Icy Plunder
(Shoot Icicles everywhere & Freeze Nearby Enemies while Spamming Projectiles & Explosive Kegs)
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This build is a complete lvl 60 setup and is UP-TO-DATE with the Spring Update from May 25th. The subclass used is Cold Heart. I believe the build can be amazing when geared & should be very close to the META builds in terms of DPS. Just like any build, in the right hands, this setup should be able to finish all Fazeer stages. It can dish out massive damage when we are playing it well. Good sources of damage of this build are the DPS buff of Snowstorm (+25% dmg) + the damage bonus from Dread Banner that gives us +25% dmg + the curse from Black Spot that makes cursed enemies take +40% dmg + the My Lil’ General‘s 25% dmg buff. When all buffs are in place we spam Plunderbuss while taking advantage of Ice Shield and Imbue Relic as well as using Powder Keg for extra Burst DMG + Broadside for extra trickling DoT. The idea of the build is use Imbue Relic (from the Ancient Ember Boots) as a “battery” that allows us to keep Snowstorm up all the time (as long as we’re in combat) as well as cast Ice Shield more often. The Frostwall Shield + either a North Mace OR a Glacier’s Edge (sword) lowers the cooldowns of item-granted skills such as Imbue Relic by 25% or 50% with the set bonus which further helps with keeping Snowstorm up. Add to this Wraith Walk for mobility and an escape mechanic and it’s a well rounded build.
Build Video footage:
The skills I use:
- Plunderbuss OR Maelstrom – our spammy DPS skill + Doubloon consume. Plunderbuss seems the best for DPS but if you like want pulls Maelstrom is amazing for CC. Consider slotting in legendarium the legendary item for Plunderbuss (Fortune’s Spire).
- Powder Keg – Is amazing source of BURST DPS. Can either use quick 3 kegs or make pauses between the uses. It’s best to have 3 of those ready for big boss fights on the initial dmg burst wave.
- Broadside – Is a solid choice of additional dps on a cooldown that also recharges the cooldown by 1.5 sec. after using any other Piracy skill.
- Dread Banner – we use it to stun enemies as well as to give us and our allies +25% dmg (as well as +25% attack speed, movement speed, & crit chance) but the dmg is what we care about here.
- Black Spot – we use it to apply a curse, making enemies take 40% more dmg and it also does some additional dps if the enemy dies or the curse ends.
- Wraith Walk – our escape mechanic and a movement skill. This also pulls nearby doubloons to us and help keep us at full without needing to run around and collect.
- Imbue Relic – fully re-fills our Relic energy. Granted by the Ancient Ember Boots. This helps us keep Snowstorm permanently up as long as we’re fighting due to getting the cooldown of this skill as low as 30 sec (when using Frostwall + North Mace).
- Snowstorm – It’s a good source of DPS buff (+25% dmg while it lasts) that also buffs nearby allies for the same amount. It also buff us and nearby allies with extra +5% chance to Freeze + does a some periodic dmg to nearby enemies as well as freezes them.
- Ice Shield – It’s a great secondary source of DPS as well as provides decent survivability. Imbue Relic also resets this skill’s cooldown
The gear I recommend using is:
MY IDEAL EQUIPPED GEAR:
- A good rolled + socketed 1 handed weapon from the Arctic Armaments set – Glacier’s Edge sword or the North Mace OR Blue weapon + a good rolled & socketed Frostwall Shield
- Must wear 3 Commodore Set pieces! I suggest wearing: Commodore Cape + Jacket + Pauldrons:
- Commodore‘s Cape – gives +1 Piracy Skills (+2 with the 3 piece set bonus) [I’ve tested it now gives you extra levels and DMG if the skill is already lvl 10 and you can use this to overcap skills]
- Commodore‘s Pauldrons (Shoulders) – When you pick up a Doubloon it grants a 10% dmg & gold luck buff for 10 seconds (20% with the 3 piece set bonus)
- Commodore‘s Jacket (Chest) – gives +1 Cursed Skills (+2 with the 3 piece set bonus) [I’ve tested it now gives you extra levels and DMG if the skill is already lvl 10 and you can use this to overcap skills]
- Ideally also wear Ancient Ember, Arc-Powered, or Winterweave pieces! I suggest those be: Ancient Ember Boots (or Woodsbeast Boots) + Winterweave Pants + Winterweave Gauntlets:
You’ll be looking for flat dmg, optionally % elemental dmg and/or Crit dmg/chance, +%Evasion +%Block Chance, +%DMG to Plunderbuss OR to Powder Keg , + X lvl to any skill you use as active (I suggest to try and get +X lvls to Powder Keg) and have more than 1 point into, + others.
- the Shoulders and Chest rolled for +% Crit Dmg
- the Chest, Shoulders and Pants rolled for +%dmg to Plunderbuss or to Powder Keg (or your skill of choice)
- the Pants + Chest will ideally also roll with + flat dmg
- the Boots can ideally be rolled for % Crit dmg and maybe elemental dmg + either Ice Shield Duration or maybe %elemental (ice) dmg
- Crit Chance rolls on the Cape and Pants is not bad but not needed (unless you go for the 3 pieces Winterweave setup and drop the Woodsbeast boots & Pet Crit Aura)
Suggested Legendarium Powers (to fill in the gaps from items you’re wearing):
MY IDEAL LEGENDARIUM COMBO:
- My Li’ General (you could also wear this and slot the Frostwall here if you want more flat DMG from a socket as well as ‘middle’ affix roll, also only recommended when you wear or slot the Ancient Ember Boots)
- Woodsbeast Sandals – for crit chance (while you wear Ancient Ember Boots) OR wear the Woodsbeast then slot Ancient Ember Boots here to get Imbue Relic.
- pick one of those 3:
- Fortune’s Spire for extra row of projectiles to Plunderbuss
- The Showman for and extra Keg to Powder Keg
- Big Fish for extra dps to Broadside (have not tested if this is any good yet cuz RNG hates me lol)
Ideally you wear Commodore‘s Jacket, Cape + Shoulders also Frostwall + North Mace OR Glacier’s Edge, alongside Ancient Ember Boots + Winterweave Gauntlets + Winterweave Pants (or any other pants).
Alternatives based on availability & preference:
- Option 1: other Commodore, or Skittering, or Winterweave, or Ancient Ember, or Arc-Powered set pieces
- Option 2: Winterweave Cuirass for Gear Luck (even better if doing the 3 equipped Winterweave items setup I mentioned)
- Option 3: Or anything else you like
The non-class specific shoulders now give us an active skill to slot in the skillbar which not everyone may like.
The recommended stats to look for in your items are (the list is not in order of priority and is just listing good bonuses + there’s new stats and I might have missed some which will get added later):
- + Flat Damage (any)
- +% elemental dmg (any) – starts getting very good later on when you have a nice flat to boost with this if you match the flat with the %
- +% Damage with Plunderbuss/Powder Keg
- +% Duration to Ice Shield – the best roll for our Gauntlets as well as the 2nd best for our Boots
- +% Duration to Snowstorm (this is a pretty amazing bonus especially before you unlock/start using Imbue Relic)
- + Health
- + Defense (the non elemental is good for any act but lesser numbers than elemental)
- +% Critical Hit Chance (the cap is 40% and we can get this with just the pet aura + Woodsbeast Boots)
- +% Critical Damage (the cap is 300%)
- +% Gear Luck (eventually try to get like 50-75% total for good drop quantity – the cap is 100%)
- +% Energy Recharge Rate is pretty good for this build
- -% Relic Energy cost is pretty good for this build
- +% Block Chance (capped at 40%)
- +% Chance to Evade damage (capped at 40%)
- +% Doubloon Generation
- +% Chance to Chill – a decent CC proc
- +% Chance to Freeze – a very good CC proc and amazing for any build
- +% Chance to Poison is a decent DoT but not needed for this build
- +% Chance to Bleed decent DoT but not needed
- +% Chance to Burn is good to but not needed on this build.
- +% Chance to Shock – a decent proc but not needed for this build.
- +% Additional Bolts Fired on Shock – a decent proc booster but not needed for this build
- +% Chance to Stun/Slow/Blind – good but not a very important choice
The Skills and Passives I recommend are:
IMPORTANT: Keep in mind that my setup is WITH the +2 Piracy & +2 Curse Skills levels from the Commodore Set Cape + Jacket! On top of that I did NOT “use” any extra +1,+2,+3 Skill Point(s) from a cape.
MY IDEAL/RECOMMENDED SETUP (used in the video):
WITH LVL 10 MAELSTROM INSTEAD OF PLUNDERBUSS:
WITH LVL 10 PLUNDERBUSS + TIER 3 TAKE A SWIG:
WITH LVL 10 MAELSTROM INSTEAD OF PLUNDERBUSS + TIER 3 TAKE A SWIG:
How to LVLUP the Build:
lvl 2 – get Ice Shield lvl 1
lvl 3 – get Ice Shield lvl 2
lvl 4 – Save a point then @ lvl 5 – get Tier 1 (lvl 3) Wraith Walk (
lvls 6, 7, 8, 9 – get lvls 3, 4, 5, 6 Ice Shield
lvl 10 – get lvl 1 Dread Banner & lvl 1 Plunderbuss, remove the point from FIRE! and invest towards Plunderbuss lvl 2
lvl 11 – get Plunderbuss lvl 3
lvls 12, 13, 14 – save the points
lvl 15 – get Snowstorm to lvl 4, Powder Keg lvl 1
lvls 16, 17 – get Snowstorm lvl 6
lvls 18, 19 – get Powder Keg lvls 2, 3
lvl 20 – get Dread Banner lvl 1 + lvl 1 Broadside
lvl 21 – get Black Spot lvl 1
lvls 22 to 25 – get Ice Shield to lvl 10
lvls 25 to 30 – get Plunderbuss to lvl 10
lvls 31 to 36- get Powder Keg to lvl 10
lvls 37 to 40 – get Snowstorm to lvl 10
lvls 40 to 45 – get Double Cross to lvl 6
lvls 45 and up – At this point work towards filling the blanks such as Tier 3 Dread Banner and then Tier 2 Wraith Walk. Eventually, also getting Tier 2 Black Spot and reworking the skill points when you have the extra skill points from the Commodore’s Set items. Eventually, also getting Broadside lvl 10 in the end.
I can’t seem to find when you are getting lvl 1 Double Cross? I’m using the build with LVL 10 Maelstrom.
Hey, the “how to lvlup” part is at the bottom of the post.
“lvls 40 to 45 – get Double Cross to lvl 6” is the part about doublecross.
Since it’s a passive only skill, eventually, it will be lvl 4+2 when you consider the +2 skills bonus from the class set. However, you would need it at lvl 6 (6+0 or 5+1) before you get both extra skill points from the set.