



--- Introduction ---



Hi, everyone. Thanks for checking out my build. While I do feel a great deal of ownership over this build, it is quite similar to other glacial cascade builds posted in the witch forums. The biggest difference is that this guide is focused on using glacial cascade in a hardcore setting. The goal for this guide is to hopefully show that glacial cascade is indeed viable for hardcore and that it can perform well even in high level maps.



I started this character during the 2 week race because I wanted to try out glacial cascade. I was a bit disappointed to find there wasn't much in the way of hardcore builds that focused on the skill. Most things I read had I highly negative opinion of the skill. Going into it with pretty low expectations, I ended up being pleasantly surprised with not only how effective glacial cascade is as a skill, but how much fun I had using it. This is my most successful PoE character yet and the first one I've reached level 90 with.



--- Comparison to Popular Softcore Builds ---



Spoiler

ZiggyD's guide does an awesome job explaining a lot of the core ideas behind glacial cascade and how to use it. Those who aren't familiar with glacial cascade would benefit greatly from watching his guide:



Tree Changes

- Trade templar nodes for more life nodes and Sovereignty cluster.

- Less AoE to allow for up to 3 hits per GC cast.

- Get flask effect nodes (very important for staying alive).



Skill/Item Changes

- Cloak of Defiance

- Temp chains in addition to crit weakness

- Skeleton Spell Totem

- No Cast When Damage Taken (your CwDT is cold snap, but you do it manually :P)



Playstyle Changes

- Use Cold Snap + Temp chains to freeze lock bosses with cold snap. Glacial cascade is targeted enough to focus the boss without breaking freeze.

- Sapphire Flask for reflect.

- Heavy reliance on flasks.

ZiggyD's guide does an awesome job explaining a lot of the core ideas behind glacial cascade and how to use it. Those who aren't familiar with glacial cascade would benefit greatly from watching his guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G289rqoAGfA . Also, Kenzorz has a build which focuses on maximizing DPS: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/909650 . I'm sure there are other glacial cascade builds and guides out there, but those two stood out to me.- Trade templar nodes for more life nodes and Sovereignty cluster.- Less AoE to allow for up to 3 hits per GC cast.- Get flask effect nodes (very important for staying alive).- Cloak of Defiance- Temp chains in addition to crit weakness- Skeleton Spell Totem- No Cast When Damage Taken (your CwDT is cold snap, but you do it manually :P)- Use Cold Snap + Temp chains to freeze lock bosses with cold snap. Glacial cascade is targeted enough to focus the boss without breaking freeze.- Sapphire Flask for reflect.- Heavy reliance on flasks.

--- Links and Gear ---



Current 1.2 Passive Tree http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMAAuMC_gQHBUIHHgelDH0NfA5IEH8RDxGWFLAWbxa_Fy8aOBpsHNwdqiSqJpUo-ilPLJwvbzbpOlhBlkLDRZ1GcUlRSbFJsktXTC1Ms1AwU1JVS1XGVdZXyV3yXyph4mNDZJ1k52-ecFJwu3DVdwd-WX_GgKSCEIIegseDCYPbhX2HE4nTjDaOZI_6kFWTJ5UumuCcpJ2uoqOnCKeErrO0DLb6uJPA48Hzxp7Q9dfP2RPa3dsL217fhN-K37DhiONq5CLquuvk6-7r9ewY7DjviPDV8bPyHfem-Tf56PrS





Glacial Cascade Link Options

I'm still testing out different gem combinations, but I am able to do 78 maps with all of the options listed below. I've decided to drop Spell Echo in favor of an extra damage support because the freezing potential is so much better without spell echo.



The core links are Glacial Cascade + Faster Casting + Power Charge on Critical + Added Lightning. These 4 gems are absolutely required for this build to function properly.



Is a 6L/5L necessary?

You can use a 4L of the core mentioned above until you start maps, but a 5L starts to become necessary as you get into maps. For a 5L, I think Increased Critical Damage is the best option. For a 6L, there are a lot of viable options. The biggest difference between a 5L and 6L is extra damage and more flexibility. I've outlined a few possible setups below.



Current 6L setup

Glacial Cascade + Faster Casting + Power Charge on Critical + Added Lightning + Increased Critical Damage + Added Chaos

- The effectiveness of this setup is dependent on critical weakness. With a 20/20 critical weakness gem, you'll gain 80% more extra damage from critical strikes. With a 20/20 ICD gem you're effectively gaining 270% increased critical strike multiplier (compared to 164% without quality on either Crit Weakness or ICD).



Before 20q Crit Weakness/ICD or when not using crit weakness (reflect or curse immune maps)

Glacial Cascade + Faster Casting + Increased Area of Effect + Concentrated Effect + Power Charge on Critical + Added Lightning



6L w/ Echo

Glacial Cascade + Spell Echo + Faster Casting + Power Charge on Critical + Added Lightning + Increased Critical Damage/Concentrated Effect/Added Chaos

- Default/Single Target/Situational, e.g. against reflect



Suggested 5L

Glacial Cascade + Faster Casting + Power Charge on Critical + Added Lightning + Increased Critial Damage



5L w/ Echo

Glacial Cascade + Spell Echo + Faster Casting + Power Charge on Critical + Added Lightning

- Could be useful for clearing low level maps quickly, but I don't recommend this other than for fun. You won't be able to freeze effectively.



BBBBBG option

Glacial Cascade + Faster Casting + Power Charge on Critical + Added Lightning + Increased Critical Damage + Cold Penetration

- Cold penetration would help with freezes, but it doesn't do anything for the physical or lightning damage. I tried it out and the damage is quite good and works fine in 78 maps, but I prefer the flexibility of a BBBBBB chest. There isn't really another option for the green slot besides Cold Penetration.



BBBBBR option

Glacial Cascade + Faster Casting + Power Charge on Critical + Added Lightning + Increased Critical Damage + Empower/Life Leech

- Level 3 Empower with the option to swap in life leech as needed. I will be trying this when my empower hits level 3. My dream setup would be a corrupted Level 4 Empower in a corrupted CoD with +1 to level of gems.



About Spell Echo

I found that spell echo in place of faster casting doesn't work that well. It kills your ability to both freeze and shock bosses and even some rare monsters in higher level maps. This is because your ability to keep an enemy frozen depends on how long your freeze lasts on average and how frequently you freeze. The freeze time is less with spell echo (10% less damage) and the freeze frequency is much worse with spell echo. Because of the way crit works with spell echo, if you miss a crit then the repeated cast will also not crit. This results in a longer time on average between freezes.



Similarly, Spell Echo + Faster Casting is nowhere near as good as Faster Casting + Damage Support for freeze locking. The best setup for freeze-locking (with BBBBBB chest) I've found is Glacial Cascade + Faster Casting + Conc Effect + Increased Critical Damage + Added Lightning + Power Charge on Critical.



Current Gear





Gear Wishlist

- Shield with more ES and spell damage

- Intelligence on rings and amulet

- Belt with reduced flask charges used or increased flask charges gained

- Corrupted amulet with 1 additional curse

- Shield with more ES and spell damage- Intelligence on rings and amulet- Belt with reduced flask charges used or increased flask charges gained- Corrupted amulet with 1 additional curse

Flasks

Flask setups are often pretty personalized. Here's a typical setup that I'd recommend:







- Seething life flask for spike damage

- Saturated life flask as your life regen

- Granite flask as your armor

- Quicksilver

- Sapphire Flask for reflect.

- I like having 1 staunching, 2 warding, and surgeon's whenever possible



Atziri's Promise



Overall this is an awesome flask for this build, but for defensive purposes I think a saturated life flask is better until you have a 6L and can run the added chaos support. With a level 19 added chaos gem, I get a ~50% increase in chaos damage while atziri's promise is active. In other words, you'll leech roughly 3 times as much life with a level 19 added chaos than without. If you can get your hands on a Berek's Grip then this flask becomes much more attractive as a saturated life flask is no longer necessary.

Flask setups are often pretty personalized. Here's a typical setup that I'd recommend:- Seething life flask for spike damage- Saturated life flask as your life regen- Granite flask as your armor- Quicksilver- Sapphire Flask for reflect.- I like having 1 staunching, 2 warding, and surgeon's whenever possibleOverall this is an awesome flask for this build, but for defensive purposes I think a saturated life flask is better until you have a 6L and can run the added chaos support. With a level 19 added chaos gem, I get a ~50% increase in chaos damage while atziri's promise is active. In other words, you'll leech roughly 3 times as much life with a level 19 added chaos than without. If you can get your hands on a Berek's Grip then this flask becomes much more attractive as a saturated life flask is no longer necessary.

--- The Skills ---



Glacial Cascade

Glacial Cascade Stats

I don't pay attention to the tooltip dps for glacial cascade. The important things are crit chance (which is also your freeze and shock chance), cast speed, and AoE.



Critical Strike Chance

- Each charge adds 3% chance to crit.

- Aim for minimum 50% crit chance when starting maps and 60-65% by the time you reach 76+ maps. The build really starts coming together at 60%+ crit chance.

- Critical weakness adds 9% chance to crit at levels 15-20. When coupled with a 60% crit chance, you're looking at approximately 25% fewer non-crits.



Cast Speed

- Faster cast speed = more freezes

- Aim for .3s cast time when using Spell Echo + Faster Casting and .5s with just Faster Casting.

- Haste is so amazing with this build that I think it's worth trading ~1200 unreserved mana for its benefits. The movement speed is a huge boost to survivability and the cast speed helps with freezing, shocking, and overall dps.



Area of Effect

- A larger AoE is good for clearing large packs of trash mobs, but horribly ineffective against higher hp enemies.

- I've found 20-25% increased AoE to be the sweet spot. Too much AoE and you won't be able to hit enemies 3 times per cast, which is the difference between taking down a boss in a couple seconds or kiting it around the room for a minute or two. I'll try to get a video up of the difference. It's pretty surprising how big of a difference it makes.

I don't pay attention to the tooltip dps for glacial cascade. The important things are crit chance (which is also your freeze and shock chance), cast speed, and AoE.- Each charge adds 3% chance to crit.- Aim for minimum 50% crit chance when starting maps and 60-65% by the time you reach 76+ maps. The build really starts coming together at 60%+ crit chance.- Critical weakness adds 9% chance to crit at levels 15-20. When coupled with a 60% crit chance, you're looking at approximately 25% fewer non-crits.- Faster cast speed = more freezes- Aim for .3s cast time when using Spell Echo + Faster Casting and .5s with just Faster Casting.- Haste is so amazing with this build that I think it's worth trading ~1200 unreserved mana for its benefits. The movement speed is a huge boost to survivability and the cast speed helps with freezing, shocking, and overall dps.- A larger AoE is good for clearing large packs of trash mobs, but horribly ineffective against higher hp enemies.- I've found 20-25% increased AoE to be the sweet spot. Too much AoE and you won't be able to hit enemies 3 times per cast, which is the difference between taking down a boss in a couple seconds or kiting it around the room for a minute or two. I'll try to get a video up of the difference. It's pretty surprising how big of a difference it makes.

Cold Snap

Cold Snap Stats

Cold Snap is such an important part of this build that I'd be remiss if I didn't include it here. Cold penetration is mandatory since it allows you to manage an adequate freeze time against monsters with max cold resistance. Keep in mind, you will be using cold snap until it crits if you need a freeze in a tight spot. The 285% crit multiplier is analogous to the 'Freezes enemies as though dealing x% more Damage' mod on freeze mine.

Cold Snap is such an important part of this build that I'd be remiss if I didn't include it here. Cold penetration is mandatory since it allows you to manage an adequate freeze time against monsters with max cold resistance. Keep in mind, you will be using cold snap until it crits if you need a freeze in a tight spot. The 285% crit multiplier is analogous to the 'Freezes enemies as though dealing x% more Damage' mod on freeze mine.

--- Defenses ---



Note: This section is very much a work in progress. I've mostly stayed alive to this point through a combination of somewhat micro-intensive meta-tanking and simply avoiding damage mods on high level maps. I'm confident that I can get this build to the point where it holds up even with damage mods on 76+ maps, but it's going to take a fair bit of currency.



Stats





- Small amount of evasion. Part of my plan to make this build work in higher level maps with damage mods is to bring this up to 7-8k by getting evasion gloves, boots, alpha's howl, and running grace instead of haste.

- Movement speed is a huge part of defenses. If at all possible, start with a quality arctic armor as each point of quality adds .35% movement speed.

- Small amount of evasion. Part of my plan to make this build work in higher level maps with damage mods is to bring this up to 7-8k by getting evasion gloves, boots, alpha's howl, and running grace instead of haste.- Movement speed is a huge part of defenses. If at all possible, start with a quality arctic armor as each point of quality adds .35% movement speed.

Unreserved Mana





With ~950 unreserved mana, I have a ~5300 life buffer against 1-shots. Part of my plan to make this build more viable defensively is to increase this number with Alpha's Howl (+2 levels on discipline and 8% reduced reserve mana) and potentially adding inner force.

With ~950 unreserved mana, I have a ~5300 life buffer against 1-shots. Part of my plan to make this build more viable defensively is to increase this number with Alpha's Howl (+2 levels on discipline and 8% reduced reserve mana) and potentially adding inner force.

Arctic Armour





I'm currently using a level 20 arctic armour. The long-term plan is to corrupt a level 21 AA and use empower to get even higher levels of damage reduction. At some point, I will also spec into Inner Force for the 21% increased effect of buffs. Unfortunately, I didn't start with a quality AA, but 20% quality would add a nice 7% movement speed.



Don't forget to turn arctic armour on. You will kill yourself to reflect. I dropped below 500 health at level 70 (with a level 17 or 18 GC I think) because I forgot to turn it on and ran into a big physical reflect pack.

I'm currently using a level 20 arctic armour. The long-term plan is to corrupt a level 21 AA and use empower to get even higher levels of damage reduction. At some point, I will also spec into Inner Force for the 21% increased effect of buffs. Unfortunately, I didn't start with a quality AA, but 20% quality would add a nice 7% movement speed.Don't forget to turn arctic armour on. You will kill yourself to reflect. I dropped below 500 health at level 70 (with a level 17 or 18 GC I think) because I forgot to turn it on and ran into a big physical reflect pack.

--- Leveling ---



Leveling Trees

Subject to change depending on what gear I found, but here's the basic idea.



First get the stuff closest to starting area except for crit. For now, go through the +20 str/dex node since those are typically needed at the beginning of a new league. Also taking a couple damage nodes for easier leveling:



https://poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgMAB6WCEN-wLJxJsgLjr5sQWB_HK3htGS2LakPAVAj0vOo9X1JTl_SXld-K



Go up through power charge node and take more damage, life, and mana before heading over to the shadow area. Take a +30 dex/str node as needed:



https://poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgMAB6WCEN-wLJxJsgLjr5sQWB_HK3htGS2LakPAVAj0vOo9X1JTl_SXlREP215QMEyzrJhVxjpYg9tfKnRVTC0igZ6hVkqOPBdUj_pJUfDVBx6VLt-KIvRsCw2NHNx_xhGW



Start taking crit, respec the +20 str/dex node in witch start and take the crit cluster. Take the +30 str and dex nodes since they'll almost certainly be needed. Start getting crit and head into the shadow area:



https://poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgMAB6WCEN-wLJxJsgLjEFhtGWpDwFQI9LzqPV9SU5f0l5URD9teUDBMs6yYVcY6WIPbXyp0VUwtIoGeoVZKjjwXVI_6SVHw1QcelS7fin_GJ6l-Wa6zQZbQ9QVCr5vyHWSd6_Vd8g5IEZbfhELDjDYC_mHiVUsmlRa_cFKJ03DVY0Mi9GwLDY0c3A==



The next step is to iron out the details of the build and how it's going to work in maps, so I don't have anything for beyond this point. That last tree will probably be at the end of act 1 merciless around level 58/59.



Newer players should understand that these are just suggested routes to take and that things inevitably change when you're leveling a character in a new league. You might end up finding an amazing weapon, but struggle to find good life gear, so you're forced to go out of your way for more life and need to drop damage nodes. You might find the attributes you need on jewelry, but you also might need to take more on the tree. You might have zero mana regen on items and be forced to take EB in the middle of cruel for that extra mana and regen boost. This is one of the great things about PoE in my opinion. You can follow a guide, but at the same time the build will always be yours and no two players will have the same experience leveling a character.

Subject to change depending on what gear I found, but here's the basic idea.First get the stuff closest to starting area except for crit. For now, go through the +20 str/dex node since those are typically needed at the beginning of a new league. Also taking a couple damage nodes for easier leveling:Go up through power charge node and take more damage, life, and mana before heading over to the shadow area. Take a +30 dex/str node as needed:Start taking crit, respec the +20 str/dex node in witch start and take the crit cluster. Take the +30 str and dex nodes since they'll almost certainly be needed. Start getting crit and head into the shadow area:The next step is to iron out the details of the build and how it's going to work in maps, so I don't have anything for beyond this point. That last tree will probably be at the end of act 1 merciless around level 58/59.Newer players should understand that these are just suggested routes to take and that things inevitably change when you're leveling a character in a new league. You might end up finding an amazing weapon, but struggle to find good life gear, so you're forced to go out of your way for more life and need to drop damage nodes. You might find the attributes you need on jewelry, but you also might need to take more on the tree. You might have zero mana regen on items and be forced to take EB in the middle of cruel for that extra mana and regen boost. This is one of the great things about PoE in my opinion. You can follow a guide, but at the same time the build will always be yours and no two players will have the same experience leveling a character.



Bandits

- Help Oak in normal for +40 max life

- Kill all in cruel for the passive point

- Help Alira in merciless for the power charge





---



Thanks for letting me share my build with you. Feel free to post here with suggestions and criticism of my build and playstyle. I'm always trying to get better and I know the build is far from perfect. Also, you can always contact me in-game @Glace_Princess.



Updates



6/27/14 - Added Plateau video to show the build when not playing very cautiously.

6/28/14 - Updated gear with new shield

6/29/14 - Updated passive tree (+18% increased life). Hit level 90! :)

7/5/14 - Added leveling section, updated links to take spell echo into account (ultimately decided not to use it)

8/16/14 - Started adding boss strategies with videos ------Hi, everyone. Thanks for checking out my build. While I do feel a great deal of ownership over this build, it is quite similar to other glacial cascade builds posted in the witch forums. The biggest difference is that this guide is focused on using glacial cascade in a hardcore setting. The goal for this guide is to hopefully show that glacial cascade is indeed viable for hardcore and that it can perform well even in high level maps.I started this character during the 2 week race because I wanted to try out glacial cascade. I was a bit disappointed to find there wasn't much in the way of hardcore builds that focused on the skill. Most things I read had I highly negative opinion of the skill. Going into it with pretty low expectations, I ended up being pleasantly surprised with not only how effective glacial cascade is as a skill, but how much fun I had using it. This is my most successful PoE character yet and the first one I've reached level 90 with.------------------------Note: This section is very much a work in progress. I've mostly stayed alive to this point through a combination of somewhat micro-intensive meta-tanking and simply avoiding damage mods on high level maps. I'm confident that I can get this build to the point where it holds up even with damage mods on 76+ maps, but it's going to take a fair bit of currency.---------Thanks for letting me share my build with you. Feel free to post here with suggestions and criticism of my build and playstyle. I'm always trying to get better and I know the build is far from perfect. Also, you can always contact me in-game @Glace_Princess.6/27/14 - Added Plateau video to show the build when not playing very cautiously.6/28/14 - Updated gear with new shield6/29/14 - Updated passive tree (+18% increased life). Hit level 90! :)7/5/14 - Added leveling section, updated links to take spell echo into account (ultimately decided not to use it)8/16/14 - Started adding boss strategies with videos Last edited by PureTrancendence on Jan 23, 2016, 11:49:15 AM