[3.17] Wallach's Hierophant Freezing Pulse Totems (No Further Updates)

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ScrotieMcB wrote:

I understand that Back In The Day™ when Awakened Curse on Hit wasn't a thing, you'd need to spend passives allocating Whispers of Doom or wear Windscreams to double curse, which made it a choice. But since Awakened CoH, it's no longer a choice, it's a given. It astounds me that this guide hasn't been updated appropriately.

I was pretty confused by this post, but I went back to the OP and realize now that the Awakened Curse on Hit section was not added back when I broke the gem links section up between normal and Awakened stuff for the Harvest update. It's been a part of the guide since the gem was added. I can add it back when I get to my regular PC as I have the older versions of the guide still saved.

It's not a bad idea to use Purifying Flame for the curse applicator, though. Zealotry will already trigger consecrated ground if you are running that alongside ACoH but it wouldn't be as consistent, even if you're using something like Storm Brand.

As for self-casting Cold Snap, that's one of those things I'd just as soon leave up to the individual. There's always been other ways to min-max at the cost of gameplay flow. You have to move Arcane Surge somewhere when you decide to move into ACoH, but I personally don't think I'd want to be doing it with a .85 base cast speed spell. There's all manner of ways to fiddle with the build to your liking though, and I've always encouraged people to do exactly that to suit the build to themselves.

After which act do you recommend taking Mind over Matter? The passive trees in the guide(levelling section) suggest taking it in Act 4 while the trees in PoB suggest taking it in Act 8. I’m confused which levelling trees are more up-to-date.

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Wallach wrote:

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ScrotieMcB wrote:

I understand that Back In The Day™ when Awakened Curse on Hit wasn't a thing, you'd need to spend passives allocating Whispers of Doom or wear Windscreams to double curse, which made it a choice. But since Awakened CoH, it's no longer a choice, it's a given. It astounds me that this guide hasn't been updated appropriately.

I was pretty confused by this post, but I went back to the OP and realize now that the Awakened Curse on Hit section was not added back when I broke the gem links section up between normal and Awakened stuff for the Harvest update. It's been a part of the guide since the gem was added. I can add it back when I get to my regular PC as I have the older versions of the guide still saved.

Well that explains that.

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Wallach wrote:

As for self-casting Cold Snap, that's one of those things I'd just as soon leave up to the individual. There's always been other ways to min-max at the cost of gameplay flow. You have to move Arcane Surge somewhere when you decide to move into ACoH, but I personally don't think I'd want to be doing it with a .85 base cast speed spell.

I'm a little confused where else it could go. Overall we want 3 active skills...
a. Cold Snap (+Bonechill)
b. Cold Exposure 25% (either Frost Bob or Wave of Conviction)
c. flex option (e.g. Purifying Flame)
...to match with 3 Support gem combos...
1. ACoH + 2 curses
2. Spell Totem + Multiple Totems (for Ritual of Awakening bonuses)
3. Arcane Surge

You basically need Cold Snap, because the Frenzy charges are just too good. It blows every other chilled ground skill out of the water.

I assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that a2 wasn't an option, because the Totems would eat through your Frenzy charges bypassing cooldown. Maybe instead they just wait, which might mean you could do something like, oh, Frost Bomb + Arcane Surge + Archmage + Increased Duration. I just noticed that Archmage exists, by the way; perhaps a convenient way to get a very nice Surge in a hurry.

But even then, I think Snap has more synergy with Surge than you're giving it credit for. When you're doing basic map clearing, no big emphasis on single targets, you want two buffs up: Frenzy charges and Arcane Surge. The other stuff doesn't travel with you, but those do. And having both in one place is pretty handy. Also, Snap+Bonechill can't go with ACoH + 2 curses, so the alternative is Snap Totems, which seems hard to hit trash mobs for Frenzy generation unless you deliberately slow down.

Edit: although this does make me wonder if Snap+Surge11 in some Faster Casting Gloves might be preferable to Snap+Surge12 in an AoE helm.

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wyzim wrote:

After which act do you recommend taking Mind over Matter? The passive trees in the guide(levelling section) suggest taking it in Act 4 while the trees in PoB suggest taking it in Act 8. I’m confused which levelling trees are more up-to-date.

Both the PoB import and the leveling tips section should show picking it up around act 7 currently. Basically I'd recommend having it before you venture off into the Cruel Labyrinth for your second pair of ascendancy points. I'll take a look and see where it still shows taking it in act 4.

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ScrotieMcB wrote:

I'm a little confused where else it could go. Overall we want 3 active skills...
a. Cold Snap (+Bonechill)
b. Cold Exposure 25% (either Frost Bob or Wave of Conviction)
c. flex option (e.g. Purifying Flame)
...to match with 3 Support gem combos...
1. ACoH + 2 curses
2. Spell Totem + Multiple Totems
3. Arcane Surge

You basically need Cold Snap, because the Frenzy charges are just too good. It blows every other chilled ground skill out of the water.

I assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that a2 wasn't an option, because the Totems would eat through your Frenzy charges bypassing cooldown. Maybe instead they just wait, which might mean you could do something like, oh, Frost Bomb + Arcane Surge + Archmage + Increased Duration. I just noticed that Archmage exists, by the way; perhaps a convenient way to get a very nice Surge in a hurry.

But even then, I think Snap has more synergy with Surge than you're giving it credit for. When you're doing basic map clearing, no big emphasis on single targets, you want two buffs up: Frenzy charges and Arcane Surge. The other stuff doesn't travel with you, but those do. And having both in one place is pretty handy. Also, Snap+Bonechill can't go with ACoH + 2 curses, so the alternative is Snap Totems, which seems hard to hit trash mobs for Frenzy generation unless you deliberately slow down.

Typically I think people take a lower rank of Surge and attach it to their Flame Dash. That's a pretty common link in a lot of builds.

For Cold Snap we probably just don't see eye-to-eye on the importance of Frenzy charges in the mapping context. I'm not sure I would want to self-cast this spell so frequently for the sake of higher Frenzy charge uptime while map clearing. I'm not really even sure if you'll break even in time paid if you're later in gear progression, outside of the context of thick Delirium content. It's possible I guess once you move your Arcane Surge over... I'll give it a shot sometime, but the much higher base cast time definitely gives me pause.

Where I would like better Frenzy charge access is during boss fights, which Cold Snap isn't nearly as good at helping with. In that context though, one of the things I need to add a mention of is using a Vaal Cold Snap since even if you have it in the CWDT link, you can still self-cast the Vaal version (due to Vaal skills being unsupported by CWDT), so any boss fight that you can carry souls into at least would give you a one-off chance of generating Frenzy without needing kills. Unfortunately a lot of bosses don't give the opportunity to carry souls into their encounters.

If you already don't mind self-casting Cold Snap, I don't think there's a better link for your Arcane Surge when you swap to ACoH. May as well make use of it in that sense.

On that side note for Cold Snap on Spell Totem, I think the Cold Snap would try to generate Frenzy charges for the totem instead of you, which they can't gain. I've never actually linked those two gems, but I'm pretty sure that's how it would work.

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Wallach wrote:

Typically I think people take a lower rank of Surge and attach it to their Flame Dash. That's a pretty common link in a lot of builds.

I tried that, and I ended up hating it in regards to the PS4 version of the game. I could imagine it being perhaps much less frustrating on PC, but on console you pretty much point the joystick in a direction and then pressing the Flame Dash button has you go max distance in that direction. That's very inconvenient for certain fights, and has caused me to risk a death on my character in stupid ways just trying to keep Surge up. It's the sort of thing that has you willfully putting your back against a wall just so you can Flame Dash towards the wall to get Surge refreshed without moving (much). Maybe you can take a tiny Dash on PC thanks to mouse controls, in which case — yeah, I get why they do it.

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Wallach wrote:

For Cold Snap we probably just don't see eye-to-eye on the importance of Frenzy charges in the mapping context. I'm not sure I would want to self-cast this spell so frequently for the sake of higher Frenzy charge uptime while map clearing. I'm not really even sure if you'll break even in time paid if you're later in gear progression, outside of the context of thick Delirium content. It's possible I guess once you move your Arcane Surge over... I'll give it a shot sometime, but the much higher base cast time definitely gives me pause.

I don't know if you remember, but back in Blight I had this idea of putting Cold Snap in a wand with the "Trigger socketed spells when you use a skill" crafted mod (hidden cooldown 4 seconds). And it was AMAZING for clearing. Granted, the trigger didn't have me hardcasting Cold Snap, ever, but it's hard for me to imagine it not being worth it to spend half a second every 6-7 seconds to keep those Frenzy charges up.

But I must admit, I've probably let my console bias I explained earlier this post blind me to how PC players would do things. Having both Frost Bomb and Cold Snap on the crafted trigger casting would probably be ideal if a 4L Flame Dash is one's Surge source — and one could even employ a weapon switch every 4 seconds when bossing, if they have the budget for it (2x Reflection? Yikes). With those links, the most logical remaining links would probably be a 4L ACoH, a 4L CWDT/Vaal, and some kind of Multiple Totems Support 3L (Power Siphon Ballista Totems, for the Culling Strike?).

The only issue with that is that it's fully dependent on Flame Dash for Arcane Surge, and there's a certain backwardsness to that from a survivability angle, even on PC — as far as not dying is concerned, the higher the Mana Cost of your movement skill, the more likely it will be out of reach when you need to get out in a hurry. That's another frustrating thing that would rarely happen, but happen nevertheless, when I tried Surge Dash — I'd get my Mana knocked out of me and suddenly my Dash wouldn't work. There are definitely advantages to keeping Flame Dash mostly unsupported.

I am going to reiterate that Snap Surge (level 11) in some Faster Casting gloves may be the way to go, especially on console but perhaps PC too.

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Wallach wrote:

On that side note for Cold Snap on Spell Totem, I think the Cold Snap would try to generate Frenzy charges for the totem instead of you, which they can't gain. I've never actually linked those two gems, but I'm pretty sure that's how it would work.

Yeah, that sounds horrible.

I have two questions for you Mr Wallach.

1st, Heart of Ice - 0,2% cold dmg leeched as ES, does it apply to user or totems?
2nd, there are amulets with leeching 0,2-0,4 cold dmg as life, but still does it apply to user or the totems?

I am very happy with your build, but for me it lacks a little of survi, and i would love to change it with the amulet for leech. I currently have 540k shaper dps, but only 3,7k hp i only have one item with low hp which is amulet with only 30 life, but rest items ecxcept weapons are 70-80+

Would be very gratefull for reply.

Best regards

Hi Wallach,

Sorry if I am being blind, is there a final version of the build you settled on for this league, in terms of gems, cluster jewels, etc. I feel like I am switching between this page, your recent youtube videos, and the final videos from last league, trying to piece together the optimal setup, but I am failing lol.

Cheers!

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Jowisz90 wrote:

I have two questions for you Mr Wallach.

1st, Heart of Ice - 0,2% cold dmg leeched as ES, does it apply to user or totems?
2nd, there are amulets with leeching 0,2-0,4 cold dmg as life, but still does it apply to user or the totems?

I am very happy with your build, but for me it lacks a little of survi, and i would love to change it with the amulet for leech. I currently have 540k shaper dps, but only 3,7k hp i only have one item with low hp which is amulet with only 30 life, but rest items ecxcept weapons are 70-80+

Would be very gratefull for reply.

Best regards

3.7k HP is pretty much how much you will get and it is more than enough, its not the most tanky build and you will get one/two shot from big bosses like sirus, Uber Elder etc if you are not careful. Its a trade off. I did last league on 3.3k HP very comfortably. Remember you have Mind over Matter and an additional 10% from ascendancy, so that adds to your effective life pool. Overall you should aim for around 5k eHP (1k-1.4k from Mana).

When you get Atziri's Reflection you will become more tanky as you can also respect some passive points into Arcane Guarding (next to the Life/Power charge spot directly above Witch's starting area).

Will also allow you to use better rings and also change your belt and employ low life. All these things will add to damage/recovery and defenses which will make your ability to survive better.

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Mentalmike wrote:

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Jowisz90 wrote:

I have two questions for you Mr Wallach.

1st, Heart of Ice - 0,2% cold dmg leeched as ES, does it apply to user or totems?
2nd, there are amulets with leeching 0,2-0,4 cold dmg as life, but still does it apply to user or the totems?

I am very happy with your build, but for me it lacks a little of survi, and i would love to change it with the amulet for leech. I currently have 540k shaper dps, but only 3,7k hp i only have one item with low hp which is amulet with only 30 life, but rest items ecxcept weapons are 70-80+

Would be very gratefull for reply.

Best regards

3.7k HP is pretty much how much you will get and it is more than enough, its not the most tanky build and you will get one/two shot from big bosses like sirus, Uber Elder etc if you are not careful. Its a trade off. I did last league on 3.3k HP very comfortably. Remember you have Mind over Matter and an additional 10% from ascendancy, so that adds to your effective life pool. Overall you should aim for around 5k eHP (1k-1.4k from Mana).

When you get Atziri's Reflection you will become more tanky as you can also respect some passive points into Arcane Guarding (next to the Life/Power charge spot directly above Witch's starting area).

Will also allow you to use better rings and also change your belt and employ low life. All these things will add to damage/recovery and defenses which will make your ability to survive better.

Thank you for answer, i played more tanky build earlier :) I'll try to work on my avoidance.

But how about the question about the leech, have you maybe tested it or is it still to be tested?

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Jowisz90 wrote:

I have two questions for you Mr Wallach.

1st, Heart of Ice - 0,2% cold dmg leeched as ES, does it apply to user or totems?
2nd, there are amulets with leeching 0,2-0,4 cold dmg as life, but still does it apply to user or the totems?

In both cases the totem gets the leech.