[3.5] Scold Snap™ - a low-life league starter Cold Snap Occultist

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Smogs wrote:

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Maxpoggi wrote:

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Smogs wrote:

How are you setting up your curses currently? I'm usually running Enfeeble on the Blasphemy with EW and Despair through Curse on Hit.

I'm running temp chains on blasphemy, frostbite on curse on hit and I have a despair flask: we have two max curses (provided you went with the new ascendancy nodes rather than profane bloom and malediction), so we don't want three curses always up, and the despair flask gives us the second curse for mapping while not really being available for tough bosses, where frostbite kicks in instead.

Ah, there's the piece I'm missing. I followed the original guide and got profane bloom and malediction. I'm guessing I should have gone void beacon and frigid wake. rip

Sorry for the confusion. I wrote the guide in 3.4, before we'd gotten any news of Occultist buffs, new gems, Vortex and Cold Snap buffs, etc. Betrayal league released the weekend before my final exams, so I got a very late start on any guide updates.

I recently added some info to the guide to help players understand what should change between 3.4 and 3.5. Much of the Scold Snap guide is still relevant, but going forward you should always expect the passive tree and optimal gem/gear choices to change from one patch to the next. This holds true with all guides.

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cha_siu_bao wrote:

Sorry for the confusion. I wrote the guide in 3.4, before we'd gotten any news of Occultist buffs, new gems, Vortex and Cold Snap buffs, etc. Betrayal league released the weekend before my final exams, so I got a very late start on any guide updates.

I recently added some info to the guide to help players understand what should change between 3.4 and 3.5. Much of the Scold Snap guide is still relevant, but going forward you should always expect the passive tree and optimal gem/gear choices to change from one patch to the next. This holds true with all guides.

No reason to be sorry, man, that's on me for not doing sufficient research. Fixing it is a fairly cheap respec away. No worries, and thanks for the guide regardless!

Just did Uber Elder (nearly deathless, died once on a slow+slam combo). That was the easiest experience I've had with UE, probably easier than dual Simmerons Arc Trap before the nerf. This build is super solid.

Another day, another update!

New path of building link (10.4k ES, 1.85m combined dots shaper dps without flasks): https://pastebin.com/urFutYGU

Main changes:


I've taken a few of the tips given to me here and implemented them in the build: 6L vortex feels great, and I'm very happy about the helm I managed to buy.

I've been very impressed by storm brand, which definitely goes against my expectations: the ability to cast from range is nice to have as flexibility, because while it's true that we usually go into melee for vortex we might not want to stay there to cast orb of storm. In addition to that the faster tick rate of storm brand can definitely be felt when refreshing our dots, and I definitely love getting some more damage because of that.

The other upgrade comes from getting a Might of the Meek: I believe that the jewel isn't only good because we have access to shitty jewels right now, it's just a great option that surpasses any rare: yes, we have to give up Blast Radius to take it, but the lost area of effect is completely offset by the small nodes in the radius, and as for damage and ES might of the meek is a great option, providing us with a total of (I assume the game does round down as shown on the tooltips, otherwise it's even better):
- 40% cold/area damage
- 4% cold dot multiplier
- 30 int (6% ES)
- 2% ES and 5% recharge rate from taking the minor above Arcane Focus
This comes at the cost of not being able to take a 20% damage node (about 6% above efficiency for our tree), reducing our bonus damage to 34%: this total is still above a perfectly rolled rare jewel (28% damage, 4% cold dot multi, 8% ES). Yes, I know I could drop the area damage node which we don't need for pathing anymore to get the witch starting 16% spell damage node, but I don't feel like spending a regret for 1% damage to change a node I'm going to be taking in the currently planned final version of the build.

Finally, I've started using a Quartz flask instead of a Silver flask as I felt phase run wasn't up frequently enough for the speed I was going at.

Something I'm still on the fence about is whether we want to drop Precision and Sanctity to go for Fangs of the Viper and Entropy. I'm currently leaning towards the added survivability and utility given by the former in the form of added cast speed and ES regen, but it could be a consideration.

Met the man himself the other day! This build has carried me through all content deathless now. 159/159 atlas, Uber Elder, Uber Atziri, tons of Shapers. I made a few solid upgrades over the past few days that have really helped push this build to the limits (including a +2Shavs and an Aspect of the Cat ammy).

Gear + POB: [829K Shaper DoT from Cold Snap, 10.6K ES + Aspect of the Cat]

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oregoncrete wrote:

Met the man himself the other day! This build has carried me through all content deathless now. 159/159 atlas, Uber Elder, Uber Atziri, tons of Shapers. I made a few solid upgrades over the past few days that have really helped push this build to the limits (including a +2Shavs and an Aspect of the Cat ammy).

Gear + POB: [829K Shaper DoT from Cold Snap, 10.6K ES + Aspect of the Cat]

Spoiler

https://pastebin.com/BgqpnNdv

That onyx amulet is absolutely disgusting. Nice work!

Here's a deathless Uber Elder run, albeit not pretty. Still no Watcher's Eyes though :/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJBhwCF6G-g

Uber elder down

Ty for all the good advices :D

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oregoncrete wrote:

Here's a deathless Uber Elder run, albeit not pretty. Still no Watcher's Eyes though :/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJBhwCF6G-g

I managed to do Uber Elder (not deathless) with my build, but am currently struggling a bit on how to improve it. Apart from the obvious corrupts (no currency), I was wondering if you (or anyone else) could offer some help on what to improve?



Character link: https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Wilde79

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Wilde79 wrote:

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oregoncrete wrote:

Here's a deathless Uber Elder run, albeit not pretty. Still no Watcher's Eyes though :/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJBhwCF6G-g

I managed to do Uber Elder (not deathless) with my build, but am currently struggling a bit on how to improve it. Apart from the obvious corrupts (no currency), I was wondering if you (or anyone else) could offer some help on what to improve?

Character link: https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Wilde79

I don't see much effort put toward making use of Occultist's ES recharge mechanics. They're massively helpful in all boss encounters, most of all Uber Elder.

As far as I know, there is zero lightning damage in the Uber Elder fight.
Your lightning resist can be -60% and it will not matter. If you can't afford better gear and REALLY want to fight Uber Elder, your defensive focus should be on mitigating physical and cold damage (as well as maximizing ES, of course).

Shield: In my opinion, you don't need every last bit of damage from every gear piece to achieve a deathless Uber Elder. Aegis Aurora - compared to your current shield - will give you more ES and max cold res, which is very helpful against Uber Elder.

Jewelry: "Faster start of energy shield recharge" is a craftable prefix on rings. Tier 1 craft is 18-24% faster start, and costs 1 exalt. Tier 2 craft (12-17%, which I currently have on both rings) costs 2 regals.

Belt: Bated Breath will give you similar ES, as well as 50% increased ES recharge rate. It's awesome in those moments where ES recharge is important (i.e. Uber Elder fights).

Gem choices:
Cold Snap vs Vortex: Cold Snap has a long cast time, which is only made worse by Scold's Bridle and Doedre's Malevolence. It has the benefit of being a ranged spell, but the animation is slow and can lock you in place at inconvenient moments. Vortex casts instantly and feels more workable in the hectic Uber Elder fight, so I went with that for 3.5.

My current 6L: Vortex - Efficacy - Bonechill - Hypothermia - Controlled Destruction - Elemental Focus

Curses:
Consider exchanging Frostbite for Temporal Chains. Frostbite is a fine choice for maximum DPS, but I preferred defense over offense for tackling Uber Elder.
Slowing the bosses' attack/cast animations down felt much more impactful than any damage boost that Frostbite/EleWeak could provide.

Passive Skill Tree:
Zealot's Oath feels nice in maps, but it's not going to be very useful in the Uber Elder fight. You don't have a lot of life regen on the tree. An extra 400 ES per second is not going to be enough recovery to save you from two consecutive big hits. I prefer to have a larger ES pool and lean on my Occultist recharge mechanics.

Quick Recovery (life + mana regen + life regen) is just awful, even if you have Zealot's Oath. Quick Recovery is not allocated for any variant of this Scold Snap, whether in 3.4 or 3.5. I have no idea how to justify this choice. It is bad.

Mind Barrier (spell block + shield ES) was chosen because it gives you ES. You have more than three 6% ES nodes available, which provide more overall ES than Mind Barrier. 10% spell block sounds nice, but I find it's unreliable. I would much prefer to have an extra ~200 ES.

So...
Pull out of Zealot's Oath and spend the points on ES? Maybe. It's personal preference.
Pull out of Mind Barrier and spend the points on (slightly) more ES? Maybe. It's personal preference.
Pull out of Quick Recovery and spend the points on literally anything else? Definitely.

My Vortex / Cold Snap build in 3.5 is specced to make Uber Elder fights as easy as possible. I am not Mathil, and thus need to spec my build to compensate for my lack of skill. Give me a big effective HP pool and "safety net" mechanics that allow me to occasionally falter without dying.