Cold DoT Wintertide Brand Elementalist 3.28 Leaguestart Guide Update

THIS IS NOT A FULL COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE. PLEASE USE THE YOUTUBE VIDEO(S) OR COME TO MY STREAM IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS. www.twitch.tv/theslinkyshadow www.youtube.com/@theslinkyshadow General Information: -- You will need to get Strength and Dexterity on your gear. Heavy belts and either Jade or Citrine amulets help a lot in the early game. -- There are LOADOUTs on the top right of the POB for Act 1 - 4. But after this, the build changes very little so there are no loadouts. You will need to manually change trees(since gems stay the same after Act 4+ unless you get lucky to get a 5 link chest, which you can enable the fifth link for Wintertide(Swift Affliction). -- If you can't buy something when it says, it is okay to pick it up later. If you can't equip something right away, that is fine. Just buy and equip things when you are able based on the currency you find and the links you get. Sometimes it be like that. Again, if you run into any issues or have any questions or frustrations, please feel free to visit my stream on either twitch or youtube(I do both) and I am happy to answer questions. -- You may struggle with sockets in campaign if you do not get enough/right colors. Do your best to match things, but you can also put a couple weapons/offhands in your weapon swap to continue leveling your gems while you wait to find socket space. === Keyword and Color Code Explanations ==== Reward = you will get this item for free for completing a quest. Buy = you will need to purchase this item after completing a quest(or whenever you can after said quest if unable right away). Cost = what you need to buy the gem Quest - this is the quest you must complete to either get a reward or buy a gem afterwards Socket Links Needed = you need to find items with these colors and number of links for your gems. Socket No Links Needed = you just need the number of sockets(among all gear) with the matching color. If it isn't linked, that's fine; if it is, probably fine too. ===Act 1=== Freezing Pulse(Reward for quest Enemy At the Gate) - Arcane Surge(You start with this) Frostblink(Reward for quest Breaking Some Eggs) Frost Bomb(Reward fpr quest Breaking Some Eggs) Holy Flame Totem(Buy (1 Scroll of Wisdom) from Nessa after Breaking Some Eggs quest) + Summon Phantasm Support(Reward for quest Mercy Mission) Shield Charge(Buy (1 Scroll of Wisdom) from Nessa after Breaking Some Eggs quest) Clarity(Reward from The Caged Brute) Efficacy(Buy (1 Orb of Transmutation) from Nessa after The Caged Brute quest) ##You want to buy a second Efficacy to use for Cold Snap in Act 2## Wintertide(Buy (1 Orb of Transmutation) from Nessa after The Siren's Cadence quest) + Efficacy(Reward for the quest The Caged Brute) Socket Links Needed Blue - Blue (Freezing Pulse + Arcane Surge) ###You use the same Blue - Blue links when you swap to Wintertide + Efficacy at Level 12, replacing these two### Red- Blue (Holy Flame Totem + Summon Phantasm Support) Sockets No Links Needed Blue / Blue / Blue / Red (Frostblink, Frost Bomb, Clarity, Shield Charge) Blue (Extra Efficacy for Cold Snap in Act 2, can just keep in inventory/stash until used if needed) ===Act 2=== Controlled Destruction(Reward for quest Sharp and Cruel) Controlled Destruction(Buy (1 Orb of Alteration) from Yeena after Sharp and Cruel quest) ###You want a second one for Cold Snap ### Cold Snap(Reward for quest Intruders in Black) IN ACT 2 THERE WILL BE A TEMPLE YOU PASS THROUGH WHERE YOU CAN CORRUPT AN ITEM, I SUGGEST USING IT ON THE SKILL GEM COLD SNAP. If you are lucky you will get VAAL COLD SNAP which is a huge power boost. Brand Recall(Buy (1 Orb of Alteration) from Yeena after Intruders in Black quest) Socket Links Needed Blue - Blue - Blue (Wintertide Brand + Efficacy + Controlled Destruction) Blue - Blue - Blue (Cold Snap + Efficacy + Controlled Destruction) Sockets No Links Needed Blue / Blue / Blue / Blue / Red (Frostblink, Frost Bomb, Clarity, Brand Recall, Shield Charge) ===Act 3=== Frostbite(Reward for quest Lost In Love) Purity of Elements(Buy (1 Orb of Alteration) from Clarissa after Lost In Love quest) Discipline(Buy (1 Orb of Alteration) from Clarissa after Lost In Love quest) Malevolence(Buy (1 Orb of Alteration) from Clarissa after Lost In Love quest) Automation(Buy (1 Orb of Alteration) from Clarissa after Lost In Love quest) Hypothermia(Buy (1 Orb of Chance) from Siosa after A Fixture of Fate) Faster Attacks(Buy (1 Orb of Transmutation) from Siosa after A Fixture of Fate quest) Swift Affliction(Reward for quest A Fixture of Fate) -- don't need right away, but useful if early 5 link for Wintertide ### YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO USE ALL AURAS RIGHT AWAY, I will be using Purity of Elements because it helps with resistance and makes you elemental ailment immune (NO MORE GETTING FROZEN! :D) and fitting the rest in as you can once you start grabbing some reservation nodes. You can go for Malevolence if you care less about defense and want the damage. ### Socket Links Needed Blue - Blue - Blue - Green (Wintertide) Blue - Blue (Brand Recall) Red - Green (Shield Charge) Blue - Blue - Blue (Cold Snap) Sockets No Links Needed Blue / Blue / Blue / Blue (Auras) Blue / Blue / Blue (Frost Bomb, Frostblink, Frostbite) ######## You can do your Trial of Ascension in Act 3 if you want, but the first nodes we take are Liege of the Primordial which are the golem nodes. We do not get Golem Nodes until Level 34 and after the first Act 4 quest, so you can just wait to do it then. Waiting will allow you to be a little tankier and stronger so you have less chance to fail due to death, but you do you. BRING AN EXTRA RED SKILL GEM OR BLUE SKILL GEM. You will want to look for Stone Golem of Safeguarding and Frostblink of Wintry Blast if possible to save yourself from buying later. ######## ===Act 4=== Summon Chaos Golem(Reward for quest Breaking the Seal) Summon Flame Golem(Buy (1 Orb of Chance) from Petarus and Vanja after Breaking the Seal quest) Summon Lightning Golem(Buy (1 Orb of Chance) from Petarus and Vanja after Breaking the Seal quest) Summon Stone Golem(Buy (1 Orb of Chance) from Petarus and Vanja after Breaking the Seal quest) Bonechill Support(Reward for the quest The Eternal Nightmare) #### You may not be able to buy/get all 4 golems at once, and even if you do, you may not have the sockets to use them right away. I was able to get away with just using 2(pre-patch) from Act 4 - 7, so I will include what I view as a "priority" list for golems. Chaos Golem > Lightning Golem > Stone Golem > Flame Golem. You may put different priority on yours, so I'll give a brief explanation of benefits so you can decide which you like most! Chaos Golem - Highest DPS increase from the golems; the chaos resist is just cherry on top. Lightning Golem - Attack speed for shield charge, cast speed for brand, mana regen(pretty much a free clarity aura, which you can take off once you have lightning golem) Stone Golem - big defensive buff and life regen(think free Vitality aura) Flame Golem - More damage more AOE. #### Socket Links Needed Blue - Blue - Blue - Green (Wintertide) Blue - Blue (Brand Recall) Red - Green (Shield Charge) Blue - Blue - Blue - Blue (Cold Snap) Sockets No Links Needed Blue / Blue / Blue / Blue (Auras) Blue / Blue / Blue (Frost Bomb, Frostblink, Frostbite) Blue / Blue / Red / Red(Golems) =============== Cheap/common uniques you can use if found/in trade: Rime Gaze(put Cold Snap into it) Replica Allelopathy(good until 6 link + quality on Wintertide Brand) Ghostwrithe(decent leveling armour, careful when entering Red maps/chaos damage, consider taking the Energy Shield mastery to have 30% chaos damage taken from life) YOU CAN GET A LEVEL 21 / 20 QUALITY VAAL COLD SNAP BY TURNING IN 4 "A CHILLING WIND" DIVINATION CARDS. These are CHEAP typically and can be self-farmed in SSF in Frozen Cabins or Glacier.