Spellblade - Cold focused 0.76 patch

Finally made the tweaks to this build and it feels fun to play so i thought i would share for others.

This is a shatterstrike spell blade build which I have taken to arenas 200+ in version 0.76, though i could see someone going higher. You can use any spell early game until you get to mastery selection. Once you hit mastery you should have 3 skill slots unlocked to respect to the build.

The idea of the build is to be a mobile melee attacker that gains a lot of ward on kill, and sustains with flame ward.

Skills:
Note you can use teleport without specialization , so it can be specialied last.

Mana Strike.
This will serve to regain the mana quickly for our main skill as well as providing a small damage boost. you want the aoe nodes as they give an instant 100+ mana gain in one strike on packs.

arcanist blade 1/3
swift sap 5/5
sprite blade 5/5
mana drain 4/4
rage sap 5/5

Flame Ward

Main defense skill.
Again you can set this up for auto cast , though sometimes it is better to just cast when needed. The build will already generate a lot of ward on kill. Astonishment is optional , as it is a safety net when not using numlock autocast.

stalwart defense 5/5
concentrating shield 4/4
fortification 1/1
fuel the flame 3/3
invigorate 1/1
desperate defense 3/3
astonish 0 or 1/1
dialation 2 or 3 / 5

Shatter Strike
Main attack skill . Here we focus on keeping the attack speed high to burst down the enemies. While leveling , you may put 2 more points in icy flow until mana strike is high enough to regain the mana efficiently.

icy flow 2/4
absolute zero 2/4 - 2 points takes cost from 15-10 , 2 additional points makes it cost 8 mana.
cold presence 4/4
lingering chill 4/4
breadth of cold 3/3
ice blink 5/5

Enchant weapon
You can set this skill up to autocast by selecting a number on the numberpad then pressing numlock + the number. Though it is better to self cast when needed. This skill is for burst damage of tankier targets. Get efficacy first to make the skill free.

shivering blade 2/5
frost brand 5/5
concentration 4/4
efficacy 4/4
celerity 5/5

Teleport:
The idea is to teleport towards the ranged attackers. When we teleport we gain a damage and defensive boost which will last for 8 seconds. This can also be used to dodge behind larger enemies with telegraphed attacks.

Crystaline Passage 5/5
Flicker 4/4
Time Dialation 5/5
Plasma Protector 1/5
Elemental Affinity 5/5

Gear mods importance:
Intelligence - try to get to 60-80 int
Dexterity - try to get 20-40 dex.
Glancing blow - get to 100%
Critical avoidance - nice to have for higher mono/arena pushes.
Mana - getting about 30-50 total across gear will let you respect tree for damage.
Block chance - a solarium shield with t5 block is solid at around 45%
resistances/armor - get where possible , but you end up with a lot of ward so they are not very effective. Poison/Necrotic/Void seem more dangerous then elements.
movement speed - the more the better. I aim for 12% + base and t4+ craft.

weapon:
ice scepter -
flat cold damage t5 ,
cold damage/elemental/melee % t5,
shock chance /freeze rate.

idols: look for the following mods.
Cold damage
Chance to shock
Immunity to stun on teleport
Ward on hit.

recommended uniques.
The unique ice scepter frozen ire works well until you craft a the above weapon.
The unique helmet boneglamor barbute gives 5 relavent stats.
The unique armor exsanguinous works well - especially if you do not leech life, though i found using a high rolled int and dex armor more effective late game as you already have alot of ward generation and attack speed.

tree:
mage:
arcanist 8/8
reactive shield - 1/10
warden 5/5
***scholar 6/8

  • remove the points here later in endgame where you can roll 20+ mana on 2 pieces of gear. you can put the points into elemnentalist - and later max elementalist to 8/8

spell blade
arcane warden 8/8
infused weapon 8/8
spellbound weapon 8/8 - triggered with teleport/flame ward/enchant weapon
prismatic blade 8/8
shiver armor 1/5
arcane forge 15/15
triple strike 15/15 - max once it is available
ward drought 10/10 - alternate between arcane forge and this.
mind slayer - 5/10 - priority to level
mind flame - 5/5 - priority to level
mind blade - 5/5 - level once you have 20+ dexterity

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