[2.1] Bitterdream Freezing Pulse ("Bitterpulse") - Now with Video Guide!
Bitterpulse: A Build Guide
Overview
The Concept
Spoiler
This build was created with one goal in mind: Take the Bitterdream unique and push it through to end game. Why Bitterdream? Personally, I find it to be one of the most interesting and flavourful uniques created in a very, very long time. The idea of a weapon with zero stats and just a bunch of supported gems. The idea of a nine or even ten link in a 3L one handed weapon. The ice gem synergies with built-in frenzy charge generation. The reduced mana/mana leech synergy. The fact you can level with it and get the feeling of your end-game set-up so early on. Plus, the flavour text is just awesome. "Fight not the cold. Forsake hope. Be still." It's...chilling. (Heh?) So what do you do with it? With the support gems in the item, it seemed fairly obvious to be used with a cold spell. I decided against Arctic Breath (not a fan of how it currently functions), Ice Spear (didn't seem good unless I went crit), Glacial Cascade (is not pure cold damage) and Cold Snap (too much investment to get working). That meant it was between Freezing Pulse and Ice Nova. I've chosen Freezing Pulse because I love how it plays & controls. Ice Nova would be just as strong a choice and would only require different colors on your Bitterdream and the picking up of AoE clusters. With the spell chosen, it was all up to what I saw as the strengths of Bitterdream and how to abuse them to push the build past simply "fast leveling". The strengths, in my eyes, are... 1) Opening up a 2nd 6L without needing a 2Her. 2) The built-in mana leech and frenzy charges. 3) The strong % chance to freeze. With that in mind, I decided to go for a non-crit, MoM/AA character. This would take advantage of the mana leeching and freeze chance and help make up for the lack of shield defense. As for the second 6L option, I opted for a Vaal Ice Nova set-up. As Freezing Pulse lacks strong 360 degree coverage, this would give me an insane boost to clear speed with it's lower soul cost (48 in Merciless) and screen-clearing capabilities. The ability to fully link it makes it an absolute powerhouse. So how do you push it even further? To give the build that last bit of "oomph" - and to give it a little more fun unique interaction - I'm using another pair of uniques. Asenath's Gentle Touch corrupted with Elemental Weakness gives you the ability to apply two curses with every single attak or spell you use. Temporal Chains gives a massive boost to freeze duration that's super helpful for non-crit freezers and Elemental Weakness is a massive damage boost. Doedre's Damning corrupted with Damage Taken Gained as Mana gets you to that two curse cap needed for the gloves and pairs nicely with Mana Leech to keep your Mind over Matter defense rolling. So essentially, this turns my Bitterdream into a whopping 13 link, as follows:
… And that's the basics of the build! :) Passive Tree
Spoiler
109 Point Tree: https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwAACGe31vKXkzrbWZtdvSctqKiaGDwYVrGQvoB7w_nogwmCx0GHKPq3PriTiFr-ChzcXsDyRdi96-6PGjrhNZKa4IUypwimV_6PRZ2drtrd2CRN41NSGmzlizbFhW026eQi-dsfAtWBJKrVpn7HBAcyNCTYFm_tPOvkg9uVBONqmjtfKlXGr5vhc4KbOlgQWO0gogDsOKyYLJy2hvAfBLOFexEPlnTAZmZUOw1MLZRv7-tE-xdUcg87458BjjxZ83GFiihWSho4VylkCZ6hkFVG1yKBJy8wlzmKsUI= Some things of note: * 143% life * 100% mana / 160% mana regen * Mind over Matter * Six Jewel Sockets
Leveling
I did not keep track of how I spent points while leveling, but I have a rough guideline for how I went about it:
Gearing
Spoiler
(If you want to skip explanations and just see the gear I'm using currently, check the "My Gear" section at the bottom of the post - it's not in here) Uniques Bitterdream The reason for the season. And the build. It's quite important to get it corrupted with Faster Casting if at all possible. Asenath's Gentle Touch A wonderful glove when corrupted with Elemental Weakness. The gloves themselves only have some "meh" int, life and mana (though these are all good stats for the build) but auto-applying two curses without needing to link Curse on Hit is worth it. The corruption can roll from level 10-12 Elemental Weakness, but these can be rare & expensive, so don't be too picky when buying. Doedre's Daming My item of choice for adding a second curse. Again, a tiny bit of int, all resistances and mana on kill is not super amazing (but still useful). The extra curse is worth about 7 points saved on the skill tree for me, however, and the corruption is amazing with Mind over Matter. A good +1 curse amulet is another option - especially a well-rolled rare amulet. Rares Weapon
Body
Helmet
Boots
Belt
Ring
Amulet
Jewels These are some of various stats I look out for on my jewels:
Skills
Spoiler
(Gems marked with an * indicate a gem that I suggest getting quality on) 3L (Bitterdream): Freezing Pulse* > LMP* > Spell Echo
4/5/6L: Vaal Ice Nova* > Increased AoE > Controlled Destruction > Ice Pen > Hypothermia > Added Cold Damage
4L: Arctic Armour > Herald of Ice > Clarity > Enlighten
4L: Rallying Cry* > Increased Duration* > Chaos Golem* > Minion Life*
4L: Cast When Stunned > Ice Nova* > Glacial Cascade > Mana Leech
3L: Leap Slam > Faster Attacks* > Fortify
Bandit Choices
Spoiler
I would not take a point on any of the bandits, as each of them gives something important for the build. Extras
Notes on Ice Nova varient
This build would function very similar as an Ice Nova build. It also would have the benifit of greatly improving Vaal Ice Nova, since you would have so much more AoE. Basically, all you would need to change is...
And that's it! You're now Bitternova. Congrats.
Notes on leveling
I chose to level with a Night's Hold (as shown in LiftingNerd's video here) until I hit 32 and was able to use Bitterdream. At this point, you are pretty much good to go. Socket in Freezing Pulse +LMP then Echo at 38, blast through all the things, and win.
My Stats
Current level: 87 *** These numbers are with Frenzy charges up, but does not include Rallying Cry or hidden values like Hypothermia or penetrations *** Offense
Defense
My Gear
My Videos
Editado por útlima vez por Yordle en 11 ene. 2016 21:43:54 Reflotado por última vez en 13 feb. 2017 3:08:14
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Very cool to see somebody making the best of that item!
(I still hate it because you can't even really vendor it...) Editado por útlima vez por MauranKilom en 9 ene. 2016 19:21:08
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very nice, trying it out now :D
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Awesome build! I think that a Chill of Corruption jewel would suit you well tho.
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What links should we run if we can't get te Ele Weakness Asenaths?
It's pretty improbably to find a pair of these for below like, 5 ex. |
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it's viable whitout corrupted faster casting mod?
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" I'm not sure what I would run to curse things if I didn't have the gloves. Perhaps I would drop both the gloves and the ring and just use Frostbite in some kind of 4L set-up replacing the Cast When Stunned 4L. You could also drop Vaal Ice Nova and run a Curse on Hit set-up in your chest with something like Ice Nova or a second Freezing Pulse + GMP. You could keep the ring and just drop the glove in this case, and still get two curses off that way. The gloves are a fairly important part of my set-up, though, as they don't require any gem sockets anywhere and applies my curses when I leap slam, freezing pulse or vaal ice nova. " Yes, it is. You would want to find a corrupted one if you are serious about the build, but it will still give you the damage to clear early maps (and while leveling, of course). |
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I watched your video, looks really nice! But i'm confused how u apply those curses? It looks like you just apply them from the initial first freeze pulse you cast?
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" Thanks! :) My gloves have both "Curses enemies with Elemental Weakness on hit" and "Curses enemies with Temporal Chains on hit". So any attack OR spell I do (globally across my entire character) automatically applies both curses to all targets they land on. It's quite nice with Spell Echo, since the first hit curses them to take more damage and have a longer freeze duration and then the second hit gets those benefits. |
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Nice, I had the project to try this mace. I think it's really hard to obtain the corrupted mod, Ill try anyway.
Did you think that the build is doable in a more HC tanky version, I was thinking at something like repentance to get iron will in order to compensate for a lot less spells/frost damage that can't obviously be taken on the tree ? ... nothing
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