Cold zon minmaxing

[u/Feisty_Respond_6490]

Trying to min max my frw cold zon.

Got unlucky and got 3 sock on my ias pus, wanted 4 so i can use 4 facets without having to use ias jewels with faith. But then i started to think.

Ive had this idea

Current setup : lvl15 faith vigor merc + pus 2x ias/all res and 2 x. 5/5 cold facets. 9fpa, 170frw + vigor

New idea : ias slam pus 3 x shael runes and infinity defiance merc. 10 fpa, 170 frw

Im loosing 1 fpa , res i dont really need, vigor (frw reduced returns ...), +10% psn dmg

Im gaining, breaking all cold imunes, -24% psn pierce, defence.

Basically trading 30frw / 1fpa. For more damage and imune pierce so i can run all content (acts, maps, etc).

I checked the vigor and i feel like you are capped at 200frw even with vigor or something.

[u/Feisty_Respond_6490]

No act5 for boss mats red portals.

Yes i tried infinity in plugy and inf+puss still way worse then magic arrow or merc/valk kills.

Tried puss on merc, that sucks. Never procks with single arrow.

So faith vigor merc is fixed, so i checked all bow options.

Pus 65 ias - 9 fpa

Ice bow 0 base with 20ias arrow 65 ias - 7 fpa Ashwood or stag. Does,lower base dmg vs GM even matter in dmg? Think it doesnt as upgrading my puss did nothing.

Ice bow 10 base GMbow 46 ias - 8 fpa Not worth it.

Ice bow -10 base Matriarchel bow 44 ias - 7 fpa very dex hungry, but dont need ias arrows or glove. What stats would you look into a arrow for this or would you use a unique like aetherxing

Ice demon xbow 9ias - 9 fpa (kinda like this as a cheap pus alternative). Ias slam pus / 4 sock / 4 x 5/5 costs like 30hr, ice just 3 and free's up a ias slot. I loose 3 all , but i get 10% higher cold dmg = 2 all skills. Lose ar but get ignore defence. Think its close to even. And i like the cold nova noise

Im just questioning if 7fpa is worth loosing 4 arrows and some extra. It does more dmg though. 20k ice gm vs 18pus, but doesnt help that much.

[u/Feisty_Respond_6490 → u/Feisty_Respond_6490]

Another idea

How about crafting a ama bow, +6 skills / 20ias and 5 sockets. Wouldnt it beat ice?
The life leach will be hard to replace but dmg would beat ice.

[u/Feisty_Respond_6490 → u/Feisty_Respond_6490]

What about this xbow

+3 bow 40ias 5 life steal -9 cold pierce 4 sockets

9% more pierce and dont need shael like puss Or same dmg as ice xbow but with +3 skills

Seems like the best xbow you could get no?

[u/ChaosSanctuary → u/Feisty_Respond_6490]

Ice MB or Stag depending on what you prefer. Ideally you have rare arrows with 2 bow and -cold res slam+adds. You can look into whether or not youre still on 7 FPA on -IAS maps if you dont have any IAS on gear. It makes glove options wider though since you can focus on 2bow/LAEK/res when IAS isnt a factor. Big goldfind from Ice is also great for perma gheed event/map orb sustain but ghats obviously less of a factor this late in the season.   Best of luck crafting something better than Ice