[1.3] In Cold Blood - Blood Magic Crit Arc Freezer (vid)

Here is my build that i came up recently. Im not taking credit for it as this combination was presented before but this is my version of it. It uses staff as weapon and blood magic. Its work in progress, dont expect to see milion dps tooltips and mirrior gear.

What this build do is use Arc to freeze and shock enemies. For this you need 2 uniques


Arc freezes and Pyre applies shock through dmg conversion from Herald of Ice


Rest of gear:



My gear is far from perfect, all is self found - amulet needs replacement, im using it mostly for light res. Maligaro is nice to have as it provides dps and dexterity which this build lacks (saves you node or two).

Lightning Coil is used for dmg mitigation through lighning res. For that im running Purity of lightning and this takes care of elem reflect also so we kill 2 birds with one stone.
Also standard cwdt setup is present for large phys dmg spikes.

Why Staff?

I know dual wand would be much more dps and crit chance but this staff dropped for me and I wanted to use it, also you could easily roll colors on it not like on 5L lightning coil.
It may be changed in the future

Links for arc: Arc - Light pen - spell echo - life leech - pcoc
Im not using empower atm as a 5 link, I used it before and tooltip dps was better but keeping up power charges only with Assasins Mark is a pain in the ass. With pcoc You have perma 6 power charges which is very important as it gives also 24% increased spell dmg besides crit. If I ever 6l this, empower will be sixth link
Nice thing is Elem prolif especially in parties as you can shock/freeze whole screen. Interesting thing to experiment with.
Also life leech can be dropped if i get doryani belt


Single target

Arc can suck for single target. I though of lightning tendrils but Im using Vaal Storm Call instead. tendrils means you have to be in melee range and I dont want that.
You can use whatever links you prefer for Vaal, Im using VST - Fast Cast - Inc Dur - Iron will. I have quite a lot str on my char so Iron will add some dps (penetration might be better)
Also you can achieve perma freeze on bosses with Vaal Storm Call

Curse

Assasins Mark for more crit and dps. You can also use Poachers for Frenzy charges as it adds quiite lot cast spd (and flask charges as bonus) but you need more dex for that. Or warlords for safety

This build utilizes blood magic so you dont have to worry about mana regen, also you can do all map mods except maybe -max and reflect together (reflect only is no prob due to high resist and flasks)
And yes im running 2 heralds and purity on life. Im currently 2,6k unreserved life on lv74 and running 70 maps no problem. I have many life and life regen to take, also aura cluster on low side of tree for addtional aura effect and reserve nodes.

Stats






Current tree:

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgUABLMFQgmqDc0OPBBYEQ8TcRRxFkAWbxcvGJEaOBzOHRQkqiW8JwsnLytQLJw6UjpYPC09D0GWRtdMs1AwVa5VxlXWWK5Z816lYVJk52aeaPJxhXKpdhF2rH31fq-ApIIHgpuDtoPbhX2GYIbRi4yNGY5kj0aQVZo7m6GiAKyYrKqtja6zsUK2-rc-vJ_AGsBmwJrE9sauzLfPftD11XXVpti92V_ZfNn82rnbXt-_4BLhc-Nq6hjsOO088B_yRfcy96b31_jr-d360v4K_lQ=


Still many dps and life nodes to take. This may be not the highest dps build but its very fun to play and despite low life pool its pretty safe (freeze mobs from range, even when non crit you still have 20% chance to freeze). My goal is to have at least 3k unreserved life. You just gotta be careful and play smart. It will only get better as gems lv up and get quality. And things like blood magic or no regen mods are free quantity for me.

Leveling

You can level as you like. I used melee and uniques to lv 31 - you can then use spell echo and Arc which can carry you to mercilless even In 3l with +1/2 wand. Used mana for leveling and Atziris Foible with clarity to handle mana problems. I switched to blood magic around 65 when I knew I could get at least 2k unreserved life and had aura nodes.

Video

Some random 71 Strand, not too hard - no regen, double turbo boss and few more


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkJe8jPmEQ4&feature=youtu.be

Added video

Updated

Also I made some changes - not using pcoc anymore, faster casting instead. This puts me at about 16k dps with 6pc, 12k without.
Also I dropped Pyre ring for this:
Romira generates power charges instantly (also when fighting single targets like bosses when you cant get pc from ass mark), yes you lose them on crit but I was losing them anyway because assasins mark is not viable enough. Also Romira adds little crit chance and multiplier.
Since Im not using Pyre theres no need for Herald of Ice anymore so about 400 hp gained (dps loss is minimal, herald of thunder add way more dps). Not shocking anymore but dps is enough and this helps against reflect in fact.
Currently about 3500 unreserved life and 80% lightning res with lv 20 purity of lightning

Is this Bloodlines, or Torment?

Don't want to threadjack or nothing, and I'll edit/delete upon your request, but if someone would want an HC variant I'd suggest something like this. I'm currently level 62 in Bloodlines, solo/self-found.





Yes my gear sucks, I know, but I don't trade.



I don't do power charges yet. That is my next step via acquiring a 5L

I have no enabling uniques. All gear is basically just to cap resistances. I still oneshot whites, take care of packs really fast and only have a hard time with single target deeps.

I don't die, though :) GL Exile

I made this on Torment. Im not sure Blood Magic is good idea in HC, especially when you must run auras on life but sacrificing some dps for more life and maybe some block could make it work. I started doing maps with 2k life only and was doing fine, freezing adds a lot of survivability.

Is this build still valid , are there any updates on the suggested gear and nodes?

It looks interesting , thinking of trying it out


Also what are the bandit choices?

Not playing this ATM but I may come back with 6L pledge of hands which should give more dps.
Bandits pretty obvious - +40 hp, point, power charge

PLaying this build, lvl71, doing pretty fine and ejoying!
With the aura changes on the upcoming patch I will try to get a 6L Pledge and to run bloodmagic gem, running auras on mana. Unless there's another way to sustain auras.

My gear ( missing some gems, dunno what to use):