I wanted to build something around the Nightforged set. I’ve seen very little feedback on it so far, and it looked like it had real potential worth exploring. Most Evokers right now are played at range or around Winds of Asterkarn, so I wanted to try a melee approach instead. The Evoker felt like the most interesting class for it, thanks to the synergy between Avalanche, Onslaught and the Arcanist’s tools.
While working on it, I noticed someone else had explored a similar idea, but with a different direction from what I had in mind. So I decided to push my own version all the way and see how far it could go.
Note: this build is based on the current patch. The upcoming changes (currently in playtest) reduce Avalanche proc chance, so 100% won’t be reachable anymore. I’ll update the build once the patch is live.
Concept
Avalanche at 100% proc chance does the melee work Note: the ascendant affixes with +5% Avalanche chance are mandatory to reach 100%
Onslaught builds stacks that Trozan’s Sky Shard cashes in on every cast
Everything scales into Cold
Gameplay
This is a very pleasant build to play. The AoE from Avalanche and Sky Shard clears packs quickly, which makes it great for farming Ascendant mode. The Rune + Leap combo lets you move fast and rush through maps, which keeps the pace smooth and fun.
Two versions
Heart of Asterkarn and Star Pact are both exclusive skills, so I made one version with each:
Physical resistance is very low. Armor, absorption and healing devotions compensate well up to SR 30-31, but I’m not sure how it will hold up in harder content. Any ideas to raise it without losing too much damage are welcome.
Gear may not be fully optimal. I picked the helmet, belt and pants that seemed the best compromise to cap resistances while keeping good OA and damage. There are probably better options for this setup, so suggestions are welcome.
Thanks for reading and for taking the time to check out the build. Any feedback is appreciated, whether on the Nightforged set, the two versions, or the open questions above.
You may want to wait a week or two before investing in this build to heavily. With the current play test changes you won’t be able to hit 100% Avalanche anymore. My Chillflame Evoker build lost 40% proc chance but gained 30% weapon damage and 1200 flat cold damage. Currently it feels like roughly a 30% throughput lost.
The build isn’t dead in the water as I as still able to still mow down full ascendant bosses and I got ravager down so far, but it was slower. I’m going to do a few more tests with it then swap to live and begin analyzing the real damage done. There is a 38% WPS proc gap that doesn’t look like it can be efficiently filled though. May have to just go with 62% WPS and scale higher flat.
Thanks @exiledtyrant for the update, I hadn’t looked at the playtest changes yet. I understand the build will clearly lose some clear speed and appeal with this change.
Right now TSS isn’t mandatory: it’s a cold tool to cash in Onslaught stacks and trigger devotions. But after the playtest changes it could become essential. With Avalanche proccing less often, TSS will carry more of the clear, especially since it triggers the Blizzard devotion.
I’ll test again once the patch is live and update the build.
impressive OA and damage. I didn’t know mad queen was still a boss to be measured against tho
as others mentioned the build might be dead on arrival due to the upcoming nerfs. have you tried a mix of blood fangs and avalanche maybe? (20-ish percentage blood fangs proc and ~80 on avalanche after the nerfs) I guess that could still be very strong.
Can you talk about devotion choices? you have so much OA despite not taking any T3 devotions - are the heals from Harp/Giant really necessary?
Haha, fair point, she’s probably not the best benchmark anymore. I saw several guides using her as a reference, so I did the same, and she’s also very easy to record
You’re right, the build probably won’t survive the upcoming changes. Thanks for the suggestion though, a Blood Fangs / Avalanche mix sounds interesting. However Bloodfangs is piercing damage so I need to check how to mix both.
To be honest, I’m not an expert when it comes to devotions. My reasoning was that as a melee build I needed as much healing as possible. But you have a point: after thinking about it, I don’t think Harp is really necessary. Maybe crab is better. Giant is a different story though: based on my tests against Ravager or SR runs, it helped me a lot more.
Do you have any suggestions for the devotions? I’d be happy to hear what you would take instead, especially if there’s a T3 worth fitting in.
I don’t think you need to convert the pierce, just having a WPS with a %weapon damage higher than 100% is already better than having no proc at all.
As for devotions, I am also not an expert - I am actually looking for a strong combination for cold-based builds. Your choices make alot of sense, they also give alot of health. The only thing that is lacking is physical resist. Leviathan, Attak Seru and Blind Sage offer alot of good stats, but your choice of Hyran, Harp and Scythe actually make alot of sense and they offer alot of health - something I can maybe copy for my other cold based builds, thats very interesting.
As for your Heart of Asterkarn version:
As for skill choices, some notes: I think going 10/10 icebound is reasonable, you dont lose much. same for bloodfrenzy, 4 points for 3% attack speed seems too high of a cost. 14/12 is a better break point for inner focus in arcanist imo. also why 10 Points into conversion? 1 Point seems fine, you are already overcapped on the most important secondary resists ? (stun,slow, freeze).
you can then put points to impulse in warcry and elemental balance in iskandra - it looks like 8/12 are good break points for crit damage.
1point into maiven, you were missing one?
1 Point into Mental alcrity gives cast speed, more energy, reduces cost - might be useful
Then the biggest one I think is going 12/12 open wounds in onslaught tree. If I understand the mechanic correctly its not resisted by bosses so you get a full 25% less damage taken against anything you hit - the build should feel alot more tanky against bosses then? might be worthy to try out since your build seems to not have any other source of %reduced target’s damage
Thanks a lot for the detailed feedback, really appreciated!
Your points on the skill distribution make a lot of sense. I hadn’t looked closely at the breakpoints, and you’re right that some of my investments were too expensive for what they give (Blood Frenzy and Conversion especially). Freeing those points for Impulse, Elemental Balance, Mental Alacrity and the missing point in Maiven sounds like a much better use. The original GT has been updated
I’ll definitely try 12/12 Open Wounds as well. If it isn’t resisted by bosses, a flat 25% damage reduction would be a big gain, since the build has no other source of reduced target damage. The original GT has been updated.
Regarding devotions, here is an alternative version that goes for Leviathan: Leviathan devotion version. It might actually be the better option compared to the Hyrian / Harp / Scythe setup, so it’s worth comparing both.
I’ll test these changes and report back. And glad the Hyrian / Harp / Scythe idea might help with your cold builds, good luck finding the right combination!
