[1.3]Cold Witch guide for beginners (Lvl 1 to Atziri)

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vitoma wrote:
Is it worth now going for "Breath of Rime"?
CI build with all POWER nodes. (Breath of Rime is really close to one)

Lot of people complained on "Breath of Rime" but I think it has been changed. I've seen opinion that it somehow lowers freez threshold of mobs.

See my comments on it in the "Tree progression for CI" section of the OP.
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Bada_Bing wrote:
"
vitoma wrote:
Is it worth now going for "Breath of Rime"?
CI build with all POWER nodes. (Breath of Rime is really close to one)

Lot of people complained on "Breath of Rime" but I think it has been changed. I've seen opinion that it somehow lowers freez threshold of mobs.

See my comments on it in the "Tree progression for CI" section of the OP.



Thanks for quick answer :)

And thank You very much for this guide. So far working great. It's my first char but I think I'm ok with CI build.


PS
Which masters should I invite into my hideout?
Last edited by vitoma#2079 on Oct 6, 2014, 12:49:27 PM
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vitoma wrote:

Which masters should I invite into my hideout?

I would keep either Haku or Elreon permanantly in the hideout as they need the least points to level. Zana should be in the hideout once she is available. The other masters are best rotated in and out (once they reach a level) so they all level up.
How much dex you get from your gear because 54 dex isn't enough for LMP. Same thing with life leech and str
Last edited by espak123#6084 on Oct 22, 2014, 6:19:02 AM
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espak123 wrote:
How much dex you get from your gear because 54 dex isn't enough for LMP. Same thing with life leech and str

Picking up 2x30 Dex and 1x30 Str from the tree usually is enough. The rest can easily be obtained on gear: Str from a belt (heavy belt has Str as implicit mod or another belt with Str mod). Gloves for Dex as you don't need attack speed or damage mods on them, which leaves enough open mods for Dex/Str. The amulet is another place where it is easy to get Dex and Str as implicit mod (onyx or citrine amulet).
Hey Bada hows it going?;d
I am playing this build and after a little pause i am back freezing monsters again!;d
I switched from FP to Ice spear,i feel its much more easier for survivability,but now im doing only about 2,6 k dps without power charges(i have 7 of them).
Im running Ice spear-GMP-Spell echo-LL-Increased crit-PcoC.
I have taken EB,since im doing life build,but dont know what should i do with my free mana,for now i cant even sustain Arctic armor while im moving(i have lvl 4 clarity).Im using tempest shield,herald of ice from my reserve auras.
What do u think i should do with my free mana,now i have 948 mana free from 1922?Should i take some mana reserve nodes on passive tree?
Heres my passive(i have 3 passive points to add):


and my gear:
Spoiler
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Restekpa wrote:

I have taken EB,since im doing life build,but dont know what should i do with my free mana,for now i cant even sustain Arctic armor while im moving(i have lvl 4 clarity).Im using tempest shield,herald of ice from my reserve auras.
What do u think i should do with my free mana,now i have 948 mana free from 1922?Should i take some mana reserve nodes on passive tree?


You could start leveling clarity (or buy a high level one). With the free mana you should be able to sustain it. You might be able to run a lvl 20 AA with that (at least while running short distances). Use lightning warp (with quality that gives cast speed)-reduced duration-faster casting to move around. That way you can leave AA on.
Mana reserve nodes from the tree won't be necessary as usually running clarity/HoI/tempest shield is enough. You better take either block or damage nodes. Here is the tree i'm using atm at lvl 88: my tree at lvl 88. With my current gear i have 3.7k mana (i think 1k less would also be enough for normal mapping) running lvl20 clarity/HoI/Tempest shield/lvl20 AA and 1 purity aura (or 2 when dropping tempest shield).
my gear atm
Ignore the curse choice as that is the Atziri setup
I invested 3 passives into throatseeker,crit multiplier.Since im running tempest shield i will probably go for shield block nodes,feeling they will be nice in addition with temp shield.
As for auras,i rly dont need any purities cause my ressistances are capped,mb for elemental reflect i would run it if it is good for it.only aura that it would be mb worth it is either grace or haste imo.what do u think about it?
also i would mb swap life leech gem for either faster casting or cold penetration?
dmg nodes would be those near breath of rime,but dont know if i would need rime,cause i already freeze most monsters?
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Restekpa wrote:

As for auras,i rly dont need any purities cause my ressistances are capped,mb for elemental reflect i would run it if it is good for it.only aura that it would be mb worth it is either grace or haste imo.what do u think about it?

I switch on a purity aura for certain bosses: p.o.fire for crematorium + shipyard, p.o.light for piety and dominus maps (temple, shrine, residence, palace), p.o.cold for necropolis, fire+light for atziri.
I never used grace or haste with that build as the dex requirement is pretty high for lvl20 gems + to run 60% auras you will probably have to take mana reservation nodes. Instead of spending these points you could take cast speed nodes (nimbleness) for less investment but higher cast speed results. Imo grace without iron reflexes makes little sense.

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Restekpa wrote:

also i would mb swap life leech gem for either faster casting or cold penetration?
dmg nodes would be those near breath of rime,but dont know if i would need rime,cause i already freeze most monsters?

I did that from lvl 65-82. With 2 seething flasks
you can do maps where the boss fight doesn't take long (otherwise you are running out of charges). Pick cold penetration in that case. Much better than cast speed: 30+ more damage per hit means better freezing.
I switched back to life leech as i was dying too often in higher maps. If you want to reach higher levels you can't afford to die.
Breath of rime: the increased freezing duration makes a big difference in the ability to permafreeze bosses. You can make it past the freeze threshold for bosses that have 40% more life than without those nodes. When i respecced from breath of rime to block nodes i could no longer permafreeze residence dominus for example. So that is the trade-off: better survivability due to block or being able to permafreeze higher bosses.
Ok i will leave it like this then,i am now able to sustain AA even with walking but i use Lightning warp most of the time.
I decided to take block nodes in my next 10 levels or so,though i gotta admit,those cold damage boost from circle near the witch area(including breath of rime) is rly tempting...)
I switched from GMP to LMP and with 7 power charges my DPS is about 7 k,is it ok?Im cruising trough 67,68 maps now without dying.
My optimized gear :d :
Spoiler

Spell totem is something i aint using much now but it is there cause i dont know what to change lol
PS.Im not using herald of eash its just there cause i tried it but it doesnt add up with this build.
Last edited by Restekpa#4529 on Oct 23, 2014, 4:45:54 PM

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