Unusual CoC Cold Snap build (now with videos)

When making a CoC build, there are two main choices to make: which spell(s) you're going to cast and which skills you're going to use to proc them.

1. Choosing a spell
Fireworks builds are hugely inefficient as a result of several gameplay mechanics -- namely, despite the fact that you're shooting a bajillion projectiles, (1) they suffer the damage penalty from GMP (and Chain, if you're using it), and (2) most of those projectiles miss.

So I wanted to make a build that addresses both of those fundamental problems by using spells that don't suffer the damage penalties and never miss. Arc is a good candidate for this, and I've seen a number of different Arc CoC builds out there used effectively; I decided against Arc mostly because it won't cast at targets more than a screen's length away. Firestorm and Storm Call both rely on your targets standing still, and Firestorm can also cause framerate issues for people who've done nothing to deserve it.

Long story short, I settled on Cold Snap -- it has no travel time, always hits, and multiple Cold Snaps are able to overlap and hit the same mob more than once. It also has a relatively "lightweight" animation, so it's easier on the old graphics card.

Added Glacial Cascade to the Barrage set for close range facemelting.


2. Choosing a skill
The typical skills used in ranged CoC builds are Barrage and Spectral Throw. I decided against Spectral Throw because all its projectiles travel at the same rate, so even a 5-projectile Spectral Throw can't proc CoC on the same mob more effectively than a single-projectile one would, and also because of the limited range on Spectral Throw.

I use Barrage to spam a concentrated Cold Snap against single targets. Again, the Barrage setup is Barrage + CoC + Cold Snap + Increased Critical Strikes + Concentrated Effect. I'd like to replace the crit chance gem with a Cold Penetration or a GMP, but so far have had no luck rolling GGGBB on my Voll's. Even so, I'm currently able to reliably "freezelock" most rares, as well as some exiles and bosses, with Elemental Weakness.
-- I also keep a leveled Elemental Proliferation on hand to switch in for those boss fights that spawn lots of adds, which lets me freezelock the bosses themselves by freezing their adds.

If you're soloing or looking to prioritize single-target damage, it's also entirely viable to replace Cold Snap with Glacial Cascade -- you'll need to be close enough to hit reliably with Barrage, anyway, that GC will almost always hit twice per cast.


I've also seen a number of bow CoC builds using Split Shot, which is tempting because the skill is cheap and hits a number of targets at once. After testing it, though, I've found Lightning Arrow + GMP to be substantially more effective at generating lots of CoC procs (I imagine this is because each Lightning Arrow hits multiple targets, but doesn't hit them exactly simultaneously, avoiding the CoC gem internal cooldown issue). This setup is capable of easily oneshotting tight groups (like in dungeon tilesets or when opening a box), even in 6-man 73+ maps, due to the large number of overlapping Cold Snap casts.

Due to the huge manacost multiplier from GMP and Chain, I've found it more effective to just use an unleveled Lightning Arrow gem; an L1 Lightning Arrow costs around 60 mana, while an L19 one costs over 80 and yields no tangible benefit, since I haven't taken many bow/projectile damage nodes.


3. Choosing items
As I said above, the only really mandatory item is Voll's Protector, without which you'll be hamstrung by Cold Snap's cooldown. Because Voll's Protector halves your mana pool, you won't be able to run Clarity at a meaningful level without a Blood Magic gem, which obviously involves some survivability tradeoff. For this reason, I've been using a Thief's Torment since early in the game. Because the build generates a large number of hits all the time (either with the Lightning Arrows bouncing around, or with Barrage), it's easy to stay topped off on both health and mana, which frees up all the remaining item slots to focus on survivability.

The other notable item you'll need is a Harbinger Bow with a crit chance roll; all other modifiers are incidental, though attack speed or accuracy would be handy.


4. Choosing aura(s)
Options are limited because of the halved mana pool; I generally can't justify running more than one aura at a time, even with Reduced Mana, though I should note that I haven't taken any aura passives. I ran Grace for most of the time that I was leveling, but since level 80 have been running Purity of Ice instead, just to avoid accidentally oneshotting myself against elemental reflector packs.


5. General playstyle
I spend most of my time mapping with groups and haven't tried Atziri yet, so can't speak to that at all. As a general rule, this build is extremely safe for both me and nearby party members, as the vast majority of mobs are frozen all the time. This build does enormous damage against tight clusters, and is basically a utility/support build the rest of the time. The only complaints I've had are from summoners who need corpses (of which I leave few, since everything gets shattered) and don't have Desecrate.

Note that I have a bunch of gem slots not doing anything useful, because I'm lazy. If I wasn't an idiot, I'd have some survival triggers set up.

Currently on loan from a friend:
Damage output is substantially higher because of the attack speed, and item drops are better, but the build works just fine without it.

I know it's customary to provide progression advice for leveling, but if you take a look at the skill tree, it's actually really intuitive. You basically just start at Ranger, move up through Shadow and into Witch to load up on power charges, grabbing evasion/life nodes and crit nodes along the way. The particular order in which you do these doesn't matter too much, though I'd prioritize crit nodes and power charges over everything else.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgIAAF4B0QL-BH4FtQX5CC4OSBGWFfAWvxmOIuokPCSdJP0mlSepLJwtHzBxMHwyATnUOkI6WD1fQsNJUUt4TLNQMFFHUlNVS1WuWm1d8l_hYeJiWmNDayRtGW17b_JwUnDVd9R9dX_Ghs6HGYfbjDaNv4-mlemXlZf0myabjZ2joJ-hpKKjo4qnXKfUr-uxMLIZtDi1SLvjwFHB88SixqLN6s96037UI9pk217cFd2o3vbfhOHb44TlGedU53To1u2D8ELz6vlW-_X8q_66_sg=