[3.7] Frosty Duelist - Dual Wielding Frost Blades

Frost Blades has an initial melee hit with homing projectiles flying out from behind the hit enemy into other nearby enemies. The idea with the build is to scale the melee hit as much as possible and pretty much leave the projectiles to be whatever as they are strong enough to kill minions and trash. This gives us a good melee hit for bosses with projectiles taking out the minions.

It's not a tank build so being mobile and positioning are factors (Sounds more complicated then it is but you get used to it quickly and we have enough defences to take a few hits so doesn't have to be precise). It has pretty good range (about 2-3 times most melee skills and about half of bow attacks) so we get a fair bit of flexibility in where we are.

Basically for positioning we want to whirling blades to the edge of mobs and fire into them rather than jumping directly into the middle of a mob :).

As we get stronger / OP we can tank or just flat out destroy all the lower level bosses. High end bosses have a gem swap :( and always need to be mobile.

For bosses I generally drop a frostbomb and a totem at their feet, hit my flasks then fire for a few seconds and whirling blades to a new spot where I fire again for a few seconds and then move again. Basically staying mobile move-fire-move-fire...
(Even though it isnt a decoy totem a lot of bosses will go for that rather than the character).

Izaro
I drop a frostbomb and totem on the top right hand side of his circle just before he finishes rising. He then jumps/attacks towards it and I whirling blades back to lower left hand, hit flasks and fire at him. When strong enough this will wipe him out otherwise need to start moving and fire.

Firing towards top right means that other minion stuff is less likely to be hit so more keys are available.

Izaro https://youtu.be/kIUWA2tLqF4
Sorry didnt note what stage the build was. I got an acceleration shrine which made me op but there is always some nice buff in the darkshrines. It still wasn't all that quick a run though :) Izaro at 2:50, 8:50 and 11:40

Another lab run with the end game gear (kills at 1:20, 3:35 and 6:00)
https://youtu.be/EiMg5ngydXU

Atziri
Pretty simple, progress as normal and before entering atziri's room remove multistrike and ancestral call (swap for ruthless and maim). In the split stages attack whichever is opposite the one with reflect shield.

Elder
Doesnt really need any specific strategy, frostbomb, totem and fire. Keep a totem up while during the portals stage and use the projectile spray.

Shaper and Uber Elder - Same as most builds, check youtube etc for general strategies and page 41 for Tsplodeys uber elder

Not real exciting but some videos that I did in standard after 3.6 flashback had finished

Level 95 Character from Synthesis - One of my highest levels of gear I have done. Character is 'Frosty_Duelist_XVI' if interested.

T15 Shaped Mesa https://youtu.be/yXjdWRwQIKE
T15 Shaped Colonnade https://youtu.be/btSnbYnFIA4
Hydra https://youtu.be/_E1XG2CVnrU

Shaper https://youtu.be/4s3AeOHEie8
I died once as I wasnt really concentrating

Level 83 character from flashback - gear is decent but not amazing, only being level 83 makes a big difference. Character is 'Frosty_Duelist_XVIII' if you want to look at gear etc.

T16 Haunted Mansion https://youtu.be/lXLbR9i9ymk
Chimera https://youtu.be/kJSKPr8C2dg

Lab runs (from 3.2, lab hasnt changed but build is stronger now)
Izaro https://youtu.be/kIUWA2tLqF4
Sorry didnt note what stage the build was. I got an acceleration shrine which made me op but there is always some nice buff in the darkshrines. It still wasn't all that quick a run though :) Izaro at 2:50, 8:50 and 11:40
Another lab run with the end game gear (kills at 1:20, 3:35 and 6:00)
https://youtu.be/EiMg5ngydXU

Swords vs Claws

3.7 - Claws got a nerf while swords got a buff and I am struggling for time so just looking at swords now sorry.

I like swords :) and so have nearly always used them, especially since the introduction of Paradoxica. I have run the build a few times with claws and they are extremely viable (many people prefer them).

In general rare swords generally have more damage then claws because of the crit multiplier but claws cost more (and rare gemini claws also require higher intelligence). However claws have life gain on hit which can make a big difference, especially when there are big mobs around.

The touch of anguish claw was designed for frost blades and adds chaining. It is powerful until late game but crits not longer auto freeze so our freeze chance is a bit lower (about 30%) which is still ok. Rare claws are less common and are in higher demand so cost a lot more. While it can be done much cheaper, I generally work on 2-4+ ex for an end game sword and I would expect 5-8+ ex for a claw that gives similar damage.)

Varunastra
Varunastra got a nerf on the tree with 3.7 and probably isnt worth running. However I havent put much time into making it work as they require their own tree. Varunastra was really where Scion shined and the split tree worked better for her giving her a lot more damage. If you play Varunastra then seriously consider running as a Scion.

Comparison

Now out of date

Using my gear from 3.5. DPS is Shaper DPS with everything is turned on in POB (so all flasks, ailments mods etc so a peak value that is theoretically possible but unlikely).

There is also flexibility in the tree to increase/reduce damage and defences especially with fire resistance node / cloth and chain etc. Dps could be also increased by using vaal haste

Sword defenses
Life - ~5800-6000
Evade - 39%
Phys Dam Red - 61%
Block - 25%
Movement - 56%

Claw defenses
Life - ~5600-5800
Evade - 38%
Phys Dam Red - 58%
Block - 17%
Movement - 55%

Scaeva + Paradoxica - 3.37 Mdps
Dual Paradoxica - 3.8 Mdps
3-4ex Rare + Paradoxica - 4.18 Mdps
2 x Perfect Touch of Anguish - 3.07 Mdps
5-6ex Rare Claw + Touch of Anguish - 3.32 Mdps
2 x Varunastra - 3.18 Mdps

Swords

For Champion once you have Worthy Foe from the lab, Accuracy no longer helps after the first hit as enemies cannot evade so increased accuracy on the implicit of some swords isn't providing us any advantage.



Main Hand
Scaeva with 3 green sockets.
I always grab one of these at level 60. The three green sockets adds a lot but is a pain, however for their cost they are brilliant.

Second sword
I often go for a semi-decent rare sword (around 200+ pdps with crit multiplier etc can often be found for under 50c however in 3.5 we got the Paradoxica

Paradoxica

A well rolled one of these in fantastic especially when 1 is used with a good rare. For the mods, obviously increased physical damage but also blind is really nice. Increased attack speed, crit chance and 'crit multiplier if rare nearby' seem strongest to me

Hillock's safehouse upgrade can apply to them so they can be quality 28 (as well as quality from mod if they have it to take them to quality 43ish) which boosts them a bit more.



Claws

The wasp's nest at level 60 are very good but you will want to change to Touch of Anguish at lvl 68 and late game you will want to look at rares.

These were designed for frost blades and when coupled with ancestral call provide great clearspeed. With how many attacks per second we have it is enough (just not quite as good as other weapons).

Another options is that many People will give up some Dps to run one 'BloodSeeker' Claw as it gives instant leech for its hits.

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Late game weapons
You probably wont be end game boss farming but any of the above weapons will take down shaper, guardians etc if you have good experience with that boss. (In Harbinger before the buffed ascendancy changes Asardial completed everything using 2 x Ahn's Might (which are outclassed by the others) in Abyss and I completed 30 guardian kills and 37 challenges before bothering to replace the scaeva so look at your other gear first.)

Anyway when you are ready you will need POB! as crit chance, crit multiplier, extra damage as cold etc all come into effect without increasing the swords dps (the above sword is 288 pdps but will easily beat most 450 pdps swords).

Sadly both pricing and availability fluctuates a lot.

When you are ready look for physical dps (pdps) being over 250+ as well as

Gain % physical damage as extra cold damage (this is OP even with max now at 20% if you are in standard legacy ones go to 40%)
Crit multiplier - definitely not less than 25% (preferably 50+ if it doesn't have extra cold) (rapiers have a max of 73%)
Elemental damage with attacks is also a very nice bonus after the above two mods or increased cold damage can be crafted.
Crit chance - I'd avoid crit '5' and more crit chance is nice but less important than others

GET LIFE ON EVERYTHING POSSIBLE!

%more, extra damage, %increased and adds physical damage are our strongest mods, then crit multiplier and elemental damage with attacks etc

There are a number of items like triple watcher's eye jewel, elder crafted amulets etc that can be very powerful (and expensive :). They can be great but I cant rely on more than a few being available and don't want to recommend 100ex items.

Cold damage vs physical damage

We are 100% cold damage. Critical strikes give 100% chance to freeze with the freeze time dependent on damage vs monster life. We average 40+% crit chance (60-70% with diamond flask) so 'chance to freeze' isn't very important.

We have a lot of physical damage modifiers which get applied before cold conversion so adding phys damage is important. We get some boost from added cold but it is a lot less important. Fire and lightning only get a few modifiers (increased elemental damage) so these provide limited benefit.

Impale, Bleed and poison don't work for cold damage so aren't any good for us.

Quick look at damage types
I took my lvl91 tree in 3.2, turned off everything, removed all gear and added a redbeak with default values (DPS 4537). I then added a ring with only 1 mod being the max t1 roll for each damage type
adds 9-15 phys damage = +2931dps
adds 22-40 cold damage = +1920dps
adds 25-45 fire damage = +706dps
adds 7-72 lightning damage = +798dps

so despite the numbers being smaller, physical damage ends up way more powerful. Taking it further with my gear and everything on. The same ring phys gives +184k, cold +71k, fire +40k and lightning +45k

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The Belt



Unfortunately we can't use it until late in game but with 'Fortitude' Perseverance belt will give permanent onslaught! which is 20% attack and movement speed (and the attack speed makes whirling blades faster). (there is no visual indication of onslaught with the belt but take it on and off and you can see it is working)

Alternatively a stygian vise can get you more life and damage but you dont get the movement speed from onslaught. They can be fossil crafted reasonably easily. Pristine for life + Frigid for cold damage + prismatic extra elemental.

Cowards legacy - Makes you count as low life but adrenaline triggers when you reach low life so you would have to swap it in and out so not worth it - Thanks to A7X89 for pointing this out

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Helmet



You want the frost blade damage enchant!!!
(You have about a 1 in 1000 chance of getting and specific helmet enchant so don't try and get it yourself).

The two most popular are

Devoto's devotion provides chaos resist, movement and damage. It's the cheapest one but you will really want to stack more life on other gear. I usually keep one of these for late game lab runs.

Starkonja's - Has no movement but has damage and life (ends up about +250-300 more life).

they do roughly the same amount of damage so it is really life and evasion over speed and armour. Both are excellent

Fossil crafted rares can have 'nearby enemies have -%9 cold resistance'. Nearby in this case is about the screen and ends up with roughly the same amount of damage as Starkonjas or Devotos. The big benefit is the amount of life they can have (The beast dome above above ends up adding about 500 life on its own).

They are expensive but generally not too hard to craft using pristine and frigid fossils. It is harder to get but if you add a bound fossil it can also pick up the mod +minion gems and herald of purity is a minion gem so can get a boost to herald of purity

(poedb.tw has an excellent page for fossil crafting)

Others

Lightpoacher - I was very keen on it for a while but now heading back towards the others (particularly Starkonjas which ends with about 6-8% more evasion than Lightpoacher). It needs the extra investment of jewels but can end up with the most damage and has some nice resists. The spirit burst looks good but even with end game gear doesn't do much. The life recovery is nice in mobs but less useful in boss fights.

Rat's nest will provide more damage than Starkonjas or Devotos and still provide a movement boost but again no life.

I retested Abyssus (I hadn't used it since legacy). It added about 50% more damage which is massive but so was the extra damage taken :).
It's not my thing but it is definitely viable, although you are well into the glass cannon category and will want to know the boss fights extremely well. I'd also suggest dropping some dps from the tree for more life and investing in a taste of hate.

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Armour


I run a rare armour with around 100 life until around level 90 when I can afford better. My preference is a crafted rare or loreweave but it does come down to personal preference as there are so many good choices.

Daressos adds charges, The Shroud of the Lightless has lvl 20 ele penetration, perfect form gives arctic armour, Lioneyes vision gives the projectiles pierce etc etc.
A shaper/elder rare with regain 5-6% of life on kill can bring in 250-300 life on every kill which is pretty serious and works well for general mapping and bosses with minions (elder guardians and shaper dont have minions so loses appeal here).
Belly of the beast adds a few hundred more life as well as resists (I used it from legacy to abyss leagues). It is still good but a well rolled rare can actually beat it for total life.

Loreweave armor which comes from a vendor recipe of any 60 unique rings.
Added physical damage is the most important factor but it also has elemental damage, crit chance and +max resists etc.
Get 78% elemental resists . The max resists are a hard cap so ruby flasks etc wont increase resists however 'reduced maximum resistances' map mods etc also have no effect!

Crafting a rare. With a serrated and a pristine fossil on any rare it can get socketed gems are supported by level 1 maim, giving us a 7 link and % max life (the last one above took 4-5 attempts).
This is equiv damage to a low roll loreweave and with good life rolls with crafting beach it is possible to compete with belly of the beast for life.
Using an elder base like 3rd above will also allow for attacks have crit chance which when put with maim gives more damage than a good loreweave. But this takes a lot of rng! (after 40+ attempts I went and bought the one above :) For slayer this is on top of the 8%!

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Gloves


Tombfist Gloves - Tombfist gloves with a murderous eye jewel to get intimidate

Nerfed for 3.6 (no longer have attack speed) but still the best. Obviously 2 sockets are better, but 1 socket a good jewel is still excellent
For the jewels get life and adds physical damage or adds physical damage with swords and preferably crit multiplier or other mods (fire damage here can give ignite for yoke of suffering).

If you got 'first to strike, last to fall' in the ascendancy then these are still good but you can also get either shaped gloves with faster attacks and blind or spiked gloves with life, attack speed and added phys damage. (Maligoro's virtuosity will beat a lot of spiked gloves and are cheap but don't have life so are another trade-off).

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Jewels

2 x Fight for Survival threshold jewels - these need nodes with 40 dex in their radius but those dex nodes don't have to be allocated so they work fine for us. Try and get 14-15% cold. These can be corrupted for increased crit chance or increased damage both of which add a little more dps

For the other sockets +%max life and preferably two forms of crit multiplier (either global, dual wielding, one hand, with cold, with elemental, or melee). Melee and Cold Skills are the cheapest others are expensive so it is also worth a look at watcher's eye for one socket. Leo's syndicate exalt slam is nice for these and abyss jewels.

Watchers eye with damage penetrates 14-15% resists while affected by hatred is powerful. With only that one hatred mod they are sitting at 30-40c a few weeks into the league. Crit chance with hatred is about the same for dps but more expensive. Two hatred mods is seriously expensive and doesnt actually provide a huge amount more.

Abyssal jewels are not as strong in the tree as 2 x crit mult + life but worth a look. Choose a combination of crit multiplier, life, added phys or added phys with swords.

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Boots
Bubonic trail and inya's epiphany are both good but I have always had to go rare to get the resists especially as boots are also a good place to get some chaos resistance (or intelligence)

Bubonic trail means stacking a lot of resists on the rings which cuts the damage of the rings so it really needs to be the expensive 2 socket version to be worthwhile.

Crafting a rare. Shuddering fossil + Pristine

Personal preference, I like to grab some chaos resistance on boots. It is generally the only place I get it but a bit here can take the edge off chaos attacks.

Regardless of what you use make sure you enchant your boots! (about 1 in 13 chance so can be done yourself).
'increased attack and cast speed if you have killed recently' adds a lot and lasts 4 secs and a lot of bosses have some minion around to give us the boost (although not many for shaper and parts of elder).
Extra leech or extra regen are also both very good and probably better for shaper fights.

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Rings


1st ring
Curse with assassins mark or warlords mark is very viable here. Assassin’s is cheaper than warlords and adds a lot of dps because of the power charges. Warlord’s adds endurance charges so some more defences.
Get life on it as well! and preferably adds physical damage to attacks.

2nd ring
Get life, adds physical damage and elemental damage with attack skills.
You will probably need intelligence (or you can get it on your boots) and fill in any resists you need.

Attack speed, crit and %cold damage are very nice and can make a significant difference.

Mark of the elder adds a lot of dps with the assassins mark shaper ring in other slot and is probably best in slot.

The taming is nice but not amazing especially with the cost.

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Amulet


Yoke of suffering.
Has some very nice resists but no life and very little int so we lose a point in picking up int on the tree However it makes our crits shock which is massive (shock amount varies between 20% and 50% more damage).

Monsters also take an increased 5% for each ailment (chill, freeze and shock). Adding a little fire damage somewhere can also ignite which adds another 5% so it is easily possible to get 20% although you wont always have it.

Until level 70 use a standard rare amulet which can be a great place to stack intelligence. Look for adds phys damage (15-26 is the top), life and high % crit multiplier.

Other uniques - Aul’s with hatred is great but expensive and there isn’t anything we can do with the extra mana that is better than shock. The Halycon can be beaten pretty easily. The Pandemonius adds blind which is a great defense against non spell casters but doesn't compete with the shock and bonus damage from the yoke.

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Flasks



Over a third of my dps and a lot of defences comes from the flasks so I keep them running almost constant

DPS Flasks. These stats vary a lot depending on the various aspects of your other gear (crit chance etc) but as a very rough guide. (They do boost each other so atziri's and taste of hate will do more if they are all active).

Diamond Flask +860k
Lion's Roar (24%) +800k (and 21% phys damage reduction!)
Atziri's (18/15) +380k
Taste of Hate +462k

Wise oak isnt as strong as these and need to balance resists. I leave taste of hate until last (and have done some leagues without it)

as well as these I run 1 life flask of staunching
The price of Atziri's makes it a no-brainer.
Lion's roar is fantastic for its armor, damage and knockback (I consider this essential). You can get a diamond from a levelling quest and it can be rolled to remove curses. I will use a sulphur or quiksilver flask rolled to stop freezing until I get taste of hate (which actually sucks as an antifreeze). I will keep this around for swapping back in for uber elder.


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Gear Check

just a quick list if you are looking at your gear and wondering what to do next.

Life on everything possible.
Seriously! Rings, jewels, boots, everything expect yoke and weapons should have life. By level 90 should have a minimum of 5000 life with a loreweave / rare armour and closer to 6000 with well rolled rares.

Resists are capped.
Helmet Enchant!
Gems at 20/20 (and the right gems :)
Rings with adds physical damage and either 25% elemental damage (opal) or high elemental damage with attacks, its even better if you can add attack speed, increased cold damage or critical strike chance as well
Perserverance Belt
Weapons - Well rolled Scaeva, Paradoxica, Touch of Anguish or very good rares
Gloves - Tombfist with murderous eye jewel that has adds phys and life
Flasks - Lions roar, Atziris and Diamond, flask of staunching
Yoke of suffering (preferably a small amount of fire damage somewhere to ignite and get the extra 5%)
Boot Enchant

6 link -> frost blades, multistrike, elem damage with attacks, melee physical damage, hypothermia and then a swap of ancestral call and ruthless



gem swap of these two


Gem Swap :(
Ancestral Call significantly increases clear speed but there is significant cost to single target damage so adds a gem swap for high end single target bosses (with my end game gear I only swapped for T15 bosses and above). Give it a try if you don't like it just leave ruthless in :)

5 link- drop hypothermia

Hypothermia gives more damage against chilled enemies than maim. So our first hit is essentially with a 5 link to cause the chill with our 2nd hit doing more damage. Because of the loss from that first hit it takes around 4-5 hits for the extra from hypothermia to equal maim.
I ran 10 hydras with my end gear comparing to maim (next best) and found I killed hydra about 10% quicker with hypothermia.

Maim maim is the next best gem for the 6link and is available early and can easily be used as an extra gem while leveling (until multistrike is available etc).
If you are going to do atziri kills level a maim gem in a 2nd weapon (X) so that you can swap it with multistrike as needed.

Level 21 - Frostblades gets an additional projectile at level 21 (from 7 to 8) and a little more dps. It's noticeable especially with ancestral call but really isn't a high priority.

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There is a fair bit flexibility of what goes where (boots, helm etc) and some optional empty sockets to allow for variation etc


3/4 link - Whirling blades, faster attacks, blood magic.
add fortify if you dont take fortitude ascendancy (or until you do), afterwards optionally add quality 20 culling strike to get cull and 10% attack speed.

Blood Magic - Pretty minor but with no extra mana on my gear I found that I run out of mana for whirling blades when doing long runs and backtracking etc (fighting is not a problem because of the leech). Without vaal pact you can put blood magic on the whirling blades as the regen easily covers it.


2 link - Immortal Call & cwdt
Immortal call got changed think I look the look of steelskin more so will try that





Totem - Vaal Ancestral Warchief, Elemental Damage with Attacks, Melee Physical Damage and Culling Strike.

Warchief has less overall damage than protector but has splash built in and gives bigger hits (so good for freeze, shock etc). The Vaal version is very cool it is an extremely nasty, suicidal minion that does a lot of damage and has culling strike.



All the rest - hatred, herald of purity, ice golem, blood rage and frost bomb

These are all really important but they dont need support gems so can go in anywhere.

Frostbomb - It is really powerful but mostly for bosses and chests. You wont have enough intelligence to fully level frost bomb but it doesn't matter as it's real bonus is the -ve resist

Empower/2nd herald Tried getting Herald of Ash in with hatred and purity but with even enlighten I just didn't have enough mana. You can get it to work but you can be reducing your attack speed because of waiting for mana leech/regen.
Anyway Empower lvl 3 with herald of Purity and Hatred will give more damage than an extra herald with enlighten 3, mana is at 15% which is noticable.

Vaal Haste can be a nice boost, especially for bosses (I kept forgetting that I had it :) and key bindings are a problem so I consider it a low priority.

POB

You will need Path of Building, especially for end game weapons. Please don't just grab the POB link and go! What is best in slot and why it is used is explained in the guide.

I use "is shocked" for yoke of suffering in POB's configuration tab.
POB puts it at 50% (the max for shock), when it is really 0 on first hit then 20-50% based on how much damage the hit does. So the reality is less damage than what POB shows.
I also have everything turned on that it is possible for the build to get, the reality is that while it is theoretically possible the character will never have all of the buffs etc active at the same time.

Ascendencies

Champion

Conqueror then Worthy Foe -> these two are OP, especially can't evade which means we dont have to worry about accuracy then Unstoppable hero and finally

either Fortitude or First to strike last to fall.

I love permanent fortify especially with the belt to get permanent onslaught so we both move and whirling blades faster. Some people are really not keen on it but for my playstyle I die less with permanent fortify

However Adrenaline is crazy - in real terms over 20% extra damage but only when you reach low life. It also just got a nice buff :)
It can be procc'ed with Righteous fire, swapping cowards legacy in and out, or blood magic, blasphemy and a curse (but is a pain and takes 3 sockets)

Slayer

Too many choices :)

I will playing a slayer so have to try this out.

My thinking is Headsman and Bane of legends and then overwhelm and impact but 'brutal fervour' has always been a defining feature of slayer so may change to that.

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Tree & POB

Champion

Sword Tree

Champion got some buffs so I tried to boost defences with soul of steel etc. I increased leech and maxed the cap and I took Rampart at the end with the last 5 points. Still undecided as to whether this is the best use of the points. Anyway I will have to try it and see

POB - https://pastebin.com/vSrxpnfE

Poeplanner for tree

Slayer has a slightly different tree as accuracy isnt important to Champion.

POB - https://pastebin.com/WAzwCXWx


3.6
from version 3.6
Swords - https://pastebin.com/vnQG7SJf
Varunastra - https://pastebin.com/1njfyC5S
POE planner - https://tinyurl.com/ybbock7m

Claws - https://pastebin.com/EdLAKgEk
Take the vitality void leech until you get the leech from Soul Raker in the claw nodes, then take Vitality void off. (acrobatics is 1 point if you want it)


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Notes for all trees
Fire resistance near Scion - I always end up taking this off during late game.
Mana flows - I take this early and remove it later (level 50-60 ish)
Cloth and Chain - I put this back in but it is optional. It does make gearing easier and adds 3-4% evade chance and 3-4% phys damage reduction.
Vaal pact - needs only 1 point - use it if you like (life regen is now about 7.4%)

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Pantheon

There are no real build defining choices so personal preference. When I remember :) I hit 'y' and change them for the map

Major:
Soul of Arakaali - Thanks to Chris for his observations that after capturing "herald of thunder" (not the skill gem) when someone hit us and immortal call procs blood rage will stop for 0.4 seconds so we benefit from the "50% increased Recovery of Life and Energy Shield".

Soul of Solaris is great for maps with increased critical strikes and I often leave it sitting on this.

Minor: Generally I use 'soul of tukohama' for the regen or 'soul of gruthkul' so that anything that hits me has less attack speed.

Change to Soul of Ralakesh before doing the lab, makes a massive difference
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Bandits
Alira - crit multiplier gives us more damage than any other option. Resists are always nice to have, especially at an early stage and allows more life/damage on other gear.

Gear
We are looking for any item that we can use with 3 linked sockets that are Green-Red-Red (GRR) and some boots with 10% movement speed.
When possible find or get from Nessa 2 x iron rings, a rustic sash and a lapis amulet.

Story
Get the sword & double strike at the start as well as chance to bleed from the chest
Kill Hillock and in town get frost blades (FB) and put it in with chance to bleed.
Check Tarkleigh for any boots with movement speed and if possible get an iron rings from Nessa.

Exit town, go through to the Coast Waypoint, then tidal Island and kill Hailrake. In town get a Quicksilver Flask.
Get ancestral call and ruthless gems (onslaught is also possible if using a tabula).
Put ruthless in with FB (in 3 link or take out chance to bleed if still have 2 link). Personal preference but I dont like ancestral call at this point as we only have a little damage and I will just put it to level until I have at least a 5 link.

Go to Mud flats and then clear the fetid pool. In town get ancestral protector
Back to the mud flats, get the glyphs and enter the Submerged Passage. Look for the Flooded Depths and kill the Dweller of the Deep. Get Skillpoint in town

Go back to submerged passage, then through ledge and climb, getting the waypoints and freeing Navali.
Enter the Prison and then in town get maim (put in with FB and ruthless) and get melee splash to go with ancestral protector
Complete the Trial of Ascendancy in Lower Prison
Kill Brutus and go through to prisoners gate and then on Ships Gravyard.
In town get whirling blades.

Go to Ship Graveyard Cave, get the Allflame, kill Fairgraves and get a skillpoint
Go through the cavern of anger and kill Merveil

Gems
Frostblades -> Ruthless -> Maim
Whirling blades
Ancestral Protector -> melee splash

Gear
During this act you will get to the first jewel socket on the tree. Hopefully you have had a chaos orb drop by the time you reach that point. If so grab a 'fight for survival' jewel with 14 or 15% cold damage from poe trade (even on day 1 they can usually be had for 1c). If you haven't got any chaos yet leave the jewel socket until you have one.

Story
Once in town, enter the Old Fields and look for the Den. Kill the Great White Beast and get a second Quicksilver in town or a rustic sash
Continue to the Crossroads, get Waypoint and enter Chamber of Sins. Complete the trial of ascendancy on Level 2 and kill Fidelitas
In town get blood rage, herald of purity and optionally herald of ice or ash
Go back to the Crossroads, enter Broken Bridge and kill Kraityn
Go back to Crossroads again, enter the Fellshrine Ruins and then Crypt. Complete the Trial of Ascendancy in the Crypt
Back to town, enter Riverways and get the Waypoint
Go to the wetlands, kill oak and get waypoint
Go to the Western Forest, help Alira, kill Captain Arteri and unlock passage. ‣ Look for the Weaver's Chambers and kill the Weaver.
Go back to act 1 and get a point from Bestel

Back in Act 2 (I never have enough or the right sockets here)
get 'faster attacks' and culling strike for whirling blades (cull is low priority).
'melee physical damage' and 'elemental damage with attacks' - put these in with frost blades (put ruthless and maim in weapon swap to level)
Preferably get another 'melee physical damage' and 'elemental damage with attacks' as well as a culling strike for the totem (these wont all fit but we will want them later)

Make your way to the Ancient Pyramid and kill Vaal Oversoul

Gems
Frost Blades -> Elemental Damage with Attacks -> Melee Phys Damage -> (+ Ruthless/Maim/Ancestral Call if you have 4 link)
Whirling Blades -> Faster Attacks -> Culling Strike
Ancestral Protector -> Melee Splash -> (unlikely to have 4 link for totem but have Melee Physical Damage, Elemental Damage with Attacks & Culling strike leveling or in storage.
Blood Rage
Herald of purity
Optional Herald of Ice/Ash

We get ancestral warchief and replace ancestral protector during this act. We actually want Vaal Ancestral Warchief which takes corrupting the warchief with a vaal orb. I have always waited and bought a quality 20 version when mapping, however my SSF char found one with no quality and I found it very powerful early on, so if you have a vaal orb you could try your luck :)

Gear
Look for a 4-linked GRRR item (Hargan can also sell them)

Story
Kill the Blackguards in City of Sarn and enter town
Go to the Slums, enter Crematorium, finish Trial of Ascendancy and kill Piety
Get Hatred (replace herald of ice) and the Sewer Key in town

Go back to the Slums, enter the Sewers, get Waypoint, find the three busts and get skillpoint in town
Go through to the Marketplace Waypoint and finish Trial of Ascendancy in Catacombs (optionally pickup the decanter spiritus for fairgraves quest)
Enter the Battlefront, get Waypoint, Ribbon spool and kill Captain Aurelianus
Go to the Docks and get Thaumetic Sulphite (optionally talk to Fairgraves)

Go back to Battlefront, enter Solaris Temple and talk to Lady Dialla
Destroy the Undying Blockade in Sewers
Enter Ebony Barracks, get Waypoint and kill General Gravicius
In town get ancestral warchief and replace Ancestral protector as well as remove melee splash (these two are no longer needed).

Enter Lunaris Temple, kill Piety and get Skillpoint in town

Get Imperial Gardens Waypoint, finish Trial of Ascendancy and optionally get plum for fairgraves.
Go to the Library and do Siosa's quest
Get frostbomb
Get hypothermia for main attack (just put it to level unless using a tabula)
Get fortify and blood magic for whirling blades (this makes 4 gems for WB so probably wont have sockets leave one out)

You can now do the first labyrinth but it is easier to wait until the next act.

Enter the Sceptre of God and kill Dominus

Gems
Frost Blades -> Elemental Damage with Attacks -> Melee Phys Damage -> Ruthless/Maim/Ancestral Call. (hypothermia and any others unused levelling)
Whirling Blades -> Faster Attacks -> Fortify -> Blood Magic (put culling strike to level)
Ancestral Warchief -> Melee Physical Damage -> Elemental Damage with Attacks -> Culling strike
Blood Rage
Herald of purity
Hatred
Frostbomb


lvl 35 tree

Gear
We can use non unique boots with 20% movement speed.
It is often worth replacing your weapon before the labyrinth and end of the act.
If you have 2-3 chaos you can sometimes get a cheap low level 5-link from trade during this act (although it can wait until later).

Story
Enter the Dried Lake, kill Voll, get ice golem in town
Enter the Mines, free Deshret's Spirit in Level 2.
Progress to Crystal Veins and get Waypoint. Get skill point in town.

Go back to Crystal Veins, enter Kaom's Dream and kill Kaom
Now enter Daresso's Dream and kill Daresso
Get multistrike put this in (FB -> Melee Physical -> Ele Damage with Attacks and Multistrike)
Get Cast when damage taken and immortal call (you can put other spells in with these two if you wish - see the section on gems).

If you havent done it yet go back to act 3 and complete the first Labyrinth (Read up on the Lord's Labyrinth and Izaro to get an idea what's going on) After finishing the Labyrinth, ascend to champion

If one of your flasks isn't 'of staunching' to stop bleeding it is a good time to get or roll one now.

Kill Piety in Belly of the Beast, and finally Malachai in the Harvest

Gems
Frost Blades -> Multistrike -> Elemental Damage with Attacks -> Melee Phys Damage -> Ruthless/Maim/Ancestral Call. (hypothermia and unused others levelling)
Whirling Blades -> Faster Attacks -> Fortify -> Blood Magic (culling strike to level)
Ancestral Warchief -> Melee Physical Damage -> Elemental Damage with Attacks -> Culling strike
Blood Rage
Herald of purity
Hatred
Ice Golem
Cast when damage taken -> immortal call
Frostbomb


Level 41

Gear
Hoping for a five link to drop :)

Story
Kill Overseer Krow and enter town
Find the Miasmeter in Control Blocks and kill Justicar Casticus
Get Silver Flask and Skillpoint in town to Replace one Quicksilver Flask

Make your way to Templar Courts, kill Avarius and get a fight for survival jewel in town

Get Ruined Square Waypoint and optionally kill Utula (although we dont want any of his rewards)
Finish the quest in Reliquary and get Skillpoint in town
Look for the Sign of Purity in Ossuary
Kill Kitava on Cathedral Rooftop

You will suffer a permanent -30% resistance penalty after this fight

Gems
Frost Blades -> Multistrike -> Elemental Damage with Attacks -> Melee Phys Damage -> Ruthless/Maim/Ancestral Call. (hypothermia and unused others levelling)
Whirling Blades -> Faster Attacks -> Fortify -> Blood Magic (culling strike to level)
Ancestral Warchief -> Melee Physical Damage -> Elemental Damage with Attacks -> Culling strike
Blood Rage
Herald of purity
Hatred
Ice Golem
Cast when damage taken -> immortal call
Frostbomb

Gear
We lost resistances at the end of the last act. Fire resistance is important in this act so if possible craft or replace gear to improve fire resistance.

Story
Clear the Twilight Strand to unlock Lilly as Skillgem Vendor
Get frostbomb if you didnt get it from Siosa
Optionally do Bestel's quest in tidal island

Get to Mud Flats and kill the Dishonored Queen
Enter Karui Fortress, kill Tukohama, use Soul of Tukohama on the pantheon. Get Skillpoint in town
Finish Trial of Ascendancy in Prison and kill Shavronne
Enter Prisoner's Gate, kill Abberath and get Skillpoint in town
Get Riverways Waypoint
Enter Wetlands, kill Puppet Mistress and get Skillpoint in town
Light the Beacon and kill the Brine King
Use Soul of the Brine King for now

Gems
We have all the gems now to take us through the whole game. Now it is just levelling them and putting them in place.

Passive Tree


lvl 52

Gear

Story

Find the Silver Locket in Broken Bridge and get a diamond Flask in town
Enter Crossroads, get Waypoint then enter Crypt through Fellshrine Ruins
Finish Trial of Ascendancy and find Maligaro's Map
Go back to Crossroads and enter Chamber of Sins
Kill Maligaro in Maligaro's Sanctum
Finish Trial of Ascendancy in Chamber of Sins Level 2 and enter the Den
Make your way to Ashen Fields and kill Greust, then get Skillpoint in town
Stay with tukohama (but change to ralkesh whenever doing the lab)

Get Northern Forest Waypoint and enter Dread Thicket
Collect all Fireflies and kill Gruthkul, then get Skillpoint in town
Use Soul of Gruthkul or Tukohama
Find Kishara's Star in Causeway and get Skillpoint in town
Get the Vaal City Waypoint, enter Temple of Decay and go back to town
Finish the second Labyrinth and get Shaper of Desolation
Get back to the Temple of Decay and kill Arakaali use Soul of arakali

Gear
Very optional (some people dont like doing it) but from Harbour bridge items that drop are level 60 so can be used for the chaos recipe. By doing it unidentified, I have the money to buy the gear I want.

If using swords we can use a scaeva at level 60, buying a cheap one and using it the main hand with three green sockets is very worthwhile.

Story
Enter the Toxic Conduits and kill Doedre
Go for Quay first, find Ankh of Eternity, kill Tolman and get Skillpoint in town
Kill the Gemling Legionnaires in Grain Gate and get Skillpoint in town
Enter Solaris Temple, get Sun Orb then optionally enter Solaris Concourse and get Waypoint
Go back to Doedre's Cesspool and go for the Grand Promenade now
Get Bath House Waypoint and finish Trial of Ascendancy
Enter High Gardens, kill Yugul and get Skillpoint in town
Enter Lunaris Temple through Lunaris Concourse and get Moon Orb

Go to Harbour Bridge and kill Solaris & Lunaris
Use Soul of Solaris

Story
Find the Storm Blade in Vastiri Desert and speak to Petarus & Vanja in town
Look for a blocked entrance in Vastiri Desert
Go to town, talk to Sin and then to Petarus & Vanja
Kill Shakari and get Skillpoint in town
Get Foothills Waypoint, enter Boiling Lake and get Basilisk Acid
Enter the Tunnel and finish Trial of Ascendancy
Get Quarry Waypoint, enter Refinery and get Trarthan Powder
Go back to Quarry and kill Garukhan and get Sekhema Feather
Go to town and give the feather to either Tasuni or Irasha, get Skillpoint
Enter Belly of the Beast and kill the Depraved Trinity

Gear
I usually buy a very cheap corrupted 6 link with either 4R2G or 5R1G sockets (on day 1 they can often be had for around 15 chaos) before the end of the act.

Story
Go left on Cathedral Rooftop and kill Plaguewing
Get Sulphur Flask in town
Go back to Cathedral Rooftop
Now go right, enter the Ravaged Square and go south
Enter the Control Blocks, kill Vilenta and get Skillpoint in town
Optionally find the Teardrop in Reliquary
Go back to Ravaged Square and get its Waypoint in the upper part
Enter Ossuary, complete Trial of Ascendancy and get Elixir of Allure
Get to Desecrated Chamber through Torched Courts and kill Avarius

Personally I like to do the third labyrinth at this point as we lose another -30% resistance after Kitava again.

Enter the Canals and make your way through the feeding trough to Kitava, kill him and save the world :)