The Best Totem Builds in Path of Exile 2: The Third Edict

Are you more of a strategist than a brawler? Do you enjoy laying down totems that rain destruction on enemies while you position yourself strategically for maximum impact? If so, you'll want to dive into the world of totem builds in Path of Exile 2: The Third Edict. Totem builds offer a unique and highly tactical playstyle, allowing you to dominate the battlefield without putting yourself directly in harm's way.

In this guide, we'll explore the top totem builds for PoE 2, detailing their playstyles, ascendancies, and optimal gear setups to maximize your damage potential.

What Makes a Top Totem Build?

Totem builds rely on structures that attack enemies on your behalf. To excel with totems in PoE 2: The Third Edict, a build must have:

-Fast totem placement: Being able to summon three or more totems quickly is crucial.

-Simplicity in execution: Ideally, only one to three buttons need to be pressed to unleash the build's full power.

-Synergy with ascendancy classes: Totems perform best with specific ascendancies such as Gemling Legionnaire, Titan, and the new Tactician class for the Mercenary.

With that foundation, let's explore the best totem builds you can play in the current league.

1. Blueflame Ballista Gemling Legionnaire

The Blueflame Ballista Gemling Legionnaire centers around the Artillery Ballista skill and the unique Blueflame Bracers, which convert fire damage to cold damage. This allows your totems to freeze enemies instead of igniting them, giving you strong crowd control and damage potential.

Key highlights of this build:

-Artillery Ballista improvements: Physical damage is fully converted to fire, attack time is faster with higher gem quality, and the totems now have an extended range of 8 meters.

-Ascendancy choice: Gemling Legionnaire provides Crystalline Potential to reduce attack time further and Bolstering Implants to increase Artillery Ballista level.

-Bossing rotation: Use Frost Bomb to reduce cold resistance and Glacial Bolt to break walls of ice for burst damage.

This build strikes a balance between offense and defense, making it an effective introduction to PoE 2 totem mechanics.

2. Shockwave Totem Titan

The Shockwave Totem Titan is a highly strategic build where positioning is everything. It uses two main totems:

-Shockwave Totem: Slams the ground for physical damage and benefits from the Astral Projection support gem.

-Ancestral Warrior Totem: Uses Rolling Slam for massive damage, especially with a two-handed mace.

Titan ascendancy enhances this build with:

-Crushing Impacts to easily stun enemies

-Surprising Strength for increased damage against recently stunned foes

-Hulking Form to boost minor passive nodes

While armor-based for survivability, this build excels in mapping and bossing, although Astral Projection is only accessible later in the campaign.

3. Sunder Totem Warbringer

If you prefer a tankier approach, the Sunder Totem Warbringer combines defense with high damage output. It uses:

-Ancestral Warrior Totem with Sunder

-Ancestral Spirits to supplement damage, scaling with Strength

-Shield and armor synergy: Equip Svalinn for blocking and skill gem combinations

The Warbringer ascendancy node Answered Call enhances ancestral spirits, while companions like Quadrilla can boost damage and attack speed. This build is excellent for players seeking survivability and strong totem damage.

4. Artillery Ballista Tactician

The Artillery Ballista Tactician is perfect for endgame content. While similar to the Gemling Legionnaire version, Tactician focuses on control:

-Pin enemies: The “Right Where We Want Them” node immobilizes foes, effectively freezing them in place.

-Elemental versatility: Use Oil Grenade and unique gloves like Painter's Servant or Valako's Vice to inflict Fire, Cold, and Lightning damage.

-Endgame scaling: Combine with The Coming Calamity armor and The Deepest Tower notable passives for massive damage.

This build excels in crowd control and multi-elemental burst, making it a powerful choice for map clearing and boss fights.

5. Dark Effigy Lich

Finally, the Dark Effigy Lich is a chaos-damage totem build designed for high-speed map clearing and devastating boss damage:

-Dark Effigy Totems: Lay down totems and activate them with Contagion to unleash chaos projectiles.

-Ascendancy synergy: Lich nodes like Eldritch Empowerment and Soulless Form boost damage, mana regen, and survivability.

-Optimal gear: Stack “+ to Level of All Chaos Skills” via wands, amulets, and Prism of Belief.

With proper setup, the Dark Effigy Lich surpasses other chaos-based builds, combining map-clearing efficiency with powerful bossing potential.

Wrap-Up: Totem Builds That Dominate PoE 2

Totem builds in PoE 2 offer a laid-back, strategic playstyle that's perfect for farming POE 2 currency and dominating Wraeclast. Whether you prefer freezing enemies with the Blueflame Ballista, stunning them with Shockwave Totems, tanking with Sunder Totems, controlling battles with Artillery Ballista Tactician, or unleashing chaos with the Dark Effigy Lich, there's a totem build for every style.

Stop by our PoE 2 Store to stock up on the currency and unique items you need before heading into the fray. With the right gear and setup, your totems will obliterate everything in their path!

MMOexp POE 2 Team