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PoE 2 Build

[0.4] 100% Crit/Recoup Chronomancer

End Game

Starter

Verified

SSF

0.4 TLotD

Sorceress

Chronomancer

By PaintMasterPoE

Updated on Jan 31, 2026

Jan 31, 2026

Build Overview

Update for Recoup Setup in 0.4 - video!

Disciple of Varashta variation of this build

Useful links

Low Budget Gear Crafting Guide
Making currency as New Player plus general recommendations and tips

Upsides and donwsides of Chrono over Disciple of Varashta

When comparing normal setups (not recoup)

Much better in campaign and early game, because non-Djinn Varashta passives are nearly useless in campaign
More AoE/Cast Speed
Easier Mana sustain on single target with Temporal Rift
Recoup Setup is good and slightly better (and more expensive) alternative to Varashta setup, having infinite Mana and constant ES recovery is very strong
Has lower Damage in early-mid mapping, simply because Varashta can use Staff with Effigy of Cruelty
Optimal route would be:
- Start with Chrono
- Do maps until like level 80-85 when you should get decent gear to beat 4th Trial of Sekhemas
- Then change to Disciple of Varashta
- Then either max out Varashta setup, or gather pieces of gear required for Recoup Chrono

POB:

https://pobb.in/u/paintmaster%232396/XecqD8fEqtEY

CoA Comet/Frostbolt setup before i moved to Recoup. Costed me between 1 and 2 Divs, considering i crafted almost all my gear, which was much cheaper than buying.

https://pobb.in/u/paintmaster%232396/wvbnZ6zR-FuL

CoC Comet/Frostbolt with Maligaro's Virtuosity, same gear i had CoA Comet aside of gloves, build get ~95% Crit Chance on Frostbolt and 100% Crit Chance on Comet

https://pobb.in/u/paintmaster%232396/S3SHE-B3FRFA

PoB of my current Recoup Chrono, costed me around 15 Div (at the time) considering that i bought Wand, Focus, Ring and Boots with 4-5 Mods to add Desecreated Mod, which saved me a ton!
I recommend to do Recoup after you get Boots and Focus with ~300+ ES or more, build really need as much ES to lower risk of oneshots.

How to get Level 21 Skills in cheapest way possible:

Use any level Uncut Skill Gem to get Skill you want.
Quality it, use Perfect Jeweller's Orb if needed.
Vaal Orb, repeat until you hit +1 Level from Corruption.
*Use Omen of Corruption if you doing this for Skills with 5 Sockets.
Socket that Skill in Skill Menu, then use Uncut Level 20 Gem, which will give you Level 21 Skill.

Quest Rewards

Venom Draught: Stun Threshold.
Halls of the Dead: 5% Fire/Lightning/Cold Resists.
Qimah: 15% ES, 3% Movespeed, +5% All Ele Resists

Strengths and Weaknesses

Very flexible build, have many ways to play early
Clearing with Cast on Elemental Ailment and Comet is crazy
At level 90 with decent gear you should have 5-8k ES
Can farm Pinnacle Bosses at max difficulty, especially Recoup Setup that can just facetank them
True offmeta!

Not fastest build you can play if you only care about clearing speed
There's builds that have higher DPS, if you looking for something that can do highest DPS possible
If you play regular setup with Cast on Elemental Ailment and Comet with decent gear, it might cause fps drops because how many Comets you trigger :D
Only downside of Recoup - can't do Maps with Less Recovery Mod

Build Variants

Leveling

CoA Comet (Ice Nova)

CoA Comet (Frostbolt)

CoC Comet (Maligaro)

Recoup Setup (Expensive)

Archon

LEVELING:

With first Uncut Skill Gems take Ice Nova and Frost Bomb.
With first Uncut Support Gems take Spell Cascade(Optional) and Magnified Area II for Ice Nova.
For Frost Bomb take Magnified Area II and Potent Exposure.
Then get Frost Darts whenever you can, with Multishot I, Considered Casting and later Concentrated Area.
Also get Flame Wall for Frost Darts. For Flame Wall use Prolonged Duration I and Spell Cascade.
Optionally: get Orb of Storms to get Lightning Infusion for Flame Wall.
Then get Snap, with Magnified Area I and Harmonic Remnants I. Useful for clearing frozen mobs after Ice Nova, as well as generate lots of Cold Infusions.
Then get Elemental Weakness, later you might replace it.
Get Eye of Winter as soon as you can, with Concentrated Area, Considered Casting and Inevitable Critical. Use it instead of Frost Darts.
As alternative for single target, try Comet, it feels strong with Snap because you can use Comet - Snap in cycle to get Fire Infusions.
For Spirit Skills:
- Arctic Armour with Frost Nexus, Encroaching Ground and later Persistent Ground III.
- Siphon Elements with Harmonic Remnants II and Remnant Potency I.

This is how i leveled myself was decent, but ofc you can change it however you like!

Venom Draught: Stun Threshold.
Halls of the Dead: 5% Fire/Lightning/Cold Resists.
Qimah: 15% ES, if needed 5% Resists.

Equipment

Leveling

CoA Comet (Ice Nova)

CoA Comet (Frostbolt)

CoC Comet (Maligaro)

Recoup Setup (Expensive)

Archon

Set 1

Set 2

Equipment Priority

Mods sorted by priority!

Wand with Focus/Omen Scepter or Staff in Main Hand:
- Wand/Staff: +# to All/Cold Spells, %Extra Lightning/Fire/Cold Damage, %Spell Damage, %Crit Chance to Spells, %Cast Speed, %Crit Spell Damage.
- For Focus (If you have good Wand): +2-3 to All Spells, %Spell Damage, %Crit Chance, +# Mana, any good amount of ES, Resists, Int. Or Effigy of Cruelty.
Armor:
- Helmet/Gloves/Boots: ES, Mana, Resists, Int. For Boots also Movespeed.
- Body Armor: ES, Resists, Int. If you can find high ES with Spirit its good, otherwise not bother.
Jewellery:
- Rings: Resists, Mana, Int, Mana Regen. Can be Dex or Str too, you need a bit.
- Belt: Resists, Mana, Str if needed. Some Armor on belt is decent too but not important.
- Amulet: +# to All Spells, %ES, ES, Mana, Cast Speed, Mana Regen, Attributes or Resists if needed.
- Instil: Stormcharged, Aspiring Genius, etc.
Jewels:
- Rare jewels with 1-2% Mana on Kill, Crit Damage.

Skill Gems

Leveling

CoA Comet (Ice Nova)

CoA Comet (Frostbolt)

CoC Comet (Maligaro)

Recoup Setup (Expensive)

Archon

Support Gem Requirements:

Str 10

Dex 25

Int 80

Expand all

Ice Nova

Snap

Frost Darts

Frost Bomb

Flame Wall

Arctic Armour

Elemental Weakness

Siphon Elements

Eye of Winter

Comet

Gem Priority

+21

Passive Tree

Leveling

CoA Comet (Ice Nova)

CoA Comet (Frostbolt)

CoC Comet (Maligaro)

Recoup Setup (Expensive)

Archon

main:

123

set 1:

set 2:

Ignore that priority line, first you allocated %Spell/Cold/Elemental Damage, and AoE, later Crit, and then Energy Shield once you start getting decent ES gear.

There's some bug with tree, it shows Stormweaver ascendancy tree instead of Chronomancer.

Anyway, first i took Quicksand Hourglass, it's big boost to clearing, you either get lost of Cast Speed or AoE, or both.
Then i went Now and Again for cooldowns since i want to try Eye of Winter with Second Wind II and Time Snap.
Then i'll take Time Snap.
And lastly i'll probably take Apex of the Moment. Or maybe Temporal Rift, since using lots of Eye of Winters at once cost some mana.

How it Plays

Normal Setups:

Clearing:

Early its Frost Bomb + Ice Nova
Later its Frostbolt, with Frost Wall if needed

Single Target:

Sigil of Power, then Elemental Weakness
If still using Eye of Winter then use Flame Wall, Orb of Storms and Frost Bomb before it
Reset mana with Temporal Rift every ~4 seconds

Recoup:

Clearing:

Frostbolt with Frost Wall

Single Target:

Sigil of Power then Elemental Weakness
Then Frost Bomb and spam Frostbolt and use Frost Wall but not all charges at once

Changelog

September 6, 2025: Updated new MAIN setup with Cast on Elemental Ailment + Comet, insane clearing and even bossing is good!
September 8, 2025: Added setup with Maligaro's Virtuosity.
September 11, 2025: Added final version of Cold Chronomancer based around Recoup, build is done. Some small tweaks might happen if they improve the build.
September 17, 2025: Improved tree for Main Recoup Setup.

Nov 7, 2025: Improved tree for Early Mapping, CoA Comet and CoA/CoC (Maligaro) setups, weapon set 2 passives were use on Reverberation, which was meh, now they used on Lingering Whispers and Master of Hexes, so more curse effect for Elemental Weakness, and more damage as result.

Dec 6, 2025: Added changes to build in 0.4.
Dec 13, 2025: Updated leveling slightly
Dec 16, 2025: Added CoA Comet/Frostbolt setup.
Dec 26, 2025: Updated Recoup Setup. Now it has infinite mana once again as before.