Hardcore Frost Witch Guide (Last Updated May 8th)

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lumino6 wrote:

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Viperface wrote:

Thanks for your reply and advice. I will try the totem change, as I miss being able to cast from far away. I do have a decoy totem, is this a good substitute?

Yes I am using Frostbite on everything, it does make mobs more prone to the damage.

I will link my current spell tree, but cannot see how I could double the ES that I currently have, I do have 6 refund points and 5 regret orbs, so if I can figure out what could change I can make those changes. Perhaps the gear is making up the difference of the shield?

Skill tree
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMAAW8FQgdjEVAXVBzcHRQfAiKBLJwspjQKNsU3ZjeDO-E8jkGWVkpXK1fJZp5tGXFNc1N-WX_GghCESIt6jjyPRpMnlQSaz56hoqOm66cIpyuus6-buJO71sBUwfPYJNrd37Di9-aB6rrr7vF2-tI=

My Freezing pulse is currently linked with LMP and added cold damage, I see your post about cold penetration, and will try to find a cold penetration gem.

I will log in and play later tonight to try the suggestions. I can also see a post on this page with linked gear, and can see that almost every gear piece has increased energy shield of some type. I guess that would help me in terms of increasing my energy shield. I only have 3 chaos orbs so buying upgraded gear may not be an option.

Thanks once again for the suggestion, I will also check later in game to see if you are playing.

I have never tried Decoy totem, so I don't know
It looks like your gear kinda sucks, I got lucky and alched a couple of nice ES gear I suppose, I still have my chest armor that I got in Cruel Ledge, and I'm lvl 69 now (it needs replacement though, since it only gives 200 ES :P )

Also, don't you have Faster Projectiles on your FP, it's kinda mandatory, to increase it's range by a lot
Ignore my post on Cold Penetration, after some testing, I might have been wrong about it, since it only works against Cold resist mobs, and you lose your extra damage on normal mobs
I was using LMP, FP and Faster Projectiles all the way until Merciless, which I added Faster Casting

As for your tree, I suggest saving 5 points and refunding your Chaos resist, and activating CI + the 4 nodes after it, and maybe the 15% node close to CI too (try to get some better gear while you save those points)
The reason why is : The 4th node after CI gives 20% ES on your final count, so basically, even with your current gear, 1400 / 5 = 280, so that's 280 extra ES
I'm currently to a point where that single node gives me 750 extra ES

Also, I got the 10 ES nodes under the starting point last, I had Body and Soul and the right most ES bonuses before I got the ones under the start (not sure if that changes a lot though)

Are you running Disciple by the way?

If you are referring to Discipline, then yes, I'm casting discipline and clarity both every time, and Frostbite also to kill mobs easier/faster. To my understanding, if I enable Chaos Inoculation then I will lose my ability to use life flasks, correct? I rely on them greatly at the moment, as my energy shield is kinda low. Or do you think that will help right now.
I found a shop that the seller only asks for whatever the buyer feels is fair, and that may help me upgrade a couple of pieces of gear.

Once again thank you so much for taking the time to reply.

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Viperface wrote:

If you are referring to Discipline, then yes, I'm casting discipline and clarity both every time, and Frostbite also to kill mobs easier/faster. To my understanding, if I enable Chaos Inoculation then I will lose my ability to use life flasks, correct? I rely on them greatly at the moment, as my energy shield is kinda low. Or do you think that will help right now.
I found a shop that the seller only asks for whatever the buyer feels is fair, and that may help me upgrade a couple of pieces of gear.

Once again thank you so much for taking the time to reply.

Ok, I tend to regenerate by running away and waiting 3-4 seconds, which I can do with my skele totem. In my opinion, Life Flask lose a lot of their potential end game for CI users, where you mostly regen with Leech and basic regen. Once your shield is out, you only have 400 hp to regen with, so any hard hit will kill you instantly. I prefer having a huge buffer and hiding everytime it reaches half, to regen
So, it's all up to how you like to play basically, just make sure you have CI when you start Act 2 of Merciless

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Jsbeer wrote:

Actually, I think you were right the first time. The way cold penetration is SUPPOSED(*) to work is that it always decreases a mobs resistance, even into the negatives. So it should always increase the damage you do but especially that against cold resistant enemies.


http://en.pathofexilewiki.com/wiki/Cold_Penetration

http://en.pathofexilewiki.com/wiki/Penetration


(*) I don't know anyone who has rigorously tested this though, so its just possible that things are not actually happening this way......

Thanks for the tip, I'll have to test this thing
I'm mostly using Cold Penetration on my Cold Snap gems, so that they deal more damage and thus Freeze longer all kind of mobs, but I might be doing more damage with them without knowing :P

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Viperface wrote:

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Jual wrote:

Hi

I'm currently level 12 and looking for some advice. I have been playing with freezing pulse + summoning so looks like your build is very similar to my current style.

I plan to build something that is similar to yours, but with some additional summoning passive by sacrificing the second Body and Soul.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMA37CCEAelAuNJsmvbLJxWSpUEr5ueoR8C5oF90iL0axdtGcHzoqN_xsHFLL-GrhXX14ZWYzbF2CSnCI9GHRT60maecU2az0NjtzFY9Z3EVysHY9DQm6H318y8hWCqxE25

This is my basic build (48 points spent), appreciate if you can advice me on
1. If this is viable
2. Any critical passive points that I have missed out.
3. Beyond this basic build, where should I move on from there.

I would most likely aim to have go for
1. Summoning skill first
2. TO body and soul
3. Then build on CI and passive points on energy shield

First thing I have to say is, get Minion Instability, it's awesome (even if it's fire dmg)

1. This looks viable
2. I don't like critical passive, it's better to try to get it on gear in my opinion
3. First, get Inner Force, it boosts your auras' power by 30%, and it's awesome
Second, get more summoning skills, your survival will depend on your minions a lot, so you should aim for more minions if possible (life > damage)

I don't have a single damage boosting passive on my witch (excluding those on the way), so your Freezing Pulse should be good enough, you just need to make sure your minions take all the aggro away from you, because you will have very little ES, so that you can murder everything safely. Other than that, it seems like a nice build

Thanks Viperface for your great advice. After reading your original post and your advice. I have made changes on the passive tree, and more questions seems to pop up. I understand it will takes time and some considerable thinking to answer my questions, and I appreciate them greatly. If you find that my questions worth a thread of itself, do let me know.

1. I have took off some critical spell
2. Put priority on minion health than damage. Note that I'm not going for additional minions as I rather use the remaining skills to either increase ice damage / other survivals
3. More ES centric
4. Adding Hex Master, Arcane Focus.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMA37CCEAelAuNJsmvbLJxWSpUEr5ueoR8C5oFtGcHzoqN_xsHFLL-GrhXX14ZWYzbF2CSnCI9GHRT60maecU2az0NjtzFY9Z3EVysHY9DQm6H318y8Tbl9GBCXRATZCyqYuJMMfRB_6-6ESDyOAW9XyTQKjjwXVCKBT79DVBzcOBsR25Mnv5fJPZ97eLo3Ziympus3g-q6rJgUsDowxp60DKw_c1MRULvWO-Hi96cr

1. For leveling, what would be the order to obtain these skills.
Heart Of Ice
CI
Additional Spectra
Body and Soul
Infused Shield
Arcane Focus
All those %increase ES

2. Any "must have / should have"I missed out?

3. I just found out there are a limit of 8 spells (sorry but this is my 5th day playing) so its time to choose my spells / curse / aura. So I have 3 summoning spell (skeleton, zombie, spectra), 3 damaging spell (Freezing Pulse, Ice Spear, Cold Snap), 1 curse (frost bite), and 1 auras (clarity). I'm wondering if I should cut down on summoning and damage spell to support 1 or 2 additional aura, and if yes, what would be the better aura for my build. Also is it worth the afford to get Inner Force with 2 aura. I assume discipline, but I have seen some other strong candidates such as purity.

Thank you.

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Jual wrote:

Thanks Viperface for your great advice. After reading your original post and your advice. I have made changes on the passive tree, and more questions seems to pop up. I understand it will takes time and some considerable thinking to answer my questions, and I appreciate them greatly. If you find that my questions worth a thread of itself, do let me know.

1. I have took off some critical spell
2. Put priority on minion health than damage. Note that I'm not going for additional minions as I rather use the remaining skills to either increase ice damage / other survivals
3. More ES centric
4. Adding Hex Master, Arcane Focus.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMA37CCEAelAuNJsmvbLJxWSpUEr5ueoR8C5oFtGcHzoqN_xsHFLL-GrhXX14ZWYzbF2CSnCI9GHRT60maecU2az0NjtzFY9Z3EVysHY9DQm6H318y8Tbl9GBCXRATZCyqYuJMMfRB_6-6ESDyOAW9XyTQKjjwXVCKBT79DVBzcOBsR25Mnv5fJPZ97eLo3Ziympus3g-q6rJgUsDowxp60DKw_c1MRULvWO-Hi96cr

1. For leveling, what would be the order to obtain these skills.
Heart Of Ice
CI
Additional Spectra
Body and Soul
Infused Shield
Arcane Focus
All those %increase ES

2. Any "must have / should have"I missed out?

3. I just found out there are a limit of 8 spells (sorry but this is my 5th day playing) so its time to choose my spells / curse / aura. So I have 3 summoning spell (skeleton, zombie, spectra), 3 damaging spell (Freezing Pulse, Ice Spear, Cold Snap), 1 curse (frost bite), and 1 auras (clarity). I'm wondering if I should cut down on summoning and damage spell to support 1 or 2 additional aura, and if yes, what would be the better aura for my build. Also is it worth the afford to get Inner Force with 2 aura. I assume discipline, but I have seen some other strong candidates such as purity.

Thank you.

1.
Heart of Ice - HC : Lowest priority / SC : Low Priority
CI - You need to get it on Act 2, of either Cruel or Merciless, I suggest Cruel if you are HC, to be on the safe side, but if you can manage to survive all the way to Merciless without it, then wait for Merciless Act 2
Additional Spectre - Medium Priority
Body and Soul - It's good, but out of the way, so when you feel comfortable, go for it (I got it before CI in my case)
Infused Shield - You need to get this AS SOON AS POSSIBLE after CI, once you activate CI, get this next, nothing else
Arcane Focus, it's one of the best ES nodes for the witch, because it's so early in the tree, so yes
ES nodes - any left over points from the main build should go towards ES, for your survival

2.
Unnatural calm - HERE
Minion Unstability - HERE
Ghost Reaver - HERE (In Merciless, Life Leech becomes a life saver)
Extra Minions - If the node is out of the way (more than 5 points away), don't bother, if it's close, 3 or so points, get it. Being a summoner, you'll get a lot out of more minions

3.
You don't need to have your auras in your spell bar for them to be active

I'm currently using this setup :
Left Click : Move Only
Middle Click : Ice Spear
Right Click : Freezing Pulse
Q : Raise Zombie
W : Skeleton Totem
E : Cold Snap 1
R : Cold Snap 2
T : Curse (Frostbite or Enfeeble)

I switch all my auras on T (Clarity, Discipline and Purity), activate them, then switch back to my curse

The auras stay active even if you remove the key binding, until you log out, or until you die (for Softcore), they will stay on, so you don't have to bother with them


As for Inner Force, it boosts the regeneration rate from Clarity by 30% (I still run out of mana often even with that boost), it boosts Discipline's ES by 30% (Currently, at my lvl, that's 60 ES, and with all my passives, that means about 200-250 ES, and about 1100 ES from Discipline only)

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lumino6 wrote:

1.
Heart of Ice - HC : Lowest priority / SC : Low Priority
CI - You need to get it on Act 2, of either Cruel or Merciless, I suggest Cruel if you are HC, to be on the safe side, but if you can manage to survive all the way to Merciless without it, then wait for Merciless Act 2
Additional Spectre - Medium Priority
Body and Soul - It's good, but out of the way, so when you feel comfortable, go for it (I got it before CI in my case)
Infused Shield - You need to get this AS SOON AS POSSIBLE after CI, once you activate CI, get this next, nothing else
Arcane Focus, it's one of the best ES nodes for the witch, because it's so early in the tree, so yes
ES nodes - any left over points from the main build should go towards ES, for your survival

2.
Unnatural calm - HERE
Minion Unstability - HERE
Ghost Reaver - HERE (In Merciless, Life Leech becomes a life saver)
Extra Minions - If the node is out of the way (more than 5 points away), don't bother, if it's close, 3 or so points, get it. Being a summoner, you'll get a lot out of more minions

3.
You don't need to have your auras in your spell bar for them to be active

I'm currently using this setup :
Left Click : Move Only
Middle Click : Ice Spear
Right Click : Freezing Pulse
Q : Raise Zombie
W : Skeleton Totem
E : Cold Snap 1
R : Cold Snap 2
T : Curse (Frostbite or Enfeeble)

I switch all my auras on T (Clarity, Discipline and Purity), activate them, then switch back to my curse

The auras stay active even if you remove the key binding, until you log out, or until you die (for Softcore), they will stay on, so you don't have to bother with them


As for Inner Force, it boosts the regeneration rate from Clarity by 30% (I still run out of mana often even with that boost), it boosts Discipline's ES by 30% (Currently, at my lvl, that's 60 ES, and with all my passives, that means about 200-250 ES, and about 1100 ES from Discipline only)

THanks for your great reply again:
1. With your help I have managed plan by PS tree progression. This will be my plan:
a. Lord of Dead - Done
b. Frost Walker - Done
c. Minion Instability - Done
d. Arcane Focus + Deep Wisdoom
e. Raise Spectra
f. Extra Minion
g. Inner Force
h. Deep Wisdom on the right
i. Extra Minion and grab ES nodes on the right.
j. Unnatural calm and Sheild Delay nodes
k. Heard of ice
l. Body and Soul
m. Ghost Reaver - After point Hear of IC until Ghost Reaver, I imaging with all these defensive node I would be killign very slow at this point, and best to party than solo.
And This would be my pre-CI build, with 76 PS points spent, I should be 60, and passed Cruel Act 2. Depending on situation I feel I might need to bring Ghost Reaver earlier...

n. CI and Infuse Sheild (I intend to save a few PS points and active both of them at once.
o. Doom Cast

After this is really situational. This are good options, both offensive and defensive.
Spell Poiwer
Assasination
Mental Aculty
Spell Power
Blood Thirst / Crit nodes
Nulification + Remaining 11 ES nodes
Elemental Resists
Str / Dex points (gear requirement)
(Arcane Power is probably too far)

I dont have any increased mana for my build, I hope the clarity, mana regens and those Ints will make up for it.

Since its not possible to reach level 100, I've set the maximum points to 105, (I hope this is something realistic)


2. Thanks I have already got Minion Unstability, rest are now in my SP planing

3. Typical smart answer to a dumb question LOL. Thanks for the sharing. One interesting thing I see is that you have 2 cold snap, so you use them alternately with 2 seconds cool down?

4. I'm still figuring the best support gem for FP, right now I'm using lesser projectile and faster. I see everyone suggesting life leech and add lighning as must have. Also FP can be annoying at enclosed areas as there are couple times the spell were block right infront of door way. Looks like fork+Ice Spear would be good for these scenario.

I'm running out of blue link sockets :P

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Jual wrote:

3. Typical smart answer to a dumb question LOL. Thanks for the sharing. One interesting thing I see is that you have 2 cold snap, so you use them alternately with 2 seconds cool down?

4. I'm still figuring the best support gem for FP, right now I'm using lesser projectile and faster. I see everyone suggesting life leech and add lighning as must have. Also FP can be annoying at enclosed areas as there are couple times the spell were block right infront of door way. Looks like fork+Ice Spear would be good for these scenario.

I'm running out of blue link sockets :P

3. Yes, uding 2 Cold Snaps, I can keep most monsters frozen permanently, except champions and bosses

4. I never like Added Ligthning, but that's because I'm not crit based, so I get little out of it

I use, by priority :
- Lesser Multiple Projectiles (Want to switch to Greater Multiple when I get rich or lucky)
- Faster Projectiles (I plan to use it even if I get a Quality FP)
- Faster Casting
- Life Leech
- Mana Leech or Reduced Mana, depending on the socket color (6L skill is hard to maintain mana wise, even with awesome regens)

I haven't found a 5L still though, so I'm only using the first 4, and I rarely have to use a mana flask

I'll look at your tree later on

"

Jual wrote:

THanks for your great reply again:
1. With your help I have managed plan by PS tree progression. This will be my plan:
a. Lord of Dead - Done
b. Frost Walker - Done
c. Minion Instability - Done
d. Arcane Focus + Deep Wisdoom
e. Raise Spectra
f. Extra Minion
g. Inner Force
h. Deep Wisdom on the right
i. Extra Minion and grab ES nodes on the right.
j. Unnatural calm and Sheild Delay nodes
k. Heard of ice
l. Body and Soul
m. Ghost Reaver - After point Hear of IC until Ghost Reaver, I imaging with all these defensive node I would be killign very slow at this point, and best to party than solo.
And This would be my pre-CI build, with 76 PS points spent, I should be 60, and passed Cruel Act 2. Depending on situation I feel I might need to bring Ghost Reaver earlier...

Spoiler

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMB37CCEAelAuNJsmvbfRgsnFZKlQSvm56hc1PAVOaBEVC71jvh4venKx8CNsXYJKcIj0bQ0JuhSOdtGffXzLwQl0QETblXK9kLKpj6gLiTDH0Qf8aewfOio3_GHNyTJ7-XyT3yHjdmLKam6zeD6rrBxU-_HdlDVOwYw22OPBdUIoGP-tvnRwZfah0U-tJmnnFNms9DY7cxWPU=

Spoiler

n. CI and Infuse Sheild (I intend to save a few PS points and active both of them at once.
o. Doom Cast

After this is really situational. This are good options, both offensive and defensive.
Spell Poiwer
Assasination
Mental Aculty
Spell Power
Blood Thirst / Crit nodes
Nulification + Remaining 11 ES nodes
Elemental Resists
Str / Dex points (gear requirement)
(Arcane Power is probably too far)

I dont have any increased mana for my build, I hope the clarity, mana regens and those Ints will make up for it.

Since its not possible to reach level 100, I've set the maximum points to 105, (I hope this is something realistic)

Spoiler

An all defensive build would be something like this. Looks depressing to play though.
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMB37CCEAelAuNJsmvbfRgsnFZKlQSvm56hc1PAVOaBEVC71jvh4venKx8CNsXYJKcIj0bQ0JuhSOdtGffXzLwQl0QETblXK9kLKpj6gLiTDH0Qf8aewfOio3_GHNyTJ7-XyT3yHjdmLKam6zeD6rrBxU-_HdlDVOwYw22OPBdUIoGP-tvnRwZfah0U-tJmnnFNms9DY7cxWPXC7LTFKwrBANsaEHv1S746LL-GrhXX14ZWY4hC8h3r7oRIPI4Bb1fJNAoRlg5I44SIa7b3mZrrYxEv

An All offensive build would be something like this. Survival will be my concern.
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMB37CCEAelAuNJsmvbfRgsnFZKlQSvm56hc1PAVOaBEVC71jvh4venKx8CNsXYJKcIj0bQ0JuhSOdtGffXzLwQl0QETblXK9kLKpi4kwx9EH_GnsHzoqN_xhzckye_l8k98h43ZsHFT78d2UNU7BjDbY48F1QigY_62-dHBl9qHRT60maecU2az0NjtzFY9Sy_hq4V19eGVmMspqbrN4Pqui1HUEKMNgL-34RCw13ycNVwUvPqwFGBSbI4Zk-IQvIdQZblGbQ4-_XVT953EZado_yr

This is the a balance build I could think off.
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMB37CCEAelAuNJsmvbfRgsnFZKlQSvm56hc1PAVOaBEVC71jvh4venKx8CNsXYJKcIj0bQ0JuhSOdtGffXzLwQl0QETblXK9kLKpi4kwx9EH_GnsHzoqN_xhzckye_l8k98h43ZsHFT78d2UNU7BjDbY48F1QigY_62-dHBl9qHRT60maecU2az0NjtzFY9Sy_hq4V19eGVmMspqbrN4Pqui1HUEKMNgL-34RCw13ycNVwUvPqwFGIQvIdQZbC7LTFKwrBANsaEHv1S746gUmyOGZP

First of all, in the 3 last trees there, you forgot to get Body and Soul, which is an awesome point to get considering you're already next to it

Also, I'd plan a build with 30 points left over, for 2 main reason :
- Getting to 70 to start maps is pretty much your goal and focus, you should end Merciless Piety with the 30 points left build
- Also, if you need to get Dex/Str nodes, having 30 points left gives you more buffer then 15 points

I'm guessing you're Softcore, in which case, the pure defensive build can go to hell ... Actually, I wouldn't even recommend it for Hardcore. Eventually, you have enough ES to start concentrating on DPS

I'd stick with the Balance build, with some modifications, like this :

- As you can see, I removed the ES nodes under the witch, because, you had one next to Arcane Focus at the start, and you got Body and Soul, and you had a + Minion node right next to your current path, so I saved you about 8 points, for a loss of 12% ES (And you can easily get that back for less then 8 points)
- Changed tthe base paths to save 2 points
- Got +1 extra Power Charge, you might want to consider getting "Grant Power Charges on Critical" support for your FP, with Added Lightning (Lots of crit so lots of shock), that Power Charge node is useless if you don't use the Support Gem though ... :P
- Also removed the additional spectre, because your whole build seems to concentrate on yourself dishing the damage, not your spectres, making that passive kinda meh
- I removed the 3 : 10% reduced Energy Shield cooldown, once you have Life Leech and Ghost Reaver, these 3 nodes become a little bit obsolete

- Also, this build has many different paths for end game, based on your gameplay
-- If you like the Power Charges and how they interact, you can get one more Here (Shortest path shown, not your build)
-- If you want pure damage, you can also get the elemental nodes right after the Power charge, like this
-- If you need more ES, you can get the Nullification node very easily like this. This gives you a much needed 30 DEX, 4% speed, and 34% ES
-- If you want more base crit, these nodes do nicely

Thanks I think that's a very good suggestion I have removed spectra and some skills and going according to yours.

Personally spectra is cool, but its hard to maintain my favorite mobs.

I'm not sure how power charges works, I will give it a look in wiki

i try it actually with my main we will see i m act 1 cruel

I m looking for the best combo Freezing pulse actually any tip??
And about Ice spear too not sure about which support choose