HELP: Freeze Pulse scaling?

Hi

Since Diablo 1 I’m somehow obsessed with cold spells in ARPG’s. In PoE it’s Freezing Pulse.
Even though I have multiple builds able to easily clear yellow maps I somehow never managed to pull this off with a FP or any other caster build. With my past FP builds I always struggled around A2 merciless if not before. Problems I ran into were lack of mana, defenses, dps...

3 days ago I started a new take at a FP build and hit merciless A2 yesterday. So far things look quite well. I’m occasionally running out of mana but I can fix that with Vaal Clarity until normal Clarity levels up and I can get my final regen and aura effectiveness nodes. Since I’m on a 6link already and FP hit level 16 mana-costs should not go up anymore.

I’m wondering however how to best scale FP dps?
At level 64 I’m sitting at ~5k tool-tip dps with 6 pc and LMP. I have only 12 additional damage nodes (crit% and critX) to grab and am wondering how people like Hedgy can reach 50k dps with GMP-FP?

I try to scale dps through crit% and critX.


I feel my skill-tree is very efficient, yet at the same time I can hardly imagine that getting the remaining damage nodes and leveling gems will get me even close to 20k LMP dps. At this point reaching Hedgy’s 50k GMP seems a fantasy at best.

So where does all this damage come from? Gear? If so, using Xirgil’s Crank and sacrificing damage for defense by not using spell dagger(s)/shield might be a very bad idea. More dps/crits also mean more and longer freezes which are a very strong defense as well and in the end might outperform Xirgil’s + Wicked Ward not only in offense but also in defense?

Thanks for your feedback and help!

I would say there is pretty low spell damage nodes especially while using xirgils crank, since it gives less of it. Getting spell damage is generally more rewarding than going crit until certain point. you should get more increased spell damage if not from skill tree then from gear and jewels, jewels usually gives ~30% increased damage (through crit or %inreased damage) at 2 point cost which is efficient.

Probably I would swap enfeeble for warlords mark, in doing so you will be able to drop life leech gem and will solve mana problems, since u can have 2 curses- when it will get tough fighting u can cast manually second curse- enfeeble on top of warlords mark.

I wouldn't stick to hypothermia till u can reliably chill all bosses which requires quite some damage. Added cold damage works pretty well as replacement. In the end of the build empower +4 would be best in xirgils crank, it will give ~50% more damage which is more than other support gems can offer.

EDIT: and yes, xirgils is more potential on non cold spells, u can totally play without xirgils while using cold spells, unless build requires it for some specific reason (pyre ring/the three dragons/etc)

Definitely gear. Most of your damage is going to come from your two mainhand pieces and gem levels. Don't let the spell damage on it fool you, Xirgil's is a heavily defensive piece and you'll lose a lot of dps using it.

Tradeoff for using Xirgil's

Implicit spell damage/global crit chance (wand/shield/dagger)
Up to 98% Spell damage
Up to 218% Spell Crit
Up to 60% elemental scaling (cant remember if this affects spells)
Up to 50% cast speed
Added Elemental damage to spells

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Andrius319 wrote:

I would say there is pretty low spell damage nodes especially while using xirgils crank, since it gives less of it.

What do you mean by "less of it"? Xirgil's gives 60-80% increased, not reduced spell damage.


If going for more spell damage and jewels, what would you drop? I know that jewels can give a lot of damage, unfortunately I do not have good jewels that fit the build well. Also there is only 1 jewel slot I can reach with 2 points with my current tree.

Thanks for the Warlords hint, I will definitively try that.

Regarding Hypothermia, I'm leveling slower and faster projectiles and added cold as well so I can swap easily. Right now I'm using mostly LMP since I'm too lazy to switch gems. But I will certainly consider your advice for harder bosses.

Thank you very much!

Edit: Wish I had a level 4 Empower :-)

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fae76 wrote:

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Andrius319 wrote:

I would say there is pretty low spell damage nodes especially while using xirgils crank, since it gives less of it.

What do you mean by "less of it"? Xirgil's gives 60-80% increased, not reduced spell damage.

I meant this :)

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fae76 wrote:

using Xirgil’s Crank and sacrificing damage for defense by not using spell dagger(s)/shield

edit:
Probably would drop some aura nodes near templar and flask nodes. Those seems least vital.

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Andrius319 wrote:

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fae76 wrote:

"

Andrius319 wrote:

I would say there is pretty low spell damage nodes especially while using xirgils crank, since it gives less of it.

What do you mean by "less of it"? Xirgil's gives 60-80% increased, not reduced spell damage.

I meant this :)

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fae76 wrote:

using Xirgil’s Crank and sacrificing damage for defense by not using spell dagger(s)/shield

edit:
Probably would drop some aura nodes and flask nodes. Those seems least vital.

ahhh silly me ;-)

mhhh, the idea behind the Alchemist cluster is maxing block/spell-block with Rumi's (there is no point in using Xirgil's if you don't block) and I take Primal Spirit mostly for mana-regen and strength.

My reasoning behind the aura nodes was the convenience to run 2 curses on Blasphemy or one curse plus Purity of Ice for reflect-maps and still have a reasonable mana pool to cast. But you're right, I might drop the Sovereignty cluster and would still be able to run the absolutely necessary auras and then either one curse or purity. This gives me 6 points to put into damage e.g Witch spell damage or Ranger projectile nodes.

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Megatyrant wrote:

Definitely gear. Most of your damage is going to come from your two mainhand pieces and gem levels. Don't let the spell damage on it fool you, Xirgil's is a heavily defensive piece and you'll lose a lot of dps using it.

Tradeoff for using Xirgil's

Implicit spell damage/global crit chance (wand/shield/dagger)
Up to 98% Spell damage
Up to 218% Spell Crit
Up to 60% elemental scaling (cant remember if this affects spells)
Up to 50% cast speed
Added Elemental damage to spells

I just happened to accidentally 6-link Xirgil's while leveling another toon :-) and since I'm a fan of cold spells thought I might as well give FP another shot. So I abandoned the other toon and started leveling this one. Now it looks like 6-linking euphoria and freezing obsession let me pick the wrong skill.

edit: sadly I do not own wands/daggers/shields that come even close to such values and buying/crafting them costs a leg and arm. I certainly have gear that can outperform Xirgil's, by how much I will have to test.

Thanks for your answer!

I try to make a perma-freeze this league, and I fail.
I was at 40k Freezing Pulse, but I know my dagger was kind bad.
Last league (Talisman) I had Freezing Pulse char up to 78k with Lesser and 66k DPS with Greater that was awesome; 10 Jewel Slots with 28-30% spell damage + cast speed in each jewel and DPS goes to sky.
33% chance to block from Xirgil's it's something great, with a little investment and a Rumi's you can cap spell block and not die at refect.

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diegodgo87 wrote:

I try to make a perma-freeze this league, and I fail.
I was at 40k Freezing Pulse, but I know my dagger was kind bad.
Last league (Talisman) I had Freezing Pulse char up to 78k with Lesser and 66k DPS with Greater that was awesome; 10 Jewel Slots with 28-30% spell damage + cast speed in each jewel and DPS goes to sky.
33% chance to block from Xirgil's it's something great, with a little investment and a Rumi's you can cap spell block and not die at refect.

- Can you please link your trees and gear?
- Do I assume correctly that your toons are low-life and use two spell-daggers?
- What links did you use? What auras do you use?
- How much ES/life do your toons have?
- How much did you pay on average for a jewel?

Thank you very much.

edit: I have a hard time coming up with a build with 10 sockets a decent amount of ES (230%+) and crit (50%+ crit chance). Even my best attempt so far with 7 sockets can only reach 230%+ ES if all jewels have ES. Did you build a glass-cannon?