Hardcore Frost Witch Guide (Last Updated May 8th)
" What curse are you spamming? While Frostbite looks great on paper, it was getting me killed. I recommend swapping to Temporal Chains or Enfeeble. And Ice Spear has no max range as far as I know, so you can kill stuff from several screens away. Also not sure why Cold Snap isn't loved more in this thread. I use it with Elemental Proliferation, Cold Penetration and Added Cold Damage now. My Icy is level 53 and currently well into Mericless Act 1 and I am owning everything, with few Life nodes in my build (I have 500 HP and 600 Shield). The reason is Cold Snap. It has a much higher Freeze chance than any other cold spell, and with Elem Proliferation you only need to freeze one target and everything near it will Freeze as well. By the time they unfreeze, CS is off cooldown and you just pop it again for a further mass freeze. I can keep the entire screen frozen pretty much as long as I want. CS ftw Did you know level 91 is the halfway point to level 100? This means that a softcore character dying ONCE at level 85+ can lose many days of progress. Last edited by GhostlightX#1022 on Feb 19, 2013, 2:11:18 PM
|
|
" Wait...you are level 53, in Merciless Act 1 and only have 600 ES?! Sweet Jesus man!!! You are going to get 1 - shotted. I am 47 with 2,000 ES and so-so gear. Other than that, you are correct, CS is a great spell if used correctly :) |
|
" Yeah I fully expect to have to blow my Respec points and take Life / more ES shortly - had to do the same with my Ranger. Also I have very decent chest armour waiting for me to ding, which will help. Did you know level 91 is the halfway point to level 100? This means that a softcore character dying ONCE at level 85+ can lose many days of progress. Last edited by GhostlightX#1022 on Feb 19, 2013, 3:07:11 PM
|
|
" But still....you better not get touched by Brutus. I am pretty confident he will 1-shot you with only 500 HP and 600 ES. The way armor scales on hits, you will be lucky to get more than 5% reduced (I am assuming you have some given how low your HP/ES are). Last edited by hoiland#2044 on Feb 19, 2013, 3:54:01 PM
|
|
" I guess you could carry around a leveled EK and swap it with Freezing Pulse (and Fork for LMP) when you get one of those packs. It'll be a good bit weaker but it's a lot better than gibbing yourself. |
|
|
Do you stop levelling your suport gems - faster proj, lesser proj etc, or who do you afford the dex cost - gear?
|
|
|
For eveyone that posted a repsonse, thanks. I made a few changes based on what was replied. I have Made it to Cruel, and it was much less painful, however I did die to Piety 4 times before I took her out, the first 2 were because I move so slow, equipped the run speed flask and was able to get away.
So here is how things are now. I have levelled to 40 lmp and cold penetration on FP added cold damage on IS Clarity has no support gem faster casting on Frostbie and Ice nova(rarely ever use anymore) Chest has 2 linked green linked blue boots are 3 linked blue 1blue solo Gloves 1 green linked 1 blue wand has 2 linked blue and solo blue with physical damage 30-55, 13% inc spell damage 5% inc cold damage, 89% inc physical damage it is a blue item, cannot find a yellow shield is also blue, as have not gotten a good yellow either, and it has 4 life regen and +18 to energy shield Do people trade low level gear? I seldom see anything low enough to bother with the trade channel? All in all I think I need to adjust my playstyle. I normally play melee, and I think I am allowing my witch to get in their face too much, and not staying ranged as I should. If I do back away from the fights, should I change the support gems for IS and FP? |
|
" You can let them come a bit closer, IF they die fast. Freezing Pulse is supposed to kill them fast, or you're too weak, or the enemy is too strong (yes, don't try to tank Brutus or Kole). |
|
" I wouldn't stop leveling gems. I'm using a dex amulet right now (I got lucky and rolled a bit of spellpower on it) to keep my supports leveled, but the guide recommends to take the big dex passives as needed to keep your gems leveled. |
|
|
This HC es build has slightly less es and a lot (LOT!) more damage
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMBAv4FQgVbDH0QaRB_ES0RLxFQFr8XVB3ZIoEsnCy_LR8wlzLROYo74UGWQsNDVESrRUdG10-_Va5WSl3GXfJgbW0ZcFJw1XyDfVN_xoIQgpuH24hCi3qLjIw2jjyOZI6-j6aVBJmanYCeoaKjpyuus6-btQS2hrb3tvq4k7vWwFHBxcHzw23Gns363fPfhN-w4XPi9-Qi62PsGO0g8h3z6vemVyvr7oRIPI4Bb1fJNAopT-w4OthN2J48gW-MdhGWDkjjhJ2j_Ks= |
|
