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Based on prices around one - two week after league start (NOTE! It's very approximately cuz it's depends on current league)
Generally with around 100-200 chaos you can start destroying T16, even T17 should be viable too (without Bosses cuz they are boosted) and easily start other maps like Guardians and trying some Pinnacle Bosses. 1) Just 1 chaos: - Unique Amu Karui Ward - Unique Ring Kikazaru 2) Low (up to 10 chaos): - Rare Jewels - Cheaper Anoint 3) Medium (10-50 chaos): - Weapon - Shield - Helmet - Gloves - Belt - Boots - Ring - Abyss Jewel - Cluster Jewel - Unique Timeless Jewel Militant Faith - Unique Amu Ashes of the Stars - Enhance Support 2 lvl - Anoint for Single Target Boost 4) High (over 50 chaos): - Unique Body Armour Soul Mantle - Spark of the Nova + Supports 20 lvl + 20% quality 
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Just number of some stats what Builds can do, some kind of goals we gonna to achieve, ofcourse some of them can be more or lower but it's good state.
Average Damage on Spark skill (just tooltip from skill descritpion in-game, in reality Damage is way more higher) = 50k+ with Wrath + Righteous Fire + Sulphur Flask + max number of Summoned Totems (6x Sparks and 6x Searing Bond) + max Curses on you _____________________________________________________________________________ Life pool = around 4k _____________________________________________________________________________ Armour = 10-15k with Determination _____________________________________________________________________________ Chance to Block Spell Damage = 75% _____________________________________________________________________________ Life regen per sec. = 1k -1.5k+ with Sulphur Flask on ground and full totems summoned _____________________________________________________________________________ Mana regen per sec. = 300 with Clarity + max number of Summoned Totems (12x) _____________________________________________________________________________ Spark Duration = 3-3.5 sec. _____________________________________________________________________________ Projectile Speed for Spark = 120-130% (for cheaper Amu will be 30% increased and for cheaper anoint will be 20% increased) 
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In this league we can add 6th Support 1 lvl to Gem 20 lvl, you need one of the coins (every 1 of 3 add other color gems).
Generally Faster Projectiles and Pierce will be good options for add Damage gem like Added Lightning Damage. Also More Duration can be useful. 
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BODY ARMOUR + UNIQUE JEWEL
Great mods for Totems with 7L, but downside is we get Curses on us.  Although while Soul Mantle apply Curses to us, we can easily take advantage from it with using Self-Flagellation Jewel and we have extra Damage per Curse. 
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STACKING NUMBERS OF TOTEMS
We are playing just one type of Totems, but for single target and Boss we can further boost it from Searing Bond Totems. How to get more Totems? Main = Sparks (in aggregate 6 Totems): - 1x on Start - 1x from Ancestral Bond Keystone - 1x from Ascendancy - 1x from Shield - 2x from Multiple Totems Support Single Target Boost = Searing Bond (in aggregate 6 Totems) and ofcourse if we priotized place Summoning Spark Totems (so we start from 0x with Ancestral Bond + Ascendancy Node): - 1x from Multiple Totems Support - 2x from 20% quality on Searing Bond - 2x from Amulet (min. 20% quality, so we have free 2x more maximum Totems) - 1x per 10% quality (we need Amulet with min. 22% of that + Enhance Support 2 lvl with 8% quality to get 6th max Totem)
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STACKING BLOCK SPELL DAMAGE
Get max cap 75% of that is crucial for defense and easy to get. Where to get from: - Tempest Shield 18 lvl = 25% - Passives in tree = 41% - Block Mastery = 4-5% - Rare Jewels = 3% each
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RIGHTEOUS FIRE BOOST
Massive Righteous Fire's boost for Damage is that we can't ignore (20-39% MORE, not Increased - Spell Damage, it has sick numbers). Although we need to prepare for that, cuz it burn us. At the start use that only for map Boss for last fight, later you will can holding that whole time.  What we need for prepare: 1) Max +% fire resistance (79%): - Passives in tree = 3% - Reservation Mastery = 1% - Also you can run Ruby Flask with 5% 2) Also we need massive Life regen (with 79% max fire res we need around 600 regen per sec. to mitigate effect of burning): - Items - Regenerate 0.5% of Life per sec. for each Summoned Totem - Sulphur Flask - Siphoning Trap
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MANA SUSTAIN
We need enough Mana pool not only for Auras, but also for quickly Summoning Totems from area to area and also for using other skills (300+ of Mana left will be comfortable). So we looking for: 1) Stack much as possible Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills (in aggregate 47-57 %): - Passives in tree = 8%, 8%, 12% - Mana Mastery = 12% - Helmet = up to 10% on Explicit mod or up to 7% for Implicit mod or just both (together above these values they are too expensive) - Shield = 20-30% (mod is: Socketed gems have 20-30% Increased Reservation Efficiency, but it's the same rule). In Shield you put all main Auras 2) Stack Mana regen: - Clarity with Arrogance Support - Regenerate 0.5% of Mana per sec. for each Summoned Totem - Arcane Surge from Ascendancy node - Maximum Mana and Mana Regeneration from tree and gear 
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Help Alira for 15% all elemental res, cuz we need stack all of 4 res including chaos
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Leveling through the campaign is pretty simply and fun - we gonna just playing: Holy Flame Totem + Flame Wall, you can also add for that Rolling Magma yet.
Also we are playing Hierophant Ascendancy from start cause Pursuit of Faith and Ritual of Awakening are so nice boost to Damage. Get them as fast as you can.   2 lvl Get Rolling Magma _____________________________________________________________________________ 4 lvl Take Holy Flame Totem + Flame Wall for Damage setup and Frostblink for movement _____________________________________________________________________________ 10 lvl You can use Siphoning Trap - it's even helpful for regen Life and Mana, when we don't have too much of that yet. Also Clarity (2-3 lvl max) will be nice to keep mana. If you want you can change movement skill Frostblink for Flame Dash _____________________________________________________________________________ 16 lvl Get Herald of Ash for more Damage and Molten Shell is nice additional Shield _____________________________________________________________________________ 18 lvl Controlled Destruction and Elemental Focus are great for boost Damage of our fire skills. If you play Flame Dash, link it with Faster Casting Support for smoother teleport _____________________________________________________________________________ 24 lvl Link Molten Shell with Automation and for curse pick Flammability. Also get Determination Aura and stack Armour on eq _____________________________________________________________________________ 31 lvl You can further link Molten Shell and Automation with More Duration Support. Also the same way if you play Flame Dash and Faster Casting Support, you can further link it with Second Wind Support _____________________________________________________________________________ 38 lvl Take Multiple Totems Support and link it with Holy Flame Totem 
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SWAP ON SPARK OF THE NOVA
We swap here after campaign when you entering on maps (around 70 lvl). Do these: - Take Keystones: Ancestral Bond + Iron Will + Unwavering Stance - Pick passives on tree for Block Spell Damage and max %fire resistance - Stack a bit Life regen on eq Also you need 3 important things to pick for start playing Spark: 1) Duration - from tree is enough, add More Duration Support on gems is not worth.  2) Projectile Speed - here we need Faster Projectiles Support + also Amu which is very cheap + Wand with Projectile Speed.  3) Projectiles Pierce additional target - take just Pierce Support on Totem setup.   
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FINAL TREE (91 LVL)
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KEYSTONES
1) Core for our Build.  2) Giga boost to Damage, cuz we have a lot of Str from tree.  3) Grants immunity to Stun, it will be very helpful.  4) Totally not useful for us, but with Historic Jewel it transform into nice Damage (!BUT remember if you don't have that Jewel yet, pls don't pick that Keystone). 
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MASTERIES
1) Defensive is always good.  2) Boost to Armour is very good.  3) Duration is very important for this Build.  4) For better Mana sustain for skills.  5) To max Block Spell Damage.  6) Need for max fire resistance to keep Righteous Fire.  7) We need this for Auras and good Mana pool for Summon Totems.  
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CLUSTER
Our tree is close to Large Jewel Socket node, just 3 passive points, over here:  And we are playing 1 Large Cluster Jewels: Very cheap and much Damage (for 8 passive points we have 108% increased Lightning Damage and 2x Jewel Socket. Also Increased Effect of Lightning Ailments works with Totems. 
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UNIQUE
We are playing 3 Uniques: 1) Big Boost to Damage.  2) Max Life and ES, also 40-60% increasing Lightning Damage from this is so good.  3) Cheap option, but nice boost to Damage.  With that Jewel Mind Over Matter Keystone is transform into it: 
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RARE
1) Get Rare Jewels with: Chance to Block Spell Damage (3%), then rest you can look for res or attributes or whatever else.  2) Take Abyss Jewel with Implicit mod: Corrupted Blood Immune and put it to Stygian Vise Belt.  
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Hierophant is the best option - more Totems, more damage, giga Life and Mana regen boost.
1) Smoother gameplay with ultra Totem Placement Speed. Also +1 to max Totem and Totem Duration are huge. 2) Amazing scaling Damage, Life and Mana regen for each Summoned Totem. 3) More defensive and a bit boost to Damage.  4) Free Arcane Surge is great.  
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ATTRIBUTES REQUIREMENT
Str - 155 (Molten Shell) Int - 155 (Spark of the Nova) Dex - 155 (Vaal Haste)
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UNIQUES
We are playing 3 uniques: 1) Body Armour - core to our Build. Free 7th Support, Damage and Totem Life. Downside is we got Hexes on us.  2) Ring - For mitigate Soul Mantle downside from Hexes. Also other stats are very useful, so it's great option.  3) Amu - we are starting with Karui Ward, which is very cheap and excellent, then upgrade to Ashes of the Stars with +1 to Spark and quality for other Skill gems. Also quality is very strong, cuz with that we can summon 2x more Searing Bond Totems (look for 22% on quality mod to together with Enhance Support get another more Totem limit). 
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RARES
- For offensive stats: +1 to level of all Lightning spell skill gems, Adds X to X Lightning Damage to Spells, Projectile Speed, Lightning Damage, Elemental Damage, Spell Damage. - For defensive just stack Life, Armour, regen Life, elemental + chaos res, Block Spell Damage. 1) Weapon with good affixes for Damage. Also we need Projectile Speed on that _____________________________________________________________________________ 2) Shield with Armour - very important mod is: Socketed gems have 20-30% Increased Reservation Efficiency _____________________________________________________________________________ 3) Body Armour with Armour (until you change for Unique Armour) _____________________________________________________________________________ 4) Helmet with Armour - with mods: Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skillson Explicit mod or Implicit mod or just both _____________________________________________________________________________ 5) Gloves and Boots with Armour (but one of them you need Armour + Energy Shield, cuz we need 3 blue colors) _____________________________________________________________________________ 6) Stygian Vise Belt - with Abyssal Socket
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FLASKS
Look for modes to mitigate effects of Curses from Body Armour - Reduced effect of Curses on you during flask 1) Life - base of flask _____________________________________________________________________________ 2) Sulphur - 40% increased Damage is always good, more Regen Life is very good and 50% reduced effect of curses on you is great _____________________________________________________________________________ 3) Quartz - Phasic mechanic for aggressive playstyle is so nice on this Build _____________________________________________________________________________ 4) Quicksilver - Speed, speed, it's always nice in every situation _____________________________________________________________________________ 5) Silver - gives Onslaught, another source of Movement Speed and Cast Speed is nice. Here you can easily change for Amethyst Flask if you lacks of chaos res or Flask for all elemental res or something else
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ANOINT
Projectile Damage and Projectile Speed is the best option for mapping, so we have 2 good choices, but for Ballistic there is one expensive oil, so Fury Bolts are best. 1) Projectile Speed and Damage, also Str / Dex is nice. Take it for standard mapping.   2) Another option is a big boost to Damage on single target or Bosses. Take it for harder content or especially for Pinnacle Bosses.  
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GEMS SETUP
1) Damage Spark of the Nova - Faster Casting - Controlled Destruction - Faster Projectiles - Pierce - Mutliple Totems Spark is already Totem skill from Soul Mantle. Pierce is need, cuz we don't have any other source of that. Faster Casting and Faster Projectiles for boost Damage and speed of clearing. Controlled Destruction for max Damage and Multiple Totems for more maximum Summoned Totems and faster placement to reach max Totems _____________________________________________________________________________ 2) Curse + Shield Conductivity - Hex Bloom - Automation - Vaal Molten Shell Curse with -% lightning res on moobs with Hex bloom is very nice. Molten Shell is great defense and with Automation we don't have to worried about to recast it, but remember about cooldown time of this skill. Vaal is self-cast awesome for hot situation _____________________________________________________________________________ 3) Movement + Mana Regen Flame Dash - Second Wind - Clarity- Arrogance Nice movement skill, with Second Wind we have one more charge. Clarity is good for constant boost of Mana regen and Arrogance gives us option to keep Mana and activated +1% to all maximum Elemental Resistances _____________________________________________________________________________ 4) Single Target Burst Searing Bond - Multiple Totems - Controlled Destruction * for 4th gem = Enhance 2+ lvl (earlier take Burning Damage) Searing Bond has nice additional Damage and it boost our Spark Totems cuz Ascendancy. Multiple Totems for more maximum Summoned Totems and faster placement to reach max Totems. Burning Damage and Controlled Destruction for max Damage _____________________________________________________________________________ 5) Regen Boost Siphoning Trap Just amazing boost to Life and Mana regen, especially it's shining on Bosses
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AURAS
1) Wrath - nice Damage scaling 2) Righteous Fire - sick boost to Totems Damage 3) Determination - basic defense of Build 4) Tempest Shield - need for get max Block to Spell Damage and also grants Immunity to Shock 5) Clarity - using for Mana sustain 6) Vaal Haste - amazing, besides Movement Speed we got Cast Speed
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LEVEL AND QUALITY
- Keep Clarity on 5-10 lvl - Every other gems get to 20 lvl If we are talking about quality, then: 1) Damage Setup First is Spark, cuz more projectiles. Faster Casting for more speed of Totems attack. Rest is for Projectile Speed and max Damage. Multiple Totems for faster placement speed _____________________________________________________________________________ 2) Curse + Shield Setup Conductivity gives just more duration, so not worth, Hex Bloom difference is minimal. Molten Shell is nice, cuz more duration and Automation for less recovery rate, but it's a small difference _____________________________________________________________________________ 3) Movement + Mana Regen Flame Dash for faster charge, it can be very useful on Bosses, but Second Wind recovery has small difference. Arrogance increased effect of Clarity Aura, so it's more regen Mana _____________________________________________________________________________ 4) Single Target Burst First is Searing Bond, cuz more limit of that Summoned Totem, then Controller Destruction for Damage and Multiple Totems for faster placement speed _____________________________________________________________________________ 5) Regen Boost Just more enemies affected, it can be good for mapping, but on Boss it doesn't matter _____________________________________________________________________________ X) Quality on Auras and Vaal skills give nothing, unless you play with someone: - On Tempest Shield chance for Shock enemies seems very nice 
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1) Major - Boost to defense against DoT and chaos Damage, great for us.
 2) Minor - Another deff against DoT Damage.  
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Cannot regen Life / Mana is totally destroying us
_____________________________________________________________________________ Less regen Life / Mana also is annoying. Life cuz we can't run with RF boost, Mana because we will be waiting too long time for fast placement Totems from area to area _____________________________________________________________________________ Lower your action speed can suffers us too 
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In gameplay is like typical Totem Build, but mechanically it's just Spark.
On mapping Spark Totems is enough, so use just that. We are place 6x Totems (it's 3x clicks, cuz with Multiple Totems Support we summon 2x Totems per 1x use) on area and then get to another area and again, then repeat that _____________________________________________________________________________ For tough single target and Boss use also Searing Bond Totems for burst Damage _____________________________________________________________________________ Cast Conductivity on big pack monsters, Hex Bloom Support will transfers Curse to another enemies _____________________________________________________________________________ Casting Siphoning Trap is very helpful to boost Life regen _____________________________________________________________________________ Don't forget to cast other Vaal skills for extra stats and boost _____________________________________________________________________________ If you have in hard situation or you struggle with though mods on rare, just run, back off and wait for regen Life, we have good range to place Totems, so you don't have to risk 
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On more harder maps or annoying mod we can playing in more much defensive way - just place Totems ahead of us and slowly movement through the map. Further you can a bit improve chances to success on these hard contents and also for fight on T17 maps or Pinnacle Bosses, do these:
Gems We can only replace Hex Bloom Support for another blue gems. To be honest there isn't any good option. On maps I wil be keep Hex Bloom, but on Pinnacle Bosses I will take for example Spell Cascade or just drop off totally and you save some Mana for cast _____________________________________________________________________________ Flasks Drop off Silver Flask with Onslaught + Silver Flask with Phasing and take something more defensive or just get another Life Flask (also for Maven's fight I suggest put another Quicksilver Flask - it can be very helpful to dodge her attacks and deal with her mechanics) _____________________________________________________________________________ Pantheon Take Soul of Solaris - it's pretty good here, with captured upgrades way more better. Also pick Soul of Ryslatha for Life Flask charges   
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Build is fun, it's nice hybrid for Totem and Spark fans, easy to learn and something not typical. You can playing in aggressive way but also in defensive style on some content.
Build was creating on league 3.28 where I was learn so much about leveling, then swaps for better ways to get on maps and finally min-max in endgame. Honestly I was very surprising that Build can destroying T16 maps with budget cost (T17 and Pinnacle Bosses should be viable too) I'm very proud and happy of this to invent this Build and share with you guys. I hope you will be enjoy like me. Last edited by Kaczuś#2032 on Apr 1, 2026, 12:20:10 PM Last bumped on Mar 30, 2026, 8:05:38 PM
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For anybody looking at the DPS numbers and saying "Hey that is very low", calculating spark and totems is weird, and combining them is weirder.
Basically for spark, especially spark of the nova, you take the time for the projectile to live and divide it by .66 since spark can only hit an enemy every 0.66 seconds. This also gives you break points. This build, as displayed is at 3.201 second duration and the break point for the 5th hit per cast is at 3.3 seconds, which means you'd want 6% increased skill effect duration from any source to increase the damage per cast by 25% Similarly you'd want the cast time to be below that .66 second time, which you need 16% increased cast speed to reach, putting quality on your faster casting gem gets you 10%, and if you can swing a cast speed node on one of those rare jewels you're most of the way there. rerolling the spell critical strike on the searing exarch mod of the helmet to cast speed will get you 8% minimum, and as this is not a crit build I'd put that as a priority. This is not a criticism, he's just so close to hitting not one but two damage breakpoints, one of which is easy to get. IGN : Reamus
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