[2.3] Frostblade Poison/Crit Assassin - Dual curse - (NEW Video)

FROSTBLADES CRIT ASSASSIN



INTRO

Update log:
June 12/16
- 2.3 Updated with new weapon "Touch of Anguish"
- Updated skill tree - added Acro and phase acro
July 28/16
-Updated skill tree to include more dps nodes and life nodes
July 29/16
-New video added for 2.3

More updates to come

New weapon Touch of Anguish which provides us with frenzy charge generation, additional skill chain at max frenzy charges, cold damage, crit chance and life on hit - pretty much made for frostblades IMO. Another mentionable addition in 2.3 Prophecy is the voidheart ring which enables poison and bleed on melee hits.





I always loved leveling with Frostblades so I decided to make my own build. This build has strong AoE and clear speeds with very fast attack speed/movement (whirling blades) and also a very good crowd control with our chill and freeze chance.
With the right gear and skill set up + passives you will be shatter enemies into ice shards across the map.

Frostblades is interesting because it is a hybrid between melee/ranged (Weapon range 18+) and has strong projectiles that increase in numbers as you level your gem.

The 'bread and butter' of this build is our frenzy charge stacks from new weapon in 2.3 Touch of Anguish claw which increase our damage and attack speed along with high leech and Vaal pact. Along with this we have added in the poison support gem (optional if you have chosen noxious strike ascendency) so our critical strikes do 100% more damage against enemies that are poisoned/maimed.

Pros

-Very fast attack & clear speed
-Good crowd control
-High survivability through life leech and acro
-Able to do most map mods (ele reflect is possible with high cold res)




Cons

-Leveling can be a pain in the ass (I will elaborate further down)
-Single target DPS can feel lackluster at times
-Can be expensive for new players
-Not HC viable unless you can afford the gear



Video
Here's a new video showcasing build in Arid Lake (standard)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWNXjzztmTg




Links

Chest:

(5L): frostblades, multistrike, weapon ele, cold dmg, faster attacks
(6L): Hypothermia or Poison (if you can't afford 6L, 40% chance to poison from "Toxic Delivery" will suffice. If you are using voidheart you do not need poison in your links and can use hypothermia for bonus damage.

Rationale & Other options:
Spoiler



With new Touch of Anguish we do not longer require icebite in our setup to generate frenzy charges. This will greatly increase our clear speed by freeing up room for faster attacks in a 5L setup and adding in poison support into our 6L setup to synergize with "Toxic Delivery" ascendancy node.

Note if you can't afford Touch of Anguish - you can still use icebite and a vagan dagger.


Icebite or Touch of Anguish works by increasing our chance to freeze by 10-15% aswell as providing us with a frenzy charge after we kill a frozen enemy. With roughly 35% chance to freeze along with our high crit chance (cold damage freezes on crits) it makes it a breeze to keep frenzy charges up.


Multistrike works amazing with this build, the attacks work similar to Arc with spell echo. All you have to do is click attack the nearest monster and you will automatically attack around your character.



Gloves, Boots, Helm:
4L: Whirling blades – faster attacks – blood magic - fortify
4L: CWDT, immortal call, cold snap/icenova, increased duration
4L/3L: Blasphemy – frostbite – warlords mark & Ice golem

Utility:
Spoiler
Vaal Haste & Vaal Grace are both viable utility skills. Ice golem is essential if you are not using a Vagan dagger due to accuracy buff.

Herald of Ice is another essential piece to this build as it gives us a huge cold damage boost aswell as providing an AoE effect which helps clear speed.

Vaal Cold Snap - cold damage - inc crit or cold pen is also another nice utility skill to use when you are surrounded/crowd control


Gear


My Current gear in 2.3 (links may be off so just ignore)



Rats nest is not mandatory but it is very nice too have. A tri res, high life helmet would be another viable option and hardcore players may want to consider this. Another option would be rare with high, tri res, or even starkonja's helmet.

Belly of the Beast again is a nice option to have but not mandatory. I am currently using a 6L rare. Daresso's Defiance would be viable and Lightning Coil is probably best in slot defensively.

I am using southbound gloves for the life and added cold other options include Maligaro's I questioned this league whether or not they are still best in slot. With gloves there are many options you could go here I think I would much more desire a pair with high x-y dmg, attack speed, res, and life. Another option is winds of change for increased projectile damage.

Windscreams are for our 2nd curse on enemies. Unless you prefer to have a Deodres in your ring slot I would keep these here.

Doriyani's belt is also another very nice addition and I recommend it 100%. Provides nice cold damage, life leech, dual resistance, and chance to freeze during flask. Also it provides us with strength which can be a much desired stat for this build



Jewelry
Ideally anything with Increased Cold damage %, elemental damage, crit chance, crit multi, attack speed, life leech, and physical/cold x-y damage. You also want to look for +strength stats as we will be lacking these with this build
Here is my rings/ammy in 2.3:

Voidheart is another option however expensive, using voidheart would free up a link spot and enable higher dps.



Weapons


Touch of Anguish Imperial claw best in slot DUAL wield





Another option which is using a Vagan Dagger (Hits cannot be evaded). This greatly increased our crit chance aswell as provides us with more stable AoE. If you choose to use vagan dagger I would definitely keep faster attacks + multistrike in your setup and icebite is mandatory. It can be very costly to find a high dps vagan dagger.
The sheet dps will suffer however you will notice a much more consistent spread of damage and insane attack speed when coupled with faster attacks + mulitstrike.


Skilltree, Leveling, Bandits


44 Point Skill Tree

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAYBAAEJBx4HmREvEZYV_Ra_F7AjNiaVKgsrCjY9RfRHBklRSotMjlBCUxBVS1nwXfJh4mKsZK9qjGyMb1dwUngZhG-EoonTijiMNo_6lS6dqp7EotmmvrDYtMW1SLjZwaDIFNDQ1ELWB9vn3UjrY_DV9W8=

68 Point Skill Tree
https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAYBALDYotmEoiM2yBQHmVMQ9W9Z8BewaoxMjkqLFr8mlQ-rYeIki1VLwzqMNiLqidNqlejWcFK_AAW1KguTkMLsXfKSgLTFKwpirNvnFf0RL2yMRwaKOOtjnarQ0GSvNj21SI_6UrJF9FWF1ELw1TeBb1ely4RvlS5JUeTreBkHHuNWwaDWB5u1X7DKSm-e8bNLV8DjnKSHE3cH

86 Point Skill tree
https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAYBALDYotmEoiM2yBQHmVMQ9W9Z8BewaoxMjkqLFr8mlQ-rYeIki1VLwzqMNiLqidNqlejWcFK_AAW1KguTkMLsXfKSgLTFKwpirNvnFf0RL2yMRwaKOOtjnarQ0GSvNj21SI_6UrJF9FWF1ELw1TeBb1ely4RvlS5JUeTreBkHHuNWwaDWB5u1X7DKSm-e8bNLV8DjnKSHE3cHjb_UIzBx3ahLeDpCUUfnVCT9_94-z73mKjgZivsJ9toaj5cGxKI=

Final Skill Tree
https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAYBAABeAQkDhwW1Bx4HmQxzDkgPqxEvEZYV_Ra_F7AZihmOGo8i6iM2I_YkiyT9JpUqCyo4Kk0rCjBxNZI2PTeBOkI64T7PPydF9EcGSVFKi0rIS1dLeEyOTZJN41FHUUxSslMQVUtVhVnwXfJfsGHiYqxkr2qMapVsjG6qb1dvnnBSdwd4GX1bfXWEb4SihMWHE4nTijiMNo19jb-SgJOQlS6VZpcGm7WcpJ2qotmjiqXLrEew2LGztMW1SLXyuNm7473mvwDA48GgwuzDOsSiyBTKStDQ037UI9RC1gfYvdvn3UjdqONW5OvnVOtj7YPw1fGz8kX1b_ba-wn-Cv6P_rr_3g==

Bandits
Normal: Oak +40 life
Cruel: Kraitlyn 8% attack speed
Merciless: Kraitlyn +1 frenzy charge


Leveling
I leveled using Frostblades however it was very tedious at times, I recommend for newer players to level using reave or dual strike.

I dual wielded the entire time.
Here is a little guide on what I did leveling frostblades if you choose to do so:

Get 4Link chest – frostblades, melee phys, added cold, faster attacks

Fixture of fate A3 normal for hypothermia, ice bite, and cold pen

Level 31 blasphemy + frostbite while running leveled clarity should maintain mana if you have frostblades in 4Link

Mightflay at lvl 35, crest of perandus, wurm molt belt all good levelling uniques


Ascendency Skills

With changes to noxious strike and toxic delivery this build gains significant clear speed and DoT effect. I took noxious strike + toxic delivery first and then ambush/assassinate.
Assassin: Ambush/Assassinate - Provides high crit chance, multiplier and culling strike

Other options:

Inquisitor would also be a very strong class to play frostblades

Trickster: Walk the aether/Weave arcane: good combo for free WB and would free up slot for increased duration gem for our assassins mark/curse on hit/whirling blades. Weave the arcane would provide sufficient mana so we wouldn’t have to worry about reservation issues. Could also combine swift killer with any of these to provide that nice little extra frenzy charge.

Saboteur: Explosives expert.. maybe, doesn’t seem worth it IMO. Extra resistance is nice along with ele dmg but you could easily make those up with a blue jewel.

Last edited by BwenR on Jul 29, 2016, 8:46:18 PM
Last bumped on Aug 15, 2017, 4:32:31 PM
Updated video
Not bad at all, nice build.
Just when i was looking for a FB build!
Looks interesting man, imma try it (y)
"
Tyrrys wrote:
Just when i was looking for a FB build!
Looks interesting man, imma try it (y)


Cool! Let me know how it goes for you xD
Hi. I liked this build. Im gonna try this. But i wonder can i make this build only evasion-based ??
thoughts on the new weapon "Touch of Anguish Imperial Claw"?
"
SupraNova wrote:
thoughts on the new weapon "Touch of Anguish Imperial Claw"?


It definitely will make this build even stronger, taking out the need for icebite in our 5/6L setup. I am going to update this build for 2.3 shortly with the addition of tough of anguish along with some other changes.
Hey I was just wondering on why not go with the Trickster ascendancy rather than Assassin ascendancy
Last edited by SgtHydra on Jun 15, 2016, 3:15:00 PM
i made something similar but dual welding Touch... take a look at my character "Hrimri" in prophecy... :-)... maybe you can take some ideas!
Last edited by Shaggha on Jun 17, 2016, 4:37:32 PM

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