You throw down dual totems, then you flammability, then you start identifying stuff in your inventory while running for a few seconds, throw out trash, collect totem created loot, rinse and repeat!
So I’m now playing a dual-totem witch since my last Incinerate guy somehow got insta killed at level 52 in the docks. I think it’s might have been an elemental reflect boss that popped out of a yellow box but I’m not sure. All I know was he was on full health, I shot some mobs, and I was dead. None of the mobs I could mouse over had reflect though, so it’s still a mystery.
Them’s the breaks!
KevinC
1843
There are two things that do that to me on that sort of build: reflect guys and those bastards in the adjacent zone that do lightning thorns. Either that or there was a flame dog that had extra projectile + damage combos, they will instantly liquefy you.
My dual flame totem witch finally died for the first time (this is my first softcore character, in Warbands) against the big Act 3 boss at the end of the act. Holy cow. What did he do to me that had my health constantly draining faster than potions could counteract? And how do you stop the drainage? If I’m going to tackle this fight eventually in hardcore I’m going to have to figure out what the hell happened.
When I resurrected at last checkpoint and got back in the fight, I drained the rest of the boss’ health pretty quickly so it didn’t happen again, whatever that was.
Blood rain is bad for your health. Get under the umbrella ;)
Bleeding. Get a flask that stops bleeding; it really helps.
I assume no one’s mentioned this before because it’s considered a spoiler, so I’ll tag it appropriately.
Spoiler thing I did in Act 4
[spoiler]
Holy shit! I rescued this one girl, and she turned out to be a whole new character I can play from now on in the character selection screen! I assume none of you ever mention making a character of that type because you don’t want to spoil the surprise for anyone.
Of course, the other possibility is that none of you ever mention creating a character of that type because she kind of sucks. But I hope that’s not the case.[/spoiler]
Bateau
1848
No one mentions it because it’s a one time event/perma unlock and when you’ve been playing for months/years you kinda forget about it. And she doesn’t suck at all, in fact her starting position is the best on the passive tree for a good number of builds, in no small part thanks to close proximity of jewel nodes.
Naniad
1849
Ya if you have been playing before that was introduced to the game you automatically have her unlocked so I’ve never actually rescued her.
I think you had to have gotten into Cruel difficulty prior to the Scion being introduced to get the auto-unlock. But yeah, the Scion is pretty much assumed to be available these days. My second Tempest Sarah is one, and I remember Charlatan saying he’s playing her.
Back in the days when I played, Act 3 was nothing like it is now, it was really rough, so I never did finish normal difficulty. I either died, or started a new character because even the characters that did survive had a really rough time with Act 3.
Btw, Act 3 is totally different now. The endless prison/dungeon area isn’t even in Act 3 anymore that used to be filled with recycled creatures and endless mini-bosses. Thank god.
I do remember someone coming to this thread after I stopped playing telling news of a new character coming soon, but I hadn’t realized that had already happened.
I’m still following that Flame totem Witch guide that was posted upthread. I’m well into Act IV and I reached the point on the Passive Tree where I’d remove my mana and do all my spells with health instead.
… And I just couldn’t go through with it. I’m just not ready. And it’s not clear to me, even after watching his video, why he gets rid of Mana in the first place in this build. I know he points out those three excellent health nodes behind that Blood Magic node, but that’s not reason enough.
When I got dual totems, I pretty much had to throw out all my existing equipment and spells and start over. It was very interesting. It really was like starting a new game. I had to find all new equipment in my stash that fit my needs better. I had to get used to playing completely differently.
I feel like Blood magic is going to do the same thing, and I’m just not ready yet. It’s so bizarre that in the video he makes a bee line for Blood magic, and THEN he starts getting all the nodes you’ll need for more health regeneration. And then goes for more Totem nodes. AND THEN he finally gets the health nodes behind Blood Magic, including the one that does “50% less mana reserved”. (And in this case, since the node is behind Blood Magic, “Mana” here means health).
I’m also not sure how certain things will work. Does any piece of equipment that says “mana regeneration” now work on health regeneration? Or is it useless now? I know any piece of equipment I’ve got that adds to Mana is now worthless. I’ll have to rejigger my whole wardrobe again. It will be tough this time to try to find other equipment that’s good and also has the number of nodes I need with all the right colors. I might have to finally let go of Fire Trap. I can see now why Fire Trap wasn’t a part of this build. It requires way too much Dexterity in the higher levels, so even though it is still effective, in order to keep leveling it I have to keep finding more and more equipment with bonus to dexterity, which is counterproductive to the way this build was designed (which is around strength and life).
Bateau
1853
Mana regen mods don’t apply to health, they’re wasted if you’re BM. And he grabs BM because of Infernal Mantle chest he uses - it makes you take increased spell damage when on low mana (which is always if you have an aura and herald activated).
There’s nothing wrong with waiting, if you’re not having any issues without using Blood Magic. You may find, as you get higher in level and start finding more gear, that you’re better able to focus entirely on life/armor in your gear selections. At that point Blood Magic will make a lot of sense, allowing you to get much higher defenses by replacing any mana-focused mods will life and armor. For now, maybe you can keep an eye out for gear that would go well with Blood Magic and stash it, and revisit the concept later.
Bateau
1855
Do any of you who play on Tempest got some leveling gear to give away? I plan to make a 1h+s block ice crash build and I’d need some low lvl twohanders or onehanders and shields.
There’s a bunch of random stuff in the guild stash, you’re welcome to any of it. Or just hit me up in game, I’ll likely be on Porcuswine (my Warbands counter duelist) but can switch to Tempest for a bit to hand over some stuff.
Bateau
1857
I’m not in QT3 guild so I’ll contact you directly once I get around to making the character :).
Since you’re playing a counter build (similar to what I’m gonna be doing) - could you post your tree? I was planning on going with Scion but I’m always open to other ideas.
I’m using this guide as a general outline (direct tree link). It seems pretty solid thus far, though L50.
Finished the game on Normal. I was finally able to get “Cast When Damage Taken”. Hooked it up to Enduring Cry in the last section of Act 4, and it never fired. It said it could only fire skills level 40 or lower, and Enduring Cry was level 40 required. Then CWDT leveled up, and now requires level 42, and can trigger skills at level 42 required or below, it says, but it still doesn’t trigger Enduring Cry. So I’m not sure what’s going on there.
Going through that last boss, I had my second death. It was in the first phase/location, where your potions don’t replenish because of lack of enemies. I guess I could see a hardcore Dual Flame Totem which surviving this battle without a death, but it will be very, very tough. The Dual Flame totems is all she can really do, so there is the bonus of being able to put all your attention on running around. But just the way the battles play out, it’s not always possible to avoid all incoming fire. And the Dual Totems take FOREVER to kill the boss in each phase, since he’s got elemental resistances. I think each phase took me over 10 minutes, if not more. That’s a lot of running around trying not to make any errors avoiding incoming fire.
Bateau
1860
You can’t use Cries with CWDT anymore :(.
