Frostbite Frost Claw Runemaster Guide
Last Updated:July 6, 2024|Changelog
The Frostbite Frost Claw Runemaster strides into battle wielding the potent Frost Claw as its Skill of choice. With each swift cast, Frost Claw releases a barrage of projectiles, all capable of converging upon a single target. This relentless assault not only deals Damage but also has the power to Freeze foes in their tracks. Thanks to its fast Cast Speed, it can maintain a relentless offensive assault, while also accumulating protective Ward to fortify its Defenses.
This is an Ailment based build that scales Frostbite and Cold Damage Over Time. Its Damage primarily comes from Frost Claw and Elemental Nova. The build also has insane tankiness and CC thanks to permanent Reowyn's Frostguard, on demand Flame Ward, plus the ability to Freeze enemies.
While this setup doesn't require any Uniques to function, Snowdrift and Frostbite Shackles dramatically bolster the build's potential. That being said, both of these Uniques are easily acquired. Additionally, a Sceptre with Tier 7 Spell Damage and Reduced Mana Cost is important for reducing Frost Claw's Mana Cost to around 25 or below to sustain your Mana using Gift of Winter Node in Frost Claw's.
Overall, the Frostbite Frostclaw Runemaster is a great build suited for all content in the game, even in Hardcore. Taking advantage of so many layers of Damage Reduction, it is truly perfect for Hardcore. If you are looking for a Cold based build with the ability to almost permanently Freeze enemies, this build is perfect for you!
This article assumes you have a Level 70 Character.
Reach Level 70 with our Runemaster Leveling Guide.
If you are looking for a different playstyle check all our Build Guides.
Skills
Frost Claw
On Through The Snow, Ever Onward, and A Crack in the Ice triggers multiple casts, letting you benefit multiple times from Gift of Winter's Chance to Gain Mana. This also affects Shiver Shell and Reowyn's Veil, which provide Ward on cast. Volley of Glass enables all projectiles to hit the same target. Celestial Conflux is used to proc Elemental Nova for more Cold Hits to apply Frostbite and other Ailments.
- Some Skills showcase extra Skill Points in case you find +Level of Skills that may not be included in the Planners.
- If you have the Crest of Unity, remove all points from Protective Strikes and spec into Infernal Nova and Elemental Expanse. Do not do this without Crest of Unity!
- To sustain Frost Claw's Mana Cost, reduce it to around 25 or less with the help of your Tier 7 Scepter with Spell Damage and Reduced Mana Cost alongside Ornate Glass Idols with Frost Claw Mana Efficiency and Elemental Penetration.
- Remember that Frost Claw Cleanses Ailments with each cast thanks to Brightfrost. Offense is your defense here!
- Snap Freeze does not provide much utility to the build, since Frost Claw already Freezes reliably. Feel free to experiment with any other Cold Skill you might find useful, but remember to keep the proper order on your Action Bar for Reowyn's Frostguard.
- Make sure Elemental Nova's Mana Cost is zero. If needed, remove points from Glacial Might until you obtain a Sceptre with Spell Damage and Reduced Mana Cost.
Passives
Passives provide powerful effects that dictate the playstyle of a Class and its Masteries. Remember that you can allocate Passives on the first half of all Masteries regardless of the one you chose.
- Freezing Point enables the use of Armour Shred to inflict Frostbite.
- Intelligence scales both Ward Retention and Damage. Spec into Passives with it.
- Arcane Focus and Edict of the Scion provide a good amount of Ward on cast, helping with sustain.
- Arcane Momentum, Mage Flurry, Unsealed Mana and Rune of Dilation scales Cast Speed, helping with Damage, sustain and CC.
- Rune of Dilation and Essence of Celerity are great for their Movement Speed.
- Sphere of Protection is a great Defensive Passive.
- Inscribed Instruments provides good Ward Retention with a Sceptre, which we use in this setup.
- Ancient Inscriptions is great to lower all Cooldowns.
- Rune of Winter scales your Damage and CC thanks to Snowdrift.
- Mental Catalysis allows you to get even more benefit from your Catalyst, providing a high amount of reduced Bonus Damage Taken from Critical Strikes.
- Decree of the Burning Wind is a Damage Multiplier and always doubled since you use a Rah Rune.
Make sure to complete the Campaign to get all your Passive Points.
Gameplay
This Runemaster attacks enemies from close to long range, ensuring that all the Skills at his disposal can hit the target. Make sure you are familiar with enemy mechanics to know when to use your Support Skills to stay alive. Pay attention to dangerous telegraphed attacks and be aware of ranged enemy threats.
Skill Usage/Rotation
- Before engaging enemies, start by casting Frost Claw to accumulate Runes.
- Cast Reowyn's Frostguard with Runic Invocation on Cooldown.
- Spam Frost Claw to deal damage to enemies. Aim for priority targets and let your Elemental Nova procs deal with weaker enemies.
- Keep track of your Mana. If you do not have a Mana Cost of around 25 or less for Frost Claw, you may need to take short breaks from Frost Claw spam.
- Use Flame Ward for emergency situations.
- Use Flame Rush for positioning and to avoid telegraphed attacks.
Mapping
- Use Flame Rush and rush to your objective.
- Attack with Frost Claw to dispose of enemy threats.
Bossing
- Take advantage of all your Defensive Buffs and keep them active.
- Apply the Brand of Subjugation with Branding Cold to gain Ward via Celestial Doom.
- Make sure you have some mana available at all times to use your Defensive Buffs.
- Stand close to enemies hitboxes and aim close to your Character to get the most damage out of Frost Claw's multiple casts.
- Use Flame Ward to tank through dangerous attacks and keep your damage uptime.
Learn more about how to maximize your gameplay in the Build Scaling section of this guide.
Gear
Gearing in Last Epoch revolves around finding Items and then using the powerful Crafting System to enhance them. As long as an Item has Forging Potential left, players can upgrade or modify their Affixes up to Tier 5. However, the powerful Exalted Tier Affixes are drop only and can't be modified by players.
Using the correct Item Bases allows you to make use of their amazing Implicits, this is fundamental for gearing efficiently. Combine Implicits, Passives, Idols and Blessings to cap your Resistances and other defensive layers, while fitting as much Health related Affixes or Ward into your gear as possible. Plan ahead for your next upgrades and consider the final Empowered Blessings of your build while gearing. Finish up by farming Uniques with Legendary Potential and Sealing Affixes into Exalted Items to unleash all of your build's power!
Here are the Stat Goals for this build:
- Capped Resistances
- 100% Reduced Bonus Damage Taken From Crits
- 15000 - 20000+ Ward (while in combat)
- 450%+ Ward Retention
- 2000% - 2500%+ Freeze Rate Multiplier
- 100%+ Cast Speed
- 800%+ Increased Damage
- 30% - 60%+ Movement Speed
Gear Progression
Milestone 1
Aim for good Item Bases with two valuable T5 Affixes. The Defensive rolls on T5 Suffixes are very important at this stage as they can easily cap all your Resistances when combined with Item Implicits, Idols, Blessings or Passives. Get a Weapon with double T5 offensive Affixes as soon as possible.
Milestone 2
Make sure your reduced Bonus Damage Taken from Critical Strikes is at or near 100% to mitigate Critical Strike Damage against you.
Milestone 3
Get as much Chance To Apply Frostbite On Hit With Cold Skills and Chance to Shred Armour on Hit to scale your Damage.
Milestone 4
Get some Freeze Rate Multiplier to Freeze enemies reliably. This is an important aspect of this build's Defenses.
Milestone 5
Aim for a relic with Level of Frost Claw to further invest into it's Tree.
Milestone 6
While you look for this basic set of gear, start farming your Empowered Blessings and look for any Idols that can help you cap all your Resistances momentarily or increase your Damage output. Keep an eye out for Ornate Glass Idol with Frost Claw Mana Efficiency and Elemental Penetration Prefix, as this Idol is important for the Mana sustain of the build.
Milestone 1
Look for Snowdrift in the Spirits of Fire Monolith Timeline by targeting Unique Boots Echo Rewards or using Rune of Ascendance. They enable you to scale your Frostbite Damage further by giving you Cold Penetration from Freeze Rate Multiplier. Thankfully they are easy to acquire.
Milestone 2
Farm Frostbite Shackles in the Blood, Frost, and Death Monolith Timeline by defeating Formosus the Undying. It is a Rare drop but will greatly enhance the power of your build.
Milestone 3
Farm Strands of Souls from Abomination on Empowered difficulty. This belt provides a lot of Ward synergies which is the build's primary defense.
Milestone 4
Farm Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros from Emperor of Corpses on Empowered difficulty. Not only for it's Ward synergies, but the Affixes on Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros makes it an excellent choice.
Milestone 5
Farm Oceareon in the Age of Winter Monolith Timeline by targeting Unique Rings Echo Rewards. Freeze Rate per stack of Chill is a Multiplier for your Cold Skills Base Freeze Rate. It is seperate from Freeze Rate Multiplier, resulting in a dramatic increase to your actual chance to Freeze enemies.
Milestone 6
When all your core Defenses are covered, start working on your Damage. Look to get as much Cast Speed as possible. Not only will it scale your Damage, but also your Defense via Ward generation. Freeze Rate Multiplier and Elemental Damage Over Time are also great upgrades.
Milestone 7
As you finish up your Empowered Blessings keep your Resistances capped. Your goal is to have items with 4 valuable T5 Affixes, also known as T20.
Milestone 1
Upgrade your T20 set up with Exalted items, high value Sealed Affixes or ideally both. Obtain the Affixes included in the Planner, but prioritize the indicated Item Bases for their Implicits. Make sure to Seal highly efficient low tier Affixes.
Milestone 2
Farm Throne of Ambition in The Stolen Lance Empowered Monolith Timeline. It's a rare drop from God Hunter Argentus so it might take a few tries to drop. This Idol is great for increasing your Boss DPS and survivability.
Milestone 3
Look for an Exalted T7 Spell Damage and Reduced Mana Cost Sceptre. This reduces Frost Claw's Mana Cost drastically and helps with getting Elemental Nova's Mana Cost to zero.
Milestone 4
Slay Exiled Mages in Echoes to farm The Cuckoo. This Catalyst grants you Haste reliably after using a Traversal Skill.
Milestone 5
Keep farming the build's Unique Items with at least one Legendary Potential. Chance to Shred Armour on Hit on Frostbite Shackles will drastically improve your Damage.
Milestone 1
Keep upgrading your gear with Exalted Items with Sealed Affixes. Get every stat in the right place and in the correct Item Base. Min/Maxing your gear in Last Epoch can be pushed to the extreme as Items with multiple Exalted Affixes are technically possible.
Milestone 2
Get as close to perfect rolls for all your Empowered Blessings and find all your desired Idols with the best in slot Prefixes and Suffixes. Ornate Glass Idols with Frost Claw Mana Efficiency and Elemental Penetration are essential to sustain the Mana Cost of Frost Claw.
Milestone 3
Farm Frozen Eyes of Formosus in the Blood, Frost, and Death Monolith Timeline by defeating Formosus the Undying. If you manage to get one with multiple Legendary Potential and get at least Chance to Shred Armour on Hit on it, it will further enhance your chance to Freeze thanks to the Freeze Rate per stack of Chill Affix.
Milestone 4
Farm Frozen Ire with Legendary Potential in the Stolen Lance Monolith Timeline by targeting Unique Staff Echo Rewards. Tundra Nova is a great way to further enhace your Damage since it is a Cold Skill which also apply Frostbite granted by Freezing Point. Only make the switch if you get two wanted Affixes, including Tier 7 Spell Damage and Reduced Mana Cost.
Milestone 5
Farm Vial of Volatile Ice in The Stolen Lance Timeline by targeting Unique Catalyst Echo Rewards or using Rune of Ascendance. This is a common drop with a high chance at Legendary Potential, and most of its Affixes are excellent for the build. Another option could be Frey's Retreat, but is much harder to get with multiple Legendary Potential.
Milestone 6
Farm a Legendary Crest of Unity in the Black Sun Monolith Timeline by targeting Unique Helmet Echo Rewards. The Damage Reduction and many levels to Elemental Nova makes it perfect to further enhance the build.
Milestone 7
Keep farming until you get the maximum Legendary Potential you can find on all of your Uniques
Milestone 8
Feel free to experiment with any crazy Unique, Legendary or Experimental Items that you might craft, trade or find! The possibilities are endless! Good luck with the chase!
Learn the basics for crafting gear with our Beginner Crafting Guide.
Check our Unique Item & Set Farming Guide and learn how to get them!
Want to know more about Legendary Items? Check our Legendary Guide!
Blessings
Completing a Timeline in the Monolith of Fate lets you choose one of several randomized Blessings from its unique pool. Their benefits are permanent and persist even outside of the Monolith of Fate.
Empowered Blessings are a fundamental part of all builds, so getting the correct ones for each is key.
The sooner you reach Empowered Monolith, the faster you can start farming your desired Blessings!
Normal Blessings are not important as they are eventually replaced by Empowered Blessings. However they can still be a great source of Resistances, Critical Strike Avoidance or Life Leech for your build early on.
Pick up these Normal Blessings on your way to Empowered:
- Echo of Solarum
- Weight of the Abyss
- Persistance of Will
- Maw of Artor
- Body of Obsidian
Note: Don't target farm Normal Blessings. Get to Empowered Monolith as fast as you can.
Reaching Empowered Monolith unlocks all the level 100 Timelines and the ability to farm Empowered Blessings. Unlike Normal Blessings, these need to be farmed until you get the desired ones for your build. It is extremely important to get this set up as fast as possible to free up affix slots on your gear. Remember, the more value you get from your Blessings, the easier it is to craft efficient gear!
These are the core Combat Empowered Blessings for this build:
- Start with Grand Echo of Solarum. This is your biggest source of Void Resistance.
- Grand Persistance of Will provides you with Poison Resistance.
- Farm Grand Maw of Artor to increase your Damage.
- Grab Grand Weight of the Abyss for a boost to your Damage and CC thanks to Snowdrift.
- Finish up by farming the best rolled Grand Body of Obsidian you can get.
These Empowered Blessings are flexible and depend on your current needs and goals.
These are valuable Empowered Drop Rate Blessings for this build:
- Grand Savior of the North will help you find the coveted Exalted Sceptre with T7 Spell Damage and Reduced Mana Cost
- Grand Favor of Souls will help you find the very important Ornate Glass Idols with Frost Claw Mana Efficiency and Elemental Penetration.
- Lastly, take Grand Right of Conquest to find more Boots for Snowdrift with Legendary Potential, which are a crucial part of the build.
Learn how to farm Blessings fast with our Advanced Monolith Strategies.
Idols
Idols grant your character bonuses when equipped in the dedicated Idol Container. Unlock all the slots of your Idol Container by completing the Campaign and some of its Side Quests. Remember that some Idols are Class specific and you won't be able to equip them with other non-compatible Classes.
These are the Idols recommended for this build:
- Find two Ornate Glass Idols with Frost Claw Mana Efficiency and Elemental Penetration Prefix and Mana And Armor Suffix. This is essential to reduce the Mana Cost of Frost Claw.
- Get two Grand Glass Idols with Frostbite Duration and Mana And Armor.
- Complete your setup with a situational mix of Idols to cap your Resistances. You might need extra Resistances out of your Idols early on, so keep an eye for anything useful until you get your final setup.
- Throne of Ambition can be an option if you can sustain your Mana with only 1 Ornate Glass Idols with Frost Claw Mana Efficiency and Elemental Penetration. It provides Multipliers for both Cold Damage and Armour. You can farm it in The Stolen Lance Empowered Monolith Timeline. It's a rare drop from God Hunter Argentus.
- Frost Claw Mana Efficiency and Elemental Penetration
- Cold Penetration with Frostbite
- Chance To Apply Frostbite With Cold Skills
- Ward Retention
- Cold Resistance
- Damage Over Time
Make sure to complete the Campaign to get all your Idol Slots.
Learn how to be efficient with Idols with our Advanced Idols Setups Guide.
Build Scaling
The build uses Frost Claw to proc Elemental Nova, dealing both Frostbite AoE and Single Target Damage and building huge amounts of Ward through Arcane Focus, Edict of the Scion and Reowyn's Veil.
- Frostbite Chance: The more Chance you have, the more Frostbites you apply with each hit.
- Armor Shred Chance: Thanks to Freezing Point, all sources of Armor Shred Chance get converted to Frostbite Chance for Cold Skills.
- Frostbite Duration: Extending their duration allows your Frostbites to deal Damage for a longer period of time, increasing your sustained Damage. It is an effective Multiplier of Frostbite's Damage.
- Reduced Mana Cost: Bring Frost Clawto around 25 Mana Cost to be able to spam it and sustain your Mana.
- Freeze Rate Multiplier: Snowdrift lets you use this stat to scale Cold Penetration. It adds a tremendous amount of Damage.
- Cold Penetration with Frostbite: Even when using Snowdrift, Cold Penetration is always welcomed.
- Cast Speed: The faster you attack the higher your DPS is and faster you build Ward. Mage Flurry, Unsealed Mana and Arcane Momentum provide some in the Passive tree, with the rest coming from your gear.
- Elemental Damage Over Time: This powerful Prefix has some of the highest numerical values of any offensive Affix in the game. Make sure to prioritize it.
- Grand Weight of the Abyss: Provides another source of Freeze Rate Multiplier, giving you extra Cold Penetration thanks to Snowdrift.
- % Increased Damage: Any extra source of % Increased Cold or Damage Over Time is welcomed.
- Intelligence: All of our Damage Skills gain 4% Damage per point of Intelligence. Additionally, it grants 4% Ward Retention per point, which is a very important stat for this build.
- Movement Speed: Reduces the reaction time needed to react from attacks. The faster you move, the faster you can get out of danger!
- Flame Ward: The Damage Reduction and Armour provided is insane. While this Skill is active, you are almost immortal!
- Reowyn's Frostguard (C,F,C): Grants an incredible amount of Ward and Damage Reduction.
- Freeze Rate Multiplier: The ability for this build to Freeze enemies is very reliable and makes it super safe. Almost permanent CC is one of the best Defenses.
- Freeze Rate per stack of Chill: Further increases your ability to Freeze enemies. This stat increases the Base Freeze Rate of your Cold Skills, which is then multiplied by Freeze Rate Multiplier. Chill stacks up to three times.
- Armour Mitigation: This build can reach a decent amount of Armour Mitigation. Thanks to Throne of Ambition alongside your Gear, Passives and Blessings.
- Ward: A shield above your Health that is generated by certain effects, rapidly decays over time and is protected by Armour Mitigation. Your main sources are Arcane Focus, Edict of the Scion, Reowyn's Veil, Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros, and Strands of Souls.
- Cold Resistance: Scales your Ward Retention thanks to Frostbite Shackles.
- Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros is a good Ward builder that can easily generate a lot of Ward so long as you can consistently recover Health.
- Health: Excellent synergy with Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros, any extra Health you can get is welcomed.
- reduced Bonus Damage Taken from Critical Strikes: This build can easily cap this stat thanks to the Passive Mental Catalysis and using a Catalyst. The rest comes from your Gear.
- Intelligence: Grants 4% Ward Retention per point, which is a very important stat for this build.
- Sphere of Protection: This is a great source of Damage Reduction that we get naturally from our Chills.
- Chill: An Ailment that greatly reduces the Action and Movement Speed of your enemies. It's a must have on most builds, especially once you reach hard content with insane speed modifiers.
- Frailty: This Ailment reduces the Damage dealt by enemies by 6% for 4 seconds. Stacks 3 times.
Our Damage Explained Article covers all you need to know to scale Damage.
Learn all you need to know to scale Defense with our Defense Explained Article.
Loot Filter
Loot Filters are critical in Last Epoch. Making sure you highlight all the related valuable Item Bases, Affixes, Uniques and Idols is crucial to ensure your character's progression. As your gear gets better, remember to hide the rules that are no longer useful to avoid screen clutter.
Here is the Endgame Loot Filter for this build:
Circle of Fortune Filter
Merchant's Guild Filter
Learn how to load and make Filters with our Loot Filter Guide.
Video Guide
Summary
Overall the Frostbite Frost Claw Runemaster is an Ailment Caster build that excels in Defense. It easily handles all content in the game. It is easy to play, has good Damage, CC, and even better survivability.
- Cast Frost Claw to deal Damage.
- Generate Ward by casting Frost Claw mainly thanks to multiple sources of Ward on Cast.
- Scale Cold Penetration with Frostbite thanks to Snowdrift.
- Freezing Point lets you scale Frostbite Chance by using Armor Shred Chance.
- Flame Ward is an incredible Defensive Skill, time it well!
- Use Flame Rush to avoid telegraphed attacks.
- Keep Reowyn's Frostguard (C,F,C) active at all times by casting Runic Invocation. Immutable Order ensures the sequence of your Runes, place your Skills accordingly on your Action Bar!
- Obtain an Exalted Sceptre with Tier 7 Spell Damage and Reduced Mana Cost alongside Ornate Glass Idols with Frost Claw Mana Efficiency and Elemental Penetration to reduce Frost Claw's Mana Cost to around 25 or less and Elemental Nova's to zero . It is needed to sustasin Mana.
Credits
Written by BinaQc
Reviewed by McFluffin