[3.25] Frostblade Tincture Warden 62+ mil DPS 🥶 Ice Queen [3.26 valid]

"

Stewie 240 wrote:

Here are some swords you'd want to use
Not sure what platform youre on, but im sure theres a lot better ones out there

Thank you for bringing this swords here. Perfect for this build too :)

So ive been leveling up and gearing this character. I did manage to snag what i think is an amazing watchers eye! One question though - how did you manage to get +2 all skills on your heatshiver? Im going to linknmine and the watchers eye.

Heatshiver is corrupted - it is exceptional, hard to get implicit. I gave 50 divs for this one. Nice Watchers eye.

Hey there! I managed to mirror a 7xx top end claw on xbox. Anyhow, was wondering if there were any updates to this for 3.26? The runegraft of gemcraft (+1 all support gems except exceptional seems like it could be a decent addon?)

I don't think there’s any major update that would dramatically change this build. Right now, I’m playing in a similar way with Slayer, using block passive nodes, and it feels tankier. I will experiment with full block (Svalin) version.

I swapped the armor for Replica Farrul's Fur, which seems like a solid change since it keeps Frenzy and Endurance charges up, which is outstanding on bossing. In 3.26, Ralakesh’s Impatience boots were nerfed, so this armor is now my preferred choice. I’m also using an Arn’s Anguish belt, which gives me a 21% chance to deal triple damage thanks to the Endurance Charges transformation. (Note: with Ralakesh’s boots, you would still retain the effect of Endurance Charges even when they’re transformed into Brutal Charges.)

The downside is that there’s no Fortify from the armor, but this setup allows me to use two Taming rings, because we also get Onslaught from the armor. I also crafted a level 30 Aspect of the Cat on the amulet becasue of Fur, it's free.

I also use Rage Support for Vaal Lightning Strike instead of Bone Chill, because it charges Rage dramaticly.

Taking nodes for block, with decent Shield with block and Tempest Shield gives another tremendous defensive layer.

Ok, thanks for the info. By the way here is the claw i mirrored.

absolut OP :)

Thanks first of all for the well-written guide! Definately interested in the build as a potential starter for 3.27 as I love playing underappreciated ascendancies, and warden falls under that categorie.

Speaking of Leaguestart: Do you know by any chance how league-start friendly this build is, considering the phys claws are hard to craft? And do you have any video content u might wanna show?

Answer below.

"

Vennto#1610 wrote:

Thanks first of all for the well-written guide! Definately interested in the build as a potential starter for 3.27 as I love playing underappreciated ascendancies, and warden falls under that categorie.

Speaking of Leaguestart: Do you know by any chance how league-start friendly this build is, considering the phys claws are hard to craft? And do you have any video content u might wanna show?

My favorite content creator is Zish, and you can find his channel on YouTube. A great starting point is his “3.25 Frost Blades Warden League Start Build Guide.” He has created many variations of Frost Blades builds. Especially his early 3.25 videos explain all the important details very clearly. I’ve implemented many of his ideas for Frost Blades myself. He often goes for elemental claws, so you don’t have to stick with the physical version. Personally, I love the physical version because it’s my own idea—I didn’t copy it, and I didn’t even realize it would end up stronger than the full elemental T1/T1/T1 claw setups.

Since Frost Blades was reworked, at level 20 it now multiplies all damage (including flat elemental damage) by 400%, so at the beginning there isn’t a huge difference between physical and elemental. However, physical damage scaling becomes more significant in the endgame, so you can swap from elemental to physical later if you want. If you prefer elemental, just run flat damage auras like Wrath and Herald of Ice.

I feel Frost Blades is a really fun league starter skill. I’m comfortable with it from the very beginning, though Acts 1–3 can be a bit of a struggle for someone who has never tried it. But if you push through, the build really takes off. There’s a kind of satisfaction in playing Frost Blades that I’ve never experienced with other skills.

At the start, just use any claws with flat elemental damage. For the first few acts, it doesn’t really matter—I sometimes even use two-handed swords while leveling with Frost Blades. Two handed swords are the best at the beginning. One hit is enough.

Also, you don’t actually need to craft physical claws yourself—you can just buy them. They are expensive, but it’s definitely possible. Of course, crafting is still an option: just buy claws with a fractured physical mod, then spam Essences of Contempt (flat phys) to hit the last prefix. The suffixes are deterministic, so the process is relatively straightforward. This is how I crafted almost perfect phys claws with very little effort.

That said, sometimes chasing 80% of the maximum claw DPS isn’t as important as other upgrades. Every piece of gear contributes to your overall DPS. While developing your character, it’s often better to sacrifice a perfect weapon and instead invest in other items. For example, picking up a Yoke of Suffering can boost your damage by around 40%, which is far more impactful than squeezing out that extra 10% DPS from a weapon.

Warden is probably the fastest and most DPS-oriented ascendancy, with Avatar of the Wild being extremely powerful. However, tankier options like Slayer or Trickster are less fragile. All of these approaches are well covered by Zish on his channel.