Planning a new Anarchy Character, Build tips.

[shoju]

Well, I've realized a couple of things. While I'm not planning on retiring my ranger, I'm thinking ahead, and planning a second Anarchy Character, since I'm sensing great frustration with the way that things are coming together for me.

So I'm going to at least need something I can mess with to take a break from the ranger.

In comes..............

Another Witch.

I've done the summoner thing, and I love my summoner. I don't plan on retiring my summoner any time soon.

I have a Power Siphon Witch, also in Default, and I like that.

But, I've been thinking. I really like things that have "control" so to speak. So I'm thinking about a Cold Witch. One of the things that draws me to it, is that the offense, is also a pretty powerful defense in the form of Chills / Freezes. That's my type of thing. it's what drew me to the Death Knight in WoW.

So Here is what I'm thinking build wise.

As Always, I've not planned out "too far" into the future, and I haven't quite decided how I'm going to attack the tree yet. I'll probably build to get the ES / Defenses, and then flesh around for the rest of it after that.

As far as Skills, I'm thinking:
Freezing Pulse (obviously)
Ice Spear + Spell Totem
Cold Snap
Frostbite

I have thought about LMPing a Freezing Pulse, but we'll see. I'm not sure if I will run it as just one FP with LMP, or run two, one with one without.

The whole goal will be to freeze everything. Hopefully with lots of Crits in the process for shattery goodness, that leaves my most hated monster (the Sin Lord style jerks) to rot with nothing to do.

Is there anything I'm missing from the build? Anything that looks "meh" I've spent more time putting this tree together than I have other trees, so I'm looking for input on how others would handle it.

[LennyLen]

I like to add "Power charge on crit" to my FP as well.

[shoju]

I like to add "Power charge on crit" to my FP as well.

I'm a little apprehensive about it right now. I've thought about it, but the problem I have had with my admittedly limited use of Power Charge on Crit, is that it's just about non existent. Even with this build, and it's 145% increased Critical Strike Chance, I'm still staring at a whopping... 13% -15% crit chance, on something that if completely specc'd for, will last 14 seconds.

Now, I'm willing to admit in some cases, that's great. It would be superb for Trash, and what not. But, in Boss Fights, it just feels... well... non existent.

Maybe I'm going about it wrong. I will be watching the crit chance as I get rolling to see how it works, but at this point, I'm a little apprehensive about it.

[MonTy]

Is there anything I'm missing from the build?

I've built four different freeze pulse characters above level 50 in Hardcore, so I do have a lot of experience with their play style. The build you have linked is decent, but I foresee two problems; armor and mana. You'll be wearing ES gear so your armor will be low or non-existent. This means any kind of ranged pack will absolutely chew through your ES. You will need two granite flasks at all times, but even having them will make you feel like a glass cannon. Also, how are you going to regain ES? Wait for it to regen? IMO you'll need Life Leech with Ghost Reaver if you're going ES. But then you're socketing strength gems and will need strength. Mana will be an easier issue to fix, but it'll be a struggle for a while. Once you get clarity high enough and mana leech linked to FP, you should be ok.

But the character is really powerful. You'll be Godlike once you get LMP all the way into Merciless. Even with the recent nerf to FP damage, the damage is incredible with LMP and you'll constantly be critting which causes the enemies to freeze. Also, Ice Spear is an amazing long ranged spell. Once you get Faster Casting your single target enemy will likely always remain frozen.

I do love the Cold Caster build though, so I'm trying to find a perfect median of damage, survivability, and utility. I think this build accomplishes that. I'll have Freeze Pulse linked with LMP or GMP, Blood Magic, Life Leech, and Added Lightning. If you don't get a five link do not include Added Lightning and don't take Static Blows passive. Ice Spear linked with Faster Casting, Blood Magic, and Life Leech. I'll be going heavy into Armor gear, but may need hybrid armor in order to make the sockets work for FP (B-G-R-R-B).

In summary, the build you linked will work extremely well into the end of Act Two Merciless. Then any kind of ranged mob with added damage will tear through your ES and leave you running with your tail between your legs. It's a fun build but without any kind of armor or life leech/ghost reaver it'll be tricky to pull off in end game.

[Frag]

Play with Cold Snap, Shoju. Using it in Onslaught atm and it's holding up well.

[LennyLen]

Now, I'm willing to admit in some cases, that's great. It would be superb for Trash, and what not. But, in Boss Fights, it just feels... well... non existent.

While this is true, the good thing about boss fight is that you know they're coming and can respec accordingly. In areas with lots of enemies, I've been able to sustain maximum power charges for minutes at a time, as the increased crit chance from the power charges means I crit much more often, thus gaining another power charge.

[shoju]

Well, I have done a pretty silly thing. I decided to make it a Templar, instead of a witch. I already have several witches, and I really like the Templar, and I like the starting templar area better, so It seemed logical to go ahead and start from there, and then work my way into the witch area from there.

Now.... I don't know if I'm going CI or not.

I'm still thinking about it, and if I do, I'll end up with something like this. I think that it will feel a little more sturdy, and gets me "better" defenses early.

I'll see how it goes, but I think I'll be happier with the templar. Especially if I can get a couple of granites to roll into better armor. That should make me feel very sturdy.

It doesn't address regening ES, but I'm not completely sold on going CI yet. If I do, I'll make sure to pick up Ghost Reaver, and possibly even Zealot's Oath, and see about getting a Vitality / Reduced Mana thing going on.

[Frag]

Well, I have done a pretty silly thing. I decided to make it a Templar, instead of a witch. I already have several witches, and I really like the Templar, and I like the starting templar area better, so It seemed logical to go ahead and start from there, and then work my way into the witch area from there.

Now.... I don't know if I'm going CI or not.

I'm still thinking about it, and if I do, I'll end up with something like this. I think that it will feel a little more sturdy, and gets me "better" defenses early.

I'll see how it goes, but I think I'll be happier with the templar. Especially if I can get a couple of granites to roll into better armor. That should make me feel very sturdy.

It doesn't address regening ES, but I'm not completely sold on going CI yet. If I do, I'll make sure to pick up Ghost Reaver, and possibly even Zealot's Oath, and see about getting a Vitality / Reduced Mana thing going on.

Looking over your build, I see some things I'd highly recommend changing. Thusly, http://tinyurl.com/phempoy .

[shoju]

Man... I had never looked at Doom Cast before. That is an extremely potent passive. Thanks for the tip.

I had thought about the aura cluster, and I wasn't sure what auras I would end up running, so I hadn't picked it up. I probably will end up running at least a few, so it's a good bit of points.

Next question becomes: Static Blows. Should I just bank on running the Wrath Aura for extra Lightning Damage?

[MonTy]

Man... I had never looked at Doom Cast before. That is an extremely potent passive.

Yea it's certainly worth taking for CI or EB builds, since it's only one travel point to get to Doom Cast, which equals 30% chance to crit for spells per point. Definitely worth taking it down the line.

I took a look at Frag's suggested skill tree, and it's very good. Lots of defense and offense nodes, so it'll be a very balanced character. If I was near the Templar area I'd probably get Zealot's Oath and the 1% Life Leech passive next to Mind and Matter. Also probably go for Ghost Reaver and Life Leech on my linked Freeze Pulse.

BTW, Wrath only works with attacks, not spells. So that wouldn't be your source of damage for lightning damage for Freezing Pulse. You could link Added Lightning to your FP, but you may prefer linking other supports and skipping Static Blows.

[Frag]

You can get lightning damage from anywhere you wish, even if you resort to Spork, but the extra damage from shock is anything but. It's an opportunity cost situation and the loss of it is far too great currently. Hope they balance that soon.

[shoju]

It's the biggest reason why my summoner is an Arc build. My personal DPS isn't as high as if I were doing a fire build, but my I think I kill things faster than if I were trying to do fire.

[shoju]

I'm pleased with my choice to go templar, and so far, Freezing Pulse is just a breeze to level. I know it will get harder, it always does, and is expected. But I'm definitely feeling good about the templar style. The only thing that I need to do at this point, is plan out how to get a fair amount of Dex. The new amulets will help for sure.

I'm not sure how many auras I'll end up running, but I'd like to end up running ES / Vitality / Mana Regen. We'll see though. I'd like to add in armor to that as well.

I think part of my comfort level with the build right now, is the copious amounts of passive resist I end up with. 46% to all, and 61% Cold Resist. That, coupled with an Icetomb that I was able to pick up today pretty cheap, I should be set on Cold Resist for a good while. (I do need to pick up some orbs to see if I can get at least 4L on it (it's ilvl 62, so I could end up 6, but I'm not in a position to even try that, and I'm not sure if I'm giving up the ranger for good, or if this is just going to be a distraction.

I'm at least going to get through Normal, and see how it works out. At that point, I'll have all the nodes in the templar area, and be on the way to the witch area, which should give me an idea of how it's going to play.

[shoju]

Ok, I'm at sort of a crossroads in what I should do with the build right now. It's going swimmingly, even if my Damage is starting to fall off.... "A little" on Single Target.

First, Here is my build. I'm currently level 44, I'm not having too much trouble staying alive, but I'm only in A2 Cruel as well.
This, Is where I would like to end up in the low/mid 60's. At this point, I'm just unsure on what I should do next.

I'd love to hear some input on what order people would tackle the remaining points in. I've been currently working under the idea that I will map out all the Int Nodes to get to things first (another 8 points), and then start picking up things in a "rapid fire" order from there. But I'm not sure if that's going to get too troubling down the road. I ask, because I know survivability is going to become an issue soon. I'm sitting at ~550 HP, and ~625 ES, and ~1500 Armor currently, resists are capped. No problems yet, but I know that from here, it's only going to get more difficult.

Part of me wants to bolt for Ghost Reaver, and then the 15% ES Node, and then CI, and the cluster behind it, and then the Frost Strip over in the Witch Area. But I'm worried that my survivability will go up tremendously at the cost of my DPS, which already isn't... "blowing things ups". It's more of a steady, methodical, Freeze them, and live, but take a little bit to clear, type approach.

This, Is my gear. Some of the gems in the gear are purely there for leveling purposes (cough cough blood magic), or because I used them for a while, and I'm too lazy to take them out (cough cough Arctic Armor).

Skills I use on a regular basis
Clairty, Vitality, Ice Nova, Freezing Pulse, Ice Spear, Frost Bite, Devouring Totem (which I really love right now), and from time to time Cold Snap, as the situation Dictates.

Eventually, I would like to get my
- FP Linked up with LMP and Life Leech as well. (Don't ask how many fuses I've used on the Icetomb. It's depressing.)

- Ice Nova Linked up with Life Gain on Hit (for now) Life Leech, once I make the swap over. I really only use this when there are large groups of melee around me, and I'm able to drop a frostbite on them, and then go crazy.

-Vitality, Clarity, and Discipline all hooked up to a Reduced Mana Gem.

Next Opinion Question: Does this seem like a style of game play that will be lasting? I've never run FP before, so I'm a little... Green still with how it should work.

[MonTy]

Ok, I'm at sort of a crossroads in what I should do with the build right now. It's going swimmingly, even if my Damage is starting to fall off.... "A little" on Single Target...I'm just unsure on what I should do next.

Shadow skill tree. There are so many crit passives that will be a massive boost to your damage and utility. You have a few options on how to travel there. I would either go through the Power Charge nodes near Ghost Reaver, or drop down from the Witch area, grab some ES nodes, and head over to the right. You'll need a lot of ES to survive. Your armor won't be great either, so you'll really need those granites. Make sure your quicksilver flask has the mod to remove puncture. It'll rip right through your ES.

it's only going to get more difficult.

It's going to start getting really difficult. I've played a ton of FP builds past 50 and it's always the same issue. Balancing DPS and survivability. If you're able to do that the build is absolutely incredible. The problem is you're going to be short on armor and ES for a long time. But you need to get up close to targets to deal damage. Ranged mobs will be especially brutal. I recommend grouping and grinding zones to get through the tough spots when you're in between gear upgrades.

I had a 12Q FP and a GMP drop, so I decided to make another FP build in Onslaught. I spent a lot of time thinking of a build that doesn't have issues that my past FP did. Namely the lack of Armor in late Merciless. So I've decided to go Shadow that dips into the Witch area to get Eldritch Battery, to run more Auras, and then to bee-line to Iron Reflexes. This means I'll be going pure health and Evasion that will be converted to Armor. Running Grace means that I can have decent Armor stats even without a godly chest piece. Right now I have Freezing Pulse, GMP, Life Leech, and Mana Leech linked. I also run Clarity and Grace, although I hope to be able to run Purity soon and drop Mana Leech gem once I invest more into mana passives. Here's the first phase of my build, which I've almost completed.

But in general, I foresee your current build being very gear dependent and frustrating to play unless you get that perfect gear. You'll have low Armor in Merciless, low ES without great gear, get stunned a lot, do mediocre damage for a while, and be required to get in close to do damage. But this is the type of build where if you get all the components working, it'll be amazing. Be sure you're using Frostbite or Elemental Weakness.

[shoju]

I think I'm the only person in the world who doesn't like the Quicksilver flask.... The big problem I have with the Quicksilver, is that I've never been able to use it, and actually save myself.

I'm torn on the Shadow Tree. If I head that way, I'm going to have to not get other things that I had planned on. I will have to weigh the crit skills I can get to, and see what is better, as well as trying to fit in some STR Nodes along the way to make sure that I can keep up on the auras / totem I want to run.

For now, I'm set on my chest, at least for a little while longer, with Icetomb. I know that at some point in the future that's going to become less than ideal, and I'll be looking for more Armor and ES.

One of the things I like about the Templar area, is that it gives me a little more leeway as far as gear attributes goes, since I've got a fair amount of innate resist from the tree. We'll see how ti goes. I've actually taken a break from him for a few days, since I'm at that point where I hate life, also known as the pyramid. I cannot even begin to explain how terrible I find that place to be.