Totem vs Mace+Sheild

[fluffhead321]

Hey everyone, I was curious about your thoughts on Mace and Sheild vs Totem on a sampire. Any thoughts on which is better, or is it dependent on other factors? I was thinking, if I was using a weapon that already had over 40 HLD, that maybe the mace and sheild glasses wouldnt be efficient and then I'd switch to Totem.

Any thoughts ideas would be appreciated, thanks!

[The Silvertiger]

More hld is always effective. Going from 50 to 80 keeps more uptime on HLD therefore making sure you always hit. The main thing with totem is STR bonus and hci. The m&s gives like 10, so that adds to its value. With more hci items in the game today the need for hci on the helm greatly diminishes. Usually people run 20 hci on legs and 20-25 on jewels. If they happen to have trinket they only need 10-15 hci on jewels. So if you don't use it for hci, you only effectively getting 10 STR out of it. It also has like 20 phys whereas the m&s has 25. So basically stacked up against each other you get:

Totem:
10 STR
15 hci [though not really]
15 reflect [not important]
-30 HLD
-5 dex
-5 phys
-7 fire
-2 cold
-6 poison
-6 energy

M&S:
30 HLD
-10 str
-15 hci [though not really]
-15 reflect [not important]
5 dex
5 phys
7 fire
2 cold
6 poison
6 energy

Basically:
Totem
10 str

M&S:
30 HLD
5 dex
5/7/2/6/6

[Mr Straitions]

I think mace and shield wins because of how it works in with other pieces. However, the ultimate answer is both. I'm no smapire expert, but take a look at some of the top tier samps like tanya and maybe morto. They switch gear in and out a lot. Mace and shield might be used predominately but totem might be situational. They will switch skills around a lot too. I think necroweavers have it a bit easier in this aspect because we only need to switch tailsmens and books around.

I've seen Tanya switch to inquiz orny in some situations too.

[Les Stroud]

Unless you have an amazing hld weapon (which you don't) 30 hld>totem all day

[Calvin]

it's a weapon mod is the thing, all your 4 mod weps become 5 mod weps.

so you're bumping a 20kk wep to a 200kk wep

[The Silvertiger]

Another thought is that you're most likely not going to be using the same weapon on every monster.

[Mr Straitions]

So the question is, is totem something that's worth it's space in a sampires bag?

[The Silvertiger]

So the question is, is totem something that's worth it's space in a sampires bag?

Not really. You're going to have a different suit for totem than m&s most likely. Now if you're carrying the whole suit... bless that thang and roll out.

[Calvin]

str is more of a primary stat for a sampire, same with hci, so it's a tough call

if you trade hci for hld, you are trading 15% 100% of the time, for 20% 30% of the time

but if you are already at the cap it's different

[The Silvertiger]

str is more of a primary stat for a sampire, same with hci, so it's a tough call

if you trade hci for hld, you are trading 15% 100% of the time, for 20% 30% of the time

but if you are already at the cap it's different

You trade:
10 str
15 rpd
15 hci

For

30 HLD
5 dex
5/7/2/6/6

Really going hci pants and jewels is a lot better than hci on the helm, and it costs about the same. Str pots are beast. Use them.

[one of millions]

and the m&s never will go higher than 12kk.

[Loler]

Hld are hands down just better stat for stat. Totem is only niche for key situations or a special suit design in which case the 30 hci orc helm usually beats totem there but for 2 1/2x the price of totem.

In the end use whatever you can make the best suit out of for your situation. Some mobs u hit 100% e
With 120 wep and 45 hci so hld isnt needed. In doom if another dexer is using hld glasses on your target you wont need to use them. So many unique situations its hard to generalize what is better other then looking at pure stat allocation