[2.6] Terminus Est FrostBlades WIP Need theory crafting Help

Hey folks, I always start new leagues with duelist and this league I wanted to try something new besides the ol' spin2win. So in my mind I wanted to use the new buffed uniques and buffed frostblades with jewels and see how it turns out.


Lvl 80 Slayer
3.489 hp (i know could be better, but fine for now)
all resist's maxed
28k dmg (unbuffed) (60k w/ 9+attacks per second)

Current build



Inspiration for this build was hoping to achieve something between
Frost Blades Raider

Terminus Est Flicker Slayer


Thoughts:
1: Map clear speed is good, smooth and fast, when you have 5 frenzy charges you can leap slam across the maps pretty fast and control groups by freezing them all.

2: Not running Ancestral Warchief because of Diedbellow interaction + Leap slam was to much stuff to micromanage. Plus wanting to see how many support skills I could link to Herald of Ice

3. Not running any projectile passives like Fury Bolts, Point Black, Iron grip. I did have them but it felt useless, frostblades with terminus has alot of things going on under the hood and dint feel any difference after loosing them.

4. I tried running southbound gloves, and it was ok, but the "Yours hits can only kill frozen enemy's" blocked culling strike with Herald of Ice. And then I would have weird mob interactions where I would destroy entire packs but have 1 mob i would hit literally 100 times and never crit to freeze, very weird

5. Still up in the air between cold dmg Doryani's and belt of the deceiver

6. Hypothermia Support on Leap slam is a interesting action I had never considered before

7. With the way Herald of Ice works, this build is more like 10-12 link not 2 5/6 links. I want to expand on this when i get more currency.


Questions/Issues.
1. Im not sold on slayer for this build. Debating on if Champion would be better because this builds interaction w/ multistrike turns you into a turret. Input? Maybe impact instead of Headsman?

2. Bring up the issues of surviveability. I dyeing to boss's I never have before with standard duelist builds. Cleared up to tier 4 map bosses no problem, but Malachai poops on me. Not leeching enough w/ slayer?

3. Other uniques? The Haylcone Would love a taste of hate but out of my reach.

4. I need to find a way to get power charges. I have windscream boots for additional curse so getting a assassins mark curse of hit setup is needed i believe. Or another way to get Power charges.

5. Debating going full copy pasta of the raider build, minus the claw nodes but I wasnt sure it would be good not having any strength passives

6. I can run one more Fight for Survival but have to spec passed Vaal Pact, worth it? Bringing up Vaal Pact, would it fix my survival issues or to much overlap with Slayer

Thanks for any assistance and input you folks can offer

Reserved ####

Update: I picked up The Hayclone and so far it seems pretty nice.

Progressed up to tier 6 maps.
Was able to kill twinned Boss's in Primordial Pool (Malachai) I did die twice, but dmg seemed better after getting The Hayclone.
Also believe this was due to having more than 1 target since Frost Blades projectiles only form after the initial strike.

My progression is slow this league due to work and school, but tonight I will focus on finishing Merc and Uber Lab see if that will help.

You won't have enough accuracy to sustain this build. I don't think it would work with anything except Juggernaut

"

bkn wrote:

You won't have enough accuracy to sustain this build. I don't think it would work with anything except Juggernaut

I dont think that is the problem, Im clearing maps just fine. And I do the believe after the initial strike accuracy isn't an issue since the projectiles auto seek. (It may be an issue with the initial strike)

Update 03/15

This build is so much smoother now!

Finally was able to beat Malachi/ Merc Lab and progress my Maps.

Did some gear upgrade more life basically which helped.
Weapon Ele ring

Swapped to Enduring Cry over Rallying cry, helped alot

Biggest change was picking up some 20 qual gems, WED, Her of Ice, and added Cold DMG, next to buy is Qaul Multistrike and Faster attacks

I had a better roll Terminus that dropped for me I was trying to 6 link, but decided to 4 link
Herald of Ice+Culling+Ice Bite+Added Cold DMG

Tooltip dmg is now 30k/70k but as with most builds it doesnt show the true potential.

63% cold resist pen!!!

Where to go from here?
Better gloves..
The CWDT setup in the gloves is pretty non effective since I freeze everything.
What else could I put there thats effective for this build? (Im going to run Vaal Haste here)

I want to get another Fight For Survival...so im going to respec at 90, till then im just going to fill out Brutal Blade, Aspect of the Lynx, Vigour

Would love some tips from you guys!!

Perhaps this note is overdue and contains insights already garnered, but here goes.

So, first things first, those links you have on Herald of Ice? They only affect the shatter damage. So your freeze and frenzy procs are not occurring from Ice Bite, just on your crits. And what are your links on the whole? General item distribution/recommendations? You said you are trying to reach an equilibrium between the two builds, but you fail to detail what you pulled from each build.

Re: Ice Bite in particular, it's a good gem to have while leveling, but once you have Terminus Est, it falls to irrelevance. Getting quality on it will allow it to contribute to your damage at that point, but until it has quality, it's not actually contributing to your utility or damage. You're probably better off using the ranger build's link setup for Herald, in which it grants CoH Assassin's mark with the shatter damage.

Both builds call for Belly, but I might offer an alternative in the form of



You would want to spec more health nodes to resolve the partial loss of Belly's HP boost and maybe pick up more resistances elsewhere, but it's a nice tool to grant some free resists among mobs, and it gives you Onslaught pretty much whenever you take a hit. Not to mention you could justify trashing Enduring Cry altogether.

Keep the Flicker strike build's CDWT link set. It's valuable in a pinch or against bosses you have to kite. I would option in Blood Rage as a CWDT link choice over the Ice Golem so you don't have to start fights without the Ice Golem's buff. With that, Onslaught from Daresso's, and Slayer's overleech, you're looking at a nasty DPS spike. Alternatively, since you should have two 6-link sets and your Herald is now suddenly a 4-link, making your current 4 link sets (CWDT + Blood Rage + Immortal Call + Molten Shell) and (Hatred + Herald of Ice + Curse on Hit + Assassin's Mark) and one of your 6-link sets being your Frost Blades.

This leaves you a lot of latitude for the 10 sockets you have left over. Obviously Vaal Haste is nice. You can upgrade your CWDT 4-link to 6 and then throw on Increased Duration and Ice Golem (or stay at 5 and leave Golem unlinked to CWDT. This actually opens up the possibility of Kaom's Roots, to make up for some of the HP loss from no more Belly.