PoE 2 Ice Nova Build: Endgame Viable?

Time: 2025-02-02 by mmojugg Game: Path of Exile 2 Guide Tags: PoE 2 Ice Nova Build

Welcome back to another update on the Ice Nova build for Path of Exile 2. Significant progress has been made over the last week, making this build a potentially strong contender for late game content. Here's a detailed look at the changes and improvements.

Build Overview

Mind Over Matter (MoM) Conversion: The build has moved to a full MoM setup for better survivability, although it should be noted that without Dream Fragments, mana can still be tight. Dream Fragments are expensive, costing around 12 Divine Orbs.

Skill changes

Ice Nova: Improved with increased area of effect, casting speed, and lightning penetration due to the Arc Mage passive, which significantly increases lightning damage. There's some uncertainty about the exact benefits of Lightning Penetration, but it seems to improve the build's performance.

Gem support:

Custom Critical has been integrated with Comet and Frost Wall for Energy Shield and Spell Cascade for mapping.

Double Curse strategy: Now uses two curses for mapping, with the option to disable one for boss fights to focus on damage. Hypothermia is favoured for its ability to freeze, which is crucial for mana management and survivability, even with high lightning damage.

Boss Setup: For high-level bosses, Custom Critical is replaced with more direct damage options such as Spell Echo and Trample. This setup allows you to kill bosses in a matter of seconds.

Itemisation

Armour: Upgraded to Grand Regalia for maximum mana and spirit, with Soul Cores to further enhance the build.

Wand: A new higher damage wand that focuses on mana, resistances, and damage output.

Utility Items:

Belt: Recommended to farm through Ritual for potential high value drops such as the King's Audience, which can be sold for significant currency.

Jewels:

Ador Diamond: Provides a 60% increase to corrupted magical items, focusing on critical damage, area of effect and casting speed.

Megalomaniac Diamond: Reduces skill cost, essential for mana management.

Metamorphic Diamond: Enhances Double Cursed abilities and provides additional mana and energy shielding.

Passive tree and ascension changes

Focus on Crit and Area Effect: The build maximises crit damage and area effect, aiming for optimal efficiency in both mapping and boss encounters.

Passive Points: The current build frees up passive points previously spent on less critical nodes, allowing for potential future investment in more jewel sockets or different skill nodes.

Gameplay Strategy

Mapping: With a range of 6.4 metres on Ice Nova, the build excels at clearing simple tier 15 maps, but requires caution in higher delirium tiers due to the build's relatively low mana pool (4,300).

Bossing: Efficient with the right gem setup, allowing for quick boss kills while maintaining control of the fight thro[ugh freezing.

Farming and Strategy

Ritual Farming: Use maps with Ritual modifiers to farm the King's Audience, a lucrative method of gaining currency.

Map Strategy: Use Idated Paranoia for the rarer mobs, but be careful on higher-tier or Delirium maps where low mana (around 4,300) can be a liability against ranged threats.

Performance Insights

Mapping: This build excels on standard tier 15 maps and offers one-shot potential. However, players will need to be more tactical on higher-tier or juiced maps, as the build relies on freezing to survive.

Bosses: With the right build, bosses can be dispatched quickly, using the freezing mechanic to control the pace of the fight.

Looting efficiency: Despite the lack of a rarity focus, the build still manages to gather significant loot, including Divine Orbs, suggesting that damage and clear speed can sometimes compensate for the lack of rarity.

Future considerations

Dream Fragments and Temporary Items: These high-cost items could further increase the build's potential, but they're currently out of reach for many due to their Divine Orb price.

Build tweaks: Further tweaks are expected, especially to gems and passives, as more feedback and experience is gathered.

Thank you for reading

This Ice Nova build, with its recent updates, offers a compelling mix of damage, control, and survivability for various game scenarios. Feedback and suggestions are welcome as the build continues to evolve. Remember to fav us for more updates on this and other builds in Path of Exile 2.