Level 100 Crit Frost Blades Warden^3.27

Notes

Leveling Notes:

Make sure to use the Loadouts dropdown section near the top right for each section! For leveling, keep an eye on the Skills section to check for changes to support gems.

Use your gold - gamble for upgrades in your worst slots with the vendor in each town. If your weapon is bad, gamble for weapons. If it is good, gamble for items with good sockets/links/stats. I do not recommend gambling for jewelry.

I HIGHLY recommend creating a mule (throwaway character that clears Hillock only, then converts all its gear to wisdom scrolls and puts them in the bank for character #2 to use) so that you can purchase 2 iron rings and a rustic sash at the vendor. 
This will make Mud Flats much easier, and help you tremendously if you want to pursue the league mechanic!

This is an attack build - you need to always be on the lookout for better weapons. Your damage does not scale with levels nearly as well as it does on spells, your weapon is critical to having good damage. 
 - Note: Frost Blades is not an insanely strong skill in Acts 1 and 2. Brutus and Merveil are not fast! You will need to be patient while your damage ramps. The fire mastery and Precise Technique are BIG damage increases in Act 2, and ascending in 
   Act 3 lets you have a Prismatic Tincture up all the time. After Act 3, the rest of the campaign should be a complete breeze.

Act 1 links before Brutus:
Frost Blades-Chance to Poison-Momentum

Make sure to pickup and vendor gear throughout Act 1 - you will need transmutes to purchase several gems, and better weapons from the vendor in the event you do not find a good weapon on the ground or from gambling.

Act 1 links after Brutus: 
Frost Blades-Faster Attacks-Added Fire Damage

In Act 2, there is a combo of 2 red beasts you could potentially get that would provide you with 2 orbs of binding - this is really good and can get you an early 4-link, so pay attention to what beasts you get from your Act 2 encounters!

Check vendors for better sockets/links on items and weapon upgrades. Look for a Prismatic tincture in the vendor or on the trade website - it is a BIG damage increase while active; you can pop it on big rares and on bosses even before ascending in
Act 3.

Make sure to have some gold available for the respec in Act 7 to crit - you want to do this after ascending in cruel lab, as this will unlock your 2nd tincture slot, and you can slot in a Rosethorn tincture (which will give you massive crit.)
 - Note: at this time, it is worth looking for a claw with additional crit chance on it. Prior to this, critical strike chance is not meaningful while Precise Technique is allocated. Do NOT have Precise Technique allocated after swapping to crit. 




Specific Loadout Notes:

NOTE: all budgets are estimated costs based off previous league experience with the economy in the first 2 weeks. Things change league-to-league that are unforeseen, so these items could be cheaper or more expensive depending on the meta.
NOTE 2: No idea what will happen to the cost of chaos in 3.28 with the changes that were made. It is very likely to be worth less. You could possibly consider the costs below to be in Gemcutter Prism's rather than in Chaos.

100c budget - This is intended to reflect your initial upgrades that fix your resistances and attributes, a decent claw, and a corrupted 6-link with your colors. Do not worry about capping Chaos Resistance, that is just an added bonus if possible, it is
not needed for the campaign. Try to find any Imperial Claw with crit, attack speed, and more than 300 elemental DPS. Bench crafting and shrieking essences for each slot of gear will usually provide you with a solid set of starter gear that can set you
up to clear out the entire atlas with.

350c budget - Only changes here are better tinctures and a better claw. Tinctures are a massive part of this build's damage and should not be overlooked, it is critical that you upgrade these when possible and roll them to have increased attack
speed, increased effect, and elemental penetration. The tinctures are more important than the weapon upgrade. For the weapon, it can be advantageous to buy a claw with a fractured t3 or t4 elemental damage mod and then hit it with essences 
until you get attack speed and crit, then craft the final elemental roll.

1300c budget - This is a large currency jump, but you can change each piece one at a time while keeping attributes and resistances capped. You do not need Chaos Resistance capped, just ensure its not negative. Eldritch implicits are
a sizable part of the budget here, try to aim for the ones shown in the Items section, they are really strong - the gloves take priority. Additional strikes and pierce are critical for your clear. I recommend crafting all of your gear, the PoB is setup under
the assumption you can craft all of this gear. The helmet and body armour need to have mana reservation efficiency on them from the Loathing essence - this is important in future loadouts. 

2100c budget - Aul's Uprising provides a free aura. Combining this with some Enlightens allows us to fit 5 different 50% auras, so now Grace and Determination fit into the build, making Perseverance a strong choice for future scaling of the build,
and also making an immediate impact on tankiness. Brutal Restraint provides aura effect, which is pretty strong with this many auras, but it is not required - lethal pride helps a ton with strength and provides comparable or increased damage
depending on the one you get; it is personal preference, I like the aura effect. Also, tincture upgrades - its worth live searching for high item level tinctures that drop with more than 20 quality, sniping these and crafting them to perfection will provide
HUGE damage increases.

3700c budget - Chest piece with big eldritch implicits. This is an expensive craft but will make a huge difference in tankiness. Crafting guide for anything labeled as "Endgame" is included at the bottom of the notes, including this item. Also fit in a 
armour Light of Meaning to cap out Molten Shell 50k armour value with no flask up.

4700c budget - Imbued 20/20 Frost Blades with a useful level 1 support gem (trinity, culling strike, behead, lifetap, fortify, etc.,) quality on gems, Watcher's Eye with anger crit multi mod and 2 other useful mods.

6500c budget - Endgame claw. Crafting guide below. 

8000c budget - Endgame helmet + double corrupted Perseverence. There are a ton of useful corruptions, aura effect on any of the big auras, attack speed during flask effect, lots of good options. Crafting guide below for the helmet.
This is puzzle piece #1 for the swap from Aul's Uprising to yoke/fury valve (depending if you're more focused on ST or on map blasting; for me, I want yoke for maven invitations.)

10500c budget - Endgame ring + kalandra's touch. Crafting guide below.
This is puzzle piece #2.

12000c budget - Endgame boots + Endgame shield + 2 enlighten 4's. 
This is puzzle piece #3.
NOTE: Yes, these pieces make you ailment immune while you're also running purity of elements. This is to prep you to be ailment immune without that aura. You will drop that aura later once you can afford to without ruining your elemental resistances.

16000c budget - Big passive tree swap around, adding in a large cluster and 2 small clusters for the 4th puzzle piece of fixing the mana reservation. This allows us to run all 5 auras on just mana, and frees up the amulet slot for a big upgrade to 
Yoke or Fury Valve. I highly recommend trying Fury Valve if you're more interested in mapping, it is an insane difference in clear. Don't forget to annoint your new amulet.

22000c budget - Endgame gloves. These are pretty expensive due to needing double t5 eldritch implicits for 2 strikes + 2 pierce on a fractured alva temple glove base. I recommend self-fracturing. Crafting guide below.

47000c budget - Swapping out of Perseverance (thank you for your service, 5c soldier) and into the new Screams of the Dessicated belt. Assuming ~190 divines for price. Change around cluster jewels, pickup a few tattoos for suppression, double 
foulborn ancestral vision, runegraft of the fortress. Significant passive tree rework to accommodate a 2nd cluster jewel.

60000c budget - Awakened Multistrike (or new equivalent,) Awakened Ele damage w/ Attacks (or new equivalent; also exceptional trinity will be a thing but not sure what that does yet,) level 21 gems. Build is basically done at this point unless 
you're a gamer and want to go for mirror or multi-mirror items. 

???c budget - Mirror ring, double-corrupted Gull, double-corruped Screams of the Dessicated, perfect tri-ele claw, new boots to cover lightning res, and a ridiculous multi-mirror focused amulet. I believe the amulet takes around 50 hinekora's locks
on average, or something like that. Also turned on all the conditionals, because why wouldn't you at this point? Good luck!



Crafting Guide:

Note: For any elemental resistance suffix's, remember you can swap one element to another with the harvest crafting bench (example: you can change t1 lightning res to t1 cold res at any time on any piece of gear.)


Endgame Chest:

Step 1: Purchase ilvl 86 Conquest Lamellar w/ fractured t1 %increased armour and evasion or t1 flat armour and evasion.
Step 2: Use deafening essence of loathing until all 3 suffix's are filled with desired t1 modifiers (t1 chaos res is pretty rare, expect this to take a while if you're going for it. For me, I prefer Physical Damage Reduction.)
Step 3: Make exarch influence dominant on the implicits.
Step 4: Use eldritch annulments/exalts to get the other 2 armour/evasion rolls; up to you on which level of modifiers to settle for, but I recommend going for 2 t1s and 1 t2. 
Step 5: Use greater eldritch embers (red) and roll for increased aura effect implicit.
Step 6: Use 1 exceptional eldritch ichor (blue) to maximize the chance of upgrading exarch influence.
Step 7: Use orb of conflict, hope red is upgraded and blue is downgraded. If successful, repeat steps 6 and 7. If you fail and blue upgrades, go again - if blue upgrades again, go back to step 5, if you succeed, then repeat this step.
Step 8: Use methodology from steps 6 and 7 to upgrade red all the way to perfect. Every time red is upgraded to a new tier, apply a new exceptional ichor (blue) to maximize the chances of increasing red again.
Step 9: After achieving t6 perfect exarch influence on aura effect, roll grand eldritch ichors (blue) until you get % chance to fortify with melee hits. Craft completed!



Endgame Claw (flat elemental claw):

Step 1: Purchase fractured t1 elemental damage imperial claw. Any element works, cold is slightly preferred as it is our best element for freezing and you are likely to get baited into settling on a lower mod later.
Step 2: Use deafening essences of Anger, Wrath, or Hatred to apply the 2nd t1 flat elemental roll, and use these essences repeatedly until you achieve the 3rd t1 elemental damage prefix. It is ok to settle for tier 2, this step is pretty expensive.
Step 3: Once all 3 prefix's are filled with desirable mods, you will need to get attack speed and crit. Assuming you didn't get super lucky and roll both of these at the same time as the last prefix, you will need to wipe your suffix's by crafting
prefix's cannot be changed for 2 divines and then scouring the claw. If there is not an open suffix to craft "prefix's cannot be changed," then you will need to use an orb of annulment and hope it doesn't hit your prefix's - if it does, start over.
Step 4: After wiping your suffix's, craft "prefixes cannot be changed" again and use the harvest bench to Reforge Speed, which will guarantee attack speed - it is fine to settle on t3 or above, but t2 or t1 is preferred.
Step 5: After achieving the desired attack speed, craft increased critical strike chance. Craft completed!



Endgame Helmet:

Step 1: Purchase ilvl 84+ Haunted Bascinet w/  fractured t1 life.
Step 2: Use deafening essence of loathing until all 3 suffix's are filled with desired t1 modifiers (t1 chaos res is pretty rare, expect this to take a while.)
Step 3: Make exarch influence dominant on the implicits.
Step 4: Use eldritch annulments/exalts to get t1 %increased armour/evasion
Step 5: Benchcraft +1 pierce
Step 6: Use greater eldritch ichors (blue) and roll for increased mana reservation efficiency of skills implicit.
Step 7: Use 1 exceptional eldritch ember (red) to maximize the chance of upgrading eater influence.
Step 8: Use orb of conflict, hope blue is upgraded and red is downgraded. If successful, repeat step 7. If you fail and red upgrades, go again with an orb of conflict - if red upgrades again, go back to step 6, if you succeed, then repeat steps 7 and 8.
Step 9: Use methodology from steps 7 and 8 to upgrade blue all the way to perfect. Every time blue is upgraded to a new tier, apply a new exceptional ember (red) to maximize the chances of increasing blue again.
Step 10: After achieving t6 perfect eater influence on mana reservation efficiency, roll grand eldritch embers (red) until you get reduced mana cost of attacks. Craft completed!



Endgame Ring:

Step 1: Purchase ilvl 84+ Amethyst Ring w/ fractured t1 or t2 elemental damage with attacks. (t1 is obviously preferred, but can be very expensive on an Amethyst Ring base.)
Step 2: Use deafening essence of scorn until all 3 suffix's are filled with desired t1 modifiers.
Step 3: Use beastcrafting with Wild Bristle Matron to force on "Suffix's cannot be changed" for cheaper (the beast should always be less than 2 divines.) 
Step 4: Use the harvest bench to Reforge Life, which forces on a maximum life roll. It is a 1 in 8 to get t1 life, I do not recommend settling for t2 since this ring will be mirrored with Kalandra's Touch.
Step 5: Craft -mana cost to non-channeling skills.
Step 6: Quality the ring with the desired catalyst type. Craft completed! Don't forget to buy a Kalandra's Touch!



Endgame Boots: 

Step 1: Purchase ilvl 84+ Wyvernscale Boots w/ fractured t1 life. If you want to go for 35% movement speed instead of unveiled movement speed, you will need ilvl 86 boots.
Step 2: Use deafening essence of loathing until all 3 suffix's are filled with desired t1 modifiers.
Step 3: Use beastcrafting with Wild Bristle Matron to force on "Suffix's cannot be changed" for cheaper (the beast should always be less than 2 divines.) 
Step 4: Use a veiled chaos orb to force on a veiled prefix modifier. This is guaranteed to offer at least 1 movement speed option.
Step 5: Benchcraft % increased armour and evasion.
Step 6: Use greater eldritch ichor (blue) to roll elemental ailment avoidance.
Step 7: Use 1 exceptional eldritch ember (red) to maximize the chance of upgrading eater influence.
Step 8: Use orb of conflict, hope blue is upgraded and red is downgraded. If successful, repeat step 7. If you fail and red upgrades, go again with an orb of conflict - if red upgrades again, go back to step 6, if you succeed, then repeat steps 7 and 8.
Step 9: Use methodology from steps 7 and 8 to upgrade blue all the way to perfect. Every time blue is upgraded to a new tier, apply a new exceptional ember (red) to maximize the chances of increasing blue again.
Step 10: After achieving t6 perfect eater influence on mana reservation efficiency, roll grand eldritch embers (red) until you get reduced mana cost of attacks. Craft completed!



Endgame Shield:

Step 1: Purchase ilvl 86+ Cardinal Round Shield w/ fractured t1 life.
Step 2: Use new Essence of Desolation (assuming this is a suffix currently) until you achieve t1 elemental ailment avoidance, or get lucky and getl all 3 suffix's are filled with desired modifiers. If you get lucky, skip to step x. 
Step 3: If you have t1 ailment avoidance suffix and the 3rd suffix is full, then try using orbs of annulment to remove the 3rd suffix. If successful, proceed to step 4. If you fail, return to step 2. 
Step 4: Craft "suffix's cannot be changed" and harvest reforge physical. This is a 5/13 to get any physical damage reduction mod, and it is a 1/13 to get t1 physical damage reduction. Settle at your own discretion.
Step 5: If prefix's get filled up, you will unfortunately have to try to annul one off and pray. Either way, once you have the shield with all suffix's filled and with fractured life, you want to fish for flat armour/evasion. You should use Wild Bristle Matron's to
force on "Suffix's cannot be changed" and then use an exalted orb (or the breach exalted orb that gives higher tiers, which would be better depending on price) and hope you get it, then scour and repeat if you do not. 
Step 6: Craft % increased armour and evasion. Craft completed!



Endgame Gloves:

Step 1: Purchase ilvl 84+ Wyvernscale Gloves with any alva temple mod.
Step 2: Use the harvest bench to swap the resistance/alva mod back and forth until the cold res alva mod has a high roll of % increased damage.
Step 3: Get the gloves to have 4 modifiers on them. If it has more than 4, you can make exarch dominant and then use eldritch annulment orbs to remove prefix's until there are 4 total mods on the item.
Step 4: Use a fracturing orb for a 1 in 4 chance to fracture the temple mod. If you miss, repeat all steps up to this point. 
Step 5: Once the temple mod is fractured, use deafening essence of zeal until all 3 suffix's are filled with desired t1 modifiers.
Step 6: Make exarch influence dominant on the implicits.
Step 7: Use eldritch annulments/exalts to get t1 life and t1 % increased armour/evasion. You can settle without the % increased armour and evasion if you wish, it is not a giant difference either way.
Step 8: Craft % increased damage during any flask effect
Step 9: Use greater eldritch embers (red) and roll for additional non-vaal strike skills implicit.
Step 10: Use 1 exceptional eldritch ichor (blue) to maximize the chance of upgrading exarch influence.
Step 11: Use orb of conflict, hope red is upgraded and blue is downgraded. If successful, repeat steps 10 and 11. If you fail and blue upgrades, go again - if blue upgrades again, go back to step 9, if you succeed, then repeat this step.
Step 12: Use methodology from steps 10 and 11 to upgrade red all the way to perfect. Every time red is upgraded to a new tier, apply a new exceptional ichor (blue) to maximize the chances of increasing red again.
Step 13: After achieving t6 perfect exarch influence on additional strike skills, roll exceptional eldritch ichors (blue) until you get additional pierce (this is potentially very expensive.)
Step 14: Use orb of conflict, hope red is downgraded and blue is upgraded - you should have +2 strikes and +2 pierce. If you fail and blue is downgraded, repeat steps 13 and 14. Once you have +2 strikes and +2 pierce, craft completed!



Squire Setup Mirror Claw:

Step 1: Procure an ilvl 83 shaper-influenced imperial claw (can purchase this as it is, or you can apply a shaper's exalted orb to a non-influenced claw.) 
Step 2: Scour the shaper claw, then use an orb of transmutation to make the claw magic.
Step 3: Roll the claw with orbs of alteration until you get socketed skills deal 40% more attack damage. If there is a suffix, annul it off. If you fail and hit the attack damage roll, then repeat this step.
Step 4: Procure multiple quad tabs of magic ilvl 83 elder-influenced imperial claws that all have level 20 ruthless support prefix using methodology from steps 2 and 3.
Step 5: Use beastcrafting with a Craicic Chimeral and a Black Morrigan to apply a Hinekora's Lock to the shaper-influenced claw.
Step 6: Use an Awakener's orb on any of the elder claws, then hover over the shaper claw - DO NOT apply it until the outcome is desirable, the purpose of the hinekora's lock is to view the potential outcomes. Each elder claw should have a different
outcome when awakener's orb, so just hover all of them until you find one that fills the 3rd prefix with level 18 or level 20 elemental damage with attacks support.
Step 7: Craft "prefixes cannot be changed" and scour the claw to wipe the suffixes and leave the claw with only 3 prefixes.
Step 8: Benchcraft % increased critical strike chance to block this outcome from future exalt slams. 
Step 9: Use an exalted orb. You are looking for "socketed gems are supported by x level increased critical damage" OR "socketed gems are supported by x level faster attacks." If you slammed a mod that is NOT one of these, and also does NOT 
have the "attack" tag on the suffix modifier, then you can craft "cannot roll attack modifiers" and use an annulment orb - which will either hit the mod you want to remove, or hit the benchcraft; if you hit the benchcraft, then reapply it and annul again. 
If you exalt slam a mod that DOES have the "attack" tag on it and isn't one of the desired mods, then you will need to go back to step 7.
Step 10: After spending many divine orbs on Step 9, you will need to now get the other modifier that you are missing - either the crit damage support mod or the faster attacks support mod. You will need to repeat the methodology in Step 9 to get the
2nd modifier, and this is going to be extremely expensive. 
Step 11: After spending many more divine orbs on Step 10, benchcraft % increased critical strike chance. Craft completed! Go touch grass.