Pathfinder Whirling Assault

While it may not be the strongest ascendancy on paper, Pathfinder provides excellent quality-of-life benefits that greatly improve mapping and game play feel.

By combining Relentless Pursuit with Running Assault, the build doesn't mind permanent sprinting, allowing you to move freely without worrying about getting tripped. It also lets you ignore slowing effects such as Temporal Chains and Chill, greatly improving overall flow and comfort.

Whirling Assault is our primary skill for maps.

For tankier rares and boses, we utilize the following skills to boost damage:
Elemental Weakness
Charged Staff
Tempest Bell
Infernal Cry
Mantra of Destruction
After setting up, place Frost Wall on or near the boss and use Gathering Storm to blow them up.

Path Seeker allows us to allocate passives starting from the Warrior starting area, giving us access to AoE and Warcry nodes, most notably Fast Metabolism, which synergizes well with Soul Tether.

Soul Tether converts life regeneration and excess life leech into Energy Shield recovery, greatly improving sustain and survivability.

Traveller's Wisdom mostly replaces our attributes (try to get as much increased Defences as you can reasonably fit.), so we fully embrace the stat bonuses provided by Astramentis to meet requirements.
Once you're on a higher budget you can replace Astramentis with a rare amulet.

Eternal Rage provides consistent rage generation.

Nascent Hope helps us recover quickly from Freeze.

For leveling, I recommend using any crossbow build or whichever setup you’re most comfortable with. Avoid forcing this build early on.

Take Stun Threshold and Increased Global Defences as your campaign rewards.