Cold Chronomancer Megathread. T16 (+2) video added.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Table of Contents: 1. Introduction. - Pros and cons 2. Builds. 3. League start. 4. Gear progression. 5. Crafting (WIP). 6. Videos. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ Update log:
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21.12.2024 - Added t16 (area lvl 82) run with boss. 21.12.2024 - Added a demo video of Snakepit Frostbolt clear. 20.12.2024 - Added build by HammerToDaFace from reddit. 20.12.2024 - Build Updated (lvl 88, massive passive change). 18.12.2024 - Build Updated (lvl 87). 18.12.2024 - Added t15 map run with boss. 17.12.2024 - Added Crit EoW Comet CI build by Seeders 15.12.2024 - Added t8 map run. Updated the build. 14.12.2024 - Added 2 approaches to building the damage on characters. 14.12.2024 - Added a demo video of Apex of the Moment. 13.12.2024 - Added a video of a random t4 map with a boss. 13.12.2024 - Guide updated. 12.12.2024 - Massive clearspeed nerf. 10.12.2024 - Added 1st map gameplay video. 09.12.2024 - Added lvl 56 passive tree and skills. 09.12.2024 - Added some Cruel vids: Act 1 final boss, Act 2 gameplay and area bossfight. 08.12.2024 - Added Act 3 video with the bossfight. 08.12.2024 - Added endgame passive tree v.0.01 by Casia 07.12.2024 - Added Act 2 passive tree and skill choice. 07.12.2024 - Added early act 2 gameplay video with area bossfight. 07.12.2024 - Added Act 1 progression. 06.12.2024 - Some questions here. 05.12.2024 - Opened the thread. Shared some thoughts. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sup. Monik is here again, so it's time to make another off-meta build. UPD. Atm Chronomancer is in a really bad spot as a class. It might be changed in the future or not. If you want an easy game - go for anything else, I'm warning you. Continue at your own risk. This megathread is about Making Chrono Great I will share everything I make, discover, and find about this class. Feel free to share your ideas here too. It is important. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ Pros and Cons. I'll be honest here. - A lot of buttons to press. Not a 1-button build. - Complicated to play. Can be hard. - Very slow endgame due to defensive playstyle and cold spells. - Outperformed by other classes in terms of damage and clearing speed. + Actually, very fun to play. + Can freeze-lock everything. Bosses included. + Defensive playstyle. Slowing enemies down, freezing them, and blocking them with the frost wall. + Smth else. Probably. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ Ascendancy choice:
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~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ First of all, I still think Recoup isn't needed. However, there are some people who prefer to build around it, like Casia (their build included here). Overall, there isn't any general opinion on which nodes to take, it depends on the playstyle. I know some people take Temporal Rift as their first node, but I took Now and Again for more frost bombs and walls. - Now and Again is a must have. Our main damage dealers - Frost Bomb and Frost Wall both have CDs. - Apex of the Moment is the default second node for Slowmancers (my build). If you ain't hard on slowing enemies down, choose other options below. UPD: quick demo: https://youtu.be/1wpMCmWagq0 - Unbound Encore and Temporal Rift are skills you really want here too. - Time Freeze is an optional utility skill. Feel free to get it instead of either Unbound Encore or Apex of the Moment. For showcasing purpose, feel free to check the Maniacs' guide and videos on mobalytics. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ Passive trees and Builds: Important: this megathread was created and refined through collective efforts. We have different opinions on how we should play and build, there is a really huge variety. I have to post several noteworthy builds from other players too mentioning how different they are.
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I. The Slowmancer (my build).
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1) lvl 74 pre-EB: https://maxroll.gg/poe2/passive-tree/4sk4i03h 2) My MoM-Archmage starter (lvl 78): https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3592843/page/31#p25650689 3) Next step (lvl 87): [/b] https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3592843/page/38#p25689527 4) My current build w/ Snakepit (lvl 88): https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3592843/page/40#p25703488 We are using Apex of the Moment to multiply other slow sources like Chill, Hinder, and Temporal Chains. That is used to prolong Freeze time on monsters too. It was explained by MagicznyAdi here and here. I'm utilizing Heavy Frost notable to skip any investment in Cold Penetration, Exposure, and Hypothermia curse, so I can invest in freeze build-up, some crit, and defense. Also, this allows me to use Frost Bomb as a fully damage main skill w/o the need for a Strip Away support gem. This is one of the way building offense on our character. Skill Gems:
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Sigil of Power: ...
Frostball: Wildshards - Supercritical - Arcane Tempo - Scattershot. Time Snap: Ingenuity. Blasphemy: Temporal Chains - Magnified Effect - Ritualistic Curse. Frost Bomb: Second Wind - Spell Echo - Considered Casting - Cold Mastery Flame Wall: Fortress - Persistence. Mana Tempest: Murderous Intent - Inspiration - Premeditation. Comet: Elemental Focus - Hourglass - Inevitable Critical (Spell Echo vs bosses) - Concentrated Effect. Frost Wall: Deep Freeze - Glaciation - Spell Cascade - Electrolute. Archmage: Lightning Mastery. Frost Bomb with Spell Echo is for clearing. Comet is a finisher here. For Bossing I put Spell Echo to the Comet instead of Inevitable Critical. Overall mapping gameplay is spamming Frostball and detonating Frost Walls with the Frost Bomb vs rares/bosses. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ II. The Semi-MoM Penetrator (made by Casia (lvl 92)):
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https://maxroll.gg/poe2/passive-tree/nbki903p Link to the post with the description, skill gems, etc - https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3592843/page/15#p25593845 This build is using another approach for the building damage and defences: 1. For offense it scales Cold Penetration and lowering enemies Cold Resistance with Hypothermia Curse and and applying Cold Exposure with the Frost Bomb. This way we make enemy cold resistance negative significantly increasing their damage taken. This is another way of building offense on our characters. 2. For defense, it is using Life and Mana Recoup nodes paired with splitting incoming damage taken between Life and Mana. This allows us to take bigger hits and recover our "total health bar" with both life and mana potions. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ III. Crit CI EoW + Comet build by Seeders https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3592843/page/35#p25673231
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Finished all map quests through T15, currently Level 88.
7700 ES, CI Eye of Winter has ~50% crit chance and ~350% crit dmg. Comet is 60% and ~450%. Keep in mind Eye of Winter applies critical weakness, which makes the CC higher. Passive tree: Skills: EoW - Considered Casting, Ricochet, Pierce, Extraction Comet - Arcane Tempo, Spell Echo, Inevitable Critical, Supercritical Frost Wall - Glaciation, Font of Mana, Icicle, Frost Nexus Frost Bolt - Wildshards, Scattershot, Cold Pen? Arctic Armor - Cold Mastery, Bludgeon, Deep Freeze Blink - Second Wind, Ingenuity Time Freeze - Persistence, Magnified Effect I also use Beacon of Azis unique amulet to bypass elemental resists. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ IV. Lightning Frost Bomb/Wall made by HammerToDaFace from reddit (very fast): Latest take: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3592843/page/40#p25703496 Build in action:
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~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ Here are notable takes of other people about how to improve your builds: 1. Crit base of DwaneDibbley:
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You can get those critical nodes to significantly improve your damage and open a room for critical support gems 2. Cast of Freeze + Cold Snap base vouched by Chaplin132000 and chobi0ne:
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Check for more info (entire page is about that): https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3592843/page/25
Taking Energize and Dynamism on a CoF-Cold Snap significantly improves clearspeed, however you must switch Cold Snap for the Comet on bosses. Another take on CoF-Cold Snap: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3592843/page/32#p25659580 3. Snakepit ring + frostbolt combo for clear introduced by darrk14: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3592843/page/39#p25701133 It is a mandatory build enabling unique ring for reliable clearing. My video of t16(+2) clearing with it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t60Y063IZZA ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ WTF: The general idea of the build is to freeze things and hit them hard.
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1. To start with, we are going with Cold spells by default. It is an all-rounded element that gives both offense and defense (chill and freeze).
It is the best elemental magic for Chronomancer that have an actual synergy with our Ascendancy (several skills would have cooldowns). ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ 2. Here is the list of the decent interactions between skills: I. Frostbolt, Ice Nova, and Cold Snap are our main skills without CD, and we will be using them in 1-2(-3) punch for the most of the Campaign:
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So, WTF to do here: a1) Use Frostbolt + Ice Nova combo if things are running on you. a2) Use Frostbolt + Cold Snap on 1vs1. b) Use Ice Nova if things are around you - it has knockback that will push enemies from you. c) Use Cold Snap on anything frozen - it will do big damage real quick. II. Frost Wall + Frost Bomb. Our main skills with the CD (we put second wind on a Frost Bomb after the 1st trial (if Now and Again is the 1st choice))
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Notes: a) Frost Wall is segmented, and each segment will do damage when you break it. b) Pot a Frost Bomb close to your Frost Wall to explode all segments at once. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ 3. Skill gems Support Gems for your skills are highly customizable and depend on your current build. For example, if you are going for Cold Penetration for damage, you have to put Strip Away to your Frost Bomb. If you are going for Heavy Frost node, this support gem will be useless. Another example - any Critical support gems are pointless if you haven't invested passive points in Critical strikes. Please check an endgame builds above (under the Passive Trees spoilers) and try to catch the logic. 4. Scaling offense. Basically - there are two ways of scaling the damage: I. Cold Pen + Reducing enemy Res via Curse/Exposure. + It is very powerful. The strongest option on a higher investment. + Increase your damage output from all skills. + More reliable damage. - Needs investment in both passives and skill gems. - Focused to 1 element. Extra damage from other elements loose hard against a high-res target. More limited choice of the weapon. II. Heavy Frost. + Very cheap. + Doesn't require skill gem investment (Hypothermia, Strip Away support) and exposure passive nodes. + Benefits from extra damage from other elements (like Climate Change). More options for the weapon choice. - Conditional. Have to Freeze the target first. - It's weaker overall in terms of the endgame scaling. So, with Heavy Frost I went with Critical Strike passives (and they make Critical Support gems work better), and made Frost Bomb fully damaging ability w/o Strip Away. I'm still considering making a secondary weapon/passive, set more focused on freeze build-up, so I can just nuke the Frozen enemy with a more damaging passive tree (like removing the Shattering cluster and going for more crit or flat damage). This should work well because we can choose which skills to use on weapon sets. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ Use tips down below as a piece of advice, not as mandatory things. We played like this before the massive nerf of CoF, which offered a smooth sail after act 3. Most relevant and usefull tips come from DwaneDibbley in his post: https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-posts/DwaneDibbley-4615#p25592589 tl;dr: Make use of Freezing Shards on the Gelid staff. It's more powerful than any of the cold spells before the end of act 3. Always update the staff with more lvl of Freezing Shards. Check vendor every time you enter the town. Bonus to spell damage isn't important here, we have 2 weapon sets and you can bind Freezing Shards to the Gelid staff, while all other spell to the staff with the most spell damage. Act 1:
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Passive tree:
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- Focus on Cold Element. - Get Frost Bomb first. Support gems: Magnified Effect -> Second Wind. - Ice Nova second. Support gems: Unleash -> Glaciation. - Frost Bomb + Ice Nova combo is enough to clear small mobs. - Get Staff with Freezing Shards. Supports: Arcane Tempo (from Flame Wall), can do Frost Nexus. Don't use Chain here, shards are for single target. - Get Flame Wall. Supports: no need, but get Arcane Tempo, for Freezing Shards. - Shoot Freezing Shards through Flame Wall for the good single target dps. - Frostbolt. Supports: Scattershot -> Deceleration. - I gave an honest shot to Frostbolt + Cold Snap, but it can't beat Freezing Shards at single target dps. At least, for now. - Final act 1 boss was a problem, took 4 tries. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ Act 2:
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Passive tree:
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Closer to act 2 boss I started to feel I was doing smth wrong bc I was lacking clear, and gave another shot to cold snap. Yep, I could 1-shot freezer magic monster most of the time. So, back to 1-2-3 punch described in the post. It was a really smooth sail until Act 2 boss (killed him in 5 tries, was getting used to the second phase in a hard way). Completely removed the flame wall and freezing shards by then. Skill gems: - Frost Bomb: Magnified Effect + Second Wind (I switched magnified with the concentration for the Act 2 boss). - Ice Nova: Unleash + Glaciation. - Frostbolt: Scattershot + Deceleration. - Cold Snap: Controlled Destruction + Concentrated Effect (I switched Conc for Hourglass for the Act 2 boss) - Hypothermia (curse): Expanse + Heightened Curse. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ Act 3:
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By Elian4 (more cast speed and mana regen):
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" By me (better Frost Wall):
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Skill gems: - Frost Bomb: Magnified Effect + Second Wind. - Ice Nova: Unleash + Glaciation + Deep Freeze. - Frostbolt: Scattershot + Deceleration. - Cold Snap: Controlled Destruction + Concentrated Effect - Hypothermia: Expanse + Heightened Curse. - Comet: Cold Penetration + Leverage (questionable) + Considered Casting - Cast on Freeze: Comet + Spell Echo. - Temporal Rift: Ingenuity. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ Act 2 Cruel (lvl 56):
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Passive tree:
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Ascendancy: Now and Again - Unbound Encore Skills: Frost Bomb - Fast Forward - Second Wind - Spell Echo Frostbolt - Glaciation - Scattershot - Cold Penetration Cold Snap - Controlled Destruction - Elemental Focus Comet - Unleash - Inevitable Critical - Leverage Hypothermia - Expanse - Heightened Curse Frost Wall - Concentrated Effect - Spell Cascade - Icicle Cast on Freeze - Comet - Impetus - Considered Casting Acts finished (lvl 66):
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Passive tree:
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Ascendancy: Now and Again - Apex of the Moment Skills: Frost Bomb - Fast Forward - Second Wind - Spell Echo Frostbolt - Glaciation - Scattershot - Cold Penetration Cold Snap - Controlled Destruction - Elemental Focus Comet - Unleash - Inevitable Critical - Leverage Blasphemy - Temporal Chains - Magnify Frost Wall - Concentrated Effect - Spell Cascade - Icicle Cast on Freeze - Comet - Impetus - Considered Casting ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Good weapon for Acts that will carry you up to t2 Waystones:
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Later have to buy more powerful staff with +5-7 to cold gems, Focus on ES gear mostly, with resistances. Your goal is to have 75% all elemental resistances before the t3 waystones. Life and mana are also very important. Note: with the Eldrich Battery you will solve all of your mana problems, but with the price of the tankiness. In acts, it is acceptable. In the endgame - not. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WIP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. Early Act 2 gameplay footage with area boss - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64zdZgogH-Y 2. Some Act 3 gameplay with Zicoatl bossfight - https://youtu.be/-LX1avpybRE 3. Act 1 Cruel Executor deletion by hiddennames - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ3ZBzlEEFI 4. Act 1 Cruel Geonor fight: https://youtu.be/EVKfdaavsc0 5. Act 2 Cruel gameplay and twin bossfight: https://youtu.be/_Dvsxqwq5_M 6. 1st map after the Acts[recorded before the nerf of CoF]: https://youtu.be/Hp3jP8qSG5M 7. Random t4 map - https://youtu.be/zZbjI9NXgsg 8. Apex of the Moment demo: https://youtu.be/1wpMCmWagq0 9. T8 map run: https://youtu.be/5bWwMyVMrrE 10. T15 map gameplay with Boss (2 bombs, 1 comet): https://youtu.be/9-sDO6WNW8I 11. T15 map gameplay with Snakepit Frostbolt: https://youtu.be/ke5RP2eB1eQ 12. T16 (monster lvl 82) clear with the boss (difficulty +3): https://youtu.be/t60Y063IZZA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is it for now, have fun y'all. Let's see what's up here later. Feel free to share your thoughts. Last edited by monik390#5560 on Dec 21, 2024, 6:56:30 AM Last bumped on Dec 22, 2024, 9:13:39 AM
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Reserved
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This is what I'm looking for!
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" I'm not sure if you are aware that each support skill can only be used with one single skill across all your skills, so you won't be able to 'utilize several skills' with it. That being said, it is obviously still an incredibly good support gem to use with this ascendancy – it's just a question of which skill is best supported by it. |
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" Yeah given this fact it's not looking great for the Chronomancer, unless there are some really good skills we havn't seen that inherently have a cooldown. I'm looking through known info and I see very few long CD skills. Like, there's Cluster Grenade and Hammer of the Gods and that's it? |
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yeah, this is my thinking to try.
frost wall+fortress. possibly hourglass. need to test how much it explodes for, and what can trigger it reliably. 3 charges on its CD. so right off the bat, 3 chances for the 33%. frost bomb I expect to pair with it, with second wind. 2 CD for 33%+33%=55% chance for cd proc at least once. time snap, giving 4 casts of the CD. 33%x4. which is an 80% chance for the CD to proc at least once. "Increase limit" does frost wall, or frost bomb have a limit of 1? frost walls charges, makes me wonder if traps will use the same mechanic and thus be very good for chronomancer. secondary scaling is a bit ??? atm. heralds don't really work for this, etc. just frost bombs exposure. Time stop seems pointless. what is it doing regular freeze isn't doing? time rift ought to be more useful in poe2. less regen, less leech. a giant get out of jail free card, for anything that does not one shot you, to reset your HP back to full should be solid for bosses. recoup I'm doubtful for. seems expensive for little. slow in poe1 is just movement. seems kindof weak. The passive tree is larger in poe2. about 20%. meaning, in poe1 it takes 9 points to move from witch to templar on the outer ring. its 11 in poe2. inner ring is 11, poe2 13. everything is like this. CI is further away, MOM is further away. this will make shrapnel builds not really viable I think. although avatar of fire, resolute tech, and the mace nodes by templar are still in reach, making hammer of the gods/ignite still an ideal option. herald of ash does work for that.. |
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Chronomancer is what inspires me the most. I will certainly be contributing to some theory crafting and mechanics. This class is what brings me back with so much enthusiasm.
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Not sure if the info is accurate, but poe2db has Time Snap at a 40 second cooldown. If this is true, this ascendancy is probably not good :( Time Freeze CD is even longer at 65 seconds.
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" Thank you guys for mentioning it, I wasn't aware of 1 support gem per character thing. It's true that it messes up with my plans, but while I was writing this thing above, I actually questioned myself where should I put Hourglass support. So, 3 buttons for frostbolt, ice nova and cold snap, 4 buttons left (w/o ctrl). Comet, Frost Bomb, Frost Wall, and Time Snap are the other 4 buttons. Unleash is a must, it goes for the Comet. Frost Wall and Frost Bomb remain. Depends on which would be stronger. " I was thinking about Frostfire support on the Flameblast for the heavy ignite, it's the only use of Time Freeze I was considering if Freeze won't win enough time. 50% more cast speed node is a better option here tho. As it seems, poe 2 is way slower than poe 1, so Slow might be useful. Like for fire/lightning spells or grenades/maces. |
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" Sounds unplayable, but let us log in first. Poe 2 overall is way slower than poe 1 as it seems, so it might feel not that bad. Last edited by monik390#5560 on Dec 6, 2024, 2:53:57 AM
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