Path of Exile Synthesis Build – Cold Ethereal Knives

TL;DR

  • Essential Ring of Blades jewel enables 360-degree Ethereal Knives casting
  • Convert 50% physical to cold damage with Hrimsorrow gloves for massive scaling
  • The Covenant armor provides blood magic and added chaos damage support
  • Singularity scepter offers optimal DPS with built-in survivability
  • Strategic flask usage and enchantments dramatically boost performance

Greetings Exiles! This comprehensive guide from the Professional Gaming Store MmoGah explores a powerful Path of Exile Build centered around Cold Ethereal Knives. Whether you prefer video demonstrations or detailed written analysis, we provide multiple learning formats to master this devastating build.

The Cold Ethereal Knives build transforms a classic skill into an area-clearing powerhouse through strategic gear combinations and damage conversion mechanics. Understanding the core interactions between your equipment choices will dramatically impact your mapping efficiency and boss-killing capabilities.

Essential Build Components

Ring of blades viridian jewel:

This critical unique jewel fundamentally alters Ethereal Knives behavior, enabling full 360-degree projectile emission that transforms the skill from directional to omnidirectional clearing.

Without this jewel, the build loses its primary clearing mechanism and becomes significantly less effective for map progression.

Hrimsorrow goathide gloves:

– Converts 50% of Physical damage to Cold Damage

– Since we’re utilizing Hatred aura, maximizing physical-to-cold conversion becomes essential for damage amplification and enabling satisfying cold-based explosions.

The covenant spidersilk robe:

– Socketed Gems gain Blood Magic, eliminating mana management concerns entirely.

– Provides 10% increased Maximum Life for enhanced survivability.

– Socketed Gems automatically receive Added Chaos Damage support.

Essence worm unset ring:

– This specialized ring enables aura usage without additional mana reservation costs.

– Deploy it strategically to significantly boost your damage output through the Hatred aura.

Weapon Selection Strategy

Singularity platinum scepter:

– Singularity consistently delivers superior DPS performance while providing the valuable Hinder Effect that enhances character survivability.

– To outperform this weapon, you’d need an exceptionally crafted dagger featuring 20% Physical as extra Cold damage, 20% Elemental Damage as Extra Chaos Damage, and substantial Critical Chance modifiers. Even with such investment, the performance gap remains minimal.

– During extensive testing with rare daggers and scepters incorporating physical-to-cold and physical-to-fire conversions alongside elemental-to-chaos damage, Path of Building calculations revealed nearly identical damage output compared to Singularity.

Helmet Optimization

A sharper helmet also grants a benefit for this build:

– socketed gems supported by level xx hypothermia.

– The following is an example, they are quite cheap.

– We are equipping Vaal Blade Vortex on this helmet. It will help our single target damage.

Strategic Flask Configuration

Divine Life Flasks:

– Your Divine Life Flasks must have Instant Recover.

– To maximize your defenses, looking for “Immune to Bleeding” and “Immune to Freeze and Chill” as secondary Stats.

Quicksilver Flask:

– Another good choice if you want more speed.

– Best Mods for QuickSilver Flasks are “Increased Movement Speed During Flask Effect” and “Increased Duratuion”.

Sulphur Flask:

– 40% increased damage

– Extra Life Regeneration

– When fighting big bosses replace the Quicksilver flask for one of these.

Stibnite Flask:

– Great Flask for a great Evasion Boost and blind source for your enemies.

– Best Stats for Stibnite Flasks are “Increased Evasion Rating During Flask Effect” and “Increased Duration”.

Diamond Flask:

– For more Crits

– Look for Increased Duration and Increased Evasion as Secondary Mods.

Atziri’s Promise Amethyst Flask:

– An offensive Flask that provides a huge boost to your DPS and also increases your Life Leech.

Sin’s Rebirth Stibnite Flask:

– This Flask is awesome, it will give all the benefits from a regular Stibnite Flask and also a big DPS boost.

– Use it instead of the Magic Stibnite Flask.

Damage Scaling Principles

The Cold Ethereal Knives build excels through layered damage amplification. Starting with the Hatred aura providing physical as extra cold damage, then converting 50% of physical to cold via Hrimsorrow gloves, and finally layering chaos damage through The Covenant armor creates a multiplicative damage profile.

Critical strike chance becomes paramount for maximizing damage output. The Diamond Flask provides temporary 100% increased critical strike chance, while proper passive tree allocation and gear modifiers ensure consistent critical performance.

Survivability hinges on multiple defensive layers: the Hinder effect from Singularity slows enemy attacks, Stibnite Flask provides blind and evasion, while proper flask management prevents debilitating status effects.

Gameplay Demonstration

My Gameplay Gear

This is the gear I’ve used to record the gameplay seen on this guide. Please note that my equipment is not perfect, you can achieve way more with an expensive one. Every piece is fully linked.

For beginners, this setup provides excellent performance without requiring massive currency investment. As you accumulate wealth, upgrading individual pieces will yield noticeable improvements.

Recommended Enchantments

Of Reflection

– Creates a clone of you that attacks with your weapon. Good for not taking all the damage.

Ethereal Knives Speed

– Ethereal Knives has 30% increased projectile speed.

Penetration

– Damage penetrates 10% of enemies’ elemental resistances if you haven’t killed recently.

Common mistakes include neglecting proper flask management, underestimating the importance of the Ring of Blades jewel placement, and failing to optimize aura effectiveness through proper passive tree support.

For optimal performance, prioritize acquiring the mandatory uniques first, then gradually upgrade your rare items with better rolls and appropriate enchantments.

Action Checklist

  • Acquire Ring of Blades jewel and socket it properly for 360-degree clearing
  • Obtain Hrimsorrow gloves for 50% physical to cold conversion
  • Secure The Covenant armor for blood magic and chaos damage support
  • Configure flask setup with proper immunities and damage enhancements
  • Optimize passive tree for critical strike chance and cold damage scaling

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