[0.9.11] Ice Witch CI crit build

Hi I was wondering what type of gear should I be using while leveling? Armor, ES, or evasion? What weapon at lower levels wand and energy shield? I never play casters so I have a hard time surviving.

what do u think? its good? 1h+shield CI ice crit build

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kayrems wrote:

what do u think? its good? 1h+shield CI ice crit build

Spoiler

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAQMBlhxlajLqueyQaVMl4vYHPSF52nrt17l4YEcEyXKgn1NT-uivp5h6kYOIsqqIgaM6mSa45YKqKcQETGTDmFSqZGbHNdv1ObqP_Zht070hu1bNymZjSUc4nAcmypY_nl9NTTO-q3cAFgmpvwdi9ORqZoksSA-xirh6j7uWdQM5K8w1GOsrVvIJO4KpdEEbopNcfIbKGYhfdyHFW8KbNLPZiEWW1eEYum2E6hb9v0g8KYktSLvh9wUQzmVuL4iTzqa3nRGwDZ24wGIi_WqVvXvpPxsXkD8FqptVP3hcnmM6v8icxUTNxLMneVwLoujt2XhI-JMbnInNSgKbjdYi_zi6cz7tBLG-dNDXfPbQmrBJfaKLZrYS-uMZkw0xJ5yuc3EDCEU--ey1jdPhfYrT8GFrFKVis38IYsDkji3D0uVFZRpM4zQJb0BPh4-7Cp2FDkXvYrvqlOBLbLYmt_8HRZcBdQAQV8RCTNa82Qkd2YczP2pYtT9PBQnIGow8-b9BRTwYh94lk0yv9UNnwpenAM5rSIxZPu_IOTABw37DfaefGF8Us3qtT0NZfcOVX_8Te5b5fehJOIhFMU5zbWHF

First off, I would recommend not doing a lvl 100 build. Mainly because it just isn't probable (years of work).

Make a build based on a more attainable lvl, like 60 to start, and then up to 70-75.

Take off those wand damage passives. Cold/CI/Crit witches don't swing their wand...at all. Unless you're planning on using Power Siphon

Just my two cents, take it with a grain of salt.

Also, has anybody tried dual wield dagger or wand combo with a typical CI/Cold build? Thinking on trying it out to see what the damage increase is.

I'm actually curious what map level people are doing - I've gotten my level 31 witch into Cruelty (at 29) and I actually had a significantly difficult time killing elite mobs with life regen - there was one that I just couldn't kill because it also had cold damage - which would slow me and my cast speed down - so I couldn't put out near enough damage to make use of crits...


One thing I have found useful in cruelty is the ice wall - holy crap - that has saved me from a ton of incoming damage, particularly with ranged - and when you're running with Clarity - you can pretty much keep a wall up between you and the enemy at all times.

Now that wall is SUPPOSED to push mobs back, but sometimes they do get stuck in it, and actually come through the wall to you, so make sure you're placing it between you and the mob.

Are any other 3C Witches using ice wall??

With ice wall, I'm going to start trying out duel wielding weapons - which will unfortunately negate the 3 points I took on the left side of the tree for extra ES from shield - with ice wall, I'm not taking as much damage as I used to - but it would be nice to dish out some more damage.

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Prostasisx wrote:

I'm actually curious what map level people are doing - I've gotten my level 31 witch into Cruelty (at 29) and I actually had a significantly difficult time killing elite mobs with life regen - there was one that I just couldn't kill because it also had cold damage - which would slow me and my cast speed down - so I couldn't put out near enough damage to make use of crits...


One thing I have found useful in cruelty is the ice wall - holy crap - that has saved me from a ton of incoming damage, particularly with ranged - and when you're running with Clarity - you can pretty much keep a wall up between you and the enemy at all times.

My witch using these suggestions for my build is lvl 30. I was having some issues with dmg in the mid to late 20's as well. I switched to Lesser Proj and Crit Dmg support gems with Freezing Pulse which made a big difference along with a much better Dagger at lvl 28 with crit and good spell dmg. Also, I think you have to be close to the mob to max the DPS of Pulse

Haven't tried Ice wall yet, I will now :)

Very helpful topic guys, keep up the discussion

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Prostasisx wrote:

which will unfortunately negate the 3 points I took on the left side of the tree for extra ES from shield

Anything that specifically says Energy shield will be negated yeah but anything that says block chance will not. You receive passive block chance whenever you are dual wielding. I am assuming heavily here but so far this game has been very straight forward as far as the mechanics. crit chance for instance affects anything that has the ability to crit unless specifically stated otherwise. So dual wielding wands should give some block chance.

If anyone can confirm that assumption would be great

I just checked in game, in hindsight i was pretty stupid for not doing this before lol, dual wielding wands does give block chance.

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Prostasisx wrote:

I'm actually curious what map level people are doing - I've gotten my level 31 witch into Cruelty (at 29) and I actually had a significantly difficult time killing elite mobs with life regen - there was one that I just couldn't kill because it also had cold damage - which would slow me and my cast speed down - so I couldn't put out near enough damage to make use of crits...

Are any other 3C Witches using ice wall??

You would need to start using curses like Elemental Weakness or Critical Weakness.

Since you are already level 31 I'd suggest start using totems too.

Yes, totem + summon skeleton makes all fights real easy including all bosses.

I had Murpdizzle stop by my stream last night and offer some advice and help - I had already been using Critical Weakness aura, and am now looking to pick up the elemental one instead.

I was severely under using ice spear (name?) - Coupled with my leveled crit damage gem, that spell is amazing... I think I got that ability gem later on in my leveling, and when i was first using it, it just seemed really under powered so I think I benched it for awhile - but now - it's beautiful - especially since you can throw up frost wall right in front of you, and then cast your ice spear through the wall taking out mobs from a distance - great for totems and those pesky necromancers!

I've also taken up the suggestion of double wands - I will probably keep an energy shield to swap to at later levels - but the extra stats from an offhand weapon really really help...

Also keep in mind - while I'm playing - I'm trying to see how this game handles solo leveling/progression. So I'm not trading items in chat, and I'm only using items that are found by either myself, or someone I'm in a party with... one of my biggest gripes with D3 was not being able to progress solo, so I'm attempting to compare that to PoE - and see at what level this is no longer feasable. in D3, it was around 50-55, with a ton of heartache leading up to it from 40-50.

Happy crawling! see you guys in game