[2.6] The Curse Whisperer - Tri-Curse CI Whispering Ice Berserker - Viable for Everything

I had a question but posted it under the Elementalist guide, meant to do it here. It relates more to Berserker:

With the Pyre nerf announced, I was wondering why do we have to convert our cold damage to fire damage? Couldn't we just focus on cold damage - replace fire penetration gem with a cold penetration gem? We wouldn't have to go for Avatar of Fire, so two skill points saved there (maybe try to incorporate Heart of Ice?). Unfortunately this would mean Astramentis would be required (otherwise it would be very difficult to reach the required dex for max gem). Also it would require one of the sockets on the staff itself to be green. We would lose out on some damage on the tree (Fire Walker, Snow Forged). I'm guessing I answered my own question, the cons outweigh the pros? Any comments?

Pyre is dead, CE is nerfed. We are going back to the old scheme with AoF + CtF + good ring. The difference will be only felt in the endgame, as you will need a better belt (Int + 2 res mods) and the DPS against bosses will be lower.

Still no reason to drop the 3rd curse though. 3 curses and slightly less damage is better than 2 curses and slightly more damage.

And the reasons to convert damage to fire are explained in the Build Theory.

question is... to cwc or not to cwc?

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LastMagus wrote:

question is... to cwc or not to cwc?

That's not a question for the Berserker version. Self-cast would be too slow for this class.

How does this variant fair as a league starter?
Are there any variants of your build you think would be easier as a league starter?
Decent to level without WI early on, under the assumption one isn't found before ~33, figure worst case I just level with CwC Firestorm until I get my hands on any WI.


Obviously getting your hands on a WI early on would be RNG, just waiting for prices.

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Kelvynn wrote:

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LastMagus wrote:

question is... to cwc or not to cwc?

That's not a question for the Berserker version. Self-cast would be too slow for this class.

dunno, the delay cwc had was a pain many times. especially in uber atziri. self cast with echo may be a bit slower but i think the dmg will make up for it.

LE: by some early calculations i did on the new tree with some mediocre gear in mind, we can get 1335 int. that's with low conversion jewels only. didn't factor in lab jewels and rare ones, just 2 agi 1 str conversion + astramentis + crest + staff and some 30-40 int rolls on rare gear. that's good enough for farming lab with your eyes closed until u get the GG izaro jewels and currency for 50+ int on all rares.
the build's not dead yet.

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How does this variant fair as a league starter?
Are there any variants of your build you think would be easier as a league starter?

Because of the perandus aspect of this league, I hope wi will be easy to get very early on. However, you shouldn't be concerned about the staff itself. Think low level es + int + res items. That's going to be your problem and ofc the astramentis. :). As far as leveling goes, try going melee based. Keep in mind your WI dmg comes from int not spell dmg nodes, so leveling with firestorm is not going to be fast, unless you branch out to templar/witch area first.

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LastMagus wrote:

dunno, the delay cwc had was a pain many times. especially in uber atziri. self cast with echo may be a bit slower but i think the dmg will make up for it.

That's very strange to hear. Uber Atziri has been particularly good with CwC for me because you can move at any time and dodge the 1-shots easier than with Spell Echo 2x casting animation delay.

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LE: by some early calculations i did on the new tree with some mediocre gear in mind, we can get 1335 int.

Somebody who modeled this build with Path of Building told me they got significantly lower Int and ES there than in reality. I think the formulas there might not be calculating the increased %Int mods correctly. I didn't have time to check it myself though.

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xemath wrote:

How does this variant fair as a league starter?
Are there any variants of your build you think would be easier as a league starter?

Berserker is the easiest one to level. Sunder is totally OP for leveling with whatever self-found gear. Grab a big stick and just annihilate everything. They are rebalancing it slightly to do more damage to the primary target and less to the sides but I don't think it will matter much. If anything, it will make killing rares/bosses easier. You can level pretty far with Sunder while waiting to get WI. Armor is the best defense while leveling too. Any life/armor gear you find is good, or just buy, it's all very cheap in the current ES meta.

The only inconvenience is that you have to buy most of the gems for this build. But that's just a question of a few alc orbs.

Yeah, and with the changes to Siosa, you can actually just go buy "off-class" gems now, rather than beg or trade for them. :)

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Capozzi wrote:

Yeah, and with the changes to Siosa, you can actually just go buy "off-class" gems now, rather than beg or trade for them. :)

You can? I didn't quite get what exactly they are doing there. From the wording of that patch note, it can be that he sells you all quest rewards from your class, or maybe rewards from all classes but only for his quest? I guess we'll see tomorrow.

From what I heard both Ziggy and Mathil say, that's they way it's supposed to work.

Part of the Solo Self Found upgrades this patch, methinks.

Also gives you a reason to do his quest in later acts.