How to get my sorceres through the campaign (new player, blind playthrough)

Hey,

I am running a Frostmage, playing blind, trying to figure things out as I go. I have almost no previous POE experience, and now I am hitting a Frostwall.

I needed help killing boss Act 1. Act II and the boss were still going okay, until maybe 40% of Act III. After that I have been struggling. When I got to the Act 3 boss, there was no chance I could kill it by myself. I could kite for hours but was doing so little damage. Got some help from a friend to beat the boss and started on Cruel.

Now I am on the point I really need some help, and try to understand this game better. I really don't want to give up my character, or copy a build.

There is so many mechanics and things going on, it is easy to get lost. There are 4 main categories. I would love to get input on whatever part of the build, to try and understand the different parts of my character, and thus the game. Which glaring problems do I have? Which part of the gear is completely wrong? Am is totally missing the wrong nodes in the passive tree?

I have provided screenshots of:

my character

my gear

the passive skills

support gem setup

Maybe this is too much info, and too but I'll give it a shot. Let me know if there is stuff I should add.

I am really loving the game and the direction it took, and I want to learn to understand how this game is played :)

Link to screen shots:

[https://imgur.com/a/screenshots-frost-mage-setup-G7VqHxd]

Hey there,

havent played a cold caster yet but I´ve been playing poe1 for a decade, so Id like to think I know a thing or two.


1. Your rings are godawful.
Replace them at once. The extra dmg for attacks does NOT affect spells whatsover. Try to get as elemental res as you can

2. Fix our fire res.
I know its tough but it has to be done. Not sure if you are using Runes or not.
If you dont, craft sockets on your gear wherever you can and use those to fix your res best you can.

3. Your weapon isnt up to snuff.
Spells need bonus lvl to function properly. After that its either spell dmg or cast speed, latter one only if you can sustain the mana costs.
At this stage you want a +2 cold spells staff/wand plus whatever else you can get. Try to buy a good weapon from vendors if you can. Anything with bonus lvl and switch elements if you have to for the time being.
You can always switch back later and having to switch is better than having to suffer.

4. Drop Arctic Armour and replace that one with Gream Feast.
This will a cause enemies to drop "Engergy Shield" on kill, not only helping to sustain ES in combat but it can also overflow up to 2x your baseline ES. So if you had 1000 Energy Shield, Grim Feast can buff that up to 2000 ES and you will feel more tanky.

This doesnt work for bosses tho, unless they are kind enough to spawn ads for you to kill. Personally I removed all ES recharge nodes on my tree once I get Grim Feast and simply scale %increased ES instead so Grim Feast can overflow even harder and then I have to gitgud for bosses ^^
But at least killing trashmobs feels much much better and thats what you are doing 99% of the time anyways. Might not be for you tho but give it a shot if you like the idea.


Good luck and stay sane, exile ;)

Aside from what the person above me said... Try running with Frost Bomb and Frost Wall. Cast frost wall to keep mobs off you and use Frost Bomb to kill them. Frost wall will do a ton of damage to bosses as they shatter the walls instantly. I have been struggling to find a spell that does damage as well, and Frost Bomb/Wall is the best I have found until I can get Archmage and swap to soething more spamable. Good luck!