A Cold Crit Witch Guide 2.0 (RE-DONE!) Check it out!

Before we begin: This build is not by any means “perfect”. However, I wish to see it head in that direction. There seems to be a ton of threads/posts in regards to Cold Crit witches. Hopefully this thread will help at least one person.
If you have questions/changes you wish to be answered/seen please refer to the bottom of this post.

NOTE THAT THIS GUIDE WAS NOT BASED ON ANY FORM OF SUMMONING



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IMPORTANT UPDATE! PLEASE READ

Hey guys, just thought I would let everyone know, I decided to take a break from PoE for a little while. How long will this last? No idea. That means this thread, for the time being, will not have anymore updates. HOWEVER, I will still be checking this thread out every once in a while to read through the comments and post replies if, and when I can.

For anyone wondering, I still think this game is solid, and I can see myself coming back to it. It is simply that I wish to try out other games. Right now I started playing Neverwinter, and a few other titles (not as heavily however). Hope you all understand.

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NEW PATCH

Recently, a huge patch was released, as many of you know. Since I do not play PoE too much anymore, I can not update this post for it. However, I very much so do not wish the see this post become worthless, as it has helped quite a few people before hand. What I am asking, if there is anyone who could share his/her thoughts on the recent patch, it would be greatly appreciated. If I am given enough info, I can change this post to be viable.

As for now, I am assuming that this build is still playable, but not competitive at all.

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Closed Polls:


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Got some spare time? Sub to my youtube channel :D
http://www.youtube.com/user/Shibloble?feature=mhee
-Don't like what you see? Tell me what you WOULD like in a comment on a video!

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Table of Contents


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To those who wish to use this guide elsewhere

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UPDATE NOTES:



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Achievements:

50k VIEWS:


70k VIEWS:


100k VIEWS:



Have a question? Ask, someone WILL answer it.

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THE GUIDE

Common Questions:

What is a cold Crit Witch?



Why should I play a Cold Crit Witch?



Are Cold Crit Witches Strong?



Should I play a Cold Crit Witch solo?



I want to face roll, can this build face roll enemies?



What does CI mean?



Chaos damage? Whats that?



I heard frozen enemies don't drop loot when they shatter, is this true?



Why take throatseeker?



What rewards from dealing with the bandit quest should I take?



Does Chaos Inoculation (CI) work with Pain Attunement (PA)?



Should I take bloodthirst?



When do I take CI?


Why is there no item section?


You said earlier that X was good and Y was bad, now it's changed. What gives?


What stats should I get on items?


Shavronne's Wrapping is far better then CI, why is there a CI section?

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To CI or not to CI...

One of, if not the most common (and annoying) arguemeents that presists on in the forums is whether or not CI is worth while. With the nerf the CI the skill became a battle ground between whether or not it is usable/viable or useless/garbage.

The nerf:

CI's tool tip used to read roughly "Your maximum life becomes one. You are immune to chaos damage. +50% maximum energy shield"
Now CI's tool tip reads "Your maximum life becomes one, you are immune to chaos damage"

To CI:
Pros:
-Do not need maximum health/life regen on items.
-Can focus on Energy Shield as a main def
-immune to chaos damage
-potential to have extra passive points left over to spend in other areas (don't need health nodes)
-Do not need health flasks (extra flask slots)
Cons:
-Relies completely on ES
-Gear dependent
-High energy shield needed
-Cannot use health flasks
-No way to regen energy shields in battle (unless using ghost weaver/zealots oath)

To Not CI:
Pros:
-Two forms of def (health and energy shield)
-Not as gear dependent
-Can use health flasks
-Energy sheild is not needed as heavily
-Can regen health without need of other skills
Cons:
-Need to get health on gear (items become harder to get “ideal” stats on)
-Need to get both health and energy shield items (more stats needed on items)
-Need to get Chaos resistance, otherwise chaos damage is extremely deadly.
-Need health and energy shield nodes (potentially use more passives)
-Need health flasks (less flask slots)

The re-Buff?:
So a while ago, when GGG decided to buff the duelest tree they made changes elsewhere. What they did to CI didn't changed the actual skill, but added a few passives that give a TON of ES right onto it.

Break down
3 ponits - 8% each - 24% total
1 point - 20% - 20% MORE total

Although not as good as the pre-nerf CI was, access the the 20% MORE ES is amazing. What this node means, is that you gain 20% more ES, AFTER all your other nodes are calculated. Taking CI/this node early, doesn't help much at all. At higher levels it is FAR more attractive.

It is up to you to decide on using CI or not

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The Build:

Let's start with a little conversation regarding the passive tree. As many of you know/assumed, (I hope) a great build needs a great passive tree. You can't have one without the other. On top of that you also need good gems and knowledge of what items you need. Hopefully this build can help you design and create one of, if not the best build you can and/or ever will.

WHAT MAY WORK FOR ONE PERSON MAY NOT WORK FOR YOU!

Most of the cold builds that are floating around the forums are based off of a "core" cold build with their own "unique" spins. Here is the "basic" core build, I would recommend creating your own.


Don't base a build off of all the points, try to go got 80-90 (ideally). If you "must" use all the points, figure out your own "core path". These nodes will take priority over the rest.

I have NEVER made a build/The passive tree looks scary! and I want to try to make one.

Don't fear, simply scroll down and look at the "basic builds" in the section you want (CI/Non-CI). Follow those builds, and when you are confident enough, mess around with them. They are designed PURPOSELY to be slightly flawed.
It's a way to get new players to get their feet wet with making a build!

Double Checking your Build

These are some of the basic things you should look for when making your build:

Survivability: are there enough energyshield/health nodes for your choosen build (CI/Non-CI) so you don't get one shotted by every mob? (You will be re-checking this every single stage of the game)

Damage: Criticals are your main form of damage. Do you have enough critical chance to be reliable in terms of freezing? Do you have enough crit damage/spell damage/elemental damage that your attacks actually do something?

Mana: Do you have enough mana/mana regen to run all your spells, or do you rely on mana flasks?

MOST IMPORTANTLY: Would you play with someone else who was doing as good/poorly as you are?

I'm lazy, can't you just post some builds that I can copy?
I can, and I will. These builds may work for one person, but might not work for you.

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CI builds

Hybrid (Health/ES) builds

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Notable Passive Nodes:

When making a build, you should aim to get a few of these nodes. These are nodes are extremely helpful.

Witch Tree:

-Frost Walker
-Heart of Ice
-Throat Seeker
-Doom Caster
-Unnatural Calm
-Hex Master
-Whispers of Doom
-Inner Force
-40% mana regen node

Templar Tree:

-Celestial Walker
-Prestidigitation
-Arcane Potency
-Elementalist
-40% mana regen node
-7% reduced mana cost node
-Body and Soul

Shadow Tree:

-Mental Acuity
-Freeze
-Spell Power
-Assassination
-Nullification (near assassination node)



BEFORE READING THE FOLLOWING TWO SECTIONS NOTE THAT THESE ARE BASED ON MY OPINION (as is much of the guide) IF YOU WANT TO TAKE ONE OF THE PASSIVES, TAKE IT, BUT ASK YOURSELF. DO THE BENEFITS OUTWEIGH THE DRAWBACKS

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Passives that I am against:

- Zealot's Oath


Passives that can go either way:

-Body and Soul


-Bloodthirst (and surrounding nodes)


-Ghost Reaver


-Throat Seeker


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Skill Gems:

Skills/Spells/support gems are needed for every single build. Who cares if you spec into ice if you only have fire spells?

THESE ARE NOT ALL THE SKILL GEMS THAT CAN BE USED. THESE ARE THE MOST COMMON!

Offensive Skills:

Freezing Pulse – This will be your “spammable” spell. You can use this spell for EVERYTHING. This skill is essentially the “core” to any Cold Crit Witch build.

Ice Spear – Another spell that you can “spam” if you wish, but it takes longer to cast. The main use of this spell is for single target damage against slower enemies that you can kite with ease or to attack an afar target hiding behind other enemies. (Such as necromancers/rangers)

Temporal Chains - A AoE slow to enemies, what's not to love. Oh, did I mention that if you freeze something inside of the slowed space, it increases the duration that they are frozen? No? Well, it does, and it's GREAT!
Be careful however, if you cast it on yourself, especially while taking DoT get out! The slowed area increases the duration of debuffs, but not how much damage they do to you per tick!

Frostbite – Throw this up when ever you can. Provides you with extra damage, chance to freeze and a way past some cold resistance

Other Notable Skills:

Lightning Warp - This spell will save your life, it is not needed, by highly recommended. Get trapped in a corner? Warp behind the enemies. Need to kite in a small hallway? Warp past them and kite the opposite direction over and over.
The faster your movement speed, the faster Lighnting Warp will teleport you. In a jam, pop your best quicksilver flasks to escape.

Cold Snap – For some strong ranged damage. Can be used for single target or small groups. Cannot be spammed.

Ice Nova – Until you get lightning warp, run this skill. It is a “last resort” type of skill. Spam if your cornered and hope to get a crit.

Spell from another elemental tree – I recommend fireball as you start out with it and deals decent damage. You would use this when an enemy resists cold and you can not do anything to it. These spells are more useful before you can get a cold penetration gem or frostbite gem, even afterwards there are still some rare cases where it can help.

Auras:

Clarity – Clarity is a must have for any build that uses mana heavily. Only level it when you NEED mana regen. If you level it recklessly it will hurt your witch more then helping her.

Disicpline – Extra ES is nice, since your taking ES % nodes and items, the ES given is far higher then what the gem will state.

Other notable auras:

Purity – Elemental resistances are nice, I would recommend this as long as you can spare the mana. Level this AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. The mana cost will NOT raise but the % of resistances WILL.

Grace – Some people like it, I am not a big fan of it myself. But hey, if you have extra mana, why not throw it in? The more def the better.

Haste - Add's movement speed and cast speed. Nice to have, but not recommended until higher levels when you can support the aura and the cast speed that it gives.

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Support gems:

This is the hardest topic to cover in terms of skills. Everybody perfers their own support gems. I would recommend playing around with them and trying to find a combination that suits you.

Some notable support gems are:

Bolded Skills are used more often

-Added Cold Damage


-Added Chaos Damage


-Added Lightning Damage


-Cold Penetration


-Faster Casting


-Faster Projectiles


-Fork


-Increased Critical Damage


-Increased Critical Strikes


-Mana Leech


-Lesser Multiple Projectiles (LMP)/Greater Multiple Projectiles (GMP)


In regards to LMP/GMP: Use LMP to level GMP, using a level 1 GMP will make the game horribly frustrating. Simply throw the GMP gem into an unused and unlinked socket to level it. YOU DON'T NEED TO USE A SKILL TO LEVEL IT, BUT YOU NEED TO HAVE IT IN A SOCKET ON AN ITEM THAT YOU ARE USING.

-Sometimes the LMP does more damage then the GMP, it's up to you to decide.

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Elemental Proliferation
Elemental Status Effects caused by supported skills will spread to other nearby enemies.

I felt that this support gem need it's own section.

Why?
Because you NEED to consider this gem when making a cold crit witch.

If you are dying and/or want more crowd control this gem is for you.

Let's say you have it on ice-spear, and ice-spear crits in a tight group. Normally only one of them (the one hit) would get frozen. However, with this gem, they ALL will get frozen. Perma-freezing with ice-spear and elemental proliferation is the most reliable IF YOU CAN KEEP THE DISTANCE

However, nothing in life is ever free. Taking this gem means you have to give up another, and often times it's a damage increasing gem.

Ask yourself, do I need more crowd control, or am I freezing just fine?

Most of the time, more crowd control is better, as being able to perma-freeze with ease WILL lower your dps, but allows you to cast for longer periods (do not need to kite as much), as everything is stuck in place. MUHAHAHA..HA..Ha..Cough.. sorry.

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Items:

Let me start by saying, I have neglected this section for a long time. Simply because this page is so varied in possible builds. However, I decided to be at least a bit of help, so here is the new REVAMPED item section.

Flasks

Every character uses flasks, and in most guides are over looked. Flasks can make your "good" character become a "great" character. Flasks are EXTREMELY flexible, these are the "basic" flask set ups.

CI witches
-2 or 3 quicksilver flasks
-1 or 2 granite flasks
-0 or 1 mana flask

Non-CI witches
-1 or 2 quicksilver flasks
-1 or 2 granite flasks
-0 or 1 mana flask
-1 or 2 health flasks

EVERY BUILD WANTS GRANITE FLASKS
A simple key stroke gives you extra armor during those hard bost fights, when your opponent is on you in PvP, or your running like a little B**ch.

If anyone tells you that granite flasks are not needed on a cold crit witch, slap them for me and laugh at them. The armor it gives is amazing.

Assuming you took Body and Soul, that armor % isn't a waste, as it works with the armor from granite flasks!

properties on flasks that you want/need (and what flask they are "best" on)
-Increased movement speed (quicksilver)
-Removed chilled/frozen (quicksilver)
-Stop burning (granite)
-Immune to curses (quicksilver or granite)
-Increased recovery effect (mana/health)
-Instant recovery (health)
-Restore charges (3 if possible) on critical hits (all)


Dual Wands vs Wand & Shield

I have been asked this a few times, and all I can say is, what is better for the area.

When farming, you want all the damage you can, and when you farm you are at a lower level area then yourself. So taking dual wands will increase your damage output which means faster farming.

When Leveling or Taking on a new area, a shield is the way to go. You never know when that little extra defense will save you. A very, very good rpg saying goes something along the lines of "A dead dps is NO DPS" (nerdy, IKR?)

Wand vs Daggers

Wands can roll the same stats as daggers and vice versa. A perfect dagger could, and probably will, out damage a perfect wand. However, there are more prefixes/suffixes that a dagger can roll then a wand could, making a perfect witch dagger far harder to get then a perfect wand.

Stats:

This is the HARDEST topic of the whole “build”. There is no “right” items/stats to get. Items tend to be the “last resort” in terms of stats, anything your missing you aim to get on your items. Not enough damage? Get more crit chance/damage or spell damage. Not enough def? Get ES/health on items.

Here is a quick break down on items:

Armor (Chest, Helm, Gloves, Belt)
-ES (all forms)
-Resistances
-Max Mana/Mana Regen
-Max Health (Non-CI)

Armor (Boots)
-Movement speed above all else!
-Same as previous

Armor (Shield)
-Spell Damage
-Crit Damage/Chance
-Same as First post

Wand
-Spell Damage
-Crit Damage/Chance
-Cold Damage
-Increased Cold Skill
-Cast Speed

Amulets/Rings
There is such a variety in these, so getting a perfect ring most likely WON'T happen
-Spell Damage
-Crit Chance/Damage
-Mana Regen
-Resistance
-Attributes

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Notable Legenday Items:

Eye of Chayula - Amulet - (CI builds)
-20% life loss (20% of 1 is 0)
-30% rarity of items (Hell Yeah)
-Cannot be Stunned (What makes this amulet amazing)

If your CI, you WILL get stunned, and in PvP, this WILL be exploited heavily. Even in PvE, getting stunned a few times can cost you your life. Being immune to stuns is nice. Plus, the rarity of items is an added bonus.

Dream Fragments - Ring
-20% Increased Max Mana (always room for more!)
-50% Mana Regen (with clairty, really nice)
-Cannot be frozen (This is what this bad boy is all about)

Then bane of cold crit witches in PvP. Quite ironic seeing how one of these really helps you out as well. As CI especially, you will be frozen quite a bit, so being immune helps a TON. Plus that mana/mana regen is amazing! Since this ring also gives cold-resis as a base stat, this is a MUST have if you plan on any serious PvP (or a ice heavy map/end game area)

Shavronne's Wrapping - Chest
-(200-250)% Increased ES (pretty fair size ES pool with this, not the best, not the worst but it DOES have spell damage as a basic stat!)
-10% ES recovery rate (Helps out)
-(30-40)% lightning resistance (Helps out, all though lacks other resistances)
-Reflects (1-250) lightning damage to attackers (A usless stat, might shock white mobs?)
-Chaos Damage does not bypass ES (You read that right, OP or no?)

This is essentially CI as an item.
What makes it better then CI? You can use blood magic gems since you have a life pool.
What makes it worse then CI? It has if-y stats for a chest piece.
This item is the BEST thing to happen to ES builds! It allows you to use pain attunement, and a few other unique's that work with low health. Simply be reserving a % of health, you can deal a TON of damage (Phreak shoutout).

Know that this item will most likely get nerfed! Don't spend all your currency on this item unless you are willing to lose some of it.

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Video Section:

A Starters Guide to PoE
Episode 1 - Choosing a Class

Episode 2 - Leagues and Skill Gems


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Other:

Thats about it, if there is anything I should change/add, send me a message. If you have any questions post them below, I or (hopefully) someone else can answer. The more common questions will be thrown up into the Common Question section.
Looking for input from higher level Cold Crit Witchs that have compeleted merciless and witches who are playing HardCore

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Very helpful guide.

In my opinion, you should make a Passive Skill Tree for every 10 levels on what you think is an optimal build.

I am debating on rerolling my Witch... I feel I am too far into Hex Master too early. And I think I only 3-4 respecs left. Any advice for me personally? ;x

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novoul7 wrote:

Very helpful guide.

In my opinion, you should make a Passive Skill Tree for every 10 levels on what you think is an optimal build.

I am debating on rerolling my Witch... I feel I am too far into Hex Master too early. And I think I only 3-4 respecs left. Any advice for me personally? ;x

I was debating on doing such a things, a tree every 10 levels. But that doesn't really work. I may do such a thing up until the core build is finished.

However I feel that making a tree every 10 levels prevents the player from experimenting with what works the best for them. Instead, making a "end" build, allowing them to go towards the nodes they want when they want without feeling that they are making a huge mistake.

Regarding Hex Master, don't take it until merciless (imo), crit chance/damage will be far more useful then having a perma curse up.

Thanks for the advice. I used a couple respecs to change a couple things around. It's a little far off from your cold build, but I'll make it work.

Great guide. Thanks!

Sounds good, except for the whole "not bloodthirst" part. You need crit badly, and those provide a ton. The one you will always pass when going to the shadow tree. The other, if you go whisper's of doom, requires 1 more node than if you cut straight to templar area. But for that 1 extra int node, you walk right past bloodthirst, 30% freeze duration(We are trying to freeze, and later on doing enough damage to make freeze happen will get tough I assume), and minion instability (I use skeletotem as an infinite source of shield, good thing AI doesn't prioritize high DPS targets).

Think it's worthwhile to dump that bloodthirst, freeze duration, and instability and cut straight to templar? That would give me 7 nodes to spare, could I get more than 60% crit, 10% crit damage, 30% freeze duration, and minion instability from 7 nodes?

for a pictoral representation:
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMBAP0C_gVCBVsHYw5ID8QQaREvEZYUsBa_FvMXUBdUF9gabCKBJjwnqSlPKlssnC0fL50wlzlSOYo6MDt8QZZCw0SrRtdI50wtTm1OulWuVkpXK1gHWqZdxl3yXvpgbWZPa9ttGXBScNVzU31Tfll_xoFJghCCHoKbh9uIQouMjDaOPI5kj0aPppUEmZqboZ2AnaOdrqIuoqOnCKyYrrOvm7I4tDi2hrb3tvq4yrw3wFHB89A50NDSGdVP1tHcx93z3nffhN-w4XPkIuTr5RnrY-0g8h3z6vem99f79fyr

FYI, I am lvl 51 right now, with most of the witch tree and half of the shadow tree filled. (That 24% projectile damage is great, as it multiplies your cold damage chunk, spell damage chunk, and ele damage chunk). I am able to kite easily with LMP ice spear and skeletotem. I also ran around with LMP on freezing pulse, I think I will end up with LMP ice spear for range (Maybe a single one for bosses) and GMP freezing pulse for 5x melee damage. It is going fine so far with 500x health and ES (Cruel act 3). You can freeze very consistently, and deal enough damage with frostbite+critical weakness.

"

andrewjnw wrote:

Sounds good, except for the whole "not bloodthirst" part. You need crit badly, and those provide a ton. The one you will always pass when going to the shadow tree. The other, if you go whisper's of doom, requires 1 more node than if you cut straight to templar area. But for that 1 extra int node, you walk right past bloodthirst, 30% freeze duration(We are trying to freeze, and later on doing enough damage to make freeze happen will get tough I assume), and minion instability (I use skeletotem as an infinite source of shield, good thing AI doesn't prioritize high DPS targets).

Think it's worthwhile to dump that bloodthirst, freeze duration, and instability and cut straight to templar? That would give me 7 nodes to spare, could I get more than 60% crit, 10% crit damage, 30% freeze duration, and minion instability from 7 nodes?

for a pictoral representation:
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMBAP0C_gVCBVsHYw5ID8QQaREvEZYUsBa_FvMXUBdUF9gabCKBJjwnqSlPKlssnC0fL50wlzlSOYo6MDt8QZZCw0SrRtdI50wtTm1OulWuVkpXK1gHWqZdxl3yXvpgbWZPa9ttGXBScNVzU31Tfll_xoFJghCCHoKbh9uIQouMjDaOPI5kj0aPppUEmZqboZ2AnaOdrqIuoqOnCKyYrrOvm7I4tDi2hrb3tvq4yrw3wFHB89A50NDSGdVP1tHcx93z3nffhN-w4XPkIuTr5RnrY-0g8h3z6vem99f79fyr

FYI, I am lvl 51 right now, with most of the witch tree and half of the shadow tree filled. (That 24% projectile damage is great, as it multiplies your cold damage chunk, spell damage chunk, and ele damage chunk). I am able to kite easily with LMP ice spear and skeletotem. I also ran around with LMP on freezing pulse, I think I will end up with LMP ice spear for range (Maybe a single one for bosses) and GMP freezing pulse for 5x melee damage. It is going fine so far with 500x health and ES (Cruel act 3). You can freeze very consistently, and deal enough damage with frostbite+critical weakness.

I do not use ANY summons on my witch. I never like summons (cept maybe golems from D2) So i can not tell you to keep/drop instability. If you decide to keep it keep that one blood thirst node nearby, if you drop instability drop the bloodthirst node.

Freeze duration shouldn't be needed too much, with no cast speed nodes and a good amount of crit, anyone can perma freeze a target, and if for some reason you get unlucky with crits, you can simply lightning warp away.

Great thread, I was following the other and was hoping to get info like this the last few days. Im only level 16 on my witch but havent used any points as I dont want to remake her again and again.

My thoughts were:

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMB37CCEEGWBUKusyycVkqVBK-bVytUrn3SIvRsCw2NHNyTJzdmLKam6zeD6rpqP1O4hVWJ0yoLn3t4ui1HUEKMNgL-34RCw13ycNVwUsBR8-oWv4fb62OZmrb3ES9_xsHFiELyHSy_nqEfAjbF2CSnCI9GgUmyOGZPna4abOQijmT3prb6KU-Cm01BvHlaa7UEXcbd82BtnYA=

Its my first play through so Im going CI as I think it will be easier to gear with it. The main variance Im looking at is taking the extra chill timer (as I wont have summons or a friend) and bloodthrist, I lose out on Inner Force but I also didnt do as many points as you have so it may be something I pickup later... but would cause me to take a different route towards the Templar tree. Feedback is welcome; thanks in advance.

"

shibloble wrote:

I do not use ANY summons on my witch. I never like summons (cept maybe golems from D2) So i can not tell you to keep/drop instability. If you decide to keep it keep that one blood thirst node nearby, if you drop instability drop the bloodthirst node.

In regards to the blood thirst node near the shadow tree, that has the be the BIGGEST trap for cold crit witches. I prefer taking the lower path to the shadow tree, allowing me to get an extra 10 str and allowing me the branch into resis and the ES/crit nodes down farther. Like I said in the post I don't like them. I'll post examples of why I dislike it.

Freeze duration shouldn't be needed too much, with no cast speed nodes and a good amount of crit, anyone can perma freeze a target, and if for some reason you get unlucky with crits, you can simply lightning warp away.

Ah, you should try skeletons sometime, best meatshield in the game. I am not a summoner fan either, that's why I tossed them on a totem!

As for the shadow bloodthirst tree, from that one int node touching the 30dex and 30str node, it is 3 nodes either way until you can plunge into the shadow line of goodies. Top path with 3 int nodes touching bloodthirst tree or lower path with 2 int and 1 str node touching elemental resist. It seemed like an easy choice for me to pick top path... 75% crit vs ~15 res all if dropping 3 nodes into the respective circles. Perhaps I still underestimate defensive stats, though. I'll have to see what merciless is like. Thanks for making this thread and giving feedback!

"

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMB37CCEEGWBUKusyycVkqVBK-bVytUrn3SIvRsCw2NHNyTJzdmLKam6zeD6rpqP1O4hVWJ0yoLn3t4ui1HUEKMNgL-34RCw13ycNVwUsBR8-oWv4fb62OZmrb3ES9_xsHFiELyHSy_nqEfAjbF2CSnCI9GgUmyOGZPna4abOQijmT3prb6KU-Cm01BvHlaa7UEXcbd82BtnYA=

Its my first play through so Im going CI as I think it will be easier to gear with it. The main variance Im looking at is taking the extra chill timer (as I wont have summons or a friend) and bloodthrist, I lose out on Inner Force but I also didnt do as many points as you have so it may be something I pickup later... but would cause me to take a different route towards the Templar tree. Feedback is welcome; thanks in advance.

I added a section about bloodthirst, you may want to check that out. One thing I noticed was that your path to the shadow tree is very (shall we say)"random". I would highly recommend using the "core" build I have put into the thread and follow it, after completing it spread out into what ever you want. As your build stands now, your missing some of the most important ES nodes in the whole tree.