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

Let me say this first: I don't have a Berserker 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, and has already gathered a small following in both Ranger and Assassin sections as well.
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, additional videos, and more.

If you like what you see, post a comment. If it is a general question, you might find an anwser in the main build thread, but always ask here if you want Berserker specific advise.

Shaper run.
Hydra run.
Chimera run.
Minotaur run.
Uber Atziri run.
Chayula run.

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

Ascendancy:
- Crave the Slaughter: Good dps increase any time your are taking damage.
- Aspect of Carnage: Massive dps boost, this node is almost like getting a 7th link. We do take more damage, so keep that in mind and try to pick up more life nodes if possible.
- Painreaver: This greatly improves our leech, our main source of sustain.
- Any: All of the 3 last options have their merit. Cloked in Savagery is great pick for max dps, War Bringer is a free instant life pot you can use every 2 seconds, and Rite of Ruin helps to counteract penalty of Aspect of Carnage.

Example tree level 90

There is already an in-depth quide on gear and gem progression in the main Witch thread, which applies to this version as well - don't forget to check it out!
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1898845

Example tree, 37 points
Berserker unfortunately starts furthest away from the claw nodes, so leveling process might not be as smooth as for other classes. It would be welcome if anyone could provide their leveling experience with this build, so I could update it appropriately, but this is what I would do - take all powerful nodes around Marauder start, and race to get Claw nodes asap.

Example tree, 59 points
After taking Soul Raker, grab Claws of the Magpie, Blood Drinker, Claws of the Pride and Revenge of the Hunted. Then you can start making your way up to take all the juicy nodes above Assassin start.

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 different setup (Witch).

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 / Vaal Haste
- EC helps mitigate increased damage taken from Abyssus, or just boosts it in general otherwise.
- Blood Rage increases dps through Frenzy charges.
- Lightning Trap increases dps against bosses - less important in 3.0, you could use Vaal Haste instead).

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/2re6rsNN

Over 7.77 million dps using a 320 dps claw.
Over 6.28 million dps using Touch of Anquish.
Over 4.35 million dps using a 320 dps claw against bosses (without Frenzy charges)
Over 3.53 million dps using Touch of Anquish against bosses (without Frenzy charges)

Over 6k hp at level 90.
8.5k 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. Meanwhile, Bersker takes additinal 10% more damage from all sources, meaning that even though it is possible to get 6k hp and amazing dps, in reality you might want to sacrifice some damage nodes in favour of life nodes to reach around 6.5k at level 90.

However, as long as you aren't one shot, you will survive everything thanks to OP leech that Berserker has.

Another thing worth noting is that Berserker starts furthest from the Claw passives, so leveling might be difficult until you reach the Claw wheel.