[3.0] [HC] Chill and Breathe: An Arctic Breath Totem Build [VIDEO]

Pendulum of Destruction (2 nodes): I want to like this node. Timed DPS boosts though aren't thrilling to me. Still, if I started as a Witch, I would certainly consider this path. 10% Elemental Damage and 4% Cast speed from the travel node is solid.

Mastermind of Discord (4 nodes - includes Pendulum of Destruction): Nothing here for us at all. Stop at Pendulum of Destruction.

Paragon of Calamity (2 nodes): An interesting node. A little too situational for my tastes though. The offensive part only helps us 1/3 of the time. The defensive part is interesting and probably decent for bosses with single element attacks. Other than that, there isn't anything exciting here.

Shaper of Desolation (2 nodes): We already freeze most enemies solid. Useless for us.

Beacon of Ruin (4 nodes - includes Shaper of Desolation): That's a lot of points to spend to get a weaker version of Elemental Proliferation on the build. It isn't terrible, but it's not 4 Ascendancy points good, not with Shaper of Desolation being useless to us. The travel node is just 10% increased elemental damage and 3% Freeze.

Liege of the Primordial (2 nodes): Two nodes to have better golem damage potential by using a low level ice golem instead of a flame golem. This might also justify high level golems and self casting them. The travel node gives us 6% Elemental Resistances and 10% increased elemental damage.

My recommendations for Elementalist: Liege of the Primordial (2 nodes), Paragon of Calamity (2 nodes), Pendulum of Destruction (2 nodes) and the two remaining travel nodes (2 points)

Instruments of Virtue (2 nodes): You get actual nothing from this node. We aren't casting a spell (totems aren't spells) and we aren't attacking. We get 10% Increased Elemental Damage and 4% Cast speed from the travel node. It is a literal waste of 2 points for us.

Righteous Providence (2 nodes): Remember that our first hit on enemies will often have them unaffected by any status ailments. That first hit will get a nice boost to crit, which makes it easier to freeze them on the first hit. It balances out Controlled Destruction for that first hit. The second part isn't great. The travel node is 10% Increased Elemental Damage and 15% Crit Multi. Half of that is good for us. That's OK from a travel node.

Inevitable Judgement (4 nodes - includes Righteous Providence): We're going for this node because of 10% Elemental Resistance penetration. This is a node that most builds will go for to get one or the other but not both, and we're no exception. The travel node is another 10% Increased Elemental Damage.

Augury of Penitence: This is a nice defensive/offensive path. Including the pathing, you get 6% to all Elemental Resists, 20% Increased Elemental Damage, and reduce incoming elemental damage by 8%.

Sanctify (2 nodes): Not great, but servicable. We create Consecrated Ground when hit 25% of the time. Consecrated Ground provides us and our allies 4% Life Regen per second. The travel node is good for us too (0.5% Life Regen and 10% Increased Elemental Damage).

Pious Path (4 nodes - Includes Sanctify): Provides us some boosts for Sanctify, basically. 40% Increased Damage and 50% Reduced Mana Cost while on Consecrated Ground is kinda nice. The travel node is another great 0.5% Life Regen and 10% Increased Elemental Damage node.

My Recommendations:

Inevitable Judgement + Righteous Providence (4 nodes) and Augury of Penitence + Sanctify