Do you know the Hierophant? The Hierophant is an Ascendancy class for Templars in PoE. As collectors of path of exile currency know, they can utilize a large mana pool effectively by converting it to defensive bonuses while also conserving and regenerating it. They can also utilize Arcane Surge with large bonuses to spellcasters attached to it, as well as endurance and power charge generation.
I think Assassin will be the most played class because it fits a lot of people’s playstyle. However, I think Hierophant has received the biggest buff from the classes we’ve seen so far. It also has the distinction of being the first non-Scion class to have more than six keystone nodes to chose from. Hierophant is now perfectly viable for both totems and normal spellcasters.
In fact, having not seen the new Witch ascendancies yet, Hierophant is currently the best spellcaster class in the game. Additionally, the totem aspect of Hierophant was buffed through the roof. They split up its extra totems so you can now get three with your first ascension, and four with your second.
Between both nodes you can still get the bonuses that the old nodes gave, but also get + 100% totem duration, 50% increased totem placement speed, you regenerate 0.5% of your mana per second per totem, and you and your totems regain 1% of your health per second per totem.
The spellcaster section of Hierophant also got a massive buff: they got rid of the weird node that gave bonus effects to gems socketted in your gear. It was replaced with two nodes that give massive bonuses when you have Arcane Surge, and give you Arcane Surge on kill. Arcane Surge itself gives 20% more spell damage (more, not increased), as well as increased cast speed and mana regen. That, on top of the bonus damage, and, most importantly, spell leech, is insane. That’s right, they’ve added in spell leech.
The spell leech aspect alone is the reason I think Hierophant is currently the best class for spellcasters, but they also have increased Mind over Matter, as well as Power Charge and Endurance Charge generation. For a well rounded spellcasting build, it’ll be hard to beat Hierophant.
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