Cabdru - Hardcore Freeze Pulse Crit AA EB Acrobatics build!!

You can check out this build in action at www.twitch.tv/cabdru

I am currently level 88 in Beyond league and going ham!

I've had a lot of requests to do a write up for the freeze pulse build I am using. I wasn't originally planning on making my own freeze pulse build but since 1.2 was newly released and the whole tree was changed my buddy Bruen and I got to theory crafting. The end result is a build that not only performed better than expected butt has continued to be so fun and effective to play. This build is not very expensive to do, the only item that is really a keystone to its effectiveness would be a Cloak of Defiance which on beyond at the moment is running about 2-2.5 exalts.

So lets get down to buisness.

PASSIVE TREE

http://tinyurl.com/ptt5kl9

DEFENSIVE OVERVIEW

This build incorporates arctic armor and mind over matter to survive. Also acrobatics(40% dodge) and phase acrobatics(30% spell dodge). I am also running a saffel's for an additional 21% spell block. Between the insane dodge and incredible damage reduction from arctic armor and mind over matter you will be a monster. End game I am running around 4k - 4.5k hit points. This build also runs 8% life leech from the life leech gem attached to the freeze pulse. With the tons of damage you will be putting out shotgunning freeze pulse you will have tons of sustain. The hits that get through your dodge are quickly healed up from the life leech. This is a crit based build and your cold spells freeze every time you crit. You can just walk up to packs of mobs and insta freeze them all, if mobs can't attack back that is the best defense =). You will need to run discipline aura while leveling up for the extra mana with eldritch battery and mana regen. Once you get to the point where you are ready to pick up acrobatics you need to drop discipline because the 50% less energy shield from acrobatics makes this aura worthless but up until that point it is key.

OFFENSIVE OVERVIEW

This is a high crit build. Your entire dps is based around your ability to crit. It utilizes a lot of +critical strike passive nodes. We then take those crits and scale it further with power charge on critical and spell echo. Faster casting is very important to this build as well. The faster you cast, the more chance you have to crit and with more crits comes more freeze. Also your dps is increased by running the Herald of Ice aura. I have not ran herald of ash but I think it could work as well but I enjoy the extra freeze herald of ice adds to the build when mobs die. I also run greater multiple projectiles with freeze pulse. With shotgunning it does similar or better single target dps than lesser multiple projectiles and is a lot better for clearing packs. Shotgunning is when you get close to a mob and cast freeze pulse, when all 5 pulses come out of you you are close enough to it so that every single freeze pulse its it so you are effectively doing 5 times the damage that it says for your dps when you mouse over the ability on your hotkey bar. Also freeze pulse damage is lessened if a mob is further away. So it does max damage if you are in its face and right next to it and the further away from you that a creature is the less damage freeze pulse will do. This damage reduction can be mitigated by increased projectile speed. Projectile speed will increase the how far your freeze pulse travels which means it will also decrease the range in which the damage of freeze pulse damage reduction reduces. So lets say your freeze pulse hits a creature 50 pixels away from you and the max range your freeze pulse can travel is 100 pixels, since it hits the creature halfway through its travel path we'll say that it reduces the damage of the freeze pulse by 50%. Where as if you hit that same creature 50 pixels away from a sped up freeze pulse that travels 500 pixels then the damage your freeze pulse will be reduced by would of been only 10%. This is why having a 20% quality freeze pulse gem is very important, at 20% quality it will increase your freeze pulses projectile speed by 60%. This build is extremely versatile, with the switching of a couple gems you can get in the face of your opponents and blow them up with freeze pulse or if you are scared of what you are fighting then throw in an ice spear gem where your freeze pulse was and kill stuff off screen. Or if you are with your friends and you want to be a crowd control god then throw elemental proliferation into your freeze pulse link and perma freeze the entire screen for days. The utility and versatility of the build is what I really like about it, at any moment you can adapt to any situation. Your friends will love to have you around for your crowd control and if you want to solo you can blow anything up easily with the large amount of dps and tankiness this build provides.

Spell Totem:
I also have a spell totem set up to coincide with the freeze pulse that is absolutely amazing. You will want to have a 4 linked spell totem linked up to Ice Spear - Elemental Proliferation - Greater Multiple Projectiles - Spell Totem. The totem will perma freeze entire packs and provide good additional dps when needed. The elemental proliferation will allow you to also freeze bosses such as dominus, vaal, merveil etc. If you drop your totem then open a strong box it will perma freeze all 3 packs of creatures and make strong boxes extremely simple objectives to overcome.

PASSIVE TREE

LEVEL 40 : http://tinyurl.com/kxqposf

LEVEL 60 : http://tinyurl.com/p8op8uz

LEVEL 80 : http://tinyurl.com/mzgllgo

FINAL TREE : http://tinyurl.com/ptt5kl9

BANDITS

Normal - Help Oak

Cruel - Take skill point, if you want the 4% cast speed then take one of the 4% nodes linked on the shadow side near trickery with that skill point

Merciless - Help Alira, more power charges = MMMHMMM

SKILLS AND SUPPORTS

Chest

- Greater Multiple Projectiles
- Life Leech
- Freeze Pulse
- Spell Echo
- Power Charge on Critical

If you do not feel you need the life leech you can replace it with faster casting or added lightning damage for extra damage but I really enjoyed the life leech for hardcore. If you got a 6L then just add one of those two to it. Elemental Proliferation is also clutch if you need to crowd control.

4L

- Spell Totem
- Ice Spear
- Elemental Proliferation
- Greater Multiple Projectiles

4L

- Cast when Damage Taken
- Enduring Cry
- Immortal Call
- Increased Duration

4L

- Clarity
- Reduced Mana
- Herald of Ice
- Arctic Armor (don't really need to link it but you can throw it in here if you need a slot)

3L

- Reduced Duration
- Lightning Warp
- Faster Casting

3L

- Faster Casting
- Ele weakness or Frostbite
- Enfeeble (really you can put whatever here, maybe even increased aoe for curses)

GEAR

I'll link what I am wearing at this time.



The cloak of defiance is the cornerstone and item you should be getting to get first and foremost. The earlier you get a cloak of defiance the better. I would suggest farming piety or vaal in merciless hard till you get one and not trying anything more difficult till you get this key piece in your gear setup. The saffels works really nicely with this build in my opinion, it has spell damage and spell block as well as some spell damage. With the saffels this build will put you at 21% spell block chance as well as 30% spell dodge chance, 51% spell avoidance is awsome. Also the saffels +max resistances really helps a ton with elemental reflect. My dagger is just a rare dagger with a ton of crit, mana regen and spell damage. My rings and ammys are all mana regen/hp/crit. The voidbringer gloves are awsome and will add a huge increase in dps as well as crit/freeze potential. The hardest thing your going to have trouble with gearing for this build is making sure you have mana regen on your rings and amulet and hopefully your dagger as well. Once you drop discipline and loose the mana regen from the max mana discipline was giving you then you really got to make up for it in gear.

My potions are




The mana potion is a must for mind over matter. If you get chunked really hard from a massive hit like a vaal or dom smash then you need to get that mana back up quickly because mana is relative hit points in this build.

I will be posting videos of game play etc soon as I figure out how to get them up on youtube. I am sure I am forgetting some things and I'll remember and update the post. If anyone has any questions please post and I will try to answer them as best I can.

www.twitch.tv/cabdru to check out the build!

Rip bro, fun build though. Working great on rampage.

Watched your stream a bit yesterday. Seemed like a really fun build. I am currently doing a crit glacial cascade on beyond.

Here is my attempt at the build, any thoughts?

https://www.poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgMA34rpAr2CVyv-s20ZakPAVAj0vOqCEN-wSbIC4welEFgsnK-b0PVBlgVCrrMXVEwtIoGeoVZKjjyCHhSw2wuio8Hzf8YnqRGWSVHw1ZUuBx7yHWSd6_WP-l3yDkg2PWKsnapsjHBSidNw1SoL8-o6Qkt43agwcdQjBbXC7LTFtQRFRzLRuJPN-nyDES0abOQi42o26SSqFm-2-vemjmRgbd3zXcaiABRNgzidgLl8jAvssFNSRZ2a4Ovu44SiLlBCjDZVS2HiJpVrF5Ugl_RSUz1fBLPwH58B874G6Sdh_xxLjR6BY0MpT4V9gps=

Eb and acrobatics? Is it wise to take both? Doesn't acrobatics halve the effects of eb?

Runnin17 your build is looking decent. You may think of taking soul siphon if you are having mana issues for 2 points. Just know that you won't be able to work acrobatics into your build till probably like level 85 just cause you can't deal with the mana regen problems its going to cause due to it having eldritch battery.

Kompaniet, yes acrobatics will drop your energy shield by 50% which will severely lessen the gains you receive from eldritch battery but you will still require eldritch battery. It will still be a good mana boost. Also when you start running acrobatics you will need to drop discipline and just run clarity and herald of ice. After acrobatics and everything i was running 1500 mana unreserved for my MOM safety net and i had to start using a mana potion instead of 2 granites at that point but the tankyness you get from 40% dodge and 30% spell dodge is insane. Before acrobatics while running discipline I was looking at about 1500 unreserved mana as well but i had a ton more mana regen. You loose some mana regen but that is easily made up for with a mana pot. Just gotta get into the habit of if you take a massive hit you need to pop a insta heal + mana pot at the same time. Acrobatics does half the effects of eldritch battery but you dont need the full effects of eldritch battery to run this build, half is sufficient to maintain 250-300+ mana regen with a 1500 mana + reserve.