[2.0] zSavage's Cold Snap Permafreezer! - (Romira's + RT + MoM)

Required:

You need Romira's to generate power charges when you don't crit (which is all the time, see passive tree and explanation). This allows us to bypass the cooldown on Cold Snap and thus spam it to our heart's content.

Recommended:


I recommend Taryn's Shiver until you can get a better 5L or 6L casting staff (probably a rare or PoH). It's pretty common and rather cheap. The +1 gems, freeze chance, and extra damage to frozen, combined with its other stats, is pretty good.

Rime Gaze is recommended until you can get a 5L or 6L chest. It is a free 5L essentially for our single target setup, and the 30% cold damage doesn't hurt.

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwMAAv4EBwSzCPQRDxEtFm8WvxdUGjgabCBuIoEi9CSqJpUsnDbpPAU8LT1fQYdEq0WdRtdMLUyzUDBQQlJTUzVTUlPUVUtVrlXGVkpXKVcrWfNewF8qYeJmnmjyakNsC20ZcYVyD3KpfEt8g3zZghCCm4PMg9uFMohajDaNgo48j6aQVZMnlnSXlZf0mjua4J2unqGfAZ_fogCnCKyqtz69gsBUwGbE9sau0eTVpti92t3bXt-E34rfsONq5CLpAuvk6-7tPO988B_3Mvno-tL-Cv6z?accountName=zSavage&characterName=BlightQueenOfPoetry

Keystones:
Resolute Technique: Needed to guarantee getting power charges from Romira's to spam cold snap. Pretty cool synergy here.
Mind Over Matter: Adds a tankiness factor combined with high mana regen and solid pool.
Jewels: None (currently)
If I did use jewels on this build, I would likely go for Anatomical Knowledge (which would change the tree a little), and then rare jewels with life, cold/area damage, mana/mana reg, cast speed

Cold Snap 1 (AoE):(5L) Cold Snap + Spell Echo + Hypothermia + Elemental Proliferation + Increased AoE
-> Spell Echo and Hypothermia synergize well with cold snap. The first hit will likely freeze or chill, and then the second hit has more damage and freeze chance (as frozen enemies are always chilled as well). Prolif works very well here, and Inc AoE affects both prolif radius and cold snap radius. This skill often kills entire white packs with one push of the button.
Cold Snap 2 (Single):(5L) Cold Snap + Spell Echo + Hypothermia + Cold Pen + Conc Effect
-> Uses same synergy as the above, and then Conc and Cold Pen for further increases to damage. Very good at clearly high HP targets.
Note: Both setups will share the same cooldown. For 6L's I would add Cold Pen on the AoE setup and Added Cold on single target.
Utility: Frostbite + Chaos Golem + Flame Dash + Faster Casting
Movement, curse, and defensive golem.
Auras: Clarity, Herald of Ice, and Arctic Armor.
Herald of Ice obviously synergizes with our main skill. Arctic Armor provides defense and chill synergy with the Hypothermia supports.
Cast When Damage Taken: Arctic Breath + GMP + Increased Duration + CWDT
Increased duration increases how long the chilled ground lasts. Synergy with Hypothermia. Chills the foes for more damage and defense.

I desperately needed dex on my Ammy. Having dex on gear is very good for this character.

Normal: Oak (+40 life)
Cruel: Kill All (passive)
Merciless: Kill, Alira, or Oak*

Charges:
Power MAX 4*
Endurance MAX 3*
Frenzy MAX 3*

*see upgrading the build under FAQ

Remind me again how you spam cold snap.
Romira's generates power charges (1 per skill use) when we don't crit, and we use resolute technique to ensure that doesn't happen. Thus we get a power charge every time we hit with Cold Snap, allowing us to bypass the cooldown.
How do I level this character? Romira's requires level 60.
Level as a cold caster, and head towards RT and the templar area. Once you hit 60, you can take RT and equip Romira's, then focus on cold snap as a main skill. The other budget uniques become equipable in the mid 60's. This means you can cold snap on cruel malachai and then equip the others typically mid A2M.
I have a lot of $$ and/or some good old gear. How can I make the build more powerful?
6L's/2x 5L will make the build very strong, and tankier. Make sure you have a fair amount of mana reg on gear, as the costs will likely be 100+ on each skill.
If you have a Voll's Devotion, this can make the build extremely tanky. If I used one on this char, I would modify my CWDT to include an Immortal Call (probably remove GMP), and take an extra endurance charge from the tree and one from Oak for a total of 5. Thus we generate and endurance charge every time we bypass Cold Snap's Cooldown.
You can add additional power charges for 4% spell damage per charge.
You can potentially add Ice Bite to your Herald of Ice to generate Frenzy charges when it kills things. If doing this you could consider an additional frenzy charge.
If you're doing all of the above charge mechanics, consider CWDT Discharge for burst when hit.
How do my defenses work?
Mind Over Matter takes fair chunks of damage.
Frozen enemies can't hurt you. Chilled enemies can do very little to you.
Small -> medium hits are taken on the ES, which will often recharge before you're hit again (since the enemies get frozen).
Proper flask use is your friend.
How does this character do in PVP?
This character can own a lot of others in PVP. Players that don't carry curse immune flasks or only carry instant remove freeze or no freeze immune at all are especially vulnerable. With proper play, I've killed lvl 95+ (even a few 100's) characters with this character by freeze locking them. This build can be frustrating to play against, and I've made a fair number of people rage quit over it. One RF Incinerator said my character was harder to kill than Atziri.

Life: 4112
ES: 800
Mana: 1669 (583 unreserved)
Life/s: 115.1
Mana/s: 116.5

Evasion: 1150 (18%)
Armor: 221 (6%) + 4% Golem
Res: All @ 75, with slight over cap. Chaos: -40
Block: 18%

Cold Snap Stats
Single: 4164 avg @ 0.37 s/cast = 11,254 DPS
->Adjusted for Cold Pen and Frostbite vs 0% base res (x 1.82) = 20,482 DPS
- (Unadjusted for Hypothermia; DPS is higher than this)
Mana cost: 74
Freeze Chance: 58% (71% frostbite), 81% vs frozen (hypo + frostbite)
+70% Freeze Duration, +140% Chill Duration

AoE: 2416 avg @ 0.37 s/cast = 6,529.7 DPS
->Adjusted for Cold Pen and Frostbite vs 0% base res (x 1.47) = 9,598.7
- (Unadjusted for Hypothermia; DPS is higher than this)
Mana Cost: 77
+70% Freeze Duration, +140% Chill Duration
Freeze Chance: 58% (71% frostbite), 81% vs frozen (hypo + frostbite)

My opinion on BiS stuff:
Weapon slot:
+3 Cold, spell damage, cast speed
Chest:
Lightning Coil (need BBBGGG or BBBBGG)
Amulet:
Voll's Devotion (ideal corrupted +1 curse)
Rest of Gear:
Rings - Life, mana regen, res (likely one with +dex), es if possible
Belt - Life, res, es/str if possible
Gloves/Boots/Helm - Rares with life, res. Other useful stats Dex, movespeed. As for base stats look for ES, AR/ES, or EV/ES. Atziri Helm also possibly very good.

Main Guide w/ Map Run and PVP Arena

passives