2.4 Kudo's Max Crit/full Crit Vortex/FrostBolt build [Assassin][budget friendly][now with 2.4 guide]

-added V 1.0
- Added Proof of concept video
- Modified for 2.4

Pros:
Fast clear speed
Cheap
Strong
Max critical strike
Status aliment machine (everything is frozen and shocked.)
Higher damage on a 4L.
One skill for both single target and AoE. (its actually 2 skills but whatever).
Blows up the Screen without CoC discharge or a Mjölner.
shreds resists

Cons:
Low Defense
Reflect
Can feel clunky with out projectile speed
No whirling blades
Probably not Atziri viable (w/o being god)
Lower single target
Extremely high resist maps can be difficult

Vortex: Increase Critical Strikes (can eventually be dropped) -> Spell echo -> Concentrated Effect -> Controlled Destruction -> Cold Penetration -> Increased Crit Multi (7th link is actually crit strike replacement, see below)
FrostBolt: GMP -> Curse on hit -> Elemental Weakness
Blade Vortex: PCoC
CwDT: immortal call -> increased duration -> enduring cry
auras and other skills: Vaal Grace, Herald of Ice, Herald of Thunder, Arctic Armour, Summon Ice Golem, Frost Bomb, Flame Dash

The trees haven't changed for 2.4.

102 point tree: https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAYBAEV8MjIjNpeXEJJTEPv12YYXsLQ4vG9Ki-UZjDZVS4nTYeJwUiaVKgsWv13yDkgrCuOEEZYRLw3RBx5_xutjY0OVLpMntUjw1WwL74iP-klRIvT5N-v1bRnXz2Sdl_QI9Emx8h1SU8BUl5U9X7zqakNMs66zBAfQHyBuQZaD2-_rUDAFQtD1VcbbXiycOlgRLXyD6-6a4KcIMtFFnY9GRUdTUh0UwGb60o5kBLM8BRZv96aiAJ_f73zjarb68B-aO2jygpvsOClPOtiFe2u3V5QnL2ZUhX3VppBVGjg=

full tree: https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAYBAEV8MjIjNpeXEJJTEPv12YYXsLQ4vG9Ki-UZjDZVS4nTYeJwUiaVKgsWv13yD6sOSCsKJIvjhBGWES_DOg3RG8gHHn_G62ObtSo4Y0PP3TY9lS6TJ7VIhMXxip2q8NVsC76K74hsjI_6SVEi9KEv-TdirOv1bRnXz2Sdl_QI9Emx8h1SU8BUl5U9X7zqakNMs66zBAfQHyBuQZaD2-_rUDAFQtD1VcbbXiycOlgRLXyD6-6a4KcIHNwy0UWdj0aPGkVHU1IdFMBm-tKOZASzPAUWb_emogCf3-98JKrjarb68B-aOzbpaPKCm-w4KU862IV7a7dXlCcvZlSFfdWmkFUaOA==

Bandit rewards: Oak, Passive point, Alira

The passive tree choice was actually very simple to make. I had to find a way to scale a 5% critical gem to 95% critical chance with out breaking the bank. The obvious choice was assassin with the deadly infusion node. The build is also possible with Inquisitor and trickster but I don't believe either would reach the crit cap with out a serious investment into cit gear (defeats the purpose of being a cheap build).

Above I mentioned in the gem section that the critical strike support gem could be dropped and after getting some global crit on your wand and necklace as well as all 7 of the power charges you can drop the node in favor of the crit multi support to further boost your damage. (its quite a lot of crit to actually reach the crit cap with out the gem but its possible).

An extremely important attribute on your gear as well is projectile speed. I've actually considered using some unique bows because of this fact, however, the problem with the bow choice is that you would lose the crit you can get on a wand (and you would have to use bow mobility skills). Projectile speed cant roll on a dagger unfortunately, so blade vortex + fortify is out. The reason you need some projectile speed is because frostbolt is a very very slow skill. You really don't start comboing it with vortex until you get at least 35% projectile speed on your wand because with out the speed its quite clunky and you run faster than the projectiles. (I hope that GGG buffs the speed in the future because its a bit ridiculous how slow it is currently). The reason we use spell echo on vortex is to make up for some of the slow projectile speeds of frostbolt. echo allows us to cover more of the screen with our explosions. Just keep in mind that when self casting vortex, you will be rooted in place for a half a second to double cast it.

Spell damage is not a very important attribute believe it or not, but cold damage/elemental damage are very strong on this build. Remember, the idea is to scale the initial hit not the DoT component of vortex. Critical strike and critical multiplier are king of course because that is the aim of this build.

I use blade vortex with Power charge on hit to generate power charges in a very consistent manner. The unstable infusion node on the assassin ascendancy is a little counter intuitive because the higher you natural crit the less like you are to get a power charge from it. To make up for this you have to use orb of storms/blade vortex with PCoC. The CWDT setup can be altered to help facilitate this process because simply having a blade vortex in the links instead of enduring cry (i am aware that Enduring cry does not work with CwDT) will allow you to to proc unstable infusion almost as consistently as BV+PCoC. I choose not to use BV in my CWDT setup simply because it was a pain to roll a green gem on my item and I don't mind self casting BV.

Frost bomb is an extremely important skill and so is elemental weakness. Both lower the resistances of the mobs considerably and allow you to completely shred bosses and high resistance mobs. Frostbite might be a better choice if you aren't playing with a party or don't have more than one kind of element on your wand and aren't running herald of thunder. I personally use Ele weakness because I play with a party sometimes. Getting Quality on Ele Weakness makes it much better than frostbite end game as well.

I run Arctic Armour, immortal call and vaal grace to try to make up for some of my lacking defenses. You can choose to pick up some strong Evasion/Armour pieces for the gloves and boots because you get some Armour and evasion scaling from the tree. These will further help make your character more tanky. Also having a nice and strong ES shield and chest helps buffer your HP further (Currently I have 2.5k ES and almost 5k hp at level 76. With high end gear I'm sure you can get your HP to 6k.

Its not as though this character wouldn't work in HC, the small amount of defenses is a little risky for a newer player and I cant recommend the build for the harder content that you would encounter at the higher levels. Reflect is a big deal until you get an Atziri flask or taste of hate and before reaching max crit the freeze mechanic is not as reliable. After you get max Crit and an Atziri's promise/taste of hate, you will probably be fine in HC considering you can freeze every single mob in the game that doesn't have "Cant be frozen" on it. Use your own discretion; if you've been playing HC for a while and just want to give this build a try then by all means.

level 78 - Reef - Proof of concept Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-PhYV28gt0&feature=youtu.be

(Sorry about my Mic and the sound settings. Been a while since I've done this and my roommate was asleep so i had to keep it quiet.)

Ill add more videos later when i have more time and when i progress the character more. I only am running a 4l and have only my 6 ascendancy passives. With a 5l and my last two passive nodes + my last power charge things will be a little different. (Also was a little tired when running this map so its mostly just auto pilot. the build can clear much faster than I showed in this video. I'll try to get another video tomorrow to display this better.)

https://youtu.be/P8mzICzpBSs