[3.10] FROZEN GIRTH Archmage LL Cold Based Blade Vortex | Hierophant | 7K+ ES & 7K+ Mana | 20m+ SDPS

This build utilizes the Archmage support gem and a bunch of fevered mind jewels to obtain a very high mana cost (~2,800) on Blade Vortex as like any other archmage build. With the Sanctuary of thought node from hierophant & Illuminated Devotion node with INC AOE gem we attain over 170% increased AOE thus the name GIRTH. However, we then convert all that lightning damage to cold using 2 call of the brotherhood rings which allows us to freeze almost all bosses in the game. The reason this build works so well is because Archmage is synergistic with duration spells which minimize the amount of casts and as such with unleash we only have to cast BV twice for clear which will then last for 7.25s.

PLS NOTE: I did not get Physical to lightning conversion because it barely gave any damage for the investment noting that the majority of our base damage came from archmage not the spell itself. Thus, we are essentially using BV as a means to multiply our DMG greatly.

Pros
+ Very Satisfying clear due to AOE and Herald of Ice
+ Very High SDPS with BV & VBV (25+mil shaper DPS with Vaal BV active)
+ Tons of EHP with Immortal Call and Arcane Cloak
+ Can be modified for more ES or DMG very easily
+ Tons of Mana Regen

Cons
- Cant run Physical or Ele reflect maps (no phys conversion)
- Requires many Uniques so not SSF friendly
- Don't run ELE Avoidance mod maps TRUST ME NOT FUN

Weapon - For your weapon a dagger, scepter, or a wand could work. However, I went for a dagger so I can use whirling blades in conjunction with dash to offset the drawback of whirling blades not allowing to go over gaps.

+ + Maximum Mana (aim for 80+)
+ Increased Spell Damage
+ Spell Critical Strike Chance
+ Crit Multi a plus but not required
+ Attack Speed is highly advised to whirl faster (try to get a fast base with a least a 1.45 base attk speed EX. Royal Skean)

Whirling Blades - Faster Attacks - Fortify

PS: Get quality on FA and Whirling Blades for more attk speed

Shield - Your only choice for a shield is prism guardian as it allows you to fit all your auras into your life pool and go LL for the 30% more spell dmg. Reason being is the fact that the blood magic on the shield does not have a mana multiplier unlike the blood magic gem thus allowing the mana reserved from the aura to stay the same amount.

Hatred - Discipline - Zealotry

BA: The main weakness of any low life build is chaos damage as it bypasses energy shield and goes straight to your life pool. Thus, our only two options are Shavronne's Wrappings or the Ivory Tower. In this scenario, due to our incredibly high mana pool we use the ivory tower to allow our mana to tank the chaos dmg instead of our ES.

IMPORTANT: You are not immune to chaos damage with Ivory Tower on. If you waste all your mana without realizing, at that point in time you have no mana left to tank the chaos damage. Thus, if you take chaos damage with no mana left you will be instantly killed. WATCH YOUR MANA! We have plenty of mana regen to offset this.

Vaal Blade Vortex - Energy Shield Leech - Inc AOE/ CONC Effect - Unleash - Archmage - Cold Penetration

Gem Notes: Try to get a lvl 21 Vaal BV, we use ES Leech support for sustain, swap out Inc AOE for CONC Effect for bosses, we use unleash to quickly create BV stacks with minimal casts, and you can use awakened gems if you have the currency but it is not needed.

Helm: By far the best helm for the build is Mind Spiral. It gives us a huge amount of flat mana with is more HP and DMG, since we are converting lightning to cold both the increased lightning and cold damage benefits us, and most importantly the 10% of maximum mana as extra es gives us over 1000+ ES after the increased ES modifiers on the tree.

PLS NOTE: The maximum mana as extra ES mod rolls from 5-10% so I highly suggest you either buy a 10% roll or divine it yourself.

Arcane Cloak - Arcane Surge
Cast when Damage Taken (lvl 8) - Immortal Call (lvl 10)

We use Arcane Cloak as a defensive layer while also giving us HUGE added flat lightning damage and as well to proc a lvl 20 Arcane Surge which gives us 20% more spell damage and a HUGE buff to mana regen. The CWDT - Immortal Call setup is primarily for increased tankiness as we have 100% uptime on endurance charges for a fully buffed immortal call proc when we take a big hit.

Enchantment: While an enchantment is not necessary, I did manage to buy a reduced hatred mana reservation enchant for only 20c which allowed me to drop the 4% reduced mana reserved node next to CI. Otherwise, you can use an % Increased BV DMG enchant or whatever other enchant you'd like.

Gloves: For this slot, the best base you can get is Fingerless Silk Gloves has they provide some damage and ES.

+ + Maximum Mana (as much as possible)
+ + Energy Shield &/OR % Increased ES
+ + Dexterity
+ % Elemental Resistance(s)
+ You can craft %25 Physical to Lightning conversion if you have a spare prefix (highly unlikely since Mana and ES are prefixes and take priority GL!)

Orb of Storms - Curse on hit- Assassin's Mark
Dash

We use orb of storm to curse bosses with Assassin's Mark for more damage and we use dash to traverse ledges since whirling blades cannot.

Boots: For your boots, just get as much Energy Shield and resistances as possible with at least 25% movement speed.

Enchantments:
+ % Increased Mana Regeneration rate if you've casted a spell recently
+ + added 1 to 160 Lightning Damage if you haven't killed recently
+ Damage Penetrates 10% of Enemy Elemental Resistances if you haven't Killed Recently

Enlighten lvl 4 - Herald of Ice - Blood Magic (lvl 21)

Frost Bomb - for more cold penetration/DMG

IMPORTANT!: With no more space in our shield, we are forced to use the blood magic support gem to fit Herald of Ice into our life pool. Herald of ice will not fit on our life until all the reduced mana reserved nodes are attained on the tree (can drop the 1 4% reduced mana reserved node on tree if you have a reduced mana reserved enchant for Hatred or Zealotry), you link Herald of Ice to a lvl 4 enlighten and a lvl 21 blood magic (can drop blood magic to lvl 20 if you have a reduced mana reserved enchant for Hatred or Zealotry), and lastly 1 cluster jewel (not advised since its expensive) or a Healthy Mind jewel (see unique jewels) that has been corrupted with 1% reduced mana reserved. OTHERWISE, IT WILL NOT FIT!

Belt: I highly recommend you get a stygian vise as your belt because the abyssal jewel provides a very nifty bonus (see abyssal jewel description below). However, you could use a crystal belt if you just want a bit more energy shield.

+ + Maximum Mana (as much as possible)
+ + Energy Shield (35 or higher)
+ + Strength
+ % Elemental Resistance(s)
+ % Increased Cold/Elemental Damage or crafted damage if you have a spare prefix.

Abyssal Jewel: For your abyssal jewel, just look for flat mana and energy shield or Dex/Str if needed. However, I highly recommend to get a bit of fire damage to spells (any amount, could literally be 1 - 2 fire damage to spells). The reason for this is because we use the Cinderswallow flask which states "Enemies ignited by you take %10 increased damage" which is a more multiplier. Since fire damage has a base duration and no threshold to ignite like shock and chill, any amount of fire damage added to spells wi apply an ignite when our BV crits against the enemies.

Amulet: For your amulet the BEST and CHEAPEST option is Atziri's Foible. Its gives a LARGE amount of MANA and MANA REGEN. Also, the 25% reduced stat requirements mod is insanely helpful since we are starved on DEX and STR due to cluster jewels. Please use Life and Mana Catalysts on the amulet for more mana and mana regen.

Annoint: For your annoint, I highly recommend Prodigal Perfection as it gives us 50% increased spell damage and 15% increased maximum mana all in one node and it only requires a clear and 2x Azure oils which is super cheap.

Rings: Probably the most expensive part of our gear (in 3.10, may be cheaper once HAROLDS LUL are nerfed in Harvest). However, these rings are must for the build to truly function as a freeze build and benefit from all the cluster jewels.

IMPORTANT!: If you are buying a corrupted one, please buy one with the res mod still intact and with a max roll (%16 cold and lightning res) and make sure the Elemental Catalyst was applied with 20% quality. The catalyst upgrades the lightning to cold conversion from %40 to %48 thus givings use %16 more conversion with two call of the brotherhood rings.

+ Mana Flask for more mana regen and bleed immunity (mainly used to combat chaos damage if you spam your BV too often)
+ Atziri's promise for the beefy extra chaos damage and chaos resistance
+ Cinderswallow for more critical strike chance, damage (read abyssal jewel noted with belt), onslaught for speed, and incredible mana and ES sustain while mapping
+ Diamond Flask with freeze immunity for more critical strike chance
+ Wise Oak for more Cold Penetration (make sure your cold res is the highest resistance)

Fevered Mind: Obviously, since we are an Archmage build we stack lot of Fevered Minds to increase our mana cost and get stupid levels of DPS. The build uses 6 Fevered Mind Jewels or 5 Fevered Mind jewels and 1 Megalomaniac Cluster Jewel (see cluster jewels) with increased mana nodes (Openness, Improvisor, Etc.) since more mana does increase our mana cost and thus our dps but while also giving us a bit more Energy Shield.

Healthy Mind: We use healthy Mind on the jewel socket above the witch starting point to convert the life nodes nearby into mana nodes at double the value giving us a HUGE amount of mana. Make sure to buy one corrupted with reduced mana reserved so you can fit herald of ice on your life.

Large Cluster: For your large cluster jewels, the most bang for your buck is an 8 passive large cluster with 2 jewels (has to be ilvl 75 or higher) with snowstorm and blanketed snow. We use 2 of these.

Medium Cluster: For your primary medium cluster jewel, get a 4 or 5 passive jewel with Cold Conduction and Storm Rider which rolls only the jewel with "increased effect of non-damaging ailments". Cold conduction allows are cold dmg to shock 100% of the time (call of the brother hood does not shock for us as we still need a large amount of lightning dmg to apply a hefty shock). With this, Storm rider gives us 100% up time on power charges which then our ascendancy node, Conviction of Power, will then give us 100% up time on endurance charges which means constant fully buffed immortal call procs. That was a long sentence monkaS.

Megalomaniac: If you decide to use a Megalomaniac jewel like I did try to get Mana nodes like Openness and/or ES nodes like Will Shaper and Energy from Naught. Otherwise, for cheaper mods, any elemental damage is a plus and I recommend Inspired Oppression for the mana regen.