Patch 1.1 brings a lot of changes and new systems, and we’ll be inspecting the Frost Claw Sorcerer, which is going to be a little different from you might think.

Working Principle

First, let’s talk about how it works. Basically, the entire build revolves around this node in Sorcerer tree. Arcane currently Spark Charge chances 40 Mana cost skills 100%, so this effectively means that every hit you make with Frost Claw will get a Spark Charge.

Official Discord has confirmed that Frost Claw recasts also count, and it seems that with a Volley of Glass’s damage expectations, Shotgun can do it too. There’s nothing else to hit boss with besides Frost Claw, so every shred you see, one Shade represents a hit with Frost Claw, so it’s important to aim at least 3 meters away for maximum damage.

It took five hits on boss before Frost Claw bounced back and hit boss, then when you aim to the left of boss, Frozen Malice here automatically aims because it’s over 3 meters away and bounces back to boss and hits boss. Managed to get 25 hits on Shade with one Frost Claw cast, 25 Spark Charges per Frost Claw cast. Enigma gives two flat lightning damages per point.

That may not sound crazy, but if you have 150 points, then Spark Charge does 300 points of flat lightning damage, multiplied by 25. Then you can cast it a few times per second until you run out of mana, and you’ll be doing Mana Stacking, and each Frost Claw has base damage of about 10,000 points of flat base damage or something like that. Then you can probably also run Ladle and the settings to get another multiplier and all elements and stuff, and by theorizing Mana Cost Calculation, you can see that this should be amazing for a single target.

For Patch 1.1, if you’re using a Ladle, you’ll subtract 3 wands, you’ll be able to use a node in Gift of Winter, and then take away everything else that increases mana, and you’ll get 41.8 mana per cast of Frost Claw. This is a viable alternative if you’re using Frost Claw. Anyway, going to the build, you apply as many Spark Charges as you can, that’s how it works.

Preparation Before Building

For boss fights, obviously this is good. You click away from boss, it bounces, it does a ton of damage. You’re just going to click once, and then all your hits hit the group of enemies. They all apply these Spark Charges. And then because Spark Charge has its own little AOE explosion, which is made larger by Enigma fragment, hitting the group of enemies from Frost Claw should cause the entire group to explode. Ideally, any rare monster that’s within aiming range will die pretty quickly.

Spark Charge itself has 20 Base Damage, which is a pretty low fragment for Enigma skill. So early on when first transitioning to this build, you might want something that gives Base Damage or have the option of using Last Epoch Gold in exchange for items that give a lot of Base Damage.

This isn’t a good idea until you have an Enigma Ladle, you can even use a Staff or something similar to add a lot of Base Damage, which will help you use some damage early on. So you should switch to this build at a mid-level around level 50 to 60.

Building Efficient Volcanic Orb And Frost Claw Characters

Volcanic orb leveling setup will be covered next. Level up your character first, then transition to this Frost Claw Build, or level up with Glacier. Both are totally fine. You can follow the skill progression all the way up to 64 points, which is enough to get you through your Respec. This is the transition, because you need these nodes in the tree, so start here at 64 points, and then from there you can continue following Passive Tree Progression all the way up to level 100.

With this build, since you’re only casting Nuke and using Frost Claw every few seconds instead of continuously like with other builds, there’s quite a bit of Critical Strike Multiplier. You don’t need to worry too much about cast speed. The main thing you want to prioritize is Intelligence. Since each Intelligence added to the fragment of Enigma adds two points of Lightning Damage, this accounts for a large portion of your damage.

Master Frost Claw Skill

For Frost Claw, it’s pretty simple. Mana gained from casting Wards, which can be a bit important here. Losing a lot of Wards, but being able to get a little extra from Sorcerer. Just grab Elemental Nova here, and you do need lightning to get the extra points from Enigma, and then grab all the extra casts.

With 40+ Mana at the moment, this setup is pretty easy to pull off, this is a level 21 Frost Claw, all you need is Enigma, you don’t even need Twisted Heart to make it work, and then basically go find Meteor. Most of this doesn’t need to be specified, as it doesn’t really matter, and it’s OK even without leveling all your stuff. Just grab all AOE nodes and all that stuff, and that’s basically how it works.

Overall, the above build will hopefully greatly enhance the game and allow players to deal more damage in the upcoming Patch 1.1. It’s an option worth considering for players who want to take full advantage of this new feature.