Contents
Background
2.0 Cold SSpam
2.1 PTR testing
Purpose of Build
Key stats
Pros and Cons
Gear
Gems
Paragon Points and skills
Play style tips
Other build variations
FAQs
Background
Many of you may already be aware, Ive always been a big fan of cold dating back to 2.0. I wrote my first guide on a cold build which I developed and used for T5 solo and T6 groups. The reason, I never had a unity drop and I almost always only play in groups. I had experimented with lightning and fire but as it was near impossible to farm solo T6 without a Unity, I though Id give cold a go.
2.0 Cold SSpam
After that I was hooked and along came cold SSpam. It was fun build but apart from the DPS issues cold had at the time, SS was bloody thirsty and there was no real way to whack on sprint so I was very slow. Especially as I had to stack CDR where I could so the belt spot was taken by Capt Crimsons. However, it proved to be a winner with mates as DHs, shatter monks and wizzards that had been shelved were brought back out when Cold SSpam Barry was in a group.
I was keen as mustard to test a few things out on the PTR, especially after reading about the buffs to 2 handers, then the introduction of the Rams gift.
Fortunately for me, I was one of the first to get a Leoric Crown, and as a result I realised I wasn’t locked into Capt Crimsons anymore. So I experimented with several belts including anything with AS and finally landed on Chilaniks.
Heres some footage of my initial tests on the 2.1 PTR. After which I wrote on the feedback forum that SS was still lacking, especially after rolling off 12% CHC on both rings to make way for legendary gems. I found that SS wasn’t critting anywhere near as much as it should. I recommended about 30% boost to SS skills and Id like to think that early post may have contributed to the new affix of 25-30% SS bonus to the FOVP. Well, I can dream I made a difference dam it.
Onto the current build. Its purpose is to speed farm T6 in groups. However, its equally as effective solo. That’s it : ) Its not designed for Grifts but Ill talk more about that later.
How it enables you to speed farm is due to its synergistic combination of gear and items. I also like to target elites and be 100% in charge of what I attack and when. With COTA, you do not have this ability. As a result, Ive found testing builds using COTA kill more trash and less elites before the RG appears. I like to maximise my elite kills before the RG appears as Im all about the legs. If you prefer COTA and killing elites, don’t take offence to my comments as Im explaining my build and play style preferences.
Items and their synergy
Fury of the Vanished Peak, due to its 40-50% resource cost reduction and SS bonus,
Bane of the Powerful (at least rank 25), stays active from first elite kill to RG kill due to chilaniks chain/sprint boost.
Chilaniks Chain – can be fueled by warcry and sprint as FOVP uses minimal fury for SS.
Rampage stack – uptime and in turn DPS is maximized due to cold, FOVP fury cost reduction, sprint with chilaniks chain boost.
Cold – Holds trash in perma freeze, which keeps rampage stack up, which maximises DPS, so you kill quicker (also elites as they stay frozen for first rotation) and get to next elite pack quicker etc etc.
Leorics Crown – Its high CDR bonus (possible 25% if your lucky) means lots of fury due to great CDR bonus, so E&M generates lots of fury for sprint/battle rages and FOVP.
Key Stats
CDR 42%
SS bonus 53%
Str, 8900ish
Res all (69% with Warcry impunity on)
Elite damage reduction: 24.35% (after dim returns)
Melee damage reduction 12.58% (after dim returns)
Ranged damage reduction 18.70% (after dim returns)
Attack Speed 17% (RORG and paragon points)
CHC 46% (witch battle rage on)
CHD 376%
Cold damage bonus 57%
EQ bonus 15%
SS bonus 53%
Vit (Health pool is at 353k, am using paragon health points)
LPS 10k (paragon points)
LPH 8k (paragon points)
LPK 5k (pants)
LPFS 836 (belt)
Pros
Im always critical of builds and that all builds aren’t perfect. I can quite confidently say that this build has far more pros than cons. Its not until you play it that you realise comparing it on paper (ie, fire DPS vs cold DPS) is a poor way to evaluate and compare this build.
1. Great Crowd Control. Its cold, so provided your CDR is at least 32% (which is easy with Leorics and paragon points) you can perma freeze trash packs. If your DPS is high enough, solo kill most elites on your first rotation before the freeze effect has permanently worn off before you have to rely on death from above to stun elite packs. The combination of SS and whites ranging from 100-200 plus mil (don’t forget to add the two together) means powerful DPS for T6 clears.
2. Great Crowd Control = quicker kills than fire equivalent, especially solo. I get this question a lot “With Cyndercoat and strongarms you do more damage so why don’t you use fire?” Anybody that has tested this build with fire and cold will tell you the following. Fire = no CC so you die more often and do the same or less damage as stuff moves. Also, fire builds using cindercoat/strong arms don’t get the 24-44% elite/firechain/lightning damage reduction from Aughilds which I talk more about later.
As you have less CC and damage mitigation, you are forced to use a Unity. Cold doesn’t, it uses a SOJ, so compare the difference in DPS. Cold also has a slightly higher DPS rune for SS. Throw all those into the mix and as your cold build gets better, you very quickly outpace fire FOVP builds, especially when you take deaths into account. If your going to go fire, use a furnace no spender/max CDR. Those builds are Grift 35ish capable.
3. Synergy of gear mentioned earler = fast and fun T6 clears.
4. You’re a true team player. If you like to be a team player. you will enjoy this build, especially if you like to help undergeared casual friends or in my case, family that wants to get better drops and do higher rifts or quicker rifts than usual. You help them by providing great crown control and boost to team MS via chilaniks/warcry.
5. Lastly, you are competitive with fire (say it with me). As I said earlier, fire has poor CC in comparison to cold and if you stack SS as I have, you can achieve 50-60% SS bonus without the SS fury cost (due to FOVP discount). That makes a difference and means you can spam SS longer and faster than any other weapon. You get to your targets quicker (sprint with chilaniks boost) when the other guys have ran out of fury. Doesn’t matter how much DPS they do but if you get there first, your already doing DPS where as they are doing no damage until they arrive.
Cons
1. Not higher Grift viable. Early on in the build I did Grift 27 solo (no unity or adjustments at all) and Grift 37 with a monk that had a shield mantra and DH for DPS boost. I haven’t really tried since as Grifts just aren’t my cup of tea. I may try again, if I do, Ill post some findings.
2. Its not Raekers nuff said so no comparisons please.
Gear
Head: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/leorics-crown
Rolls STR/SS bonus/CC (always drops with socket).
If your lucky enough to get one with 100% bonus, that’s 25% CDR right off the bat. Combined with paragon points, that’s the minimum you need to perma freeze trash.
Don’t panic if you get one that ends up with STR/VIT/CC due to how it dropped or that you need the 750 vit. I had vit on my LC up until I got a FOVP with vit which enabled me to roll it off for SS. Before that I used one with LPFS. This combination is possibly the hardest to achieve in this build so you will just need luck and patience.
Spires of the Earth: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/spires-of-the-earth
Usual rolls, STR/AR/EQ bonus/CDR. If you have one with Vit instead of AR (as I did) or you want to roll the AR off, then you can counter balance this with your aughilds braces (so roll AR if your shoulders have vit, or visa/versa).
Pull of the Earth: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/pull-of-the-earth
STR/CHD/CC/CDR. If you don’t have a FOVP with Vit, you may need to compromise your CDR or SS by rolling vit on your gloves, or vit on your helm. If you have a FOVP with CDR, then roll STR/VIT/CHD/CC to counter the lack of vit on your build.
Chilaniks Chain: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/chilaniks-chain
Best and most fun belt in the game.
STR/VIT/AR/LPFS or If you have a FOVP with LPFS on it, then life % (can get up to 15%)
Also, you want the max boost which is 40%. The range is from 30-40 so remember to look at this affix when choosing a belt, it does make a difference.
Aughilds is one of the most under rated sets in the game. Most players associate it with just 15% elite damage reduction and 15% damage bonus. Aughilds to me equals 24-42% elite/fire chain and lightning damage reduction. Ive tested a variation of this build that drops the RORG for compass rose/travelers pledge (ammie and ring which gives another 100% CHD), strong arm braces and Tyrials might. It was crap. I died far too often and really missed my damage reduction from Aughilds.
So how do I get 24-42% damage reduction? Check out the rolls on the chest and braces. Yes, there were many crafts and I did both of these before the Aughilds mats were taken out of the game. For those who don’t know, ranged damage reduction contributes to firechains and lightning damage reduction. So in addition to rolling elite damage reduction on my chest (which takes elite damage reduction to 24% after dim returns), I aimed to get ranged reduction on both the chest and braces which provided a total of 18% (along with set bonus) ranged damage reduction after dim returns.
To put that in perspective, I don’t need a Unity, or Eye of Etlich (ammie with 25-30% ranged damage reduction). So that frees up the ammie for say a Flavour of time (five affixes, check out my raekers barb to look at a good one) or Hellfire ammie and ring for SOJ instead of unity.
Ammie:, any ammie with Cold %/STR/CC/CHD. No socket or third gem. See gems further down for explanation.
BIS ammie I think if your lucky enough to get a cold version of this ishttp://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/the-flavor-of-time due to possible rolls of CDR/Cold E/STR/CHD/MS (MS is then rolled off for what ever is missing, in this case, CHC)
RORG http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/ring-of-royal-grandeur-3qRFop
STR/AS/CHC/Socket
No surprise really, but I recommend CHC/socket instead of CHD/socket. You need as much CHC as you can get for SS to crit as much as possible. Farm em till you get one that drops with either CHC or a socket.
Obviously a few things need to occur after a FOVP drops for it to be usable. The max DPS roll for a FOVP is between x and 1788. So you want one to drop with high DPS, or % bonus damage for it to roll DPS over 3700.
If one drops with a roll of x and less than 1700 (or close to 1700) Id consider not using a rams gift on it, unless it also has % bonus damage on the drop. If it drops with high DPS (so x-1722) that’s a no brainer, roll on that % bonus damage. A good tip is to rams gift it before you reroll the stat so you take the socket out of the possible enchantment rolls. This will save you gold/FS and time.
If you get a FOVP that drops with sufficient DPS but LPFS instead of vit, this is not a problem. Roll % health on your chilaniks (as you don’t need the LPFS) and if your prepared to settle for a little less CDR, roll vit over your CDR on your gloves/or change to a set that has STR/VIT/CHD/CC so you still have enough vit if your LC has STR/SS/CHC. If you aren’t able to roll SS on your crown, but have vit on it instead, then getting rid of the CDR on your gloves isn’t necessary.
If you get a FOVP with sufficient DPS but CDR instead of Vit, then do a swap with the gloves (so re-roll or change gloves) to STR/VIT/CHC/CDR. This will also enable you to have a LC with STR/SS/CHC. You will need LPFS on your chilaniks belt.
Get these suckers as high as you can. Grimiku recently clarified that the rank 25 bonus triggers the BOTs bonus. There was also a recent patch that fixed cold to trigger BOT if your gem isn’t 25 yet. However, elites will only be effected by your first rotation.
Why no third gem?
This build is for T6 speed clears and I find that a third gem didn’t really exist that worked for cold as Mirinae does for holy, Pain enhancer does for physical, Wreath of lightning does for lightning. We really need one for cold. I found while testing the 20% cold loss (this is what most swap out for sockets) effects SS and EQ too much to make it worth while. Others who use this build may disagree and several of my mates on my friends list do use some of these gems so its up to you and what you prefer.
Im also asked why I don’t use this gem as some players think it could be good for SS. http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/zeis-stone-of-vengeance
I find its crap for this build. Your rarely far enough away to get any benefit from it as you are popping EQs frequently and sprinting out just far enough to spam SS. Then repeat. If this gem was to be any good for this build, it needs considerable buffs.
Paragon Points and skills
If your between 400 and 600 I recommend the following (in order of priority):
Defence
Res all/ life %/life regen. No armour I hear you say? With tough as nails, aughilds with at least 24% elite damage reduction, high res all, its enough combined with cold. I found I simply needed Life % more as the more this build improved, the less vit I had.
Utility
Resource Cost Reduction/LOH/Area Damage. You generally need the LOH more than area damage as this is a spender and that LOH when maxed (8k) plus your LPS from your belt is really needed at times. If you get LPFS on a FOVP, you wont need the LOH as much, in which case, it becomes the third priority.
Core
MS (25%)/STR/Max fury. You need that AR too much on pants and boots to say no. If your lucky enough to get a FOVP with plus 24 fury bonus, you can drop this by 10 paragon points which will give you another 100 STR. I can say this as I did some tests and found with over 160 fury, E&M stacks your fury very easily and too the brim (at one point my fury was 171). I did this with my last FOVP and was really disappointed that my new one doesn’t have this stat so I had to max my fury points again and lost 50 STR.
Offence
CDR/CHD/AS/CHC.
Why CHC last? The build suffers from slow AS. Your RORG is your only source until you get your paragon points up. As your using a 2 hander you need all the CHD you can get and the more CDR, the more leapy leaps/fury gen/sprint/damage. So CHC becomes the last priority.
Play style tips
Maximising your Synergy
Heres a clip of an earlier version of gameplay http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwfdCWBFN8I
So as I mentioned earlier, this build relies on the synergy of Chilaniks for speed, which is fueled by fury generated by E&M/CDR, discount of FOVP for SS and cold which freezes trash. All this together keeps rampage stacks for longer and Band of the Powerfuls up time maxed.
To do this, I focus on elites (so BOP uptime remains 100% from first elite to RG kill). But keeping up rampage is tricky. I use trash packs to drop the separate numerical keypad EQ, or disperse EQs. Obviously this will result in trash pack kills, but the point is that’s not your focus, these elites are.
So watch the clip again but this time, look at my keys, rampage stacks, and BOP uptime. Rampage drops in and out, but I do a fairly good job of keeping it up where I can. BOP is up nearly 100% of the time.
Sync your cycles
If your playing with other leap barbs, sync your leaps so that you don’t overlap on RGs. This way you can almost perma stun RGs.
Heres a good example where Siladil (with the same build) and I shut down a RG by not overlapping our leaps cycles. The RG appears at 4.28 mins.
Your very fast and freeze stuff, so a group will naturally start following your lead. Especially if they are stuggling. So don’t be humble, that will get barbs killed damit!!!! Be a bundle of cold frothing barb FOVP wielding testosterone and lead the group. Try it in pubs, you will have your own DH, Wiz and Monk followers in no time. I have lost count of how may comments I get like these from pubs, or friends of friends that join your game.
“I like how your cold barb freezes everything,“T6 is so much easier with you,” “do you have a guide on your build?” “ can I have your baby.”
Even Raekers works with this build, run ahead, slap some freeze, keep running and slamming and if Raekers one shots that then repeat, its all fun.
Other build variations
Uber Runs
For ubers, I don’t need the Chilaniks boost, so I swap out my Chilaniks belt for a WH.http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/the-witching-hour
Ive got a pretty decent one with almost all max stats. As many would know, rampage is also almost useless on Ubers so I swap this out with bloodthirst as Ive lost my LPFS by not using Chilaniks. I have 94k of HG bonus (by luck with gear) so Bloodthirst works very well. Im currently farming HF ammies so I can make Bloodthirst a permanent addition to this build which in turn enables me to roll 15% life back on my chilaniks. This then boosts my life pool back up to 400k.
The DPS without rampage and using a WH is very good. Largest crits Ive seen on Ubers is 108mil. Also, don’t stuff around between Ubers or your BOP will run out, I usually sprint from one Uber clear to the next and the group tends to follow without issue.
There are few other variations around that people have adapted to suit there style of play. This thread has a number of them posted by other barbs enjoying the build.
Ill copy the most popular FAQs and responses to this thread. And my apologies to FiskKillFace for one of the largest thread hijackings that has taken place in the barb forums.
09/16/2014 01:06 PMPosted by Fathom
Hey CC123, why Cold EQ and Death from Above. Isn't the freeze and stun redundant?
Hey mate
Unfortunately freeze only works on elites for the first x3 leaps. After which, death from above enables you to stun them. Also works very well for RG who requires multiple leap cycles to bring down. I see a few others have also provided answers. Cheers.
09/16/2014 01:46 PMPosted by Fathom
Then what advantage does ColdQuake have over a Physical version with Cave-In and Death from Above?
Different play styles. I especially like the trash freezing aspect. So with Chilanicks chain/sprint, you can freeze trash packs to get up/maintain your 25 rampage stack/bane of the powerful..... whilst sprinting past to the main event, elites. Its great synergy.
09/16/2014 03:21 PMPosted by Grimiku
I'm really close to having the gear for this build, too, and I'm pretty excited to try it out. CC123 has done a great job of proving it's a sweet build. I've also been a fan of Seismic Slam for a long time, but finding a Fury of the Vanquished Peak has proven a bit difficult. Oh, and congrats on that insane amulet, FistKillFace.
Thanks Grim. Yeah, FOVP is pretty rare, but be sure to keep a rams gift if you get a good one, it will be worth it. Was lucky enough to have 3 rams gifts drop in one day recently. The RNG gods were smiling on me at the time I think : )
09/16/2014 05:33 PMPosted by toffeefi
Do you think I should run Aughilds and Pride of Cassius for survivability? What other options do I have
I strongly recommend Aughilds as 15% elite damage bonus and potentially 24-25% elite damage reduction means a strong setup works in T6 without the need of unity/follower so you can solo or run in groups efficiently. POC is great help until your build is optimised. Another popular choice which is very effective is a skull of resonance/Threatening shout. Especially for groups the combination of reduced damage reduction and great crowd control is very effective. If there are a couple of barbs in the group and the other is using warcry, TS/SOR literally puts T6 on easy mode (if it wasnt already of course). Pattycake is a big fan of using SOR/TS for cold.
09/16/2014 06:37 PMPosted by Phreaken
Immortal kings needs a 6 piece bonus.
I suggest that they look into maybe adding something like
6-piece bonus:
Secondary skils deal 15-20% more damage, Crit Chance increased by 5%, fury generation increased by 10%
Completely agree. The set is just outdated now and needs a rework along with a "VW" type addition, one that buffs ancients or provides a WOTB 40-50% CDR bonus would be great.
09/16/2014 07:26 PMPosted by vaansteer
May I know whats the highest GR level cleared with this build ?
Sure, this build isnt designed for grifts, so Ive only used it in groups to level up gems. As is, Grift 33 was completed. With some adjustments (POC/IP and diamonds in pants) we successfully did a Grift 37 last night. As I mentioned earlier, this build is designed for T6 speed clears. Especially in groups (all other classes will love you).
09/16/2014 06:58 PMPosted by Baconinja
That's actually a really good flavor of time you got there.
All Im seeing is bacon and flavour in the one post..............mmmmmmm......bacon
The potential damage from a no-spender Coldquake build is higher than a SS or HotA variant, as are the defensive capabilities. You really lose a lot by going with a spender in any EQ build.
You lose a lot of damage from Berserker Rage and another damage passive to support Fury generation from Earthen Might and Unforgiving (or Bloodthirst), and you also at least one damage buff from your active skills (CotA, WotB, or Battle Rage). You're also losing 30% cold or 50% elite damage by using Fury of the Vanished Peak.
I don't see how SS will make up for a 60%+ drop in damage from a no-spender EQ build.
Ive done the no spender x3 jumpy build and my conclusions are this.
(also Im glad you pointed this out as I did extensive testing on the 2.1 PTR of spender Vs no spender thinking the same).
No spender = no fun (for me of course).
They have far more surviveability issues. The 24-25% elite damage reduction of aughilds really makes a difference.
In testing I found they were slower in clearing T6, although their DPS was higher. Simply put, the lack of synergy gimped them. With a good build like this, your very fast and with the combination of white/yellow crits totalling 100-200 mil plus, you keep your bane of the powerfull uptime and rampage stack much easier. So your DPS on paper looks less, but in reality is quite competitive.
Often when looking at spender builds vs no spender, people forget to include the spender DPS. With ruthless kicked in, both banes up and full rampage stack, Ive seen white crits up to 117 mil and SS crits up to 120 mil so thats a total of 237 mil of crits elites are taking from me at the same time. The lowest is 65 mil - 87 mil, so thats 152 mil combined again. So thats a range or 152-237 mil of combined damage. However, FOVP/SS doesnt crit every hit so these figures would have to be reduced as a result. But since Ive maxed CC out on my build (except for SOJ), its really noticeable how much more SS does crit.
FOVP really pays for its self due to the fury cost reduction. So the only passive needed for fury generation is E&M and you can easily fuel sprint with the excess fury not being used for SS.
Also, as it has a SS bonus, this should be deducted form WOBK's cold bonus, so it only provides a bonus to EQs, not SS. Furness therfore only provides a 50% bonus to elites for EQs and 20-25% bonus SS for elites, but does 25-30% less damage than FOVP SS hits on trash. However, try keeping SS fueled with WOBK or Furness, you end up doing less DPS than FOVP as you simply run out of fuel for both weapons. Then this means you dont have fuel for sprint, as you cant sprint this in turn impacts on your ability to get to the next elite pack which means your bane of the powerful up time is not maintained, nor is rampage. See the flow on effects?
So my testing in the PTR of both meant FOVP out performed both weapons.
With a good SS/EQ leap using endless super sprint. I simply got better results than a IK, or Aughild/Cold EQ no spender build. I tried these using both the wrath of the bone king and furness. The DPS was more (just comparing EQs to EQs), but you were significantly slower as you had to use IP/POC to survive. So no Chilaniks chain. And when the overall DPS was compared, the EQ/SS/FOVP combo equaled more overall damage output, was faster (super sprint) and all round more efficient in T6 clears.
09/17/2014 12:25 AMPosted by FistKillFace
Hard for me to drop WotB because I like the skill so much and insanity really helps down the elites super quick
Yeah, I think if you like it, keep it, its a good alternative to battlerage for this build. Pitty we cant get that little bit more CDR, say 24% plus or I would have WOTB on my build permanently.
09/18/2014 12:12 PMPosted by Chesterfried
Great thread CC, convinced me to try something other than fire for once! Even with my pre-2.1 FOTVP, i was having a great time tearing up T6 and Grifts up to tier 30 with a buddy of mine last night. Lightning affixes were still a bit of an issue, but having SS to deal some damage from range (and LPFS) really helped with my survivability. I had a near optimal frostburns in my stash that i threw on that seemed to work decent but in the course of my rifting yesterday i found a nice Leoric's with str/vit/cc/ccr and 86% bonus to socket. Whats everyone's thoughts on frostburns vs Leoric's? My MOTE helm is decent but the MOTE gloves i have in my stash have cc/chd/cdr. I also have a perfect pair of hexing pants in my stash but i've found that trying to keep the buff up can be kind of annoying at times.
Glad your enjoying it.
In relation to your question. Ive tested just about every bit of cold gear there is. Frost burns work well with a rimeheart freeze and smash build. But that only works on trash and has no DPS. Other than that I generally dont bother with them. Infact I scrapped the last pair I had. With this build, you will find when its optimised you kill so quick that any slow effect on trash you get from FBs is barely noticeable. On the other hand, the more CDR you stack on this build, the more supersprint/Leap quakes/fury gen/SS, then repeat and in turn, more damage you can do. Which means, quicker gameplay so I think Leorics is BIS for this build when deciding what to swap out for the RROG bonus.
09/18/2014 12:36 PMPosted by haczter
I to have very much enjoyed this thread. I have a pretty nice set up ( well decent ) of reakor as you can see on my profile my biggest problem is I despise the play style its just no fun to me. For that reason I find myself wanting to re-roll just for the fun of seeing lasers on the ground that mean something yet find myself back here every day reading the barb forums and wanting to take a half day from work and go play ( yet every time I get on I quickly get frustrated with the build). That being said I've been VERY much interested in the coldquake build. So here's my question is this build doable without a FoTVP? I've yet to find one ( or a furnace) for that matter or a PoC and dont even get me started on Kadala. I have a WotBK but it would require my one and only gift to make decent and I fear if I use it and then some how get a FotVP to drop I wont have it when I need it. Long story short is this doable without the FotVP or is there a variation of this build that works better until you get one? Thanks CC always enjoy your post and anyone else who may have some insight I appreciate it!
Good question, Fistkillface pretty much covered this (thanks mate).
Also, here is some information in relation to some 2.1 PTR testing I did.
When using a BIS SK and Azurwrath (SK, 2150 DPS, 30% elite damage & AZ 20% cold, max str 2421 DPS with rams gift) I found my FOVP with a rams gift did at minimum, 20% more EQ damage and same for SS. In some tests, the difference was as much as 40%. And that was with a FOVP without the new SS 25-30% SS bonus affix.
Also, as Fistkillface pointed out, the fury cost meant you ran out of fury very quickly, couldnt use sprint etc etc.
If you want to use a WOTBK or furnace for cold, a WW/IK mote setup may work, however it would be slower. Or a no spender with IK/ancients generating your fury for sprint but then again, I cant see how chilaniks would fit on this combo either.
09/20/2014 05:51 AMPosted by Wired
Have to agree here. No spender means no earthern might using a slot and the beserker rage bonus, coupled with frenzy's 12.5% added dmg bonus MORE than outweighs any SS/HOTA/WWdamage in my view.
Ill go into more testing I did of all cold builds in the PTR and how I found the one Im using to be optimum in more detail when I finalise my cold build guide for this and post it on the forums soon.
In short, this build keeps Rampage/bane of the powerful up for 90% of the time in T6 clears. Consequently its DPS out performed COTA/WW/No spender with furness/WOTBK and berserker rage bonus.
The reason, synergy between chilaniks, FOVP, rampage and bane of the powerful.
However, Im one person and these are the results I found whilst testing. Others may test and spot a tweak/something else I missed.
Case in point, watch this typical clear (did it last night) but dont watch the gameplay, just take note of how often rampage/bane of the powerful is up, you will find its for 90% of the rift clear.
Any build that doesnt use a spender, or uses SS without the FOVPs fury discount or doesnt use Chilaniks chain resulted in a compacting error when I tested it on the PTR. Ie, the kill speed slowed, so rampage did not stay up, dps dropped, couldnt get to the next elite pack in time, bane of the powerul dropped etc etc.
What this meant was you need to ignore the paper DPS of this build and calculate it on its max potential DPS, so thats bane of the powerful uptime (35%bonus damage) and full rampage stack (means my DPS goes from roughly 990k to 1.350mil). Other builds simply could not maintain this for 90% of the time, nor do people using them take into account that you have to include EQs and SS together. So when everything is up and Ive dropped x4 EQ and am laying down SS, my overall damage is between 125 mil to 225 mil.
How do I know this? After doing a lot of testing on the PTR, I was clearing T6 much quicker with this build than any other, despite the obvious DPS differences (including using WOTB/boon of bulkathos etc) and couldnt explain it. So I purchased bandicam, recorded my clears and worked backwards from there.
Grifts are a different kettle of fish and IMO this build climaxes at 33, after that, other no spender cold builds become viable. However Ill have to do more testing to work out which at what point is the one to swap to for group clears.
As far as groups are concerned, Ive passed a 37 Grift this week, after that, SS and white crits up to 130 mil werent enough DPS to continue past 38.
09/21/2014 12:02 AMPosted by Fourty2DNAD3
you guys are all using zei's stone of vengeance right?
When testing this gem with several cold builds I found it was good for no spender pet builds, especially with WOTBK and furnace.
For this build, which is a spender, it performed worse than 20% cold bonus (which is what you would most likely swap out on your ammie) as the majority of the time you had to ensure you were close enough for bane of the trapped to proc itself (level 25 secondary affix).
So to sum up, no I dont use this gem or recommend it for this build. If you want a third gem, these are the ones that are proving to be popular as per comments of other posters in this thread and in the barb forum.
09/23/2014 02:51 AMPosted by SAYCHEESE
CC, have you tried this gem using Skull of Resonance plus Threatening Shout: Intimidate? (I swicthed out Sprint for Threatening Shout.)
Leap twice on a group of mobs, shout, then use the third jump to get distance. I find that most of the mobs will stay inside EQ duking it out, and the slow from Threating Shout should give you the bonus from Bane of the Trapped. I haven't gotten my Zei's gem leveled to 25 yet but I'd assume the stun from the secondary should help maintain the distance also.
Had a crazy build using those and Ground stomp in 2.0.
Was designed as mass crowd control while the rest of the group brought the DPS. Clear times with high DPS WDs, Exploding palm monks etc were redonculous for 2.0. I also got my CDR high enough that chilaniks boost was permanent. So thats a 72% MS boost. Was crazy fun.
In 2.1 this build is fun now it has DPS but as you loose CDR and chilaniks boost if you swap out warcry for TS and Leorics for SOR, it just gets a bit too slow for my liking. Also, the CC from SOR just isnt needed if you kill em quik'n'gud : ) I notice youve kept warcry so you are still getting a nice boost from chilaniks and that would certainly make a difference to your MS.
But as you said, its fun and I do enjoy looking at half of my screen wondering around like idiots after SOR/TS has been unloaded. I do wish chilaniks used both warcry and TS to activate it. In all honesty prefer to use TS rather than Warcry for T6 speed clearing, it just helps the group more, especially if you have 2 barbs and the other is using warcry.
Your barb does like a good build, especially if you prefer SOR over leorics, or TS. And Im all for any build that make the most of some good spender thumpin.
Here's some solo clear action from today. Am loving my new FOVP. It smacks hard and that LPFS on it fills up your health so quick.
09/23/2014 02:51 AMPosted by SAYCHEESE
and the slow from Threating Shout should give you the bonus from Bane of the Trapped. I
Yeah it will, but you will only need this until your gem is rank 25. Grimiku recently clarified that the secondary affix is designed to trigger the primary affix on this gem. But it means you have to get used to maintaining a certain distance for you EQ's and spenders to proc the gem. Thats why you see me x3/4 leaps and run around the target to spam SS as ive got the distance pretty much down pat and know what white and yellow numbers to look out for so I know its working.
09/23/2014 06:55 AMPosted by MasterPUA
I find the build a little awkward because leapquake is close combat while ss is ranged. So do you leap twice into the monsters' position then leap away the third time so you can use ss? It's just not fun to use ss close range because you don't get to appreciate the animation.
Pretty much pop x3 or 4 EQ, then sprint out and SS. This is where super sprint with chilaniks/warcry overcomes the awkwardness of it. You get out and move that quick SS becomes very effective. I also, line up multiple targets to get the most our of SS. Something HOTA could never do.
09/23/2014 02:33 PMPosted by Tao
1. For this ColdEQ Slam build, are you prioritizing crit chance over crit damage? Or are you still trying to keep the general 1:10 ratio? Can you tell me your numbers?
I did try to keep the 1:10 ratio, but after experimenting with WH and CD on the RORG, Ive found the DPS increase from the extra CHD wasnt as effective as stacking CC. Simply put, I noticed my SS was stronger as it crit more. From memory, the figures are roughly CHC 46% (with battle rage on) and CHD 376%.
If you skip to the end of this (play from yesterday) I go through my gear and my stats are open (at roughly 5.40 mins).
09/23/2014 02:33 PMPosted by Tao
2. How much CDR do you find is comfortable?
I find 35% minimum works. On this build the more the better. Currently I have 42% and am looking for more. The reason is the more CDR, the longer chilaniks boost puts your MS at 72%. So you farm quicker etc.
09/23/2014 02:33 PMPosted by Tao
3. Are you intentionally stacking health globe bonus or is that just luck?
That is just luck : ) Have been very lucky getting this much. I actually had it on my chest piece but as you can see, I rolled it off for ranged damage reduction which is now 18% on the build. That certainly helps with firechain/lightning damage, along with the 24% elite damage reduction. Aughilds gets bashed a bit but if you get the rolls I have on braces/chest piece, you feel very strong in T6 with no unity.
09/29/2014 05:57 AMPosted by Fenice86
EDIT: what about Avalanche - Glacier as a 3rd spender given the great sinergy between FOTVP - Leapquake and Earten Might?
Avalanche is good and I did use it during 2.0. I know a few barbs with this build that like using it.
The main challenge you have if you want to use this is what to swap out. If you want to keep sprint/chilaniks then your very limited as that combo means you have to keep both sprint and warcry.
So you will most likely have to look at loosing a DPS booster such as Battlerage or WOTB if you use that instead. Personally, I prefer the extra DPS for both SS and EQs so I tend to keep BR or WOTB.
A mate of mine who used to use Avalanche (mainly because he just loved it) recently stopped using it. I asked him why? He found that after x3 leaps (or 4 if using Keyboard EQ) launching avalanche and then spamming SS, everything was dead from the EQs/SS before avalanche had finished, or even gotten half way through its cycle. So he found it redundant. Obviously he is pretty well geared so if your not then avalanche would probably get a chance work more on the mob/elites.
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Thanks to Tao on the D3 forums, we are now calling this build Frozen Fury.
TLDR
Copy this: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/CC123-1310/hero/47237333
Then do this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzYrOxm3fFE
All gear, paragon points and skills/runes shown at end of this run.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjXo3BvRAi0
Contents
Background
2.0 Cold SSpam
2.1 PTR testing
Purpose of Build
Key stats
Pros and Cons
Gear
Gems
Paragon Points and skills
Play style tips
Other build variations
FAQs
Background
Many of you may already be aware, Ive always been a big fan of cold dating back to 2.0. I wrote my first guide on a cold build which I developed and used for T5 solo and T6 groups. The reason, I never had a unity drop and I almost always only play in groups. I had experimented with lightning and fire but as it was near impossible to farm solo T6 without a Unity, I though Id give cold a go.
2.0 Cold SSpam
After that I was hooked and along came cold SSpam. It was fun build but apart from the DPS issues cold had at the time, SS was bloody thirsty and there was no real way to whack on sprint so I was very slow. Especially as I had to stack CDR where I could so the belt spot was taken by Capt Crimsons. However, it proved to be a winner with mates as DHs, shatter monks and wizzards that had been shelved were brought back out when Cold SSpam Barry was in a group.
Heres some footage of my 2.0 Cold SSpam (note all my generators I had to use to fuel SS),
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFaIqXsmNek
2.1 PTR testing
I was keen as mustard to test a few things out on the PTR, especially after reading about the buffs to 2 handers, then the introduction of the Rams gift.
Fortunately for me, I was one of the first to get a Leoric Crown, and as a result I realised I wasn’t locked into Capt Crimsons anymore. So I experimented with several belts including anything with AS and finally landed on Chilaniks.
Heres some footage of my initial tests on the 2.1 PTR. After which I wrote on the feedback forum that SS was still lacking, especially after rolling off 12% CHC on both rings to make way for legendary gems. I found that SS wasn’t critting anywhere near as much as it should. I recommended about 30% boost to SS skills and Id like to think that early post may have contributed to the new affix of 25-30% SS bonus to the FOVP. Well, I can dream I made a difference dam it.
2.1 PTR first test run of FOVP with Leorics (all gear shown at 16:00)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAe-xVMtalA
Purpose of Build
Onto the current build. Its purpose is to speed farm T6 in groups. However, its equally as effective solo. That’s it : ) Its not designed for Grifts but Ill talk more about that later.
How it enables you to speed farm is due to its synergistic combination of gear and items. I also like to target elites and be 100% in charge of what I attack and when. With COTA, you do not have this ability. As a result, Ive found testing builds using COTA kill more trash and less elites before the RG appears. I like to maximise my elite kills before the RG appears as Im all about the legs. If you prefer COTA and killing elites, don’t take offence to my comments as Im explaining my build and play style preferences.
Items and their synergy
Fury of the Vanished Peak, due to its 40-50% resource cost reduction and SS bonus,
Bane of the Powerful (at least rank 25), stays active from first elite kill to RG kill due to chilaniks chain/sprint boost.
Chilaniks Chain – can be fueled by warcry and sprint as FOVP uses minimal fury for SS.
Rampage stack – uptime and in turn DPS is maximized due to cold, FOVP fury cost reduction, sprint with chilaniks chain boost.
Cold – Holds trash in perma freeze, which keeps rampage stack up, which maximises DPS, so you kill quicker (also elites as they stay frozen for first rotation) and get to next elite pack quicker etc etc.
Leorics Crown – Its high CDR bonus (possible 25% if your lucky) means lots of fury due to great CDR bonus, so E&M generates lots of fury for sprint/battle rages and FOVP.
Key Stats
CDR 42%
SS bonus 53%
Str, 8900ish
Res all (69% with Warcry impunity on)
Elite damage reduction: 24.35% (after dim returns)
Melee damage reduction 12.58% (after dim returns)
Ranged damage reduction 18.70% (after dim returns)
Attack Speed 17% (RORG and paragon points)
CHC 46% (witch battle rage on)
CHD 376%
Cold damage bonus 57%
EQ bonus 15%
SS bonus 53%
Vit (Health pool is at 353k, am using paragon health points)
LPS 10k (paragon points)
LPH 8k (paragon points)
LPK 5k (pants)
LPFS 836 (belt)
Pros
Im always critical of builds and that all builds aren’t perfect. I can quite confidently say that this build has far more pros than cons. Its not until you play it that you realise comparing it on paper (ie, fire DPS vs cold DPS) is a poor way to evaluate and compare this build.
1. Great Crowd Control. Its cold, so provided your CDR is at least 32% (which is easy with Leorics and paragon points) you can perma freeze trash packs. If your DPS is high enough, solo kill most elites on your first rotation before the freeze effect has permanently worn off before you have to rely on death from above to stun elite packs. The combination of SS and whites ranging from 100-200 plus mil (don’t forget to add the two together) means powerful DPS for T6 clears.
2. Great Crowd Control = quicker kills than fire equivalent, especially solo. I get this question a lot “With Cyndercoat and strongarms you do more damage so why don’t you use fire?” Anybody that has tested this build with fire and cold will tell you the following. Fire = no CC so you die more often and do the same or less damage as stuff moves. Also, fire builds using cindercoat/strong arms don’t get the 24-44% elite/firechain/lightning damage reduction from Aughilds which I talk more about later.
As you have less CC and damage mitigation, you are forced to use a Unity. Cold doesn’t, it uses a SOJ, so compare the difference in DPS. Cold also has a slightly higher DPS rune for SS. Throw all those into the mix and as your cold build gets better, you very quickly outpace fire FOVP builds, especially when you take deaths into account. If your going to go fire, use a furnace no spender/max CDR. Those builds are Grift 35ish capable.
3. Synergy of gear mentioned earler = fast and fun T6 clears.
4. You’re a true team player. If you like to be a team player. you will enjoy this build, especially if you like to help undergeared casual friends or in my case, family that wants to get better drops and do higher rifts or quicker rifts than usual. You help them by providing great crown control and boost to team MS via chilaniks/warcry.
5. Lastly, you are competitive with fire (say it with me). As I said earlier, fire has poor CC in comparison to cold and if you stack SS as I have, you can achieve 50-60% SS bonus without the SS fury cost (due to FOVP discount). That makes a difference and means you can spam SS longer and faster than any other weapon. You get to your targets quicker (sprint with chilaniks boost) when the other guys have ran out of fury. Doesn’t matter how much DPS they do but if you get there first, your already doing DPS where as they are doing no damage until they arrive.
Cons
1. Not higher Grift viable. Early on in the build I did Grift 27 solo (no unity or adjustments at all) and Grift 37 with a monk that had a shield mantra and DH for DPS boost. I haven’t really tried since as Grifts just aren’t my cup of tea. I may try again, if I do, Ill post some findings.
2. Its not Raekers nuff said so no comparisons please.
Gear
Head: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/leorics-crown
Rolls STR/SS bonus/CC (always drops with socket).
If your lucky enough to get one with 100% bonus, that’s 25% CDR right off the bat. Combined with paragon points, that’s the minimum you need to perma freeze trash.
Don’t panic if you get one that ends up with STR/VIT/CC due to how it dropped or that you need the 750 vit. I had vit on my LC up until I got a FOVP with vit which enabled me to roll it off for SS. Before that I used one with LPFS. This combination is possibly the hardest to achieve in this build so you will just need luck and patience.
Spires of the Earth: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/spires-of-the-earth
Usual rolls, STR/AR/EQ bonus/CDR. If you have one with Vit instead of AR (as I did) or you want to roll the AR off, then you can counter balance this with your aughilds braces (so roll AR if your shoulders have vit, or visa/versa).
Pull of the Earth: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/pull-of-the-earth
STR/CHD/CC/CDR. If you don’t have a FOVP with Vit, you may need to compromise your CDR or SS by rolling vit on your gloves, or vit on your helm. If you have a FOVP with CDR, then roll STR/VIT/CHD/CC to counter the lack of vit on your build.
Weight of the Earth: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/weight-of-the-earth
STR/VIT/Res all and LOK if possible (I try to stack 5-10kish of this on every build).
Lut Socks: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/lut-socks
STR/VIT/Res all/SS bonus.
Chilaniks Chain: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/chilaniks-chain
Best and most fun belt in the game.
STR/VIT/AR/LPFS or If you have a FOVP with LPFS on it, then life % (can get up to 15%)
Also, you want the max boost which is 40%. The range is from 30-40 so remember to look at this affix when choosing a belt, it does make a difference.
Aughilds chest: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/artisan/blacksmith/recipe/aughilds-rule
STR/VIT/EDR and secondary Res element/LOK and ranged damage reduction
Aughilds braces: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/artisan/blacksmith/recipe/aughilds-search
Cold Elemental bonus/STR/VIT/CC. Secondary res element and ranged damaged reduction
If you have shoulders with VIT instead of AR, then try to get AR instead of vit on your braces.
Aughilds is one of the most under rated sets in the game. Most players associate it with just 15% elite damage reduction and 15% damage bonus. Aughilds to me equals 24-42% elite/fire chain and lightning damage reduction. Ive tested a variation of this build that drops the RORG for compass rose/travelers pledge (ammie and ring which gives another 100% CHD), strong arm braces and Tyrials might. It was crap. I died far too often and really missed my damage reduction from Aughilds.
So how do I get 24-42% damage reduction? Check out the rolls on the chest and braces. Yes, there were many crafts and I did both of these before the Aughilds mats were taken out of the game. For those who don’t know, ranged damage reduction contributes to firechains and lightning damage reduction. So in addition to rolling elite damage reduction on my chest (which takes elite damage reduction to 24% after dim returns), I aimed to get ranged reduction on both the chest and braces which provided a total of 18% (along with set bonus) ranged damage reduction after dim returns.
To put that in perspective, I don’t need a Unity, or Eye of Etlich (ammie with 25-30% ranged damage reduction). So that frees up the ammie for say a Flavour of time (five affixes, check out my raekers barb to look at a good one) or Hellfire ammie and ring for SOJ instead of unity.
Heres a link (thanks Page) to a handy list that shows you what elite/ranged/melee damage reduction mitigates.
http://www.diablofans.com/forums/diablo-iii-general-forums/diablo-iii-general-discussion/91166-elite-affixes-types-and-damage-reduction-mechanics
Ammie:, any ammie with Cold %/STR/CC/CHD. No socket or third gem. See gems further down for explanation.
BIS ammie I think if your lucky enough to get a cold version of this ishttp://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/the-flavor-of-time due to possible rolls of CDR/Cold E/STR/CHD/MS (MS is then rolled off for what ever is missing, in this case, CHC)
RORG http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/ring-of-royal-grandeur-3qRFop
STR/AS/CHC/Socket
No surprise really, but I recommend CHC/socket instead of CHD/socket. You need as much CHC as you can get for SS to crit as much as possible. Farm em till you get one that drops with either CHC or a socket.
SOJ http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/stone-of-jordan
Cold E/STR/Elite damage bonus/socket
Fury of the Vanished Peak: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/fury-of-the-vanished-peak
STR/% Damage/Vit/socket and high DPS roll.
Obviously a few things need to occur after a FOVP drops for it to be usable. The max DPS roll for a FOVP is between x and 1788. So you want one to drop with high DPS, or % bonus damage for it to roll DPS over 3700.
If one drops with a roll of x and less than 1700 (or close to 1700) Id consider not using a rams gift on it, unless it also has % bonus damage on the drop. If it drops with high DPS (so x-1722) that’s a no brainer, roll on that % bonus damage. A good tip is to rams gift it before you reroll the stat so you take the socket out of the possible enchantment rolls. This will save you gold/FS and time.
If you get a FOVP that drops with sufficient DPS but LPFS instead of vit, this is not a problem. Roll % health on your chilaniks (as you don’t need the LPFS) and if your prepared to settle for a little less CDR, roll vit over your CDR on your gloves/or change to a set that has STR/VIT/CHD/CC so you still have enough vit if your LC has STR/SS/CHC. If you aren’t able to roll SS on your crown, but have vit on it instead, then getting rid of the CDR on your gloves isn’t necessary.
If you get a FOVP with sufficient DPS but CDR instead of Vit, then do a swap with the gloves (so re-roll or change gloves) to STR/VIT/CHC/CDR. This will also enable you to have a LC with STR/SS/CHC. You will need LPFS on your chilaniks belt.
For more information on potential DPS rolls of 2 handers, check out this link to some handy calculations Nubtro made.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/13840124004#5
Gems
Bane of the powerful http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/bane-of-the-powerful
Bane of the trapped http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/bane-of-the-trapped
Get these suckers as high as you can. Grimiku recently clarified that the rank 25 bonus triggers the BOTs bonus. There was also a recent patch that fixed cold to trigger BOT if your gem isn’t 25 yet. However, elites will only be effected by your first rotation.
Why no third gem?
This build is for T6 speed clears and I find that a third gem didn’t really exist that worked for cold as Mirinae does for holy, Pain enhancer does for physical, Wreath of lightning does for lightning. We really need one for cold. I found while testing the 20% cold loss (this is what most swap out for sockets) effects SS and EQ too much to make it worth while. Others who use this build may disagree and several of my mates on my friends list do use some of these gems so its up to you and what you prefer.
Im also asked why I don’t use this gem as some players think it could be good for SS.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/zeis-stone-of-vengeance
I find its crap for this build. Your rarely far enough away to get any benefit from it as you are popping EQs frequently and sprinting out just far enough to spam SS. Then repeat. If this gem was to be any good for this build, it needs considerable buffs.
Paragon Points and skills
If your between 400 and 600 I recommend the following (in order of priority):
Defence
Res all/ life %/life regen. No armour I hear you say? With tough as nails, aughilds with at least 24% elite damage reduction, high res all, its enough combined with cold. I found I simply needed Life % more as the more this build improved, the less vit I had.
Utility
Resource Cost Reduction/LOH/Area Damage. You generally need the LOH more than area damage as this is a spender and that LOH when maxed (8k) plus your LPS from your belt is really needed at times. If you get LPFS on a FOVP, you wont need the LOH as much, in which case, it becomes the third priority.
Core
MS (25%)/STR/Max fury. You need that AR too much on pants and boots to say no. If your lucky enough to get a FOVP with plus 24 fury bonus, you can drop this by 10 paragon points which will give you another 100 STR. I can say this as I did some tests and found with over 160 fury, E&M stacks your fury very easily and too the brim (at one point my fury was 171). I did this with my last FOVP and was really disappointed that my new one doesn’t have this stat so I had to max my fury points again and lost 50 STR.
Offence
CDR/CHD/AS/CHC.
Why CHC last? The build suffers from slow AS. Your RORG is your only source until you get your paragon points up. As your using a 2 hander you need all the CHD you can get and the more CDR, the more leapy leaps/fury gen/sprint/damage. So CHC becomes the last priority.
Play style tips
Maximising your Synergy
Heres a clip of an earlier version of gameplay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwfdCWBFN8I
So as I mentioned earlier, this build relies on the synergy of Chilaniks for speed, which is fueled by fury generated by E&M/CDR, discount of FOVP for SS and cold which freezes trash. All this together keeps rampage stacks for longer and Band of the Powerfuls up time maxed.
To do this, I focus on elites (so BOP uptime remains 100% from first elite to RG kill). But keeping up rampage is tricky. I use trash packs to drop the separate numerical keypad EQ, or disperse EQs. Obviously this will result in trash pack kills, but the point is that’s not your focus, these elites are.
So watch the clip again but this time, look at my keys, rampage stacks, and BOP uptime. Rampage drops in and out, but I do a fairly good job of keeping it up where I can. BOP is up nearly 100% of the time.
Sync your cycles
If your playing with other leap barbs, sync your leaps so that you don’t overlap on RGs. This way you can almost perma stun RGs.
Heres a good example where Siladil (with the same build) and I shut down a RG by not overlapping our leaps cycles. The RG appears at 4.28 mins.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzYrOxm3fFE
You’re a Leader not a follower
Your very fast and freeze stuff, so a group will naturally start following your lead. Especially if they are stuggling. So don’t be humble, that will get barbs killed damit!!!! Be a bundle of cold frothing barb FOVP wielding testosterone and lead the group. Try it in pubs, you will have your own DH, Wiz and Monk followers in no time. I have lost count of how may comments I get like these from pubs, or friends of friends that join your game.
“I like how your cold barb freezes everything,“T6 is so much easier with you,” “do you have a guide on your build?” “ can I have your baby.”
Even Raekers works with this build, run ahead, slap some freeze, keep running and slamming and if Raekers one shots that then repeat, its all fun.
Other build variations
Uber Runs
For ubers, I don’t need the Chilaniks boost, so I swap out my Chilaniks belt for a WH.http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/the-witching-hour
Ive got a pretty decent one with almost all max stats. As many would know, rampage is also almost useless on Ubers so I swap this out with bloodthirst as Ive lost my LPFS by not using Chilaniks. I have 94k of HG bonus (by luck with gear) so Bloodthirst works very well. Im currently farming HF ammies so I can make Bloodthirst a permanent addition to this build which in turn enables me to roll 15% life back on my chilaniks. This then boosts my life pool back up to 400k.
The DPS without rampage and using a WH is very good. Largest crits Ive seen on Ubers is 108mil. Also, don’t stuff around between Ubers or your BOP will run out, I usually sprint from one Uber clear to the next and the group tends to follow without issue.
There are few other variations around that people have adapted to suit there style of play. This thread has a number of them posted by other barbs enjoying the build.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/14419762316
There is a shed load of FAQs and answers from myself and other cold barbs in here:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/14419762316
Ill copy the most popular FAQs and responses to this thread. And my apologies to FiskKillFace for one of the largest thread hijackings that has taken place in the barb forums.
Hey mate
Unfortunately freeze only works on elites for the first x3 leaps. After which, death from above enables you to stun them. Also works very well for RG who requires multiple leap cycles to bring down. I see a few others have also provided answers. Cheers.
Different play styles. I especially like the trash freezing aspect. So with Chilanicks chain/sprint, you can freeze trash packs to get up/maintain your 25 rampage stack/bane of the powerful..... whilst sprinting past to the main event, elites. Its great synergy.
Thanks Grim. Yeah, FOVP is pretty rare, but be sure to keep a rams gift if you get a good one, it will be worth it. Was lucky enough to have 3 rams gifts drop in one day recently. The RNG gods were smiling on me at the time I think : )
I strongly recommend Aughilds as 15% elite damage bonus and potentially 24-25% elite damage reduction means a strong setup works in T6 without the need of unity/follower so you can solo or run in groups efficiently. POC is great help until your build is optimised. Another popular choice which is very effective is a skull of resonance/Threatening shout. Especially for groups the combination of reduced damage reduction and great crowd control is very effective. If there are a couple of barbs in the group and the other is using warcry, TS/SOR literally puts T6 on easy mode (if it wasnt already of course). Pattycake is a big fan of using SOR/TS for cold.
TS = Threatening shout
SOR = http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/skull-of-resonance
Completely agree. The set is just outdated now and needs a rework along with a "VW" type addition, one that buffs ancients or provides a WOTB 40-50% CDR bonus would be great.
Sure, this build isnt designed for grifts, so Ive only used it in groups to level up gems. As is, Grift 33 was completed. With some adjustments (POC/IP and diamonds in pants) we successfully did a Grift 37 last night. As I mentioned earlier, this build is designed for T6 speed clears. Especially in groups (all other classes will love you).
All Im seeing is bacon and flavour in the one post..............mmmmmmm......bacon
Ive done the no spender x3 jumpy build and my conclusions are this.
(also Im glad you pointed this out as I did extensive testing on the 2.1 PTR of spender Vs no spender thinking the same).
No spender = no fun (for me of course).
They have far more surviveability issues. The 24-25% elite damage reduction of aughilds really makes a difference.
In testing I found they were slower in clearing T6, although their DPS was higher. Simply put, the lack of synergy gimped them. With a good build like this, your very fast and with the combination of white/yellow crits totalling 100-200 mil plus, you keep your bane of the powerfull uptime and rampage stack much easier. So your DPS on paper looks less, but in reality is quite competitive.
Often when looking at spender builds vs no spender, people forget to include the spender DPS. With ruthless kicked in, both banes up and full rampage stack, Ive seen white crits up to 117 mil and SS crits up to 120 mil so thats a total of 237 mil of crits elites are taking from me at the same time. The lowest is 65 mil - 87 mil, so thats 152 mil combined again. So thats a range or 152-237 mil of combined damage. However, FOVP/SS doesnt crit every hit so these figures would have to be reduced as a result. But since Ive maxed CC out on my build (except for SOJ), its really noticeable how much more SS does crit.
FOVP really pays for its self due to the fury cost reduction. So the only passive needed for fury generation is E&M and you can easily fuel sprint with the excess fury not being used for SS.
Also, as it has a SS bonus, this should be deducted form WOBK's cold bonus, so it only provides a bonus to EQs, not SS. Furness therfore only provides a 50% bonus to elites for EQs and 20-25% bonus SS for elites, but does 25-30% less damage than FOVP SS hits on trash. However, try keeping SS fueled with WOBK or Furness, you end up doing less DPS than FOVP as you simply run out of fuel for both weapons. Then this means you dont have fuel for sprint, as you cant sprint this in turn impacts on your ability to get to the next elite pack which means your bane of the powerful up time is not maintained, nor is rampage. See the flow on effects?
So my testing in the PTR of both meant FOVP out performed both weapons.
With a good SS/EQ leap using endless super sprint. I simply got better results than a IK, or Aughild/Cold EQ no spender build. I tried these using both the wrath of the bone king and furness. The DPS was more (just comparing EQs to EQs), but you were significantly slower as you had to use IP/POC to survive. So no Chilaniks chain. And when the overall DPS was compared, the EQ/SS/FOVP combo equaled more overall damage output, was faster (super sprint) and all round more efficient in T6 clears.
Yeah, I think if you like it, keep it, its a good alternative to battlerage for this build. Pitty we cant get that little bit more CDR, say 24% plus or I would have WOTB on my build permanently.
Glad your enjoying it.
In relation to your question. Ive tested just about every bit of cold gear there is. Frost burns work well with a rimeheart freeze and smash build. But that only works on trash and has no DPS. Other than that I generally dont bother with them. Infact I scrapped the last pair I had. With this build, you will find when its optimised you kill so quick that any slow effect on trash you get from FBs is barely noticeable. On the other hand, the more CDR you stack on this build, the more supersprint/Leap quakes/fury gen/SS, then repeat and in turn, more damage you can do. Which means, quicker gameplay so I think Leorics is BIS for this build when deciding what to swap out for the RROG bonus.
Good question, Fistkillface pretty much covered this (thanks mate).
Also, here is some information in relation to some 2.1 PTR testing I did.
When using a BIS SK and Azurwrath (SK, 2150 DPS, 30% elite damage & AZ 20% cold, max str 2421 DPS with rams gift) I found my FOVP with a rams gift did at minimum, 20% more EQ damage and same for SS. In some tests, the difference was as much as 40%. And that was with a FOVP without the new SS 25-30% SS bonus affix.
Also, as Fistkillface pointed out, the fury cost meant you ran out of fury very quickly, couldnt use sprint etc etc.
If you want to use a WOTBK or furnace for cold, a WW/IK mote setup may work, however it would be slower. Or a no spender with IK/ancients generating your fury for sprint but then again, I cant see how chilaniks would fit on this combo either.
Ill go into more testing I did of all cold builds in the PTR and how I found the one Im using to be optimum in more detail when I finalise my cold build guide for this and post it on the forums soon.
In short, this build keeps Rampage/bane of the powerful up for 90% of the time in T6 clears. Consequently its DPS out performed COTA/WW/No spender with furness/WOTBK and berserker rage bonus.
The reason, synergy between chilaniks, FOVP, rampage and bane of the powerful.
However, Im one person and these are the results I found whilst testing. Others may test and spot a tweak/something else I missed.
Case in point, watch this typical clear (did it last night) but dont watch the gameplay, just take note of how often rampage/bane of the powerful is up, you will find its for 90% of the rift clear.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4IUX4aKdR4
Any build that doesnt use a spender, or uses SS without the FOVPs fury discount or doesnt use Chilaniks chain resulted in a compacting error when I tested it on the PTR. Ie, the kill speed slowed, so rampage did not stay up, dps dropped, couldnt get to the next elite pack in time, bane of the powerul dropped etc etc.
What this meant was you need to ignore the paper DPS of this build and calculate it on its max potential DPS, so thats bane of the powerful uptime (35%bonus damage) and full rampage stack (means my DPS goes from roughly 990k to 1.350mil). Other builds simply could not maintain this for 90% of the time, nor do people using them take into account that you have to include EQs and SS together. So when everything is up and Ive dropped x4 EQ and am laying down SS, my overall damage is between 125 mil to 225 mil.
How do I know this? After doing a lot of testing on the PTR, I was clearing T6 much quicker with this build than any other, despite the obvious DPS differences (including using WOTB/boon of bulkathos etc) and couldnt explain it. So I purchased bandicam, recorded my clears and worked backwards from there.
Grifts are a different kettle of fish and IMO this build climaxes at 33, after that, other no spender cold builds become viable. However Ill have to do more testing to work out which at what point is the one to swap to for group clears.
As far as groups are concerned, Ive passed a 37 Grift this week, after that, SS and white crits up to 130 mil werent enough DPS to continue past 38.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/zeis-stone-of-vengeance
When testing this gem with several cold builds I found it was good for no spender pet builds, especially with WOTBK and furnace.
For this build, which is a spender, it performed worse than 20% cold bonus (which is what you would most likely swap out on your ammie) as the majority of the time you had to ensure you were close enough for bane of the trapped to proc itself (level 25 secondary affix).
So to sum up, no I dont use this gem or recommend it for this build. If you want a third gem, these are the ones that are proving to be popular as per comments of other posters in this thread and in the barb forum.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/gem-of-efficacious-toxin
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/mirinae-teardrop-of-the-starweaver (would love one of these for cold please blizzard)
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/pain-enhancer
Had a crazy build using those and Ground stomp in 2.0.
Was designed as mass crowd control while the rest of the group brought the DPS. Clear times with high DPS WDs, Exploding palm monks etc were redonculous for 2.0. I also got my CDR high enough that chilaniks boost was permanent. So thats a 72% MS boost. Was crazy fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78qTWX5COks
In 2.1 this build is fun now it has DPS but as you loose CDR and chilaniks boost if you swap out warcry for TS and Leorics for SOR, it just gets a bit too slow for my liking. Also, the CC from SOR just isnt needed if you kill em quik'n'gud : ) I notice youve kept warcry so you are still getting a nice boost from chilaniks and that would certainly make a difference to your MS.
But as you said, its fun and I do enjoy looking at half of my screen wondering around like idiots after SOR/TS has been unloaded. I do wish chilaniks used both warcry and TS to activate it. In all honesty prefer to use TS rather than Warcry for T6 speed clearing, it just helps the group more, especially if you have 2 barbs and the other is using warcry.
Your barb does like a good build, especially if you prefer SOR over leorics, or TS. And Im all for any build that make the most of some good spender thumpin.
Here's some solo clear action from today. Am loving my new FOVP. It smacks hard and that LPFS on it fills up your health so quick.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdXg_FSyjZs
Yeah it will, but you will only need this until your gem is rank 25. Grimiku recently clarified that the secondary affix is designed to trigger the primary affix on this gem. But it means you have to get used to maintaining a certain distance for you EQ's and spenders to proc the gem. Thats why you see me x3/4 leaps and run around the target to spam SS as ive got the distance pretty much down pat and know what white and yellow numbers to look out for so I know its working.
Pretty much pop x3 or 4 EQ, then sprint out and SS. This is where super sprint with chilaniks/warcry overcomes the awkwardness of it. You get out and move that quick SS becomes very effective. I also, line up multiple targets to get the most our of SS. Something HOTA could never do.
I did try to keep the 1:10 ratio, but after experimenting with WH and CD on the RORG, Ive found the DPS increase from the extra CHD wasnt as effective as stacking CC. Simply put, I noticed my SS was stronger as it crit more. From memory, the figures are roughly CHC 46% (with battle rage on) and CHD 376%.
If you skip to the end of this (play from yesterday) I go through my gear and my stats are open (at roughly 5.40 mins).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdXg_FSyjZs
I find 35% minimum works. On this build the more the better. Currently I have 42% and am looking for more. The reason is the more CDR, the longer chilaniks boost puts your MS at 72%. So you farm quicker etc.
That is just luck : ) Have been very lucky getting this much. I actually had it on my chest piece but as you can see, I rolled it off for ranged damage reduction which is now 18% on the build. That certainly helps with firechain/lightning damage, along with the 24% elite damage reduction. Aughilds gets bashed a bit but if you get the rolls I have on braces/chest piece, you feel very strong in T6 with no unity.
Avalanche is good and I did use it during 2.0. I know a few barbs with this build that like using it.
The main challenge you have if you want to use this is what to swap out. If you want to keep sprint/chilaniks then your very limited as that combo means you have to keep both sprint and warcry.
So you will most likely have to look at loosing a DPS booster such as Battlerage or WOTB if you use that instead. Personally, I prefer the extra DPS for both SS and EQs so I tend to keep BR or WOTB.
A mate of mine who used to use Avalanche (mainly because he just loved it) recently stopped using it. I asked him why? He found that after x3 leaps (or 4 if using Keyboard EQ) launching avalanche and then spamming SS, everything was dead from the EQs/SS before avalanche had finished, or even gotten half way through its cycle. So he found it redundant. Obviously he is pretty well geared so if your not then avalanche would probably get a chance work more on the mob/elites.