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A Very Budget League Starter For POE 3.23 Affliction League - Storm Burst Totem Hierophant

Dec 08, 2023

Here, I’m going to reveal my league starter for POE 3.23 Affliction League, which is Storm Burst Totem Hierophant.

Storm Burst got buffed in the recent patch and I feel like this is the sign for me to finally play it. It now has a base duration of 1.6 second instead of 1.2 second, meaning the orbs will stay on the ground longer, and deal more damage.

A Very Budget League Starter For POE 3.23 Affliction League - Storm Burst Totem Hierophant

Pros

This build is very easy and cheap to league start with. So, this build is very suitable for players who don’t have much POE Currency in the early stage of the league.

In fact, 30 Chaos Orbs is all you need to farm tier 16 maps comfortably. Not only does it have decent damage with low investment early endgame, but it also has a high damage ceiling.

Currently, my planned late endgame version can hit 40 million Guardian DPS according to PoB. This build is very beginner friendly in the sense that it doesn’t involve any complex mechanic, making it easy for anyone to follow this guide.

Leveling is very easy because you can get Storm Burst very early. The totem playstyle allows you to be mobile all the time, as you can run around dodging enemies while placing the totems occasionally.

Cons

Like other totem builds, this build is not meant to be tanky.

It has very little evasion and no spell suppression. Small hits are fine, but you will have to move around and dodge big hits manually.

Another thing is, you can’t deal damage yourself when playing this build. So, the playstyle may be awkward for some people.

Gears (Early Endgame)

There are 5 uniques you need to get as fast as possible:

  • Agnerod West
  • Thrillsteel
  • Soul Mantle
  • Kikazaru
  • Self-flagellation unique jewel

POE 3.23 Gears (Early Endgame)

One thing for new players, Soul Mantle goes hand in hand with Kikazaru. So, you must equip them at the same time.

The rest of the gears are just for capping resistances and getting the attributes you need. Of course, if you can get some damage mods, for example, increased spell damage or cast speed on your jewelry, this will be very nice.

These are the estimated costs for the unique items on league start. I got the price from Poe Ninja, so hopefully they stay the same next league.

For helmets, there are 2 options you can choose from. If you want more damage, use Thrillsteel. You can replace this once you get your Onslaught buff with cluster jewel. If you want more defense, use Mindspiral. Mindspiral gives you a lot of mana, and you also gain mana recoup from it.

Gears (Mid Endgame)

The gears for mid-endgame aren’t that much different from the ones for early endgame.

You will have to get yourself at least a 5-link body armour, but if you can 6-link your corrupted body armour with tainted fusing, it is even better.

Also, replace your belt with a Stygian Vise so that you can use an Abyss Jewel.

POE 3.23 Gears (Mid Endgame)

Gears (Late Endgame) + Curse Effect Reduction Alternative

When it comes to late endgame, there is one very important thing, and that is to cap the elemental resistances.

The reason I say this is because this build has 60% reduced elemental resistances from our weapon, the Annihilating Light.

Note that you will want to get a perfect roll to make it easier to cap your resistances. You will need to replace your unique helmet with a rare one for more resistances.

Still, if you’re struggling to cap your resistances, there are 2 things you can do:

First, you can either choose to use Agnerod staff until you get all the gears needed and switch to Annihilating Light, or you can use a rare armour to get more resistances.

If you choose the second option, you don’t have to use Kikazaru anymore and you can replace it with a rare ring that has life, mana, resistances and cast speed.

Both options will give you less damage, but if you need more defense as well, the second option is probably good for you. You can get more mana on your body armour for Mind over Matter, or even craft some physical mitigation mods.

Also, if you’re not pushing Uber bosses with this build, you don’t need Annihilating Light either and therefore you can be more flexible with your gears.

I still chose Soul Mantle because it is the best body armour in terms of damage. If you want to use Soul Mantle, then Kikazaru is mandatory. You can get up to 72% reduced curse effect with Imbued Catalyst, combined with Yugul Pantheon, you will get 100% reduced curse effect.

Let’s say you’re struggling to get Imbued Catalyst early on, you can spec into these nodes here, and refund later.

POE 3.23 Gears (Late Endgame) + Curse Effect Reduction Alternative

Flask Setup

My flasks are mainly defensive ones.

Rumi’s Concoction gives some block and armour, which is good because we don’t use Determination.

I like to have shock immunity or avoidance. But since I can’t get it on gears or passive tree, I decided to get shock effect reduction on my flask and jewel. You can change this setup depending on your needs.

Let’s say you want to fight Uber Elder. A Sapphire flask will be better.

Gem Setup

This is the setup for my main skill:

  • Arcane Setup
  • Curse + Exposure
  • Aura + Golem
  • Movement
  • Frenzy Generation

I have other gems listed here:

  • Storm Burst
  • Multiple Totems
  • Physical to Lightning
  • Awakened Lightning Penetration
  • Awakened Added Lightning Damage
  • Awakened Elemental Focus
  • Increased Critical Strikes
  • Increased Critical Damage
  • Increased Duration
  • Empower
  • Inspiration

POE 3.23 Gem Setup

You can play around with them and see which support gems work out the best for you. I’m going with my current setup because I feel like it is the most effective in terms of damage.

Arcane setup. Since the cast time for Arcane Cloak is instant, you can bind it to your left click so that it can be cast more often.

Arcanist Brand is linked to Assassin’s Mark and Wave of Conviction, so that both spells can be triggered when Arcanist Brand is attached to the enemy.

Aura setup. Not to confuse Eternal Blessing with Divine Blessing. In this build, we use Eternal Blessing so that we can free up our mana pool for Mind over Matter.

I like Wrath because I can get some good mods on Watcher’s Eye. You can use Determination for more defense if you want, but you will lose the damage from Wrath aura and the Watcher’s Eye.

I’m using Summon Lightning Golem for more cast speed. But if you like more life regen, you can go for Stone Golem.

I have a trap setup for Frenzy Generation. But the damage from Frenzy Charges is not included in PoB. This is because you’re most likely not going to get the charges up all the time. We are already casting Sigil of Power and Arcanist Brand during boss fights, so I don’t want to add even more stress.

The damage is high enough, anyway. However, the trap setup is useful if you can cast it before the bosses spawn. This will give you some extra damage.

Ascendancy Class

The order of the Ascendancy skills goes like this:

  • Pursuit of Faith
  • Ritual of Awakening
  • Conviction of Power
  • Divine Guidance

Skill Tree (Ancestral Bond?) + Pantheon

I got asked one question before, when should I spec into Ancestral Bond?

I only spec into this node after I complete my first lab and start using Multiple Totems support at level 38. I’m using a perfect roll Self-Flagellation, but a mid-roll is fine during league start.

You will need a cluster jewel with Sleepless Sentries to gain Onslaught buff. The other node doesn’t have to be Snaring Spirit, but I feel like Hinder can be a good layer of defense against monsters.

For Pantheon, I got Brine King for freeze avoidance and Yugul for reduced curse effect.

Leveling

I don’t go by character levels, but by the quest you have done instead.

What this means is, for example, after completing The Caged Brute, you can get Flame Dash given either as a quest reward or vendor reward.

Then, you link these together. This section is to let you know when you can get these gems so that you don’t leave out any of them.

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