[2.6] The Curse Whisperer - Tri-Curse CI Whispering Ice Elementalist - Viable for Everything

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Kelvynn wrote:

Nothing. Your gear is good for everything. Just finish leveling the gems, you are almost there. And what's up with the Lavianga flask? :)

I can't see why your ES is only 8k with this gear though. Probably some weak jewels, or maybe just not high enough level yet, some sockets still to get.

it's 8300 atm, and I use lavianga just to have mana to precast some icestorms on bosses. Maybe something with jewels? My characters are open, and the one with this build is "whisper_in_night"

Thanks for the guide, this is my 3rd league and it's the farthest and quickest I have got into the game.

I'm sitting at lvl91 with 8.8kES and can confortably do any T16 (if no crazy mods), Uber lab and normal Atziri. I have tried once uber atziri and shaper and got only to 30% life.

Little question, I have these two nice rings, is it worth swapping them for Perandus Signet and 3rd curse?



They give quite a ton of INT and ES and they help balancing resists on other equipment (i'm capped for ele weakness) so can have better int and es for a cheaper price.

I'm having so much fun with this build, im just wondering what i can do other then level gems to get more damage, as im only at 3k and 3.5k with pendulum




Current gems

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Audix wrote:

I'm having so much fun with this build, im just wondering what i can do other then level gems to get more damage, as im only at 3k and 3.5k with pendulum

A 15% INT Black Sun Crest and Perandus Signet should boost your intelligence considerably. You also need fire/ice golem if possible.

Reroll the int on your staff to 18% (or buy an 18% one, which is probably going to be cheaper).

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cmbyrd00 wrote:

Kelvynn, you've listed the strengths of each class. What do you think the weaknesses of each are, and what are their unique quirks?

Weaknesses:

Berserker: not immune to stun when not killing (have to be more careful and bring a special flask to some bosses), no elemental defenses + increased damage taken (can get suicide bombed by Volatile rares).

Inquisitor: slower clear speed and weak to ele reflect.

Scion: lower DPS against bosses.

Elementalist: NONE. That's why I recommend this class as a starter.

Quirks:

Berserker: godly leech, highest tooltip damage, fast Leap and extra movespeed.

Inquisitor: strongest boss killer.

Scion: fastest clear speed/xp per hr.

Elementalist: doesn't care about reflect or resists, strongest elemental defenses.

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Black_Gun wrote:

the downside of elementalist is that two of his 4 notable ascendancy points, paragon and pendulum, are worthless against bosses.

Huh? Pendulum gives extra damage, that's always useful. Paragon is elemental defense + retalliation:

For each Element you've been hit by Damage of Recently, 8% reduced Damage taken of that Element
For each Element you've been hit by Damage of Recently, 40% increased Damage of that Element

This is amazing against the endgame bosses. Uber Atziri/statues hit you with fire and get owned for it. Phoenix hits you with fire and gets owned for it. Hydra hits you with cold and gets owned for it. Shaper hits you with cold+fire and gets his face melted for it. :)

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cmbyrd00 wrote:

OoS and Ice Storm both have 5% crit chance per the wiki, and Ice Storm is being triggered ~3x/sec... why do you need OoS to keep EO running?

See Q&A #12

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gradinarcho wrote:

so question whats a good flask set up I kno dif bosses require dif ones as refered to in the boss guide but what do we need in general I see you use a lot of sulpher flasks compared to mine I feel like I might have to switch out the movement speed ones?

Something wrong with the setup I posted in the Flask section? I find 2 Quicksilvers to be the best for mapping. 1 can be enough if you are very good with flasks. I may be popping them a little too often because I want constant speed bonus and don't want to pay attention to the timer on them. I've died a few times to ignoring shock before, it can hurt if the map mods are bad enough, so I carry a grounding flask combined with phys mitigation (for Vuln maps, lab runs, etc). And the last 2 are pretty much mandatory: heat and staunching. I choose Sulphur for them because they are 15/60 (i.e. 4 uses) and give a damage bonus on top, so I pop them for damage while still keeping enough charges to remove freeze and bleeding if that happens.

For the endgame bosses - yeah, all different setups. I usually clear a T16 with the regular mapping flasks, then switch to the boss flasks and use 1 portal to charge them before entering the arena.

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Cleista wrote:

That being said, I have noticed that it's almost prohibitively expensive to get more ES after around the 7k mark, and it feels like I've been stonewalled out of endgame content unless I grind hundreds of hours for exalts.

8-8.5k, not 7k. See my league gear. Absolutely nothing there is 'prohibitively expensive'. Aim for 8.5k, level up, get decent jewels.

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Once Discipline levels up to 20 (I vendor recipe'd it for 20Q earlier today so it's low atm)

Why would you do that? :-o
Just buy a lv 20 Discipline for 2c.

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I would have just over 8000 ES, much less than the 10k+ I see many players running around with.

Those players are probably playing different builds. Or you are looking at the Standard chars after months of development. 8-8.5k ES is enough for everything.

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but T11/T12 map bosses still one-shot me.

You must be doing something really wrong. Which bosses 1-shot you? What are your resists?

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I've come to learn that a lot of the higher ranked endgame players farm maps using Bisco's, and this build does not have the flexibility of using that in the amulet slot.

How do I get magic find without crippling my accessory slots? Do I just have to keep an eye out for MF gloves/boots and such?

See the Links section.

MF is overrated. If you want 500% IIR and 200% IIQ - this is not the build for it. You find more good drops by mapping faster in higher tiers with more mods than by crawling thru Strand with MF gear like a turtle. Clear speed is FAR better than IIQ, they are both just the number of rolls of the same dice. And the number of rolls trumps IIR as well. Finding ultra rare drops is a lottery in either case.

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Also, I found out that The Whispering Ice can potentially be corrupted for some nice-sounding Vaal implicits. Is it worth the chaos investment to try and Vaal some 6-slot staves for either of the following?

- 0.2% of Fire Damage Leeched as Life
- Gems in this item are Supported by level 1 Increased Area of Effect

18% block is already the best implicit. 0.2% leech is too meaningless. Inc AoE only works with socketed gems (and says so right there), Icestorm is not a gem.

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Audix wrote:

I'm having so much fun with this build, im just wondering what i can do other then level gems to get more damage, as im only at 3k and 3.5k with pendulum

Spoiler

Current gems

You need MUCH more Int. Icestorm damage is based on Int.

400 ES helmet is worth a lot, but not for this build. 14% WI is useless other than for leveling. A rare ring is a temporary placeholder for Perandus but ONLY if it has tons of Int. A no-Int ring is completely useless. 30 Int on gloves is too low. Auxium can do until you craft an Int crystal belt, but you do want to get one.

Btw, ZO doesn't work with VP. Sorrow of the Divine does nothing here.

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educhrono wrote:

Little question, I have these two nice rings, is it worth swapping them for Perandus Signet and 3rd curse?

They give quite a ton of INT and ES and they help balancing resists on other equipment (i'm capped for ele weakness) so can have better int and es for a cheaper price.

That first ring is very nice. If you can't max resists without the rings, keeping that one is OK (you don't need to overcap for EW, you are not in HC). But you want 3 curses for the endgame.

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sufferot wrote:

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Kelvynn wrote:

Nothing. Your gear is good for everything. Just finish leveling the gems, you are almost there. And what's up with the Lavianga flask? :)

I can't see why your ES is only 8k with this gear though. Probably some weak jewels, or maybe just not high enough level yet, some sockets still to get.

it's 8300 atm, and I use lavianga just to have mana to precast some icestorms on bosses. Maybe something with jewels? My characters are open, and the one with this build is "whisper_in_night"

You shouldn't have any problems pre-casting on the bosses, you have enough free mana for 4-5 casts, no? Or you can simply use lv 2 Scorching Ray for 4 mana cost. You even wasted 2 points on Deep Thought which you don't need. And Faith&Steel. If you refund those 2 things, you can grab the jewel socket near GR already.

Kelvynn, I wanted to say thank you for all the time and effort you spent putting this guide together and answering questions. It really is top notch and from the moment I started using whispering ice I have felt like a powerhouse mowing through the content. More than anything, I feel like I have a very clear picture of where this build will end up eventually and that is reassuring.

A couple of notes for others getting started with this build:
1) Early leveling will feel a little bit rough because the tree is aimed at getting a solid foundation for WI. You will notice the lack of life on the tree and should incorporate leech into your firestorm to try and make up for your small life pool. Getting Vaal Pact helps, but the 30s are very difficult levels. Just stick with it. The payoff is definitely worth it.
2) Read the 1st 10 pages and the last 10 pages of this post. The guide was created a long time ago, but updated for 2.6. I felt like I could answer all questions I had simply by reading the Q&A through those old and recent posts. Kelvynn has covered everything, but not all of it will jump out at first. Particularly around some of the gear discussion. Someone else has already asked your question most likely if you care to dig for it ;).
3) I broke off from your leveling recommendations somewhere in the 50s to make a beeline for Unwavering Stance. This is likely a preference thing, but the only times I truly feel in danger with this build are when I get stunned. It should be easy to fill in the other nodes later since it is still the same tree. Just a different order to ensure I'm not getting stunned earlier.
4) It has already been mentioned by some others, but start shopping for your end game gear early. I was able to pick up a 5L 700 ES Vaal Regalia with 40 Int for 30C by being patient and using live poe.trade searches. Likewise, I have searches for other gear to make sure I can acquire it affordably when it becomes available. That should take you far into mapping so that you can pile up currency for those late game upgrades.

Good luck and thanks again on the great build!

I've posted multiple times in this thread but i just wanna see hands down best guide i've used throughtout my 4k hours of playing this game so big kudo's you've been great.

Currently at 1800 int thanks to lab jewels, got about 8k dps with sulphur pendulum up have yet to find a match for this build, once you've got the core gamestyle down its just a mattertime before you realise your a wrecking ball.



Plus Emperor's Mastery and Emperor's Wit.