This character is a solid all around character and I would say is absolutely league start viable. Keep in mind however you will need to do some things differently but it can absolutely be played without any special gear already lined up.
I don't really do "leveling trees" or etc but I would recommend you level up with spark and switch to Glacial Cascade at lv 28. Spark will be faster to hit maps but it is important for you to get practice with GC so you can understand how it feels
and plays.
I would recommend this character for anyone looking for a solid all around build that is completely off meta (3 people counting me playing this on SSSF & Trade when I started leveling it a few days ago)
but is still able to map well, boss efficiently and survive. I hit level 95 without really focusing on it all the while doing t16 maps alching and going but skipping negative max res mods and etc.
Keep in mind this is a self cast build and if you have never played one before it has a very different feel to it and might take a little getting used to, I will say however that once you get this build going it feels pretty awesome.
This build is pretty versatile when it comes to defences, if you wanted you could easily swap from determination to grace and go for 100% spell suppression (which I might end up doing to be honest) but this version in my anecdotal experience
is more than tanky enough to do difficult maps and all non U B E R content.
Lets get into the gear, keep in mind all mods are listed in order from MOST to LEAST important
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sceptre base
Weapon 1: % increased physical damage local (t1 phys gives more than t1 spell dmg because of battlemage and GC converts 100% phys to cold), flat physical, spell damage, cast speed, crit multiplier, crit chance
Weapon 2: % increased physical damage local, flat physical, spell damage, cast speed, crit multi, trigger spell (keep suffix open so you can craft or if you are a god aisling/veiled chaos it for 4s instead of 8)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crown of the inward eye: gives us a ton of life and energy shield and a good chunk of damage
Rare helmet (only if going spell suppress) ES/EV base: Life, energy shield, resist, chaos resist Searing Exarch: Cast speed Eater of Worlds: damage penetrates cold resist
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Body Armour ARM/ES base: Life, energy shield, hybrid life es, resist, chaos resist Searing Exarch: Effect of non-curse auras Eater of Worlds: Hatred aura effect
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boots ARM/ES base: Life, movement speed, energy shield, resist, chaos resist (optional farm Alva to get onslaught boots) Searing Exarch: increased movement speed Eater of Worlds: physical as extra cold
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gloves ARM/ES base: Life, energy shield, hybrid es/life, resist, chaos resist Searing Exarch: Unnerve on hit Eater of Worlds: cold exposure on hit
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Belt stygian vise (eventually hunter influence): life, energy shield, % increased life (hunter mod), resist, chaos resist
I would recommend crafting with a t1 essence of either elemental res or chaos res. Go until you hit t1 life and have at MINIMUM 2 strong resistances, you want only ONE open prefix to hunter slam good luck!!
Eye jewel: life, phasing on kill, cast speed, cold damage to spells
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note for rings: at least 1 of your rings needs 40+ dex ideally 50 I would recommend crafting with essence
Ring 1 (Verimillion ring for defence Opal for damage): Life, cast speed, resist, chaos resist , dexterity
Ring 2: Life, cast speed, resist, chaos resist
Amulet (any base as long as it has dex): Life, +1 level of cold gems, cast speed, resist, chaos resist
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jewels: a hatred watcher's eye is obviously insane but if you don't have I would focus on crit chance/multiplier on jewels
I am SO SORRY that this video is 15 minutes long
holy french toast that is long
If you have any questions please check the notes section on the build guide first but if that does not answer it for you feel free to ask I love build discussion!
https://pastebin.com/n0cuGnzb
I really wanted to try talking about the character and stuff more because I am trying to branch out and experiment with different ways to make videos but man this one really got away from me. After condensing with handbrake it's a 3 hour upload so if you are seeing this.....send bandwidth
00:00 intro
00:53 clear speed
03:41 bossing
05:53 POB talk
12:47 demo no talking