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

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Any chance you're working on one for PoE2? Whispering Ice just came out yesterday :P

Not until after I'm done with 3.26. Then I'll take a look.

The PoE 2 version of the staff has flat base damage instead of scaling from Int. It has a scaling Increased dmg mod, similar to what we get from Tranquility and eldritch mod on gloves in PoE 1. But that's additive with other Increased dmg mods. That's already much weaker than the PoE 1 version for Int scaling. The base damage itself may or may not be good - depending on the current monster tuning in PoE 2. But the scaling potential is sadly lacking.

Also, there is no triggering from movement skills in PoE 2. Self-cast mapping is a huge step down from PoE 1. Just like most things in PoE 2.
Last edited by Kelvynn#6607 on Jun 6, 2025, 1:50:04 PM
Oh i see! Looks like eating chill is a part of the scaling now? But not sure how chill % builds now. I DO know it can go into the hundreds pretty easily. Anyway, had a ton of fun with the build in 1, ty for that.
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Kelvynn#6607 wrote:
My experience in the Phrecia league made me think...

I started there as a Scavenger and had a total blast mapping with explosions. It made me really miss the Occultist. Exploding screens is fun!

Then I made the godly items and was able to kill all uber bosses, even though her damage was nothing like the Trickster, and she was a lot more squishy.

Then I made an Aristocrat, gave him those godly items and deleted the uber bosses just for fun (ex: Uber Sirus at lv 86).

Lv 86 Aristocrat was doing more than 2x the damage of lv 97 Scavenger, but the only visible advantage was killing the uber bosses in half of the time. In maps, exploding screens was a lot more fun (and faster).

Could it be worth sacrificing half of your uber boss damage to gain screen-wide explosions? Scavenger explosions were not even as good as Occultist's. And with the new aurabot mercs, she wouldn't need to worry about dropping major auras for Blasphemy.

Once PoB is updated, I'm going to take a look at the current state of Occultist and the damage difference between her and Trickster. Zana is back. Maybe it's time for the Occultist to come back too?

Or a dual-character model, like in Phrecia. One starts the league, farms maps and makes good items. And then the other uses those items and deletes uber bosses.

We'll see.


I was contemplating on trying out a merc with gravebind and obliterate to get the exploding on trickster, worth considering over pure aurabot maybe?
I watched the T17 map 3.25 video. My jaw very slowly but steadily started towards the floor and did not stop until contact was made.

I like to try something different every league. I've done Ice Shot, a couple of Exsanguinates,Lascerate, and I'm thinking I'll try this one. It seems like a very peaceful build with low intensity of positioning with the trade off of not blasting through maps. That's probably going to be perfect for me as I've got a job that leaves me pretty drained at times and being able to just map while zonked out would be good for me.

I'll be following your 3.26 with interest. Thank you for sharing and building.
Could someone please elaborate on leveling with eye of winter - unleash? What else do we link with it?

I've tried to simulate a league start a few times recently and i am having a rough time finishing the campaign(i figure i would be towards the end of campaign before having a source of whispering ice in a new trade league?)

i'm obviously missing something crucial that isnt explained in the guide.
Thanks
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pedro86#0560 wrote:
Could someone please elaborate on leveling with eye of winter - unleash? What else do we link with it?

I've tried to simulate a league start a few times recently and i am having a rough time finishing the campaign(i figure i would be towards the end of campaign before having a source of whispering ice in a new trade league?)

i'm obviously missing something crucial that isnt explained in the guide.
Thanks


Starting fresh on Friday league start in a trade league, and given my slow levelling speed as a shadow, by the time I hit level 38ish, I always have been able to purchase a staff. Sometimes you have to offer say 4 alchs instead of a chaos orb. Note that any staff at all is better than nothing. Be sure the ilvl is at least 51 so you can roll up to 6S on it.

By late Saturday I usually have 3 staves, 2 I am using and the third I am rerolling for 5S or 6S depending.

In regards to levelling I always end up falling back on freezing pulse and frost bomb until I unleash the staff. I know Kelvynn prefers mines, but I cannot stand the mine UI and game play.

I have tried hard to find alternatives to mines or freezing pulse, but nothing has worked. I'd be delighted if someone can suggest something better for levelling. (Yes, I asked this question before and got a couple of suggestions. FYI: they didn't work for me.)

If it isn't obvious, I have a live search running for the staff within the first three hours.
Last edited by Graiaule#7461 on Jun 8, 2025, 11:00:46 PM
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Shiftone#1890 wrote:
I was contemplating on trying out a merc with gravebind and obliterate to get the exploding on trickster, worth considering over pure aurabot maybe?

That's an interesting idea... But I have some questions:

1. Do 2 Obliterations stack to give you a 40% explosion chance?
Edit: I found the answer. The chance does stack, it will indeed be 40%

2. If everything counts as killed by your merc instead of you, doesn't that mean you get nothing on-kill from Polymath? And your quantity/rarity and other loot-related bonuses from the Atlas tree don't apply?
Last edited by Kelvynn#6607 on Jun 9, 2025, 2:00:00 AM
2. No Polymath for us. Atlas tree is global for map.

I'm thinking Asenath's Gentle Touch + additional curses for merc.
But question is, if it is worth for 3% phys explodes.
Back in Settler's I was surprised at the rate Oriath's End fell in price which I ended up using often as a nice source of explode that helped out. Certainly not on the level of occultist but it was more than servicable though obviously not immediately available.
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sumienie#4758 wrote:
I'm thinking Asenath's Gentle Touch + additional curses for merc.
But question is, if it is worth for 3% phys explodes.

That would require the merc actually hitting things. But you will kill everything a whole lot faster than a merc can hit anything.

3% explosions are useless.

Also, Asenath is a glove, same slot as Gravebind. The idea with the merc causing explosions looks very cool. And I don't see why it can't be done with an aurabot merc. As long as it has one of the auras we need, we should be able to equip it with the gloves and 2 wands. Unless they have restrictions on what type of weapons they can use. But surely there will be some mercs that can dual wield.

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