The Cold Maiden (Blades of Ice/Blade Tree) Author: SonOfRa Version: 1.11 Page 1 Navigation 1. Meet the Cold Maiden 1.1. Introduction 1.2. A few words on the Cold Maiden 2.1. Advantages & Disadvantages 2.2. Damage Reduction 2.3. What works with Blade Shield? 2.4. Frozen vs. Chilled Monsters 3. Attributes 4. Gear 4.1. Weapon of Choice 4.2. Notes on Gear 4.3. Charms 4.4. Gear Socketing 5. Skills 6. Tactics Guide 6.1. PvP 6.2. PvM 6.3. Leveling Area Ideas 6.4. Mercenary 7. Conclusion & Credits Meet the Cold Maiden The palace felt the cold bite of winter approach. Yes Harrogath was still under siege from Baal's minions and the early morning frost was still in the air. A small group had gathered in the town square, around the fountain, watching Cain speak to a slender figure. The could which covered her was a pale light blue, like a soft winters kiss on the cold glass window. She had come during the night and as they talked it became apparent that she was to join the raid on Shenk who held the town in his futile grasp. As the barbarians started to gather the lithe figure removed her robe and adorned her helmet… She looked weak and fragile compared to the brute of the men from Harrogath, she heard a laugh or two in the back but paid no notice. As she spilled on the blades, she thought back upon when she was given the blades of the Shadow Killers. Still as crystal clear as the day she got them. No a single scratch on them. Yes she had only just aspired to become a ‘Maiden’ a few weeks earlier.. now though a fully fledged Maiden it was time to come from the shadows to reveal herself to the world…Not quite the greeting she had hoped for. Morning passed and as noon approached the men started to line up at the gates, getting ready for their assault. She too joined them…. The men laughing and joking at her, the classic : Ladies first.. As the gates opened she walked out… leading the charge… Stopped for a second, and looked around. The men busted out in a laugh and let their opinion be known that way. Then all hell broke loose. The Maiden focused and sent loose the blades which flew about her by the magnetic aura. Her speed was increased and in a flash she started to charge up the pathway towards Shenk. A few of the laughs died out and the men pulled their wits together as they started to charge after. Little chance did they have to reach a foe for before they did he was at their feet. They were struggling to keep up, as she came to a group she looked back and made sure everyone were following, then a weak smile appeared on her lips, as she sent loose a large blade, letting it run in front of her as she charged into the group. The first few monsters started to feel the bite of the cold. Shivering and stopping in their tracks, she unleashed her claws which dug into the flesh of the monsters. Striking fast, while surrounded by the bitter cold seemed like second nature. To the assassin maybe but not to the monsters. Chilled in their tracks each, one by one, felt her fury.. one by one they fell like frozen shards, left to melt away as the sun slowly took hold of the noon. The silence was only broken by the charge of the barbarians of Harrogath… indeed their laughs had been replaced with heavy breathing from the run to keep up. Tales were told of this day in the years to come… at each winter those of Harrogath still get a chill. Not from the cold but from the memories of the light figure who’s aura of cold influenced them all… indeed the Cold Maidens had left their mark on the world…. Introduction I have played Diablo II since it came out and have from the start of the expansion really loved the Assassins. I’ve though over the years now been annoyed at the same build being used by everyone, that I’ve tried to create my own and odd/strange builds which still work. They are not cookie cutter builds, I don’t make those. They are though different ways of using gear and skills, a new and fresh approach to doing the exact same thing. Europe Realm : Acc : SonOfRa The Immobilizer Build ... to better understand the background of the Cold Maidens you should read this build. I’ve taken the research and edited it into this guide, but just for reference, look at it. With that said and my compliments to Morris being paid… A few words on the Cold Maiden The Cold Maidens are assassins using their specialized skills to deliver a cold attack, or to freeze their enemy. Rather than a conventional Claw/Claw Elementalist the Maidens use the Blade Skills to enhance their area of effect, and to provide them with some great ground control. The build focus on the melee aspect but incorporates into this the Shield and Sentinel. Working with these two skills to enhance the cold of the charged Blades of Ice and Phoenix strike. To the eye it will look like the : Immobilizer, and you will hear me mentioning this build a lot. That is cause this is a ‘sister’ build to that, and cause the research done in this build is outstanding. The Maidens contrary to the Immobilizers though have a very heave focus on gear. Their gear is very limited, and restricted. It’s not till level 78 that you will be able to truly be a Maiden. That means that yes you have a long part of the game in which you’re aspiring to be a Maiden.. but you aren’t truly one till you reach level 78. Advantages Some of the advantages listed are : - Superior Crowd control - Frozen in place enemy. - Slowed groups of enemies - Unique playing style. Disadvantages The disadvantages are : - You will have small problems with Cold Immune monsters. Damage Reduction Reduce the amount of damage you take from an attack. There is a 50% Cap on these items. What works with Blade Shield? Here is a list : Blade Shield (main claw only: i.e. the claw you equip first or the one that's left behind if you unequip one. Shields transfer their effects normally) What works - Deadly Strike - Elemental Damage/Venom (1/4) - Leech - Physical/Weapon Damage (1/4) What doesn't work - Open Wounds - Crushing Blow - Hit Causes Monster to Flee - KnockBack - Hit Freezes Target (Sigh here Blizzard really screwed up this skill) - Chance to Cast on Striking (This one pains me but yeah they don’t work) - Pierce Target Frozen vs Slowed (Chilled) Monsters Frozen monsters do not suffer a Defensive Rating decrease when frozen, as Stone Cursed monsters did. In addition, not all chilled (slowed) monsters shatter into fragments upon death, only a percentage of them. All frozen monsters will shatter, however. Below is a list of which monsters are Cold immune and whether they CANNOT BE FROZEN for HELL DIFFICULTY only. Each name is a group name and can include usually around 5 different types . ie Fallen contra Fallen, Carver, Devilkin, Dark One, Warped One. The first number is total cold immune , the second is total in that group Act I Bestiary 0/5 Fallen (Demon) 0/5 Fallen Shaman (Demon) 0/5 Spike Fiend (Animal) 1/5 Zombie (Undead) 4/5 Wendigo (Animal) 5/5 Corrupt Rogue (Demon) 1/5 Corrupt Rogue Archer (Demon) 1/5 Corrupt Rogue Spearwoman (Demon) 0/5 Skeleton (Undead) 0/5 Skeleton Archer (Undead) 3/4 Skeleton Mage (Undead) * 1/5 Goatman (Demon) 0/4 Blood Hawk (Animal) 0/5 Tainted (Demon) 0/4 Giant Spider (Animal) 0/5 Wraith (Undead) CANNOT BE FROZEN 1/5 Fetish (Demon) 5/5 Vampire (Undead) 0/1 Flying Scimitar CANNOT BE FROZEN 0/4 Blood Hawk Nest 1/1 Gargoyle Trap CANNOT BE FROZEN Cold Immunes = 24% * Of the 3/4 , Skeleton mages have a random chance to deal None/Cold/Fire/Lightning so this means these 3 have a 1/4 chance to be cold immune or a 3 / 15 chance out of the total and could make the overall 24% even less. Act II Bestiary 1/5 Leaper (Animal) 0/5 Scarab Demon (Animal) 0/5 Sand Maggot (Animal) 0/5 Sand Maggot Egg (Animal) 0/5 Sand Maggot Young (Animal) 0/4 Vulture Demon 0/4 Swarm (Animal) 2/4 Sabre Cat (Animal) 2/4 Slinger (Animal) 0/5 Mummy (Undead) 1/4 Greater Mummy (Undead) 2/5 Sand Raider (Animal) 1/5 Bat Demon (Animal) 5/5 Claw Viper (Animal) 0/4 Baboon Demon (Animal) 1/4 Blunderbore (Demon) 0/1 Lightning Spire 1/1 Mummy Sarcophagus 0/1 Fire Tower Cold immunes = 21% Act III Bestiary 0/3 Fetish Shaman (Demon) 0/2 Giant Mosquito (Animal) 4/4 Thorned Hulk (Animal) 1/3 Frog Demon (Animal) 0/2 Willowisp (Undead) CANNOT BE FROZEN 0/3 Bone Fetish (Undead) CANNOT BE FROZEN 0/3 Tentacle Beast (Animal) 1/3 Zakarum Zealot (Animal) 2/3 Zakarum Priest (Animal) 0/2 Council Member (Demon) Cold Immunes = 28% Act IV Bestiary 0/3 Finger Mage (Undead) 0/3 Mega Demon (Demon) 0/3 Regurgitator (Demon) 1/3 Oblivion Knight (Undead) 1/3 Vile Mother (Demon) * 2/3 Vile Child (Demon) * Cold Immunes = 22% * Maybe an error on Arreat Summit but both Vile Mother/Child lists cold resists of over 140 %. which would indicate total immunity. Act V Bestiary 4/8 Baal's Minion 4/8 Suicide Minion 2/5 Death Mauler 0/1 Catapult 5/5 Overseer (Demon) 0/5 Demon Imp (Demon) 3/5 Siege Beast 4/4 Abominable 3/5 Reanimated Horde (Undead) 0/5 Succubus (Demon) 2/5 Stygian Fury (Demon) 5/5 Frozen Horror 1/5 Blood Lord * 0/5 Putrid Defiler (Demon) 2/5 Pain Worm (Demon) 0/3 Minion of Destruction (Demon) 0/0 Reziarfg (Demon) Cold Immunes 44% * Blood Lords have very low Chill Effectiveness with one having 0 (Death Lord). Basically these will be hard to freeze. Also Monsters from other acts can appear here randomly thus increasing/decreasing the percentage accordingly. What's interesting is that most Cold immunes still have the ability to be Chilled ( and thus shattered) and the Monsters listed as CANNOT BE FROZEN are usually NOT Cold Immune (although some like the Bone Fetish still has 75% Cold resist) This means a high percentage of slain monsters will shatter and cant be resurrected (ie shamans) or exploded (ie Nihlathak). (Credits : All work on section 3.3 are done by Morris) Attributes Your attributes should be fit to suit your gear. These are though the listed attributes for the gear I have selected to use. Feel free to move these figures around to suit the gear you choose. - Strength : 100 - Dexterity : 100 - Vitality : everything else - Energy : 25 (base) You need the strength and dexterity to equip the weapons later on described.. once though you have the vitality you feel is sufficient (I’ve chosen to stick with the 100 STR/DEX, and pump the rest into my vitality) then feel free to boost either. You may wish to use other gear which needs more or less requirements than the ones I’ve outlined. Gear Gear is a very touch thing with this build, you will find that even one item will either make or break the build. I suggest highly that you either start out with trying to copy these items or at least find something that mimic them. Basically though the most important items in the gear which I feel are non negotiable its : Weapons + Amulet + Helmet. These three items are what this entire build is created around. If you remove them then in all honesty you’re a Maiden.. just not a Cold Maiden (Ok that was my rant of the day.. with that said.. here goes) Helmet : Nightwings Veil (% of Cold Damage increased, +2 Skills, High Dexterity Boost) Amulet : Eye of Etlich (+1 skills, life leech, hidden freeze duration of up to 10 seconds in normal.) Gloves : Soul Drainers (Weaken… as well as mana and life leech. And on top of that makes monsters easier to hit. Can’t pass that up) Armor : Chains of Honor (+2 Skills, damage reduction, but most importantly : RESISTANCES. Most of all the other gear gives you no resistance at all. With 65% resist all this is perhaps the best armor around. Another descent armor is : Smoke with a 50% resist all, and Duress. Also pondering and upgraded Iceblink – though that will be best of Normal and NM, I doubt at this time it will cut it in Hell.) Belt : Verdungos (Damage Reduction and a healthy Vitality boost) , Siggards Stealth (Life leech and slow) Shield : N/A Rings : Ravenfrost (Needs no introduction at all, I use two of these at this time, in lack of a Natures Peace. You could supplement one of the rings for a Resist all ring with attack rating. That would also be very well placed.) Natures Peace (Slain Monsters rest in peace (*) Boots : Yet to be decided, most likely it will be crafted boots with resistances, at this time though using a pair of Tearhaunce (small strength and dexterity boost as well a +10% resist all.) * - Slain Monsters Rest in Peace. Combined with the cold you’ll be putting out means there will be few to no corpses left. Thus Death Sentry isn’t the best choice for this build. It’s hard to make it work… so instead of try I totally left it out. Weapons of Choice Now most of the time when I work on a build I research : What items have Blizzard Created which people just never use or actually shone away from. Then I look at : How can I use it. I think the weapon of this build is exactly that The Shadow Killer Unique Claw When you see this claw any good assassin player will say : “But it doesn’t have any skills and it doesn’t add to your attributes, sheesh SonOfRa Bartucs is way better. I’d even use a Jade Talon over this.” “Yes yes children I know. Now please –hush-.” You see what this Claw does have is : - Great look … bonus points for appearance. - Desent Damage… close to 200 isn’t bad. - +2 Freeze… now you’re talking! - -25% target defence per hit. - Mana after each kill, no need for mana leech? - Frost Nova … 33% of the time. And the hardcore Assasin players keep saying : “But SonOfRa… It has –no- skills nor attribute boost. I mean COME ON!” Anyways rant on.. I use two of them and I’m quite happy. So there .. :P Neener. Notes on Gear The gear I’ve chosen has been done so looking exclusively at three stats. Skills, Cold Damage, or Freeze Enemy. If the gear had this stat then it was worth considering. There is other gear providing other stats than the ones I’ve chosen, but like the Furysin this is a build that is like a cocktail. Get it wrong and it taste bad, and doesn’t work. Get it right and well you got something good. The Cold Maiden is just that. A character dedicated to the Cold aspect of the elements. She does her job well, and will if given a chance make the game interesting in a new aspect. The Gear is always vital, and feel free to look for other gear. Keep though in mind the body and soul of this build with is that of slowing the enemy. In more ways than one. Charms Charms is always a touch subject. I recommend Martial Arts Skillers.. preferably with cold damage. Stock up on as much cold damage as you possible can from skillers. Something like MA skillers with a little cold damage would be nice. Anni if you can afford it.. as it’s always worth the effort. Lastly the 6 small charms should be cold charms. I personally prefer : 7 Grand martial Arts Skillers 1 Anni 6 Cold damage charms. Leaving me room for Tomb of ID and tomb of TP. And 2x4 free slots for picking up items. Now, knowing that you will have a resistance problem the small cold charms could be changed for resistance charms, but if you can manage without them, do so. Gear Socketing Well Cold Facets are a no brainer. Helmet : Cold Facet Armor : Depending on Armor – Um rune The general idea with the socketing like this is that you want to compliment what stats you lack. With the Cold Maidens … you will need all the resistance you can get, the lowering of enemy resist is also needed, as well as more damage and speed. On that note though the weapons could be socketed with a lot of things … the things I’ve looked at are (In the order of priority I think they should be) : Ohm or 15% ias + XX% ed : Added Damage - Definitely something worth looking at. Speed is an issue you’ll want to address. Shael : 20% ias – A definite worthy rune, cause more speed is always great with a build that relies on melee. Cham : +3 Freeze – Is more freeze needed… You can never get enough in my book. Thul : 3-14 Cold damage at 3 second duration – Cold Maiden.. jep this one should be looked at too. El or Eth : +50 attack rating / -25% to Target defence : Well it’s always nice being able to hit your target. Jah : Ignore Target Defence – Always a great Mod… but here you at least have the possibility for a good attack rating so it’s not needed either. Skills The following a is guide on how the skill tree should look once you’re done. The skills are a rough guide, but altering them a lot will also change the build quite a lot. .. Martial Arts Tree : (Total Spend : 48) Tiger Strike : 1 Cobra Strike : 1 Fist of Fire : 1 Claws of Thunder : 1 Blades of Ice : 20 Phoenix Strike : 20 Dragon Talon : 1 Dragon Claw : 1 (main finisher) Dragon Tail : 1 (X if U want Dragon Flight) Dragon Flight : 1 (X - great finisher in the midst of combat and problem solver if surrounded. Also it just looks great) Trap Tree : (Total Spend : 24) Fire Trap : 1 Wake of Fire : 1 Blade Sentinel : 1 Blade Fury : 1 Blade Shield : 20 Shadow Disciplines Tree : (Total Spend : 34) Claw Mastery : 20 Claw Block : 10 Burst of Speed : 1 Fade : X Psychic Hammer : 1 Cloak of Shadows : 1 Mind Blast : 1 (X = optional.) Level 94 is the finishing level of where I leave off.. that is high but you can easily scrape off points here and there to complete it in the early 80’s, such as finishing off with maxing Blade Shield or leaving Claw Mastery at 10. I have Claw Mastery at 10 at level 84 and is pumping it from now on.) Tactics Guide The Tactics of the Cold Maidens are somewhat complicated. It takes a good deal of timing, but once archived can be quite effective, even in 8 player games. Before Combat : You precast – Blade Shield + Burst of Speed or Fade, your preference. General Combat : 1-Cloak of Shadows : Your first move is to Cloak your Enemies in the veil of Shadows. Placing them at a great disadvantage since they can’t see you far and that in itself is crowd control. http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/8542/1-MeetEnemies.jpg 2A-Blade Sentinel : Your Second move is to place a Blade Sentinel through the entire group. Then charge in for combat. http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/9201/2-BladeSentinel.jpg (2B- An Alternative is to Blade Sentinel using Blade Fury. Replace the Sentinel Step 1 with a Fury one. Personally I like the Sentinel better for this build cause once cast it’ll do what you want it to do and you can do something else. Once you stop fury.. the fury stops too. http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/3728/6-Alternative.jpg 3-Gain control of the group : Shadow Killers have innate Frost Nova, a charge or two of these will give you some crowd control.. and it’s fast. Also if you have problems use a few Mind Blasts. They are always good to have handy. http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/4121/3-Control.jpg 4-Freeze them : Charge up respectively Blades of Ice and Phoenix Strike.. and release with either Dragon Claw.. or Dragon Flight (*) .. Dragon Claw if you’re placed strategically in combat. Dragon Flight if you want to reposition, or just show off. From time to time throw in a Blade Sentinel. It looks good. http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/7682/4-Charge1.jpg 5-This is generally how it should look http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/1786/5-Charge3.jpg * - Note please that IF/WHEN you use Dragon Flight OR Blade Sentinel you will have a casting Delay of a few seconds, where you won’t be able to use one or the other. This takes timing and getting use to. In the beginning I found it very annoying, but now It’s second nature. PvP Player vs Player is always a factor people want to take into account when talking about a build… I hate to say it. While this build could work in PvP, sadly it doesn’t. Problem is really that everyone and their mother has Ravenfrosts… and just wearing two of them will negate just about 98% of what you’re trying to do. With that said… it’s a challenge.. don’t pass it up. If they don’t have the Ravens on.. well then they will be slowed.. a lot and for a long time. PvM This build is good at PvM. It’s build for PvM. I’m sure that with a bit of tweaking it’ll be great for PvP too but the main idea is that you focus on the general game play and that your alternative style comes to show. People generally focus on cookie cutter builds and we have a lot of the same kinds of characters. Therefore. The Furysins and Cold Maidens.. well they are my kind of builds, cause they are abnormal and isn’t part of the norm. Leveling areas ideas The following is a small guide where you could level. It may not be what you find the easiest nor the best, it is though what I did. Level 1-14 : Act 1 mainly Dark woods. Level 15-20 : Act 2 mainly Arcane Sanctuary. Level 20-25 : Act 3 only Tranvical runs Level 25-40 : Act 5 only Baal runs. Level 40-60 : Act 5 NM Baal runs. Level 60+ : Act 5 Hell Baal runs. As you can see once you hit a certain level, time to move on. Ignore how many times you die. If you level on the way NP, but get to where the XP is ASAP. This is for levelling only, not for enjoying the game. While yes you could say that a lot of the game has been skipped, I will answer that you are free to go around this levelling guide, it is only posted to show where you will gain the most XP comparative to your level. This is meant as a guide IF you’re in a group. If you solo you will want to stick to areas a bit lower than your level. Mercenary So far I haven’t worked on a merc. I will though be using either an Act 3 Cold merc, or a Holy Freeze Act 2 Merc. The Defensive Merc from Act 2 nightmare has Holy Freeze. While being a great tank it also slows the monsters, so if they ‘flee’ they don’t go far. If they attack they don’t attack so fast. If they run at you they rarely make it all the way. Gear for non ladder would be a : Gaze Shaftstop(Or the Hwanins Armor) Bonehew (Hel + Amn) Not much else to be said really… Get him high level fast… that is all that can be said really. He’s your trusted ally so use him often as you can. Conclusion Well that’s it.. Any and all suggestions made are of course welcome. Credits Many of you have helped me with this guide, and inspired me to improve it. There are though a few people whom have done this more than most : - Morris – For doing the research for the Immobilizer which is the preset to this build, and allowing me to steal with arms and legs from this build in order to fill out the blanks with this guide. SonOfRa 0 Please log in to post... Please log in. Use your Diii.net Forum account. Username: Remember me? Password: Want to register?     Lost password?