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Every time you cast cold snap, you are not casting FP (opportunity cost).

My Cold Snap out-damages my FP by a fair bit, even accounting for LMP and even with Proliferation on it. Depends how many targets it hits ofc. Hard to be exact, but Snap one-shots whites in the Docks, FP and Spear (self-cast) two-shots them, if that helps.

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For me, Ice spear's damage is about 1/3 that of freezing pulse assuming that only 1 of my pulses hits a single target.

Do you mean the DPS read out of you mouse-over? Then this makes no sense to me. My FP states 2200 dps, my Ice Spear states 1900 dps. Of course Ice Spear crits most of the time so it is probably higer than that (49% chance, 460% damage).

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GhostlightX wrote:

Do you mean the DPS read out of you mouse-over? Then this makes no sense to me. My FP states 2200 dps, my Ice Spear states 1900 dps. Of course Ice Spear crits most of the time so it is probably higer than that (49% chance, 460% damage).

What gems do you have on those skills? That would be what determines the damage.

Isn't this discussion a little bit beside the point? If you prefer a more defensive approach, elemental proliferation is a legit choice to help freezing. If you favour offensiv an added chaos dam. or whatever is the better choice. I prefer aesthetics. Therefore i use sparks + fork on my totem . Look! It glitters and sparkles...aahhhh.

Personaly, I like to put a faster casting on my totem. I know it doesn't bring that much since it only applies to my casting and not that of the totem. But still, without FC, I have the feeling that it takes forever to cast the totem.
I do the same for forstbite actually. It's too damn frustrating to stay which seems to me like ages waiting that my witch has finished casting the totem + the curse to start the actual real fight.

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shibloble wrote:

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GhostlightX wrote:

Do you mean the DPS read out of you mouse-over? Then this makes no sense to me. My FP states 2200 dps, my Ice Spear states 1900 dps. Of course Ice Spear crits most of the time so it is probably higer than that (49% chance, 460% damage).

What gems do you have on those skills? That would be what determines the damage.

Ice Spear(15) + Crit Damage + LMP + Faster Casting
Ice Spear + Crit Damage + LMP + Totem
Pulse(20) + LMP + Cold Pen(20) + Faster Casting
Snap(20) + Cold Pen + Proliferation + AoE

I sometimes swap around, like switching Cold Snap's AoE for Concentrated Effect on major bosses

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Bada_Bing wrote:

Isn't this discussion a little bit beside the point? If you prefer a more defensive approach, elemental proliferation is a legit choice to help freezing. If you favour offensiv an added chaos dam. or whatever is the better choice.

There is no argument against using Elemental Proliferation, YOU NEED IT as an Ice Witch, end of story. The discussion is about which spell to put it on. Whichever spell you choose is going to get its damage reduced because of the opportunity cost of using a gem socket that could have been a damage booster.

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Golgho wrote:

Personaly, I like to put a faster casting on my totem. I know it doesn't bring that much since it only applies to my casting and not that of the totem. But still, without FC, I have the feeling that it takes forever to cast the totem.

Are you sure Faster Casting works like that on a Totem? I thought it made the Totem cast faster? On my Summoner Witch main, Faster Casting made the Totem spew out Skeletons faster. Too fast as it turned out....

Anyway, I only rarely bother with my Spear Totem. Only against bosses and VERY big packs, such as high density pack Maps, and also when entering awkward dungeon rooms where walking in and face-checking can result in death. For everyday combat, dropping my Totem is a complete waste of time. If monsters are coming from generally one direction, Frostbite and Cold Snap freezes them all, then I simply blow them away in 2-hits or less with my own Spear from a safe distance. Very rarely need the Pulse; only if something manages to get up close to me, which is VERY rare, or in tight dungeons where Spear is crap.

I'd like to ask a question....do you guys reckon there is such a thing as having too much Crit Chance as ColdCrit Witch? I am hovering very near the last major Crit cluster....the Bloodthrist cluster on the top left corner of the tree. However my Crit Chance with Spear is 50% (hence 95% really), and Pulse is 42%. Would further Crit Chance be a waste and I should take Multiplier instead? My Spear's multiplier is currently 525%, and Pulse 400%.

The reason I am asking is I recently replaced an Amulet with 15% chance and 35% multiplier with one that had flat 50% multiplier and my Pulse DPS went up by 250.

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GhostlightX wrote:

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Bada_Bing wrote:

Isn't this discussion a little bit beside the point? If you prefer a more defensive approach, elemental proliferation is a legit choice to help freezing. If you favour offensiv an added chaos dam. or whatever is the better choice.

There is no argument against using Elemental Proliferation, YOU NEED IT as an Ice Witch, end of story. The discussion is about which spell to put it on. Whichever spell you choose is going to get its damage reduced because of the opportunity cost of using a gem socket that could have been a damage booster.

Exactly. And if someone says to hell with dps on my totem i prefer it helping me freeze, there is no argument against it. It's just a matter of personal taste and playstyle. But i should stop here. After all it's pretty dumb of me argumenting that there is no argument. Oh well, free bump:-)

But speaking of playstyle, i just noticed your gem selection on FP and ice spear. Are you using both on mobs, or are you using different spells for mobs and bosses? I use FP for mobs and ice spear-incr.crit.dam-iiq-iir on map bosses only to increase loot (well i occasionally snipe a yellow one with it here and there).

As for the CC/CD choice: it depends on the alternative. CC nodes are usually 15%, cd nodes only 10%. Given that the base crit of spells is 6% (base cd is 150%), that gives a 15%cc a slight advantage over a 10% cd.
15% extra cc: 100 basedamage + 100 bd x 0,069cc x 1,5cd = 110,35 average dam
10% extra cd: 100 basedamage + 100 bd x 0,06cc x 1,65cd = 109,35 average dam
Usually the dps you get out of the Bloodthirst cluster (60cc+10cd) > dps of the Throatseeker cluster (70cd)
BUT: If Ice Spear is your main weapon AND already reached the 95cc cap, then cc would be a complete waste. You would be better of with cd or faster casting (if you can handle the extra mana requirement).

I use both Pulse and Spear at all times. Depends entirely on the target range. If think Spear will hit in 2nd form, I will cast Spear because a Spear crit does considerably more damage than a Pulse non-crit, and the former is guaranteed while the latter is not.

This is why I am finding it difficult to evaluate whether more Crit Chance is needed in my build.

If I had to put numbers on it, I'd say I cast Spears 60% of the time and Pulses 40%.