[3.5] Occultist Vortex/Cold Snap ES/CI - Deathless and Safe Uber Elder and T16's

I think I'll be ready to try shaper whenever I get that high in my atlas (ssf struggles). POB says I have 180k shaper dps with vortex, and once I get the colors right on my boots I'll have 10k es.

Just beat Uber Elder on my first attempt ever with this. Sweet build. I was worried about the damage, and while its not god tier, its just super consistent.

Hell yeah.

Good job guys. I just completed all Shaper Guardians with this build SSF.
Gonna push for shaper/uber elder soon. Still need some upgrades, because i use shit pieces (weapon etc).

Any build specific tips for the lair map boss? He's the only one I've come across that just straight up dumpsters me

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Dicey wrote:

Any build specific tips for the lair map boss? He's the only one I've come across that just straight up dumpsters me

You gotta let your ES recharge. When he channels the wolves projectiles, hide behind an obstacle (tree, rock, whatever). It will block the projectiles and let you start regenning ES.

In wolf form he will charge you. Run away when low. Get a decoy totem if it is still a problem for you.

Get anti bleed flask too, as well as anti ignite flask, as they will prevent you from starting ES recharge.

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deps11 wrote:

Hi! Great guide, really like it! I'm currently in Act 5 and like the play style so far, just still a bit hard to get used to the kinda small AoE size of vortex, some ranged mob always stays out of it -_- (would be awesome if it sucked nearby enemies towards the center :p).

What made me choose to follow your guide is the crafting part honestly. I'm a total noob when it comes to crafting, and I'm excited to start learning and doing it when i get to that point. I have a couple of qustions:

1. As I said, i'm a total noob with crafting (never crafted anything from scratch really), so what gave me some doubts is what are the steps after i have the white base and before i use the fossils. The resonator picture says "reforges a rare item with new random modifiers" ( i never used a resonator either, so not sure how they work), does it means the item needs to be rare before i can use the resonator? and i need to alt spam the item for desired modifiers, then use a regal orb, then the resonator with fossils? Or do i use the resonator with the fossils on the white item? what confused me is the wording on the resonator. Sorry if that was explained somewhere and i missed it, as i said i never crafted anything besides using the crafting bench :p

2. Would it be better to buy a lvl 1 enlighten gem and lvl it up, or get a corrupted lvl 3 one and save to buy a lvl 4? i'm not using vaal discipline yet (not much mana regen as im leveling, so im running clarity), but would like to know what's the best way to do it.

Thanks again for the great guide, i'm looking forward to the crafting guides for the other equips and to start crafting them myself !

Don't worry, still learning much of this myself too. To answer your questions:

1. The fossils/resonator can be used directly on a white item, it's worth watching ZiggyDs fossil crafting guide https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk3iCZ9p1lE if you haven't done it before as he shows how it works and explains it (simple enough for a noob like me to understand).

2. Enlighten gem does nothing for you at level 1 but takes a long time to level up to 2 as it needs 200+ XP to reach that level. You're best off buying a lvl 3 corrupted as I believe these are cheaper than lvl 2 but I would also socket an extra lvl 1 in your weapon swap gear to start levelling up... I then used the syndicate farming as if you get Tora as a rank 3 in Research she will grant you 200m XP to a gem. (which is nice to keep doing and selling the gems for a little income).

Got another question. I´m pretty sure i overlooked that part, but how do you guys sustain mana, noone seems to be using a mana flask and i dont really see any mana regen on tree or gear?

thank you

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larry666 wrote:

Got another question. I´m pretty sure i overlooked that part, but how do you guys sustain mana, noone seems to be using a mana flask and i dont really see any mana regen on tree or gear?

thank you

I checked that yesterday:

6L Vortex costs 63 mana cost.

Vortex has 1 cast per sec at level 20.

My current mana unreserved 97 (2 curses + enlighten 3 + discipline in heretic veil).

My current regen is 58 mana per sec (w/o arcane surge).

It is enough to spam, plus arcane surge on flame dash.

When map has lower regen, 4% extra reduced mana node can be helpful.

Started leveling this build yesterday and so far have been really enjoying it. The fact Vortex is now considered instant cast means running through levels feels really smooth, and the boss DPS really starts to show itself towards the end of Act 4 I found. Currently in Act 8 and sitting around 2.7K ES and exactly 1000 life, the only thing that serves any threat at all is chaos damage. At work, but I think I managed to buy a scepter with +cold to spells, so I'm gonna have to look at that when I get home.

Also have to compliment on the overall composition of this guide. Everything is really neatly arranged and explained.

I'm loathe to mention things since being a newbie my 'discoveries' have usually long since been tested and usually discarded if they were not mentioned, but this is working for me, so, well.



These two go together like a house on fire since the shield is cheapish (bought mine for 7c) and a leveling item and the weapon cost me 2c. Grabbing Ghost Reaver (leech applies to ES) is literally one point to the side of the OP's build so there is no downside to it.

I'm just 47 atm but I see my ES going up even with my poor damage.

Now, being a newbie, I'm wondering: since we lose the weapon with the +minion damage is there worth in discarding Zealoth's Path + Spiritual Aid + Faith and Steel to go pick Vaal Pact instead (Vaal Pact does not affect the ascendency's ES regen)? The pathing to Spiritual Aid etc plus the loss of those nodes is about just the same number of skill points needed to reach VP.

We would undoubtedly lose damage though we could change Enfeeble for a damage increase curse to compensate (I also imported the build and changed to Cerberus to check the DPS loss and it actually gained a bit of Vortex DoT damage, but I doubt that's correct), but the build has plenty of it. We gain survivability, but the build seems to have plenty of it as well, so for me it's a wash. But even without butchering part of the build to grab VP this feels like a good leveling choice.


I'm loving the build btw. Damage is good, Cold Snap lets me hit mobs that are ranged. Actually, Cold snap is the real star of the show to the point I feel I ought to just have Cold snap have all the supports and Vortex be the one with the 4l and Bonechill reserved to the tougher bosses.

I notice no difference using Frost Bomb, the -25% to enemies is not making an noticeable difference in the HP bar going down without or without using it.

But yes, I don't feel tied to *having* to melee or backtracking when Cold Snap is ranged.

Downsides is the awkwardness of it. Vortex has a long enough CD that it can't be spammed and Cold Snap needs a frenzy charge to bypass the CD which sometimes isn't available. The mana costs are fine until I start spamming everything for Syndicate bosses and then I'm out, but that's what potions are for.