Cold Chronomancer Megathread.

I guess the way it works is like this. Maybe someone with better knowledge can correct me if I'm wrong.

Frost Bolt: Scattershot + Unleash + Glaciation
Single cast launches up to 9 frost bolts.
When they hit something, they build up freeze and since there are several bolts (orbs) - they immediately freeze something. That triggers:

CoF + Cold Snap with Spell Cascade
Cold Snap doesn't just explode the frozen target, but also explodes nearby frost bolts (orbs). Those explosions also damage nearby targets and add up to freeze on them. Additionally cascade cold snap covers nearby mobs and orbs.

Additionally, all those explosions also damage and explode Frost Walls, which also causes AoE damage.

UPD: Just tried to swap Spell Cascade with Spell Echo from Comet, the result seems to be better, clear is a bit faster because Cascade is delayed, but then I make my boss bursting Comet weaker.

UPD2: Got missing passive points (from acts), resists and Blink. This is so much better now. I play with EB and I run out of mana all the time (and I think this is a good sign). This is mainly due to Spell Echo. I'm not sure if Spell Echo is really needed in this, probably it can be replaced.
Blink is insane. It increases clearing speed and allows me to reposition myself for better alignment of Frostbolt.

Can confirm Blink CD is reset by our CD abilities. its stupid good, and like a whole new game.

I was using CoF icewall, to good value.
But, atm swapped to Blink 60+clarity 10 and ghost dance. 30=100 spirit.

Also, Back to "Forthcoming" as well for CDR, and reduced skill effect duration, which makes frost bombs explode faster.

I saw that Apex was added to the build. Is it no longer nonfunctional? There's nothing in any patch notes about it.

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Chibisukei#0950 wrote:

I saw that Apex was added to the build. Is it no longer nonfunctional? There's nothing in any patch notes about it.

Apparently it worked all the time, it is just the way it works, it needs some investment on passives that empowers the slow to get noticeable.
I don't really know if it is useful to commit on it btw

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drjackalzz#3350 wrote:

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Chibisukei#0950 wrote:

I saw that Apex was added to the build. Is it no longer nonfunctional? There's nothing in any patch notes about it.

Apparently it worked all the time, it is just the way it works, it needs some investment on passives that empowers the slow to get noticeable.
I don't really know if it is useful to commit on it btw

Huh, that's odd. I know when I tested it a few days ago it was definitely not noticeable, but temporal chains def was.

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Chibisukei#0950 wrote:

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drjackalzz#3350 wrote:

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Chibisukei#0950 wrote:

I saw that Apex was added to the build. Is it no longer nonfunctional? There's nothing in any patch notes about it.

Apparently it worked all the time, it is just the way it works, it needs some investment on passives that empowers the slow to get noticeable.
I don't really know if it is useful to commit on it btw

Huh, that's odd. I know when I tested it a few days ago it was definitely not noticeable, but temporal chains def was.

This is also what i observed. Temp chains blasphemy on a different char is very noticeable, even though it should be weaker. Apex doesnt seem to do anything at all for me.

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Chibisukei#0950 wrote:

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drjackalzz#3350 wrote:

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Chibisukei#0950 wrote:

I saw that Apex was added to the build. Is it no longer nonfunctional? There's nothing in any patch notes about it.

Apparently it worked all the time, it is just the way it works, it needs some investment on passives that empowers the slow to get noticeable.
I don't really know if it is useful to commit on it btw

Huh, that's odd. I know when I tested it a few days ago it was definitely not noticeable, but temporal chains def was.

No problems, here is the difference: https://youtu.be/1wpMCmWagq0

In short, Apex have to be scaled with other sources of Slow. Temporal chains, Hinder, Chill, etc. The all are multiplicative to each other.

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monik390#5560 wrote:

No problems, here is the difference: https://youtu.be/1wpMCmWagq0

In short, Apex have to be scaled with other sources of Slow. Temporal chains, Hinder, Chill, etc. The all are multiplicative to each other.

Okay, that's a lot more noticeable. I feel like there was probably a stealth fix at this point lol. Gaslighting us into thinking it was always working.

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Chibisukei#0950 wrote:

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monik390#5560 wrote:

No problems, here is the difference: https://youtu.be/1wpMCmWagq0

In short, Apex have to be scaled with other sources of Slow. Temporal chains, Hinder, Chill, etc. The all are multiplicative to each other.

Okay, that's a lot more noticeable. I feel like there was probably a stealth fix at this point lol. Gaslighting us into thinking it was always working.

Actually, it's quite understandable to think it didn't work. There are heavy diminishing returns of slow depending on the rarity of monsters. So, if people were using Apex alone, already super fast rare would still be very fast. Or those speedy magic packs.

Anyway, that's it.

Just a little update with my progress.
I'm on tier 1 maps now with CoF+Snap build. Killing packs and bossing is not a problem, I can kill most off-screen. As soon as my "package" of frostbolts arrives somewhere - most of the things dies there. However, with EB I'm squishy. I can tank some regular hits, but couple times I died from oneshot and didn't even understand what it was. My gear is not so good either, my resistances are:
Fire: 75% (76%)
Lighting: 51%
Cold: 31%
Chaos: 23%
So there is clearly some room for optimizations. I could probably invest a bit more passives in survivability.

Because of this, I have to be careful when clearing, which slows me down.

Few times I died due to Blink acting up:
- Blink was not working at all because I tried to blink close to some wall.
- I was surrounded by a pack and it didn't let me blink out, although I know I would normally roll out of situation like this.

Extra charges on Blink (without increasing CD) would be really helpful.
Maybe I should drop Recoup (The Rapid River) and give Chronomancer abilities a try (either Temporal Rift or Now and Again + Time Snap), but I don't think it will save me from those nasty oneshots. In short-term I think only ES can fix this. Long-term resistances should help, but only against elemental damage.