What the Totem Nerfs Mean | Path of Exile 2 Patch Notes Update
Summary
- Ancestral Bond Nerf: The “no cost” modifier has been removed from Ancestral Bond, forcing players to pay the base mana cost for summoning totems (typically 130–500 mana per cast).
- Mechanics Clarification: Summoning a spell totem is not classified as a “spell,” meaning Archmage-related mana cost additions do not apply to the summon itself. However, global mana cost increases (e.g., from certain passives or items) do affect it.
- Mana Sustain Issues: Players can no longer rely on mana-free totems to circumvent issues with mana remnants and Mind Over Matter (MoM). This makes managing mana pools and sustaining casts significantly harder during early-to-mid-game progression.
- Build Adjustments: The difficulty of maintaining mana makes early-game Archmage builds less viable. The speaker is shifting from an Infernologist approach to an Oracle setup, utilizing Bonecage and Bone Storm for better synergy and smoother progression.
The Impact of the Ancestral Bond Change
The removal of the “no cost” line on Ancestral Bond is a significant adjustment. Because summon totem skills now carry their base mana cost, players must actively manage mana sustain, which was previously trivialized.
Mechanics and Mana Costs
- Spell vs. Totem Summon: GGG clarified that while the skill inside the totem may have the “spell” tag, the act of summoning the totem is not a spell. Therefore, modifiers specifically increasing “spell mana cost” (like Archmage) do not apply to the summoning action.
- Global Increases: Any node or item that increases “global mana cost” will increase the cost of summoning totems.
- The Mana Remnant Conflict: Previously, players could use mana remnants to overflow their maximum mana. Because the skill cost nothing, this provided a pseudo-50% increase to available mana. With the cost now active, casting totems will continuously consume this overflowed mana, negating the benefit and making mana regeneration feel significantly worse.
Implications for Survival and Sustenance
- Mind Over Matter (MoM): Previously, MoM could be used without significant drawbacks. Now, because mana is constantly being drained for totems, relying on MoM can leave the player with zero mana, preventing the ability to summon totems while simultaneously sacrificing defensive capacity.
- Early Game Vulnerability: Achieving high-mana pools (such as Chaos Inoculation/CI) is a late-game endeavor (day three or later). Early on, players are forced to balance limited life and mana pools. Without efficient mana leech or sustainable regeneration, mana flasks remain the only common recovery method, which scales poorly as total mana pools increase.
Strategic Shift: Moving to Oracle
Due to these changes, the speaker is pivoting away from an initial Infernologist strategy toward an Oracle build.
- Bonecage and Bone Storm: The Oracle setup utilizes Bonecage, which performs well with Spell Cascade and acts similarly to Path of Exile 1’s Shockwave Totem. Pairing this with Bone Storm for single-target damage creates a synergistic physical-based setup.
- Smoother Progression: Unlike Spark, which can feel awkward without specific gear, the physical damage nodes utilized by this setup provide consistent performance during the campaign and mid-game.
- Flexibility: The build allows for weapon swapping between totem-focused nodes and damage nodes for Bone Storm, ensuring no significant loss in output. While there is potential uncertainty regarding Spell Cascade interactions with totems in the upcoming patch, the speaker intends to use this setup regardless, with Spark as a fallback if necessary.