Ancestral Protector Poison
Pathfinder Build

Created for Patch 3.20

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Patch 3.20 introduced 2 new very interesting Unique Items to the game. The first of them, called Wilma's Requital, is a quite niche Helmet very clearly dedicated for a Totem playstyle, as it grants Ancestral Bond Keystone. With that, you can't deal Damage directly by yourself, but you can Summon 1 additional Totem. It's a very powerful Keystone for nearly every Totem Build, but that's not all. What makes this Helmet truly Unique is the second modifier it grants: Cast Speed bonuses are applied to your Attacks as well. This makes it a very lucrative Helmet for an Attack Totem Character, which admittedly is not that popular lately. 
To make the most out of it you should seek sources of both Attack and Cast Speed at once, however, due to technicalities, it will work only if it comes in the form of 2 separate bonuses. The best example of that is the Onslaught Buff, which grants a 20% Attack Speed bonus and a 20% Cast Speed bonus. With Wilma's Helmet equipped, it essentially grants a 40% Attack Speed increase! 

Ancestral Protector is a quite popular Melee Totem, but usually, it's used only for the Buff it grants. When active, it grants up to 20% more Attack Speed. As you can guess, it makes a perfect combination with the aforementioned Helmet.

Since it's a Melee Totem, it needs a Melee Weapon. In this case, we decided to use another new Item, Echoforge Sword. It's the third piece of the Unique Sword series, but also much more niche than Starforge or Voidforge. It has a tremendously high amount of Chaos Damage but disables Physical and Elemental Damage completely which strictly narrows the Build possibilities - with its low base Critical Strike Chance it's best to use it for Poison Builds.  

As a Pathfinder, your Flasks are much more effective, and you can easily sustain them at all times. You will also deal more Damage with Chaos-based Attacks and occasionally inflict greatly improved Poisons. 

The Build is very tanky and mobile - you will have high amounts of Armour and Evasion, and a decent amount of maximum Life. Totem playstyle is also very safe by default - after Summoning them you are free to dodge and outmaneuver your enemies to your heart's content! 

It is a quite cheap setup to start and has a lot of room for improvement. Most of the Uniques used here are highly recommended, but not required. 

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

1. Gameplay

For the most part, Summoning your Totems is all you have to worry about. Use your very fast Leap Slam to quickly move through the Map or to dodge incoming Attacks. To apply Wither, you will need to either manually cast it, or use Balance of Terror to include it in your Despair Curse setup. 

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

The final version for this Build is not well-suited for leveling. You will need your end-game Items before you can fully transition into full-fledged Totem Build. The same goes for Poisons - without a 100% chance to apply it with each Hit, it's quite slow for leveling. We recommend going the Toxic Rain route and respec your Passives once you reach Act 8 or better yet - Maps. This will save you a lot of early-game troubles and allow you to enjoy your Build faster. You can check out our Guide for Ranger with DoT Bows to see more tips!

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Toxic Rain setup
	Toxic Rain - toxic arrows fall on your enemies, creating pods when they land, dealing moderate amounts of Chaos Damage over Time. Pods can overlap causing massive Damage once ramped up.
	Mirage Archer Support - hitting an enemy creates a Mirage Archer that copies your Skills with a slight Damage penalty.
	Efficacy Support - improves the Damage and the Duration of your DoT Skills.
	Void Manipulation Support - boosts your Chaos Damage but lowers the (non-existential in this case) Elemental Damage.
	Vicious Projectiles Support - lowers your Attack Speed slightly but massively improves your Damage in return.
	Faster Attacks Support - improves your Attack Speed which leads to smoother gameplay and slightly better DPS output.

Aura setup
	Grace - grants a big amount of flat Evasion Rating, which will allow you to Evade most of the Attacks during the Campaign.
	Clarity - grants a lot of Mana Regeneration so you don't need to use a Mana Flask.

Utility setup
	Flame Dash - a Blink Skill that teleports you at a moderate distance and leaves a fiery path behind you.
	Despair - lowers the Chaos Resistances of cursed Foes.
	Steelskin - grants a temporary Buff that absorbs some of the incoming Damage and disables Bleeds on you.

Bandits:

Kill all Bandits to get additional 2 Passive Tree Skill Points
If you use Toxic Rain for your leveling, you can take some closeby Notables that will vastly improve your leveling experience. 

Leveling Skill Trees:

35 Points Passive Tree
We recommend this order:
1) Intuition 2) Herbalism 3) Inveterate 4) Thick Skin 
Additional Passives just for leveling:
1) Aspect of the Eagle 2) Far Sight 3) Graceful Assault 

65 Points Passive Tree
Allocate:
1) Revenge of the Hunted 2) Charisma 3) Wasting 4) Blood Siphon 5) Blood Drinker  
Additional Passives just for leveling:
1) Hunter's Gambit 2) Entropy 3) Fangs of the Viper 

Recommended leveling items:

Le Heup of All - a very useful Ring that improves your overall Damage and grants lacking Attributes or Resistances.

Adds 1 to 4 Physical Damage to Attacks +(10-30) to all Attributes (10-30)% increased Damage (10-30)% increased Rarity of Items found +(10-30)% to all Elemental Resistances

Goldrim - with this Helmet you won't need to worry about your Resistances too much.

+(30-50) to Evasion Rating 10% increased Rarity of Items found +(30-40)% to all Elemental Resistances Reflects 4 Physical Damage to Melee Attackers Level Requirement reduced by 100 (Hidden)

Tabula Rasa - greatly improves your leveling experience by improving your Damage via the 6-link setup. You can get a Corrupted one with Implicit to boost your Gem levels.

Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden) Item has 6 White Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden)

Silverbranch - a very good early-game Bow, it drastically helps with your Mana sustain and can boost your Damage if you don't use Tabula Rasa yet.

+1 to Level of Socketed Bow Gems (80-100)% increased Physical Damage 10% increased Attack Speed Gain 10 Mana per Enemy Killed +30 to Accuracy Rating

Praxis - thanks to this Ring you won't have problems with your Mana anymore.

+(20-30) to maximum Mana +(30-60) to maximum Mana Regenerate (3-6) Mana per second -(8-4) to Total Mana Cost of Skills 8% of Damage taken Recouped as Mana

Perandus Blazon - another great piece to help with your Attribute Requirements. It also makes your Flasks last longer.

(15-25)% increased Stun and Block Recovery +(20-30) to all Attributes (6-8)% increased Quantity of Items found +20% to Fire Resistance 20% increased Flask Effect Duration -2 Physical Damage taken from Attack Hits

Karui Ward - improves your Damage with Projectiels, but most importantly, it grants you a Movement Speed bonus.

+(20-30) to Dexterity +(20-30) to Strength +100 to Accuracy Rating 30% increased Projectile Speed 10% increased Movement Speed 30% increased Projectile Damage

Wanderlust - those give a solid amount of Movement Speed and make you safe from Freezes.

+5 to Dexterity +(10-20) to maximum Energy Shield (20-40)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate 20% increased Movement Speed Cannot be Frozen

Seven-League Step - if you don't care about anything else, you can equip this pair of Boots to move very fast.

50% increased Movement Speed Level Requirement reduced by 100 (Hidden)

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

105 Points Final Passive Tree 
120 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in this order:

1. Nature's Adrenaline
2. Nature's Boon
3. Nature's Reprisal
4. Master Toxicist

Pantheon:

Major God: Brine King: You cannot be Stunned if you've been Stunned in the past 2 seconds, Cannot be Frozen, 50% reduced Effect of Chill on you

Minor God: Soul of Shakari:  50% less Duration of Poisons on You; You cannot be Poisoned while there are at least 3 Poisons on you

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Ancestral Protector setup
	Ancestral Protector - summons a Totem which uses your Weapon to Attack nearby enemies. It also grants a massive bonus to your Attack Speed while it is active.
	Multiple Totems Support - increases your limit of Summoned Totems by 2, but reduces their individual Damage. Overall Clear Speed and Damage output are much better.
	Multistrike Support - repeats attacks, making them hit harder with each repeat.
	Unbound Ailments Support - increases the Duration and Damage of your Ailments.
	Deadly Ailments Support  - lowers the initial Hit Damage but significantly improves the DoT portion.
	Void Manipulation Support - massively improves your Chaos Damage at the cost of your Elemental Damage.

[UTILITY] Auras
	Determination - improves your Armour Rating while also providing a lot of flat amount of that stat.
	Grace - similarly to the previous Aura, this one grants a bit more Evasion Rating but improves it at a lower rate.
	Herald of Agony - grants a lot of chance to Poison with your Attacks while also boosting its Damage. Use the Divergent Quality version to get even more Poison Chance.
	Vitality - gives you a lot of Life Regeneration which is your main way of Life Recovery. Adjust its Gem Level to your Unreserved Mana.
	Enlighten Support - reduces the Mana Reservation required for each Aura.

[UTILITY] Aura reserving Life
	Precision - this Aura gives you a lot of Accuracy Rating. Try to keep it at a low level to reduce the Reservation, while also achieving a 100% chance to Hit.
	Arrogance Support  - Reserves your Life instead of Mana. Since it's a flat cost, it will reserve only a small percentage of your total Life.

[UTILITY] Divine Blessing setup
	Malevolence -  significantly improves your Damage over Time.
	Divine Blessing Support - instead of permanently Reserving your Mana, you can cast this Aura as a temporary Buff with the upfront cost paid by your Energy Shield.

[UTILITY] Vaal Aura setup
	Vaal Haste -  you will gain doubled benefits thanks to your Helmet. Unfortunately, the base version is still too weak to justify its usage.

[UTILITY] Curse setup
	Temporal Chains - slow your enemies and prolongs the duration of Poison on them. Ideally, it should be applied via Curse on Hit on your Gloves.
	Despair  - lowers the Chaos Resistances of your foes, thus improving your Damage. Use the Anomalous Quality to improve your Damage even more.
	Enhance - improves the Quality of supported Gems.

[UTILITY] Wither setup
	Wither - applies a very potent Debuff on your enemies that increases the Chaos Damage they take. Use the Divergent Quality to apply more stacks when self-casting.
	Infused Channeling Support - channeling Wither will also boost all Chaos Damage you deal for a few Seconds.

[UTILITY] Leap Slam setup
	Leap Slam - a jump to the targeted location. Scales very well with your insane Attack Speed.
	Faster Attacks Support - speeds up usage of your Leap Slam.
	Faster Casting Support - if you have a socket to spare, you can boost its Attack Speed even more thanks to the Wilma's Requital.

[UTILITY] Molten Shell
	Molten Shell - this Buff grants a protective barrier that absorbs part of the incoming Damage based on your Armour Rating.

6. Gear Setup

You have a lot of options to choose from. There are a few Uniques that are simply hard to pass, but most of them are fully optional. Unique Jewels are especially important to cap your Spell Suppression - it's quite hard to do so otherwise. A Quartz Flask paired with Spell suppression on your Rare Gloves and Boots can be used as a substitute for Forbidden Jewel Combo, but it makes capping your Resistances significantly more problematic. Balance of Terror makes your Witer application almost automatic, but it's not required, as you also gain Infusion Buff by doing it manually. The Build greatly benefits from additional Levels, as it will give you access to more Points to spend on Cluster Jewels which are very effective at pure Damage Increase. On your Rare Gear, you mostly want to focus on defensive aspects, such as maximum Life, Resistances, or Life Regeneration, but some Damage can be found there as well. Melee Splash obtained via Amulet's Anoint paired with 4 Totems is more than enough for general clearing, but you can always try to get additional Strikes with your Passive Tree or Gloves if you find it lacking. As a Pathfinder, it's quite important to get well-rolled Flasks to get the full benefit from your Ascendency. 

(Helmet) Wilma's Requital - a very important Item that grants you Ancestral Bond Keystone which translates into one additional Totem. It also grants a lot of Accuracy Rating and Attack Speed bonuses.

+(300-500) to Accuracy Rating (200-250)% increased Energy Shield Increases and Reductions to Cast Speed apply to Attack Speed (20-30)% increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills Ancestral Bond

Helmet enchantments: Ancestral Protector Totem grants 18% increased Attack Speed while Active

(Weapon) Echoforge - the best Weapon for this Build. It has insanely high Chaos DPS and enables your Chaos Damage to inflict Shock. It also has a very high variance of modifiers, but as a rather niche Item, it's quite easy to get the well-rolled one.

Adds (600-650) to (750-800) Chaos Damage (-16-16)% increased Attack Speed +(-200-200) to maximum Life Your Chaos Damage can Shock (-40-40)% increased Area of Effect for Attacks Deal no Physical or Elemental Damage

(Weapon) Rare Weapon - since Echoforge is available only through the Maven encounter, it can be hard to obtain at the start of the new League. In the meantime, you can use any 2-handed Weapon with the highest Physical or Chaos DPS you can find.

Min. requirements: 500+ Total Physical and Chaos DPS Optional affixes: increased Damage with Poison Damage over Time Multiplier for Poison inflicted with this Weapon Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier

(Body Armour) The Covenant - adds a very powerful 7th Link for your Main Setup, but also causes your Mana Costs to be paid with your Life as well. Grants a lot of Energy Shield, which is quite important for the Eldritch Battery setup.

Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 29 Added Chaos Damage Skills gain a Base Life Cost equal to 100% of Base Mana Cost +(20-30) to Intelligence (210-250)% increased Energy Shield 10% increased maximum Life

(Body Armour) Dendrobate - you can also use this Armour at first, it grants much less Damage but it's easily accessible. You will need to fulfill the Attribute Requirements to make it worthwhile.

Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 10 Chance to Poison (130-150)% increased Evasion and Energy Shield +40 to maximum Energy Shield +(15-25)% to all Elemental Resistances (75-100)% increased Damage with Poison if you have at least 300 Dexterity (15-25)% increased Poison Duration if you have at least 150 Intelligence

(Boots) Dawnstrider - grants a lot of maximum Life and Movement Speed, while also doubling the base Effect of your Ancestor Protector.

+(80-100) to maximum Life 30% increased Movement Speed 100% increased Effect of Buffs your Ancestor Totems grant while Active Buffs from Active Ancestor Totems Linger for 4 seconds Maximum 1 Buff from an Active Ancestor Totem at a time

(Boots) Rare Boots - if you prefer a more defensive option, use Rare Boots with lots of maximum Life, Spell Suppression Chance, and Resists. Movement Speed is optional since you will be using mostly your Leap Slam to move around.

Min. requirements: +70 to maximum Life +60% to Elemental Resistances 5% increased Action Speed (Searing Exarch Implicit) Optional affixes: Attributes Spell Suppression Chance Life Regeneration Poisons you inflict deal Damage faster Totem Placement Speed

(Gloves) Asenath's Gentle Touch - those are a great starting point as they grant you Temporal Chains Curse on Hit and a bit of maximum Life paired with Intelligence. The explosion Damage is disabled by the Ancestral Bond Keystone. You can get Corrupted Implicits for both Attack and Cast Speed here.

+(20-30) to Intelligence +(60-80) to maximum Life +(60-80) to maximum Mana Curse Enemies with Temporal Chains on Hit Non-Aura Curses you inflict are not removed from Dying Enemies Enemies near corpses affected by your Curses are Blinded Enemies Killed near corpses affected by your Curses explode, dealing 3% of their Life as Physical Damage

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - more advanced, but with better benefits. You can get Temporal Chains on Hit Corrupted Implicits with many useful modifiers such as Maximum Life, Spell Suppression Chance, additional Strike, or Resists here.

Min. requirements: +70 to maximum Life +50% to Elemental Resistances Curse Enemies with Temporal Chains on Hit (Corrupted Implicit) Optional affixes: Attack or Cast Speed  Strike Skills target additional nearby Enemy Spell Suppression Chance Attributes

(Belt) Rare Belt - you should aim for tons of maximum Life and Resistances here, especially on the Stygian Vise base. You can also get some Damage or Flask modifiers if Resistances are not a problem.

Min. requirements: +100 to Maximum Life +80% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: % Increased Maximum Life Attributes Chaos Damage

(Jewel) Rare Abyss Jewel - it's best to get a lot of Life and Elemental Resistances there. Damage options are pretty limited.

Min. requirements: +30 to maximum Life Optional affixes: Attributes Resistances increased Damage over Time while wielding a Two-Handed Weapon

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - you can get a lot of DoT Multiplier on your Amulet. It should be paired with usual modifiers such as maximum Life or Resistances.

Min. requirements: +50% to Elemental Resistances +60 to Maximum Life Optional affixes: Attributes Damage over Time Multiplier Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier

Recommended Anointments: Tribal Fury

(Amulet) Ashes of the Stars - additional Level and Quality on all your Skills provide a lot of Damage, while increased Reservation Efficiency of Skills is always useful.  Due to its price tag, use it only if you already have access to that Item.

+(10-16) to all Attributes (5-10)% increased Experience Gain of Gems (10-20)% increased Reservation Efficiency of Skills +1 to Level of all Skill Gems +(20-30)% to Quality of all Skill Gems

(Ring) Circle of Nostalgia - grants a lot of Damage and Poison Chance when you use Herald of Agony. Use the Noxious Catalyst to boost the Damage bonus.

+(10-20) to all Attributes Adds (15-20) to (21-30) Chaos Damage +(17-23)% to Chaos Resistance Herald of Agony has (40-60)% increased Buff Effect (40-60)% increased Chaos Damage while affected by Herald of Agony

(Ring) Rare Ring - use a Rare Ring to cap your Resistances and get some maximum Life. You can use the Veiled mod to generate Frenzy Charges during map clear and have at least one Charge during Boss encounters.

Min. requirements: +80% to Elemental Resistances +60 to Maximum Life Optional affixes: Attributes +1 to Minimum Frenzy Charges chance to gain a Frenzy Charge on Kill

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - all your Rare Jewels should boost your maximum Life. Other than that, you can look for Resistances, Poison Damage and Duration, or DoT Multipliers. You can also get a lot of Attack and Cast Speed or Mana Reservation Efficiency here.

Recommended affixes: increased maximum Life Mana Reservation Efficiency Attack/Cast Speed Resistances Poison Damage/Duration

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - this combination of Notables grants you a large amount of Chaos Damage as well as some Attack speed. Try to get the version with only 8 additional Passives to avoid wasting Points on traveling nodes.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Unholy Grace 1 Added Passive Skill is Unwaveringly Evil 1 Added Passive Skill is Wicked Pall

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewels - one of them should be used to get nearly permanent Onslaught and improved effect of your Ancestral Protectors.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Ancestral Guidance 1 Added Passive Skill is Sleepless Sentries

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewels - the second one has more freedom of mods to pick, but we recommend getting Circling Oblivion and Flow of Life as it's the best mix of offense and defense.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Circling Oblivion 1 Added Passive Skill is Flow of Life

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - DoT Multiplier from Malevolence or Spell Suppression Chance with Grace are the best modifiers to get here. You can also get some minor bonuses from other Auras.

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers> Recommended Aura mods: +(18-22)% to Damage over Time Multiplier while affected by Malevolence +(12-15)% chance to Suppress Spell Damage while affected by Grace

(Jewel) The Green Nightmare - The Green Nightmare can be a great addition to this build. When socketed near Cloth and Chain, it will give you extra Spell Suppression and Chance to gain Frenzy Charges "on kill". While it normally shouldn't work with Totem kills, for some reason it does with Poison applied by your Totems

Gain 5% of Cold Damage as Extra Chaos Damage Passives granting Cold Resistance or all Elemental Resistances in Radius also grant Chance to Suppress Spell Damage at 50% of its value Passives granting Cold Resistance or all Elemental Resistances in Radius also grant an equal chance to gain a Frenzy Charge on Kill

(Jewel) Balance of Terror - thanks to this Jewel your Totems will instantly apply the maximum amount of Wither's stacks for 10 seconds after casting Despair Curse

+(10-15)% to all Elemental Resistances Inflict Withered for 2 seconds on Hit if you've cast Despair in the past 10 seconds

(Jewel) Forbidden Flame&Flesh - Quartz Infusion granted by this combo will greatly help with your Spell Suppression. Other combinations are not really worth it over regular Rare Jewels.

Allocates <Random Ascendancy Notable> if you have the matching modifiers on Forbidden Flesh/Flame

Suggested Flasks: Life Flask  with Bleeding Removal Quicksilver Flask with Attack Speed bonus Granite Flask with increased Armour Rating Jade Flask with increased Evasion Rating Sulphur Flask with Cast Speed bonus

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.

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