UPDATED 2.2 [ELE] | [2.0][Darkshrine HC] Crit Ice Spears! MoM + EB with ZO

Didn't see any ice spear builds on the build list so I thought I'd share mine in case there aren't too many out there and anyone cares to see one. This is a life based build, using MoM + EB to mitigate damage. Can be done with Zealot's Oath for sustain.

This is a build that will give you max crit chance very easily. It doesn't even use power charges. If you get annoyed by getting random sprees of non crits like me, this is probably a build you might be interested in. It's also quite cheap. All you really need to make it shine is a 5 link at least. My character is currently level 86 and has made it to mid-tier maps just fine.

UPDATED TO 2.2: Tree
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https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAMAAAGRAuMEBwSzBUIHHgelCPQOSA_EES0RLxGWFm8Wvxo4Gmwc3B0UJKomlScvKU8qCysKLJwtHy3SMtE26TpYOtg7fEGWRUdFnUlRSbFJskyzUXRTUlVLVcZd8mHiZlRqQ2sXcFJ8g3_GghCCHoKbg9uFMoV7idOMNo5kjumPGo_6kFWTJ5UglS6a4KEvogCio6aZrrO1BLb6uMq5k7zqvorAVMBmwfPDCdAf0PXVptfP2wvfsONq5CLr7uv17DjviO_r8B_w1fId96b3wfk3-tI=


For leveling: Like most crit builds, ignore the crit nodes you don't already path through and focus on getting the notables from the templar, shadow and witch starting areas. Start getting the crit and crit multi nodes at around level 70. Level with flame totem and firestorm.

UPDATED TO 2.2: Ascendancy
Spoiler
Elementalist
-Liege of the Primordial (Use Ice Golem!)
-Shaper of Desolation
-Pendulum of Destruction

Still need to test once GGG gives older characters the free ascendancy points they promised. Seems to be the strongest choice.

Gear
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Weapon:

We go with a dagger for Crit multi and crit chance. Spell damage and added damage to spells is a nice addition too.

Shield:

Spell damage, crit chance, life, and some resistances. You could also run another dagger in this slot for some more damage, especially more crit multi. Not recommended for HC.

Helm:

I wear an Armor and ES helm to get easy Red sockets for my CWDT setup.

Chest:

The tabula is the result of me experimenting with life leech gem + ghost reaver, instead of ZO. I personally liked it better and think that MoM with the amount of ES and life I have is plenty of defenses.


If you want to go the safer route, just use a typical 5 link chest piece with life, resists and ES.

Gloves:

Another item choice that is me screwing around, but it's actually quite strong, and I certainly recommend trying it if you're playing softcore. Since we achieve max crit chance, that 60% crit multi is a HUGE dps boost. Personally I think it's core. If you want something safer, just go with some regular life, ES and res gloves.

Boots:

Life, res, and movespeed.

Amulet:

There are many useful things you can get from an amulet. Crit multi, cast speed, spell damage, life, resistances.

Rings and Belt:

Rather low on life, but lots of resistances to cap me out.

Flasks:

You can swap out the eternal for another utility flask, like a topaz. As for the seething life flasks, I don't really have a preference. Halloweds heal less but only need 10 charges for a use. Divines heal more but need 15. Whichever you prefer. Try to get Surgeon's utility flasks. We crit almost always with this build, after all.


Auras
Spoiler
Herald of Ice: More cold damage, and wipe out groups of enemies quickly with those shatter explosions.
Arctic Armor: Thanks to spell echo and ice spear's rather low cast speed, you'll be spending a decent amount of time holding still as you engage enemies. The mitigation is quite helpful

At this point you'll have 50% mana left. You have quite a bit of freedom to chose here.
Anger: Adds fire damage. Don't really recommend.
Haste: More movespeed and cast speed. Pretty good choice.
Purity of Elements: Help you cap your resists earlier, or overcap for ele weakness maps.
Purity of a single element: If you want higher max res for tough things like atziri
Discipline: Some more energy shield. You'll be even more in need of this if you decide to go for Facebreaker and/or Tabula!

If you don't have enough ES to make Zealot's Oath work yet you can simply leave that last chunk of mana open as your resource and refill it with a mana flask.


UPDATED TO 2.2: Links
Spoiler
Ice Spear: Spell Echo - GMP - Chain - Crit multi/UPDATED TO 2.2: Controlled Destruction.

Controlled destruction provides a higher DPS increase over Crit Multi, but you'll have to make up the lost crit chance. The one you didn't pick becomes the 6th link.

A 5 link should be easy to obtain, just buy a base off of poe.trade for a chaos or two. An ES base is preferred, but it will be easier to roll the sockets on a ES/evasion chest.

Single Target: Your choice of spell - Spell echo - Faster Casting - Crit Multi; you can swap out either faster casting or crit multi for another life leech gem if you go GR and want to leech from your single target too.

So what are your choices then?

Freezing pulse: Very strong DPS, lots of freezing, but you must go close to mid range on foes.
Fireball: Less DPS and freezes, but works at many ranges. "But isn't this an ice build?" We don't actually get many ice-only nodes, so you can get away with fireball.
Ice Spear: Strong dps and freezes just like freezing pulse, but in terms of range, it's the exact opposite - doesn't work at close range, but great at long range. You'll struggle to use it on enemies with shroud walker or blink strike and whatnot.

You can also carry around a cold pen and faster proj to swap out with GMP and chain in our ice spear links to create a single target setup on the fly. Very useful for extended fights with a single boss enemy.

CWDT: Immortal Call - Inc. Duration - Enfeeble

I run enduring cry to generate charges for IC.

Curse on Hit (Optional, you can use Herald of Ice without it): Herald of Ice + any curse you want. Frostbite, Assassin's Mark, Enfeeble, up to you.

Lightning warp: Link it to reduced duration. Or, just use flame dash instead, no link necessary. Up to you.

Stick these gems anywhere, no links needed: Arctic armor, whatever your third choice of aura was, Enduring cry, UPDATED 2.2: Ice Golem (possibly linked with minion life if you have room)

Some other potentially useful gems: Vaal haste, Vaal Discipline


Bandits
Spoiler
Normal: Help Oak (40 Health)
Cruel: Help Alira. (5% Casting Speed) If you feel that 5% cast speed is negligible, you can go with Eramir instead.
Merciless: Eramir (Point)


Jewels
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For your jewels you want life and crit multiplier for spells, that's it! Anything else related to the build is a nice addition.


How much crit chance do I need to reach max crit chance (95%) with ice spear's second form?
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In it's second form, ice spear get 600% increased chance to crit, which means about 42% chance to crit, saying you have no other bonuses. This means you need a crit chance tooltip of around 53% to achieve max crit chance with ice spear's second form. We get about 400% crit chance off the tree. From there you need about 250% more crit chance from your dagger, spell shield, and diamond rings. It doesn't really matter what combination of gear you use to achieve the rest, but anything more will go waste so keep that in mind.


Video
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If you have any suggestions do tell! This is my first guide. My first post too, I think.

Last edited by sumding on Mar 11, 2016, 10:29:35 PM
Last bumped on Mar 24, 2016, 9:24:21 AM
Little clip of the build added - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXrikwbmEUQ .
Added another video. Also low quality, but much longer. Waste Pool map, goes up to the map boss. https://youtu.be/wQHh_RvwNk0
Thanks for posting your build, nice to see someone using Ice Spear :)

Seeing as you use a dagger, have you considered using Whirling Blades? I notice you often need to back away from mobs to ensure IC's second form hits them - WB will do it pretty fast...
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FireAtWill wrote:
Seeing as you use a dagger, have you considered using Whirling Blades? I notice you often need to back away from mobs to ensure IC's second form hits them - WB will do it pretty fast...

A high level lightning warp combined with a high level reduced duration can actually be just as fast, even more so if you go the extra mile by socketing in Faster Casting as well. I just don't do it often cause I'm lazy. It then also holds the advantages of having more range and going over impassable terrain. Nothing to really stop you from going whirling blades anyway though. I'd imagine you could socket in Foritfy and have that as a nice bonus too. I might experiment around with it more, thanks for the suggestion.

Another thing I forgot to mention is that lightning warp will help you escape ambush boxes as you open them, even if they freeze you, or freeze your PC with the load lag crap. All these downsides, of course, can be circumvented by simply carrying around a lightning warp for when the situation calls, but once again, I'm too lazy. :P
Last edited by sumding on Nov 26, 2015, 3:54:08 PM
Yes, for strongboxes, nothing beats Lightning Warp :)
I like ice spear and it's nice to see someone else using it :)

I tried a similar build in the flashback league and was very disappointed of the damage output.

Looking at your clips it seems the problem is still there:(
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1462987
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azamantes wrote:
I like ice spear and it's nice to see someone else using it :)

I tried a similar build in the flashback league and was very disappointed of the damage output.

Looking at your clips it seems the problem is still there:(

Yeah, it sure as hell ain't no incinerate or poison arrow, that's for sure.

I'd like to think I have pretty decent damage output despite using a rather unpopular spell, you just need to pile on a hefty amount of Critical Multiplier. The only time I ever feel really sluggish is when I'm up against enemies and maps with lots of elemental resistances and endurance charges and all that jazz.

If I could ask, how much Critical Hit damage did you achieve in your attempt at using the spell? I have nearly 700% I believe.
Last edited by sumding on Nov 28, 2015, 9:20:51 PM
I don`t remember. But i think the build will be buffed in the new expansion. The shadow crit subclass is perfect for it. By the way.....Did you try to see if the fallacy unique amulet is good for this build ?
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1462987
"
azamantes wrote:
I don`t remember. But i think the build will be buffed in the new expansion. The shadow crit subclass is perfect for it. By the way.....Did you try to see if the fallacy unique amulet is good for this build ?

I had considered it early on in my build, and then forgot all about it for a while, thanks for reminding me.

It seemed like a scary idea to trade up health and get a huge crit multi bonus, I had at first thought I would 1 shot my self on reflect. Then I realized ice spear has poop damage to balance out it's crits and that it wouldn't be too much of an issue.

The other issue ends up being the dependancy on gear for the dex and str needed for our gems. A citrine amulet is a big help.

Then the of course big crit chance decrease. And it is a huge reduction.

Certainly worth trying out, thanks again for the reminder.

Edit: What I'm confused on right now is how it interacts with ice spear's second form. Does it reduce the bonus then add it on, resulting in around 82% crit chance (saying you achieve max crit chance with first form ice spears), or does it 40% less chance the whole thing down to 57% ish?

Either way it would take a lot of skill point and gear dedication to reach 95% crit chance with first form ice spears and then you'd be more vulnerable to reflect, and you'd have at least 18% chance to not crit which is quite significantly smaller.

As far as I can tell right now Marylene's Fallacy seems pretty bad.

TL:DR you need max crit with this build so the amulet sucks dong.
Last edited by sumding on Nov 29, 2015, 9:17:53 PM

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