Blood Mage Ice Nova Comet Endgame Build

Introduction

This guide has been fully updated for The Third Edict League (Patch 0.3.0).

The Ice Nova Comet Blood Mage Witch utilizes an arsenal of Cold Spells to optimize gameplay for speed-farming maps and killing pinnacle bosses. Ice Nova explodes to clear groups of enemies, while Frost Darts deals massive single-target damage. Snap and Frost Bomb create Cold Infusions to empower skills to deal more damage. Comet is triggered from Cast on Critical or Cast on Elemental Ailment for even more devastating damage.

This build guide assumes you have reached endgame maps around Level 65. If you have not yet completed the campaign, follow the Ice Nova Snap Leveling Build Guide, which has notes to level any Witch or Sorceress character.

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Strengths and Weaknesses

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Build Mechanics

To clear maps, Ice Nova freezes enemies and triggers Comet from Cast on Elemental Ailment. Snap finishes off any surviving frozen enemies and generates Cold Infusions to empower Ice Novas to deal more damage.

Against bosses and tough elites, Frost Darts deals massive single-target damage and more rapidly triggers Comet from Cast on Critical. Frost Bomb is cast to apply Cold Exposure and generate Cold Infusions when Snap cannot be used. Overabundance and Spell Echo are combined to support Frost Bomb, causing 2 Cold Infusions to be generated at a time.

Lifetap supports the Comet being triggered from Cast on Elemental Ailment and Cast on Critical to convert its Mana Cost to a Life Cost. Spell Leech from Vitality Siphon in the Blood Mage ascendancy nodes recovers the Life Cost to allow rapid triggers of Comet. The Atalui’s Bloodletting Lineage Gem replaces Lifetap when obtained, granting a massive amount of Extra Physical Damage. Since Physical Damage is not scaled in this build, it is converted to Cold Damage with Embitter to better synergize with other bonuses.

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Skill Rotation

Follow the basic skill rotation below to progress through the campaign and clear groups of enemies in maps:

1. Activate Cast on Elemental Ailment instead of Cast on Critical to trigger Comet when freezing groups of enemies.
2. Cast Ice Nova to freeze enemies.
3. If additional damage is needed against tough elites, cast Frost Bomb on top of them and/or spam a few Frost Darts while they are frozen.
4. Cast Cold Snap to finish off any surviving enemies that are frozen.
5. Activate Comet from Spellslinger if available for emergencies.

Execute the steps below to optimize damage against bosses:

1. Activate Cast on Critical instead of Cast on Elemental Ailment to trigger Comet more rapidly against bosses.
2. Frost Bomb can be cast before a fight to obtain max Cold Infusions and even leave extra remnants on the ground to prepare for pickup.
3. Cast Sigil of Power (Weapon Set 2) to buff damage.
4. Cast Elemental Weakness (Weapon Set 1) to reduce the Cold Resistance of the boss. Elemental Weakness can be pre-cast before a boss spawns if supported by Cursed Ground.
5. Continue to cast Frost Bomb whenever its cooldown is refreshed to apply Elemental Exposure and spawn Cold Infusions.
6. Activate Comet from Spellslinger if available.
7. Spam Frost Darts to deal damage and trigger Comet from Cast on Critical.

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Video Guide

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Skill Gems, Spirit Gems, and Support Gems

The Ice Nova Frost Darts Comet Blood Mage utilizes the following Skill Gems, Spirit Gems, and Support Gems. Gem Sockets are listed in order of priority.

Equip a Chiming Staff in Weapon Set 2 for a damage buff against bosses. Ensure you set all your other skills to only be used with Weapon Set 1 to automatically swap back.

A Dueling Wand is preferred to unlock Spellslinger for extra triggers of Comet that can be cast on demand.

The Starter Setup requires 130 total Spirit to activate Cast on Elemental Ailment and Mana Remnants. Defeat The King in the Mists (Act 1), Ignagduk (Act 3), and Lythara (Interlude) to gain 100 base Spirit. Obtain the remaining 30 Spirit from your Amulet.

Cast on Elemental Ailment is activated while clearing maps for optimal energy generation. Against bosses, switch to Cast on Critical to trigger Comet more rapidly.

The Blink Setup improves mobility for speed-farming maps if you can reach 160 total Spirit. Mana Remnants is removed, so Recover 4% of Maximum Mana on Kill and Arcane Remnants is allocated in the Passive Tree. This setup requires sufficient Spirit from your Amulet and may also require a corrupted Helmet mod. If you have any remaining unused Spirit, socket Cannibalism I or Cannibalism II into Life Remnants.

Prioritize obtaining Atalui’s Bloodletting Lineage Support and Embitter to combo together for a massive damage increase. Replace Lifetap and Elemental Focus in Cast on Elemental Ailment and Cast on Critical. Only 1 Atalui’s Bloodletting can be equipped in the skill setup, so you need to switch the support gem between the 2 meta gems.

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Ascendancy

Blood Mage is the recommended Ascendancy for the Ice Nova Snap Comet Witch. The chosen Ascendancy can be switched within the base class by repeating your highest trial completion.

Allocate the Ascendancy nodes for Blood Mage in the following order:

1. Sanguimancy and Vitality Siphon — These nodes need to be allocated together to be able to sustain the Life costs of Skills with Spell Leech.
2. Sunder the Flesh — Sets the base Critical Hit Chance of Spells to 15%.
3. Grasping Wounds — The delayed damage taken drastically improves survivability against getting one-shot by allowing you time to recover Life.
4. Crimson Power — Energy Shield granted by your Body Armor also provides Maximum Life, which can amount to 1000+. The Maximum Life also scales damage output when Rathpith Globe is equipped.

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Passive Skill Tree

In the Passive Skill Tree, utilize attribute nodes to fulfill any Intelligence and Dexterity requirements, and then allocate the remaining points to Strength for Maximum Life.

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Gear

The preferred gear for the Ice Nova Comet Blood Mage is listed below with affixes ranked in order of importance. Prioritize Rare Items with the correct base stats and beneficial explicit affixes. Recommended Unique Items are listed below the Rare Item table.

Rare Items

Equipment Slot and Base Stats	Affix Priority	Notes
Wand — Dueling	1. Level of all Cold Spell Skills 2. All Extra Damage types with a priority on Cold 3. Critical Spell Damage Bonus and Critical Hit Chance for Spells 4. Spell Damage 5. Cold Damage	Sockets: 1. (Expensive) Hedgewitch Assandra’s Rune of Wisdom for +1 to Level of all Spell Skills 2. (Cheap) Greater Glacial Rune for 10% Extra Cold Damage
Focus (replaced by Rathpith Globe)	1. Level of all Spell Skills 2. Critical Spell Damage Bonus and Critical Hit Chance for Spells 3. Spell Damage 4. Cold Damage 5. Maximum or Increased Energy Shield	Sockets: 1. Any Rune that grants Resistance if not yet capped. 2. Owl Talisman for 10% Increased Cooldown Recovery Rate
Helmet — Energy Shield	1. Resistances 1. Maximum Life 2. Maximum or Increased Energy Shield 3. Critical Hit Chance 4. Maximum Mana	Sockets: 1. Any Rune that grants Resistance if not yet capped. 2. Talisman of Eeshta for 10% Increased Cost Efficiency
Body Armor — Energy Shield	1. Maximum and Increased Energy Shield (prioritize the highest total Energy Shield) 2. Resistances 2. Maximum Life	Sockets: Greater Iron Rune
Gloves — Energy Shield	1. Resistances 1. Maximum Life 2. Critical Damage Bonus 2. Maximum or Increased Energy Shield 3. Maximum Mana	Sockets: 1. Any Rune that grants Resistance if not yet capped. 2. Fenumus’ Rune of Spinning for 8% Increased Cast Speed
Boots — Energy Shield	1. Movement Speed 1. Resistances 1. Maximum Life 2. Maximum or Increased Energy Shield 3. Maximum Mana	Sockets: 1. Any Rune that grants Resistance if not yet capped. 2. (Expensive) Farrul’s Rune of the Chase for 5% Increased Movement Speed 3. (Cheap) Farrul’s Rune of Grace for 6% Reduced Movement Speed Penalty from using Skills
Amulet	1. Spirit (at least 36 for Starter Setup) 2. Level of all Spell Skills 3. Maximum or Percent Increased Life 4. Maximum Energy Shield 4. Resistances	Anointment: Cooked Quality: Flesh Catalyst
Rings	1. Resistances 1. Maximum Life 2. Cold Damage 3. Maximum Mana 3. Rarity of Items Found	Quality: Flesh Catalyst
Belt — Heavy	1. Maximum Life 2. Resistances 3. Flask Life Recovery Rate 4. Charm Effect Duration 4. Stun Threshold	–

Unique Items

The following Unique Items are recommended for the Frostbolt Comet Blood Mage:

• Rathpith Globe provides a massive damage boost that scales by stacking Maximum Life.

Jewels

The beneficial affixes for Jewels are listed below, ranked in order of importance. Prioritize Rare Jewels with two prefixes and two suffixes in the following list.

• Prefixes
  1. Increased Energy Shield
  2. Area of Effect
  3. Spell Damage or Triggered Spell Damage
• Suffixes
  1. Critical Damage Bonus or Critical Spell Damage Bonus
  2. Critical Strike Chance or Critical Strike Chance for Spells
  3. Recover Maximum Mana on Kill
  4. Cast Speed

Campaign Buffs

Quest rewards during the campaign offer a selection of buffs to your character. Choose the following buffs for the build:

• Valley of the Titans Altar
  1. 30% increased Charm Charges gained
  2. 15% increased Life Recovery from Flasks
• Venom Draught
  1. 30% increased Elemental Ailment Threshold
  2. 10% Chaos Resistance

For more details, check the guide on Campaign Difficulties and Permanent Stat Bonuses.

Flasks and Charms

Prioritize the following Flasks and Charms:

• Health Flask
  • Prefix: Increased Amount Recovered
  • Suffix: Increased Charges
• Mana Flask
  • Prefix: Increased Amount Recovered
  • Suffix: Increased Charges
• Charm:
  1. Thawing Charm: Increased Duration
  2. Stone Charm: Increased Duration
  3. Silver Charm: Increased Duration

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Changelog

• September 2nd, 2025:
  • Guide updated to include Cast on Elemental Ailments since it has been bugfixed.
  • Gameplay video added.
• September 1st, 2025: Guide created for the Third Edict League (Patch 0.3.0).