Exiled Survivors Shaman Guide: Totem and Summon Build
How the Shaman plays in Exiled Survivors — a totem and summon specialist with build direction, Focus passive priorities, and difficulty notes.
Shaman is one of the 24 characters confirmed in Exiled Survivors’ data — and the name points at the most different playstyle on the roster. The specific starting skills, growth and unlock condition are not fully documented — check in-game; what follows is inference from naming plus confirmed systems.
What the name tells you (inference)
Shaman sits with the specialists — Trapper, PlagueDoctor, Vampire, Undead. The confirmed skill database has a Totem line (fire, frost, hail, blizzard, bonfire, pyre, searing and more) and a Summon family, plus Nature as a confirmed tag. The inference: a totem-and-summon character whose damage comes from things you place rather than things you throw. Inference from naming and the skill database — not a documented character sheet.
Damage direction
Nature and elemental. Totems exist in fire and frost flavors, and the Vine and Nature line (roots, snares, thorns) is the control layer. Confirmed tags: Fire, Frost, Lightning, Nature, Poison, Bleeding, Curse, Arcane — the damage types guide covers what each buys you.
Core skill combo
- Automatic core: a Totem-line skill. Totems are persistent area damage that works while you reposition — and they count as minions, which matters for passives.
- Energy skill: an energy Nova or Burst for when something walks through your totems into your face.
- Focus passives: Minion Focus is the sleeper pick — confirmed to boost ballistas, and totems count as minions too. Stack +/++/+++ on whichever family you commit to; see the focus passives guide.
Build direction
- Totems plus one personal damage skill. The fantasy is a battlefield you control.
- Nature snares and roots lock enemies into your totem zones — the combo engine.
- Totems have duration and health as their real stats; they can be killed.
- Gear: minion or summon and elemental damage. Exact weights not fully documented — check in-game.
Beginner-friendly?
Intermediate. The strongest Shaman patterns depend on placement and systems the game never explains. Play third, after you know what a Focus passive does.
How it differs
Elementalist throws the same elements; Shaman stations them. Pyromancer’s damage follows you; the Shaman’s stays where you put it. That placement dependency is the whole identity — and the reason the ceiling is high. More setups in the build compendium.