[3.23] Lk's Cold DoT Ele [League-start to over 40m DoT] (Wildwood Primalist Update)

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How mandatory are the uniques for this build? Would this be a good build for SSF or will I have a difficult time?

Having played both HCSSF and SCSSF personally, I would not recommend this build for HCSSF unless you are a veteran player. Nonetheless...

CDoT is one of the top SSF builds. It is so good for SSF that it was even banned in the last HCSSF Gauntlet race (more details in the FAQ). If you check the ladder for lvl95+ players in HCSSF and SCSSF as of today:
1. Vortex + Creeping Frost is the 2nd most played build in HCSSF, of which 59% are elmenetalist
2. Vortex + Creeping Frost is the 7th most played build in SCSSF, of which 71% are elmenetalist

The two key uniques for this build are Devouring Diadem and Legacy of Fury. Everything else is a luxury. With time, you can target farm Devouring Diadem from Catarina and Legacy of Fury from Maven. These two key uniques are obtainable in SSF. Even without these two items, you will be able to clear T16 maps and fight Maven.

The rest of the "luxury" uniques will be difficult to obtain in SSF (Coward's Legacy from Incursion, Watcher's Eye from Elder and Forbidden Jewels from Eater/Exarch, Skin of the Lords from Breach).

Without the luxury uniques, you will not be able to scale your DPS to its full potential. However, this is the case for all of the top tier SSF builds. So if you have already decided to go for SSF, then CDoT is a top tier SSF build. If you are deciding between Trade and SSF, you have to decide what you want.

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Porterhaus wrote:

Thanks for taking the time to update this build and explain so many things. Can you cover how you have your atlas tree setup? Any recommended Favorite Maps? I think you mentioned Toxic Sewers in the video.

This is only my second ever league so I league started the Maxroll/TriPolarBear version of this with EoM because I didn't know any better but you've convinced me to convert over to this once I can get a Diadem to drop (my friends talked me into a private league so I don't have access to trade).

If anyone has some tips for farming Catarina or a guide they could point me to I'd deeply appreciate it as well!

Atlas:
My current Atlas setup is Map Tiers, Delirium, Exarch, Shrines and Jun.

However, I am thinking of speccing out of Jun because Devouring Diadem isn't as expensive as I expected.

Favourite Maps:
Toxic Sewers is probably the best map for CDoT this league. However, it is a T13 map with 2 voidstones. Meanwhile, you want to find two connected maps that are good for CDoT and favourite them because of how the connected map drops work in PoE. Jungle Valley + Crimson Township/Thicket is a good combination.

With 4 voidstones unlocked, Lair - Grotto is probably the best combination of maps to ping pong. The best "Singular Focus" map is Toxic Sewers.

TPB's EoM build is one of the proper EoM builds so that's good. Similar to this build, TPB also uses Eldritch Battery which IMO is superior to using mana.

Farming Catarina:
Tips:
a. Allocate Intelligence Gathering, Test of Loyalty and Focused Investigation.
b. Add ranks to members that are level 1 before jailing them.
c. Consider adding Covert Stakeouts.
d. Switch your minor Pantheon to Ryslatha and run 2-3 life flasks when fighting Catarina (this probably applies to all bosses until you have giga damage).

If you have never engaged in Betrayal before, Zizaran provides a decent explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx3pTbAK51M&ab_channel=Zizaran

Thank you so much for the build & detailed replies! That was extremely helpful.

0.75d self crafted muahaha

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SonsOfKorhal wrote:

0.75d self crafted muahaha

Yeah, thinking this is the right way to go. A properly socketed, non-detrimental keystoned Skin of the Lords is just way too expensive right now. 20div+ currently. Cannot justify spending that much when you can literally complete the other unique/gems/jewels for the same price.

Edit: 30div+

I'm following the guide on Maxroll as the last CDOT build thread on here was missing so much info and it seemed to be dead. Hopefully this guide isn't to far off what I'm following? Be nice to get some ideas as I progress from you guys.

I will update the guide for alternative body armours soon.

GGG's breach nerfs have resulted in a sharp increase in Skin of the Lords price vs the prior leagues. Hence, we should consider other chests that provide +4 levels to Vortex and Creeping Frost.

The tier list is:
1. +1 socketed gems, +2 socketed duration gems
2. +1 socketed gems, +2 socketed AoE gems
3. +2 socketed duration gems, +2 socketed AoE gems

The reason why 1>2 is because swift affliction has the duration tag, and hence will gain 2 levels from +2 socketed duration.

The reason why 1 and 2 > 3 is because it allows further scaling from Empower 4.

The power level of Empower Lv3 is similar to that from Hypothermia Lv 21. Both provide ~30% more DoT damage. The gem set-up for 1 and 2 uses Empower instead of Hypothermia in 3. Hence if you have Empower lvl 4, the set-up of 1 and 2 will be more powerful than 3.

The advantage of using a chest aside from Skin of the Lords is that you can get life, resistances, and other buffs such as increased AoE and damage from Carcass Jack. These benefits, in a good chest can match or even be better than Skin of the Lords for a lower price.

We can use tainted crafting to turn bases with suitable corrupted implicits into 6L chests in a cheap manner.

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DopeOnWax wrote:

I'm following the guide on Maxroll as the last CDOT build thread on here was missing so much info and it seemed to be dead. Hopefully this guide isn't to far off what I'm following? Be nice to get some ideas as I progress from you guys.

You can transition from the maxroll guide into this.

Imo the maxroll guide shows you how to spend your first few divines in the early game and ends there. Meanwhile, in this thread (guide and commmunity) we are looking at how to further scale CDoT DPS and QoL with Devouring Diadem, Coward's Legacy + Watchers' Eye, Frigid Wake and beyond~

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DopeOnWax wrote:

I'm following the guide on Maxroll as the last CDOT build thread on here was missing so much info and it seemed to be dead. Hopefully this guide isn't to far off what I'm following? Be nice to get some ideas as I progress from you guys.

You can transition from the maxroll guide into this.

Imo the maxroll guide shows you how to spend your first few divines in the early game and ends there. Meanwhile, in this thread (guide and commmunity) we are looking at how to further scale CDoT DPS and QoL with Devouring Diadem, Coward's Legacy + Watchers' Eye, Frigid Wake and beyond~

Cheers for the reply man. Really enjoying CDOT so far. Its pretty dope. Figured that I would get to a point with Maxroll where I need the juice that only guides like this provide. Thanks for your work.

Any thoughts on best crucible wand trees?