[3.0] The Azure Knight, Assassin version (Blade Flurry/Frost Blades/Life/Crit/Conversion)

Let me say this first: I don't have an Assassin character in Legacy or even Standard. This build was first theorycrafted for Occultist, but can be very easily converted to majority if not all classes in the game.
Here is a link to the main page of the build: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1898845

In the link above, you can find more information about how it works, why certain gear was chosen, alternative gear setups, Frost Blades setup, videos, and more.

I only made this thread to spread awareness, since not many people expect to see a good BF build in Witch forums. Expect another thread like this later today in the Ranger section :D

If you like what you see, post a comment, preferably in main thread in the Witch forums, if you are looking for a quicker response.

3.0 with some 2.6 gear:
Abyss run - Crit, Onslaught, Monster life. Run performed by TheGrammaton.

2.6 Occultist version:
Shaper run.
Hydra run.
Chimera run.
Minotaur run.
Uber Atziri run.
Chayula run.

Bandits:
Alira, but if your gear is good (easily capped resistances, some mana regeneration on jewelry) then 2 additional points are better.

Ascendancy:
- Unstable Infusion: Free Power charge generation. Very important on any budget crit build.
- Deadly Infusion: This node alone works almost like +20% MORE multiplier. Great dps boost.
- Ambush: Greatly increases clear speed. Against trash, with additional crit chance and multiplier, you can kill everything except for rares in one shot.
- Assassinate: Free Culling strike on crit, great against bosses.

Example tree level 90
Why don't I take additional Power Charge near the claw wheel? Because it doesn't increase our dps as much as other nodes that we could take easily. Also, pathing to life nodes is more important then damage, which is plentiful anyway.

Example leveling tree (29 points spent)
Example leveling tree (58 points spent)
Example leveling tree (90 points spent)
Why is leveling tree taking Fangs of the Viper, while level 90 tree does not?
Once you take Vaal Pact, these points are better spent in other areas of the tree. First, we want all the near dps/life nodes we can get as we progress through the tree, but later we can always respec some of them and go for the best efficiency.

Detailed leveling advise: (thanks iktose!)

"

iktose wrote:

If that can be of help this is how I leveled my Assasin with this build:

ACT1
2L: Frost Blades + Pierce (great for clear speed)
3L: Onslaught for even more clear speed or Added Cold for more DPS and/or bosses
4L: Added Fire
+ Riposte (drop it when you need the slot for something more useful)
+ whirling blades

ACT2
Frost Blades + Pierce/Added Cold + Melee physical + Added Fire
+ Herald of Ice
+ Vaal Lightning Trap on bosses
+ Blood Rage (caution : use only if you have enough life leech)
Use this until you can get Blade Flurry in ACT3
Bandits : kill all (can change to Alira later if needed but I prefer the points)

ACT3
Reach Winter Spirit in the skilltree. It's time to start using BF

Blade Flurry + Melee Physical + Elemental Damage + Elemental Focus
seems to be the best DPS combo according to PoB
Swap Herald of Ice with Hatred when possible
+ Ancestral Warchief
+ Enduring Cry
Add Fortify + Faster Attacks to Whirling Blades
+ Enfeeble (self cast at the moment)

ACT4
+Ice Golem

ACT5
nothing special here

ACT6
Can start using Cast When Damage Taken + Immortal Call or Vortex or Frost Bomb
If enough mana pool and mana leech can even use Blasphemy + Enfeeble or Elem Weakness

Get ascendancy points as soon as possible. The order to spend points is already in the guide.

With correct stuff it should be easy to get level 90 quickly

Also, don't forget to check the leveling gear mini-quide in the main Witch thread, if you want your early progression really smooth: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1898845
You can follow iktose's advise on leveling and apply my gear recommendations to go with it.

Major:
- Soul of Lunaris is a great pick, synergizes very good with our defenses. Best mapping choice imo, also increases your spell dodge chance to 35% with Perfect Form, and gives you a chance to avoid projectiles.
- Soul of Solaris is also decent, but not as good as Lunaris, even if Solaris bonus can be better in some rare cases.

Minor:
- Gruthkul is great, as being close ranged character we are getting hit constantly. Additional slow also helps with survivability.
- Finally, Yugul helps us deal with reflect, if this is your main concern. Take it especially if you are playing Frost Blades version.

Ignore gem links, as items are taken from my Witch version of this build.

Abyssus best dps increase from any non-weapon gear slot, at the cost of survivability.

Starkonja is a lower dps, high survivability option, probably more popular nowadays with 3.0 Abyssus nerfs.

The Perfect Form gives us free 30% spell dodge chance, free Arctic Armour and Evasion matching that of other top tier Unique armours. A corrupted rare 6 link might be better due to a price, until you can afford your own 5-6L Perfect Form.

You could use Belly of the Beast if you don't like relying on rng defenses, you'll lose AA and spell dodge but gain roughly 400 life and resistances.
Carcass Jack is also a good dps/clearspeed choice, same cons as Belly.
(Note: with these 2 options, you can use Damage on Full Life instead of Cold Penetration or Bloodlust support with your totem linked to Chance to Bleed. Is it less practical, since Damage on Full life means no Blood Rage and slower clearspeed, and Bloodlust is a bit clunky against bosses.
However, you will be able to reach higher values in Path of Building, if that is your thing.)

Rare boots/belt should come with a lot of life and resists on them. Movement speed is unnecessary, it's more of a QoL.

Hrimburn/Hrimsorrow convert the remainder of our damage into cold.

Rare rings/amulet follow the same pattern as boots/belt - you want life and resists. If you can squeeze any offensive stats, accuracy/physical damage/crit multiplier are great to have.

Doryani's Catalyst is BiS offhand, greatly increasing your dps, however that is not included in your tooltip. Other, cheaper offhands include Doon Cuebiyari and Singularity.

Rare claw/Touch of Anquish/Wasp Nest are also BiS for this build. Even though ToA has only around 270 dps, it beats most rare claws with 300 dps or even higher, thanks to cold damage increase and high critical strike chance. Wasp Nest also provides 95% dps of ToA for 5% of the price, so it is superior choice until Frost Blades meta dies off.

Please check in the main Witch thread for all flask and jewel breakdown.
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1898845

Attack:
Blade Flurry / Melee Physical Damage / Weapon Elemental Damage / Elemental Focus / Increased AoE or Concentrated Effect / Cold Penetration

Auras:
Hatred
Blasphemy+Elemental Weakness (unless you have gloves corruption, then use Herald of Ash)
Arctic Armour

Utility:
Cast when Damage Taken / Ice Golem / Blind / Ancestral Warchief
- recasts your golem so you don't have to, allows your golem and totem to blind enemies.

Buffs:
Enduring Cry / Blood Rage / Vaal Lightning Trap
- EC helps mitigate increased damage taken from Abyssus.
- Blood Rage increases dps and leech.
- Lightning Trap increases dps against bosses that can be shocked. You can use Vaal Haste as an alternative since 3.0 nerf.

Debuffs:
Cast when Damage Taken / Frost Bomb / Vortex / Inc. AoE
- chills nearby enemies and applies -20% cold resistance debuff.

Movement:
Whirling Blades / Faster Attacks / Fortify

https://pastebin.com/vBZcxgCK

Over 5.22 million dps using a 320 dps claw.
Over 4.25 million dps using Touch of Anquish.
Over 2.91 million dps using a 320 dps claw against bosses (without Frenzy charges)
Over 2.37 million dps using Touch of Anquish against bosses (without Frenzy charges)

Over 6k hp at level 90.
9.5k Evasion buffed.

Occultist can run 2 curses, Elemental Weakness and Enfeeble. Thanks to that, Occultist is a much easier build to play, being safer as it takes less damage and is much less likely to be critically hit.

However, Assassin can reach higher dps values one shotting packs faster then the Occultist, and can also kill bosses much quicker (basically one shot anything with less then 10% hp).