Vortex

VortexSpell, AoE, Cold, Duration, Nova
Cost: (11-20) Mana
Can Store 1 Use(s)
Soul Gain Prevention: 0.001 sec
Cooldown Time: 1.80 sec
Critical Strike Chance: 6.50%Requires Level 28An icy blast explodes around the caster, dealing cold damage to enemies, and leaving behind a whirling vortex which deals cold damage over time and chills enemies caught in it. If the caster targets near their Frostbolt projectiles, it will explode from a number of those projectiles instead, destroying them.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3Divergent4Phantasmal0.5% increased Area of Effect1% increased Cold Damage1% increased Cooldown Recovery Rate
1% less Skill Effect Duration2% increased Damage when Cast on FrostboltDeals (38-524) to (57-787) Cold Damage
Base duration is 3 seconds
Deals (106.5-1456.9) Base Cold Damage per second
Can explode from up to 5 Frostbolt Projectiles
20% less Area of Effect when Cast on Frostbolt
Modifiers to Spell Damage apply to this Skill's Damage Over Time effect
(0-76)% increased Cooldown Recovery RatePlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.Acquisition
Level: 28Purchase Costs

Normal

1x Orb of Chance

Sell Price
1x Scroll FragmentMiscellaneous
Item class: Active Skill Gems
Metadata ID: Metadata/Items/Gems/SkillGemFrostBoltNova

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 FrostboltFrostboltSpell, Projectile, Cold
Cost: (6-25) Mana
Cast Time: 0.75 sec
Critical Strike Chance: 5.00%
Effectiveness of Added Damage: 220%
Projectile Speed: 375Fires a slow-moving projectile that pierces through enemies, dealing cold damage.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3Divergent4Phantasmal1% increased Cold Damage5% reduced Damage
1% chance to inflict Cold Exposure on Hit1% less Projectile SpeedProjectiles have 1% chance to Return to youDeals (9-972) to (13-1458) Cold Damage
Projectiles Pierce all TargetsPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. 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 Decay SupportDecay SupportChaos, Support
  Icon: D
  Cost and Reservation Multiplier: 130%Requires Level 38Supports any skill that hits enemies.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3DivergentSupported Skills deal 0.5% increased Chaos DamageSupported Skills have 0.5% increased Skill Effect DurationSupported Skills have 0.5% of Physical Damage Converted to Chaos DamageSupported Skills inflict Decay on Hit, dealing (120-843) Chaos Damage per second for 8 secondsThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Active Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket..
• FrostboltFrostboltSpell, Projectile, Cold
  Cost: (6-25) Mana
  Cast Time: 0.75 sec
  Critical Strike Chance: 5.00%
  Effectiveness of Added Damage: 220%
  Projectile Speed: 375Fires a slow-moving projectile that pierces through enemies, dealing cold damage.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3Divergent4Phantasmal1% increased Cold Damage5% reduced Damage
  1% chance to inflict Cold Exposure on Hit1% less Projectile SpeedProjectiles have 1% chance to Return to youDeals (9-972) to (13-1458) Cold Damage
  Projectiles Pierce all TargetsPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.: 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 Cast On Critical Strike SupportCast On Critical Strike SupportTrigger, Support, Spell
    Icon: &Requires Level 38Must support both an attack skill and a spell skill to work. The attack skill will trigger a spell when it critically strikes an enemy. Cannot support totems, traps, or mines. Vaal skills, channelling skills, and skills that reserve mana cannot be triggered.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3DivergentSupported Skills have 1% increased Attack Critical Strike ChanceSupported Skills deal 1% more Attack DamageSupported Skills have 0.5% increased Attack SpeedSupported Attacks will Trigger a Supported Spell when you Crit an Enemy
    Supported Skills deal (20-39)% more Spell Damage
    You cannot Cast Supported Triggerable Spells directlyThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Active Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket.), 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 Hextouch SupportHextouch SupportTrigger, Support, Hex
  Icon: &Requires Level 38Must support both a skill that hits enemies, and a hex curse skill to work. The hex will be applied when enemies are hit by the other skill. Cannot support totems, traps, or mines. Minions cannot apply hexes this way.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3Divergent0.5% increased Effect of Supported CursesSupported Skills deal 1% increased Damage with Hits and Ailments per Curse on Enemy0.5% reduced Effect of Supported Curses
  Supported Skills have 2% increased Curse DurationSupported Skills apply supported Curses on Hit
  Supported Skills have (50-12)% reduced Curse Duration
  You cannot Cast Supported Curse SpellsThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Active Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket..

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	199,345	199,345
3	34	79	12	58 to 87	161.1	N/A	285,815	485,160
4	37	85	13	71 to 106	196.8	N/A	401,344	886,504
5	40	92	13	86 to 129	239.3	N/A	554,379	1,440,883
6	42	96	14	98 to 147	272.1	N/A	477,437	1,918,320
7	44	100	14	111 to 167	308.9	N/A	583,786	2,502,106
8	46	104	15	126 to 189	350.1	N/A	710,359	3,212,465
9	48	109	15	143 to 214	396.5	N/A	1,355,511	4,567,976
10	50	113	15	161 to 242	448.4	N/A	1,138,877	5,706,853
11	52	117	16	182 to 274	506.5	N/A	1,368,233	7,075,086
12	54	121	16	206 to 309	571.5	N/A	1,638,338	8,713,424
13	56	125	17	232 to 348	644.3	N/A	1,956,648	10,670,072
14	58	130	17	261 to 392	725.7	N/A	3,655,184	14,325,256
15	60	134	18	294 to 441	816.6	N/A	3,017,327	17,342,583
16	62	138	18	331 to 496	918.2	N/A	7,759,995	25,102,578
17	64	142	18	371 to 557	1031.7	N/A	15,138,193	40,240,771
18	66	146	19	417 to 625	1158.2	N/A	26,083,825	66,324,596
19	68	151	19	468 to 702	1299.5	N/A	62,620,247	128,944,843
20	70	155	20	524 to 787	1456.9	N/A	211,708,088	340,652,931
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

Item acquisition

Upgrade paths

This item can be acquired through the following upgrade paths or vendor recipes:

Amount	Ingredient	General Notes	Type
6	The FoxThe Fox6Level 20 Gem"Masters of wit, strength and cunning. To survive the harsh winters, you must be like the fox." - Ezomyte Proverb	random level 20 gem	Automatic
13	The CataclysmThe Cataclysm13Level 21 Spell Gem CorruptedThe mighty warriors traded in blows, the nimble archers in arrows, yet it was the brazen thaumaturgists who would bring catastrophe to all.	random corrupted level 21 Spell gem	Automatic
3	Gemcutter's PromiseGemcutter's Promise3Superior Gem Quality: +20%"I swore to use my position to help the people. What good is power when it just accumulates on the already-powerful?" - Erasmus, Imperial Gemcutter	random superior gem (Q20)	Automatic

Vendor reward

This item can be bought at the listed NPC vendors, after completing the following quests:

Class →	Witch	Shadow	Ranger	Duelist	Marauder	Templar	Scion
Quest ↓
A Fixture of Fate Act 3 Siosa	✓
Sever the Right Hand Act 3 Clarissa	✓	✓	✗	✗	✗	✓	✓
Fallen from Grace Act 6 Lilly Roth	✓

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.

Name		Stats	Spawn Weighting
Enchantment Vortex AoE On Frostbolt 1	66	Vortex has 30% increased Area of Effect when Cast on Frostbolt	helmet 75 default 0
Enchantment Vortex AoE On Frostbolt 2	75	Vortex has 45% increased Area of Effect when Cast on Frostbolt	helmet 75 default 0
Enchantment Vortex Cooldown Recovery 1	66	Vortex has 20% increased Cooldown Recovery Rate	helmet 75 default 0
Enchantment Vortex Cooldown Recovery 2	75	Vortex has 30% increased Cooldown Recovery Rate	helmet 75 default 0
Enchantment Vortex Damage 1	66	25% increased Vortex Damage	helmet 75 default 0
Enchantment Vortex Damage 2	75	40% increased Vortex Damage	helmet 75 default 0
Enchantment Vortex Duration 1	66	20% increased Vortex Duration	helmet 75 default 0
Enchantment Vortex Duration 2	75	30% increased Vortex Duration	helmet 75 default 0
EnchantmentVortexRadius1	66	16% increased Vortex Area of Effect	helmet 0 default 0
EnchantmentVortexRadius2	75	24% increased Vortex Area of Effect	helmet 0 default 0

Alternate skill effects

Vortex has the following alternate skill effects:

Item	Effect(s)
Black Hole Vortex EffectBlack Hole Vortex EffectSkill Gem EffectYour Vortex becomes a stationary black hole.	Your Vortex becomes a stationary black hole.

Version history

Version	Changes
3.6.4	Improved the graphical performance.
3.6.2	Vortex can no longer be supported by Intensify SupportIntensify SupportAoE, Spell, Support Icon: T Cost and Reservation Multiplier: 140%Requires Level 31Supports spell skills that you cast yourself. Cannot support triggered skills, Vaal skills, instant skills, channelling skills, skills which reserve mana, or skills used by totems, traps, or mines. Cannot modify the skills of minions.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3Divergent4PhantasmalSupported Skills deal 0.5% increased Area DamageSupported Skills have 0.5% increased Area of EffectLose Intensity 2% faster while movingLose Intensity 1% slower while movingSupported Spells gain Intensity when you Cast them, to a maximum of 3 Supported Skills deal (14-22)% more Area Damage with Hits per Intensity Supported Skills have 15% less Area of Effect per Intensity Supported Skills have (35-54)% increased Area of Effect Supported Spells lose 1 Intensity every 0.25 seconds while moving, or immediately if you teleportThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Active Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket..
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.