[3.0] Freezer Burn - AB AoF MoM EO, Cheap, Fun, Screw the Meta

I managed to rip my EHC work in progress, so new vids are delayed.

I have decided to run Firestorm - Controlled Destruction - Elemental Focus - Faster Casting/Spell Echo in gloves for our 'single target'.

It feels the best to me for working with what we're doing. It's not a cold spell so we don't get some of our bonuses, but we don't have to link up cold to fire. Also, since we get our crits from orb of storms for EO, we can run CD for a bit of extra oomph. And we can place that damage anywhere we want.

I'll never be 100% satisfied with this solution, but if you are looking for an alternative, there it is.

I played with running freezing pulse in our cwdt setup, since it has innate 25% freeze chance always at 0 distance. Didn't love it so it's gone, maybe while you are leveling.

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Finally, played with Praxis for leveling. Felt really good, but replace it with a good rare by halfway through cruel.

So, I'm relatively new to the game still. I played for a few months when Awakening came out, primarily playing an Ice Crash Duelist, and recently got back into the game when Atlas released. I was looking for a neat, non-FotM build for a Witch and this one just looked perfect. The name alone pretty much sold it for me. I mean, the build is cool and all and there are a lot of solid builds out there, but I chose this one 90% because of the name. I also would have accepted IcyHot.

However, I just happened to get.. extremely lucky one day on my Duelist/Gladiator and found The Beast Fur Shawl Vaal Regalia. I dropped x350 Jeweler's Orbs to 6-socket it and before I spent x150 Fuses to 5-link it (mostly considering selling it at this point), I decided hey why not try a few fuses first. Literally 6-linked it on my fifth fuse. First time I've ever six-linked something and first time I've had a net worth of more than 2-3ex.



Now, I've become kind of attached to this thing at this point hahaha and I've tweaked this build a bit to favor more ES. The question I have is, would this be viable at all or is it absolutely necessary to go the Iron Will / High Strength & Armor path in order for this build to truly work out? I'm level 80 so far and it's been going quite well despite sacrificing some stats temporarily in order to have ~185MF. I plan on dropping the MF for more favorable damage/mitigation stats as I get into higher level content, though.

I appreciate any advice you may have, and thanks a ton for this build, it's been a lot of fun!

Edit/Add:

-I've been switching out between Pierce/Hypothermia depending on the map roll I get. Anything with high Cold Res. (that would affect Chilled status, right?) and/or "Monsters have a xx% chance to avoid Elemental Status Ailments" I use Pierce over Hypothermia, and generally just prefer Pierce overall anyway.

-I'm also using Vaal Haste which provides a nice little boost when I could really use it (primarily against Unique Bosses).

-Definitely going to try the Firestorm suggestion in your last post, I've been kind of iffy about Flame Surge. The range just felt too short, even without using Concentrated Effect, and Increased Area made it feel too weak. Even against burning enemies, shotgunning AB still appeared to perform better + provide some defense in the slow effect.

-I tied Enfeeble over Warlord's Mark to my CwDT to go along with Frost Wall and Increased Duration. It feels like it's helping me out more when I'm in a pinch, reducing Monsters' Accuracy, Crit Chance, Crit Damage, and overall Damage, but honestly I don't have enough data to truly say one way or another yet. I tend to Flame Dash away when it triggers, which prevents me from taking full advantage of Warlord Mark's Life & Mana Leech & Endurance Charge gain during that period.

-Lastly, I recently added Rejuvenation Totem + The Sorrow of the Divine Sulphur Flask for the ES regen and it's been incredible thus far. My ES is only ~3k atm, but with those two active at the same time, it regens to full in ~1.5-2 seconds tops.



Apologies for the long post :) Take care, and thanks again!

What are your thoughts on using Voidwalker Boots for Pierce in lieu of Lioneye's Vision? It doesn't grant the Dmg boost, but a 100% Pierce that's up almost constantly + 20% chance to avoid Projectiles & Phasing (can move through Frost Walls freely, too) is solid for anyone who can't get a 5/6L Lioneye's Vision.

Thanks for trying the build, and reading through my thought process as it has evolved! I realize I need to sit down and re-work entire sections of it as patch notes have changed some of my thinking, but let me try to answer your direct questions first...

"

Entw1ne wrote:

What are your thoughts on using Voidwalker Boots for Pierce in lieu of Lioneye's Vision?

It's a terrible idea, but I liked that you were looking for this. So our AB doesn't do a 'hit' when it passes through a monster, the only damage comes from the 'boom', so 100% pierce would mean we only can do damage to monsters near solid objects. No bueno. We only want 25~50% pierce because we want to be able to get our booms into the middle of a pack, or hit multiple points of the group. Only hitting the front of a wave can be dangerous because we maybe cannot hit totems, or scary casters, or necromancers, etc. etc.

I would not prioritize those boots at all over good rolled rares.

The Beast Fur Shawl is very neat, in that it grants us AoE (yum!) and some increased spell damage, but it cannot compare to the 17% more from level 15 pierce, sadly. However, if you are running a derivative build version, by all means experiment and have fun with it! I never theorycrafted an ES version, because it just runs really counter to some of the core points of the build (namely, having reasonably 'tankiness' innately from wearing armour/evasion pieces, and iron will). That's not to say it can't work or it's bad! It just means that for the purpose of the decisions we make for gearing, it runs counter. Strength granting damage and HP and having so much of it just worked so well for scaling an HP based caster. ES is the meta as of the writing of this post, so it makes me very satisfied to recommend the build to people looking for non-ex costing builds.

• Enfeeble is less paper-dps, but more survivability. Definitely a bonus if you're not as tanky as the original build outline, and if you go into higher maps almost a requirement. For those however, I would likely party with a dual-curser who is already applying it. Don't forget though that WarMark triggers when we hit reflect monsters, or just spikey damage in general, and that mana/life leech is doubly good at giving us a 'cushion' before we have to press our ruby flask. Up to you, if you're good with flask usage it's less necessary.

• Hypothermia adds added benefit as it allows us to freeze targets with our cold damage before we go Avatar of Fire, but loses this benefit once we go full fire conversion. It is still a 'more' modifier, and a great 6th link. However, it is slightly worse than controlled destruction. If we are shifting 100% responsibility for EO to orb of storms, we don't need AB to crit for uptime. So you can shoot for RRGBBB and be very happy with a dps bonus.

• I'm almost to the point of disregarding single target / pinpoint damage setup altogether. If that happens, I'm re-writing the glove links to be some deviation of Orb of Storms + Increased Area of Effect + Increased Critical Strikes + Power Charge on Critical (or Curse on Hit + Flammability/Ele Weakness jankiness).

• Alternatively, RRRGBB can slot in life leech, or RRGGBB can still run mana leech if you are disliking running mana flasks etc.

• Finally, I no longer use frost-wall at all, and need to edit it out of the build guide completely. I don't care for vaal frost wall, and I believe that will be patched out relatively soon (the interaction with it).

Hey there,

I recently discovered Arctic Breath and realized how much fun it is! Then I stumbled across this build and wanted to say I think you're onto something awesome. Very nice work.

I'm currently playing as a Deadeye Ranger with a +3 Blood Magic cold staff, and I use Snakepit with Endless Munitions for an effective LMP without needing the gem. Your partial pierce idea is excellent, although chain is quite good too, even with only +1 chain from Ricochet. I have a brief writeup here. The biggest downside is that I can't safely do reflect maps, even with the Life Leech gem (increased life leech per second from Warped Timepiece) + Arctic Armour + Purity of Fire + Atziri's Promise.

Thank you!

My initial build for this was as a Marauder if you would believe it! And I ran into similar issues with reflect which is why I eventually landed on Elementalist.

I was almost up to the point where I would have been comfortable running Snakepits on EHC due to the cost when I ripped. I would still run GMP though with them, the clear speed and area of coverage is just so nice. But if you wanted to LMP instead of GMP with +projectiles for a small increase in damage, that would certainly work too. Both gems have identical bonuses for quality.

Looking at your setup in your +3 Staff, you're running Life Leech - Spell Echo - Controlled Destruction - Fire Penetration - Elemental Focus. (With blood magic in the staff). I do enjoy how you increased the leech rate with the neck. I still feel that 5 explosions (or 6 w/ snakepit) would still out-perform even CD here, provided overlap.

I've considered chain with it, and I even experimented a bit with the idea of going ranger. I was just never satisfied with access to HP clusters or spell damage increases. It would definitely be a different approach, but throughout the guide I make strong mention of the fact that it is really up for self-interpretation.

I really like hearing that people are enjoying the build and doing their own thing with it. Cheers!

"

Kwitch wrote:

Thanks for trying the build, and reading through my thought process as it has evolved! I realize I need to sit down and re-work entire sections of it as patch notes have changed some of my thinking, but let me try to answer your direct questions first...

"

Entw1ne wrote:

What are your thoughts on using Voidwalker Boots for Pierce in lieu of Lioneye's Vision?

So our AB doesn't do a 'hit' when it passes through a monster, the only damage comes from the 'boom', so 100% pierce would mean we only can do damage to monsters near solid objects.

That is quite simply... massive, a huge overlook on my part. I'll be switching boots ASAP, thanks for the head's up!

Since my post, I'd dropped Enfeeble for Warlord's Mark, dropped Rejuv Totem and The Sorrow of the Divine flask for a Rumi's Concoction after acquiring a Rathpith Globe (still debating between it and Saffel's Frame - have one with very good rolls), and fully switched over to Firestorm over Flame Surge (I don't use it often, but it's nice for hitting mobs on the other side of walls or in rooms with many obstacles).

Still use Vaal Haste, and likely will for as long as I can. It charges fast, and having +32% Increased Cast Speed at its current rank (and +16% movement speed to boot) for ~10 seconds (with Inc. Duration) is incredibly useful while running through maps, especially against bosses. And as a small added bonus, the aura applies to my Golems and Wolves from Rigwald's Crest as well.

The more I've played since my last post, the more I've been shifting over to the original build. I was able to get a 5-link Lioneye's so my main reason for going ES (having a 6-link Beast Fur Shawl vs a 4-link Lioneye's) is gone.
I'll likely stick with my current setup with the Beast Fur and ES until I can get my hands on a Astramentis (they're currently going for 1-1.5ex on Standard). I have a decent Repentance with only 10% reduced Spell Damage sitting in waiting until I can reach the Strength requirement for it. When I can do that, I'll be fully switching over and trying out the OG build you've created. Also have a Doon Scepter for when I switch as well (currently using the Doryani's Catalyst I was using on my Duelist).

Honestly, I've enjoyed this little variant of the build, focusing on ES, and so far it's worked great. I'm nearly level 86, haven't had too much difficulty running some higher-end maps, but I can clearly see the ceiling I'm about to hit with it. I simply won't be able to reach high enough ES to outmatch the survivability that the high Str/Armor/Defense your original build brings.

I appreciate your feedback, most especially about the boots, that's a HUGE help. I'll post some more results as my character evolves. Take care!

"

Entw1ne wrote:

Since my post, I...switched over to Firestorm over Flame Surge (I don't use it often, but it's nice for hitting mobs on the other side of walls or in rooms with many obstacles).

Still use Vaal Haste, and likely will for as long as I can. It charges fast, and having +32% Increased Cast Speed at its current rank (and +16% movement speed to boot) for ~10 seconds (with Inc. Duration).

Also have a Doon Scepter for when I switch as well (currently using the Doryani's Catalyst I was using on my Duelist).

I updated the entire guide last night, and I don't use a single target skill whatsoever now. I've moved Orb of Storms into the gloves, with Inc. Aoe, Curse on Hit, and Flammability there now. It feels so much better. I really recommend trying it.

I might make Vaal Haste core, and what you've said about it is really groovy. I'll have to think for a while where it should fit, because I would want it to have inc. duration too. grumble. less satisfying in general. But sounds awesome.

And Doon is a great start for the build, but I've actually preferred using wands. Here is a link to my poe.trade filter I use to find crafting bases, if it can help you. Just change the league you are searching if it's not Essence Hardcore.

http://poe.trade/search/haridosikihuri

"

Kwitch wrote:

I updated the entire guide last night, and I don't use a single target skill whatsoever now. I've moved Orb of Storms into the gloves, with Inc. Aoe, Curse on Hit, and Flammability there now.

I might make Vaal Haste core. I'll have to think for a while where it should fit.

And Doon is a great start for the build, but I've actually preferred using wands.

I finally initiated the full switch just a few hours ago after deciding to drop 120c on a solid Astramentis (+15 / +97). It was a good value with potentially higher resell value should I find another one not too far off in stats. Grabbed a Black Sun Crest with 6%/15%/11% Dex/Str/Int and 146% Inc. Armour for 10c as well.

Due to shifting my Golems into the helm for the +1 Gem Level like you advised (very nice to have a boost to their survivability), I've completely dropped Firestorm as well, and I'll hardly notice it's gone. Like you've mentioned before, there really isn't a need for it. Shotgunning AB is still going to out-damage any "single target" skill added to this build without having a 5/6-Link to support it.

The Orb of Storms + Curse on Hit combo sounds really solid. Cuts down on the time spent throwing down an Orb then Cursing. Even though I use Lightning Warp to help keep Discord up, that would be a far better QoL change.

As far as Vaal Haste goes and where to put it, I've had it in my shield linked with Inc. Duration and Flammability (though that'll change now if I move Flammability to link with the Orb of Storms combo), while my weapon has Molten Shell (nice little boost to Phys Dmg Reduction + the damage when it explodes) and Vaal Summon Skeletons with Inc. Duration. That's another Vaal skill I love. Takes a little longer to charge than Haste, and I mostly end up saving it for bosses but the combo makes boss fights a lot easier when you have a 34 Skeleton meat (bone?) shield all hyped up on your Vaal Haste aura (along with your two Golems and any Wolves from Rigwald's Crest for the ones using that like myself).

I might have a few extra slots available due to forgoing having Purity, Immortal Call, BM + Clarity (potentially will add in the future, my mana pool has been OK so far even with MoM), and just sticking with Lightning Warp over Flame Dash.

One thing I'd definitely recommend for Lightning Warp is to replace Faster Casting with Rapid Decay (15% Reduced Skill Effect Duration). Less Duration + Rapid Decay > Less Duration + Faster Casting when you already have solid Casting Speed to begin with, which this build does. Now, ideally, all three would be great which is what I'm running in my Boots atm.

And thanks for that filter, btw! I'll probably stick with the Doon until I can find a solid Wand for a good price to replace it with.

Here, I'll go ahead and post my current gem links below:



Edit: Added the Orb of Storms + Flammability Curse on Hit combo which freed up a Blue socket in the helm, threw in Minion Life Support. Would like to add Minion Speed to it as well, although that's not really necessary, plus would require rolling 4 blue sockets on that helm and that's just not a hell I feel like visiting atm.

Rapid Decay.... my god that's genius.

I've also had a cute thought once about culling w/ minions, but it's just not viable for me since I do 999,999,999,999 dmg, although I can see the appeal in a fight like Izaro. Kinda of a gimick, but could be cute.

I also looked at Black Sun before, I just wasn't happy with it when comparing it to the +2 minion gem level hats we can find, with superior str, life, resistances, and armour. It's hilarious to me that it actually ends up being a dps Buff, since more str = more iron will. Just means you put more emphasis on well rolled rings. I would rather humor the notion of snakepits for a ring socket and a strong hat though. That +1 projectile is just so godly.