[2.0] Whispering ice, HC build (Avatar of fire, Dual curse, high dps, great survivability),

-Can do most end game maps/mods 77+
-High dps for a whispering ice HC build
-High survivability can tank a few big hits
-High utility with dual curses + chill
-Versatile = adapt your own playstyle build especially with gem links
- up to 74% phys damage reduction on a CI build (running 5 end charges and nearly 5 second Immortal Call with granite and molten shell)
OR 50% chance block with 15% chance spell with rumi's will all the time up
-aesthetically pleasing and overall badass

-Wanna run end game maps? get good expensive gear
-Possible FPS lag if you're running a slow setup.

Why Avatar of fire?

It provides much needed dps for 1 gem slot and 2 passive points. A LOT of dps. Check out the avatar of fire whispering ice build by Baaalorlord to see some frightening tooltip dps for whispering ice.

Inherently Whispering ice already does quite a lot of damage, I wasn't having problems without the conversion to Avatar of Fire at around level 75. With Avatar of Fire, the combination of efficiency and damage increase will make you jizz.

Well that's all nice, but what do you LOSE with Avatar of Fire? IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE.

Unfortunately there is one major drawback with AoF. You lose the almighty shatter..................sound effect. Seriously I miss it so much I have dreams about it.


Dual curse?

Yes, I cannot stresssssss enough how valuable dual curse is in hardcore (was considering adding more of the letter s to the end of stress but i thought that was enough) save yourself, save your party, save the world. I personally run enfeeble temp chains because I'm super safe.

CONFESSION THOUGH I don't curse every mob, i like curse twice/three times a map. Where curses truly shine are the end game maps 77+ where you NEED to roll rip mods; extra crit, extra damage, vulnerability etc. ENFEEBLE TEMP CHAINS AND CHILL will ensure your survival with a bit of foresight.

The versatile nature of this build allows you to tri-curse as well if that suits your playstyle subbing in a doedre's ring.

Atziri capable? YUP

What do i need to play this build?

This build is based on the Whispering Ice staff so having that unique goes without saying. An Astramentis is super sweet but not mandatory, same with the bated breath chain belt. You can get by with mediocre gear, I suggest at LEAST 500 es for a chest though.

What's the playstyle like?

Sorry I don't have a video i can't get one up without my computer lagging. The playstyle is generally move and cast. make sure you have an ice storm in front of you at all times, even without the freeze effect, you get tons of mini stun which replicates the effect of freezing so mobs in front of you just get stun locked cause you will do so much damage even in party groups of 4. So just make sure you just precast whispering ice in front of you, it's a good habit to have cause if you get stunned by something unexpected like drop bears you'll have one already doing damage and leeching

Faster casting for maps

Conc effect for bosses

So there are multiple ways to go about levelling.



Ill start explaining from level 33+ for simplicity. Before level 33, level up with whatever is the fastest way to get there such as flame totem or firestorm. Keep in mind the passive tree doesn't change much even before CI. All that changes is that you get the nearby lifenodes and that is enough to keep you going pre-CI.

As soon as you can equip Whispering Ice and are confident you'll survive with it, and won't regret it too much if you do die with it in HC, i suggest you do it. Reasons being:
-it's very strong
-you get used to the gameplay and playstyle
-helps you survive
-its a boss downer i.e. You can stack it on kaom daresso etc for a while before they move from a spot.

Tips before equipping it: Get Asenath's touch, cap res, and have high hp as you won't be getting too much hp nodes from the tree.

Temp chains from the gloves plus whispering ice makes you move like Neo from the matrix relative to anything else.

From here it's easy levelling. Otherwise i suggest using flame totem or normal firestorm.

Depending on how comfortable you feel and how much regrets you can spend, you can go out of your way enough to get the efficient life nodes. Try to avoid getting as much spell damage if you can. Int is the way to go if you're levelling with whispering ice.

Another milestone in levelling is around 60-70 where you'll want to transition to CI. I found a really good 500 es chest around then which made me confident and i had around 8k es before starting level 67 maps. I rarely dropped below 6k though because of the playstyle. So before transitioning to CI spend sometime on the tradechat or poe.xyz to find es based items. Remember ES and INT and RES are the priorities. Once you hit maps..you generally don't need to worry about anything, i never had any problems with the early map bosses.

As you can see, all connecting nodes are literally int providing the sweet damage and es and mana. German efficiency.

Why don't you go for % damage nodes such as the heart of ice/heart of flame?

That's because int scales so well and not only with damage but with es and mana as well! every 100 int adds to skill duration which is a hidden dps increase that does not show on tooltip but is definitely noticeable while playing especially single target on bosses. I've only picked up the very efficient nodes while maintaining an int path

Bandits: Kill>Kill>Oak + 1 end charge

Passive skill tree build Level 91

Astramentis is a must unless you want to sacrifice Passive points to get Dex/Str
Baited Breath is replaceable with auxium or a good rare belt with resists or perandus cloth with + attributes and flask duration. I find baited breath with the + 1 end charge corruption to have so much synergy with vaal disc, and immortal call and providing a good chunk of es and damage

Perpetual is an important roll, with your insane clear speed you'll be able to keep up 88% 88% and 89% res 90% of the map as well as a granite! I got lazy with Ample Topaz flask but that's just me

Whispering Ice: Fire pen > Faster Cast/Conc effect >Spell Echo>Cold to Fire>Hypothermia

Chest:

This is where it get's fun the gems are completely changeable, I have a 5l lvl 19 cast when damage taken set up with Immortal call>Molten Shell>Enfeeble>Increased Duration.THIS IS NOT MANDATORY I simply like this because molten shell provides needed armour and i'll take everything I can get also deals a crap load of damage once it explodes clearing a mob pack. Enfeeble is auto cast against anything that might potentially hurt me because I'M TOO LAZY TO CAST CURSES ON EVERY MOB BESIDES THE ONES I SEE AS DANGEROUS. This is just a playstyle preference. You don't need this setup but I find it very effective especially when i open up a strongbox and something big chunks me.

This combined with 5 endurance charges (1 from belt and 1 from oak) and the inc skill duration nodes in tree allow me to run nearly 5 seconds of Immortal Call which is FRKN SWEET no armour? NO PROBLEM. Also it doesn't pop my 5 end charges with every sissy hit each mob, only procs against the large recognizable threats. So combined with a chaos golem, 5 end charges and my Granite and molten shell which lasts 20 sesconds. I'm up to 74% Phys damage reduction REALLY NICE FOR A CI BUILD

4L: VAAL DISC> VAAL DISC>Increased duration> Enduring Cry (Vaal discs to save yourself and your party, the definition of panic buttons as you almost never press this normally) You can Pre-Pop One Vaal Disc and it will last 6.5s thanks to your increases in skill duration to literally stand still and tank incoming boss damage for that lazy playstyle. Works wonders with baited breath chain belt

4L: Curse on hit>Firestorm>Enfeeble>Temp Chains (swappable with ele weakness and Flammability

4L: Clarity> Artic Armour> Discipline> Chaos Golem

All damage/int Jewels with the exception of the unique Energy from within which gives you such an efficient ES wheel