[1.0.6.1] Hanalincu, the Snowstorm - 2H Cold Cadence Blademaster, Gladiator Farmer (under 12')

Hello wonderful people!
I always wished to make 2H builds great, and with recent patches it became possible.

This build is rocking both in main campaign and Crucible. (Edit).
Crucible version completes under 12 minutes if you don’t spend too much time for kiting, like I did.

Meet Hanalincu, the Snowstorm.

>> Grimtools << MC version, no green items used
>> Grimtools << Optimized version for Crucible, no green items used

Core of the build

  • Main damage skill of this build is Cadence working over Weapon Damage which is fully Cold in this case. Bane of the Winter King is a must have in build like this - it provides very high base cold damage and nice buff.
  • Phantasmal Blades is very good supporting skill: due to wielding 2H weapon the damage dealt over %WD component is great. Also it heals you a lot.
  • Veil of Shadow buffed with Crown of the Winter King, Mageslayer’s Protector and Bane of the Winter King gives us extra 35% cold RR, it’s totally worth it. You wreck things.
  • Damage output is surprisingly great, you have up to 600k Cadence crits in Crucible and lots of AoE thanks to Hand of Ultos.
  • Our defense is based on decent DA, heavy armor, Pneumatic Burst + Phantasmal Blades heals and physical resistance. Ghoulish Hunger helps alot saving your life if caught in hard battle, and we have Menhir’s Will as the last chance to escape if Ghoulish Hunger is not enough.

Key explanations

  • This build is totally viable for Crucible now. (Edit)
  • Our worst enemy in Crucible is Kubacabra due to his ridiculous cold resistance, leave him for last.
  • Nemesis kill priorities: Reaper, Grava’thul, Aleksander are first targets. Kill the first one you engage. Reaper is the most easy target for us due to 39% racial bonus, then Grava’thul, then Aleksander. Always keep Kubacabra for last as said above.
  • Hand of Ultos is brilliant addition to this build, because damage dealt through %WD component and 30% Lightning->Cold conversion from chestpiece (MC variant) provide lots of killing potential. It instantly kills crowds of trash, so you can focus on heroes and nemeses and quickly take them down not mentioning anything around you.
  • These gauntlets are BiS due to attack speed, nice resistances and juicy 55% WD modifier to Cadence. Since our base weapon damage is Cold, 55% weapon damage boosts Cadence more than any other alternative gloves, and it won’t suffer much from Phys->Chaos conversion.

Max crit landed in Crucible (solo, Crucible buffs, no banners)

Stats pane -> MC version (Lethal Assault up)

Stats pane -> Crucible version (Lethal Assault up)

Video

//youtu.be/WRRs35OTYnw

Outdated video

Credits:
mad_lee for his brilliant idea on Phantasmal Blades.
sir spanksalot for his armor tweaks on Crucible version.

nice one but u should remove ultos storm in devotion because ur build is based on cold dmg and not lightning use leviathen better then ultos.

Quoting myself:
“Hand of Ultos is brilliant addition to this build, because damage dealt through %WD component and 30% Lightning->Cold conversion from chestpiece provide lots of killing potential. It instantly kills crowds of trash, so you can focus on heroes and nemeses and quickly take them down not mentioning anything around you.”

Ultos deals 24% weapon damage too. This character wields massive 2H weapon and its weapon damage is fully cold. It’s a beast if used like that.

ah oky i see

Update.

I made it more or less safe for Crucible, but it still requires some skill to pilot. GT Link updated.
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/w26woypV

Video

//youtu.be/Y6HI9ffdrXk

I LOVE the choice of the gloves here.

It’s so damn smart!

Have you tried running the full silver sentinel set? The acid conversion from the shoulders should make cadence hit like a bus.

P.S. My guess is that you’re getting hit by the meteor and something else simultaneously. The max damage in the screenshot is ~10k. That shouldn’t be enough to insta-gib you.

You can see alternative version in first GT link for MC, it includes the Silver sentinel shoulders =) Full silver is also possible, I just love the Rimetongue chestpiece for its Lightning->Cold conversion, resistances and %OA.

In Crucible I need that slow resistance, without it someone slows me and I get killed quickly. Slow res is less important on Savagery builds because Savagery constantly deals ~230-260% weapon damage depending on gear, and constant ADCtH helps living even if you’re slow. But Cadence is different - before you hit enemy with Cadence, you need to hit him with 2 regular non-buffed strikes. It’s not enough to live on ADCtH, unfortunately. Slow resistance is needed.

-> P.S. Agreed, Aleks can cast something like TSS and meteor instantly, and that combo can oneshot me. Also other mobs

Edit: on 0:34 to 0:36 meteor hits me, and you can see how much damage it deals. Almost full health bar with healing potion active. When meteor hits the head my health instantly drops from 18000 to 4950 and health potion is annulated!
I received kinda 15k damage from meteor and sky shard.

Damn, that’s the second build I read today where I get mentioned in the credits for some reason. Glad you utilised that huge weapon damage for PB, also, indeed a cheeky use of those gloves with fully cold weapon :), congratulations on a build!

TY mate! :wink:

I theorycrafted a decent (I hope so) variation for Crucible with no green items. Will test it after work.

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/p255azK2

Stats pane (Lethal Assault up)

Finally!
Now this build is a Beast I wanted to make with Cadence.

It rocks both in main campaign and Crucible.
Crucible version completes under 12 minutes if you don’t spend too much time for kiting, like I did.

>> Grimtools << Optimized version for Crucible, no green items used

Key explanations

  • Our worst enemy in Crucible is Kubacabra due to his ridiculous cold resistance, leave him for last.
  • Nemesis kill priorities: Reaper, Grava’thul, Aleksander are first targets. Kill the first one you engage. Reaper is the most easy target for us due to 39% racial bonus, then Grava’thul, then Aleksander. Always keep Kubacabra for last as said above.

Stats pane -> Crucible version (Lethal Assault up)

Video

//youtu.be/WRRs35OTYnw

0:10 - 0:21 - When your DPS is so good you say, ‘FUCK YOU HEALERS’ and slap aleksander dead with them watching.

What’s the highest damage recorded on this spec?

Also, made some tweaks on the GT link. I’m not sure if I made it worse, but there you go. :rolleyes:

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/wV1P9Yw2

Updated the OP. 629k currently, w/o banners.

“Also, made some tweaks on the GT link”
Uhmm, what changed?

Edit: Ancient Armor Plate! Reasonable change. thanks. Scars seem reasonable too.

Ancient armor on pants. Scaled hide is not needed IMO.

Took 1 point out from heartseeker to put into scars of battle for 100% absorption.

Edit: Ancient Armor Plate! Reasonable change. thanks. Scars seem reasonable too.
Updated the OP.

This

made me laugh a lot :smiley:

I laughed too.

I was thinking to myself, ‘Annnnnnd here comes the heal. Nope. Ok. Now. Not yet. Oh look. Aleks is dead.’

The bloodsingers literally just gave up on life.

“… Oh look. Aleks is dead. Wait oh shi…” :smiley:

This looks much better than the initial version!

I slept with this character in mind, and after morning coffee i caught an inspiration - that’s it! No reason to stack phys res since I anyway can’t stack enough, but stacking armor should help way better :slight_smile:
TY!