[1.1.5/1.2 Tree Posted][Hardcore] The Ice Princess - A Hardcore Crit Glacial Cascade Build

"

Tomark wrote:

Also, looking at your 1.2 tree, is there any reason you aren't taking the Flask nodes, especially as you are right next to it?

It's an oversight really. Not sure why I didn't include them. The new life flasks should be awesome for this build since I was using a saturated life flask most of the time as a replacement for leech/regen. The new ones will make this more of a legitimate strategy than before. I'll have a look at the tree again before Wednesday and see if I can tweak it a bit.

"

PuppyDogPimp wrote:

It's an oversight really. Not sure why I didn't include them. The new life flasks should be awesome for this build since I was using a saturated life flask most of the time as a replacement for leech/regen. The new ones will make this more of a legitimate strategy than before. I'll have a look at the tree again before Wednesday and see if I can tweak it a bit.

I am really liking what i heard about 'Herald of Ice' new skill gem, as well as the improved GC area of effect (and better overlapping of zones).

OTOH, what do you think will be the effect of the new shock calculations in 1.2?

EDIT: Hahahaha, the new Critical Weakness curse has been massively buffed, as it now gives a chance of Power charge on enemy kill as well as mana/life. This possibly mean PCoC is not needed anymore.

"

Tomark wrote:

I am really liking what i heard about 'Herald of Ice' new skill gem, as well as the improved GC area of effect (and better overlapping of zones).

OTOH, what do you think will be the effect of the new shock calculations in 1.2?

EDIT: Hahahaha, the new Critical Weakness curse has been massively buffed, as it now gives a chance of Power charge on enemy kill as well as mana/life. This possibly mean PCoC is not needed anymore.

This build should get a lot better in 1.2. The AoE buff is the best part in my opinion. Also, I was able to get away with a saturated hallowed life flask and no regen or leech in 1.1.x even though it was pretty sketchy sometimes. With the new life flasks, it should be a more legitimate strategy. Herald of Ice looks amazing as well especially the ice explosion since this build shatters everything.

I'm not too concerned about the shock changes. It's definitely a nerf in ideal conditions, but the truth is that sustaining 3 shock stacks on most bosses with added lightning wasn't really possible. I actually stopped using added lightning very recently in favor of increased AoE for clear speed and I didn't really miss it. I think it will be felt the most from levels 70-85 when GC is still leveling up. I still think added lightning will be worth using. Someone suggested using it with cold snap since it already has ele prolif and I think that's definitely worth trying out.

Do you know what the power charge on kill chance is for the new assassin's mark? Also I'm interested to see how badly the extra crit damage was nerfed. I heard rumors that it was removed completely, but I didn't see anything about that in the patch notes?

"

PuppyDogPimp wrote:

Do you know what the power charge on kill chance is for the new assassin's mark?

For me it's 27% chance at gem level 15 w/o quality.
And 28% chance at gem level 6 with 13% quality. So the quality makes a difference.

Glacial Cascade is pretty powerful even at low levels, jeez.

Rolled GC with this build in mind. At the moment my build looks like this http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMAAv4EBwVCCPQOSBGWJpUsnC0fOlg9X0GWQsNEq0yzUlNVS1WuVcZd8l8qYeJqQ20Zf8aCEIPbjDaPppUgl5WX9KKjrrO86sBUwfPQ9d-E37Dr5A==

just rushed the closest life nodes and I'm level 36 just got in cruel. I feel extremely squishy (1.2k~ hp), like I could die in every zone. I can't constantly run arctic armor, too heavy drain, so I only use it when opening strongbox or going against rare/boss. What would you recommend me to do?

OP,
Would you mind updating your leveling section, please?

Hello
I am liking your build/Guide, maby you can update it some more. Thanks for sharing your build.

I updated the main post to include leveling trees for 1.2. These are the same trees I used to level my ice nova character in beyond and I was leveling with glacial cascade. The guide does need a bit of attention. In particular, PCoC is no longer necessary except for curse immune maps and I've actually found hybrid life/es to be very effective this patch. Ultimately, what I'll probably do, is merge this build with my ice nova guide (http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/edit-thread/988377 - almost finished and ready to write a proper guide) and treat them as two separate versions of the same build idea. The trees and playstyle are very similar between the two.

Hello,
thanks for the guide, im currently into the process of making a glacial cascade build for myself and there is useful info. I found a small flaw in your skill tree tho, on the top corner of your tree, you can relocate some intelligence nodes and save 1 skill point, here is how it would look like . I also wonder if going for the Throatseeker node that increases crit multiplier wouldnt be a good idea. Theoretically in a high crit chance builds, small increase in crit multiplier should mean alot