[3.2] Icy "The Cat" Shieldmaiden (Spectral Shield Throw, 90% Ele, Deadeye, Aspect of the Cat)

ICY SHIELDMAIDEN




Intro:
I wanted to come up with a solid SST Build and I think I achieved that, we convert 90% of our physical damage to eledamage (cold in this case) and take advantage of the deadeye ascendancy.

When SST hits a target it will explode and launch 8 projectiles in each direction, with the help of Powerful Precision (100% critchance) and Herald of Ice (shatter) we are able to map fast.

For Bosses we take advantage of cold penetrations from the gem, frost bomb which is on CWDT and from rare items. Most of the bosses will be frozen when you are attacking them and thats a good feeling ;)

For defense we gain a lot of evade from the tree (74% evade without flask), get blockchance from the shield (37%) and also a nice amount of armour (~30% phys reduction).
This combined with Aspect of the Cat (https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Aspect_of_the_Cat) increases the defense of this build a lot.


Check my current items and tree -> https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/birdis0n/characters (Captain_Birdy)


PoB:
Aspect of the cat version:
Level 92: https://pastebin.com/5jpQgSBf
Level 100: https://pastebin.com/deBtPvBu

Without aspect of the cat: (This needs to by updated -> we go to the lifewheel)
https://pastebin.com/VVxUQBZz - updated: 18.03.2018
Level 100: https://pastebin.com/b4Ewfwag - updated: 18.03.2018

Lvl 92 Tree:

Aspect of the cat version:
https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAICAABeAdwEhwSxBS0FtQguDPINjREvFHUVQxa_GY4ajRutI9Mj9iSdJP0mlSo4LlMvzDB8Mk41kjY9N9Q94j7PQKBDMUd-SO5KfUz_TZJN404qUUdTz1VLWhpbJluvYRBh4mJaYqxlTWlObIxuaW8nbztwUnTtdct1_XfjeA14rnrvexR9dX_7gayEb4TZh3aJ04w2jX2Nfo2_j2CPmZpqm42dqqOKpMKly6ZXqW6pea3CsbO0xbVItfK9Nr3mvqfAGsC_wYLC7MMzzZjPXtNv037UQtX42L3asdrB5GrnVOpi62PtP-2D7g7yuPzF_gr-j_66_94=?accountName=birdis0n&characterName=Captain_Birdy


Progress videos:
I will upload here my progress through the 3.2 league

- T9 Vault: https://youtu.be/2jcsVKlYi6U (I use Ewars in this vid)
- T10 Bog: https://youtu.be/2j-x7HzXfMQ (dmg mods are dangerous ;) - Coldresi Boss, I use princess in this vid)
- T11 Liar: https://youtu.be/FJvE1B5TyfU (Gear updated: Now with Magna Eclipsis and upgraded the jewelry a bit, still using princess)
- T11 Liar (Uberlab done, Optimized tree, Slightly improved gear, Gems are nearly all 20/0): https://youtu.be/aG-aYM2eQmA
- T12 Crystal Ore: https://youtu.be/vGWRPUCO_JI (Without Fork, No gemswitchting, updated gear -> Check section below)
- T14 Colosseum: https://youtu.be/_RWXbKVbLNs (Now with "The wise oak" flask)
- The Purifier Eldar Guardian (79): https://youtu.be/Awl1tP83hWA
- First try Chimera: https://youtu.be/Rdv91OThhuY
- Shaper down, first try 2 deaths but they are very much my fault ;) here the video:
https://youtu.be/VMao4SFMiRk

Kill confirmed:
- Uber lab
- Normal Atziri
- Eldar Guardians
- Red Eldar
- Phoenix
- Minotaur
- Hydra
- Shaper (First try: 2 deaths (my fault))
- Hall of the grandmaster
- Vaal Temple

Twitch videos:
https://www.twitch.tv/birdis0n/videos/all - I fixed the laggy stream (was streaming in 1080p :>)


Pros & Cons:
+ Good singletarget damage and very good AOE
+ Cheap if you dont play with aspect of the cat
+ Can do Atziri (No Chain)
+ Good leaguestarter
+ She is very fast

- Can not do elemental reflect


Leveling:
- Level with Frost Blades till you find a good shield for SST, I leveld long with it I nearly wanted to stay with it ;)
- Most likely you will need a mana flask till you get to the mana-leech node & enough damage






Gear:

* low budget
* medium budget
* high budget







Uberlab enchantments:
Head: 40% increased Spectral Shield Damage
Gloves: Trigger commandment of spite when hit
Boots: Damage Penetrates 10% of Enemy Elemental Resistances if you haven't Killed Recently

Playstyle:
Maps: Press Blood Rage - Whirling Blades/Shield Charge into the mob - SST. Repeat.
Bosses:
With Point Blank: Deploy Ancestral Protector - Activate Vaal Haste - Charge into the Boss - SST - Avoid his mechanics / big hits with your movementskill
Without Point Blank (While leveling as example): Deploy Decoy Totem - Activate Vaal Haste - SST - If needed avoid his mechanics / big hits with your movementskill


Jewels:


Gem links:

Attack:

4-link:

5-link:

6-link Mapping:
Spectral Shield Throw - Elemental Damage with Attacks - Cold Penetration - Damage on Full Life - Fork - Increased Critical Damage / Increased Critical Strikes
Info: When the map has tight lanes you can keep Physical Projectile Attack Damage inside, just use fork in open maps. As long you dont get enough Critchance use Increased Critical Strikes instead of Critical Damage

6-link Singletargets:
Spectral Shield Throw - Elemental Damage with Attacks - Cold Penetration - Damage on Full Life - Physical Projectile Attack Damage - Increased Critical Damage

Movement:
Whirling Blades - Fortify - Faster Attacks
Info: Whirling blade into the mobs, get fortify, destroy them.

Curse on hit setup: (Only for the version without Aspect of the Cat!)

Normal Gems: (Only the Aspect of the Cat version!)

CWDT #1 (Highlevel - 10):

CWDT #2 (Lowlevel - 1):

Eclipsis +2 to gems:

Ascendancy:
Deadeye
1. Gathering Winds
2. Fast and Deadly
3. Powerful Precision
4. Rupture


Bandits:
Alira for resis and critmulti

Pantheons:
Soul of Arakaali (Major): Because DoT hurts us and its good for blood rage, we want that chaosresistance.
Soul of Shakari (Minor): Immun to poison and more defense vs chaos damage.
We will not really play elereflect-maps so I deleted Soul of Yugul from here.


Menagerie crafting:
- Corrupt your shield to have 30% Quality


Screenshots:

Buffed Hideout DPS:



Learnings during leveling:
- Chain seems not to be the best decision, specialy against Atziri ;) I think I will try to go with Princess Sabre and will not take Ricochet but instead Rupture, the 40% critmultiplier could be nice. In PoB we loose a bit DPS but who cares..
- Ice Golem uptime is a bit retarted maybe he is not worth it or we add him somhow to CWDT
- Im thinking to switch between ewars and princess, ewars as example in twinned maps or maybe also for normal mapping and for bosses princess... I have to test this a bit more.
- Use increased cirtical strikes till you have enough critchance, increased critical damage makes not much sens while leveling also for Boss-DPS (I will add this to the leveling guide later on)

Testing/Improvement Ideas:
- https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Aspect_of_the_Cat -> This is pretty interesting and could be nice, I hope I can test this soon.. if we take it then this chest would be my new 1st option -> https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Farrul%27s_Fur, I would like to have aspect of cats on an amulet crafted in the bestiary
- I kind of miss vaal pact to be a bit more lazy, I think aspect of the cats will play a role in this build soon - There is a way to get rid of blood rage


FAQ:
How does Aspect of the Cat work?
Just Farrul's Fur is not enough to have you need one item on your gear which has -> "Grants level 20 Aspect of the Cat Skill" here an example ->


Credits:
Xavathos - We pushed us to improve the build, with success :)
Antopmm - Idea with Herald of Ash + Enlighten was very good ;)

Added a quick video from t9 vault to get an impression -> https://youtu.be/2jcsVKlYi6U

Added a video from t10 Bog -> https://youtu.be/2j-x7HzXfMQ (dmg modifiers are dangerous :) - Coldresi Boss) & updated the guide a bit, I hope I can finish it this week.. if you have any questions please ask here.

Update 08.03.2018: Added a new video from T11 Liar -> https://youtu.be/FJvE1B5TyfU , added a new PoB Build, updated the guide again a bit.

Build feels very good so far, a bit more HP would be nice but we will get there with a better chest and jewels

Nice build, interesting idea.

I made one a bit like this, so I was looking around on forums to see how others have been doing. Mine is a little different.

The main differences:
Blasphemy with Projectile Weakness instead of Herald/CoH.
Elemental Overload, instead of crit.
Focus on Chain, instead of Rupture.
Inclusion of Iron Grip, mainly because it was 2 points for ~8% DPS.

All those points I've got left over from not having to worry about crit, I put into shield and life nodes on the way to EO, boasting over 7k life as a Ranger at lvl 92. DPS is still on par with your build somehow, but this obviously relies on EO being up and my crit is only the 5% base. My gear is also way less good, don't have Opals or any expensive stuff. My rares are just life/res and some WED. Chain makes mapping so much smoother imo, especially at 0 downside on single target damage.

Question: If you run Elemental Focus on your shield throw, you're unable to freeze and thus shatter. Yet you're running curse on hit on Herald of Ice, which only procs when you kill a shatter a target. Que?

By all means correct me if I'm wrong, because I hope I am. I like crits and heralds. :)
But if I'm not, my info may be of value to you. Of course, there's always going to be different takes on skills.

Anyway, don't take my word for it, here's a pastebin so you can check it out: https://pastebin.com/PZH8QX8y

Note: the DPS is higher on POB, because it counts 3 chains for Gloomfang. That's not going to be the case on bosses, only while clearing maps or when bosses have adds. For single target DPS, put chain to 0.

Thanks for the feedback!

The Elemental Focus I just use for single target, I will add this to the guide (thanks for that). For mapping I change it with increased crit dmg.

I wanted to go critbased from the start, I figured that it makes not much difference if I use chain or not during mapping at least thats my feeling so far at least with ewar I guess its different then with more chains. But I have also the idea to use Ewars for mapping and princess for solo

This build works also without opals but yes the DPS will drop a bit :) (I will add also a budgetversion, in my current PoB there should be also normal rings and amulets to switch around)

I will check the PoB when I have time and maybe at the end EO is rly better but we have to test this on Shaper a bit later.

EDIT: I checked your PoB thanks for that :) I think I will also try AS jewels. The Lifepool is of course nice but I think dmg-wise my version should outperform the one from the EO version but I will keep adding my progress videos :) but the big advantage from the EO version is the lifepool ofc

"

birdis0n wrote:

Thanks for the feedback!

The Elemental Focus I just use for single target, I will add this to the guide (thanks for that). For mapping I change it with increased crit dmg.

I wanted to go critbased from the start, I figured that it makes not much difference if I use chain or not during mapping at least thats my feeling so far at least with ewar I guess its different then with more chains. But I have also the idea to use Ewars for mapping and princess for solo

This build works also without opals but yes the DPS will drop a bit :) (I will add also a budgetversion, in my current PoB there should be also normal rings and amulets to switch around)

I will check the PoB when I have time and maybe at the end EO is rly better but we have to test this on Shaper a bit later.

EDIT: I checked your PoB thanks for that :) I think I will also try AS jewels. The Lifepool is of course nice but I think dmg-wise my version should outperform the one from the EO version but I will keep adding my progress videos :) but the big advantage from the EO version is the lifepool ofc

Thanks for looking at it!

I think you're right in terms of sheer damage potential that crit will come out on top. It's realistically possible to chain proc (no pun intended there) EO with 5-6% crit, but there will be times where I'm going to be EO starved due to RNG, or overlap with a few crits in a row. That's the nature of RNG. I can get crit chance on jewels as a second suffix, or crit rings if my resistance allows it. That would make EO much more consistent. But Opals will probably simply outperform that option down the line.

Iron Grip is just there so that all the strength on the left side of the tree doesn't go to "waste". It provides life and damage this way.

The life pool is massive of course, makes bosses much safer and these beasts this league hurt so much sometimes that it could save me. Also you don't take damage at all from Gloomfang or Blood Rage thanks to regen, without having to leech. That's just a minor QoL thing though.

Both versions will work like a charm though, I'm sure. Really curious which will perform better in the end, if we can even choose between them.

yep. Chain just does not work with SST.

That is what most people still need to figure out with this skill.
However, Fork does.

All deadeye need to drop ricochet, and go powerful prec and/or rupture instead.
my build atm is EO, so no rupture.

Princess is a great idea. I didnt even think of it.

fork however, is the big one. Vastly superior map coverage. 100% all SST should be using it to map clear.
Single target is hit or miss. if the single target fight is in an area with WALLS, npcs or obstructions, fork should shotgun. other instances, its easy enough to sub in slower proj.

"

Casia wrote:

yep. Chain just does not work with SST.

That is what most people still need to figure out with this skill.
However, Fork does.

All deadeye need to drop ricochet, and go powerful prec and/or rupture instead.
my build atm is EO, so no rupture.

Princess is a great idea. I didnt even think of it.

fork however, is the big one. Vastly superior map coverage. 100% all SST should be using it to map clear.
Single target is hit or miss. if the single target fight is in an area with WALLS, npcs or obstructions, fork should shotgun. other instances, its easy enough to sub in slower proj.

Chain doesn't explode on each impact, that's a real downside of chain. Fork is looking much better then, even though Fork also doesn't explode on initial impact, it WILL twice on the next stage.

Once again though, it will be one of those "have to switch gems on bosses" things that I wish to avoid like the plague.

I'm going to rethink my entire build and probably drop EO in favour of crit now. It will depend on the numbers I can come up with.

I think you also dont want that the shield pierce so my advice is rupture at least with my version.

Fork should be nice yes, my feeling is that I would not clear much faster with it but I will test it.

EDIT: Fork is denfinitly faster at mapping its rly nice, I updated the guide.