[3.6] [ELE] THE SPHERE OF SPEARS - Winter Orb CwC Ice Spear [1H] [Uber Atziri/Uber Elder down]
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3.6 Update
3.6 Update pretty much the build is the same, the tree can be fixed with little tweaks
basic 3.6 tree
https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/3.6.0/AAAABAMAABzcRKsdFEqfFm9Z848alG_56GpDEFEkqjWSNulncS-dbAvQ9bb6jmTwH2jywGYI9PrSOuEmlVXGA-4PxGZULJww-B2-gsfyHfJFoS_v64nT1aa4kyj6plcEsw5IoqNVS13yjDZMs3yD2L2uswVCSVGJvEGWU1InLzpYj_qVLgcevorr9Rbz_gp_xmaeGFYaOIKbaHRtGRa_uMqu_zrY37CPphGWJjwRLXIPMtGQVaDmIvRwUuNquZPDCSoLBAfw1UWd2mI7fNAfg9szh1WumuBBh0VHYeL3pk3jtz686v6PghCiAOvukyc= one thing that could be interesting would be the new leech es mechanic. this makes super easy the maintaing of hybrid builds and eb mom builds. something like this could be nice
eb mom tree
https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/3.6.0/AAAABAMAABzcRKsdFEqfFm9R-48a-ehqQxBRNZLviP6PL535N9D1tvqOZNfPSbHAZs0WHxg64SaVVcaiALc-Z3EsnLiTHb65k_AflSDyRbzq7-uhL9WmCPQo-qZXBLMOSF3yVUuCx4w2TLPyHaKjrrMFQkGWVa6J0wQHhTLYvcgT2mJJUY_66_UW8wceM7BmnnyDvoqCm_4Kg9t_xrjKrv_bC9-w-tKPpmh0ES2PRjLRJjyg5hGWcFJh4jpYGFYWv5Uu42rDCSoLibw7fNAf8NUtHzOHA-4PxEVHQYf3pk3jgh6nCMHzghAlX-vukyc=
 Hello everyone, this is my take on the Winter Orb + Ice Spear combo. I hope that you'll find the guide helpful. Quick Overview: + Can be started with basically no currency + Feels like Blade Vortex for clearing, but safer because is ranged + Ice Spear is basically Barrage for spells + Nice clearing speed thanks to Onslaught, Frenzy Charges and Shield Charge + Nice single target dps (right now sitting at 2.3M Shaper dps) + Can do red maps with little investment + Syndacate encounters very manageable (prior to the nerf, now is even more easier) ± Can achieve reflect immunity (via one of the cheapest Watcher's Eye mod) ± Some map combos are very annoying (but still runnable) - Require good positioning to achieve max Ice Spear dps Idea: I wanted to give Winter Orb a try and also see how the new Ice Spear is. Since they scale off similar things, Cast when Canneling felt like the right thing to do. 
Basic Info
Main Skill: Winter Orb and Ice Spear Reason: Both scales off +# proj. Winter Orb is good for clearing but sucks for single target, while for Ice Spear is the opposite, so they basically compense each other. Class/Ascendancy: Witch Elementalist Reason: Elementalist has good clearing and good quality of life bonuses. Ehp pool: Hybrid Reason: On the tree we have access to some good Life+ES % nodes. Crit vs Ele Overload: Crit Reason: I think that not going crit with Ice Spear is a waste. Bandits: Help Alira Reason: We go crit, so the multi crit damage is good. Mana regen and all res are good too.
How maximize the Ice Spear DPS
Part One - The Second Form: Ice Spear has 2 forms. Quoting the wiki: " Which is pretty bonkers. Also, since the changes in patch 3.5 the second form now gains a bonus to crit multi (+49% at gem lvl 20). The "preset distance" at which Ice Spear will transform cannot be modified by proj speed modifiers. There's only a way right now in the game to change this distance, but it's not good for two reasons: 1) it's via an Helm Enchantment (and we are going to use a far better enchantment) 2) it's barely noticeable However this is not a big deal: we basically need to keep our target at distance to try to always hit with the second form of the spell. Part Two - The Shotgun: Due the rework in 3.5, Ice Spear is now able to shotgun. If you were around before the 2.0 shotgun nerf you know what that means, if not it simply means that all the proj from a single cast of Ice Spear can hit the same target. Basically: we Barrage now, so adding projectiles to Ice Spear boosts our dps a lot. This however needs a little bit of aiming: if you cast with your cursor near you character your projectiles will spread a lot, while if you cast with your cursor far from him/her they will become a Quake 3 Railgun. Aiming far is very important in order to hit with all your projectiles, cause otherwise you are going to miss out a lot of that juicy pob dps. Below you can find a comparison of bad vs good aim.  
How to be Immune to Reflected Damage
Right now in PoE reflect damage is not a big deal like it was some time ago. That's because all forms of reflected damage in the game can be known before having to face them (except for unid maps). This means that we can preemptively prepare for those occasions and be immune to reflect damage at will. In order to do so we need:
having this all set up will make you Reflect immune and able to run nasty refelct corrupted maps (or even unid one if you want to play extra safe), and Atziri/Uber Atziri without having to worry about the mirror clone.
A brief guide to Map Mods
This build can pretty much run any map mod, but some need some adjustments: Monsters reflect #% of Elemental Damage Countered by using the method explained above Players cannot Regenerate Life, Mana or Energy Shield We leech life and mana, so it isn't a probleam, but be aware that you can end up with no mana if you make a bad play. You can sacrifice one of your flask to use a mana one to be extra safe. Monsters are Hexproof You will not be able to leech via Warlord’s Mark. You can simply play more safe or use a Cerberus Limb. Not leeching mana is not a big deal, because our skills doesn't cost much to cast. Cannot Leech Life from Monsters/Cannot Leech Mana from Monsters Like above you can just play safer. If you want, you can use a Cybil's Paw to have Life gain on Hit with your spells. Mana not a problem again. All the other mods are basically extra damage or things that make you weaker, so they aren't much of a problem. This is, however, for "single" map mods, but be aware there are two map mod combo that can be a really pain in the ass: Players cannot Regenerate Life, Mana or Energy Shield + Monsters are Hexproof and Players cannot Regenerate Life, Mana or Energy Shield + Cannot Leech Life from Monsters/Cannot Leech Mana from Monsters They can be tackled by using Cerberus Limb/Cybil's Paw and a mana flask, but a false step and you will be out mana, so don't be reckless. There's also the option to use Abyss Jewels with mana gained on spells hits, but i never tried that. That's all. 
Passive Tree
The passive tree is nothing fancy, it's pretty much a standard spell crit life based tree. The minion nodes could be not obvious, but after the 3.5 rework the last node of the cluster (Spiritual Aid) states: "Increases and Reductions to Minion Damage also affect you" Which basically means that we get a bunch of general damage. LVL 86 Tree - This is the base tree. I think that it's pretty solid and from here you can progress your build in the way you like. You can take damage nodes, defensive nodes or the skill duration ones below scion, it truly depends on how you like to play. LVL 95 Tree - This is the endgame tree i'm using. I've removed Precision from templar since I stopped using Shield Charge and also I don't needed the dex bonus anymore. I've taken more regen nodes, because the sustain without leeching was a little bit lackluster. Up to Shaper this wasn't a problem, but for Uber Elder I think that sustain is the key, so that's way I specced into those nodes.
Ascendancy
My suggested order is: 1) Shaper of Desolation 2) Pendulum of Destruction 3) Beacon of Ruin 4) Mastermind of Discord Feel free to change this, but don't sleep on the Shaper of Desolation + Beacon of Ruin combo, because it's huge for mapping. This is especially important if this is your first chracter in the league, because you are going to map for a good time before being able to do your Uber Lab.
Pantheon
General setup Major God: Soul of Lunaris - super nice for mapping Minor God: Soul of Garukhan - for the movement speed buff I pretty much use always this setup. The main reason is that, since I keep forgetting that the Pantheon system is a thing, once I set up my Pantheon I'm done for the rest of the league. I've used those two powers for clearing the entire game. Except Uber Elder. Uber Elder setup Major God: Soul of Arakaali - boost life and es regen if stopped taking dot recently Minor God: Soul of Ralakesh - reduced phys dot taken Since the Uber arena is filled with dot puddles, Ralakesh helps in mitigate some of this damage and Arakaali boosts the ehp sustain. This combo was honestly a game changer for me, so if you are having problem in killing Uber Elder try this out. 
Spoiler
A note about Dexterity In order to be able to use some of the dex gems of the build, you'll need 111 Dexterity. The Witch starts with 14 Dex. The pathing on the tree grants us 40 dex. The Pandemonium implicit gives 30 Dex. That means that you'll need to have the remaining 27 Dex needed on one of your other slot. You can also sacrifice a passive point and take Alacrity on the tree (the +30 dex point between Witch and Shadow).
Weapon
You have a fairly amount of choice in this slot: Cerberus Limb is a very solid weapon. It provides good damage and life leech. This weapon however has one big downside: its 3D model is ugly af. Doryani's Catalyst have a little more damage, but less leech. It, however, has more attack speed, so you can Shield Charge around faster with it. Beltimber Blade adds 2 proj to every skill. This means that with this weapons we could possibly drop GMP from our 6l. Need testing, but seems good. Cybil's Paw can be used in no leech map. If you are new to the game and don't know what to pick, go with a Cerberus Limb. However, uniques weapons are just a stepping stone, because if you want maximise your dps you should use a rare weapon. Sambar Sceptres are the best base because they give ele penetration. One of the best mod the search on your weapon is the temple hybrid mod "Increased Cold damage/Flat cold damage to spells". Another benefit of using a rare weapon is that you can potentially craft "Trigger a Socketed Spell when you Use a Skill" on it and automate the casting of some of the skill you use (or maybe add a completely new automated setup). Unfortunately for now i didn't experimented much with this idea.
My Weapon
This sceptre in pob gives me around 15% more damage than a Cerberus Limb.
Off-Hand
Since the second form of Ice Spear has a lot crit chance by itself, what we need is a lot crit multi and Light of Lunaris provides that.
Chest
The dream would be a shaper chest with +1 To Level of Socketed Active Skill Gems and Spells have +#% to Critical Strike Chance. If you can afford a chest with only one of those two mods, choose based on this: if you want to do maps/delve (100% Diamond Flask uptime): +1 if you want to do endgame bosses (Diamond Flask will have downtime): crit This, however, is the best case scenario. If you don't have the currency to afford a good shaper chest (like me) you can just use a normal rare one, the build will still function. The other mods that you want are Life and Res. Energy Shield can be nice. The best mod to craft in my opinion is the prefix Gain 10% of Maximum Life as Extra Maximum Energy Shield. In my case it added (more or less) the same amount of es as Discipline. A Loreweave can also be nice. If you want to maximize clear speed Inpulsa's Broken Heart is probably going to be the best choice. A Tabula Rasa with the +2 to Level of Socketed Projectile Gems corruption can be a budget dps oriented option.
My Chest
Helmet
Rare Helmet with Life and Elemental Resistances. It's better to also try to squeeze some Chaos Resistance and Energy Shield here. If you try to craft with a Frigid Fossil you can get the mod Nearby Enemies have -9% to Cold Resistance, which is pretty nice. Anyway, the most important thing here is the Enchantment. Enchantment: Ice Spear fires an additional Projectile - I think I don't have to explain this
My Helmet
Gloves
Rare Gloves with Life and Elemental Resistances. It's better to also try to squeeze some Chaos Resistance and Energy Shield here. Enchantment: Honestly idk
My Gloves
Boots
Rare Boots with Life, Elemental Resistances and Increased Movement Speed. It's better to also try to squeeze some Chaos Resistance and Energy Shield here. Enchantment: Damage oriented: Damage Penetrates #% of Enemy Elemental Resistances if you haven't Killed Recently Adds # to # Lightning Damage if you haven't Killed Recently Defense oriented: Regenerate #% of Life and Mana per second if you were Hit Recently
My Boots
Belt
A Stygian Vise Rare Belt with Life and Elemental Resistances. Try to squeeze some Chaos Resistance and Energy Shield here.
My Belt
Rings
First Slot: We want an Elder Ring with the mod Curse Enemies with Level # Warlord's Mark on Hit. That's the most important mod. You should try to have also Life and Resistances here, but the price will start to skyrocket. If you can't buy one these don't worry, you can use a Mark of Submission as a budget option. You have also the option to use a Curse on Hit setup on your Herald of Ice. This will free up this ring slot, but is not recommended (except for league starting). See more about this in the "Gem Links" section. Second Slot: If you have an Elder Ring in the first slot, then Mark of the Shaper will provide a super dps boost. Tasalio's Sign is a super budget dps alternative which will give about 55% of Mark of the Shaper dps. You can also use a rare ring.
My Rings
Amulet
The Pandemonius is the BiS. Since the crit chance of the second form of Ice Spear is so high, Marylene's Fallacy is a surprisingly good budget alternative. It however lacks defenses and dex. While you pile up the exalted to buy your The Pandemonius you can use a rare amulet.
My Amulet
Flasks
Dying Sun is absurd for the build, cause it enhance both our clearing and our single target dps. Rumi's Concoction gives a nice defensive buff, but since we use Light of Lunaris this flask gives us also a little bit of crit multi. If you want more dps you can use The Wise Oak instead of Rumi's Concoction. Make sure to use a Diamond Flask, cause it will skyrocket your dps. Don't forget to use flasks with freeze/burn/bleed/curse removal. Note that you can skip the freeze one if your Watcher's Eye grants freeze immunity (you can read more about this in the "Jewels" section). I have bleed removal on my life flask and I have a Diamond with curse removal and one with burn removal that I swap depending on the situation/map that i'm going to face.
My Flasks
Jewels
Watcher's Eye can be a strong option. I think that the best mods for Purity of Ice are:
Since Purity of Ice is rarely used, you can found Watcher's Eyes with both mods at very low prices. For rare jewels, there's a fairly amount of good mods for the build that can roll on those. Below you can find the mods to search for both types of jewels and links to pre-made PoE Trade search forms. I didn't include the "crit chance" ones because (again) Ice Spear has a lot of crit chance to begin with. I didn't include also attack and cast speed mods because they aren't a priority, but since they can help with clearing if you have to choose between jewels with similar mods check for those and pick the one which has them.
Mods to search on Regular Jewels
Prefixes: #% increased Cold Damage #% increased Spell Damage while holding a Shield +#% to Critical Strike Multiplier with Cold Skills #% increased maximum Life #% increased maximum Energy Shield Suffixes: #% increased Projectile Damage #% increased Spell Damage #% increased Damage +#% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier +#% to Critical Strike Multiplier for Spells +#% to Critical Strike Multiplier with Elemental Skills Regular Jewel search form
Mods to search on Abyss Jewels
Prefixes: +# to maximum Life +# to maximum Energy Shield Adds # to # Cold Damage to Spells while holding a Shield Suffixes: Adds # to # Cold Damage to Spells +#% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier +#% to Critical Strike Multiplier if you've Killed Recently #% increased Damage if you've Killed Recently Damage Penetrates #% Elemental Resistance if you haven't Killed Recently #% chance to gain Onslaught for 4 seconds on Kill Abyss Jewel search form
My Jewels
Spoiler
I've added the the loadout I'm using right now with Aspect of the Spider. I would like to stress the fact that, while Aspect of the Spider is a nice boost in damage and defense, it is not needed. In fact i've cleared all the game without it and switched to it only after doing Uber Elder.
Budget/no Aspect of the Spider
Main link in order of priority (6L) Winter Orb + CwC + Ice Spear + GMP + Controlled Destruction + Hypothermia Single target setup (4L) Frost Bomb + Arcane Surge (6) + Vaal Righteous Fire + Increased Duration To debuff cold res, activate the Arcane Surge buff and gain a lot of more spell damage against bosses. Cast when Damage Taken setup (3L) CwDT (1) + Immortal Call (3) + Increased Duration Herald of Ice setup (1/2/3L) Herald of Ice + Ice Bite + Innervate/Onslaught You can run Herald of Ice by itself if you want, but if you have free sockets you can spice it up with some on kill buffs. Movement Skill (2L) Flame Dash + Faster Casting Non linked skills Purity of Ice - Cold mitigation and also phys mitigation (via Watcher's Eye mod) Arctic Armour - Fire and Phys mitigation Lightning Golem - For the increased cast and attack speed plus the aura he gives occasionally
Customization of your skill loadout
With the loadout that I have written you'll have space to fit some other skills that you like. For example there's space to use a standard Shield Charge + Faster Attacks + Fortify 3L. I was using this, but in the end I've decided to drop it cause I suck at moving with it (kept bonking my head against obstacles). Also, you can use different buffs instead of the ones that i've indicated. Purity of Elements can be used instead of Purity of Ice if you are having trouble capping your ele res. Discipline can be a good ehp boost. If you find something that you think could be a nice addition to the build feel free to use it :)
If you don't have a Warlord's Mark Elder Ring/Mark of Submission
You can use this Herald of Ice setup instead: Herald of Ice + Curse on Hit + Warlord’s Mark + Ice Bite/Innervate/Onslaught Keep in mind that this should only be used for leveling/league starting and you should grab at least a Mark of Submission asap in order to realiably curse without needing the explosions from Herald of Ice.
With Aspect of the Spider
Main link in order of priority (6L) Winter Orb + CwC + Ice Spear + GMP + Controlled Destruction + Hypothermia Single target setup (4L) Frost Bomb + Arcane Surge (6) + Vaal Righteous Fire + Increased Duration Cast when Damage Taken setup #1 + Vaal Grace(4L) CwDT (1) + Immortal Call (3) + Increased Duration + Vaal Grace (as high as you can) Cast when Damage Taken setup #2 (3L) CwDT (1) + Cold Snap (7) + Bonechill Herald of Ice setup (3L) Herald of Ice + Ice Bite + Onslaught Movement Skill (2L) Flame Dash + Faster Casting Non linked skills Purity of Ice Lightning Golem/Stone Golem - for endgame bosses Stone Golem is better for sustaining life 
Spoiler
My character right now (17 Jan 2019): https://pastebin.com/WUTmderu If you don't have access to Path of Building, you can check the build online with poebuddy: https://poe.technology/poebuddy/WUTmderu 
Spoiler
PoB with the leveling progression https://pastebin.com/rxX51PXL I will use this as a reference.
1: Act 1
2: Act 2
3: Act 3/Act 4/Normal Lab
Winter Orb links: Winter Orb + LMP + Controlled Destruction + Faster Casting
Cast while channelling links: Winter Orb + Cast while Channelling + Ice Spear + Greater Multiple Projectiles Herald of Ice links: Herald of Ice + Ice Bite + Curse on Hit + Warlord's Mark
4: Act 5/Act 6/Act 7/Cruel Lab
5: Act 8/Act 9/Act 10/Merciless Lab
6: Starting maps
7: Progressing in maps
Gameplay
T1 Atoll Not much, but it shows the damage at level 75 with lvl 17 gems and a 4l T7 Toxic Sewers Here i was running a 5l T12 Burial Chambers Here i have my full ascendancy and a 6l. Keep in mind that packs doesn't shatter as usual because monsters have 90% of elemental ailments avoidance. T16 Guardian of the Chimera nice smoke phase lol T16 Guardian of the Hydra forgot to pop vaal rf T16 Guardian of the Minotaur T16 Guardian of the Phoenix 1 stupid death First Shaper kill Uber Atziri run Red Elder and Elder Guardians kill video First Uber Elder kill video 6.5 seconds Phoenix kill
Guides/Info
Is the quality bonus of Ice Spear worth going for?
" I've made a video in which you can see a comparison between an Ice Spear with no quality and one with 20% quality. The proj speed bonus makes Ice Spear switch faster to the second form, but the difference is very little. Given the fact that a 21/20 costs more than double the price of a 21/0, my conclusion is that you are better off buying a no quality one.
What about Occultist?
" somebody wrote in the comments that he/she was doing an occultist ci version of the build. for my opinions on it you can check out this comment. however, Void Beacon is not as bad as I thought. It has the same radius as Aspect of the Spider and the Delve crafted res debuff on helmets (60), which basically means that enemies are affected as soon as they enter your screen (more or less). In light of this I would go Vile Bastion and Frigid Wake for my ascendencies. I think that as an occultist you'll have a much easier fight against Uber Elder, cause the biggest problem I had was sustaining my ehp, but Vile Bastion and Wicked Ward take care of that. Dunno about the dps tho.
What are those dark ice spikes in your videos?
" the spiky thingy is Herald of Ice with the Gloom Herald mtx :) changelog:
to do:
Editado por útlima vez por tufferugli#7301 en 25 mar. 2019 14:11:59 Reflotado por última vez en 26 ago. 2023 4:47:27
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neat
Editado por útlima vez por Democlese#3936 en 13 dic. 2018 10:48:49
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It does increase the duration. Tooltip doesnt show it but the buff itself does.
Without potency the duration for 10 stacks is 4 seconds. With Potency the duration of Winter Orb is 6 seconds. |
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Finding a little trouble with a starter in this build.
Im kind of new, it looks very interesting, trying my best to give it a shot. |
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Really liking the dps output of this build. Any tips for survivability however? Feels a little squishy even with full resists and life on all jewelry.
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" Use any skill you like pre-Arc or Blade Vortex then change to them when available. What I did was level with BV until Winter Orb is available. The progression is really similar to Ele BV. Then I use WO>LMP>Faster Casting/Ice Bite then proceed with the 4L. Winter Orb is powerful enough for clearing with LMP/GMP. Single target is an issue until I got CwC>Ice Spear. |
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look promising :)
what is a 6l build character for storm winter + Spears! with the new cold gem! |
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" ehmh... like Mikroice said, it does. " i leveled with freezing pulse all the way to level 28, when i was able to start using winter orb. probably you can level more easily if you switch to arc or blade vortex (like xDeicidium said) at lvl 12. i didn't because i don't like either of those skills. anyway, once you acquire winter orb your 4 link is: winter orb + lmp/gmp + controlled destruction + faster casting/added lightning/added cold take the potency of will cluster (increased skill duration) as soon as possible once you start to use winter orb, because is a game changer (at least for me it was). at level 38 you can start to use cast when channeling. your new 4l will be: winter orb + cwc + ice spear + gmp if you can i suggest to put this setup in helmet/gloves with the new veiled mod "+1 to proj gem/proj pierce a target" but honestly is not necessary. " i'm using a cerberus limb to have access to some life leech. you can try blasphemy warlord's mark or the leech lab enchant on boots. planning on going hybrid and use discipline. you can also sacrifice some dps ang go phase acro. |
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Slight tangent here. how would you modify the build to work with a Scion? Curious about ascendancy and what changes you might make to the skill tree.
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" Ah you're right thanks |
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