[3.6] The Blizz Sorc - Icestorm/Winter Orb CI Occultist - Viable For Everything

This build has survived many nerfs so I'm sure it will be fine. The nerfs to lab enchantments for mana leech are going to suck a bit, but I'm sure there will be a way around that.

I'm took a break during the last league but I'm debating whether to play the next one.

We'll see what else changes when the patch notes drop.

Patch notes are up.

The following changes appear to be relevant for us:

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We've rebalanced Mana Flasks game-wide, provided more and greater sources of mana on many items, and rebalanced many sources of increased mana on the passive tree. Check the various sections below to see what has changed!

Mana flasks at all levels have been rebalanced. In general, they will recover more mana over less time than previously, and have more uses. They can also roll several useful new modifiers.

Hopefully this means that mana sustain becomes less of a problem.

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Clarity:
Now grants you and nearby allies additional mana regeneration as the gem levels, from no change at gem level 1, up to 33 mana per second at gem level 20 (from 17.2).

Makes things easier for us, mana-wise.

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Flesh and Stone:
Now has 20 gem levels (from 6).
No longer reduces all Damage from non-Blind enemies, and instead reduces Damage from Attacks from non-Blind enemies.

Minor nerf to a defensive tool that we use.

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Vile Bastion:
Now also causes you to regenerate 40 Energy Shield per second.

Nice survivability buff for us.

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Added a new set of modifiers for Intelligence-based armours which grant added Energy Shield and Mana.

Nice way to increase max ES even more.

I'm planning on playing this build for Blight. I can see the posts a page or two back that say that because of the 3.7 occultist nerfs it's better to play as a scion now.

Stupid question but are the differences that big? Like, is it NOTICEABLY better to play as a scion or just something you'll only notice if you're min/maxing in PoB?

Stylistically I always try and play as a witch so would prefer to go occultist in 3.8 unless it's just so much worse that it's stupid to even try.

Thanks!

Both options are good. As you said it's only about min/max at very high level where Scion (inquisitor/Occultist) it's a bit better due to higher INT values (higher damage, a bit higher ES and a bit higher Mana values) and has better access to resistances nodes (near Scion start)

Scion can also go dual curse setup cause of Occultist mini ascendancy and has an easier way of getting minimum required STR and DEX attributes (when not using Astramentis)

Occultist on the other hand is fully immune to all elemental ailments (ignite/shock/chill/freeze) while scion variant is immune to chill/freeze only when on Consecrated Ground

Occultist also has some ES regen on kill from her ascendancy (Vile Bastion) and additional mobs explosions also from her ascendancy(Profane Bloom).

So no matter you choose to go Witch(Occultist) or Scion(Inquisitor/Occultist) both choices are fully capable of doing entire game content.

I've been wanting to play WI for awhile now and respec'd a standard character last night to test out a few things. Between these two watcher eye which would be most beneficial, ES on hit or the faster start of ES recharge/ increased ES recovery rate? If its the second one, is the faster start or increased recovery rate better for this build?

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stephenp1983 wrote:

I've been wanting to play WI for awhile now and respec'd a standard character last night to test out a few things. Between these two watcher eye which would be most beneficial, ES on hit or the faster start of ES recharge/ increased ES recovery rate? If its the second one, is the faster start or increased recovery rate better for this build?

+ES on hit is "BIS" single choice from Watcher's Eye mods by far for this build because Icestorm hits so many times/second

If you want to go dual Discipline Watcher's Eye mods +ES on hit/%increased ES recovery is the best combo for this build.

Second jewel is very good also on Uber Elder fight where you normally use Purity Of Ice, so that jewel it helps you mitigates also some physical damage from that fight.

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lilianmarius wrote:

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stephenp1983 wrote:

I've been wanting to play WI for awhile now and respec'd a standard character last night to test out a few things. Between these two watcher eye which would be most beneficial, ES on hit or the faster start of ES recharge/ increased ES recovery rate? If its the second one, is the faster start or increased recovery rate better for this build?

+ES on hit is "BIS" single choice from Watcher's Eye mods by far for this build because Icestorm hits so many times/second

If you want to go dual Discipline Watcher's Eye mods +ES on hit/%increased ES recovery is the best combo for this build.

Second jewel is very good also on Uber Elder fight where you normally use Purity Of Ice, so that jewel it helps you mitigates also some physical damage from that fight.

Thanks I appreciate the feedback

I wonder if we can get a gem link summery with cyc

Now that the passive tree is out, thoughts on trying to path to Prodigal Perfection? Seems like a pretty strong node and we're not that far away from it.

Also, using oils I assume we should be aiming for the Tranquility notable? Increased damage scaled on your increased ES.

Hey guys!

I quit during the League of RNG Gated Crap and skipped the Cyclone League, which seems to be a very wise decision since I don't like melee :)

Checking out the new stuff for 3.8, I see that Occ got nerfed a bit and Scion looks better again. I see Marius finally broke 3k Int with some ungodly gear (grats!)

Considering playing in 3.8 but not sure. Some questions:

1. Was any of the Legion jewels that change the tree around them good for WI?

2. Did the Winter Orb nerf really matter?

3. What's the deal with the incubators? Are they of any specific use to us?

4. Anything else important I missed?