[3.23 Cold Conversion Blade Vortex Elementalist / Occultist (League Starter + League Finisher)
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Been playing this build since the start of Sanctum, got me the furthest I've ever got in a league so far so thats awesome, thanks for your work!
However, I got to the point where I changed to Occultist today and it just feels... off? Playing Elementalist was really smooth and I had a decent time in all map content, but Occultist feels a bit more clunkier in comparison, especially when fighting bosses (had no downtime on BV/Vortex/AssMark before, now I really have to pay attention and time my skills even though my mana pool only decreased from like 80 to 66?). Losing the ability to do ele-reflect maps (and phys-reflect maps until I can fill in the 40% cold-conversion I lost from refunding Cold Mastery) is also another downside. Profane Bloom absolutely wrecks no doubt, cleaning packs feels really good. But for some reason I can't help but feel I heavily nerfed myself in regards to bossing and I also feel a bit more squishier (despite capped eleres, 66% c-res and 99% spell suppress) Maybe this is EXTREMELY subjective and I'm just biased by being used to the elementalist, or theres something crucial I'm missing / doing wrong. Perhaps someone can take a glance at my current PoB (https://pastebin.com/U8PbUgad), would really appreciate that! | |
" I think I don't want to go with Armor/Determination and Molten Shell route, I made the char to use EB and spell suppression, switching to armor would mean a whole new set of items, probably too much for me :) Tempest Shield is also used for Shock Immunity, so I'd rather stay with it. But you're right about Vitality, it's not doing too much. The char has some decent flask sustain (for a not being a Pathfinder) and the life flask gives like 3k hp/sec, so Vitality is the first one to be replaced with something more stronger. The first goal is then to get Vaal BV back. I remember the Vaal skill was very useful earlier when the dmg was lower in Harvest for example. Now it doesn't matter because Harvest mobs last like 2 seconds, but from time to time there are still cases where I can't be in 2 places at the same time so Vaal would still work great. I'll check rings with flammability on hit, you're right, it's slow to apply all of this. This could then save me another socket. And I can't stop thinking about an idea to add Skitterbots for an additional full shock and bonechill, but it's just getting too high mana reservation. On the other hand, this is more damage and I want more defense lol Great suggestions, thanks!! | |
" Sounds good! If Shock Immunity is what you're after, I love the "cannot be shocked while at maximum power charges" angle. I find that it's super rare to come up against a group of mobs that both steals charges and shocks, and is gonna live long enough to do either. The skitters can be a nice addition, but it's really just the shock, your bonechill only needs to be applied to one chilling area and it should operate at maximum effectiveness. |
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" If that POB is accurate you're only converting 39% of your physical damage to cold. You need the mastery at the very least, and ideally a higher implicit or a veiled mod instead of the crafted. Helping Alira and getting a ring with -mana cost would probably solve your mana issues as well. |
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Hi! Thanks for awesome build guide)
I'm running HH blast mapper with full deeps in mind - mapping feels so well and clear speed like 10/10 Abaxoth for map boss!!!
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Hello,
I'm really enjoying thi build! I have one quick question: Not using Unbound Ailment with Bonechill and Vortex is a mistake or note? Actually I have remove it to gain a slot to have 2 Enlighten and to be able to cast all the auras but I don't know if I'm losing DPS or not with this set-up. Thank you for your advise! |
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" Unbound Ailments is a luxury that only kicks in if your BV is not chilling with greater effect than the vortex. POB doesn't assume a max chill from BV unless you force it to, so it uses the vortex chill effect as its assumption of what's being applied. In practice it's really rare that it will actually make any difference, and even then it's only a few percent, so it's definitely the first gem to remove. Last edited by Chronic_Painless on Jan 13, 2023, 9:53:26 PM
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" Thanks for the answer mate! My PoB isn't correctly setup (since I dont fiddle around with it personally), sorry for the confusion. I have 28% cold conversion relic and helped Alira, I suppose I should really just start to save up for better gloves then and maybe see if I can switch out my rings nonetheless. Grinding blight maps with Profane Bloom should do the trick just fine for that :) | |
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TLDR;
"later mapping" setup, even a bit better, is not enough for T15+ maps with any good pack/quantity (i. e. dangerous mods), particularly typical 'late mapping' encounters like Harbinger or anything above a regular map boss (like crusaders, pantheon rares or maven invitations). Question is, when does the build reach survability for actual late (quantity-optimized) mapping? And when for actual recent pinnacle bosses? ---- I play this build in the elementalist, 'late mapping' phase with ~4.6k health, 600 ES and the PoB links and uniques. Around 4-5 div spent on equip so far. While it is a very satisfying general mapper because all normal/magic and most rares mobs get frozen and plop almost instantly even with just 5 blades out, it is too squishy and has no means of recovering life quickly outside of flask which is quickly depleted. Among other things, Harbinger encounters are a 100% death trap even if you only skim around the edges. I mostly try to ignore these now, might even spec out of guaranteed Harbinger because of it. All pantheon rares are death traps as well, the skills are not telegraphed for the most part and you just DIE in a splitsecond, no chance to use teleport or run away. Map mods like crit or multi projectile are absolutely deadly, even trying to "jump" into ranged mob groups gets me frequently killed. Unfortunately, exchanging e. g. Hate for Determination would kill the DPS but it'd be a first step towards at least physical resistance. Honestly, just looking at the EHP and maximum hits per damage type in 'late mapping' makes you quickly realize that the build at that stage is IN NO WAY WHATSOEVER suited for T15+ maps except if you only run easy bosses and forgo any attempt at getting good pack size or quantity. Also putting stuff like Harbinger in is asking for a death sentence. Heck, even posessed normal map bosses are extremely dangerous because they either instagib you or you use up your flask and that's it. I have even added watcher's eye with precision flask charge on crit which helps a tiny bit but not much. (Also annoying to run around with only 60 mana) Don't even ATTEMPT maven invitation, crusaders or any of the recent pinnacle bosses at this stage. Looking at the next '5-10 div' range (I already spent 5 div on the current equipment...), it mainly adds armor aura (tho I see nowhere how you want to get 50% more reserved mana, PoB clearly states it's not possible) and expensive equipment without affecting EHP a lot. Tricky. Some ideas: - Exchange Assassin Mark for Enfeeble or Temp Chain on dangerous rares + encounters. - exchange Hatred for armor (DPS go down drastically) - Potentially use reservation unique helmet, however you will then be bottlenecked by gem slots - adjust tree for more life nodes (I dont see this working tho) Advice welcome. My most frequent deaths are from: Harbinger encounters (mostly because of fraction of a second kills), pantheon mobs (same once their power activates), anything recent above a regular map boss (crusader for example you just run out of life flask and then die) and especially any encounter that could be considered endgame (like Sirus, maven inviation even without dangerous mods etc.). Did somebody invest heavily (10-15 div worth at least) and can say if this build reaches suitable means of surviving at some point of time? I mean besides trying to dodge damage spikes, that's what I do anyway. Thanks. Last edited by Jasmira on Jan 18, 2023, 1:38:49 PM
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" Sorry to hear that the build isn't performing to your expectations, but fortunately I think there are some changes you can make that should help substantially. 1. Get a better weapon. Your weapon should always be one of your most expensive pieces of gear while you're upgrading, and with 4-5 div invested overall a 50 or even 100c weapon is appropriate. 2. Ditch the granite flask and the other one with the armour suffix (you can't benefit from the same suffix twice anyway) until you can invest in the mana reservation needed to add determination. The checklist in the guide should get you there. Getting just a tiny bit of armour won't feel impactful at all, and doesn't enable molten shell, which is a huge part of the reason we want armour to begin with. Get damage flasks instead. 3. Drop the watcher's eye, you're right that it barely provides any benefit. 4. Craft -mana cost on your rings, this should solve any mana issues. 5. Get a life flask that's used instantly on low life, this will save you from a lot of avoidable deaths. Those changes should help a lot, but reading through your post there were some other things that stood out to me as potential problem areas. The first is when you said that you have the "POB uniques" but if you look in the Notes section, I explain that everything but the Hrimsorrows are optional, and that the Starkonja's especially is just an example of a very cheap source of lots of life and dexterity that should be replaced quickly. Definitely give the notes a once-over if you haven't yet. The next was when you mentioned that most mobs can be killed on 5 blades, and it concerns me that you would know that this is true, because running around with 10 blades constantly is what the build is all about, precisely because of the sudden difficulty spikes presented by juicy rares. Lastly, you mention several encounters where you use up your life flask and then die, but you should have over 600 life regen per second from what I'm seeing, so something is off there. If you haven't checked out my update videos from this league yet, I highly suggest you give them a look, and/or join the discord in the video descriptions for more assistance. Last edited by Chronic_Painless on Jan 18, 2023, 11:14:22 PM
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