2.1 [HC] Iron Will Ice Nova Marauder

*STILL UNDERCONSTRUCTION! Added simple videos. Will continue updating and completing the guide*

Hello and welcome to my guide, I'm but a humble Memer looking to share my experience and progression as I level and Map threw the wilderness of Wraeclast with out hopefully dying.


*DISCLAIMER: I did NOT create this build. All credit goes to the one true pioneer of Path of Exile MorsRageNG King of the Andals and the First Men and creator every build posted on these threads.*

Now that we've gotten all that out of the way lets begin.

Videos:

Display of how the build runs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBL9vtDRKeE

Gear tutorial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjtj-pXH7L4





Index (How do I set this up so people can click and go to the part!?)


I.Required Things

As a PoE player for 2 years I must confess that I'm a scrub. I've never gotten a character past level 84 and that was about 1 year and a half. Now days since the release of 2.1 I've decided to return to Wraeclast and see if I could at least get to level 90 this league.

So I decided to roll a character that could be Close Range/Mid Range and still be effective. For that reason the 2 items that enable this build to function are:

This wonderful little piece allows us to convert all of our Strength into Spell Power, giving us and INSANE amount of Life Pool while allowing us to obtain a good decent amount of armour since will be staying around the marauder side of the tree most of the time.


This badboy allows us to convert all that juicy Strength and convert it into %Damage. This is good since will be aiming for a lot


II. Items/Stats

In actuality this build isn't all that expensive to get into before mapping(Compared to the Crit Version of Ice Nova) The reason is because Strength based gear is plentiful at the start of a league. I spent about 18 chaos in all of my gear and I've been doing just fine in maps.



As for a stat weight it would go something like this:

Strength > Cast Speed > Cold Damage > Spell Power > Critical Strike

I mostly concern my self with Strength and Cast Speed since those are the 2 HUGEST benefactors in providing me with a direct DPS boost.



III. Passive Tree & Leveling

IIIa. Bandits(almost forgot lol): Help Oak, Help Alira, Kill all (or Help Oak)


Honestly I started Mapping when I was level 68. Sure you can map earlier then that (Probably 64) But we have Dried Lake and Aqueducts. I'd recommend starting somewhere around level 72 mapping if you really need.

As for leveling it really depends on how you want to go about it. I personally have always had this policy when it comes to builds I try: "If I can't do it from under level 12 it's not for me" So I started leveling with as SOON™ as I could Ice Nova. The only down side to this is... IT F*@&ng @&$^. Holy hell had I'd known that obtaining INT as a marauder was this hard I would of rushed the Templar side faster because leveling as Ice Nova these days just playing sucks. The Damage is NOTHING compared to other skills at low levels (Yeah thanks for nerfing the damage at low levels GGG).

Well anyway if you plan on leveling using Firestorm you could get these types of items to GREATLY increase your DPS all the way threw normal and cruel



Level 84: okay. So for level 84 I'm thinking obtaining more Armour and Physical. So here is my final build before I advance to Tier 5+ Maps.






IV. Gem Links

Now this section will be devided into 2 parts. The Offensive side (Our AoE and Single Target skill) and our Defensive side (Arctic Armour, Chaos Golem, ect.)

Offensive Side:

Since Ice Nova is our main AoE skill it's consistent that we augment it's DPS threw it's Cast Speed or it's AoE Damage (Since stacking Crit in a IW based character isn't very good) So I'd say the best links are Ice Nova + Iron Will + Spell Echo + Cold Pen + Controlled Destruction + 6th Gem (of your choosing. It's really up in the air what the 6th gem could be since we have such good contenders (Concentrated Effect, Faster Casting,Hypothermia,Life Leech or Life Gain on Hit?) Now I know a lot of you may be like: "Why not change Controlled Destruction for Conc. Effect since spell power isn't that good?" The reason I didn't do this is simple: I don't have a 20% Quality Ice Nova so my AoE Wouldn't even be good.


For our single target will be using Glacial Cascade since it got a buff in it's AoE this patch as well as being a spell that benefits from Area of Effect scaling. So the Links would be Glacial Cascade + Iron Will + Spell Echo + Cold Pen OR Controlled Destruction


Now YOU DON'T NEED TO USE FLAME TOTEM but I like to use it for distracting bosses and as a side DPS for when mobs are too dangerous. I'd Change Faster Casting for Iron Will but I couldn't get the right links on my helm so I had to go with Faster Casting


Defensive Side

I think this should be a no brainer. The little guy provides 4% Physical Damage Reduction at level 16 which is so WORTH

Ah the old Arctic Armour use to be so OP... Now we have to use this crap. Well for what it's worth (25% of your mana) this thing is beneficial to us since standing still is our main que for doing damage.

Hey yo welcome to the 1 crux that will DEMAND getting use to casting every 7 seconds. It's always been muscle memory for me but Enduring Cry can always be tricky to cast during DPS time. The good news is that this guy combines with our next defensive setup:

The Old CoDT setup use to be retarded. It allowed for people to run less defensive build and still get away from deadly situations in maps. THANK THE HEAVENS THAT S*@T got nerfed.


And this boys brings us to our quick get away or "mobility" tool of our build. Sure it's not as good as Whirling Blade (Why hasn't that thing gotten nerfed yet? I bet one of the Devs at GGG must be a filthy Vaal Sparker[THAT'S RIGHT I'M CALLING YOU OUT CHRIS]) It's still a solid escape tool when you're under a flameblast or stuck in a REALLY bad situation.

reserved for OP :)

lol forgot to reserve a post. Thanks pantelisf :^)

I would love to see a short video on the play style sounds like a lot of fun.. even if its not complete yet :D

"

Sanction9 wrote:

I would love to see a short video on the play style sounds like a lot of fun.. even if its not complete yet :D

I posted a simple video of me running a map this morning. You can watch it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBL9vtDRKeE

Should be added to the guide.

OK, ill be honest this build is awesome!

started it yesterday and currently lvl48.
i started with spark and flame totem then changed to firestorm+flame totem en at 28 i switched over to glacial cascade+flame totem. leveling was very smooth and was amazed how good glacial cascade turned out.

when i picked up spell echo in act4 i switched to ice nova as my aoe skill, the dmg is great and clearing area's is fast.

if you got boss knowlegde you wont need a boost to get past dom,malachai etc. this build is strong early on and will only become stronger

thanks for the guide.

"

sabrata wrote:

OK, ill be honest this build is awesome!

started it yesterday and currently lvl48.
i started with spark and flame totem then changed to firestorm+flame totem en at 28 i switched over to glacial cascade+flame totem. leveling was very smooth and was amazed how good glacial cascade turned out.

when i picked up spell echo in act4 i switched to ice nova as my aoe skill, the dmg is great and clearing area's is fast.

if you got boss knowlegde you wont need a boost to get past dom,malachai etc. this build is strong early on and will only become stronger

thanks for the guide.

No problem man. I was also amazed at how much life you could accumulate at the early levels as well. I got to cruel at level 54 and have about 3.5k HP with all resistances capped and was pulling about 4k DPS with my Ice Nova.

I think the strong point of this build is that as you obtain more Strength you will get DPS which also increased your life.

updated some stuff and will be streaming some of the gameplay today.

solo'd myself to merc, with lvl 57 solo against mala...this build is guuuuud!

i did drop arctic armour and got Blasphemy+warlords mark (no more self clicking for end charge YaY!)
the sustain im getting from the curse is insane! you should try it out ;)

Very interesting idea you got here. Thumbs up for that. I was waiting for a build like this to turn up.

Although I still prefer my crit ice nova build (CI). I feel that nova should be used for its ability to freeze, which is sort of lost with your build.

Which brings me to another idea - you might want to make use of Cold to fire gem -http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Cold_to_Fire Since you no longer aim to freeze, you might as well ignite for extra piece of damage. Supposing you invest a little bit into chance to ignite obviously. Or you might turn full fire if you like your revenge best served hot!

Last but not least:

"

In actuality this build isn't all that expensive to get into before mapping(Compared to the Crit Version of Ice Nova)

This ain't true in any possible way - playing crit ice nova is an extra safe and cheap way to go as I discovered myself. Mobs just cannot move. Yea, bosses included, even when playing in party of three I was still able to freeze them. My investments were somewhere around zero, most stuff came from self drops. The only money you really need is for your chest in case you roll CI, since you need decent ES there.

Just tossing my two cents in... :-)
Siliarus