Totemancer (Necromancer Totem)

Find a handful of guides and walkthroughs here!
User avatar
MeatSlinger3000
Sasquatch
67 | 4
Great Popularity Badge
Has a thread with over 50.000 views
Great Supporter Badge
Donated 5 times
I can't tell if this build is a Meme or I'm just drastically misremembering the difficulty of this game. I walked into Act 2 with this build (Stormeye variant) & just spent literally 20 minutes trying to kill Radament before outright giving up.
Edited by MeatSlinger3000 2 years.
Cosimala
Fallen
1 | 0
dunno, i play tri ele totem and he died nearly instantly. same goes for other bosses
User avatar
MeatSlinger3000
Sasquatch
67 | 4
Great Popularity Badge
Has a thread with over 50.000 views
Great Supporter Badge
Donated 5 times
Cosimala wrote:dunno, i play tri ele totem and he died nearly instantly. same goes for other bosses


I fully invested in Stormeye & it was genuinely garbage. As I stated above, it was so bad it couldn't kill Radament. I used my Act 1 respec & put 1 point each in Frostclaw & Fireheart, and it made the build playable.

So for anyone reading this, the build is borderline unplayable unless you spec into all 3 totems
Fafal
Prowler
17 | 0
Common Supporter Badge
Donated 1 time
MeatSlinger3000 wrote:
Cosimala wrote:dunno, i play tri ele totem and he died nearly instantly. same goes for other bosses


I fully invested in Stormeye & it was genuinely garbage. As I stated above, it was so bad it couldn't kill Radament. I used my Act 1 respec & put 1 point each in Frostclaw & Fireheart, and it made the build playable.

So for anyone reading this, the build is borderline unplayable unless you spec into all 3 totems


Its first try when im trying totem necro and in first 5 hours i clear whole normal and 3acts of nightmare with storm totem build so i have no idea about what u talking :o 1act was slow till i craft staff, then it was rly fast so no idea how u cant kill him :o
Spartagus423
Imp
4 | 0
I am struggling a bit still in normal. I am new to Median XL and I got to act 2 with this spec. The early level is kind of hard to understand because there are multiple trees so would I just go with speccing the Frostclaw to max and then the next thing to put points in would be apprenticeship, then dark gathering max and so on?

Embalming: 1
Frostclaw: 7
Apprenticeship: 9
Dark Gathering 5
Meditation 2

Using Image

I put down two totems around enemies but AoE doesn't kill a horde of mobs very fast..Kills like 1 or 2 at a time so I have to just run in a circle. Tried to follow the Early Level tree which says I should put all points in Frostclaw to max but a couple of people told me to keep it at lower levels but I don't have much dmg. Just mainly my staff is the dmg. My other gear has been bad and I slotted in like a few cracked rubies.

Featherclaw gloves are the first unique I found so I just put those on.

I have a bunch of jewels and cracked gems that I can slot in and skulls but haven't used them because I am afraid I won't be able to get them off the gear once I find better gear. Is there any kind of items like Runes or something I should put on my gear? I am level 26
demoner
Acid Prince
49 | 4
Common Supporter Badge
Donated 1 time
Spartagus423 wrote:I am struggling a bit still in normal. I am new to Median XL and I got to act 2 with this spec. The early level is kind of hard to understand because there are multiple trees so would I just go with speccing the Frostclaw to max and then the next thing to put points in would be apprenticeship, then dark gathering max and so on?

Embalming: 1
Frostclaw: 7
Apprenticeship: 9
Dark Gathering 5
Meditation 2

Using Image

I put down two totems around enemies but AoE doesn't kill a horde of mobs very fast..Kills like 1 or 2 at a time so I have to just run in a circle. Tried to follow the Early Level tree which says I should put all points in Frostclaw to max but a couple of people told me to keep it at lower levels but I don't have much dmg. Just mainly my staff is the dmg. My other gear has been bad and I slotted in like a few cracked rubies.

Featherclaw gloves are the first unique I found so I just put those on.

I have a bunch of jewels and cracked gems that I can slot in and skulls but haven't used them because I am afraid I won't be able to get them off the gear once I find better gear. Is there any kind of items like Runes or something I should put on my gear? I am level 26


Ok this guide is out of date. Leveling a character with totems is fundamentally different this patch than the last time this guide was updated.

Do you have all your totems out? Dark gathering gives you +1 max to EACH totem every five levels invested. This means with 5 points you can summon 2 frostclaw, 2 storm and 2 fire totems all at the same time. At 10 dark gathering you can have 9 totems on the field., this is where the damage comes from.

Also, totems gain damage from your energy stat, so I suggest you split your stats about 75% energy, 25% Strength.

I cleared nightmare with essentially no gear, and totems were grossly op the whole way. I did 3 pts in each totem, about 10 in apprentice, maxed dark gathering, maxed dirge, and maxed soulbond.
User avatar
fuppy
Cog
224 | 94
Legendary Popularity Badge
Has a thread with over 250.000 views
Common Love Badge
Earned over 20 cookies
Great Guide Badge
Created 3 complete character guides
MeatSlinger3000 wrote:
Cosimala wrote:dunno, i play tri ele totem and he died nearly instantly. same goes for other bosses


I fully invested in Stormeye & it was genuinely garbage. As I stated above, it was so bad it couldn't kill Radament. I used my Act 1 respec & put 1 point each in Frostclaw & Fireheart, and it made the build playable.

So for anyone reading this, the build is borderline unplayable unless you spec into all 3 totems

I found myself going soulbond for early levels as well. I changed the early build now to reflect that.

I need to do another run to figure out why you were having problems. Maybe you skipped the part of the guide where I tell how Stormeye totem works exactly? It does more damage the closer you bring it to targets. This is fairly crucial tidbit of information to know how to play Stormeye. I need to record a video of it or something.

Spartagus423 wrote:I am struggling a bit still in normal. I am new to Median XL and I got to act 2 with this spec. The early level is kind of hard to understand because there are multiple trees so would I just go with speccing the Frostclaw to max and then the next thing to put points in would be apprenticeship, then dark gathering max and so on?

Embalming: 1
Frostclaw: 7
Apprenticeship: 9
Dark Gathering 5
Meditation 2

Using Image

I put down two totems around enemies but AoE doesn't kill a horde of mobs very fast..Kills like 1 or 2 at a time so I have to just run in a circle. Tried to follow the Early Level tree which says I should put all points in Frostclaw to max but a couple of people told me to keep it at lower levels but I don't have much dmg. Just mainly my staff is the dmg. My other gear has been bad and I slotted in like a few cracked rubies.

Featherclaw gloves are the first unique I found so I just put those on.

I have a bunch of jewels and cracked gems that I can slot in and skulls but haven't used them because I am afraid I won't be able to get them off the gear once I find better gear. Is there any kind of items like Runes or something I should put on my gear? I am level 26

Focus on maxing Dark Gathering first, Frostclaw second, Apprenticeship third (to 10-15, depending on how you feel your totems are alive) and embalming fourth. I shall add this to the guide.

demoner wrote:Ok this guide is out of date. Leveling a character with totems is fundamentally different this patch than the last time this guide was updated.

Do you have all your totems out? Dark gathering gives you +1 max to EACH totem every five levels invested. This means with 5 points you can summon 2 frostclaw, 2 storm and 2 fire totems all at the same time. At 10 dark gathering you can have 9 totems on the field., this is where the damage comes from.

Also, totems gain damage from your energy stat, so I suggest you split your stats about 75% energy, 25% Strength.

I cleared nightmare with essentially no gear, and totems were grossly op the whole way. I did 3 pts in each totem, about 10 in apprentice, maxed dark gathering, maxed dirge, and maxed soulbond.

It's not out of date, I played totemancer in the beta and updated it one hour before season start. Fundamental difference only comes down to how you spend your points, the character still plays very much the same as 1.8. But I appreciate your point, I'll add some extra info to the guide to make it easier for new folks.
Rhanti
Prowler
19 | 0
Common Popularity Badge
Has a thread with over 10.000 views
MeatSlinger3000 wrote:
Cosimala wrote:dunno, i play tri ele totem and he died nearly instantly. same goes for other bosses


I fully invested in Stormeye & it was genuinely garbage. As I stated above, it was so bad it couldn't kill Radament. I used my Act 1 respec & put 1 point each in Frostclaw & Fireheart, and it made the build playable.

So for anyone reading this, the build is borderline unplayable unless you spec into all 3 totems


Don't forget that you can respect any amount of time you want before lvl 50. I play tri ele and had no problem at all, but yeah if you play lightning and you get a lightning resist you might have trouble. And Radamant is immune to damage while there are minions nearby (same as every mummy).

Big difference for me post-patch is the attack skill to use while totems attack; Pestilence in the malice tree requires to have at least 20 points in the tree, so I use Death Ripple (will probably change to a crossbow skill eventually).

Don't forget to use "Bend the Shadows" to port with your totems, that will at least save you some mana instead of summoning them again and again. Normal is way harder than it used to be, so make sure to have resists, and if you concentrate on frost only then go the Soulchain way (to have 5 frostclaw totem). I might try solo Stormeye, lightning totems seem to be way more useful than they use to be.
User avatar
MeatSlinger3000
Sasquatch
67 | 4
Great Popularity Badge
Has a thread with over 50.000 views
Great Supporter Badge
Donated 5 times
When I was fully invested into Stormeye I was "shotgunning" the totems to keep their damage as high as possible, but the damage was low enough, & their survivability bad enough to be unplayable in the Act 2 Sewers @ lvl ~18. There's a summoner near Radament that has a massive pack of skeletons with him, & the totem simply could not perform in that environment.

But even before then the leveling process throughout Act 1 was slow, & by the time I got to Act 2 it was taking ~7 seconds+ to kill any pack of normal mobs I encountered. It was effectively unplayable until I respec to use all 3 totems.

My gear was: Pax Mystica, Akara's Robe, Rainbow, Epicenter. So I even had the typical Act 1 twink gear.
User avatar
fuppy
Cog
224 | 94
Legendary Popularity Badge
Has a thread with over 250.000 views
Common Love Badge
Earned over 20 cookies
Great Guide Badge
Created 3 complete character guides
MeatSlinger3000 wrote:When I was fully invested into Stormeye I was "shotgunning" the totems to keep their damage as high as possible, but the damage was low enough, & their survivability bad enough to be unplayable in the Act 2 Sewers @ lvl ~18. There's a summoner near Radament that has a massive pack of skeletons with him, & the totem simply could not perform in that environment.

But even before then the leveling process throughout Act 1 was slow, & by the time I got to Act 2 it was taking ~7 seconds+ to kill any pack of normal mobs I encountered. It was effectively unplayable until I respec to use all 3 totems.

My gear was: Pax Mystica, Akara's Robe, Rainbow, Epicenter. So I even had the typical Act 1 twink gear.

Yeah I guess I should highlight that people take 1pt into the other totems earlier on, so they don't run into the same problems you did.