[3.21] ShakCentral's Cold DoT Elementalist For Everyone

I'm having really good time with the build, it's super strong with low investment.
I have a question though. Couple of leagues ago I was playing this build with Cold Snap. Is the WTB much better than that or what? Does 6 link Vortex and 4 link Vaal Cold Snap still work and it's worth?

Just checking in from Xbox at level 88. Doing low red maps 11-12 (filling out my entire atlas, I have one more yellow map) and doing pretty good.

I'd appreciate any feedback on improvements. I went with cluster jewels and can't get Determination into my gear due to reservation mastery issues on the tree. I'm leveling Arrogance and Determination in my alt Shield, but I know that would help. I went for a 5-link Shav's instead of my makeshift 6-link and didn't notice much until equipping the shield, which I love.

I've got a few Exalt trades waiting, so I should hit 4-5 soon and I'm wondering if I should go for a Watcher's Eye with just the Clarity mana pool equals energy shield (like 8%) or if I should go for a Stars amulet instead, which I'd have to anoint again.

I'm having fun, although the build for me is not as successful in Delve which I like, but I'm okay with that trade off. The league is fun, league mechanic and now I've got Scarabs flowing, mapping is fun again. Xbox trade is more expensive, but I've sold a lot (including a Dead Reckoning early in league for 1 exalt) so it has been a good league for me so far.

I defeated Infinite Hunger (although I died a couple times) and I'm hoping to keep pushing to end game bosses. I've never killed Sirus, never made it, only tried twice, but I'm hopeful I can get my defenses in order and make a push.

Any advice on gear would be appreciated for next steps.

"

Phosphoester wrote:

I'm having really good time with the build, it's super strong with low investment.
I have a question though. Couple of leagues ago I was playing this build with Cold Snap. Is the WTB much better than that or what? Does 6 link Vortex and 4 link Vaal Cold Snap still work and it's worth?

As someone who went with coldsnap last league and WTB this league, the biggest difference would be the clearspeed. WTB clears faster with less clicks when you allocate the reattachment mastery as it auto targets nearby mobs. The old build definitely works, and probably does more damage cause you can spec out of brand nodes and focus on aoe/spell/cold damage that affect both vortex/snap. Personally though I have killed most bosses (Maven, Sirus, UE, Exarch, Eater) with WTB so the damage is still there. I prefer WTB since it is much more relaxing to play compared to cold snap.

"

FacesReality wrote:

As someone who went with coldsnap last league and WTB this league, the biggest difference would be the clearspeed. WTB clears faster with less clicks when you allocate the reattachment mastery as it auto targets nearby mobs. The old build definitely works, and probably does more damage cause you can spec out of brand nodes and focus on aoe/spell/cold damage that affect both vortex/snap. Personally though I have killed most bosses (Maven, Sirus, UE, Exarch, Eater) with WTB so the damage is still there. I prefer WTB since it is much more relaxing to play compared to cold snap.

Would it be possible for you to record the gameplay of going against Maven and Sirus? I want to learn the mechanics of using WTB against them.

I've been playing this build since league start and love the play style, thanks Shak for all your hard work.

I love juiced mapping, but based on some comments in this thread, I thought this build was going to be too fragile and/or too slow and I was preparing to reroll. But after some investment, the performance of this build has really improved and now I'm zooming. (Mind you this build is far from OP, but I'm no longer dying every map and the clear is really fun) Here's what I have learned:

- Profane Bloom + a Despair Curse on Hit ring is amazing for clearing super-dense maps. It's really wonderful and I haven't seen much reference to it in this thread. (granted I haven't most of the 400+ pages) Everything just blows up as you zoom around the map. I recommend trying it.

(I added Profane Bloom with the new Forbidden Flesh jewels so I wouldn't have to drop any of the recommended ascendancy nodes. But it cost me 13ex. It's possible you could get away with dropping Vile Bastion instead but I haven't tried it yet)

Regarding defense: here are the upgrades where I noticed the most survivability boost:

1. 75% on both Block and Spell Block with a ES on Block shield. This was a real pain to get to, and still requires Rumi's flask to be up, but this is when I stopped dying on every T16 delirious map.
2. 25K+ armor (also requires Rumi but not nearly as hard to achieve)

I'm also running Purity of Elements so I can ignore Elemental curses and Elemental ailments. But I'm not sure how much it's helping, I plan on trying Hatred in it's spot for more damage, and see if I start dying. Will report back.

Try the new Ashes amulet instead of Chayula's Amulet if you don't do alot of bossing. The Ashes amulet is totally amazing - just look at what an extra 30% quality does on some of your gems!

I'm still far from optimized, if anyone can suggest ideas for meaningful changes or upgrades I'd love to hear them. and thanks again Shak!

[EDIT]
I've already completely changed things around since typing this a few hours ago. Swapped in Hatred and Tempest Shield for Purity Elements. Reassigned some shield block nodes to Reservation efficiency and swapped my small cluster.

This change resulted in ~15% more damage at the cost of 3 endurance charges. Overall totally worth it but we shall see if I start dying :)

I like reading all the positive comments but I can't recognize myself in them, hopefully that means something can be corrected on my character.

You can see my character if you click on my profile.

As a first question, forgive my ignorance, but what is this built meant to do? What's the best content to run with it?

I find myself dying way too much in T16 Delirium/Beyond map, DPS barely okay on bosses, map clearer is slow compared to pure mapper.

I understand the build can do pretty much all of the above as an all-rounder, but it comes with a price of speed and performance that I'm unsure is worthy to pay. What I mean by that is, in my experience, the build is an all-rounder, but not a great one. And it's sad because I loved the hell out of this back in the Cold Snap days.

Thank you very much for the guide, I love how it's clearly written and east to access, I guess I'm just failing to see a purpose to all of this. Can anyone enlighten me, and maybe point out flaws on my character?

Thank you!

In regards to dying a lot in maps, do check your armour before taking Glancing Blows and make sure block chance is 75% all the time without flasks.

The other thing to look out is if you are juicing your maps you got to check your atlas passives too. If you take the ones where it says "2% increase of effect on non-unique maps" - those numbers add up.

"

Gallaxe wrote:

I like reading all the positive comments but I can't recognize myself in them, hopefully that means something can be corrected on my character.

You can see my character if you click on my profile.

As a first question, forgive my ignorance, but what is this built meant to do? What's the best content to run with it?

I find myself dying way too much in T16 Delirium/Beyond map, DPS barely okay on bosses, map clearer is slow compared to pure mapper.

I understand the build can do pretty much all of the above as an all-rounder, but it comes with a price of speed and performance that I'm unsure is worthy to pay. What I mean by that is, in my experience, the build is an all-rounder, but not a great one. And it's sad because I loved the hell out of this back in the Cold Snap days.

Thank you very much for the guide, I love how it's clearly written and east to access, I guess I'm just failing to see a purpose to all of this. Can anyone enlighten me, and maybe point out flaws on my character?

Thank you!

I was exactly where you are a week ago and was about to reroll. I love mapping juiced delirium/beyond maps and the build wasn't cutting it.

Instead I got a few ideas from poe.ninja and invested in the new jewels (forbidden flesh/flame) and reworked my shield block. Wow what a difference.
I'd say my clear speed doubled and deaths more than cut in half.

(I think you could also make this build into a bosser but my understanding is that you focus on Vortex and drop Wintertide Brand. I prefer mapping so I went that path - the bossing is still ok but like you said not great)

If you want to try the mapping path (it will cost you 10-20ex), here are my suggestions:

offense:
1. buy a forbidden flesh/flame for Frigid Wake so you can grab Profane Bloom. (this is much MUCH cheaper than buying the direct Profane Bloom versions)

2. Now you need a curse on hit despair ring. I crafted mine, it kinda sucks but does the job. You need a hunter/elder base which is a couple ex and then fossil it with aetherics - they are very cheap.

3. Drop punishment as the third curse.

defense:
1. Glancing blows with 75% spell and attack block was the key. Glancing blows is easy to get with a Thread of Hope, or you can manually path - you will get 30-50 strength on the way which helps alot

2. You really want your determination to be level20 - see above - try to find more STR

3. Make sure you get a well-rolled Rumi's flask - it will be up permanently in Delirium maps :)

Not sure you want to make that kind of investment in a build when you seem dissatisfied - but I'm glad I did - it really is a fun playstyle.

"

Gallaxe wrote:

I like reading all the positive comments but I can't recognize myself in them, hopefully that means something can be corrected on my character.

You can see my character if you click on my profile.

As a first question, forgive my ignorance, but what is this built meant to do? What's the best content to run with it?

I find myself dying way too much in T16 Delirium/Beyond map, DPS barely okay on bosses, map clearer is slow compared to pure mapper.

I understand the build can do pretty much all of the above as an all-rounder, but it comes with a price of speed and performance that I'm unsure is worthy to pay. What I mean by that is, in my experience, the build is an all-rounder, but not a great one. And it's sad because I loved the hell out of this back in the Cold Snap days.

Thank you very much for the guide, I love how it's clearly written and east to access, I guess I'm just failing to see a purpose to all of this. Can anyone enlighten me, and maybe point out flaws on my character?

Thank you!

The best content is a bit of everything, its a league starter all rounder, so it won't be top tier mapping or top tier bossing. You can develop it with currency/maybe your own ideas/ to be a great bosser, or a better mapper, or just a tankier heavier hitting all rounder.

As for your build, your missing a few key bits, get the Aegis Aurora shield and then you can change your tree to get max block setup with a thread of hope. This will help you stay alive much more.

It doesn't help that SHAK has not come back and posted his version 2 of the build. It has a much better tree and the skills are more rounded and better than the initial release.

Use this and make some of the changes in the skills and tree - https://pastebin.com/kvAbi3DL

I appreciate the detailed answers. From what I take, dropping Punishment for a Molten Shell setup and dropping the cast speed node for the additional strength, reaching Thread of Hope, makes it up because of Determination.

I'll try that! If I had a bit more currency I would explore the expensive jewels but for now it's a bit out of my price range.

In any case I appreciate the help quite a lot and will try the updates right now!