Hardcore Frost Witch Guide (Last Updated May 8th)

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AndrewSX91 wrote:

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Iamnly wrote:

Hey Bro ^^

Following the guide and it's fun to play till now.

You might want to update your passives at page 1 cause it's different from the passives you give endgame at page 4. At page one you get some things that you don't get at your final passive build. You get Chaos resist at page one but not at the endgame page, because you are getting CI anyways.

I like the guide and keep up the good work man!

Free respec points are given at certain quest rewards.

And as you pointed out, while chaos resist is used through the whole Normal Diff, it has to go when you pick CI - which makes you immune to chaos thus making a chaos resist useless.

Exactly. I use those free re-spec points often to fine-tune my mana regeneration and resists.

Playing this spec. I like soloing and even though I'm in the default league, this spec fits my abilities and play-style. Thanks for posting it.

OP or ANYONE know how this compares to Dominion's HC Dual Totem/CI witch??

when are u updating it to merciless? i liked it very much, nice valance Damage/Survival

Thanks for this guide, it's great to have a starting point as a new player! That giant skill tree is pretty daunting.

Can I ask why you didn't pick up the three Spell Critical Chance nodes? I would have thought Spell Critical would be very important for a Frost caster.

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deadblade wrote:

when are u updating it to merciless? i liked it very much, nice valance Damage/Survival

Only changes in Merc. would be hitting the Crit chance passives probably.

This base spec already gets most of your ES/resist passives

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Ashenai wrote:

Thanks for this guide, it's great to have a starting point as a new player! That giant skill tree is pretty daunting.

Can I ask why you didn't pick up the three Spell Critical Chance nodes? I would have thought Spell Critical would be very important for a Frost caster.

I think I explained this in the guide. By my math (in the spreadsheet), assuming you're able to cast continuously and can afford the required mana, cast speed will grant you more crits per second than critical strike chance will. This becomes especially true when using Frostbite and Freezing Pulse which both provide additional chance to freeze regardless of whether or not you crit. In addition, cast speed makes it easier to dps while moving. So until someone shows me the math saying otherwise, I'll consider critical strike chance to be a very weak stat for both damage and freezing.

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deadblade wrote:

when are u updating it to merciless? i liked it very much, nice valance Damage/Survival

Soon. I'm still working my way through merciless on this toon right now and don't want to update it until I'm finished. Biggest changes include getting several 4-link items to chain support gems, using a third aura (Purity or Vitality), and probably picking up Zealot's Oath (I'm not quite sure about this yet though.).

How are you able to keep your requirements for your support gems seeing as you don't pick up any strength or dex in your build? You mentioned getting the +30 dex for projectiles which I of course had to do to even use those green supports but now I'm wondering how I am going to be getting the str required for reduced mana. Am I going to have to spend another point for the +30 strength?

I am also wondering about Clarity. I am currently holding it at level 4 and I just socketed LMP with my freezing pulse and now I am having to use mana pots again to keep up. My current level is 32 and my mana is only 300 so the 120 reserved is already pretty daunting. Should I keep increasing it or wait until I have more mana? Its going to get even rougher once I get discipline I feel.

Sorry I'm still fairly new to the game so these types of decisions are still foreign to me. I am enjoying the build though and have yet to die so thank you for the guide and thanks in advanced for any input.

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deadblade wrote:

when are u updating it to merciless? i liked it very much, nice valance Damage/Survival

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Soon. I'm still working my way through merciless on this toon right now and don't want to update it until I'm finished. Biggest changes include getting several 4-link items to chain support gems, using a third aura (Purity or Vitality), and probably picking up Zealot's Oath (I'm not quite sure about this yet though.).

Thank you, i think Purity or Vitality+Zealot's Oath are both great but i'm not sure which is better.

Thank you for the great guide, I'm following it until now and everything is going very smooth.

Could you tell me how you level your gems because I'm a bit confused... I am level 32 and my mana is 420 in act 3 normal and my gems are:

Freezing pulse: 8
Lesser multiple projectile: 3
Faster projectile: 5

Clarity: 5
Frostbite: 4

Raise zombie: 7
Minion life: 6
Raise spectre: 1

Ice spear: 8
Increased critical damage: 6

Is this good? Which ones are too far? Which ones should I go on to level?