Flameblast Totem
Templar/Inquisitor 
Starter Build
Updated for Patch 3.2

The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo

Estimated budget: low

This is the budget and beginner's friendly version of our Flameblast Totem Life Build. This is one of the most efficient League starter builds considering very low cost and item requirements. The build can maintain high damage and mobility with no expensive gear requirements.

You can also find our other Path of Exile builds over here: Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List

1. Gameplay

Flameblast is a channelled spell that deals incredible damage at 10 stacks. Because player would be completely vulnerable when channelling the Flameblast (and unable to avoid attacks and spells) the build benefits greatly from the use of Spell Totem Support gem.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

You can easily level up your Templar using the Flame Totem Spell starting at level 4. You should prioritize getting the Ancestral Bond node, which will allow you to have 2 active Totems at a time and basically doubles your dps. At level 28 you should swap the Flame Totem setup with the Flameblast linked to Spell Totem. From now on you should mainly look for Life/res rares and cast speed items.

Suggested leveling gem setups:

Flame Totem setup (up till level 28)
	Flame Totem - great leveling Totem gem. Input it in a +1 socketed gem's level wand (Lifespring for example)
	Faster Casting Support - the most important support gem for Flame Totems
	Added Cold Damage Support - great damage boost to your Totem's projectiles
	Added Lightning Damage Support - same as above

Flameblast Totem setup (lvl.28+)
	Spell Totem Support - mandatory, unless you want to channel the spell yourself (not exactly our recommendation)
	Flameblast - your main dps spell starting from level 28. Don't bother much with quality early on, its' base damage will do the job nevertheless
	Faster Casting Support - mandatory support gem for this setup. Will allow Totems to charge Flameblast faster
	Increased Area of Effect Support - will boost the Flameblast's aoe radius

Bandits:

Kill all bandits for additional 2 passive points.

Leveling skill trees:

32 Points skill tree
Priorities: 1) Purity of Flesh 2) Ancestral Bond 3) Shamanistic Fury. Ancestral Bond is the top priority here, however in order to get there faster you would be saving up only 3 Passive points, missing a lot of Life/Spell damage bonuses along the way. It's just not worth it so we go through the Retribution/Purity of Flesh nodes

65 Points skill tree
After switching to Flameblast Totem it's advised to alter the previous Skill tree a little. You should get both the Amplify and Blast Radius nodes, and take the "upper" lane towards Ancestral Bond. Also you can either prioritize Totemic Mastery first or fill up some of the extra Life nodes first (depending on your current needs)

Recommended leveling items:

Stone of Lazhwar - inexpensive and easily accessible amulet option. Grants additional Mana and Cast speed, both extremely important for the leveling part of this build (Considering rather fine bonuses, and amazing Cast speed stat, you can consider wearing this amulet after switching to your final build, untill you can afford a better amulet)
+(20-30) to Intelligence 50% of Block Chance applied to Spells (10-15)% increased Cast Speed +(30-50) to maximum Mana

Lifesprig - great leveling wand. Grants the extremely powerful +1 socketed fire gems attribute and is accessible as early as level 1
(8-12)% increased Spell Damage +1 to Level of Socketed Spell Gems (20-28)% increased Spell Damage (5-8)% increased Cast Speed +(15-20) to maximum Life +(15-20) to maximum Mana Regenerate (6-8) Life over 1 second when you Cast a Spell

Abberath's Horn - another great spell-caster's leveling wand. We suggest dual wielding wands, with Lifesprig/Rare +1 wand with Flametotem socketed, and Abberath's Horn for the added Fire damage bonus
(10-14)% increased Spell Damage (20-30)% increased Fire Damage Adds (4-6) to (8-12) Fire Damage to Spells (40-60)% increased Global Critical Strike Chance +10 Life gained on Killing Ignited Enemies 25% reduced Ignite Duration on Enemies

Wanderlust - budget-friendly leveling boots. Also provides the extra Freeze immunity
+5 to Dexterity (20-40)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate +(10-20) to maximum Energy Shield 20% increased Movement Speed Cannot be Frozen

Emberwake - grants amazing dps boost to your Fire spells, as well as the increased Cast speed
+(20-30)% to Fire Resistance (30-40)% increased Fire Damage (5-10)% increased Cast Speed 10% chance to Ignite You can inflict an additional Ignite on an Enemy Ignited Enemies Burn 65% slower

4. Final Skill tree, Ascendancy Points and Pantheon

Final skill tree:
115 Points Final Skill tree
115 Points Path of Building link
Our suggested order would be 1) Arcane Potency 2) Annihilation 3) Consitution and surrounding Life nodes. Later on you can either take the path to the right (towards Coordination) or fill in the remaining Life/Mana/Jewel passives

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Righteous Providence
2. Inevitable Judgement
3. Instruments of Virtue
4. Augury of Penitence

Pantheon:

Major God : Soul of Brine King - You cannot be Stunned if you've been Stunned or Blocked a Stunning Hit in the past 2 seconds

Minor God : Soul of Ryslatha - Life Flasks gain 3 Charges every 3 seconds if you haven't used a Life Flask Recently

5. Final gems links

[DPS] Flameblast Totem setup (in Body Armour)
	Spell Totem Support - pretty much a self-explanatory pick for this build
	Flameblast - the core dps of this build. Will be cast/channelled by your Spell Totems
	Faster Casting Support - one of the most important support gems for this setups.
	Controlled Destruction Support - another great dps boost
	(bosses)Concentrated Effect Support - another good option for single-target fights
	(farming/leveling)Increased Area of Effect Support - this is a good pick for mapping/leveling
	(6L)Elemental Focus Support - another good dps boost, as long as you can afford the 6th Link

[MOBILITY] Shield Charge setup
	Shield Charge - your main mobility skill
	Faster Attacks Support - grants additional speed to your Shield Charge
	Fortify Support - grants a good damage reduction buff as long as you make melee hits with the Shield Charge attack

[AURAS] Purity of Elements and Haste
	Purity of Elements - there aren't many beneficial auras for this build, so we recommend using Purity of Elements which will let you save a couple of orbs on some gear pieces
	Haste - another decent aura for this build. Will improve your mobility and grant faster Flameblast channelling
	Summon Lightning Golem - will grant you similar effects to the Haste aura

[DEFENSIVE] CwDT Immortal Call setup
	Cast when Damage Taken Support - will automatically cast the Immortall Call spell, granting you brief immortality (keep it at level 1)
	Immortal Call - grants brief immortality. Do not upgrade the gem above level 3
	Increased Duration Support - increased the duration of Immortal Call spell
	(optional)Vaal Haste - if you can afford it, and have the 4th link it's not a bad idea to include it in this setup

[UTILITY] Orb of Storms Power Charge generation
	Orb of Storms - this spell has great crit mechanics that will generate a lot of cheap Power charges
	Power Charge on Critical Support
	(optional)Increased Critical Strikes Support - this will boost the entire setup, however it's not mandatory and can be skipped untill you progress further into the game
	(optional)Chain Support - same as above

[CURSE] Enfeeble + Arcane Surge 4L setup
	Enfeeble - our recommended curse. You have to cast it manually, but since its' casting speed is very high, it will be very easy to get the Arcane Surge buff from recasting the curse
	Arcane Surge Support - a buff that grants additional spell damage, cast speed and mana regeneration
	Faster Casting Support - one of the recommended options, so that you don't waste too much time on reapplying your curse to get the buff
	Increased Area of Effect Support - your curse will cover a wider area

5. Gear Setup

This Flameblast Totem build in total can be build on just a 35 Chaos Orbs budget. At this point we would love to invite you to visit our PoE Orbs Shop in case you are short on currency to get all the required items.

The recommended gear pieces will:

1. Cap your resistances
2. Grant sufficient Life pool for low tier mapping
3. Give you more than enough damage to enjoy the game
4. Save you at least a couple of hours, since everything is already planned out for you!

(Helmet) Rare Life/tri-res helmet - as most of the items for this build, we go for the highest Life/res combination available in your current budget

Min. requirements: 75 maximum Life 25% Fire Resistance 25% Cold Resistance 25% Lightning Resistance

(Body Armour) Rare Life/res armour with at least 4 linked sockets

Min. requirements: 85 maximum Life 35% Fire Resistance 35% Cold Resistance 35% Lightning Resistance

(Body Armour) Carcass Jack - this armour is rather cheap if you don't care for perfect rolled stats. Nevertheless it will grant amazing dps buff if you are lacking it for some reason. It might be hard to acquire early in the league though, and you might need to add some extra resistances on gloves/ring slots

3% reduced Movement Speed (Hidden) (120-150)% increased Evasion and Energy Shield +(50-70) to maximum Life +(9-12)% to all Elemental Resistances 20% increased Area of Effect of Area Skills (40-50)% increased Area Damage Extra gore

(Weapon Slot) Cast speed Sceptre - this is not the best option for the Flameblast Totem build in general, however any guide that suggests using Cast speed/Spell damage dagger in a budget-friendly/league-starter build is b****t. We can still manage to get a Sceptre with good stats for a couple chaos orbs. Prices of daggers with similar stats start at around 1 Exalted Orb

Min. requirements: 25% Fire Spell Damage 50% Increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells 15% Increased Cast Speed

(Shield) Cast speed/crit/life shield - with Cast speed and Life being the prioritized stats here. Getting one with high crit and spell damage might be extremely expensive, so just alter the filters to whatever is available at the moment

Min. requirements: 65 maximum Life 25% Fire Spell Damage 30% Increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells 10% Increased Cast Speed

(Belt) High Life/res belt - grab the highest Maximum Life one you can afford

Min. requirements: 95 maximum Life 25% Fire Resistance 25% Cold Resistance 25% Lightning Resistance

(Boots) Rare Life/res boots - once again. High (20%+) Movement speed bonus is also recommended

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 12% Fire Resistance 12% Cold Resistance 12% Lightning Resistance 20% increased Movement Speed

(Gloves) Rare Life gloves - possibly with additional mana/intelligence bonuses. If you are level 73 or higher you can also try to find a pair with additional spell damage (Silk gloves). Since we no longer need any additional resistances you should be easily able to afford those aswell

Min. requirements: 75 maximum Life 50 maximum Mana 35 Intelligence Optional affixes: increased Spell Damage

(Amulet) Rare Life/Cast speed amulet - just aim for the highest Life/Cast speed combination you can afford. We also add additonal stats including Maximum Mana/Intelligence (both so that you can keep both your auras up) as they shouldn't increase the price at all

Min. requirements: 65 maximum Life 45 maximum Mana 25 Intelligence 8% increased Cast Speed Optional affixes: increased Fire Spell Damage Attributes

(Rings) Rare Life/cast speed rings - same rules apply as with the amulet slot. Additional Mana or Attributes are the extra stats you should be looking for

Min. requirements: 55 maximum Life 8% increased Fire Damage 5% increased Cast Speed Optional affixes: maximum Mana Elemental Resistances Attributes

(Jewels) Rare Cobalt Jewels - preferably just cast speed. Since it's a starter build and you shouldn't go higher tier maps and areas, the damage should be sufficient, while the increased cast speed should be a cheapter and more usefull option

Recommended affixes: % increased maximum Life % increased Cast Speed % increased Cast Speed while holding a Shield Optional affixes: % increased Generic/Spell/Fire/Totem/Area Damage % increased Global Critical Strike Chance

(Flask) Rumi's Concotion - inexpensive flask that provides great defensive bonus

+3000 to Armour (14-20)% Chance to Block during Flask effect (6-10)% Chance to Block Spells during Flask effect

(Flask) Atziri's Promise - again, very useful flask that comes cheap

+35% to Chaos Resistance 2% of Chaos Damage Leeched as Life during Flask effect Gain (15-20)% of Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage during effect Gain (10-15)% of Elemental Damage as Extra Chaos Damage during effect

Other suggested Flasks: Cautious Divine Life Flask of Heat (immunity to freeze and chill effects) Cautious Divine Life Flask of Staunching (immunity to bleeding) Cautious Divine Life Flask of Warding (immunity to curses)

We are looking forward to your feedback and suggestions for our next build. 

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Grinding Gear Games.