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Updated for Patch 3.11
The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo
Estimated budget: high
| Guide notes |
| July 30, 2020 -Updated for Patch 3.11 July 31, 2020 -Updated gameplay video |
In Patch 3.5 many Cold skills got reworked and also Cast on Critical Gem's cooldown was lowered 0.5s to 0.15s, letting it proc up to 7 times per second! This change made Cast on Critical Strike based builds one of the strongest in the game. This build is focused mainly on triggering Ice Nova and Frostbolt with Cyclone, but it fits all kinds of Cold spells really well, so if you prefer to play Glacial Cascade or Freezing Pulse, you don't need to change anything except the desired Spell Gems. The only required, and the most expensive item in this build is Cospri's Malice, the rest is focused on stacking as much Critical Strike Chance and Multiplier as possible. Thanks to the addition of Cluster Jewels we can push this build's DPS even further. They are quite expensive, but also the best option for players that want to min-max their characters.
You can also find our other Path of Exile builds right over here: Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List
The gameplay is pretty straightforward - you Cyclone into packs of monsters and trigger all your socketed Cold Spells. The more monsters, the more spell casts per second. It's one of the most satisfying and fastest map-clearing builds in the game, thanks to cold explosions and ice projectiles flying all over the screen. Getting high Attack Speed is critical versus Bosses, as you increase the number of Hits per second, and trigger your Spells more frequently.
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| CONS |
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This build feels really good, when you have all gear required for it and leveling Cast on Critical strike might be hard, that's why we recommend using Frost Blades for leveling, until you hit level 68, when you can wear all the required unique items. During leveling focus on upgrading your weapon to the highest Elemental/Physical DPS you can find.
Suggested leveling Gem setups:
| Frost Blades setup | |
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Frost Blades - your primary DPS source. We are using it for the entire leveling process |
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Added Cold Damage Support - a lot of additional Cold damage |
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Ancestral Call Support - it will hit two additional nearby enemies with Frost Blades, which helps a lot with clearing packs |
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Elemental Damage with Attacks Support - increases Elemental Damage |
| Utility Gems | |
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Ancestral Warchief - great totem, that deals a lot of damage against Single targets but also increases Melee Damage |
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Herald of Ash - grants increased Burning Damage and causes slain monsters to Ignite nearby monsters for a percentage of the overkill damage |
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Herald of Ice - additional Cold Damage and Ice Explosions that shatters whole packs of monsters |
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Whirling Blades - your primary mobility skill |
Bandits:
We recommend killing all the Bandits for two additional Passives Points or helping Alira if you prefer additional Mana Regeneration and making it easier to cap Elemental Resistances
Leveling Skill Trees:
34 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Blood Siphon 2) Coldhearted Calculation 3) Blood Drinker 3) Throatseeker
62 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Acrobatics 2) Heartseeker 3) Herbalism 4) Frost Walker
Recommended leveling items:
 Wake of Destruction - definitely best-leveling boots for attack based builds, provides a lot of flat Lightning damage to attacks |
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| Adds 1 to 120 Lightning Damage to Attacks (20-60)% increased Armour and Energy Shield +(10-20) Life gained on Kill 10% chance to Cause Monsters to Flee 15% increased Movement Speed |
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 Karui Charge- amazing amulet, that increases Attack Speed and Damage for your Frost Blades and your Movement Speed, making leveling faster and smoother |
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| +(20-30) to Dexterity +(20-30) to Strength (5-10)% increased Attack Speed +100 to Accuracy Rating 30% increased Projectile Speed 10% increased Movement Speed 30% increased Projectile Damage |
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 Goldrim - amazing leveling Helmet which covers up all your needs for Elemental Resistances during early levels |
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| +(30-50) to Evasion Rating 10% increased Rarity of Items found +(30-40)% to all Elemental Resistances Reflects 4 Physical Damage to Melee Attackers Level Requirement reduced by 100 (Hidden) |
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 Belt of the Deceiver - all Resistances and additional Life are amazing during leveling, on top of that we have little DPS boost |
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| (15-25)% increased Global Physical Damage You take 30% reduced Extra Damage from Critical Strikes +(30-40) to maximum Life +(10-15)% to all Elemental Resistances Nearby Enemies are Intimidated |
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 Redbeak - perfect sword for early game, that you can use it since level 1 |
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| 100% increased Damage when on Low Life 50% increased Physical Damage Adds 2 to 6 Physical Damage 10% increased Attack Speed +(20-30) to maximum Life +2 Life gained for each Enemy hit by Attacks |
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 The Tempestuous Steel - this will be perfect for full conversion to Elemental Damage leveling build because all attacks with this weapon Penetrate enemies Resistances |
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| Adds (5-8) to (15-20) Physical Damage (8-14)% increased Attack Speed Hits can't be Evaded Attacks with this Weapon Penetrate 30% Elemental Resistances Gain 15% of Physical Attack Damage as Extra Lightning Damage Gain 15% of Physical Attack Damage as Extra Fire Damage |
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| +(20-30) to Strength Adds (5-7) to (13-15) Cold Damage to Spells and Attacks +(40-50) to Evasion Rating +(20-30)% to Cold Resistance 50% of Physical Damage Converted to Cold Damage Reflects 10 Cold Damage to Melee Attackers |
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Final Skill Tree:
117 Points Skill Tree (Cluster Jewels)
115 Points Skill Tree (No Cluster Jewels)
117 Points Path of Building (PoB) link (Cluster Jewels)
115 Points Path of Building (PoB) link (No Cluster Jewels)
Ascendancy points:
Preferably in that order:
Pantheon:
Major God: Soul of Solaris 6% Physical Damage Reduction if there is only one nearby Enemy; 20% chance to take 50% less Area Damage from Hits
Minor God: Soul of Garukhan +5% chance to Evade Attacks if you've taken a Savage Hit recently
| [DPS] Cyclone/Ice Nova (Body Armour) |
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Cyclone - this is our main skill gem, that will cast linked Sells and Spells socketed into Cospri's Malice on Critical Strikes |
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Vaal Ice Nova - this is our main Damage dealing spell. It has great both single target and AoE damage |
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Hypothermia Support - since we are dealing mainly Cold Damage this will grant the best Damage multiplier from all gems. It also increases the chance to Freeze enemies |
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Cast on Critical Strike Support - the most important gem in this setup. It will cast linked spells on Critical Strikes dealt by Cyclone |
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Concentrated Effect Support - grants very high bonus Damage at the cost of reducing the radius of both your Cyclone and Ice Nova |
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Inspiration Support - reduces the Mana Cost of Cyclone and grants high DPS bonus by increasing Elemental Damage and Critical Strike Chance |
| [DPS] Frostbolt/Ice Nova (1st Cospri's Malice) |
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Frostbolt - Frostbolts are recommended for this build since they greatly increases our clear speed and radius of Spells triggered by Cospri's Malice. Spells in this setup deal a moderate amount of damage but provide very important Life Leech |
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Ice Nova - same as Frostbolt, deals some extra damage and grants Life Leeched |
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Life Leech Support - will make Spells in your first Cospri to grant some of the damage dealt Leeched as Life |
| [UTILITY] Frostbite/Frost Bomb (2nd Cospri's Malice) |
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Frostbite - your second Cospri is used to apply Frostbite Curse and cast Frost Bomb, which makes this build so much more convenient to play |
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Frost Bomb - applies Cold Exposure to affected enemies, increasing your DPS |
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Increased Area of Effect Support |
| [AURAS] Herald of Ice, Hatred, Precision | |
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Herald of Ice - provides additional Cold Damage and huge Ice explosions, making your clear speed insanely fast |
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Hatred - increases Cold Damage you deal with Skills |
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Precision - increases your Accuracy Rating and Critical Strike Chance. It's extremely important in this build as it defines the rate at which you trigger all your Spells |
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Enlighten Support - reduces the amount of Mana Reserved by Supported Spells |
| [UTILITY] Immortal Call and Flame Dash | |
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Cast when Damage Taken Support - will auto-cast Immortal Call after a certain amount of damage is taken. Keep this Gem at level 1 |
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Immortal Call - grants brief Physical Damage immunity. Keep this Gem at level 1 |
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Flame Dash - increases your Mobility |
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Second Wind Support - increases the number of Flame Dash's charges and increases its Cooldown Recovery Speed |
| [UTILITY] Vortex | |
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Vortex - deals extra damage, but also debuffs enemies via Bonechill and grants Arcane Surge for increased Spell Damage and Mana Regeneration Rate. It's Instant-cast Spell so you can just cast it while spinning with Cyclone |
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Bonechill Support - increases the effect of Chill and Cold Damage dealt to Chilled enemies |
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Innervate Support - will cause Vortex to occasionally grant you slight added Lightning Damage, and it will also Shock enemies |
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Arcane Surge Support - keep this Gem at level 7 so that all casts of Vortex will give you Arcane Surge buff for extra Spell Damage and Mana Regen. |
| [UTILITY] Curse (Shaper Ring) |
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Assassin's Mark - if you manage to get Whispers of Doom anointed on your Amulet, you should definitely get a Shaper Ring which will make you Curse enemies with Assassin's Mark anytime you hit them |
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Below you will find all the recommended and required items for this build. As usual, all required stats are listed (items are also included in the PoB link). This is a rather inexpensive build, which should not cost more than a few Exalted Orbs, but you can increase it's power immensely by investing in more powerful uniques.
At this point, we would love to invite you to visit our Path of Exile Marketplace where you can buy cheap PoE Currency in case you are unable to complete your build.
Our recommended items will:
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Stat priorities on items:
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 (Helmet) Rat's Nest - great and inexpensive pick for this build, however, it grants no defensive Utility |
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15% increased Attack Speed |
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 (Helmet) Rare Helmet - look for a Shaper piece with Added Cold Damage to Spells |
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| Min. requirements: 65 maximum Life 25% Fire Resistance 25% Cold Resistance 25% Lightning Resistance Optional affixes: Added Cold Damage to Spells maximum Mana |
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| Helmet enchantments: Ice Nova deals 40% increased Damage |
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 (Weapon) Cospri's Malice - mandatory item for this build, which is based on this weapon. Try to get the highest Attack Speed and flat Cold Damage to Spells as possible. You have to dual-wield them for the best performance, however you can always use a Shield or other off-hand, which will require you to Cast Frost Bomb and Frostbite manually though |
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| No Physical Damage Adds (80-100) to (160-200) Cold Damage Adds (40-60) to (90-110) Cold Damage to Spells (8-14)% increased Attack Speed +257 Intelligence Requirement 60% increased Critical Strike Chance against Chilled Enemies Trigger a Socketed Cold Spell on Melee Critical Strike |
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 (Body Armour) Tabula Rasa - cheap and leveling option which should easy carry you through low and mid-tier Maps |
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| 3% reduced Movement Speed (Hidden) Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden) Item has 6 White Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden) |
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 (Body Armour) Loreweave - our top recommendation for the Body Armour slot, however, it will be quite hard to get all the right sockets. You can try to get it to 3 Green/3 Blue and swap Cold Penetration with Increased Critical Damage Support Gem |
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| Has 6 Sockets +(8-24) to all Attributes Adds (4-10) to (14-36) Physical Damage to Attacks (20-60)% increased Global Critical Strike Chance +(15-50) to maximum Energy Shield +(20-60) to maximum Life +(20-50) to maximum Mana (6-30)% increased Rarity of Items found (15-50)% increased Elemental Damage Your Maximum Resistances are (76-78)% |
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 (Body Armour) Carcass Jack - solid Body Armour which grants all the essential Stats and makes it easy to hit the right Socket Colors |
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| (120-150)% increased Evasion and Energy Shield +(50-70) to maximum Life +(9-12)% to all Elemental Resistances (40-50)% increased Area of Effect (40-50)% increased Area Damage Extra gore |
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 (Boots) Rare Boots |
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| Min. requirements: 60 maximum Life 29% Fire Resistance 29% Cold Resistance 29% Lightning Resistance 25% increased Movement Speed Optional affixes: maximum Mana |
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| Boot enchantment: Adds 45 to 68 Cold Damage if you've been Hit Recently |
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 (Belt) Rare Belt |
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Min. requirements: |
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 (Belt) Rare Stygian Vise - with the same stat as the regular belt. Will grant Abyss socket and allow you to use one more jewel |
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| Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 29% Fire Resistance 29% Cold Resistance 29% Lightning Resistance Optional affixes: Strength or Dexterity to meet Attribute Requirements |
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 (Amulet) The Pandemonius - the BiS (except for Mirror-level Rare Amulets) which provides very high bonus DPS and insane defensive utility |
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| (20-30)% increased Cold Damage +(35-40)% to Cold Resistance Chill Enemy for 1 second when Hit, slowing them by 30% Blind Chilled Enemies on Hit Damage Penetrates 20% Cold Resistance against Chilled Enemies |
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 (Amulet) Rare Amulet - just grab a mixture of DPS and Utility stats until you can afford any of the above. For end-game Amulet, you will want a Shaper one with the bonuses listed below, and the Whispers of Doom Anointment |
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| Min. requirements: 60 maximum Life 30% Critical Strike Multiplier 60% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Attributes Damage Penetrates #% Cold/Elemental Resistances (Redeemer/Shaper) Chance to gain Frenzy/Power/Endurance Charge on kill (Shaper) +1 to level of all Cold Skill Gems (Redeemer) |
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Recommended Anointments:
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 (Ring) Rare Ring - Diamond Rings are quite a good option as they can increase your Critical Strike Chance. You can also try to get an Elder Ring to go with Mark of the Shaper |
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Min. requirements: |
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 (Ring) Gifts from Above - if you can afford to lose some Resistances, it's also a viable option, granting a lot of extra Critical Strike Chance and Damage increase |
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| (20-30)% increased Global Critical Strike Chance Trigger Level 10 Consecrate when you deal a Critical Strike (30-35)% increased Global Critical Strike Chance (10-15)% increased Light Radius (40-50)% increased Rarity of Items Dropped by Enemies killed with a Critical Strike 50% increased Damage while on Consecrated Ground +5% Chance to Block Attack Damage while on Consecrated Ground |
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 (Ring) Mark of the Shaper - one of the best choices for the Ring slot, as long as, your other Ring is an Elder item. You should play it only if you are using one Curse |
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| (15-25)% increased Elemental Damage 20% chance to Trigger Level 20 Summon Volatile Anomaly on Kill Adds (13-18) to (50-56) Lightning Damage to Spells (6-10)% increased maximum Energy Shield (6-10)% increased maximum Life (60-80)% increased Spell Damage if your other Ring is an Elder Item Cannot be Stunned by Spells if your other Ring is a Shaper Item |
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 (Gloves) Rare Gloves - preferably Fingerless Silk Gloves but most other types are also viable |
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| Min. requirements: 60 maximum Life 30% Fire Resistance 30% Cold Resistance 30% Lightning Resistance Optional affixes: Maximum Mana Attack Speed |
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| Glove enchantment: Commandment of Frost |
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 (Jewels) Rare Jewels - all Jewels should provide extra Life and at least one Damage amplification mod |
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| Recommended affixes: increased maximum Life increased Critical Strike Multiplier Optional affixes: increased Attack Speed increased Cold Damage increased Spell Damage |
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 (Jewels) Abyss Jewels - priority is maximum Life and flat damage to Spells |
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| Recommended affixes: maximum Life added Elemental Damage to Spells Optional affixes: increased Critical Strike Multiplier |
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 (Flask) Atziri's Promise - grants very high bonus DPS and Life Leech which comes in handy during Boss fights |
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| +35% to Chaos Resistance 2% of Chaos Damage Leeched as Life during Flask effect Gain (15-20)% of Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage during effect Gain (10-15)% of Elemental Damage as Extra Chaos Damage during effect |
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Other suggested Flasks:
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If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below.
Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Grinding Gear Games.
Hrimmsorrow - great Gloves, providing additional Damage and Physical Conversion to Cold, which scales with Elemental/Cold Damage nodes on the skill tree