[3.3] Special Snowflake Cold Snap Occultist CI/LL EE 3+Curses

very defensive
good map clear
simple & ez playsyle
cheap to gear
can level as the build
non-meta meme build to impress your friends

low damage ceiling (around 500k Shaper DPS) because of reduced effectiveness of curses on endgame bosses
requires trading for ES gear
top-end damage gear takes away from ES pool

Stat priority: Spell (or Cold or Elemental) damage, -Res, Cast Speed, Area, Crit (ignore crit multi), DoT damage, added damage
Cold Snap's damage is divided into two parts, the initial Hit & DoT that spreads on the ground. The DoT on the ground counts as chilled ground & applies 10% chill.

To scale both, we focus on stacking spell damage and reduce enemy resistances. Crit allows us to freeze, and scales the hit portion, but does nothing to help the DoT (unless we ignite somehow). Duplicating our hits using something like Spell echo or Glacial Cascade results in bigger initial hit, but a net damage loss (previously Cold Snap was bugged & allowed the DoT AOE on the ground to overlap, but this has been patched).

Avoid linking gems like added cold damage, glacial cascade, ice bite or cold penetration (these all only affect the initial hit part of the spell). Similarly stuff like Swift Affliction only affects the DoT, and should be avoided.

Area nodes on the tree are pretty weak requiring 3-4 skill points per 1 increased radius. Just cast twice & put those points into pure damage nodes.

Bosses can be especially difficult because of their increased resistances & reduced effect of curses...There’s not really any way around this, so if you’re looking to make a boss killer, try something like a Glacial Cascade miner.

Note on Chill Effect & Freeze Duration Nodes:
These reduce the HP threshold at which the chill is calculated or a freeze occurs. Chill has a hard cap of 30% speed reduction & these nodes will not byass it. Note that enemies hit by Cold Snap will be chilled a minimum of 10% (Chilled Ground) and enemies hit while Pandemonius is equipped are chilled by 30%. Don't take these nodes! Pure damage nodes are better because they improve Chill effect, Freeze & DPS.
Read the Wiki!

https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/GOB3/characters?characterName=anicewitch

https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/GOB3/characters?characterName=anicerwitch

For Elemental Equilibrium to work you cannot have cold damage added to spells on any gear!

Heretic's Veil is the only required unique & is not needed to level the build. Note that Lab enchants do not stack with corruptions! Optimal corrupt would be +1 power charge if you're using Void Batteries. Good Lab enchants to look for would be 40% damage, curse effectiveness or reduced mana reservation. 2 useful corruptions are going to be better than any lab enchant.


Shavronne's Wrappings is required if you opt to go Low Life


Items that grant +1 additional curse are great for damage but put a lot of pressure on other items to be excellent. Doedre’s Damning is probably the least worst followed by Windshriek.


Amulet: Yoke of Suffering is best for DPS in situations where you can spam Cold Snaps to keep up shock...it also gives lot of resists but reduces the chill & freeze duration. The Pandemonius is best overall option and adds nice additional defensive measures. +1 curse corruption is god-tier.


Weapon: 2x Void Battery are best in slot for damage, but require ramp up time to generate power charges and lock out one of your best slots for gaining ES. Divinarius an OK starter weapon, but you should be able to find a better rare.


Jewels:
Winter's Bounty is semi-mandatory as Power charges are easier to generate & provide more ancillary benefits than Frenzies.
A Watcher's Eye with "Gain of Maximum Mana as Extra Maximum Energy Shield while affected by Clarity" can help to boost your ES pool at the cost of 5-7ex.
Conqueror's Efficiency may be required depending on your mana situation.
Rares with energy shield, start of energy shield recharge, cold damage, area damage, spell damage, etc.
Look for the mana reservation corruption.

Flasks: Wise Oak is really good, The Writhing Jar helps with power charges & free regen on bosses. Always carry 3 flasks with Staunching, Heat & Warding. If you have +1 curse but lack room to reserve mana for it, use Witchfire Brew.

Cold Snap + Hypothermia + Controlled Destruction + Efficacy + Increased Area/Concentrated Effect + Power Charge on Crit/Elemental Focus
swap in conc effect for bosses if you need more damage
Orb of Storms + Power Charge on Crit + Increased Critical Strikes + Faster Casting
Frost Bomb + Arcane Surge + Increased Duration + Spell Cascade
Curse Priority: Hypothermia, Elemental Weakness, then Despair for damage. Enfeeble, then Temp Chains for defense.
shoehorn in a movement skill & maybe also add Vaal Righteous Fire if you still have sockets.

Aura Setup
CI:
Helm: Enlighten L3 + 2 curses
Use Witchfire Brew for curse #3
3 Link: Enlighten L3 + Discipline + Herald of Thunder

LL:
3/4 Link: Blood Magic + Discipline + Herald of Thunder + Clarity L1 (if needed for watcher's eye)
Helm: Enlighten L3 + 3 curses
For 4th Curse aura use a seperate Blasphemy + Enlighten L3 setup rather than adding it to the helm.

Kill all bandits.
Use whatever skill you like best to get to Act 2. At this point, you can start using Cold Snap, but you won't have access to the support gems you want until level 32.
Bitterdream is pretty good, but gets outclassed by a 4-link and a weapon with decent spellpower.
Take both life & ES nodes but prioritize ES on gear. Once you finish cruel lab, respec the life nodes & take CI. Leveling as CI is pretty comfortable if you have access to a few cheap uniques:

Take the curse AOE near & aura AOE near Scion to give yourself nice blasphemy radius.
Take Elemental Equilibrium only once you can support your Curse auras AND Herald of Thunder. Herald of Thunder is needed to automatically set enemy resistances to be weak against cold. Without using Herald of Thunder, you'll have to manually drop an orb of storms for everything.