[2.6] Flash Freeze Ice Shot Ranger

The lifepool definitely got me scared. Some fights i can see being near impossible because no matter how much player skill is involved there is still lag and huge outgoing damage.

Fighting Atziri on my 6k hp Marauder with insane attackspeed+life leech is still scary enough during clones phase, i can only imagine doing it on this build with sub 3k hp is probably the scariest shit ever.

Im still going to be doing this build for legacy league but i imagine its going to be a short honeymoon once i reach Merciless+Lab+Atziri+Izaro.

I was thinking of starting the new league with this character but i have couple of question i would like an answer.

If this is a cold/bow/evasion build why not use "Flashfreeze", "Phase Acrobatics" and "Heavy/Deadly Draw"

Heavy draw doesn't seem to be that good, at least in this build, but those others seem to be good and they are right next to ranger starting tree.

Also it seems only life leech in this passive tree is "Vitality Void" so is it enough for "Vaal Pact" or should i get more life leech on my gear?

There might be an obvious answer to these questions but i am quite new so i would appreciate an answer.

Hi guys,
First of all, props to Xenovenom for keeping my build alive and the excellent answers to all the questions! Seeing the forum post "explode" shortly before 2.6 is pretty sweet :)

I did a variation on the build in Breach league with Slivertongue + Rigwalds Quills, and this tree should do nicely in patch 2.6 http://poeurl.com/63D (PS: tree URL will only work after 2.6 has started, or in the 2.6 tree builder) The new Primeval Force node in the tree is SO delicious, 40% extra WED? Yes please!

Xenovenom mentions the bow and quiver setup in the build guide on this forum post but here's my take on it too. (more is always better :p)

What's different to the Flash Freeze Ranger in the video, is that you don't use a Chain gem, giving you an extra gem slot to put in other things and get free Fork which gives you a ton of extra crit via the Slivertongue bow. (You get Chain from Deadeye, Fork from Rigwalds Quills). You also drop Point Blank.

It ended up clearing packs even faster than the build in the video, but single target is less strong for sure. I ended up swapping weapons for bosses. I used a Chin Sol with the Blast Rain setup in the 2nd weapon slot, and put Weapon Switching on a free mouse button. This made swapping weapons really fast and made boss killing much better. Pick a 2nd quiver that boosts your blast rain dmg > phys or elemental dmg rolls or crit strikes. Anyway, if you're looking for a variation on the Flash Freeze build, this might be fun to try :)
Ow, almost forgot, check out the new unique jewels in patch 2.6, you might find something delicious :p

Enjoy the Flashback league bro's!
in_your_Face

PS: Get your Offline PoE tree planner here: https://github.com/EmmittJ/PoESkillTree/releases/download/2.6.0/PoESkillTree-AtlasofWorlds-2.6.0.exe

Hey in_you_FACE, here to add more fuel to the fire?? Outstanding haha.
I've been struggling like crazy confronting different trees and wondering with my limited knowledge wheter to go for more of one stat or another so seeing another take on it is freezing my brain duh, I play softcore and don't mind dying often so I'm not too picky as to look for the build with better defenses, I've already got the hint that whether you have 3 or 4,5 k health you'll probably still get onehit from most unique and bosses, so I think I'll take that phase acrobatics!

Now to wait for the league start and check up on your build... I fear the few hours between here and release won't be enough for me to find the one true tree.
Many regrets will be spent this league :D


Loving this thread

Damn I love already the idea of weapon swapping into a Chin Sol for bosses!
That Rigwald's quill look mighty expensive though, but since Talisman is coming back I guess it'll drop in price for the league duration, nice.

Hey torokfremen, glad you're enjoying the brain freeze :)
You actually described the one fundamental thing about PoE that makes it such a good, re-playable game: Endless diversity in builds. GG, GGG!

So, from what I gathered from your reply, is that you have limited to average knowledge of the game. In that case, get a bit safer with your tree, and pick more defensive stats like life. At least 150% in the tree + acrobatics and phase acrobatics and plenty of evasion. Top that off with a Kintsugi unique chest and you will die a lot less. In fact, 3.3k life is a bit... low :) When I made the guide, I was always poor in game, so: No 6-links, medium gear etc. So this number should be easily pumped up a bit. In the end, with an evasion build you just keep moving, dodging etc to stay alive. Face-tanking is not advisable :p

kulnan and Marthus on page 18 of this thread had some nice variations too. In any case, play the one you like. It's not about what build is the best, it's about which one you have fun with. There are plenty of ways to do it :)

Hey guys, I am thinking of going Ice Shot as league starter on legacy and I wanted to discuss a few things I am not knowledgeable in (and wiki wasn't enough for me to understand). So, here goes:

0) I am thinking of going Deadeye for the additional projectile and chain. I am thinking of not using GMP once I have all the ascendancies and try to make it with 4 projectiles + 1 chain. If it doesn't work out I will move the gem back in.I will be using Death's Opus and Lioneye's Fall, eventually. I will be going for the 100% cold conversion with passive tree + the built-in from Ice Shot.
Here is the tree I am thinking of. Depending on the answers I get to my questions I might make some changes.
http://poeplanner.com/AAYAAO0iGwB0m40ILu2DGY4AXtN-fXX-urvjxKKn1P7IoaTh2wYjexQV8JLzXkX6642_1CNRRzB8fys51KCfh3ZKfVuvIXaGzsEzBfmbJs96IurDOio451Qk_f_ejX0j9k2StUjUQoRvdf0WvyaVYeJVS4w2idNwUjY9napsjGKs44QN0WNDMfp292HrelPuDv1ujbmBrORqqXndRmOnEYEUdcjM74_fb2eg459W-nfXft14-TOSQxOyGTIBBbUajVsmf_vC7LTFFf2NgcGgeBlvV21s7LCMC7l8Kgtd8g5Iz14VQ-m98LsT2rEBcUNl0wAAMQMAADIBAgIAAwIAB6QBAAAEAhEAAQwBAQADBAAJAgECAQADBAMDBAoBAQADARAAAwAAAA==

1) How do increases to physical damage affect your actual damage? I read that conversion happens before any damage increase calculations, so does that mean increases to physical damage are completely wasted?

2) If I intend to almost always crit (high crit chance + diamond flask), is any chance to freeze from tree/gems almost useless? Does this chance to freeze bypass the need to deal a % damage of the target's HP in order to freeze them?

3) What do you think the best way to generate Power and Frenzy charges will be considering my setup (see 0)?

edit: Added a skill tree and a bit more info.
This really feels glass-cannon-y as all hell. It will probably clear even high tier red maps just fine but will absolutely struggle at bosses where manual avoidance is extremely difficult (Malachai, Shaper, Chimera, Kaom, Daresso, Hydra). I am reasonably sure I will be going for something else to farm the end-game once I get enough currency.

"

in_your_FACE wrote:

Hey torokfremen, glad you're enjoying the brain freeze :)
You actually described the one fundamental thing about PoE that makes it such a good, re-playable game: Endless diversity in builds. GG, GGG!

So, from what I gathered from your reply, is that you have limited to average knowledge of the game. In that case, get a bit safer with your tree, and pick more defensive stats like life. At least 150% in the tree + acrobatics and phase acrobatics and plenty of evasion. Top that off with a Kintsugi unique chest and you will die a lot less. In fact, 3.3k life is a bit... low :) When I made the guide, I was always poor in game, so: No 6-links, medium gear etc. So this number should be easily pumped up a bit. In the end, with an evasion build you just keep moving, dodging etc to stay alive. Face-tanking is not advisable :p

kulnan and Marthus on page 18 of this thread had some nice variations too. In any case, play the one you like. It's not about what build is the best, it's about which one you have fun with. There are plenty of ways to do it :)

Good stuff, well I have almost 500 hours in the game but I only ever managed to push a single deathless guardian kill, never managed uber atziri or shaper yet, I say I have limited knowledge because I reckon one truly has it when he's able to grasp at the strenght and cons of trees and builds he's familiar with, I have never touched a ranger or projectile based builds before so this is all pretty new to me, I'm really grateful for the diversity that the game provides and I'm sure I might enjoy whatever path I choose for this ice shot, only I was wondering which one would help me push further without having to go on an entirely different build or reworking the tree from scratch.

I can play for a long time so exalted worthy items aren't out of my league for the upcoming Legacy so truly, I'm wondering which build will push further If I am to keep playing Ice shot ranger :D
I think I had around 40-60 exalt worth items in Essence League as I managed 3 6link items, got really lucky with ex drops and gifted all of it when I stopped playing mid through the league

I already like what you've written as you provide a weapon swap for a dedicated weapon + quiver for single target damage, and I can guess it opens space for new gems / setups on the chest, possibly a Kaom's Heart?!

I'm no min/maxing player as that would be too much effort for my knowledge right now, but I don't mind asking questions and doubting my way to greatness/end game content.

"

In the end, with an evasion build you just keep moving, dodging etc to stay alive.

Haha I can see already myself dying from being tired after long sessions, healthy juicy extracts drinks here I come

P.S. I finally picked up the Poe skill tree offline builder and it's kinda fun comparing trees and finally getting the brain to wake up from slumber and debate one option or another.
It took way too much time to get to this point.
P.S. Already got the Gloom Herald effect for those sexy ice spikes as proof of dedication!

Yeah torokfremen, that Gloom Herald is almost a must for this build :)

About your tree-choosing issues, I created a 2.6 tree for the original build. It has a bit more life than the updated version of Xenovenom (and my orignal tree) and runs a bit differently through the tree. That said, both trees are viable!
Here's mine: http://poeurl.com/69y

It's up to you to pick your weapon of choice. As Xenovenom explains, Chin Sol, Slivertongue and Deaths Opus are all good. Even a high crit rare is fine. This tree is mainly aimed at the original build, so Chin Sol #1, Deaths Opus #2 choice. Basically: Close combat inc. dmg VS. more projectiles play style preference.

Damn, still many hours to wait for the league to start...
Ow, and about not having killed Shaper yet, that goes for the majority of PoE players.

"

in_your_FACE wrote:

Yeah torokfremen, that Gloom Herald is almost a must for this build :)

About your tree-choosing issues, I created a 2.6 tree for the original build. It has a bit more life than the updated version of Xenovenom (and my orignal tree) and runs a bit differently through the tree. That said, both trees are viable!
Here's mine: http://poeurl.com/69y

It's up to you to pick your weapon of choice. As Xenovenom explains, Chin Sol, Slivertongue and Deaths Opus are all good. Even a high crit rare is fine. This tree is mainly aimed at the original build, so Chin Sol #1, Deaths Opus #2 choice. Basically: Close combat inc. dmg VS. more projectiles play style preference.

Damn, still many hours to wait for the league to start...
Ow, and about not having killed Shaper yet, that goes for the majority of PoE players.

Thank you thank you!
Yes I really like the choices in bows, especially as of the RotC nerf, I'm also interested in swapping between those during the League to test the diversity in the build without having to make a new character from scratch, that's not something many build can do I think!
Respeccing ascendancy might be the biggest offender, iirc it's like 2 regret per point? No big deal then.
And for Shaper, well yeah, I have learned in Essence league that the game isn't meant to be 100% by all builds, on the opposite you're almost always supposed to struggle with something, It was my first time playing PoE to the endgame and with the average mentality of completing all the content available in any game in this one I found out that things are different, and it's actually pretty awesome this way.
It's just that the atlas of worlds map is one tricky biatch with it's xx/120 counter that taunts you to complete it, I remember raging at one particular hero in the Hall of Grandmasters which just wouldn't go down ahah, (ofcourse it had CI and tons of regen)

I apologize for straying out of topic.

P.S. One more thing, what's the DESIRED Crit chance value on Ice shot when all is done and set? Even If I read 350% critical hit chance from tree and the like, I still don't know what it translates to, what's the final score like?

P.P.S I investigated a bit and so far they have revealed 8 out of 10 new Threshold jewels.. Now I don't think there's much chance to see an Ice shot one since out of those announced, 4 are Cold related skills.

"

Kostyan1996 wrote:

Until I can afford 6 link, what is better in your opinion? Ice Bite as 5th link instead of added cold or just frenzy skill as third bow skill? It's no problem for me to shoot it once in like 5 seconds.
Also, I can't really see cons of Raider. Deadeye needs one link or frenzy skill to generate charges, without it it seems that DPS and freeze potential is lower than on Raider, and Raider have a bit more movement speed = more clear speed.
One thing I see is Deadeye + Slivertongue + Rigwald's Quills looks really good.

In this case I would just do what feels better to you. Ice Bite instead of added cold is possible but with all the cold damage increases I can't say if that would lower dps too much. I personally don't like using a skill just for charge generation so I would force myself to find another way through possibly a second curse if I couldn't live without Frenzy charges (personal choice).