[3.20] Ice Dancing Queen - Icestorm/Cyclone/CI - Viable For Everything

I can chain cast 6S icestorm with level 20 gems at 2330 int and 59 mana. I just noticed there does seem to be a cast speed limit though -- I'm not casting all that fast. Like I am casting about twice a second. This needs more investigation.

Scion's the way to go -- see Kelvynn's comments.

Re concentrated effect, we'll just have to experiment.

Hello everyone!

Guys, do you consider using spell echo with a self-cast IS for bosses?
Imo self-cast without any additional tricks looks pretty scuffed, coz we don't have enough cast speed. Imagine fighting an al hezmin for example D:

"

Wh1plash wrote:

Hello everyone!

Guys, do you consider using spell echo with a self-cast IS for bosses?
Imo self-cast without any additional tricks looks pretty scuffed, coz we don't have enough cast speed. Imagine fighting an al hezmin for example D:

No, it'll increase the mana cost too much.

The trick is going to be to ensure the self-casting cost is less than or equal to your unreserved mana. The mana regens almost instantly, but you have to have enough to cast.

I just tested the self-cast boss setup in Standard with my Scourge league character. CE - AS - Inspiration - EF - Intensify - Cold Pen.

This is still 3.16, the 50% more damage buff isn't in yet, and I just bought lv 1 Intensify and Cold Pen and leveled them to lv 8 while testing minor bosses. Then I hit the Maven.

No issues with mobility other than getting used to self-casting again. That's just a matter of time and practice.

You don't have to move close to the boss. That's a good thing in some cases. But you need to be close to use Vortex/Bonechill.

No issues with mana. Icestorm costs 74 mana per cast, and I can sustain it easily.

The issue is the cast speed. It's 0.66 sec per cast. That means the actual damage starts occurring 0.86 sec after you cast it. With ACwC it was 0.5 sec, and it was already a bit annoying when fighting a highly mobile boss. Sirus and Al-Hezmin are not important targets anymore. But we don't know anything about the new bosses yet. This may be a problem.

Stacking 5 Icestorms takes 3.3 sec. And the duration is 3.8 sec with 2.8k Int. At lower levels with starting gear you won't even be able to get 5 stacks.

With Spell Echo you cast 2 Icestorms in 0.86 sec. But there are 2 problems: a) it's 10% Less damage; and b) every 3rd cast creates a 6th storm which replaces the first one because you can only have 5. Still, it takes 2.6 sec to reach full stacking. But you lose a support gem. Spell Echo is a middle ground between CwC and max damage self-casting.

What about the damage anyway? If the boss doesn't move much? In 3.17, if your Icestorm does N damage per hit with the base supports (CE, EF, AS, Ins), then:
- with Cyclone - CwC it does N * 0.7;
- with Intensify - Cold Pen it does N * 1.66 * 1.27 = N * 2.1.
(against a Sirus level boss, adding Awakened Cold Pen to my character in PoB gives me ~27% more damage)
- with Intensify - Spell Echo it does N * 1.66 * 0.9 = N * 1.49

So technically, if the boss is very immobile (e.g. the Maven) then self-casting TRIPLES your damage. If it moves somewhat often you can self-cast with Spell Echo for 2x the damage. And if it moves a lot then you are better off just cycloning.

This sounds very tempting despite the issues. I went and killed the Maven in Standard super fast with Intensify - Cold Pen. She will be the main boss now and the main source of the Awakened gems. Hmm...

Anyway, until your Icestorm duration is 3.3 sec or more, the full self-casting setup won't be fully efficient. But I think I'll try the Spell Echo version and see how that goes.

Welcome back Kelvin

With my best gear in std i have 2700 int and 15,5 es. I tryed yesterday 5 times to kill maven with that. First phase is no problem. But the memory game is a pain. Also i got 2 of them done, sometimes i make them right and die at the end without knowing why.
Try 4 and 5 i come to the 3 phase and got her to 30 %. But still there she makes memory games. I have no idea how to manage them with the spinning beam.

All in all for me is maven the badest boss in game. Also sirius 9 i killed with this char 2 times.

so i see great problems as i never get this equip in a league.

so for ME maven will not be the main boss and i have to farm to get the gems. Really bad idea to make a boss with such a silly mechanic as main boss.

But the build will hopefully work fine. So see you this evening and hopefully no long queue or reset the start after 2 hr or somethin new what kill the fun.

"

auc_martin wrote:

What skill are you guys gonna use for lvling until we get icestorm? Now when they buffed a lot of gems? ❄️🧊🧊

Depends on the style you like. I tried first suggestion from the guide with bomb and it was a real pain for me. Switched to Incinerate with few support gems and "kill them all" till the moment I was able to switch to Whispering Ice/Cyclone/etc.

icinerate sounds fun. What was your setup. I used freezing pulse and dont like it really. And frost bomb isnt for me as i cant live with the fact living a mirror behind, since i walked further

I wonder if Forbidden Flame & Flesh extra ascendency bonus will be worth it on the build.

"

kotli wrote:

I wonder if Forbidden Flame & Flesh extra ascendency bonus will be worth it on the build.

We still don't know what the Scion will get. For what I've been told, it won't be the same notables as the big ascendancy nodes.

"

Walkiry wrote:

"

kotli wrote:

I wonder if Forbidden Flame & Flesh extra ascendency bonus will be worth it on the build.

We still don't know what the Scion will get. For what I've been told, it won't be the same notables as the big ascendancy nodes.

Then that's alarming because in the preview you only saw 1 class on a jewel at a time, this means we wont share the passives with other classes either.
Wonder if we get shafted :D