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

mh sometimes fps drops to 35.. but played before detonate dead build and had no troubles with desync.. (ati hd5770 & x4 995 amd)


Why do you think cast when damage taken doesnt fit into this build ? I'm kind new into this CI thing.. want to use a high lvl cast when damage taken+molten Shell for more defense because i think lvl 10 arctic armour is nearlly useless and looking on the mana regen its not possible to run a higher AA :) ..asking because of getting heavy phys dmg in maps

i'm atm lvl 70 and have to optimize my gear but i allread got eye of chayula, rainbowstrides and a Starter 5L incl. running CI:)

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PathOfDisco wrote:

mh sometimes fps drops to 35.. but played before detonate dead build and had no troubles with desync.. (ati hd5770 & x4 995 amd)


Why do you think cast when damage taken doesnt fit into this build ? I'm kind new into this CI thing.. want to use a high lvl cast when damage taken+molten Shell for more defense because i think lvl 10 arctic armour is nearlly useless and looking on the mana regen its not possible to run a higher AA :) ..asking because of getting heavy phys dmg in maps

i'm atm lvl 70 and have to optimize my gear but i allread got eye of chayula, rainbowstrides and a Starter 5L incl. running CI:)

The main approach of CwDT is to protect you against a large amount of consecutive hits, because you can get permanently stunned and it could mean the end for you. This is also the reason why people tend to use CwDT at level 1, so it procs more often.

In this case, we're using an Eye of Chayula, and that means that we will not get stunned, ever. No matter how hard the hit is, you won't be stunned. This also means that you cannot be interrupted (most of the times, a displacement «like Brutus chain» doesn't count), and that means that you're free to run or teleport away. That's why I don't think CwDT fits this build at all.

Physical Damage is the Achilles' Heel of Pulsers. The best way to reduce damage is to avoid it. If you need some extra resistances, get armor from your belt and block nodes; they are great!

With Chayula and Rainbowstride you can actually start CI if you have enough ES. Tell me how it goes!

If we're going CI why do the leveling builds take so many life nodes? Is there a CI build as well or it the same?

edit: sorry nvm I understand now

edit#2: Do you have any tips for leveling? My damage is ATROCIOUS. Killing Mervail took ages. It doesn't feel right. Here is my wand I'm using with Freezing Pulse linked with Added lightning damage

When I level fire trap with a similar wand (but with fire) the damage is insane and one shots 99% of mobs. Right now with freezing pulse I couldn't even kill a Rare monster with the life regen mod. I'm copying your leveling nodes exactly, I'm confused. Getting through act 1 literally took two times longer than it normally takes me.

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Darkith1546 wrote:

Do you have any tips for leveling?

If you're lacking DPS and not lacking defense, then I recommend leveling with dual wands. The first act is the one with many cold resistant mobs, sadly, so it's a bit hard to start doing damage right away. In Act 2 you'll get Frostbite and it will allow you to hit harder.

In the meantime, you can always use a second damaging skill if you got any. That's usually how you start, using all you have, and then specializing in a single skill.

After a long journey, I now have Herald of Ice. I found one some days ago, but I couldn't use it along with Tempest Shield, so I changed my tree a bit and now I'm running with Clarity, Discipline, Tempest Shield AND Herald of Ice.

Damage godly increased. At full charges (7 power, 3 frenzy) the tooltip DPS went up from 9,345 to 11,040. That's 2K of pure cold damage (not counting the AoE explosion of Herald of Ice).

So, if you have it and your mana can sustain it, consider using it permanently.

The current tree is here.

What changed?

I used Catarina's Bench to craft +X maximum mana (and +X intelligence for it gives mana too!) in some of the rares that allowed another mod (Chest and Circlet).



I then respecced Alacrity (+30 Dex node) and had to reduce the level of my Blood Rage. As I mentioned before, the only benefit from Blood Rage is the three frenzy charges. Duration of the buff is determined by gem level, but even if the buff lasts 20 seconds, frenzy charges will only last for 10 seconds (because I don't have any increasing node or the like). That's why there's no problem at all to downgrade the level of Blood Rage.

Then, I respecced a point in the Unnatural Calm (ES Wheel) area, which means -6% increased Energy Shield.

And then I gained a level haha, and those 3 points were invested in Mana and Mana Reserved Reduction. I made my way to Soul Siphon (in the Shadow area) using two poins, and took one 4% reduced mana reservation in the aura wheel near the Templar start.



Here's my Herald of Ice setup, with reduced mana gem (not max lvl though...) and also reducing the cost on Frostbite.

With these items, the changes in the skill tree and the links, I now have 120 mana left (after all the reservation from Discipline, Clarity, Tempest Shield and Herald of Ice) which is more than enough to cast Lightning Warp, Frostbite, and infinite Pulses (because the free spell from Spell Echo and the massive regen from Clarity). Ah! And Arctic Armour (level 10 :P) always active as well. Regen is high enough.

With 50% regen reduction map mods you can't run Arctic Armour though, but the rest is as usual; you have enough mana to fight without running out of resources.

I'll add this info later this weekend to the original post, and maybe I'll be adding some more FAQs to the list.

Lmp vs gmp?
Cold pen vs pcog?

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Darkith1546 wrote:

If we're going CI why do the leveling builds take so many life nodes? Is there a CI build as well or it the same?

edit: sorry nvm I understand now

edit#2: Do you have any tips for leveling? My damage is ATROCIOUS. Killing Mervail took ages. It doesn't feel right. Here is my wand I'm using with Freezing Pulse linked with Added lightning damage

Spoiler

When I level fire trap with a similar wand (but with fire) the damage is insane and one shots 99% of mobs. Right now with freezing pulse I couldn't even kill a Rare monster with the life regen mod. I'm copying your leveling nodes exactly, I'm confused. Getting through act 1 literally took two times longer than it normally takes me.

I killed merveil with fireball in a1n. It's faster than fp because of her high cold res. In cruel it will be easy to kill her with fp. Going dual wand or sceptres are great in normal.

isnt inner force a good buff to get more ES out of discipline? or not worth it?

Looking at your endgame skill tree:

why still "written in blood" ? if you play with maligaro's i think it fits better to get nullification its just 1 skill point more :) or if you want go for "influence" and cancel "sovereignty" :)

if you took nullifcation i would respec celistal walker and elementalist and grab for that "frost walker"

what you think about essence surge ? Instead of faith and steel if you have enough strenght from gear :)

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kompaniet wrote:

Lmp vs gmp?
Cold pen vs pcog?

GMP gives more damage output, less damage per pulse and increased mana cost.
LMP gives less damage output, more damage per pulse and reduced mana cost. This option also gives increased freeze duration.

So I'd stick with the latter. LMP gives decent damage for its cost and also some kind of defense using crowd control modifiers.

About Cold Pen or PCoC, I prefer PCoC. Most of the cold pen needed is obtainable with Frostbite (decent resistance reduction and some freeze chance) or Elemental Weakness (more resistance reduction, no freeze chance). PCoC also increases the damage and critical chance of your other spells, like Lightning Warp for example, in order to shock enemies when going in or out, or the crit chance and lightning damage dealt with Tempest Shield.

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Psycomantje wrote:

isnt inner force a good buff to get more ES out of discipline? or not worth it?

Inner Force is 7 points aways (as of now) and the adjacent nodes give 21% increased buffs on you, while you can get 20% increased effects of Auras you cast by investing 2 points in aura effect and Influence, in the upper Shadow area. I don't think it's worth it, to be honest.

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PathOfDisco wrote:

Looking at your endgame skill tree:

why still "written in blood" ? if you play with maligaro's i think it fits better to get nullification its just 1 skill point more :) or if you want go for "influence" and cancel "sovereignty" :)

if you took nullifcation i would respec celistal walker and elementalist and grab for that "frost walker"

what you think about essence surge ? Instead of faith and steel if you have enough strenght from gear :)

I forgot to replace the current skill tree in the original post lol If you look in my last post, there's my current tree. I respecced two points and use them to get more mana and reduced mana reservation in order to get Herald of Ice up and running along with Tempest Shield, Clarity and Discipline.

I agree that taking Nullification would be a wiser choice over taking Written in Blood (if what we only wanted is Energy Shield) because of Evasion (that our Maligaro's s) and resistances. But more base hp increases resistance against status ailments like shock or ignite, in case we don't need elemental resistances or we're not using Evasion-based items. At my current state, I think I'd prefer to invest in block nodes before taking ES; I think I have enough for now :)

Can't respec Sovereignty because of Herald of Ice, I need the mana reduction, sadly.

As for respeccing Elemental Damage nodes, I'm not so inclined because I use my lightning warp a lot to shock enemies. If I only used Freezing Pulse, taking Frost Walker wouldn't be a bad idea, and I don't need the cold resistance at all.

Faith and Steel gives armour, resistances and energy shield. Most of the resistances I have come from the Templar area, like this node and Body and Soul. Physical damage mitigation is one of the few weaknesses of Pulsers, so it's pretty important to have some armour (at least in your belt). I don't think Energy Shield recharge is that necessary since you'll be leeching life with your gem and the Doryani's Invitation Cold Leech.

Thanks for your suggestions, I'll think about Nullification once I have enough block chance!