(Updated!) [1.2] EE Ball Lightning/Ice Spear Build with AA/MoM (Cloak of Defiance)

I haven't actually played this build before so it's hard to know an exact levelling guide, but I've levelled a MoM/AA/EB Fireball Crit Witch so I can explain what I did there. My advice is to get EB when you can and start running AA as soon as you can afford the mana. Obviously you'll need to keep a close eye on how far you level AA. But even with a low-mid level AA, I remember it helped quite a bit when levelling. I think I ran Discipline and Clarity early on, but this was without MoM (Cloak) so you only need enough unreserved mana to cast spells.

You should focus mostly on getting all the life nodes you need, along with mana regen. Once you have all that, you can start going for DPS.

Getting EE should help with the damage quite a bit, so you could get that before you finish getting all the life.

Again, I haven't played this so there's a lot I want to test, but these are my initial thoughts.

Ice Spear - LMP - LL - Cold Pen - PCoC / Faster Casting (In order of priority, but PCoC and FC are roughly equal in my head at this stage)

I'm hoping we will be able to craft '1% cold damage leeched as life' onto most of our gear via Catarina. If we can, I would craft that onto all my non-unique items and drop Life Leech. However it might not be possible, so we might need to keep Life Leech as a gem.

PCoC vs. Faster Casting: 7 power charges will push Ice Spear to 73.5% crit with no other passives or gear, and improve Ball Lightning's chance to crit and shock. Faster Casting will make it easier to spam Ice Spear on targets before having to cast another Ball Lightning. Not sure which will be more useful at this stage. Obviously we can use both in a 5L if Life Leech isn't needed.

Other options: If you want to use Assassin's Mark to generate power charges, drop PCoC for crit damage or added chaos. You just won't be able to sustain charges easily against a boss.

Ball Lightning - Lightning Pen - Inc AoE - LMP / crit strikes / crit damage / added lightning / other?

Lightning Warp - Faster Casting - Reduced Duration

Clarity - Purity of Ice - Herald of Ice (for more damage) or Tempest Shield (if going for block later and prefer the extra block to Herald of Ice) - Reduced Mana

CwDT (max level) - Inc Duration - Molten Shell - Immortal Call

CwDT (lvl 1) - Enduring Cry (lvl 5)

Assassin's Mark (Critical Weakness)

Arctic Armour

If you don't have enough slots, you could drop Molten Shell in your second CwDT, or Faster Casting for Lightning Warp.

Normal: +40 hp or passive

Cruel: passive

Merciless: power charge (if going PCoC) or passive

The +40 is now less important than it used to be, so take it if you think you will struggle to get lots of life on gear, or take the passive if not.

Chest: Cloak of Defiance (required)

Helmet: Mindspiral unique, or rare (life, mana, resists, ES)

Gloves: rare (life, mana, resists, ES, strength, dexterity)

Boots: rare (movement speed, life, mana, resists, ES)

Belt: rare (life, mana, resists, ES)

Shield: rare (life, mana, resists, ES, spell damage, mana regen)

Wand: rare (spell damage, cast speed, crit chance, cold damage)

Rings: rare (life, mana, mana regen (50+%), resists, ES, crit chance, strength, dexterity)

Amulet: rare (life, mana, mana regen, resists, crit multiplier, strength, dexterity)

Note about numbers of affixes: try to get items with 5 or fewer affixes, so you can craft onto them, and try to get 1% cold leech on everything (not sure which items can get this affix).

If going for block and spell block: use Rathpith Globe shield and Rainbowstride boots. These are kind of expensive so they are an optional luxury.

Finally keep in mind this is all off the top of my head so it's possible some of those affixes don't spawn on the item types.