Skitterbots + Bonechill support

I've been using Skitterbots linked to Bonechill support but I'm not really sure if the increased damage taken portion of the skill actually works. The increased chill effect does work.

With the support, my Skitterbots have 63% increased chill effect which mean they are doing 16% chills vs base of 10%. So the increased cold damage taken should be 16% which is massive for just an additional 7% reservation from the support.

I found a few vague posts with some googling that says it does work, but if it's as good as it seems, it's strange that there is not much said about it. For total 42% reservation with both linked, you get shocks, chills and 16% increased cold damage taken. That's pretty much always better than 50% Hatred aura.

So does anyone know for sure if the increased damage taken portion does work?

Only the last two wouldn't work, since Skitters don't create a "chilling area", such as with Vortex, and instead use an aura to chill mobs directly. The first two work just fine.

Yeah I know only one of them would work if it does work. 16% increased cold damage taken is a lot for this combo to not really be mentioned much a lot or mandatory in any cold damage build. That's what's the strange thing.

PoB doesn't show the increased damage taken as well. Hence me posting here.

PoB can't account for a variety of things. But with the way Bonechill works, you can apply it with one skill (Skitters in your case) and take advantage of its "increased damage" effects with another skill that doesn't have Bonechill support.

So the two chill mods apply to your Skitters chilling ability, your cold skills can take advantage of the first two increased damage mods (looks like you're Winter Orb, so only the first one in your case), and the last two increased damage mods have no effect since there's no chilling area.

Adding another skill into the mix to create chilling areas, such as Arctic Breath, would then open up those last 2 "increased damage" mods as well.

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PoB doesn't show the increased damage taken as well. Hence me posting here.

If the community fork doesn't show it, I would post in the PoB thread. There are always things that need clean up.

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aggromagnet wrote:

PoB can't account for a variety of things. But with the way Bonechill works, you can apply it with one skill (Skitters in your case) and take advantage of its "increased damage" effects with another skill that doesn't have Bonechill support.

So the two chill mods apply to your Skitters chilling ability, your cold skills can take advantage of the first two increased damage mods (looks like you're Winter Orb, so only the first one in your case), and the last two increased damage mods have no effect since there's no chilling area.

Adding another skill into the mix to create chilling areas, such as Arctic Breath, would then open up those last 2 "increased damage" mods as well.

Thanks. Yep, this is how I thought it worked but couldn't confirm easily.

Interesting that we can get double the effect by also using another skill like Arctic Breath. Have zero room for more gems though so can't do that. Current POE is heavily socket starved because there's so many things you can add to a build.

With my cold damage build I have:
- 4L - Awakened curse on hit + 2 curses + Armageddon Brand (it also ignites to gives extra 10% damage taken from Cinderswallow)
- Two 4L: Auras everywhere: Discipline, Skitterbots, Clarity, Herald of Ice, Zealotry. Enlighten
- 3L Frostbomb + Bladeblast on CWDT for exposure and unnerve
- Movement skill (I use Withering Step + Enhance. Instant cast + phasing and 49% incr speed)

So zero space to fit in more things like CWDT + Immortal Call, Arctic Breath etc.

Wonder what will happen in POE 2. We will probably have more room for gems to experiment so I'll finally be able to fit in everything I want in a build.

You could replace that Blade Blast with Cold Snap. Blade Blast likely isn't doing you much good, as the Unnerve it gives is just 10% increased damage. Arctic Breath could work too, but its targeting is a bit less reliable when triggered.

Unnerve is 10% increased spell damage taken which is actually massive for a 2L CWDT. No reason to give that up.

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SaiyanZ wrote:

Unnerve is 10% increased spell damage taken which is actually massive for a 2L CWDT. No reason to give that up.

Cold Snap would give you more than that due to the Bonechill interactions though. It creates chilling area for you, which then opens up the secondary Bonechill increased damage mod for your Winter Orb against chilled mobs in the Snap area. The chilling area also lingers, whereas the Unnerve is gone as soon as affected mobs die.

You just don't have much going on that gets real synergy from Blade Blast.

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aggromagnet wrote:

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SaiyanZ wrote:

Unnerve is 10% increased spell damage taken which is actually massive for a 2L CWDT. No reason to give that up.

Cold Snap would give you more than that due to the Bonechill interactions though. It creates chilling area for you, which then opens up the secondary Bonechill increased damage mod for your Winter Orb against chilled mobs in the Snap area. The chilling area also lingers, whereas the Unnerve is gone as soon as affected mobs die.

You just don't have much going on that gets real synergy from Blade Blast.

Using Cold Snap would give 16% increased cold damage taken. So just 6% more than Unnerve from Blade Blast.

Realized that I can fit both on though after moving a few things around. So will use them all like so:




Ignoring the Shock from Skitterbots, this setup adds:

- 16% incr damage taken from Skitterbot chill
- 16% incr damage taken from Cold Snap chill
- 10% incr damage taken from Blade Blast Unnerve
- 25% reduced cold resistance from Frost Bomb

Pretty decent vs bosses.

Now there is really no room to move things around. Wanted to mirror some ES gear with Abyssal socket but they will be a damage nerf as I won't have room for gems. Rest of setup: