Shockwave Totem
Chieftan Starter build

Updated for Patch 3.8

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Estimated budget: low

Totems offer very defensive and solid play style. They are one of the best Spell-types for beginners or for a new League's Starter build. We have decided to pick Chieftain for this build since it offers decent damage thanks to Fire Damage Conversion and insane defenses. With just random Rares, and several inexpensive Uniques, we have managed to reach over 6,000 Life, 30,000 Armour Rating, and over 1,000 Life Regenerated per second. This allows our Shockwave Chieftain to deal with any encounter in the game, though you should be aware that with low-budget equipment, your single-target DPS will make Shaper and Elder fights quite long. This still remains one of our top recommendations for the Blight League and Patch 3.8 for beginners.

You can also check our other Path of Exile builds right over here Best PoE Builds by Odealo

1. Gameplay

This build, like most of the Totem builds, offers defensive playstyle. You have to place your Totems, stay back a little, and use Flame Thrower Trap and Scorching Ray to apply your Curse and debuff enemies. This build is extremely easy to master, and thanks to Chieftains durability you should feel nearly immortal most of the time. You will be able to create up to four Shockwave Totems thanks to Multiple Totems Support Gem and Ancestral Bond Passive. You also get to use Flame Dash for some extra mobility, and to grant you the Arcane Surge buff for increased Spell Damage, Cast Speed, and Mana Regeneration Rate. This build may feel slow to level up and farm Maps, but it deals with Blight encounters really well. 

0:06 Tier 15 Coves 0:30 Tier 15 Siege 1:12 Tier 16 Forge of the Phoenix 1:42 Tier 16 Tower This video was recorded on a level 90 Chieftain on Standard Softcore using Rare Sceptre, Formless Inferno, and Trolltimber Spire

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

You should start off by using Holy Flame Totems. They have the same type of damage as Shockwave Totems, which lets you use the exact same Support Gems. You should prioritize getting Ancestral Bond first, which will basically double your DPS. You can additionally use Searing Bond Totem, since it increases the number of your maximum allowed Totems by 1, allowing you to have a third Totem(as long as one of them is the Searing Bond one). 

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Holy Flame Totem setup
	Holy Flame Totem - Holy Flame Totems fire projectiles which deal base Physical Damage that gets partly Converted to Fire
	Infused Channeling Support - since Totems are channeling the Flames, this is the best Damage support for them
	Added Fire Damage Support - adds additional Fire Damage based on Physical Damage deal by Supported Skills

Holy Flame Totem setup
	Holy Flame Totem - Holy Flame Totems fire projectiles which deal base Physical Damage that gets partly Converted to Fire
	Infused Channeling Support - since Totems are channeling the Flames, this is the best Damage support for them
	Added Fire Damage Support - adds additional Fire Damage based on Physical Damage deal by Supported Skills

Searing Bond setup
	Searing Bond - a Totem Spell which links yourself, and all your Totems with a fiery beam that deals high Fire Damage over Time. You should only use one Searing Bond Totem
	Burning Damage Support - increases the Damage of Searing Bond
	Controlled Destruction Support - greatly increases Spell Damage at the cost of reduced Crit. Chance (and Searing Bond can't Crit. anyway)

Utility Gems
	Flammability - a great Curse for most of the Fire-based builds. It reduces  Fire Resistance of Cursed enemies
	Herald of Ash - grants more Fire and Burning Damage. If you kill the enemy, it will also cause nearby enemies to Burn for part of the Overkill Damage
	Flame Dash - the recommended Mobility Spell used in this build
	Portal - lets you portal to Town without the necessity to use a Scroll

Bandits:

We recommend killing all the Bandits for two additional Passive Points

Leveling Skill Trees:

30 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Warrior's Blood 2) Primal Manifestation 3) Devotion

60 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Divine Fury/Divine Wrath/Divine Judgement 2) Discipline and Training 3) Light of Divinity 4) Constitution 5) Avatar of Fire (assuming you already have Ngamahu, Flame's Advance Passive)

Recommended leveling items:

Le Heup of All - this Rings provide everything you need during the leveling. You should use at least one to give you the required Attributes for Intelligence-based Gems
(10-30)% increased Damage +(10-30) to all Attributes (10-30)% increased Rarity of Items found +(10-30)% to all Elemental Resistances

Goldrim - one of the best leveling helmets in Path of Exile, will fix your Elemental Resistances for the entire Campaign
+(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)

Trolltimber Spire - very powerful Shield, which also happens to be one of the recommended end-game Items. It grants a high Life bonus, and Damage dealt by your Totems is Leeched to you as Life
+(20-30) to maximum Life (130-150)% increased Armour +(40-60) to maximum Life You and your Totems Regenerate 0.5% of Life per second for each Summoned Totem 15% increased Area of Effect for Skills used by Totems 0.5% of Damage dealt by your Totems is Leeched to you as Life

Axiom Perpetuum - one of the best leveling Weapons for this build. It grants insane damage bonuses
(4-6)% increased Cast Speed (100-140)% increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells Adds (2-3) to (5-6) Fire Damage to Spells Adds (2-3) to (5-6) Cold Damage to Spells Adds 1 to (10-12) Lightning Damage to Spells

4. Final Skill tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

116 Points Final Skill Tree
116 Points Path of Building(PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Ngamahu, Flame's Advance
2. Ramako, Sun's Light
3. Arohongui, Moon's Presence
4. Hinekora, Death's Fury

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Lunaris 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%; 1% increased Movement Speed for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%

Minor God: Soul of Gruthkul 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each Hit you've taken Recently up to a maximum of 5%

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Shockwave Totem
	Shockwave Totem - a Totem Spell which deals high Physical Damage in the area around it, which is fully Converted to Fire Damage in this build
	Multiple Totems Support - allows you to summon an additional Totem with the Supported Spells, and makes it create two Totems instead of one with each cast
	Fire Penetration Support - Supported Skills ignore some of the targets Fire Resistance, increasing your DPS
	Controlled Destruction Support - in exchange for a bit of Critical Strike Chance it will increase Spell Damage by a lot
	Elemental Focus Support - a great boost to Elemental Damage. However, it makes your Supported Spells unable to inflict Elemental Ailments
	Added Fire Damage Support - adds additional Fire Damage based the Supported Skill's Physical Damage

[UTILITY] Flamethrower Trap setup
	Flamethrower Trap - used to apply your Curse and to debuff enemies with Combustion. We can't deal any damage ourselves, so the only way to do it is through Traps or Mines
	Combustion Support - when you Ignite enemy with your Flamethrower Trap, it will have reduced Fire Resistance
	Curse on Hit Support - makes Flamethrower Trap apply your Supported Curse
	Flammability - the recommended Curse for this build which reduces monster's Fire Resistance

[MOBILITY] Flame Dash setup
	Flame Dash - recommended Mobility Spell used in this build. On top of allowing you to move faster, it will grant you the Arcane Surge buff with each cast
	Faster Casting Support - increases Flame Dash's Cast Speed
	Arcane Surge Support - if you keep this Gem at level 7, it will grant you the Arcane Surge buff with each cast of Flame Dash, increasing your Spell Damage, Cast Speed, and Mana Regeneration Rate

[UTILITY] Scorching Ray setup
	Scorching Ray - used solely for the Fire Exposure debuff which reduces Fire Resistance of affected enemies. You can use a level 1 of this Gem to minimize Mana Cost
	Faster Casting Support
	Portal - quite useful Utility Gem, and since we have an open Socket here why not use it

[UTILITY] Heralds/Aura
	Herald of Ash - grants more Fire and Burning Damage. It also slightly inreases your clear speed by Burning enemies for some of your Overkill Damage
	Clarity - if you are having problems managing your Mana, make sure you use Clarity Aura for increased Mana Regeneration Rate

[UTILITY] Golem
	Cast when Damage Taken Support - will automatically resummon your Golem
	Summon Stone Golem - grants increased Life Regeneration per Second

[UTILITY] Immortal Call and Vaal Righteous Fire (only if you aren't using Kaom's Roots)
	Immortal Call - grants solid defensive buffs for a short duration. Keep it at level 9
	Cast when Damage Taken Support - will auto-cast Immortal Call. Keep it at level 7
	Increased Duration Support - increases the duration of Immortal Call and Vaal Righteous Fire
	Vaal Righteous Fire - greatly increases your Spell Damage for a short duration. The AoE effect will not deal any damage however

5. Gear Setup

Below you will find the recommended gear for this build. We would like to remind you that this is a Beginner-friendly, low-budget build, so we have not included any expensive equipment. This build has a lot of space for improvements, however, if you get to this point, we would recommend spending your Currency on another build/character. This build has a set up role, which does not include spending tons of Exalted Orbs and pushing end-game content.

Our recommended items will:

1. Cap your resistances 
2. Give you enough DPS/Life to start mapping successfully

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - any Helmet with some Life and Elemental Resistances will do just fine

Min. requirements: 80 maximum Life 25% Fire Resistance 25% Cold Resistance 25% Lightning Resistance

(Helmet) The Formless Inferno - grants insane defensive bonus, by greatly increasing your Armour Rating. This is our top recommendation for the Helmet slot

(80-120)% increased Armour +(40-50) to maximum Life -30% to Fire Resistance 8% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Fire Damage Armour is increased by Uncapped Fire Resistance

Helmet enchantments: 40% increased Shockwave Totem Damage 15% increased Shockwave Totem Cast Speed

(Weapon) Rare Sceptre - just try to get the highest possible stats out of the ones listed below

Min. requirements: 60% Increased Spell Damage Adds ~30 Fire Damage to Spells 20% Increased Cast Speed Optional affixes: Gain 20% of Physical Damage as Extra Fire Damage

(Weapon) Doryani's Catalyst - you just can't go wrong when chosing Doryani's for this build. It offers very solid DPS bonuses and will cost just a few Chaos Orbs

32% increased Elemental Damage Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 20 Elemental Proliferation Adds (65-85) to (100-160) Physical Damage (11-15)% increased Attack Speed (6-10)% increased Cast Speed (30-40)% increased Global Critical Strike Chance 0.2% of Elemental Damage Leeched as Life (80-100)% increased Elemental Damage

(Shield) Trolltimber Spire - this Shield will work just fine on Maps as it did during the leveling

+(20-30) to maximum Life (130-150)% increased Armour +(40-60) to maximum Life Regenerate 0.5% of Life per second 15% increased Area of Effect for Skills used by Totems 0.5% of Damage dealt by your Totems is Leeched to you as Life

(Body Armour) Rare Armour - just aim for a cheap six-link with Life, high base Armour, and possibly Fire Resistnace if you are using The Formless Inferno

Min. requirements: 110 maximum Life 60% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: High Armour Rating

(Boots) Rare Boots - just grab the highest possible Life, and Movement Speed you can afford

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 25% Movement Speed Optional affixes: Elemental Resistances Chaos Resistance

(Boots) Kaom's Roots - our top recommendation. They grant insane amount of Life, Stun Immunity, and they should be relatively cheap

Has no Sockets Cannot be Knocked Back +(150-200) to maximum Life Action Speed cannot be modified to below base value Unwavering Stance

Boot enchantment: 10% increased Movement Speed if you haven't been Hit Recently (Kaom's Roots) Regenerate 2% of Life per second if you were Hit Recently 16% increased Attack and Cast Speed if you've Killed Recently

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - once again, mainly look for defensive stats

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 60% Total Elemental Resistances 35 Dexterity Optional affixes: High Armour Rating

(Belt) Rare Belt - either pick Leather Belt for maximum Life bonus, or Stygian Vise for the extra Abyssal Jewel

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 30% Fire Resistance 30% Cold Resistance 30% Lightning Resistance Optional affixes: Armour Rating Increased Damage (Crafting Bench)

(Amulet) Rare Amulet

Min. requirements: 60 maximum Life 15% Spell Damage 12% Cast Speed Optional affixes: Attributes Fire Resistance

(Ring) Rare Ring - any base will do, but Opal Rings can provide the highest potential damage bonus

Min. requirements: 60 maximum Life 40 maximum Mana 30 Dexterity Optional affixes: Cast Speed Fire/Elemental Damage Elemental Resistances

(Ring) Dream Fragments - provide very high bonus Mana and Freeze Immunity, making it exceptional useful for this build

+(20-30)% to Cold Resistance 20% increased maximum Mana 50% increased Mana Regeneration Rate +(30-40)% to Cold Resistance Cannot be Chilled Cannot be Frozen

(Jewel) Abyss Jewels - with added flat Fire Damage to Spells

Recommended affixes: maximum Life Added Fire Damage to Spells Added Physical Damage to Spells Optional affixes: Increased Damage if you have killed recently

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - they should provide extra Life and Damage bonuses

Recommended affixes: increased maximum Life increased Physical/Spell/Totem/Area Damage Optional affixes: increased Cast Speed

(Flask) The Wise Oak - will provide high DPS bonus if your Fire Resistance is the highest (and it should be if you have followed this Guide)

+35% to all Elemental Resistances During Flask Effect, 10% reduced Damage taken of each Element for which your Uncapped Elemental Resistance is lowest During Flask Effect, Damage Penetrates (10-15)% Resistance of each Element for which your Uncapped Elemental Resistance is highest

(Flask) Rumi's Concoction - very solid defensive Flask which grants bonus Block Chance and Armour Rating

Creates Consecrated Ground on Use (30-50)% increased Duration Consecrated Ground created by this Flask has Tripled Radius +(1-2)% to Critical Strike Chance against Enemies on Consecrated Ground during Effect Consecrated Ground created during Effect applies (7-10)% increased Damage taken to Enemies

Other suggested Flasks: Bubbling Divine Life Flask of Staunching (immunity to Bleeding) Experimenter's Ruby Flask of Iron Skin (increased Armour Rating) Ample Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline (increased Movement Speed)

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