[3.7] Face-Cannon Frost blades Assassin. Face Tank everything! (Shaper, Uber elder video added)

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kettu992 wrote:

I think frost blades are one of my favorite skills. But the lack of single target dps is a bit of a let down. Just started a new carachter, and thinking of building up crit and crit multi. More power charges. Would that be bether for stronger mobs/bosses?

You need to invest a bit if you want more single target DPS.
With my current setup, the single target DPS is very nice (check the end-game gear videos), but that requires 20+ exalts investments.

What should I put my skill points into at early levels?

i like ur build beter than alot i seen

This build was one of the first ones i tried to follow when i started PoE. but with my lack of knowledge and currency i couldnt make it go past T2 maps (which for me was a great achivement back then).

Now having figured out the game i will give it another shot, hopefully this time i can get to at least T16.

I will try to fully min max the build over the rest of the league.


Also are you using Ancestral Call for mapping and then gem swap for boss?

I am an average-skilled player with some experience in playing Path of Exile. What prompted me to try this build out was its title: "Face Tank Everything!".
Before attempting this build, I never tried this approach. I played Cyclone Marauder as my first build, which only got me to some point. Then a Slayer. It was slightly better but still squishy. Then a SRS Necromancer which I used to clear T15 maps at level 89, with a fairly thin budget (5 EX or something like that). Then I tried an Armageddon Brand Elementalist which was lots of fun, but I felt I was missing something, which was close-up brawling with enemies. I like brawling, and the witches offered anything but, despite their low-ish budget performance.

So I read a bit about this build, then said you know, it's worth investing in it.

And invested I have. Over 60 EX so far. WITH DISASTROUS RESULTS.

I am not a diplomat, so here goes: the build is bad. It's one of the worse builds out there.

1. It's super-expensive. That Watcher's Eye you see in the OP? I was lucky to get an average-specced one for 35 EX. Good 6-linked Belly? 8 EX. Starkonja's Head with 40% Frost Blades enchantment? 5 EX, if you're lucky. L21/Q20 gems? A couple EX a piece for most. Might of the Meek? 2 EX, only to later find out "oh wait, no, you can't use it anymore". I did not WANT to throw more money at the problem and spend more on L4 Empower or L4 Enlighten.
2. It's super squishy. I mean SUPER SQUISHY and that's an understatement. At level 89 I have 4160 health. Maybe with some effort and throwing more EX at the problem (boots, gloves) I would be able to raise life to 5K. Maybe. My Armageddon Brand witch has over 5K and she stays back, doesn't have to jump in the fray. It's pathetic.
3. It's a one-trick-pony: leech (continuously!) or die. Stunned for a quarter of a second? Dead. Chilled for a blink of an eye? Dead. Slowed for half a second? Dead. Movement skill didn't fire or sent you in a close wall? Dead. Initiate a dialogue with a map NPC while a rat senses your presence? Dead. You're like the bunny from Zootopia during training.
4. Because of the above, your eyes will need to move in your eye sockets like peas in a vigorously shaken can. Each couple seconds you have to check: life, afflictions, flask status, whether Ice Golem is still alive (most times it's not), whether Blood Rage is still active, are you close enough to your Ancestral Warchief and is it still active, have you inadvertently turned off any of your auras while mashing keys for flasks in order to not die, and repeat this ad nauseam. Turns promised fun gameplay into a tedious, repetitive unpaid JOB with no incentive to play further.
5. You will find a very hard time juggling INT, STR and DEX to be able to take all your gems to L20. I still don't have enough INT for that.
6. The problem is you realize this too late. Everything works fairly well until maybe level 80. Then, you realize you don't have "the best items" and start the shopping spree. And by that time, you're proper screwed.
(LE)7> one more thing> Whirling Blades as a movement skill is bad. You can't jump gaps or avoid taking steps with it. Flame Dash is much better.

It must be my gear, you say? Here it is:

Can it be improved? Of course, if you are willing to pour maybe 50 more EX into it, but it will not help make a badly designed character better.

To sum this up: this build offers very little at a very high price. STAY AWAY from it unless you are filthy rich and wanna do it for the lulz.

I will park this character and start a new one, this time paying very close attention to the devil hidden in the details. I don't mind spending a lot on a character, but I expect to spend on improving it from "good" to "very good", not from "horrible" to "barely playable".

Thumbs up to the OP for the attempt, Thumbs down for the result.

I understand your concerns with this build - this is my first character in POE and playing with a friend of mine who is a molten strike jugg, the contrast is huge. You must be more careful in almost every situation and it's certainly tough to get HP up, which incidentally determines the amount you can leech per second, with the exclusion of the "maximum total recovery of life leech per second" stat modifier that I've only ever found on amulets and then a pair of gloves I synthesized.

But it's challenging, and certainly crushes things once you get that DPS started. Here is my variation @ lvl 88 - the lab can be a bit tricky without a lot of flasks, but improvising with more regen and hp certainly helped. I'm still enjoying tweaking and finding better ways to improve viability.

I'll likely swap out the boots and move some rings around and what not, but this is my current setup.

Note*: I either chaos slammed or fossil crafted these rares.

Interesting you mention the Lab, I can do it whistling with my current setup. The lab is the least of my concern.

The problem is maps T13 and above, more specifically Betrayal encounters, Einhar beast encounters, not to mention Uber Atziri or Shaper/Elder/etc. I already got the DPS, what I am missing is HP. This, combined with the high price of the build, makes it ridiculously sub-par compared to other builds which are much cheaper and much better.

It certainly isn't the most resilient, and prone to being one shotted, no doubt. It's a difficult build in this league, or so it seems - I'm likely fully biased as this is my first and only build - but when face tanking, no issue. What's your attack speed at currently with frost blades? I think I'm at 0.08 per attack - fewer gaps between the leech the better, leaving less to be leeched - I may be way off on this, but mitigating damage with leech quicker, may leave more "gas" in the tank and not running out. With that, along with higher health, I have higher leech ceiling and less time to take down.

I redid my nodes 2 days ago, changed some gear out - went from 3300hp to 4700 (and 2 levels) - it's made a world of difference.

And note, I don't use a watcher's eye - have a custom gem with 2x attack speed mods, totaling 11% I believe alongside a max life increase (6-7% I believe).

I noticed you had elemental focus support gem - I purposely took that out at some point during the build so I can utilize freezing enemies - it does help having the ailments available. I also took the point-blank skill - maybe it's the nuance there that could change course a bit for you. Maybe switch it up slightly and see what happens.

Hey how do i avoid 100% mana consumption on the three passives?

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war4peace wrote:

It must be my gear, you say? Here it is:

Spoiler

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Can it be improved? Of course, if you are willing to pour maybe 50 more EX into it, but it will not help make a badly designed character better.

TBH you're not following my build at all.
I mentioned explicitly you need life roll on every gear if possible.
Look at your gear?
1. Using a 23 life glove and did not use a 1c shaper's touch (Is shaper's touch expensive ??)
2. NO life rolls on boots, both rings (if you must say str?)
3. Use those strange unique belt, amulet that I never mentioned in the build guide.

You're playing a build you invented yourself, not my build.

And, 50 more exalts? No, I can fix your build with less than 1ex. I even posted the poe.trade link for the 10c rings, shaper's touch are less than 5c, and spend 50c each on belt and amulet. Actually your post is an example to show the build is good, even with the trash gear you have, the build still bring you no problem until T13+.