The Cold Cannon [HC] Projectile CoCS Wand ~ Avoidance / Flask / Coil / Resistance Tank

Thanks for the responses C0Y0T3_SLY. :) I agree with what he said.

I'm currently leveling as this build in Bloodlines with a Tabula Rasa and low currency as a Shadow for a more damage-oriented spec. I'm starting out as Elemental Buzzsaw because all the damage nodes work well with it.

Here's my endgame plan, which is almost identical to the one in the first post but with less life nodes. It grabs much more damage and intelligence however. I will run Alpha's Howl, Herald of Thunder/Ice, Purity of Fire/Ice/Lightning. So less life on the tree and no life on a helmet means my life will cap out at around ~5k whereas with the more defense oriented version I would have ~5.5k.

I will be updating the guide here and there and maybe add some more sections. I'll let you guys know how it goes along the way!

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iao wrote:

Thanks for the responses C0Y0T3_SLY. :) I agree with what he said.

I'm currently leveling as this build in Bloodlines with a Tabula Rasa and low currency as a Shadow for a more damage-oriented spec. I'm starting out as Elemental Buzzsaw because all the damage nodes work well with it.

Here's my endgame plan, which is almost identical to the one in the first post but with less life nodes. It grabs much more damage and intelligence however. I will run Alpha's Howl, Herald of Thunder/Ice, Purity of Fire/Ice/Lightning. So less life on the tree and no life on a helmet means my life will cap out at around ~5k whereas with the more defense oriented version I would have ~5.5k.

I will be updating the guide here and there and maybe add some more sections. I'll let you guys know how it goes along the way!

My character's actually a shadow also, although my tree looks a bit different.

One thing I'd point out is the survivalist node with the +1 max cold resist. With that and vaal grace+spell acro reflect is basically a total non issue and my gear isn't even up to par to run Saffel's/Atziri's Step yet.

How viable would this build being using a Windripper over a wand?

Edit. Learned to read and saw explanation clearly labeled "Wands, not Daggers or Bows" :(
GG'd my self with a purchase of Windripper Go me!!!

Windripper is certainly great for CoCS, it's just not as defensive as having a shield of course. It however allows for two 6L, so you can have one for multiple targets and the other for single targets. This is great because Tornado Shot is one of the best CoCS attacks and you can still use Barrage which is the best for single targets.

However it is worth noting that because the lack of spell damage or critical strike multiplier your single target will be much less than that of a wand, and you won't be able to reliably shotgun projectile spells because of the knockback from King of the Hill.

You will also probably need Vaal Pact as your damage gets high enough even if using the triple Purity combination, which means you'll probably need to traverse that section of the tree rather than the Witch starting area. That means no Alchemist or 6th Power Charge. It is possible to go the Witch starting area route instead of the Vaal Pact route but you'd need to be very cautious, which means slower gameplay.

A bit of an update to what I'm currently doing with my CoCS character. I decided to try out something very different from this build, yet very similar.

Basically, it's a hybrid life + energy shield version of this build with a much higher focus on damage yet still having great defenses. I've been playing around with hybrid builds for this whole league thus far and the best way to do it, in my opinion, is using energy shield as a defense for life rather than as your life pool.

This is what I'm currently planning for an endgame tree. As you can see, the amount of increased energy shield is quite high and the increased maximum life is quite average. I did some math and found that 4.5k life and 5k ES should be very plausible to aim for, which is pretty insane. Another thing to note is I'm using Ghost Reaver, which is extremely powerful for hybrid builds.

One thing to note is that with the proper gear (sans Maligaro's Virtuosity) and a good wand you can reach the critical strike chance cap (95%) with Barrage, which most CoCS builds simply can't do. In fact I actually cut down on some of the critical strike chance nodes in the Shadow tree because they're not even necessary.

I will run Haste, Discipline, Herald of Ice, and Herald of Thunder. The first three in an Alpha's Howl, and Herald of Thunder in a 4L for a Curse on Hit setup. Currently I'm not running Herald of Ice but with a level 20 Reduced Mana and the 4% reduced mana reservation node I can. Haste is awesome but of course you can use something else, such as Purity of Ice,

My current gear:

barrage desyncs like crazy :(

Unfortunately, yes. Though Kinetic Blast is also a good choice now, it's just more mana consuming so you need to invest a little into mana to do it. It's basically just like using Tornado Shot.

What bandit rewards do you take?
How is elemental reflect so far with your hybrid set up?

Kill all, Kraityn, Alira.

Reflect is fine with my Sapphire Flask. That is to say, it never breaks through to my life pool. And if it does become a problem, Vaal Discipline or Vaal Grace negates it entirely. I have the former equipped for bosses so I sometimes pop it for big reflect packs.

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iao wrote:

Kill all, Kraityn, Alira.

Reflect is fine with my Sapphire Flask. That is to say, it never breaks through to my life pool. And if it does become a problem, Vaal Discipline or Vaal Grace negates it entirely. I have the former equipped for bosses so I sometimes pop it for big reflect packs.

Thanks for the reply.

I'm running a life based version with Spectral Throw because I really couldn't stand using Barrage and it's occasional desync. I clear packs fairly quickly and while the single target damage does not compare to Barrage, it still does the job at the a decent pace. Whirling Blades is also really nice to have when maneuvering through maps or dangerous situations.

I actually almost killed myself while running a Sapphire Flask on an elemental reflect map two days ago. I was running Haste, Herald of Ice, and Herald of Thunder as my auras and a rare chest, shield, boots, and Rat's Nest. Since then, I have made the decision to run Saffell's Frame for the maximum elemental resistance bonus, Alpha's Howl so I can have reduced mana reservation and three Lv20 purities when they hit Lv18, and Atziri's Steps for the additional spell dodge. I can't run all purities at the same time yet but for now I can run two purties, herald of thunder, and my low level clarity. I ran elemental reflect earlier today and it was pretty safe. I didn't notice any huge changes in my clear speed. Purities are also a huge quality of life improvement and makes gearing a lot easier.

Current Gear:


I have plans to mastercraft a Vagan Dagger so I can completely drop accuracy on gear and focus on defensive and quality of life buffs. Mana has been a small issue since Spectral Throw costs a little more and is quicker on the cast so I'm running a low level clarity. Armageddon Coil Diamond Ring is a huge help to my sustained casts. I was running EB but specced out of it so I could start on the aura nodes.

This is my current planned tree:


Let me know if I'm making any mistakes in pathing or any nodes I took. Open to criticism as this is this first league where I was able to fund a character like this one, god bless magic finding characters.

I should have 97% elemental resistance when I pop my flasks later. I'm not sure what kind of flask set up I should use. I'm thinking about double hp, jade, and double resistance pots. Whirling Blades kind of helps me move around the map pretty fast in place of a quicksilver, although they both have clear differences in what they can do and I do have some additional movement speed due to Quickstep and the nodes around it.

I'm wondering if its worth crafting on Elreon's Diamond Rings to completely reserve my mana pool without a problem.