Hailstorm Rounds + Glacial Bolt Pathfinder [WIP]

last update [2024/12/16]

Build Basics

- Firing a Glacial Bolt at a large mob or boss will cause the wall to explode instantly. This, along with Scattershot, makes Glacial Bolt a powerful source of damage (Main Damage + (Wall Explosion) * 6).
- Any Ascendancy is fine, no need to choose Pathfinder... :D


Pros and Cons

- It has good DPS and annihilation ability... in narrow passages or against stationary enemies
- It is difficult to fight against enemies that move around quickly and bypass walls made by Glacial Bolt or enemies that are scattered in a wide area
- Also, switching ammo is often tiring

Gems and Setup

- Hailstorm Rounds: Primal Armament + Concentrated Effect + Nimble Reload

This is your main damage source.
Concentrated Effect is important. The default range is too wide to hit the enemy. This support gem, BiS, limits the range and greatly increases damage.

- Glacial Bolt: Ice Bite + Scattershot + Icicle

Its main role is to create a situation where enemies who are easy to hit with Hailstorm Rounds stay in a dense group, and to blow up walls with Hailstorm Rounds.
Also, due to the above specifications, it is a reliable damage resource against enemies that instantly destroy walls.

- Emergency Reload: Ingenuity + Murderous Intent + Premeditation

Reload Hailstorm Rounds on attack chance.

- Herald of Ice: Cold Infusion + Magnified Effect + Cold Mastery

It provides a powerful AoE for mobs. It is not useful for boss battles, so change it to the following:

- Cast on Freeze: Hypothermia + Inspiration

Without Inspiration, the mana consumption is too high.

This is the core of the build. Here is my setup:

- Wind Dancer: Blind + Maim
- Ghost Dance
- Shattering Concoction: Strip Away + Martial Tempo + Glaciation + Culling Strike
- Combat Frenzy: Multiple Charge (+ Precision)

Playstyle and How To Play

- Mob

If the mob group contains one that instantly blows up a Glacial Bolt, shoot it and you're done.

If not, create a wall with Glacial Bolts and when you have enough of them on the wall, fire off Hailstorm Rounds.

- Boss

First, shoot Glacial Bolt and Hailstorm Rounds. If the enemy freezes, use emergency reload to shoot Hailstorm Rounds again. If the enemy explodes Glacial Bolt, use it, otherwise use normal attack.

Passive Skill Tree


- Increase Reload Crossbow is important.

Ascendancy

I chose Pathfinder and Shattering Concoction's Exposure is not bad, but I think the following is better.
- Deadeye: Tailwind or Point Blank + Endless Munitions
- Invoker: Unbound Avatar


English is not my native language; please excuse typing errors.

Hello, i searched on google and youtube but didn't find the answer. How do you put ingenuity on emergency reload? I have 67 dex but i can't put it

Edit: I did a wrong translation and my skill is shard scavenger, sorry for the inconvenience

I ended up respec'ing to Explosive Shot.

Hailstorm Rounds took a while to recharge & take a while to fire off all the rounds, so it was hard for me in the endgame, and I felt like I needed a buff.

EV + ES with Pathfinder (Connected Chemistry) and Eternal Youth wasn't bad.

I find out that projectile speed significantly increases the firing rate of bolts of Hailstorm rounds. With 15% increased projectile speed from the passive tree, the skill fires 21 bolts in 6.50 seconds. Adding the Acceleration Support gem, which provides 40% more projectile speed, reduces this time from 6.50 to 4.50 seconds. So, investing in projectile speed through the passive tree and jewels can make a big difference. From what I've noticed skill speed or attack speed doesn't increase or decrease this time.

However, the main issue is reload speed, which limits maximizing damage uptime.

I'm currently experimenting with the skill, trying to play it as a Chronomancer by using Hailstorm rounds in combination with Emergency Reload. My idea is to use cooldown resets on Emergency Reload instead of reload speed and fire a lot of Hailstorm rounds within a short time frame. This way I can also benefit from Fresh Clip support, which grants 1% more damage for each bolt reloaded on the active skill in the last 6 seconds.

Initially, I thought I could use Second Wind Support to double the number of Emergency Reload uses, reaching 6 uses by using the unique helmet that let you use two of the same supports on different skills. Unfortunately, Second Wind Support cannot be used with Emergency Reload.

Even without this, with Chronomancer's Time Snap + Second Wind, it’s still possible to effectively use Emergency Reload at least three times (or more if the cooldown resets). This way, the final Hailstorm Burst can still receive a significant 75% more damage buff from Fresh Clip alone.

I'm currently leveling this so we will see.