[3.14] Lancing Steel CoC Ice Spear

Intro

This build was inspired by fastAF's build using similar mechanics (i.e., procc-ing Ice Spear using Lancing Steel instead of the more conventional approach of using Barrage or Tornado Shot) with Beltimbers. Here's a link to the mentioned video.

The build in the video uses Deadeye and full uniques for the purpose of serving as proof-of-concept. So I took a crack at making the build more viable for what I consider end-game (a8 Sirus, 10-way Maven Inv., slightly juiced t16 maps, around that level of difficulty), and to better fit my playstyle/budget.

Changelog
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Jul-01-2021: post created
Jul-05-2021: added "Videos" section
Aug-21-2021: 3.15
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Haven't tried the build this league so take the following with grain of salt until someone can attest to these changes/notes. But looking at the PoB mana sustain might be rough, but might still work. Following are some notes/changes on/to the build:

- We didn't rely on Diamond Flask before to cap crit chance, so it's still at 100%

- We lose the additional curse (Frostbite) from the changes to Awakened Hextouch, but that was always more of a min-max option anyway

- We also lose Blade Blast (and thus Unnerve), but can be replaced with an Anomalous Flame Golem

- Due to the price of Enlighten this league, removing it makes mana really rough. Should still be able to sustain without it from leech alone. Might want to consider slotting in an Enduring Mana Flask of Heat in place of Quartz since it was nerfed

- Losing Cold Conduction sucks, but such is life. I would likely drop that Medium Cluster entirely and re-spec those points into Discord Artisan taking the reservation nodes. This will help give more breathing room mana-wise.

These notes are made from memory of the patch notes. If I missed something let me know and I can address it.



Pros & Cons
Pros:

+ Fast (and satisfying) clear
+ Good single target
+ Good movement speed
+ Decent sustain with Life Gained on Hit (LGoH) and elemental damage leech


Cons:

- Map mod "Enemies have 70% chance to avoid elemental ailments" and "Monsters
have +#% elemental resistance" are doable, but noticeably annoying
- Can't do elemental reflect maps
- Dodge based, so can get "randomly" one-shot
- Full build strength reliant on Power Charges


HC, SSF, League Start Viable?
HC Viability:
I'm not a HC player, but considering it's a dodge character I'll say "play HC at your own risk". From my experience in softcore, I wouldn't try it in HC without making some changes to defenses.

SSF Viability:
Honestly, no idea. There is no mandatory uniques other than Beltimbers which aren't the rarest to drop. So maybe, if you know what you're doing...?

League Start Viability:
Also don't know. When I leveled this build I already had leveling uniques so it was a breeze. I do plan on league starting during 3.15 so maybe I'll update this post then.

Videos
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In the videos I was using gear/gems from "Final PoB" (can be found in the next section). All maps were run at A8.

T15 Toxic Sewer & T16 Atoll:
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In the Toxic Sewer and Atoll videos I was using Clear Setup 02. This way you can get a feel for the single target potential of the build w/o having to gem swap into the Single Target Setup.

The Atoll video is a good illustration of one of this build's cons, i.e., dependency on Power Charges. At the very start of the map I take a bit to start ramping up Power Charges, and thus there's no Ice Shot proc or mobs dying.

t15 Toxic Sewer (has Delirium mirror)
t16 Atoll


Forge of the Phoenix:
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I run the same setup as the previous videos with the only difference being that I swap into the Single Target gem setup before going into the boss arena.

Phoenix



Path of Building
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"Budget" (~15ex) PoB: https://pastebin.com/AfWs923N
Final PoB: https://pastebin.com/CgxvvMQn

I tried keeping the PoBs with as little dps fluff as possible; however keep in mind that the boxes ticked in "Configuration" tab and the selected gem set-up are for single target.

Things to keep in mind while looking through the PoBs:
- Dodge values are taking Elusive into account. Elusive is triggered with crit hits -- which will be consistent once you have power charges up -- but decay over time. So while PoB shows 74/64 dodge values, un-checking "Are you Elusive?" in the "Configuration" tab will yield more conservative values

- Power Charges is also checked since they are generated through our Ascendancy, and thus will have 99% uptime with the 1% of downtime being at the start of new map and bosses with long starting animations (Sirus, Shaper, that asshole from Frozen Cabins, etc.)

- We are always leeching due to our gloves (more on that in the Gear section), so box is ticked

- We are always using a movement skill (more on that in the Gem section), so box is ticked

- Boss is chilled by our hits since we aren't using Elemental Focus, and boss is Unnerved from Blade Blast (more on that in Gem section)


Gear
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Disclaimer: The gear listed below is what I had equipped by the end of the league. I'll point out mods that were more for QoL and/or min-max and which the build can do without. Additionally, ignore the gems. They are also what I had by the end of the build, and not indicative of what is required to make the build feel good. I was simply too lazy to link the gear without the gems.

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Weapons:
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As far as I am concerned, these are BiS. The "Skills fire 2 additional Projectiles if you've used a Movement Skill Recently" is great! And because we'll be using Phase Run on M1 (left click) this mod will always be active essentially giving us permanent +4 extra projectiles.

If min-maxing I suppose you can chase the "#% chance to gain Onslaught for # seconds on Kill" to make mapping even smoother with the added movement speed (attack speed doesn't really do much for us).


Chest:
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For our chest, we'll be using a rare with "Attacks have +#% to Critical Strike Chance". A good life roll comes in handy for sustain. Any resistance on it is just gravy. We should be able to cap resistances on other gear without resistance on our chest.

This is another gear piece that can be min-maxed for more life ("#% increased Maximum Life") and/or more damage ("You can apply an additional Curse", "#% to Spell Critical Strike Chance"). I did not bother pursuing min-maxed chest piece since it was overkill and not needed.


Helmet:
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Crown of the Inward Eye has a good balance of life and damage and is quite cheap, especially after the first week of new league. Getting one with the "Ice Spear fires an additional projectile" enchant is not super expensive either.

Blizzard Crown with "+1 to Maximum Power Charges" and "Nearby enemies have -9% to Cold Resistance" along with the enchant offers more damage (~+11%) but you'll lose out on life. I did not bother buying/crafting a min-maxed helm since Crown of the Inward Eye was enough to do all the content I wanted to do.


Gloves:
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Offering to the Serpent allows us to be continuously leeching. With some LGoH rings and elemental damage leech it offers a nice bit of sustain, as long as we aren't one-shotted. It also provides damage while leeching and some attributes which comes in handy.


Boots:
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Once again, rare with resistances and life is more than enough. 30% movement speed is highly recommended for a bit of extra zoom-zoom.

Tailwind is a nice little movement speed boost, but you can go for Onslaught on Kill for even more movement speed (or both Tailwind and Onslaught). Just keep in mind that Tailwind would have 100% up-time during boss fights, whereas Onslaught on Kill is reliant on ads phase and will eventually run out.

The "#% increased Effect of Non-Damaging Ailments" is a chase mod. It offers us extra damage through Bonechill and increased shock effect from Cold Conduction notable.

Lastly, there are two really good enchantments you can get: "Damage Penetrates 10% of Enemy Elemental Resistances if you haven't Killed Recently", and "120% increased Critical Strike Chance if you haven't Crit Recently". Both are more big boss focus since you'll be killing/crit-ing constantly while mapping. The crit strike chance is a good QoL to more quickly ramp up the Power Charges at the beginning of fights. While elemental resistance pen is a buff you'll have throughout the entire fight. Personal preference which to chase after.


Belt and Rings:
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This is where you want to focus your resistances on. Rares with resistances and life is good enough to take us to t16 maps and a8 sirus. Additionally, look for needed stats here (mainly Strength).

The "#% increased Cold Damage" is just extra and something to look for if your budget allows it.

Getting LGoH on the rings is a sizeable boost to survivability due to Lancing Steel firing a crap ton of projectiles. My final build only has LGoH on one ring, and it ain't even T1. So if you wish to have even higher survivability look for T1 mod from either Elder or Hunter influence on both rings.


Amulet:
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For our amulet try to focus on damage mods with some life. "#% increased Spell Damage", "+#% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier" are good ones that are also relatively cheap to get your hands on. Can also look for "#% of Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Mana" (note: if you get this mod, there is no need to get mana leech from the tree).

I went with Overcharge (+1 to Maximum Power Charges) annointment to avoid spending loads of skill points travelling to the left side of the tree for one notable. Additionally, Overcharge works well with Inner Conviction keystone we get from Militant Faith timeless jewel.

If looking to min-max can chase after "+1 Level to all Cold Skill Gems" and "+1 Level to all Intelligence Skill Gems" for an extra ~14% damage boost.


Jewels:
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Non-uniques:

We looking for the usual here: "#% increased Maximum Life", Crit Multi, and some other generic damage mod. If min-maxing can look for triple Crit Multi jewels. Once again, I didn't chase min-maxed since it was not needed.

Uniques:

Watcher's Eye: "+#% to Critical Strike Chance while affected by Hatred" is really nice to help cap out Lancing Steel's crit chance for more frequent Ice Spear procs. If min-maxing, double Hatred Watcher's Eye will be a big boost. Or you can go with Hatred crit chance and "+# Life gained for each Enemy Hit while affected by Vitality" for extra survivability. Or if extremely rich/lucky a double Hatred + LGoH Vitality.

Lord of Steel: the only mod that matters here is "Call of Steel has #% increased use speed". We aren't scaling impale or AoE. If you're comfortable with the default speed of Call of Steel you could replace Lord of Steel with another base jewel for extra life/damage.

Militant Faith: this goes in the jewel socket near Pain Attunement transforming it into Inner Conviction (3% more Spell Damage per Power Charge). This build easily reaches 7 Power Charges yielding 21% more spell damage. The more you invest in obtaining Power Charges on gear, the more this notable provides in terms of damage boost.

The seed of the timeless jewel doesn't matter. Just make sure that it's "[...] converted by High Templar Dominus". None of the other lines matter. You can, of course, look for something that will provide additional boosts to the build. I didn't.

Cluster Jewels:

We use one Cold Damage Large Cluster Jewel (or Elemental Damage; cheaper and damage hit isn't significant) with eight passive points, and two Medium Cluster Jewels (one crit based, the other non-damaging ailment based).

The best combination for the large cluster, in my opinion, is Blanketed Snow - Prismatic Heart - Doryani's Lesson, however it is very expensive. Until I had farmed enough currency for a three notable cluster jewel I was using a cheap one with two notables (Prismatic Heart and Doryani's Lesson). Once I had enough I purchased a three notable with Prismatic Heart - Vengeful Commander - Doryani's Lesson. This was primarily to get some skill points back and reinvest them elsewhere on the tree.

For crit based medium cluster jewel we go with 4 or 5 passives with Basics of Pain and Pressure Points to help Lancing Steel's crit chance.

For non-damaging ailment cluster jewel we go, again, with 4 or 5 passives with Cold Conduction and Astonishing Affliction. You can also go with Stormrider instead of Astonishing Affliction for added chance of getting Power Charges ("10% chance to gain a Power Charge when you Shock a Chilled Enemy"), just make sure it's paired with Cold Conduction so we shock chilled enemies.


Flasks:
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The only flask I'd say is mandatory is Dying Sun for the extra projectiles. Other than that you can go with whatever setup you prefer. The above was mine.

Atziri's Promise for the life leech. Quart's Flask with Alchemist's prefix for the extra dodge and phasing. Quicksilver flasks for speed -- you can replace this with Diamond of Adrenaline until you have the veiled crit mod from Catarina.

If you're feeling extra spicy you can swap the life flask for Cinderswallow (preferably crit variant, but any will do) during mapping. Just make sure you have fire damage somewhere in your gear to proc the "Enemies Ignited by you during Flask Effect take 10% increased Damage" mod.

And if you got the currency, or farm it yourself, can always slot in Bottled Faith.




Gems
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As you'll notice, I have made a "Single Target" gem setup, and a "Clear Setup", thus requiring gem swaps for the harder bosses. However, I do want to make clear that if you don't wish to gem swap (i.e., use Clear Setup 01 for all content) you'll still be able to do all the content I listed at the beginning just fine. Certain bosses/map mods will just make the fight last a bit longer.

"Budget" Gem Setups
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Single Target:
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Lancing Steel - Cast on Critical Strike - Ice Spear - Added Cold Damage - Cold Penetration - Hypothermia

The reason I didn't opt for Controlled Destruction was because it lowered Lancing Steel's crit chance. If you manage to get enough crit chance in gear/jewels where the crit chance hit from Controlled Destruction is acceptable, then you can replace Hypothermia with it.

Elemental Focus wasn't chosen because Astonishing Affliction and Cold Conduction requires you to chill the enemies for them to work, and I didn't want to come up with an alternate way of chilling during mapping choosing instead to take the damage hit so Ice Spear can do the chilling.


Clear Setup:
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I played around with three Clear Setups to see if there was any that outperformed the others. There were nominal improvements in clear speed (barely noticeable, really) from Setup 01 -> 03.

Setup 01:
Lancing Steel - Cast on Critical Strike - Ice Spear - Added Cold Damage - Cold Penetration - Pierce

Setup 02:
Lancing Steel - Cast on Critical Strike - Ice Spear - Added Cold Damage - Creeping Frost - Pierce

Setup 03:
Lancing Steel - Cast on Critical Strike - Ice Spear - Added Cold Damage - Creeping Frost - Chain

I stuck with "Setup 02" because the clear improvements from "Setup 02" to "Setup 03" was, quite honestly, negligible.

NOTE: "Setup 01" is the only one that doesn't require your chest piece to have at least one white socket for the gem swaps from Single Target to Clear Setup. I want to reiterate, and stress, that the clear speed difference is not significant enough to force a specific Clear Setup.


Auras:
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Precision - Herald of Ice - Hatred - Enlighten

You can do without a level 3 Enlighten, but it'll be quite frustrating having barely enough mana to do anything. A level 2 will already help alleviate your mana issues. If you don't have an Enlighten, I'd recommend dropping Hatred for the time being. It gives the most damage, but HoI clear (and pops) are too good to drop, and Precision help Lancing Steel's crit chance.

We get one mana leech node from the tree to further help with mana sustain. You can also get it as a mod on a piece of jewelry (don't need node on tree then).


Movement:
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Flame Dash - Arcane Surge - Phase Run

I highly recommend binding Phase Run to whatever key you use for moving around. This way you'll always be casting it, thus proccing Beltimbers +2 proj mod. If you are a better player than I am, and can keep the mod active with Flame Dash alone, then you can replace Phase Run with whatever other gem you want. Vaal Grace is a good suggestion for the added dodge (can also be binded to movement key for ease of casting).

Make sure that Arcane Surge's mana requirement to proc is just below that of Flame Dash so that using one instance of Flame Dash procs Arcane Surge (this should be around level 6).

It is not required to have all three linked, but having all three linked will ensure near 100% uptime for Arcane Surge with both Flame Dash and Phase Run contributing to the mana cost for proc.


Debuff 01:
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Arcanist Brand - Frost Bomb - Sniper's Mark - Blade Blast

I use an Arcanist Brand 4L setup because I'm lazy and don't want a bunch of buttons to press for the debuffs. With the gear showcased in the gear section I was able to kill most bosses before Arcanist Brand completed one cycle of applying the debuffs. During Shaper/Sirus I would drop the brand near them whenever I felt safe enough.

Frost Bomb for the Cold Exposure, Sniper's Mark for the increased damage from projectile hits, and Blade Blast for the Unnerved debuff.


Debuff 02:
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Cold Snap - Bonechill - Increased Duration - Vaal Righteous Fire

Cold Snap to apply chill on enemies, and Bonechill for the "Enemies Chilled by Supported Skills have Cold Damage taken increased by Chill Effect" mod. Cold Snap also helps with Power Charge generation if you have Inner Conviction. The second line states that we gain Power Charges instead of Frenzy Charges, and since killing enemies on Cold Snap's area has 25% chance to give Frenzy Charges we have 25% chance of gaining Power Charges instead.


CWDT Setup:
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Cast When Damage Taken - Immortal Call - Summon Flame Golem

Level Cast When Damage Taken to whatever level you are most comfortable with. I kept it at level 4 with the linked gems at the appropriate levels to ensure they would proc.



Final Gem Setups
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Most of the links for the Final setup are the same as the "Budget" version but with upgrades. With the exception of the Debuff 02 setup. Here we add Awakened Hextouch for the additional curse (Frostbite). We will be dropping Summon Flame Golem to make room for this setup.

Single Target:
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Lancing Steel - Cast on Critical Strike - Divergent Ice Spear - Awakened Added Cold Damage - Awakened Cold Penetration - Hypothermia

You can also upgrade Cast on Critical Strike to its awakened version for more min-maxing. Leaving it out of the links above due to price-to-improvement ratio not being worth it, in my opinion.


Clear Setup:
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Setup 01:
Lancing Steel - Cast on Critical Strike - Divergent Ice Spear - Awakened Added Cold Damage - Awakened Cold Penetration - Pierce

Setup 02:
Lancing Steel - Cast on Critical Strike - Divergent Ice Spear - Awakened Added Cold Damage - Creeping Frost - Pierce

Setup 03:
Lancing Steel - Cast on Critical Strike - Divergent Ice Spear - Awakened Added Cold Damage - Creeping Frost - Chain

You can also upgrade Cast on Critical Strike to its awakened version for more min-maxing. Leaving it out of the links above due to price-to-improvement ratio not being worth it, in my opinion.


Auras:
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Same as "Budget" version

Divergent Precision is in a similar boat as Awakened Cast on Critical Strike. The increase from such a large investment is simply not worth it. But it's there if you wish to go all out.


Movement:
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Same as "Budget" version


Debuff 01:
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Same as "Budget" version

Can invest in Divergent Frost Bomb for the addtional AoE.


Debuff 02:
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Anomalous Cold Snap - Divergent Bonechill - Awakened Hextouch - Frostbite

Here the investment in Awakened Hextouch to give us Frostbite justifies the high cost for the gem.


CWDT Setup:
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Cast When Damage Taken - Immortal Call, Vaal Righteous Fire




Ascendancy and Pantheon
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Ascendancy:
Personal preference. Below is my path of preference. I like getting crits going as early as possible, then Elusive for zoominess, and lastly Opportunistic for single target boost.

Unstable Infusion -> Deadly Infusion -> Mistwalker -> Opportunistic

Pantheon:
Personal preference. I had the Brine King for major god for the stun immunity if stunned recently. For minor god I would change around frequently based on what I was running. If I were just mapping I'd keep it on Soul of Abberath for the Burning Ground immunity.


Final Words
This build has been a crap ton of fun! The clear is just so goddamn satisfying with HoI explosions! I will try to get some videos of the build in action for the build.

This is my first build post, so I still have a bunch to learn. So if you have a question and I can't answer, then hopefully someone else can and we can both learn together!
Последняя редакция: KizorxD#7029. Время: 9 авг. 2021 г., 19:30:59
Last bumped30 июня 2021 г., 17:55:31

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