[3.5] Scold Snap™ - a low-life league starter Cold Snap Occultist

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oregoncrete wrote:

That Zealot's Oath point is pretty intriguing. I could save 7 points, which could go a LONG ways...

As for defensive curse, do you prefer Temp Chains over Enfeeble?

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cha_siu_bao wrote:

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oregoncrete wrote:

That Zealot's Oath point is pretty intriguing. I could save 7 points, which could go a LONG ways...

As for defensive curse, do you prefer Temp Chains over Enfeeble?

I hate to choose between them. This is a case where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Temp Chains: generally the best choice. Best for builds that use MoM/armor/block/dodge
Enfeeble: evasion builds! You want a build that makes use of enfeeble's "chance to miss" (which is a part of the evasion/accuracy calculation).

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cha_siu_bao wrote:

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Wilde79 wrote:

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oregoncrete wrote:

Here's a deathless Uber Elder run, albeit not pretty. Still no Watcher's Eyes though :/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJBhwCF6G-g

I managed to do Uber Elder (not deathless) with my build, but am currently struggling a bit on how to improve it. Apart from the obvious corrupts (no currency), I was wondering if you (or anyone else) could offer some help on what to improve?

Character link: https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Wilde79

I don't see much effort put toward making use of Occultist's ES recharge mechanics. They're massively helpful in all boss encounters, most of all Uber Elder.

As far as I know, there is zero lightning damage in the Uber Elder fight.
Your lightning resist can be -60% and it will not matter. If you can't afford better gear and REALLY want to fight Uber Elder, your defensive focus should be on mitigating physical and cold damage (as well as maximizing ES, of course).

Shield: In my opinion, you don't need every last bit of damage from every gear piece to achieve a deathless Uber Elder. Aegis Aurora - compared to your current shield - will give you more ES and max cold res, which is very helpful against Uber Elder.

Jewelry: "Faster start of energy shield recharge" is a craftable prefix on rings. Tier 1 craft is 18-24% faster start, and costs 1 exalt. Tier 2 craft (12-17%, which I currently have on both rings) costs 2 regals.

Belt: Bated Breath will give you similar ES, as well as 50% increased ES recharge rate. It's awesome in those moments where ES recharge is important (i.e. Uber Elder fights).

Gem choices:
Cold Snap vs Vortex: Cold Snap has a long cast time, which is only made worse by Scold's Bridle and Doedre's Malevolence. It has the benefit of being a ranged spell, but the animation is slow and can lock you in place at inconvenient moments. Vortex casts instantly and feels more workable in the hectic Uber Elder fight, so I went with that for 3.5.

My current 6L: Vortex - Efficacy - Bonechill - Hypothermia - Controlled Destruction - Elemental Focus

Curses:
Consider exchanging Frostbite for Temporal Chains. Frostbite is a fine choice for maximum DPS, but I preferred defense over offense for tackling Uber Elder.
Slowing the bosses' attack/cast animations down felt much more impactful than any damage boost that Frostbite/EleWeak could provide.

Passive Skill Tree:
Zealot's Oath feels nice in maps, but it's not going to be very useful in the Uber Elder fight. You don't have a lot of life regen on the tree. An extra 400 ES per second is not going to be enough recovery to save you from two consecutive big hits. I prefer to have a larger ES pool and lean on my Occultist recharge mechanics.

Quick Recovery (life + mana regen + life regen) is just awful, even if you have Zealot's Oath. Quick Recovery is not allocated for any variant of this Scold Snap, whether in 3.4 or 3.5. I have no idea how to justify this choice. It is bad.

Mind Barrier (spell block + shield ES) was chosen because it gives you ES. You have more than three 6% ES nodes available, which provide more overall ES than Mind Barrier. 10% spell block sounds nice, but I find it's unreliable. I would much prefer to have an extra ~200 ES.

So...
Pull out of Zealot's Oath and spend the points on ES? Maybe. It's personal preference.
Pull out of Mind Barrier and spend the points on (slightly) more ES? Maybe. It's personal preference.
Pull out of Quick Recovery and spend the points on literally anything else? Definitely.

My Vortex / Cold Snap build in 3.5 is specced to make Uber Elder fights as easy as possible. I am not Mathil, and thus need to spec my build to compensate for my lack of skill. Give me a big effective HP pool and "safety net" mechanics that allow me to occasionally falter without dying.

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Wilde79 wrote:

I think the biggest issues with Uber are the unlucky stuns / slows that come from not having kaoms roots, and I think I would opt for more DPS than survivability since the deaths pretty much came from oneshots and not being able to regen.

But anyway, good points, thank you a lot!