[3.26] Shaper Beam Totems | League Start Friendly | Endgame Viable | Melt Maven on a Budget

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Hi, my name is Baumi, and this is my build.

The Shaper has been demoted. There's a new challenger in town.

His iconic skill - the "Shaper Beam" - is what inspired this build many years ago. When GGG introduced the Scorching Ray MTX, I just had to make this.

Never officially released, there's no more perfect time for it than now. Quite literally.

Not only did we get the introduction of Mercenaries to round out the build and plug some of its holes, we also got a new set of MTX that allows us to take on the form of the Shaper himself. Perfection!

Sporting 5 Totems total, this Hierophant build can take you from league start to endgame with the same skill from level 12 onwards.

(Guide is under construction and work in progress. Stay tuned.)

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• Uber Atziri (Maven witnessed)
• Uber Elder (Maven witnessed)
• Quad Squads
• The Maven

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PoB (lvl 97 Snapshot, adjusted after Maven): https://pobb.in/KocEEwyrcvFm
Config: pseudo Merc stats added

PoB (Uber Elder Snapshot): https://pobb.in/-mvsjpu4Vafq

PoB (leveling trees): https://pobb.in/KNU9Bls8bsUt

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Current gear (lvl 97):







Merc gear (lvl 83 Flamehand):

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Q: Why Scorching Ray and why Totems?

A: Honestly? Mainly for aesthetics with the MTX.

There are technically more Cons to it than Pros when compared to other spells, but I personally don't mind all that much. Previously, the build would struggle in endgame because the Totems cannot hit with Scorching Ray, which means perma Taunt is off the table. That meant constant re-summoning of Totems, which not only was annoying af, but also hurt DPS. Yet it was the safest way to play this. This issue in particular is now resolved with a Merc that brings AoE damage, such as the Flamehand Merc.

Scorching Ray is a Fire Spell that applies a stacking debuff that deals Fire Damage over Time. Slapping this on a Totem means we can summon multiple to apply more stacks quickly. And, as we all know, standing still in PoE means death if not specifically built around that, so, it just makes sense to let Totems do the work rather than risk our own skin.

Q: Why 5 Totems and not 6 with a shield?

A: Dual sceptres with 5 Totems deals more damage. Aquiring Block, however, is a bit more challenging this way.

Do note, though, that not only does dual wielding allow for more DPS, it also grants significantly more Cast Speed. A vital stat for beam rotation speed and debuff application rate, as well as how quickly you can apply Exposure and thus maintain true DPS. Scorching Ray's turn rate is capped at 150% increased Cast Speed, so try to get as close as possible. (I get ~140% on this build.)

Q: How do you scale Scorching Ray?

A: The hands down best way to scale this spell is to get sources of extra levels to gems. This skill, like most other DoT skills, scale extremely well with levels.

You can check the vendor recipe list to learn how to "easily" craft +1 level weapons later down the road (not viable for league start).

Additionally, you can stack sources of DoT/Fire DoT multiplier (generic or Fire, doesn't matter which, as both are additive with each other and add to a global multiplier), increased/more Fire and Spell Damage (says so on the gem specifically), Cast Speed, Skill Effect Duration and sources of enemy damage taken.

For the latter, I let my Merc do some of the heavy lifting with the right setup, granting a nice boost to damage without compromising too much.

Q: Why are you not using the -5% additional Exposure mastery?

A: This mastery and other sources like it are bugged with Scorching Ray on Totems specifically. It works fine if you use it yourself. This bug, to my knowledge, still hasn't been fixed and has been in the game for years now. I did not bother to test it this patch, because there was no mention of it in the bug fixes section in the patch notes.

Q: Why Flamehand and why these items?

A: Expedition's End allows all damage to freeze, and Yoke's Suffering allows all Elemental Damage to shock. Since Freeze and Shock are calculated based on damage taken, it makes absolute sense to use a Flamehand with a big hit skill such as Flameblast, because we debuff the enemy's Fire Resistance to negative values, which the Flamehand can take direct advantage of. This means it's much easier to freeze and shock enemies you otherwise could not.

Pyroshock Clasp is better than Kaom's Binding in this scenario, because our Merc isn't always dancing around/stays close to the enemy at all times, but with high chance to ignite, this isn't an issue in most scenarios. (Please note that maps with ailment avoidance will have to be rerolled if you want the Merc to do her thing. And stuff like Proximity Shield will prevent this if she's not inside the bubble.)

It's absolutely vital that you give your Merc items with chance to shock, and chance to freeze and ignite. They still need such sources to be able to apply those ailments in the first place. I highly recommend you use eldritch gloves with the Freeze spread implicit, because not every mob gets frozen sometimes, and this allows a single frozen mob to spread Freeze to the rest of the pack.

Q: What about Righteous Fire and Pain Attunement?

A: I admittedly started using Low Life + Pain Attunement rather late, at around lvl 87, mainly because my gear was shit and I felt a bit too squishy otherwise. You can start using RF as soon as you sort out your regen. You can also use it in combination with a life flask just for burst damage against bosses, if you cannot sustain it yet.

Q: Why are you using Ward gear?

A: It's simple, really. Energy Shield gets interrupted by damage taken, such as from RF. Armour and Evasion Rating do nothing for us, because we are not scaling any of it. Ward, on the other hand, got buffed to 2 seconds (down from 4) restoration time, does not get interrupted by Damage over Time, and blocks damage from a single hit before being broken.

Sounds kinda bad at first until you factor in Block. This makes Ward relevant for annoying attacks such as Abyss stalkers (goes invisible/invulnerable and sneak attacks you) and the like. I'd also be using additional Endurance Charges (6 in total) and Aspect of the Crab, but I did not manage to do so at this time of writing.

This means, on the high end, you could pair this with a Mageblood for some really nice damage reduction with an Iron Flask (potentially >1k Ward), which was my original plan, but the league has been really rough for me (I'm from the EU) and my progress has been rather slow with the constant setbacks.

<reserved for future updates>