Shadow - [1.3.x] The Icebreaker - 3 Dragons crit spell / max AoE HoI, with autofreezing - Forum

Intro

This build is a variation of Shatterbolt and Herald Bomber.

I liked the gameplay of these builds, but their single-target damage was pretty much non-existent, and they had trouble killing even rare enemies. So, I essentially modified the build for crit in order to have both powerful self-cast AoE and singletarget spells, which can be strong enough by themselves even without chain detonation reaction from Herald of Ice.

Videos

Canyon
Residence Dominus (char lvl 83)
Fracturing Cemetery - testing Vaal Storm Call (char lvl 75)
Initial testing in maps (char lvl 68) - Wharf

Main features

High damage for both AoE and single-target (up to 100k dps Flame Surge in a 3L)
Not a single skill build, has multiple spells for different situations
Autofreezes enemies as long as you maintain HoT effect

Pros & Cons

Pros

- can explode entire packs with chain detonation from Empowered HoI
- doesn't need crazy manaregen to sustain, because 1-3 casts usually clear the whole pack of enemies
- can freeze most enemies, including map bosses if there are ads near them, very useful in parties. Freezes devourers before they pop up, freezes goats and leapfrogs in mid-air
- when soloing, has enough damage to kill map bosses in just several seconds, oneshotting weaker ones
- main attack can proliferate shock, again very useful in parties
- no problems with resistant enemies since Fire Pen is being used
- with buffed herald, many Vaal skills become much better to use - for example Vaal Ice Nova can be used to instantly obliterate the entire screen of enemies, including exiles and map bosses. My skill of choice is Vaal Storm Call, because of its ridiculously low soul requirement.

Cons

- can die to ele reflect if you use the wrong spells - using either a Flame Surge or Vaal Storm Call even on just one reflect rare is a guaranteed death. To deal with this, I use either EK or Fire Trap, unlinked. Hitting ele reflect with Firestorm usually isn't going to kill you instantly, as long as LL gem is used.
- glasscannon, pretty much no defences, not a faceroll build. Requires to actually keep track of what's happening on the screen.

Reflect

Build Mechanics

Current setup is made with beta changes in mind, this means - no EB and no Reduced Mana gems are being used. With the way EB will be changed, I'd rather have it as a small EHP extension.
No AA either, new AA requires mana reservation, for which we don't have the space after Heralds.

The core item of the build is Three Dragons helmet, which changes what status ailments different types of elemental damage apply.

This helm allows us to:
a) Apply mass freezelocking with HoT, which is also used to autocurse with Assmark

b) Use Flame Surge to apply long shocks
c) Use Firestorm to apply and proliferate shock and burn, which allows to deals +100% more damage with Flame Surge against rare enemies and bosses
d) Any spell can be used to freeze enemies, which in turn means that any spell can be used in order to detonate enemies with Herald of Ice

Sadly, Heralds themselves cannot crit, so in order to apply mass freezing we gain as much % chance to freeze from the tree as possible, resulting in 25%, which is reliable enough considering how fast HoT hits.

Tree

On the skilltree, you want the following stats:
- Area of Effect (for maximum HoI explosion radius)
- crit chance and mult
- elemental damage (spell damage does not increase herald damage)
- mana gained on kill (not needed if you plan on using manaregen setup)
- mana regen (if you plan on playing in parties)
- % chance to freeze (required to apply freezes with HoT)

Planned tree (solo play)

Stats (lvl 69)

Flame Surge

Fire Storm

HoI

Defence

About Flame Surge - the tooltip does not account for:
a) Fire Penetration
b) Extra crit damage from Assmark
c) Extra 50% more damage against burning enemies
d) Extra 50% more damage against shocked enemies
So in reality dps is much higher, around 80-100k against non-resistant enemies

Gear

Helm - 3 Dragons
Gloves - Maligaro (dmg) or Asenath's Touch (for dual curse). If you can afford it, Maligaro corrupted with Temp Chains is another option, this is what I currently use. The absolute best option however would be Asenath's Touch corrupted with Ele Weakness and wearing Windscream for tri-cursing.
Belt - rare leather belt with STR and max life rolls. Belt is a slot you can get tons of hp from.
Body - Carcass Jack, best in slot
Boots - any, or Windscream for dual/tri-curse setups
Jewelry - all rares - hp, res, crit, manaregen

Weapons - one Doryani Sceptre (socketed with HoT), and one spellcrit dagger with +2 (or +3 if you're rich) to cold skills, socketed with HoI. Until you can get/use Doryani, use the second dagger, Divinarius can be a good choice.

Useful mods for dagger are - spell crit chance, crit multi, spell damage, % fire damage leeched as life (crafted)

Gear lvl 75