[3.5] Occultist Vortex/Cold Snap ES/CI - Deathless and Safe Uber Elder and T16's

I am a total noob, been playing PoE a few days, this is my first Character.

I chose this build because it sounded fun and fit with my kind of play style. The OP took the time to write his guide so I thought the least I could do was post my impressions and feedback, Maybe they will help or maybe they will just be useless ramblings, such is the way of the internet.

I really had no idea what to do for the first 30 levels or so. I followed the Tree suggestions and Started out with Freezing Brand I added Frost Bomb and Cold Snap later.
You mention not to level Arcane Surge past lvl6, but did not say why, anyway I ignored this and just kept using it until I got Vortex and the two mods you said to attach to it.

I have also been a bit confused as to where I get some of the spells/skills, nothing some searching around in game or on Google could not help me with. Nothing in the first 30 levels seemed hard, I adapted my game play to the situation and it flowed pretty well.

Once I had Flame Dash and Vortex the game changed. I feel like I am invincible (as long as I do not stand still lol) I have not died to a single boss or encounter and this is my first play through.

I have only died do to my own mistakes and lack of resists. I find that the one thing that causes me issues is getting frozen or slowed/stun locked. This usually happens when I use Flame Dash to go all in and just took to big of a risk.

Right now I am like lvl 57 I think and in Act 7.
My gear is crap, it is just whatever I found, I have yet to craft anything and I don't feel I would even know what good gear is yet, but so far so good. I figured I would worry about gear when things got hard but so far they have not.


I wish I knew what rewards to choose, I am never sure which thing to get. most of my armor sockets are empty because I don't know what to put in them. I really only use Vortex and Flame Dash, I have one aura that increases my resist and a Frost Golem I keep with me because it is fun. I do not know if he is really that useful, but he is my friend now, we have been through a lot together.


Forgive me if I am just not understanding how to use the info in the guide, but I am really lost as to what to put into my armor sockets, best types of weapons and armor. I am not sure what spells and skills etc I should be looking for.

When do I get and should switch to CI, Is Phase run worth using?


Anyway, love the build it is tons of fun. I am playing Betrayal syndicate and have already beat two safehouses first try with no deaths easily.

thanks for all you have put into it and if anyone has suggestions to help me learn what I am doing I would love some feedback. Otherwise I will continue to stumble through so far it is a lot of fun.

EDIT: Just realized there is a "Skill Gems and Links" section that answers some of my questions. Sorry for missing that. So much to learn..

"

Muru69 wrote:

Im trying to help people without 100-200ex currency to spend on gear. You may have tons of dmg and ES so do i, but 99% of people doesnt. And if you are in that point, you dont come here and ask things because you already know. People acting like elitists are every game's cancer. Not to mention most of people dont run maps in 1-2minutes, so boss dps is always welcome.

Calm down. There's no need to be so hurt just because someone disagreed with you that you have to resort to implying that he/she is an elitist.

Boss DPS is not always welcome ahead of gameplay/mapping experience when most new players do not have a dedicated build just for mapping and another dedicated build just for bossing like you do. And although most new players also may not run maps in 1-2 minutes, they certainly do not want to have to wait 1s in between vortex casts either. Let's face it, vortex/Cold snap's main weak point is the clunkiness. Reducing that clunkiness, and therefore improving the gameplay experience (I emphasise experience, and not necessarily clear speed) will do a lot to improve new player retention.

Also, if I were a new player, I would appreciate the best possible advice with regards to gear obtained via hard-earned currency and not find out halfway through a build that I wasted my currency on a suboptimal item/enchant, because that would suck.

As I mentioned, 40% vortex damage really is only a drop in the ocean when considering that you will get >400% incr. dmg just from the tree, gems and an average weapon alone, and that's not even including all the 'more' multipliers and cold dmg over time multipliers available. Should one choose a <10% flat damage boost or a 30% reduction in the time between casts? Maybe u would choose the former, but i suspect most would not.

Again, calm down. We can agree to disagree, but there's no need to resort to calling names here. Be a mature forum poster and accept that you may not always be right and that what matters is the new players get the appropriate advice. Also, for the record, my gear certainly did not cost 100-200 ex and was mostly self-crafted, but believe what you will. :)

SSF gear update. Got +additional curse amulet :) and crafted myself new weapon (not delve one), grinded to 97 and maybe, maybe will go to 98 :)
12.2k es, 350k shaper dps etc.

Modified build a bit adding additional layer of defence:
Rumi's Concoction and Tempest Shield with CWDT, which sets me at 44% block i think :)

"

Invalesco wrote:

"

Muru69 wrote:

Im trying to help people without 100-200ex currency to spend on gear. You may have tons of dmg and ES so do i, but 99% of people doesnt. And if you are in that point, you dont come here and ask things because you already know. People acting like elitists are every game's cancer. Not to mention most of people dont run maps in 1-2minutes, so boss dps is always welcome.

Calm down. There's no need to be so hurt just because someone disagreed with you that you have to resort to implying that he/she is an elitist.

Boss DPS is not always welcome ahead of gameplay/mapping experience when most new players do not have a dedicated build just for mapping and another dedicated build just for bossing like you do. And although most new players also may not run maps in 1-2 minutes, they certainly do not want to have to wait 1s in between vortex casts either. Let's face it, vortex/Cold snap's main weak point is the clunkiness. Reducing that clunkiness, and therefore improving the gameplay experience (I emphasise experience, and not necessarily clear speed) will do a lot to improve new player retention.

Also, if I were a new player, I would appreciate the best possible advice with regards to gear obtained via hard-earned currency and not find out halfway through a build that I wasted my currency on a suboptimal item/enchant, because that would suck.

As I mentioned, 40% vortex damage really is only a drop in the ocean when considering that you will get >400% incr. dmg just from the tree, gems and an average weapon alone, and that's not even including all the 'more' multipliers and cold dmg over time multipliers available. Should one choose a <10% flat damage boost or a 30% reduction in the time between casts? Maybe u would choose the former, but i suspect most would not.

Again, calm down. We can agree to disagree, but there's no need to resort to calling names here. Be a mature forum poster and accept that you may not always be right and that what matters is the new players get the appropriate advice. Also, for the record, my gear certainly did not cost 100-200 ex and was mostly self-crafted, but believe what you will. :)

Yeh this is what i mean, "you are wrong".. "im right". Your chest with gems and head enchant alone is somewhere 40+ex and you are telling me you can get that gear almost free? Im out.. morons like you makes ppl not write in these forums.

"

Muru69 wrote:

Yeh this is what i mean, "you are wrong".. "im right". Your chest with gems and head enchant alone is somewhere 40+ex and you are telling me you can get that gear almost free? Im out.. morons like you makes ppl not write in these forums.

Tsk tsk, such anger. If you were being genuinely helpful and not for the sake of stoking your own ego you wouldn't have minded being wrong if the best advice was being dished out. I myself once advocated a corrupted vertex (which would have given far more damage than a simple %40 vortex damage enchant) over the cooldown recovery enchant but was advised to go for the latter, see https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2288726/page/6#p16136240.

The enchant was gamechanging. I haven't looked back ever since I tried it and have stuck to the cooldown recovery enchant over extra damage, because the QOL and increased gameplay fluidity it offers is incredible.

Oh btw, my helm cost 2 ex, and the vortex recovery enchant is going for 100c on POE.trade. Also, my corrupted shavs? Have a look at the going rate of +2 duration gems when I got it a week ago.

Even a search on poe trade now, despite the inflation since then, shows a 6L going for 22 ex. That in nowhere adds up to the imaginary 40 ex figure you just pulled out of your anus.

Good riddance to your misguided assumptions, bad advice and immature insults. The forums will be none the worse for wear, assuming you actually have enough decency in you to keep your word, although I suspect that won't be the case, and you'll be back slinging insults again. Bye.

"

Invalesco wrote:

"

Muru69 wrote:

Yeh this is what i mean, "you are wrong".. "im right". Your chest with gems and head enchant alone is somewhere 40+ex and you are telling me you can get that gear almost free? Im out.. morons like you makes ppl not write in these forums.

Tsk tsk, such anger. If you were being genuinely helpful and not for the sake of stoking your own ego you wouldn't have minded being wrong if the best advice was being dished out. I myself once advocated a corrupted vertex (which would have given far more damage than a simple %40 vortex damage enchant) over the cooldown recovery enchant but was advised to go for the latter, see https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2288726/page/6#p16136240.

The enchant was gamechanging. I haven't looked back ever since I tried it and have stuck to the cooldown recovery enchant over extra damage, because the QOL and increased gameplay fluidity it offers is incredible.

Oh btw, my helm cost 2 ex, and the vortex recovery enchant is going for 100c on POE.trade. Also, my corrupted shavs? Have a look at the going rate of +2 duration gems when I got it a week ago.

Even a search on poe trade now, despite the inflation since then, shows a 6L going for 22 ex. That in nowhere adds up to the imaginary 40 ex figure you just pulled out of your anus.

Good riddance to your misguided assumptions, bad advice and immature insults. The forums will be none the worse for wear, assuming you actually have enough decency in you to keep your word, although I suspect that won't be the case, and you'll be back slinging insults again. Bye.

This post was doing good untill you wrote here to thot peeps into your own post. Anyways, im sorry for your dick.

I got lucky on mines. suppose to sell but it was the only item i have to altar that night

My current setup. weapon/helm/gloves/boots were only crafted items rest were bought. Sitting at 14,995 ES with 1mil dps dot

"

Muru69 wrote:

This post was doing good untill you wrote here to thot peeps into your own post. Anyways, im sorry for your dick.

I have no reason to steal players from this thread into my own post. This guide is brilliant and well catered to new players, which is its target audience. Mine is for min-maxing and is thus not very suitable. The only reason I interjected (and I've alr apologised to the guide creator for that) is because I felt that your advice about the best helm enchant was misguided and sought to correct that. What i didn't expect was your insecurity and immature behaviour to blow this all up into the drama that it has become. My genitalia doesn't need your sympathy, thank you very much. It's perfectly fine, although I can't say the same for yours as you come across as being very insecure about it. Micropenis is a real, diagnosable condition - you may want to get it checked.

Anyway, it's clear that only one of us has been trying to be civil here. The readers can decide for themselves if they'd rather trust my opinion, or the opinion of someone who is immature, can't even keep his word, has only had 45 forum posts, and yet is masquerading as a valuable community member. My point is proven. I will stop commenting on this.

"

Invalesco wrote:

"

Muru69 wrote:

This post was doing good untill you wrote here to thot peeps into your own post. Anyways, im sorry for your dick.

I have no reason to steal players from this thread into my own post. This guide is brilliant and well catered to new players, which is its target audience. Mine is for min-maxing and is thus not very suitable. The only reason I interjected (and I've alr apologised to the guide creator for that) is because I felt that your advice about the best helm enchant was misguided and sought to correct that. What i didn't expect was your insecurity and immature behaviour to blow this all up into the drama that it has become. My genitalia doesn't need your sympathy, thank you very much. It's perfectly fine, although I can't say the same for yours as you come across as being very insecure about it. Micropenis is a real, diagnosable condition - you may want to get it checked.

Anyway, it's clear that only one of us has been trying to be civil here. The readers can decide for themselves if they'd rather trust my opinion, or the opinion of someone who is immature, can't even keep his word, has only had 45 forum posts, and yet is masquerading as a valuable community member. My point is proven. I will stop commenting on this.

Forum post count matters.

First of all, congrats for the build and the clear full guide.

Uber elder is a walk in the park with it. By far the easiest run compared with all my old builds.

Personally, I prefer the 'Solstice Vigil dual curse' way (aspect of the spider + TC is insane, even against bosses). Running frostbite as 2nd curse.

I think my gear is 8/10, helmet can have some improvments for sure.

https://pastebin.com/7QtChwiA