Will 3.22 Be Path Of Exile’s Last Major Atlas Update Before Path Of Exile 2? - The Overwhelming Possibilities Of POE 3.22
It is confirmed Path of Exile 3.22 is not the surprise life beta of Path of Exile 2. It could be the release, though, right? No. They want time to market. They want time to sell supporter packs for Path of Exile 2. It’s not coming with POE 3.22. Definitely not.
What Is POE 3.22?
With that out of the way, I’m confident in what Path of Exile’s 22nd version is going to be the final Atlas update before Path of Exile 2’s huge launch within the next year.
Here’s my take on what’s coming with POE 3.22 and the ultimate upgrade to our beloved Atlas before POE changes forever.
The cycle was broken with POE 3.21 Crucible League when there wasn’t a substantial Atlas update. Since Conquerors of the Atlas in 3.9, every four expansions, there has been an enormous shift to the Atlas. 3.9 throughout the old Elder Shaper chase in the Atlas and introduce Sirus, the Conquerors and Watchstones. 3.13 brought in the Maven, multi-boss gauntlets in The Maven’s Crucible, and region-specific Atlas Passive Skill Trees. 3.17 gave us four new Pinnacle Bosses, Eldritch Currency, crafting and influence, and a united Atlas Passive Skill Tree Finally, 3.21 gave us nothing, nothing really big for the atlas just Atlas Gateways.
So, 3.22, the patch that will be hyped up at ExileCon and has already been juiced up a bit by GGG themselves, is going to bring us our last big POE 1 expansion to endgame.
Atlas Jewels
When the Atlas was introduced all the way back in 2.4 Atlas of Worlds, no one predicted it would eventually have its own massive passive skill tree. But now, it does.
The all-in-one version of the tree condensed down from one for each prior Atlas region was introduced all the way back in POE 3.17 Siege of the Atlas, the last major Atlas expansion. That patch also introduced keystones to the Atlas’s version of the passive skill tree.
Now, in POE 3.22, what could they add next? With the original POE passive skill tree, the next notable feature added to the tree after keystones or jewels, I posit that’s the big ticket Atlas customization feature that will hit with 3.22. This means you need to prepare a lot of POE Currency.
We’ve already had a pseudo jewel system for the Atlas in the past in the form of rollable Watchstones. That’s an era I definitely don’t want to return to, though some people might look back on it fondly.
Essentially, we used to have 32 Watchstones we could sock it into our Atlas and they could either be magic or unique. The mod pool was massive, and it was hard to find the best set of mods for your Atlas. With the vastly improved all-in-one Atlas Passive Skill Tree, I could see watchstone adjacent jewels, making an appearance as an optional dynamic mechanic to enhance your Atlas fervor.
However, I don’t think the mod pool needs to be that different compared to the former pool of Watchstone modifiers in the case of unique Atlas jewels, though. I think GGG has an opportunity to help enhance bossing in Path of Exile and create a new class of chase items.
But what if a few of these Atlas jewels almost guaranteed certain drops from Atlas Pinnacle Bosses with a huge hindrance? For example, what if you could guarantee the Eater of Worlds to have a 25% chance to drop Ashes of the Stars but in turn you could not get hit and had to kill it in under 45 seconds? What if you could force the Searing Exarch to drop a Forbidden Flame at a 50% chance but you needed to complete every meteor phase without getting hit or leaving the area?
These achievements, like special case flights, were hinted at heavily with the Forbidden Sanctum and the no-hit challenge with Lycia. Those who could go through the entire Sanctum without being hit and kill Lycia were guaranteed one of the rarest and respectable POE Items in the game, the Original Sin.
GGG was obviously experimenting here. But I think it would be a compelling addition to the endgame of POE, helping incentivize bossing and specific methods to overcome endgame bosses, especially in Solo Self-Found. Of course, some builds will be able to cheese this. But I think it’s a risk GGG is willing to take.
After adding jewels, a gamble GGG will add Cluster Jewels and Masteries in a future update perhaps with the first Atlas expansion during the 4.0 or Path of Exile to era.
New Atlas Memories
In addition to jewels on the passive skill tree, we’re likely to receive a few more Atlas Memories. Right now, we have them for Alva, Einhar, Kirac, and Niko.
At the very least, I expect we’ll get a set of memories for Jun, the only other official faster we currently work with. You could have an absolutely wild set. Imagine a memory of Fallen Masters wherein the map’s mobs are replaced with members of the Immortal Syndicate or a mod-like area contains 10 Syndicate strongholds. Bailed items would rain from the sky.
Alongside her, I’d love for a new type of memory to arrive with what I think will be the focus of the final endgame expansion, Zana memories. Each could deal with a specific endgame boss on a map related to Zana: the Elder, the Shaper and each of the Conquerors.
The mods could be something like this area contains the Shaper, or this area is conquered by Sirus. Each could be slightly reimagined boss fights on various maps on the Atlas. Instead of speaking with Zana to enter these memories, they’d be usable maps that drop fragments leading to an ultimate pinnacle encounter.
New POE Pinnacle Bosses
There’s a good chance we’ll get at least one new Pinnacle Boss in this expansion, whether it’s an Atlas update or not.
If it’s an Atlas update, a bittersweet final Path of Exile 1 boss would be the now jaded person who started this entire endgame mapping journey with us back in Forsaken Masters, Zana, Master Cartographer.
After the canon death of Sirus, Awakener of Worlds, Zana abandoned the cast in 3.17 Siege of the Atlas. She was replaced by Kirac. But where did she go? All we know is she chose Exile, and she always questioned our sanity.
Remember, she is the one who had the power to trap the uber-powerful Conquerors of the Atlas inside the Atlas. What if she tries to do the same to us? I would love if a dark Khazana returns to try and stop us from grinding the Atlas. He would be yet another lair added to the endgame.
After we’ve killed the Searing Exarch and Eater of Worlds, we’re still trying to gain power and set on the fact that we could turn into another Sirus or Veritania.
Combined with her boss fight could be a new type of endgame content similar to the maven’s Gauntlet, this time though it could be a wave type coliseum of maps and map monsters. Waves and waves of Atlas-based creatures turned against us by Zana as we try to escape the Atlas, and Zana tries to trap us within the Atlas.
I think that would be absolutely rad. It would be a ton of work, especially with Zana’s Memories. But it would be awesome. If we don’t get Zana, there are two other feasible options: yet another Eldritch being or a villain to help usher in Path of Exile 2’s own story.
Group 1 follows the present storyline that adds to the pool of other worldly entities we already know quite well: the Elder, the Maven, the Infinite Hunger, the Black Star, the Eater of Worlds, and the Searing Exarch.
There are a couple of new boss fights they could add. Number one, the Tangle, or another one of its champions. Number two, the Cleansing Fire, or yet another servant of it. Number three, the Maven progenitor who we’ve been warned about by another boss fight competitor. Number four, the Envoy. He’s powerful enough to subdue the Maven and stop us from harming her. How tough would he be in an actual battle.
Finally, it might be something entirely different, a thing we haven’t been warned about explicitly.
If GGG is looking to further tie into Path of Exile 2’s story, perhaps it could be another Scourge lord breaking into the Atlas itself or a part of reyklast, setting up the whole seed of corruption arc of POE 2 or it could be Shaper 2.0.
Another Atlas researcher turned Madman, who is totally showcased front and center on the ExileCon 2023 website.
GGG’s Goal With The Endgame
Regardless of what this Atlas expansion adds, we know the developer’s goal is to craft a shared endgame between campaign 1 and campaign 2 of Path of Exile.
Even though the narrative matters very little to a substantial swath of the Path of Exile player base, the developers will probably try to make it tie together as seamlessly as possible. This could be accomplished through customized dialogue for the epilogue quest NPCs based on the campaign your character arrives from.
There’s also a slim chance they’ll just hand wave the combined POE 1 and POE 2 campaign player base. But I’m not a fan of that. There’s also another chance that this isn’t what they’re trying to do anymore. And they’ll let us know very soon at ExileCon 2023.
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Sometimes, games are more than just entertainment, especially large games with complex mechanics. It's the examination of player skill and the impact on life that gives rise to the concept of the meta-game.
More simply, the meta-game refers to using patterns and strategies not explicitly stated in the game, but summarized by the player community, to take proactive actions and improve the gaming experience.
While not all gaming communities agree on this, the meta-game is quite important for Path of Exile 2 players, as the game has a relatively high barrier to entry, and it's difficult to play without understanding this extra information.
This article will analyze the current state of the meta-game in terms of classes and Ascendancies based on the newly released PoE 2 Patch 0.4.0, and predict the future development of PoE 2.
Why Should You Understand Meta-Game Changes?
You might think you just want to relax and play the game, so why bother with such in-depth meta-game information? But in fact, if you intend to look up information such as class or build recommendations, you're already involved in the meta-game.
Of course, you can still play the game without understanding this information, but you'll miss out on a lot of hidden information, potentially leading you down the wrong path or causing you to miss out on exciting details.
Patch 0.4.0 Meta-Game Overview
For PoE 2, the meta-game encompasses a wide range of content, such as endgame resets, currently dominant classes in the league, and new available builds, all of which can be considered part of the meta-game.
Originally, Patch 0.4.0 planned to rework the endgame to upgrade the gaming experience. Although this didn't ultimately happen, it brought about significant balance adjustments in other areas, most notably with the addition of the new Druid class.
With the addition of Druid, the power and intelligence areas of the passive skill tree were completely revamped, and nerfs and buffs were implemented based on build balance considerations, ultimately significantly impacting the entire PoE 2 meta-game.
Changes In Dominant Classes And Ascendancies
Since the release of Patch 0.2.0, Path of Exile 2 updates have been relatively stable. Based on this, both 0.2.0 and 0.3.0 had a dominant Ascendancy class that completely defined the meta-game.
In Patch 0.2.0, this Ascendancy belonged to the newly introduced base class, Huntress, specifically Amazon. Statistics show that a week after the release of Dawn of the Hunt, this class had an astonishing 48% usage rate.
While this extreme imbalance in 0.2.0 might have been due to the novelty factor, in Patch 0.3.0, the most used Ascendancy class, Deadeye, was not a newly added class.
Based on this, we can see that, at least before Patch 0.4.0, Path of Exile 2's balance was far from ideal, and any class dominating was far from accidental. Their excessive power ultimately led to a lack of challenge and innovation in endgame content.
0.4.0 Brings Revolutionary Changes
However, after the release of The Last of Druids, the usage rates of various Ascendancy classes became more balanced, and the class that gained the most advantage was not the newly added Druid, but Pathfinder.
At least currently, Pathfinder's usage rate is approximately 18%, a significant improvement compared to previous patches, but not so exaggerated as to completely dominate.
This is mainly due to the developers considering balance issues and reworking the class in many aspects, such as adding multiple Ascendancy passive skill options and other improvements to damage and defensive capabilities.
However, it's important to remember that regardless of your current class, don't overlook the importance of gear and its affixes. If you find your current affixes not good enough, now is the best time to buy PoE 2 currency at POECurrency to re-roll them!
From December 23rd to 31st, use code XMAS to enjoy a 10% discount at POECurrency! Don't miss this opportunity!
How Is Druid Ascendancies Performing?
Druid's two Ascendancies, Shaman and Oracle, currently have usage rates of approximately 17% and 14% respectively. Overall, they are not far behind the top-ranked Pathfinder, creating a relatively stable balance and leaving enough room for other Ascendancies to develop.
More importantly, as a new class introduced in Patch 0.2.0, the two Ascendancy classes of Huntress had extremely unbalanced usage rates, differing by more than 40%. Druid has perfectly avoided this "curse."
What If There Were No Druid?
Although the balance of Ascendancy class usage rates improved significantly in The Last of Druids, without Shaman and Oracle, would the situation with Pathfinder have repeated the dominance of Deadeye in Patch 0.3.0?
To make a reliable assumption based on this, we must consider Disciple of Varashta. Ascendancy class, which wasn't included in the livestream, was only announced a few days before Patch 0.4.0 went live, yet it still achieved a 4% usage rate.
Furthermore, while the once dominant Deadeye class saw a significant drop in usage after adjustments and nerfs, this is actually a sign of improved balance.
Therefore, it's expected that by the later stages of 0.4.0, Path of Exile 2's meta-game performance in terms of class balance should be even better.
Other Adjustments
In addition to class adjustments, Patch 0.4.0 also optimized the game's skill balance, and the unique item buff mechanics performed better than in previous leagues.
Predictions For Patch 0.5.0
Based on the game's regular update cycle, Patch 0.5.0 should be released around April 2026. It's unlikely that this patch will add new classes, so the adjustments to the meta-game will probably focus on the endgame.
After initially addressing class balance issues, 0.5.0 should introduce truly challenging content through an endgame reset, avoiding the current simplistic design where having enough damage is all that's needed to instantly kill bosses.
The above is our analysis and summary of Path of Exile 2's current meta-game performance in terms of class mechanics balance. We hope this helps you gain a deeper understanding of the game!
Besides the new Druid class, Path of Exile 2 0.4.0 update also added a new ascendancy for Sorceress: Disciple of Varashta. This ascendancy quickly exploded in popularity in the early league by bypassing traditional critical strike damage bonuses and minion limitations.
Here, we'll showcase Djinn Disciple of Varashta build, which, based on the high burst damage of Djinn and flexible resource and cooldown management, has almost changed the current endgame meta.
Build Overview
The core idea of this build revolves around Navira's Fracturing and Ruzhan's Reckoning, ultimately using Cold Djinn to explode the entire screen.
Navira's Fracturing
The highlight of Navira's Fracturing is that it causes all Chilled Ground with enemies standing on it to deal high spell damage and have a strong Freeze effect.
However, to fully utilize Navira's Fracturing, we need to create a large amount of Chilled Ground. There are many different ways to do this, but we decided to primarily use a Cold-Infused playstyle with Ice Nova.
Because when it's Cold-Infused, it creates a patch of Chilled Ground. This Chilled Ground has the same radius as the explosion, meaning we can significantly expand the area of effect by continuously using Cold Djinn explosions, even covering the entire screen.
I need to remind you that Chilled Ground effect does not stack, meaning that even if you trigger many different Chilled Ground effects, it will only count as one instance of damage. So, don't continuously cast it.
Furthermore, the way Chilled Ground works is that it needs an enemy on it, so if there are no enemies on it, it won't explode. But if someone is standing on the edge of Chilled Ground, even if the effect extends beyond the screen, it will still explode. So you can use this to your advantage to maximize your attack range.
To obtain these infusion effects, you must use Frost Bomb, and increase the maximum number of uses through Overabundance. Then, use Spell Cascade in your skill links, which will create two additional bombs. Finally, using Short Fuse II, you can increase the detonation speed by 80%, making it explode almost instantly, but at the cost of reduced damage.
If you don't want to take any risks, you can also equip Harmonic Remnants II gem, which allows you to pick up remnants from 35% further away, allowing you to collect all the loot while staying away from the battlefield!
Ruzhan's Reckoning
For Ruzhan's Reckoning, it is mainly used to compensate for single-target damage, because although Navira's Fracturing deals decent damage, its cooldown is not short enough to deal sufficient single-target damage.
Casting Ruzhan's Reckoning skill also adds a large amount of fire damage, and then you gain a 100% Ignite Magnitudes bonus, which is essentially a 100% Ignite damage bonus. Since this is our single-target skill, we simply press the button, and it will jump up to attack the enemy and unleash a powerful shockwave.
Cold Djinn
Finally, Cold Djinn is crucial for Disciple of Varashta build because it perfectly complements the core mechanic of this ascendancy - summoning powerful and invincible Djinn minions.
Especially when used in conjunction with Cold Djinn, through interaction with support gems such as Frost Nexus and Encroaching Ground, and burst damage commands, it can generate powerful screen-clearing capabilities and massive damage to bosses, creating a satisfying and safe monster-clearing engine, and benefiting greatly from cooldown recovery and area of effect.
How To Crit?
In fact, we have Baryanic Leylines and all the minion critical strike bonuses on the skill tree. Don't underestimate them; the minion critical strike bonuses are quite substantial, allowing our critical strike chance to reach approximately 45%. Combined with the high base critical strike chance of Navira's Fracturing skill itself, using Malice aura will bring our critical strike chance very close to the limit.
In addition, we also use Soul Joy, which not only provides a large amount of energy shield but also provides critical strike damage multiplier for summoned creatures, giving us critical strike bonuses that are usually unavailable.
Defense
Now let's talk about defense.
First, Djinn Disciple of Varashta is a hybrid energy shield and life build. If you're willing to invest more PoE 2 currency into your character, you could eventually even transition to a chaos immunity build. However, this is just an early-game league starter character, so we've opted for a hybrid build for now.
We utilize The Fourth Teaching, which increases your energy shield recharge rate by 40%. So now we can recover nearly 2000 energy shield per second, fully recharging in just 2 seconds. This means if we get hit, we only need to move away from enemies and wait 4 seconds to almost instantly recover full health.
Additionally, we need some chaos resistance and ailment immunity. You can use Amanamu's Gaze on your helmet, which removes a damaging ailment when you use a command skill. This way, every time you use Navira's Fracturing and Ruzhan's Reckoning, you can remove harmful ailments, providing us with decent defensive capabilities.
Equipment
Finally, let's talk about some key equipment for this build.
Throughout the game, we need to prioritize increasing our life and resistances, and look for Wands, Scepters, and Staffs with high Cold Spell skill level bonuses or all spell skill level bonuses to maximize the effectiveness of Cold Djinn.
For other equipment, prioritize boots with movement speed bonuses, and try to get some cast speed bonuses on rings and amulets. Focus on increasing maximum life on your equipment, but also try to get some energy shield if possible.
The equipment we chose is as follows:
- Scepter: Cataclysm Star
- Helmet: Fate Guardian
- Focus: Dread Spell Tasalian Focus
- Rings: Soul Knuckle & Demon Hold
- Amulet: Entropy Clasp
- Armor: Vis Mortis
- Gloves: Carrion Touch
- Belt: Mind Thread
- Boots: Bramble Sole
Essentially, Djinn Disciple of Varashta is not just a powerful summoner build; it transforms Disciple of Varashta into a powerful minion-centric destroyer through high interaction and a series of carefully crafted mechanics. Djinn can create constantly spreading ground effects, triggering powerful chain reactions across the screen for efficient and safe clearing of enemies.
If a new class or skill appears in a new Path of Exile 2 patch, then builds centered around them will be popular for at least half of the league's duration. For example, the recent Druid builds with three forms have been very popular.
However, this doesn't mean that other styles or builds exclusive to older classes are not viable. On the contrary, you can delve into other updates brought by the new patch to strengthen your familiar builds from different angles.
Based on this, we will introduce the applicability of minion builds in Patch 0.4.0 and recommend two minion builds in particular.
What Are Minion Builds?
In PoE 2, minion builds are a type of build based on spirit resources, allowing you to summon different types of minions to assist in combat depending on your class and skills.
Spirit resources can be obtained from specific bosses in Acts 1 and 3, up to a maximum of 100 points. Additionally, scepters, amulets, and chest armor can provide extra spirit resources.
It's important to note that summoned creatures do not inherit your character's general damage; instead, you need to stack "+ Level of Minion Skills" or other affixes that specifically mention summoned creatures or allies on your available gear to make them effective.
Before Patch 0.4.0, popular minion builds in PoE 2 included Witch Army Infernalist, Lich Arsonist Detonators, and more. Now, Minion Druid Shaman has become a new favorite. However, compared to other Druid builds, it's not yet very popular.
Kripp's Infernal Titan Build
As the first minion build we'll introduce, Kripp's Infernal Titan is a durable armor-stacking build that utilizes Infernal Legion support gem, allowing summoned creatures to deal life-based burning damage in their surrounding area.
This build focuses on survival and positioning, primarily relying on the aura damage of summoned creatures for damage output. It also uses Mind Over Matter and high mana to increase its own survivability against high damage.
Originally, this build might not have stood out in Patch 0.4.0, but the game's enhancement of Xoph's Blood changed everything.
This unique Amber Amulet now reduces the fire resistance of surrounding enemies by 25%, and with perfect affixes and a life catalyst, you can increase its life value from 20% to 24%.
Based on this, Infernal Legion can consume this life value to gain a damage value, which is then amplified by various multipliers through gems, the passive skill tree, and so on.
If your amulet consistently fails to obtain the relevant affixes, or the affix improvements are not significant, you can buy PoE 2 currency to re-roll them. Different currencies have different functions, so be sure to distinguish them clearly when using them.
Titan is very suitable for this playstyle because you can unlock many small passive points that increase minion damage and minion life. Since life can be used as base damage, they actually stack multiplicatively.
For example, if you have 100% minion damage and 100% life, you can double your minions' life and double the damage dealt, resulting in four times the original damage output.
Therefore, when you can significantly increase these attributes, the overall damage output of Kripp's Infernal Titan Build will be enormous. Although the initial Titan Ascendancy passive skills are not that powerful, they truly shine in the endgame.
Minion Army Infernalist Build
As a premier Witch build in PoE 2, Minion Army Infernalist is known for its high survivability and efficient boss fight capabilities, with Infernalist's Ascendancy passive skills playing a crucial role.
In general, this build utilizes the characteristics of the support gem Muster to increase minion damage based on the duration and type of summoned minions, such as summoned skeleton warriors, brutes, or storm mages.
In Patch 0.4.0, the new highlight of this build is the adjustment to passive skills, which effectively provides an overall minion buff.
Previously, you could stack life and use the unique Intricate Crest Shield Prism Guardian to gain energy shield based on your life. However, the developers have changed this function, and you can no longer obtain shields using this method.
Fortunately, on the other hand, the new patch adds more passive skills for summoned creatures, mostly focused on Witch class. This means you can directly allocate points to the energy shield nodes, making the entire build an energy shield-based build.
Now, for this build, you only need to efficiently allocate skill points, such as energy shield minor nodes and minion damage minor nodes, to quickly improve the build's damage output and survivability.
On this basis, if you can obtain Abyss-only modifier +2 minions, you can use Focus as your weapon, but this is quite difficult, so we recommend Rattling Sceptre instead. This weapon grants you Skeletal Warrior skill, giving you more minions.
Regarding the composition of the minions, two warriors and two priests are usually a reasonable combination. If conditions permit, you might also consider bringing three priests.
Among all the minions, Frost Mage's slowing effect is wonderful, but if you want to improve the effect of the support gem Muster to allow minions to provide extra damage, it's better to directly equip Skeletal Reaver skill.
In addition, you can add Skeletal Storm Mage to apply the shock effect, or fully utilize cooldowns with Skeletal Sniper.
That's all for this guide. Whether to use these two minion builds ultimately depends on your actual needs and skill level, but they are indeed good options in Patch 0.4.0 besides Druid-centric builds.
Path of Exile 3.27 has been out for over a month, and major content updates have ceased. Most players have likely switched to PoE 2, and those still playing PoE 1 are likely casual players.
Therefore, Cold DoT Elementalist build recommended today is perfect for casual players. It requires minimal investment, involves few actions, and is incredibly versatile.
Cold DoT Elementalist Advantages And Disadvantages
Cold DoT Elementalist is a very versatile build, with no weaknesses in farming or boss battles. This build primarily relies on DoT damage, so even if the weapon's damage is low, the impact is minimal.
This build can apply slowing and other negative effects to monsters, and although its health is relatively low, you can compensate by stacking energy shields, making it actually quite tanky. Additionally, this build can generate pulses periodically, enabling automatic farming.
However, as a DoT build, DoT damage has a cap, so even if you invest heavily in PoE Currency to acquire top-tier gear, your burst damage won't surpass that of burst builds. When facing bosses, you need to cast spells to stack DoTs, and fights against bosses with high Cold resistance can be lengthy.
Core Gameplay
This build's damage doesn't come from any single skill, but rather from multiple layers of Cold Damage over Time and large-area Chill crowd control. You simply need to keep moving, and mobs will die around you.
Therefore, your damage primarily comes from these skills:
- Creeping Frost
- Vortex
- Vaal Cold Snap
Once the ice field is established, players hardly need to cast spells frequently; simply keep moving, and monsters will be slowed, frozen, and naturally fall under the CTD damage. The key to achieving this is Vaal Cold Snap, which inflicts Cold DoTs and Chills on enemies within a certain area.
Building upon this, since enemies are almost constantly chilled or severely slowed, and DoT skills can be applied from a distance, you rarely need to engage in close-range combat. This means that even if your armor and elemental resistances aren't at their maximum, you can achieve high safety through control, distance, and timing.
However, when facing elite monsters or bosses, relying solely on Vaal Cold Snap is insufficient. You need to actively apply curses like Frostbite and sequentially apply Vortex, Creeping Frost, and Cold Snap to keep the target constantly in multiple frost zones. You need to amplify existing damage over time, not change your damage output.
Cold DoT Elementalist Gear
This build is playable regardless of your currency investment, and approximately 20 POE Divine Orbs are needed to make it run smoothly.
This build doesn't rely on specific gear, so you need to understand which affixes you need. Once you understand your damage and defense sources, you can then apply affixes to your gear yourself.
Weapons
- Recommended: Tulborn (Foulborn Version with +4 Cold Spell Skills)
For weapons, focus on the affixes Cold Damage over Time Multiplier and +Cold Skill Gems. The weapon type itself is irrelevant; as long as it contains these affixes, it's usable for a long time until you find something better.
Armor
- Recommended: Daresso's Courage, Rime Gaze
You don't need to deliberately stack resistances. What you need is health or energy shields to provide stable support for sustained combat and map movement. If your support gems require you to maintain low health, then stack more energy shields.
Resistances, status ailment immunity, and movement speed take priority over armor or evasion stats. Since enemies are often in a chilled state, you rarely suffer concentrated melee attacks, so gear should prioritize increasing survivability rather than tanking enemy damage.
Jewelry
- Recommended: Ashes of the Stars, The Hungry Loop, Triumvirate Authority.
For necklaces, rings, and belts, their primary function is to supplement resistances, provide attribute requirements, and further enhance Cold DoTs. If they can further increase DoT damage or skill level, it will significantly enhance overall output, but these are not necessary conditions for building a full set.
Cold DoT Elementalist Skills
- Chest Armor: Creeping Frost, Cruelty, Hypothermia, Swift Affliction, Elemental Focus, Controlled Destruction
- Helmet: Vortex, Cruelty, Controlled Destruction, Bonechill
- Gloves: Arctic Armour, Tempest Shield, Summon Stone Golem of Hordes, Malevolence
- Boots: Summon Lightning Golem, Summon Flame Golem, Summon Stone Golem, Summon Chaos Golem
- Ring 1: Animate Guardian, Elemental Weakness
- Ring 2: Vaal Cold Snap
- Main Hand Weapon: Shield Charge, Vaal Righteous Fire, Frostbite
- Off-Hand Weapon: Vitality, Arrogance, Flesh and Stone
Your DoT output primarily consists of Creeping Frost, Cold Snap, and Vortex. Creeping Frost creates a frozen path, while Cold Snap rapidly generates a Cold DoT area around you. Vortex unleashes a burst of energy, primarily used when enemies approach.
These three skills are sufficient for clearing maps and farming bosses. Other skills are mainly for triggering passive skill buffs, further enhancing your DoT.
Skills like Golem and Animate Guardian aren't direct sources of damage; they provide damage reduction, auras, or additional debuffs, making Frost DoTs last longer and have more consistent coverage. Especially in long boss fights, the indirect benefits of this type of gear are often more significant than simply stacking damage.
Passive Skill Tree Keystones
- Pain Attunement: Increases spell damage at low life.
- Hex Master: Reduces Curses damage, but grants unlimited damage over time.
- Eternal Youth: Reduces life regeneration efficiency and leech, allowing life to regenerate like an Eternal Youth.
- Zealot's Oath: Life regeneration effect can be applied to ES.
Masteries
- Cold Mastery (2)
- Elemental Mastery (1)
- Energy Shield Mastery (1)
- Damage Over Time Mastery (1)
- Reservation Mastery (1)
- Minion Offence Mastery (1)
Cold DoT Elementalist is very easy to play and can satisfy almost all endgame content. The process of clearing out mobs is also very smooth. You can try to optimize this build yourself.
