Frigid Bond
Hierophant build

Updated for Patch 3.24

The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo

Frigid Bond is a Support Gem that can Support Link Skills, causing them to deal Cold Damage over Time. Normally, Links can be used only on party members, but with a specific Minion Defence Mastery, they can be used on Minions as well. We recommend tethering the character to the Animated Guardian; it can be equipped with a variety of Items that would improve its defences and support your character alike. It's also a great opportunity to use The Hand of Phrecia Gloves which increases the effect of your Auras by up to 40% while you are linked to a target. It overrides the Generosity Support restriction, so you can link your Auras with it too for another 44% increased effect of Auras. You can even allocate 50% additional Aura Effect from the Passive Skill Tree for a total of 134% increased Aura Effect with a relatively small cost. These are previously unheard-of numbers, so specializing in Auras further seems like the best route. That's why we recommend Hierophant with its Sanctuary of Thought for a 25% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency to fit more Auras.

Frigid Bond, being a Support Gem that scales up well with Gem Level, is the sole reason to use Forbidden Shako, which could set it up to level 35. It can reach 19k of base Cold DoT. To put it into perspective, Vortex's damage is only 11,5k at the same Gem Level. This Damage will be increased by five Support Gems, Hierophant's Arcane Blessing, Malevolence, and a good weapon. It will result in around 4mil DPS. It's not very high, but the damage will linger after the enemies step away from the beam. The link also won't break instantly the moment your AG is out of range or finds itself separated from you by a wall, Frigid Bond will start to shimmer letting you know there's an obstacle in its way. During this time it remains fully functional. You can then recall the AG back to your location with the Convocation. To improve the build's clear speed, put the Legacy of Fury Boots on your AG and equip it with Gravebind Gloves. It will "explode" enemies on death. It's overall a very durable build with poor clear speed that is a bit too expensive for its performance.

You can also check our other Path of Exile builds: Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List

1. Gameplay

Once every 10 seconds renew the Link between your character and Animated Guardian - it's the only source of damage in the build. During boss fights, turn on the Malevolence and apply two Curses with Arcanist Brand. Frostblinkt into the enemies to apply Bonechill. Your passive Skills are Tempest Shield, Determination, Purity of Ice, Fire, and Lightning.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Use our Witch Leveling Guide using Cold DoT in PoE. It's meant for Witch, but that doesn't change much besides the starting location on the passive skill tree. Cold DoTs will carry you up to level 60 or 70 rather easily; you should then be able to start assembling your final setup.

Bandits:

We recommend killing all Bandits for two additional Passive Points

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

123 Points Final Skill Tree (does not include Unique Jewels)
123 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Arcane Blessing
2. Divine Guidance
3. Sanctuary of Thought
4. Conviction of Power

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of The Brine King: 1% You cannot be Stunned if you've been Stunned or Blocked a Stunning Hit in the past 2 seconds

Minor God: Soul of Abberath: 60% less Duration of Ignite on You

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Frigid Bond setup socketed in Forbidden Shako; the item has to contain high-level Frigid Bond and one secondary Support Gem from this list
	Protective Link - Keep it at level 1. It mirrors your Attack Block Chance onto your Linked target.
	Hypothermia Support - Grants more Cold Damage over Time.
	Controlled Destruction Support - Grants more Spell Damage but lowers Crit Chance. You can't strike Critically anyway,
	Elemental Focus Support - More Elemental Damage, but you cannot Chill with Frigid Bond.
	Frigid Bond Support - This Support Gem has to have a very high level, preferably 35. It can be found in Forbidden Shako. It's your only damage source.
	Swift Affliction Support - Linked Skills have shorter duration, but deal more Damage over Time.

[UTILITY] Aura setup
	Purity of Fire - Additional Fire Resistance and Maximum Fire Resistance. Try to increase this Gem Level to 23.
	Purity of Ice - Additional Cold Resistance and Maximum Cold Resistance. Try to increase this Gem Level to 23.
	Purity of Lightning - Additional Lightning Resistance and Maximum Lightning Resistance. Try to increase this Gem Level to 23.
	Determination - More and Increased Armour to take less Physical Hit Damage.
	Generosity Support - With The Hand of Phrecia, supported Auras will affect your character, growing in power even more if you're linked to your Minion. You can get the Awakened version for additional Gem Level for linked Auras.

[UTILITY] Minion setup
	Animate Guardian - Animate Guardian is the Minion you will link up with. Its items can be found here.
	Minion Life Support - Minion has more Maximum Life. He has to stay alive at all costs.
	Elemental Army Support - Minon has increased Maximum Elemental Resistances. Exposure is redundant - you will get it from Link Mastery.
	Meat Shield - Minion takes much less damage.

[UTILITY] Convocation
	Convocation - Recall your AG back to you. Use it when you want to change its position, which will happen often.

[UTILITY] Curses setup
	Frostbite - Lowers Cold Resistance and Increases your Chance to Freeze with Skills that Hit, like Frostblink.
	Elemental Weakness - Lowers all Elemental Resistances, including Cold Resistance.
	Arcanist Brand - Casts the Curses for you saving you a button to press. This whole setup can be ignored if you have a specific Ring and Gloves to apply these two Curses on Hit, but such items can be hard to get.

[UTILITY] Malevolence setup
	Malevolence - Increases Skill Effect Duration and grants more Damage over Time Multiplier.
	Divine Blessing Support - Malevolence is a temporary Aura. You should be able to afford it with Eldritch Battery.

[MOBILITY] Frostblink setup
	Frostblink - The mobility Skill is significant in this build - use it to adjust your position and catch enemies in the frigid beam.
	Bonechill Support - Enemies Chilled by Frostblink take increased Cold Damage.

[UTILITY] CwDTsetup
	Cast when Damage Taken - Casts linked Spell after taking enough damage.
	Molten Shell - A protective shell that absorbs a portion of incoming Hit Damage for some time.

[UTILITY] Tempest Shield
	Tempest Shield - Improves your Spell Block Chance and Shocks enemies on Block.

5. Gear Setup

Your Damage is sourced from a helmet and a weapon, the rest of the gear should make you more durable. Your biggest concerns are Chaos Resistance, Maximum Life, Block Chance, and some Life Recovery mechanics, as you cannot Leech from DoT. If your AG has Gravebind Gloves, you won't even be able to gain Life (or anything else for that matter) on Kill. Your Elemental Resistances are provided by three Purity Auras - you won't need them on your gear at all. These will also set your Maximum Elemental Resistances at 90% with a high enough Aura Skill Gem level and Aura Effect. Usually, it's the Suffixes' job to grant you Elemental Resistances, but as it is no longer the case, you can focus on other stats like Chaos Resistance or Spell Suppression. You still won't be able to reach 100% Spell Suppression Chance as the Helmet and Gloves grant you none, but one can try to get close to that with proper Boots and the Instinct notable. You should worry about Physical Damage - on top of Armour, get Physical damage Reduction and shift the incoming Physical Damage to be taken as Elemental Damage instead. Your Aniamte Guardian must be very tanky. If it dies your character does too. We recommend getting him at least 50k of Maximum Life with proper items. We will provide the AG item guide in a separate article here. Seek the "Frigid Bond AG" setup. Frigid Bond Damage is affected by any modifiers to Spell Damage, but the DoT Multiplier is the most valuable stat. Generic Cold/Elemental Spell Damage is not as good. Remember it's you who deal all the damage, not your Minion. Use Tattoos to gain Chaos Resistance, increased Minion Life, and reduced Curse Effect on you.

The recommended items from our list will:

1. Help you cap your Elemental Resistances 
2. Give you enough DPS and Life to start mapping successfully

(Helmet) Forbidden Shako - Frigid Bond Scales well with Gem Level. The best way to gain a high Support Gem Level is via Forbidden Shako. For the minor Support Gem, pick one from the listed Support Gems in the Gem setup section.

Socketed Gems are Supported by Level (1-10) <random Support Gem> Socketed Gems are Supported by Level (25-35) <random Support Gem> +(25-30) to all Attributes

(Weapon) Rare Sceptre or Wand - Get Cold Damage or Damage over Time Multiplier with generic Spell and Elemental Damage. The +1 to level of all Spell Skill Gems modifier is only useful if you want your Auras at a higher level, but it's not necessarily needed.

Min. requirements: 50% Increased Spell/Cold Damage 20% Cold/Elemental Damage over Time Multiplier Optional affixes: +1 to level of all Spell Skill Gems Damage over time Multiplier Spell Damage

(Shield) Rare Shield - Rare Shield can provide basic stats like Suppression or Chaos Resistance, but extra Maximum Resistances, Reservation Efficiency, or instant Life Recovery on Block could be useful.

Min. requirements: +70 to maximum Life Chaos Resistance Optional affixes: Attributes Spell Suppression Chance +2% to all maximum Resistances Life Regeneration Socketed Gems have #% increased Reservation Efficiency (Shaper's) Recover #% of Life when you Block (Shaper's)

(Shield) The Surrender - Has high Armour, Maximum Life, Chance to Block, and a lot of Life instantly Recovered on Block. The build has poor Recovery, making it particularly good.

+(30-40) to maximum Life Grants Level 30 Reckoning Skill (165-205)% increased Armour +(65-80) to maximum Life Recover (250-500) Life when you Block +6% Chance to Block

(Shield) Prism Guardian - If you want to use more Mana-reserving Skills, such as Discipline or Petrified Blood, this is probably the best Shield. It would require some adjustment to other Skill seups to fit in these extra Auras.

+12% to all Elemental Resistances +2 to Level of Socketed Aura Gems Socketed Gems Cost and Reserve Life instead of Mana Socketed Gems have 30% increased Reservation Efficiency +(20-30) to Dexterity +25% to all Elemental Resistances

(Body Armour) The Brass Dome - Used for Armour, a lot of additional Maximum Elemental Resistances, and to take no Extra Damage from Critical Strikes. You can Corrupt your Unique Body Armour to increase the level of socketed Aura Gems by two.

(350-400)% increased Armour +(1-5)% to all maximum Elemental Resistances Strength provides no bonus to Maximum Life Take no Extra Damage from Critical Strikes

(Body Armour) Utula's Hunger - As we already have to use a Helemt and Gloves with no Maximum Life on them, you can commit to it fully and wear items with no Life at all to get up to 1000 of it from Utula's Hunger.

(60-100)% increased Armour Recover (1-3)% of Life on Kill (30-40)% increased Stun and Block Recovery +(700-1000) to maximum Life if there are no Life Modifiers on other Equipped Items

(Body Armour) The Ivory Tower - With Prism Guardian and the Ivory Tower, you could Reserve all your Life for even more Auras. It would alter the build in a way that we don't plan to cover in this guide.

+(40-70) to Intelligence +30 to maximum Energy Shield per 100 Reserved Life +(80-100) to maximum Mana Regenerate 2% of Energy Shield per second Chaos Damage is taken from Mana before Life

(Gloves) The Hand of Phrecia - The 40% bonus Aura Effect is a lot. Because of these Gloves and their interaction with Generosity Support, we use a lot of Auras. Corrupt them for an implicit like Elemental Weakness on Hit or increased Level for socketed Minion Gems.

(50-70)% increased Armour and Energy Shield +(10-15)% to all Elemental Resistances (20-40)% increased Effect of Non-Curse Auras from your Skills while you have a Linked Target Linked Targets always count as in range of Non-Curse Auras from your Skills Non-Curse Auras from your Skills only apply to you and Linked Targets

(Boots) Legacy of Fury - We recommend putting these on your Animated Guardian, but if you want to use Utula's Hunger, you may as well wear them yourself. The Scorch and Explosions are essential.

(200-300)% increased Armour and Evasion 30% increased Movement Speed Nearby Enemies are Scorched (30-50)% increased Effect of Scorch (30-40)% chance when you Kill a Scorched Enemy to Burn Each surrounding Enemy for 4 seconds, dealing 8% of the Killed Enemy's Life as Fire Damage per second

(Boots) Rare Boots - Increased Movement Speed, Maximum Life, and Chaos Resistance are the most important stats here.

Min. requirements: +70 to maximum Life 30% increased Movement Speed Chaos Resistance Optional affixes: Spell Suppression Life Regeneration

(Belt) Rare Belt - It's an opportunity to get more Maximum Life, Chaos Resistance, and Strength that will probably be needed.

Min. requirements: +80 to Maximum Life Chaos Resistance Optional affixes: increased maximum Life Strength Life Regeneration Armour

(Belt) Replica Soul Tether - If you have a lot of Maximum Life and you need more Energy Shield, to, for example, benefit from Mind over Matter, you can go for Replica Soul Tether. There aren't a lot of cases in which it's better than a Rare Stygian Vise.

(15-25)% increased Stun and Block Recovery +(20-40) to Strength Gain (4-6)% of Maximum Life as Extra Maximum Energy Shield Corrupted Soul

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - There's a huge variety of modifiers that can suit this build, most notably DoT mods to increase your Cold Damage. Maximum Life, Attributes, and Chaos Resistance should be present here as well.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life +25% to Chaos Resistance +#% to Damage over Time Multiplier Optional affixes: Attributes increased Spell Damage increased Armour increased Movement Speed (Shaper's/Hunter's) +#% to Cold Damage over Time Multiplier (Shaper's/Hunter's) Chance to Block Spell Damage (Shaper's/Crusader's)

(Amulet) Impresence (Cold, full power) - You could link your Frostbite and Elemental Weakness to Blasphemy instead of Arcanist Brand if you have the right Impresence Amulet. Besides Maximum Life and this big QoL, there's nothing else here.

Adds (20-24) to (33-36) Cold Damage +(50-70) to maximum Life (45-50)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate +(20-25)% to Cold Resistance Frostbite has no Reservation if Cast as an Aura Gain Maddening Presence for 10 seconds when you Kill a Rare or Unique Enemy <Secondary Curse> has no Reservation if Cast as an Aura

(Amulet) Defiance of Destiny - Defensivewise there is no better Amulet than Defiance of Desitny, especially if your character is already very durable. It recovers your Life before you receive a Hit.

(20-30)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate +(60-80) to maximum Life +(10-40)% to Fire Resistance +(10-40)% to Cold Resistance +(10-40)% to Lightning Resistance Gain (25-35)% of Missing Unreserved Life before being Hit by an Enemy

Recommended Anointments: Charisma Champion of the Cause

(Ring) Mark of the Shaper - After upgrading it with Catalysts it can grant you nearly 100% increased Spell Damage on top of 10% increased Maximum Life and ES, which is great. Remember to put an Elder-influenced Rare Ring too to gain this damage bonus.

(15-25)% increased Elemental Damage 20% chance to Trigger Level 20 Summon Volatile Anomaly on Kill Adds (13-18) to (50-56) Lightning Damage to Spells (6-10)% increased maximum Energy Shield (6-10)% increased maximum Life (60-80)% increased Spell Damage if your other Ring is an Elder Item Cannot be Stunned by Spells if your other Ring is a Shaper Item

(Ring) Anathema - You have 4 Power Charges which puts you in a a position where you can apply four Curses without even allocating Whispers of Doom. The issue is, that we lack Gem Sockets and a convenient way to apply this many Curses, so it's not as great. Your AG's Curse Limit is one by default, you cannot use it to apply these extra Curses using its items.

+(15-25) to maximum Energy Shield +(30-40) to Intelligence (10-15)% increased Cast Speed (10-20)% chance to gain a Power Charge when you Cast a Curse Spell Your Curse Limit is equal to your maximum Power Charges

(Ring) The Hungry Loop - As the build is socket-starved, you may be tempted to use Hungry Loop and host your AG setup here. Add Empower Support as the fourth Support Gem to increase AG's Maximum Life.

Has 1 Socket Consumes Socketed Uncorrupted Support Gems when they reach Maximum Level Can Consume 4 Uncorrupted Support Gems Has not Consumed any Gems <Consumed support gem modifier>

(Ring) Rare Ring - There are only a few good mods you can source from a Rare Ring, try to gain a lot of them here. There are no Elder mods worth mentioning.

Min. requirements: +60 to Maximum Life Chaos Resistance Optional affixes: Life Regeneration #% of Damage taken Recouped as Life Attributes +#% to Damage over Time Multiplier (Essence) Curse Enemies with Frostbite on Hit (Redeemer's)

(Jewels) Rare Abyss Jewels - We don't plan to host more than one Rare Jewel, but if you have a Stygian Vise you will put one with Maximum Life, Chaos Resistance, and preferably increased DoT there.

Recommended affixes: Maximum Life increased Damage over Time while holding a Shield Resistances Attributes Armour

(Jewels) Brutal Restraint - We have socketed one of these near the Instability notable to gain more Dexterity, You can gain even 40 or 60 more Dexterity if it upgrades the right notables in the right way. This way, you won't need this Attribute on your items.

Denoted service of (500-8000) dekhara in the akhara of (Asenath-Balbala-Nasima) Passives in radius are Conquered by the Maraketh Historic

(Jewels) Rational Doctrine - Consecrated Ground Regenerates Life and halves the Effect of Curses on You. Profane Ground applies -10% to all Resistances to your enemies. Balance your Attributes using Tattoos and items to gain both of these effects.

<Three random synthesis implicit modifiers> You have Consecrated Ground around you while stationary if Strength is your highest Attribute 25% chance to create Profane Ground on Critical Strike if Intelligence is your highest Attribute Effects of Consecrated Ground you create Linger for 4 seconds Effects of Profane Ground you create Linger for 4 seconds

(Jewels) Forbidden Flame & Flesh - Find a pair with Guardian's Harmony of Purpose passive. It's inexpensive and invaluable.

Allocates <Random Ascendancy Notable> if you have the matching modifiers on Forbidden Flesh Allocates <Random Ascendancy Notable> if you have the matching modifiers on Forbidden Flame

(Jewels) Watcher's Eye - Physical Damage taken as Fire, Lightning, or Cold while affected by Purity of Fire, Lightning, and Ice is the best combination of modifiers on a Watcher's Eye. You're also using Determination and Malevolence, these have great mods too.

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers>

(Flask) Rumi's Concoction - The Block Chance is sourced mainly from Shield so it's not very high, but you have a lot of Spell Block Chance. Use Rumi's Concoction to get even more of it. It's good with Surrender and Safeguard.

+1500 to Armour +(8-12)% Chance to Block Attack Damage during Effect +(4-6)% Chance to Block Spell Damage during Effect

(Flask) Progenesis - Causes a portion of incoming damage to be taken as DoT instead. With Defiance of Desity, Surrender, and high Life Regeneration it's very effective at preventing damage.

+35% to Chaos Resistance (20-10)% reduced Charges per use (-35-35)% increased Duration When Hit during effect, 25% of Life loss from Damage taken occurs over 4 seconds instead

Suggested Flasks: Life Flask with Bleed Immunity Quartz Flask with or Shock effect reduction Basalt Flask with increased Armour Quicksilver Flask with Curse effect reduction or increased Movement Speed

If you have any other build requests please leave them in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Grinding Gear Games.