[3.1] The Blinding Blizzard - Whispering Ice Berserker - Viable for Most Everything

Maybe try 3.1 with slayer and extra life leech? :o

I enjoyed playing this build thanks for posting and keeping it updated, :-)

Just started this char, took it to 39 and swapped into Icestorm.

Lovely guide. Great writing stle - thank you!

I'm finding some difficulty hitting targets with Scorching Ray... sometimes it looks like I am blasting them, but the icestorm doesn't proc - especially when the target is very close.

What are your thoughts on using Wither instead of Scorching Ray to proc the icestorm? I find I can target the ground using Wither... maybe giving me better control.

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tengumai wrote:

Just started this char, took it to 39 and swapped into Icestorm.

Lovely guide. Great writing stle - thank you!

I'm finding some difficulty hitting targets with Scorching Ray... sometimes it looks like I am blasting them, but the icestorm doesn't proc - especially when the target is very close.

What are your thoughts on using Wither instead of Scorching Ray to proc the icestorm? I find I can target the ground using Wither... maybe giving me better control.

It doesn't matter whether you use wither or scorching ray, icestorm will always be casted exactly where your mouse cursor is (even if scorching ray still not turned to that position). But scorching ray debuffing target on fire res, and wither - not.
Obviously we using scorching ray.

A little update here instead of replying to every PM about 3.1:

- ZiggyD confirmed that the VP change seen in that preview video is NOT FINAL. As of a few days ago, GGG still was considering different tweaks. Basically, we won't know until Tuesday/Wednesday.

- Reflect mod on the maps is not changing, but the ele reflect on the rares is getting nerfed and becoming completely harmless as far as this build is concerned. Those rares will just bombard you with some shards of FIXED damage (depending on the monster level) and not even for every hit. I can't see that being of any danger to us. This is very nice for avoiding the situation where you could get a reflective rare or essence monster with huge amount of hp that survives long after everything else is dead. That was dangerous to encounter when you were not running the dedicated reflect setup (Yugul, Sibyl etc). Now you won't need to worry about that.

- Whatever the changes, I'm definitely going with WI for 3.1. There will be some new metas, of course. GC mines might get totally OP. Or some of those new Necro skills. But here's the thing: all that damage will not save you in the fights where you can't avoid taking damage. We get a bunch of new endgame maps and 5 new uber bosses. Unless GGG totally fails at balance and lets you insta kill those bosses with some of that new OP stuff, you will need either a lot of skill or a lot of survivability. I'm going to have some faith in the GGG balance team "with 1000+ hours of PoE experience" and hope that they won't fail too hard. I never cared much about clear speed, but I want to kill all those new bosses reliably.

- Another reason for being tanky: the pack size rework. Every single map mod will add pack size now. This build was already capable of running highest tier maps with almost any mods for high pack size and IIR/IIQ. Now this will be more rewarding than ever.

- The final choice of the version of the build for 3.1 will be made on Thursday, after we know everything about 3.1. It may be Berserker again or another class, VP or no VP, Life or ES, etc. Stay tuned.

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Med1umentor wrote:

It doesn't matter whether you use wither or scorching ray, icestorm will always be casted exactly where your mouse cursor is (even if scorching ray still not turned to that position).

This was a huge help for me, thanks. I was expecting the icestorm to appear where the ray hit a monster... once I realized that the icestorm appears where I am pointing, regardless of monsters or the ray, I was able to control the icestorm perfectly.

Thank you!

There are some things to consider ... With Charged Dash you cant control where Icestrom lands, its always in a cone where you will move after releasing the skill.

And with all other channeling skills Icestorm will not cast if you hover the mouse somewhere you cant move. Eg. an tree or a wall or somewhere of the path in lunaris temple. You have to be aware of this, if you are fighting and suddenly your leeching stops, you can be killed really fast.

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Kelvynn wrote:

- Whatever the changes, I'm definitely going with WI for 3.1.

Looking forward to it! Thanks for all the testing you do.

DayummmMMMmmm!



Inquisitor is looking really interesting with this. 5% penetration and +25 All Attr for connecting to the Scion start.

Now just need to know what they are going to do with VP.

OK, the dev manifesto is up, and they did choose that version of VP that's on the screenshot. Double leech and double limit (i.e. 40% per second max).

What's more interesting, no nerfs to any classes in that post. Or maybe Chris just didn't think the class nerfs were important enough to include.

Waiting for the patch notes tomorrow. But so far Berserker still looks fine, Inquisitor looks buffed (although likely still not as strong as Berserker), and there is a temptimg Slayer option to try.