[2.0] Tokyo's Fan Of Knives (CoC Frostblader/Spectral Throw)

Frost Blades is a fun skill, with very nice design. It gives +14 weapon range, low mana cost, and after the 1st hit, 2 additional projectiles fire off, hitting enemies behind/to the sides of the 1st target. Unfortunately GGG made it not that great. This is slightly due to needing to hit an initial target first, but also because the projectiles are only 2. There's another reason too.

Compare it to Wild Strike:

A skill I'm very familiar with, it acts similar in that you have to hit a target 1st, to trigger the secondary effect. Here's the difference. Frost blades can be hit at a reasonable distance. The problem is, WS's secondary effects are much more useful than FB's blades, the lighting chain effect being very strong, with all/most effects being able to hit multiple targets, not just 3. The final reason why Frost blades is bad that I hinted at, is its "base attack damage" it deals. It is a lot lower than most newer melee skills at all levels. At lv20, Wild strike deals 136% base attack damage. Frost blades only gets 122% base attack damage. That's 14% LESS damage, for only a couple blades. So wild strike does 14% MORE damage, not just increased. That's roughly equivalent to getting 3 frenzy charges for free. Static Strike also does 136% base attack damage at lv20.

So, the skill is and will be less impressive than most skills, but I tried to make it work nonetheless. I think a buff is indeed needed, either matching the damage % of other similar skills, or giving the skill an innate "Chains one time".

The build does have requirements. I mentioned Crown Of Eyes, but another requirement is a 5-link. 6-link improves clear speed by a lot. Carnal Armour is good if want more defense early on with higher ES, you lose option to use blood rage however, but you get near 2k ES. Zodiac Leather/Assassin's Garb are the other routes, aiming for 1800+ evasion.

Along with those, it is very recommended to get Brinerot Whalers. I'd say even a requirement. They are a HUGE damage boost, effecting both frost blades and ek, and making shocking ground maps basically free quantity/rarity. Mines were self found, no divines.

Dagger your given a tiny bit leeway. Spell damage is basically increased physical damage, but better. This allows you to buy a cheaper lower pdps crit dagger with some spell damage. My current dagger (30c) is around 230 pdps, but with 33% spell damage it brings its damage equivalent to 260-270 pdps, + buffing EK = better than a 260 pdps dagger. You absolutely must have over 8% crit chance, and at least 1.4 aps on your dagger, more the better.

Shield is your main damage boost. The only shields we can use to increase damage are pure ES shields. The goal is to get as high spell damage as you can, but also life, resist, and block chance. I happened to get the perfect piece for insanely cheap (2c), because hardly anyone uses shields like that. Spell crit chance on shield is nice too, but you'll have to lose a resist/block chance.

Gloves, value attack speed and accuracy. Life, and a high single res are good to have too. Surgebinders are an okay cheap unique to use, provide more damage then speed gloves, but no resist/life/accuracy is kind of killer. Maligaro's are fine gloves to use too but same problem.

Rings/Ammy you should know the deal by now. Will note, getting 20%+ spell damage and 30%+ crit chance on ammy is highly recommended. Crit multi and all resist/life is second best. You will need some STR/INT on ammy to max level gems/wield certain daggers. 50+ strength on a ring is recommend, with a least one diamond ring with some resist. Try to get accuracy, but only if you can cap resist.

Gear Cost
-Crown Of Eyes = 40c
-5-link Chest = 1-2c blank, then average 9c+1 alch to get decent roll = 10c
-Brinerots = 25-40c for 32%+ proj damage roll
-Dagger = 20c-3ex
-Shield = 2-20c
-Ammy = 1ex
-Rings = 2x 30c = 60c
Total Average Cost: 125c + 3ex

This is my current gear, still need improvements to cap all resist, than a better dagger would be nice but think I'm done with investing into the build and will move on to other experiments :p But as you can see, except for chest, nothing crazy expensive/GG.

So atm there's two ways to go about this build. There's Frost Blades, the main build and what this guide focuses on, then there's Spectral Throw. Frost blades is the original build, with intent on making it work, and does fine. However if you want generic coc with probably better clear speed but worse single target than you can opt for the spectral throw route. I prefer FB version because its cheaper and doesn't lag as much.

Here's Frostblades Tree:

https://poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgYAsNii2cgU9W9qjBa_JpVh4lVLjDYDHh9BsbPtQQYjtUjz6ioLcFKJ03DVXfIOSBGWkBtwVpoT29QN0WND8YqdqmyMYqzy4UcG2-e0xWwI2HZW9dtul9COigcelS7w1UlRuT6sZizhfePDOpu1X7CExcpKb56cpIcTdwfxs0tXwOODCYhbsAswfBR1GNt08SmljX0j9k2SpMJbrw2Nh3bjn0p9o4ruDvzF73rTfgBeGY7tgwguJIsPq311_rq748SilwYZilFH51Qk_f_ePs-95r6Abj1gQ-0_N9Q=

This follows the normal gear setup I have in gear section and skill section, and is what I use and will demonstrate in videos.

This is the spectral throw version:

https://poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgYAFr8mlWHiVUuMNgMeH0Gxs-1BBiO1SPPqKgtwUonTcNVd8g5IEZaQG3BWmhPb1A3RY0Pxip2qbIxirPLhRwbb57TFbAjYdgcelS7w1UlRuT6sZizhfePDOpu1X7CExcpKb56cpIcTdwfxs0tXwOODCYhbsAswfBR1GNt08SmljX0j9k2SpMJbrw2Nh3bjn0p9o4ruDvzF73rTfgBeGY7tgwguJIsPq311_rq748SilwYZilFH51Qk_f_ePs-95r6Abj1gQ-0_N9SXl0V8tDjlGfv18h1knev1j_o=

You can thank redditors for suggesting giving spectral throw a try. Uniques change, you get maligaro's and Rat's nest instead of crown/brinerots, and you favor spell crit dagger instead with high spell damage, crit chance, aps, and spell crit chance too. Jewels change to spell damage, crit chance, crit multi, and life. This is more laggy but is akin to a generic coc build if you wanna be picky about how the other version isn't that impressive.

For leveling you'll have to figure that out yourself, same with single target as I'm not familiar with spectral throw coc setups.

Required Mod on All:
16% physical Damage/15% spell damage with shield

Required mods on at least 1:
2 mana gained by each enemy hit by your attacks

Best Mods to have on all:
-6-7% increase maximum life
-8% attack speed with Daggers

Misc. Good mods:
-12% Spell Damage
-6% speed with shields/one hand
-8% global crit multi
-2 mana gained by each enemy hit by your attacks

This is mainly for FB setup, spectral throw is just an alternative for the moaners of why FB sucks. I've tested all the possible links and combinations with frost blades, and am content with this setup:

Main Frostblade Version version
Frost Blades - Multistrike - CoC - EK - Fork - Faster Projectiles(Hypothermia/Faster Attacks)

Faster Projectiles beats out faster attacks or another spell from my testing. Ek's damage is good enough by itself, and the extra reach just means clearing maps under 6-7 min easily. Hypothermia or Faster Attacks can be subbed in place of faster proj for maps with bloodlines mods however for tighter maps or with lots of walls as farther reach isn't beneficial in cqc.

Spectral Throw Version
Spectral Throw - GMP - CoC - Arctic Breath - Fire Ball - Life Leech/Faster Attacks

Generic as it gets, but still effective nonetheless. Need a good comp to run. Whirling blades allows you to travel with your spells for fast clear speed.

Single Target
Vaal Lightning Strike - Multistrike - MPD - WED/Hypothermia

This helps killing bosses faster, simply hit, than run off or use main skill for faster kill. The ability to just tag a boss and run however makes more dangerous bosses a lot safer, and sometimes I'll go to a map, rush the boss, hit with VLS, let it do what need be done, clear rest of map, come back, and finish off boss if didn't already die.

Aura
Herald Of Ice - CoH - Assassin's Mark

Bread and butter of generating power charges.

Movement
Whirling Blades - Faster Attacks - Fortify

Defense
CWDT lv10 - Warlord's Mark/Vaal Double Strike - Summon Ice Golem - Cull

VDS is something I plugged in my own setup to help with rares/warbands/bosses a bit more.

ETC
Hatred - Enduring Cry - Blood Rage - Vaal Haste/Grace/double strike

As requested here's the leveling path I would choose based by difficulty and the levels you usually complete them.

Lv1-35 (Normal)
https://poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgYAotmw2PVvyBRqjBa_VUth4iaV7UGxs2yMnao2PW1sD6u1SHBSKgvz6oTFm7XDOiSLwONLV_Gzb57KSl-wsAuIW8SilwYZil3ycNWJ0_66u-OMNoMJ

lv35-56 (Cruel)
https://poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgYAotmw2PVvyBRqjBa_VUth4iaV7UGxs2yMnao2PW1sD6u1SHBSKgvz6oTFm7XDOiSLwONLV_Gzb57KSl-wsAuIW8SilwYZil3ycNWJ0_66u-OMNoMJ0359dXcHhxOcpElR8NWVLgceEZYOSJoTcFaQG9vUI_ajiu4O73pNkg==

Lv56-70
https://poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgYAotmw2PVvyBRqjBa_VUth4iaV7UGxs2yMnaoPq7VIcFIqC_PqhMWbtcM6JIvA40tX8bNvnspKX7CwC4hbxKKXBhmKXfJw1YnT_rq744w2gwnTfn11dweHE5ykSVHw1ZUuBx4Rlg5ImhNwVpAb29Qj9qOK7g7vek2S8uFjQw3RfeMs4axmuT7YdkcGFHWkwkp945-Hdg2NW68AXo6Kl9Dbblb12-e0xfGKbAhirB9BBiMDHvzF

I basically leveled as frost blades, with double strike single target in 4-link, until merciless where kill speed dropped off so switched to EK with clarity to sustain mana. Double ungils in act2 normal until about lv44 wear you switch to 2h until you can get enough crit to switch to a coc version with dagger and spell shield in mid 50's. Important to get life on as you level since life is a bit sparse early on in tree. 1.3k is needed for act 3 normal, 2.2k for act 4 cruel, and over 3k for act 3 merciless. Around lv45 its recommended to invest into a 5-link armour chest, they go for 1c most of the time, alch/scour until something decent. I use Rigvald's Charge at lv44, pretty much makes act 1-3 cruel trivial.

I didn't bother with act4 merciless content other than to get passive point from mine quest. You can tank kaom merci though after taking IR (as in not die in a single hit at least) or with 3k armour. Crown of eyes is lv68 I think so your FB damage won't be too amazing yet but when you reach it clear speed should shoot up. Tabula can be used to farm low maps to level up faster, tropical island and crypt are best maps. lv70 I usually do lvl 70 maps, reef mostly.

Follow the gear section for the needed gear/recommendations, always upgrade as you go, I usually upgrade every 5-10 levels until I get my endgame gear. Make dagger and shield a priority after obtaining crown and preferably brinerots, dagger before shield.

-Oak
-Kraityn
-Alira

I accidentally took krays, because I wasn't sure if coc was gonna work at the time, but Alira is def better in coc setup. Need as much crit chance as possible.

Warning: My vids will be laggy and not greatest quality, my comp sucks and can't handle the game, let alone with recording.

lv78 5-link lv73 Strand

lv76 Arid Lake Run with Chain

Final Setup Lv77 Plateau (4.5 min clear)

Spectral Throw slapped on demonstration lv74 Jungle Valley (read vid description.)