[3.5] Occultist Vortex/Cold Snap ES/CI - Deathless and Safe Uber Elder and T16's

I've played Blade Vortex last couple of leagues and need a change of pace. What better then an Energy Shield build? :)

Just a couple of questions.
1. No Fortify? That seems like a pretty big deal.
2. Levelling up as ES character? Is that... possible?

Anyway, seems super cool build and I'm almost certain I'll use it as a started for Synthesis.

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_Elminister_ wrote:

I've played Blade Vortex last couple of leagues and need a change of pace. What better then an Energy Shield build? :)

Just a couple of questions.
1. No Fortify? That seems like a pretty big deal.
2. Levelling up as ES character? Is that... possible?

Anyway, seems super cool build and I'm almost certain I'll use it as a started for Synthesis.

Hi!

I have this build on XBox and killed Shaper 3 times deathless without Fortify. Maybe is an good option but we don't need because high ES pool/regen.

I change to CI with 3000 ES but leveling is very easy, this build is very powerful!
I hope nothing change in 3.6 cuz I want do this build one more time ^^

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BundesHeinz wrote:

This build sounds really fun and I really want to try it. I just have a couple of questions I hope some of you can answer:
Everyone here seems to feel that the dmg is really high, yet the PoB just displays about 200k Shaper dps which seems rather low.
The PoB also says we're using frenzy charges, but how do we generate them?
How do we make use of the Freeze aspect of Figid Wake ascendancy note if we're using Elemental Focus? How do we chill?

And finally: Is this a good league starter? DO we get far enough without good ES gear to justify running this as a no-budget-build? I haven't played for some time and I'm not really up to date: is anything leaving the game with the end of Betrayal that this build utilizes?

Thanks!

Frenzy charges is thanks to Cold snap and the chill too + ascendancy


As a league starter maybe is better take life instead ES for leveling but you can go ES all the way if you want and take chaos inoculation when you are ready


You dont need a high budget to "kill them all" with this build, the damage is insane


Low damage ? Check my pob LL character, https://pastebin.com/AZdjxsZ3

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JaxRC wrote:

As a league starter maybe is better take life instead ES for leveling but you can go ES all the way if you want and take chaos inoculation when you are ready


You dont need a high budget to "kill them all" with this build, the damage is insane.

With Synthesis about to start, maybe we can turn the discussion to using this as a league starter. It's such a cheap build to get going; I'm sure I've spent less than 1 Ex so far. (Edit: ok, the regalia 6-link I think I borrowed from my son. It would be 2 Ex to buy, or more like 50c for a 5L. Everything else is next to nothing.) Have only been playing PoE for a couple of months, but can blow through Uber Lab and t16 maps with mediocre gear.

Would love to get thoughts on gear, passives, and health/ES transition if doing as a league starter. I'm sure I can figure it out at this point, but this is such a nice build it would be great to get community involved in starter ideas so that OP doesn't have to do the work. Would be a nice enhancement to the build guide.

I will try to post more as I play around, but I'm sure there are much more experienced players who could add a lot!

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I went for a more tanky setup sacrificing some damage and adding in 2xEnergy
quick stats:
defenses: 17.7k es, enfeeble, tempchains, spider, 35s fortify.
shaper dps: 665k vortex, 136k coldsnap, 170k vcs

pob code: https://pastebin.com/sthLUVEN

charsheet


dps settings, %es from body armor is bugged in pob still :(


gear:

I can't really understand how your vortex damage is greater than mine... Seems that I have a lot more damage nodes than you on the items and on the skill three:
https://pastebin.com/j9Lu84j4

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baal6969 wrote:

I can't really understand how your vortex damage is greater than mine... Seems that I have a lot more damage nodes than you on the items and on the skill three:
https://pastebin.com/j9Lu84j4

did a new import of your char, same dps settings as me puts you at close to 900k while I'm at 665k, you must've messed something up :).

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With Synthesis about to start, maybe we can turn the discussion to using this as a league starter.

Natural progression during bhc for me was life based -> life+MoM -> life+MoM+EB -> complete swap to CI once I had good enough es gear and enough passives for most of the key nodes. I went with vile bastion first.

Cant say I ever struggled, smooth sailing all the way.

So finally after 4th try I defeated Uber Elder for the first time (even I play PoE since closed beta, but now committed heavily into it), I killed him on last portal as well, nerve wrecking but feels good. This build is awsome. If not heavily nerfed, I try to play CI Occultist in next league, cause ES rocks.

Here are my stats and items. Not linking any PoB, cause I use it just for tree and some quick calcs, but dont have exact build and items crafted in it, so I rly dont know how much dmg Im doing right now :D But Ubers were losing HP quite fast (fight took longer just cause Im bad at mechanical fighting and dodging and every death going from town to arena is sooo long.)

Ingame def stats


Passives with Watcher's Eye

Items and gems.

I'm not very experienced in POE but I was wondering something specifically about the Vaal skills you use (ie Vaal Cold snap). Do you ONLY use the Vaal skill, or do you use both regular Cold Snap and also Vaal Cold snap once it is available?

For leveling should I stick to regular Cold Snap or only use the Vaal version?

Same question for Vaal Discipline?

Build looks great though, I'm thinking this might be my Synthesis starter build.

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Seldric_ wrote:

I'm not very experienced in POE but I was wondering something specifically about the Vaal skills you use (ie Vaal Cold snap). Do you ONLY use the Vaal skill, or do you use both regular Cold Snap and also Vaal Cold snap once it is available?

For leveling should I stick to regular Cold Snap or only use the Vaal version?

Same question for Vaal Discipline?

Build looks great though, I'm thinking this might be my Synthesis starter build.

I haven't run this build specifically (though I'm thinking this will be my Synthesis starter), but I had a lot of fun with a Vortex/Cold Snap build during the Syndicate season.

Vaal Discipline gives you both the basic Discipline aura (which you should be running, so it should be on all the time) as well as the Vaal variant, which gives a short boost to your energy shield regen. Basically, Discipline is always on and Vaal Discipline is your "oh shit" button. :)

Vaal Cold Snap is the same way--you should be using the regular skill often to move through packs. It's a skill that causes a burst of damage and then a cold DoT to all enemies in its area. It has a cooldown. Vaal Cold Snap causes a big "whirlpool" of cold around you that grows for several seconds and moves with you, causing damage to anything in it. Use that one when you want to, basically--it can be good on bosses or tough mobs for generating frenzy charges.

Level with the basic versions until you get the Vaal versions, switching over as soon as you can! :)