Ancestral Warrior Totem vs Shockwave Totem
Ive been building a Warbringer Warrior build where my totems do the damage for me while I tank or dodge any attacks coming after me. So far, I've been maxing out Shockwave Totem and it's been a blast during Act 1 cruelty. The only issue I have with them is when the boss moves too fast and i have to relocate the totems.
Recently just hit the level needed to get AWT, and it feels... underwhelming? It feels so short and inconsistent. It felt like it just Sundered once then left. Kinda annoying that I can only use one type of totem at a time too, and I feel like I'm not using AWT correctly
Comments
Both are good.
Shockwave totem can become ranged if you use the astral projection support.
Both require different scaling and strategy to make work lategame, you can’t socket them in and have them be amazing from the start.
Remember + to melee skill levels is your best stat. So dual wielding is very strong for totems if you have that stat on both weapons.
Ancestral warrior totem with Rolling Slam is strongest single target totem by far.
Shockwave is good for clear.
Following PoEGuy,
Shockwave till maybe around 90+, then AWT.
Shockwave can still do all content, but AWT is ranged.
Shockwave only needs one level 20, AWT needs 2 level 20s.
You really have to pick your budget. I was lucky enough to kill Breachlord with L18 AWT and L18 Sunder.
Now I'm making a bower to speed up my splinter collection.
You can use both totems at once. There is a node which gives you +1 max totems and a unique ring that gives +1 limit. Also getting the overabundance support can be benefitial, as it does the same thing but gives the totem 50% duration. You mention the duration being too low, this can be fixed with passive tree nodes with skill duration or even support gems, preferably both.
Regarding having to relocate totems (specifically shockwave) you could try the astral projector support gen which makes the shockwave attacks appear below the enemy at all times. IIRC they fixed it so it works now.
Getting AoE is very important for clear speed on totem, also helps with bosses that move around. I'm doing Stampede totem on Ancestral Warrior, it's best for clearing from my testing. Rolling Slam is best for single target. Sunder is kinda ass due to it being 1 directional. Use Martial Tempo, it's goated support for totems.
The effectiveness varies according to what maps you are running, in maps with open areas Sunder Totems are amazing. In indoor maps Sunder Totems kindna suck. Because the vast majority of maps in POE 2 are designed to troll players it is not common for Sunder Totems to outperform Shockwave Totems.
The differences become worse latter on cause Shockwave Totems get attack speed with gem quality while Ancestral gets duration which is less useful.
does attack speed affects the summoning animation, the mace strike on the floor? i am about to fully switch to totems, but the "stutter step" like playstyle with my current setup is not to my liking, so if it there is any way to improve it, i would be very interestd :)