Hey man I really appreciate that break down and so quick. I’m presently giving this a try. 
I like Blade masters, thank you for the time you’ve put in.
No problem, I’m glad you chose this guide =) Knock 'em dead 
So I have never actually beat the game, I’ve decided to play Veteran non-hc (always played veteran hc only since game launch) and I’m wondering a few things… like do you only focus on damage or do you get lot of defense/res gear while you go through the game? Do you do all of the quest? Do you farm at any time until end game?
I plan to try this build solo self found so I hope I your answers guide me.
Guys, how do you deal with Fabius? I’ve got similar build, but just can’t do efficient damage to him. His regen is :rolleyes:
When I get 11 points, I can’t get to Elemental storm, I could be doing something wrong but spider is 5, hammer is 3, the two ends are 1 each and crown point 1 is 11 so how do you get to elemental storm?
In my playthrough I didn’t need to farm at any point, but I did do all the quests (except for the Outcast ones, did them on Ultimate though). For gear I always recommend defensive over offensive while leveling because your base skills do a lot of damage comparatively to end game. Look for things like health, resistances, armor, etc. OA and DA are nice as well.
No comment on Fabius yet actually because I never farmed negative rep, but I’m assuming he’ll go down because it can kill MQ and her regen is pretty crazy. I should say that you need at least a few of the legendaries with Frostburn procs though because otherwise yes the DPS will be too low.
As for Elemental Storm, you can take the 2 points out of Crossroads and put them in Crown because Spider and Hammer meet Crown requirements by themselves. That’s how you can do it with 11 points =)
Thanks so much for that, I didn’t realize you could take points out if you met requirements… Silly me that’s a huge dps boost. 
So much to learn still…
So defense/res/health and armor, I’ll remember that. I appreciate all of your quick responses. I just hit Act 3. I have died once but I Feel that’s going to happen for now, I just wnat to get to the end of the game and then I’ll do a re-do in HC Vet instead of Vet with the same type of build.
Another question, how do you manage your energy? I find spamming AB / Shadow Strike / Ground stomp and having VoS up all the time I drink potions like a mad man…
Would you also take defense/res/health over stuff like spirit/cuning ect?
Also, could you look at this and tell me why it’s losing damage and if the game actually calculates all of this properly or not?
Oh and how do you tell what’s better in a shield, I assume the faster recovery time is better .5 vs 1.00 but is the damage blocked worth the sacrifice or do you just look for +def/res ect and not care about that stuff?
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For energy problems, get Ectoplasms and put them in your rings/medal/amulet if possible.
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The weapon has lower DPS listed because it has lower attack speed and base damage. The DPS number only takes weapon damage into account; not damage from skills. So, even though your equipped weapon does less weapon damage, it’s still better for the build because you’re using cold damage and +1 to ABB (which is important to hit 17/16 for big Frostburn damage bump).
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For shields early game I typically look at the bonuses that come on it more so than the blocking numbers. Higher damage blocked is better for bosses because they do more damage at a time, and better block recovery is better if you’re being hit by many small attacks at once. Since bosses are generally more threatening than crowds, I’d prioritize higher damage blocked over block recovery.
Thanks for the idea on Ectoplasms.
Yeah, that’s all I was wondering was the base damage ect. So on the actual character screen my total DPS should be improved with the other weapon correct?
Bonuses instead rather than blocking numbers, by that I assume you mean like +res ect?
Also you missed one (no offense taken) but are res/def ect over stuff like spirit/cuning?
Thanks for the amazing write-up! I chose this for my first self-found HC run and ultimate was a breeze. I only got to 2 core items (gloves and medal) and it still had better clearing times than my 2h warder Incredibly safe too, barely ever got to activating Mehnirs Will.
Cheers!
Hey! Congrats on running it through self-found HC, I’m glad you had such a great time with it =)
And Yori, res/def definitely more important than spirit/cunning. Those last two are probably the least important stats to worry about. And by bonuses yes I mean res/def stuff.
Thanks for the build.
What do you think about Beacon of the Winter’s Veil as main weapon?
Skill and proc wise it’s really inferior to Crescent Moon but (a better rolled one)+DMG value is higher and +OA seems sweet
I have no MIs so my setup is like this:
grimtools.com/calc/dVb9932J
also ditched Oleron’s Blood for capping aether res, not sure how much impact it has but right now it seems just fine mobbing.
Hey! Good question. I can’t remember if I mentioned it in the main post but Beacon of Winter’s Veil is a solid choice. I’d rank it only below Crescent Moon and Olexra’s Chill. The best things about the Beacon aside from the OA are the Frostburn duration buff and the big chunk of Flat Frostburn. I’d still rank it below Crescent Moon because resist reduction is such a powerful effect and hard to come by for Cold damage, and the +1 to skills are amazing as well. Still a great weapon for the build though.
As for Oleron’s Blood, not only does it provide great single target damage reduction that keeps you alive against bosses, but it magnifies all your Flat Frostburn damage by 350%. Especially if you’re using Beacon, I’d recommend keeping it unless you’re really struggling against Aether.
Thanks for the build. This is my second char and I like it more than the summoner Conjurer, mainly because of the crucible.
A few questions.
- What about Counter Strike, as a one point wonder - alternative (to cold) source of damage? In general, or in particular when using Avenger Of Cairn and/or another sources of retaliation damage.
Blitz - Great for mobility and applying 2 sources of Flat Frostburn at once with a decent magnifier.
Which sources?
- Why you not 12/12 Shadow dance in you posted current build (for example, due to Military Conditioning)?
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.
edit: numbers are pretty rough; no flat damage, Chilling Weapons and Lethal Assault.
Some math about bold. Numbers from my char (have 3 of 5 legendaries), with EA 2/12 and EA 12/12 (theorycraft: 12/12 - +70% from 2/12. I have about +1500% frostburn, so +70% is 70/1600=~+4,5% total damage).
Mastery sources, almost always on:
EA 2/12 ~ 260 dmg/sec.
EA 12/12 ~ 1160 dmg/sec.
Amarasta’s Blade Burst 17/16 ~ 2760 dmg/sec.
Amarasta’s Blade Burst 7/16 ~990 dmg/sec.
Nightfall (EA 2/12 / EA 12/12) ~ 4650/4820 dmg/sec.
Night’s Chill ~ 1060/1100 dmg/sec.
Procs sources:
Blizzard ~ 5300/5500 dmg/sec.
Whirpool ~ 1940/2000 dmg/sec.
Elemental Storm ~ 1190/1250 dmg/sec.
Deathwhisper Leggings ~ 2100/2190 dmg/sec.
Iceskorn Talons - ~ 2290/2280 dmg/sec.
Mark of Dark Dreams - ~2450/2550 dmg/sec.
So, EAA 2/12 + ABB 17/16 + NF + NC + procs = (260 + 2760 + 4650 + 1060) + (5300 + 1940 + 1190 + 2100 + 2290 + 2450) = 8530 + 15270 = 24000.
EA 12/12 + ABB 7/16 + NF + NC + procs = (1160 + 990 + 4820 + 1100) + (5500 + 2000 + 1250 + 2190 + 2280 + 2550) = 8070 + 15770 = 23840.
So, numbers almost the same, difference <1%. But, same in total, peak damage. In real, core skills frostburn always on (and here loss of ~5% or ~80% in-game), and most of procs are… procs Some with pretty small chances (15-25%).
So, as I can see. Yes, if you need survivability, you can take points from ABB and exchange some reasonable dps for tankiness. But respec from ABB to Elemental Awakening (and Lethal Assault/Merciless Repertoire/Squad Tactics) gives no difference.
One more question, why no point in Squad Tactics?
He did put one point into it with his normal build. He doesn’t have one in his crucible build.
Thanks for the build. It was my first character that I really played for hours;) It even inspired me to do a self made build for Trickster that got some inspiration from your build.
Then the question is why the two builds in first post are so different in equip.
Yeah I’ve just noticed this and a bit lost .
In the current build you have a pretty generic set up which we could all aspire too , with praetorian gear , the untouchable etc but above that in the first grimtools link it’s a lot more gear dependant with clairvoyants hat , siegebreaker etc .
So with the easier to build for you can clear Ultimate okay and the real gear is for crucible ?
Although in the poorer build you say " Definitely room for improvement gear-wise, but still gets the job done well enough " but you are showing way better gear above that 
Thanks .
Hey everyone! Sorry for the hiatus. I appreciate the interest in the build, and thank you lisk for running the numbers for me! I actually never did that, so it’s good to know =)
So to clear the confusion, the first build listed is what I believe the “ideal” BiS version of the build would be if one had access to all legendaries and rares. This is to provide a goal to aspire to, but the build can certainly function without it. The reason why I posted my current build is to show that it can be effective without BiS gear. My current build can clear Challenger Crucible no problems, still haven’t attempted Gladiator yet. It would just probably be better if I had the BiS gear, hence my comment =)
The skill discrepancies for the two builds are different because they have different amounts of + to skill gear, meaning I need to make decisions on what I want to cut skill-wise. RoS + CoS is a good example of this; in my current build I don’t have the points to spare for those one-pointers, and my lack of + to NB skills wouldn’t make it worth my while. Squad Tactics is a similar issue. What’s important is to maximize Frostburn damage (through sources, Flat FB, and + %FB damage) while maintaining solid OA (at least 2k, preferably 2.2k) and DA (at least 2.3k), capped resists, and decent health (at least 11k).
I have lower Shadow Dance points in my build because my DA is already through the roof with the Untouchable (can hit 3k with procs) and I value the health over the Dodge chance, and I don’t have the + to skills numbers to allow me to take points out of other skills to buff it up. I’ve also had trouble finding Aether/Chaos resist and use the Praetorian set for that reason. I could switch to Vanguard of the Legion and Elite Harvest Footpads but then I’d miss out on the physical resistance.
Your playthrough may have found you much different items than mine, which would alter your gear choices considerably and possibly playstyle. This is fine.
Counter-strike 1 pointer would be OK if you had at least +3 to Soldier skills to up it’s effectiveness, and if you were going more of a retaliation direction. The physical and bleed damage don’t really interest us though, we’d only want the +% to retaliation.
The 2 sources mentioned in Blitz is actually wrong. I was under the impression at one point that Flat FB could be applied through both weapon and shield attacks, but that was proven false recently. I need to change that, thanks got bringing it up.
Also, when running numbers, did you multiply the flat FB from EA by 2.5? Because when using Oleron’s Might ability all Flat FB damage is magnified by that amount. Also, the thing with DoT procs is that they last a while with increased FB duration; as long as one goes off every 6 seconds it’s pretty much always ticking.