Totemancers are great as starter builds because they can do great with cheap gear untill mid - end game , where crafts and set items are enough to take him untill the toughest ubers , where he gets into trouble and needs some respecs/better gear ;it may also become boring after some point when all this jumping and summoning gets too much , when the build goes from "wow" to "meh", reason why i decided to ditch him . For those who haven't played this build before it may be quite entertaining ; melting faces is somethimes what people want to see .
there are at least 3 ways to play a totemancer , all of them hybrids
1. a hybrid that is keeping very few (maxed) shadows alive , just to benefit from their aura, while you are the one who does the tanking (goes for death ward uberskill/may go for deathlord too for extra stats and dealing with the elemental immunes) , with not much gear investment for minion life but rather focuses on spell damage/minion damage (totems benefit from both ways of increasing the damage) and high defence for you to tank better (totems gain enough life so that you won't have to focus on that -also ,embalming does not boost their HP )
2. a hybrid that uses minions to do the tanking while the totems deal the damage , with you staying safe behind your army . this one requires fat summons and heavy investment into %minion life because shadows and jinns are not actualy tanky minions (they are crapy in terms of tanking) . this requires maxing the rampagors at least untill end game where you can spend less points/leftovers here, as they will also handle the elemental immunes with their poison attacks .
For end game, in order to avoid the increased damage taken for your minions ,you may use another teleport source instead of BtS if you just need to get the job done -> 2s teleport from the Rathma's Supremacy (you may use Jitan's gate untill then , if necessary, or trade your switch gear for Pax Mystica -HC tip ) .
3. a hybrid mix of totems , the malice tree/oskills and summons (shadows ) , where the totems remain as 1-pointers in end game while you focus on spell damage to boost your other main spells and minion life for more durable meatshield
For all those hybrids , the shadows are a "must have" because they provide a great boost to your damage . The only sad part about having a large army is having to raise it back whenever it dies , and that slows you down -it's the downside of all summoners - but iirc this was going to be fixed in sigma .
When going Hardcore with a totemancer i subscribe at picking Death ward instead of Jinns as you gain more chances to stay alive (you can gain more than enough -enemy resists from gear ). Also , a lightning arena amulet for extra crowd control . It's all about increasing your chances of stayin' alive
@Vizjun it can be done with this setup too, all you need is very high movement speed and fast fingers . The cheapest way to do it (no matter the build) is to wear at least 1
Ring of Disengagement
and kill stuff at the entrance untill you may burst away with celerity and then run straight to MCS (this also requires knowing the map and the position of the MCS . you may add the map or a picture for this to help beginners) . one proc lasts enough to get there and purify the MCS , take the charm then save&exit . Ring of Disengagement
Ring
Required Level: 1
Item Level: 1
1% Chance to cast level 8 Celerity on Kill
+(6 to 10) to Strength
+(6 to 10) to Dexterity
+5 Maximum Stamina
Ring
Required Level: 1
Item Level: 1
1% Chance to cast level 8 Celerity on Kill
+(6 to 10) to Strength
+(6 to 10) to Dexterity
+5 Maximum Stamina
@Laz can also be done with any setup if you get a source of constant high movement speed (wolf stance/wild and free ->those 2 are the more expensive options for also doing Vizjun). you just need to keep running and dodge stuff , and only stop to purify .
if tl;dr -> it's a good guide for beginners to look at . Congrats