Updated for Patch 3.12
The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo
Estimated budget: medium
Guide notes |
September 20, 2020 -Updated for Patch 3.12 -Added new gameplay video Major changes: -Complete rework of our outdated guide from Patch 3.12 which includes new Passives, alternative Item options |
Frost Blades is a Top Tier Melee Attack that can be used as early as level 1. It is a ranged projectile-based Attack with incredible AoE thanks to additional projectiles being released from your initial Hit and covering your entire screen. It is an amazing Skill for leveling, as well as, it allows extremely fast map clearing. At the same time, this build is able to clear all the content on a very reasonable budget.
For the full list of our Path of Exile builds you can visit the following article: Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List
This build should be used mainly for extremely fast Maps farming but will do just fine against Bosses. The gameplay mechanics are pretty much the same starting from level 1. You use Frost Blades as your main Ranged Attack that deals with incredible AoE damage. Frost Blades combined with Herald's of Ice explosions will clear entire screens of monsters within seconds. On the other hand, your defenses rely on Dodge and Evasion rolls, which should allow you to use Abyssus Helmet for maximum DPS. This build is also insanely fast with insane Movement Speed bonuses from Raider's Ascendancy.
Full gameplay video:
The video was recorded on a level 93 Raider with 5,400 Life and approximately 2.5kk Frost Blades DPS. We have used only Rare equipment except for Flasks and Jewels |
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This build uses Frost Blades right from the start. It offers very high farming speed and allows you to quickly progress through the campaign. Also, by using Claws, you get an easy way to recover your Life - by Life gain on Hit implicit modifiers which can be found on them. For your equipment, you should prioritize high Physical DPS Claws, added Physical Damage to Attacks, and Life/Elemental Resistances on your armor parts and jewelry.
Suggested leveling gem setups:
Frost Blades | |
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Frost Blades - your main DPS Attack which releases additional projectiles from your initial Hit |
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Melee Physical Damage Support - increases your Frost Blades damage |
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Added Cold Damage Support - adds flat Cold Damage to your Attacks |
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Multistrike Support - mandatory support Gem for the Frost Blade setup |
Utility gems | |
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Herald of Ice - grants added Cold Damage and causes AoE explosions on killing Frozen enemies |
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Whirling Blades - your primary Mobility Skill |
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Ancestral Protector - Totem Spell which increases your Attack Speed |
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Summon Ice Golem - the recommended Golem for this build which increases your Crit. Chance and Accuracy Rating |
Bandits:
Both killing all the Bandits for two additional Skill Points and helping Alira for Mana Regeneration, Critical Damage Multiplier, and Elemental Resistances are viable options
Leveling Skill Trees:
34 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Finesse 2) Winter Spirit 3) Command of Elements 4) Herbalism 5) Claws of the Magpie
62 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Blood Drinker 2) Assassination 3) Depth Perception 4) Point Blank
Recommended leveling items:
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+3 Life gained for each Enemy hit by Attacks 25% increased Attack Speed when on Low Life (80-100)% increased Physical Damage Adds 2 to 10 Physical Damage 100% increased Claw Physical Damage when on Low Life 100% increased Accuracy Rating when on Low Life |
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+(20-25) to maximum Mana +(30-60) to maximum Mana (3-6) Mana Regenerated per second -(8-4) to Mana Cost of Skills 8% of Damage taken gained as Mana over 4 seconds when Hit |
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+(20-30) to Dexterity +(20-30) to Strength +100 to Accuracy Rating 30% increased Projectile Speed 10% increased Movement Speed 30% increased Projectile Damage |
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+(20-30)% to Cold Resistance Adds (7-10) to (15-20) Cold Damage to Spells and Attacks +(200-300) to Evasion Rating 50% chance to Avoid being Chilled 10% chance to Freeze Adds 40 to 60 Cold Damage against Chilled Enemies |
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+25% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier (40-55)% increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills Adds 1 to (45-55) Lightning Damage (16-22)% increased Attack Speed Attacks Chain an additional time when in Main Hand Attacks have an additional Projectile when in Off Hand |
Final Skill Tree:
114 Points Final Skill Tree
114 Points Path of Building(PoB) link
Ascendancy points:
Preferably in that order:
Pantheon:
Major God: Soul of Lunaris 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%, 1% increased Movement Speed for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%
Minor God: Soul of Garukhan +5% chance to Evade Attacks if you've taken a Savage Hit recently
[DPS] Frost Blades setup | |
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Frost Blades - your main DPS attack. It releases additional projectiles from your main Hit, covering nearly the entire screen and obliterating enemies |
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Elemental Damage with Attacks Support - core Support Gem for Elemental Attack Skills |
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Multistrike Support - makes your Attack repeat two additional times with greatly increased Attack Speed and Damage |
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Fortify Support - grants high bonus Melee Damage, and also a very strong defensive buff making it one of the most convenient Support Gems in this setup |
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Ruthless Support - makes every third Hit with Supported skills deal much higher damage |
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Hypothermia Support - grants an insane damage bonus when you Hit enemies that are Chilled |
[MOBILITY] Dash setup | |
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Dash - the recommended Movement Skill you can use in this build |
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Second Wind Support - grants additional Dash charges and increases its' cooldown recovery speed |
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Blood Magic Support - makes Dash cost Life instead of Mana |
[UTILITY] Auras (Socketed in the recommended Shield) |
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Hatred - the best Aura for this build. It grants a lot of extra Cold Damage and opens up new powerful options on Watcher's Eye jewel |
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Flesh and Stone - blinds nearby enemies, and reduces your damage taken from enemies which are beyond this Aura's radius. If you don't have the Shield with Reduced Mana Reservation Cost, just skip this Aura |
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Herald of Ice - adds extra Cold Damage to your Attacks and causes AoE Explosions on killing Frozen enemies |
[UTILITY] Immortal Call / Frost Bomb | |
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Cast when Damage Taken Support - keep this Gem at level 1 in order to make it cast supported Gems more frequently |
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Immortal Call - will grant damage reduction buff for a short duration. Keep this Gem at level 1 |
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Frost Bomb - applies Cold Exposure to enemies. Keep this Gem at a level not higher than 10 |
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Increased Duration Support |
[UTILITY] Phase Run/Golem | |
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Cast when Damage Taken Support - keep this Gem at level 9 in this setup |
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Phase Run - grants Phasing for a short duration, but also increases your Melee Damage when it expires. Keep this Gem at level 11 |
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Summon Ice Golem - the best Golem for this build. It increases your Accuracy Rating and Crit. Chance |
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Increased Duration Support |
[UTILITY] Ancestral Warchief | |
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Ancestral Watchief - allows you to summon a Totem which increases your Melee Damage, and by Supporting it with additional Gems, it actually deals quite decent damage on its own |
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Melee Physical Damage Support - one of the best Support Gems here. Also, if you don't have Intimidation from Lethal Pride, you can get an Awakened Gem here with a chance to apply it via your Totem |
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Maim Support - increases your Totem's damage and causes enemies to be slowed down |
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Culling Strike Support - will make your Totem instantly kill enemies below 10% Life |
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This is the most interesting part of every Odealo's Crafty Guide. You will find all the recommended gear with minimum stat requirements for each item. This build, in total, shouldn't cost more than 10-15 Exalted Orbs, however, if you want to get all the Influenced gear with expensive affixes, there is basically no upper limit on how much it can cost. In general, all of the equipment can be replaced with Rare gear, as this build offers amazing flexibility in that matter.
Our recommended gear pieces will always:
Stat priorities on items:
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Adds 40 to 60 Physical Damage to Attacks +(20-25) to all Attributes +(100-125)% to Melee Critical Strike Multiplier (100-120)% increased Armour (40-50)% increased Physical Damage taken |
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Min. requirements: 80 maximum Life Nearby Enemies have -9% to Cold Resistance 75% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Critical Strike Multiplier Attributes |
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Helmet enchantment 40% increased Frost Blades damage |
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3% reduced Movement Speed (Hidden) (150-200)% increased Armour (30-40)% increased maximum Life +(10-15)% to all Elemental Resistances 50% increased Flask Life Recovery rate Extra gore |
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Min. requirements: 100 maximum Life 1200 Evasion Rating Attacks have +1% to Critical Strike Chance Optional affixes: Elemental Resistances maximum Life% |
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Min. requirements: 320 Physical DPS 1.8 Attacks per Second Optional affixes: Critical Strike Multiplier Critical Strike Chance |
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+46 Life gained for each Enemy hit by Attacks Adds (40-50) to (130-150) Physical Damage 30% increased Cold Damage (30-40)% increased Critical Strike Chance 20% chance to gain a Frenzy Charge on Killing a Frozen Enemy Skills Chain an additional time while at maximum Frenzy Charges 10% chance to Freeze Critical Strikes do not always Freeze |
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Min. requirements: 100 maximum Life Socketed Gems have #% Reduced Mana Reservation Optional affixes: High Evasion Rating Global Physical Damage Elemental Resistances |
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Min. requirements: 90 maximum Life 75% Total Elemental Resistances 32% increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills Optional affixes: increased Damage/Elemental/Cold Damage |
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Min. requirements: 50 maximum Life Chance to gain Elusive on Critical Strike 25% increased Movement Speed Optional affixes: Elemental Resistances Chaos Resistance |
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(40-70)% increased Armour and Evasion +(20-40)% to Lightning Resistance 5% increased Movement Speed per Frenzy Charge +1 to Maximum Frenzy Charges 40% reduced Frenzy Charge Duration 25% reduced Light Radius 2% chance to Dodge Attack Hits per Frenzy Charge |
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Boot enchantment: 16% increased Attack and Cast Speed if you've Killed Recently |
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Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 60% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Added Physical Damage to Attacks +1 to Maximum Frenzy Charges |
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Has 2 Abyssal Sockets (4-6)% increased maximum Life With a Murderous Eye Jewel Socketed, Intimidate Enemies for 4 seconds on Hit with Attacks With a Searching Eye Jewel Socketed, Maim Enemies for 4 seconds on Hit with Attacks |
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Min. requirements: 50 maximum Life 25% increased Critical Strike Multiplier 30% Elemental Damage with Attacks Optional affixes: Intelligence Strength |
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Min. requirements: 60 maximum Life Missing Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Curse enemies with level # Frostbite on Hit Elemental Damage with Attacks Added Cold Damage per Frenzy Charge Added Cold Damage against Chilled enemies Increased Critical Strike Multiplier if you have Shattered an enemy recently Attributes |
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(10-15)% increased Cold Damage With at least 40 Dexterity in Radius, Melee Damage dealt by Frost Blades Penetrates 15% Cold Resistance With at least 40 Dexterity in Radius, Frost Blades has 25% increased Projectile Speed |
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(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers> Recommended Aura modifiers: +(1.2-1.8)% to Critical Strike Chance while affected by Hatred Adds (58-70) to (88-104) Cold Damage while affected by Hatred |
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Commanded leadership over (10000-18000) warriors under (Akoya-Kaom-Rakiata) Passives in radius are Conquered by the Karui Historic |
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Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Astonishing Affliction 1 Added Passive Skill is Cold Conduction |
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Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Fettle |
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Recommended affixes: maximum Life added Physical Damage to Attacks/Claw Attacks Critical Strike Multiplier Optional affixes: Chance to grant Unholy Might on Kill |
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Recommended affixes: increased maximum Life Global/Melee Critical Strike Multiplier Optional affixes: increased Damage with Claws/Projectile/Melee Damage |
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+50% to Cold Resistance +6% to maximum Cold Resistance 20% of Physical Damage taken as Cold Damage during Flask effect Gain (15-20)% of Physical Damage as Extra Cold Damage during effect 30% chance to Avoid being Chilled during Flask effect |
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+35% to Chaos Resistance 2% of Chaos Damage Leeched as Life during Flask effect Gain (15-20)% of Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage during effect Gain (10-15)% of Elemental Damage as Extra Chaos Damage during effect |
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+35% to all Elemental Resistances During Flask Effect, 10% reduced Damage taken of each Element for which your Uncapped Elemental Resistance is lowest During Flask Effect, Damage Penetrates (10-15)% Resistance of each Element for which your Uncapped Elemental Resistance is highest |
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Other suggested Flasks:
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We will appreciate all suggestions regarding this build. Also if you have a request for a future guide please leave it in the comments below.
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