Level 100 Crit Frost Blades Warden^3.25

Notes

DISCLAIMER:
This is an experimental build that I have not league-started before.
 I have done 2-stone practice runs that went VERY smoothly, but I cannot guarantee this build will scale in 3.26 the way I expect it to. 
Proceed with caution!


3.26 LEAGUE WILDCARD/UNKNOWNS:
Enchantments from Settlers are gone, so use Harvest Speed enchant instead. Because we want a Tri-Ele weapon without Phys damage, the Speed enchant is an upgrade.
Recombinators might be gone, so the best way to craft in 3.26 is still unclear as of the creation of this PoB. Much of the Endgame gear in this PoB had Recombinators in mind for making it, especially in an SSF setting.
Other 3.26 League Power could change the build some - stay tuned to my Youtube Channel or come by the Twitch stream for build updates.
youtube: www.youtube.com/@ZishPOE
Twitch: www.Twitch.tv/ZishPOE

Ailment Immunity
You can settle for Freeze (Brine King) and Chill (boots) only if you are SSF or poor, OR
You can get Ailment Immunity with EITHER Stormshroud OR Ancestral Vision (Optional)
For Stormshroud: you will need to get different boots with Avoid Shock Essence mod (most likely), then get the rest of the avoid shock from an Abyss Jewel.
For Ancestral Vision: You'll get 50 from the jewel, 20 from Thick Skin, then you can just get 1 Shield suffix for the other 30%
Can also use a Flask Suffix for reduced Shock Effect

Nimis
Nimis will allow a 5th support gem (probably Crit Damage or Hypothermia) and will remove the 61% less damage penalty from Returning Projectiles Support - this will approximately TRIPLE the build's damage, but will come at a steep cost of losing a ring.
If you give up a Taming, you will lose a TON of Elemental Resistance, OR if you give up the RARE ring you will lose a ton of Chaos Resistance and/or Attributes. 
Make sure you plan accordingly if you plan on adding a Nimis to the build.

Lethal Pride options - DD is King cuz SS isnt Melee - all the Melee Damage, Crit, Multi, and Rage on Hit nodes do NOTHING for SS because it is NOT a melee skill.
Prioritize DD for damage, and then Life/ Res / Crit Reduction / Fortify / etc

Warden - Oath of Spring
Warden Shock is 2% per stack up to 100% (50 stacks) - you need to hit A LOT of times quickly to reach this number, and it might not be possible without anointing Static Blows for longer shock duration. If this is this case, Static Blows will likely be the best anoint option, even if POB doesn't show it.

ANOINT:
Endgame: Static Blows may be best regardless to enable 50 shock stacks.
If you can reach 50 without it, you can consider several options based on your Oil access/budget:
High Voltage - 100% inc crit
Divine Judgment - cheap 50% inc damage
Ash, Frost, and Storm - Damage + Ailment Effect (this is also more base Crit with Brittle)

Guard skill 
The build doesn't have the armour to use Molten Shell effectively - use Steelskin or Immortal Call (or neither) as you prefer.


Smite Utility
Use Vaal Smite while mapping off-cooldown because it will have 100% uptime. You can use Regular Smite to keep Fortify up (optional), but it DOES require you to melee hit something (i.e. something has to be in Strike range, NOT hit by the "AOE" smite attack)
Vaal Smite (and regular Smite) give a powerful added Lightning Damage buff. Keep it up as often as possible for maximum damage.
Innervate can be used for mapping for another extra lightning damage buff, but this requires your Smite to KILL something -
For bossing, you can swap it for Power Charge on Crit, to help with more damage. Since we have the 100% charge duration mastery, the charges will stay up for 20 seconds.


RAGE
Rage is very strong as a multiplicative damage multipier
The options to get Rage (30% more damage) are VERY limited on Splitting Steel as it is NOT a Melee skill
Most of the common Rage sources are Melee-Only (Verteran's Wrath, Lethal Pride nodes, etc).
The only real source of Rage you can rely on is the "Rage on attack hit" Exarch Glove Implicit. 
Orb of Conflicting this to Tier 5 for 2 Rage on Hit would be very strong, if you can afford it.
Rage ramp will take some time on this build, it will be difficult to sustain against bosses without using some other rage-generating utility skill.


FLASKS:
Types:  Diamond + Silver + Granite, plus a Prismatic Tincture with Attack Speed.  More Speed is a big priority for stacking shocks (and freezes)
Suffixes: Flask Suffixes do NOT stack - make sure you get one with Critical Strike Chance, Evasion, and Armour.  You can substitute the Evasion suffix for Shock or Curse reduction if you prefer.
Upgrading:  Over time, you want to roll better flask suffixes - i.e., up to 55% Crit, and 60% Armour/Evasion.  You can roll NEW flasks until you hit better mods, then replace your current ones.
Other Options: Bottled Faith, Dying Sun


LUXURY/ HIGH-BUDGET ITEMS: (None of these items are required at all)
Bottled Faith (This is better than a regular Diamond Flask w/ Crit suffix)
Dying Sun - +2 proj would make the build go from 9 to 11 proj, which would be ~20% more damage
Progenesis - VERY strong tanky option if you want to afford it
Giga-Perfect Lethal Prides (Lethal Pride is Primarily used to fix Strength - any damage from it is just a bonus)
2 and 3-mod Watcher's Eyes (Anger + Precision Watcher's Eyes will be VERY strong)
Corruptions on Tamings/Other items


LEVELING:
I plan on leveling with Frost Blades until Act 4 when you get Returning Projectiles. Splitting Steel does not perform great without Returning Projectiles for killing single-targets, so I don't recommend leveling with it from level 1.
You can use ANY skill of your choice before that point, the build is flexible and has entirely generic elemental attack scaling before that point.

The early Acts (1-3) can be a frustrating struggle, especially if you are a newer player. Bear this in mind if you choose to play Frost Blades AND you want to LEVEL with Frost Blades.
I like to level with Frost Blades personally because I enjoy the skill and have much experience with it.
(A1)Brutus is the hardest boss in the campaign by far.  It will suck - just grit your teeth through it. (Decoy Totem can help a lot)
Blade Trap is VERY powerful and helpful in killing Merveil, especially - get it before and use it on her.
(A2) Adding in Bloodrage + Herald of Ice + Whirling Blades + Looking out for ELE DMG Swords will make leveling feel much better quickly

(A3-A4) By the time you get to Act 3-4, get Anger+Trinity on, Blood Rage on, Herald of Ice on, and get some Attack Speed scaling (on tree), the build will start to feel GREAT.
To Swap to Trinity, you will need Anger to have enough damage to Proc it (PROBABLY) - you may also need some Fire Damage on your Claw And/Or Crafts on Rings/Gloves. You can use Poacher's Mark until you switch to Splitting Steel, then use Sniper's Mark.

I recommend taking the Scorch node (Oath of Summer) first, as it gives you tons of damage for leveling. You will need to start going into some Crit around that time, because you need to Crit to apply Scorch - you must also prioritize Fire Damage. (Use Anger + get Fire dmg elsewhere)



F.A.Q.s 
Is this HCSSF Viable?  NO - DONT PLAY IT
What's the Budget?  League Starter to the Moon - The more you invest, the more damage you will get. Maybe 100-150 Divines will get you ~100mil damage (approximately)
What content can it do?  All regular mapping content
What content can it NOT do?  Deep Delve / 100% Deli T17s / 
Can it do Uber Bosses?  Yes - with high enough damage/investment - don't expect to walk into Ubers with Day 1 Gear and have fun
How does Trinity work?  Get 2 types of damage
Where do the Charges come from? Frenzies from Blood Rage while mapping, the Mark Mastery(or Sword mastery) for Bosses. Power can come from Smite PCOC(optional).