Ice Nova

Right now I have over 16k dps with my ice nova with 106% AOE increase. This is my gear right now.




And here is my Passive Tree

Passive skill tree build

I just hit lvl 83. Ive run up to lvl 77 maps with mild mods, nothing crazy. If I can ever afford an Atziri's Acuity, I'll swap in a life leech gem and take the Ghost Reaver Node. I should be able to take on pretty much anything then hopefully. With the Power Charges and Frenzy Charges up Im around 23k dps.

The only thing that slows me down Exile's and I will use Arctic Breath

I do about 15k on Rampage but only 5 sockets.I don't bother with AoE support as it seems overkill once you have quality gems.

I went for the most AoE I could get because I can freeze everything way off screen even ranged monsters. So I never get hit unless I'm fighting a unique/boss when then I switch to Arctic Breath for single target anyways.

My favourite use for this skill is as a 'curse bomb' on an AoE spell build.

Ice Nova + Curse on Hit + 2x Curse

One cast, and the whole screen is double-cursed. It's even better if you use it as part of an Elemental Equilibrium build, following it up with your primary (fire and/or lightning) damage dealer.

I modified this build and it's even more fun, even though all but 184 points of mana are reserved.

I now use this:

It does mainly fire damage, with alot of cold and lightning thrown in, also add chaos through Atiziri flask.

Main thing is, I took more crit nodes and now I use celestial punishment and those newer nodes. THis means the entire screen is pretty much frozen, ignited, and shocked all at the same time. I am also able to use artic armor at 20/20 because my mana regen is about 266. I do need a bit more mana regan and a bit less mana reserved, but I switched out all the reduced mana reserved nodes for crit nodes. With atiziri's splendor, my mana regens on kill anyway.

i really want to use this skill... but the risk for standing in the middle of somthing vs FP dealing more dmg, higher crit chance, faster to cast...

i mean, there is no way you can justify using nova over something like FP. and i hate to use FP, but it's SO MUCH BETTER

this really need to be changedin some way. i know you buffed the dmg, but its so far behind FP in all stats (crit, cast speed, dmg) that its not even funny

"

Nivius wrote:

i really want to use this skill... but the risk for standing in the middle of somthing vs FP dealing more dmg, higher crit chance, faster to cast...

i mean, there is no way you can justify using nova over something like FP. and i hate to use FP, but it's SO MUCH BETTER

this really need to be changedin some way. i know you buffed the dmg, but its so far behind FP in all stats (crit, cast speed, dmg) that its not even funny

it is math really

ice nova deals (lets say) lower damage PER HIT than freezing pulse. BUT and this is a big BUT it hits A LOT more targets than FP. this makes it far better than FP when clearing big packs (most common situation)

also - there is no need to aim (desync can significantly reduce damage due to aiming at places where mobs ARE NOT). ice nova + quality + AOE + aoe nodes == pretty much entire screen (not a joke)

ice nova also scales pretty damn good with a) heralds b) flat added damage

buff it got several patches ago + heralds really made it a thing that works (herald of ice + aoe investment + cold build + ice nova == pure joy)

in 2.0, ice nova will be buffed or nerfed? ty

Ice Nova is getting nerfed in 2.0. Going from 100% effectiveness to 70%.