[3.0 Ready] Fire & Ice - Katana Frost Blades + Molten Strike! High clear speed + single target.

I have chosen to showcase difficult map mod / leaguestone combos (lot of Breach + Double Beyond) because I didn't want to just show off how fast the build can run to the end boss and kill it with Molten Strike, but also how powerful the Frost Blades setup is at tackling multiple stacked difficult map mods that you want to run to maximize your return. Some of the guardian videos were recorded before I upgraded my setup with the Ele Weak on Hit Shaper's Touch so they could even have better DPS than what is shown here.

I am a bad/lazy player, so you will see me facetank a lot of stuff in these videos. I like that the build lets me do this and keeps the number of mechanics that I absolutely MUST dodge to a minimum. What you see here is not a showcase of mechanical skill, but raw build power carrying me.

I have separated the video sections into videos with and without Headhunter, because Headhunter is strong enough to make any build look good. However it is worth noting that this build does benefit from most rare monster mods due to its attack/converting/scaling mechanics, so Headhunter does make it go super insano.

ALL VIDEOS ARE DEATHLESS EXCEPT CHIMERA CUZ F*** DAT SMOKE PHASE

Shaper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZFhTCt1KRU
Uber Atziri: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCzqVIxLbE8

No Headhunter:


With Headhunter:


Old Videos from Assassin version:

I was inspired to make this build when I was playing blasting cap's SignalShot, which makes use of full elemental conversion, and +projectiles to scale it's single target DPS with Barrage. I saw that there was a helm enchant that grants +3 to Molten Strike projectiles and realized the potential to make a build based around a melee weapon that used the same mechanics.

SignalShot also uses a two-handed weapon (a bow) to have another 6L for powerful pack clearing, so I knew that I wanted to do something similar. Exquisite Blade became the obvious base item of choice due to its huge implicit crit multi bonus.

There were a number of changes in 2.6 that made this build possible:
1. Addition of the Winter Spirit cluster allowing us to reach 100% elemental conversion without needing to use Physical to Lightning
2. Buff to Frost Blades %conversion allowing us to reach 100% elemental conversion ^
3. Buff to the sword nodes on the right side of the tree to focus strongly on valuable stats (damage/aspd/crit/multi)
4. Buff to the weapon elemental damage / penetration nodes
5. Addition of The Wise Oak flask

This is not a budget build. However, it is significantly cheaper to get started than competing builds for a few reasons:
1. Your chest only needs to be 4 off colors, not 5 or 6. This is SIGNIFICANTLY easier to do.
2. You don't have to buy a high ES shield.
3. Hubris Circlets with Molten Strike enchant are dirt cheap due to not being meta (yet)
4. Good Exquisite Blades are dirt cheap due to not being meta (yet)
5. Jewels with the specific mods you want are dirt cheap due to not being meta (yet)
6. You can still map very efficiently even with weaker gear as you farm your way up to better items. The absolute top tier items are only required to trivialize Guardians/Shaper/Uber Atziri.
If this build takes off in popularity, prices will probably rise on these items. But still, I think more variety in the meta helps everyone :)

"I have the rest of the stuff but Skyforth is too expensive. How do I play this build?"
Use Brinerot Whalers or rare boots. Drop Hatred and use Discipline, Herald of Ash, and Herald of Ice + COH + Ass Mark. This will be fine for general mapping and farming. I played like this for several weeks before finally buying my own Skyforth. You only need Skyforth to do T16+ and to maximize your DPS by including Hatred.

This build makes use of a high base PDPS two-handed weapon (a rare Exquisite Blade) to power two 6 link skills, one for pack clearing and one for single target. Damage is scaled like so:
High base phys (+added phys +%increased phys on the tree)
100% elemental conversion, with %added auras and flasks on top
weapon elemental damage
51% elemental penetration thanks to Pathfinder and The Wise Oak (61% with boot enchant)
high attack speed
high accuracy thanks to Shaper's Touch
high crit chance with Diamond Flask
high crit multi (the base item gives 60%!)
Point Blank (more damage under most circumstances, even for Frost Blades)

All of this allows us to reach completely insane levels of DPS. With Molten Strike we use 5x MORE multiplier gems, then add another level of scaling: +projectiles to Molten Strike. To Molten Strike's base of 3 projectiles, 6 more are added for a huge boost and since all of the projectiles travel a very short distance, they will receive the full 50% more damage bonus of Point Blank.

Since we have such a powerful single target skill, our Frost Blades can be further specialized into a pack clearing machine with the use of the Chain gem. More on this in the section below.

Pathfinder. Chaos Inoculation. Ghost Reaver. Vaal Pact. High leech. High DPS. Need I say more?
You do NOT need Vinktar's with this build. I haven't used it in many hours of play. With the Duelist leech nodes and empowered Atziri's Promise, my leech is enough to face tank Shaper Beam, Uber Trio, Uber Atziri Flameblast, and instantly leech right back.

The entire Molten Strike setup is based around scaling the projectile damage.
MORE MULTIPLIER GEMS x5:
Multistrike: Needs no explanation.
Weapon Elemental Damage: Needs no explanation.
Elemental Focus: Simply one of the highest %more multipliers available. Sacrificing the ability to freeze sucks, but against the content where this would even be relevant (T16+ bosses) it is extremely difficult to freeze them anyway. Everything T15 and below will melt instantly so freeze is unnecessary.
Concentrated Effect: Because increasing the AOE of Molten Strike spreads out the projectiles, increased area of effect actually reduces your DPS. Concentrated Effect has the opposite effect, causing more projectiles to actually land on the target at the center of the spread. Also comes with a high %more multiplier.
Physical Projectile Attack Damage: High %more multiplier, scales the base phys so it also increases the effect of Atziri's Promise by a bit extra. Because Molten Strike is considered a melee attack, it does not suffer the %less attack speed, but the projectiles still fully benefit from the %more damage.
Gems Not Used

Point Blank Passive: 50% more damage to projectiles that travel a short distance. Due to Molten Strike's small radius with Concentrated Effect, every projectile should get the full 50% more damage from this.

Multistrike: Needs no explanation. Makes Frost Blades super smooth to play as well since the 2nd and 3rd attacks will auto-target, firing auto-seeking projectiles. You can really go afk in the brain with this one.
Weapon Elemental Damage: Needs no explanation.
Faster Attacks / Increased Critical Strikes: Use this to balance your setup. If your weapon has high attack speed, use Crit gem. If your weapon has high crit, use Faster Attacks.
Increased Critical Damage: Scales all portions of our damage and gives high single hit damage to freeze even tanky rares.
Chain: This is probably the most contentious gem choice so it gets its own little section:

Gems Not Used

LSC Characters:
PopsicleFinder 99 Pathfinder
IDreamOfMindFang 97 Assassin
Bandits: Point - Point - Power Charge
Path of Building Code: https://pastebin.com/yf5MNyUQ

Pathfinder is the best class for this build once you reach the top tier of gear. The additional penetration and flask effect gives tons of dps. We gain additional elemental resistances and permanent stun immunity with Kiara's Determination. Atziri's Promise leech double dips on %flask effect (increasing the chaos damage, and then increasing the %leech), meaning we get crazy leech without needing Vinktar's. Finally, being immune to elemental status ailments at all times makes us an unstoppable juggernaut in all content.
Lv97 Pathfinder:
https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAIDAGOn3UYUdY25RA3L9dRSF5ZvJwYgpyuMC-tj74iExe_roS8Qex1Pf4BRR4w2S64V14auSVHHnewY18--iujWmybpmGJaRX6peeRq_xAqODGwAbx_K3BS5w9HBhfc034k_SSd2Vv_3uywES-TJ1b6dKDvetDQjb-kwjfU_W7w1WwLwcVtbOkCVmOet1BCGNu-OonT3L3y4Q5c2xonqS0fTLO5fCy_SbHI8MM68W2P-jW5MHztP20ZIuqbjRFQIvQGoudUN0zuDiSLY0MrCppqdPFQMCBuavpfanj5-TfQH13ygax31wW1GyUqC7VIzqibtVM1f8Z-3Y9gEYEWvw-r

Assassin is the more budget option, especially if you have a weapon with a poor crit roll. It is very easy to cap crit with the Assassin, and you may not even need a Diamond Flask. Or, you can still use a Diamond Flask and get very high effective crit even if your accuracy is poor. I started this character as an Assassin and got to level 97 before deciding to reroll to Pathfinder. Assassin has the downsides of less reliable flasks, shorter full-DPS burn phases, less reliable stun immunity, and the need to run specific status-ailment removal flasks, which can still cause you to die if you don't have them up. You need all 3 for Uber Atziri. In one run, I got shocked by Vaals, frozen by a trashmob Vaal Fallen, and ignited by Atziri - this was what prompted me to reroll to Pathfinder.
Lv99 Assassin:
https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAYBAGOn3Uai2Y25RA3IFMv11FJvJ49gpyuMC-tjm7WExe_roS8Qe0qLHU8jNlFHjDZLrrVIhq5JUfVv7BjXz76K6NabJnTxYlpFfql55GoqODGwUDCw2HBS5w9HBjIy034k_SSd2Vv_3uywES-TJ1b6dKDZhu960NAPq6TCN9T9bhCS8NVsC3j5bWzpAlZjUEIY274651TcvfLhDlzuDiepLR9Ms7l8LL9JscjwwzqP-jW5MHztP20ZIuoRULxvIvR_xtsaBqIGIIGsY0OaaiSLF9wrChGBUxB_K42_avpfal3y74j5N9AfIG531wW1FdcqCxa_aowUdVM1ft2J08HFF7AbJQ==

I am going to try a budget life-based version of this as Berserker using Hegemony's Era and the left side of the tree, in the 3.0 beta. I played around with this in 2.6 and was able to kill normal Atziri without too much trouble. However, nothing will be finalized until we actually get the 3.0 patch changes. Expect a section on this budget version after the beta launches.

General Gear

Seek an Exquisite Blade with the highest PDPS you can get. I started playing this build with a 475 PDPS weapon, it will serve fine. An added elemental damage roll is not wasted either - we have a lot of elemental scaling. Critical Strike Chance is also very important, if you can get one with better than crafted (27%+) this will really help with consistency as our tree is a bit light on crit chance.


Vaal Regalia with as much ES and resist as you can get, no surprises here. You will need to 4 off-color this, but it shouldn't be too hard (<1ex to color).


Hubris Circlet with Uber Molten Strike (+3) enchant. As much ES and resist as you can get. Bonus for Accuracy or (crafted) Strength.


Shaper's Touch is an excellent choice for this build, as we can benefit from several of its mods. Elemental Weakness curse is godlike but not mandatory. If you don't have a corrupted pair, "Attack with Commandment of Fury on Hit" is a strong enchant for this build - it fires an arc of piercing projectiles that, with our high base damage and crit, will one shot packs by itself.
Int -> Accuracy is the big one, with my 236 int this gives 472 flat accuracy which is better than a t1 roll.
Str -> Shield with 159 Str (minimum to use lv21 Molten Strike) this grants 31.8% increased energy shield, making these on par with the other pair of gloves
Str -> Mana helps with Skyforth stun threshold and freeing up some unreserved helps with no regen maps or when your attack speed gets very high (using Headhunter)
Dex -> Melee phys does increase our single target slightly
Otherwise just get a nice pair of rare gloves with high ES + resist, bonuses for Accuracy, Attack Speed, or Strength.


Crystal Belt with +Energy Shield. Some combination of Resist, Strength, WED, and Flask mods. This is my flex piece that I used to balance my resist for The Wise Oak as I upgraded my other items, which is why I have so many of them.


Skyforth is obviously BIS for the free power charge on crit (acts as a 7L), reduced reserve (lets us run another aura), and pseudo stun immunity (good enough for general mapping, I do prefer a more reliable solution for t16+ bosses though). While I was leveling and gearing the build before acquiring Skyforth I used Brinerot Whalers, they are pretty cheap and give nice shield, resist, move speed and of course quite a bit of damage. The damage penetration enchant is BIS for bossing, the attack speed enchant is BIS for general mapping.


There are many DPS stats you can get on an amulet. You can also get shield here, or use this to fulfill your resistance / strength requirements. You can use Eye of Chayula for stun immunity, or use Kiara's Determination, or neither if you like to live dangerously.


Whether you want to use an Opal, Steel, or Diamond Ring base depends on the rest of your gear. Use Path of Building to figure out what base is best for you. DPS stats are a bonus here, but make sure you get some shield and cover your resistances. I like to lean heavily on my jewellery for resists so that I can focus on just getting high shield on my armor pieces.

WITH ALL YOUR GEAR COMBINED YOU NEED THE FOLLOWING:
Capped resistance ofc. I don't have Elemental Weakness cap because The Wise Oak is up 100% of the time.
Exactly equal Cold and Fire resistance for The Wise Oak. Lightning doesn't matter.
155 Strength (159 for lv21 Molten Strike)
2000 tooltip accuracy MINIMUM, aim for 2800+

Always use these flasks:

Pick 2 of these flasks:

If you don't use Eye of Chayula then I recommend using Kiara's Determination so that you will have stun immunity.

Jewels:

Get any combo of damage/attackspeed/crit/critmulti with two-hand/sword/elemental. Which stats are best for your setup depends on your exact gear - as always, use Path of Building to compare. For my setup, the combo of 2x attack speed 2x multi is perfect. If I could use 4 copies of Behemoth Cut, I would.

Godly MF / Map Farming Setup


Uber Atziri / Chimera Setup


Shaper Setup

Weapon (see Frost Blades Mechanics above):

Armour (see Molten Strike Mechanics above):

Auras:

If you don't have lv4 Enlighten, get 4% reduced reserve across from CI, and Charisma cluster until your mana feels comfortable.
If you don't have Skyforth then use this setup:

CWDT (flex):

What you put here depends on what content you're running. I like lv20 CWDT with my golem in it so I don't have to manual recast while mapping. For maps, add Vortex and Frost Bomb for safety. If you don't have ele weak on hit gloves, put 20/20 Elemental Weakness in here. For Uber Atziri or Guardians if you need a DPS boost, put Vaal Lightning Trap (it will not be triggered by CWDT). Against Uber Atziri, use level 1 versions of gems that can deal damage so you don't accidentally hurt yourself on the reflect split.

Utility:

Duh.

You don't have to use Enhance here - it's only 6% attack speed. But once I got my gem setup perfect I figured why not.

Weapon Swap:


This is the lowest possible mana cost setup to spam quickly and generate power charges before entering a boss fight.

You can also use somewhere in your setup for more single target DPS, I don't use it in the video because I have enough DPS already but when you are just getting started it's great.
Don't use , we are scaling projectile damage on Molten Strike so this does very little.