[3.11] bOOgy's Wintertide Brand Occultist in SSF Hardcore - Comfortable boss fights all around
 Introduction: This is my Wintertide Brand / Vortex Occultist that i played in SSF HC in Harvest League to lvl 96. I saw Waggle playing a similar setup with a Trickster as a Leaguestarter and I wanted to play it as an Occultist and see what happens. The Occultist killed bosses like Oshabi, Shaper, Sirus at awakening level 8 and is still alive and smiling. It doesn't have particular fast clear speed in maps, but it really shines when fighting bosses. You will slow down basically every boss fight thanks to increased chill effect of the cold damage over time. If you have any questions, let me know in this thread or when I'm streaming on https://www.twitch.tv/boogywc <3
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Video Guide: I also made a guide on Youtube if you are into that: Youtube Guide Pro's & Con's: + very comfortable boss fights thanks to chill/freeze effect. + Leaguestart viable + decently cheap, i got everything SSF. (thx Harvest) + can run any reflect maps (got to be careful though) - reduced regeneration maps can be rough - got to get some crafts from syndicate/unveiling - not invincible (but decently tanky) Gear: I highly recommend using Path of Building Community Fork. The passive tree in PoB has several versions for leveling to Endgame. https://pastebin.com/UXZZngUw You can find the latest Version of "Path of Building Community Fork" here.
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Tabula Rasa Wanderlust Goldrim For weapons use the crafting recipe for 2 wands at lvl 8 and lvl 20: lvl 8: 1x magic Wand 1x normal Topaz Ring (lightning dmg) or normal Sapphire Ring (cold dmg) 1x Orb of Alteration lvl 20: 1x magic Wand 1x rare Topaz Ring or rare Sapphire Ring 1x Orb of Alteration Gem Setup: (In order of importance)
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6-Link: Wintertide Brand - Elemental Focus - Controlled Destruction - Efficacy - Hypothermia - Swift Affliction secondary dmg 4-link: Vortex - Elemental Focus - Efficacy - Bonechill Applying Elemental Equilibrium/ proccing Elemental Overload: Orb of Storms (lvl 9) - Culling Strike (lvl 1/Quality 20) - Arcane Surge (lvl 2) - Increased Critical Strikes (max lvl) Mana Reservation: Vaal Discipline - Malevolence Precision (lvl 1)(only if you have spare mana) Movement: 1. (dont level too high, no need to get extra attributes for it) Shield Charge - Fortify - Faster Attacks 2. Flame Dash Trigger socketed Spells in weapon (top to bottom): Frostbite (max lvl) - Frost Bomb (lvl 1) - Tempest Shield (lvl 1) Skills for leveling: If you need some help for skills to use while leveling until you have access to endgame setup:
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Act 1: (i would recommend to trade an onslaught gem from a lvl 2 Ascendant) 1. Stormblast Mine - Swift Assembly - Added Lightning Damage 2. Frostbomb - Added Lightning Damage - Onslaught 3. Orb of Storms - Arcane Surge - Added Lightning Damage For movement whatever you prefer. Pick up Wintertide Brand, but you probably want to wait until A2 to use it. Act 2: Pick up Herald of Thunder & Skitterbots Change Stormblast Mine to: Wintertidebrand - Elemental Focus - Controlled Destruction Change FrostBomb to: Cold Snap - Elemental Focus - Controlled Destruction Change Orb of Storms: Orb of Storms - Onslaught - Increased Critical Strikes - Added Lightning Damage Act 3: Change Cold Snap to Vortex - Elemental Focus - Controlled Destruction Pick up Malevolence (replace Skitterbots & Herald of Thunder) and self cast Frostbite for bosses __________________________________________ As an example, I'll post what your complete setup could look like at the beginning of Act 6: Wintertide Brand - Elemental Focus - Controlled Destruction - Efficacy - If you have more than 4 links, add these: Hypothermia - Swift Affliction Vortex Setup: Vortex - Elemental Focus - Efficacy - Bonechill Proccing Elemental Overload: Orb of Storms (lvl 9) - Increased Critical Strikes (max lvl)- Onslaught (lvl 1/Quality 20) Mana Reservation: Malevolence Selfcast Frostbite Movement: Flame Dash - Faster Casting - Arcane Surge Additionally Smoke Mine if you wanna zoom. Utility: Cast when Damage Taken - Immortal Call - Summon Stone Golem - If you have a free slot in a 4 link: Increased Duration Passive Tree: I highly recommend using Path of Building. I have a leveling tree and proper endgame tree here: https://pastebin.com/UXZZngUw You can find the latest Version of "Path of Building Community Fork" here. Alternative is here: CI Endgame Tree without Cluster Jewels A1-A5 A6-A10 Bandits Kill All Pantheon Major: Soul of the Brine King Soul of Solaris once you have picked up stun immunity from Occultist tree Minor: Shakari (you are flexible here) -------------------------------- That's all I got for now. I will be reading here if questions come up and try to improve the guide wherever needed. Last edited by boogywc#5513 on Jul 28, 2020, 3:17:51 PM Last bumped on Feb 17, 2021, 3:30:04 AM
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Hey, I´m thinking to try first the option without cluster jewells, this seems to be a very nice build, my only question is, what do you think to level a pj to 100 doing maps with this?... will be tanky enough, and killing bosses its ok or so slow?... Thanks
What are the most differences with or without cluster tree?... Thanks in advance... Last edited by Vyr75#1287 on Jul 23, 2020, 12:44:20 PM
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" Hey Vyr, first, what is a pj ? :D sry, never heard that before in poe. Fighting bosses is definitely the easy part with this char at nearly any point. The cold damage over time just lets you run circles around any boss. One big part is the bonechill support on vortex. It's very effective :o For me personally the biggest difference with the cluster jewel was mapping with wintertide brand. Once i got the cluster jewel, i could just tag a pack of monsters with a brand and move on and be pretty sure that the pack dies from that one brand. I havent played this char in super juiced up maps, which you probably want to do if you go for lvl 100. I didnt feel super safe in high dmg maps, so i tried to avoid them. But i might have been too careful since i really like to avoid dying :D But if you want to go beyond lvl 95 and dont want to fall asleep while waiting for the dot dmg to kick in, i would say you need the cluster jewels for that. |
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Oh sorry, pj is the same as char, and thanks for all the explanations I will think if I change build or not ,really appreciated your comments...
Last edited by Vyr75#1287 on Jul 23, 2020, 2:28:07 PM
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tried this build, very BAD i would not recommend this to Anyone.
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" hehe, i just killed Cortex and the 4 other Synthesis bosses with this trash build in SSF HC. |
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Doesn't using Elemental Focus on Vortex stop us applying the chill effect to slow them down?
Never mind, noticed the chill ground from Vortex. Last edited by Khurune#4570 on Aug 2, 2020, 7:48:24 PM
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" Yeah, its fine with elemental focus. I looked at your Profile for the Occultist and i am a little shocked :D How much Energy shield do you have atm? :D Please try go get a pure energy shield Body armour, preferably a Vaal Regalia, and just roll Defence Seeds on it. Even on a 5 Link it should be fine, doesnt have to be 6 linked early on. But i think you should really focus more on Energy shield everywhere, specifically Body armour, Helm & shield. |
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I'm still leveling with this, but I'm having a blast! Looking forward to when I hit maps. :)
Last edited by Sirielia#2676 on Aug 3, 2020, 5:18:50 PM
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I just want to say thank you, you make some incredible builds and incredibly well explained with everything you need so that a newbie like me can follow them and it is very appreciated that you put leveling area and a divided skill tree thank you very much
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