[3.22] Venanci0_'s Frigid Bond double Guardian - Forbidden Shako - 24M dot DPS [WIP]
 Introduction With the 3.22 patch bringing new support gems it was obvious Frigid Bond would not be popular because it is attached to Link playstyle, however the gem has insane scaling with levels, so naturally a high level Forbidden Shako can bring this playstyle on par with other meta dot builds.  Why Guardian? After Guardian rework in 3.22, Harmony of purpose makes link skills more approachable and it is the center of the build, making Animate Guardian almost unkillable (not tested on Ubers yet) while boosting the damage of Frigid Bond.  Animate Guardian Speaking of, the second piece of the puzzle has probably the same importance as the main character, since its him that enables Frigid Bond, gives more damage by just standing next to targets by wearing Legacy of Fury + Eye of Malice, leaving your main Guardian with 2 free gear slots basically. And obviously, you cannot let him die while linked, which means your character would die too.  Gameplay
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So the idea is simple: just use the link skill with Frigid Bond on your Animate Guardian and run around while making the link touch enemies, thats it. Vortex is also used of course, but more as secondary damage and source of bonechill since the gear has no investment in skill gem levels. Righteous Fire should be used only on late stages of gearing, as his spell damage bonus is too good to be ignored, but the skill itself has no investment at all.
It may not look like it at first, but the AI of Animate Guardian works on your favor, since he can be left behind while you are walking almost one screen ahead, that means you can easily touch every enemy on screen and have plenty of time to reposition the AG with Convocation before the link breaks. Its a really fun playstyle and not hard to get used to it. On single target, again his AI do its job, since he's gonna do his melee attack, applying the effects of Legacy of Fury and Eye of Malice with ease. Auras
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The other benefit of using Guardian is that Radiant Faith provides good defense with ton of auras, so for the survivability of both Guardians and absence of free damage nodes (cough...Elementalist), heavy investment on Aura related stuff is mandatory (yes the reservation enchant will be a headache)
Defenses
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- 27k Armour (86% phys reduction) before flask
- 49 atk block / 75 spell block (after attacking and using a spell respectively) - 75% Chaos Res - Elemental ailments immunity (Purity of Elements) - Mid spell suppresion (can be raised before some tougher bosses by reallocating weak passives) - Decent life regen even when using RF - lvl 20 Vaal Molten shell (CWDT is not a reliable option due to socket limit) - Perma consecrated ground - Bleed Immunity Animate Guardian Defenses
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With the right setup, AG is 5x tankier than my main character, which in fact makes him the main character.
First of all, Hungry Loop is mandatory, since it frees 5 gem slots and gives the tankiness that AG need for this to work. The usual suspects are here: Minion Life, Elemental Army and Meat Shield. Empower is the expensive option and the best alternative really, since Feeding Frenzy is useless for this build and Minion Speed makes the AG sometimes walks in front of your character, messing with the link positioning. Determination + Indomitable Army passive and some Armour from Blunderbore leaves AG with a respectable 86% phys reduction. Purity of Elements puts his res way above the necessary while giving the sweet immunity to ailments. Assuming AG is linked, his res looks like this:  With the Hungry loop mentioned above and a lvl 21 divergent AG, our friend sits at a comfortable 44k life and amazing effective health pool:  Pantheon
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Both options are used to minimize the impact of RF degen, since the build dont have a heavy investment on Maximum Fire resistance or regen
  Why no Low Life?
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Its a matter of preference really. You can easily go Low Life by using Coward's Legacy belt, but that means losing crucial survivability by dropping Stygian Vise and Abyssal jewel and more problems trying to fit resistances on the rest of the gear. The other option is Petrified Blood, and dropping a damage aura on a aura focused character is kinda cringe. Also, routing to Pain Attunement on this tree is not efficient and those nodes could be used to grab Divine Judgement, giving you damage without downside. Yes Journey Tattoo of Makanui exists and i know its softcore, but you need that belt slot, believe me. But in the end, its up to the player really, if you want low life, go for it.
Skill Tree (POB)
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Videos
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Minotaur https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwqFHLd-Rvs Oshabi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFTDzv2iFRA Exarch lvl 84 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7rIIj4hUAM Awakener lvl 84 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhL4VnUnb8w The Twisted (81% item quantity) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-QkmXTt8SA The Formed (81% item quantity) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8oRN6H-xbk Lycia lvl 83 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_s3Sf47kQA Maven https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu-dO6cugg8
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Maven is tricky because you cant cross the brain without getting the regen debuff, so its unreliable to damage it with Frigid Bond, forcing the use of Creeping Frost for that specific phase.
Uber Atziri - Witnessed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0v3ujULJCk Note: Some videos above were recorded before new Shako and RF The Forgotten https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GouGRF7hqYg The Feared https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n_SkziKTQg Simulacrum wave 30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW5PpI9_34I More videos Soon™ Leveling
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Leveling using Cold Snap/Creeping Frost until lvl 38 and Harmony of Purpose. Can use Frigid Bond from gem lvl 1 really, just get some whatever gear on vendor for AG until maps.
lvl 70 rushed POB(xd): https://pastebin.com/876X6Tc0 Note: Link passives and Mastery "Enemies near your linked targets have exposure" must be used all the way until Endgame gloves with the cold exposure implicit  Also, if you want to play with Frigid Bond as soon as possible, its better to grab the Mastery to use Links on minions earlier, just above the Templar starting area, then respec to Indomitable Army later  Ascendancy
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 Harmony of Purpose > Radiant Faith > Bastion of Hope > Unwavering Faith Gear
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Weapon
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Early Game: same as regular cold dot really
Mid Game:  Cane of Kulemak with +3 levels of support gems, cold dot mult and cold damage or Spell damage End Game: Spell Damage/Cold dot mult/Cold Damage/Dot mult (if lucky) on a high atk speed sceptre Skill gem levels are useless because Frigid Bond has no benefit from it and is better suited for regular cold dot gameplay anyways. To get a similar Sceptre, buy Sceptre with cold dot mult or dot mult fractured and spam Deafening essence of Woe until the other not fractured multiplier shows up with a satisfactory tier and then craft damage over time Shield
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Early Game: anything useful
Mid Game: probably not used because of Cane of Kulemak End Game: Hunter or Shaper shield with increased reservation efficiency of socketed gems is mandatory. +2 Minimum Frenzy charges is a nice and expensive option Helmet
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Early Game: Life/Res helmet Mid Game: Life/Res helmet End Game: The build enabler, devourer of Divines, Forbidden Shako. Just get the one with highest Frigid Bond level you can afford, thats it. Probably gonna be really expensive soon (sorry about that) Note: when buying it, pay attention to the first support, as something like Void Manipulation makes Frigid Bond useless. Enchant: Any big aura mana reservation efficiency used on this build (Hatred, Determination, Malevolence, Purity of Elements, Vitality or Zealotry). If you get Zealotry enchant, then Hatred is used with Divine Blessing and vice-versa. Body Armour
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Early/Mid Game: Life/Res Body Armour
End Game: +1 curse because i think the 4 nodes on tree to get it are not worth the travel and aura effect is nice. To get a similar Body Armour, get a 6 linked 83 ilvl or more Astral Plate, use a Redeemer's Exalted Orb, after that use Bound Fossils or Alterations until it hits Tier 1 Aura effect, then make sure it dont have another Redeemer modifier, get a Hunter influenced body armour with +1 curse and no other hunter modifier, use a Awakener's Orb on the Hunter Chest and then apply it to the 6 link Aura effect redeemer chest and just pray for other good mods. Visual guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJCDSON0kO8 Gloves
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Early/Mid Game: Life/Res Gloves
End Game: Life, Spell Suppression and highest Chaos res possible since Purity of elements will be boosting other resistances. Minion Damage craft works well because of Spiritual Aid passive. Eater Implicit - Cold exposure on hit (mandatory on End game) Exarch Implicit - Cold dot mult Boots
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Early/Mid Game: Life/Res/Movement speed Rare boots
End Game: Life, Spell Suppression, Chaos res and craft Movement speed with Onslaught on kill Eater Implicit - Avoid Bleeding is important here Exarch Implicit - Movement Speed or Action speed Enchant - Attack Speed on kill for the Frog skill when mapping Belt
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Early/Mid Game: Life/Res Rare belt
End Game: Stygian Vise with Life and Resistances, Shaper belt is not mandatory but its nice damage :) Amulet
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Early/Mid Game: Life/Res/Dot/Spell Damage Amulet
End Game: Life, Damage Over time Multiplier, Spell Damage or Cold Damage, +1 to minimum Frenzy charges craft Annointment: Charisma Rings
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Early/Mid Game: Life/Res Rare Rings
End Game: Hungry Loop with these exactly support gems (mandatory) and a Frostbite on hit ring with life and dot mult Jewels
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  Rare jewels with Mana reservation efficiency, Life and Cold dot mult or dot mult Cluster Jewels:
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     Large Jewel gives Spell Block and Spell Damage, Medium have cold dot mult and life, Small jewels to fit Hatred on the build. Unique Jewels:
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 Endgame option, can be any 2 mods combination of Malevolence dot mult, Cold Damage when using Hatred and Consecrated Ground damage when using Zealotry  QOL option, Perma Consecrated Ground is sweet. Divergent Purifying Flame is a cheaper option for damage on bosses when using Zealotry Watcher's eye effect. Abyss Jewel:  Reservation Efficiency, Life, Avoid bleed and some stats Flasks
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Tattoos
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- Loyalty Tattoo of Kiloava (grants life on block against bosses)
- Spell Block until it hits 75% (Assuming you are using a spell recently) - Attributes (the amount needed to fit the gear) - Chaos res - Life - Reduced extra damage taken from crits - Increased Reservation Efficiency (if needed) Gem Link 6L Frigid Bond (Forbidden Shako) ⏺ lvl 1 Protective Link: dont need more levels, since it cost more mana and the amount blocked by the AG is irrelevant when compared to regen, regular quality still the best option too. ⏺ lvl 35 Frigid Bond: Use one with the highest level you can get on it. ⏺ lvl 1 Hypothermia: 20% more damage at lvl 1. This one is a flex, not gonna lie. ⏺ Awakened Controlled Destruction ⏺ Awakened Elemental Focus: Chill can be applied by Vortex as Frigid Bond needs the highest damage gems available. ⏺ Awakened Swift Affliction 6L Vortex/Righteous Fire (Body Armour) ⏺ Vortex: Auto Vortex on left click still here and necessary for on hit effects ⏺ Divergent Righteous Fire: Yes its weird to see RF here, but its hard to drop another gem socket for it. Swapping gems to raise RF damage dont make much difference in the end, so the rest is focused on Vortex. ⏺ Bonechill: Increases Frigid Bond damage ⏺ Hypothermia: Chance to freeze is nice when mapping. Swift afflicton its a alternative, but makes the utility of Vortex ailments worse. ⏺ Empower: Some damage to Vortex and more spell damage buff provided by RF ⏺ Cruelty: Cruelty effect is always on 40% when mapping, and its really good for ailments too. 5L Animate Guardian (Hungry Loop) ⏺ Divergent Animate Guardian ⏺ Empower ⏺ Meat Shield ⏺ Elemental Army ⏺ Minion Life 4L Hatred/Tempest Shield/Vitality (Boots) ⏺ Hatred ⏺ Tempest Shield ⏺ Vitality ⏺ lvl 3 or 4 Enlighten 3L Auras (Shield) ⏺ Determination ⏺ Purity of Elements ⏺ Malevolence 2L Leap Slam / 2L Zealotry (Gloves) ⏺ Leap Slam ⏺ Faster Attacks ⏺ Zealotry ⏺ Divine Blessing  With the right amount of ES provided by Radiant Faith and gear, Divine Blessing can be used at lvl 1 with Eldritch Battery, and also every other skill on the build comfortably. 1L Skill Gems (Weapon) ⏺ Elemental Weakness ⏺ Convocation: Used to reposition AG, especially useful on Expedition and on bosses, should be used in all stages of the build. ⏺ Vaal Molten Shell: Unfortunately CWDT cannot be used on par with Molten shell in the current setup unless Faster attacks is dropped for it on Bosses. Animate Guardian Gear
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Boots
Applies Scorch when close to enemies, the tooltip shows -13 ele res  Helmet Doubles minus resistance effects, which are magnified by using Frostbite/Ele Weakness/Harmony of Purpose/Cold exposure/Legacy of Fury. Its a must have on AG. Weapon No surprises here, Unless you want to hinder enemies with AG for some reason, then could use Singularity + a chaos res shield. Body Armour So why Blunderbore? its simple, 32% increased life from shrine buff, high armour, really cheap and the shrine icons above his head make it easier to know exactly where he is in the middle of chaos. Gloves The natural answer for gloves would be Southbound, but chaos res is more important, especially on Expedition and Simulacrum, so any rare gloves with over 45% chaos res is the ideal. Sometimes you can see me on: https://www.twitch.tv/venanci0_ Last edited by Venanci0_#0648 on Sep 23, 2023, 10:55:40 PM Last bumped on Dec 6, 2023, 6:05:17 PM
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Reserved
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I like the idea, have you tried Uber Pinnacle bosses or L85 Sirus?
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" I did in fact Uber Exarch, not deathless, but i dont think it is good for Uber farming, and 85 Sirus is impossible, since AG would always die on storm. |
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