[3.11] Kitava's Thirst Builds - Flame Surge/Blade Vortex - Sirus /T16 Farm

How is the setup with Ice nova as trigger and Frostbolt + Wintertide Brand + Creeping Frost in helm working? Would you say its better than the usual setup with fire spells? You could easily get some additional projectiles for Frostbolt with Frozen trail jewels so I'd guess atleast the clear speed would be better.

I already have 2 Frozen Trail jewels. :)

It's pretty fun, and there's an interesting interaction, since when you cast Ice Nova on Frostbolt you don't actually cast the repeats yourself, it allows you to spend mana sooner, which allows you to proc the helmet a LOT more often. Cooldown is 0.1sec.

It's pretty good clear speed-wise, and might be as good as Flame Surge for single target with the proper setup. I'll be trying out other gems in helmet and staff, and I'll add some cluster jewels.

Also, Black Hole Frostbolt.

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Sarodh1 wrote:

Also, Black Hole Frostbolt.

Hahah that was actually the exact reason why I was so curious about your ice nova/frostnova setup & decided to try it myself too! Also the new Celestial Ice nova effect is looking reeeally cool, big vaal ice nova chains with it look sick..

Do you think it's still worth it to run Herald of Ash even with frost spells, or would Herald of Ice be better? All I know is Frostbolt damage effectiveness was buffed so all added flat cold damage (like the dmg from Herald of Ice) is buffed greatly, don't know if this is true for the other ice spells too.

Oh damn, I'm gonna rejig my setup a bit to try with frost damage. Will probs end up selling my Thread of Hope too!

What do you think about Power Charge on Crit instead of Wintertide Brand in the helmet? This way we could sustain powercharges on bosses.

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Borothos wrote:

What do you think about Power Charge on Crit instead of Wintertide Brand in the helmet? This way we could sustain powercharges on bosses.

Sounds like a solid idea! I was actually just thinking of ways to substain power and frenzy charges without Swift Killer so I could finally get Escape Artist. I guess blood frenzy could work for frenzy charges?

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Smerte wrote:

Sounds like a solid idea! I was actually just thinking of ways to substain power and frenzy charges without Swift Killer so I could finally get Escape Artist. I guess blood frenzy could work for frenzy charges?

Prior to getting Militant Faith, I was using blood frenzy to sustain frenzy charges and using the power charge on kill from the wand and power charge rings to sustain power charges, however now I have Militant Faith I cannot receive frenzy charges anymore and instead gain increased damage from each power charge.

Also, the change from fire to frost makes the build feel SO much more responsive. Despite the impressive damage from fire surge, it always almost felt like I was lagging due to the inability to cancel the repeats from greater spell echo.

As a result of taking the brand out of the helmet, I have replaced brand recall with steelskin to get a bit more toughness whilst also having a proc for arcane surge.

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Do you think it's still worth it to run Herald of Ash even with frost spells, or would Herald of Ice be better?

I deactivated HoA, and put Clear Mind for now. I'm still leveling my Flame Surge setup, it's pretty easy to swap.

Any global added damage of your main damage type (in this case cold) will cancel Malachai's Artifice's effect. Besides, Frostbolt isn't your main DPS source, it's Ice Nova by far.

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What do you think about Power Charge on Crit instead of Wintertide Brand in the helmet? This way we could sustain powercharges on bosses.

That's what I used in Delirium, since power charges are easier to generate on bosses and i didn't have Skyforth. This also explains why I used Militant Faith. I'm not a big fan of Blood Rage.

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Also, the change from fire to frost makes the build feel SO much more responsive. Despite the impressive damage from fire surge, it always almost felt like I was lagging due to the inability to cancel the repeats from greater spell echo.

I agree, that is something that I'm still a bit disappointed about. The DPS gain is great, but it did feel a bit clunkier if you didn't invest heavily on cast speed.

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As a result of taking the brand out of the helmet, I have replaced brand recall with steelskin to get a bit more toughness whilst also having a proc for arcane surge.

Great idea, I was wondering how to do without a brand in helmet, the answer is very simple actually. And it frees the CWDT setup !

Hey Sarohdh, haven't played the build in a few leagues but the buffs look pretty fun - are you planning on making any videos of the new cold version?

Thanks:)

Hi, definitely, this version is very fun now that the helmet has been buffed, and a new video is planned. Likely AL8 Sirus, if I manage to do it deathless after a few upgrades.

How do you sustain righteous fire?