[2.5] Tempada's Arctic Breath Deadeye: 7k+ life, Acro, Snakepit, 100k+ tooltip DPS

The idea is to take a cold-based projectile spell, convert damage to fire for better gear synergy, and use Snakepit + Endless Munitions to gain two projectiles instead of relying on LMP/GMP. As an AoE skill that can chain, Arctic Breath is uniquely suited to this role in the Deadeye Ascendancy.

Pros/Cons
+Solid defenses, hardcore viable
Acro, AA, Purity of Fire, cannot be frozen; high life, life regen, and movement speed
+Arctic Breath chills and can shotgun enemies through clever positioning
+Chain from Ricochet is great for mob clears
+No need for LMP/GMP Support once you reach Endless Munitions and equip Snakepit
+No mana or life sustain issues thanks to crafted Blood Magic staff and Life Leech Support
+High cast and projectile speed
+Seven jewel slots
+Rock out with a non-meta build!

-Damage is typically lower than crit or double dipping DoT builds
-Shotgunning is situational
-A bit expensive, must buy caster gems, best reserved for a second build in a temp league
-Difficult to buy Arctic Breath helm enchants since the skill is rarely used as a primary
-Should not run elemental reflect or no leech maps
-Arctic Breath is one of the more graphically demanding skills in the game

I haven't attempted any Guardians or the Shaper, but I've cleared up through tier 14 maps without any problems.

Required Gear

Snakepit gives an additional projectile.


Pyre converts cold damage to fire, which enables reflect protection with Arctic Armour and increased fire damage with Kaom's Heart. Purity of Fire and a Ruby Flask (Dying Sun) can then be used for additional protection so you don't die to basic elemental reflect as your damage increases.


Alpha's Howl with a level 2 Enlighten lets me run Anger + Purity of Fire + Arctic Armour.


Kaom's Heart makes up for missing life on the other unique items. You can use Belly of the Beast while leveling, but Kaom's is your safest option when tackling tougher content.


A staff with "Socketed gems are supported by level 1 Blood Magic" allows me to reserve all mana and never worry about mana sustain. Ideally you want a +3 cold staff, but the budget option is to buy a 6L common/white staff, use a Shrieking/Deafening Essence of Sorrow on it to get "+2 to level of socketed cold gems" (reroll if you don't get an open prefix), then craft the Vagan Blood Magic mod.

Passives (Skill Tree, Jewels, Bandits, Ascendancy, Enchantments)
Skill Tree

Jewels
  • You want rare jewels with life, resists if you need them, then cast speed or spell damage. Crit chance (to help activate Elemental Overload) is another option, but only if you don't use Controlled Destruction.

Bandit Rewards
  • Normal: Help Oak for life.
  • Cruel: Help Alira for cast speed.
  • Merciless: Kill all for passive point or help Kraityn for frenzy charge if you use The Blood Dance.

Ascendancy
  • Deadeye Ranger: Head for Ricochet then Endless Munitions.

Enchantments
  • No enchantments are required, but "40% increased Arctic Breath damage", "12% increased Arctic Breath radius", or "150% increased effect of the buff granted by your Lightning Golems" are good options on Alpha's Howl.

Links & Gear Suggestions
  • Alpha's Howl
Anger + Arctic Armour + Purity of Fire + Enlighten (must be level 2 to run all three)

  • Boots
CwDT + Lightning Golem + Enfeeble + your favorite (Vaal) gem

Try rare boots + Warped Timepiece or a rare Marble Amulet + The Blood Dance

  • Gloves
Lightning Warp + Blood Magic + Faster Casting + Decoy Totem

Ideally with Essence of Insanity ("Socketed Gems have 16% more Attack and Cast Speed")

  • Staff
Arctic Breath + Spell Echo + Fire Penetration + Elemental Focus + Life Leech + Controlled Destruction or Empower level 4

My Character (Level 93)


Offence Screenshot (Golem + Elemental Overload + Atziri's Promise)

<< Passive Skill Tree >>

My current tree passes through Shaper because I was swapping between Arctic Breath and Fireball for testing (I took that path to fit one Rolling Flames jewel in). AB generally feels better, and you save two points by turning left after Constitution. If you want to try Fireball, you'll need a fire staff, and I recommend Eye of Innocence with Mokou's Embrace and Snakepit (no Pyre or Life Leech Support, and still no LMP/GMP).

Empower level 4 is very comparable to Controlled Destruction (aside from the added crit/Elemental Overload potential when not using CD), so don't go out of your way to buy that expensive gem.

Dreamfeather Elemental Cleave Ranger: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1087616
Last edited by Tempada on Feb 13, 2017, 3:55:34 PM
Last bumped on Feb 13, 2017, 3:55:50 PM
Did you have any success with this build? What was the most difficult content you were able to clear?
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wyvernfist wrote:
Did you have any success with this build? What was the most difficult content you were able to clear?

Hey, I felt that the build was quite successful. It was my second build, so that should be noted (I had all the gear planned and purchased before I jumped into it, and a caster Ranger does have to buy some gems through player trade), but I'm clearing up to corrupted T14 maps without much trouble (I haven't dropped anything higher). If you're into hardcore, you could easily sacrifice 6 damage nodes (Mental Rapidity and Flash Freeze) for life without altering clear speed by much. It's a lot of fun, and I've made a lot of money by farming with it. Oh, and if you can get a boss against a wall to be hit with overlapping explosions, it will go down surprisingly fast.
Dreamfeather Elemental Cleave Ranger: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1087616

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