[3.23] Lk's Cold DoT Ele [League-start to over 40m DoT] (Wildwood Primalist Update)

Well done. ;)

I had some problems from time to time, but there were most likely my fault (haven't played for a year). The more familiar I get with the build, the more I like it.

Little hint for those that like to get a rare 6L: Buy a random one with a fitting base type (~20c) and then throw a few Deafening Essence of Greed on it, until you get something acceptable. I spend 30c for mine this way and I'm kidna happy with it.

/edit: for the mana problems before allocating Eldritch Battery, Praxis Ring + Clarity worked kinda well with 4L setup.

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MagdalenePapillon wrote:

Hi, first of all just wanted to say I'm loving the build! It's definitely one of the smoothest league starters I've played. I was just wondering how and how often you use your dual curse. As far as I could see from the video you only have frostbite in your hotbar. When and how do you use elemental weakness? I was aslo wondering if it could be an option to get a ring with the 'curse enemies with frostbite on hit' implicit? Thanks

Hi, glad that you are loving the build! :)

I just re-watched the video and realised that my alt-Q was Vortex instead of Elemental Weakness! XD The hotkey must have switched out when I was moving items around.

I only use Elemental Weakness for bosses.

Yes, you can use curse on hit rings (both implicit and explicit).

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dokidokidango wrote:

How good is this build for endgame bosses like in Delve, Sirius, Maven etc? I think this build is interesting to use as a league starter. Thanks!

Cold DoT is one of the best league-start bossing builds.

In the last gauntlet (HCSSF boss kill race event), four skills were banned:
1. Vortex
2. Creeping Frost
3. Detonate Dead
4. Seismic Trap

Vortex and Creeping Frost are so good at bossing that they were banned from the race event.

Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/1094jkw/ziz_seismic_dd_creeping_frost_and_vortex/

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BVwins wrote:

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SonsOfKorhal wrote:

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yeah im gonna go with the unfamiliar playstyle of this version of the build... last CDOT i played was occultist with shield with max block 90 all res 40k armor and life gained on block on shield so this is wayy squishier that what im used to lol

agree. i've been playing this build for 4 years now, for different leagues, there have been multiple ways of building the CDOT for different content. so it definitely will feel squishier than what you are used to (relatively), but i wouldnt categorise it as squishy (objectively). but if you're running like T16s fully juiced max atlas and fully charged crucible then i'd be like yeah this build gonna get demolished haha. dying in T7s is still a red flag for me so i think you gotta see how you are dying or what content you are dying to. currently i'm about 11k AR and 30k EV. didn't spec block or anything else other than what i have on my char, and even with a 5L, not a problem for the average alc-and-go red maps.

im doing fine now that ive tweaked my playstyle lol


ive cleared everything but maven and all her big invvitations but im sure i can do most of those once i get my chest and empower that will be a huge dmg boost

Glad that you are doing fine :)

Hope you get your chest and empower soon~

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Judaspriester wrote:

Well done. ;)

I had some problems from time to time, but there were most likely my fault (haven't played for a year). The more familiar I get with the build, the more I like it.

Little hint for those that like to get a rare 6L: Buy a random one with a fitting base type (~20c) and then throw a few Deafening Essence of Greed on it, until you get something acceptable. I spend 30c for mine this way and I'm kidna happy with it.

/edit: for the mana problems before allocating Eldritch Battery, Praxis Ring + Clarity worked kinda well with 4L setup.

I did the same for the chest! Unfortunately the base alone costed 40c on day 2.

Glad to hear that Praxis helped to fix your mana issues.

My cold dot elementalist sucks

Dmg is there but only 8k eHP

Any help?

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theroran wrote:

My cold dot elementalist sucks

Dmg is there but only 8k eHP

Any help?

looking at your skill tree, my opinion is that you are spending too much SP on the right side (below the cold wheel, going towards blood drinker). also do not need to take the melding wheel and quick recovery wheel this early. get the sovereignty wheel and eldritch battery. this will allow you to run grace, determination, defiance banner, and malevolence - greatly increasing your survivability. you are spending too many SP on life, and the effects can be mitigated by getting better early mapping gear that costs 2-3c per item slot. you need to spend the SP on the mana reservation nodes.

this is not an ES build. this is a build that relies largely on EV/AR. aim for life on all your gear. get an EV/ES chest. at your level, 10-15k EV/AR is suitable, 4k hp would be nice. for example, 50+ hp on rings and amulet, 100+ hp on belt, chest, shield. 80+ hp on helmet, gloves. aiming for just life and resists, each slot can be funded by doing 1-2 sets of vendor chaos recipe. this is definitely doable.

get the correct gem set-up. CWDT molten shell will help to some extent. with eldritch battery, you should not have mana issues, therefore get the correct 5L set up in your chest, you can switch out the praxis ring.

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theroran wrote:

My cold dot elementalist sucks

Dmg is there but only 8k eHP

Any help?

How much currency do you have?

I can write a detailed response only when I'm back from work. SonsOfKorhal's response is very good.

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theroran wrote:

My cold dot elementalist sucks

Dmg is there but only 8k eHP

Any help?

Your skill tree and gem set-up is very different from the guide. It seems like you are following Zizaran's guide?

The three step solution is:
1. Respec your skill tree
2. Item replacements
3. Follow the gem link set-up in this guide


You will spend about 15c on the gear and maybe 10c on regret orbs depending on how many respec points you have atm.

1. Respec your skill tree
I have provided a leveling skill tree that shows what you should have at lvl 84, so you should respec towards that, especially the Eldritch Battery and reservation efficiency nodes so that you can run four auras without having mana issues.


2. Item replacements
You need more life, evasion, armour and chaos resistances on your gear.
I have provided customised trade searches below. You should be able to pick up each piece for 1-3 chaos orbs.

Helmet: You need more life, get some AR/EV.
Search: https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Crucible/BzRybwjS8

Rings: You need more life, get some chaos resistances.
Search: https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Crucible/8RVey9VIV

Belt: You need more life.
Search: https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Crucible/MdzWlDFJ

Gloves: You need more life. Probably the only acceptable piece of gear not to get AR/EV since you need 4 blue sockets.
Search: https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Crucible/bD7gg0RTL

Boots: You need more life, get some AR/EV.
Search: https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Crucible/DnRkDK5C5

Chest: You need more life, get some EV.
Search: https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Crucible/w3d80gBtb

Flasks: Craft increased armour, increased evasion and reduced curse effect on your flasks. Get an instant Divine Life Flask with corrupted blood immunity.

Your amulet, weapon and shield are fine.

3. Follow the gem link set-up in this guide
There is a section labelled "Gem Links" in the guide. If you follow the gem links, you will have good damage and defense.

Another crafting advice that worked for me:

Bought decent Gloves with fractured life t1 and then used some essences of Delirium (+30% AoE Dmg for socketed gems) until I got something decent while having a free prefix. Afterwards I crafted the +1 AoE Gems on it and used Ichor and Ember on it.
There's ofc still room for improvement but I'm satisfied with them for now.