[2.1] Mind over Matter Freezing Pulser - safe, good damage and affordable

Glad to hear it! Sadly, due to the extreme weakness of my computer I'm not able to record any gameplay videos (I see that as a plus of the build - I rarely die even with massive lag). I can't even do any Haku missions involving Raging Spirits because I will get massive framerate drops and die! I will, however, gladly host any gameplay videos from people following the build.

As mentioned, the build can be played both in a defensive way, shooting at enemies from far off (with Faster Projectiles you can reach over two-thirds of the screen), or clear faster and more dangerous at melee distance. You generally want to have all your enemies before you to take advantage of 100% pierce chance so that means frequent repositioning.

One thing I've noticed lately is that LMP Freezing Pulse really doesn't like tight doorways. For whatever reason, I often seem to get caught blasting away at mobs without hitting them at all when in a doorway. It seems a bit buggy and takes a bit of time getting used to, but I now remember to always shoot from outside or inside, not halfway through.


Another thought: if you have a spare red socket, Rallying Cry (+ Increased Duration) seems like it could be nice to cast before difficult fights. It gives as much base mana regeneration as a mid-level Clarity, boosting survivability, and some damage as well. I don't have a spare socket and at the moment prefer Vaal Clarity, but it looks like it could work.

Hi and thanks for your build:)

Anyone tried this setup using a 6L PoH with 21FP and Empower4? Im really curious how much the damage can be improved staying off crit and if its viable for endgame mapping tier13+, but sadly dont have the means to try out myself just for testing sake

Level 4 Empower on a level 21 Freezing Pulse gives an extra 310 average base damage. Pretty strong, as Added Cold Damage would only give about 200 even with the high damage effectiveness of Freezing Pulse.

It would be almost a 50% base damage increase versus the level 20 Freezing Pulse I'm running (1260 base damage against 860), Herald notwithstanding. So I think that it could be possible to get 65-70k DPS (without Penetration though) which is pretty nice considering you can reach most of the screen with a cast if you're well-positioned.

Having neither the 6-link Pledge nor the level 4 Empower nor the level 21 Freezing Pulse I'm also curious if someone wealthier is willing to build it this way...

Thank you for answer yea hoping someone tries:). In the meantime ive tried to tune a bit the build, let me know what you think. Removed few life nods from shadow area.

- Went for Frostwalker, i believe its worth it 2 points for 26% dmg and 15 resists, not bad.
- Went for Primal spirit nod, mana regen , max mana and flasks really think its worth it for that mom boost.
- Went for Charisma reduction nods again for that MoM boost

Not completely sure its worth it:
- Going for path of Savant .Some more mana for defense, 9 cast speed and 16 spell damage. Other alernative would be grabbing the projectile nods from ranger starting area which for 5 points would give 56% proj dmg increase, not bad

this is the tree i ended up with level 92ish
small changes build

On another note i believe getting 30%+ mana regen on rings and amulet and some +mana on lot of gear pieces like helm,boots,jewelry would boost the defensive side of the build by A LOT.
Also getting a 5L on LC and linking clarity-herald-curse on hit etc with enlighten high level would also boost the mom quite a bit.

Basically having around 5k hp and mom, to utilize mom at full especially against spikes would mean having around 2,3kish not reserved mana (very hard to reach but closer the better i guess)

Let me know what you think , i may be way off with some of my points

I hope ascendancy will bring some jewel boosting class tree for Scion :D. With 6 jewels at the moment and potentially beeing able to reach 8 jewels this build will be crazy than hehe

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Sherkkan wrote:

Thank you for answer yea hoping someone tries:). In the meantime ive tried to tune a bit the build, let me know what you think. Removed few life nods from shadow area.

- Went for Frostwalker, i believe its worth it 2 points for 26% dmg and 15 resists, not bad.
- Went for Primal spirit nod, mana regen , max mana and flasks really think its worth it for that mom boost.
- Went for Charisma reduction nods again for that MoM boost

Not completely sure its worth it:
- Going for path of Savant .Some more mana for defense, 9 cast speed and 16 spell damage. Other alernative would be grabbing the projectile nods from ranger starting area which for 5 points would give 56% proj dmg increase, not bad

On another note i believe getting 30%+ mana regen on rings and amulet and some +mana on lot of gear pieces like helm,boots,jewelry would boost the defensive side of the build by A LOT.
Also getting a 5L on LC and linking clarity-herald-curse on hit etc with enlighten high level would also boost the mom quite a bit.

Basically having around 5k hp and mom, to utilize mom at full especially against spikes would mean having around 2,3kish not reserved mana (very hard to reach but closer the better i guess)

Let me know what you think , i may be way off with some of my points

The tree you posted seems good! I also went up to Frost Walker with the points I gained for leveling. But I don't think the Thrill Killer points are good enough (Primal Spirit probably is since it also gives regeneration, which as you noted is important to have). What I definitely wouldn't take is the Charisma cluster since the build is too light on auras. At my level the reduction in reserved mana would amount to no more than an additional 80 mana, which isn't worth three points.

I'm still balancing things out, and one of the harder things is the balance between life and (unreserved) mana. Having mana at around 2.3k would be optimal against damage spikes, but the cost is too high - at level 90 I don't even have 1.8k total mana and I really want to run Herald and Clarity off of that. Against damage spikes, investing in energy shield as defense seems more promising than Mind over Matter. Mind over Matter in contrast can be sustained a lot better via Warlord's Mark double-leeching (mana and life).

A couple of life nodes can be removed, but you have to be wary of damage over time (ignite, poison) which is already dangerous for this build since Mind over Matter won't do anything. Less than 5k life at level 85 is asking for trouble from that.

I can't believe I missed Enlighten completely, of course it should be there for everyone who has one, there should be enough links with a 5-linked Coil (though three blue on it can be hard to get).

Let me know whether your mana-heavy version does well!

I completely forgot about damage over time effects :D And yes you also right about MoM beeing strong mostly through sustained vs spike.
I started my char in starndard im really curious how far can the build go :D
If it isnt too much to ask maybe you can post some feedback how the build goes for you and if encountering any problems where they are mostly, in clearing speed or survivability.
Did you start doing higher level maps like tier12-13 maybe?

PS: Is Faster Projectiles really that good? Would think Cold pen boosts clear speed by a lot but maybe not so

I've played this build a lot got to about 86 (reason i stopped playing it was cause i wanted to try chaos FR and it kinda stuck with me ) the build is solid clear speed is descent up until tier 8-9 or so , then it kinda falls depending on the map of course.

I didn't have many difficulties in general with it and i am running 5 link pledge. Now with a 6 link and cold pen it would definitely be way better .

Now it's not an "alch and go" build you kinda have to re-roll if you get bad luck on alched maps but i am pretty sure it can handle at least tier 9-10 with relative ease.

Thanks for the feedback! Glad you liked the build.

Hmm, tier 8-9 only? I would aim a little higher in my assessment (naturally). I just did an Overgrown Ruin and an Arsenal map (tier 12) and still thought the clear speed to be good in general, with most packs dying in about a second. The clear speed is hampered by rares with additional resistances though - since Herald explosions add a nice amount of damage, those rares sticking around after packs are gone sometimes take a few seconds to kill (which is not dangerous due to double sustain + knockback).

I do "alch + go" in tier 9- maps (except for elemental reflect of course), those can be done even with rippy mods or mods slowing down clearspeed. For 10+ I at times have to reroll the mods, though I imagine there are very few builds out there not doing that.

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If it isnt too much to ask maybe you can post some feedback how the build goes for you and if encountering any problems where they are mostly, in clearing speed or survivability.
Did you start doing higher level maps like tier12-13 maybe?

PS: Is Faster Projectiles really that good? Would think Cold pen boosts clear speed by a lot but maybe not so

I only started on tier 12+ recently since I only reached 90 on that character yesterday, and I played (overly) cautiously before that. Now I've started on higher-level maps I find them to be doable, both in terms of clear speed and survivability.

Biggest problem for clear speed - as mentioned above - is single-target against mobs with high resistance. It's not very bad but still slower than I'd like it to. Survivability is pretty good I'd say, biggest threat are of course dangerous damage-over-time effects like poison. I can take a (non-crit) hit from a big skeleton with extra damage in a tier 12 map etc. In fact, my biggest vulnerability is my computer lagging from massive Herald explosions i.e. in Fracture maps.

Faster Projectiles vs Penetration - undecided. I run Penetration in pretty much every build that can use it, and it would be great to have in this one as well especially giving single-target problem. In terms of raw DPS it's better. But Faster Projectiles providing both safety and clearspeed by hitting from farther away is just so good...of course, if you go for a less cautious playstyle then by all means use Penetration. I still switch back and forth between the two a bit.

Ok, after doing some more tier 11+ maps...

Faster Projectiles gives more reach, but if you kill too slow mobs will reach you anyway. So my current take is to use Cold Penetration when I need more damage (tier 9+ maps with some damage reduction mod, tier 11+ maps in any case); and Faster Projectiles when I either deal enough damage already or when I want to stay as far away as possible from a mob (like the Precinct boss etc).

After making level 91 (yay) I respecced my last five passive points to take Acrobatics. This increased my defense by quite a bit, and after Frost Walker I'm done with damage-increasing passives in any case (when not taking Acrobatics points lose in value from level 86 onwards since there are no REALLY good things to take nearby anymore). I feel it is definitely the right decision for level 90+ characters, hardcore characters and those with 6-linked Pledges.