I've read so many comments on here saying Winter Orb is either dead or only possible with mirrors of investment. It was only good before the 3.7 nerf. It's only good for channelling Ice Spear or blink skills. There's no way you can league start it. You spend all your time channelling.

None of that is true. I've league started it as Occultist the past three leagues and played it as a second character for several leagues before that, with both Occultist and Scion. The league start path I take is incredibly smooth, clears T10 maps with campaign gear, and lets you make incremental upgrades one after another as your budget allows. After commenting about it on multiple recent posts, I've gotten a lot of questions and interest in a guide/PoB, so here we are.

It's more important to explain who this PoB/guide is not for than to explain who it is for.

1. This isn't targeted at beginners. You need to understand a lot of interactions. I don't hold your hand through the acts and tell you what to take as quest rewards or where to buy gems. I don't tell you which content to farm or how to farm it. This build handles literally all the content in the game outside of the crazy Valdo maps.

2. This isn't for anyone looking for a one button build. It's a very mobile and active playstyle.

3. This isn't for players who want to facetank. On paper (i.e. in PoB) it may initially look like this build is a glass cannon, but it's far from it. You've got a lot of minor defensive layers working together, and once fully built, you'll find yourself easily going a dozen maps without ever taking damage. When you do take damage, you can usually take a couple hits before you're in any real danger.

4. This isn't for SSF. There are a lot of items in this build that can be very difficult to obtain without trade.

5. This isn't for uber farmers. The single target DPS is respectable and I take down all the ubers each league with it, but it's not ideal. If you want that, pick something that's going to grow into a dedicated bosser.

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I first played Winter Orb as an Occultist in 3.13 following a guide from Somayd, and I had never had so much fun in PoE popping harbinger packs and chaining fractured 100% deli maps. After the 3.14 nerfs, I assumed it was dead and gone and didn't even consider it again until I saw Palsteron's Scion Omni/Anni version in 3.17, which I played for a couple leagues. Omni got nerfed shortly afterwards, so I decided to give it a try as Occultist again, and what I ended up with was a wonderfully functioning hybrid with ideas taken from both approaches. Shoutouts to Somayd and Palsteron. You guys rock.

This build shines in Legion, Expedition, and Breach content, as well as mapping with any level of juice. Thanks to the caster mastery that only costs us 1 point, all the chests get opened without any clicking so it's just booming and looting. It's especially well tuned for farming Exarch altars as the downsides can practically be ignored after getting the Flame+Flesh combo (keep moving for the meteors).

Unfortunately, this has been hell to try and league start until Bitterdream got its rework in 3.19. From as early as level 32, you get a 9-link, and with Praxis, the problem of mana costs is solved. With the right passive tree choices, this is strong enough to carry you all the way up to red maps even with poor gear. This makes it able to comfortably make the baby steps into the charge stacking destroyer of maps.

In my opinion, the number one reason this skill isn't very popular is that there are so many ways to build around it that just end up mediocre, even with high investment. The upgrades and their order the way I've built it might not be intuitive, or you might choose to give up quality of life features to chase after more traditional defensive layers. You might end up with something that doesn't reach 100% crit chance, or you could fall into the Ralakesh/Malachai/MilitantFaith approach that doesn't quite mesh well with what we want to get from this build.

I've put a ton of time into creating this guide, particularly into the notes section, as it's a compendium of my knowledge from playing Winter Orb for the past 2 years. It's a must read if you're considering this league start, even though it's admittedly a novel. Open it in Path of Building for optimal formatting. Shoutouts to Redditors Ayzarrr and No-Syllabub3694 for early feedback and formatting.

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Pobbin (early, mid-investment, and endgame): https://pobb.in/rLfgXEGpnkhK

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Videos:

This is a rare T7 Cemetery from 3.23, fresh out of the campaign. This is to showcase the absolute WORST that you can expect this build to perform as a league starter, and it's only uphill from here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8iPOTUqU1g

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This is an older video from 3.19 featuring a mid-investment character (around 100 divs + HH) running a rare T16 Lair map. Aside from the Vortex on LMB, all the mechanical parts still work the same in 3.24. Note how little time is actually spent channelling vs running around exploding packs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=104_eilZTdM

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I'll try to answer any questions before the league starts tomorrow, but once the servers are up, I'll be busy playing, but will drop my IGN at the end of day 1 for anyone wanting to follow my character's progression.

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Have fun and happy Worbing everyone.