Hardcore Frost Witch Guide (Last Updated May 8th)

I dont get it -.- When i dont have my lesser multiple projectiles on freezing pulse it shows more DPS than when i get it on -.- PLS HELP

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TaDi wrote:

I dont get it -.- When i dont have my lesser multiple projectiles on freezing pulse it shows more DPS than when i get it on -.- PLS HELP

Lesser multiple projectiles gives 30% lesser projectile damage, but you get 2 additional projectiles.
You can multiple your new dps by 3, so overall higher damage.

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calendor wrote:

Do you stop levelling your suport gems - faster proj, lesser proj etc, or who do you afford the dex cost - gear?

I have taken a +30 Dex and Str node in my build for this purpose, as well as a +20 Str / 10% Life node. This has been enough to level my green and red gems so far. The really important red one (for me) has been Reduced Mana, so I would boost at least Str. This lets me run 3 auras.

Build is here for the record, if anyone would care to critique:



And my Gem links are as follows (again, comments welcome, I have most support gems in plentiful supply so could change any of these combos):

Freezing Pulse + Projectile Speed + Added Cold Damage + LMP
Freezing Pulse + Spell Totem + Added Lightning Damage
Ice Spear + Increased Crit Damage + Faster Casting + LMP
Cold Snap + Cold Penetration + Elemental Proliferation + Concentrated Effect
Reduced Mana + Clarity + Discipline + Purity
Frostbite + Temporal Chains + Enfeeble

This is my modified 120 points build, now that the passive skill page lists 120 max.

I removed Zealot's Oath, the 8% life (useless) and the 1.0% life regen. Consider that ES regains 30% per second, so 1% won't even matter.

I added the bottom row of ES nodes I had removed, took the two missing shield nodes I was too-short to take and took the 10% elemental damage and 10 int that was right by me anyways. Removed a semi-useless shield node (+1% block 15% better defenses) in favor of a +12% max mana.

That's a summary of the bonuses:

Question that popped out looking at Sara's build (btw, don't put 120 points, it's improbable :P )

Second, does + % Increased Defense from shield affect ES too? If so, might be a good idea to invest into some of them

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lumino6 wrote:

Question that popped out looking at Sara's build (btw, don't put 120 points, it's improbable :P )

Second, does + % Increased Defense from shield affect ES too? If so, might be a good idea to invest into some of them

IMO defenses in this context refers to Armor and possibly Evasion (as can be seen on the page about affixes "defense and stun recovery" is really "armor and stun recovery").

I put 120 points because I don't like incomplete builds.

Btw, I'd probably go for the below-Witch-start 2nd row of ES nodes last, so that's 7 nodes for lv 94-100. And the 3 cold damage nodes near the right-branching from start at 91-93. So at lv 90 count those as not taken yet.

I'd go in a "favor defensive nodes" fashion...if 98% of the build already wasn't defensive. And block chance matters when it's like extra evasion, so I won't take it last. It's probably possible to use Tempest Shield given enough mana, but I don't know yet if there'll be enough.

I just wanted to say.. Thanks alot for this guide it really helped out alot!
Thanks man! You rock!

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hoiland wrote:

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GhostlightX wrote:

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hoiland wrote:

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.

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).

I am now into Act 2 Merciless and thought it would be worth updating this thread with my experiences fighting Merci Brutus and Malveil or whatever the last boss is called....


I changed my build a little, adding a few life nodes here and there and more mana regen. I also upgraded some of my gear. I now have 900 HP and 1000 ES....the fight went as follows:

Brutus: Laughable. I kept him frozen at max range with Cold Snap (I repeat....best cold spell of all) and pounded him with Ice Spear from a distance. I don't think he hit me once. Fight was over in 30 seconds.

Malveil: Harder than Brutus. She has cold resist and I only do cold damage, and have little chance to freeze her. Nevertheless, EASY fight. Killed her first time. It was a 2 minute fight and I hsd to keep moving at all times to avoid being frozen by her Cold Snap. Her first form is the hardest, but I have decent Cold resist myself (45%) soeven though she hit me a lot, she didn't really worry me. Her second form is easy since I could freeze all of her minions with a single Cold Snap, and just blew them away thereafter, then her. All in it was a 2 minute fight where I kept on the move, I blew all my potions but there was no real danger of being killed whatsoever.

So....onto Merciless act 2....LOVING the Ice Witch, and very very happy with my build, extremely strong. Again I say....Cold Snap is the MVP

My God, that's a lot of monkeys!

I don't get how Cold Snap is so good, from the wiki, it still says the freeze chance is 40% (at lvl 15+ even so)

That's not very good for a spell you can only cast once every 4s


Isn't Ice Spear with it's Freeze on Crit much better for freezing?

I wondered that myself. I expect that 40% freeze is in addition to its chance to freeze by critting. Either way as I said earlier, it pretty much always freezes for me; feels like 90% at least. You only need 1 target to Freeze and Elemental Proliferation does the rest.

So why is it better than Ice Spear?

1) It can hit anywhere you can see, instantly while Ice Spear needs to travel and hit the target, is subject to objects getting in teh way, and is a slow moving spell. This is more important than it sounds. Eg enemies approaching from right are frozen when a bunch appear on your left - much quicker to just drop a CS on the left and forget about them for 5 or 6 seconds.

2) CS deals more damage than crit IS (well mine does) so freezes for longer.

3) If you put Proliferation onto IS, you might run of mana fast, as you cast that spell much more frequently than CS. Ice Spear with Crit Damage, Proliferation and LMP for example is possibly hard to sustain

4) IS is probably your main nuke or 2nd main nuke, and you'd gimp its damage by putting Proliferation on it (remember Proliferation does nothing but spread the Freeze) when you could have had Lightning Damage instead. Bad idea to gimp your main nuke. CS is only cast every 4 seconds and is very much your tertiary nuke, so you don't gimp your DPS much by making it Proliferate for you.