[3.7] Absolute Zero - Shatter the Endgame (2m+ Shaper DPS 9k+ ES Tanky Worb Trickster All content)

If you have any questions that were not answered in the guide feel free to check out my Twitch where I stream most weekdays: https://www.twitch.tv/tenkiei

3.7 Changes TLDR!
Spoiler
I will be updating this guide fully for 3.7 over time. For now here is a short version:
- ES totals took a hit, without Synth gear expect to have 8-9k ES rather than 10-11k. This is perfectly fine for most content in the game if not all.
- Worb took a damage hit, you will now need to stand still and channel to deal your full damage, so you will want TWO -mana cost rings.

- Trickster's Ghost Shroud mechanic took a hit, you will have to facetank a bit less to maintain a reliable damage buff, this throws off my PoB calculations of dps a little bit.

- We lost Bottled Faith/Circle of Fear.
- We gained access to Historic jewels (many effects yet unknown).




I started this build after playing trickster last league (self cast Ice Spear, self cast Worb), and while I did enjoy it the overall build felt lacking. With the buff to Trickster via Ghost Dance and Escape Artist this league I wanted to give it another shot, and use this as an excuse to test out how a spell-leech focused channeling build would feel.

Thus I came to the decision to pick the incredibly non-meta skill: Winter Orb.
I then researched ways that I could maximize my defenses, I found a combination of items that allow me to leech ES at an effective rate. Further reinforce my recovery with ES gain on hit from my Watcher's eye. Use block, and Spell Block and a small amount of Spell Dodge to further augment this (converting Block to damage with Arcane Swiftness), and then finally adding a combination of Blind/Evasion to further reduce incoming damage.

I've been playing the build for around a week now, refining my gear and tree as I play. Currently I have done multiple deathless Uber Elder fights, a couple Delve bosses, and many Nexus bosses. I find map bosses, red beasts, and syndicate members to be trivial. Above all, this is one of the most enjoyable builds I've played in a long time. It feels strong, it feels smooth, it feels tanky and it does damage!

0.1.0 Table of Contents:
Spoiler

0.1.0 Table of Contents
0.2.0 Pros and Cons
0.3.0 Path of Building
0.3.1 Budget Info
0.4.0 Bandits and Pantheon
0.5.0 Leveling/Tree
0.5.1 Early levels
0.5.2 Mid levels
0.5.3 Early endgame/Mapping
0.6.0 Mechanical Explanations
0.6.1 Dying Sun Mechanics
0.6.2 Pandemonious Mechanics
0.6.3 Watcher's Eye Mechanics
0.6.4 Legacy, Bottled Faith
0.7.0 Gems and Links
0.8.0 In-Depth Gearing
0.8.1 Weapon
0.8.2 Shield
0.8.3 Helmet
0.8.4 Gloves
0.8.5 Boots
0.8.6 Belt
0.8.7 Ring
0.8.8 Amulet
0.8.9 Body Armor
0.8.10 Flasks
0.8.11 Jewels
0.9.0 Boss Kills
0.10.0 FAQ



0.2.0 Pros and Cons:
Spoiler

Pros:
- 8-9k ES allows you to tank large hits.
- between 3.6m and 6.4m shaper DPS absolutely destroys endgame.
- Layered defenses including Block, Blind, and Recovery.
- Clears the screen in an instant.

Cons:
- Cannot do Ele reflect.
- Moderately Expensive, you can league start it, but will want 3-4 ex in gear for endgame.
- Slightly weak to spell damage (Shaper balls, U Atziri flameblast)
- Gear can be restrictive, you might need to shop around.



0.3.0 Path of Building/TLDR:
Spoiler


My PoB (Includes Legacy gear from Synthesis league): https://pastebin.com/kTMnyCan

Roughly 80-100 ex total invested. This version uses Bottled Faith, originally I had Unnatural Instinct as well but as of 3.7 UI is no longer worthwhile. I realize this variant of the build is not achievable anymore but I wanted to preserve it as a showcase of the original.

----

Endgame PoB: https://pastebin.com/p9VpsrjA

This is all expensive gear, but does not use anything legacy, if you find the chest to difficult to roll I suggest going for something without Arcane Surge.

More Budget PoB: https://pastebin.com/rRJk7znc

This is what I would call a minimum in gearing to do content such as Uber Elder comfortably, with practice on the fight this gear is more than plenty.

0.3.1 Want a super cheap (price subject to change!) budget option?
Spoiler

Keep Shroud of the Lightless / Light of Lunaris, drop Dying Sun for Wise Oak or Cinderswallow and drop the weapon for Beltimber Blade. Buy ANY cheap Watcher's eye with "30% increased Maximum total Recovery per second from Energy Shield Leech while affected by Zealotry" this will allow you to clear maps, farm up gear and build your budget for the endgame.




0.4.0 Bandits and Pantheon:
Spoiler
Help Alira, the Crit Multi and Resist is too efficient to give up.

For Pantheon Powers I personally use:
Soul of Solaris, this pantheon gives a huge amount of defensive utility, many dangerous abilities are area damage and as with most defensive setups the more different sources of damage reduction you can stack the more effective each becomes. Make sure to fully upgrade this.
Soul of Yugul, when fully upgraded gives a further 5% damage reduction applied to cold damage, many of the most dangerous enemies in the game such as Aul, the Crystal King and Uber Elder use cold damage.

You can alternatively use Soul of Gruthkul, or Abberath.


0.5.0 Leveling Tree and brief Explanation:
Spoiler

The purpose of this guide is to cover the endgame, so I will not be going into extreme detail about the leveling process.

Ascendancy Order:
Swift Killer --> Ghost Dance --> Escape Artist --> Harness the Void

0.5.1 Early Leveling PoB and Gear: https://pastebin.com/waEF9fqz

I leveled this build using Divine Ire and x2 Princess Unique Saber. None of the other gear is especially important, I used a 4-link for the entire leveling process. You can use Worb, Divine Ire, or Storm Burst with very few changes to the skill tree/gearing.

I leveled as a life based character, wearing ES gear when I could to add a bit of effective HP. Swift Killer carried my damage for a lot of the leveling process, I was squishy but with proper positioning it was doable.

0.5.2 Midgame leveling and Early Mapping: https://pastebin.com/gGQAt0e6

At L70 I converted over to CI after killing Kitava and farming Blood Aqueducts a bit. I used shroud of the Lightless and added my Rumi's, Light of Lunaris, Circle of Fear and a cheap Watcher's Eye to aid in ES leech recovery. This is also where I began to fill out my Crit nodes so that I could fully take advantage of the damage from Light of Lunaris.

0.5.3 Level 90 Early endgame: https://pastebin.com/AtPiC8uz

For the endgame it is important to pick up your Dying Sun, Ruby Flask so that you can gain damage from more Winter Orb projectiles overlapping. Focus on getting resists and ES on gear, if you run into issues with damage, look for more damage focused upgrades next. If you are dying look for more defensively focused upgrades next.


0.6.0 Mechanical Interactions and Explanations:
Spoiler

For the purpose of simplicity, I will be assuming Endgame, or Super Endgame gear for the purposes of these explanations:

Light of Lunaris:
Spoiler
Have you ever seen an item, stopped and said wait.... what!? This does everything! That is how I feel about Light of Lunaris.



This shield really is a core part of the build and has many important mechanical interactions. First of all, you must buy a shield with AT LEAST 32% Chance to Block, this is because "Arcane Swiftness" Gives 5% Increased Spell Damage per 5% Chance to Block Attack Damage. With 32% on the shield itself, 5% from Arcane Swiftness, and a further 3% from Tempest shield. we have 40% chance to block, and thus 40% increased Spell Damage.

Light of Lunaris also gives 1% Critical Strike Multiplier, per 1% chance to Block Attack Damage, and 25% to Critical Strike Multiplier if you have dealt Non-Critical Strike recently. This means that we gain 65% Critical Strike Multiplier from the shield.


We can further increase the damage and defensive value of Light of Lunaris by using Rumi's Concoction, while this flask is active we gain 20% Chance to Block Attack Damage and 10% chance to Block Spell Damage which is a great additional defensive bonus, while also giving us 20% Critical Strike Multiplier and 20% Increased Spell Damage.


Finally, Light of Lunaris adds 39-60 (this has a range) Cold Damage to Spells, which I combine with Wave of Conviction on my CWDT setup to apply Cold Exposure to the enemy. Wave of Conviction hits a wider area than Frost Bomb, and applies faster. You could also self cast this if you wished, but you need a low level Wave of Conviction unless you are using Hatred because COLD damage must be the highest type of damage dealt to apply Cold exposure reducing enemy Cold resistance by 25%.


0.6.1 Dying Sun:
Spoiler


Winter Orb is a Projectile skill that impacts with the ground and "splashes" the more projectiles you fire, the more of the "splashes" will overlap dealing damage to a single target. This means that we combine Winter Orb with Greater Multiple Projectiles, and Dying Sun for a total of 7 projectiles. Roughly 5 of which will overlap most of the time yielding 3.6m Shaper DPS to 6.4m Shaper DPS. As a small bonus, Dying Sun also gives area although I am unsure how much this effects the odds of overlapping because it seems to increase both the radius of the AoE when splashed, and the spread at which the projectiles fire.


0.6.2 Pandemonious:
Spoiler


This amulet is extremely strong both offensively, and defensively. It will cause your Winter Orb hits to penetrate 20% of chilled enemies cold resistance. Defensively it causes your hits against Chilled Enemies to blind them, giving you a 50% chance to Evade attacks. When enemies hit you, they will be chilled.

Given the high damage this build does, it is realistic to assume we will be chilling almost everything in the game. If you ever run up against content that you cannot chill such as Aul the Crystal King deep in delve, you may wish to run a chilling zone such as Vortex or Cold Snap to guarantee the blind/pen.


0.6.3 Watcher's Eye:
Spoiler



0.6.4 Legacy info: Bottled Faith
Spoiler
I'm expecting Bottled Faith to see a nerf soon. If you run the Zealotry Aura, most rare or unique enemies will always be standing on consecrated ground. This gives you BASE critical strike chance, which is multiplied by your increases to Critical Strike Chance (564% in super endgame gear). If this was all the flask did then it would be fully worth using.

However it also causes enemies standing on consecrated ground created during the flask effect to take 7-10% Increased damage from all sources. You can essentially read this mod as "deal 7-10% more damage to enemies standing on consecrated ground"




I further combine this with a Zealotry Watcher's Eye causing enemies to take 8-10% increased damage while standing on consecrated ground.

This eye has the additional effect granting you (20-30) Energy Shield on Hit. This build hits at an incredibly high rate (Winter Orb alone hits 37+ times a second, plus the hits generated by Storm Brand, Tempest Shield, and Wave of Conviction. If we assume 40 Hits per second as an average, this means we recover 1,160 ES per second on single target from this Watcher's Eye mod. When combined with the 2,390 we leech this is 3,550 per second which provides strong recovery.

It is largely due to this Life on Hit in combination with Leech that makes this build feel as strong as it does. If you are lacking in funds and not sure which of the expensive items to take, you feel your damage is in a good spot but your defenses are a little bit iffy, grab any Discipline ES on hit eye, and enjoy the easy life.

NOTE: You can optionally take Zealot's Oath to add 600 ES Regenerated per second while on consecrated ground.




0.7.0 Skill Gems and Links:
Spoiler

Main Links:
Winter Orb - Greater Multiple Projectiles - Infused Channeling - Controlled Destruction - Cold to Fire (if using Shroud) Otherwise: Hypothermia - Efficacy (for mapping) or Cold Penetration (for bossing) If you have no white sockets you may substitute in Energy Leech Support on bosses.

Auras:
Vaal Discipline - Herald of Ice - Enlighten - Zealotry or Hatred (Pick 1, matching your Watcher's Eye, Zealotry is far better Quality of Life with Bottled Faith, Hatred is more raw damage with a good eye.)

CWDT/Exposure:
Cast When Damage Taken - Immortal Call - Tempest Shield - Wave of Conviction or Frost Bomb You can use Frost Bomb as an alternative, but Wave of Conviction is more effective with this setup.

Curse on Hit:
Storm Brand - Curse on Hit - Assassin's Mark or Frostbite - CWDT or Blind.

you will want some sort of Curse application, you can either automate it with CWDT (if so you may opt to use Ball Lightning as it performs better on packs of enemies). Or run Blind support and cast Storm Brand manually if you do not have Pandemonious. You can also self cast this and add Onslaught Support, to boost your damage as you will have 100% uptime on bosses.

Vaal RF:
Vaal Righteous Fire - Increased Duration

Longer duration on your Burst window.

Portal Gem:
Portal (yep this is just for QoL)

Movement Skill: (pick one or both)
Flame Dash - Faster Casting - Arcane Surge (if not built into your chest. Do not level this past 8.)
Shield Charge - Faster Attacks - Fortify
Whirling Blades - Faster Attacks - Fortify

Additional Utility:
Level 1 Divine Ire in a weapon swap, channel to gain Power and Frenzy charges before combat.


0.8.0 In-Depth Gearing:
Spoiler

0.8.1 Weapon:
Spoiler



Look for a 1-handed weapon (most likely a Dagger, Scepter, or Wand), the most important stat to look for is 16-20% of Elemental Damage as Extra Chaos Damage and a tier 1 suffix.

In-depth details about Worb dps scaling, credit to u/aggix


Your strongest damage scalars on weapon in rough order are:
Non-Chaos as Extra Chaos Damage / Elemental Damage as Extra Chaos Damage / Cold Damage as Extra Chaos Damage > Spell Damage / Cold Damage / Cold Damage to Spells / Critical Strike Multiplier > Cast speed > Critical Strike Chance for Spells / Lightning Damage to Spells / Fire Damage to Spells / Penetration.

I am not counting area damage here, on the one hand it is very powerful for scaling Worb as it increases the chance of a projectile landing on target. However it is a difficult stat to get.

If you want a cheaper starter weapon you may want to try a search such as:
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Synthesis/aqdw4Mse

Fire, Cold, or Lighting damage to Spells, Hybrid Spell Damage/Mana, Damage Penetrates Elemental Resistances, or Damage Penetrates Cold Resistance are also good stats to look out for.

Play around with the parameters and import weapons into PoB to see what gives you the most dps.

NOTE: If you are on an extremely tight budget, you may consider using a Beltimber Blade. In general a 10-20c caster weapon will perform better (especially if you purchase one with elemental damage as extra chaos, and high cast speed). However if they are cheaper than 10c it might be a good way to get started. Remember that while Worb does fire multiple projectiles, they are fired in a cluster which does splash damage, so if you fire 7 with a Beltimber you cannot expect all 7 to hit a single target such as a boss. If you are using a Beltimber, and trying to save money you can drop the Dying Sun for a Wise Oak (thanks faytte for the suggestion.)



0.8.2 Shield:
Spoiler

Look for a shield with at least 32% Block chance, beyond that try to get high rolls on the Damage to Spells > Spell Crit > Energy shield.

Having at least 32% block chance is VERY IMPORTANT, because Arcane Swiftness functions in lots of 5% so if your total chance to block attack damage is 39% you will have 5% less spell damage than if it was 40%.


0.8.3 Helmet:
Spoiler


Any ES helmet will work, you can go for a vanilla ES base. A Shaper helmet or Elder helmet with added damage to spells.

3.7 Note:
Although Dense fossils were nerfed it is likely still worthwhile to roll your helmet using Dense / Frigid.




Try to get a Winter Orb enchant on your helmet. +2 Maximum Stages is the best, but Damage or Area of Effect per Stage is better than nothing.

If you want to craft a helm from scratch using a white base I would suggest using Dense and Frigid fossils, so that you can have the suffix "of the underground" nearby enemies have -9% to Cold Resistance. It won't be too difficult of a craft I unfortunately couldn't do this because I needed the fire res on my helmet (Frigid fossils prevent any "fire" tagged affixes from rolling).


0.8.4 Gloves:
Spoiler


Any ES gloves with resists and Strength or Dexterity. You can craft these yourself using Dense Fossils, or purchase them. If you want something more expensive I suggest Fingerless Silk Gloves or multimodded Temple gloves with "Increased Damage with Hits against Chilled Enemies."



I feel like gloves are the ideal slot to roll with a Hollow Fossil, so that you can boost your max ES even further (and boost damage with an abyssal jewel). It is easier to roll the gloves with hollow fossils as all you need is ES whereas on your boots you will likely want movement speed.


0.8.5 Boots:
Spoiler


Again just any old ES boots with ES, Resists, and Movement speed. Nothing too special is required, you can use Sin Trek while gearing up or craft yourself some high end boots like mine (il84). For lab enchants cold damage if you've been hit recently, or damage penetrates if you haven't killed recently are the best offensively.

You can make a decent base using il84 Sorc boots, and two other boots of any ilevel all 3 with the same fractured mods, craft Flat energy shield onto them (reroll till you hit 34 on all 3 for best results) and then spam either Dense fossils, or Dense/Shuddering.


0.8.6 Belt:
Spoiler


A corrupted Bated Breath with Increased Maximum ES or Discipline Aura effect is great, if you want something with resists on it, you should craft on a crystal base using Frigid and Dense fossils. You can additionally use a Shaper base to give yourself access to the % Increased Maximum Energy Shield prefix.

Legacy Synthesis Belt:
Spoiler


If you want to get deep into the crafting rabbit hole, you can craft a belt like this. I used belts with fractured Fire or Lightning Resistance, and fractured To Maximum Energy Shield, then rolled my Dense/Prismatic Fossils (likely not worthwhile as I never hit Body Armor + Elemental damage so you may wish to just stick to Dense).


0.8.7 Rings:
Spoiler


Legacy Synthesis Ring: Circle of Fear
Spoiler



For one ring I use Circle of Fear for the damage boost it gives, while also reducing Herald of Ice mana reservation so that I can run Zealotry, Discipline, and Herald of Ice. If you have an Enlighten 4 and Influence, Sovereignty, or Leadership you may be able to drop this for Mark of the Shaper, a high end shaped ring that adds damage to spells / spell damage, or a Circle of Fear with Increased Buff Effect / Increased Cold Damage.

Ideally you will want to buy this or synthesize it yourself with 6-7% Increased Maximum Energy Shield and -2 to Mana cost of Skills. This can be accomplished by combining a fractured Circle of Fear with -30-40% Herald of Ice Mana Reservation and rare 2 rings with 2 fractured properties.

You will want the fractured rings to have +26 to Maximum Energy Shield and any matching second fractured affix. Scour both and craft -6 or -7 to mana cost of skills (Totaling 13).

The odds:
Spoiler
This will give:
33% chance for 1 implcit.
66% chance to 2 implicits.
50% chance for a useful second herald affix.
66% chance to get 1 of the affixes you want.
33% chance to get both.

So this means 50% * .66 * .33 = 10% chance to get everything you want,
and ~27% chance to get something usable.




For your rings, anything with +To Maximum Energy Shield, resists and an open prefix will do. You want to be able to craft at least -6 to -7 Mana Cost to Skills on it, so that you will be able sustain your mana costs channeling Winter Orb.

This build has extremely low mana regeneration, and gets around it by using -mana cost to rings you want at LEAST -14 Mana cost so your Worb costs as little mana as possible (ideally 3 or less).


0.8.8 Amulet:
Spoiler


Just use Pandemonious, the combined damage and defenses it offers makes it irreplaceable to me currently. You can alternatively use a Solstice Vigil, or rare amulet. Solstice Vigil will allow you to maintain Worb at higher stacks for longer while mapping, a rare amulet is often much cheaper.

An Aul's Uprising for Zealotry would also be worth considering to allow you to pick up Aspect of the Spider somewhere on gear.


0.8.9 Body Armor:
Spoiler


If you're on A Budget get a Shroud of the Lightless instead. You can also get one that is corrupted with +2 to Duration, AoE, or Projectile gems to further increase Winter Orb damage.

If you want to use a rare chest, look for a Carnal Armor, or Sadist Garb, ilevel 86 either generic or Shaper Touched and roll it with Dense / Aetheric (and optionally Sanctified) Fossils. Dense will give Increased Evasion and Energy Shield, Aetheric will potentially give you a pseudo 7-link with Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 1 Arcane Surge, and on Shaper Touched bases give you a better chance to roll Spells have +1-1.5% Critical Strike Chance. This is again Base Crit which means it is multiplied by all of your increases from "% Increased Critical Strike Chance"

The reason we use an Evasion/ES base is because Escape Artist causes your chestpiece to grant +1 to Energy Shield per 6 Evasion Rating, which allows us to double dip a bit on our defenses by picking up chance to Evade while also stacking ES.


0.8.10 Flasks:
Spoiler


LEGACY: Bottled Faith is an extremely powerful damage flask, for almost all builds (especially so for crit builds).

Diamond Flask is a must have for crit builds. Of heat to remove/prevent Freeze and Chill. Diamond Flask causes your critical strike chance to be rolled twice, and the higher roll taken. What this means is if the game rolls twice, and on one roll you would not crit, and on the other you would it picks the one where you will crit.

Rumi's Concoction added defenses and damage as covered earlier.

Quicksilver flask for movement, of Warding to be curse immune.

Dying Sun is strongly advised, as explained earlier.

As Bottled Faith is now Legacy, I suggest replacing it with a Wise Oak just make sure Cold Resistance is your highest uncapped resistance uncapped being the right hand number IE: 75%/(112%) on your defenses page. You can alternatively use Cinderswallow if your focus is clearing and you add a small amount of fire damage to your spells to ignite enemies.


0.8.11 Jewels:
Spoiler



As of 3.7 you do not want to use Unnatural Instinct/Might of the Meek, F.

Energy from Within grants you higher Energy Shield by transforming the nodes near Melding from 25% Increased maximum Energy Shield to 40% Increased maximum Energy shield.

When searching for Watcher's Eye mods I would look for an eye with one defensive line, and one offensive line.

Defensively you want:
20-30 Energy Shield Gained for Each Enemy Hit while Affected By Discipline, this is the strongest single mod you can get and provides a huge amount of defense.

If you cannot afford that:
You can use 30% Increased Maximum Total Recovery Rate of Energy Shield while Affected by Zealotry, this is weaker, but still solid (it will give you ~600 ES/sec vs ~1200). This also means your second property would need to be Zealotry related.

Offensively you want:
+1.2-1.8% Critical Strike Chance while Affected by Hatred
Adds 58-70 to 88-104 Damage while Affected by Hatred

Both of these mods grant extremely high offensive power, but require you to run Hatred which will lead to less quality of life and less effective damage due to enemies not being on consecrated ground as reliably.

Consecrated Ground you Create while Affected by Zealotry Causes Enemies to take 8-10% Increased Damage
Critical Strikes Penetrate 8-10% of Enemy Elemental Resistances while Affected by Zealotry

These are both strong offensive mods for Zealotry, and are what you should try to combine with Discipline ES on hit for the best mix of offense, defense, and effective damage.

The last jewel should be any rare jewel with "Corrupted Blood Cannot be Inflicted on You" if you have that one one of your unique jewels, then search for applicable modifiers to Max ES > Critical Strike Multiplier > Cold / Spell Damage > Critical Strike Chance.



0.9.0 Boss kills:
Spoiler

Shaper Guardians
https://youtu.be/pLq2roSQ1WU

Elder Guardians (T16)
https://youtu.be/B9c91mj29M4

Uber Elder
https://youtu.be/R3ONNO8zIPk

Kurgal, the Blackblooded (Depth 519)
https://youtu.be/PbDicgNIfsI

Synthesis Boss
https://youtu.be/JdsTwf1oInI

The Cortex (sadly not deathless)
https://youtu.be/bbuFFW5o938

Aul the Crystal King (Depth 382)
https://youtu.be/qKP9yhl1aQA

Have another boss you want to see? Let me know!


0.10.0 FAQ:
Spoiler

Is this build dead in 3.7?
No it's not. It has survived 3.7 although it did lose a lot of quality of life. You need to continually channel Worb to maintain the high firing speed/optimal damage output. I can no longer vouch for how smooth Worb will feel to play as a skill. However many of the basic mechanics of this build are unchanged, and if Worb feels terrible consider Divine Ire or Storm Burst.

Can I play this as an Elementalist?
No you can't, as of 3.7 Elementalist is in a poor state and not well suited to ES based builds.

Can I play this as an Occultist?
Yes you can! Take Void Beacon first while leveling, then Vile Bastion after Uber Lab transition by grabbing Profane Bloom and Malediction. You will need to change your Curse on Hit setup to apply 2 curses which means dropping Blind/CWDT. Much of the rest of the build is the same, I suggest an Incandescent Heart or crafted Vaal Regalia.

Is this HC Viable?
I have not played it on HC personally, however someone recently approached me about gearing/playing the build on SHC, this is his results:
Spoiler
"
dsata wrote:
Hey everyone - I just wanted to give some feedback from an HC standpoint. I am absolutely LOVING this build. I've sunk most of my currency into this build and it wasn't cheap. HC community isn't as good as SC but it's for sure manageable. I wanted to min/max some of my items so I went for some amazing rolls on things. I killed Shaper at level 82 and I have SO many missing points into crit - I presume I would be able to take him down even faster at level 90+. Build feels smooth... reliable... and most importantly fun. I am a HoA player and use to having 16-18k ES but with this char I am sitting about 9.1k and it feels safer than my Agony did at half the ES. The leech is insane and recovery is phenomenal.

Here is my pastebin in case anyone wanted to take a peek into my build: https://pastebin.com/SCLsqz6y

FYI - The creator of this build is also amazing and spent most of the day answering my questions. He even went on stream to help me with one of my legacy builds. I will continue supporting this man and wish him the best of luck in the future. Also, don't hesitate to ping me in-game guys as I can walk you through anything HC related - been playing ONLY HC since Beta.


Is this SSF Viable?
It would be very difficult to play on SSF, as the build hinges upon Light of Lunaris for a lot of its defenses and damage. If you have this, then yes you can probably make substitutions for the other pieces.

Can it kill bosses?
Yes, all of the bosses I have faced so far have been handled quite well by the build. I am hoping to find Aul soon for further testing.

Does Wave of Conviction apply Cold Exposure?
Yes it does, so long as the spell does more Cold damage than it does Fire or Lightning Damage.

How does this compare to Eternity Shroud builds?
In terms of raw numbers, lower damage. But in most cases it will feel better to play as you'll actually be able to take a hit and survive.


0.11.0 Changelog:
Spoiler

Guide Posted:
Spoiler
Minor clarifications to mechanics & updated some gear.

Updated gear to include my new helmet/gloves.

Kurgal, Uber Elder, and all 8 Guardians added.

Clarified mana costs and ring crafting, updated my PoB & belt setup.

Synthesis kill added.


Updates and Clarifications.
Spoiler
Upgraded gear explained a bit more, clarified weapons.
Further clarified weapons.

Clarified in-depth explanations more, added a super budget TLDR.
Updated trees for L100 variants.

Added a table of contents.
Cortex Added
Aul Added


Guide updated for 3.7
Last edited by Tenkiei on Jun 6, 2019, 12:11:59 AM
Last bumped on Sep 6, 2019, 9:20:01 AM
reserved for future use.
wow this build does so much damage not only that I was able to find the love of my life i grew to 6'3" and i get a headhunter almost every map thank you for showing me this build it has changed my life
Can you compare please to Eternity Shroud version? (wich prob more espensive)
In terms of:
- speed
- dmg
- defence
- comfort play

Also what about Energy Leech gem? Doesnt it BiS for WO setup?
Last edited by omgree on Apr 4, 2019, 10:36:37 AM
"
omgree wrote:
Can you compare please to Eternity Shroud version? (wich prob more espensive)
In terms of:
- speed
- dmg
- defence
- comfort play

Also what about Energy Leech gem? Doesnt it BiS for WO setup?


Energy leech is ~40% damage while you are leeching energy shield. However this build tops itself quite quickly in which case the value drops to 24%. If we assume you're spending equal time leeching, and at full, (realistically you will spend more time at full than leeching) this means an average value of 32% or lower. In my current gear Slower Projectiles or Added Cold damage is roughly 31%. So while you can use Energy Leech especially if you don't have the Discipline Life on Hit gem it's not a huge damage boost and is inconsistent.

If we're talking eternity shroud, are we talking the life version? or CI?

- speed (Everything on the screen is dead either way, picking up a Solstice Vigil or Headhunter on any version will increase your mapping speed).

- dmg (The damage is higher, depending on your budget you can get roughly 20% more damage but realistically you will sacrifice defenses to do this.)

- defense (worse, I'm up to 9.7k Energy Shield. If I were to put on an Eternity Shroud this would drop by ~1500 leaving you at ~8.2k. If we're talking life based most seem to be ~4000 life / 1000 mana / 1000 ES but the recovery on a life hybrid will be much lower than my current setup. As a warning, your ES will drop very low if you do not have extremely good gear, if I were in mediocre gear and put on an Eternity Shroud I end up with ~7.2k ES which is doable but squishy.)

- comfort play (Assuming you were CI, and just switching the chest piece out for eternity shroud the comfort may not change by that much. Switching out Efficacy support drops the comfort level. Going life hybrid drops the comfort because the recovery from ES leech and ES on hit lets you tank a lot more damage. Overall if we're just talking the mechanics of how the skill would play then the comfort would not change much. But it will feel worse to die due to lower recovery so I would say going eternity shroud lowers overall comfort.)
Hey mate, I am thrilling with the build right now, but I am having strong mana issues, what should I do? There is nothing addressing mana in the guide, I got enlighten level 4 but my mana is barely enough with all auras and I run out of mana even without Zealotry. Can you please help me out?
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Hey mate, I am thrilling with the build right now, but I am having strong mana issues, what should I do? There is nothing addressing mana in the guide, I got enlighten level 4 but my mana is barely enough with all auras and I run out of mana even without Zealotry. Can you please help me out?


Do you have -6 to -7 to Maximum Mana costs on your rare ring? If not that would be the first place to start as otherwise you won't have enough mana regen to sustain your mana costs.

The build uses extremely low mana regen because the cost on Winter Orb goes as low as 10 in final gear, it is a little awkward but playable on as high as 14.

You should have as a minimum:
-7 from ring.
-3 from lucidity.
(-10 total which puts you at ~14, this can be a little awkward if you have less than 120 unreserved mana but is playable.)

You may also opt to pick up:
-9 from ring instead of -7
and -2 from your Circle of Fear
(-14 total, putting you at a mana cost of 10, so you should comfortably be able to channel for 1 second to keep your Worb stacks up.)


If this still is not enough, you can opt to drop Influence, and pick up Sovereignty (you will need to steal 2 points from somewhere to do this). That should allow you enough unreserved mana to channel for longer, or even to add clarity if you desire.

-----

When possible you want to channel in medium length bursts so that you keep Infusion up and refresh charges via Swift Killer, so try to avoid the habit of standing in place channeling Worb where it channels once - you run out of mana - it channels - you run out of mana. This is a bad habit I myself have fallen into a few times. Later tonight I'll clarify the mechanics section to explain about the mana.
Thank you, I invested in a new ring and crafted the prefix - the mana situation is way better now. Thanks for the attention and for the mechanics tips as well, I will keep an eye on your updates and keep posting! Great guide, I am really enjoying the build, can't wait to get better gear and more levels.
You're welcome, and I'm glad you're enjoying the build.
So it seems trading out the mainhand for beltimer is not a bad option at all. You lose damage obviously, but gain 2 projectiles (using your POB, the 776154 dps per projectile goes down to 484860 dps per project , but 5 projectiles (3.8M) vs 7 projectiles (3.4M) and that is without counting Far Shot giving another 30% more potentially.

Given you can get the beltimer for like...20 chaos, that might be an easy way to save a lot on this build.

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