I played a hierophant arc totem and it was incrediably cheap, did most of the stuff with a 5 link chest until I got some ex and bought a 6 link. I have no desire to kill shaper so I did all the maps up to tier 14 with no problem at all and have done 2 guardians for no real reason. I have 15 ex left over I could spend but don't know what else I would buy that would really help at this point. Getting to uber elder and shaper would probably ramp up clost a good bit tho.
Having said that I won't be playing it again any time soon. Just spamming totem and flask to clear curses on myself and that's about it.