S-TIER | BUILD RÔDEUSE COLD MOLTEN BLAST (@Sync_Oh) | SAISON 5

Build Video

Build Overview

This Deadeye build by Sync_Oh is a cold and explosive take on Molten Blast. The core idea is as simple as it is satisfying: you cast Molten Blast, convert all of its fire damage to cold, and every frozen pack that dies triggers a chain of explosions through Herald of Ice. The result is an ultra-smooth mapping build that freeze locks and detonates packs of enemies in a chain.

The core of the build relies on two unique weapons wielded simultaneously thanks to the keystone Giants Blood keystone. Brutus Lead Sprinkler grants flat fire damage for every 25 Strength, as well as a chance to trigger Molten Shower per 25 Strength — the goal being to stack enough Strength to reach 100% proc chance. Molten Shower can then proc up to six times per quarter second, turning every attack into a rain of projectiles. The second weapon, the brand-new Twisted Empyrean (patch 0.5), is what makes the build viable: it converts fire to cold, adds cold damage based on mana, and provides a defensive layer by causing a portion of damage taken to be absorbed by mana before life.

This is above all an attribute stacker. Ideally you target 600 Strength, 250 Dexterity, and 200 Intelligence, as each attribute directly feeds the build: Strength provides life and fire damage, Dexterity provides accuracy (which converts to attack speed via the tree), and Intelligence provides mana. Combined with Hand of Wisdom and Action and Astramentis, you get a fast-attacking, tanky machine capable of instantly freeze locking bosses.

Strengths / Weaknesses

Skill Gem Setup by Step

This build offers 8 progression steps from leveling to the final endgame setup. Select a step to see the corresponding gem setup.

(Lvl 1-15) (Lvl 16-28) (Lvl 29-41) (Lvl 42-59) Molten Blast Transition (Lvl 60) Lvl 61-83 Lvl 84+ END GAME

(Lvl 1-15)

5 skills • 10 gemmes

Flèche de foudreLightning Arrow

Héraut du tonnerreHerald of Thunder

Flèches à pointe de glaceIce-Tipped Arrows

Bombe de givreFrost Bomb

Flèche paratonnerreLightning Rod

(Lvl 16-28)

5 skills • 13 gemmes

Flèche de foudreLightning Arrow

Héraut du tonnerreHerald of Thunder

Flèches à pointe de glaceIce-Tipped Arrows

Bombe de givreFrost Bomb

Flèche paratonnerreLightning Rod

(Lvl 29-41)

8 skills • 21 gemmes

Tir de glaceIce Shot

Marque glacialeFreezing Mark

Tir de fuiteEscape Shot

Danseur du ventWind Dancer

Flèches à pointe de glaceIce-Tipped Arrows

Bombe de givreFrost Bomb

Héraut de la glaceHerald of Ice

Tir d'éliteSnipe

(Lvl 42-59)

7 skills • 24 gemmes

Tir de glaceIce Shot

Marque glacialeFreezing Mark

Tornade de flèchesTornado Shot

Danseur du ventWind Dancer

Flèches à pointe de glaceIce-Tipped Arrows

Héraut de la glaceHerald of Ice

Tir d'éliteSnipe

Molten Blast Transition (Lvl 60)

4 skills • 13 gemmes

Héraut du tonnerreHerald of Thunder

Étendard de guerreWar Banner

Déflagration volcaniqueMolten Blast

Danseur du ventWind Dancer

Lvl 61-83

5 skills • 22 gemmes

Étendard de guerreWar Banner

Déflagration volcaniqueMolten Blast

Héraut du tonnerreHerald of Thunder

Danseur du ventWind Dancer

Sensibilité aux élémentsElemental Weakness

Lvl 84+

8 skills • 44 gemmes

Tirs ciblésCalled Shots

Molten ShowerMolten Shower

Déflagration volcaniqueMolten Blast

Danseur du ventWind Dancer

Héraut de la glaceHerald of Ice

Sensibilité aux élémentsElemental Weakness

Voltaic BarrierVoltaic Barrier

Étendard de guerreWar Banner

END GAME

8 skills • 47 gemmes

Tirs ciblésCalled Shots

Molten ShowerMolten Shower

Déflagration volcaniqueMolten Blast

BlasphèmeBlasphemy

Héraut de la glaceHerald of Ice

Sensibilité aux élémentsElemental Weakness

Voltaic BarrierVoltaic Barrier

Étendard de guerreWar Banner

Recommended Equipment

Both weapons are the core of the build and work together thanks to the keystone Giants Blood keystone. The rest of the gear is intentionally budget-friendly: prioritize mana on every piece, then Strength and resistances.

• Main weapon — Brutus Lead Sprinkler: the two-handed mace that makes the build possible. It grants fixed fire damage and a chance to trigger Molten Shower for every 25 Strength. While leveling, any cheap copy will do; min-max comes later when looking for a level 20 with 6-link.
• Secondary weapon — Twisted Empyrean: the patch 0.5 unique that converts fire to cold, adds cold damage based on mana, and causes 10–20% of damage taken to be absorbed by mana before life. Essential for switching to the cold version.
• Amulet — Astramentis: a massive bonus to all attributes, perfect for an attribute stacker. Very affordable outside corrupted versions.
• Gloves — Hand of Wisdom and Action: converts Intelligence into fixed lightning damage and Dexterity into attack speed. A key scaling piece, and again very budget-friendly.
• Off-hand: a sceptre or focus dedicated solely to Voltaic Barrier. Look for fixed lightning damage, elemental damage with attacks, and cold resistance — the rest matters little (a few exalts will do).
• Body armour, belt, boots, rings: rare pieces with mana everywhere, Strength whenever possible, resistances, and life. This is where you upgrade over time; the rest of the build does not depend on these to get started.
• Soul Cores: prioritize elemental damage with attacks Soul Cores (~20 exalts for three), plus one core geared toward rare/unique enemies for bosses and rituals.
• Charms: anti-stun, anti-freeze, and an Onslaught charm (obtained from rituals) for movement speed.
• Flasks: a life flask and an instant-recovery mana flask (eventually Orlov’s for life).

Gameplay Tips

• Mapping: just run and spray Molten Blast in circles. Each hit triggers Molten Shower, and frozen enemies shatter via Herald of Ice — just let the chain reaction do the work.
• Bossing: get close to the boss, drop War Banner (you need to build glory by hitting a pinnacle boss), deploy Voltaic Barrier, then freeze the boss. Once frozen, stay glued to them and keep spraying — that’s exactly why Close Combat I works so well in this build.
• Freezing Mark on autopilot: thanks to notable Called Shots (ascendancy), a Freezing Mark fires every 5 seconds, giving ~90% uptime on 30% cold conversion. You can also cast the mark manually whenever needed.
• Buy your weapons through the trade website: the in-game interface does not show the number of links on a Brutus Lead Sprinkler. To min-max a level 20 with 6 links, use your browser to check the sockets before buying (this avoids wasting divines).
• Avoid Pierce: Clean Shot/Pierce does not perform well in this build — stay away from pierce nodes on the tree.

The Build’s Engine: Molten Blast Converted to Cold

Molten Blast is a fire skill, but the whole point of this build is to play it as cold. The Twisted Empyrean converts all fire damage to cold, which unlocks freeze, chill, and most importantly the shattering of frozen packs via Herald of Ice. What starts as a purely offensive skill becomes a true crowd control engine.

The damage multiplier comes from Molten Shower: Brutus Lead Sprinkler grants a chance to trigger it for every 25 Strength. Once your Strength is high enough to reach 100% chance, every hit from Molten Blast triggers Molten Shower, which can itself proc up to six times per quarter second. It is this layering — Molten Blast striking, Molten Shower raining down, Herald of Ice exploding — that gives the build its damage density.

Dual Maces: Brutus’s Lead Sprinkler and Twisted Empyrean

The build dual-wields two maces at the same time: a one-handed and a two-handed mace. The keystone passive keystone Giants Blood is what makes this combination possible. The trade-off is that it halves the life gained from Strength, but since we stack enormous amounts of Strength, the total life pool remains comfortable.

Brutus Lead Sprinkler is enough to get the build running: it provides the fire damage and the Molten Shower proc. The Twisted Empyrean comes in as soon as you want to go cold: on top of the conversion, it brings a large amount of flat damage, mana, additional cold damage equal to 6–12% of maximum mana, and the well-known « damage taken from mana before life » layer. Both weapons remain very cheap to acquire — it’s only the 6-link on Brutus’s that becomes expensive in late progression.

Stacking Attributes: Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence

As an attribute stacker, the build ideally targets 600 Strength, 250 Dexterity, and 200 Intelligence. Each attribute plays a specific role. Strength provides +2 maximum life per point (before the penalty from keystone Giants Blood) and fuels Brutus’s fire damage — it is the primary stat. Dexterity grants accuracy, and the tree converts that accuracy into attack speed — a stat this build relies on heavily. Intelligence provides mana, which boosts both offense (Twisted Empyrean cold damage) and defense (mana before life layer).

Hand of Wisdom and Action ties everything together by converting Intelligence into flat lightning damage and Dexterity into attack speed, while Astramentis boosts all three attributes at once. Everything reinforces everything else, which makes the scaling remarkably straightforward to understand.

Defensive Layers: Mana Before Life, Freeze and Electrocution

Survival does not rely on high evasion (only ~42% while moving) but on stacking layers. The most important is the « damage taken from mana before life » from the Twisted Empyrean: up to 20% of incoming hits are first absorbed by mana, which is why stacking Intelligence is so valuable. On top of that, there is 22% reduction to physical melee damage taken.

Crowd control forms the second line of defense: enemies are constantly frozen, Voltaic Barrier electrocutes and chains lightning between projectiles, and Wind Dancer adds knockback. A frozen or electrocuted enemy cannot attack — this is often the best defense this build has.

Ascendancy Order and Passive Tree

For the Deadeye ascendancy, the recommended order is: Point Blank, then Endless Munitions, then Gathering Winds (for the tailwind), and finally notable Called Shots last. Until you obtain notable Called Shots, manual cursing is sufficient, which is more than enough during the leveling process.

In the passive tree, prioritize attack speed, evasion, and elemental damage with attacks. Enhanced Reflexes (8% increased Dexterity) and Harness the Elements are excellent nodes, the latter allowing you to stack freeze, chill, and electrocution. Carefully avoid pierce nodes. On the jewel side, a jewel unique From Nothing unlocks Heavy Frost, Thin Ice, and Pure Chaos, while a Tempered Mind provides a bit of extra Strength. Nimble (accuracy equal to Strength) and keystone Giants Blood round out the build’s backbone.

Skill Tree