[Class Build Solo Ice-Wizard] : Coldhearth

[Dr <3]

Yo listen up here's a story
About a big guy that lives in a blue world
And all day and all night and everything he sees Is just blue
Like him inside and outside
Blue his castle with a blue little window
And a blue armor
And everything is blue for him
And himself and everybody around
'Cause he ain't got nobody to listen

I'm Blue da ba dee da ba daa

 

- Adra 65, famous band from the living-landsr - 

 

 

Coldhearth came from an ice region of the living lands, everything around him is always surrounded by a chill fog in wich is impossible to see clearly,  his opponents (beacause he doesn't have any friend)  can only see the blue surround them before freeze to death.

 

 

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Coldhearth

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Difficulty: PotD v. 3.03 - solo

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Class: Wizard

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Race: Costal Amaua (official) (for +20 to stun/prone resistance) or Pale Elf (for +10 ice-fire res)

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Background: Living lands - Background : settler (+2 survival) or whathever boos mechs or survival

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Stats:

MIG: 21

CON: 16

DEX: 05

PER: 10

INT: 16

RES: 10

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Skills: Stealth 0, Athl. 3, Lore 2 (wizard), Mech. 10, Surv. all the rest (around 9-11 endgame) 

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Talents (a=auto, r=recommended, !=important)   n.b. : order is not important

Arcane Veil

Weapon and Shield Style

Hardened Veil

Secrets of Rime

Bear's Fortitude

Veteran's Recovery

Body Control

Gallant Focus

 

 

Bonus story talents : Gift from the machine; Second skin ®; dungeon delver; Rymrgand Boon for RP reason (or Galawayn boon for powerplay reason); song of the heaven; toss Manhea in to the poll for more Str & Prone-Stun resistance

 

 

Abilities

Towering Physique(a)

Arcane Assault (a)

Second Wind

 

Mastered Wizard Spells

Chill fog (!)

Vital essence

Daom

Shadowflame

 

1st Level Wizard Spells

Chill fog (!)

Slicken

Spirit Shield

Fan of flames

 

2nd Level Wizard Spells

Burning wounds ®

Infuse vital essence (!)

Concelhaut corrosive siphon

Merciless gaze

 

3rd Level Wizard Spells

Concelhaut's Draining Touch

Deleterious alacrity of movement (!)

Dislocated image of Llengrath ®

 

4th Level Wizard Spells

Confusion ®

Essential Phantom ®

Shadowflame (!)

Pull of Eora

 

5th Level Wizard Spells

Bitter Mooring (!)

Blast of frost ®

Call to Slumber

 

6th Level Wizard Spells

Citzal's Martial Power

Adragan Gaze

Minoletta's Precisely Piercing Burst

Freezing pillar (!)

 

7th Level Wizard Spells

Ninagauth's Killing Bolt

Substantial Phantom

Wall of Draining ®

 

8th Level Wizard Spells

Freezing Rake (!)

 

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Items (*=additional echantments by me; !=important, r=recommended):

 

Weapon set 1: Captain Accio Anger (*Exceptional, *Ice Lash, * Durgan Reinforced), Little Savior (*Durgan Reinforced) [before a normal hatched and a normal small shield will do the job. Scath Gwannek if aviable for RP reasons]

Weapon Set 2: whatever

 

Boots: Shood of faith

 

Head: Maegfolk Skull (i'm addicted to this item in solo, it just add so much survivability). Before : garoth chorus, +2 int helm

 

Armor: White Crest Armor for RP reason, Sanguine plate for power play (*Superb, *Piercing-Proofed, *Durgan Reinforced, INT+2)

 

Neck: Rymgirand Mantle or Father's Teeth (non 100% solo approved)

 

Belt: Chime belt / Looped rope (non 100% solo approved) / blunting belt

 

Rings: Ring of Deflection, Iron Circle (+4 CON ring)

 

Hands: Bracers of speed (+15% action speed) or Gloves of mechanics

 

Quick slots: Food, figurines, whatever

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DISCLAIMER : when i "solo" i like to actually hire the official companion of the story to use them for the stronghold related quest and get the relative items because i like them. If you are a solo purist, and don't want to hire anyone for achivement reason there are some sobstitution to do in the item-department

 

 

This is my personal spinoff from the Boeroer Bilestomper wizard guide.

 

I was very impressed by it, expecially by the "high fortitude approach" for avoid being hit from your own spells and from  the vast majoirty of affliction.

But i was also disappointed by the general lack of good corrode/poison spells in the game (you run out of good spells after 1-2 battles and i hate to rest a lot), so i decided to take the "ice route", since the ice-based wizard spells up to now are among the strongest in game and there are a good number.

 

I tried to maintain as high as possible the fortitude, but in this case is a bit less critical, since some ice spells are enemy only (Freezing pillar, freezing rake, Ice Blast) and anyway without the +20 def from hale and hardy (dwarf talent) i could not reach the perfect untouchability of the original  build. Anyway is high enough to make enemies miss most of time.

 

Why Aumaua ? BECAUSE HE'S BLUE !!!!

 

( A totally secondary reason is because when i solo the thing i hate most is to be perma-stunned/disabled, so i rate for the +20 def higher than +10 ice res of the pale elf. He is a good alternative anyway.)

 

Like the Boeroer build, here the main business is go straight in the battle, and start spamming ice based AOE spells until we are the ony one still alive. High CON helps in the latter. Since DEX is a bit sinked (and we wear heavy armour) i took the speed gloves and the belt of chimes to help in casting speed and to help against interruption. When i play solo i hate to kite and splitting mobs, and with this guy you can do most encounter without use these tactics.

You can chill yourself in the middle of your(s) freezing pillar(s) or at the border of yuor(s) chill fog(s) while waching hopeless mobs freezing to death.

 

ICE SPELLS:

 

Chill fog : bred and butter from lvl 1. Mastered asap at lvl 9. This remain a bomb trough all the game. Blind yoursel is obviouly a very bad thing, but you can avoid quite easily aiming good the spell and with the help of a wall (so you are not surrounded). If you have a bad aim you can always resort to the crossed pach for blind immunity :D. Stack 2 or 3 of these is enough to win most battles.

Shadowflame : another bomb: good dmg and paralyze for everyone. Paralyze do 2 things for you : avoid tour death and lowers opponent's reflex, so other shadowflames, fireballs, freezin pillars, freezing rake hit easyer and harder.

Bitter Mooring : death sentence for single mobs and very powerful in choke points. Kills fast, very powerful spell.

Blast of frost : actually i seldom use it since it is in the same slot of bitter mooring, that i think is stronger. I use it mainly when i need a burst of dmg to kill something at istant speed.

Freezing pillar : the empowered version of chill fog. No need to add other things

Freezing Rake : our endgame blast of frost. Huge dmg in a good area, is a bit difficult to aim sometimes

 

N.B. : for who is not aware: multiple chill fogs/freezing pillars STACK WITH THEMSELF, so you can create around yourself a huge area of ICE DEATH for everyone

 

Typical spell chain:

- Essential spectre / figurine/ eventual confusion

- Daom (!)

- Shadowflame

- Chill fog x 3 / Alternate between chill fog and freezing pillar

- At the end of the fight infuse vital essence for regenereate lost health

 

Other interaction :

- Abuse wall of draining for extend your buffs (arcane veil+ daom+ veteran recovery + merciless gaze) for 60+ sec helps A LOT

- Use infuse vital essence to heal yourself before fights end (this regenerates the total health pool, not only endurance)

- Use Concelhaut's Draining Touch for lower enemies fortitude before use chill fog

- Using burning wounds after trowing 1-2 chill fog/ freezing pillars greatly enanche the dmg (and our 2 lvl slot have not many other powerful options)

 

 

 

Item to get ASAP : the rymgrand mantle in the first Inn (day 2 if i remember good) and the mechanic gloves in Roedrics Keep (day 5 if i remember correctly); plate from moon godlike backer

 

Other TIPS : if you want to slay the caravan at the beginning swap CON for PER, without it is very hard to kill the boss of the caravan. With a chill fog and a fan of flames (and a bit of luck) i was able to kill everyone.

Edited July 16, 2016 by Dr <3

[Sfzrx]

I'm also doing a wizard solo play through, currently at the end of act 2, unable to decide whether to scale act 3 and white march or not, thinking about scaling act 3 then try scaled white march, kinda curious if you scaled or not.

[Sfzrx]

I thought about using rymrgand's mantle also, but i felt like i wasn't getting the leech when i tried with chill fog, so i looked it up, and wiki states that the endurance gain is from damage taken not damage dealt, not sure if it was working for you or if you missed it.

[Boeroer]

Great! I would go for Pale Elf, Crossed Patch and Rymrgand's Mantle and stand in my own Chill Fog all the time.

 

@Sfzrx: the mantle also gives you +5 freeze DR. When you combine it with Pale Elf, Secrets of Rime and a plate you should have >30 DR against freeze. Then you can stand in your own Chillfog (or eat any type of frost damage) - and if it hits you, you will get healed.

Edited July 17, 2016 by Boeroer

[Dr <3]

I admit is more fun, but in solo i prefer to not get surrounded if possibile ( using walls or obstacle) so at that point you just don't have a reason to cast chill fogs exactly on yourself. But crossed pach is sure a cool way to go

 

@sfrzx: actually mantle heals also 20% dmg you inflict also to yourself, but it is calculated before applying DR. Let say you have 20 cold DR. So if chill fog roll 20 dmg vs yourself, you get healed for 4, and chill fog dmg you for 2 ( 10% of minimal dmg). So actually you heal yourself for 2 every wave.

[Sfzrx]

i see, that makes much more sense.

[Boeroer]

And with that mantle, healing gear and survival bonus plus Chillfog you can actually have a second, quite powerful healing effect while blinding and damaging the enemies besides Veteran's Recovery. And you can trigger it at will. That is - let's face it - supercool! Maybe you shouldn't avoid getting hit by your own Chillfog after all.  Health is no problem with Infuse with Vital Essence.

 

I understand that in solo play getting surrounded is not good. But in party play this is one of the coolest tank approaches. A bit like The Dragon Thrashed + Ancient Memory - only with ice. And the stacking of Chillfog is no nice - also because of all the interrupts and the combination with Combusting Wounds.

 

The Bilestomper also works like this. Attract the enemies, cast nasty stuff on yourself and let your friends shoot/cast from afar.

 

I'm also planning a Fireball build which does it this way: dropping Fireballs onto your own head while tanking. You can stack 17 Fireball uses per rest and 1 per encounter with a wizard. SHould be enough for every encounter. Or maybe I try to do that with a Shield Rogue and Direballs + Adept Evasion. He could use things like Binding Web scrolls to set up Deathblows for the Fireballs and wear a stag helmet to be immune to stuck. But sadly you get the good fireball items a bit late. So that build would take some time before taking off. A wizard could live up to the theme right from the start. Also with Combusting Wounds + Wall of Flames (which is superpowerful). Oh, and I forgot Flame Shield, too.

Edited July 17, 2016 by Boeroer

[Dr <3]

Actually i tested again: rymgirand mantle + chill fog actually does NOT heal you. #sadmoments

[Boeroer]

Dammit! I remember that it did - looong time ago.

Why not anymore? So stupid...

[Dr <3]

Magic of updates. I remember it works in the past too.

[dambros]

You say "you run out of good spells after 1-2 battles and i hate to rest a lot", but isn't that the case during the first levels where you have to rest after 3-4 fights?

 

I have never played wizard before because I hated Aloth on my first playthrough and played solo after that, so I am asking this based on my priest experience.

[Dr <3]

You say "you run out of good spells after 1-2 battles and i hate to rest a lot", but isn't that the case during the first levels where you have to rest after 3-4 fights?

 

I have never played wizard before because I hated Aloth on my first playthrough and played solo after that, so I am asking this based on my priest experience.

My statement was generally about higher lvl, obviously until lvl 9-11 you have to rest a lot anyway, since you don't have enough spell/possibility to realible win fight without using spells.

In particolar was also related to the boeroer's bilestomper ™ build, wich use only poison/ corrode spells, that are in lower number vs Ice spells, so with my build i think you can do more consecutive fights.

But is also true that on potd in the beginning, you have to rest every 3-4 fight anyway with the majority of char, since you usually lose a lot of health every fight. Unless you are abusing ranged combat and kiting mechanichs obviously, that is a playstile wich let you rest very rarely, since by definition you don't have to tank ( but you will lose a lot of "real" time in every Battle, and i find it quite boring).

[Boeroer]

Well, it is not forbidden to use other spells than the poison ones with Bilestomper.

[Dr <3]

But it will ruin the flavour!!!

[dambros]

Finished my previous solo playthrough today and willing to start a new one as a wizard, using your guide for some help. One question though: is it really OK to have PER so low? I remember my paladin with 19 PER missing a ton of things early on even while using the Falcon Torch.

[Dr <3]

Falcon torch with his +2 per doesn't matter much...

Sure more percepion could help, simply this build has other priorities and i can't squeeze inside more per than the basal level.

Anyway remember that spell order matter a lot in a fight! For example, i always start with chill fog. That spell rolls more hits during time so it will hit sooner or later ( on other hand fan of flame is only hit or miss). moreover You can stack more than one. After it hits, targets get usually blinded, so they get -20 def, -20 ref, so it't easy to stab them a bit with a melee weapon or hit a fan of flame.

Remember that the First lvls are the more difficult, after that you will really have a lot of spells to use for chain casting and your power start exploding exponentially.

My suggestions for early lvls are:

1) aim good chill fog, you have to be always in the yellow area, in wich enemies are hit but you not. So also if they surround you they get hit and blinded, but you not.

2) take asap arcane veil, +50 def at the beginning is huge, if you add wizard double you can reach invulnerabilità for a short time

3) use as much as possible chill fog and concellauth draining ( lvl 2 spell, the lvl 3 touch sucks), this will take vantage of your relatively High endurance and keep you Alice while chill fog kills everyone.

4)most of your best spells at beginning hits fortitude. You don't have good means to debuff that defence sadly. So maybe at start just avoid the High fortitude mobs ( trolls, ogres)

5) grab asap mechanic gloves from roedric hold ( day 7 in potd for me ) and hermit cap ( quest' at the bridge). They both require minimal fights and are good items for you.

[BigMagicJerk]

I have an extra point because I went human (RP reasons) - should I put that in int or con?

[Dr <3]

Not a big deal, but i would favor int

[Soaren]

So my greatest takeaway from this thread (aside from noting down how Rymrgand's Mantle used to have a nicer synergy with bathing in a chilly fog of one's own making) was this unescapable compulsion to go revisit a certain blue-themed song, now dating back nearly two decades. Damn... it's been a while. 

 

Clearly, one can never fully predict where reading PoE forums might end up taking them. Recalling cRPG days of old is evidently not the only type of nostalgy to be found.