"Event Horizon" Freeze-Wave, Reverse Dual Shockwave Totems, Hardcore
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I've had a few requests from people to show off / explain my build, and figured I'd share it, because not only was it a ton of fun, but it's incredibly cheap to make function, with a lot of potential. I put it all together for less than an exalt, and reliably freeze packs in mid 70's maps.
Note that this is all written with hardcore play in mind, with an addendum for softcore. "Event Horizon" The premise is simple: freeze everything with a huge area of effect, pull it into the center, and grind it to pieces, while staying safe yet clearing efficiently. One increased AoE and one Concentrated effect totem make it an unusual build in a way, but the utility of having both immediately on hand (rather than gem swapping) is amazing. Hatred and Herald of Ice, along with the added cold gem and hypothermia, ensure solid freezing despite only a cursory investment into critical chance in your passives (without it, things break out of the singularity). Importantly, this build is about being safe for cheap, not being a tool-tip warrior, though there is -plenty- of room to min-max dps w/ godlike gear. In particular, this build utilizes several things from 2.0: freeze chance / duration on gems, the hypothermia support gem's freeze chance and -more- damage modifier, the addition of the Rallying Cry warcry, and freeze's modified base mechanic requiring less damage to freeze, and the introduction of the new uniques Empire's Grasp and Trolltimber Spire, as well as the Self-flagellation unique jewel. Currently testing Zealot's Oath + Eldritch Battery, but it doesn't look promising for hardcore due to the low life from pathing and loss of secondary mitigation to armor. Equipment suggestions:
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This build requires the Empire's Grasp unique, Spire of Stone jewel, and Trolltimber Spire, as that 1% life leech is invaluable when using totems when they hit entire packs. I consider Trolltimber to be a required part of the build for hardcore, but gearing around it is difficult in terms of finding amulets and rings that are both dps and have enough resists. (note that it's not impossible by any means; as well while you could travel up for the curse nodes, or use Windscream/Doedre's Damning) For leveling, consider Ungil's Harmony to give you an extra 5% chance to freeze while leveling (you don't crit for much, but you do enough base to work it out), as well as Elreon's -mana cost rings to assist with the sometimes burdensome mana costs (Rallying Cry is "necessary" to help). Lifesprig is a great leveling wand, as is Ezomyte Peak early (20% increased physical damage applies to SWT+EK). Your belt needs to be a rustic sash (life, armor, resists), diamond rings (cast speed, life, one big resist, crit craft), dex amulet (cast speed, spell damage, life, critical strike, critical multi), and your spellcasting weapon must have cold damage added to spells (as much as possible), cast speed, critical strike chance. Spell/multi are bonuses. Dexterity is a bit of an issue - the purpose of the dexterity implicit amulet is to allow room for resists on the rest of your gear when you're trying to cap your resists at the beginning of merciless. You'll still likely need to devote a passive point to a +30 node if you can't find a high +dexterity mod on your gear and still cap your resists. This is part of why I chose to path as I did. Cold ends up only being about 1/3-1/2 of your damage, so it's not an effective method for scaling. Cast Speed, Spell Damage, and unqualified Physical Damage (from passives and rustic sash) do most of the work, as while you end up with around 25% crit or so, you're not -really- scaling crit, you're scaling your base damage and your freeze chance. Last but not least, for jewels, in order of importance, get increased maximum life, freeze chance + duration, cast speed, critical chance, totem damage, area damage, critical damage, physical damage, and even knock back; focus on life / freeze. (You can obviously focus more on the damage in softcore) Passives:
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Note: You -will- most likely respec a few points as you go, for most effective/safe leveling & stats Passive Tree - HC (leveling ~30 - http://poeurl.com/zuWRZXp ) - Ancestral Bond is not necessary until 53; level w/ whatever and take the appropriate nodes - Spec'ing the mana regen at witch start is a fairly good idea, mana is an issue while leveling (leveling ~55 - http://poeurl.com/zuWSuPf ) - The build is fairly well rolling now and should be freezing everything 95% of the time (level 81 "final build" - http://poeurl.com/zu9neDH ) - The curse effectiveness nodes really amp up both how often we crit and how long the freeze lasts - The reduced mana cost of skills nodes are highly underrated, and are how we can run totems on mana - Take life ASAP, you don't get much - I skipped the totem nodes on the way to the Wheel of Life - level 81 was chosen b/c these are your final stats as you clip 82 for the achievement (level 100 "The Dream" - http://poeurl.com/zu9mVFD ) Obviously there are numerous options on these builds to take it slightly more tanky or slightly more damage, which I think is one of the biggest benefits of its path through the tree. You can easily opt for endurance charges or power charges on the tree, depending on your playstyle (that is, to get power charges or even frenzy + power charge on crit, you need to play very efficiently). --------------- After that, you can get the spell crit above the auras and head off for Fingers of Frost, or for a tankier version (with slower clear speed), you can modify your pathing slightly to pick up the reduced crit damage armor nodes and the life and reduced mana cost in between templar / marauder. -------------- Passive Tree - SC http://poeurl.com/zuWTdZ7 Gems:
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Empire's Grasp - Shockwave Totem + Faster Casting + Increased AoE + Increased Critical Strikes Ideal 6L - works perfectly fine in a 4 link Shockwave Totem (Q) + Faster Casting + Concentrated Effect + Hypothermia + Added Cold + Added Fire Curses Assassin's Mark + Temporal Chains; reaction gem (CWDT/CWS) w/ Enfeeble (yes, two 2L's) Aura / Herald Hatred, Herald of Ice, and Clarity Warcrys Enduring Cry (gives endurance charges and life regen) and Rallying Cry (gives increased damage and mana regen), both attached to Increased Duration gem Golem Chaos Golem, ideally linked to Fortify and Life Gain on Hit (lasts longer than Life / Resist) Movement Skill? Leap Slam or Whirling blades, link to the LGoH and Fortify *** The exact placement of skills is up to you, as a pair of 4l works perfectly fine, just slower. One of the advantages I found to this build is that you only need those two 4l's, a 2l for Rallying Cry, and a 2-3L for your golem to survive. Example Set-up (my build at current is sub-optimal, but you work with what you've got) Bandits
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Hardcore - Oak, Passive, Oak Softcore - Oak, Alira, Kraitlyn (use a wand, Frenzy + PCoC) Flasks
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I need to cover flasks here because it's such an issue on many builds. The *ideal* would be a Panicked Divine Flask of Warding, a Seething Divine Flask of Staunching, a bubbling hallowed hybrid flask of Heat, a Rumi's Concoction, and an Ample Jade Flask of Evasion. Obviously an armor% granite flask will work -just- fine (or this build wouldn't be less than an exalt!). Explanation of playstyle
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To start, throw down an AoE totem and use Rallying Cry to boost your mana regen and damage. Temporal Chains, Assassin's mark, then the Conc Eff totem, then Enduring Cry. From pack-to-pack you'll use enduring cry first, to keep up the charges (more important, as you have hybrid flasks in a pinch). Oftentimes I don't need the second totem, but when facing a rare, you'll need two conc effects. I've often simply used the Increased AoE ones to deal with slippery leap-slammers and such, even if it takes longer to kill them, they don't really threaten you. Alternative Playstyles
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Zealot's Oath + Eldritch Battery looks promising for gearing Armor + Energy Shield and reserving more mana, as well as paths you towards Fingers of Frost, but comes at a clear cost in life. PROS: - Cheap, less than an exalt to put together for mapping, even if you buy all your gear - Safe; very safe, even, as everything near you is frozen most (if not all) of the time - Relatively simple to get rolling, works great before you get your uniques - Offers options while leveling to take the stats you feel you need when you need them - Not a blood magic build so you're not spending your life to use skills (good if you're new) Cons: - Not a blood magic build, so you have to manage your mana with potions as you level - Finding the sweet spot for clarity and your reduced mana cost of skills requires diligence - While this is cheap, and "newbie friendly", it does require active play to utilize two warcrys, two totems, and two curses. While not difficult, this isn't an afk build, either. ------------------- Hardcore Guidance - Even with a terrible weapon you should have little trouble freezing everything - take life until you see things not being constantly frozen, then take some more totem damage or upgrade your weapon. While there's not much to "warn" you about with this build, Bearers of the *** packs will mess your day up if you're not careful b/c it layers them all on top of each other (that's how I ripped @77). You can choose to scale solely with armor, but I preferred armor / evasion for helm / chest. I managed to cap my resists for mapping while still using Trolltimber Spire, and I have to say it was well worth it in terms of how well I could survive - burst damage is the only time I found myself < half life. Softcore Guidance - Shoot for Fingers of Frost sooner than later - it can arguably remove the need for temporal chains, opening up your boots for other options such as the Mutewind unique. Crit is going to be your focus instead of life, because softcore - you'll freeze more for it, but be squishier, which is fine, b/c totems are fairly defensive by their nature of drawing aggro, and let's face it, it's not hardcore, so this is your opportunity to push the edge. ----------------- Disclaimer: The point of the build is that it works with just Empire's Grasp, a 4L, and some freeze jewels, and for that minimal investment which you can get -while leveling-, can return you a relatively safe hardcore viable build that's at times nothing short of hilarious. Part of any guide is that it is a -guide-, and your gear, experience, and luck will dictate certain choices. I unfortunately ripped to a combination of tar zombies, bearer of the storm, them all being pulled together, and lag (no joke, my move skill wouldn't work). I'm going to level this further to test out a few possible modifications before I run it again this league (it's that fun), and I'll keep this guide updated with what myself and others find, especially as regards late-game mapping and dps. Last edited by RaleonNightShado on Feb 3, 2016, 4:34:27 PM
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Great guide, I have been wanting to make a Empires Grasp build like this.
Would love to see some gameplay. I like the idea of using two different SWT to pull them in then conc effect for killing them. | |
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Am currently playing a lvl 50 version of this in tempest. Am considering statting double curse, as I'm already using asenath's touch (given the fact that empire's grasp is out of my budget for now but definitely planned as my first big purchase for the character). Thoughts? If I did go double curse would you active cursing after making the transition to empire's? or use a multiple curse on hit ball lightning or something? Is soul mantle worth considering for a 3rd totem? Also, would you mind linking the gear of your slain 77?
Thanks. This build is super fun so far. | |
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Trolltimber spire is just for AoE? I thought the Leeched only healed the totems.
Edit: Also with testing the Self-Flagellation jewel does not apply double curses to enemies but actually seems to allow two curses to be placed on the caster. Last edited by Eternalgameplayer on Sep 3, 2015, 1:15:34 AM
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Hey any tips on what skills to use while leveling and what to put on the totems
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This is really cool!-- But I don't understand your curse setup at all. They're linked to CWDT and CWS but also self cast? And how are dual cursing? Or you're not?
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Also, (and this feels like a very silly question), how are you generating these power charges? Totems won't give me power charges as they're killing those who are assassin's marked.
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