S-TIER | BUILD MERCENAIRE GLACIAL BOLT GEMLING (@Lolcohol) | SAISON 5

Build Video

Build Overview

This Mercenary Glacial Bolt Shattershout Gemling build is built on a deceptively simple idea: build a wall, scream at it, and watch the whole screen explode. Glacial Bolt is a crossbow attack that leaves a Frost Wall on impact. Linked to Ahns Citadel and Kaoms Madness, this wall turns into a true cascade of ice walls that sweeps across the whole screen instead of staying a simple one-off defense.

The second half of the combo is linking Infernal Cry to the Vruuns Aftermath support, which detonates every nearby ice crystal and shard. Infernal Cry also destabilizes enemies, who explode on death — once the first explosion goes off, the whole screen turns into a chain reaction. The gameplay loop comes down to four steps: drop the wall, scream at it, let the wall explode, let everything else explode, and start over.

The author picked the Gemling Legionnaire ascendancy mainly for notable Advanced Thaumaturgy, which grants extra quality effects to skills. Quality on Glacial Bolt increases the explosion radius of the ice walls, while quality on Infernal Cry increases the radius of the warcry itself — stack both and the interaction feeds itself, turning the whole screen into one giant demolition site.

Strengths / Weaknesses

Skill Gem Setup by Step

This build offers 2 progression steps from leveling to the final build. Select a step to see the corresponding skill gem setup.

ROUGH FIRST DRAFT Low Budget Rough

ROUGH FIRST DRAFT

12 skills • 46 gemmes

Tir à l'arbalèteCrossbow Shot

Virtuous BarrierVirtuous Barrier

TrinitéTrinity

Héraut de la glaceHerald of Ice

Héraut de la cendreHerald of Ash

Carreau glacialGlacial Bolt

BerserkBerserk

Cri infernalInfernal Cry

Grenade explosiveExplosive Grenade

BondissementPounce

Héraut du tonnerreHerald of Thunder

Rage éternelleEternal Rage

Low Budget Rough

11 skills • 39 gemmes

Tir à l'arbalèteCrossbow Shot

Virtuous BarrierVirtuous Barrier

Héraut du tonnerreHerald of Thunder

Héraut de la glaceHerald of Ice

Héraut de la cendreHerald of Ash

Carreau glacialGlacial Bolt

BerserkBerserk

Cri infernalInfernal Cry

Grenade explosiveExplosive Grenade

Rage éternelleEternal Rage

BondissementPounce

Recommended Equipment

In the version shown in the video (the more expensive one), the author relies notably on the unique belt Mageblood to maximize the build’s smoothness. He does note, however, that he tested a lower-budget version that works, even if it’s less enjoyable to play — Mageblood in particular provides a large part of the comfort felt in the expensive version. The full equipment details are available in the interactive grid below.

• Optimized version: includes high-end pieces (Mageblood notably) for maximum feel
• Budget version: functional but less smooth, a link to this cheaper variant is provided in the video description

Gameplay Tips

• Basic rotation: fire a Glacial Bolt to place the wall, then detonate it with Infernal Cry
• Echoing Cry (optional): linking it to Infernal Cry allows it to trigger automatically every few seconds, but requires a bit of movement between each cast — also playable in « two-button » mode (Glacial Bolt then manual detonation) if you prefer
• Rage management: Enraged Warcry II lets you spend 15 rage to bypass the cooldown of Infernal Cry; combined with Eternal Rage, rage regenerates continuously, letting you spam Infernal Cry whenever it’s off cooldown
• Pounce + Mark of Siphoning II: summons wolves (via the Biting Frost II support) that also help detonate ice crystals, in addition to your own explosions

Glacial Bolt + Infernal Cry combo: the core of the Mercenary Glacial Bolt Gemling build

The central mechanic of this build lies in the chaining of two skills that, on their own, seem harmless. Glacial Bolt is first and foremost designed as a defensive skill — a wall of ice on impact. Linked to Ahns Citadel and Kaoms Madness, that same wall becomes a cascade of walls sweeping across the whole screen: you’re no longer playing defense, you’re setting the stage for the next explosion.

Infernal Cry, linked to the Vruuns Aftermath support, detonates every crystal and ice fragment nearby. Since Infernal Cry also destabilizes the enemies it hits — causing them to ignite on death — the first explosion is enough to trigger a chain reaction that clears the entire area.

Why Gemling Legionnaire for this build?

The choice of the Gemling Legionnaire ascendancy comes down almost entirely to notable Advanced Thaumaturgy, which grants extra quality effects to linked skills. On this specific build, quality on Glacial Bolt increases the blast radius of the ice walls, while quality on Infernal Cry increases the radius of the cry itself. Both effects stack: more explosion radius plus more detonation radius means a wider overlap, and therefore an even bigger chain reaction, without having to think about positioning.

Rage and cooldown: keeping Infernal Cry up at all times

Infernal Cry suffers from a naturally long cooldown. The build works around this via Enraged Warcry II, which lets you spend 15 rage to instantly skip the cooldown. Combined with Eternal Rage, which generates rage continuously, the character can spam Infernal Cry off cooldown with no noticeable break in the gameplay loop.

Budget setup vs optimized setup

The author is adamant that this build works on a low budget, even though the version shown in the video uses prestige pieces like Mageblood. On a tighter budget, it feels a bit less smooth — part of the quality-of-life came precisely from Mageblood — but the core mechanic (wall, cry, explosion) stays the same. A link to a cheaper version of the build is provided directly in the source video’s description for players who want to progress step by step.

Skill Tree