[3.25] Ice Dancing Queen - Icestorm/Cyclone/CI - Viable For Everything

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ccarles wrote:

With the new cyclone speed buff, the Stampede doesn't seem worth it. This opens up some extra int on boots options, but we loose the ability to dobule-annoint, which means loosing an aura without enlightenment lvl4.

Any ideas on how the get the last few % reservation we need ?

The 2nd anointment has always been worth sacrificing some stats on the boots. I don't see that changing.

And don't forget about the massive CDR on Frostblink.

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vbvan wrote:

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Kelvynn wrote:

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JohnBaneling wrote:

How good is this build for Delve?

Depth 500 is trivial and optimal for farming. You can find bosses often enough. You find all the expensive fossils very often. And Harbingers. They are all completely trivial at that depth with this build. I've spent a couple of days farming there and got several multi-divine Aul drops (helmets and amulets), a whole lot of all types of fossils, and several Fracturing shards. The only problem was boredom.

Then I went down and reached depth 1000 just for fun. Around 600-700 it stops being easy or fun. The bosses get WAY too much hp. And the random Archnemesis rares can ruin any node regardless of its content. Also, the new Beyond equals instant death.

I killed Aul with relatively harmless mods at depth 990 but it took way too long to be worth it. The loot is obviously the same at any depth.

So if Delve is your thing then depth 500 is where you can farm everything easily with this build.

Do you plan to add links to these replies (e.g., this one on Delve and others on Sanctum run, etc.) to the main thread for easier reference?

I think I've saved enough footage to make a video for it. Just never got to make one. Probably should.

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napartymateusz wrote:

A question: how good is anathema on this build, is it worth as a replacement of one high tier ring? Considering a possibility of adding power charges with new ascedancy?

Anathema lets you annoint something like Serpent's Stance (12-15% more damage IIRC) or a defensive annoint. You also can fit in a third curse on a six-link on chest (Elemental Weakness, probably) if you give up the flex gem slot (the one usually used by Frost Shield), which further boosts your damage.

In the absolute with infinite currency, it's a good chunk of additionnal damage if you have a corrupted version with 6% int. You could even have a double corrupted version with one of the auras to get back the gem slot, if you really have infinite currency.

Realistically, we already have enough damage and you have to consider the suffix pressure we're under.

If we're using a unique ring with no resistances, str or dex, we've got six items with affixes (chest, helmet, ring, amulet, gloves and belt). We need int on each one, so that's 2*6 available suffixes, so 12 suffixes. We need two for str and dex, so that's 10 suffixes for resistances. Remove one for the 6% attributes on chest and another for the %int on helmet, you're down to 8. You now need to solve 135% to each elemental resistance with Purity + 2.66 suffixes. Crafted suffixes give 30% and T1s 40%.

Now every rare item you're using needs 1 well-rolled resist suffix + well-rolled int + nice prefixes + crafted suffix. That's very harsh. Plus, remember that crafting 6 affixes of your choices is extremely unlikely, especially on hunter helmet. If you want to overcap a bit to prevent sudden spikes in damage from curses or map mods, it's even more complicated.

So is it theorically more damage? Yes. Is it worth the hassle? Probably not, unless you are super rich.

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Kelvynn wrote:

About the Vortex replacements. I've looked at a few options here.

The main point of that mechanic is to:
1) have the enemy chilled with greatly increased effect of chill from Unbound Ailments and Bonechill;
2) have them take cold damage from all sources (including Icestorm) increased by the magnitude of the chill effect on them.

So we use a chilling skill to make them take increased damage from Icestorm. That skill used to be Vortex. Now that's gone.

Vortex's main selling point was it being instant cast. But it had a downside too: you had to get near the target to cast it.

Now there are no instant cast skills left for that purpose, but we can try something that would not require being near the target instead. CWDT - something - Bonechill - Unbound Ailments.

Option A: Cold Snap.
Pro: MORE effect of chill.
Con: 3 sec cooldown. Has to be lv 20 for the best effect. CWDT lv 20 requires taking significant damage.

Option B: Creeping frost.
Pro: No cooldown (i.e. the default CWDT 2 sec cooldown). Can use lv 1.
Con: Projectile takes time to travel.

And then there is an option to simply use Frost Shield. That would still require getting near the target. But it saves a gem socket (no CWDT).

The deciding factor might be the transfigured versions of those skills. They posted one for Cold Snap already. It eats power charges to bypass cooldown instead of the MORE chill effect. Doesn't look useful. It won't bypass CWDT cooldown. We'll see what the other skills get.

I've done some testing in Standard, and the winner is...
CWDT lv 1 - Cold Snap lv 1 - Bonechill - Unbound Ailments

If fires when you take 528 damage, same as the curse link, but with a 3 sec cooldown instead of 2 sec. The chilling ground lasts 5 sec and expands. Good enough.

It chills at range, no need to get close to the boss. Which is great for mobile bosses like Maven or Sirus. And it's 1 less key to press. Automatic = awesome.

Technically, you could use CWDT lv 2 + Cold Snap lv 8 to get some of the new MORE chill effect. But it's not really significant since it adds only 1 or 2% total chill effect. The mana cost becomes problematic though. So keeping it at lv 1 seems to be the best.

What makes Cold Snap really better than Creeping Frost is the chance to get frenzy charges. In a juiced T16 map, or Delve, or Delirium, or Expedition - any place where there are lots of mobs that manage to hit you before dying - you get 3 frenzy charges pretty consistently. And that's 12% MORE damage.

This does take an extra gem slot. Likely from Frost Shield. Then again, Frost Shield can be put into that same link instead of Unbound Ailments for some boss fights where it makes sense.

Build updated for 3.23.

- No major changes. We are still gucci.
- Replaced Vortex with Cold Snap.
- Updated PoB with some minor changes based on how it went in 3.22.

Going to add new 3.23 stuff when it becomes available.

Thanks, I'll give this a try this league!

Thanks Kelvynn. Good luck everyone!

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whiterockxx wrote:

I usually start as herald / aura stacker, with Frost blink as move skill + damage dealer.
For bosses i use eye of winter or explosive trap.

You can check my characters, all named "ATEST" are lvl pratice characters.

Follow 2 gameplay exemple videos both with a10 kitava under 6 hours:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR5yrZ8PL2A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_LnH6wn4Yw

One as aura stacker, and another with hatred / hereald.

There wont be instant vortex anymore, so the gameplay "for me" will be:

Frostblink aways when CD is ready
For blue/yellow mobs, cast from far Cold Snap + Unbound ailments + bonechill then frosblink on top, it probably will delivery a killing blow;

For bosses probably explosive trap or eye of winter... maybe vortex, lets see on the start how it feels...

Hope it helps!

Yo! i see that you tried to play with low life stuff.. without helmet enchant... how wos it? it wos successful?

My personal highest Icestormer in std only with gear out of the leagues i made myself over the years. ;-)

https://imgur.com/a/khrCCDm

Are we going for primalist?