[2.6] Tempada's Flaming Pulse Ascendant | 7k+ life, Acro, Snakepit, 100k+ DPS

The idea is to take a cold-based projectile skill, convert damage to fire for better gear synergy, and use Snakepit + the Deadeye Ascendant node to gain two projectiles without relying on a support gem. As of 2.6, Freezing Pulse is the clear choice thanks to the First Snow threshold jewel, although Frostbolt with Frozen Trail works too. Similarly, you could play as an Arctic Breath Deadeye Ranger.

Required & Recommended Gear

Snakepit gives an additional projectile.


Xoph's Blood (not needed if you have a legacy Pyre) + Pyre converts 90% of cold damage to fire, which enables reflect protection via Arctic Armour + Purity of Fire + Dying Sun and increased fire damage with Kaom's Heart + Anger. You lose the ability to freeze, but it hardly matters when mobs die quickly and bosses frequently resist.


Kaom's Heart makes up for the life I don't have on my helm or accessories (and can't have on a shield or quiver because I use a staff). The fire damage is a nice bonus.


A staff with Vagan's "Socketed gems are supported by level 1 Blood Magic" prefix. This mod allows me to reserve all mana and never worry about mana cost. Ideally you want a +3 cold staff, but the budget option is to buy a 6L common/white staff and use a Shrieking/Deafening Essence of Sorrow on it to get "+2 to level of socketed cold gems" (reroll if you don't get an open prefix), then craft (or pay someone to craft) the Vagan Blood Magic mod.


Alpha's Howl with a level 2 Enlighten lets me run Anger/Haste + Purity of Fire + Arctic Armour.

Passives (Skill Tree, Jewels, Bandits, Ascendancy, Enchantments)
Skill Tree
  • Scion level 87
  • Ranger level 91 (use Arctic Breath instead of Freezing Pulse)

Jewels
  • You want rare jewels. Look for life on all, resists if you need them, then cast speed, spell damage, or crit chance (if you don't use Controlled Destruction) to help trigger Elemental Overload.

Bandit Rewards
  • Normal: Help Oak for life.
  • Cruel: Help Alira for cast speed.
  • Merciless: Kill all for skill point or help Kraityn for frenzy charge if you use The Blood Dance.

Ascendancy
  • Ascendant: Take Deadeye, Path of the Ranger, then Berserker.
  • Deadeye: Head for Ricochet then Endless Munitions.

Enchantments
  • No enchantments are required, but "30% increased Freezing Pulse projectile speed" (or "40% increased Arctic Breath damage" if you're playing as a Ranger) would be my first choice on a helm.

Links & Gear Suggestions
  • Alpha's Howl
Anger/Haste + Arctic Armour + Purity of Fire + Enlighten (must be level 2 to run all three)

  • Boots
CwDT + Lightning Golem + Enfeeble + your favorite (Vaal) gem

Try rare boots + Warped Timepiece or a rare Marble Amulet + The Blood Dance

  • Gloves
Lightning Warp + Blood Magic + Faster Casting + Decoy Totem/Less Duration

Ideally with Essence of Insanity ("Socketed Gems have 16% more Attack and Cast Speed")

  • Staff
Arctic Breath + Spell Echo + Fire Penetration + Elemental Focus + Life Leech + Controlled Destruction or Empower level 4

My Character (Level 88)

<< Passive Skill Tree >>

The Freezing Pulse in my gloves and the Empower in my boots are only for leveling purposes. Really you want Vaal Lightning Trap (or Vaal Haste) and Less Duration in those spots.

I love Warped Timepiece. It increases dps, movement speed (both basic and Lightning Warp), and helps with life leech, but you could easily replace it with another amulet. This build has high life regen and easy access to two frenzy charges on the tree, so you might try a rare Marble Amulet and The Blood Dance instead.

Damage is decent with a 6L (over 100k tooltip dps with Anger or Haste + Atziri's Promise + Elemental Overload), but don't expect to plow through bosses, especially since one slot is dedicated to Life Leech for better survivability; the focus is more on defense. It's possible to get over 8k life if you sacrifice some damage (I have over 7k life at level 90 with seven life nodes remaining and zero life on my amulet). High life paired with Acro, Arctic Armour, Purity of Fire, Life Leech, and flasks will keep you alive. Though I don't play hardcore, I'd wager this build is hardcore viable.

The biggest con is that you shouldn't run elemental reflect maps. Like with most builds, Temporal Chains sucks and no leech is scary, but most players will never encounter the latter anyway!
Dreamfeather Elemental Cleave Ranger: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1087616
Last edited by Tempada on Mar 14, 2017, 8:48:10 AM
Last bumped on Feb 16, 2017, 6:06:32 PM
Videos, screenshots ?

Any number is worth nothing if you don't have both^
"
ZePample wrote:
Videos, screenshots ?

Any number is worth nothing if you don't have both^

I've never been a fan of screenshots myself... Are you looking for something to show dps? Here's a shot of my character with Lightning Golem and Elemental Overload active:

Spoiler

That's 107k dps with lvl 21 Freezing Pulse and before Atziri's Promise, but my character is not a Scion (Scion damage will be higher), so over 100k is not a problem with a lvl 20 gem. My life is below 7k there because I recently removed two life nodes for cast speed nodes, but you can of course prioritize life and get much higher than what I have.

I might be able to add a video next week. Thanks for the feedback.
Dreamfeather Elemental Cleave Ranger: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1087616
Last edited by Tempada on Oct 26, 2016, 12:41:31 PM
Wrong passive tree. :(

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