Why not keep leveling up on CWDT/Enfeeble?

PsionicKitten (awesome name BTW) got it pretty well, but another reason is that sometimes you only want it for an effect, not damage or pure defense.

For example, I am currently levelving a Lightning Witch (Storm call + Spell Totem Arc) and I have a Lvl 1 CwDT set up like this:

CwDT + Summon Skeletons + Cold Snap + Molten Shell (molten shell is only there because I had a 4L with a red socket and could not decide what else to use)

Being set so low, I almost constantly have skeles popping up. I use those to take aggro off me long enough for the Storm Call to activate and kill everything. It is actually working better than I expected. The Molten Shell almost NEVER takes max damage and explodes, so I could probably take it off and not notice at all.


Like someone alreeady said, it is build dependent. Having multiple gems on one character is good too (especially one with EC and another with IC), but especially for new players it can be tough to find more than one until you have completed Merciless with multiple chars. I'm not sure how much they are going for, but I would imagine they are not too expensive.

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GingerBeast wrote:

PsionicKitten (awesome name BTW) got it pretty well, but another reason is that sometimes you only want it for an effect, not damage or pure defense.

Thanks. I prefer a different name, but that's usually taken so this is so odd that it's almost always not taken :P

Low level CWDT is pretty much a waste of sockets to use for damage. You need a high level or cast on stun for that, though.

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GingerBeast wrote:

For example, I am currently levelving a Lightning Witch (Storm call + Spell Totem Arc) and I have a Lvl 1 CwDT set up like this:

CwDT + Summon Skeletons + Cold Snap + Molten Shell (molten shell is only there because I had a 4L with a red socket and could not decide what else to use)

Freeze duration is based off the amount of cold damage done VS the total life of the monster hit. This means that as you get higher and higher Cold Snap will become less and less useful with a low level CWDT (and even less if you don't have spell damage modifiers) unless you level CWDT up too.

Summon skeletons is great though, because it fits in a lot of situations. It's 2 entities that have at least 1 hp each, so that absorbs at least two hits. This is good alternative to using a Decoy totem, as they can die in one hit if it's not high level, even if they draw aggro better. If you already use a totem in the first place it allows you do virtually the same thing without losing your current totem.

Molten shell is a good freebie if you have no other things to put in as it does increase your total physical reduction.

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PsionicKitten wrote:

Freeze duration is based off the amount of cold damage done VS the total life of the monster hit. This means that as you get higher and higher Cold Snap will become less and less useful with a low level CWDT (and even less if you don't have spell damage modifiers) unless you level CWDT up too.

Summon skeletons is great though, because it fits in a lot of situations. It's 2 entities that have at least 1 hp each, so that absorbs at least two hits. This is good alternative to using a Decoy totem, as they can die in one hit if it's not high level, even if they draw aggro better. If you already use a totem in the first place it allows you do virtually the same thing without losing your current totem.

Molten shell is a good freebie if you have no other things to put in as it does increase your total physical reduction.

The freeze duration isnt really a factor just as long as it slows them down just a little bit. Storm Call takes 1.5 seconds from the first marker so usually I cast the first marker very close to myself to account for enemy movement (just incase they get to me quicker than I expect) then place the rest of them where i realistically expect the mobs to be. So the cold snap really does not need to hold them in place it is just one more small hurdle to make them slow down just enough that the Storm Call hits them.

And the you hit the nail on the head with the decoy totem. I use the Arc totem so decoy would kill it. I was originally planning to use the decoy totem (which is why I have an extra red socet there) but I found that between the skeles and half second or so that cold snap slows them, they usually die to the first Storm Call volley plus Arc totem.

I also use Raise Zombie to create an additional 'speed bump' to sort of keep the mobs from moving so they are hit by the storm call. But his is getting off-topic.

The point I was trying to make is that in some cases you are not really looking to get damage or protection out of a skill, just another effect and you may only need it for a fraction of a second, so having it proc more often will mean it hits more enemies more often than hitting few enemies less often; even if it is more effective. The best example of this is still Enduring Cry though.