My League Starter - Hydrosphere Occultist [PoE 3.22 Trial of the Ancestors]

-------------------------------- Leveling Tips: -------------------------------- - NEW! When you can, craft +1 cold wands with the vendor recipe (Normal Wand and +2 or more quality gems with a combined total of 40% quality & the Cold tag) - Pick up gems as you go and level them in off hands, even if you arent using them yet. - Things you MUST do before swapping to Hydrosphere 1) First lab, taking the power charge node 2) Take "Instability" and "Disciple of the Forbidden" on the passive tree 3) Have a minimum 2L of Ice Spear-Increased Critical Strikes -this gives ice spear 100% crit chance when it turns to its second form, which is how we guarantee that we freeze the hydrosphere -freezing the hydrosphere is what makes it pulse, so on single target, you place the hydrosphere, then cast ice spear on it and the boss. This results in incredibly high single target for the campaign. - Hydrosphere does NOT pulse unless it is frozen. It will still do cold damage when moving it around though, making it great for clear even if you dont freeze it. - Dont get any lightning damage to spells, because if you shock the hydrosphere it will convert half of its damage to lightning, which we dont scale - In the end game, we use our huge aoe vortex with 100% crit to freeze it on single target. For mapping, the hydrosphere gets reliably frozen by our herald of ice (that we get big crit on). Once the hydrosphere is crit, it will pulse for the duration of the hydrosphere. - If you want, switch to Eldritch Battery when you have over 500ES and that solves mana and allows you to use Zealotry on a divine blessing. This is a great solution for a while but we dont use it in the end game. -when using EB, you dont need mana, so i suggest leveling a vitality as high as you can to use up the rest of your mana. - In Act 5, you'll have a chance to complete the "Key to Freedom" act, which can give a diamond flask. Equip as soon as possible. -You won't be able to run the three auras in the Lvl34 setup right away, but use the ones you feel are the best for you at the time until you get the mana reservation wheel(s) on the tree. Grace if you need defence, Hatred if you want offense. I prefer Grace. Level whichever you arent using in the offhand. -------------------------------- General Tips: -------------------------------- - Do not get lightning damage anywhere on your build. If you shock the hydrosphere, it will convert half its damage to lightning, which we do not scale. - If you are having trouble with Ice Spear getting to the hydrosphere due to enemies getting in the way or poor positioning, there are other options. You could add a 4th link, Pierce, to make it easier to get the projectiles through closer enemies. Another option, but less optimal for damage, is using Freezing Pulse-Ice Bite- Increased Critical Strikes to get about a 50% chance to crit when you swap to the hydro setup. - If you play dual wands, DO NOT take the shield wheels on the tree! Invest them into life, damage, cast speed, or crit. - The Hydrosphere effectively acts as a huge aoe totem while its pulsing. You can cast the hydrosphere over and over for more damage, but you can also leave it to do single target damage while you move, this will be particularly useful in the league mechanic. - Make sure on single target you drop vortex on the boss and hydrosphere, to freeze the hydro and also to bonechill the boss. -The build guide has two item lists, one for early and mid end game. I will be releasing videos periodically on my upgrades and things I have tested, so stay tuned to the stream and make sure you're subbed to the Youtube! -Dual wands/Void Batteries is much more offense, but the shield provides a lot of defense. Decide whats best for you! -Intensify is an interesting link that adds a lot of damage if you are casting often (single target) and a lot of aoe but less damage when mapping. I find it to be a great gem, but it can be preference. Feel free to drop it for increased crit strikes, Power charge on crit, etc. -When you are mapping and have a few extra chaos, you want to try to make the crit gloves. I recommend buying a pair of gloves with one of the eldritch implicits (if available), using one Essence of Horror, and then trying to roll the other implicit. Then benchcraft whatever you need. These gloves will get you all the way to T16s until you can make a big upgrade. -Eventually, when you go for Badge of the Brotherhood and want to kill end game bosses, you'll need to take the marked enemy grants frenzy charge mastery, OR an influence chest with frenzy on hit. You can also add an additional curse and spell crit to this chest pretty easily, opening up profane bloom. -------------------------------- Gems -------------------------------- Gems are listed by level, and then ordered with their suggested supports. Supports are listed in order of importance. ---- 1-12 ---- Freezing Pulse Added Cold (Kill Brutus) Added Lightning Frost Bomb Arcane Surge (keep at a low level, 1-4 dependinding on mana cost of Frost Bomb) Flame Dash (Kill Brutus) ---- 12-16 ---- Creeping Frost (Kill Mervail, Act 1 Vendor) Volley (Kill Brutus) Added Cold (Kill Brutus) Added Lightning ---- 16 ---- Herald of Ice (Kill Fidelitas A2) ---- 34+ ---- Hydrosphere (Kill Voll) Added Cold Damage (Kill Brutus A1) Cold Penetration (Fixture of Fate A3) Concentrated Effect (Kill Weaver A2) Increased Critical Strikes (Kill Brutus A1) Ice Spear (Kill Mervail A1) LMP (Kill Brutus) Increased Critical Strikes (Kill Brutus A1) Increased Critical Damage (Kill Weaver A2) Hatred (Vendor A3) Grace (Fixture of Fate A3) Herald of Ice (Kill Fidelitas A2) Vortex (Kill Gravicious A3) BoneChill (Kill Malachai A4) Arcane Surge (A1) Flame Dash (A1) Only if you take EB: Zealotry (Vendor A3) Divine Blessing (Fixture of Fate A3) Inspiration (Fixture of Fate A3) ----- Endgame Links ----- Hydrosphere (Kill Voll) Cold Penetration (Fixture of Fate A3) Increased Critical Damage (Kill Weaver A2) Inspiration (Fixture of Fate A3) Power Charge on Critical (Kill Weaver A2) Intensify (Fixture of Fate A3) [Can replace one of the above if you want more crit chance] Increased Critical Strikes (Kill Brutus A1) Hatred (Vendor A3) Vaal Grace (Fixture of Fate A3 + Vaal Orb) Tempest Shield (Open Tree A2) Herald of Ice (Kill Fidelitas A2) Increased Critical Strikes (Kill Brutus A1) Added Cold (Kill Brutus) Arcanist Brand (Kill Malachai A4) Assassin's Mark (Fixture of Fate A3) Frostbite (Vendor A3) Vortex (Kill Gravicious A3) BoneChill (Kill Malachai A4) Arcane Surge (A1) Increased Critical Strikes (Kill Brutus A1) Frost Shield (Kill Malachai A4) Portal CWDT Level 1 (Kill Malachai A4) Immortal Call Level 3 (A6)