The STRONGEST Melee Build Everyone Can Play! - Ice Strike Invoker Build Guide

[@Zizaran]

Maxroll Planner (ENDGAME): maxroll.gg/poe2/planner/gav70mha WRITTEN GUIDE: [Link soon - Work in Progress] Leveling Guide: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3KUlHmbnb-qe9U

[@unknownmonkey8661]

The dude is not just a good player and build maker, but also great at telling stuff. Hope we'll see him and his builds often going forward

[@sleeprservice]

For sure

[@3.99atBest]

Excellent! Can't wait to level up a monk. Initially rolled warrior, very clunky. Got my ranger to T10 maps, ready to have some fun with Monk! I love following guides, so many mechanics in PoE 1/2 that I can't quite grasp on how to optimize - and maybe content creators experiment too and eventually the optimal setups get there - but it's just nice after a long mentally exhausting day at work to not have to sit there with spreadsheets trying to figure out why my build sucks lol.

[@Weege8888]

Yeah I got lucky this was my first character. It's insane.

[@FacePlat3]

My first character as a PoE newbie was Mercenary..... Everything was like on hard mode for me but I at least got past Act2 in like 26hours 💀

[@setcamper]

Perfect timing! Love this build, so easy to get up and running and only died to two death effects (pre-nerf) since hitting maps and pushing into Tier 9, almost lvl 80.

[@Olboiii_Jesse]

Been waiting for the maxroll guide on this one, thanks guys 🤘

[@Nuage3]

Casual player here, all of your guides have been super helpful. I'm having a blast. Big thank you mister editor.

[@Esteban45696]

Ive been doing sanctum and maps all morning didnt even notice freeze nerf. Shocked my first character blind build has turned out so well.

[@alexmo1941]

@@Esteban45696 I think freeze nerf was for the builds with zero freeze investment still chain freezing bosses like the lightning invoker build.

[@kaly8329]

No the freeze nerf is for those that has low dmg. Not for those that dont have freeze build up.​@@alexmo1941

[@theone320]

Thanks for this. I love the full written guides on maxroll.

[@Calinons]

I know freeze is strong and has been nerfed a couple times deservedly so, i just hope they dont nerf it into the ground.. freeze shattering effects are my favorite part of this game.

[@chiefinasmith]

They’ve only nerfed perma freeze on boss

[@Warchoon]

Pure ice builds were not nerfed at all. They nerfed other builds that only had a token frost damage to perma-freeze essentially for free by making freeze buildup relying on the amount of frost damage dealt. You can still freeze without going pure frost, it is just much harder; but for mostly frost damage builds almost nothing has changed.

[@chiefinasmith]

@ can confirm. Still melting shit with my frost monk.

[@lens_hunter]

I have always loved playing Ice builds in video games. Ice Crash was one of my favorite abilities in PoE.

[@ryanbregitzer4187]

Really appreciate the update gaveing a hard time lvling it but have the endgame gear cant wait

[@AltruiSisu]

Love that I was doing pretty much all of this already! Such a fun character to play!

[@quaketheduck1247]

Quality stuff. I'm not rerolling but I really enjoy a thought out video guide.

[@Shikori_Tsuru]

I'm glad I switched to this build around a week ago, feels great.

[@vhayne91777]

This build is incredible, and easy to play. Thank you for providing excellent videos (3 so far?) for it! I highly recommend it, but fear it will get nerfed because of how good it is.

[@KodiakDuck]

Love the build! It's been very helpful for leveling for me.

[@TheCosmicAstro-]

I think the build in theory is fine but in my experience after transitioning into it, without VERY good gear it struggled a lot or relied on bell for everything. Without bell it feels really bad(with palm it either felt like i was exploding packs or doing ZDps with no inbetween). Though i dont think this is exclusive to this build, its just a monk problem. Nonetheless love the build-guides, its high quality content and Skryah does a great job at explaining everything

[@arneb482]

Interesting version: I play Conc effect instead of creshendo & either cold pen/creshendo or the headhunter gem instead of inspiration(the headhunter gem is amazing for breaches, pretty useless othervise). I use a 650dps weapon with 0 atk. speed though to avoid mana issues. Increased Area support is AMAZING on shattering palm, I never went back aftery trying it, just makes the herald of ice explosion radius much bigger(If I kill a mob in the middle of a Tower room, the entire room can explode). Elemental Invocation + orb of winter/lightning balls trigger all 24 Bell hits within

[@Vireca]

Can this guy make a KZbin channel? The video and build explanation was concise and perfect. I'm not well crafted in PoE but I understood all the build without getting lost I was going to make a Ranger at some point, but this build looks kinda interesting and straight forward

[@botwammy7743]

Personally I think cast on freeze with profane ritual is the way to go for generating power charges. The fixed time cap on the resonance-frenzy just limits you too much. Once you get the profane ritual+cast on freeze going it slaps. Edit: Didn’t see the post patch buff! I’m wrong.

[@dace069]

post frenzy buff?

[@thalant2723]

Combat frenzy got insanely buffed to give you a charge every 1.8s (as mentioned in the video), making it definetly superior to CoF profane ritual now (specially since you need bodies for profane ritual and shattering frozen enemies dont leave any)

[@Zizaran]

As the others said, the buff to combat frenzy and sniper's mark have fixed those issues entirely. Charges are smooth now! -Skryah

[@HYV3mynd]

I still feel immense sadness for being a chalupa instead of invoker

[@gileadgafni6588]

I guess worth saving the links of the other 2 guides you posted

[@mrherculez97]

I made a monk to test this build yesterday, now im in act 3 blasting frost bonks :D

[@K_Pex]

Hey Mr Editor, Can you add a link to your filter, going crazy trying to make my own without the filterblade website :D

[@Scheckler27]

Everyone is using neversink.

[@koluniko3269]

Build is so fun to play!

[@nostyjay5966]

My build is pretty similar. Im in t6 maps rn and i dont really feel the need to use charge staff yet. Hopefully i can make it work without. Ice strike just feels so good

[@louisvernal3284]

Awesome Video! Would have been nice if you could have shown the detailed stats of frost strike briefly. (to see how high of a crit chance you managed to reach so far. purely curiosity)

[@datonedude90]

Where do I get the loot filter he’s using?

[@christopherkimmeth2626]

Great guide. What about adding just a bit of fire damage to increase bell multiplier?

[@martinoy6767]

I’ve been playing this build and damn is it fun.

[@Snutze]

@Skryah What are the 2 Potion/Draught you selected in your quest ? (perma buff) ?

[@Zizaran]

Elemental Ailment Threshold in normal, Chaos Resistance in cruel. -Skryah

[@alexmo1941]

@@Zizaran Do you think the mana issues are significant enough to take mana regen draught instead? If you could go back and choose the Draughts again would you still go with element threshold and chaos res?

[@yaemikosright]

​@@alexmo1941 Me when i ask myself if i was satisfied with my life decisions when i was a teenager

[@Arthur_Zerograviti]

When I saw the build I knew the gameplay would be Skryah's character!!

[@jbn3729]

Love this build! Using this until I get enough currency to go for tri stat legionnaire :D

[@alexmo1941]

What did you take for the poisons/draught rewards for act 3 and 3c?

[@mikkelrasmussen1218]

What do you suggest to pick in the venom crypts in the start of ACT 3?

[@inzainy9420]

Hey, how would the maligaro's virtuosity fine bracers fit in this build? The 300% Critical damage bonus is pretty good.

[@nikonFB1988]

Is this still good after the nerf to freeze build up?

[@Zizaran]

It's been buffed this patch. -Skryah

[@nikonFB1988]

@Zizaran cool! Thanks for the response

[@T11eTheNorse]

I personally love how the mob clearing here looks crazy fast but not straight up obnoxious like in PoE 1 ❤️‍🔥

[@AchillesMele]

This is the best build and the one I am using :D thank you Skryah! Question: Any reason why Slicing Staff is better here for end game? Is it just the crit chance?

[@Zizaran]

Gothic Quarterstaff is better but this staff was just a really good deal. Crit chance is the best stat. -Skryah

[@AchillesMele]

@@Zizaran thanks for the reply, good to know!

[@MrJeden]

I have pretty good gear, doinh endgame maps etc but i cant finish trial of will. Any tips? Recommended defensive stats? I usually end up honor drained in the middle of everything

[@johnhopson7713]

That's a fucking super Saiyan

[@garf412]

OK so do you need accuracy? in game tool tip states you auto hti everything at 100% within 2m, becuase we are using Ice Strike and Shattering Palm, cos everthing will be within that range... I dont think its wroth the investment just fur Charged Staff...? explain / confirm / deny..? thanks

[@Zizaran]

Because you get so much DEX, you just get accuracy capped automatically. -Skryah

[@garf412]

@@Zizaran OK, so on the maxroll guide why is there loads of Accuracy rolls on gear? also the jewel doesnt show up on the passive tree, nor does the chosin attributes.. is this normal? sorry first time using MAxroll for PoE2.

[@Zizaran]

@@garf412 The accuracy rolls are a coincidence, they're not needed. Jewels should be there, attributes are whatever you need at the time. -Skryah

[@garf412]

@@Zizaran THANK YOU

[@DMT-ix9zj]

I've been running a build like this and it's OP for sure. Great build

[@kingderpington6082]

Isnt the ascendancy skill for crit ignores non-negative resistances means it still does more damage if they have negative res? It says it DOESN'T ignore negative res.

[@cheesecakenl1980]

Great video! Love the build. Feels great to play and shatter things! Have some questions. Mainly about crit chance and DPS. 1) How do you check for 50% crit chance? Is it the main hand critical hit chance of Ice Strike skill ? 2) Your Ice Strike DPS is 84K (level 20 gem) mine is like 21K (level 18 gem) with a crit chance of 45.2% main hand. Does attack speed on weapon and 50% + crit chance make up hat difference? 3) Really struggling to get >=50% crit chance. I have 3 crit jewels. How does the 3-4% extra crit chance on the weapon factor in ?

[@Zizaran]

1) check it in the gems panel by clicking the tiny arrow 2) level and gear play a huge role, don't look at tooltips too much 3) base crit on weapon is super important to get your crit up yes, it's a multiplier to all the other crit chance. -Skryah

[@richiepisarski7153]

Wouldn't it make sense to split your weapon mastery points into the unarmed/quarterstaff to get the added benefits to the shattering palm attack

[@Phara4747]

Would the unique ring, Polcirkeln, help with the clearing on this in regards to Herald of Ice proliferaton?

[@getoutofmylobby4347]

So how exactly did you beat the sanctum 4th floor boss?

[@Zizaran]

He's very easy with evasion builds since you dodge all his auto attacks. Good boons and relics make it easier too. Just have to be careful with intermission phase. -Skryah

[@yesyoeable]

So in the post-50% tree you give up a bunch of crit chance nodes. Do you actually get to 50% just from the other nodes and gear? Or are you not basing you critchance off the ice strike tool tip and actually add crit chance from power charges etc?

[@paulc5389]

If shocking bell procs cast on shock doesn't freezing it also proc cast on freeze? A better anoint for maps would be Doomsayer.

[@dudeinskibro1]

Excellent! How would you prioritize the Buffs while we get more Spirit?

[@CoDPrins]

what vial rewards did you choose in act 3? i assume chaos res at cruel, but the first one?

[@kdoka8126]

I have a question on max roll guides there are "any attribute notes" and I have no clue whether should I pick dex or int could someone look into that?

[@edenyss92]

Just curious - Echoing Frost and Echoing Thunder seem fitting in this build and the surrounding small nodes are good too. but I never saw you mention it. Are they actually bad?

[@someoneone3933]

Did you manage to do 4th ascendancy before the crit swap? I am pretty close to the build pre-crit but end up dying once the boss gets to ~30%hp, think it's lack of dps

[@martinsinger6434]

Really nice build, enjoying it a lot! One question though - in the maxroll planner it says "5% to critical hit chance" When I hover over my Wind Dancer i don't see anything like crit mentioned. Whats the catch here?

[@yaemikosright]

Is it fine to use the over 50% crit passive tree build with just 40% crit with charge infusion active? Tbh i pretty much forget using unbound avatar most of the time anyways

[@briankay3146]

That's my character. very tanky and good burst.

[@haen2456]

Why hybrid chest and helmet? With spectral ward and supterfuge mask I'd rather play full evasion on chest and full ES on helmet

[@heathgullery4848]

This is the way

[@ChrisPugsworth]

minmax much

[@kingderpington6082]

more spirit from hybrid chest

[@fromthesky1307]

What About going for Powertread Hunting boots? worth using them ?

[@kam1L_]

which aura of these two should i prioritize first, wind dancer or ghost dance?

[@kingderpington6082]

ghost dance, it gives you much needed defense in early maps, and gives you basically double your es later on.,

[@lmagemaker]

Which Snake Vanom u use?

[@juanignacioramos7852]

I have the exact same passive tree and even a slightly better physical dps warstaff but I cap around 35k DPS. What could I possibly be missing here? What is the base of the dps on the icestrike skill?

[@followingtheroe1952]

What Act 3 Draught do I take? Mana regen? This draught thing seems silly, like does everyone take mana regen?

[@KingpinCrazy]

Really awesome guide! I think Ziz need to take a stop back and become your Editor instead, lmao. Jk. Really well done!

[@yochie2638]

Are you sure the conversion applies after the increases to phys damage from supports/gear? All the info I find about that says it converts only your weapons base damage along with added flat dmg.

[@kingderpington6082]

Which conversion are you referring to?

[@yochie2638]

@kingderpington6082 9:00 the one from gems i guess

[@kingderpington6082]

@@yochie2638 yes it scales before the conversion, this is because it scales attack damage, which if you hover over on ice strike, it says it does 203% of attack damage, 80% of which is converted. Though its very easy to see why you would be concerned the scaling happened after the conversion as unless you are super familiar with poe and its verbage its easy to believe the increase of physical attack damage is an increase of the physical attack damage done when you hit a target.

[@yochie2638]

​@@kingderpington6082 Ok thanks for reply. From testing with in game stat screen and Avatar of Fire, it seems that effects that scale min/max damage (e.g. Heft support) are applied to base attack damage (and thus included before conversion) whereas other phys scaling, even from gems (e.g. Heavy Swing) are applied after conversion and therefore have no effect on converted damage. Seems to me that video is wrong at 9:08.

[@tron7116]

So this is updated version from the last ice strike posted? Jw

[@dolevmaxbismut4485]

Mana regen or aliment trashhold??

[@nekrovx]

How do you deal with ice strike not hitting the bell during bosses? Feels like POE 2 has this weird auto targeting that poe 1 didn't have.

[@kingderpington6082]

you get used to the boss hitboxes making no sense and place the bells better over time

[@altromonte15]

I don't understand overabundance on Tempest Bell, you can't have two out at once, I thought it could be for clearing but I don't see you using it on packs. I guess you have slightly more uptime but you also have to cast it more often and take up one support slot. Is it really worth it?

[@alexmo1941]

Have you played monk at all? Everyone knows bell is for bosses. Overabundance lets you build combo while bell is already out.

[@Zizaran]

It makes bosses smoother because you can't always have full uptime. This way you can build combo for the next bell for when you have to disconnect from the boss to do mechanics or dodge attacks. -Skryah

[@altromonte15]

@alexmo1941 i'm not convinced the math works out, since you attack really fast so it takes little to build the combo and you're giving up a whole support gem for it. But I understand the logic now.

[@alexmo1941]

@@altromonte15 try it before you hate on it, overabundance just makes it feel more comfortable m

[@mattL---]

@@altromonte15doesn’t sound good until you actually use it. You can’t gain bell combo when bell is down. With it, you can basically chain bell into bell into bell because it’ll keep comboing. You’ll notice it in boss fights instantly.

[@josephcolonna1300]

Why is increased ele damage on wep not a priority for a cold dmg build you can get rolls of 100% increased damage on a weapon

[@Zizaran]

Because increases to damage are far worse than increasing the base damage of your skill. -Skryah

[@dolevmaxbismut4485]

venom draught?

[@evgvc]

Yo guys what mtx armor is he running?

[@ihitmyhead_]

hey, how do I check my crit chance? I don't know if I can swap already

[@alexmo1941]

@@ihitmyhead_ it's under the actual skill gem, click on the arrow and you'll see crit chance and crit damage.

[@ihitmyhead_]

@@alexmo1941 thanks :))

[@SomeDudeItWas]

Global chat was complaining that ice monks just got nerfed, how's the build feel after the patch?

[@alexmo1941]

@@SomeDudeItWas Ice Monks did not get nerfed. Only builds with minimal freeze investment did. Previously any monk build like lightning invoker chain froze bosses with very minimal investment, now they can't. Pure frost monks like this build can still chain freeze bosses easily.

[@kingderpington6082]

@@alexmo1941 esp if you get winter mark, if you didnt run winter mark b4, and you do now, its exactly the same.

[@manu-phatak]

I feel like I bricked my Monk by going Acolyte - there are not enough monk things that play off the darkness mechanics

[@blovvatrain]

IS it worth to gemcutter every skill?

[@shunri936]

U can see on the gem below the bonuses u got. Ice strike get 10 attack speed. Dont know about the Herold skills, see no difference there.

[@AGodTyr]

Please god nooooooooooo, why did you make a videooooo nooooooooooooo. Goodbye my build, it was nice knowing you.

[@bockist]

SKRYAH

[@happyhawe2783]

I prefer uniqe cirticat bonus gloves and mele strike range allocated in tree

[@Scroooper]

I do this, but with chronomancer with quarterstaff.

[@mogensen84]

I just don't understand how you have enough spirit to keep all the passives + gems active?! I'm at level 79 with 180 spirit and I can't use half of the gems because I lack spirit. It's been like this since I've first watched your build. Changing "I shall rage" to "Grace" just makes my spirit drop down to 131 instead, despite that I have 11.645 evation rating 🤷‍♂ I've used a very similar build to level with and wanted to make these adjustments, but it just ruined my build instead.

[@Zizaran]

Lead me through Grace only gives you spirit based on your body armour's evasion and ES. It also turns off spirit from other gear sources. Your total evasion is irrelevant. You just need a better chest piece. You do not need every aura while progressing to higher levels. -Skryah

[@kingderpington6082]

you need a good ev/es body armor with all prefixes being flat ev/es, hybrid %ev/es flat ev/es, and % ev/es. You can get away with only 2 of the prefixes getting you to ~200 spirit if you have a good flat ev/es roll and a good %ev/es roll, if either roll is a hybrid you wont be able to run all the support gems with only 2 prefixes.

[@locus2427]

I replaced Ghost Dance with Herald of Thunder, substantial damage increase for a little less defence

[@crunks420]

How are you getting shocks to trigger the herald?

[@setcamper]

I'm not sure I get what Ghost Dance does- it seems like it should recover ES quickly but it either does it so fast I don't even see it or it hardly seems to matter given clear speed and evasion preventing the vast majority of hit regardless.

[@crunks420]

@setcamper It is instant. If you have 5k Evasion, you will gain 250 ES (5% of 5k) every time you are hit until the ghost shrouds are depleted. So if you take 250dmg to your ES when hit, your ES will just stay full.

[@ТимофейРусанов-ы2ю]

Honestly, i tried this build and it was good though the campaign, but i feel like it doesn't really have that much defence and damage, it's kinda mid

[@alexmo1941]

If the only difference between characters in this vid and yours is you, then the issue is you.

[@ChrisPugsworth]

gear diffed probably

[@alexmo1941]

@@ChrisPugsworth mf be rolling around in 40 evasion 10 es gear and calling the build mid

[@kingderpington6082]

can you link your character so I can give you tips on easy to go after upgrades? Or at least which pieces would be easiest to upgrade?

[@leovash]

meep

[@sipsi1995]

I dont like this becoming popular because it is how i started now everything will be more expensive lol

[@veppy4952]

if you started with this on launch shouldnt you be ahead naturally with its gear progression?

[@ttpc6380]

Dont worry. Price won't matter once everyone gets into it it'll be nerfed. :(

[@sipsi1995]

@@veppy4952 welp, i mean I can only play 4 to 9 hours a week tops, poe 1 was easier to get to end game in like 4 hours but poe2 is harder from 0, i am ahead but key things like a good staff get pricier because well it becomes popular and i cant get ahead of somebody who plays efficiently like me but 10 hours a day

[@sipsi1995]

@@ttpc6380 I truly hope it doesnt but sometimes it feels too op tho

[@pr4zaVIDZ]

Was already one of the most popular builds since launch

[@Appleturnover618]

Aaaaaaand it’s nerfed 😢. There goes my monk.

[@Snutze]

its not nerfed ?

[@Shikori_Tsuru]

Overall it's not nerfed. The permafreeze nerf is whatever and the buff to Combat Frenzy overshadows it.

[@kingderpington6082]

not nerfed

[@Scheckler27]

For "normal" players like myself...The build isn't like this because I guess I can't keep tapping buttons/skills constantly 10 times/second. My monk is always getting stuck on branches and pebbles and walls/corners so it sucks and usually just swings at air even though I'm on top of enemy. very clunky. I quit mine for now at lvl 47 cause it can't survive a white mob. I'm using Raxx's version which is almost the same. My resists are close to capped with 1355 life.

[@c-tothefourth4879]

Massive skill issue unfortunately

[@ChrisPugsworth]

gear and skill issue

[@Scheckler27]

@@c-tothefourth4879 yeah, that's what I said.

[@Scheckler27]

@@ChrisPugsworth Says you don't need special gear, my gear is exactly what you'd expect at lvl 47, yes skill issue. That's my point.

[@davidtsulaia]

Great, now this will be nerfed to oblivion. I wish content creators would try not to hype up the builds and focus on cons a bit more too.

[@Catchafire2000]

These builds don't really slap like they did in PoE1, and that's due to PoE2 being so slow. Great guide but slow game.

[@ChrisPugsworth]

thats how they intended poe 2 though? go back to poe 1 if you want fast pace

[@Ben_L314]

Good job posting a build with subpar clear and subpar single target, while calling it the strongest. Fyi monks can do much better than this

[@alexmo1941]

Are you aware this build teleports around like flicker strike?

[@ChrisPugsworth]

tell us how you would make it “better” than his build instead of blabbering nonsense

[@kingderpington6082]

I feel like you tried this build, didnt have adequate gear or understanding of what to do, got mad, and posted this comment lol