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

Thanks for answers.

About ES ,how much ES i need to be safe in any situation ,now i have 3.8k with discipline 4.9k.
I stay alive because of life leech,but sometimes i dont have enough dps to replenish my shield,
usualy when tere is 1 mob,champion for instance.And a lot of troubles i have with cold mobs,because they slow u down, is there any way to deal with it? Does "Dream Fragment" ring prevent from slowing down?

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zhoker wrote:

Thanks for answers.

About ES ,how much ES i need to be safe in any situation ,now i have 3.8k with discipline 4.9k.
I stay alive because of life leech,but sometimes i dont have enough dps to replenish my shield,
usualy when tere is 1 mob,champion for instance.And a lot of troubles i have with cold mobs,because they slow u down, is there any way to deal with it? Does "Dream Fragment" ring prevent from slowing down?

There is no recipe or big enough ES pool that will keep you safe in ANY situation. Some extra damage and/or elemental weakness mods on higher maps is enough to risk getting killed. Physical damage always is an issue as one lacks the armor aside from a granite flask.
4.9k ES is ok to do normal content and low level maps (66-68 i would say).
Cold damage too is always an issue with CI builds. Dream fragments only makes you immune to being frozen, not against being chilled. As the duration of being chilled is calculated against the HP pool you would have without CI one always runs the risk of being perma chilled when facing a lot of cold damage dealing foes (catacombs for example usually have a lot of frost mages). It is very annoying but there is not much you can do about that aside from avoiding places with lots of cold damage dealing mobs and rerolling maps when "enemy deals additional cold damage" comes up. An expensive option is to get the Auxium unique belt (around 20 exalts). Here the chill duration is based on 65% of your ES instead of your virtual life pool. I wouldn't recommend wearing an Ice Tomb chest. You are immune to chill, but it's stats are a no go for CI users.

Thanks for info!!!

Level your gems to the max generally. For supports once you get to 20 go ahead and gcp vendor recipe them and let them relevel.

For your main spells that get good use out of quality like freezing pulse, just buy a 20% one right off the bat. You wont be able to drop it to level 1 and relevel it endgame. Well you could but it would be pointless. Spend 20-30co on a lvl1 20% fp, and keep a backup freezing pulse in an alt weapon. Then when you get your main gem to level 20, your unqual backup FP will also be level 20, and you can gcp it to 20% and sell it to make your money back.

I run a 7 power charge crit-centric version of the build and love it. Past 80 you can either spec into even more es or block (my preference). You can get around 50% block with another 10 points spent. Throw in rainbowstrides for very decent spell block too, which helps a lot with reflect. With mana leech (5l = fp, life leech, mana leech, lmp, power charge on crit, 6th slot will be cold pen when I can finally afford a 6l) you can run grace (or haste if you are doing fine defense wise), disc, and tempest shield netting you about 50% block, and thats if you dont evade the hit first. Then I run cold snap with increased aoe, elemental proliferation, and increased critical chance for even more freezing goodness. If you get in real danger you can spam snap to freeze everything and run away. Solo'ing I use a skellie totem, but in a party I use ice spear+gmp+fast casting on my totem for freezy goodness and some combo with CwDT for defense (enduring cry+whatever other buff you like, you can do temp chains or molten armor or a decoy totem).


http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMBAv4FQg5ID8QRLxGWFdcWQBa_Fy8XVB0UHwIigSepKU8snCy_LR82xTrYO3w74UGWQsNDY0SrRwZMs03YUDBVrlXWVkpWY1crWPVapl3yXypfamNDZOdmnm0ZcFJwu3DVcU1-WX_GgKSCEIKbhX2GrofbiEKLeow2jHaOPI5kj0aPppUEmZqaz52jncSeoaKjpwinK66zr5u297b6tzG4ysBRwcXB88Lsw23Xhtgk217cx9-E37Di9-OE5CLrY-vk7BjsOPId8uHz6vem-tL8qw==

I really like ice witches, not only do we do great damage, but the group utility with multiple methods to freeze is very nice. My other build is a farming summoner, and while she is extremely easy to play, I prefer to be in the thick of things. I also have a wander but god they need unbelievably expensive gear to be viable. Cold crit can get by with much cheaper gear.

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cas5nq wrote:

Why do you get Arcing Blows and Mind Drinker when you're casting SPELLS? And why do you skip so many +dmg and +crit nodes?

I didn't take Arcing Blows and Mind Drinker.
Skipping nodes: There is only a limited supply of points to spend, especially when planning a lvl80 build. Once you get past 80 you can take additional nodes like Bloodthirst.

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cas5nq wrote:

So you are saying that you have taken other skills that are more important than damage and crit? You have a lot of +intelligence, and you jump really far across into the Templar tree to pick up another power charge and energy shield. What would happen if you didn't do that and got more +dmg and +crit instead for higher dps? Would that build not be feasible in act 3 merc? I have only gotten to act 1 cruel on my witch so I'm not sure how necessary energy shield, power charges, and armor really are yet.

If you skip the templar tree in favour of crit/damage nodes in the witch/shadow area, you will loose 68% increased ES (40% from Faith and Steel, 28% from Int bonus). I don't know how much more dps you would achieve instead (the templar side offers crit, damage and cast speed too after all) as i don't know what alternative skill tree you have in mind.
Anyway the main point is the 68% incr.ES which is a big deal in the long run. The game mechanics doesn't favour glass cannons, as there is an XP penalty on dying. If you don't mind leveling past lvl80 you might go that way. Otherwise i wouldn't recommend building an imbalanced char. If you die somewhere between lvl 86 and 87 the xp penalty will be 145 million. That is the xp amount you need to level a new char up to lvl60. And it gets much worse the higher the level.

BTW the power charges ain't necessary if you don't intend on using power charge on crit.

I am looking for advise. I run a 7 power charge cold crit witch, currently level 70ish, and Im having trouble deciding where to go from here.

I have the core of the build all filled out, currently sitting at 6k ES, 55% crit chance with my power charges up (they are pretty much up 100% of the time, and IMO well worth 1 socket of my FP setup as it nets 250% crit chance and 21% spelldamage)
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMBAv4FQg5ID8QRLxGWFdcWQBa_F1QdFB8CIoEnqSlPLJwsvy0fNsU62Dt8O-FBlkLDQ2NEq0cGTLNN2FAwVa5WSlZjVytY9VqmXfJfamNDZp5tGXBScNVxTX_GghCCm4V9hq6H24hCjDaMdo48j0aPppUEmZqaz52jncSeoaKjpwinK66zr5u297cxuMrAUcHFwfPC7MNt14bYJNte3MffhN-w4vfjhOtj7BjsOPId8uHz6vrS_Ks=

Now, I need to decide what to do next.

More crit/multi? The next 7 points could be spent getting Intense Zeal and Arcane Potency resulting in 115% more crit chance and 40% more multiplier.
Aura use reduction? 5-7 points could be used to boost aura and reduce reserved. I could run 3 auras if I did this, Id probably go disc+haste/grace+resist aura.
Or just start filling out block nodes? There are 10 points directly on my path that could be used for block, and I could buy one of those spellblock shields for an ex if I need too (and buy another rainbowstrides, I just sold my old ones as the 3ex offer was to good to pass up).

Which do you guys think wouold net more benefit? On my wander block asap was a must, but I have great defenses with huge crit chance=freezing on fp, and a 4L cold snap that freezes the entire screen almost all of the time.

More damage is great, but my freezing pulse gem still has 4 levels to go and I will get more damage as I upgrade my gear as well (wand and shield with lots of crit are still in the works).

Eventually I will take it all, but Im looking for what to take next to support continued mapping. 66-69 maps are really no problem solo atm.

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Bada_Bing wrote:

I concede that the final trees aren’t optimized. Why is that so? Well, this is a beginners guide, meaning you start on a first char without gear and currency and without a fixed decision whether you will go for CI or not in the future. That means the leveling trees for CI and life have to be identical until you hit the late 50s AND shouldn’t require more than 14 respec points in case you want to spec out of life in a2merc.
Starting with an optimized tree and then trying to backtrack it to leveling steps is to put the cart before the horse. Instead you have to plan for a playable leveling strategy that leads you to an endgame char; the tree will fall a bit short of being 100% optimized, but you will reach your goal (again: I’m talking about first chars here, that don’t have any specific leveling gear they can use to compensate for a more difficult leveling path).
To be specific:
Rule of thumb: Put up your defenses first and the basic layout of the tree before scaling dps.
That means you better start with the mana/manareg branch of the witch. It gives you life nodes and more important a sound basis for your core stat: mana. Starting on the left side of the tree will give you slightly better dps in the end (lvl80) but will encumber you while leveling. For a bit of dps upgrade in the beginning you are either forced to take deep thoughts next while you should be building up your HP pool or do the latter and suffer from a constant mana deficit. You won’t recognize the dps difference much in early gameplay, but being forced to spam mana bottles all the time (which might not be enough) can spoil your gaming experience.
Sovereignty-Cluster: Maybe it is needed, maybe not. It depends on the gear. Again I have to refer to this being a beginners guide: I can’t assume maxed resists through gear. To guide everyone to an endgame build I have to assume this not to be the case and offer a gear independent strategy for max resists. (As a consequence it means that intense zeal will require the same point investment than taking bloodthirst + 1 throatseeker). It also means I’m a few points shy of taking another ES circle.
That’s the reason my lvl80 trees look like they do.
Now once you’ve reached that point one could ask where to optimize the tree (maybe I should add an optimized tree to my “what to do past lvl80 remarks”). At that point one should have 4 respec points left plus a couple of regrets in the stash. I agree that speccing out of the 8%+12%mana, 20%manreg and LotD to shift the points to the left branch is a sound move if your mana pool can take it. The same goes for speccing out of Sovereignty once you have maxed resists IF you don’t want to run another aura. As for taking Body and Soul I have to disagree. You usually wear ES pieces, maybe an EVA/ES hybrid chest because of socket color considerations. I would rather go for Void Barrier and use jade flasks instead of granites in that case. Contrary to folk lore evasion is the better defense mechanism for chars that are hit only occasionally imho. That’s also a scenario where keeping Sovereignty and running Grace can make sense.

Sorry for taking half a eternity to answer, but i wanted it to be thorough.

In many of your points, my opinion differs, and considering I've leveled my Freezing-Pulser without impactful Uniques through mid-game, I'm pretty sure of not being completely off. Point taken, it wasn't my first char.

From my experience a mixture of ES and HP-Gear will be good enough to grind Ledge, Felshrine and maybe even a little Docks. The most impactful defensive Mechanism for a Freezing-Pulser is offensive strength via crit. With an IceSpear-ElementalProfliferation-SpellTotem-Link it's easy to freeze at least the small mobs. Proliferating it to the harder hitting Yellow-Mobs may require some practice, but it's really "cool" to walk through frozen enemys.

If you watch my Skill-Tree closely, I'm right next to some HP-Nodes, that can be taken, if the need for more HP arises. But I think speccing right into a high-dmg-spec has even some defensive advantages, at least when playing Softcore.

Considering the Mana-Reg-Branch: I'm not a fan of faster Casting. It is simply to costly without bringing real utility. Let's assume a non-Quality-lvl 18 Faster Casting Gem with your 82-Skilltree. You pick up 12% increased Cast-Speed via Skilltree and 15% via Frenzy-Charges through Blood-Rage. So the 37% increased Speed from Faster Casting are only ~29% more. Now, lets take a look at the mana-cost, it has a multiplier of 1.2, that may not seem much, but considering the higher cast-speed you consume ~55% more mana. Let's look out for the alternative, namely Cold Penetration. Let's assume a lvl 15 Gem. It's got a 150% Mana-Multiplier, thats quite the same. Now, in the case of a Mob with 0 Frost-Resistance it's 30% more damage. Now let's assume a real nasty mob, capped Cold-Resistance and Curse-Immunity. Now the Cold-Penetration-Gem really shines. By dropping the Resistance to a effective 45% you deal a fantastic 120% more damage. In comparion to Faster Casting it's ~70% more dmg in the worst-cast-scenario while being equally good in best-cast-scenarios. And more damage is also more leech aka earlier leech-capping.

So my best bet for a 4L (everything else is just luxury, as a real beginner it's not a option to go 5L in almost every scenario) would be FreezingPulse+LifeLeech+LMP+ColdPen. Those colors are not hard to get in Evasion-Gear, i.e. gloves due to their low primary budget. I've had them in 70+-Maps, it works. Of corse it isn't even remotely comparable to a 5L or a 6L, but those are luxury-purchases.

To the problem with mana, it's rather a problem with picking the wrong flasks. It's completely viable to run Freezing-Pulse + LMP + ColdPen + CritDmg + AddedChaos + LifeLeech without problems in normal Maps. The Mana-Cost may be heavy, but there is a solution:

Combine that with a leveled Clarity and a little buffer, and you're fine. In case you encounter a half-regen-map, Hallowed Flasks are better.

Now the Sovereignity-Cluster still isn't viable as your only Aura-Cluster. And it doesnot depend on your gear. It is just too point-expensive. The idea you had with the ability to run Purity of Elements as a third aura, until you can cap resists otherwise may sound nice, but in fact it just impairs your character. Without a real high Reduced-Mana-Gem it just sucks to run more than one Aura, even two can be really annoying, when you haven't gathered equipment with +Mana on it. In the end running purity with that cluster gives you slightly more resistances than the Phalanx-Cluster but just shrinks your Manapool too much.

If you're high level, so about 85+, when your first gems ding 20 it's a debatable idea to pick up the Influence-Cluster in the Shadow-Area. It's just 3 Points if you take the south-route towards Ghost Reaver and has a combined of 5% Mana-Reduce and 26% Effect. That should be enough to bump your Purity of Ice to +5 Max-Resistance for 5% less dmg from reflect. That may not sound much, but it's also little boost to your ES if running Discipline. And in every case I'd might imagine better than the Sovereignity-Cluster.

@ Kuromahou
Where to go next depends mostly on your gear and planned Gem-Setup. I'd suggest the "southern" route to Prestidigitation and Celestrial Walker (10% Ele-Resistance is always nice) next to Arcane Potency, some pretty good nodes. Other alternatives would be the Nodes at the Shadow-Start, Deep Thoughts, Nimbleness or even the Void-Barrier-Wheel for more ES. But in the end, that is primarily a personal preference - but more dps is almost always good.

On another node, have you thought about keeping up the Power-Charges with a 4L Ice-Spear? That would free a Gem-Slot for i.e. Crit-Multiplier.