I dont play much but why thorn totem can have 9 totems and storm totem only 1? And so weak? Even now that we can use stormbolt instead of regular damage, it is still bad. I really would love to play a Shaman storm totem build just like Grim Dawn. Hella fun and strong.
2 Likes
Storm totem never had a good time. (At least since I play this game for 2 year.)
Btw, SHAMAN never gets you price. I refuse to transform into something else to get a playable totens. Only because transformed in something else thorn totens been so much powerful.
In theory, storm totem should have so much damage than other totens. That why when can only have one. But, in particle that not what happens.
Normally when you insist Iām storm totem, you made the classical build taking all the damage nodes and critical. But even you put all you points in damage storm totens donāt be effective after 100 corruption.
I donāt played this league with totens and I donāt know how it is now.
Btw 2: shaman should have revised urgently, you donāt have a single survivability node on him. You have to take nodes from other classes.
Try to combine Storm Totem with Coral Aegis shield (because of Fulgurite Core node on Storm Totem), also you need Ferebor set. You could check this build for the idea https://www.lastepochtools.com/planner/BZk177jo
1 Like
I loved Storm Totem as a auxiliary skill in my āPBAoEā Shaman build with the old Tempest Strike
Currently storm totem is acutally one of the more busted builds.
Convert the totem to use storm bolts, and the storm bolts get to double dip on the storm totem tree, and the Gather storm tree. I was able to clear abberoth with it just fine. Does over 1m per hit on the dummy with room to get tons more damage if I minmaxed the character.
Sorry for the lack of confidence but i never saw a single video of Storm Totem with that damage. I will only i believe this with video of a online character.
Do you have a build link please?
The clear isnt fantastic, but its not too bad either. but it shreds bosses. (I have tried normal storm totem vs the storm bolt one on clear and it feels about the same or worse to me, guess there is no solving clear speed on single minion builds lol)
https://www.lastepochtools.com/planner/BZkMl0Xo This is my character, there is a few tweaks id make if I had perfect gear, but this is the core. Easy crit with ferebors set and easy flat damage with coral aegis. I am extremely overkilled on minion life, I didnt wanna hit it on my coral aegis lol.
The way you play is plop down 5 thorn totems, cast storm totem. if boss or tough enemy place dont a few upheaval totems inside/ontop of your storm totem. They massively ramp the damage. We spec gathering storm for storm bolt damage, and can have unspecced leap on bar, and we use warcry for some healing/haste/iframes/pull. I think there is an angle to use it for crit and drop more crit on gear, but I liked to be able to save mine for iframing boss mechanics.
The relic is the āoffensiveā choice, I really wanted vessel of strife, but being CoF, I burned 30 keys, died 3 of the 30, didnt get it on the other 27, and lost like 15 keys to the stupid dungeon issues that are on going, so I shelved the character before I managed to get it. But it would in theory massively improve ehp.
3 Likes
iāll try to reproduce that. But i still dont like to have to put 5 totems to cast 1 totem then 3+ totems to buff storm totem lol. But at least looks like it has some damage.
For clear you dont even need to place the upheavals. Hell if you are really lazy and in 200c~ you can just plop down the storm totem and keep going.
The reason storm totem is so strong though is because it gets all the multipliers from extra thorn totems and upheaval buffs. you could probably play a just āplop down totemsā build, but it would cap out really early from lack of multiplier stacking.
The new patch fixed the tempest weapon node. I just tested with my own shaman build. The dps of storm totem with lightning bolts is pretty decent right now with warcry totem, thorn totems and upheaval totems. Currently my build uses these four totems and the AOE is quite promissing. I think you just need to find a way to survive through high corruption monolith.
I know this is an old post but the current version of game is not much different with half years ago that you were playing.
No. Storm Totem is not weak, in fact it is OP now. I agree the base Storm Totem is actually more like a support skill since its damage is quite underwhelming.
But if you play around āUnmatched Stormā node to cast Storm Bolt which can be modified and buff by Gathering Storm skill tree, āThunder Totemā node to consume other totems to get more damage multiplier and Upheaval Totem āMaster of the Totemā node to buff totem damage even more, the output damage is ridiculous. It is really powerful with just a few clicks. You can running around to pick up loot when your Storm Totem kill everything for you which is quite funny.
1 Like
Yeah, itās very over tuned when combining other skills/nodes. Even with just āUnmatched Stormā it clears monoās very efficiently. Iām at 1.3k corruption (still pushing) and for general trash I just drop a standard storm totem. If there are big packs or magic/rares around, I will throw in some upheaval totems OR just thorn > storm (Thunder Totem). And for bosses/harbingers/nemesis/exiled mages, Iāll thorn > storm > 3x upheaval. But even at this corruption itās just not efficient to thorn > storm > upheaval for every pack as itās not needed. Iām sure at higher corruption it will be required but Iām surprised just how much damage itās doing at 1.3k C even without optimised gear.
1.3K Corruption? Thatās crazy.
I mean I donāt play much since 1.0. I just created a new Shaman few days ago. I literally level my character from level 1 to level 50+ and finished the campaign with just roughly 5 hours (I donāt remember the exact time). I never level a character this fast and efficient with just minimum gear. My Storm Totem even killed campaign Lagon during phase 1 with just like 10 seconds and trigger a bug, causing my character cannot progress further (I reported the bug, in short the character stuck at phase 2 Arena even Lagon is killed).
But who cares it is OP. Look at those stupid Frost Claw Mage or 2 Buttons Falconer or insanely tank Warlock, Shaman is not a class you want to nerf. You know I have hundreds of hours on Shaman and it always felt underwhelming / average in terms of damage output. Finally there is an OP Shaman skill that actually match the power scaling of newly introduced classes.
I have similar setup as yours. I spec into Storm Totem, Gathering Storm, Thorn Totem, Upheaval and Eterra Blesssing. I play Cold variant using cold conversion node in Gathering Storm because it is visually cool and I did invest 1 point into Storm Totem āBlizzardsā node as well. With āTempest Weaponā in Gathering Storm tree and passive like āElder Branchā and āGift of the Skiesā, I simply use a Two Handed Axe with +Melee Cold Damage and +Minion Spell Damage, Storm Bolt cast by Storm Totem just destroy everything.
My skill combo / cycle: 5 Thorn Totem ā Storm Totem that consume Thorn Totem ā Eterra Blessing buff for more cast speed and heal ā 3 Upheaval Totem buff
Not only the damage output is crazy, my character is very safe from a distance as well. When I take damage I simply use Eterra Blessing to cleanse ailment and heal myself. Currently I am just level 60 since I donāt play often. But I can already tell this character can push very far if I continue to optimize my gear and improve the build properly.
Yeah, I think Shaman went a bit under the radar this season. Frostquake is a strong build as well that can push high corruption, but I donāt like how clunky it feels. Storm Totem build damage is right up there (S-Tier) but it does require more defensive investment than other OP builds you mentioned. At least at high corruptionā¦ Iāve tried to find a good balance between offense/defence because I donāt like constant random 1 shots, but some are doing ZHP builds and still pushing high. Iām almost lvl 100 and still have plenty of room for improvement in my gear, but with very optimised gear I donāt see why it couldnāt hit 2k+. Shade of Orobyss is no issue yet. I just swap a few bits of gear for more damage, and he melts in a few seconds.
Yeah Storm Totem is definitely S tier now. Investment on defense is fine because the damage output is crazy strong. Just need more farming to optimize the build.
I mean 1000+ corruption is already very high. What is the point to push for 2000+ corruption to be honest lol. This game has balancing issues, a lot of builds canāt even push 500+ corruption let alone 2000+. The game is not designed and balanced around crazy high corruption number like 2000+.
Like I normally get bored after going 300+, how can you push over 1000+ and still aim for 2000+ lol. Honestly you can spend time on other builds or other games. This game is good but doesnāt worth to spend a lot of time to push over 1000+ corruption imo.
I donāt think Iāll be pushing that far haha Iām losing motivation. People are motivated by different things, some like pushing corruption, some like arena.
My first few builds my motivation was to get to and kill Aberoth, then got bored. Then I wanted to level something to 100. Then on this character Iāve decided to push corruption just to see what the difficulty is like. Next thing for me will probably be HC.
Hi, looking at your planner link, and assuming the maelstrom is in fact Gathering Storm on the main page, how do you manage to plant the thorn totems if itās not on your bar?
Put it instead of Storm Totem, you get that one from the relic.
Alternative is to use Idols to proc it, but his planner seems to have none of those
aah. does seem a bit random, but if the thorn and upheaval are working for echoes generally maybe itās ok. Iāve gone for vessel of strife and tempest strike for gladiator anyway, but perhaps when iām at higher corruption iāll feel the pinch.
Donāt feel Iām getting enough out of my stormcrows at the mo, but the build isnāt close to final so iāll keep on my path for now.