Lexyu's Cold Snap of Power Hierophant Build Guide (PoE Keepers of the Flame 3.27)

November 12th, 2025, 02:44

Introduction

The Cold Snap of Power Hierophant (Templar) is a ranged spellcaster that excels at speed-farming maps with rapid mobility and massive screen-wide explosions. Damage and survivability is scaled by Mana stacking. With moderate investment, this build can also be effective at killing pinnacle bosses.

Watch the video below for an example of the gameplay.

Build Overview

The following sections provide a brief summary so you can decide if this is the right build for you.

Pros

➕ Ranged Off-Screening Clear
➕ Rapid Mobility
➕ Low-Budget Starter Endgame Build
➕ Easy to Transition From Any Archmage Leveling Build
➕ Scales Well With Moderate Investment

Cons

➖ Complex Mechanics
➖ Lack DPS Against Pinnacle Bosses Until Awakened Spell Cascade
➖ Shield Setup is Essential for Surviving T17 Maps

Build Mechanics

Cold Snap of Power (CSoP) is an ideal skill for this build due to its exceptional base damage, effectiveness of added damage, and 10% base critical hit chance. The cooldown of CSoP is bypassed by the Wand affix, Gain a Power Charge after Spending a total of 200 Mana, which is activated on every cast for an infinite cycle. Mana is stacked as a primary stat to scale damage from Archmage Support and Arcane Cloak.

Once Awakened Spell Cascade Support is obtained, Area of Effect (AoE) is another important stat that increases damage output by overlapping up to 5 CSoP explosions to shotgun enemies. The explosion radius required to shotgun an individual target depends on the hitbox size of the enemy. Obtaining a 4.8M radius breakpoint for CSoP allows all 5 explosions to hit a small-sized enemy when directly targeted. If you do not have enough increased AoE to overlap all 5 explosions on an enemy, CSoP can be aimed at a diagonal offset to the target to hit with 3 explosions.

Due to the efficient damage scaling and shotgun mechanic, the Cold Snap of Power Hierophant is capable of reaching 40M DPS (in the Tanky Shield Setup) with moderate investment.

Playstyle

To prepare maximum damage output against bosses, activate Sigil of Power and Arcanist Brand.
Spam casts of Cold Snap of Power to deal damage, which can be aimed at the sides of your screen to kill enemies from outside of their sight.
Hold down Frostblink of Wintry Blast to quickly traverse while causing explosions around your character that deal decent damage.

Damage Scaling

Maximum Mana with Archmage Support and Arcane Cloak
Area of Effect for Shotgun Explosions with Awakened Spell Cascade Support
Critical Hit Chance (easily capped at 100%) and Critical Strike Multiplier
Cast Speed
Increased Spell/Elemental/Lightning/Area Damage

Defensive Scaling

Maximum Life
Maximum Mana with Mind Over Matter and Arcane Cloak
Hybrid Energy Shield and Evasion Gear
Evasion Rating from Jade Flask and Grace
Capped Resistances
Block and Spell Block (Shield Setup)

Map Modifiers to Avoid

Certain combinations of modifiers on maps can increase difficulty, such as stacking multiple monster damage modifiers. You should figure out which modifiers your current build struggles with from experience. The following list of modifiers need to be avoided entirely.