Nova Cascade Freeze Build 1.3

Disclaimer: I own nothing really, it's all GGG's impressive game. Also don't mind the Kirby's. I moved and the box of them that I had broke.

Welcome.

This guide will take you through my thoughts and methods for constructing a Shadow/Templar caster Freeze build. That doesn't rely on crit.

Thought processes:

I wanted a build that froze enemies, as a frozen enemy does no damage. Before when I tried this, I went crit, which worked, though Reflect ate me alive. I also wanted something anyone could make, with the minimal amount of gear. I also wanted a tree that utilized it's nodes in an efficient way, affecting the most skills with the least amount of nodes. This also the reason to pick up Elemental nodes instead of Spell Damage nodes, since Elemental nodes affect the Heralds, while spell damage doesn't.

Oh and I don't know nor care if this is HC viable. I don't Play HC, so therefor I do not care. It is viable for maps.

<("<) Main Menu (>")>

1: Gems and Sockets
2: Normal Difficulty Skill tree
3: Cruel Difficulty Skill tree
4: Merciless Difficulty Skill trees
5: Level 80 Skill tree
6: Playing and Gear recomondations

<("<) <( " )> Gems and Sockets <( " )> (>")>

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<("<) 2nd 4 Link (>")>


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<("<) Weapon 1 (>")>

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<("<) <( " )> Skill Trees <( " )> (>")>

This build is 1 for 1 interchangable between Shadow and Templar. you can start on either tree and end up the same way.

<("<) Normal Difficulty (>")>


This is the Lvl 34 tree I ended up with. I took the Oak Bandit reward because I use health, and used the rest of our quest points on the cold clusters (Fingers of Frost cluster and started on the Breath of Rime cluster). And health. I love Health. Makes me not die. Eldritch Battery lets me run Arctic Armor.

<("<) Cruel Difficulty (>")>



The Lvl 54 Tree. I was mostly focusing on getting to the Templar Regen nodes at the begining of the his tree, they provide 65% mana regen at the end, and you need it for Arctic Armor. There is also a lot of life in his tree, with some nice bonus's to go along with it. The extra Quest (you kill all the Bandits here) points went toward Breath of Rime, then went down to set up Quick Recovery and get us some needed Dexterity, which there isn't much of (though in all fairness, you only need 110 or so for various gems).

<("<) Merciless Difficulty (>")>


The Lvl 64 Tree. Health, Mana, Mana Regen, and a bit of AoE. This is where you get all yer Kirbies in a row for health and regeneration. At this time, there's only 4 more health nodes to grab, then it's all DPS, All the time. Again, Kill all the Bandits. Use the extra points to get down to the Heart And Soul cluster, through the AoE nodes.

<("<) Lvl 80 (>")>


Takes a Respec quest to get to this, but it's worth it. We drop a tiny Elemental damage node for Retribution and Amplify, grab our last 5% chance to Freeze/Shock and also grab Stormweaver, as it works so well with the Heralds and Arctic Armor.

<("<) Playing and Gear recomondations (>")>

For Gear, you don't need much. With Eldritch Battery, I use mostly ES gear to help cut down on the ammount of mana nodes. I did buy a Divinarius (which is helpful, but I may get rid of it for another caster Scepter) from a guild mate, and it has done the job. the only other unique I use is a set of Aurseize gauntlets, mostly for the 4 red sockets for CWDT and the ease of use.

You're gear should focus mainly on bringing your Resists up to cap, then mana regen (till you can sustain Arctic Armor), then health. For weapon(s)/Shield, go for Cast Speed, Spell Damage and an extra craft slot for Chance to Freeze/Cold Leech, though these come in later.

Playing is easy. See a group? Curse it, use warp, cast Nova. See a rare? Cast curse, Cascade it. Boss? Surround it with V. Hammer, Hit V. Spark and hit some pots. I've killed 73 Bosses with it in one shot, as of writing this, though I haven't gone beyond that since my map pool is kinda new (read: pathetic). You can ignore physical reflect for the most part, even the reflect you get with Cascade does little with Arctic Armor up. Elemental reflect is doable, just use Cascade with Added Chaos (instead of Concentrated Effect) and go slowly. I'd avoid it as a map mod though.

Thanks for viewing.

Updates:

Jan 10
Lvl 83 Tree.


Went up to Heart of Ice, refunded Celetial Judgement to get it, lvl 84 will reaquire. Also got a hold of a cold Doryani's belt, and changed out Divinarius for a cast speed, 20% inherent elemental damage Scepter. Frost nova dps at 10k, and cleared the 2 lvl 75 maps I had.