Use your favourite features in-game with our Desktop App

PoE 2 Build

Fire Ancestral Totems Min-Max Deep guide!

Warrior

Smith of Kitava

End Game

0.2 DotH

Creator

By lytylisius

Updated on May 26, 2025

May 26, 2025

Build Overview

Hi guys! and welcome to my first Mobalytics full build guide for the fire version of Ancestral Warrior Totem Min Max for smith of Kitava! + options to play it as Shockwave Totem included! See video guide for staggering difference between the two.

This guide is meant as a serious step up from my previous Artillery Ballista build! ( henceforth called "AB"), and meant to be the Strongest possible totem setup 0.2.0 can offer!

For budget power, the last AB guide is still best, but for those that have min-maxed AB, and seek the power to do T4 pinnacle content comfortably, destroy map bosses, as well as have smooth mapping, Look no further.

The build:
- Ancestral Warrior Totem using:
- Sunder for mapping
- Rolling Slam slam for boss deletion ( only swap for Pinnacle )

Damage scaling in order of importance:
- Gem levels
- Avatar of Fire keystone!
- % Elemental Damage with attacks mod on weapon.
- % increased Damage while the enemy is on low life
- 125% Fire penetration/exposure combo! resulting in -50% res even for
pinnacle bosses through using Leopold's Applause!
- 43% shock! ( Quadrilla with dmg always shocks + Overcharge
+ Voltaic Mark)
- Flat fire damage to attacks on your rings, don't underestimate it.
- Skill speed/Attack speed

Defensive scaling in order of importance:
- 90% all res. through Forged in Flame Coal Stoker
and Unnatural Resilience
if setup correctly, 200% fire res gives 89-90-90.. 240% gives 90-90-90
- ~ 25% of total life pool regen/sec!
- Total # Life scaling
- Molten Symbol
- Armor where you can.

Build Variants

This build is meant to be all content viable, altough testing for simulacrum is still needed (waiting for patch) The build will be a jack of all trades.

Equipment

Set 1

Set 2

Equipment Priority

+10

***Disclaimer***

All these options are close to perfect.. not to worry,
if some of these items can't be found..in that state,. the build still destroys!
These items are aspirational, not mandatory.

For weapons:

- Least strength req. possible.. going up to 110 max should be doable
This results in needing 330 strength using Giant's Blood.
- + 7 to level of all melee skills + % elemental damage with attacks, are the
Only usefull mods on your weapon!
- Use omen of corruption, and vaal slam for 3rd socket ( if you dare )
- socket either Greater Rune of Alacrity ( smoother mapping slightly less
Damage) or Soul Core of Citaqualotl ( slightly more damage, but less
Smooth mapping)

The helmet

The Deepest Tower... without it, the whole low-life tech, is lost.

For rings

- High flat fire damage to attacks ( not fire damage %)
- High life #
- high fire res ( atleast one Ruby Ring base helps a lot as well! )
- Some chaos res
- Str/Dex/INT as needed.

For boots (preferrably armour base)

- High Movement speed 30% +
- High life#
- High fire res
- Chaos res
- Str/Dex/Int as needed

Body Armour

Only option that makes sense here is an Ornate Plate base!
2.4% of life regen/sec or higher, and 3 open sockets preferred!
Needs to be of normal "rarity" in accordance with the Smith
Of Kitava Ascendancy!

For jewels:

3 stats are key!
- % Life regeneration rate
- Increased % Presence area of effect ( to offset the helm downside! )
- Damage penetrates % fire resistance
For your 4th stat, if you can find it,
- Totem placement speed
- Skill effect duration.

For your belt

- 2 charms slots minimum
- High life #
- High fire resistance
- Strength
- Dex/Int if needed
- Other res / chaos res if needed!
- optional, some armour

For Charms

- Thawing Charm
- Ngamahu's Chosen

Unique jewel: Prism of Belief
+1-3 to level of ancestral totems.

For Shockwave totem this would be the same jewel
But add's +1-3 to level of all shockwave totem gems

For "normal" min max : Gloves / Amulet

Use the Leopold's Applause with 10-15% fire damage penetration corrupt
Use Amulet as is shown in the item planner with
- +3 level of all melee skills
- High Life #
- Preferred all attributes! or the specific attribute you need
- Fire resist
Innitiative, is a good anoint for your amulet!

For *ultra* min max : Gloves / Amulet ( See Video guide split screen test and PoB for Damage difference )

For the highest possible damage we use
The Idol of Uldurn with a + 1 to level of all skills corrupt
Leopold's Applause with + 1 to level of all Melee skills corrupt
An additional presence / regen/ fire pen jewel to make up for the loss of the penetration corrupt and stay at 125% ( crucial to hit -50% on pinnacle content)

The ultra min max setup will still have a level 40 Ancestral Warrior Totem but now you'll have 4 of them! ( 33% more damage and coverage!!)

*Other* corruptions to look for

- Helm
20%++ Life regeneration rate

- Rings
% All elemental resistances

- Boots
Extra socket

- Armour
Extra socket

- Jewels
Fire res / stats like str / dex / int

- Belt
Stats like str / dex / int
But also fire resist, and even up to +3 maximum fire res ( rare on a GG belt)

Skill Gems

Support Gem Requirements:

Str 65

Dex 15

Int 45

Expand all

Ancestral Warrior Totem

Tame Beast

Voltaic Mark

Solar Orb

Time of Need

Flammability

Leap Slam

Shockwave Totem

Gem Priority

+26

Swap Elemental Focus for Upheaval if you feel you need it for more smooth mapping!

Swap Sunder, to Rolling Slam for pinnacle content only! Supports stay the same as the planner shows.

Shockwave Totem alternative setup included..

** BEWARE Shockwave Totem will seriously lack damage for Pinnacle
Tier 4 content! **

The video guide has a chapter in the showcase portion with a split screen side by side BIS Shockwave Totem VS BIS Ancestral Warrior Totem setup.. it's clear Shockwave Totem is not the play for pinnacle content!

It does however, make for an excellent mapper!
"choices/choices."

Passive Tree

main:

123

set 1:

set 2:

If you are running *Ultra min max*, as described under the "equipment tab"
The above tree add's an additional jewel on the bottom right side.

If you are running "normal min-max", as described in the "equipment tab"
Invest those 4 nodes into "sand in the eyes" for a combined node total of 16% increased attack speed. Or, if you have trouble gathering enough strength go for Brute Strength, the lead up to it = 36 strength.

How it Plays

The playcycle is as followed..

Leap Slam and [DNT] Dodge Roll at the end of the slam landing for better/faster movement through maps and empty spaces.

Put Ancestral Warrior Totem down and watch rare enemies get "one tapped"

Rinse and repeat!

For map bosses:
Use Solar Orb to apply Fire Exposure and gain even more regeneration!
Through Font of Blood
Voltaic Mark to make your beast shock for 43%
And Flammability.

For pinnacle content:
Swap over Sunder to Rolling Slam for the highest possible damage we can get out of totems! keep the other supports as they are listed in the "skill gems" section.

How it Works

The idea behind the build is that Physical damage can only carry you so far.
If you play a physical damage version of totems, you encounter enemy armour as well as a lack to scale any sort of damage % on your weapons.
A "global physical damage" mod simply doesn't exist as a weapon mod.

Through Avatar of Fire we lose 25% of our base damage pool, because only 75% of physical damage gets converted.. but we make up for that, and then some, by having the ability to scale % elemental damage with attacks on our weapons.. if you have a 130% roll with 3 Soul Core of Citaqualotl, you will have 220% increased elemental damage with attack Per weapon. the 440% ++ combined added elemental weapon damage, more than makes up for the loss through avatar of fire.

Other than that, we also gain acces to multiple strong damage supports!
Some of which would have been useless in a pure physical damage setting

Elemental Focus 25% more damage (Elemental)
Primal Armament 25% More damage (Elemental)
Fire Infusion 25% more damage (Elemental)
Execute 50% more damage Against enemies on low life

But where the build really takes over is:

The Ability to have enemies resistance to your damage be at a base of -50%
This is an incredible damage boost!

we achieve this with 79%+ fire damage penetrate from jewels, passive nodes and Leopold's Applause ( 10% ele pen on those gloves)

26% from Flammability
20% from Fire Exposure
This means we have a total of 125% "pen"
So even Xesht T4 Pinnacle boss, which has a resistance base of 75% will be at -50% fire resistance!

On top of that, we use the Quadrilla (or another beast)
to apply an addional 43% shock.

We really pulled out all the tricks for damage on this one!

For defences, the smith of Kitava needs no introduction!
The amazing life regeneration levels we achieve coupled with 90% all res
is all the defense we need!

For a clear visual on how the build performs,
Always check the video guide and the showcases therein.

If anything is missing from this guide, please let me know under the YT video and i will come back and edit this Moba Page!

Thanks for your consideration and enjoy!