Freezing Arrow

Magically enhances an arrow or bolt to freeze entire groups of monsters.

Freezing Arrow is the last skill of the Amazon's cold line (Bow and Crossbow tree, level 30, requires Ice Arrow). The arrow bursts into a cold explosion that damages and freezes everything in its radius. The numbers that decide it are the explosion's cold range, 310–320 at level 20, and the freeze, a flat 2 seconds that only hard points in Ice Arrow lengthen.

The numbers

• Cold damage starts at 40–50 (EMin 40, EMax 50). Both ends grow +10 a level to level 8, +15 to 16, +20 to 22, +22 to 28 and +24 past that (EMinLev1–5 and EMaxLev1–5 are the same), so the range stays 10 wide: 310–320 at level 20, 530–540 at level 30.
• Freeze length is ELen 50 frames, 2 seconds at every level (there are no ELevLen columns), so the column is left out of the table. The only thing that lengthens it is the synergy, +5% per hard point in Ice Arrow.
• Radius is calc1 = Param1 5, which the tooltip prints as par1 × 2 ÷ 3 = 3 1/3 yards, the same at every level; the Basin's page gives the same figure.
• Attack Rating is ToHit 40 plus LevToHit 9 a level: +211% at level 20.
• Mana is 9 at level 1 (mana 36 in quarters, manashift 6) and +0.25 a level (lvlmana 1): 13.75 at level 20.

The damage and attack-rating lines read lvl, so +skills from items count; both synergies read blvl.

How it works

The arrow itself needs the attack-rating check (Chance to Hit), can be blocked, carries 100% of weapon damage (SrcDam 128) and fires at the normal attack's rate (Attack Speed). The explosion is the skill: the Basin's page says it goes off on impact or on expiry whether or not the hit check succeeded, applies the cold damage and the freeze to everything in the radius, and cannot be blocked. A hit is still needed for Piercing Attack to carry the arrow on to the next target, where it explodes again.

The skill's cold damage is applied only by the explosion; the arrow brings the weapon's damage, and cold damage on the weapon is added to both the arrow and the explosion. Cold Skill Damage from items raises the skill damage only. By the Basin's page any cold length on the weapon is added to the freeze and becomes freeze rather than chill; what a freeze does, and which monsters cannot be frozen, is on Chill and Freeze. The cold is reduced by Cold Resist as in Dealing Elemental Damage.

The freeze is 2 seconds at level 1 and 2 seconds at level 40. Levels and +skills buy damage, radius never changes, and only Ice Arrow's hard points buy freeze time.

Synergies and +skills

Two synergy lines. Cold Arrow, +12% cold damage per level comes from EDmgSymPerCalc = skill('Cold Arrow'.blvl) × par8 with Param8 = 12. Ice Arrow, +5% freeze length per level comes from ELenSymPerCalc = skill('Ice Arrow'.blvl) × par7 with Param7 = 5. Both count hard points only. Freezing Arrow in turn feeds Ice Arrow (+5% freeze length per hard point); it gives Cold Arrow nothing back.

Against players

A player's hit on another player is cut to 17% of its value (difficultylevels.txt PlayerDamagePercentVSPlayer) before anything else, see Player versus Player. The Basin's page says nothing more about this skill against players.

Build notes

• Level 20: 310–320 cold a burst, a 2-second freeze, +211% attack rating, 13.75 mana.
• Cold Arrow's 12% per hard point is the damage synergy: 20 points there more than triple the burst. Ice Arrow's 5% per hard point doubles the freeze at 20 points and raises Ice Arrow's own damage besides.
• +skills past 20 add 24 cold a level and 0.25 mana; the freeze and the radius do not move.
• Because the burst needs no hit and cannot be blocked, attack rating is for pierce, not for the first explosion.