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

"

GhostlightX wrote:

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

In that case i would stay away from CC. It's like the additional CC would have a damage effectiveness of 40%. The number i gave you would change from 110,35 to 104,14, giving crit dam the clear advantage. You'll be better of dps-wise if you take some additionasl crit dam or cast speed nodes.

Shibloble, thanks for taking your time and thought on making this guide!
Coming from playing mostly archers and a summoner witch, I was very underwhelmed when I tried my first FP witch (and still am).

I just wanted to point out that you could add a note to the bandit rewards section, now that we get a new support gem that helps to build power charges.

Hey guys, my ColdCrit Witch is built more or less according to this guide. My build is more or less complete and as I said above, ended up with Pulse crit being 40%/400% and my Spear 50%/550%, however I do not use Add Lightning or Static Blows. According to the posts around end of page 3 / start of page 4 of this thread:

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/255109

if I were to trim off 5 nodes and take Static Blows and swap Added Lightning Damage onto my 20% Pulse (instead of Cold Pen), I could triple or quadruple my damage. My freezing would be unaffected. To me this trumps anything else a ColdCrit witch could decide to do. What are your thoughts on this before I go for it?

"

GhostlightX wrote:

Hey guys, my ColdCrit Witch is built more or less according to this guide. My build is more or less complete and as I said above, ended up with Pulse crit being 40%/400% and my Spear 50%/550%, however I do not use Add Lightning or Static Blows. According to the posts around end of page 3 / start of page 4 of this thread:

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/255109

if I were to trim off 5 nodes and take Static Blows and swap Added Lightning Damage onto my 20% Pulse (instead of Cold Pen), I could triple or quadruple my damage. My freezing would be unaffected. To me this trumps anything else a ColdCrit witch could decide to do. What are your thoughts on this before I go for it?

From the wiki:
"The duration for these effects are calculated as follows:

Shock: 276ms per 1% max life dealt as lightning
Chill: 138ms per 1% max life dealt as cold
Freeze: 100ms per 1% max life dealt as cold

If the duration based on the damage would be less that 300ms, it's ignored entirely"

1) The lightning damage from ALD is pretty meager. It will be tough getting over the 1,x% of max life hurdle so that the shock will show up. Not going to work on non-whites.
2) I ignore the advice of people who's best argument is "Kripp does it" out of principle. He's the pope or what? F*ck fanboys.
3) You want shock? Use sparks + fork + ALD on your totem. Its crit should be in the 40s too. Works much better. I use it without ALD and still leave shocked stiffs behind. It's a good test for the usefulness of shock before you spend some passiv points for static blows. Whatever can't be shocked by Sparks won't be shocked with the help of static blows either.

btw even in the Ranger forum there is every now and then a discussion about the usefulness of static blows (too far away...), and they are using Lightning Arrow.

Hey guys, just letting you all know, if everything goes according to plan, there will be a huge update to the original post in the next week or so. Keep your eyes out for it, if you even look at the OP anymore :P

"

GhostlightX wrote:

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.

It depends. Do you want more defense or offense? If you find you can perma-freeze (or close to it) multi would be better. Its ultimately up to you.

Love this guide, built a much stronger with than my last one following some of this, thanks.

Do any of you experienced cold critters recommend dual wand wielding for that extra damage and possibly cast speed? Or is it still better to get mana and ES boosts from a good spirit shield?

"

VideoGeemer wrote:

Do any of you experienced cold critters recommend dual wand wielding for that extra damage and possibly cast speed? Or is it still better to get mana and ES boosts from a good spirit shield?

That completly depends on the difficulty of the map. Easy/Medium map with low risk of dying: 2 wands for higher farm speed. Difficult maps (for example those with masses of charging rhoas or flicker strike mobs): Shield to avoid XP loss.
Advice: always carry a good shield/wand in your 2nd slot that you can switch to.

"

Bada_Bing wrote:

"

VideoGeemer wrote:

Do any of you experienced cold critters recommend dual wand wielding for that extra damage and possibly cast speed? Or is it still better to get mana and ES boosts from a good spirit shield?

That completly depends on the difficulty of the map. Easy/Medium map with low risk of dying: 2 wands for higher farm speed. Difficult maps (for example those with masses of charging rhoas or flicker strike mobs): Shield to avoid XP loss.
Advice: always carry a good shield/wand in your 2nd slot that you can switch to.

Does this general mindset (easy or difficult area) apply to Cruel and Merciless difficulties in the normal game as well?

I'd think if one is trying to level, they'll usually be in a "difficult" area unless they're specifically farming.