Frost Blades - Path of Exile

Frost Blades Frost Blades is an active skill gem.

Attack enemies with increased range, releasing icy blades from the first enemy hit which fly at other enemies. Requires a Melee Weapon.

Attack, Projectile, Melee, Strike, Cold. Level: 1–20. Cost: 6 Mana. Effectiveness of Added Damage: 110–225%. Projectile Speed: 2250. Requires Level 1.

  • (2–75) to (3–113) Added Cold Damage
  • Fires (4–7) additional Projectiles
  • 60% of Physical Damage Converted to Cold Damage
  • +(18–21) to Melee Strike Range

Place into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.

NameAdditional Effects From QualityWeight
Frost Blades(0–20)% increased Projectile Speed
50

PoE 3.20 Changes

Frost Blades
Removed
  • 20% increased Damage
Modified
  • New: Attack Damage 225% of base
  • Old: Attack Damage 175% of base
  • New: Effectiveness of Added Damage 225%
  • Old: Effectiveness of Added Damage 175%
  • New: 20% increased Projectile Speed
  • Old: 39% increased Projectile Speed

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Related Gems

Level Effect

LevelRequires LevelDexterityBase Damage2 to 3 Added Cold DamageFires 4 additional Projectiles+18 to Melee Strike Range#% increased Projectile SpeedExperience
1110100%2, 341870
2212103.9%2, 34181308
3416107.9%3, 441821,554
4722111.8%4, 641836,667
51131115.8%5, 8418426,047
61641119.7%7, 11519549,725
72050123.7%9, 13519695,714
82458127.6%11, 175197169,595
92867131.6%14, 205198283,759
103275135.5%16, 255199453,996
113683139.5%20, 3062010703,128
124092143.4%24, 35620111,061,223
1344100147.4%28, 42620122,065,870
1448109151.3%33, 49620132,507,110
1552117155.3%39, 58620145,798,936
1656125159.2%45, 687211515,083,919
1760134163.2%52, 797211627,792,735
1864142167.1%61, 917211743,869,739
1967148171.1%68, 10272118242,081,556
2070155175%75, 11372119
2172178.9%81, 12282220
2274182.9%87, 13082221
2376186.8%93, 14082222
2478190.8%100, 15082223
2580194.7%107, 16082224
2682198.7%114, 17292325
2784202.6%123, 18492326
2886206.6%131, 19792327
2988210.5%140, 21092328
3090214.5%150, 22492329
3191216.4%155, 23292329
3292218.4%160, 240102430
3393220.4%165, 248102430
3494222.4%171, 256102431
3595224.3%176, 265102431
3696226.3%182, 273102432
3797228.3%188, 282102432
3898230.3%194, 292102433
3999232.2%201, 301102433
40100234.2%207, 311102434

Frost Blades is a cold melee attack skill that strikes with increased range, then has the secondary effect of releasing projectiles behind the struck enemies.

Skill functions and interactions

  • Dual Wielding: Since Frost Blades has no weapon restrictions, attacks will alternate between both hands while dual wielding.

An attack with Frost Blades consists of two parts:

  • An initial melee hit with the keywords Cold, Attack, Melee
  • A projectile attack with the keywords Cold, Attack, Projectile

When an enemy is hit by this skill, multiple projectiles fly out from behind the enemy and target nearby enemies. This skill increases the melee range by an appreciable degree. Unlike Lightning Strike, if the initial attack does not hit an enemy, then no projectiles are released.

The projectiles have the same damage multiplier as the initial melee hit, with the same cold damage conversion. However the initial melee attack scales with melee damage modifiers (such as Melee Physical Damage), whereas the projectiles scale with projectile damage modifiers. Both components scale equally with (unspecified) attack, physical, and cold damage modifiers.

Multistrike Support uses the increased attack range of this skill when selecting targets to attack. Melee Splash Support does not release additional projectiles from secondary targets struck by the initial melee splash, nor does it splash the projectiles' damage. Faster Projectiles Support will increase the speed and effective range of the secondary projectiles. Vicious Projectiles Support scales all the damage of the projectiles, but not the initial melee attack: attack speed is NOT reduced since the attack animation itself is melee, rather than projectile.

Note: the tooltip DPS shows only the melee attack component damage and DPS. It does not show damage values for the projectile component. To calculate the projectile component, use the formula at the bottom of this page.

Interactions:

  • Hydrosphere - Attacking a Hydrosphere will make the projectiles from frost blades release. This allows characters to stay out of melee range of monsters, while still releasing projectiles.

Item acquisition

Frost Blades can drop anywhere. Drop level: 5.

Recipes

Frost Blades can be created from the following recipes:

Amount Part Description
6 The Fox Random level 20 gem
8 Dying Anguish Random level 19 gem with 19% alternative quality
8 The Hook Random corrupted level 21 gem with 23% alternative quality
3 Gemcutter's Promise Random gem with 20% quality
1 Gemcutter's Incubator Random gem with 1–20% quality
1 The Void Random divination card set exchange

Quest reward

This item is given as a quest reward for the following quests:

Class → Witch Shadow Ranger Duelist Marauder Templar Scion
Quest ↓
Enemy at the Gate
Act 1		 ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗

Vendor reward

This item can be bought at the listed NPC vendors, after completing the following quests:

Class → Witch Shadow Ranger Duelist Marauder Templar Scion
Quest ↓
Enemy at the Gate
Act 1
Nessa		 ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✓
A Fixture of Fate
Act 3
Siosa		 ✓
Fallen from Grace
Act 6
Lilly Roth		 ✓

Projectile Damage Calculation

To calculate the projectile damage (or DPS) given the melee tooltip damage (or DPS) use the following formula:

where:

  • IAD = Sum of all % increased attack damage (not including either melee or projectile specific increased damage nor effects from Strength)
  • IMD = Sum of all % increased melee damage (including effects from Strength)
  • IPD = Sum of all % increased projectile damage (including effects from Strength if Iron Grip is applicable)
  • MMD = individual % more/less melee damage modifiers
  • MPD = individual % more/less projectile damage modifiers

All % values are expressed as decimal, e.g. 20% = 0.20. Reduced and less damage modifiers are expressed as negative values.

projectile_damage = tooltip_damage * (1.0 + IAD + IPD) / (1.0 + IAD + IMD) * (1.0 + MPD) / (1.0 + MMD)

If there are multiple more/less damage modifiers, then repeat the multiplicative terms (1.0 + MMD) and/or (1.0 + MPD) individually for each source.

Threshold Jewel

The following threshold jewels augment the skill gem:

Item Radius Stats
Fight for Survival Medium (10-15)% increased Cold Damage
With at least 40 Dexterity in Radius, Melee Damage
dealt by Frost Blades Penetrates 15% Cold Resistance
With at least 40 Dexterity in Radius, Frost Blades has 25% increased Projectile Speed

Related helmet enchantments

The following helmet enchantments affect Frost Blades.

Name Level Labyrinth Stats Spawn Weighting
Enchantment Frost Blades Damage 1 66 Merciless Labyrinth 25% increased Frost Blades Damage helmet 100
default 0
Enchantment Frost Blades Damage 2 75 Eternal Labyrinth 40% increased Frost Blades Damage helmet 100
default 0
Enchantment Frost Blades Projectile Speed 1 66 Merciless Labyrinth 20% increased Frost Blades Projectile Speed helmet 100
default 0
Enchantment Frost Blades Projectile Speed 2 75 Eternal Labyrinth 30% increased Frost Blades Projectile Speed helmet 100
default 0

Alternate skill effects

Frost Blades has the following alternate skill effects:

Item Effect(s)
Stygian Frost Blades Effect Your Frost Blades becomes a Stygian Effect.