[1.1.5.1] Freeze Box of Hagarrad (c+) (sr+) (pharma)

[ya1]

[1.1.5.0] Rune of Hagarrad/Storm Box of Elgoloth Cold Infiltrator

(with Deadly Aim, no pharma yet)

GT: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/RZR5QROV (crafted with 1 x slow res)

Crucible 3+1: https://youtu.be/vIY80B92Il8

SR75: https://youtu.be/vIY80B92Il8

(all vids with Royal Jelly Essence, Ugdensalve and occasional Courageous Tincture)

Comments:

1.1.5.0 put many blue items in their apparently intended place: endgame trash can. Therefore, this build requires a little injection of pharmaceutics to be fully endgame viable. It’s mostly due to the very low health - something I hoped would be fixed this patch.

Yet, it is thoroughly enjoyable due to nice mix of RoH, Box and kickass devotion procs everybody loves - Ultos and Seekers - fully in cold. Might be a little faster than the melee hybrid but it’s hard to ascertain because speedrunning cold is all about not getting Kubacabra and Fabius, and they happen to pop up all the time.

FAQ:

Q: Chain Lightning not Chillspikes?
A: Chillspikes was on my initial setup and it was a stronger cast. Seal of the Night is also a better component than Seal of Skies. But build struggled with energy and sustain against few strong enemies. Chain Lightning makes better use of Arcane Spark energy leech and provides better sustain due to higher wpn dmg (70% instead of 16%). It also has lower energy cost. And it’s fully in cold.

Q: Pharma? You fell low indeed…
A: Don’t blame me for struggling builds. Despite the fact known to all - that Silver Sentinel and its compatible gear was desperate for buffs - all it’s got is weird outdated nerfs as if it was 1.0.4.0.

Q: What buffs would you like to see?
A: First, +600/800 health on Deathwhisper pants. Second, +400/600 health and 20% stun res on Silver 2 or 3pc. This would be good. And then, revert these “clever” skill bonus rearrange nerfs, making Silver shoulders trash for all non-set cold builds because none of those builds is anywhere near op or even good. Cold is very weak now. I can live with offensive nerfs to Silver Sentinel - in fact when built right Silver is quite strong offensively - but why was no defense added?

[sir_spanksalot]

I honestly don’t understand the nerfs to several blue items.

[afanasenkov26]

So we all do.

[ya1]

I think it’s about promoting diversity through trashing items that are used a lot.

But also, I think, it’s about the LINES. It’s a concept I observed started big from the Anatomy of Murder nerf, where the only argument for it that Crate and the preats could muster was that it needs to be IN LINE with other passives (because the items which allowed for stacking human racial to op levels had already been nerfed, and nightblade builds that “disintegrate humans in seconds” were long gone at that time - it was already the decline of melee). Apparently, blue Bero amulet was not IN LINE with the perceived level of power a lvl75 blue item should boast.

I don’t agree with this philosophy but it is not entirely wrong. If Zantai likes things to be segregated and boxed, blue items be blue, green be green, everything know its place and not stand out, then so be it. But I don’t think there will be many builds in blue posted this patch despite what the community hoped for and might have been - strong word - unintentionally misled to believe.

Apropos blue sets, @Valinov, how’s your Blind Assassin’s doing? The patch log looked interesting.

[Valinov]

I think it’s about promoting diversity through trashing items that are used a lot.

But also, I think, it’s about the LINES. It’s a concept I observed started big from the Anatomy of Murder nerf, where the only argument for it that Crate and the preats could muster was that it needs to be IN LINE with other passives (because the items which allowed for stacking human racial to op levels had already been nerfed, and nightblade builds that “disintegrate humans in seconds” were long gone at that time - it was already the decline of melee). Apparently, blue Bero amulet was not IN LINE with the perceived level of power a lvl75 blue item should boast.

I don’t agree with this philosophy but it is not entirely wrong. If Zantai likes things to be segregated and boxed, blue items be blue, green be green, everything know its place and not stand out, then so be it. But I don’t think there will be many builds in blue posted this patch despite what the community hoped for and might have been - strong word - unintentionally misled to believe.

Apropos blue sets, @Valinov, how’s your Blind Assassin’s doing? The patch log looked interesting.

Performance is about the same despite gaining better conversion and rr. It lost some flat damage and points in seal, so it feels a bit more squishy

[omnitrio]

[ya1]

Grimtools hasn’t updated. It’s alright in game. Also, as you can see on the screenshot, oa is 240 higher than in GT.

[Iceberg]

Cool (lol) build! I always wanted to try a cold caster because of reasons, but I don’t have the Alkamos rings yet. What would be a good and easier to obtain placeholder for those ?

[ya1]

If you play strictly legit then accept that you’ll never get them. At least not without 100-10,000 Steps of Torment runs.

A much worse alternative would be blue Nightscorn or purple Reign of Fire and Ice. Also blue Alkamos rings aren’t bad.