Frost Blades Trickster - Path of Exile 3.24

The Frost Blades skill gem has been buffed considerably in the previous league and we are happy to say that it survived the bevy of changes Grinding Gear Games has made in Patch 3.24.

Some of those changes involve mana in that it now takes special care to truly make builds comfortable to play without worrying about the said resource. Do not worry, we have got you covered!

The Frost Blades Trickster is still one of the best mappers in the game despite the mana nerfs. So, if you are interested in learning more about this build, then go on and read further. This is our comprehensive build guide for the Frost Blades Trickster in the 3.24 Necropolis League!

Basics

Frost Blades is an attack skill gem in Path of Exile that has some notable properties that you need to be aware of. The skill itself has two core components. The initial strike is considered a "melee" attack, meaning, its damage is scaled by putting melee attack damage mods on your gear.

On top of that, when you hit an enemy, icy projectiles will fly out of its body, hitting the ones that are behind it. This second attack is no longer considered melee but is now treated as projectiles. Hence, you improve its damage with "Increased Projectile Damage" modifiers.

Because the first attack is a melee attack, you can use Multistrike Support to increase your overall damage output. While you can use the normal version early on, it is best that you invest currency to buy the "Awakened" version for the best results.

One of its core items, the Heatshiver, has been substantially nerfed in Patch 3.23. Instead of providing you with 100% extra fire damage, it now only gives you 30%. This is, of course, nothing to scoff at. The nerf is pretty significant, especially if you have used this unique helmet in previous leagues. But, despite the nerf, the Heatshiver is still the best-in-slot for the Frost Blades Trickster.

You can actually use this build as a league starter. In fact, we even recommend the Frost Blades Trickster if you are playing in SSF mode, particularly because you can make it work with self-crafted gear.

The upgrades that you can take are not even that expensive, which is why this is a build that you need to consider if you want a quick mapper that can destroy monsters without any problems!

Anyway, if you want to improve the build's damage output, look for the following modifiers on your gear:

• Increased Projectile Damage
• Increased Physical Damage
• Added Physical Damage
• Added Cold Damage to Attacks
• Increased Cold Damage
• Increased Attack Speed
• Increased Critical Strike Chance
• Increased Critical Strike Multiplier
• Increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills
• Added Cold Damage per Frenzy Charge

Because That Which Was Taken and the Wildwood Ascendancies have been removed in the 3.24 Necropolis League, some of the pieces of gear have been changed. This is to account for the mana nerfs implemented by GGG. Fortunately, you only need to replace three items on this build, so it really isn’t a problem in the grand scheme of things.

It is also worth noting that the Life Mastery that says, “Skills Cost Life Instead of 30% of Mana Cost,” is pretty much mandatory for this build now, so be sure to take that as well. All of the items, gems, and passive skills that you need to make this build work are provided in the POB linked below.

Playstyle

The Frost Blades Trickster is a very easy build to play. Use Whirling Blades to traverse the map and look for huge packs of monsters. Then, simply go within range and use Frost Blades and see them get wiped out of existence!

When you encounter monsters or bosses that are difficult to defeat, you lay down your Ancestral Warchief and Ancestral Protector totems to give you increased attack damage and attack speed, respectively.

Ascendancy

The Trickster is the ideal ascendancy class for this build. That is because you want an efficient mapper that can work without all of the expensive items and the Trickster has the passive skills to help you achieve that.

One Step Ahead is a good notable ascendancy passive skill to take after completing the first labyrinth. This makes you immune to movement-reducing effects like Temporal Chains or Maim. Nearby enemies will also be affected, albeit in a negative way. If your base action speed cannot go below 108%, theirs cannot go beyond 92%. This means that you can slow them down even further thanks to this particular node.

Polymath covers your offense and survivability. For each different type of Mastery you have allocated on your passive tree, you gain 3% more damage and recover 1% of your life/mana/energy shield on kill. Take note that the damage bonus here is a "more damage" multiplier which, in Path of Exile, means that it is calculated multiplicatively. To put it simply, you gain a significant boost in damage as a result compared to "increased damage" modifiers.

Heartstopper is another ascendancy node that helps you survive longer out there. Every 10 seconds, you gain a huge damage reduction buff that lasts for several seconds. Since you are moving around the map quickly, that five-second duration is more than enough.

Swift Killer is taken as the last notable ascendancy passive skill. This increases the duration of Frenzy Charges considerably. But more importantly, it raises your Maximum Frenzy Charges by two. In PoE, a single Frenzy Charge provides you with increased damage and attack speed. For the Frost Blades Trickster, you gain even more value for every Frenzy Charge that you have because you are going to wear a self-crafted ring that provides you with a damage boost. More on this in the "Gear" section of this build guide.

If you want to take things a step further, you can buy a Forbidden Jewel set with "Opportunistic" as a matching modifier. This notable passive skill from the Assassin ascendancy grants you more damage if there is one rare or unique enemy within your vicinity. Additionally, you take 20% reduced damage when there are at least two such enemies nearby.

Gear

This build can work on a limited budget, but we at RPGStash will provide you with information about the best possible upgrades you can purchase if you want to elevate the Frost Blades Trickster to the next level.

Weapon

The main weapon for the Frost Blades Trickster is a self-crafted Imperial Claw. Spam an ilvl 85+ Imperial Claw with Deafening Essence of Zeal (attack speed) until you get flat physical damage, added cold damage, and crit chance.

The next part of the process is tricky but well worth it. Go to the Crafting Bench and put "Prefixes Cannot Be Changed". Then, complete a full Immortal Syndicate run with Aisling as the Captain of Research. This allows you to put an Aisling veiled modifier on the claw. Ideally, the veiled modifier will replace the metamod you added earlier with a prefix. However, there is also a chance that it will turn into a veiled suffix, which is not the outcome that you want.

If you have successfully put a veiled prefix, go to Jun and unveil. Look for any "% Increased Physical Damage" mod that pops up on the list, preferably the one with "% Chance to Blind on Hi".

To finish the craft, head to the Crafting Bench and add "+28% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier."

Do you want to learn more about PoE crafting? Then, be sure to visit our ultimate crafting guide for some very useful information!

Shield

For the shield, you have two options to choose from. The first is a self-crafted one using an evasion-based shield as a base. Spam it with Deafening Essence of Greed (Life) until you get a flat evasion rating, spell suppression, and attack speed. You can even roll elemental resistance mods if you do not have them capped at 75% yet.

If you want to go even further, you can put "Suffixes Cannot Be Changed" from the Crafting Bench and use a Veiled Chaos Orb. Go to Jun and unveil. Look for the suffix, "% Chance to Deal Double Damage". If you go this route, use the Crafting Bench to add any modifier you want and then use Exalted Orbs to fill the remaining prefixes.

If you do not want to do some crafting, you can opt for The Squire instead. This shield has a pretty useful unique effect, where the gems you socketed into it will also support the gems that are inserted into your main hand weapon.

Body Armor

Because of the removal of Charms and That Which Was Taken in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League, you will have to craft an Elemental Ailment Immunity Chest by spamming it with Deafening Essence of Loathing (Mana Reservation Efficiency) until you get chaos resistance and spell suppression. This is mandatory, especially if you want to activate all of the auras with some mana left for your active skills.

After that, lock your suffixes and then use a Veiled Orb. Bench-craft “% Chance to Block Attack Damage” before unveiling. After talking to Jun to unveil, look for the “35% Chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments” mod.

Go to the Crafting Bench and put “6% of Physical Damage from Hits Taken as Fire/Lightning Damage.” Use an Exalted Orb if you still have an open prefix.

In terms of the implicits, spam the body armor with Grand Eldritch Ichors until you get "Hatred has % Increased Aura Effect" and Grand Eldritch Embers for "+% to Critical Strike Multiplier for Attack Damage". You have the option of elevating these mods using Orb of Conflict, but only do this if you have some PoE currency to spare.

During league start, you do not have to worry too much about mana reservation efficiency. You can get any evasion-based body armor and use Harvest Reforge Chaos or any essences you have collected throughout the campaign to craft it. The stats you are looking for are elemental resistance, chaos resistance, DEX, and life.

Helmet

As mentioned earlier in the build guide, the best-in-slot helmet for the Frost Blades Trickster is none other than the Heatshiver. The 30% cold damage as extra fire damage mod is still pretty awesome. Plus, its added fire and cold resistance modifiers help you cap these elemental resistances a lot easier.

If you are struggling with mana, you can craft a helmet using Essence of Loathing for that guaranteed mana reservation efficiency mod. Spam any armor/evasion-based helmet until you get useful mods, such as life, chaos resistance, and spell suppression.

Bench-craft “8% of Physical Damage from Hits Taken as Fire damage” and then use an Exalted Orb for that last prefix.

The implicit modifiers are important as they help you resolve your mana issues. Start by spamming the helmet with Eldritch Ichors for that mana reservation efficiency mod. After that, go ahead and do the same for the Eldritch Embers for the mod: “% Reduced Mana Cost of Attacks.”

Gloves

Grab a pair of ilvl 85+ Slink Gloves and spam it with Deafening Essence of Zeal (attack speed) until you obtain the chaos resistance and spell suppression. Lock the suffixes and use a Veiled Chaos Orb. Before you unveil, add any physical-to-elemental damage mod from the Crafting Bench to block the said modifier from appearing during the unveil.

Once you have the desired modifiers, lock the suffixes and use a Veiled Orb. Before you unveil, add any physical-to-elemental damage mod from the Crafting Bench to block the said modifier from appearing during the unveil.

The mod you are looking for is "+2 to Level of Socketed Projectile Gems, Projectiles Pierce an Additional Target". After that, go back to the Crafting Bench and add the mod "28% Increased Damage During Any Flask Effect" or "43% Increased Damage While Leeching", whichever you prefer. Use an Exalted Orb if you still have an open prefix.

For the endgame, you can use a pair of gloves with the suffix, "% increased Damage with Hits Against Chilled Enemies, +% to Cold Resistance" as a crafting base. You have a chance to obtain these gloves by defeating the boss in the Temple of Atzoatl (aka Alva Temple).

To make it easier for you to craft the endgame gloves, you can try and fracture the highly coveted mod with a Fracturing Orb.

Anyway, the implicit modifiers on the gloves are very important. That is why if you are going to spend currency on a piece of gear, you can do that on your endgame gloves.

That said, use a single Grand Eldritch Ichor and then spam the gloves with Grand Eldritch Embers until you get the implicit mod, "Non-Vaal Strike Skills Target 1 Additional Nearby Enemy". The reason why you only use one Grand Eldritch Ichor (for now) is so that you can use Orb of Conflict to improve the Searing Exarch modifier. You'd have to do this a number of times until you upgrade that to strike two additional nearby enemies.

Once you have that sorted out, use Grand Eldritch Ichors; only this time, you spam the gloves with it to acquire the mod, "Inflict Cold Exposure on Hit, Applying -13% to Cold Resistance".

Boots

Just like the shield, there are a couple of viable boots you can use for the Frost Blades Trickster. If you want permanent uptime of your Frenzy Charges, then you can wear Ralakesh's Impatience. With these boots, you gain the effects of Power Charges and Endurance Charges as well.

Of course, if you want to improve your damage output, you can go for the self-crafted Onslaught Boots. If you want to learn how to craft this beauty, you can refer to our ultimate crafting guide for all the details.

Amulet

The Yoke of Suffering is an amazing amulet for this build due to its unique effect, where your icy projectiles have a chance of inflicting "Shock" on your enemies. Shock is an elemental ailment in Path of Exile that increases the damage affected enemies take depending on your Shock effectiveness stat.

In addition, this amulet has another unique effect where enemies take 5% increased damage for each type of ailment you have inflicted on them. Since Frost Blades naturally deal cold damage, you can inflict Chill, Freeze, and Shock at the same time thanks to the Yoke of Suffering! This is complemented by a unique ring that you will wear, which gives you a chance of inflicting Ignite on your enemies as well. More on this in a bit.

Since Frost Blades naturally deal cold damage, you can inflict Chill, Freeze, and Shock at the same time thanks to the Yoke of Suffering! This is complemented by a unique ring that you will wear, which gives you a chance of inflicting Ignite on your enemies as well. More on this in a bit.

Do not forget to anoint the amulet with Panopticon (Amber Oil, 2x Golden Oil) so that the buffs your totems grant you are amplified by 50%.

Rings

Remember what we said above where you can have a chance of inflicting a fire elemental ailment to your enemies by wearing a particular ring? Well, that ring is none other than The Taming. By combining all three Berek Rings (Berek's Grip, Berek's Pass, Berek's Respite), you will get this unique ring as a result.

The Taming is an amazing item that you can wear for the Frost Blades Trickster. That is because you have a small chance of applying different elemental ailments, including Freeze, Shock, and Ignite on your enemies. This complements the Yoke of Suffering amulet really well, hence its inclusion in the build.

This unique ring also comes with other useful modifiers, such as increased elemental damage, fire/cold/lightning resistance, and increased elemental damage with attack skills.

For the other ring, you are going to wear a self-crafted one using the Diamond Ring (Critical Strike Chance), Two-Stone Ring (Elemental Resistance), or Amethyst Ring (Chaos Resistance) as the crafting base. Use the special essence called Essence of Horror for that guaranteed "4 to 8 Added Cold Damage per Frenzy Charge" prefix.

Spam the ring with Essence of Horror until you get life, attack speed, elemental damage with attack skills, and chaos resistance. Leave an open suffix so that you can put "16% Increased Global Critical Strike Chance, +23% to Critical Strike Multiplier if you've Shattered an Enemy Recently".

While the above-mentioned ring is great for damage, you might run into issues with mana, especially with the nerfs GGG has implemented in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League. For this reason, you can opt for a ring that has a couple of reduced mana cost mods instead.

Grab any ilvl 82+ ring of your choosing and spam it with Essence of Horror until you get chaos resistance, elemental resistance, accuracy/attack speed. Lock the suffixes and then use a Veiled Orb. This might remove the essence modifier, so if this happens, you have to spam the Essence of Horror again.

Anyway, once you have a veiled prefix without removing the essence modifier, bench-craft “Adds # Fire Damage, Adds # Cold Damage” and then unveil. You are looking for the mod: “+55 to Maximum Mana, 7% Reduced Mana Cost of Skills.” This mod is not guaranteed to appear. If this does not appear, you can use an Orb of Annulment and hope that it gets removed. Otherwise, you just have to start over again.

To finish the ring, go to the Crafting Bench and put “Non-Channeling Skills Have -7 to Total Mana Cost.” Spam the ring with Fertile Catalysts to improve the effect of the mana mods.

Belt

You can utilize a Stygian Vise early on. This is a great budget belt for this build because you can insert an Abyssal Jewel to gain some incredible stats. That said, use Harvest Reforge Chaos until you get life, mana, elemental resistance, and STR.

Abyssal Jewels can provide you with added physical or cold damage modifiers with claw attacks. That is why you are going to wear the Darkness Enthroned unique Stygian Vise. This unique belt can increase the effects of socketed Abyssal Jewels by up to 100%. So, if you are going to purchase one from the trade website, make sure to buy one that is as close to 100% as possible.

For the endgame, you have a choice of wearing either the Headhunter or the Mageblood. The former makes you an even more potent killing machine, while the latter provides more quality of life. Both of these unique belts are worthwhile investments, so it's really a matter of preference.

Even though the Mageblood has been indirectly nerfed in Patch 3.24, particularly with the removal of the “25% Reduced Mana Cost of Skills” mod on flasks, the Mageblood is still one of the best belts you can wear for the Frost Blades Trickster.

Flasks

• Diamond Flask
• Jade Flask
• Quicksilver Flask
• Taste of Hate
• Enduring Mana Flask/Bottled Faith

Due to the mana nerfs in the 3.24 Necropolis League, you might want to use a Mana Flask with the “Enduring” prefix to help you sustain the said resource early on.

Flask Mods

• 17% Increased Attack Speed (of the Dove)
• 60% Increased Evasion Rating (of the Impala)
• 55% Increased Critical Strike Chance (of Incision)
• Corrupted Blood Immunity (Mana Flask)

Jewels

There are no mandatory jewels for the Frost Blades Trickster. However, you can certainly use some to help improve the build in more ways than one.

Get yourself a Watcher's Eye with a one-two punch of Hatred modifiers, specifically "Adds # to # Cold Damage" and "Damage Penetrates % Cold Resistance" while affected by Hatred.

Since the STR attribute is hard to come by on this build, you can get amazing benefits by adding the Lethal Pride Timeless Jewel into the mix. Insert this into the jewel socket that is adjacent to the "Frenetic" node, situated at the right side of the passive tree.

Use the Timeless Jewel Calculator so that you can find a Lethal Pride on the trade website with the following noteworthy bonuses:

• 5% Chance to Deal Double Damage
• 20% Increased Melee Damage
• +15% to Melee Critical Strike Multiplier
• 20% Increased Physical Damage
• 4% increased Maximum Life

It is time to get into crafting. Grab yourself one 12-passive Large Cluster Jewel (cold damage) and one 4-passive Medium Cluster Jewel (Totem Damage).

On the Large Cluster Jewel, use Harvest Reforge Speed until you get the following:

• + to All Attributes
• % Increased Attack and Cast Speed with Cold Skills
• + to Maximum Life
• 35% Increased Effect

The last mod of the bunch is only available to Large Cluster Jewels that have an item level of 84 or above. They are a bit expensive since a lot of PoE builds use the 12-passive cold damage Large Cluster Jewel, but it is definitely worth it.

While a 12-passive Large Cluster Jewel is one that you should aim for, you can use an 8-passive Large Cluster Jewel in the meantime. Spam the cluster jewel with Frigid and Prismatic Fossils until you get the following notable passive skills:

• Blanketed Snow

  • Damage Penetrates 10% Cold Resistance Against Chilled Enemies

• Sadist

  • 15% Increased Elemental Damage if You've Chilled an Enemy Recently
  • 20% Increased Elemental Damage if You've Ignited an Enemy Recently
  • 25% Increased Elemental Damage if You've Shocked an Enemy Recently

• Doryani's Lesson

  • 0.2% of Elemental Damage Leeched as Life
  • 25% Increased Elemental Damage

For the Medium Cluster Jewel, use Harvest Reforge Speed again until you get these notable passive skills:

• Ancestral Echo

  • 20% Increased Totem Placement Speed
  • 10% Increased Attack and Cast Speed if You've Summoned a Totem Recently

• Ancestral Guidance

  • 30% Increased Effect of Buffs Your Ancestor Totems Grant While Active
  • Totem's Action Speed Cannot Be Modified to Below Base Value

Gems

Now that the best equipment for the Frost Blades Trickster has been divulged, it is now time to talk about the gems. The gem setups are pretty tight on this build but there is still some room left for flexibility. This enables you to swap some gems for the ones that you prefer to use.

Body Armor

• Frost Blades
• Awakened Multistrike Support
• Awakened Added Cold Damage Support
• Nightblade Support
• Awakened Elemental Damage with Attacks Support
• Ruthless Support

Your bread and butter for this build is the Frost Blades skill gem. This converts 60% of your physical damage to cold damage. This is the reason why you can scale your damage output by also adding flat physical and % physical damage mods wherever possible.

Awakened Multistrike Support is a pretty good support gem to use. That is because one tap of Frost Blades initiates three attacks in quick succession, with subsequent strikes dealing more damage than the last. While you can use the base version, you should save up some currency to get the Awakened Multistrike for maximum damage.

Nightblade Support is another mandatory support gem for your Frost Blades. That is because it increases the attack skill's critical strike chance. Furthermore, you gain the "Elusive" buff when you hit enemies with a critical strike. This buff grants you increased movement speed and an additional chance to avoid incoming damage.

The rest of the support gems in this setup are just there to improve Frost Blade's damage even further.

Helmet

• Hatred
• Herald of Ice
• Grace
• Enlighten Support

The combination of Hatred and Herald of Ice gives you a significant boost to your cold damage. Herald of Ice, in particular, helps improve your map-clearing speed because the monsters you shatter while this buff is active deal AoE cold damage to nearby enemies.

Grace is the only defensive aura for the Frost Blades Trickster, but this is definitely more than enough. This greatly increases your evasion rating, which you can scale even further with the appropriate flask mods.

Enlighten Support allows you to activate these auras with some mana left in the tank.

Gloves

• Ancestral Protector
• Ancestral Warchief
• Multiple Totems Support
• Combustion Support

This is your totem setup. Whenever you encounter tougher enemies, you drop your Ancestral Protector and Ancestral Warchief at the same time. The former gives you a boost to your attack speed, while the latter grants you a bit of an increase in your attack damage.

Now, you are probably wondering why there is Combustion Support included in the setup. Well, that is because you also deal fire damage via Heatshiver and Ignites from The Taming. The said support gem just makes it so that Ignited enemies have their fire resistance reduced by 10% at gem level 20.

Boots

• Whirling Blades
• Faster Attacks Support
• Blood Rage
• Steelskin

Whirling Blades is your main travel skill. It also has the added benefit of damaging monsters you come across. This is linked to Faster Attacks Support to make it a lot smoother to use.

Blood Rage is a buff that you can activate at any time. This grants you a huge attack speed boost, which increases your total damage output.

The last gem slot on your boots is dedicated to the guard skill. The one we recommend is Steelskin mainly because you do not have a lot of armor to make Molten Shell worth using. Steelskin not only soaks some damage, but you are immune to bleeding for a brief period as well.

Since you can no longer bind instant skills on the left mouse button in Patch 3.24, you could replace Faster Attacks Support with Cast When Damage Taken to automatically activate Steelskin when taking damage. When you do this, make sure to unlink Whirling Blades and Blood Rage so that you can activate them freely at any time.

Weapon

• Assassin's Mark
• Mark on Hit
• Lifetap Support

You want to deal critical strikes to enemies for maximum damage. Hence, you are going to use Assassin's Mark. You do not have to think about manually casting this because it is linked to Mark on Hit Support. Thanks to this support gem, the Assassin's Mark will automatically be applied when you hit a rare or unique enemy. Lifetap Support is just included to make sure that you always apply Assassin's Mark without worrying about mana.

Shield

• Frostblink
• Bonechill Support
• Precision

The clever combo of Frostblink and Bonechill Support ensures that you deal more cold damage with your Frost Blades. This is possible due to the support gem's effect, where you deal increased cold damage based on your Chill Effectiveness. Use Frostblink whenever you encounter hordes of monsters.

Frostblink has been buffed in the 3.24 Necropolis League, where it has a much higher effectiveness of added damage now. This makes it even better for the Frost Blades Trickster!

Precision is an aura that grants crit chance and accuracy rating. Level this gem up only until you have your accuracy rating sorted out.

Tattoos

The Tattoos are back in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League! Here are the ones that we recommend:

• Tattoo of the Arohongui Warrior

  • 5% Increased Cold Damage

• Tattoo of the Tasalio Scout

  • 4% Increased Effect of Your Marks

• Tattoo of the Arohongui Shaman

  • 5% Increased Effect of Herald Buffs on You

• Tattoo of the Ramako Archer

  • 5% Increased Global Accuracy Rating

• Tattoo of the Arohongui Scout

  • 10% Chance to Avoid Chill
  • 10% Chance to Avoid Being Frozen

• Tattoo of the Ramako Fleetfoot

  • 2% Increased Movement Speed

Passive Tree

POB

Main Setup

Endgame Setup (with Mageblood)

Final Thoughts

The Frost Blades Trickster is one of the best mappers in Path of Exile 3.23 Affliction League. What makes it an appealing choice for new and old players alike is that it is easy to put up and can work with a minimal investment. That is why some people who play on Solo Self-Found Mode use this particular build to help them enjoy PoE.

Of course, if you have the PoE currency, you can purchase upgrades to make the build even better. Since this build uses plenty of crafted items, be sure to bookmark our ultimate crafting guide to learn the ins and outs of crafting in the game.

Quick, efficient, and fun, these are the words we like to use to describe this build. So, if you want a character that you can rely on, whether you are playing in the trade league or in SSF, then the Frost Blades Trickster is a great choice!

With all of that said, good luck on your adventures in Wraeclast, Exile!

PROS

+Fast mapper

+Great league starter

+SSF-viable

+Can work with a minimal investment

+Upgrades are relatively affordable

+Still amazing in Patch 3.24

CONS

-Survivability leaves much to be desired

-Requires good items to take on pinnacle bosses comfortably