Arctic Armour

I'm currently using this skill with Eldritch Battery/Inner Force as a Summoner/Freezing Pulse HP Witch build - Loving it so far, the mana degeneration is currently quite easy to sustain at level 50 using a leveled (as far as I currently can) Arctic Armour.

From the looks of it, even the highest ranks should be possible to maintain once I've grabbed the remaining regeneration nodes that I have planned, and if that isn't enough - I could easily stack more via gear.

Works really well with the mediocre armor values that my character currently has, to the point of nearly nullifying incoming physical damage from most enemies that I encounter.

I only tried it out by curiosity at first, thinking it would be too expensive. Now it's a core part of my build and I can't wait to get my hands on a 20% quality one.

Currently testing this skill with an EB EK witch. Not sure if sacrificing life from helmet and boots is worth it, but I use Heatshiver and Goldwyrm boots at the moment for the huge increase of that mana regeneration rate. Managed to get my hands on an almost perfect Heatshiver, which conveniently also adds +1 level to my Arctic Armour.

Result so far is that I can go afk standing in any Voidbarer-pack in docks, but lost ~500 life. Against physical reflect packs this still should be well worth it, -146 damage times ten for all knives, and the same again if using Added Fire Damage with EK.

( EDIT : nmv this question actually, in one case it would probably totally suck )

This skill is great so far, LMP voidbearers are not a threat anymore. I'm gonna stop leveling it soon imo though.

I see a potential interesting combo with :

http://en.pathofexilewiki.com/wiki/Shavronne%27s_Wrappings
+ Arctic armor
+ Righteous fire

don't increase Health
get a lot of mana/mana regen and quite a bit of health regen + zealot's oath ( needs a lot of ES obv, like CI builds )

=> Easy auto RF sustain.
( ie : 1k health => 1000 dmgs/sec with RF, 80% fire res => 200 dmgs/sec
ARctic armor lvl 15 => 75 dmgs/sec from RF
with 3k ES ( really not much there ), that would make a need for only .. 2.5% health regen to auto sustain it.
Of course, this can't go with EB though, and it needs the mana to sustain it. )

artic armor lowers damage from hits, righteous fire does not hit as it is DoT.

so, RF doesn't hit the char ? weird.
nvm then, it is true that artic armor doesn't protect from burns ( still weird ^^ ).

After playing a lot more with the level 15 version of the skill (-125 dmg), I actually like it.

Profile: Melee Claw CI Shadow, high attack speed / life leech. I use 3 granite flasks, 1 mana flask, 1 topaz flask.

I went down to just 2 auras (Disc, Hatred) to try Arctic Armor. I usually use Grace as my 3rd aura when soloing maps. I started using Arctic Armor situationally. It is crazy against Voidbearers and the Tentacle chicks. I also use it when fighting 8+ monsters that all do physical/fire dmg. The key is holding shift while attacking....and use flicker strike to move around. You will only trigger the standing mana drain, which with 2% mana leech and my mana regen, I am able too leave it up as long as there are monsters to attack. Lastly, when it is on and I need to run away to regen my ES, I can just let it drain the mana out and it will slow everything behind me. If I have to run away to regen ES, I can take that time to regen mana too / use a mana flask.

So to sum it up, I have switched Grace aura with Arctic Armour. Any not only is it more effective, it is more fun to play!

this skill is amazing. my CI icewitch is so tanky with it. lvl 67 and at 160/s mana. could easily get higher. I can run into such huge crowds and frostnova proliferate their faces off. once I get a couple more mana nodes I can add grace too.

I need a dmg reduktion skill/aura to reduce the damage of bigger hits and not again something against low damage hits. I have already armour :(

well melees get this gem pretty early. but its cost vs viabilty to use it is very very bad.
i hoped for it to be a replacement for a shield to make 2h melee play fun. buts its just impossible to grab enough manaregen, armor and hp. its better to just go full armor + endurance charges instead of trying armor + arctic armor.

i hope that you will lower the costs or make it able to reduce the degen by support gems or passiv talents. are there any plans to change it?

Does arctic armour not work on EK reflect? I guess it might not be considered an attack? I'm not 100% sure, but it honestly seems like its not affecting physical reflect.