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

No Hatred aura support gem?

I'm still skeptical putting points in Health and Resists, but I'm only lvl 45 in cruel so what do I know? :P

I feel +cast speed passives need to be buffed b/c I'd rather not spend 10+ passive points for +50% cast speed when I can just get items + cast speed gem.

Here's my build if you don't mind critiquing it:



Note that this is a pure MF farming character. As of now I can solo pretty much any boss by summoning skellies as tanks.

Let me know what you think.

i found this guide very helpfull and i'd like to thank you for the time invested in this, it helped me alot even at high level altho i wish i had seen it sooner as i was confused in the begining.

some things i'd like to add are:

Haste - is a very good aura, its a main aura actually, specially if you play in a group, i would take it over anything depending on how you are either with mana or es, it also benefits the entire group, as where mana regen or es might not. (haste gives cast speed and movement speed), i think you should include it in your guide.

also i believe ice spear is far supperior to pulse, i was amazed when i swapped those and started playing with the shards, the dmg is lower yes, but the fact that it crits alot makes up for it, also scales well with crit dmg support gem (use crit % for another skill)
it also allows you to keep your distance and i havent died once since i started using it, oneshots any non rare while farming docks for instance, also killing mobs outside your screen. Also with pulse i had alot of problems with mobs not taking dmg correctly, not beeing able to dmg thrugh doors, mobs near walls not taking the dmg, and probably countless mobs not taking dmg from all mult projectiles, taking dmg from maybe only 1 or 2. I personally was convinced pulse was better and used it up to lvl 70, but its not.

another good combo i think is arc with the totem, adding item quantity or quality if you have, and probably the best skill for soloing endgame maps with this build would be conversion trap, it mind controlls ANYTHING cept the bosses (the orange coloured ones), and in those maps every boss room contains about 8 rares...its just a blast seeing them kill eachother, plus it provides with tanking mobs, also giving you auras they might have and what not.
I know this is a starters/basic guide, but these skills can be usefull in the same way at lower levels to, plus personally i feel like a beginner even in endgame and got tons of questions unanswered.

oh and as a con to CI, when i 1st started playing i was sure i would use it, i picked it up and noticed that the passive should say something more like this, "chaos dmg now does dmg to es" or smthin, having ci doesnt rly make you imune to the dmg, it makes the dmg no longer chaos, but normal, so you can still die from mobs that use chaos dmg, i think it should only be picked up if the gear you have happens to not have much hp.

thanks for replying, i got another question tho, there's a certain level i should get with gems ?
specificly:

frostbite, it seems quite costly early on, should i get it to 20 eventually or is it too much mana compared to the max mana i can reach ?

freezing pulse, mmh.. the wiki says the mana cost is so low... but it is wrong o.o
which level would be good in terms of efficiency ?

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karmakill wrote:

oh and as a con to CI, when i 1st started playing i was sure i would use it, i picked it up and noticed that the passive should say something more like this, "chaos dmg now does dmg to es" or smthin, having ci doesnt rly make you imune to the dmg, it makes the dmg no longer chaos, but normal, so you can still die from mobs that use chaos dmg, i think it should only be picked up if the gear you have happens to not have much hp.

Is that a true statement? Can anyone else confirm? Thanks to the OP for the guide, it was a great read for a newbie like myself - learned a lot and can't wait to implement :)

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puroburo wrote:

No Hatred aura support gem?

Hatred and the other "elemental auras" only benefit you if you deal physical damage, not useful for witches.

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karmakill wrote:

Haste - is a very good aura, its a main aura actually

I have not been able to mess around with haste, would love to if I could, but don't have one on my witch (default).

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also i believe ice spear is far supperior to pulse

In some cases, yes, in others not so much. I'll try it out with LMP (Cant seem to find a damn gmp and no one wants to sell it)

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another good combo i think is arc with the totem, adding item quantity or quality if you have, and probably the best skill for soloing endgame maps with this build would be conversion trap, it mind controlls ANYTHING cept the bosses (the orange coloured ones), and in those maps every boss room contains about 8 rares...its just a blast seeing them kill eachother.

Don't want to use totems myself, atleast not on this char, so I haven't played around with them. I would love to try out conversion trap, i'll try to get my hands on one.

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oh and as a con to CI, when i 1st started playing i was sure i would use it, i picked it up and noticed that the passive should say something more like this, "chaos dmg now does dmg to es"

I am pretty sure that all chaos damage (or most) always did damage to ES upon hit (like poison arrow), the actual chaos damage does nothing.

"

puroburo wrote:

No Hatred aura support gem?

I'm still skeptical putting points in Health and Resists, but I'm only lvl 45 in cruel so what do I know? :P

I feel +cast speed passives need to be buffed b/c I'd rather not spend 10+ passive points for +50% cast speed when I can just get items + cast speed gem.

Here's my build if you don't mind critiquing it:

Spoiler

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMAAv4FQgVbDH0PxBBpEH8R2xa_F1QX2BmFGjgabBzcHwIigSSqKU8snC0fLUcwlzbFNuk4GzmKOtg7fDvhQZZCw0SrRtdJUU3YUEJVrlZKVytapl3GXfJe-mBtYeJmT20ZcFJw1XvXfVN_xoFJghCCm4fbiEKLjIw2jHaOPI5kj0aPpo_6kFWVBJ2jna6eoaKjpwinK6dcp4Sus6-bsji0OLaGtvq4k7jKwFHBxcHzw23GntA51U_YJNzH3fPed9-E37Dhc-L342rkIuUZ7BjsOO0g8XbyHfPq96b79fyr

Note that this is a pure MF farming character. As of now I can solo pretty much any boss by summoning skellies as tanks.

Let me know what you think.

Don't base a build off of 111 points unless you have a "core build path" that you will get first.

Also noticed that you go for fitness... and more fitness. Not worth it imo, much better nodes that are easier to get, such as the health and ES nodes near start of tree.
Especially not worth it if your skeles tank (try a skeletotem, told it works wonders if you want to summon)

Don't take bloodthirst if they're out of your way. Try to pass by them in your actual path. Unless you go for curses, I would never take the bloodthirst in the top left area.

Body and Soul is not that amazing, it is nice to have sure, but those points could be spent else where more effectively. (You also need Granite flasks). Reasoning behind this is that ES helps more with burst damage then armor does. If you play a cold crit witch, you should ONLY be taking burst damage, never sustained.

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J4ck wrote:

So I made up a CI build for myself and I want to here your opinions now. I'm not sure if I gonna need Innerforce or not I want to run Clarity,Grace,Purity and Discipline.

Few things
1) On your way to inner force, taking the 2 str nodes would be better then all int nodes, helps with items and gems (your choice tho)

2) Body and Soul

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Body and Soul is not that amazing, it is nice to have sure, but those points could be spent else where more effectively. (You also need Granite flasks). Reasoning behind this is that ES helps more with burst damage then armor does. If you play a cold crit witch, you should ONLY be taking burst damage, never sustained.

3) Ghost Reaver is not needed, sure it adds a form of sustain, but your making a cold crit CI witch, you simply kite/run away and let them recharge. (Take it if you want, might make gearing a bit harder tho)

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berny wrote:

frostbite, it seems quite costly early on, should i get it to 20 eventually or is it too much mana compared to the max mana i can reach ?

Level it if you can support it, the bigger AoE and resistance reduction is Very nice, not needed, but nice.

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freezing pulse, mmh.. the wiki says the mana cost is so low... but it is wrong o.o
which level would be good in terms of efficiency ?

Freezing pulse IS a low mana cost spell, perhaps the wiki is a bit off, but with decent gear or some mana regen nodes, you can spam this spell for ever.

surprising you didnt mention the elemental proliferation support gem. what it does is basically freeze all mobs if you manage to freeze one of them.
oh and it works with bosses and mobs you didnt hit with fp too.

also i dont understand why you seem to think cast speed is bad. more spells/sec = more chances to freeze, and shorter casttime means less interrupts.