











With an emphasis on the Freeze.

Level 92 in Tempest, I have done maps up to level 79

Sticking with the play style of being as safe as possible I came up with this.

You will be doing high damage while keeping most bosses and mobs frozen from a distance.



Videos:



(Level 92, higher level/quality gems)

76 gorge

https://youtu.be/aWRxQEqNK3o



(Level 90, lower level/quality gems)

75 dry peninsula

https://youtu.be/3e1_NjozAGw



Gear:





Passives, Gear and Gems Mechanics:



passives

Ancestral Bond

"You can't deal Damage with your Skills yourself."

What this really means: any skill you use that does damage off of a separate trigger will do its damage.



For example: all traps, totems, remote mines and minions will do their damage when you have the ancestral bond passive allocated.



Zealot's Oath

"Life Regeneration applies to Energy Shield instead of Life."

I use this in combination with my high ES pool to maintain my es while standing on damage over time effects that are not chaos damage related.

This passive also help when taking constant damage from different sources over a longer period of time.



Whisper's of Doom

"Enemies can have 1 additional Curse."

This passive lets us curse enemies with more than 1 curse.

Two passive points before this one give 5% increased effect of your curses(per node), buffing our enfeeble, assassin's mark and temporal chains.

These along with the 20% quality Curse on Hit gem grant another 10% inc effect to gems linked to it.



Jewel Sockets

What I look for on jewels are 3 main things: Freeze duration, Damage and Chaos resistance.

If you are short on dexterity from gear you may want to get some on jewels as well.





Gear

Rain of splinters jewel

This is used for 2 additional projectiles which give massive aoe clear speed. I use this for clearing most of the map. Jewels with increased freeze duration help a lot for freezing. When in parties or facing bosses I can swap rain of splinters out for a rare jewel for more damage/freeze duration.



Soul Mantle

This cheap chest gives a free level 14 spell totem making our 5 link a 6 link, and giving us an effective 50% more damage with the additional totem.

The downside of the chest is that it curses us with a level 20 curse every time a totem dies, expires or is recast.



To compensate for this downside I use a saturated mana flask of warding to dispel curses on use which also has more charges than most other flasks.

Because I use this flask I chose not to run clarity or get as much mana regen as some other builds do, which gives us more un-reserved mana to cast more totems in burst.



Asenath's Gentle Touch*

This lets our freezing pulse and everything else we use that hits enemies curse them with temporal chains. Temporal chains increases the duration of the freeze on an enemy by 40%.



Romira's Banquet

This lets our incinerate generate power charges which increase the crit chance of the totems. Incinerate does not have any crit chance so it cannot crit without assassins mark so we hardly ever loose our charges.



*With a corrupted +1 curse amulet or the +1 curse boots/ring you can use a asenath's gloves corrupted with elemental weakness on hit or assassins mark(only to gems linked in the gloves) to triple curse enemies.



With an un-corrupted asenath's and 2 curses you can use a higher level assassin's mark or another curse such as enfeeble, coupled with curse effect which gives considerable buffs to curses.



Gems

Freezing pulse

(quality for increased projectile speed!) with hypothermia which gives more damage to chilled enemies(enemies count as chilled even when frozen) as an alternative to hypothermia you can link added cold for a greater chance to freeze as your initial damage will be higher, faster casting, increased critical damage and cold penetration(very important!)



Incinerate

I link it with curse on hit, assassin's mark and greater multiple projectiles. With the additional curse from the passives tree we can dual curse with incinerate while generating charges.

Power charges also increase our spell damage with the spell damage per power charge passive above the witch start.



I use vaal lightning trap with increased duration which leaves a shocking ground effect that shocks any enemy standing on it that can be shocked, including bosses. This shock helps with freezing a lot.



Vaal lightning trap

Linked with increased duration, and possibly gmp.

This trap gives us a way of shocking enemies and bosses no matter how tough they are for a set duration, while they stand on the shocked ground.

When shocked enemies receive an extra 50% more damage.





Cost of gear

The cost of Rain of splinters was 3 chaos, Soul mantle was 1 chaos+the cost of 5/6 linking it. Asenath's was 1c(2c corrupted). Romira's banquet was 7c. The rest of the gear is rare items/jewels which were bought for 1-3c, the shield was 2 exalted and the sceptre I found.



The cost of my gems that I have equipped was my time. I leveled them all to 20 and either corrupted them until I got level 21 or traded them to the vendor along with a GCP to get back a level 1 20% quality version to level back up to 20.



Damage and Defence Screenshots

Screenshots

Level 19 Freezing Pulse Damage Screenshot:







My Current Freezing Pulse Damage with herald of ice, added cold and rain of splinters Screenshot:







Tooltip 26k dps per totem with rallying cry, power charges and the additional 100% crit from placing a totem.

With all 3 totems it goes up to 78k damage per second. With shock around ~120k dps.



Defense Screenshot:







Almost no armor or evasion or block or dodge sounds not-so-safe. But I am level 92 in a hardcore league.

Tooltip 26k dps per totem with rallying cry, power charges and the additional 100% crit from placing a totem.With all 3 totems it goes up to 78k damage per second. With shock around ~120k dps.Almost no armor or evasion or block or dodge sounds not-so-safe. But I am level 92 in a hardcore league.



Passives:

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwUATwRDyFugp1V8Dmjy8B-iAASzwGZFRzLR6-4c3KcImuCPGtrdj0YVUNgkRZ0dFJuhNsWFbVNSjmT60hhqg_MfAtWB96YWb2aeOVJOrgQHJNi2-uNqJKoWQHIPWOVYB7E2g9tMszbphX2Ub1nzKhOuElXG0B8tH0JLIG6usxpsZlQaOForOljv6x1PhcVQMEGW98GQVaPyNbnbXgVC0PUnLxFQpyssnG0ZCPQi9MBUbAtqQ7zqkye-in_G74ihLxGW-TcHHg5I18-VLg3RXfJJsfDVY0Nw1UlRj_qJ0-v1cFLDCbmT8h0=



Leveling:



I started off leveling with flame totem+ firestorm until I got dual totem.

At which point I switched to incinerate totems until level 75.

With a level 17 freezing pulse gem and and increased freeze duration jewels I was able to start freezing a lot.

You can use freezing pulse totems to level, or even self cast with it early on if you prefer.

With good rare gear you may be able to start freezing most bosses earlier on with your character.



If you think you can obtain a shavronne's wrappings

You may chose to start as witch instead of templar and skip life regen in favor of going low life+ pain attunement to have higher base damage on 2 totems for bigger freezes and more auras in exchange for an additional totem and gem slot.



Here is an example of what I would do for a low life version of crit freezing pulse totems:

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwMA37DfiukCS64bJdlbbRkRUDW5pysdTy0fTLOVINAfQksgbq6zBAfB8-_rhcVQMEGWHwKio9teBULQ9TbFf8YPxCyci3qD85MnflkRljt8AW9Orr6K74gHHg5IuMri97E2ytOhL_k3lS4N0V3yhEiuErQM18_w1WNDcNW29_fXXGvqukmxSVGP-onTKwqbocNtDXw0CuwYe9fr9XBSES-PRhhqV8k3ZjeBwwkdFFH7eC83gyym5Ou5k45k-tLNFnzlpuuQ1vId96Zmnh8YWAe2-hZAtzFyD1jlhX2MdpRvKhNmVForo_I=



Q and A

"Why freezing pulse? Why not storm call or arctic breath or arc or shock nova or cold snap or spark?"



Well my good friends, here is the breakdown on why I chose this skill.

The base damage on freezing pulse is higher than any other skill I can use to freeze an enemy with besides discharge with multiple charges.

Feel free to correct me on this:



Level 20 gem base damages of skills that people have mentioned are worth using instead along with freezing pulse itself:



Freezing pulse- 572–858

Storm call- 283–525

Arctic breath- 451–677

Arc- 39–738

Shock nova- 137–411(first hit and 50% less on 2nd hit)

Cold snap- 462–693

Spark- 40–756



With these numbers into consideration, along with the fact that totems can be placed directly into the faces of our enemies: Why not use freezing pulse? For more AOE? Sure we can do that, and have better clear speed against white mobs. But that isn't the point of this build. Our goal here is to freeze everything in our path no matter the enemy and completely disregard defenses for more damage and freeze duration.



So there you have it, this is why i chose to use freezing pulse as my main skill of choice to be paired with the soul mantle body armor unique. :)



" Trying to understand your passive skill tree choices. Why not Celestial Punishment (and Judgment)? Why not Breath of Rime? Both seem perfect for you and you are close to them on the tree. And why not Shadow? Starting area seems like a lot more worth than Templar.



So for celestial punishment, it + the 2 nodes before it grant you a total of 39% increased damage(while enemy has status effected). 39/3= 13%.

Judgement grants 12% per node for the 2 and 2% penetration.

Instead of getting these 5 nodes I chose to focus on getting more crit and cast speed, as I believe those 2 contribute more towards freezing than % damage increase that I can get on jewels and gear.

Breath of Rime will chill enemies when they unfreeze along with the nodes the grants 20% increased freeze duration before it(more powerful than BoR itself for this build IMO) but it will take 3/4 nodes to get them. as opposed to that I chose to get jewel nodes for 2 points each. each jewel has the potential of giving 15% freeze duration and over 20~% increased damage.

As for starting at templar I save some points by skipping shadows damage and getting life regen, as I use that with zealots oath to keep my ES up under degen effects like fire/poison ground.



"

have you tried ice spear or glacial cascade instead of freezing pulse? looks very safe....have you tried ice spear or glacial cascade instead of freezing pulse?



I have tried ice spear in past leagues with spell totem and i have played cascade this league as well.

cascade is more of a pure damage spell because of its multi hits and part phys damage.

Ice spear this league doesn't seem to be quite as strong as freezing pulse or arctic breath are because of the base damage increases they received. (Last update: September 23rd, before the end of tempest)With an emphasis on the Freeze.Level 92 in Tempest, I have done maps up to level 79Sticking with the play style of being as safe as possible I came up with this.You will be doing high damage while keeping most bosses and mobs frozen from a distance.(Level 92, higher level/quality gems)76 gorge(Level 90, lower level/quality gems)75 dry peninsulaThe cost of Rain of splinters was 3 chaos, Soul mantle was 1 chaos+the cost of 5/6 linking it. Asenath's was 1c(2c corrupted). Romira's banquet was 7c. The rest of the gear is rare items/jewels which were bought for 1-3c, the shield was 2 exalted and the sceptre I found.The cost of my gems that I have equipped was my time. I leveled them all to 20 and either corrupted them until I got level 21 or traded them to the vendor along with a GCP to get back a level 1 20% quality version to level back up to 20.I started off leveling with flame totem+ firestorm until I got dual totem.At which point I switched to incinerate totems until level 75.With a level 17 freezing pulse gem and and increased freeze duration jewels I was able to start freezing a lot.You can use freezing pulse totems to level, or even self cast with it early on if you prefer.With good rare gear you may be able to start freezing most bosses earlier on with your character.You may chose to start as witch instead of templar and skip life regen in favor of going low life+ pain attunement to have higher base damage on 2 totems for bigger freezes and more auras in exchange for an additional totem and gem slot.Here is an example of what I would do for a low life version of crit freezing pulse totems:"Why freezing pulse? Why not storm call or arctic breath or arc or shock nova or cold snap or spark?"Well my good friends, here is the breakdown on why I chose this skill.The base damage on freezing pulse is higher than any other skill I can use to freeze an enemy with besides discharge with multiple charges.Feel free to correct me on this:Level 20 gem base damages of skills that people have mentioned are worth using instead along with freezing pulse itself:Freezing pulse- 572–858Storm call- 283–525Arctic breath- 451–677Arc- 39–738Shock nova- 137–411(first hit and 50% less on 2nd hit)Cold snap- 462–693Spark- 40–756With these numbers into consideration, along with the fact that totems can be placed directly into the faces of our enemies: Why not use freezing pulse? For more AOE? Sure we can do that, and have better clear speed against white mobs. But that isn't the point of this build. Our goal here is to freeze everything in our path no matter the enemy and completely disregard defenses for more damage and freeze duration.So there you have it, this is why i chose to use freezing pulse as my main skill of choice to be paired with the soul mantle body armor unique. :)So for celestial punishment, it + the 2 nodes before it grant you a total of 39% increased damage(while enemy has status effected). 39/3= 13%.Judgement grants 12% per node for the 2 and 2% penetration.Instead of getting these 5 nodes I chose to focus on getting more crit and cast speed, as I believe those 2 contribute more towards freezing than % damage increase that I can get on jewels and gear.Breath of Rime will chill enemies when they unfreeze along with the nodes the grants 20% increased freeze duration before it(more powerful than BoR itself for this build IMO) but it will take 3/4 nodes to get them. as opposed to that I chose to get jewel nodes for 2 points each. each jewel has the potential of giving 15% freeze duration and over 20~% increased damage.As for starting at templar I save some points by skipping shadows damage and getting life regen, as I use that with zealots oath to keep my ES up under degen effects like fire/poison ground.I have tried ice spear in past leagues with spell totem and i have played cascade this league as well.cascade is more of a pure damage spell because of its multi hits and part phys damage.Ice spear this league doesn't seem to be quite as strong as freezing pulse or arctic breath are because of the base damage increases they received. Last edited by Kaepora on Sep 24, 2015, 12:38:36 AM Last bumped on May 29, 2017, 7:40:32 AM