[3.9] Frostblades Assassin SSF Viable. 1M+ DPS w/ Budget gear! League starter! Insane Clear Speed


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Hi, welcome to my build guide. This guide is for people who want a league starter or have little to no currency. This build has farmed me a headhunter in the span of two weeks.

This build has beaten some of the hardest endgame content such as guardians, red elder, most of the unique maps in the game, and every map til T16.

The build does 1M+ DPS with a 35C Budget. You can go cheaper (15c or lower) and get about 600K DPS.

If the touch of anguish's are expensive at the start of the league, don't worry. You can safely use two wasp nest until about tier 11+ maps.

People have killed shaper multiple times with this build.

3.9 (UPDATE) Build is slightly better with more DPS gained from slight gear changes and optimizations. Written guide rework as well.

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Look here for the Path of building Link! (LAST UPDATED 12/11/2019)

https://pastebin.com/U9s0zLWy

ENDGAME SKILL TREE: www.poeurl.com/cDr4 (Please refer to the path of building for gear and up-to-date passive trees.)

If you don't how to use these pastebin links, google "Path of Building". It's a desktop application for looking at gear,passive trees, the authors notes on how to use the build, and so much more.

If you need immediate help with the build or just wanna chill, you can watch me on twitch. No question is too nooby. We were all new once. https://www.twitch.tv/reload24

Here's the build in action and also a very in depth video guide. https://youtu.be/Q3eeHpPCGGQ

This is my discord where you'll be able to post questions about the build and chill with other people who watch my stream.
https://discord.gg/5WAp4GX

Bandits: TAKE ALIRA

F.A.Q


Q. What are those little ice spikes in the video?

A. That is a MTX called "Gloom Herald" in the microtransaction shop.

Q. How do I use these pastebin links? It's just text.

A. You need to download a program called "Path of Building" via github. After you install it, press new build, click import & export, select import via pastebin and paste in the pastebin link I have provided.

Q. I keep dying to izaro / any other high damage dealing boss.

A. This build has whirling blades, make use of it. This build uses positioning more than most builds you will play in PoE.

Q. You don't have the allocated dexterity for the jewels to work!!!

A. You don't need to have the dexterity allocated to make the jewels work.

Q. Where is the gear!?!?

A. Gear is included in the path of building link (The pastebin link)

Q. Acrobatics is worth it?

A. Yes and no. If you find yourself dying definitely take it, if you think you can out kite monsters and what not, spend it on either life nodes or damage. It's taken by default to help newer players.

Q. Why herald of ice and hatred linked?

A. Herald of ice and frostbite are linked so that when you kill a enemy, the explosion from herald of ice will proc frostbite on the others. This happens so fast that typically you won't see it. Trust me it works.



Leveling



Act 1

Act 1 should be a bit of a breeze. You want to start by grabbing frost blades from the local vendors. From here on out just continue progressing through the story and picking up high physical damage weapons. Iron rings are also really great! This will make boss killing way easier. (Swap out ancestral call for ruthless on bosses)


Act 2

Act 2 is a lot of the same from Act 1. From here you want to go the chamber of sins and get your herald of ice from the quest reward. Herald of ice is a big damage boost and also it looks very nice. You want to remain trying to get better weapons and making sure you have gear that has defensive stats on it such as life and resistance. After this just keep on progressing the story and getting the gems from the vendors after you complete the quest.


Act 3

Act 3 is going to be pretty easy, just keep on progressing the story and always be on the lookout for upgrades to your gear! You'll also be getting a few skill gems that we will use through the rest of the game here. The main ones being hatred and Frostbite mark.


Act 4

Act 4 is pretty easy on the layouts, but this is where the bosses do start to hit pretty hard, so be careful. You will also get a few of our most used gems here. Those are Ice golem. Be sure to keep using ruthless on frost blades when killing bosses!

This is also the point where you can do the labyrinth, I usually recommend to do it in act 4 because you slightly outlevel the area and it should be much easier.


Act 5

Act 5 is gonna be the hardest boss fights of part 1. So make sure you are prepared. Try to make sure your weapons are decent and you have some life on your gear with resistance. Also you do get a jewel from here that will be used throughout the rest of the game. That jewel is called fight for survival. Make sure you keep this somewhere in your stash that is safe until you can put into a jewel socket.


Act 6

You survived part 1 and now you made it to part 2. Part 2 lowers your resistance by 30% on all elemental resistances. This is gonna hurt quite a bit. On the bright side our build takes a lot of elemental resistance on the tree, so this won't hurt quite as bad.

In act 6 you want to continue on and try to really work on getting good defensive gear that has life or resistance. Hopefully you found a unique by now that will help with damage, if not then keep looking for high physical damage weapons.
Be sure to go to the twilight strand and clear it out! You get a vendor that sells almost every gem in the game. This will allow you to complete your gem links that you may have missed out on.


Act 7

Just keep on progressing, these last few acts are mostly just for leveling and gearing as you should have all the gems that you need by now. Remember to use ruthless on bosses!

Act 8

Just more leveling and gearing happens in this act. You may hit a soft wall where you can't progress due to gear being weak, if that's the case then go to harbour bridge and just farm out for awhile. If you press Ctrl + left click on the gateway to a new area it allows you to make a new instance with new mobs to kill.

At this point you can do the cruel labyirinth if you want to and probably should, this will be another massive DPS increase.

Act 9

Act 9 is really short and pretty easy, you shouldn't really have any issues here. If you do, Blood aqueduct is a good farming zone.

Act 10

Welcome to the end of the story in PoE (At least for now). This is gonna be the hardest boss fight and also the one with the most consequences. You will lose another 30% of all elemental resistances after you kill kitava for the last time. So make sure you do all your labyrinths (including merciless) before killing kitava. A great place to farm if you need gear is the ossuary/blood aqueducts.

Endgame Transition

Congrats! if you are reading this, you completed the story in PoE. I recommend you go to act 9 and farm the blood aqueducts for a little for the levels and the gear. This will make the early endgame much less scary and also more rewarding. Feel free to experiment from here on out.

Leveling Skilltrees

www.poeurl.com/cDB5 Around Act 6ish.
www.poeurl.com/cDB6 Around Act 8-9ish
www.poeurl.com/cDCa Early-mid Endgame

Please remember, these are only estimates of what act you should be, it can be higher or lower.

After you reach endgame start to get soul raker ASAP (The claw wheel area) after you get soul raker, use your respec points on the life leech / mana leech nodes by vaal pact.

Leveling Uniques

(Use any of the following)

Wasp nest are great for early endgame


https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Al_Dhih

https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Ewar%27s_Mirage (Place this in the main hand)

https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Goldrim

https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Prismweave

https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Le_Heup_of_All

https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Blackheart

https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Daresso%27s_Passion

https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/The_Wasp_Nest


Skillgem Order


These are listed in terms of priority going from left to right. For example for a 4 link with frostblades you'd want Frost Blades - Ancestral call - EDWA - Rage.

Frostblades - Ancestral call - Elemental Damage with Attacks - Rage - Added Cold - Hypothermia (You'll sub in Ruthless in place of ancestral call on boss fights)

Herald Of ice - Curse On hit - Frost bite - Hatred

Cast When Damage Taken (Level 10) - Steelskin ( Level 15) - Frost Bomb (Level 15) - Increased Duration (Level 20)

Whirling Blades - Faster Attacks - Fortify


Ancestral Warchief - Melee Phys - Elemental Damage with Attacks - Conc Effect


Ice Golem - Berserk - Vaal Double Strike. (Great for bosses) Or if you are are lazy swap out vaal double strike for "Cast when Damage Taken (Level 20).




What stats to aim for

Please remember to try and get at least 300 accuracy on one piece of gear (Amulet or Rings)

These are listed in terms of priority going from left to right.

Rings

Life - Res - INT/STR (If you need) - Elemental Damage with Attacks - Accuracy - Cold Damage

Amulets

Life - INT/STR (If you need) - Elemental Damage with Attacks - Crit Multiplier - Added Physical Damage Cold Damage - Accuracy

Boots

Life - Res - Movement Speed

Gloves

Spiked Gloves (Base Type) - Life - Res - Attack Speed

Belt

Life - Res - Elemental Damage with Attacks


Pantheons
Brine King and Yugul are the typical ones. These are situational, but typically you will run these. If you are new or don't have a lot of experience with pantheons, stick with these.


SSF
If you play SSF you want to always be on the lookout for upgrades for rare claws with high physical damage and attack speed. Your DPS will be lower than a trade league character, but it will still do well enough to clear maps fast and survive.


What to pick first for Ascendancies
Assassin

Ambush & Assassinate
Opportunistic
Unstable Infusion
Deadly Infusion

Another optional one, you can replace ambush and assassinate or opportunistic for mistwalker if you want to try something new.



Last edited by Reloads on Dec 11, 2019, 11:28:08 PM
Last bumped on Sep 22, 2020, 7:27:06 PM
I’ll give a try
For some reason I can't watch the youtube link because my interwebs lags too much.

Do you reckon this build would be able to do uber lab from the get-go? Would be nice with a fast mapper which can do uber as well :P
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Kennobi1975 wrote:
I’ll give a try


Cool. Let me know if you run into any troubles when the league starts. I'd like to make this as painless as possible for people trying it out.

"
Garash wrote:
For some reason I can't watch the youtube link because my interwebs lags too much.

Do you reckon this build would be able to do uber lab from the get-go? Would be nice with a fast mapper which can do uber as well :P



I think it would. You might want to wait until your a pretty high level (80+) but other than that it should work even better than a raider frostblades in terms of DPS against bosses.
Last edited by Reloads on Mar 1, 2018, 2:42:17 PM
Only 4500 life?
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HardSide wrote:
Only 4500 life?


4.5K life with pretty awful gear. You can get 5k+ if you have a belly with above average gear.

But this is a softcore build. So I usually play a more glass cannon like build. However 4.5K life is plently with Vaal pact. If you do want more life just get some more life nodes :) You can grab heart of the oak for about 4-5 Points.
Last edited by Reloads on Mar 2, 2018, 10:20:55 AM
Updated the Path of Building links with some last minute changes. I'd say this build is now ready for the league. I'm really excited to report back with details at the end of the day.
Hi, do you think this build has good progress routes with big currency investments? I''m talking about t16 and end game bosses. Would some major tweaks be necessary or perhaps other ascendancy like raider? I'm really keen on giving assassin a go and try to make it work in endgame. Never really played a FB character.
Looking forward to trying this out. Assassin and Frostblades are exactly what I want to play this time around.

This will only be my 2nd league. I started mid last league, but now have a nice understanding of the game.

I never got to kill Shaper in Abyss, so I'm looking forward to downing him this time around. Do you think this will be able handle all end-game content, assuming I have better than budget gear at higher levels...and how much life would you say I should be aiming for, to do so?

I'll be sure to let you know how I progress with your build.
Is it necessary to pick the 3 leech nodes at Vitaly Void? (Without picking Vitaly Void) Because you already got Mana leech at Soul Raker.
Thanks for an answer.

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