IF you've somehow stumbled across this guide, it's being redone in a new style HERE . It will take a while, but you can follow along in that thread. This guide is severely outdated.



Put on an extra layer, exile; It's about to get a lot cooler in here!



Welcome to my guide! The Cold DoT Occultist is a beginner friendly build that's great for Hardcore, Softcore, Solo Self-Found, and console gameplay. It's tanky, has very good dps, and requires 0 uniques. Within this guide, you'll find videos, mechanic explanations, a Path of Building code, a thoroughly detailed, color-coded leveling guide, gearing options, and more!



Credit: This guide is inspired by the incredible



I’ll answer questions as I’m able, but check the guide first for answers. You can also join my discord server and ask questions in the Path of Exile channel



_________________________



To-Do List





Spoiler ❆ Add Spine of the First Claiment to cheap uniques

❆ Add section on non-minion node tree

❆ Add trade links for item searches

❆ Add enchantments section

❆ Heavy edits on the end-game gear.

❆ Add section on dual (3?) curse setups

❆ Gear links of stuff I have and pictures of stuff I don't have - budget gear and cheap uniques are done, end-game is halfway done.

_________________________



Contents



Spoiler

❆ Videos

❆ Pros and Cons

❆ Build Concept

❆ New Player Help and Tips

❆ Path of Building and Online Skill Tree

❆ Build Mechanics

❆ Gear

❆ Ascendancy, Bandits, and Pantheon

❆ Gem Links

❆ Leveling - Full Guide

❆ Changelog Link _________________________



Videos



Spoiler

Uber Elder Kill (See Note Below)



Yes, I died twice. It was my 2nd Uber Elder ever, and I clearly haven't mastered the fight. The build crushed the fight, with the 25% HP phases over almost instantly. I used a webcam so you can laugh at my badness :)



Deathless Shaper

Minotaur Kill

Mastermind

Depth 299 Ahuatotli, the Blind Kill

T16 4-Sextant Map + Abyssal Depths

T15 142% Quant 3-Sextant Map

Red Elder Is A Joke



Uber Atziri, Uber Elder coming soon! Yes, I died twice. It was my 2nd Uber Elder ever, and I clearly haven't mastered the fight. The build crushed the fight, with the 25% HP phases over almost instantly. I used a webcam so you can laugh at my badness :)Uber Atziri, Uber Elder coming soon! _________________________



Pros and Cons



Spoiler Pros:

▲ High Effective Health Pool

▲ Chill and freeze mechanics from our spells are a huge defensive boost

▲ Kill things while moving out of harms way or to the next pack

▲ 0 Unique Requirements

▲ Can start maps on a 100-200 Alteration budget

▲ Hardcore, SSF, and console viable

▲ Flexible gearing options



Cons:



▼ Clear isn’t god-tier without sacrificing defenses

▼ Single target is high, but not bursty

▼ Spell visuals for Vortex and Cold Snap are slightly transparent and buying MTX to fix this isn’t always an option. _________________________



Build Concept - Console Player Note Inside



Spoiler This build has 3 goals:

-Doing high amounts of Cold Damage Over Time.

-Using curses, chills, and freezes to lower the chance of taking a hit.

-Stacking Energy Shield to comfortably absorb the hits that you do take.



When you combine those 3 things, you have a build with mid-to-high tier clearing and good single target damage that is extremely survivable against the hardest bosses that Path of Exile has to offer.



A Note on League Starting, Hardcore, and Solo Self-Found



One of the best parts of this build is its adaptability. It’s an absurdly cheap league starter; the Path of Building link has a set of budget gear that can reach 5500 Energy Shield, 75% capped resistances, and 125K+ DPS on a 4-Linked Vortex in all blue (magic) gear. It’s a resilient Hardcore build, with a large amount of Energy Shield that regens faster the more you kill. Finally, it’s great for SSF players, as it requires 0 uniques to function at a high level. Everything outside of the Low Life variant is optimal using almost all rare items, many of which can be fossil-crafted at a low cost.



For Console Players



I believe that Vortex competes with Winter Orb, Cyclone, and Righteous Fire as some of the best skills to play on console. The movement is very fluid due to the joystick, and you just Vortex at your feet as you move. Be careful near tight turns and doorways, as console is more rubber-bandy than PC. Note that Cold Snap targets and will be much harder to place correctly. Therefore, Vortex cooldown recovery reduction is one of the most valuable things you could stack on the console version. As trading is a nightmare on console, check the ultra budget section for an easy way to get into maps on your own. _________________________



New Player Help and Tips. Skip This If You're Not New



Spoiler



First of all, never be afraid to take your time, ignore trading and "the meta", and have fun with the game! Level slowly and learn things like positioning, when to go fast, which boss fights are hard and worth practicing, etc. The game is complicated, so chew your food!



Acronyms:



Spoiler Acronyms:

ES = Energy Shield

DoT = Damage Over Time

PoB = Path of Building

4L/5L/6L = 4,5, or 6 linked gear

WP = Waypoint

TP = Using a Portal Scroll

SSF = Solo Self-Found

HC = Hardcore Mode

CI = Chaos Innoculation

LL = Low Life (google "Pain Attunement poe")

BBG/BG/RRR etc = Skill Gem Links (Blue,Green,Red)



Loot Filters:



Spoiler



If you’re brand new, take 2 minutes to do the following, and you’ll be set for months. Go to

You need a loot filter to play PoE. Monsters drop a TON of loot, but 98% of it is complete trash. Loot filters tell the game what show on the ground.If you’re brand new, take 2 minutes to do the following, and you’ll be set for months. Go to filterblade.xyz . Select “Regular” in the dropdown menu labeled “Strictness”. Go to the “Download” tab, rename the filter “Leveling”, and download. Go back to the overview tab, change the Strictness to “Strict”, name this filter “Maps”, and download. In PoE options, scroll to the bottom of UI. Click “Show folder” and the location for loot filters will open. Drag your two filters from your downloads folder into the folder. Close options and re-open. Go to UI and use the dropdown menu to select the appropriate loot filter.



Macros:



Spoiler I’m not giving a setup tutorial, but AutoHotKey is incredible. I use the following: a logout macro to save lives and time, and a /hideout macro to go there instantly from town. Macros can help with trading, partying, etc. Just educate yourself on what’s legal; don’t get yourself banned.



Use Without Moving and Move Only:



Spoiler For nearly all skills, you should click the skill in your bar and check the orange button to use the skill without moving. This prevents your character from chasing enemies or not using a skill at all due to distance/targeting. Also, set left click to the footprint icon that says “move only”. This will stop you from using basic attacks. While some games utilize basic attacks, there is virtually no reason to ever be basic attacking in PoE after the Twilight Strand. You can sustain mana easily, and skills are so powerful that you will almost never intentionally want to basic attack. In addition, basic attacking makes you run toward the enemy if they aren't in melee range. This means a mis-click may drag you directly into your demise.



Experience Penalty:



Spoiler “Safe zones” for leveling start at 3 levels higher or lower than current character level. A level 5 character has no exp penalty in any zone between levels 2 and 8. The exp safe zone increases by 1 level every 16 character levels. At lvl 16, the safe zone is 12-20, and so on. This allows characters to progress faster and still retain normal experience. Hit tab to show the full map in-game. You can check zone level in the top right of the tabbed screen. This section is information to assist new PoE players. Pick the things that are helpful and ignore the rest. Some of these I learned 3 years ago, and some of them I learned within the past few weeks. Hopefully something in here helps you. If you’re struggling with basic concepts, just ask. I can always add more to this section.First of all, never be afraid to take your time, ignore trading and "the meta", andwith the game! Level slowly and learn things like positioning, when to go fast, which boss fights are hard and worth practicing, etc. The game is complicated, so chew your food! _________________________



Path of Building and Online Skill Tree



Spoiler https://pastebin.com/jji8BtDF



Path of Building is a build planner that lets you pre-plan a passive tree (or in this guide’s case, 14), test gems and links, add gear, and import your characters. It’s an incredibly valuable tool, and I'm not sure I'd be playing Path of Exile without it. Download PoB



To see this build in PoB, click "Import/Export Build, then "Import from Pastebin..." and enter the copied code above.



For those who are on mobile or don't have PoB installed, you can view the skill tree



A Note On The Minion Nodes



We are taking minion nodes because of Spiritual Aid. It is a minion node that grants the player any increases and decreases to minion damage. This gives us, in many cases, more damage scaling than we could get on player-focused nodes, as the minion damage nodes are often significant damage increases. Path of Building is a build planner that lets you pre-plan a passive tree (or in this guide’s case, 14), test gems and links, add gear, and import your characters. It’s an incredibly valuable tool, and I'm not sure I'd be playing Path of Exile without it. Download PoB here . I would hazard a guess that many players would agree with me when I say that I spend as much time in PoB as I do playing the actual game.To see this build in PoB, click "Import/Export Build, then "Import from Pastebin..." and enter the copied code above.For those who are on mobile or don't have PoB installed, you can view the skill tree here We are taking minion nodes because of Spiritual Aid. It is a minion node that grants the player any increases and decreases to minion damage. This gives us, in many cases, more damage scaling than we could get on player-focused nodes, as the minion damage nodes are often significant damage increases. _________________________



Build Mechanics and What We Scale



Spoiler



Stun Immunity: Chaos Innoculation characters have a 50% change to be stunned when hit. While it might not seem like a big deal, a 50% chance is still begging to be killed while immobilized. Non-occultist CI characters have to factor stun immunity into their build; we get it naturally from our ascendancy and we will be stun-immune after Cruel Labyrinth, long before we switch to CI.



Vortex and Cold Snap: These skills share many similarities. Both cause a hit of cold damage, leaving behind an AoE that deals cold damage over time and chills enemies. Both skills gain AoE with gem quality. Vortex has higher damage over time, while Cold Snap does more damage with its initial hit and grants Frenzy charges. Vaal Cold Snap adds both offense and defense to the build. It causes a large burst of cold damage, freezing all hit enemies. A cold DoT effect surrounds the caster, dealing high damage and granting Frenzy charges.



Keep in mind this text, shared by both skills: “Modifiers to spell damage apply to this skill’s damage over time effect.” This means that when we stack spell damage, we gain damage on both the upfront hit as well as increasing the DoT.



Chill: Chill is an ailment applied by dealing cold damage to enemies. Chills last for 2 seconds and slows enemy action speed from 1 - 30%. The action slow percentage is based on the percentage of their life dealt by the hit of cold damage. Frozen targets are also chilled, and will remain chilled for 0.3 seconds after unfreezing (we modify this amount).



Our build is reliant on chill for both offense and defense. Here is how we modify normal chills:

❆ 60% increased effect (89% for Cold Snap)

❆ Nearby chilled enemies deal 10% less damage with hits

❆ Every 4 seconds, nearby chilled non-unique enemies freeze and uniques have 33% chance to freeze

❆ 20% chance to freeze chilled enemies

❆ 60% increased duration

❆ Enemies become chilled as they unfreeze

❆ Spells deal 39% more damage to chilled enemies



Bonechill Support is not currently working in PoB. This Cold Snap support makes chills more effective. It gives Cold Snap 44% increased chill effect, chilled enemies take 29% more damage, and enemies take increased damage based on chill effect.



Freeze: Cold damage can also freeze, slowing all action speed by 100%. Crits with cold damage have a 100% chance to freeze. Freezing is a survivability boost, as killed frozen enemies shatter, preventing corpse interactions such as Detonate Dead or porcupine spines from killing you unexpectedly.



Our build also modifies freeze in advantageous ways. Here is what we gain from our build:

❆ Every 4 seconds, nearby chilled non-unique enemies freeze and uniques have 33% chance to freeze

❆ 20% chance to freeze chilled enemies

❆ Enemies become chilled as they unfreeze

❆ 20% chance to freeze (beyond normal chance)

❆ 40% increased freeze duration



Energy shield: Energy Shield grants us a large flat amount of rechargeable health, as opposed to the armour and evasion defenses that mitigate incoming damage. Due to our positioning on the skill tree and the Occultist ascendancy, we are able to amass a very large amount of Energy Shield relatively easily, along with modifiers to recharge and regen this shield quickly. 8500+ Energy Shield is both easy to obtain and fairly cheap.



Chaos Innoculation: CI sets our life total to 1. In exchange, we become immune to Chaos damage. The tradeoff is well worth the downside, but we must take a few things into consideration. This is where our ascendancy comes in. The Vile Bastion node gives us stun immunity while we have ES. The Low Life version trades CI for increased damage and about 90% of the CI ES pool.



Cold Damage and Damage Over Time: Scaling cold damage will affect both the upfront hit of Vortex/Cold Snap as well as the damage over time of the skill, while scaling damage over time will affect only the ground effect of our skills. _________________________



Gear



Spoiler

Gearing Theory



Spoiler



Self-crafting your gear is not only simple, it’s practical if you learn/know what you’re doing. Fossils, fractured items, and external sites like poe.db and PoE Affix make it easy to learn how to get certain mods on items.



Crafting Methods



Spoiler Crafting can be as easy or overwhelming as you make it. Know your budget and have an estimated cost of crafting to avoid bankrupting yourself halfway to a great item. The more specific and “high-end” the item is, the more expensive to make or buy it. Here are the basic ways that people craft in PoE:



❆ Transmute/Alt/Aug Spam: Used to craft basic magic gear to fit a specific purpose or be a stopgap before a larger upgrade. We use this to craft our budget gear below. Make blue items with transmutes and use alts / augs to look for a second mod. This can bleed into the next method.



❆ Alt and Regal Spam: This is used to craft basic upgrades, but is also used as a starting point for crafting the best items in the game. Alt spam, looking for two tier 1/2 rolls. Regal the item, looking for another good roll. Once you have desired rolls, craft a 4th mod or multimod for a godtier.



❆ Essence Crafting: Essences are alchs that let you pre-determine a single mod on an item. They can be useful for targeting specific mods, like resists, attack speed, life rolls, etc.



❆ Fossil Crafting: This is becoming my favorite hobby in PoE. Fossils are socketed into resonators and used to craft rares. Fossils and resonators are found in delves. Most fossils add types of mods to an item and prevent other types of mods.



Cheap socket coloring for 1-4 Links



Spoiler This method requires you to delve a small amount for socket recipes, but you can color gear cheaply by using Jeweller’s Orbs. Hitting multiple off-color sockets can be difficult. For instance, we need an item with R-R-R-G links on a pure Int base. Reduce the item to 2 sockets in your crafting bench (cost: 1 jewellers). Use 25 chromatics to color both sockets to desired colors. Then up the item to 3 sockets (3 jeweller’s per attempt). If you don't hit the needed color, craft the item back to 2 sockets and repeat. Using the bench to do this will keep the original two socket colors. Repeat until you have the correct colors. If a 4th specific color is required, repeat this process, swapping from 4 sockets to 3 at 10 jewellers per.



Item Level



Spoiler Items in PoE have an item level, determined not by the item base, but by the zone level and rarity of monster that dropped the item. Press Alt on an item to see its item level. Item level determines the tier of rolls an item can have. Example: The highest life that can roll on body armour is 120-129. However, a body armour found on Twilight Strand in Act 1 can only roll 3-9 life, because this value is capped by the item level. For most high-end crafting, the highest item level base is preferable so Tier 1 mods can roll. Check PoE Affix to view the top ilvl for each slot. A cold damage over time Occultist is extraordinarily gear-friendly. With our ascendancy we require very little gear to get to maps, and two damage spells make up for low damage early on.This build gets started on a tiny budget. With less than 100 Alts, I self-crafted a base set of Ultra Budget gear to test this; all blue items with mid-tier resist and ES rolls. With 100-200 alts, you can be at 5500+ ES, capped resists, and have 100k+ DPS, allowing you to break into low-tier maps and begin saving for serious upgrades.Self-crafting your gear is not only simple, it’s practical if you learn/know what you’re doing. Fossils, fractured items, and external sites like poe.db and PoE Affix make it easy to learn how to get certain mods on items.



Ultra Budget Gear - Just Killed Kitava



Spoiler







Once you kill Kitava, assess your gear. If an item has decent ES and resists, keep it! For the rest, your process is simple: Go to the Blood Aqueducts and kill monsters. Look for gear to drop with ES bases. Note: You may have to hold Alt to see white gear if you have any reasonable item filter. Once you have a decent ES base for your needed items, use Alts on gear until you roll either flat ES or a decent resist. Once you hit a mod you are looking for, go to your crafting bench and craft which ever piece is missing. In minutes you’ll have a set of gear with ES and resists. On your weapon, look for cold damage over time multiplier and/or % cold damage. If you have Alchs or Regals to spare, use them on body armour for maximum ES gains.



If you rolled decent ES, have resists capped or very near capped, and have a little bit of added damage from a weapon, you should be able to quickly go CI with 5500+ Energy Shield. This should keep you going through white tier maps as you save currency and item bases for upgrades. Once you kill Kitava, assess your gear. If an item has decent ES and resists, keep it! For the rest, your process is simple: Go to the Blood Aqueducts and kill monsters. Look for gear to drop with ES bases.You may have to hold Alt to see white gear if you have any reasonable item filter. Once you have a decent ES base for your needed items, use Alts on gear until you roll either flat ES or a decent resist. Once you hit a mod you are looking for, go to your crafting bench and craft which ever piece is missing. In minutes you’ll have a set of gear with ES and resists. On your weapon, look for cold damage over time multiplier and/or % cold damage. If you have Alchs or Regals to spare, use them on body armour for maximum ES gains.If you rolled decent ES, have resists capped or very near capped, and have a little bit of added damage from a weapon, you should be able to quickly go CI with 5500+ Energy Shield. This should keep you going through white tier maps as you save currency and item bases for upgrades.



Flasks and Jewels



Spoiler





NOTE: GGG has mentioned some updates to mana in their 3.8 Development Manifesto. If mana is unsustainable in 3.8, we will likely need a mana flask with the spoiled "Enduring" mod, to allow our mana to regen even after filling up. If this happens, I would drop either the Sulphur or Basalt Flask.



We use the following flasks:



Quartz for phasing and dodge, Sulphur for damage and regen, Granite for flat physical reduction,Basalt for % physical reduction, and Quicksilver of Adrenaline for max movespeed.



I recommend the "Ample" or “Chemist’s” prefix if you can roll it. The 4 non-Quicksilvers should have: Grounding, Warding, Staunching, and Dousing. You can’t be frozen due to your Uber Lab ascendancy, but until you ascend for the final time you can use “of Heat” suffix in place of Dousing.



Witchfire Brew is a great offensive option with a high DoT roll. If you run Witchfire Brew, consider adding an Evasion "package" with a Jade Flask of Reflexes and Sin Trek boots (below).







Your Jewel slots flexible. If you take the jewel node to the right of the Witch start, you can slot Intuitive Leap and gain power/endurance/frenzy charge generation, 10% ES, mana and mana regen for only 3 points. In the high-end category, you can purchase Watcher’s Eyes with “%ES regen while affected by Discipline” and “Cold Damage Over Time While Affected By Malevolence”. If you are slotting rare jewels, Cobalts and Hypnotic Eyes are the way to go. For Cobalts, you’re looking for "% cold damage", "damage over time", and ES mods. Hypnotic mods to look for are "damage over time while wearing a shield", "chance to gain phasing on kill", "increased effect of chill", "chance to hinder", and resistances. NOTE: GGG has mentioned some updates to mana in their 3.8 Development Manifesto. If mana is unsustainable in 3.8, we will likely need a mana flask with the spoiled "Enduring" mod, to allow our mana to regen even after filling up. If this happens, I would drop either the Sulphur or Basalt Flask.We use the following flasks:for phasing and dodge,for damage and regen,for flat physical reduction,for % physical reduction, andof Adrenaline for max movespeed.I recommend the "Ample" or “Chemist’s” prefix if you can roll it. The 4 non-Quicksilvers should have:, and. You can’t be frozen due to your Uber Lab ascendancy, but until you ascend for the final time you can use “of Heat” suffix in place of Dousing.Witchfire Brew is a great offensive option with a high DoT roll. If you run Witchfire Brew, consider adding an Evasion "package" with a Jade Flask of Reflexes and Sin Trek boots (below).Your Jewel slots flexible. If you take the jewel node to the right of the Witch start, you can slot Intuitive Leap and gain power/endurance/frenzy charge generation, 10% ES, mana and mana regen for only 3 points. In the high-end category, you can purchase Watcher’s Eyes with “%ES regen while affected by Discipline” and “Cold Damage Over Time While Affected By Malevolence”. If you are slotting rare jewels, Cobalts and Hypnotic Eyes are the way to go. For Cobalts, you’re looking for "% cold damage", "damage over time", and ES mods. Hypnotic mods to look for are "damage over time while wearing a shield", "chance to gain phasing on kill", "increased effect of chill", "chance to hinder", and resistances.



The Upgrade Path - Starting Yellow Maps



Spoiler



One big note on crafting: value dexterity rolls. Dexterity is a huge sticking point of this build, and having a good dex roll on jewelry or other gear can make a huge difference, saving you skill points and allowing for more diversity.



Cheap Uniques



Here are a few uniques that could be picked up in trade league for exceptionally cheap prices. These can either be a gap filler while you build currency or can remain as strong gear options for a long period of time.



Spoiler







❆ Earendel’s Embrace - 48-58% increased damage for 1C or less.



❆ Heartbreaker - This dagger is just great. 1 alch for 60+% inc. damage, some ES QoL, and Culling Strike.



❆ Divinarius - 1 alch for 50+% inc. damage, crit chance, mana on kill, and global AoE.







❆ Bated Breath - If your resists are ok, BB gives damage and a large amount of ES. Can be your end-game belt.



❆ Ascent From Flesh - Not very budget at 5-8C, but it’s a great belt and has some very nice QoL with phasing mods.







❆ Berek’s Pass - Good cheap ring that gives cold damage, resists, and ES for ~1C.



❆ Tasalio’s Sign - 1 alch for good cold damage boost, cold res, and some defenses.



❆ Dream Fragments - Not super budget at 3-5C, but if you don’t have Uber Lab done yet it gives you cold res and saves you from freeze/chill.



❆ Timetwist - Again, not super budget at 5-10C, but lots of ES, mana regen, cast speed, and unaffected by Temp Chains is fairly nice.







❆ Vis Mortis - 2 Alch body armor with 375+ ES, mana, and minion damage. No resists.



❆ The Beast Fur Shawl - I love this body armour. 410+ ES, spell damage, AoE, and ES recovery rate.







❆ Rainbowstride - These boots are awesome. 90+ ES, good movespeed, and all resists. You can wear these for a long time.



❆ Steppan Eard - Good ES, super movespeed.



❆ Sin Trek - 3C for Dex, good ES, and very good movespeed. Can be your end-game boots.







❆ Voidbringer - +1 to ele gems, crit chance, good ES, and flat ES on kill. Careful of mana cost, as mana is an issue for this build.



❆ Allelopathy - Ignore Blight mods. Good ES, increased DoT and AoE. Solid.







❆ Asenath’s Mark(and upgraded Chant version) - Decent ES, mana regen, movement speed.



❆ Doedre’s Scorn - Put your Enfeeble in here. Good ES and ele damage.



❆ Martyr’s Crown - High ES.



❆ Chitus’ Apex - Low ES but all res, mana, exp gain, and dmg.



❆ Rime Gaze - This is the best cheap unique for this build. Provides a link to Cold Snap, has a double damage mod, high ES, and mana. A small downside but crazy value for 1C. Can be your end-game Helmet







❆ Rathpith Globe - Decent ES.



❆ Saffell’s Frame - Low ES, but great for damage and resists.



❆ Zeel’s Amplifier - No resists, but good damage, decent ES, and a ton of AoE. Earendel’s Embrace - 48-58% increased damage for 1C or less.Heartbreaker - This dagger is just great. 1 alch for 60+% inc. damage, some ES QoL, and Culling Strike.Divinarius - 1 alch for 50+% inc. damage, crit chance, mana on kill, and global AoE.Bated Breath - If your resists are ok, BB gives damage and a large amount of ES. Can be your end-game belt.Ascent From Flesh - Not very budget at 5-8C, but it’s a great belt and has some very nice QoL with phasing mods.Berek’s Pass - Good cheap ring that gives cold damage, resists, and ES for ~1C.Tasalio’s Sign - 1 alch for good cold damage boost, cold res, and some defenses.Dream Fragments - Not super budget at 3-5C, but if you don’t have Uber Lab done yet it gives you cold res and saves you from freeze/chill.Timetwist - Again, not super budget at 5-10C, but lots of ES, mana regen, cast speed, and unaffected by Temp Chains is fairly nice.Vis Mortis - 2 Alch body armor with 375+ ES, mana, and minion damage. No resists.The Beast Fur Shawl - I love this body armour. 410+ ES, spell damage, AoE, and ES recovery rate.Rainbowstride - These boots are awesome. 90+ ES, good movespeed, and all resists. You can wear these for a long time.Steppan Eard - Good ES, super movespeed.Sin Trek - 3C for Dex, good ES, and very good movespeed. Can be your end-game boots.Voidbringer - +1 to ele gems, crit chance, good ES, and flat ES on kill. Careful of mana cost, as mana is an issue for this build.Allelopathy - Ignore Blight mods. Good ES, increased DoT and AoE. Solid.Asenath’s Mark(and upgraded Chant version) - Decent ES, mana regen, movement speed.Doedre’s Scorn - Put your Enfeeble in here. Good ES and ele damage.Martyr’s Crown - High ES.Chitus’ Apex - Low ES but all res, mana, exp gain, and dmg.Rime Gaze - This is the best cheap unique for this build. Provides a link to Cold Snap, has a double damage mod, high ES, and mana. A small downside but crazy value for 1C. Can be your end-game HelmetRathpith Globe - Decent ES.Saffell’s Frame - Low ES, but great for damage and resists.Zeel’s Amplifier - No resists, but good damage, decent ES, and a ton of AoE.



Damage upgrades



Spoiler



Weapon







As written in the leveling section, you want to be unveiling every weapon you can find from Syndicate encounters. If you have found the “trigger a socketed spell when you use a skill” mod, you’re good to go. If you’re in a trade league, see if anyone you know has that mod available.

If you can get your hands on some fossils and resonators, the best cheap way to do this is to jam a Bound and Pristine fossil into a 2 socket resonator and roll them on a sword; I use a Tiger Hook for the % dodge chance. If you can get your hands on a shaper sword, you also have a chance to hit a few nice mods. You’re looking for 3 things: “Minions deal X% Increased Damage”, “X% Increased Damage While On Full Life”, and an open suffix. It may take a few tries, but don’t give up! If you don’t have access to fossils yet, you can spam your highest tier Essences of Fear.

You can then craft the trigger mod into the open suffix. You will end up with a weapon that gives you over 100% increased damage and alternatingly casts Orb of Storms, Storm Brand, and Frost Bomb as you move around and cast your main spells. At this point, take Elemental Equilibrium on the passive tree. You will now hit enemies with your lightning skills, giving them -50% cold res, and then further shredding resistance with Frost Bomb. This is a buff.



Helmet

Crafting preference: Shaped Hubris Circlet > Hubris Circlet > Shaped Bone Helmet > Bone Helmet. Take the best option you can get. Once again, fossils are the way to go. Dense and Frigid fossils are the requirements, and a Shuddering fossil improves your odds of good mods if you have a 3 socket resonator. You’re looking for good Energy Shield rolls and “Nearby enemies have -9% to Cold Resistance”. Once you have both, you’ll be solidified in this spot for a long time, upgrading only for an even better and more expensive helmet in the end-game.



Shield

For a shield, simply find a good Spirit Shield base and slam Dense + Aetheric fossils until you hit a good spell/cold damage roll and decent ES. Alch and Chaos spam if needed/desired. You can also use a huge variety of Essences; Anger/Hatred/Wrath for guaranteed resists, Woe for flat ES, or your pick of Loathing, Misery, Scorn, Sorrow, Insanity (but seriously save Insanity for gloves), or Horror.



There are two specific mods you’re looking for: A prefix of “Increased Cold Damage”, and a suffix of “% Increased Energy Shield From Body Armor”. Be prepared to re-craft after hitting cold res instead of cold damage a bunch of times. To begin pushing your single target damage to higher levels, we want to improve our overall damage while also reducing enemy cold resistance as much as possible. To do this, we will begin by upgrading our weapon and our helmet.As written in the leveling section, you want to be unveiling every weapon you can find from Syndicate encounters. If you have found the “trigger a socketed spell when you use a skill” mod, you’re good to go. If you’re in a trade league, see if anyone you know has that mod available.If you can get your hands on some fossils and resonators, the best cheap way to do this is to jam a Bound and Pristine fossil into a 2 socket resonator and roll them on a sword; I use a Tiger Hook for the % dodge chance. If you can get your hands on a shaper sword, you also have a chance to hit a few nice mods. You’re looking for 3 things: “Minions deal X% Increased Damage”, “X% Increased Damage While On Full Life”, and an open suffix. It may take a few tries, but don’t give up! If you don’t have access to fossils yet, you can spam your highest tier Essences of Fear.You can then craft the trigger mod into the open suffix. You will end up with a weapon that gives you over 100% increased damage and alternatingly casts Orb of Storms, Storm Brand, and Frost Bomb as you move around and cast your main spells. At this point, take Elemental Equilibrium on the passive tree. You will now hit enemies with your lightning skills, giving them -50% cold res, and then further shredding resistance with Frost Bomb. This is a buff.HelmetCrafting preference: Shaped Hubris Circlet > Hubris Circlet > Shaped Bone Helmet > Bone Helmet. Take the best option you can get. Once again, fossils are the way to go. Dense and Frigid fossils are the requirements, and a Shuddering fossil improves your odds of good mods if you have a 3 socket resonator. You’re looking for good Energy Shield rolls and “Nearby enemies have -9% to Cold Resistance”. Once you have both, you’ll be solidified in this spot for a long time, upgrading only for an even better and more expensive helmet in the end-game.ShieldFor a shield, simply find a good Spirit Shield base and slam Dense + Aetheric fossils until you hit a good spell/cold damage roll and decent ES. Alch and Chaos spam if needed/desired. You can also use a huge variety of Essences; Anger/Hatred/Wrath for guaranteed resists, Woe for flat ES, or your pick of Loathing, Misery, Scorn, Sorrow, Insanity (but seriously save Insanity for gloves), or Horror.There are two specific mods you’re looking for: A prefix of “Increased Cold Damage”, and a suffix of “% Increased Energy Shield From Body Armor”. Be prepared to re-craft after hitting cold res instead of cold damage a bunch of times.



Crafting Mid-Tier ES Armour Slots



Spoiler I have very little to say here, because there’s… well… very little to say. Whether you are using Alt + Regal, Alch + Chaos, Fossils, or Essences, the goal is as much ES and resists as possible. One thing to note: don’t neglect your damage, as killing enemies grants you massive ES regen.

As you work your way through white maps, one of two things will happen with your gear. Either you will feel somewhat squishy due to a low-ish ES pool and potentially slightly under-capped resists, or you will find that your damage is underwhelming. It’s time to start upgrading.One big note on crafting: value dexterity rolls. Dexterity is a huge sticking point of this build, and having a good dex roll on jewelry or other gear can make a huge difference, saving you skill points and allowing for more diversity.Here are a few uniques that could be picked up in trade league for exceptionally cheap prices. These can either be a gap filler while you build currency or can remain as strong gear options for a long period of time.



End-Game Gear



Spoiler



Note: There is a CI version of this build that uses Atziri’s Reflection and Coward’s Legacy to achieve the Low-Life Pain Attunement while maintaining CI. This will be covered, but I have included the belt slot on its own below, assuming no Reflection.



Weapon



Your end-game weapon can be one of several bases. You can go with a spell damage wand, an elemental damage sceptre, or an attack dodge tiger sword. As you will be crafting nearly all your own mods on the weapon, it does not have to be Shaper or Elder, although you could potentially hit very nice mods for both Shaper and Elder in the Quality of Life department.



The goal here is simple: Use any crafting method to begin the craft: A temple weapon with high minion damage, alt spam for T1 Spell damage, etc. The goal is to start crafting on a weapon that has 1 or more top-tier prefixes; ensure that all prefix rolls are desirable as permanent mods.



Craft “Prefixes Cannot Be Changed”. Unless you only have 1 suffix mod and it’s desirable, Annul off all suffixes. Now craft “Can Have Multiple Crafted Modifiers”. Craft “Trigger a Socketed Spell When You Use A Skill”. Now fill out the remaining affix slots with damage mods. Spell Damage, Cold Damage, and Damage Over Time are all great. You should end up with a weapon that has the following crafts: Multimod, Trigger, and 4x damage mods.



3.6 Synthesis Note: Crazy synthesized bows with at least +3 to gems, % spell damage, and the Inpulsa explosion effect could be absolute best-in-slot for this build. This would also use the Soul Strike quiver. I’m not currently covering that in this guide.



Shield



Unless you’re going the Atziri’s Reflection or synthesized bow route, your shield is all about defenses. You want high flat ES and % ES rolls and resists if you can get them. Your end-game shield should have 450+ ES. Synthesized implicits for shields can be incredibly powerful, granting a ton of ES, curse immunity, 10% reduced mana reservation, etc.



Rings



I’m starting with the rings for a reason. Rings are vital for granting you as much resistance as possible. The main bulk of ring mods you are looking for are Energy Shield and as much resistance as you can possibly fit. The closer to capped you are after your rings, the more damage and ES you can fit into the build in other slots. You will want to ensure that there is an open prefix to craft “% Faster start of Energy Shield Recharge”. Resist bases will help with capping, but Opal rings are so good for damage and Moonstones can help reach those crazy ES levels. Finally, rings are great places to put your Aspect of the Spider if you are planning to run it.



Belt







Crafting your end-game belt is incredibly rewarding for your build, and can be done on a medium budget at a comparatively cheap cost to some other end-game items.



First, acquire either an ilvl 84 Crystal Belt base or Stygian Vise. As you can probably guess, Crystal is best for defenses, whereas a Stygian can provide a ton of damage or other QoL through the jewel slot. It does NOT need to be a Shaper/Elder base, so they are fairly cheap. Next, gather some Dense and Frigid fossils. In addition, adding Aetheric or Shuddering fossils can add a larger chance of rolling either spell damage or movement speed / Onslaught during flask effects. Combining all 4 can yield some truly sickening belts. Start slamming resonators, and stop when you hit a sick belt. Be prepared to roll cold res a LOT when trying for cold damage.



You can also wear the Baited Breath (See Cheap Uniques) if your resists do not need help. BB gives a TON of ES with a good roll.



Amulet



For your Amulet base, you can choose a Dex, Str, or hybrid base if you need the attributes, or a Marble Amulet if your attributes are ok and you have Zealot’s Oath. Mods to look for: Flat ES, %ES, Resists, cold damage over time multi, cast speed. This is another good slot fo Aspect of the Spider, and if the previously mentioned mods are on the amulet, crafted AoE or a multimod with AoE and the previous mods will turn your amulte into something great.

Alternatively, you can wear a Solstice Vigil amulet for free Temp Chains. You will likely want to add the +1 Curse on either a piece of gear or the passive tree node at the top. This gives you more damage and opens up another good helmet enchant, but will make resists harder to cap and ES lower. Your call.



Gloves



Your gloves can either be a highly defensive slot, with 225+ ES, lots of resists, etc, or they can be a damage dealing powerhouse with a Fingerless Silk base, a cold DoT mod, AoE, and +1 to AoE gems crafted on. An Essence of Delirium grants “socketed gems deal 30% more damage over time”, while Shaper gloves can have a cold DoT mod. If using fossils, socket the typical Dense + Frigid, with Aetheric being the choice for a 3 socket resonator. If your gloves have any mods that affect the damage over time or AoE of socketed gems, be sure that Vaal Cold Snap is socketed in this item. The glove slot is also a great place to pick up a chunk of dexterity if you can roll or craft it.



Boots







Firstly, Sin Trek boots (See Cheap Uniques) are very cheap and are perfectly viable as your end-game boots. Defenses, move speed, and attributes are all great. If you’re not using Sin Trek, the boots are all about defenses and as high movement speed as you can cram into them. If you can’t find boots with good resists, 135+ ES, and at LAST 30% movespeed, wear Sin Trek. There’s not a lot to say here; boot slot is simple.



Helmet





The best enchant for this build is 30% Vortex Cooldown Recovery Speed. Vortex damage is also good, as is Temp Chains Effect if running the Solstice Vigil amulet.

Once you have the base, you can either try to craft a damage helm with “Nearby Enemies Have -9% to Cold Resistance” and/or the AoE and +1 to AoE gems craft, or you can simply load up on massive ES and resists.



For the damage helm, use the Dense + Frigid fossil combo until you hit the -9% mod and decent ES. Ideally, you’re looking for 250+ ES. For the pure defensive helm, look for good resists and ideally at least 375 ES.



Body Armour







Finally we arrive at the final slot. This is where CI and Low Life differentiate themselves. For a CI build, the goal is simple: Massive Energy Shield. 550+ is a good start to end game. In 3.6 Synthesis league, people are running around with 800-900 ES like it’s just a walk in the park. The sky’s the limit. Craft Dex on the chest to finish it out and call it a day.

For low life, we obviously make use of Shavronne’s Wrappings. This requires higher ES on the other slots to keep us as safe as the CI build, but the damage gained from Shav’s is just stupendous. The transition from CI to low life in this build is stupidly simple: Equip Shav’s and spec into Pain Attunement. It’s really that simple.



Atziri’s Reflection Variant







If you have money, want chaos immunity, and can’t live without Pain Attunement, purchase an Atziri’s Reflection and Coward’s Legacy. Legacy gives a small ES boost, MS, & attributes, but also curses with Vulnerability. This grants the “low life” effect and allows us to take Pain Attunement.

Assuming you don’t want to die from Vulnerability with 50% inc effect, you need Atziri’s Reflection. This makes us unaffected by curses. We’re now CI and Low Life at the same time. Reflection also provides a large amount of ES & resists. If you’ve followed the upgrade paths in the guide, at this point you will likely be somewhere in the neighborhood of 8k-10k ES, easily capped resists, and enough dex to get by. Now it’s time to push the build into the final stages. This gear will allow you to take on basically anything, given enough encounter knowledge and practice. There are 2 end-game options for gearing here - Straight CI and Low-Life with Shav’s. They use nearly identical gear, with the body armour being the only difference in the normal version of the build.There is a CI version of this build that uses Atziri’s Reflection and Coward’s Legacy to achieve the Low-Life Pain Attunement while maintaining CI. This will be covered, but I have included the belt slot on its own below, assuming no Reflection.Your end-game weapon can be one of several bases. You can go with a spell damage wand, an elemental damage sceptre, or an attack dodge tiger sword. As you will be crafting nearly all your own mods on the weapon, it does not have to be Shaper or Elder, although you could potentially hit very nice mods for both Shaper and Elder in the Quality of Life department.The goal here is simple: Use any crafting method to begin the craft: A temple weapon with high minion damage, alt spam for T1 Spell damage, etc. The goal is to start crafting on a weapon that has 1 or more top-tier prefixes; ensure that all prefix rolls are desirable as permanent mods.Craft “Prefixes Cannot Be Changed”. Unless you only have 1 suffix mod and it’s desirable, Annul off all suffixes. Now craft “Can Have Multiple Crafted Modifiers”. Craft “Trigger a Socketed Spell When You Use A Skill”. Now fill out the remaining affix slots with damage mods. Spell Damage, Cold Damage, and Damage Over Time are all great. You should end up with a weapon that has the following crafts: Multimod, Trigger, and 4x damage mods.3.6 Synthesis Note: Crazy synthesized bows with at least +3 to gems, % spell damage, and the Inpulsa explosion effect could be absolute best-in-slot for this build. This would also use the Soul Strike quiver. I’m not currently covering that in this guide.Unless you’re going the Atziri’s Reflection or synthesized bow route, your shield is all about defenses. You want high flat ES and % ES rolls and resists if you can get them. Your end-game shield should have 450+ ES. Synthesized implicits for shields can be incredibly powerful, granting a ton of ES, curse immunity, 10% reduced mana reservation, etc.I’m starting with the rings for a reason. Rings are vital for granting you as much resistance as possible. The main bulk of ring mods you are looking for are Energy Shield and as much resistance as you can possibly fit. The closer to capped you are after your rings, the more damage and ES you can fit into the build in other slots. You will want to ensure that there is an open prefix to craft “% Faster start of Energy Shield Recharge”. Resist bases will help with capping, but Opal rings are so good for damage and Moonstones can help reach those crazy ES levels. Finally, rings are great places to put your Aspect of the Spider if you are planning to run it.Crafting your end-game belt is incredibly rewarding for your build, and can be done on a medium budget at a comparatively cheap cost to some other end-game items.First, acquire either an ilvl 84 Crystal Belt base or Stygian Vise. As you can probably guess, Crystal is best for defenses, whereas a Stygian can provide a ton of damage or other QoL through the jewel slot. It does NOT need to be a Shaper/Elder base, so they are fairly cheap. Next, gather some Dense and Frigid fossils. In addition, adding Aetheric or Shuddering fossils can add a larger chance of rolling either spell damage or movement speed / Onslaught during flask effects. Combining all 4 can yield some truly sickening belts. Start slamming resonators, and stop when you hit a sick belt. Be prepared to roll cold res a LOT when trying for cold damage.You can also wear the Baited Breath (See Cheap Uniques) if your resists do not need help. BB gives a TON of ES with a good roll.For your Amulet base, you can choose a Dex, Str, or hybrid base if you need the attributes, or a Marble Amulet if your attributes are ok and you have Zealot’s Oath. Mods to look for: Flat ES, %ES, Resists, cold damage over time multi, cast speed. This is another good slot fo Aspect of the Spider, and if the previously mentioned mods are on the amulet, crafted AoE or a multimod with AoE and the previous mods will turn your amulte into something great.Alternatively, you can wear a Solstice Vigil amulet for free Temp Chains. You will likely want to add the +1 Curse on either a piece of gear or the passive tree node at the top. This gives you more damage and opens up another good helmet enchant, but will make resists harder to cap and ES lower. Your call.Your gloves can either be a highly defensive slot, with 225+ ES, lots of resists, etc, or they can be a damage dealing powerhouse with a Fingerless Silk base, a cold DoT mod, AoE, and +1 to AoE gems crafted on. An Essence of Delirium grants “socketed gems deal 30% more damage over time”, while Shaper gloves can have a cold DoT mod. If using fossils, socket the typical Dense + Frigid, with Aetheric being the choice for a 3 socket resonator. If your gloves have any mods that affect the damage over time or AoE of socketed gems, be sure that Vaal Cold Snap is socketed in this item. The glove slot is also a great place to pick up a chunk of dexterity if you can roll or craft it.Firstly, Sin Trek boots (See Cheap Uniques) are very cheap and are perfectly viable as your end-game boots. Defenses, move speed, and attributes are all great. If you’re not using Sin Trek, the boots are all about defenses and as high movement speed as you can cram into them. If you can’t find boots with good resists, 135+ ES, and at LAST 30% movespeed, wear Sin Trek. There’s not a lot to say here; boot slot is simple.The best enchant for this build is 30% Vortex Cooldown Recovery Speed. Vortex damage is also good, as is Temp Chains Effect if running the Solstice Vigil amulet.Once you have the base, you can either try to craft a damage helm with “Nearby Enemies Have -9% to Cold Resistance” and/or the AoE and +1 to AoE gems craft, or you can simply load up on massive ES and resists.For the damage helm, use the Dense + Frigid fossil combo until you hit the -9% mod and decent ES. Ideally, you’re looking for 250+ ES. For the pure defensive helm, look for good resists and ideally at least 375 ES.Finally we arrive at the final slot. This is where CI and Low Life differentiate themselves. For a CI build, the goal is simple: Massive Energy Shield. 550+ is a good start to end game. In 3.6 Synthesis league, people are running around with 800-900 ES like it’s just a walk in the park. The sky’s the limit. Craft Dex on the chest to finish it out and call it a day.For low life, we obviously make use of Shavronne’s Wrappings. This requires higher ES on the other slots to keep us as safe as the CI build, but the damage gained from Shav’s is just stupendous. The transition from CI to low life in this build is stupidly simple: Equip Shav’s and spec into Pain Attunement. It’s really that simple.If you have money, want chaos immunity, and can’t live without Pain Attunement, purchase an Atziri’s Reflection and Coward’s Legacy. Legacy gives a small ES boost, MS, & attributes, but also curses with Vulnerability. This grants the “low life” effect and allows us to take Pain Attunement.Assuming you don’t want to die from Vulnerability with 50% inc effect, you need Atziri’s Reflection. This makes us unaffected by curses. We’re now CI and Low Life at the same time. Reflection also provides a large amount of ES & resists. _________________________



Ascendancy, Bandits, and Pantheon



Spoiler Ascendancy



We are an Occultist. As such, we gain a massive amount of Energy Shield, uninterruptible ES regen and recharge, enemy cold res stripping, and survivability from freeze and chill.



Our ascending order is the same for Softcore, SSF, and Hardcore: Vile Bastion > Void Beacon > Frigid Wake > Profane Bloom.



Bandits



I strongly recommend killing all for the two passive points. Oak’s regen and damage reduction is nice, but we can get more benefits with points. Kraitlyn is semi-appealing, but we’re not Shield Charging and we can still get more benefit from points. Finally, Alira is the least attractive option, as we can’t use crit multi, resists are easy to cap, and we have other mana regen.



Pantheon



Post-Uber Lab, we cannot be stunned, frozen, or chilled. We’re not life based and don’t use life flasks. We’re immune to chaos damage, and damage over time can’t be reflected. Finally, our flasks give us majority uptime on shock, curse, bleed, and ignite immunity. This narrows our considerations.



For major Pantheon, Lunaris and Solaris are the only choices. Solaris helps against bosses, while Lunaris helps during mapping. The white and yellow map upgrades to each pantheon provide the biggest benefit, with the red map upgrade being less of an improvement. I take Solaris, as I’m rarely threatened by trash and would prefer help against bosses.



For minor, Gruthkul, Abberath and Ralakesh are good options. I prefer Gruthkul for the increased defenses. _________________________



Gem Links



Spoiler CI Gems:



Weapon: Orb of Storms - Frost Bomb - Storm Brand



Shield: Flame Dash - Arcane Surge - Faster Casting



Body: Vortex - Controlled Destruction - Hypothermia - Efficacy - Elemental Focus - Swift Affliction



Note that these gems are in order of linked importance. If you have a 4L, drop Ele Focus and Swift Affliction, etc.



4L: Blasphemy - Enfeeble - Enlighten - Vaal Discipline



4L: Vaal Cold Snap - Bonechill - Efficacy - Hypothermia



4L: Immortal Call - Cast When Damage Taken - Increased Duration - Phase Run



Alternate Skills: Portal , Vaal Breach



Low Life Gem Changes:



Drop Blasphemy/Enfeeble/Enlighten



Shield: Clarity - Vaal Discipline - Blood Magic



4L: Hatred - Malevolence - Faster Casting - Flame Dash



Quality

The only gems which do not provide a benefit to our build when qualitied are the following: Orb of Storms and Frost Bomb (minor damage increases, not what we use them for), Arcane Surge, Discipline (if playing solo; quality if in a party), Immortal Call, and Cast When Damage Taken. Use the previously mentioned vendor quality recipe for the rest.



Enlighten quality improves the rate at which it gains experience, so you can drastically cut down on the leveling time of the gem by getting it to 20% _________________________



CONTINUED BELOW!



_________________________ Welcome to my guide! The Cold DoT Occultist is a beginner friendly build that's great for Hardcore, Softcore, Solo Self-Found, and console gameplay. It's tanky, has very good dps, and requires 0 uniques. Within this guide, you'll find videos, mechanic explanations, a Path of Building code, a thoroughly detailed, color-coded leveling guide, gearing options, and more!This guide is inspired by the incredible Enki Arc Witch guide. PoE has many skills that deserve guides as thorough as Enki's and I'm happy to contribute to the community.I’ll answer questions as I’m able, but check the guide first for answers. You can also join my discord server and ask questions in the Path of Exile channel here . Thanks! Vortex For Dummies: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2661120 Last edited by ShakCentral on Oct 9, 2019, 6:48:24 PM Last bumped on Dec 16, 2019, 3:13:04 PM