[3.16] Frost Blades + HoI Crest Of Desire Champion Updated for 3.16

Hello and welcome to my CoD Frost Blades/HoI Champion guide!

With all the nerfs to support gems, Crest of Desire looks to be a very good alternative so i've updated the PoB for 3.15 Expedition league. Some of the supports this build uses like Ancestral Call and Added Cold Damage were left untouched, and along with the Frost Blades base damage buff the damage is pretty much the same aswell.

This is a strong and fast mapping build that I used to get #15 on the Ritual Ladder with, and #1 Champion. So if your goal is to get level 100, or just to farm maps/rituals very fast, this might be the build for you.

As with most Frost Bladers, the end game bossing leaves a little to be desired, but all the powerful crafting available from harvest will certainly make that part easier. With good gear and playing well, you can definately kill bosses like Uber elder and Sirus 8.

Video Guide
https://youtu.be/WbwkBqup94M

Path of Building
https://pastebin.com/9k7cqX8F 3.16 Updated

The PoB includes trees at different levels, aswell as a more traditional FB tree, if you dont want to bother with the Herald of Ice synergies, or if you want to play the build but cant afford a Crest of Desire yet. Champion has a very good toolkit for Frost Blades so its a really solid build without it aswell.

You can also go "all in" on HoI and use more cluster jewels while sacrificing some defensive passives, and even use Carcass Jack to boost the damage and AoE even further. You would also probably anoint Holy Dominion and maybe use The Taming for more % Chance to Freeze for more reliable chains. This would probably be ideal for lower tier map farming for currency.

An explosion chest would also probably help alot with chains but I have yet to try that, you would definately try to convert it to cold to scale the damage better because currently we only have 40% conversion. Hrimsorrow or Hatred conversion Watcher's Eye would be viable alternatives for that.

Uniques

These 2 plus the Calamitous Visions unique Cluster jewel, that grants Lone Messenger, is whats gonna juice up our Herald of Ice damage. White Wind is just a really solid weapon for Frost Blades on its own, and we also get alot of damage to our FB from our HoI from all the gem levels, quality and buff effect.

We are also using 2 Fight for survival threshold jewels for cold pen and
proj speed for our Frost Blades

Help Alira for bandits

Rares


Flasks


Gem Links


Passives


Leveling

Theres links and a leveling tree in the PoB. I recommend using FB + Double Strike for single target early on.

Use Frost Blades + Ancestral Call + Onslaught for clear
and Double Strike + Chance to Bleed for single target

Later on pick up Elemental Damage with attacks for FB and Melee Physical Damage for Double Strike

Get Ancestral Protector for a damage boost vs bosses

I recommend using Herald of Ice, War Banner and Vitality as your auras during leveling. You can also use Hatred if you are not having any issues with mana. Precision is also an option until you pick up Worthy Foe if you are not taking Resolute Technique.

Take Unstoppable Hero and Fortitude as your first Ascendancies if you are using the Respec tree going for Resolute Technique, otherwise go for Conqueror and Worthy Foe first.

About time you made a guide. I found your build on Poe.ninja like a week ago and had a hard time figuring out what to do as I leveled. I’m currently 85 and having a rough time. I need more damage. I’m at work atm so when I get home I will have to look they the guide and my build and adjust. I noticed a few days ago you made some changes like adding the cluster jewels and dumped the thick skin node.

Anyway tl;dr I found your build before the guide and am so happy you posted this. It’s a lot of fun to play.

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UndrcvrKiller a écrit :

About time you made a guide. I found your build on Poe.ninja like a week ago and had a hard time figuring out what to do as I leveled. I’m currently 85 and having a rough time. I need more damage. I’m at work atm so when I get home I will have to look they the guide and my build and adjust. I noticed a few days ago you made some changes like adding the cluster jewels and dumped the thick skin node.

Anyway tl;dr I found your build before the guide and am so happy you posted this. It’s a lot of fun to play.

Good to hear! Yep been tinkering with it for abit for the last week. Hope you find it useful :)

thanks for the guide! i have only one question. What are we looking for letha pride jewel to do? thanks for the answer!

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Ethorian a écrit :

thanks for the guide! i have only one question. What are we looking for letha pride jewel to do? thanks for the answer!

Mostly looking for % Chance to deal double damage and Melee Crit Multiplier as offensive stats, and Increased Fortify Effect and % Life as defensive stats.

When it comes to mapping and map bosses specifically, do you still use Double Strike for them and if so what gems do you switch around? When I reached mapping I got the Crest of Desire, White Wind and am using the Ancestral Warchief, Blood Rage, Frost Bomb Steelskin setup and bosses are a huge issue. (I expected since Frost Blades isn't a bossing skill) just looking for advice really!

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Gadie a écrit :

When it comes to mapping and map bosses specifically, do you still use Double Strike for them and if so what gems do you switch around? When I reached mapping I got the Crest of Desire, White Wind and am using the Ancestral Warchief, Blood Rage, Frost Bomb Steelskin setup and bosses are a huge issue. (I expected since Frost Blades isn't a bossing skill) just looking for advice really!

Nope, I ditch Double Strike pretty early. But yeah the biggest tips I can give for bossing is to always switch out Ancestral Call for Ruthless, Use Vaal Ancestral Warchief with Culling support and try to get that additional curse on chest for Assassin's mark, especially for endgame bosses.

love the post! my problem with the build was that I wanted to use explosion chest. In order to reach 100% conversion for explosion chest you need to remove calamitous visions and replace it with a watchers eye and a hatred gem. The watchers eye needs to be a 35% phys to cold roll and you have to craft 25% phys to cold onto a pair of rare gloves. Alternatively, I think you can just have an aura bot with hatred and run calamitous visions with the watchers eye since calamitous vision disables your auras not allies (I think that is how it works idk).

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ShadowEliteWraith a écrit :

love the post! my problem with the build was that I wanted to use explosion chest. In order to reach 100% conversion for explosion chest you need to remove calamitous visions and replace it with a watchers eye and a hatred gem. The watchers eye needs to be a 35% phys to cold roll and you have to craft 25% phys to cold onto a pair of rare gloves. Alternatively, I think you can just have an aura bot with hatred and run calamitous visions with the watchers eye since calamitous vision disables your auras not allies (I think that is how it works idk).

Yeah theres probably some cool party play interactions, but you could also make it work with 90% conversion with Hrimsorrow, and maybe anoint Tribal Fury if you feel you still need the additional strike from hunter gloves. I think theres alot of creative solutions that you can make work pretty well!

What about bosses?... Sirus, Maven, Conquerors. etc...?