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

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Fleischtorte wrote:

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

Actually it doesn't matter that much: both ways are a bit mediocre compared to other cast speed or crit passives. If you really are into optimizing i would take the crit route as the fire traps profit from it but not from the cast speed.

Sorry for the late response was ill the last few days and couldn't post.

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Bada_Bing wrote:

Actually it doesn't matter that much: both ways are a bit mediocre compared to other cast speed or crit passives. If you really are into optimizing i would take the crit route as the fire traps profit from it but not from the cast speed.

Thx...but fire trap on a FP Witch?

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Sorry for the late response was ill the last few days and couldn't post.

it's fine :)

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Fleischtorte wrote:

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Bada_Bing wrote:

Actually it doesn't matter that much: both ways are a bit mediocre compared to other cast speed or crit passives. If you really are into optimizing i would take the crit route as the fire traps profit from it but not from the cast speed.

Thx...but fire trap on a FP Witch?

Jesus. I mixed up the guides. For whatever reasons i thought i was in the fireball witch guide for beginners. *facepalm*. Should have stayed in bed.
Anyway for a FP witch it doesn't really matter. Getting additional cast speed puts a bit more pressure on your mana pool. That's the reason that my personal bias leans towards more crit over more cast speed.

hey i was just wondering what gear would you recommend getting for a life based version of the build? like what stats/res should i look for etc thanks in advance :D

I'm new to path of exile, but I only play on nemesis, I keep losing my characters. This build looks awesome, is there any tweaks that I can make that would boost survivability even more. Also what stats should I be looking for in my gear.

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Valroth_Nightborne wrote:

I'm new to path of exile, but I only play on nemesis, I keep losing my characters. This build looks awesome, is there any tweaks that I can make that would boost survivability even more. Also what stats should I be looking for in my gear.

I'll answer for the OP on this one, since I asked the same question. Here's the message OP sent me


Bada_Bing wrote: "I don't think a HC tree would differ much from a SC tree: Maybe take some more life nodes instead of crit nodes. First rule in HC is to get your defenses up. So make sure to take life nodes and have your resistances at max before you start investing in pure offensive categories."

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R1N1X wrote:

hey i was just wondering what gear would you recommend getting for a life based version of the build? like what stats/res should i look for etc thanks in advance :D

Life is the most important stat on your gear. Max it as high as possible. The cheapest way to cover resistances is to wear a Ceremonial Kite Shield (available at lvl 34) / Angelic Kite Shield (lvl55) / Archon Kite Shield (lvl 68). They all give 24 to all resistances and can roll life and additional resistances. As a life based char the low ES they have (compared to pure ES shields) doesn't hurt you.

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Valroth_Nightborne wrote:

Also what stats should I be looking for in my gear.

In the beginning always go for +HP and +Resis -->
- in the start town buy 1 or 2 coral rings asap
- rare or blue doesn't matter, wear the item with more +hp
- rush +HP and +Resis nodes, fill in the rest later

imo the best leveling unique is Crest of Perandus --> very cheap (1 chaos or less!) and u can use it until level 50-60.

Thanks for the help, also I tweaked the build a little to have a lot more defense, at the cost of some offence. Basically I picked up some more life, armor and ES nodes, along with Eldritch Battery. My hope is that I will be able to run arctic armor permanently. What do you guys think, will it be better for Nemesis?

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMBAv4EBwSzB2MI9A5IEZYUTRZAFm8ZhRo4Gmwc3B8CJDwkqiaVJ6kpTyycLR8xiDbFNuk62DvhQsNEq0bXSVFMs03YUDBVS1WuVcZXK1ptXcZd8l8qYG1irGNDa9ttGW17cFJw1XNTeQN-WX_GgW-CHoKbhX2IQot6jDaMdo5kj0aPppBVnaqdrp48nqGiAKKjpwinK6dcp4Svm7UEtvrAUcBUwfPPZdDQ2CTbC9te3fPfhOL342rjhOQi6-TsOPAf8XbyHfLh96Y=

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Valroth_Nightborne wrote:

Thanks for the help, also I tweaked the build a little to have a lot more defense, at the cost of some offence. Basically I picked up some more life, armor and ES nodes, along with Eldritch Battery. My hope is that I will be able to run arctic armor permanently. What do you guys think, will it be better for Nemesis?

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMBAv4EBwSzB2MI9A5IEZYUTRZAFm8ZhRo4Gmwc3B8CJDwkqiaVJ6kpTyycLR8xiDbFNuk62DvhQsNEq0bXSVFMs03YUDBVS1WuVcZXK1ptXcZd8l8qYG1irGNDa9ttGW17cFJw1XNTeQN-WX_GgW-CHoKbhX2IQot6jDaMdo5kj0aPppBVnaqdrp48nqGiAKKjpwinK6dcp4Svm7UEtvrAUcBUwfPPZdDQ2CTbC9te3fPfhOL342rjhOQi6-TsOPAf8XbyHfLh96Y=

I would drop Lord of the Dead too if you don't use it as a stepping stone to the left tree side.
Taking Faith and Steel over Nullification works if you intend on wearing armour(/hybrid). As i mentioned in the guide it can be very difficult to get the right socket colours on an armour chest, as you need only one red socket (life leech). Rolling the right colours is much easier on an ES/Evasion based chest, in which case Nullification would be the better choice.
BTW i usually pick the 1% life regeneration in the templar tree because it neutralizes the damage you take in maps with the chaos damage mod. It's just convinient not taking damage when standing around and examining the loot.