[3.26] Ice Dancing God - Icestorm/Cyclone/CI - Viable For Everything

Make sure you're using the old-style (unpredictable) recombinator setting. *Not* the Poe2-style setting where you select a mod from each item.

The Whispering Ice in PoE 2

So, they added this staff to PoE 2 just before releasing PoE 1 3.26. Of course, I had no time for that game until finishing everything in this league. Not to mention that PoE 2 is so much worse than PoE 1, it's not even funny. But eventually the curiosity got the best of me, and I just had to try it.

I've played PoE 2 back in December-January before giving up on it and had a little bit of currency saved in the Standard league. Namely, 1 Divine Orb plus some change. That 1 Div was enough to buy the staff with low rolls to try.

It requires lv 78! So much for a 'build enabling unique' that it is in PoE 1. After looking at all Ascendancy classes currently available in PoE 2, the only one that looked useful for it was the most obvious one - the Stormweaver. I spent a couple of days leveling a character for it. And then played with it for several days, gradually improving the build and re-learning the game.

There are several major design issues with PoE 2 that affect this build/play style:

1. There is no spell leech! Attacks can leech their damage but spell can't. That is so stupid! I really hope that it's just something they have not added to the game yet - as opposed to a 'fuck the casters' design decision. Without leech, you just have to constantly put up Frost Walls to block ranged damage and kite everything.

2. There is no mechanic like Cyclone-CwC. You have to just walk and stop to cast each spell. It's like mapping with self-cast without cycloning. All the time. It feels ridiculously slow.

3. You can only use 1 copy of each support gem. Even if I bought 2 staves and wanted to use one for clearing and one for single target - they would have to use completely different supports. That's just asinine!

4. You cannot assign the same skill from 2 weapons to the same key. There is only 1 skill set. Even if I would somehow find enough different supports for 2 Icestorms, I would still have to use different keys for them. Terrible!

Anyway, even though it felt bad to play this walking simulator game, I decided to spend a few days to:
- do all Labs (Ultimatum and Sanctum, terrible design choice!);
- level to at least lv 90;
- do T15 maps until I find and kill the endgame boss (The Arbiter of Ash).

My whole PoE 2 Whispering Ice Experience was streamed and recorded and can be found on my youtube channel. It took 4 days.

What I found:

1. It's OK for single target and boss farming. If I have to play a new league in PoE 2 as a WI caster, bossing will be a good option.

2. It lacks AoE for mapping. I tried using various other spells for clearing, but none of them did enough damage. There used to be good mapping spells like Spark but they all got nerfed hard. I don't know what can be used by a caster to clear screens in T15 maps right now. Attacks can do it, but casters are currently fucked.

3. It's OK for endgame. It's not broken and cannot insta-delete endgame bosses - but those builds typically get nerfed fast.

Exhibit A: Clearing the last Citadel

Exhibit B: The Arbiter of Ash

PoB 2 currently does not support this staff, so I cannot provide a PoB for my build. Then again, I do not recommend playing a spell caster in PoE 2 right now. Or playing that game at all. There will be a new league there in August. Maybe some things will change for the better. But right now it's garbage.

"

Kelvynn#6607 wrote:

The Whispering Ice in PoE 2
It requires lv 78! So much for a 'build enabling unique' that it is in PoE 1.

The level requirement depends on what level of skill the weapon is giving. lvl78 for lvl18 Icestorm, lvl84 for lvl19 Icestorm.

in Dawn of the Hunt league, there are few lvl17 Icestorm staffs that have requirement of lvl75. Maybe you can get lower levels, but no one is making new characters, so only high ilvl staffs have dropped?

I guess recombinator has 2 modes (poe1 and poe2) which you can switch. You are using wrong mode.

"

illnuturedcoxcomb#5309 wrote:

I'm trying to craft a Lich's circle following the guide. The Lich's helmet stays at level 85 even though I'm using a level 61 helmet to combine. An I missing something?

I guess recombinator has 2 modes (poe1 and poe2) which you can switch. You are using wrong mode.

40/40. Ty Kelvynn. Merc was on point, though I now hear the poof sound in my sleep. Hope the league treats everyone well~!