Lowlife crit Glacier Sorcerer Edit says Wave 236 done! Nerfed in 07.7

Mage
1

**Lowlife 100% Crit Glacier Sorc. 6k -12k Ward, capped Glancing Blow, capped Crit Avoidance.**

Many thanks to Stormquake for his input concerning the Glacier mananodes.

Hi guys,

i‘m Tweedle, an ARPG addict from the Stoneage, who has played pretty much everything, that came out within the last ten years. I‘m good with mechanics and bad with mouse and keyboard.

Since this is my first guide, i‘d appreciate any advice and help. (If somebody could point me to a simple free tool for recording a video - that would earn my eternal gratitude btw . The keyword is „simple“ :wink:.)

Edit: 0.7.7 Update

The build got hit hard in 0.7.7 It lost some damage due to the numerical nerfs to Glacier, some consistency in the manamanagement due to the changes to the Focus skill, and a lot of ward generation, dropping from 6-12k to 4-8k. The build is still fun to play and functional, but a whole lot weaker than in 07.6.
In my opinion the damage nerf was in order, but i’m a little unhappy with the loss of ward and the focus changes. The last node in the instant branch (Calm Mind) now is not worth taking at all, 100sth ward every 11 seconds does not justify an even longer CD.

Edit2: Small gameplay-video:

What the build was capable of in 0.7.6:

The build can do easy 40+ monolith runs and 100+ Arena. I accidently did wave 165 recently at lvl 82 with relatively weak gear. Wave 100 is no problem at all, wave 200 imo should be possible. A better pilot than me probably could go even higher.

Edit says: after finally success fully crafting a decent Jewelled circlet and optimizing a few things, i did wave 236 today, yeah! :slight_smile: (Character Brutzelbaer)

Key Concept of the build:

The build is centred around the Lost Knowledge node in Sorcerer, wich gives us 70 ward each time we cast a skill with 40+ manacost. Thanks to that passive Glacier generates a lot of ward for us. Mandatory is also the unique Exsanginous chestpiece, wich translates our hp into Ward generation.

Thanks to the Resplendant Frost node in the Glacier tree we get 17% base crit, wich makes it possible to get critcapped.

We are scaling the big explosion, using the node Fading Echoes in Glacier. It let‘s the biggest ‚splosion occur at the beginning of the animation rather than in the end. The idea is to more or less oneshot anything in our way with a big bang, and then whipe out the survivors with the smaller hits.

The biggest problem the build has to solve:

Mana. Since we are trying to spam a very expensive skill, mana early on will be an issue. But no worries, the problems can be overcome:

(Many thanks to Stormquake, who‘s input helped me immensely to figure out the best setup).

  • Step one: the right Focus specc:

Edit says: Focus specc OUTDATED in 07.7 Take Null Profusion and Null infusion, skip Calm Mind. I’m still trying to figure out, where to put the remaining points in 07.7

old 0.7.6 text:
The Focus skill has an amazing branch, starting with Null Profusion, ending with Calm Mind, wich gives you 50% of your maximum mana back instantly, in case your pool is empty. Max every node in this branch asap. It helps a ton. You won‘t need to stand around and channel. (You still can, if you wanted, but you don‘t have to.)

  • Step two: the „one free cast“ node in Teleport (Mana Tunnel):

I severly underestimated this node, when starting the build. With a slow, hardhitting spell like Glacier it‘s amazing. It goes like this: oneshot pack - teleport- oneshot next pack, don‘t spend mana. Try and see.

  • Step three: Mananodes in Glacier (Breaking point, Critical Juvenation, Cold Victory).

Early on these won‘t make a big difference. But they will scale great in the lategame thanks to step four:

  • Step four: Stacking flat mana on gear.

Both our Focus-specc, as well as the Mananodes in Glacier scale off our maximum mana, therefore our sustain gets better and better the more mana we have. To be 100% comfy we need at least 300. I‘m sitting at 388 atm and have overcome all issues.

  • Step five: getting critcapped.

Great not only for dps, but also for sustain with Critical Juvenation.

Exact Skill specialisations:

I apologize for not having a screenshot up yet.

  • Glacier:

Breaking Point 4/4 - Greater Destruction 2/4 - Mordita‘s Bane 4/4 - 3/5 Frost Grip - 1/1 Fading Echoes - 3/3 Resplendant Frost - 1/1 Critical Juvenation - 2/2 Cold victory.

Tip for leveling:
Rush Fading Echo, Mordita‘s Bane and Cold Victory, then fill in the rest.

  • Focus:

Edit Says OUTDATED with 07.7. Take Null Profusion/Null Infusion skip Calm MInd. Feel free to experiment with the remaining points.

[OUTDATED Desperate Meditation 2/5 - Null Profusion 1/1 - Null infusion 5/5 - Calm Mind 5/5 - Energy Battery 1/5 - Everward 1/5 - Mind Shield 5/5]

  • Teleport:

Crystaline Passage 2/5 - Time Dilation 4/5 - Mana Tunnel 1/1 - Tunnel Finder 5/5 - Ether Barrier 3/5 - Stable Bubble 5/5

Tip for leveling:
Rush Mana Tunnel and Tunnel Finder, then go for Stable Bubble, then fill in the rest.

  • Flame Ward:

100% mandatory skill, we grab all the instant ward stuff:

Stalwart Defense 5/5 - Concentrated Shielding 4/4 - Fortification 1/1 - Fuel the Flames 3/3 - Desperate Defense 3/3 - Astonish 1/1 - Barrier 2/5

Tip for Leveling:

Rush Fortification and Invigorate, then fill in.

  • Fifth skill

Here we have a lot of options. Fire Aura for a tad of ward and cold damage is the lazy man‘s choice, the godly pilot might go for Arcane Ascendance and the big Badabumm lover for Volcanic Orb-Frozen Orb.
I opted for Black Hole with maximum crowdcontrol:

Intensify 5/5 - Massive 5/5 - Umbral core 3/5 - Event Horizon 1/4 - Pulsar 1/1 - Deep space 2/6.

Gear and affixes:

General advice:

First of all you need to get Glancing Blow to 100% via the „Glancing Blow per equipped item with this affix“ Prefix.

You also need a lot of flat Mana.

Then prioritize Intelligence (for Ward retention and damage), critical strike avoidance and hp (more hp = more ward with our Chest).

For dps you need roughly 180% increased critical strike chance on gear to get critcapped together with the passives. Critmultiplier, % spelldamage, % Colddamage, % elemental damage and flat damage to spells all scale our dps well. I wouldn‘t be too picky here with the exact affix. If you craft from scratch, go for critmultiplier, where it‘s possible.

What we don‘t want are protections, they don‘t do enough for us.

Per Itemslot:

  • Chest:
    Exsanginous, mandatory.

  • Helmet:

In the Helmslot we have a pleasant choice. Either we can be lazy and use the Unique Helmet Boneclamor Barbute, wich is pretty good. Or we can be greedy and go for a great Jewelled Circlet with Cooldownreduction, Int and flat and percent hp. A great Circlet beats Boneclamor, but it is not easy to craft.

  • Weapon:

For the midgame the unique Frozen Ire is very nice.

In the endgame we use a Prophecy Wand with as much base spelldamage as we can find and as good damageaffixes as possible. In the suffix-slot we go for flat mana and either freezemultiplier or manaregeneration.

  • Offhand:

Clear choice here is a Bloodrust Aegis with as much damage and mana as possible. Freezemultiplier is also nice.

  • Amulett:

In the Amulettslot most bases are usable for us. Hp, basedamage, critchance, castspeed, dot-reduction, freezemultiplier are all ok stats. I wouldn‘t be too picky and go for whatever has the best affixes.
We want damage and/or Glancing Blow, Mana and Manaefficiency.

  • Rings:

Use Sapphire-, Ruby- or Silverrings. Go for Int, then Glancing Blow and/or damage, then Critical strike Avoidance and flat hp.

  • Belt:

We definitely get Glancing Blow here, the Belt can‘t roll a damage prefix for us. Then get % hp and either critavoidance or flat hp. The remaining prefix should be „Potion health converted to Ward“. It‘s not important, but the best we can get in that slot. (No Int, sigh)

  • Gloves:

Here we get Glancing Blow, Int , Mana and Critavoidance or hp. Noble gloves are best but not mandatory in any way.

  • Relic:

The best base is a Radiant Crest for the critmultiplier. Get Int and a damageprefix of your choice or Glancing blow. Suffixes are Mana and flat hp.

  • Boots:

Since we don‘t care about Armour, Herborean Boots are best in slot, because they come with the highest movespeed implicit. Other boots will do it as well though. We get Int and Glancing Blow, Movespeed and either critavoidance or Mana or flat hp.

  • Idols:

Wardretention and Ward/sec are our main priorities. Then Colddamage or Utility.

Passives:

Simply put: in the Passive Grid we get all the Int, all the mana, all the Wardretention and all the crit.

  • Mage:

Max Scholar, Arcanist, Warden and Knowledge of Destruction. 1 Point in reactive Ward, to unlock Warden.

  • Sorcerer:

Max Calculated destruction, Mana Shell, Wisdom and, most importantly Lost Knowledge.

(Mana Shell is relatively weak, and in case you can get to 300+ mana without it, you can drop it and go for dps or freezemultiplier instead.)

Then go for Crackling Precision, Arcane Insight and Arcane Obliteration. Once you have those you have everything the build needs and can grab Archmage and Recollection.

The last points then are just Icing on the cake. I took Afterglow, onepointed Arcane avalance and Elixir of Knowledge and will finish off with Cyromancer.

Edit says: After i managed to get my mana high enough, that i could comfortably drop Mana Shell, i tried out Distant Spark (spark nova proccs) and its amazing. It felt way more impactful than Afterglow . I think now, that i should have taken Distant Spark earlier, probably once i’ve surpassed 70-80% effective critchance with Glacier.

Because the damageincrease from Afterglow wasn’t very big, i decided, that i would go for Arcane Avalanche rather than Cyromancer to round things out (more Freezemulti), and dump the last 2-3 points into castspeed (Arcane Momentum) for the smoother feeling.

Whoever made it to the end of this:

thanks for reading and i hope you enjoy the build, in case you try it out.

Cheers,
Tweedle.

6 Likes
2

Bumped due to a few edits with new information.

3

Any advice for leveling with this build? Or alternatives until you can get Exsanginous?

4

Good build description, I like having all the detail in text format. If you (or anyone!) ever get the chance to post a video I’d love to see this in action!

5

@skiddroww: Glacier is great for leveling, it has good dps throughout the game. Pick up Focus and Teleport as second and third skill. If you don’t have them yet, use whatever you like in the meantime. Then get Flameward and transition to Ward. (Until Glacier use whatever feels best for you).

At early levels you won’t have much crit, therefore just scaling with spell-, cold- or elementaldamage is better than critmulti. When you have maxed out Calculated Destruction, this changes. Try to get some critmultiplier then, if possible.

At the start you still want protections on gear, especially Void, Necrotic and Poison. Once you have a few thousand Ward, they become less and less effective.

I haven’t played this without Exsanginous though and i wouldn’t recommend it as a “starter” build. You would most likely have to roll a life-ward hybrid build, because Sorcerer doesn’t support pure life well. In terms of damage it won’t make a difference, but it will be a lot weaker defensively.

@Katalaeia: Thanks for your kind words. I’ll google for a recording software. But no promises, i’m lazy like a lion :grin:.

1 Like
6

You mean 180% on gear with all the passive you’ve listed or 180% total ?

Cuz sof ar I’m at 95% from gear and I don,t even have all the crit passive yet (Im just lvl 45) and I always crit. Not a single white number from Glacier.

7

Have to say, this build is a blast. Just leveled it to 52 today. Leveling was a breeze, hit 82 in arena with barely any gear. got up to 17 clears on mono. Really stepping up my farming game. Luckily found that frozen ire on one of my monolith runs too, so that was cool. Any new tips/tricks you’ve figured out?

8

Don’t die.

Though in all honest, higher waves in the Arena are more about managing the big telegraphed hits from champions than anything else (eg, the necrotic death scream from undead chicken champions & the big slam from the voidfused earth champs).

9

Going to give this a try today, as Lich has just gotten boring for me.

10

Depends on if you’re using catalyst or staff, as well as which crit passives you took on tree. If you have 6% crit catalyst, then you only need 335% increased crit total, or 95% from gear (and you only need 1 point in the crit chance as pre-req for crit multi). If you have staff, you need 490% crit chance (so he’s going 310% from tree maxing all crit nodes and 180% from gear)

11

Nice guide. Like your style :wink:

For recording: Do you use windows 10? There is a game overlay you can use to record. If you have a geforce graphics card you can record via geforce experience. The recording is just pressing the button. The cutting is the part that takes time :grin:

12

Hey guys! Just came back after playing a lot of PoE during the last few weeks. The build got nerfed a bit, since i made the guide, but apparently it still works, that’s nice. I’m very happy that people seem to enjoy it.

@XLVI_carpo: Yes, i use both Win10 and a Geforce card. So you’r saying there is a recording software somewhere on my comp already :D. I hope i can find it, lol.

Edit says i managed to record something, hype. Now the next step: i guess i need to upload this video somewhere, presumably youtube or imgur? Halp plz :sweat_smile:

13

Hey Tweedledee,
I’d love to help but I just know the theory. :sweat_smile: AFAIK imgur is not for videos. If you wanna make a short clip on imgur you have to convert your video to a gif (this works via special websites). Else YouTube is the way to go.

Maybe you can get help here from pros on the forum. @boardman21 and @Thyworm do upload guides regularly. You could ask them for aid. :crossed_fingers:

14

Thx :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:. I’m currently trying to adapt my youtube account. At least i already managed to rename myself to “tweedledee” on youtube^^.

15

Help with making youtube videos? I just recently found out about nvidea shadowplay works well with geforce cards as its downloaded from and made by geforce its right in there website. Use it as an overlay and you dont even need to ever hit start recording. You can have it akways record and then just hit a button and it will save the last 1-15 minutes whatever you choose. No lag great quality

16

@boardman21 Thx, will check it out!

17

Hey Tweedle, hit me up over here or on Discord (Thyworm #8484) if you want help with YouTube and uploading and yt settings and all.
–Thy

18

:heart_eyes_cat: Wow so much halp!
@Thyworm: Thank you so much for your kind offer. I will add you on discord, (i’m some sort of tweedledee there too) and we’ll see, whether i need your help.

19

Small video up. I hate my voice :face_with_thermometer:.

20

Nice guide and video !
I’ve been wanting to watch video from before.

I think it would be better to remove the age limit and allow video embedding. :+1: