2.2 Elementalist Ice nova. Insane clear speed, AoE, and damage. Super cheap

There is only 1 gear piece that is a requirement to make this build, a 1-handed sceptre called "Bitterdream" (Currently being sold on Poe.trade for 2 orbs of alteration!). I currently have a corrupted one with an ideal implicit, and although not necessary, I suggest if you bring this build to end-game, you might want to invest in one, and it's pretty easy as Bitterdream is so cheap, and has no rolls. So it's just a matter of buying a ton, 3-linking them with B-B-B, and corrupting. I think I got mine on the 9th corruption.
Here is mine:

Other than that, you don't need anything special, no need for a 5-link Just get gear that is "good".

For my other weapon I use:

or
If you wanted to use a ES shield instead of dual-wielding, I'm sure you could do that, this might be advisable if you were editing this build to be HC viable. The dagger does a bit less damage, however allows you to use the fastest movement skill in the game, whirling blades. I chose to use the dagger, however the choice is for you to make.

For my chest I use:

I recommend for a chest to pretty much just get the highest amount of ES you can get in your price range. I picked this up pretty early in the league for about 10c I think.

My boots, gloves, and helmet:

For these slots pretty much just get ES, and resistances. Chaos resistance is very important for this build, as I have mostly ES, but I'm not going CI, I currently have 70% chaos res (that's right, not -70, 70!) and chaos isn't a problem at all. I'm sure you could have less than that and still be fine, but I would definitely make sure to stay above 50%! My boots enchantment is very good, however my gloves and helmet ones suck. I had a good gloves one (Decree of blades) but I changed it because, believe it or not, it was making me not be able to do phys reflect maps :/ I think the best for gloves would be something that's an on hit effect because I usually kill packs all at once so an on kill effects would often be wasted, plus the on hit will kill one enemy first, and then I'll get ele conflux, etc. and the rest will be a goner. So best enchantment for gloves is Decree of Flames (or blades and not do phys reflect maps) (update: I did some lab farming and got this character Decree of Flames, and It blew my mind it's so powerful, if you can do the merci lab, I strongly suggest pushing for Decree of Flames!)

My Jewelry:

As you can see, nothing spectacular. This really is a cheap build! I may actually do a regearing soon as I haven't gotten any gear for the character since very early maps. Jewelry is mostly about resistances, but try to get ES or spell damage/cast speed whenever you can.

My Jewels:
I currently have 3 Jewel sockets occupied with

I quite like these Jewels, I mean nothing incredible, just good, cheap, Jewels.

My Flasks:

For flasks, I suggest having something like this. Only one life flasks is needed, and it's always good to have tanky flasks (Granit and Quarts) and a damage flask (Sulphur). I might switch this to an Atziri's promise, but I quite like the Anti freeze ability on the Sulphur flask specifically. Really nice for strongboxes, I just open it UNID, use my Sulphur, and cast like a maniac. I can handle anything it shoots at me, Except maybe detonate corpses in certain situations :P Also definitely good to have a sapphire flask for ele reflect. I can handle reflect fine for mobs that aren't too tanky, but If I find a hella tanky mob with ele reflect, this comes in so much handy!

Of course the main skill is ice nova, and it goes in your Bitterdream
Ice Nova - Spell Echo - Increased area of Effect (+faster casting, hypothermia, ice bite, reduced mana, mana leech, cold penetration, and added cold damage)

I strongly suggest having a CwDT ice spear with increased critical strike chance and GMP to proc elemental overlord. It's quite handy if you ask me.
Cast when Damage Taken - Ice Spear - Increased Critical Strikes - Greater Multiple Projectiles

I also strongly suggest using a vaal haste as it makes clearing everything so much faster, As by the time one Vaal haste runs out, I usually have enough souls for my next one.
Vaal Haste - Increased Duration

It's also a good idea to have a different Cast when Damage Taken linked with ice bomb, and Increased AoE if you can fit it (Thanks to antibreeder for this idea)
Cast when Damage Taken - Ice bomb

I use whirling blades to get around, however the penalty of that is that I have to use a dagger in my offhand instead of using something with maybe slightly better implicit/mods. Other options are using either leap slam or lightning warp, or investing in movement speed and just walking around, however that isn't preferable since you don't benefit from my attack speed buffs/frenzy charges/etc. and you don't get to link fortify like you do on attacks, and don't do damage like you do on Lightning Warp. But it's up to you and what you prefer.
Whirling blades - Fortify - Faster Attacks

As for Auras, you must run discipline, and then you have room for 50% more mana reservation. While leveling I used Herald of Ice and Herald of Thunder, however at level 90 I chose to switch Herald of Thunder to Arctic Armour, not actually because I was dying very often, but because I started realizing that my damage was just plainly redundant. But if you want redundant damage, or you get survivability the other way, feel free to stick with Herald of Thunder, it's a matter of preference, so you can make that decision yourself. Keep in mind, even using Arctic Armour, I am still able to clear high level maps (T10+) even with mods like Enfeeble and Elemental Equilibrium, and still feel like I do a lot of damage. Also make sure to link Curse on Hit - Frostbite to any heralds you have for free cursing. And Innervate could be good on HoI as well if you're willing to lose the extra 2.5% mana reduction.

Other than that, make sure to use a golem (I use Chaos, but stone would work fine too, and maybe fire if you like redundancy) And also keep a high level Glacial Cascade on you to switch out with Ice Nova for difficult bosses as it does a bit more damage and also has a much better range (Killing hard bosses out of screen makes them a lot easier!)

Current skill tree (level 90)


For Bandits
Normal = Kill all
Cruel = Help Alira (I accidentally killed her :/ tssk tssk, but Kill all isn't much worse)
Merciless = Help Kraityn

For ascendancy subclass, chose Elementalist and get Shaper of Desolation in normal, Beacon of Ruin in Cruel, and Paragon of Calamity in Merciless.

New video at level 91, using the above linked gear (Using dagger instead of mace and with "Decree of Flames" as my gloves enchantment):

T11 Precinct


First 4 videos at level 90 with the above linked gear (using the mace instead of dagger):

Speed run T9 Gorge

T12 Shipyard + Zana mission

Fighting a level 78 Dungeon boss

Super duper duper fast strand

Someone asked me if this is viable for hardcore and this was my response:

Well I'm sorry to disappoint, but the build the way I did it really isn't hardcore viable. My ES pool of ~ 6.4k, although perfectly fine for my purposes since I freeze most everything, is not spectacular, and doesn't give me the surety of not dying that I would need in a hardcore league. However don't fear! Because if you like the look of the build, I definitely see the potential to build off the idea of ice nova/biterdream and make it hardcore viable. Here's some things you would need to tweak:

1. Probably use a shield instead of a second mace
2. Focus more on ES on the skill tree than I did
3. Probably spend more on gear to get super high ES values
4. potentially invest into ghost reaver and use life leech as a support gem
5. Be way more careful than I am, I run crazy map mods and play with a reckless playstyle :P Probably better to be more careful

But I bet with all that, it would be quite doable :D