Crit Pulser TANK Arctic Armor & Mind over Matter Life Scion

The Return of the Freeze Pulser!

Since official release, I haven't seen many viable freeze pulse builds, most especially life based ones, so i decided to give it a shot. This build combines elements of the popular EB MOM AA tank with the new powerful 1.0+ uniques and the good ol' freeze pulse



PROS:

-good crowd control in party
-insane damage on solo runs
-immortal against titty bitches and void bearers
-requires cheap uniques (no Aegis/Kaoms/Taryns)
-mind over matter is awesome
-making uniques work together is always fulfilling

CONS:

-mediocre armor, around the 5k mark, weak against vaal smashes and the like
-low chaos res
-requires quality freezing pulse
-mediocre life, prone to shock stacks and freeze but easily countered by good flasks

Stats:


Build:



The build takes all the good crit nodes in the shadow area and takes all the defensive bonuses in the scion and duelist side of the tree. The progression is pretty straight forward:



Leveling skill: Freezing Pulse + Faster Proj (if you use no Q freezing pulse) + LMP + Added Lightning

Keystones:

1. Eldritch Battery
2. Unwavering Stance
3. Iron Reflexes

Required gear:



When starting out the build, priority should be given to acquiring atleast a 5L cloak of defiance. It saves 3 points from going to the MOM keystone and even adds an additional 10% to the efficacy of MOM, not to mention its large mana regen boost.

Atziri's Foible is a cheap unique paua amulet that makes the build come together. It effectively gives 30-40 stats because of the reduced requirement mod for all gear and gems on gear. Its mana regen and max mana bonuses are also vital in sustaining AA and MOM.

Rainbowstrides and Voidbringer is there to boost energy shield because this build does not use Discipline. WIth my build, I have around 2.8k mana which is enough to sustain everything without disc. Maligaros gloves is also an option but I prefer voidbringer because cc shines more than cd in this build, despite the high mana cast (+80%) drawback.

Laviangas flask pretty much fills up the mana whenever needed. Remember that mana is as good as life in this build so keeping it at full is important for survival

Luxury uniques:


Ideally the build uses two of these bad boys in end game, but it's highly optional. The dps boost these rings give are insane, to be explained later.

Gems:

5L- 20Q Freezing Pulse+ Life Leech + Mana Leech + GMP + 20Q Added Lightning (+Faster casting/20Q added cold for 6L)
4L - Spell Totem +Ice Spear + LMP + Crit Damage
3L- Reduced Mana + lvl20 clarity + Grace
4L- lvl 20 CWDT + lvl 20 Molten Shell + life leech + chance to ignite
4L ( socket in the voidbringer for +1 level)- Arctic Armor + Empower + Enduring Cry + Ele WEakness
3L- Lightning warp + Faster Casting + Reduced Duration

Explanation:


MY GEAR:


Mechanics:

The build functions like a normal crit pulser, freezing and criting mobs with atleast 40% CC and 370% CD. It can face tank most things in poe except very high physical damage hits and shock stacking bosses.

Damage Scaling:
Because of GMP, the sheet damage of freezing pulse is essentially x5 because each pulse can hit the same target at the same times. Crit is rolled once (when one crits, all of the pulses crit) but chance to shock and freeze is rolled individually. 20Q added lightning damage allows for shock stacking because of the frequent crits.

The Taming Damage Boost:
With 2 Taming rings, the damage is effectively increased by 80% every time freezing pulse crits. Crit=freeze + 3 shock stacks, thats 40% bonus damage from each ring.

updated required items

faster casting and cold pen >>>> added light and added cold anyday (i know about the tamings)

"

rhoasjustkilledmybaby wrote:

faster casting and cold pen >>>> added light and added cold anyday (i know about the tamings)

yes faster casting and cold pen are better than added lightning and added cold IF i don't have high cast speed already and if i don't use ele weakness curse (which i do). Cast speed just like attack speed has diminishing returns.

Added lightning can shock stack mobs that gives 90% increase dmge for the fp crit. Nevertheless it's still a matter of preference as cold pen and faster cast are good support gems to fp altogether

"

blackheart26 wrote:

"

rhoasjustkilledmybaby wrote:

faster casting and cold pen >>>> added light and added cold anyday (i know about the tamings)

yes faster casting and cold pen are better than added lightning and added cold IF i don't have high cast speed already and if i don't use ele weakness curse (which i do). Cast speed just like attack speed has diminishing returns.

Added lightning can shock stack mobs that gives 90% increase dmge for the fp crit. Nevertheless it's still a matter of preference as cold pen and faster cast are good support gems to fp altogether

most mobs die before triple, heck even single shock stack. i doubt you triple shock stack with added lightning and 50% effectiveness on gmp, if you know how shock works...

curse immune map and resists >>>>>>>> EW

faster cast will always give tons of dps, its 50fcr from one source. Beat that. And cold pen is str8 up more dmg in every case, depeneding on res anywhere between 35-200% more dmg. without shock stacking

As i said its entirely based on preference. Added lightning is there to counter capped cold res mobs and to provide shock stacking (and yes I do shock stack when i do crit, not on ordinary casts)

Yes I do use faster casting, but it does have diminishing returns, I might swap it out for cold pen/ added chaos soon. Diminishing returns on too much cast speed takes a toll when you have already reached the 3 casts per second threshold. Maybe you do not know how diminishing returns work.. so i rest my case

Correct me if im wrong, but i think cold pen gives INCREASED damage not MORE. There is a clear difference between increased damage and more damage in this game.

"

blackheart26 wrote:

As i said its entirely based on preference. Added lightning is there to counter capped cold res mobs and to provide shock stacking (and yes I do shock stack when i do crit, not on ordinary casts)

Yes I do use faster casting, but it does have diminishing returns, I might swap it out for cold pen/ added chaos soon. Diminishing returns on too much cast speed takes a toll when you have already reached the 3 casts per second threshold. Maybe you do not know how diminishing returns work.. so i rest my case

Correct me if im wrong, but i think cold pen gives INCREASED damage not MORE. There is a clear difference between increased damage and more damage in this game.

There is no diminishing returns on fcr, look up the word and know what it means before trying to look like an intellectual. Just because you reach a threshold or dont ... has nothing to do with diminishing returns. FCR gem alone is almost 1 cps on freeze pulse ...

Facepalm at using added lightning for countering capped res when that is the point of pen gems.

Cold pen is gonna give more damage every time, not increased, resists are a multiplicative thing ... basics.

I never said you dont shock stack, but you do not triple shock stack, 100% sure. 1 shock stack is always guaranteed on a light crit, but its duration with added lightning / gmp is too short, even if you can 3x shock before you kill them, the previous stack would have timed out.

There is dimishing returns on faster casting... I don't just use the word to look smart, it does infact have diminishing returns. If you already have 3 cps then use faster casting, it will give you .6-.7 more casts per sec. Faster casting is more effective if say you only have 2 cps; using it will give you 1 more cast per sec. Im not saying the gem is bad, in fact i use it. Im just saying that there might be better gems out there like cold pen as you said.

Regarding cold pen vs added lightning. Lightning dmge is a flat damage increase thats why i prefer it. It gives freezing pulse a totally new damage aspect rather than just increasing the cold damage aspect. If you plan to go pure cold then cold pen is undoubtedly better. I just like to have another element in my pulses.

Regarding the shock stack, yes i dont triple shock stack sorry for misreading

"

blackheart26 wrote:

There is dimishing returns on faster casting... I don't just use the word to look smart, it does infact have diminishing returns. If you already have 3 cps then use faster casting, it will give you .6-.7 more casts per sec. Faster casting is more effective if say you only have 2 cps; using it will give you 1 more cast per sec. Im not saying the gem is bad, in fact i use it. Im just saying that there might be better gems out there like cold pen as you said.

Regarding cold pen vs added lightning. Lightning dmge is a flat damage increase thats why i prefer it. It gives freezing pulse a totally new damage aspect rather than just increasing the cold damage aspect. If you plan to go pure cold then cold pen is undoubtedly better. I just like to have another element in my pulses.

Regarding the shock stack, yes i dont triple shock stack sorry for misreading

Cold pen gives you way more dmg than added lighting in every situation. I wont repeat like a parrot, again, the reasons why. For flat dmg increase, added cold is also still better than added lightning, its a straight up 50% dps increase without having to shock. Added lighting is too low minimum dmg.

Again, what you are talking about on fcr is not diminshing returns. Check it out before you use it. Diminishing returns would be like this ... after 100 fcr, every point is 50% effective. so 150 fcr would be 125 fcr. An example. No such thing with fcr. Armor is sort of subject to this because of the armor formula.

And fcr gem on FP is almost 1 cps, must i repeat? THats anywhere between an extra 1-2 cps in 2 seconds, useless you say? In 2 seconds, you get 1.5 aps guaranteed. Close to 100% more dps alone. FA and FC are crazy support gems.

I tested these things and found killing stuff with fcr and cold pen was way faster than both addded cold and ltng. Boss killing time with fcr and cold pen is about 50% faster, no joke. COld res maps? Curse immune? Cold res AND curse immune? COld pen loves these, no need to waste currency and reroll

(edit: i just realized this thread is one month old, but that guy above me just made me mad...)

diminishing returns refers to anything that becomes less effective the more you have. since support gems can reasonably be judged by the dps multiplier they provide, faster casting can indeed be considered having diminishing returns since its "value as a multiplier" diminishes.
obviously the absolute dps value can't diminish, since it's (dps without increased cast speed)*(fc value)...

edit: at 92% increased cast speed a 49% FC gem would grant 241/192 =~ 1.255 => 25.5% more dps
AINT SO CRAZY NAO

this being said, using 2 support gems in your main spell setup AND 2 unique mana flasks just to sustain your mana/hp seems very wasteful.
FP has two advantages: fast cast speed without reduced damage effectiveness and a large projectile allowing reliable overlapping at close range.
Imho you should try replacing added lightning and mana leech with added chaos and increased crit damage. 20% quality critDmg grants 149%, which would give you ~568% crit multiplier.
with added chaos damage replacing lightning damage reflect would not be too horrible.
just an idea though.

if you insist on unwavering stance, then your passive tree looks decent otherwise something like this would combine more armour ( less stun!) with more mana regen, crit chance/damage and a slight loss of spell damage and hp (though i'm using 2 points less)
This might actually be more in line with what you want to achieve...