[3.6] The Blizz Sorc - Icestorm/Winter Orb CI Occultist - Viable For Everything

Isn't my profile public? You can see my links there.

Anyway, no they're not under 6 mana, but if I take ring off I can see mana cost go up by 5 on both winter orbs. Both staffs are 5l. Mana costs are 8 on normal whispering ice staff (lvl 19 winter orb) and 14 (lvl 21 winter orb, which makes sense, higher lvl + more expensive links, if I swap winter orbs it's 9 mana, should be same (9 mana cost) with lvl 20 winter orb, mana cost goes up on lvl 21)

8 mana is low enough to precast for a very long time. And if I didn't use warlord's mark I'd probably use lvl 20 winter orb for 9 mana cost on 2nd staff, until getting boots enchant. But yeah, mana is not a problem, with 150 mana unreserved.

And yeah, I can swap weapon any time and I don't lose WO stacks. Am I missing anything?

How’s does this build do against uber elder and syndicate members? Might respec

Full on free casting is really nice for no-regen maps... no chance of making a dumb mistakes like ending up at 0 mana from Flame Dashing around a bit too much... which I admit to having done a few times before switching to a free casting setup... /cough.

That's all I meant. ;)

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Powerlenny wrote:

Hi there,
great guide, helped me alot crafting my own WO cwc WI build.
Some additions i came up with:
- the socketed gems are supported with Blind/Global chance to blind on hit Mod for shaped gloves is pretty usefull. Permablind bosses and rares for 50% chance to evade for the cost of a single Mod.

- I don't think Vaal Pact is worth it...without VP there's so much more QoL if you're using Blood Rage. Just pop a Sorrow of the Divine and youre good. There have been many times I died because I got hit hard on the very end of a tough boss fight and couldnt manage to tp back to town fast enough.

- Incandescend heart is a nice and cheap option for the chest. You sacrifice some ES but get reduced elemental damage taken from hits and a big damage boost. On top of that, the chaos damage leech from Atziris Promise becomes enough to cap the leech rate quick enough.

- Increased duration corruption on cyclopean coil are pretty cheap and add a lot more damage than %int (ofc after a few seconds).

Edit:
- Elemental Focus is better damage than cold pen. The chilling ground still works and if you dont link it with WO you can still freeze and shatter with WO.

Welp, i guess i should answer one by one:
1) We already use blind in our CwDT-ball lightning setup, so bosses permanently blinded anyway. It was so couple of years already, and you should know it, if you actually read the guide. It's also easier to acquire, than good shaped gloves.
2) Vaal pact is worth it. 100% so. There is some people who didn't like it, cause "no regen" isn't for anyone. But it's just preferences, if you remove such nonsense and just look at it from the "game mechanic side of view", VP is superior until you can get regen to about 15-20%, which would be costly in more ways than one. Just sorrow of divine isn't going to cut it, for tanking something that you was supposed to tank like dangerous mod guardians, or shaper's beam etc
3) I guess it's doable now, when we don't use avatar of fire, but you really underestimating power of "flat int", and especially "% increased attributes".
I checked in PoB, vaal regalia 500 ES with crafted "% attributes" (which now easily attainable without even "shaper base") and some int, have only 1% less damage than incadescent heart, and about 2k ES more which is HUGE. And the worse your other gear is, the worse it feels. If we are talking about proper shaper's base vaal reagalia with 12% attributes, it crush incandescent heart with flying colors.
And no, rather than having -25% elemental damage, i would rather have 25% more ES (which is exactly how much we sacrifing with that switch). And it works only with hits.
I guess it's not a bad option, if you don't have money at all, but at 70 lvl, at this point i would rather go into vaal regalia route. Also, you can probably snatch additional resists on it.
4) We already have more than enough duration through skill tree and int stacking. Even that already is quite questionable, some people even removing those at some point. No way it worth "% int", but as "not useless corruption" it can get passing mark.
5) Chilling ground is still just a chilling ground. It have only 10% slow from chill. It's good enough to proc hypothermia, but not good enough for actual "chill".
If you are not linking damage gem to winter orb, there is no way it actually have enough to help you to freeze/shatter stuff good enough, so it's not an option too.
More damage - yeah, but that occultist version design was all about "additional survivability through occultist defenses+chill, for the expenses of damage".

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Shnizers wrote:

How’s does this build do against uber elder and syndicate members? Might respec

I've had no issues with any Syndicate content in T16 maps, or anywhere else. The only issue I've had was a high level Mastermind, still beat her, but my problems were more a function of my not understanding the fight, then something the build couldn't handle.

I'll be attempting uber elder as soon as I ding my next level. It'll be the first time I've faced him, but the build should be fine. The Scion version was able to do Uber without too many problems, and this version should be even safer.

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Med1umentor wrote:

4) We already have more than enough duration through skill tree and int stacking. Even that already is quite questionable, some people even removing those at some point. No way it worth "% int", but as "not useless corruption" it can get passing mark.

In fairness, he's right about the belt enchant with the caveats that were stated - it should be more DPS when you've been standing still casting for 6-7+ seconds.

Though I would agree with you that it's not going to be better than int (ex: for me it's ~5% more DPS all the time vs ~10% more DPS after 6 seconds) because you just don't reach that 6+ seconds mark all that frequently.

But there's a few ex difference in price to consider too...

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Powerlenny wrote:

- I don't think Vaal Pact is worth it...without VP there's so much more QoL if you're using Blood Rage. Just pop a Sorrow of the Divine and youre good. There have been many times I died because I got hit hard on the very end of a tough boss fight and couldnt manage to tp back to town fast enough.

So looking over your setup... I'm confused about the presence of an Arakaali setup (CWDT+BR+IC).

In your setup, wouldn't Arakaali only apply to the ES recovery granted by your flasks (Atziri+Sorrow)? Which means even in an ideal scenario your Arakaali procs are only adding like 600 ES/sec?

I feel like I would want to just drop Blood Rage entirely at that point? Then you could work around having Wicked Ward up more often, or something like that?


Having said that, seems to me that Vaal Pact setups are still recovering ES at nearly twice the rate you do under full flask effect... seems pretty worth it to me if your aspirations are to face tank most things... I tried to work out a Zealot's Oath based variant before they nerfed Mastermind, but it always seemed to me like it would lose too much.

For those who don't know:

Vaal Pact does not affect ES regeneration only life regeneration (or ES regeration coverted from life regeneration nodes with Zealoth Oath). So Vaal Pact is a core mechanic for this build. We get huge ES regen (up to 30%) from Vile Bastion ascendancy and is working as intended.

Hey, so far so good this build is awesome on betrayal league, easy against syndicates (even if it's a bit slow but you can't get everything for this cheap).
I wanted to add one thing, you can get on ALL your unique jewels implicits and they are very cheap.
Here are the ones that I got :

Can't be maimed, can't be cursed with silence, can't be hindered,increased area of effect, corrupted blood can't be inflicted.

Heya, so far enjoying this build, just having one struggle which are elem reflect maps. Is it just not possible to do it with this set up or am I doing something wrong? The only thing I haven't been able to get is 5L on my chest so I don't run blind. Thanks

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Laraléy wrote:

Heya, so far enjoying this build, just having one struggle which are elem reflect maps. Is it just not possible to do it with this set up or am I doing something wrong? The only thing I haven't been able to get is 5L on my chest so I don't run blind. Thanks

The unique ring Sybil's Lament + minor pantheon Yugul + Sapphire Flask are your best bet against ele reflect maps. If stacking those 3 things don't keep you from dying, then you're bum outta luck :/