[2.6] CI FrostBlades Raider/Pathfinder [Permafreeze T15 bosses, 4:17 Shaper Run, 1:49 Chayula timer]

Stumbled upon this guide and it motivated me to finally start my frost blades character. Been rolling raider so far cause i have never played raider before but i am already missing pathfinder a little bit from my previous character.

I just have a questions:

You already explained plenty how stacking too much penetration is not that worth it so i was wondering:
What do you think of Master surgeon vs Veteran Bowyer? Veteran Bowyer does give good damage but i was wondering if the increased flask charge generation might not be better? Have you tested it out before deciding on Veteran Bowyer or do you simply believe the little bit charge generation to be inferior?

Also what do you think of using Assassins Mark instead of Ele weakness in the Non-Skyforth Orb of storm setup? Helps with PCoC and considering all the penetration/reduction we already have and the reduced curse effectiveness on bosses it might not be that far off damage wise.
"
BammLee wrote:
Stumbled upon this guide and it motivated me to finally start my frost blades character. Been rolling raider so far cause i have never played raider before but i am already missing pathfinder a little bit from my previous character.

I just have a questions:

You already explained plenty how stacking too much penetration is not that worth it so i was wondering:
What do you think of Master surgeon vs Veteran Bowyer? Veteran Bowyer does give good damage but i was wondering if the increased flask charge generation might not be better? Have you tested it out before deciding on Veteran Bowyer or do you simply believe the little bit charge generation to be inferior?

Also what do you think of using Assassins Mark instead of Ele weakness in the Non-Skyforth Orb of storm setup? Helps with PCoC and considering all the penetration/reduction we already have and the reduced curse effectiveness on bosses it might not be that far off damage wise.


Heya! Good question. It was a tough call between Master Surgeon and Veteran Bowyer initially, but after I realised that flask generation on crit got nerfed, it was an easy decision to go for Veteran Bowyer in the end.

This video: https://youtu.be/bUzkeZdBVyc sums up how poor master surgeon is at the moment. I personally find Nature's Boon sufficent for keeping up flask charges during boss fights considering the number of %increased flask charges gained that we take on the tree as well as the perpetual flask charges mod, provided we use our flasks economically.

I've simulated using Ele Weakness and Assassin's Mark. Ele Weakness still gives a higher DPS bonus unfortunately especially when taking into account the "less curse effect on bosses".



Side note: uploaded some defensive stats on my current character as well as my DPS screens and gear. I can probably still achieve a higher ES helm and shield, but I think i've min-maxed it enough for now.

DPS was achieved with a 6L of Level 21/20 Frost Blades, WED, MDFL, MPD, Multistrike as well as a level 19/20 Elemental Focus.

Take note that the tooltip DPS doesn't take into account the bonus from Diamond Flasks and Veteran Bowyer.

The effective DPS against Shaper with the above set up is 2.3 million and goes up to 2.4 million during the instances where Veteran Bowyer grants extra cold damage.

Feel free to import my character from Path of Building if you wish to play around with links/curses/dps figures. My characters are public.
Build of the Week 14
The first Righteous Fire/Non-Shavronne's/Shavronne's HC
Shameless self-proclaimed theory-crafting extraordinaire and forum crusader
"
Invalesco wrote:
"
BammLee wrote:
Stumbled upon this guide and it motivated me to finally start my frost blades character. Been rolling raider so far cause i have never played raider before but i am already missing pathfinder a little bit from my previous character.

I just have a questions:

You already explained plenty how stacking too much penetration is not that worth it so i was wondering:
What do you think of Master surgeon vs Veteran Bowyer? Veteran Bowyer does give good damage but i was wondering if the increased flask charge generation might not be better? Have you tested it out before deciding on Veteran Bowyer or do you simply believe the little bit charge generation to be inferior?

Also what do you think of using Assassins Mark instead of Ele weakness in the Non-Skyforth Orb of storm setup? Helps with PCoC and considering all the penetration/reduction we already have and the reduced curse effectiveness on bosses it might not be that far off damage wise.


Heya! Good question. It was a tough call between Master Surgeon and Veteran Bowyer initially, but after I realised that flask generation on crit got nerfed, it was an easy decision to go for Veteran Bowyer in the end.

This video: https://youtu.be/bUzkeZdBVyc sums up how poor master surgeon is at the moment. I personally find Nature's Boon sufficent for keeping up flask charges during boss fights considering the number of %increased flask charges gained that we take on the tree as well as the perpetual flask charges mod, provided we use our flasks economically.

I've simulated using Ele Weakness and Assassin's Mark. Ele Weakness still gives a higher DPS bonus unfortunately especially when taking into account the "less curse effect on bosses".



Side note: uploaded some defensive stats on my current character as well as my DPS screens and gear. I can probably still achieve a higher ES helm and shield, but I think i've min-maxed it enough for now.

DPS was achieved with a 6L of Level 21/20 Frost Blades, WED, MDFL, MPD, Multistrike as well as a level 19/20 Elemental Focus.

Take note that the tooltip DPS doesn't take into account the bonus from Diamond Flasks and Veteran Bowyer.

The effective DPS against Shaper with the above set up is 2.3 million and goes up to 2.4 million during the instances where Veteran Bowyer grants extra cold damage.

Feel free to import my character from Path of Building if you wish to play around with links/curses/dps figures. My characters are public.


Thanks a lot for the answer. Will be switching to ele weakness then. And thanks a lot for the video, have been looking for something like this!

Having a ton of fun with this character so far
Thanks for nice build!
Got a question about links. I checked Mathil's FB pathfinder aswell, he doesn't use meleephys cause it doesn't affect second part of FB damage. So i'd like to know is it really so important part of dps or not. Thanks beforehand.
P.S. he uses FB + WED + FA + ColdPen + Multistrike + IncCrit.
adding on to jacynthe post about mathil's build, how bout using his setup with herald of ice + curse on hit + assassins mark for power charge generation instead of herald of ash?

I know you described herald of ash as better than herald of ice but for poor people like me that cant afford skyforth haha

Or is it really that much better (herald of ash) in order for us to completely skip using assassins mark and just go completely with elemental weakness with power charge on hit and orb of storms?

Quick question about Cold Pen as well.

I see that you're not using the Cold Penetration gem at all, but instead you're adding on MFD in its stead. Is that overall better to use that gem compared to Cold Pen, especially in maps where enemies get a boost to their elemental defenses via map mods? Granted, I don't have a pair of gloves with the Ele. Curse On Hit corruption on it. So was wondering if sticking with Cold pen is better overall in my case or would I have better luck recoloring my chest and going for MFD?
"
Kramerika wrote:
adding on to jacynthe post about mathil's build, how bout using his setup with herald of ice + curse on hit + assassins mark for power charge generation instead of herald of ash?

I know you described herald of ash as better than herald of ice but for poor people like me that cant afford skyforth haha

Or is it really that much better (herald of ash) in order for us to completely skip using assassins mark and just go completely with elemental weakness with power charge on hit and orb of storms?



Just gonna add my 2c here because I've tested both setups. Talking about damage and AoE, HoA is better and Orb + PCoC reliably generates charges and you can go with ele weakness on the link or gloves implicit (really expensive atm), the problem is that you'll need to cast manually and since this is a really fast paced build, to me breaks a lot the flow of farming so I prefer HoI + CoH + AM because I can shoot >> shield charge >> shoot...

Even with the HoI setup the dmg is more than enough for T15 content, I usually kill Und River boss in ~3 sec just to give an example and I don't have GG broken stuff on my gear, as you can see below:



Since we're talking gear... Invalesco, what do you think I need to focus now, really hard to get upgrades atm.

Picture showing buffed DPS (with Hypothermia + Inc Crit Strikes). Thanks again!



Sometimes lucky? Alted Dictator's + a shitty suffix and regaled Merciless? :)
Is everyone going Pathfinder regardless? What if I already have solid T16+ farmer for bosses and want something T15 below and fast? Raider seems to be good option or Pathfinder trivializes it all? (P.S. got nice flasks like taste of hate to spare)

Also, what would your ideal 5L setup be (raider and path)?
Hello world.
Hi, first of all nice guide and spot on explanation about resistance. I am kinda new about crit raiders and haven't been playing poe for a while so I just wanted to ask whether picking up a few more power charges (passive tree + losing the frenzy from merciless bandit) would allow me to reach higher crit easily and eventually drop the quartz flask for a better one or make other adjustments on gear/passive. Or is it just better to get as many frenzy as possible as a raider? I hope you understand what I mean.

Report Forum Post

Report Account:

Report Type

Additional Info