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The Frost Guardian
Character Information
The Frost Guardian is an evil warrior-mage who hails from the snowy peaks surrounding Mount Arreat. This character is skilled in all things cold related. Not only is he able to enchant his weapons with freezing cold attacks he is also able to conjure various forms of ice, snow and biting wind to harry his foes at range. Furthermore, the Frost Guardian has formed pacts with the demonic creatures left inhabiting Arreat in Bhaal's wake. As such, he is able to summon various creature of the snow to his aid, as well as raising the bodies of those warriors who have died a lonely death in the caverns and tunnels of Arreat peak. The Frost Guardian is urged onwards in his quest by a lust for arcane power that borders on madness. At the same time he seeks to rule the length and width of the snowy North and to subjugate its peoples and denizens.
Basic Information
Skills Tree
Skill Information
Ice Bolt
Required Level: 1
Required Skills: None
Desctiption: Your basic low-level ranged attack. Almost identical to the original Ice Bolt spell used by the Sorceress, although somewhat less pathetic overall. Extra points really help this skill, increasing the cold damage and cold length an incredible amount at a very neglible mana cost.
A Touch of Frost
Required Level: 1
Required Skills: None
Description: This simple spell allows the Frost Guardian to add cold damage, and the assoicated chilling effect, to his melee attacks. However, this skill only functions when the character fights barehanded. Nevertheless, this skill can become quite potent, dealing far more damage than Ice Bolt at similar levels, although the mana cost does scale up a little bit more. An added bonus of this skill is a pump to Attack Rating that grows with each level.
Ice Blast
Required Level: 4
Required Skills: Ice Bolt
Description: Similar to the Sorceress skill, this skill deals cold damage and also freezes most enemies solid. This skill does a moderate amount of cold damage that rises quite significantly with the addition of points. However, the Freeze duration remains relatively low, as does the skill's mana cost.
Frozen Armour
Required Level: 4
Required Skills: None
Description: A very basic armour spell that increases the caster's Defence value as well as dealing a small amount of cold damage to foes that strike the Frost Guardian with close-range attacks. The defence bonus and cold damage increase quite nicely with further point investment, but the mana cost also ramps up. Cold length is fixed for this skill.
Frost Strike
Required Level: 8
Required Skills: A Touch of Frost
Description: A more powerful melee skill than A Touch of Frost, this skill adds cold damage and chill duration to all attacks made with Axe class weapons. This skill also enhances the Attack Rating of the user, as well as the basic damage of the weapon used. Cold damage and chill length ramp up with the addition of points, as does the mana cost.
Winterbreath
Required Level: 12
Required Skills: Ice Blast
Description: This skill allows the Frost Guardian to breath out a stream of icy cold gas. This cloud of frost and ice damages enemies and slows them for a great deal of time. In appearance the skills is similar to the Druid's Artic Blast skill. In effect it is rather more dangerous, although it can consume a great amount of mana in a very short span of time. Nevertheless, damage and range scale up well at a relatively minor increase in mana cost.
Raise Winter Warrior
Required Level: 12
Required Skills: None
Description: This skill raises of powerful Winter Warrior from the corpse of a slain enemy. Graphically these creatures appear similar to the Reanimated Horde monster type.(Ie They look like Pindleskin) In combat Winter Warriors are powerful melee fighters, capable of making a charging attack that knocks back their enemies. They also large amounts of damage, with their overly long two-handed swords. Unlike the normal Reanimated Horde monster type, however, these do not possess the ability to self-resurrect. Winter Warriors deal only physical damage, unlike their higher-level brethren. However, a maximum of 3 Winter Warriors can be raised and can co-exist simultaneously with the Frost Guardian's other summoned and raised minions. Extra points increase the number summonable(To a maximum of 3), as well as improving their individual capabilities.
Frostbite
Required Level: 20
Required Skills: Winterbreath and Frost Enchantment
Description: This skills activates a powerful aura effect that periodically deals cold damage to all nearby enemies. This aura also slows enemies affected by the aura. In appearance the effect is similar to that of Holy Freeze, although Frostbite is more effective in general, dealing a respectable amount of cold damage. However, unlike Holy Freeze, Frostbite requires mana in order to remain active. The mana cost for this aura scales up relatively slowly, however.
Frost Enchantment
Required Level: 20
Required Skills: Frost Strike
Description: This skill is very similar to the Sorceress' Enchant skill in effect. Unlike Enchant, however, Frost Enchantment adds cold damage to the weapons of allies, minions and hirelings. The amount of cold damage dealt is by no means insignificant and the cold duration is quite acceptable. This skill, however, comes at some mana cost, as the ability to enchant the weapons of allies and minions is a powerful one.
Spirit of the Fallen
Required Level: 20
Required Skills: Raise Winter Warrior
Description: This skill enables the Frost Guardian to summon a powerful spirit to aid him and his minions. This spirit is somewhat similar to those used by the Druid, but provides bonuses that are generally more useful. This spirit provides a boost to attack rating, damage and attack speed. It also provides a minor life bonus. The amount of mana required to summon this spirit is relatively high, but is well worth the cost. Mana cost ramps up significantly with each point, but with noticeable effects. Only one spirit may be summoned at a time.
Frost Blast
Required Level: 24
Required Skills: Frostbite
Description: This skill bears a marked resemblance to the original Glacial Spike spell. It launches a frozen meteor-like missile that explodes on impact to create a cloud of freezing vapour. This vapour freezes nearby enemies and deals a significant amount of cold damage as well. Although the freeze effect only lasts a short time the spell does deal a good deal of damage. Both freeze length and cold damage scale up nicely, at the cost of added mana cost.
Glacial Strike
Required Level: 24
Required Skills: Frost Strike
Description: This melee skill is similar to Frost Strike, but provides a far more useful means of dealing with large groups of enemies. Also only usable when wielding an Axe-class weapon, Glacial Strike release a cloud of freezing vapours upon a successful blow. This cloud chills neaby monsters and deals a significant amount of cold damage at the same time. In addition the Attack Rating of the player, as well as the base damage of the weapon he wields is increased significantly. However, Glacial Strike consumes a progidous amount of mana, an amount that increases noticeably with additional skill points.
Frost Armour
Required Level: 24
Required Skills: Frozen Armour
Description: An improved version of Frozen Armour, Frost Armour increases the user's Defence rating greatly and also deals a small amount of cold damage to any foes who strike the caster, whether via melee or ranged attacks. The cold length of this skill is fixed, but the amount of cold damage dealt and the bonus to defence rating increase nicely with added points, although at an added mana cost.
Frost Shards
Required Level: 32
Required Skills: Frost Blast
Description: Frost Shards is a powerful skill that enables the caster to launch multiple fragments of freezing ice that fan outwards in a cone-shaped manner as they move. These ice shards deal a significant amount of cold and physical damage, although they only chill those they strike for a short time. Nevertheless, the number of shards released is very high and increases greatly with the addition of further points. Added points also increase both the cold and physical damage, as well as the chill duration. However, usage of this skill consumes a fair amount of mana, an amount that scales up quite obviously with added points.
Winter's Gift
Required Level: 32
Required Skills: None
Desctiption: This skill is a passive resistance skill that endows the Frost Guardian with a significant amount of cold resistance and, at higher levels, a small amount of physical resistance. The degree of physical resistance will never rise particularly high, but the amount of cold resistance bestowed can eventually make the Frost Guardian all but immune to cold based attacks...
Raise Winter Guard
Required Level: 32
Required Skills: Raise Winter Warrior
Description: This skill allows the Frost Guardian to raise a powerful Winter Guard from the corpse of a slain foe. As with Raise Winter Warrior, the Winter Guard appears similar to the Reanimated Horde monster class. Winter Guards are powerful melee fighters that deal both cold and physical damage with their attacks, as well as being capable of making a powerful charhing attack. A maximum of 2 Winter Guards may be summoned at any time, although these Guards do co-exist with any other creatures summoned. Extra points placed in the skill increase the number summonable(To a maximum of 2) and also increase the individual abilities of each Winter Guard.
Snowstorm
Required Level: 40
Required Skills: Frost Shards
Description: This spell is similar to the spell Blizzard. It calls down a hail of snow and ice that deals both cold and physical damage to those it strikes. Foes struck are also slowed by the chilling cold and howling winds. Snowstorm can be cast in a manner similar to Winterbreath. A single click will call down snow and ice for a short time. If the mouse button is held down, however, the Snowstorm is recast numerous times. This can quickly deal a massive amount of damage to a foe, but is also likely to drain a character's mana very very quickly. Extra points increase both the cold and physical damage, as well as increasing the mana cost.
Summon Yeti
Required Level: 40
Required Skills: None
Description: This spell summons a powerful Yeti to aid the character. These creatures are powerful in close-combat, dealing a great deal of damage and stunning those they strike with their heavy blows. They are also highly resistant to cold damage and move quite quickly for their size. A maximum of 3 Yeti's is summonable. These Yeti's co-exist with any other summoned creatures the Frost Guardian has. Additonal points increase the summonable maximum(Up to 3 maximum) and increase the capabilities of each Yeti.
Winter Mastery
Required Level: 44
Required Skills: Winter's Gift
Description: This powerful skill represents the Frost Guardian's complete ascendancy in the arts of Cold magic. A passive skill, it increases the damage of all cold-based spells the character casts, as well as causing them to pierce enemie's cold resistance levels. This enables the Frost Guardian to damage even the most cold-resistant of foes with relative ease.
Spirit of Winter
Required Level: 44
Required Skills: Winter Mastery and Spirit of the Fallen
Desctiption: This powerful skill enables the player to summon a spirit imbued with numerous powerful skills. As well as providing numerous bonuses to AR, attack speed, defence and damage, the spirit also has a permanent aura that bestows extra cold damage on the attacks made by its master and his allies. In addition, the Spirit of Winter is capable of casting a number of lesser cold-based spells in order to slow and damage his summoner's foes. The mana cost for the summoning of this spirit is very high, and a maximum of one spirit(Either the Spirit of Winter or the Spirit of the Fallen) may be summoned at any time. Added points improve the Spirits life and capabilities at added mana cost.
Warrior of the Ice
Required Level: 48
Required Skills: Glacial Strike and Winter Mastery
Description: This passive skill provides AR and damage bonuses while using Axe-class weapons. The skill also adds a chance for critical strike and enhances weapons with automatic cold damage. This cold damage has a very short chill duration, but comes at no cost whatsoever. Additional points increase the various bonuses, especially the cold damage and AR bonuses.
Winter Armour
Required Level: 48
Required Skills: Frost Armour
Description: The ultimate armour spell available to the Frost Guardian, this skill provides numerous bonuses. In addition to enhancing his defence rating, it also absorbs a small amount of cold damage recieved, returning this damage as life. Also, any opponents that strike the Frost Guardian with either ranged or melee attacks are dealt a fair amount of cold damage and are frozen for a short time. The mana cost of this skill, however, is quite high. Additional points increase the defence rating bonus, as well as improving the amount of cold damage dealt and absorbed. Freeze length also increase, although at a slower rate. Accordingly, mana cost ramps up quite steadily.
Northern Wurm
Required Level: 52
Required Skills: Spirit of Winter
Description: This skill enables the caster to fashion a trio of powerful Wurms using his magical powers. These powers resemble the heads of the great subterranean Wurms that burrow beneath the rocky soil of Mount Arreat's slopes. The Northern Wurms will attack their caster's enemies viciously, launching powerful meteors of ice at them from a distance and vicisouly snapping at those who draw within range. The frozen meteors that they belch forth have a similar effect and appearance to those hurled by the skill Frost Blast, exploding on impact in a cloud of freezing vapour that freezes and damages those affected. The mana cost of this spell is very high, but the Northern Wurms remain present for a fair amount of time and the amount of damage they can deal is extremely high. Additional points allow for the creation of more than one Northern Wurm at the same time, as well as enhancing the amount of damage they deal. Mana cost, however, also ramps up steeply...
Icy Winds
Required Level: 52
Required Skills: Snowstorm
Description: This skill greatly resembles the orignal Hurricane spell. It conjures up powerful winds so cold that they damage and chill those touched. This skill surrounds the user with a barrier of these winds, making the approach for his foes difficult and painful in the extreme. The Icy Winds of the North can only be conjured for a short amount of time, and doing so consumes a great deal of mana, but the amount of damage dealt and the duration of the chill effect is great. Additional points further enhance these features, although at added mana cost.
Nova Strike
Required Level: 56
Required Skills: Glacial Strike
Description: Another powerful melee skill usable by the Frost Guardian, Nova Strike enhances the damage and AR of attacks made with Axe-class weapons, as well as adding significant cold damage. However, the best of this skill is that it gives the user a great chance to release a nova-like ring of frost and ice. This frost nova deals cold damage to all foes it strikes, as well as chilling them for a short time. Additional points increase the effect of the bonus provided by this skill, as well as increasing the chance to release a frost nova on striking. Mana cost for the usage of this skill scales up quite reasonably.
Winter Orb
Required Level: 60
Required Skills: Frost Shards
Description: Similar to the original Frozen Orb skill, this spell launches a spinning ball of ice that releases shards of jagged ice in a spiral-like pattern as it moves. The orb itself eventually explodes, releasing a final spiral of ice shards. Each shard of ice deals a great deal of both physical and cold damage, making this a powerful spell. The spiraling release pattern for the shards also means that it can strike most foes on a screen. However, this skill requires a great deal of mana to use and does have a cooldown time. Nevertheless, it is one of the most powerful cold skills available and additional points only enhance it further.
Raise Winter Reiver
Required Level: 60
Required Skills: Raise Winter Guard
Description: Using the corpse of a fallen foe the Frost Guardian is able to raise a single extremely powerful Winter Reiver from the dead. These fearsome warriors deal both cold and physical damage and are extremely powerful melee fighters. They are also able to make a powerful charging attack, as well as being endowed with the usage of a number of other defensive and offensive skills. Winter Reivers will co-exist with any other creatures summoned and are probably the most powerful close-combat aid a Frost Guardian can obtain, other than additional human allies. Mana cost ramps up significantly, but the capabilities of the Frost Guardian improve equally greatly.
Summon Frozen Horror
Required Level: 64
Required Skills: Summon Yeti
Description: This skill enables the Frost Guardian to summon a maximum of 3 Frozen Horrors to aid him. These powerful creatures of the ice are slow moving but have numerous powerful abilities. As well as being able to breath forth a stream of frost and snow that damages and chills foes, Frozen Horrors are completely immune to cold damage and, in fact, are actually healed by any cold damage dealt to them. Additionally, they are fairly powerful melee fighers, capable of striking far more quickly than their slow movement speed would seem to suggest. Frozen Horrors require a great deal of mana to summon, but are well worth the cost. Additional points increase the number summonable(To a maximum of 3) and improve the individual characteristics of each Horror. However, mana cost scales up accordingly.
Frost Wedge
Required Level: 68
Required Skills: Winter Orb
Description: This is no doubt the most powerful skill the Frost Guardian posseses. Similar to the skill used by Bhaal, Frost Wedge launches a rolling wave of freezing ice that deals a massive amount of cold damage to those it strikes. Furthermore, the impact of this wedge is such that all those struck are knocked back a great distance and stunned for a short time, as well as being greatly chilled. Frost Wedge consumes and incredible amount of mana and has a long cooldown delay, but it is well worth the cost and can easily clear a screen of lesser foes in a single blast. Additional points further improve the skill, at added mana cost.
Blizzard Strike
Required Level: 68
Required Skills: Nova Strike
Description: This is the ultimate melee attack skill available to the Frost Guardian. Although not as dangerous as Frost Wedge, it is still a powerful skill. In addition to providing AR, damage and attack speed bonuses, Blizzard Strike also provides to the user with a great chance to cast Snowstorm on striking a foe. Also, melee attacks made while using this skill deal a great deal of extra cold damage and freeze those they strike. This skill requires a fair amount of mana to use, but additional points do not drive this cost through the roof. Also, added points improve the power of this skill greatly.
S'more stuff later...
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