Self-Curse Flameblast Tri-totem (hardcore)

The base idea of Flameblast totems is solid, especially for a hardcore league. The drawbacks of totems (lower cast speed and damage, and takes a support gem spot) are made up by the totem perfectly channeling the spell, stopping as soon as it hits 10 stacks and starting a new cast. In addition, you are able to run away from danger while continuing damage, and you are immune to reflects since your totem is doing the damage.

There is already a good write up of a build using this concept with an Inquisitor in the Templar class build forums. Where this build differs is specific emphasis on hardcore survival (stack all the life), and a newly-viable combo of key unique items and skill tree nodes. It works with the Guardian, but is best with the Scion Ascendant.

With either class, you get 25% reduced effect of curses from class specialization. As of patch 3.0, the unique ring Kikazaru gives 40% reduced effect of curses. With the class ability and two rings you are immune to all curses. The curse still hits you, it just doesn't affect you in any way. We are going to take advantage of that!

The unique body armor Soul Mantle gives a free level 20 Spell Totem Support and lets you have 3 totems active, with the drawback that when your totems die or expire they cast a random level 20 curse on you. This isn't a drawback because of our immunity. Further, we can use the unique jewel Self Flagellation to turn that drawback into a powerful benefit.

In summary, the build core is:

Ascendant/Guardian + Kikazaru x2 + Soul Mantle + Self Flagellation

In practice I typically had 5 curses on myself. Often it would only be 4, but sometimes as high as 8. With a max-roll 20% jewel (not expensive since so narrow in use), this is 100% increased damage.*

I used this build to reach level 90 hardcore for the first (and likely last) time. Here is a link to my character imported into Path of Building:

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And using screenshots from Path of Building, here is my tree




Here it is exported to the Path of Exile official site, if you prefer that or if you use some other offline skill tree planner.

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Here are my character stats; the 226% increased life includes four 7% jewels, and the average flameblast hit includes 5 curses on me. Listed DPS is for 1 totem, not all 3.

I finished the league with a 6-link, but I went most of the league with 5 just fine. In order of priority, the gems are (remember, you get Spell Totem for free):

Flameblast
Faster Casting Support
Increased Area of Effect Support
Fire Penetration Support
Elemental Focus Support
Controlled Destruction Support

Conveniently, 5/6 of these gems are the same color as the armor so chroming is easy.

I also had my golem helping me survive. With my ascendancy class I share charges with my allies so I made my golem gain endurance charges:

Summon Chaos Golem
Endurance Charge on Melee Stun Support
Stun Support
Culling Strike Support

I rounded out my gems with a Purity resistance aura, CWDT linked to Immortal Call, and Flame Dash. This left a lot of gem slots unused, which I just filled with random things leveling to sell or corrupt. I left most of my mana unreserved to give a helpful Mind over Matter buffer.

Kikazaru (ring) x2
Soul Mantle (body armor)

The unique jewel isn't required, but it's inexpensive and adds a lot of value.

Self Flagellation (jewel)

Everything else can be a rare for resists, life (!), and other helpful stats, although I used the unique belt Dyadian Dawn for a long time for its stats.

Start by pathing to the Ancestral Bond node for double totems. About when you get there, you will unlock Flameblast and then the build is set. Until then, Frostbolt is a solid self cast spell available to Scion from the start, good at both pack clearing and single target damage. If you have someone else to buy it for you, Firestorm is a fine alternative.

Next, pick up Mind over Matter and the mana nodes behind it.

Now you can either go for more life or more damage based on how things are going for you. In ranked order of benefit per point from my tree, they go

Life:
Constitution
rest of Scion life wheel
Quick Reflexes
Devotion
Tireless
Heart and Soul
Barbarism
Heart of the Warrior
Juggernaut

Damage:
Shamanistic Fury
Explosive Impact
Totemic Mastery
Celestial Judgment
Arsonist
Light of Divinity
Fire Walker
Amplify

Don't forget to set up your CWDT + Immortal Call as soon as you can! And a golem makes a big difference for distracting enemies from you.

As built, this isn't really softcore-viable. I placed such an emphasis on survival over dps that I wouldn't be able to clear content with a hard dps-check like the Shaper or his guardians. Some minor changes could ramp up the damage, while also giving more things to keep track of and keeping the play style exciting. (I found it exciting enough not dying in hardcore.)

For a cost of two skill points, you can pick up Elemental Overload. This is a 40% "more" damage modifier, which you could trigger with Trap Support linked to something with a high crit chance like Ice Spear. (Many builds recommend Orb of Storms to trigger EO since each hit has its own separate chance to crit. This doesn't work for a build that uses Ancestral Bond.)

You will get these two points for free as a Scion since in a softcore league you won't avoid the map labyrinth trials like I did in hardcore.

You can switch out the golem from chaos (physical damage mitigation) to lightning (faster casting). Then since the lightning golem doesn't have a melee attack, you could switch out the charge generator from Endurance Charge on Melee Stun to either Ice Bite (frenzy charges) or Power Charge on Critical Strike. I tested both these with my chaos golem and found uptime was not high, but it's free. Alternatively, you could just link the golem to Increased Item Rarity since it's already going to be getting most boss kills with culling strike.

You could dual wield weapons with cast speed and increased damage instead of carrying a shield. Note that while the unique scepter Doryani's Catalyst is very expensive and sounds like it should be the best weapon (it is for a build that relies on burning), at least in Path of Building a rare cast speed wand performs better. You're getting so much increased damage from spamming curses at yourself the scepter's increased damage is not as strong as more casts.

Finally, you could manage your resistances so you don't need a resistance aura, and use auras or heralds to boost damage. I recommend Anger + Herald of Thunder. You should probably give your golem a resist support gem if you do that though.

It took me a long time to figure out that all damage modifiers with the word "increased" add together, while all those with the word "more" multiply with each other. So 100% increased damage is very good, but probably doesn't double your damage since you already have increased damage from other sources. But 40% "more" damage really does make you do 40% more damage.