[1.3] The Crit Philosopher - CI Crit Cold Witch - Freezing Pulse, PCoC & Echo

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unicornstampedes wrote:

Thank you for the swift response!
As you may already have figured out I am completely new I believe I "seriously" started playing last night and from what little I know, there is not a full respec option... So how do I even go about tweaking and making adjustments as I go?

Finishing all quests (including side quests) will yield 18 respec points. That's enough in order to go from the life tree (progression 4) to the CI tree (progression 5). As you slowly get Orbs of Regret, use them to gain additional respec points. You don't actually need to go block until level 80s or the like, I'd say!

Hey guys,

I've been playing a Crit FP witch for over a year now and I wanted to post my build, which is very similar to this one, but I think it has some tweaks and optimizations that I'm looking for feedback on.


this is my build at lvl 90



It's optimized to fit with my current gear so following the build exactly isnt recommended unless you have my exact gear and stats (lol), but im open to suggestions or comments.

Here's my gear



Im capped resists with 58 block, 47 spell block.
Running Discipline, Clarity, Herald of Thunder, Tempest Shield and Artic Armor (with no mana regen issues).


With Aura up im at 15,200 tooltip dps and that goes to about 21,000k dps when power charges go up.

Herald of thunder with linked curse on hit and assmark basically keeps my Power charges up full time if im not wasting time between clearing mobs.

biggest fall back is my 5.4K ES but i almost never die because high spell block, life leech from spell and tempest shield and capped resists.

Let me know what you guys think!

I have a question regarding Ghost Reaver keystone. Why is it in the build? I was not able to find any nodes or gear or gems that enable Life Leech? Did I miss something?

If Ghost Reaver is not supposed to stay, would it be better to travel up at the top of the tree where +12% Cold Damage nodes are?

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Thepiper wrote:

I have a question regarding Ghost Reaver keystone. Why is it in the build? I was not able to find any nodes or gear or gems that enable Life Leech? Did I miss something?

If Ghost Reaver is not supposed to stay, would it be better to travel up at the top of the tree where +12% Cold Damage nodes are?

Doryani's Invitation has 1% cold leech, also pretty sure he doesn't run IIQ gem all the time. In any case, Ghost Reaver IS supposed to stay. Don't even dream about playing a ES build without some sort of leech, you'll only cause yourself grievance.

@bobby3127: Pretty cool build! It is really similar, as you say. Probably the only things I'd change would be gear-based, but that comes at a slower pace. Thank you for sharing your build with us :)

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SailorSaturn wrote:

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Thepiper wrote:

I have a question regarding Ghost Reaver keystone. Why is it in the build? I was not able to find any nodes or gear or gems that enable Life Leech? Did I miss something?

If Ghost Reaver is not supposed to stay, would it be better to travel up at the top of the tree where +12% Cold Damage nodes are?

Doryani's Invitation has 1% cold leech, also pretty sure he doesn't run IIQ gem all the time. In any case, Ghost Reaver IS supposed to stay. Don't even dream about playing a ES build without some sort of leech, you'll only cause yourself grievance.

Yeah, I don't run IIQ all the time. The ES leeched (provided by Doryani's) is good for most situations, but for difficult encounters I swap for a 20Q% Life Leech. It really helps with reflect mobs or difficult bosses (Merveil, Jungle Valley Spiders and the like).

Hello Saxarona, a very good, detailed, well written guide which animated me to revive my witch from open-beta-state (free respec). So far I'm really impressed how well it works out - well, to be honest, pretty much every build is probably more viable than my first tripple-curse totemwitch - even without both of the two items you recommended as mandatory (only got an eye of chaluya until now). Currently rocking ~8k es with about 57%crit when charged.

Regarding "Cast When Damage Taken" I just wanted to say: it's awesome; even on this build. try cwdt+blood rage+enduring cry(+immortal call if sustainable mana-wise) and its just... whew. cwdt stays on lvl 1 for the lowest trigger-amount, rest as high as the "level 31 restriction" from cwdt allows, and its a significant buff whenever you are in potential danger (hard hitters with a huge hp pool which you can't freeze). Surely a matter of preference, but it felt like an additional layer of op-ness on your already pretty solid build to me.

Not too much "newspeak" or wicked abbreviations, just enough to sound like you know what you're talking about and even make me chuckle a few times.
As a person with not so much time to plan and execute the finest builds, I appreciate your - undoubtedly - hard work very much. Thank you.

I did also like the flowchart very much :D
Usually I'm not much of a forum-guy, but you really deserve some more positive feedback.
Finally, excuse my English, I'm no native speaker.

Best regards,
starrox

edited for spelling

Around level 50 hit a shift in mob strength and my ability to kill them fast so the following setup has helped me tremendously till I get some better armor.

I found a good intermediate leveling combo that works very well. On wand I have Curse on Hit, Temporal Chains with Arc. Applies a fast zap and applies TC on all mobs in the vicinity fast to slow them. On my gloves I have Spell Totem, Summon Skeletons with Blind and Faster Attacks. (could swap out FA for Melee Physical Damage) Along with Lightning Warp which I rarely need to use except when opening chests...good way to move away fast from the immediate onslaught.

Any insight would be welcome and hope this may help others through the leveling process.

Lots of fun to play, thanks for the build.

Avid player.

Is this build any good? capable of beating those uber bosses?

Thank you, starrox and CygnusDenub for your advice and suggestions! Will add as useful comments in the second post :)

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webas wrote:

Is this build any good? capable of beating those uber bosses?

Recently gave Atziri a try and it wasn't that difficult. You just need to be careful. Hardest part is Trio, IMO. Using two Vaal Disciplines should work. I was very lucky, if you ask me :)

As for Uber, I don't even have a full set, so meh.

Maybe I'll add an Atziri section in the future. It really is not on my plans, but we'll see.

Oh thanks for answer. But.. when i mouseover my freezepulse its just 4.5k DPS.. which is a lie when compared to then guide. I thought i could get at least 20k.. :(
I use lmp only, not even gmp.. my damage it poor..