[2.4] Frost Blades Raider (Unlimited Chain Works!)
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First of all a disclaimer : I don't consider myself an expert and especially when it comes to writing guides/giving advice i suck,but i decided to give it a try cause hell,why not?
So,after a long time of laughing at claws and their poor state (kinda justified too tbh) i decided to make a character that would use them and see how far it'd get and let me tell you it got quite far.So,let's get on with the show. 1.Pros and Cons
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Pros:
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-Kinda cheap since noone uses claws and most of our Uniques are cheap.The rest of our items are rare
-Good crowd control.With all the cold damage/cold pen/freeze chance and constant chaining you'll have no problem keeping mobs frozen -Can run most map mods except the usual annoying ones (Blood Magic,No leech).Can even run Hexproof or No Regen (although the last one might be a bit tricky) -Can clear up to t15 maps -Can do Atziri/Uber lab(although i don't suggest fully buffing Izaro) -FUN!Ok,that's subjective >_> Cons:
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-Squishy,since being Ranger we don't have that much life around
-Not that good single target dps (although with some pots this can be fixed,especially if the boss isn't immune to chill) -Can't do Uber Atziri/Shaper/Guardians (althouhg i've killed Hydra with it so there's hope in the hands of a good player i guess) -Need kinda good-rolled rare items to cap our resistances -Not that much of a tank.You'll need to move around or use flasks like Stibnite/Basalt 2.Necessary gear
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Not much,but we'll use 2x since it's pretty much what makes our build.With full charges our FB projectiles will keep on chaining (and freezing) mobs and that means bigger packs=easier time.The rest are uniques and rares that can be changed depending on your playstyle so i won't consider them 100% necessary.
3.Leveling/Tree and Passives
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I leveled by using Frost blades and claws the moment i could and to be honest i believe that it made it kinda harder to exp (but i like using my builds from the start) so you're pretty much free to level as you like at least until we get to the claw nodes.
3.1 Leveling I started by grabbing mostly life/defensive nodes while moving towards Acrobatics/Phase Acrobatics (For this char i tried to prioritize defense,unlike my past ones) so the tree is Level 28
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https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAABAIBAQBeA4cF-QguDHMV8BmOI_YwcTIBOkJLeE2SXkV9dY2_kvOVZpsmm42jirGzshnPetN-1CPdqO2D-WP66_66
Then i moved up towards the shadow area for more life,some claw nodes and the frenzy charge (for later) Level 47
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https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAABAIBAQBeA4cF-QguDHMPqxXwFf0WvxmOIuoj9iaVMHEyATY9OkJF9Et4TZJVS15FYeJirGSvapVsjG1sb1d9dYo4jX2Nv5KAkvOVZpoXmyabjZ2qo4qxs7IZtMXPetN-1CPdqOd06Nbtg_lj-uv-ug==
After that i moved down to the duelist area for some more life/some evasion/dual wield damage and Point Blank! Level 63
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https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAABAIBAQBeA4cFLQX5CC4Mcw2ND6sR1RR1FfAV_Ra_GY4i6iP2JpUwcTIBNj06QkMxRfRKfUt4TP9Nkk4qU7tVS1eXW69eRWBBYeJirGNwZK9lTWqVbIxtbG9XdO19dYd2ijiNfY2_koCS85VmmhebJpuNnaqjiqTCsbOyGbTFvTa-p7_Vz3rTftQj2sHdqOOf53To1u2D7g75Y_rr_MX-ug==
And this is my tree at level 92 Level 92
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https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAIBAABeA4cFLQX5CC4Mcw2ND6sR1RR1FewV8BX9Fr8XJhmKGY4ajxutIuoj0yP2JpUuUzBxMgE2PTpCPL4-z0HQQzFF9Ed-Sn1LeEz_TZJOKlO7VP5VS1WFV5daGluvXkVfcGBBYeJh62KsY3Bkr2VNZ6BqlWyMbWxvV3TtelN6hHrvfXWDbYTZh3aKOIrwjX2Nv49gkoCS85VmlcyaF5smm42dqqOKpMKly7Gzshm0xbVIuR29Nr3mvqe_1cMzwzrEgsjMypDPetCt02_TftQj2NXawd2o32_jn-d06NbpRu0_7YPuDu-P9tr5Y_rr-wn8xf66
I left the extra Frenzy charges until i got my first Ascendancy (Way of the Poacher) since it'd be easier to keep them up with it.Also,i ended up using Fertile Mind cause of the int requirements the claws have. 3.2 Passives Bandits
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Oak,Kill,Kraytin
Ascendancy
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When i was still leveling this character i went first for Avatar of the Slaughter and left Avatar of the Veil for the end,but ever since i got Veil it completely blew me away with how useful it is,so i'd recommend going: Way of the Poacher,Quartz Infusion,Avatar of the Veil and then Avatar of the slaughter.
4.Gear For leveling you'll pretty much use whatever rares/uniques you find,just focus on those resistances!And now we come on what to use later on.Our defenses will be Life/Evasion/Dodge so the gear you should be looking out for items with those stats (and of course resistances!)
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Weapons
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As linked before we're gonna use 2x nothing else to add here,they're pretty cheap too.
Armor
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I find that a Belly of the Beast is one of the best (and cheapest) options for this slot cause we'll need lots of life and as a Ranger that's kinda hard.Other options are Queen of the Forest(nice resists,life,massive evasion) and Daresso's Defiance (life/dodge chance and endurance charges).For a rare one look for lots of life/tri-res/high evasion if possible.
Helmet
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Here i had 2 options,either a rare one or Alpha's Howl.I used Alpha's throughout my leveling to be able to fit my aura/herald/curse requirements,but later on (with enlighten+tree passives) i was able to have them without it so i swapped to a rare helmet with resistances/life.So either Alpha's or a rare evasion helmet.
Gloves
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I aimed to get some rare gripped gloves for the extra projectile damage and their evasion.Mods to look here are life/resistances and maybe some damage.A more expensive option would be some nice Insanity crafted ones.
Boots
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Ahhh the biggest dilemma i've had and a usual problem i run into when i make Frenzy charge-using characters,Atziri's or Darkray.Here it's up to you but i opted out to use Atziri's for the spell dodge and the extra life (Whichever you choose aim for a +1 Frenzy corrupted one).If you go for a rare you'll want tri-res/life/movement speed.
Belt
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Rare Heavy or Leather belt with resistances/life/weapon elemental damage preferably
Jewelry
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For rings go for rare Steel rings with phys damage/resistances/life (elemental damage is nice too but less so).As for an amulet i used a rare Marble one (with the usual stuff) but lately changed to Hinekora's for the extra dodge and so far i prefer it,so if you manage to cap your resistances without using an amulet i'd say go for Hinekora's.
My Gear currently
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For flasks i'd say Lion's Roar is quite useful(if not necessary) cause we'll need all the damage we can get plus its knockback can help with those pesky volatile rares.The rest of the are easily changed based on your needs. 5.Gems/Links
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Ok,here is the part where i'm still trying things out myself so it might get confusing if not outright badly-written
Armor:Frost Blades,Weapon Elemental Damage,Physical Projectile Attack Damage,Multistrike (4L),Cold Penetration (5L),Hypothermia (6L) or if immune to chill swap with Added Cold Damage. Gloves:Dual Strike,Melee Physical Damage,Faster Attacks,Cold Penetration (If you manage to get Insanity crafted gloves swap out Faster attacks for Hypothermia or Added Cold Damage depending on the boss/map immunities). Weapon 1:Whirling Blades,Faster Attacks,Fortify Weapon 2:Arctic Armor,Cast when Damage Taken,Frost Bomb (offensive option) or Chaos Golem (defensive option) Helmet:Hatred,Blasphemy,Frostbite (offensive option) or Enfeeble (defensive option),Enlighten Boots:Frenzy,Herald of Ice,Blood Rage,Vaal Grace (here i fit whatever left >_<) Basically,here you'll be swapping what you use depending on your needs or playstyle,you can go full-out offense with Frostbite and HoI or play it safely with Enfeeble and Arctic Armor.Also gives us some leeway when it comes to map mods like Hexproof or Reflect,just swap around the skills you turn on. 6.General Gameplay
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This character is actually pretty straightforward.Our aim is to keep our frenzy charges up and with the passive from Raider,the 20% chance to get a charge when we kill a frozen enemy from the weapons and Blood Rage we have them running pretty much all the time.The only times you may run into trouble having them is in no regen maps (since it'll be tricky having Blood Rage up then,but not impossible) and boss fights (that's why i included Frenzy in the gem setup).
With all charges up,our Frost Blades will keep on chaining on mob packs (and possibly keep them frozen all the time if you run Frostbite and use Lion's flask) while we leech life/mana thanks to the claw and duelist nodes.This makes running through large packs easy and quite fun imo but then we run into the single target dps problem. For single target i chose Dual Strike since it's quite strong (and also,like,the only choice claws have,thanks GGG!) but it's still not enough,that's why i aimed into having them into a pseudo-5link with Insanity gloves and use Hypothermia as the last link.If the boss isn't immune to chill my strategy is to,basically,go up to it with full charges,use an Aquamarine flask for the chilled ground and start clawing his face off (even better if the boss can't move or is stuck near a wall since then i use the Aquamarine flask+Lion's roar for even more damage).The rest of the time i use Whirling blades to keep Fortify up and manually dodge as many attacks as i can since Dodge,while nice,is still RNG-based. So,this is it pretty much.I just want to say that this is the first time i write a guide so please tell me any mistakes you find or your suggestions.This build is by no means perfect but i just wanted to try going against the meta!And so,my final word is...please be gentle. Last edited by Erecpyle on Oct 30, 2016, 5:44:50 PM Last bumped on Dec 23, 2016, 1:40:45 PM
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This was exactly my plan for next league but then i got worried about single target, the unreliability of dodge/evasion and lack of life
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" At the risk of stepping on op's toes. I had an alternative build pathfinder in 2.4. Addresses those points expressly. Everyone seems to build Frostblades wrong for some reason. They get distracted by the projectiles. Frostblades huge melee range is itself a massive functionally and dps increase for its melee hit. the range gives you first strike. Others need to leap/dash/whirling blade into melee range, THEN attack. kill, and then dash to a new target. frostblades does not. It attacks from 2+2+11+21=36 range.(with foils). Defense wise, with knockback via flask ideally. you are NEVER in volatile range. Rarely get melee hit. (I should reconsider arrow dancing..) 2.5 Range increase, might even put us out of most melee aoe ranges, like Voll/dominus, which did still land. Blasph+enfeeble. https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1747645 Op's build is not unworkable. it obviously did work for them. but could be better. it actually correctly ignores projectile damage/passives. Dervish, not furybolts. correct choice. Some weird choices overall. But workable. 42 life from str. +36life 177% life. 3.6% life regen. These are reasonable. Armor:Frost Blades,Weapon Elemental Damage,Physical Projectile Attack Damage,Multistrike (4L),Cold Penetration (5L),Hypothermia (6L) or if immune to chill swap with Added Cold Damage. Useless. Run Fortify in there, instead of PPAD. Gives DR 100% uptime. Melee Physical. Which is solid, since we dont even have a ton of str as a ranger. Also, Remember my notes about attacking from outside of Whirling blades range. you can't rely on WB for fortify with Frostblades. FB's range is too large. Pointblank is pointless as well. No idea why he has that. Added cold and/or Elem focus are stronger then cold pen as well. FB built properly for its melee hit. you do not need a second "single target" skill. Mine does 110k single target dps currently buffed, 5l, no helm enchant. I play soloselffound. (aka, this goes way up with better tier appropriate gear.) 6l belly would have been nice. haha. Do run Ancestral protector with it though. proj gloves are bad as noted. lab enchants are better. Fury/war/reflection. I still recommend pathfinder. but the slaughter/veil raider is ok. better than chase. (I'll update my post with end of league gear notes, and thoughts on 2.5 Pathfinder did eat nerfs. Raider buffs barely actually effect anything but Flickstrike. 20% added elem damage is about it really... Maintaining frenzy when you were not actively burning them, was never a problem.) Op not running a Silverflask for onslaught/phasing on call seems odd. Last edited by Casia on Dec 5, 2016, 10:08:03 AM
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Is a carcass jack good for this build?
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" Well,although this build does need some fine-tuning (like the other post pointed out) i don't think it would benefit from Carcass.A rare one with good res/life would be better if you can't get a Belly. |
