Frost Nova Shadow - (Optimizing) - Criticism Welcome!

UPDATED 18.09.2014

Hey,
first of all I just hit lvl 59 and so far i havent had any major troubles since i changed some skills. But now is the time where i have to choose where to go:
more crit / spell dmg / faster cast speed / more es/hp?
Every suggestion is welcome as long as it is constructive!

UPDATED 18.09.2014
Hit lvl 64 yesterday... getting a small brickwall... need srsly a 5L... bought a carcass and have to 5S 5L it... I hope today I can do it... decided to go to templar area for + area + critnodes therefore i can get concentrated effect with almost the same range as before... that should boost my dmg to the sky!


Quick Overview (UPDATED 18.09.2014):


LVL 59:


LVL 64 (UPDATED 18.09.2014):


Gem Setup


Synergies:


(UPDATE)I need help with:
1. Defense Setup: cwdt + ??? => got thrown out / not used yet until i know what i wanna do with it
2. should i alter herald of ice? yes / no and why? => no HoI is ok w/o mods
3. Skilltree: Where should i go now? => decided to go to templar area for spellcrit
4. Which skills should i change?

Thx in advance!

I am playing non-crit Ice Nova right now, currently at lvl 79. I just managed to 5l my chest so got to 79 with 4l no problem.

1. Defence setup, usually CWDT/EC/IM/IncreasedDuration. I don't use it atm as my gear is EV/ES based so getting 4R on one of the pieces will take a lot of chromes, not worth it for me. My defensive setup is just Trap/ColdSnap/ElementalProliferation. It is inredible, you can freeze lock almost everything. Later in the game I will change my Lightning Warp setup (same as yours atm) to Warp(quality)/ReducedDuration/CurseOnHit/Frostbite. The reason is I throw one cold trap, and immediately warp into the middle of the pack to dish out novas. With Curse on hit mobs will be already cursed, better freezes more damage, no need to cast it manually.

2. Herald of Ice is awesome, keep it. The shattering spree deals a lot of damage to everything.

3. Go for some more life and take that crit nodes near Scion. Perhaps go to the left of Scion for life/mana regen nodes and Scion Life Wheel.



Have you concidered going EB? You didn't take any ES regen nodes and you dont leech to ES, I think it would be better to change that ES to Mana and maybe run AA (my next step once I get good regen going)

4. Looks good, I just recently started to use Glacial Cascade for rares and bosses plus Vaal Skeletons.

If you want to contact me in game so we can chat, I am happy to share more thoughts with you, Mad


Edit: Get Carcass Jack chest, the increased area works wonders for nova and later for cursing with warp. Quality Ice Nova is a must too.

What about somethink like this:

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgYARXyXl_v1tDjlGYw2Av5VS9-EYeJCwyaVXfIWv3DVDkiJ02NDEZZwUn_GBx4qC6KjJ6l-WRzclS7z6sHzD8STJ_DVlSCCHjt8tAzviI_6SVFrFy0fFLDbC7jKRnGycPk36_W86kyzTC2DCWKV189kncBUUDAEBxdUb54qU0mx8h0I9GpD214fAoPbjjycpG0ZNsVVxlZKhxOX9NgkOlieoXcHUlOnCCKBPV8VUNrdna4abOQitQQpT45kXcaFfew496bd8xo4tvpgbaeEnYCQVYM4FE3vfKIA

Its has more crit around 150% hp and EB wich you can use with MOM and AA for extra surviveability?!?

I kinda agreee with Gathor!

Except I would use a different tree with power charges for more crits + spell dmg & would not use a Carcass Jack chest as EB-user but a Cloak Of Deviance for more survivability.

Also the three I choose would make up for the lack of Carcass Jack cuz it uses the witches + templars AoE + Area DMG notes.

In the end its all up to you but thats just my opinion!

Hope this can help ya! :)

The tree:

BTW: That lightning warp-curse setup is awesome! Guess I'll use it for myself now :P THX FOR THAT! :P

First of all THX for the replies!

The Warp + Curse seems worth a try!

@gathor

1. ill try the Trap/Coldsnap/EP
the curse on warp seems nice but imo risky at the same time now i can cast my "curse nova" and keep distance but ill still considering it!

2. Yeah HoI is pretty nice but should i improve it with something?

3. thats the question where i want to go now... >.<

i want to take the life/es nodes near shadow of and the critnotes that u have alrdy mentioned but after that i dont know.

i alrdy considred going eb or take the "faster recharge" nodes near eb and get arcane focus at witch start.

on the other hand i consider just "pushing" spell dmg / cast speed at witch/shadow start.

4. yeah read that i one build but i dont like to be "static" im more like "kite and dodge player" on the otherhand ive heared its realy nice dps

Sure u can pm me ill play every day after work...


@Maximus

Looks great aswell. I also considered the "full" crit variant.


Additional note:
Im poor as hell and cant afford nice uniques :D

=> BACK TO TOPIC <=
IMO I see 4 Options.
1. Going near templar for more crit + power charges + cold dmg (maximus)
=> 8 Points going there is hard :/ but there is bigger radius + more crit

2. going through scion area for more es + life + regen + there is general elemental dmg + cast speed near it. (gathor)
=> would also a variant but more "defense"

3. a lil bit more offense and defence
thought about adding a ll gem and going a bit more crit + life + later on reaver + faster recharge...


4. get power charges + more es + faster recharge + reaver

For pure damage, remote mine is actually the best on Ice Nova. It's basically a spell echo (traps take .5s to place and you'll pick up decent laying speed on the tree or with a quality gem) + huge damage multiplier in one gem. It requires a little support, namely going to the right trap nodes to get +10% ele pen (which is fantastic!) and the "mines can't be damaged for 5 seconds" node. And given how ice nova requires no targeting, the "downside" of mines (sometimes awkward placement or targetting) is basically nonexistent.

You can link HoI with Blind without increasing its mana reservation. You will only really notice it in large groups because of the relatively low chance and the fact that it only appears when shattering mobs but it can still be nice, especially if you are up against a group of Skeletons or Vaal Fallen with some of the hard hitting big guys mixed in.

I would also suggest considering the Fingers of Frost notable since it has a big impact on your ability to freeze/chill enemies.

Besides EB/AA there is also the option to go CI since you are already using ES gear and have a lot of Int on your build. But whatever you choose to do you will want to eventually have 20% quality on your Frost Nova ;)

The curse on hit won't be risky at all in my situation as the pack of mobs ill be warping into will be frozen (99% of the time) or at least chilled. I am already doing exactly that, one trap followed by immediate warp followed by Ice Novas. Also thanks to Herald of Ice, if you crit with your Warp you will additionally shock everything around you in addition to freezing the mobs (these area nodes and Carcass Jack help a lot). Not sure how you want to be kite and dodge, might be hard without EV, AA and so on. I am freezelocking most of the time, got Phase Acro and Ondars and still few offscreen hits can hurt. Getting AA going is my priority now.

If you want to use Cloak you will need to get your mana pretty high and have about 1k unreserved really. I tried Cloak for my build and it won't work as few hit will deplete my mana and I just stand there regenerating. Ice Nova costs a lot;/ I think 125 mana/use.

Also I don't have good gear either, the only good unique I found was Carcass Jack heh, so theres my luck.

"

Avelice wrote:

For pure damage, remote mine is actually the best on Ice Nova. It's basically a spell echo (traps take .5s to place and you'll pick up decent laying speed on the tree or with a quality gem) + huge damage multiplier in one gem. It requires a little support, namely going to the right trap nodes to get +10% ele pen (which is fantastic!) and the "mines can't be damaged for 5 seconds" node. And given how ice nova requires no targeting, the "downside" of mines (sometimes awkward placement or targetting) is basically nonexistent.

yeah i could consider that but i wouldrather go with:
coldsnap + trap + ep (+x)
that because near the starting area are 2x trap skills which require less than the mine...

btw ill try to be a hybrid selfcaster!

imo finger of frost is not that good becuse if i should go the crit way = monsters will be perma freezed

"

The curse on hit won't be risky at all in my situation as the pack of mobs ill be warping into will be frozen (99% of the time) or at least chilled. I am already doing exactly that, one trap followed by immediate warp followed by Ice Novas. Also thanks to Herald of Ice, if you crit with your Warp you will additionally shock everything around you in addition to freezing the mobs (these area nodes and Carcass Jack help a lot). Not sure how you want to be kite and dodge, might be hard without EV, AA and so on. I am freezelocking most of the time, got Phase Acro and Ondars and still few offscreen hits can hurt. Getting AA going is my priority now.

If you want to use Cloak you will need to get your mana pretty high and have about 1k unreserved really. I tried Cloak for my build and it won't work as few hit will deplete my mana and I just stand there regenerating. Ice Nova costs a lot;/ I think 125 mana/use.

Also I don't have good gear either, the only good unique I found was Carcass Jack heh, so theres my luck.

ok that seems rly nice i think ill try the trap / warp thing :D

cloak isnt in my price span... i think ill go hybrid life / es and pushing some of my spell dmg / crit... if u should find a spare carcass contact me its not in my price league again >.<

Cloak and Carcass got for next to nothing in Rampage, I saw some for 10 Chaos.