[2.5] Arctic Breath Berserker with Touch of Anguish

HC Viable? Maybe. Easy to die if you are careless (I'm bad). Not good for farming Guardians on HC. It's okay for killing Guardians (not Hydra) on SC.

My gear and passive tree for those who don't care to read the rest.

Overview:
Arctic Breath AoE overlaps. One of the few skills that utilizes Dying Sun's additional projectiles and increased AoE. Get BIG AoE -> shoot AB -> kill enemies -> procs Herald of Ice WITH increased AoE -> more dead things.

For single target, lure boss to wall/obstacle -> shoot wall -> most bosses will die quickly (not guardians). For those pesky totem map bosses and those bosses who enjoy avoiding you/walls, use flame totem + knockback.

I hate immune to chill.

Videos:
[2.5] Forge of the Phoenix (Using The Perfect Form)
[2.5] Maze of the Minotaur (Using The Perfect Form)
[2.5] Forge of The Phoenix (Using Skin of the Loyal)
[2.5] Maze of the Minotaur (Using Skin of the Loyal)
[2.5] Shaped Quay
[2.5] Shaped Strand -- Using Increased AoE
[2.5] Breach: Double Beyond Shaped Shore
[2.5] Breach: Shaped Strand with Touch of Anguish
[2.5] Breach: Double Beyond Shaped Shore
[2.5] Standard: Testing Voidwalker in a Springs

Offense/Defense/tooltips with Skin of Loyal

Pros:
+Looks pretty
+Big packs die quickly
+You should get > 6k life easily
+Gear isn't too expensive excluding Dying Sun Ruby Flask and The Green Dream
+Vaal Pact + 100% leech when you take a Savage Hit
+Mobs usually chilled or frozen

Cons:
-Single target can be good or bad. No wall or obstacle or monsters nearby = bad. Near wall or obstacle = good. Some Red map bosses may be difficult.
-FAT Reflect monsters can be troublesome
-Hard on older hardware
-Your party members may not like you
-MAKE SURE YOU ARE ELEMENTAL WEAKNESS CAPPED. You will eventually kill yourself on reflect if you aren't

Bandits:
Oak - Kill - Kraityn

Leveling:
I leveled: Cleave/Sweep -> Sunder -> Earthquake/Cyclone. Use 2h uniques. Try to get The Catalyser at 40. Get a Tabula. Take some melee nodes in Marauder area and respec out of those later. Switch to Arctic Breath in the 60s.

Breach League @ 94

Note: Only get Ballistic Mastery and Heart of Oak when you are level 93. Heart of Oak helps with avoiding stuns especially on boss fights without adds.

TRYINGTOFINDMOTIVATION Character Page

Ascendacy:
Berserker - Aspect of Carnage and Cloaked in Savagery

Uber Lab kinda sucks with this build. Look for an easy day.

Gems:
AB - Spell Echo - Cold Penetration - Greater Multiple Projectiles - Controlled Destruction/Increased AoE - Hypothermia/Controlled Destruction/Increased AoE/Empower/Slower Projectiles

Whirling Blades - Fortify - Faster Attacks

Orb of Storms - Increased Critical Strikes

Herald of Ice - Hypothermia or Culling Strike or Ice Bite - Increased Area of Effect

Blapshemy + Frostbite or Enfeeble or Temporal Chains, Use Arctic Armour for T16 Guardians

Other Gems:

Vaal Haste or Vaal Grace. Maybe fire or lightning golem.

You might want to consider running Flame Totem with Knockback gem for bosses that don't like to venture towards walls.

For Guardians (don't do Hydra):

Cast on Damage Taken - Blade Vortex

Cast on Damage Taken - Firestorm - Culling Strike - Frost Bomb

Switch out Hypothermia for Slower Projectiles or Added Cold Damage or Empower

Equipment
Weapons: Doon + Touch of Anguish are your main weapons. You may want to use a Doryani's Catalyst or a rare sceptre/dagger with cast speed and high spell damage.

Body Armour: Carcass Jack, Skin of the Loyal/Lords (3B 3G or 3B 2G 1R), Lightning Coil, Kintsugi, Rare Chest, Belly of the Beast. Use Carcass Jack if you don't have a Dying Sun.

Gloves: Rare gloves or Repentance.

Boots, Helmet, and Belt: Life, resists, strength (Get int or dex if needed)

Rings: 2x Snakepit or rare with life strength resists

Amulet: Pandemonius or rare with life, resists, strength (Get int or dex if needed)

Enchants:
Gloves - Whichever one you like
Boots - Cast speed, stun, leech or the chance to freeze
Helmet - Enfeeble or Arctic Breath Radius. Fire or Lightning golem increased buff.

Gear from Breach League as of Jan. 28, 2017


For Guardians, I switch to (extra ruby flask for Phoenix):


Jewels:
You don't need the Green Dream. It makes the avoids elemental status effect maps better as you will still be able to get max frenzy charges consistently.


Life + Cast speed or damage or resists or stats

Some notes about the uniques used and some endgame information:

Touch of Anguish = Chain = Nice clearing with Herald of Ice. Frenzy charges are fairly easy to keep up with the ice bite linked to Herald of Ice and/or with the newly added The Green Dream.

I would use Carcass Jack, Skin of the Loyal, Tabula Rasa or The Perfect Form. Skin of the Loyal should be 3 Green and 3 Blue or 3 Blue, 2 Green, 1 Red. The Perfect Form is best for defense.

2x Snakepit and Dying Sun increases your clear speed and your single target if you manage to get the boss near a wall.

The Pandemonius is actually really nice for this build since most monsters will be chilled. Most monsters will be blind and you get more cold penetration in addition to some extra damage and dexterity. You will need to switch it out for a rare amulet for the Guardians.

I have done Phoenix and Chimera on my Standard character. I killed Minotaur in the Breach League. I would stay away from Hydra since he moves around too much. You will need to switch out Hypothermia for elemental focus or added cold damage or empower or slower projectiles (my choice as no recoloring needed). Immune to chill sucks. Shaper may be doable if you have enough experience with the fight. You have to hug the corners when he does the teleport smash.

For breaches, I have done Xoph, Tul, Esh, Uul-Netol, and Chayula. You can get Xoph close to a wall easily so he should die quickly if you have the proper gear. Esh likes to teleport around so hope that he ends up near a wall. You can kind of get Tul to come close to the wall. Uul-Netol is easy (pay attention to bleed stacks) to get close to a wall.

For Chayula, you may need stun immunity. Second time I fought Chayula, I killed her without dying; however, I forgot to put in controlled destruction so it took longer than it should have. Trash clear isn't too difficult.
Last edited by Ofnir_ on Feb 5, 2017, 11:23:19 AM
Last bumped on Sep 6, 2017, 4:12:21 PM
updated for 2.5.
Heya, i just checked the video and seems a awesome build and i have several questions;

Is this possible with another class? If yes, which class/ascendancy?

The single target damage would help in Bosses if you use Spell Totem + Frost Wall?

I only play on HC, do you think its viable?

edit> Just tested the Artic Breath + Frost Wall interaction, there's no interaction. lol

edit2>
Spoiler
http://poeplanner.com/AAQAAO8lBwB1-d2LjMCaCarZ_MBmBLOiAPAfPAXvfJ_fmjuCm-w4hXtmVJRvcg9Z8xo4kFUnL2ae-tIWb-NqJKo26Wjyr2wLYcauPC2DzLc-_grYvfJFOuGmV03jNZL-j4NfpwjYJFZINsUfAgQHg9tVxjpYTLOXlVJTl_Q9X20ZCPTAVGpDvOqFbdWBJNgi9GwLkycvnRbzJjxTNVBCjDZVS2HiJpVUR6a-nsRd8isKES8DHh9BFr8PqySLwzoqOOvuMtFFR5rgRZ1TUoUyHNyPGtAf7-ubtYTF44QbyM_d8YorJgOadSpxYq797C5YbWQzAAAAAAA=


Hierophant's with Illuminated Devotion + Rime Gaze + Setup on helm (20% elemental pen. + conc. effect + GMP + AB + Spell Echo + Life Leech

And Herald setup on gloves (20% Inc. Aoe).

And we have free chest for any setup that you might want.

Last edited by Nawul on Dec 27, 2016, 11:20:39 AM
"
Heya, i just checked the video and seems a awesome build and i have several questions;

Is this possible with another class? If yes, which class/ascendancy?

The single target damage would help in Bosses if you use Spell Totem + Frost Wall?

I only play on HC, do you think its viable?

edit> Just tested the Artic Breath + Frost Wall interaction, there's no interaction. lol


I don't know if another class would be good for this build. Arctic Breath costs 100+ mana per cast so mana leech is pretty crucial to the build. Vaal Pact + Cloaked in Savagery really helps with being able to survive.

I would say that this build would be sketchy in HC.
Now makes sense to me why Berserker, thanks!

And any alteration in the tree itself for HC? I will be definitely leveling a new character based in this build!

Probably i'm going to use The Perfect Form + Acrobatics.
"
Now makes sense to me why Berserker, thanks!

And any alteration in the tree itself for HC? I will be definitely leveling a new character based in this build!

Probably i'm going to use The Perfect Form + Acrobatics.


I wouldn't go Acrobatics if you use The Pandemonius. Most monsters will be blinded unless you try to kill the Guardians. It takes too many points to get to.

I think the skill tree is fine for HC. You might want to drop a cast speed cluster for some more life.
What do you think about doing this as a trickster and going CI for HC?
Something like www.poeurl.com/YCU
"
ParadiseFound wrote:
What do you think about doing this as a trickster and going CI for HC?
Something like www.poeurl.com/YCU


I haven't played a trickster before, but it should work. Your dps might be a bit lower and you will have to sacrifice a snakepit or The Pandemonius for Valyrium or Eye of Chayula. I'm guessing you would run warlord's mark? If not, you may have trouble sustaining mana as Arctic Breath costs 100+ mana on a six link. I cleaned up your skill tree a little bit: www.poeurl.com/YF0
Last edited by Ofnir_ on Jan 3, 2017, 12:23:03 AM
Very fun to play, thank you for posting this guide.
Lvl 81 atm, very easy for mapping (at my level) a little bit more 'touchy' for the bosses but i like the sound of mobs crushed :)
If you don't mind i would like to see your Artic Breath tooltip & defenses.

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