Cospri's Malice Ice Spear
Occultist Build

Updated for Patch 3.20

The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo

Cospri's Malice builds are one of the best builds based on the automatically triggered skills gimmick. Any Cold Spell that's socketed in there will be triggered on Melee Critical Strike. Ascendancy Class that's best suited for Dealing Cold Damage with Spells at close range is probably Occultist - Void Beacon and Frigid Wake are some of the most beneficial Keystones you can find for a such build. You will take an advantage of Power Charges with another Keysone from Occultist's Ascendancy - Forbidden Power. Malediction will suit this build well allowing you to apply an additional Curse on enemies. Cyclone allows you to move while Channeling and has one of the highest Attack Speed of all Skills, but very low Damage, that, however, is not a problem. It is the only viable Attack that will enable Cospri's socketed Skills and the main setup of Ice Spear located in your Body Armour. Ice Spear having Anomalous Quality is a must-have Gem, a regular Ice Spear Projectiles won't pierce through the enemies at close range.

The build uses Energy Shield as the main layer of defense, combined with Shavronne's Wrappings, Presence of Chayula, and Prism Guardian it leaves you with a lot of space for Mana and Life Reserving Skills. You are also going to benefit from approximately 20k total Evasion Rating, resulting in a 70% Chance to Evade attacks, combining it with Ghost Dance, will allow you to take some damage. It's a Low Life build that uses Pain Attunent Keystone for increased DPS. Another important Keystone is Inner Conviction which can only be acquired via the Militant Faith Jwewl - High Templar Dominus variant of it. It introduces Devotion Mechanics to your build which can be an upgrade or downgrade depending on the effect. You will use around 7 Auras or Heralds to boost your Damage leaving you with little to no Mana, but that shouldn't be an issue. The build uses two Large Cluster Jewels and four Medium ones - it enhances your Elemental Damage, Critical Strikes, Auras, and Curse effectiveness.

You can also check our other Path of Exile builds right over here Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List

1. Gameplay

Build such as these are extremely non-engaging as you will use only one Skill - Cyclone. It will trigger Ice Spear, Creeping Frost, and Frost Bomb on every Critical Strike. For Boss fights, you can use Vortex with Curse on Hit, but it's recommended to have the extra Curse applied by Implicit mod on Gloves, or a Ring affix.. The mobility Skill of your choice is Flame Dash or Frostblink. The latter can have Bonechill applied, making it a two-button build basically

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Leveling ES build is tricky, it's impossible to completely have just on Energy Shield as your Life Pool, Life is much more common and easy to access. At some point, you will have to respec some points on your Passive Skill Tree - withdraw the Life nodes, and put them into Energy Shield. We recommend doing it at level 80 or above when you're able to equip Presence of Chayula, Prism Guardian, and Shavronne's Wrappings and allocate at least part of the Cluster Jewel Passives. The playstyle of Cyclone and Cast on Crit is unique in itself, you will need an already high Crit Chance to properly deal damage. Play as a regular Caster until you're able to wiled Cospri's Malice. Use a wand with increased Spell Damage, or a Storm Prison. Any Cold Spell is good, it depends on your preferences which one you will use. Frostbolt is available since level 1 so it's good for a start. Essences of Scorn and Suffering could be helpful to quickly craft some leveling gear.

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Frostbolt setup
	Frostbolt - a basic Cold Spell that fires a Piercing Projectile in a straight line
	Arcane Surge Support - grants you more Spell Damage, Mana Regeneration, and Cast Speed as you spend Mana on Skills
	Power Charge on Critical Support - after picking up Forbidden Power Keystone after the first Lab, use this Support Gem for better synergy with Power Charges
	Inspiration Support - reduces Mana Cost, increases Elemental Damage, and Critical Strike Chance

Flame Dash setup
	Flame Dash - one of the most versatile Movement Spells
	Faster Casting Support - increases the Cast Speed of Flame Dash

Arcanis Brand setup
	Arcanist Brand - a brand that will cast all the linked Spells for you while being attached to the enemy
	Frost Bomb - a utility Spell that lowers the Cold Resistance of the enemy
	Frostbite - Curse that will lower Cold Resistance even further

Bandits:

Killing all three Bandits for two Passive Skill Points is the best option, but you can as well Help Alira for Mana Regen, Crit Multiplier, and Elemental Resistances

Leveling Skill Trees:

33 Points Skill Tree
Pick up Spell Damage, Maximum Life and Mana, and the Critical Strike nodes

63 Points Skill Tree
look for more Maximum Life, Spell Damage, and Spell Crit. Chance, extra Mana from Mystic Bulwark, and Prodigal Perfection will be also very useful. From that point, simply allocate nearby nodes with those stats until you feel comfortable respeccing (basically when you have all the gear). Since this is quite an expensive end-game optimized build, this may as well be around level 90 or so.

Recommended leveling items:

Le Heup of All - Excellent Ring for leveling, it provides you with Damage and Elemental Resistances.

Adds 1 to 4 Physical Damage to Attacks +(10-30) to all Attributes (10-30)% increased Damage (10-30)% increased Rarity of Items found +(10-30)% to all Elemental Resistances

Goldrim - The Helmet that mostly fixes your Elemental Resistances which are needed at every stage of the game.

+(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)

Tabula Rasa - The Body Armour with no stats, but six, white, linked sockets.

Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden) Item has 6 White Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden)

Storm Prison - Storm Prison grants you an additional Maximum Power Charge and other very useful stats.

(11-15)% increased Spell Damage (40-60)% increased Physical Damage Adds 1 to (35-45) Lightning Damage (15-25)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate +1 to Maximum Power Charges (25-35)% chance to gain a Power Charge on Kill

Victario's Acuity - As you're using a Spell that is also a Projectile, you can use this Amulet for more Damage and additional bonuses.

+(16-24) to Dexterity and Intelligence +(30-40)% to Lightning Resistance +(8-10)% to Chaos Resistance 10% chance to gain a Frenzy Charge on Kill 10% chance to gain a Power Charge on Kill 5% increased Projectile Speed per Frenzy Charge 5% increased Projectile Damage per Power Charge

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

92 Points Final Skill Tree (doesn't include Cluster Jewels nor Unnatural Instinct, Militant Faith, or Thread of Hope)
121 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Forbidden Power
2. Void Beacon
3. Frigid Wake
4. Unholy Authority

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Solaris: for 6% additional Physical Damage Reduction while there is only one nearby Enemy and 20% chance to take 50% less Area Damage from Hits

Minor God: Soul of Garukhan: for reduced Shock effect on you and additional immunity to Maim and BLind

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Ice Spear setup
	Cyclone - Cyclone activates your Ice Spear by allowing you to land Critical Strikes rapidly offering massive trigger frequency
	Anomalous Ice Spear - Anomalous version will change the effect of Quality to pierce the first two targets, without it your Projectiles will rarely enter the second, more powerful phase
	Cast on Critical Strike - as you land a Critical Strike with a linked Attack Skill, it will trigger Ice Spear
	Greater Multiple Projectiles Support - increases the number of Ice Spears by four, lowering the damage of each by 26% at level 20
	Inspiration Support - lowers the Mana Cost of the linked Skills, increases Critical Strike Chance and Elemental Damage
	Increased Critical Damage Support - offers one of the highest DPS bonuses because of your very high Crit. Chance. If you are lacking Crit. (below 90%) you can consider replacing it with Increased Critical Strikes Support

[UTILITY] Assassin's Mark setup
	Assassin's Mark - increases Critical Strike Chance, its Damage, and grants you Life and mana when Cursed enemies die
	Mark on Hit Support - the best way to apply Mark is in this case Mark on Hit Support
	Arcane Surge Support - grants you a buff that increases your Spell Damage, Mana Regeneration Rate, and Cast Speed, whenever you trigger Assassin's Mark. Make sure to match this Gem's threshold to the Mana Cost of your Assassin's Mark

[UTILITY] Cospri's Malice setup socketed in Cospri's Malice
	Creeping Frost - a Projectile that creates Chilled Ground upon hitting the enemy, consider Divergent Quality for an extra Projectile
	Frost Bomb - reduces enemy Cold Resistance by applying Exposure debuff, their Life and ES regeneration are reduced as well
	Power Charge on Critical Support - used to generate power Charges and it increases Damage of linked Spells

[UTILITY] Aura setup socketed in Prism Guardian
	Hatred - converts Physical Damage to Cold, and increases your Cold Damage
	Zealotry - increased Area of Eccect, Critical Strike Chance, and Damage for Spells, it also creates Consecrated Ground during boss fights
	Grace - more and increased Evasion Rating, important for Ghost Dance

[UTILITY] Mana Reservation setup
	Precision - it provides additional Accuracy Rating and Critical Strike Chance, it's very useful as you will rely on landing hits with Cyclone, it doesn't have to be leveled all the way up
	Herald of Ice - adds Cold Damage to Spells and Attacks, increases Cold Damage, and detonates enemies that Shatter for more AoE damage
	Clarity - use a low-level Clarity for some extra Mana Regen and potential Watcher's Eye Jewel mods
	Discipline - increases your Maximum Energy Shield making it one of the most important Auras in this build

[UTILITY] Skitterbots
	Summon Skitterbots  - a Minion/Aura Spell that will allow you to summon two invincible Minions that will Shock and Chill nearby enemies. By linking it to Bonechill Support, they will also increase Cold Damage taken affected by their Chilling Aura
	Bonechill Support - increases Cold Damage taken by enemies affected by your Skitterbots' chilling Aura
	Unbound Ailments Support - increases the effectiveness of ailments inflicted by your Skitterbots, and as an additional result, the Cold Damage boost from Bonechill

[MOBILITY] Dash setup
	Flame Dash - the best way to dodge incoming attacks or to enhance your mobility is to use a blink-type Movement Skill such as this one

5. Gear Setup

Presence of Chayula, Prism Guardian, Shavronne's Wrappings, and Cospri's Malice are the fundamental parts of the builds and there is no replacement for them, be sure you can afford all of them. Rare or Unique items with an increased limit or other bonuses for Power Charges are highly recommended. The build uses two Large Cluster Jewels and four Medium ones, but these are not mandatory, just highly recommended. Look for Energy Shield Modifiers, as ES will be your primary line of defense. Critical Strike Chance is the singular most important stat to increase your Damage, the other being Spell, Elemental, or Cold Damage, Critical Strike Multiplier, and reduced Cold Resistance for your opponents. Accuracy Rating and Attacks Speed are somewhat important for frequent and consistent Ice Spear Damage via Cyclone. You will need a lot of Dexterity - 212, so you can wield Cospir's Malice; 85 Strenght are required to use Prism Guardian, look for these Attributes. 

Our recommended items will:

1. Cap your resistances at 75%
2. Provide you with enough DPS, Life, and ES to start mapping

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - Aim for a Helmet with a high bonus to Energy Shield, an additional maximum Power Charge, and some Elemental Resistances. Consider a Blizzard Crown as a base for more DPS.

Min. requirements: 40 Maximum Energy Shield 60% Total Elemental Resistances +1 to Maximum Power Charges Optional affixes: Nearby Enemies have -#% to Cold Resistance Maximum Energy Shield Dexterity

Helmet enchantments: Ice Spear enchantments

(Weapon) Cospri's Malice - It will trigger socketed Spells which will generate you Power Charges and provide other utility bonuses, the stats of the weapon are excellent for this build too. Cospri's Malice requires a lot of Intelligence but you should have covered it from the Passive Skill Tree.

+25% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier Trigger a Socketed Cold Spell on Melee Critical Strike 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

(Shield) Prism Guardian - You won't need your Life, so you might as well use it for additional Auras with reduced Mana Reservation Cost and increased Level. It grants you more Elemental Resistances and Dexterity.

+12% to all Elemental Resistances +2 to Level of Socketed Aura Gems Socketed Gems Cost and Reserve Life instead of Mana Socketed Gems have 25% reduced Reservation +(20-30) to Dexterity +25% to all Elemental Resistances

(Body Armour) Shavronne's Wrappings - Without this Body Armour, your Character will die from even the slightest Chaos Damage, which normally penetrates ES. It's a perfect fit for this build, it grants a lot of Damage and ES.

(3-10)% increased Spell Damage (100-150)% increased Energy Shield 10% faster start of Energy Shield Recharge +(30-40)% to Lightning Resistance Reflects 1 to 250 Lightning Damage to Melee Attackers Chaos Damage does not bypass Energy Shield

(Boots) Rare Boots - A regular pair of Boots with high Elemental Resistances, Energy Shield, and Movement Speed will do.

Min. requirements: 70% Total Elemental Resistances 40 Maximum Energy Shield 25% Increased Movement Speed Optional affixes: You have Tailwind if you have dealt a Critical Strike Recently Dexterity or Strength chance to gain Onslaught for 4 seconds on Kill increased Energy Shield

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - It's a good place to look for Accuracy Rating, as Precision and Ice Golem alone won't be enough. Nonetheless, Energy Shield and Elemental Resistances should be the priority.

Min. requirements: 40 Maximum Energy Shield 80% Total Elemental Resistances 450 Accuracy Rating Optional affixes: Dexterity increased Spell Damage Increased Damage with Hits against Chilled enemies Adds # to # Cold Damage if you've dealt a Critical Strike Recently

(Belt) Rare Belt - Look for a solid Stygian Vise or Crystal Belt for more ES with high defensive stats, Shaper's or Crusader's influences offers some of the best mods.

Min. requirements: 40 Maximum Energy Shield 100% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: increased Energy Shield from Body Armour increased maximum Energy Shield Strength increased Damage with Hits against Chilled Enemies

(Amulet) Presence of Chayula - It's a Stun Immunity, a lot of Chaos Resistance, and Energy Shield at a cost of Maximum Life, which is useless anyway in this build.

+(10-16) to all Attributes 30% increased Rarity of Items found +60% to Chaos Resistance Cannot be Stunned 20% of Maximum Life Converted to Energy Shield

Recommended Anointments: Charisma Mark the Prey Tranquility Snowforged

(Ring) Nimis - we've used Nimis Ring to get the powerful returning projectiles, that allow Ice spear Hit twice, which basically doubles their damage in a perfect case scenario. It's an expensive addition but luckily it's optional

+(20-30)% to Lightning Resistance +(30-50) to Dexterity (25-35)% increased Projectile Damage Projectiles Return to you at end of flight Projectiles are fired in random directions

(Ring) Rare Rings - look for missing Resistances and Attributes, reduced flat Mana Cost of Skills or possibly Frostbite Curse on hit

Min. requirements: 40 Energy Shield 80% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Accuracy Rating Frostbite Curse on Hit Non-channelling Skils have -# to Total Mana Cost Attributes

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - Jewels offer a huge range of affixes, you should look for the ones listed here. Corrupting a Jewel might Result in an Implicit mod that makes you immune to Corrupted Blood.

Recommended affixes: increased maximum Energy Shield Critical Strike Multiplier for Spells/Cold Skills Critical Strike Chance Elemental Resistances increased Spell/Elemental/Cold Damage Strength or Dexterity

(Jewel) Unnatural Instinct - It's expensive Jewels for finishing touches, the best place for it is on the upper-right socket near the center of the Skill Tree.

Allocated Small Passive Skills in Radius grant nothing Grants all bonuses of Unallocated Small Passive Skills in Radius

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - An expensive, but the most impactful Jewel you can find. You should aim for mods that correspond to the Auras you're using.

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers> Recommended Aura modifiers: Critical Strikes Penetrate (8-10)% of Enemy Elemental Resistances while affected by Zealotry Adds (58-70) to (88-104) Cold Damage while affected by Hatred Damage Penetrates (10-15)% Cold Resistance while affected by Hatred

(Jewel) Thread of Hope - With a Large Ring you can allocate Heart of Ice, Essence Surge, and Arcane Focus without having to connect them to your Passive Tree.

Only affects Passives in Large Ring Passives in Radius can be Allocated without being connected to your tree -(20-10)% to all Elemental Resistances

(Jewel) Militant Faith - Look for a Dominus version of this Jewel and allocate it to the left of your starting location for Inner Conviction. Around half of the Devotion mods are useful for this build.

Carved to glorify (2000-10000) new faithful converted by High Templar Dominus Passives in radius are Conquered by the Templars Historic <two random mods of devotion>

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewels - The base of increased Cold Damage with 8 Passive Skills and two or three of the Notables mentioned here is good enough.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Doryani's Lesson 1 Added Passive Skill is Blanketed Snow 1 Added Passive Skill is Blast-Freeze 1 Added Passive Skill is Disorienting Display 1 Added Passive Skill is Prismatic Heart 1 Added Passive Skill is Widespread Destruction

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewels - Three or four Medium Cluster Jewels are recommended, it's extremely useful to have one Wish for Death and Master of Fear, both can be found on the same Cluster Jewel with increased Effect of your Curses. Besides that look for Critical Strike and Aura-related Notables.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Pressure Points 1 Added Passive Skill is Basics of Pain 1 Added Passive Skill is Wish for Death (just one) 1 Added Passive Skill is Master of Fear (just one) 1 Added Passive Skill is Vengeful Commander 1 Added Passive Skill is Replenishing Presence

(Jewel) Small Cluster Jewel - A Small Cluster Jewel with increased Mana Efficiency is a great way to increase your effective Mana Pool. You shouldn't get any Passives here, but rather use the extra Mana Efficiency from the small nodes.

Recommended affixes: Added Small Passive Skills have 35% increased Effect (top priority) Added Small Passive Skills also grant: +# to Dexterity Added Small Passive Skills also grant: #% increased Mana Regeneration Rate Added Small Passive Skills also grant: #% Damage Added Small Passive Skills also grant: +# to Maximum Energy Shield Added Small Passive Skills also grant: +#% to # Resistance

(Flask) Bottled Faith - It's the best Flask for builds heavily relying on Critical Strikes such as this one.

40% increased Damage Creates Consecrated Ground on Use (20-40)% increased Duration Consecrated Ground created by this Flask has Tripled Radius Consecrated Ground created during Effect applies (7-10)% increased Damage taken to Enemies (100-150)% increased Critical Strike Chance against Enemies on Consecrated Ground during Flask effect

(Flask) Dying Sun - Use this Flask for more Projectiles and AoE, it reduces the Fire Damage you take.

+50% to Fire Resistance 20% less Fire Damage taken (125-150)% increased Charges used (40-60)% reduced Duration (10-20)% increased Area of Effect during Flask Effect Skills fire 2 additional Projectiles during Flask Effect

Other suggested Flasks: Doctor's Quicksilver Flask with additional Movement Speed bonus suffix Jade Flask with increased Evasion Silver Flask with Bleeding/Corrupted Blood removal and immunity Diamond Flask with increased Critical Strike Chance

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.

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