Witch - [3.24] Cold DOT Occultist - Forum - Path of Exile (2024)

1. Creeping Frost & Cold Snap
2. Curse Enemies with Bane (Frostbite and Elemental Weakness)
3. Drop Frostbomb (or spam Creeping Frost if you have gloves implicit which applies exposure) for Cold Exposure
4. Frostblink/Cold Snap to proc Bonechill's effect (this would be automatically applied by Skitterbots later on)
5. When damaged, wait for Wicked Ward/ES to recharge before re-engaging.

Start with Freezing Pulse then transition to Creeping Frost

Links:
-Creeping Frost & Efficacy
-Frostblink, Frostbomb, Arcane Surge
-Clarity

Grab Cold Snap, Controlled Destruction, and Elemental Focus. You may prefer Cold Snap over Creeping Frost for levelling.

Links:
-Cold Snap, Controlled Destruction, Elemental Focus
-Frostblink, Frostbomb, Arcane Surge
-Clarity
-Creeping Frost

Some gems might be too expensive (especially when you're just starting out) so grab these in their order of priority: Purity of Elements, Frostbite, Discipline, Bane, Elemental Weakness. We'll be utilizing Purity of Elements as a crutch for our elemental resistances until early maps. Also, be on the lookout for 4-link gear. Grab Vile Bastion for your ascendancy points.

Links:
-Cold Snap, Controlled Destruction, Elemental Focus
-Frostblink, Frostbomb, Arcane Surge (Lvl. 1)
-Clarity, Purity of Elements, Discipline
-Bane, Frostbite
-Creeping Frost

If you have a 4-link:
-Cold Snap, Creeping Frost, Controlled Destruction, Elemental Focus

NOTE: DO NOT be pressured into linking these gems and socketing your gear. The most you'll need is the main damaging skill, auras (especially Purity of Elements), and movement skill (Frostblink).

Grab Bonechill. 5-links can appear here BUT there is no pressure for 5-link.

Links:
-Cold Snap, Creeping Frost, Controlled Destruction, Elemental Focus
-Frostblink, Frostbomb, Bonechill
-Clarity, Purity of Elements, Discipline
-Bane, Frostbite

Not much to be said, really. Grab Void Beacon and Frigid Wake for your ascendancies. Socket Elemental Weakness when you can apply an additional curse. Be on the lookout for Rime Gaze. It's usually cheap due to its common drop (even at leaguestart) AND it's extremely good for Cold DoT. It's +50 Cold DoT Multiplier AND essentially allows us to run Cold Snap as a pseudo 5-link skill gem.

Links:
-Cold Snap, Creeping Frost, Controlled Destruction, Elemental Focus
-Frostblink, Frostbomb, Bonechill
-Clarity, Purity of Elements, Discipline
-Bane, Frostbite, Elemental Focus

If you have Rime Gaze:
-Cold Snap, Bonechill, Controlled Destruction, Elemental Focus
-Creeping Frost, Controlled Destruction, Elemental Focus, Efficacy (or Cruelty depending on socket colors)
-Bane, Frostbite, Elemental Focus
-Frostblink, Frostbomb, Arcane Surge (Lvl. 1)
-Clarity, Purity of Elements, Discipline

Perhaps it is time to stop relying on Purity of Elements as a crutch for resistances BUT do not be pressured to immediately remove it. Once you are ready, replace it with Malevolence. Grab Unholy Authority for your final ascendancy points. From hereon, I will assume that you have Rime Gaze and a 5-link body armor. This might also be the best time to transition to Chaos Inoculation (CI). We will also add Enfeeble + Blasphemy & Cast When Damage Taken (CWDT) + Immortal Call as extra defensive layers.

Links:
-Cold Snap, Bonechill, Controlled Destruction, Elemental Focus
-Creeping Frost, Controlled Destruction, Elemental Focus, Cruelty/Efficacy, Inspiration
-Bane, Frostbite, Elemental Focus
-Frostblink, Frostbomb, Arcane Surge (Lvl. 1)
-Clarity, Malevolence, Discipline
-Enfeeble + Blasphemy
-CWDT (Lvl. 1) + Immortal Call (Lvl. 3)

This is mostly polishing and refining. I do not even bother looking for a six-link.
-You can grab a Mark of the Shaper and an accompanying Elder Ring.
-You can also roll Searing Exarch/Eater of Worlds Implicits on your gloves and boots (Cold DoT Multi, Cold Exposure on Gloves & Scorched Ground on Boots).
-Gather/Complete Pantheons (Abberath and Arakaali) which increases our survivability to Damage over Time (Burning Ground, Ignite, and Chaos DoT).
-BUT I just usually save up a lot of currency for the next big upgrade which is...

Going for low-life which requires:
-Shavronne's Wrapping's
-Prism Guardian
-Presence of Chayula

This would cost ~5 Divines (more or less depending on the economy) BUT it allows us to run extra auras which further improve our damage and defensive capabilities.

Links:
-Cold Snap, Creeping Frost, Controlled Destruction, Elemental Focus, Cruelty/Efficacy, Inspiration
-Grace, Hatred, Malevolence (on shield)
-Summon Skitterbots, Bonechill, Frostblink
-Bane, Frostbite, Elemental Weakness
-Discipline, Clarity (Lvl. 7; depending on your mana pool)
-Blasphemy + Enfeeble, CWDT (Lvl. 1) + Immortal Call (Lvl. 3)

NOTE: You would also need a corrupted jewel with an increased reservation efficiency implicit for this set-up.

Respec Vile Bastion to Profane Bloom (Presence of Chayula grants us our stun immunity).

For offense:
-Gem Levels (Empower Gem, Awakened Ele. Focus, Wand, Corrupted Armor Implicits)
-Awakened Gems (Elemental Focus, Controlled Destruction)
-Damage Over Time Multiplier (Wand, Skill Tree)
-Cold Spell Damage (Wand, Gem Quality, Skill Tree)
-Watcher's Eye (DoT Multi while affected by Malevolence; Increased Cold Damage while affected by Hatred)

For defense:
-More ES (Gear, Skill Tree)
-Corrupted Jewel (Immunity to Corrupted Blood)
-Watcher's Eye (Immunity to Bleeding while affected by Malevolence)
-Traitor Keystone

To expound on The Traitor, this allows us to utilize Coruscating Elixir and replace Shavs with a higher ES armor (I personally prefer Ghostwrithe for it's life to ES conversion and Chaos resistance. It also allows us to almost perma-run an extra flask (or two, if you have an increased flask duration/charges gained belt). I usually opt for a Silver Flask (with an increased % evasion rating) and a Quicksilver.

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