[3.25] Ice Crash-Jugg-2h-Axe-Crit (FREEZE THE GAME) FUN HERE. 94% Crit Rate.

GIF is A8: (end game at the time)

Massive damage boost with the PoB updating to 2.44.1 (Beta) Just gained 17 mil total screen damage today, ROAR!! (7/23/24) This build just went crazy and this is the strongest Ice Crash has ever been. Ever.

Ice Crash doesn't just blow up screens, it freezes them and slows action speed which is insanely defensive using offence alone. With your immense strength you can become a god amongst exiles!

This is my favorite melee skill in any ARPG ever created. Thank you GGG for bringing us back. I have one single goal here. To create the most FUN Ice Crash character in Path of Exile. For me that starts with Juggernaut.

My favorite things about this character. Fat AoE. Super high crit so everything is frozen. Juggernaut because handsome (ascendancy). Easy endurance charges. Flexibility in directing atlas towards so many great nearby benefits (left side of tree is pog). Ice Crash has my favorite MTX in game, Automaton. Very strong in Heist which has some of the highest value items in game, especially this league with the "Ring Mirror" (Kalandra) thing back. Makes Delve silly easy. Melee offers a real challenge. I just beat the game on easy mode for 2 leagues and it get's boring.

I will be playing this character 24/7 this league and will be in game to answer any questions at any time. I love helping in PoE. I may even need your help, as we learn more together with all these changes. So feel free to add me as friends in game! (will post IGN here later)

PoB. This is not final I am not a PoB mastermind, there are things to work on here and you should spend time playing around with it. It is to help level skill points only, as requested. Expect it to be updated as I spend more time in PoB. You will need to enable Beta in PoB options.

For PoB go into options (bottom left) and enable Beta.
"Opt in to beta test builds", then update to it.
PoB Community Fork Version: 2.44.1 (beta)

*None of this gear is an example of exactly what to wear. It just an example character that already exists in game. This is a guide in progress. That said, I think this character would already clear a t17.

-Level 97 PoB
https://pobb.in/WyCEqK53Tytp

-Level 74 PoB (you will not be this geared at 74, focus on HP nodes to start)
https://pobb.in/X3a6IeXifykJ

-Level 56 PoB
https://pobb.in/2JlA4K57DkJL

DPS already looking nuts on a 4 year old character uploaded to create the PoB.
I will likely put points more defensively as I push into t17+. This PoB doesn't touch any of the new tech as they are currently unknowns. I'd rather give you working facts.

Damage listed as Guardian/Pinnacle Boss DPS (Ice Crash has 3 ticks)
First Hit Dmg: 14.5 million
Second Hit Dmg: 12.3 million
Third Hit Dmg: 10.2 million
Total Ice Crash screen damage is 37 million based on distance to center. (This was 20mil before todays PoB update, my goodness)

I have updated the guide to better reflect the AoE pulse that Ice Crash Does. As the ticks are central based damage waves and not stacking. My apologies for confusion. PoE is a simple game.

When an Ice Crash hits it comes out of the ground in a wave. It is pushing out 3 ticks of damage at once based on range. So while it is doing 20+ million damage to the screen it is not hitting 1 monster with all 3. I hope this a better explanation. What Ice Crash excels at is full screen explosions.

This is literally 4 year old gear when I was still a poor boy. If anything is over inflated in configuration it is not intentional. You do not need this much DMG to beat PoE. I do not even have warcry numbers added for damage in it. Nor do I have one of the new banners etc.

GEMS ARE NOT CORRECT THIS IS JUST AN EXAMPLE FOR LEVELING AND DOES NOT CONTAIN OVEREXERTED YET. IT IS A REAL EXAMPLE THOUGH AS I UPLOADED MY 4 YEAR OLD ICE CRASH CHARACTER TO CREATE IT. IT IS NOT STREAMER BAIT POB. I DO NOT POST WHAT IF POBs. I POST REAL BUILT CHARACTERS ONLY!

Life 6048.
Crit chance 94%
Hit chance 100%
Crit Multiplier 602%
Are you drooling yet?

Written 7/18/2024 (Cleared most of the old junk info out on 7/20/24)
This is an older guide of a skill that will be one of the best melee in game now hands down. Fun is what makes this the best.

Due to MASSIVE changes this will not be perfected but will absolutely guide you towards end game in the simplest and strongest of ways. I intend to fully remake this guide from the ground up so that this can be a guide to help for years to come. My build will reflect what I find to be the most fun and overall best version (not an overload of buttons or maxing damage only). It will not be a self temp chains one shot build that gets wrecked by being too slow. It will be extremely balanced so ALL content is viable. Rest assured I will not be slacking on information to help everyone the second I get back from vacation. I'm a 3d sculptor with infinite time on my hands at home.

I am taking a huge family vacation and will be back 2 days after launch (will have my laptop for some play time).
After seeing the patch notes this will be my league starter though. Understand Melee is harder to start with. Cleave/Sweep/Earthshatter/preference will most likely be the easiest leveling/campaign option unless you can tackle Ice Crash mana costs early in game (may not be accurate with mana cost changes to melee gems). Understand a lot of this info below is from an older PoE but the info is important as the concept of how to play the character still exists in this guide and especially in the massive conversations us players have had during leagues using this. If you are newer there is a site called PoENinja that will show you the most current strong Ice Crash characters relevant to more recent leagues. There is a reason this guide has over 300k views. Because I put my heart into it and will again. Thank you GGG. Understand when I made this guide I was a player who made around 30 div per season. Now that I make mirrors per league I can only imagine the power this can obtain and the infinite options to choose from to become an ICE CRASH GOD. I promise to have PoBs for casual players and JUGGERNAUTS of PoE.

The Massive Buffs that instantly make this a top tier melee!

This alone is a reason to be insanely excited. If you have played freeze builds you will understand how insane this is for us.
--Pinnacle Bosses, Shaper Guardians and Elder Guardians can now have up to 50% Action Speed reduction (previously 30%), which buffs the Effect of Freeze on these Bosses.
This change alone means some of these bosses will never land a hit on us. Ever.

Normal Ice Crash is best. Offence is defense.
-Ice Crash: Now has a Mana cost of 10 at gem level 1, scaling up to 14 at gem level 20 (previously 8 at all gem levels). Now has 332% Effectiveness of Base and Added Damage at gem level 1 (previously 230%), scaling up to 611% at gem level 20 (previously 350%).
[/b]

Can't imagine ever using this for any reason.
-Ice Crash of Cadence: Now has a Mana cost of 8 at gem level 1, scaling up to 11 at gem level 20 (previously 6 at all gem levels). Now has 249% Effectiveness of Base and Added Damage at gem level 1 (previously 170%), scaling up to 458% at gem level 20 (previously 250%).

Things to focus on and test.

-Added a new Strength Support Gem, Overexertion: Supports melee attack skills which can be exerted, causing them to deal more Damage for each Warcry exerting them (crazy, new BiS support for all warcry users?). Cannot modify the skills of minions. Vaal skills and channelling skills cannot be exerted.

-Added a new Strength/Dexterity Support Gem, Expert Retaliation: Supports Retaliation Skills, causing them to have more Cooldown Recovery Rate, and become usable for longer. (listed due to information below regarding retaliation buffs/possible armor stacking tech)

-Added a new Strength Skill Gem, Vengeful Cry: Retaliate against a savage hit with a warcry, taunting all nearby enemies to attack the user. The user and nearby allies gain a buff which grants rage and prevents rage from being lost. (not a rage stacker but may want for armor stacking retaliation buff effect/free warcry to enhance the new passive skill gem Overexertion?) (PoE is so simple /s)

There will most likely be a best in slot Tincture for Ice Crash. That said this was not a character that could be played AT ALL with mana burn as we just needed any amount of mana leech to spam skills. But hitting 0 mana can be a death (not high end geared, there are no mana issues). Surely possible and will want to use I just do not have a character with one equipped of course.

Retaliation skills are a current unknown but have potential to be nice, They most likely will not be in an iteration of my first PoB but may become standard once I am richer in game and we have knowledge.

-Example buff: 20% increased Armour for each different Retaliation Skill you've used in the past 10 seconds

-Example buff: 80% increased Duration of Ailments inflicted by Retaliation Skills


Juggernaut Changes:

-The Unrelenting Ascendancy Passive Skill no longer provides +4% to Chaos Resistance per Endurance Charge, or 8% reduced Elemental Damage taken while at Maximum Endurance Charges. Instead, it now provides 1% additional Elemental Damage Reduction per Endurance Charge. (This is a buff)

-The Unbreakable Ascendancy Passive Skill no longer provides "8% of Armour applies to Fire, Cold and Lightning Damage taken from Hits". It now has 15% of Armour also applies to Chaos Damage taken from Hits. (This is neat)

-The small Juggernaut Ascendancy Passive that provided 6% increased Attack Speed now provide 5%.

Item changes
-The Taste of Hate Unique Flask no longer has 10-15% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Cold Damage during Effect. Instead, it now has 20-30% of Fire and Lightning Damage from Hits taken as Cold Damage during Effect. (This is most likely still a BiS flask for us)

Misc.

-Overexertion Support is now offered to the Marauder for completing The Eternal Nightmare, and can be purchased from Petarus and Vanja by the Templar, Duelist, and Scion.

-Crushing Reply Skill Tree Node: Retaliation SKills have 50% inc Stun Duration on Enemies. Retaliation Skills Fortify on Melee Hit. I saw this on the stream today. Might be the easiest Fortify gain now since it is in our altas area.

-As far as Bandits go. I will be choosing Alira for 15% resistances since we lost some with the ascendancy change.

-Hatred: No longer has causes you and nearby allies to deal more Cold Damage. You and nearby allies now gain 30% of Physical Damage as Extra Cold Damage at gem level 1 (previously 16%), scaling up to 39% at gem level 20 (previously 25%).

-Leap Slam: Now has a Mana cost of 6 at gem level 1, scaling up to 10 at gem level 20 (previously 10 at all gem levels). Now has 136% Effectiveness of Base and Added Damage at gem level 1 (previously 100%), scaling up to 314% at gem level 20 (previously 150%).

-Molten Shell: Now has a level requirement of 16 (previously 4), and a Strength requirement of 41 (previously 16) at gem level 1, and is unchanged at gem level 20. As a result of this level requirement change, the Buff now grants +115 to Armour at gem level 1 (previously +50), and is unchanged at gem level 20.

Warcry changes.

-Seismic Cry: No longer grants a buff which makes it easier for you to stun enemies. The user and nearby allies now gain a buff that increases their armour and stun threshold. Buff grants 5% more Armour per 5 Power and 15% increased Stun Threshold per 5 Power, counting a maximum of 25 power. Exerted Attacks now have 50% more Area of Effect (previously 30% increased, and 30% increased Area of Effect per previous Attack Exerted by this Warcry). Now Exerts the next 6 Melee Slam Attacks you perform (previously 4). It has a 2.5 second duration at gem level 1 (previously 4), scaling up to 3.4 at gem level 20 (previously 4.9).

-Intimidating Cry: No longer grants a buff which lowers the effect of enemy physical damage reduction against your hits. The user and nearby allies now gain a buff that grants movement speed. Buff grants 3% increased Movement Speed per 5 Power, and can count a maximum of 30 power. It has a base duration of 2.5 seconds at gem level 1 (previously 4), scaling up to 3.4 at gem level 20 (previously 4.9).

-Rallying Cry: Buff now grants Added Attack Damage equal to 3% of the Damage of your Main Hand Weapon per 5 Power, counting a maximum of 30 power (previously up to a maximum of 20% of Main Hand Weapon Damage). It has a base duration of 2.5 seconds at gem level 1 (previously 5), scaling up to 3.4 at gem level 20 (previously 5.9).

-Enduring Cry: No longer grants a brief burst of life regeneration, or a buff which grants resistances and physical damage reduction based on your endurance charges. Instead, the user and nearby allies gain a buff that grants life regeneration. The Buff grants 2% of Life Regenerated per second per 5 power, and can count a maximum of 25 power. The base duration is now 2.5 seconds at gem level 1, scaling up to 3.4 at gem level 20 (previously 2 at all gem levels). Additionally, nearby allied players are now granted Endurance Charges as well as the user.
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Older information from past leagues that explain the build and how one of this type is played. Specifically a freeze oriented "Ice Crash Axe Crit GOD"


Information below will NOT be up to date but is worth reading (parts of it anyway). My very low cost gear dominated Harvest and is shown below as that character is untouched.

Huge chunk of 3.16 data deleted here on 7/18/24

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Ice Crash Juggernaut final Harvest depth list 9/11/20.
IGN: IceCrashGodofToucan


2h Axe Crit Ice Crash Juggernaut.
Huge AoE. Chill and Freeze everything. Kill bosses easy. Delve it up. Survive chunky hits cause you're tanky.

The Goal
I saw the new Ice Crash coming in 3.11 and decided to make a crit focused build to freeze the game. This was my creation. Inspired by Fleshripper Axe and free Ice Crash conversion. While most went Earthquake builds I saw huge advantage to the AoE with Ice Crash being able to protect you better while Chilling and Freezing. I really never expected my damage to get to these numbers and have been overjoyed by the private messages and thoughts about the build. Love this community! I had not made a youtube video in 11 years before this!

This was my 3.11 league starter and Ice Crash is fun the moment you can snag it.

Pros:
17+ Million Shaper DPS (20+Mil with Loreweave)
1 Button Mapping or 3 button warcry shotgun style game play. Simple.
Only needs one 6 link (for Ice Crash)
8 Endurance/5 Frenzy/4 Power Charges/8 Exerted Attacks
90% Phys Reduction
90% Crit Rate
100% Hit rate
Explodes entire screen (no need for explodey chest)
No Cluster Jewels or gimmicks. Meaning it scales very simply and easily as you level and gear up. Avoids Cluster nerfs for life.
Not full of Harvest craft items that are impossible to make.
All content viable. Most laughable.

Neutral: This is not a slow attacking 1 shot Ice Crash Version. Nor is it a scaling attack speed focused version. It's balanced as to be viable for all content including delve. The goal was to hit that new Ice Crash before the previous third tick was going off. This is why I can stand still face tank in shocking ground with spawns all over me in my delve video.

Cons:
Melee/If you can call blowing a screen up melee.
No Ele Reflect Maps
Weaker at reduced life and mana regen/leech mods.

Videos THESE NO LONGER EXIST. THEY WILL ALL BE REMADE
Videos:


Ascendancy Order:
Undeniable
Unflinching
Unrelenting
Unyielding
Okay to use Unstoppable early on if you're dying to stuns before getting the boots for the build.

Gems
Updated for 3.12 Build
(9/21/20) Switched Helmet and Glove setups due to socket color.
Armour: Enduring Cry-Seismic Cry-Intimidating Cry-Second Wind-Blood and Sand-Increased Area of Effect
Weapon: Ice Crash-Pulverise-Fist of War-Fortify-Awakened Melee Physical Damage-Awakened Elemental Damage with Attacks
Gloves: Hatred-Herald of Ice-Leap Slam-Faster Attacks
Helmet: Cast When Damage Taken-Frostbite-Molten Shell-Blood Rage


Warcries.
Order of importance.
1) Enduring Cry as needed for charges (ignore if Leap slam is giving you full charges)
2) Seismic Cry for monster packs=Leap Slam stun on packs into Ice Crash+Seismic knock-back/Interrupt effect (this is our standard 3 button rotation when at full endurance charges)
Leap Slam>IceCrash>SeismicCry (though we can Ice Crash spam as well)
3) Intimidating Cry for bosses/Intimidate effect (Alternate this and Seismic for maximum Exert bonus)

Example boss combo assuming 0 endurance charges.
IceCrash> EnduringCry>
IceCrash> SeismicCry>
IceCrash> IntimidatingCry> Ice Crash until No Exerted attacks are left>Repeat
In reality. As seen in my videos. Most things are dead before this combo ends. Sometimes I'm lazy and just slap the boss with a war cry and burn him down with ice crash spam but this is the ideal way to maximize damage with exerted attacks.

What I love about this build. Chilling and Freezing things adds an insane amount of survivability (reduced action speed and stuns) I'd never seen in my other Jugg builds. I do not need increased area support to kill an entire screen (amen for pulverise). When I am at full charges mapping I feel like a god and a simple snow flake of damage one shots everything in my way. Deep delve easy.



Did not post jewels as this build uses very few. You want a Watcher's Eye with Cold Penetration when using Hatred. Rest are flexible.
Do note the weapon enchant on my wep is bad. I should NOT have enchanted it to be atk spd instead, it was higher damage without it. Also in PoB the annoint is changed for dual curse instead of the cold pen on my amulet. DO NOT WEAR ABYSSUS LEVELING, IT IS VERY END GAME ONLY (the helmet).

Hey, are you able to do a video of your Build? Maybe in the harder Content like a fully juiced Map/ a strong guardian Map?

Looks very interesting!

"

Larokan wrote:

Hey, are you able to do a video of your Build? Maybe in the harder Content like a fully juiced Map/ a strong guardian Map?

Looks very interesting!

I JUST started a new job so my time is very limited right now sadly. I also actually play this game using a cloud gaming service (not going to advertise which) so it makes a little harder (but i can record)!

I will work on a video guide and show how I send Crusaders into oblivion before next season! As I plan on playing this again.

I just wanted to say I'm having an absolute fucking blast playing this build. It combines 2 of my favorite playstyles in PoE - freezing + meaty Melee.

Seriously if someone is looking at this build and on the fence, I highly recommend it. Very very satisfying gameplay. Just got to maps and have not yet gotten tired of the massive screenwide frozen slams :D

does this build can a8 sirius deathless, t16+ 100% delirium ? uber elder ?

"

Legendary_AK wrote:

I just wanted to say I'm having an absolute fucking blast playing this build. It combines 2 of my favorite playstyles in PoE - freezing + meaty Melee.

Seriously if someone is looking at this build and on the fence, I highly recommend it. Very very satisfying gameplay. Just got to maps and have not yet gotten tired of the massive screenwide frozen slams :D

Oh man you made my day by reading this. This was my first from scratch self build with a skill I had never tried before. I am so glad you are enjoying it as much as I do! I cant wait to play this next season as well and take it even further! I put a LOT of work into min maxing this in PoB and there wasn't much to go on since barely anyone went with Axe/Crit Ice Crash.

Happy Sunday and hope you find the end game as fun as I do with this build!

"

coco34570 wrote:

does this build can a8 sirius deathless, t16+ 100% delirium ? uber elder ?

Yes and I also killed all the delve bosses with this build. As far as delirium 100%, yes, but not all the time. Because some maps arent great for a leap slammer. Though you can certainly use dash/flame dash as well to speed that up I imagine. I just have always loved leaping onto my enemies and getting that group stunned for the ice crash.
Deathless Sirus I find more about knowing where to move, the characters max phys reduc and ive killed a8 sirus this season, several of them deathless. I still find the fight totally horrible though and there are way better builds for Sirus. That said, this build has been capable of anything I've faced.

"

HeroEvermore wrote:

"

coco34570 wrote:

does this build can a8 sirius deathless, t16+ 100% delirium ? uber elder ?

Yes and I also killed all the delve bosses with this build. As far as delirium 100%, yes, but not all the time. Because some maps arent great for a leap slammer. Though you can certainly use dash/flame dash as well to speed that up I imagine. I just have always loved leaping onto my enemies and getting that group stunned for the ice crash.
Deathless Sirus I find more about knowing where to move, the characters max phys reduc and ive killed a8 sirus about 30-50 times this season, several of them deathless. I still find the fight totally horrible though and there are way better builds for Sirus. That said, this build has been capable of anything I've faced.

ty for answer, just sad there is no video ( short ) to see the build !

"

coco34570 wrote:

"

HeroEvermore wrote:

"

coco34570 wrote:

does this build can a8 sirius deathless, t16+ 100% delirium ? uber elder ?

Yes and I also killed all the delve bosses with this build. As far as delirium 100%, yes, but not all the time. Because some maps arent great for a leap slammer. Though you can certainly use dash/flame dash as well to speed that up I imagine. I just have always loved leaping onto my enemies and getting that group stunned for the ice crash.
Deathless Sirus I find more about knowing where to move, the characters max phys reduc and ive killed a8 sirus about 30-50 times this season, several of them deathless. I still find the fight totally horrible though and there are way better builds for Sirus. That said, this build has been capable of anything I've faced.

ty for answer, just sad there is no video ( short ) to see the build !

Short video added just to see it's play style (no flasks and didnt proc frenzy charges). I haven't uploaded a video to my youtube in a LONG TIME, so yeah...enjoy :D

Added some better videos. Will update them as I take better ones.