Vortex

Vortex is a cold spell that deals damage in an area around the character and leaves a ground effect that chills and deals heavy cold damage over time. If the player has any active projectiles, Vortex will be cast on those projectiles instead.

Skill functions and interactions

• Modifiers to Spell Damage apply to this skill's Damage Over Time Effect: Modifiers to spell damage only affect the damage over time effect of Vortex granted by the gem and do not affect other sources of damage over time which may be applied by the skill, such as poison or .
• : The player may cast Frostbolt and subsequently cast Vortex on the Frostbolt projectiles. If Vortex is cast this way, it will have 20% less area of effect and it may cast on up to 5 Frostbolt projectiles, consuming them.
  • If the player has any active Frostbolt projectiles and Vortex is triggered by an effect (such as ), Vortex will automatically be cast on the Frostbolt projectiles.

• Overlap: If an enemy is standing on multiple Vortex ground effects, only the one with the highest damage per second will deal damage at any given moment. This is consistent with other damage over time ground effects, such as burning ground.

• Cast time: Vortex is an instant spell; it has no cast time and does not interrupt your character's other actions.

• On hit effects: Because the initial explosion counts as a hit, Vortex can be used with on hit effects such as .

Gem level progression

Level			Mana Cost	Cold Damage	Cold DPS	Cooldown Recovery	Exp.	Total Exp.
1	28	67	11	38 to 57	106.5	N/A	0	0
2	31	73	11	47 to 71	131.3	N/A	199345	199345
3	34	79	12	58 to 87	161.1	N/A	285815	485160
4	37	85	13	71 to 106	196.8	N/A	401344	886504
5	40	92	13	86 to 129	239.3	N/A	554379	1440883
6	42	96	14	98 to 147	272.1	N/A	477437	1918320
7	44	100	14	111 to 167	308.9	N/A	583786	2502106
8	46	104	15	126 to 189	350.1	N/A	710359	3212465
9	48	109	15	143 to 214	396.5	N/A	1355511	4567976
10	50	113	15	161 to 242	448.4	N/A	1138877	5706853
11	52	117	16	182 to 274	506.5	N/A	1368233	7075086
12	54	121	16	206 to 309	571.5	N/A	1638338	8713424
13	56	125	17	232 to 348	644.3	N/A	1956648	10670072
14	58	130	17	261 to 392	725.7	N/A	3655184	14325256
15	60	134	18	294 to 441	816.6	N/A	3017327	17342583
16	62	138	18	331 to 496	918.2	N/A	7759995	25102578
17	64	142	18	371 to 557	1031.7	N/A	15138193	40240771
18	66	146	19	417 to 625	1158.2	N/A	26083825	66324596
19	68	151	19	468 to 702	1299.5	N/A	62620247	128944843
20	70	155	20	524 to 787	1456.9	N/A	211708088	340652931
21	72	159	20	588 to 882	1632.5	N/A	N/A	N/A
22	74	N/A	21	658 to 987	1828	N/A	N/A	N/A
23	76	N/A	21	737 to 1105	2045.8	N/A	N/A	N/A
24	78	N/A	21	824 to 1236	2288.4	N/A	N/A	N/A
25	80	N/A	22	921 to 1382	2558.4	N/A	N/A	N/A
26	82	N/A	22	1029 to 1544	2858.8	N/A	N/A	N/A
27	84	N/A	23	1149 to 1724	3192.9	N/A	N/A	N/A
28	86	N/A	23	1283 to 1925	3564.5	N/A	N/A	N/A
29	88	N/A	24	1432 to 2148	3977.6	N/A	N/A	N/A
30	90	N/A	24	1597 to 2396	4436.7	N/A	N/A	N/A
31	91	N/A	24	1687 to 2530	4685.1	N/A	N/A	N/A
32	92	N/A	25	1781 to 2671	4946.9	N/A	N/A	N/A
33	93	N/A	25	1880 to 2820	5222.8	N/A	N/A	N/A
34	94	N/A	25	1985 to 2977	5513.5	N/A	N/A	N/A
35	95	N/A	25	2095 to 3143	5819.9	N/A	N/A	N/A
36	96	N/A	25	2211 to 3317	6142.8	N/A	N/A	N/A
37	97	N/A	26	2334 to 3501	6483	N/A	N/A	N/A
38	98	N/A	26	2463 to 3694	6841.5	N/A	N/A	N/A
39	99	N/A	26	2599 to 3898	7219.1	N/A	N/A	N/A
40	100	N/A	26	2742 to 4113	7617	N/A	N/A	N/A

Other sources

Vortex

Debuff

The skill is also used by several monster. The UI would display a status icon to show the player character is affected by the skill.

Related helmet enchantments

The following helmet enchantments affect Vortex.

Alternate skill effects

Vortex has the following alternate skill effects:

Version history

Version	Changes
3.6.4	Improved the graphical performance.
3.6.2	Vortex can no longer be supported by .
3.6.0	Mana Cost at gem level 20 is now 20 (was 21) Now deals 38 to 57 Cold damage at gem level 1 (from 42 to 63) and 524 to 787 Cold damage at gem level 20 (from 538 to 808). Now deals 106.5 base Cold damage per second at gem level 1 (from 116.1) and 1456.9 base Cold damage per second at gem level 20 (from 1495.6).
3.5.0	Now instant, with a 1.8 second cooldown. Can now detonate from up to 5 Frostbolt projectiles at once. Gains increased cooldown recovery speed as the gem levels up. Deals 42 to 63 cold damage at gem level 1 (down from 50 to 75) and 538 to 808 cold damage at gem level 20 (up from 458 to 688). Deals 116.1 base cold damage per second at gem level 1 (up from 41.6) and 1495.6 base cold damage per second at gem level 20 (up from 684.5) No longer deals 40% more damage when cast on Frostbolt. Now has 20% less Area of Effect when cast on Frostbolt.
3.0.0	Vortex now deals 40% more damage when cast on a Frostbolt.
2.3.0	Introduced to the game.