[3.21] Cheapbunny's Frozen Legion Glacial Cascade Battlemage Inquisitor
 Updated to 3.21 - Crucible League A lot of changes are made to the skill tree in 3.21. Zealot Oath keystone is moved out of the timesless jewel range for "Corrupted Soul" conversion, I moved the timeless jewel to the location near "Eternal Youth" instead. Because of this, I have redone the pathing in passive skill tree, now the build has one jewel less (Balance of Terror is no longer available in 3.21). The new pathing does not path through 30 Dexterity on the tree, so it requires more dex bonus on your gears now. There is a lot of Masteries changes as well, you might check the new Masteries in POB. Overall, the build lose some damage because of losing Balance of Terror (Crucible Passive should make up for it) but got a bit more survivability due to the new life regen cluster I take. Introduction This is a new build archetype that I've never played before, Attack + Spell, which is pretty interesting, because a normal POE build would want to focus on either attack or spell, but rarely both. Overall, I find it quite fun to theory craft and play this build, Frozen Legion (melee, good at open area) and Glacial Cascade (range, good at narrow area) complement each other pretty well, it strikes a good balance between mapping and bossing. This build actually cost more than my other build mainly because of the expensive jewels, I'll include lower budget version of the build that does not use Unnatural Instinct and Frenzy Charge Grand Spectrum unique jewel. Lower budget version has roughly 15% less damage, smaller aoe and less hp regen, but will save you 20 divines. Build Thought
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Frozen Legion and Marohi Erqi
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The build idea started with the league announcement introducing the new skill "Frozen Legion", I wanted to make a build with it because it looks cool. "Marohi Erqi" seems to be the best weapon for this "Frozen Legion", because it has very high flat physical damage and "Frozen Legion" does not care about the low attack speed. Why use Glacial Cascade?
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Frozen Legion has a long 0.8 cooldown (total 4.8 seconds to reach maximum stacks), a secondary skill will be needed to do damage during Frozen Legion cooldown recovery. Glacial cascade become the obvious choice because it scales very similarly to Frozen Legion, they both convert 100% physical in to cold damage and has AOE tag. Since Glacial Cascade is a spell, it is also not affected by accuracy and attack speed penalty from Marohi Erqi. Why Inquisitor?
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I chose Inquisitor mainly because of the "Instruments of Virtue" ascendancy node. https://www.poewiki.net/wiki/Instruments_of_Virtue This node allows Marohi Erqi's high physical damage to be applied on Glacial Cascade because of Battlemage, it also boosts Frozen Legion damage after using Glacial Cascade and Frozen Legion (FL is a spell as well). Why non-Crit despite being Inquisitor?
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Marohi Erqi has -500 accuracy on it, a lot of investment into accuracy will be needed to go crit. Since accuracy does not benefit Glacial Cascade, I think it is not worth it to invest into accuracy, and decided to use "Resolute Technique" keystone to solve accuracy problem instead. https://www.poewiki.net/wiki/Resolute_Technique How to scale damage for both attack and spell? How to scale damage further without crit?
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I try to avoid scaling damage with stat that only affect eithe rattack or spell like i) attack speed ii) attack damage iii) damage with mace iv) accuracy v) cast speed vi) spell damage There are many other common stat that will affect both FL and GC, because of how similar they are. I focus on the stat below to scale both FL and GC damage. i) elemental damage ii) cold damage iii) physical as extra damage iv) AOE damage v) aura effect (Hatred + Herald of Purity) vi) cold penetration Because I am doing non-crit, I need other "more" damage multiplier that can affect both FL and GC to scale the damage further These are what I used: i) chance to deal triple damage (Brutal charge from Arn's Anguish) ii) triple curse (Elemental Weakness + Frostbite + Punishment) iii) 15% culling strike (from The Eternal Struggle amulet) iv) frenzy charge Videos
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The Forbidden Sanctum League T15 Atoll + Veritania https://youtu.be/dY9fIArnVkw T16 Hydra https://youtu.be/-PXsEuCF0OM The Formed https://youtu.be/DoquAY-hq10 Sanctum Final Floor - Lycia https://youtu.be/rDzAm2libr8 Uber Shaper https://youtu.be/5YDOSmDcTvg Uber Maven https://youtu.be/h-MMtE70cNc Skill Tree (POB)
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Kill all bandits. (Note : There are two version of skill tree in the POB : Higher/Lower budget) (Lower budget version does not use Unnatural Instinct and Frenzy Charge Grand Spectrum) 4 Apr 2023 - [POE 3.21] 96 lvl skill tree (Latest) https://pastebin.com/tvxZjk7s 19 Dec 2022 - [POE 3.20] 96 lvl skill tree https://pastebin.com/n7rpMLtw Leveling
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Level with any cold spell during act 1-2. You can swap into Glacial Cascade in act 3. Frozen Legion gem will be available in act 4 (level 34). Only start using Frozen Legion if you have the following i) high physical damage two hand weapon ii) Inquisitor's Ascendancy Node "Instrument of Virtue" Otherwise, you can choose to level as a cold spell caster (with caster weapon) to level 57 (level requirement of Marohi Erqi) or level 64 (level requirement of Uul-Netol Embrace) if you cant afford Marohi Erqi yet. Ascendancy
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 If level with Frozen Legion Instrument of Virtue -> Sanctuary -> Pious Path -> Augury of Penitence If level as spell caster (with caster weapon) Sanctuary -> Pious Path -> Instrument of Virtue -> Augury of Penitence Gears
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Weapon
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Early Game If level with Frozen Legion High physical damage two hand weapon If level as spell caster (with caster weapon) Elemental damage/Spell Damage/Cast Speed Rare Weapon Mid Game End Game Body Armour
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Early Game Life/Resis Rare Body Armour Mid Game Carcass Jack End Game Carcass Jack with "increase damage" corrupted implicit How to get 6L Carcass Jack with corrupted implict
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1. Buy a corrupted Carcass Jack with "increase damage" corrupted implict 2. Use tainted armour scrap until 25%+ quality 3. Bench craft 5 socket (Cost 70 Jew + 70 Vaal) 4. Use tainted jeweller orb Repeat 3-4 until you get 6 sockets 5. Bench craft 5 link (Cost 150 Fus + 150 Vaal) 6. Use tainted fusing Repeat 5-6 until you get 6 links 7. Bench craft at least 1 blue until you get 4b2g Helmet
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Early/Mid Game Life/Resis Rare Helmet End Game Life/Resis/Life Regen Rare Helmet Enchantment : Frozen Legion has 30% increased cooldown recovery rate OR Frozen Legion has +2 Cooldown Uses Eldritch Implicit : Damage penetrate cold resistance/increase are of effect Alternative
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Gloves
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Early Game Life/Resis Rare Gloves Mid/End Game Corrupted Implicit : Increased Cast Speed Boots
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Early Game Movement Speed/Resis Rare Boots Mid/End Game Movement Speed/Resis/Life Rare Boots Enchantment : Penetrate elemental resistance while haven't kill recently or Life Regen while hit recently Eldritch Implicit : Extra physical as cold damage/Drop Scorch Ground while moving Belt
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Early Game Life/Resis Mid Game End Game (after acquire Endurance Charge Grand Spectrum) Enchantment : Increased Area of Effect while you have Arcane Surge Corrupted Implicit : Hatred Aura Effect Amulet
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Early Game Life/Resis Rare Amulet Mid Game (Anointment : Winter Spirit) End Game (Anointment : Whisper of Doom) (Dex roll is important on the amulet because this build is lacking dex) Eldritch Implicit : Cold penetration/Cold damage (Note : Need to make sure Searing Exarch is dominant on The Eternal Struggle amulet) Rings
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Early Game Life/Resis Rare Rings Mid Game Life/Mana/Resis Rare Rings End Game Life/Mana/Dex/Resis/+1 Minimum Endurance Rare Rings Jewels
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Cluster Jewels Grand Spectrums
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Early/Mid Game End Game (Lower Budget Version) End Game (Higher Budget Version) Other Unique Jewel (Doryani Variant, Slot in specific jewel socket, refer to POB) Look for the following mods i) Life/Life Regen ii) Physical Damage/Chance to deal Double Damage iii) Cold Damage/Cold Pen (Please note that different seed number is used in POB) (Slot in specific jewel socket, refer to POB) (Lower Budget Version does not use Unnatural Instinct) (Look for Damage Penetrate Cold Resistance while affected by Hatred) Gem Link
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6L Frozen Legion (Weapon)
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6L Glacial Cascade (Body Armour)
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4L Trigger Curse Setup (Gloves)
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(Enhance and Increase AOE is not necessary, feel free to swap out for other gems you like) (Curses in the gloves cannot be used directly, they will be triggered when you cast Elemental Weakness) 2L Frostblink
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1L Gems and Auras
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1L Gems Auras My other build guide
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Last edited by cheapbunny on Oct 1, 2023, 4:34:57 AM Last bumped on Sep 18, 2023, 2:36:14 PM
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4 Apr 2023
- Updated passive tree 3.21 - Remove "Balance of Terror" from the build as it is not available in 3.21
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(Look for Gain Physical Damage as Random Element if you've cast Elemental Weakness in the past 10 seconds) - Added "Frozen Legion has +2 Cooldown Uses" as alternative helmet enchant Last edited by cheapbunny on Apr 3, 2023, 2:51:35 PM
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I cant wait to release this guide :)
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I've been playing something similar, but with Wave of Conviction instead of GC, and crits instead of Resolute Technique.
I play slow and only expect to hit yellow maps today, so I still have "bargain basement"/pre-endgame gear. Not sure how far I'll get, as I typically hit a wall somewhere in red maps, but so far so good. I'm looking forward to the analysis for this build and seeing what I can steal for mine :D |
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Thank you for this great build! I can't wait to leveling again as an old man with no pant!
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I will try to get the build guide out by this week. My leave is over and I need to go back to work :(
Last edited by cheapbunny on Dec 21, 2022, 8:12:15 AM
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Really love this build so far. Haven't played in a couple years so I've been pretty much relearning the game. Started with EK ignite which was great, and now I switched to this. Just hit 90, but I'm having trouble surviving. I don't know if it's something I'm doing wrong or if they made the game just that much more crazy. Either way looking forward to the finished guide!
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Can I use a staff with this and go crit? Was thinking of just slapping on some rare gear and go crit. You mentioned you use brutal charges because your non-crit so you need that "more" multiplier. But if I just slap on some rare gear and a staff and go crit do you think it'd be viable enough?
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" I think it could work, but it would be a very different build. Power charge stacking seems the way to go with it, you might want to consider using the new staff "The Winds of Fate" as well. |
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Here are your gems from PoB if you feel like sprucing up your post :)
Slot: Boots Elemental Weakness 20/20 Slot: Boots Clarity 20/0 Slot: Boots Herald of Purity 21/0 Vaal Molten Shell 20/0 Slot: Body Armour Glacial Cascade 21/20 Awakened Controlled Destruction 5/20 Awakened Cold Penetration 4/20 Faster Casting 20/20 Hypothermia 20/20 Bonechill 20/20 Slot: Gloves Punishment 20/20 Enhance 3/0 Increased Area of Effect 20/20 Frostbite 20/20 Slot: Helmet Frostblink 20/20 Arcane Surge 6/0 Slot: Helmet Hatred 20/0 Slot: Helmet Determination 21/0 Slot: Weapon 1 Anomalous Frozen Legion 20/20 Hypothermia 20/20 Divergent Pulverise 20/20 Awakened Cold Penetration 5/20 Elemental Damage with Attacks 20/20 Melee Physical Damage 20/20 Last edited by Nightyb on Dec 26, 2022, 2:36:24 AM
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