edit: wrong topic
Ah makes sense this way
Earlier it used to go off pretty well, i guess i got used to that
Ty for explaining
Hey! Just updated main post with an extra screenshot of Mad Queen kill, as well as a grimtools of my current guy who is able to clear Challenger Crucible no problem + cleared Ultimate SoT, MQ, Log, Edge of Reality, and Sentinel without coming close to dying.
You pumped your toughness by lot, sounds nice ! 
Nice
Btw, i recently figured out that sentinel crystals buff his OA and DA
I thought they only added HP regen :undecided:
I’m really liking this build, leveling it up as my second character. I’ve been using a 2h weapon up until now for speed, but I’m getting to the point where I have to use blade barrier more than I like and I’m ready to switch to shield. I’m at 53 can anyone recommend a good 1h weapon thats not too hard to get for that level range (50-55)? thanks!!
Hey! I’m glad you’re enjoying the build
If you don’t have the Crescent Moon, here are a few other options for the level 50-55 range.
Loxmere’s Frostblade with good affixes (find him in Plains of Strife)
Spectral Bludgeon with good affixes (drop off Haunted Champions, found in Arkovia or crypts)
Chillsteel Redeemer
Chillblaze
Beacon of the Winter’s Veil
Shard of Asterkarn
If you don’t want to farm for rare weapons and none of the epics/legendaries seem to be dropping for you, Olman’s Axe has OA, Frostburn, Cold conversion and a passable cold damage proc and is guaranteed to spawn in Lower Crossing on one of the corpses in the houses. The level 50 item level version spawns in Elite.
Hope this helps!
The only things I’d put over Edge in the main game, are the Queen and Mog.
And even the Queen is simply a matter of build difference (re: RTSD).
Mog, though… now THAT’S a metric.
Good Morning Ryzel,
Thanks a ton for your help, especially the bit about olman’s axe at the end. I’m mostly one-shotting stuff right now so I think that switching to one-hand shouldn’t be too bad on my offense, I found a really good shield to use so I’m excited to see how my defenses respond.
im using beacon of the winter’s veil right now, can you recommend to me a few weapons that I can look for on my way up in leveling? (green especially since it’s hard to know which rares are good in particular)
I’m level 69 now farming in elite to get my faction reputation up, not having many problems and really loving the build. I have one main question now: at what point should I take ABB down from 16/16 to 7/16? thanks for any suggestions and reasoning
Hey! So glad you’re still enjoying the build
Having ABB @ 17/16 (that extra point gives significant Frostburn damage boost) is important mainly for leveling and farming a few of the core legendaries needed to really make the build take off. The reason for this is because these core legendaries provide a large chunk of the base Frostburn damage through their procs. If you don’t have any or can’t equip them yet, your base Frostburn will be lacking and ABB helps prop this up.
As you obtain more of these legendaries, ABB will make up a smaller and smaller percentage of your total base Frostburn damage, making the skill points invested in ABB less and less valuable. At that point it becomes more worthwhile to take those points and invest them in Elemental Awakening because the +% to Frostburn becomes more valuable with additional sources (and the flat Frostburn + resistances is great too). ABB then mainly becomes important as a proc for Elemental Storm and Lethal Assault, so it’s worth 1 point (let the rest of + skills prop it up).
So, I guess long story short is you can ditch ABB when you have and can equip…say…3 of the 5 core legendaries of the build. Feel free to ditch it earlier and put points in tankiness (Menhir’s Bulwark/Shield skills) if you feel survivability is becoming a problem.
hey ryzel, thanks a lot for responding i really appreciate it.
the only other character I have is an 83 dual-weild sab but I put too many points into cunning on him, and therefore the only legendary I have farmed for this is Chilldread. I’m hoping I can use this guy to farm ultimate.
This looks like a very interesting (and more durable) build I’d like to try out
Firstly, I literally spent almost all my playtime on Nightblade-oriented classes.
Secondly, I want a secondary class with more durability than my Glass Canon Spellbreaker.
It should certainly be tankier than a glass cannon Spellbreaker ;). Glad you’re interested, please let me know if you have any questions!
Thanks for the guide! I’ve decided to use this build to see if I can clear Ultimate HC for the first time with self-found gear. I think this has good damage types and tankiness, and you mentioned getting through Ultimate content with 0 deaths. An appealing claim for an aspiring Hardcore newcomer.
I appreciate the sections you typed out and the detail you went into in some places. However, speaking of details, would you be able to provide a little more in regards to leveling? Specifically, the order to put points into things and take them out is a bit confusing. I did read your reply to @mda about ABB, but I’m talking about in general, especially for leveling in Hardcore with 0 gear waiting for me.
You say to max NB to 50 first, but then also say to get 4/16 Menhir’s Will first, and also 17/16 ABB and 10/12 Pneumatic burst and 10/10 Night’s Chill while somehow also maxing Nightfall.
At level 27 currently and I have 16/16 ABB, 10/12 PB, 4/16 Menhir’s Will and 40/50 NB, but I’m confused as to where to go next. Do I push to 50 now and start dumping points in Nightfall, or do I max Night’s Chill first then finish the push to 50?
I think that’s the only area of the guide that’s could use a little work (from the perspective of a new player anyway). Otherwise, loving the build so far and thanks again for the guide! One day on Softcore I want an entire “set” of S&B Casters. I’ve already gotten Drizzto’s DEE WB to 85 and that was a blast. Would love to “collect them all” and have one of each damage archetype. Would be awesome if you or Drizzto did a Commando and Chaos/Vit WB hinthint 
I’m glad you’re taking the build for a spin! I’ll try and address your post point by point if that’s alright.
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Sounds like you’re doing great so far with the leveling, and that is a good question. I would push to 50/50 and max Nightfall before Night’s Chill, because the Frostburn damage on Nightfall is very significant in the early stages of the game (Normal/Veteran), while the -Cold RR% becomes more valuable later in the game as you get more and more sources of Frostburn.
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Since you’re doing HC mode, if you want to err on the side of caution and are happy with your kill speeds you can wait on Nightfall and get 6/16 on Menhir’s Will and 8/12 on Overguard first. Overguard is very helpful as an “Oh Shit” button to keep you alive, along with Blade Barrier (just 1 point).
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The reason I say 17/16 ABB is because for whatever reason, that jump from 16 to 17 gives waaaaay more Frostburn damage than any other jump between skill points. If you can find something that gives +1 to ABB or NB skills then go for it, but it’s certainly not necessary if you can’t find it
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The idea of S&B caster builds are indeed awesome. As far as all the different damage types, I know Drizzto has a Bleed S&B Warder and is working on (presumably an Aether?) S&B Battlemage of some sort, but I don’t know the details. As far as Commando goes, JoV has a nifty build here that does both Fire and Lightning. Chaos/Vit WB on the other hand I’ve only seen done in attack builds. The main issue with a Chaos/Vit WB S&B Caster is that the Chaos/Vit spells you have access to are Sigil (kinda), Pox (kinda), and Doom Bolt, and all of those spells scale best with CDR, which you won’t have a lot of because you’re using a shield instead of an off-hand and you’re not Arcanist. That would mean the DPS probably wouldn’t be the greatest, but I suppose it could still do well.
Hope that helps!
hi do you mind share the skill tree without the gears please, i follow your skill tree run down but get like 7 or more points short …
I’d like a more indepth leveling guide if you’d break it down a tad. Haven’t played in a long time so unsure the actual order of things.
Hey! Here’s the breakdown.
Level 10
5 Nightblade
5 Soldier
6/16 ABB
4/16 Menhir’s Will
10/12 PB
Level 20
20 Nightblade
5 Soldier
12/16 ABB
4/16 Menhir’s Will
10/12 PB
3/10 Veil of Shadow
4/10 Night’s Chill
1/16 Shadow Strike
1/12 Blade Barrier
Level 30
40 Nightblade
5 Soldier
16/16 ABB
4/16 Menhir’s Will
10/12 PB
6/10 Veil of Shadow
7/10 Night’s Chill
1/16 Shadow Strike
1/12 Blade Barrier
Level 40
50 Nightblade
5 Soldier
16/16 ABB
4/16 Menhir’s Will
10/12 PB
10/10 Veil of Shadow
10/10 Night’s Chill
1/16 Shadow Strike
12/12 Nightfall
1/16 Blade Spirit
1/12 Blade Barrier
Level 50
50 Nightblade
20 Soldier
16/16 ABB
4/16 Menhir’s Will
10/12 Overguard
5/10 Shield Training
10/12 PB
10/10 Veil of Shadow
10/10 Night’s Chill
1/16 Shadow Strike
12/12 Nightfall
1/16 Blade Spirit
1/12 Blade Barrier
Level 60
50 Nightblade
30 Soldier
16/16 ABB
4/16 Menhir’s Will
10/12 Overguard
5/10 Shield Training
10/12 Field Command
10/12 PB
10/10 Veil of Shadow
10/10 Night’s Chill
1/16 Shadow Strike
12/12 Nightfall
1/16 Blade Spirit
1/12 Blade Barrier
You should be good from there, just work your way to Menhir’s Bulwark and Scars of Battle and get those maxed, and then hit your defensive passives (Shadow Dance, Military Conditioning, etc.). I think I gave a Devotion breakdown in a previous post, but basically get Tsunami (bound to ABB) first, then when you get 11 points take out Tsunami and get Spider, Hammer, and first 3 in Crown for Elemental Storm (bound to ABB). Then get Blue Crossroads and Eel and get Amatok/Blizzard, should be around the same time you’ve leveled up enough to get Blade Spirit. Bind it to Blade Spirit, then finish Amatok and Crown and Green Crossroads and get Hawk, which should allow you to take points out of Spider to put into starting/finishing Owl, which should allow you to take points out of Hammer. Then just finish the Devotion tree as shown on grimtools. Remember early game to get Chipped Claw in your weapon and Battered Shell in your shield for extra single target DPS against bosses.
And Darksto sorry for the super late response, here’s a grimcalc of what the skill points should look like without gear.
http://grimcalc.com/build/1009-loDp4S
Keep in mind that is assuming you have the gear that is in the first grimtools link in the OP. Different gear may give different bonuses, which would lead to a different skill setup.