[3.6] OneShotBoom - IceNova on Frostbolt Quad Curse Occultist - Insane AoE & good QOL - all content

Hello community, I like to share an Ice Nova Occultist iteration with you.

GAME VERSION & CHANGES / HISTORY:
This build was created in Version 3.5 (Betrayal League)
Please read the changes for the current game version.

3.6 (Systhesis)
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Since patch 3.6 brought many changes / adjustments to spells some will affect this build:
1) The total damage output on bosses is significantly increased, due to the lowered curse immunity of bosses 66% (from 80%)
2) Ice Nova has a slightly reduced damage, but nothing to concern about.
3) Ice Nova has a faster cast time of 0.7 (from 0.8)
4) The crafted mod "x% non-chaos damage as extra chaos damage" is gone / omitted. You may consider crafting "x% of cold damage as extra chaos damage" instead on your multicrafted staff.


3.5 (Delve)
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This build is heavily inspired by Mathil´s version of the Ice Nova (cast on Frostbolt) Occultist. I just wanted to squeeze in more curse mechanics (4 curses) and adress some issues with mana regen and more survivability with an enfeeble curse setup.
Please consider to visit Mathil´s twitch and youtube stuff. He is such a great dude who gives back so much to the PoE community. Feel free to support him.


YOU WANT:
-millions of DPS?
-a safer iteration with a total of 4 curses?
-easily farm all content?
-frost and shatter the whole screen?
-deal insane AoE damage, but also kill bosses fast?
-very solid Delve grind?
-funny playstyle?
THEN "STAY A WHILE AND LISTEN" ;-)

LITTLE PREAMBLE:
==>>Thanks to Mathil, he inspired me to do an iteration of his version of this build with more damage output and more defence mechanics.

DISCLAIMER:
I try to explain every mechanic to you. You will learn to understand every choice I made. If you learned something new or you just like this guide, please leave me a comment. Thank you for your interesst and thanks GGG for this game.

MEDIA / VIDEOS:
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Shaper Kill:
https://youtu.be/gvHVrHV2cA4

Delve Mine at depth 376:
https://youtu.be/uU2rCWXazzA

Random T15 Lava Lake Playstyle:
https://youtu.be/XQ1dJgRpBIs

Mathil´s Version (less damage / less curses) Videoguide
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djVDeq0vhiQ



SCREENSHOTS / PoB STATS:
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PoB Damage:
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Mouseover Ice Nova Damage:
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(Hideout - focussed)




PoB Config:
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(to compare with my stats)

Note:
Power Charges generated with Occultist Ascendency (spend 200 mana = get a power charge)
Frenzy Charges generated with cold snap (vaal cold snap on bosses)
Focussed (triggers inc. cast speed and % double damage -> craft on gloves and staff)
Killed recently (triggers Malediction Ascendency damage ramp up)
Enemy is chilled & frozen
Flasks are active



PoB Items & Flasks:
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Pastebin: https://pastebin.com/EqQuXqDq



My other guides:
Spoiler

OneShotKill Ele Hit Totem Hierophant
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2224772

OneShotKill Ele Hit Totem Reloaded v2.0 on a Scion with life leech
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2305851

Poet´s Pen Arc Warper maxMF Assassin +84% quantaty:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2183006


TABLE OF CONTENT:
01. General Thoughts / Concept
02. Pros / Cons
03. Gear (including recommended corruptions)
04. Jewels
05. Flask Setup
06. Example Gear
07. Gem Linking
08. Defence Layer Overview
09. Offence Layer Overview
10. Map Mods (mitigation)
11. Skill Tree & Ascendency
12. Pantheon & Bandits
13. Leveling
14. Thank you note
X.. FAQ

01 GENERAL THOUGHTS / CONCEPT:
Spoiler

I was heavily inspired by Mathil´s Version of his Ice Nova Occultist. I just wanted to push the DPS even further and increase the survivability.
In addition I wanted to scale the damage effect from the Occultist Ascendency note "Malediction", where you get a 8% damage buff per curse (4 seconds) on an enemy. This iteration runs 4 curses. A bunch of damage to stack.
On top of that, the build comes with a maximum of 7 Power Charges (8 with very end game ring), to push the damage quite a bit because we get a total of 9% increased Spell Damage per Power Charge on top (63% total).
In combination with some nice "Focus" mechanics for single target damage (4 out of 12 seconds = 33% uptime) and generating Frenzy Charges with (Vaal) Cold Snap, the damage is just very promissing.
With decent gear you will easily surpass 4 million total damage. I´m sitting at 4.57 million DPS and I´m far from perfect gear (check out the pastebin).

The effective HP feels pretty nice, since this build has around 4.8k life + 1.5k unreserved mana for "Mind over Matter". On top we run the Enfeeble Curse, which is just such a great defence mechanic.
Mana regen is very important for this build since we generate Power Charges for spending Mana.

How it works:
You cast frostbolt one time and keep pressing Ice Nova ontop for an unreal amount of Ice Novas on the whole screen. You need to get in a good position for your casts. This needs some training...
You move around to the right position with flame dash.
You will curse the monsters on hit with damage and defence curses.



02 PROS / CONS
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Pro:
-insane AoE damage output -> the whole screen explodes and shatters
-utilizing a build with 4 curses (2 offensive curses + 2 defensive curses)
-fairly safe to play, because everything gets chilled / frozen
-do all content in the game (due to "Void Beacon" even HoGM vaiable)
-funny, refreshing playstyle

Con:
-expensive to min max
-cast Ice Nova onto Frostbolts -> needs a bit of training...
-only Flame Dash as movement skill
-two 6-links highly recommended
-no ele reflect maps


03 GEAR SECTION - slot by slot
(see the whole gear at once also under chapter 6)
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HELMET:
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Rare Helmet (crafted with fossils) - aim for rolls:
-life
-nearby enemies have -9% cold resistance
-elemental resistances


Enchanement:
40% increased Ice Nova Damage



WEAPON:
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Multicrafted Staff - "Eclipse" Base
(no shaper based staff needed)
Hint: get a 6-linked eclipse staff for a small amount of currency and craft +2 to cold gems with alteration orbs, regel it and erase the second stat with an orb of annulment (50% success rate) to have a rare item with only 1 stat to start the multicraft.

NOTE: the craft "x% of non-chaos damage as extra chaos damage" is gone since patch 3.6. Consider to craft "x% of cold damage as extra chaos damage instead.




BODY ARMOUR:
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Carcass Jack is pretty best in slot, because of its increased AoE rolls.

Useful corruptions (in this order):
+up to 50% increased damage
+% increased life
+reduced damage taken



GLOVES:
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Rare gloves with "increased cast speed", life and a free suffix to craft "increased cast speed while focussed"


BOOTS:
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Rare Two-Toned Boots to get high resists. Keep in mind, that there is no room for an uber lab enchant, since we have up to 40% total elemental resists as an implicit.



BELT:
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A Stygian Vise is the best belt in slot (besides Headhunter of course...)
Get a belt with some nice damage rolls (fossil crafted belt) with increased elemental damage or increased cold damage (or both), resists and a solid life roll.



AMULET:
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The Atziri´s Foible is in my opinion a very solid amulet for this build, because we get a ton of mana regen and extra mana (also great for Mind over Matter) from it.
It is essential that it is corrupted with +1 curse, so we can run 4 curses.
I bought mine with "you can apply an additional curse" for 1 ex.


RINGS:
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1) One elder based rare ring with "Warlord´s Mark on Hit" for the mana and life leech mechanic (mandatory / needed).
2a) One Opal ring with solid damage, life and resist rolls.

2b) Best in slot Ring (but very expansive) is:
Precursor´s Emblem (Topaz Ring) with:
+1 to maximum Power Charges
+5% increased Damage per Power Charge
+3% to Critical Strike Multiplier per Power Charge

This ring will set the maximum number of PC to 8 = 40% increased damage AND 24% increased crit multi AND 9% increased spell damage AND 40% inc crit strike chance AND 5% AoE. Insanely strong ring...







04 JEWELS
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We need 1 specific unique jewel:
1) Frozen Trail -> to get more frostbolt projectiles (more AoE damage)


Keep in mind, that the (unique) jewels can have useful corruptions, as "immune to corrupted blood" or "increased damage" or "increased critical strike chance" or "immune to silence"

We have several more jewel sockets in the skill tree and one abyss socket on the belt.

aim for the following rolls:
-cast speed -> biggest benefit for our damage
-% increased cold damage-> very good damage boost
-% increased life (or +X to life on abyss jewels)
-% increased critical multiplier (global, for elemetal skills, for cold spells)
-mana regen on abyss jewel



05 FLASK SETUP
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1) Quicksilver Flask -> for movement (aim for increased duration + increased movement speed during flask effent)
2) Life Flask (aim for instant recovery) or get a "Blood of the Karui"
3) Wise Oak -> for up to 15% cold damage penetration during flask effect (NOTE: your uncapped cold resist needs to be the highest elemental resist to work. Don´t forget that in you resist planning!)
4) Silver Flask -> grants Onslaught -> increased cast speed -> most beneficial to this build for damage
5) Diamond Flask -> your effective Crit Chance is improved.

Alternative, if your mana regen is not very good: Lavianga´s Spirit Mana Flask (no mana costs during flask effect) -> will help to spam your frostbolts and ice novas.



06 EXAMPLE GEAR & OUTLOOK
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Outlook:
Best in Slot Ring: 1x Precursor's Emblem (Topaz Ring):
- +1 to Maximum Power Charges
- +3% to Critical Strike Multiplier per Power Charge
- 5% increased Damage per Power Charge



07 GEM LINKING
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WEAPON / BODY ARMOUR (6 link):

first 6-link:
1) Frostbolt (quality increases global cold damage)
2) Greater Multiplier Projectiles (quality reduced damage debuff)
3) Curse on Hit (quality increases curse effect)
4) Frostbite (quality increases curse effect)
5) Slower Projectiles (quality increases damage)
6) Faster Casting (quality increases cast rate)

second 6-link:
1) Ice Nova (quality increases AoE)
2) Hypothermia (quality increases chill duration)
3) Controlled Destruction (quality increases damage)
4) Faster Casting (quality increases cast rate)
5) Concentrated Effect (quality increases damage)
6) Spell Echo (quality increases damage)


GLOVES & BOOTS & HELMET (4-link):
first 4-link:
1) Curse on Hit (quality increases curse effect)
2) Herald of Ice (quality increases (global) cold damage)
3) Enfeeble (quality increases effect)
4) Elemental Weakness (quality increases effect)

second 4-link:
1) Flame Dash (quality increases cooldown)
2) Faster Casting (quality inceases cast speed)
3) Less Duration (quality reduces skill duration)
4) Clarity (no quality needed)

third 4-link:
1) Vaal Cold Snap (level 11)
2) Cast when Damage taken (level 9)
3) Immortal Call (level 11)
4) Increased Duration (level 20) (quality grants more duration)



08 DEFENCE LAYER OVERVIEW
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1) Effective life pool of 5.2k (4.8k life + 30% of unreserved 1.4k mana
2) nearly everything is perma frozen or slowed
3) enfeeble curse -> you take fewer hits
4) life leech with "warlord´s mark on hit"


09 OFFENCE LAYER OVERVIEW
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1) cast frostbolt (8 Projectiles in nearly 180 degree angle
2) frostbolts travel slow, cast Ice Nova in the frostbolts and keep pressing the button = hundrets of ice novas = all frozen and dead
3) much cold damage penetration (items + skill tree +flasks + curses)
4) scale damage with 7 Power Charges


10 MAP MODS (mitigation)
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-reroll "no mana regen"...
-reroll ele reflect


11 SKILL TREE & ASCENDENCY
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Skill Tree: pastebin = https://pastebin.com/EqQuXqDq


Ascendency: Occultist
1) Forbidden Power
2) Profane Bloom
3) Malediction
4) Void Beacon




12 PANTHEON & BANDITS
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1) Soul of Lunaris
2) Soul of Gruthkul

Note: capture all souls with divine vessels -> solid defence buff!
Keep in mind, that it is beneficial to swap the minor god on "Aul, the Crystal King (delve boss) to: Yogul

Help Alira (more crit + more mana regen).


13 LEVELING
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I got pushed in delve mine (need to enter act 4 / highgate) to level 70, equipped gear, startet mapping.
I did not level this char in the regular way.



14 THANK YOU NOTE
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Big thanks to Mathil, his version of the Ice Nova Occultist inspired me to create this version and accomplish more damage and more toughness.
Please consider visiting Mathil on twitch or youtube and support him. He does such a great job for the whole PoE community.



P.S.: I get so many ingame whispers, I hope I could help you all for now. I try to answer all your questions to get this build out in the delve :-)


PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT - THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTERESST IN THIS BUILD













Last edited by Lunasicc187 on Mar 6, 2019, 10:01:43 AM
Last bumped on Sep 26, 2019, 9:35:11 PM
Hi!
Thank you so much for creating the guide! I played Occultist this league with Vortex + Cold Snap CI and had tons of fun with it. This build absolutely runs over Syndicate and turns them into the WORST tier mobs in the game; I find even porcupines and warbands are A LOT more threatening :D

Since I love occultist ascendancy, this time I would like to try something new and your build really makes me interested! I have thought of frostbolt + ice nova/vortex combo and their MTX is just sick. But regarding the guide, my question is why do you keep a high level cwdt (lv 11)? I feel like having a low cwdt + cold snap/immortal call will allow them to activate and generate frenzy charges more often? Also, I assume it's very friendly for league starter as well? Thank you again for pouring your time and effort into the build!
A filthy casual
Last edited by Hologram_o on Mar 2, 2019, 6:28:33 AM
Thanks for the build. Will you update it for the next patch?
What's your PC specs? In the youtube video it looked like your FPS was constantly dropping to 15-20 the entire time. If that's what midgame and endgame will be like, I will definitely not be trying this build. lol
Hi there,

im actually a huge fan of this build but i wonder if you can twerk it into a CI/ES build? been playing life base since i started playing poe and wanna try out ES in 3.6 (cause clearly 3.6 is a CI/ES league)
Hi, i was wondering if this build got any changes to the passive tree !

Thnx and continue the great work =) !!
"
Hi there,

im actually a huge fan of this build but i wonder if you can twerk it into a CI/ES build? been playing life base since i started playing poe and wanna try out ES in 3.6 (cause clearly 3.6 is a CI/ES league)


Yes i was wondering that too, but i think it might not be a problem at all, at least hybrid Life/ES, just get ES/life nodes instead of pure life and adjust ES instead of life in your tree. i will give it a try :D i will do a mix of mathil build and this one in terms of gearing and passive tree
Last edited by c0rnich0n on Mar 7, 2019, 11:03:36 AM
Hi guys,

first things first:

GUIDE IS UP TO DATE FOR VERSION 3.6
See my comments to 3.6 in the first chapter "GAME VERSION & CHANGES / HISTORY".


And now some answers to your questions:

1) I recorded the videos with my laptop, since I was on a trip. The build runs very smooth.
2) The skilltree still works fine.
3) Right now, I can´t figure out a strong ES iteration of the build, because several key items (like the chest) won´t provide ES to scale in a meaningful way. But some rolls (ex: carcass jack) are very strong. Maybe I´ll provide an ES iteration in mid season.

Cheers

How would you make this HC viable?
I've been thinking about a build like this but to combine Spell Echo and Unleash to get 6-10 Nova pulses per cast; first cast is echoed, gives 4 pulses, then Unleash creates 1-3 more depending on how long you stop attacking, which gives 2-6 more. I think if it works this way you can easily get a ton of extra damage for this build.

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