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

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benjiwoosh wrote:

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Saxarona wrote:

I think Spiritual Guardian is even better, with 110% increased ES for your Shield and block chance too.
And yeah, any shield with ES is good. Spirit Shields are optimal, with spell dmg, crit and ES modifiers; especially Brass, Thorium and Titanium that have 30% block.

I was thinking those additional 4% block would work better, but hm. If you say additional ES is better...
Also, with current Dream Fragments price (1.5 exalt) I think ill keep this build for later and go back to my incinerate tank... xD Cant afford it right now, and you mentioned its pretty much a must after going CI.

The ES is better for CI, as well as Dream Fragments, is a must, for CI. If you're not CI yet, then don't worry for now. Keep farming 'till you feel comfortable. And yeah, take a break every now and then, else you'll end with a cold heart :P

get rid of the small 6% in unnatural calm area, and get the two in written in blood... works out far better

You have 135 dex with your gear. I'm thinking of how do you plan to run blood rage?
20lvl requires 151 dex, so you need 16 over dex.

Also, did you consider to use Vaal Pact? It's a bit far for sure but it worth it, don't you think so? And you'll be able to have additional stats and 10% ele res and some evasion so it would be not a total waste of passives.

Also can you tell what lvl of AA do you run atm? I mean, what level of AA you're mana pool can sustain?

Another question:) Don't you use some Ice Spear of smth like this when you _do_not_want_ to get close to the monsters? For instance, for Brutus\Unique Devourer, etc?

Thank you in advance for your answers.

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Blakwhysper wrote:

get rid of the small 6% in unnatural calm area, and get the two in written in blood... works out far better

Hmm, gonna think about it. It's not an immediate increase, but it is something. Extra life is useless, though :/

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Ignalion wrote:

You have 135 dex with your gear. I'm thinking of how do you plan to run blood rage?
20lvl requires 151 dex, so you need 16 over dex.

Also, did you consider to use Vaal Pact? It's a bit far for sure but it worth it, don't you think so? And you'll be able to have additional stats and 10% ele res and some evasion so it would be not a total waste of passives.

Also can you tell what lvl of AA do you run atm? I mean, what level of AA you're mana pool can sustain?

Another question:) Don't you use some Ice Spear of smth like this when you _do_not_want_ to get close to the monsters? For instance, for Brutus\Unique Devourer, etc?

Thank you in advance for your answers.

I have Blood Rage at level 14, most of all as a luxury. The only thing Blood Rage does for CI characters is give them free Frenzy Charges. You could use it at level 1 if you want, I'm leveling it so the duration of the buff is longer so I don't have to re-cast it every now and then.

I've seen recently some FP builds using Vaal Pact, most of them life based. The stats are nice, but I personally don't like Vaal Pact because 40% less leech is A LOT. I prefer to be careful and watch what I'm killing (in case of reflect and such). A 20% Quality Life Leech gem is way better in my opinion (and the gem is also part of the main setup :P), for it grants you with 40% max life per second instead of 20% with a 0%Q Life Leech Gem. That's actually what I'm using. And let's not forget Doryani's 1% cold damage leech!

EDIT: Of course, there's always the option of going Acuity if you're wealthy enough lol

Right now, I'm running Clarity at lvl 20, Discipline at lvl 20, Tempest Shield at level 17 and Arctic Armour at lvl 10. I use them all the time with no mana issues at all. I only deactivate Arctic Armour when running 50% regen or no regen maps. Some people max Arctic Armour and activate it only when things get ugly, but it's up to your playstyle and preference.

And about not getting near the mobs, I tend to do the opposite lol
Let's say it's Brutus/Kole. I keep my distance at first, and then watch his animations. If he's attacking, then I teleport to his back and (most of the times) shock him. Fire 2, 3 pulses (or as many as I can before he turns again) and then teleport again, and repeat till he's dead. It's the same with Dominus second phase, if you time it carefully you can even replace your Life Leech Gem for an Increased Quantity Gem and watch how the loot drops as he explodes :D

Now, there are some reasons why I'm not that close in the first place. Because Freezing Pulse dissipates after some time, increasing the speed of the projectile (via Projectile Speed gem or Quality on your FP gem) increases the travel speed, and thus reaching farther. With a 20% Quality Frezing Pulse you can actually hit mobs at the back and still crit, so you have time to walk (or teleport) and repeat. All these 20%Quality gems were not affordable by me until lvl 65 or so. While leveling I used cold snap+trap sometimes. The skeleton totem did wonders for me too...

Anyway, many thanks for asking all these questions! I think I need to add this info to the OP, maybe a "Dealing with Reflect" and "Playstyle" section would be nice :)

Thank you very much for your answers!
AA 11 lvl and no invincibility combo with CWDT so I presume you're 'a bit' squishy, aren't you?:)

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Saxarona wrote:

Anyway, many thanks for asking all these questions! I think I need to add this info to the OP, maybe a "Dealing with Reflect" and "Playstyle" section would be nice :)

Yeah, the question I forgot to ask was about ele reflect. How many dps do you have for a moment? Doesn't it kill you before you kill reflect rare?
Can you run ele reflect maps?

Another one question. Do you plan to go to the Heart of Ice? It would significantly boost dps

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Hmm, gonna think about it. It's not an immediate increase, but it is something. Extra life is useless, though :/

If you can free up 1 point it is an immediate increase because normal ES nodes not right in the witch tree are about 6% each so 2 equals +12% while this is +15%, with +10 str, AND extra life. Contrary to popular belief, life makes a difference. Elemental status effects don't trigger off of 1 life with CI, but off of what your life would be if you didn't have CI. It will actually reduce your chances of being shocked and ignited by a tiny amount.

Additional feedback after reading more of your post:

1 - Get Herald of Ice. With reduced mana it's 17% reserved with no mana reserved nodes. It is a significant dps increase not even factoring in that enemies that are shattered explode damaging those around them. On top of that, I think that the 20% quality version gives at least +10% cold damage....

2 - in your FP chain, use increased critical damage... it single handedly does more damage than every other support gem tested for me

3 - give assassin's mark a shot... 30% chance of giving you a power charge per kill... increased crit chance and damage AND gives mana back when you kill something... bananas

4 - for survivability, I find that what saves me the most is cold snap + elemental proliferation + cold penetration, increased AOE, it pretty much freezes the entire screen. Minions also proliferate to bosses, so you can keep a boss frozen the entire fight as long as you don't kill all the peons.

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Ignalion wrote:

Thank you very much for your answers!
AA 11 lvl and no invincibility combo with CWDT so I presume you're 'a bit' squishy, aren't you?:)

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Saxarona wrote:

Anyway, many thanks for asking all these questions! I think I need to add this info to the OP, maybe a "Dealing with Reflect" and "Playstyle" section would be nice :)

Yeah, the question I forgot to ask was about ele reflect. How many dps do you have for a moment? Doesn't it kill you before you kill reflect rare?
Can you run ele reflect maps?

Another one question. Do you plan to go to the Heart of Ice? It would significantly boost dps

With 7K ES your zone of comfort is enough :)

And yes, you can do Elemental Reflect maps, at a slower pace, but it is not that difficult. Just did a 72 map (Mine) with no problems at all. The ingame DPS (tooltip) when fully charged (3 frenzy, 7 power) is 9.349K using a 5L with FP, LMP, PCoC, Spell Echo and Life Leech. There's an Excel sheet with DPS calculations here.

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Blakwhysper wrote:

If you can free up 1 point it is an immediate increase because normal ES nodes not right in the witch tree are about 6% each so 2 equals +12% while this is +15%, with +10 str, AND extra life. Contrary to popular belief, life makes a difference. Elemental status effects don't trigger off of 1 life with CI, but off of what your life would be if you didn't have CI. It will actually reduce your chances of being shocked and ignited by a tiny amount.

Additional feedback after reading more of your post:

1 - Get Herald of Ice. With reduced mana it's 17% reserved with no mana reserved nodes. It is a significant dps increase not even factoring in that enemies that are shattered explode damaging those around them. On top of that, I think that the 20% quality version gives at least +10% cold damage....

2 - in your FP chain, use increased critical damage... it single handedly does more damage than every other support gem tested for me

3 - give assassin's mark a shot... 30% chance of giving you a power charge per kill... increased crit chance and damage AND gives mana back when you kill something... bananas

4 - for survivability, I find that what saves me the most is cold snap + elemental proliferation + cold penetration, increased AOE, it pretty much freezes the entire screen. Minions also proliferate to bosses, so you can keep a boss frozen the entire fight as long as you don't kill all the peons.

0. Yeah, I'm aware of the status ailments based on what would your HP be if you're CI, though I was not inclined to that option in the immediate future because I only had 1 point. But next point (plus regret) would be a great idea!

1. I need to buy that gem! I'm not sure if I can sustain it along with tempest shield, but I'll make some space for it.

2. I was actually thinking of using Added Lightning or Critical Damage as my sixth link (as soon as I get it). Tried Critical Damage before Spell Echo came out, and the damage was insane; it was only lvl 14. I'm still leveling it in the second set of weapons.

3. I am leveling Assassin's Mark in the second set too; and will give it a try as well as Elemental Weakness. Frostbite provides less damage output than Ele Weakness, but more freezing chance. Assassin's Mark sounds promising!

4. I used Cold Snap + Increased AoE + Trap + Ele Prolif before with a Fireblast Witch I had and it's incredibly useful. I'm gonna add this in the OP as alternate skillset along with two or three I've been reading there

Thank you very much for your input! :D

Hey I am currently doing your build and having a blast.

Heres my current gear and my skilltree can you see what I should be going for next?





Skill tree:

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMAAW8C_gQHBUINjQ5IEQ8RUBGWFVAbJRzcIvQnqSoLLJw1uUGWQsNEq0cGS65Ms1AwVa5ca13yXypfamNDZJ1sC20ZcFJw1XRVfll_xoIQhEiJ04t6jDaPRo-mj_qboacIpyusmK6zwcXDbdD12Vva3dte2-ffhN-K37Di9-kC6_XsGPId8uHz6vfX

Is there any particular reason you don't take Frost Walker for the 18% damage boost?

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Reloads wrote:

Hey I am currently doing your build and having a blast. Heres my current gear and my skilltree can you see what I should be going for next?

Hey, that's nice to hear!

I'd grab some life nodes before moving on to the Templar area damage nodes. First upgrade your defenses, then your damage. Remember you'll have 18 points to respec later on, when you no longer need HP nodes and go for ES.

In the meantime, consider respeccing Ghost Reaver until you go CI. Prepare to get aura/armor/block nodes just before getting the Power Charges. The moment you have your 5L (and your mana can sustain it, that's the right time to get all the power charges.

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shinino wrote:

Is there any particular reason you don't take Frost Walker for the 18% damage boost?

Because stacking Crit multiplier results in a better damage output than stacking cold or elemental damage. From the current state of the build, I'd use 2 points to get to Frost Walker, which would grant 18% increased Cold Dmg, 15% Cold resist (which I don't need cause I'm already capped) and 8% increased elemental damage.

Investing those 2 points in 20% critical spell multiplier (right under Pain Attunement) would yield a better damage increase than improving cold and elemental damage.

Of course, if you got points to spend and need the cold resistance, go for it! Remember to optimize the tree according to your gear!

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Edit: Hey guys, just added a leveling tree in 5 progressions in the OP. Tell me what you think! :D