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

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMAAv4FQgdjES8RUBXXGmwfAiepKU8snCy_LR82xTvhQZZCw0cGTLNQMFZKVmNXK13yXvpfKl9qY0NtGXBScNVzU3_GghCFfYauiEKIa4w2jmSP-pUEna6eoaKjpwinK66zr5u297b6u9bAUcBUwcXB88Lsw23Xhtgk217b59-E37Di9-OE5CLmgevk7BjyHfLh96b8qw==

i am having trouble killing stuff in a group...

my dps is rather low and my gear not that greate...i would like to know if at least my skilltree is ok the way it is.

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Xkiko wrote:

So far enjoying this build at lvl 48, but i have a few questions. How is the group synergy with this build and is there any way to modify the build for some extra support? I was thinking taking influence and aura effects/reduced mana reserve next to it or maybe going for Whispers of doom for an extra cure. I'm going CI since no one in my group plays ES builds.

EDIT: Also, how far should I level lmp, faster projectiles, cold pen, life leech?

As you intend to run a CI build: what auras would the other group members benefit from? As non CI discipline would be of little use for them. That leaves clarity and purity. Do they really need those two? I wouldn't cripple my build for just being a able to better share two auras that most are running anyway. With the aura nerfs it is difficult to run a support char with extra auras by tweaking the tree just a little bit. No matter what base build, you would have to make some major changes to the tree.
Curses: Instead of spending 9 extra points for whispers of doom you (or someone else in your group) should buy either the Doedre's Damning ring or the Windscream boots. Both allow for an additional curse. If the other in your group use elemental damage use elemental weakness curse, if they too have crit builds critical weakness is a good curse for group play.

Level the support gems as high as you can (preferably lvl20). It may be difficult getting 108 DEX, but as CI you should be able to pick 80 DEX from the tree; that would leave only 28 DEX you need on gear. Should be doable.

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Antigegner wrote:

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMAAv4FQgdjES8RUBXXGmwfAiepKU8snCy_LR82xTvhQZZCw0cGTLNQMFZKVmNXK13yXvpfKl9qY0NtGXBScNVzU3_GghCFfYauiEKIa4w2jmSP-pUEna6eoaKjpwinK66zr5u297b6u9bAUcBUwcXB88Lsw23Xhtgk217b59-E37Di9-OE5CLmgevk7BjyHfLh96b8qw==

i am having trouble killing stuff in a group...

my dps is rather low and my gear not that greate...i would like to know if at least my skilltree is ok the way it is.

Overall the tree looks ok.
Bad gear, low level gems, running in groups where the other players have higher levels all can contribute to the impression of making sup par damage. I wouldn't worry too much: tree ain't broken and gear/gems can be changed/leveled.

What is the better general dps spell for ice? LMP Freezing Pulse or LMP Ice Spears? Which would you use to kill a boss? Is cold snap viable (I have a Voll's).

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guyanapunch wrote:

What is the better general dps spell for ice? LMP Freezing Pulse or LMP Ice Spears? Which would you use to kill a boss?

At short range FP does more damage than ice Spear a) because of higher base damage b) because the projectiles cover more ground and overlap for a better shotgun effect. For further away targets Ice spear is superior a) because of the 600% cc of the second form b) because FP dissipates over distance.
Personally i used FP-LMP for crowd control and a single ice spear with item rarity to kill rares and bosses for better loot. If you manage to keep the rare/boss at a distance by distracting it with a summon skeleton totem, a single ice spear projectile is the better option than an FP LMP (not only will you do more damage, you have a better chance at freezing the boss).

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guyanapunch wrote:

Is cold snap viable (I have a Voll's).

Sure, cold snap is viable. Especially at lower levels when the crit chance of Freezing Pulse is still low, the build in freeze chance of CS is a nice thing when used with elemental proliferation. There have been builds that used CS as main spell (using power charges to bypass the cooldown) although as GGG stated the spell was designed as support. If you use CS as a mere support spell for additional freeze, i would not use the charges to bypass the cooldown as a spent charge lowers the dps of all spells (you loose 50% cc per charge).

I was around in the game some for the beta, and just recently got back into it. I wanted to just take a moment to thank you for having a very easy to follow, but well detailed, guide for both beginners and people coming back.
+rep for you :)

Can't decide if I go with CI or Life because I really don't know if the Chaos damage will be so bad that I have to sacrifice ALL my life. In this forum, half of the players think CI is worth it. I think it's a matter of personal opinion and I don't have one.

When I looked at the math, seems that the Life build is better. You have ES, life, evasion, potions but you take chaos damage. With CI, you have only tons of ES and don't take chaos damage.

(Life) + (evasion) + (potions) - (little ES) - (chaos imunity) < (chaos imunity) + (tons of ES)?

I don't wanna cause a big discussion "CI or not CI" because that is another topic, but could someone try to explain me if chaos damage is such a pain in the butt? Tkx.

Another advantage of ES (the main advantage imho) is that it regenerates very fast once you don't take any damage.
As for chaos damage: There are several places with chaos damage (2/3 of act 2 with cobras, snakes, vaal constructs and poison archers; act3 sewers with alchemists and act3 city of sarn with those snakes), but if you are careful or play in a party you can get through those places with a life char.
A rule of thumb: If it is your first char play life based. Why? It is much easier to get a decent life pool with HP on gear than an ES pool. After all every gear (armour, evasion and ES based gear) can have a life mod. As CI on the other side you are restricted to wear ES gear. That's only a third of the item base you can choose from, which makes it much more difficult to get gear that not only has enough ES but also resistances and the right socket colours (especially when playing a freezing pulse). All that won't be an issue if you have some currency and/or gear collected with other chars, but on your first try it will be tough to get decent ES gear (plus some uniques like eye of chayula).

I like this guide. I am following this guide for my lev 50 cold witch (life) and it looks really practical :).

Unfortunately I didn't choose the 40 points life for the bandit reward earlier.. (I assumed this would be solved in 1.01 :) )

Hi,

i'm following your guide, but i don't like the shortcut over Lord of the Death --> which path should i take instead? Cast Speed or Spell Critical Chance?

thx