Dear exiles, I will share the top 3 cold builds with you today. These three cold PoE builds include Freezing Pulse Totem, Archmage Ice Nova, and Vaal Ice Shot.
1. Freezing Pulse Totem
Class: Templar
Ascendancy: Hierophant
Pros
Cheap.
Safe gameplay.
Awesome boss damage.
Immunity to curses.
Excellent starter.
Awesome for beginners.
Easy to build.
Easy leveling.
Cons
No evasion.
No spell suppression.
Obstacles stop your projectiles.
Budget
White Maps: 4L + cheap gear, about 35 Chaos Orbs.
Yellow Maps: 5L + mid gear about 90C.
Atlas: 6L + good gear about 3 Divine Orbs.
Clear Speed: 8/10
Boss Damage: 10/10
Survivability: 9/10
Core Concept
The build revolves around using totems to cast Freezing Pulse, a cold spell that deals damage in a line and has a chance to freeze enemies.
Hierophant ascendancy enhances totem effectiveness and survivability.
Skill Gems and Links
Main Setup: Freezing Pulse linked with Spell Totem Support, Controlled Destruction, Hypothermia, Elemental Focus, and Added Cold Damage.
Aura Setup: Hatred for increased cold damage and Herald of Ice for shattering frozen enemies.
Utility Skills: Flame Dash for mobility and Frost Bomb to reduce enemy cold resistance.
Passive Skill Tree
Focus on totem damage, cold damage, spell critical chance, and life.
Prioritize mana nodes to support the Archmage support costs.
Mind Over Matter is a keystone for additional defense.
Ascendancy Points
Pursuit of Faith: Increases totem duration and damage.
Ritual of Awakening: Grants the ability to summon additional totems.
Conviction of Power: Provides power and endurance charge generation.
Divine Guidance: Increases maximum mana and grants Transfiguration of Mind.
Bandits
Help Alira for the critical multiplier, mana regeneration, and resistances, or claim the two passive points by eliminating all bandits.
Pantheon Choices
Major God: Soul of Brine King to mitigate stuns.
Minor God: Soul of Shakari for poison immunity.
Gear Recommendations
Weapon: A wand or scepter with increased cold spell damage, cast speed, and/or critical chance.
Shield: A shield with life, mana, and resistances.
Helmet: Look for life and resistances.
Body Armour: Cloak of Defiance for the Mind Over Matter synergy or a rare with life and resistances.
Gloves, Boots, Rings, Amulet: Prioritize life, resistances, and mana.
Jewels
Seek jewels with increased cold damage, spell damage, critical multiplier, life, and mana.
Flasks
Use a mix of life flasks, mana flasks, and utility flasks like Diamond Flask for critical strikes and Quicksilver Flask for movement speed.
2. Archmage Ice Nova
Class: Templar
Ascendancy: Hierophant
Pros
Awesome clear speed
Destructive boss damage
Satisfying gameplay
Great survivability
Instant leech
Cons
Expensive
Needs mana on equipment.
Needs a lot of cast speed.
Budget
Atlas: about 10 Divines.
Clear Speed: 10/10
Boss Damage: 10/10
Survivability: 9/10
Core Concept
The build focuses on casting Ice Nova on Frostbolt projectiles for an increased area of effect and damage.
The Archmage support significantly boosts spell damage at the cost of higher mana usage.
Skill Gems and Links
Main Setup: Ice Nova linked with Archmage Support, Spell Echo, Inspiration, and Increased Critical Damage.
Secondary Setup: Frostbolt with Greater Volley, Elemental Weakness, and Enfeeble for cursing.
Utility Skills: Arcane Cloak for damage mitigation, automated with Arcane Surge and Increased Duration.
Passive Skill Tree
Focus on increasing mana, spell damage, and critical strike chance.
Allocate nodes that enhance totem life and damage.
Secure nodes that provide mana cost reduction to manage the high mana usage of Archmage.
Ascendancy Points
Pursuit of Faith: Boosts totem placement speed and damage.
Ritual of Awakening: Grants the ability to summon additional totems.
Conviction of Power: Provides power and endurance charge generation.
Divine Guidance: Increases maximum mana and grants Transfiguration of Mind.
Bandits
Help Alira for the multipliers or kill all for the additional passive points.
Pantheon Choices
Major God: Soul of Brine King to mitigate stuns.
Minor God: Soul of Shakari for poison immunity.
Gear Recommendations
Weapon: A wand or scepter with increased cold spell damage, cast speed, and/or critical chance.
Shield: A shield with life, mana, and resistances.
Helmet: Look for life and resistances, possibly with an enchantment for Ice Nova or Frostbolt.
Body Armour: A high mana and life piece, like Cloak of Defiance, for synergy with Mind Over Matter.
Gloves, Boots, Rings, Amulet: Prioritize life, resistances, and mana.
Jewels
Seek jewels with increased cold damage, spell damage, critical multiplier, life, and mana.
Flasks
Use a mix of life flasks, mana flasks, and utility flasks like Diamond Flask for critical strikes and Quicksilver Flask for movement speed.
3. Vaal Ice Shot
Class: Ranger
Ascendancy: Deadeye
Pros
Strongest Vaal skill
Awesome clear speed
Awesome boss damage
Easy to build
Safe ranged attacks
Cons
Not very tanky.
Budget
White Maps: 4L + cheap gear, about 80 Chaos Orbs.
Yellow Maps: 5L + mid gear about 150C.
Atlas: 6L + good gear about 4 Divine Orbs.
Clear Speed: 10/10
Boss Damage: 10/10
Survivability: 8/10
Core Concept
Vaal Ice Shot converts physical damage to cold damage, creating an explosion of ice shards upon hitting an enemy.
The Deadeye ascendancy enhances projectile damage and speed, making it a deadly choice for this skill.
Skill Gems and Links
Main Setup: Vaal Ice Shot linked with Barrage Support, Elemental Damage with Attacks, Hypothermia, and Increased Critical Strikes.
Secondary Setup: For single-target damage, use a Ballista Totem with a Barrage.
Utility Skills: Dash or Blink Arrow for mobility and Frost Bomb to reduce enemy cold resistance.
Passive Skill Tree
Focus on increasing projectile damage, attack speed, and critical strike chance.
Allocate nodes that enhance bow damage and dexterity.
Secure life and evasion nodes for survivability.
Ascendancy Points
Gathering Winds: Grants Tailwind, increasing action speed.
Far Shot: Increases projectile damage the further they travel.
Ricochet: Adds chain to projectiles, increasing clear speed.
Endless Munitions: Increases area of effect and adds an additional projectile.
Bandits
Help Alira with the multipliers or claim the two passive points by eliminating all bandits.
Pantheon Choices
Major God: Soul of Lunaris for additional movement speed and dodge.
Minor God: Soul of Ralakesh for reduced physical damage over time taken.
Gear Recommendations
Weapon: A rare bow with high physical damage, critical strike chance, and attack speed.
Quiver: Hyrri's Demise for cold damage and dexterity.
Helmet: Starkonja's Head for increased attack speed and life.
Body Armour: A rare evasion-based chest with life and resistances.
Gloves: Rare gloves with added cold damage to attacks and life.
Boots: Rare boots with high movement speed, life, and resistances.
Rings: Rare rings with life, elemental damage with attacks, and resistances.
Amulet: Yoke of Suffering for increased damage and resistances.
Belt: A Stygian Vise with life and resistances.
Jewels
Look for jewels with increased projectile damage, attack speed, critical strike multiplier, and life.
Flasks
A mix of life flasks, Diamond Flask for critical strikes, and Quicksilver Flask for movement speed.
Conclusion
Happy building, and may your enemies freeze before you!