[2.0 HC]morph's FAT Arctic Breath (Ball Lightning, Magma Orb, Incinerate etc. Trees Included)

This build is more of a caster defense setup, that can fit to almost any spell with a few point difference.



Defenses this build offers:

7-11k EHP with Mind Over Matter(depending on gear/level)
40% Dodge from Acrobatics Cluster
30% Spell Dodge from Phase Acrobatics
20% Physical Damage Mitigation from 5 Endurance Charges
4% Physical Damage Mitigation from Chaos Golem

On top of that from gear i get:

22.5% Physical Damage Mitigation with Lightning Coil (budget variants included in gearing section)
15% Spell Dodge from Atziri's Step
8% Chance To Block Attacks
2000+ Evasion(~20%+ chance to evade)

Old video of 20 Exiles Map. Will try to post better video in the future.
Newer video. Sry for low quality.
Older ball lightning variant video.

[spoiler=Stats]
Note: i run no auras
[spoiler=Offence]

[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Defense]
With 5 Endurance Charges.

[/spoiler]
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Skill_Trees]
Current Tree (lvl 89)

[spoiler=Leveling_Trees]
28 points
50 points
66 points
95 points
108 points(Ready to switch to acro. If you feel like you want to switch earlier - go ahead. I personally switched at about lvl 82.)
108 points(Switch to acro. Having good 3 stat jewels (life+2dps stats) is quite important at this point to compensate dps loss for survivability.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=LVL_~85_Builds:]
Arctic Breath (lvl85+jewels)
Lightning Tendrills/Ball Lightning (just one point difference)
Magma Orb/Fire Ball (just 4 point difference)
Freezing Pulse*/Ethereal Knives**/Incinerate*** (15 point difference)
*Pick up Storm Weaver cluster in addition to the build.
**You would lose 0.7-1.5k EHP with hatred, which would still be decent, but is a bit against the purpose of the build. Pick up Quickness node in addition to the linked build.
***I did not play incinerate before, so, before making it, you would want to consult with someone who did.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=LVL_100_Builds_(Arctic_Breath_based):]
Tankier Variant
More DPS/GG 4 stat jewels variant
[/spoiler]
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Bandit_Rewards]
Normal: Alira/Oak
Cruel: Kill all/Alira
Merciless: Oak
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Gearing]
[spoiler=Weapon:]
Top Tier:

ATM i get ~750 mana from Pledge of Hands.

Mid Tier:

Good for group play.

Budget: Rare wand and shield or dualwield.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Chest Armour]
Top Tier:

Kaoms Heart is good, but hard to fit gems into :D

Mid Tier:

If can't get mitigation - get HP. Or Get damage and AOE with Carcass Jack

Budget:

Kingsguard is REALLY nice budget chest. Arguably just as good as belly in practice. Nice life and mana and 500 HP heal when immortal call procs. Good for armor while you don't have acrobatics.
Cloak of Flame or just good rare chest with life+mana would work well.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Boots_Gloves_Helmet_Belt]Looking for life+mana+resists here, dex if needed.

Budget(actual self found gear i was using at some point):

[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Jewelry]
Looking for life + mana + mana regen + resists here.

Budget(actual self found gear i was using at some point):

[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Flasks]

[/spoiler]
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Gem_Setups]
Gem setups below is what i prefer and are up to you to follow or not.

4L Arctic Breath:
BBGG
Arctic Breath
Cold Penetration/Hypothermia
Greater Multiple Projectiles
Spell Echo

5L Arctic Breath:
BBGGG
Arctic Breath
Cold Penetration
Hypothermia
Greater Multiple Projectiles
Spell Echo

5L Arctic Breath in Pledge of Hands:
BBGGG
Arctic Breath
Cold Penetration
Greater Multiple Projectiles
Hypothermia
Increased Area of Effect

Optional gems you could use (3 green is costly to get):
Cold to Fire (instead of Cold Penetration)
Faster Casting (instead of Hypothermia or Increased AOE, if you would like that more)

4L
RRRR/G
Cast When Damage Taken lvl 10 (or higher)
Immortal Call lvl 12
Warlords Mark lvl 13/Temporal Chains lvl 14
Increased Duration/Temporal Chains lvl 14/Enduring Cry(not supported, saving gem slots)

2L
BB
Flame Dash
Faster Casting (optional)

2l (optional)
BB
Summon Chaos Golem
Minion Resists

2l (optional)
RR
Cast When Damage Taken lvl 1
Warlords Mark lvl 5/Temporal Chains lvl 7


2l (optional)
RG
Increased Duration
Vaal Haste/Grace

1 slot Gems: Enduring Cry, Flame Dash, Clarity(optional), Herald of Ice(optional)


[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Random_Things]
- Yes, Ball Lightning is much better, i don't care.
- I use Increased AOE because it is quite nice for AOE clear and makes AOE overlapping on single targets much easier as they can be quite far from the wall/tree/rock/other monsters and still get hit by multiple explosions. Might swap it eventually, when i get quality Arctic Breath. I still use faster casting quite often when solo, but in group with Haste/Vaal Haste i find inc AOE much more useful.
- Arctic Breath collision issue is something you get used to quite fast, and actually start using it to your advantage to shotgun single targets.
- Something that would work really well is getting one more curse and add temp chains to cast when damage taken setup or self cast. I normally play in a group with aura+curse support, so i did not try that myself. If not - consider using Temporal Chains instead of Warlords Mark, as that is just something i was using before mostly to help vs Thornflesh and got used to it too much.
- PM me in game, or post here if you have any questions/suggestions.
[/spoiler]

My other Tempest builds:
Ghost Buster
FAT Arctic Breath
Static Blast

Reserved.

I just ripped at 76 with another char, unfortunately spent all my currency on a 6link 5 min before i died. So I think i will use this budget variant build for a new character. I will let you know how it goes!

RIP. I died 3 times already and each time lost a lot of currency with that. I guess i should've included leveling part. But it does not really matter that much. Can use Fencoil with firestorm+coldsnap+flame surge, or just lightning tendrils/flameblast/firestorm. Basically any aoe/projectile/both spell you like would work. If it is not AOE - just go through 8% elemental damage node instead of Amplify cluster in templar tree.

Video update: Twitch/youtube acting weird. Have to cut video in youtube manager, will take a bit longer.

Would you mind typing out the Gem links in their own section? Opening all the spoilers and mousing over each item to view gems is inconvenient.

"

Quidfacis wrote:

Would you mind typing out the Gem links in their own section? Opening all the spoilers and mousing over each item to view gems is inconvenient.

Done. I am afraid CWDT setups might be confusing though.

Video is up.

Looks good!

I just got my hands on a 6L pledge and wanted to run AB with it so I went looking for some passive trees for inspiration. I'm thinking of going a bit more softcore (running an Asenath's Gentle Touch w/ EleWeak and using a Carcass for max AoE) but other than that somewhat similar to this. Hopefully, MoM + Fortify and the perma-chill/tempchains is enough defense for me.

Thanks for the video :) It was good to see it in action

"

Yordle wrote:

Looks good!

I just got my hands on a 6L pledge and wanted to run AB with it

Oh nice! Carcass would be really nice DPS option. You would still survive really big hits and it has some extra evasion, which would help. If you will still go for acro - i would consider picking up Revenge of the Hunted and mb add Atziri Step to the mix (coloring those would take 10xcost of boots though). I should probably add carcass to mid tier chests for hardcore.

I've been playing around with my 6L Pledge for a bit now in Warbands. What I've come up with is quite a bit less HC-viable, but really fun and doing some really nice damage! In case anyone is curious: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/edit-thread/1384850

I've also linked back to this thread as a HC-viable option :) I really like what you've managed to do with defense.

Added current tree and updated stats.