[2.1] - Updated- 52k dps Crit Shocking Cascade - Double Curse with Pyre and Three Dragons (VP+Acro)

[2.1] Update: Glacial Cascade got buffed, build is pretty much is the same, except you can probably link Blasphemy to aura curse instead of Shock Nova, viable either way depending on your preference.

--Update--
Reached lvl91, finally managed to kill Atziri.
Dps reached a 52k tooltip mark without any Voidbatteries or Low Life (real dps is around 130k maybe?)
New screenshots added.


Glacial Cascade has always been one my favorite spells to play around, visually satisfying, and who doesn't like the sound of shattering?

This is my first build post, and this is not a 'guide' or a '1 mil dps expensive build', this is simply sharing my build for anyone wanting to go for GC, which IMO is still one of the best cold spells.

When 2.0 came out I saw the nerfs to Glacial Cascade and for a while thought this skill dead, and with the EB change mana sustain has become harder, and using Warlord's Mark for sustain was good, but with a crit build you're kinda obligated to use Assassin's Mark. So I saw someone on the shadow forum (tufferugli) using the Whispers of Doom along with Shock Nova + Curse on Hit for double cursing.

So I started immediately in the new league and now I reached lvl91.
Now this is not my idea or my build by all means, but I noticed GC was not getting the love it deserves in 2.0 even though it's 100% as viable as before.

Pros:
.Huge dps
.Full uptime on Endurance Charges and Power Charges, occasional Frenzy charges and 5 secs of Onslaught when clearing white mobs (Innervate and Ice bite linked to Herald of Ice)
.Can do ALL map mods, no reflect fear due to Vaal Pact
.Extremely cheap, 3 Dragons and Pyre ring are both 1 chaos max even for new leagues, and 100% viable with a 4L, as I started the league in a 4L, and can scale very well with better gear such as 5L or 6L Carcass Jack.

Cons:
.*some* map mods combinations can force adjustments, like Immune to curses AND E-reflect together forces us to use Life Leech gem and keep chugging Ruby Flasks.

Glacial Cascade Mechanics and DPS screenshot:

Glacial Cascade has a unique AoE mechanic, it's basically a series of circles (blasts) from the caster, these circles overlap, allowing monsters to be hit more than once in the same cast - similar to shotgunning.
So Glacial Cascade nearly always hits the mob for 2 times in one cast (unless that mob is in melee range) and against some big mobs like big bosses it can hit even up to 3 times depending on the placement.

Tooltip DPS: -- NOTE: Due to the explained mechanics above, and the ability to shock, real DPS is usually x2.5 the tooltip DPS shown without taking Penetration into consideration.



Build Overview


Passives


Note:
I did not take Whispers of Doom node due to acquiring Doedre's Damning ring, without it, cut down 3 points from somewhere and take it.

Bandit Choices
Help Oak for normal, Kill All for Cruel, Help Allaira for Merciless (or kill all)

Links Setup:


Gear:

Only 2 uniques required if you're going the 3 Dragons route, The Three Dragons (1 chaos in most cases on poe.trade) and the Pyre Sapphire Ring (or you can use Cold To Fire gem if you have a hard time capping your res).

Other than those 2 pieces, ANY HP + res gear as long as it fits your gem colors and can be chromatted easily.
You can dual wield anything, Spell Dmg and Crit Chance for spells and cast speed preferably, or go for a shield for more HP + res.

Possible Uniques:
This build can utilize many decent uniques to push it even further.

Carcass Jack -- Resistances, life, 20% Inc. Radius and 12% dmg, simply the best Chest choice there is if you have the currency. (Note: a 5L Carcass Jack beats any 6L Rare)

Doedre's Damning -- This ring it lets us skip the 3 nodes for whispers of doom, however it comes at the cost of a ring slot.

Divinarius -- Great dagger for this build, 10% radius and some nice stats, I'd favour a rare dagger though.

Doryani's Catalyst -- Also a great piece of gear, however, after the leech % nerf I kinda rather go with a rare Sceptre for the spell crit chance and multiplier.

Doryani's Invitation -- fire version!



My Current Gear and gems:



Video: Spider Forest casual run: (just to give a look at how the build functions)


How to deal with reflect
After the reflect change, this is much easier with VP, any E-reflect rare you will encounter will cause no problem as long as he's curses with WM, in maps, I switch my Fire Pen with Life Leech.
You can also use this:

Immune to Curses mobs:
Outside of maps it's not a problem, in curse immune maps, use Mana Flasks with Surgeon's mod, Eternal Flasks use 8/40, with the Surgeon effect you will never run out of mana.

Atziri Viable?
I've done it, wasn't the easiest or Atziri runs, but still manageable.



Again, this is not a super dps - expensive uniques build, this is built with currency and 4L in mind, started the Warbands with it with no currency, now it more than paid for its price, currently running lvl77-78 maps.

Any Feedback is more than welcome, this is my first build post, so go easy on me for any mistakes or bad composition you find.
Hope this helps anyone going for GC, GL!


EDIT: updated current gear and gems.

How would you change this build to run in hardcore? I just ripped in tempest league and am wanting to roll a GC build.

Thanks

"

BigChillin wrote:

How would you change this build to run in hardcore? I just ripped in tempest league and am wanting to roll a GC build.

Thanks

TBH my HC experience is mediocre to say the least, but if I was to go HC on a GC build, this is how it'd look like:


specced out of Acro and Phase Acro, and went for Armour instead, you can even go for the Energized Armour unique jewel and place it right below 'Faith and Steel' node. this nets us about 110% increased armour, I'm not sure if it's enough, but this way you can go for ES/Armour gear and go hybrid, plus it gives 168% life. I'd also go for the Chaos Golem instead of Ice.

I'll check it out, thanks a lot.

Hello !

Just started this build after the reset of my old Glacial Cascade templar because, well, it wasn't all that great after the last nerfs.

So far it is a lot of fun, pretty good clear speed, and very cool looking in action. I'm just a bit too squishy at the moment, not a lot of life and some of my gems are new so in leveling process now. But thanks to Warlord's Mark and Vaal Pact life comes back fast !

Will do an update when I feel I'm good with my gems and equipment.



Thanks for the ideas, it is really fun to play ! ^^

Glad to see it's doing good!
Templar start is pretty good as well, less cast speed true but the armor/life nodes are decent.
If you're feeling you're bit a squishy you can drop some dmg nodes and look for some life or you can easily find a Crit chance+Spell dmg+ Life shield on the trade forums and switch out 1 divinarius.

Yeah I think I'm gonna go for the Blood Drinker nodes first, also I have almost no life on my equipment so I can do some improvements there I think.

I'm a bit afraid with bosses though, if you don't manage to lock them between the cascade shots, it can take some time to kill them and harder to evade attacks and keep the mana up.
It's feels like playing a ranger sometimes, ha ha !

I love how you instafreeze entire groups with shock nova and finish the survivors with the cascade, so good ! Even with a low damage shock nova, it can annihilate the entire screen with a few welcome crits.


EDIT: Here's a quick video on a Daresso's Dream run with my Templar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpcGYolXA1E

What about bandit rewards? Nice build i'm respeccing my shadow to work with that! less spell damage but some cast speed from his start tho

I am also tinkering with a Glacial Cascade build.

My personal experience is that it GC rarely crits with the new 5% base. I get buffed ~50% crit chance.

I watched the videos you guys made and honestly I see that Shock Nova does way more damage and crit AND it shatters.
When u apply the curses with Shock Nova most of the time they die in 1 hit.

GC hits at least 2 times by default, plus Spell echo. The result is if your hit doesn't roll crit, you are basically stuck hitting a mob 4 TIMES with that non-crit. It feels lackluster.

I love the Glacial Cascade but it just doesn't feel as powerful. Especially if you get a streak of bad RNG and get 5-6 non-crits in a row which translate in hiting 20 times without criting on a 50% crit chance...

Arctic Breath clears WAY better than GC even on non-crits. Only problem is you got very bad single target DPS.

EDIT: After watching the video's again, I think you are better of just making a Call of the Brotherhood Crit Shock Nova build which shocks AND freezes and you use 1 unique instead of 2.

"

pier922 wrote:

What about bandit rewards? Nice build i'm respeccing my shadow to work with that! less spell damage but some cast speed from his start tho

I will edit the OP, For me it was Oak, Passive , Allaira (a passive instead is debatable) Allaira gives a flat 50% Crit Chance which is better than any single node, however if you find Assassin's Curse unreliable then go for a passive point.


Shadow is 100% viable, pretty much the same path, you lose about 15% spell dmg, but that's it.