By now,Elden Ringplayers know just how strong the Hemorrhage status effect is. By continuously attacking an enemy with a Bleed-infused weapon or Ash of War, they can trigger the status effect. Hemorrhage (or “Bleed”, as it is most commonly known) is a status effect that instantly depletes a large chunk of an enemy’s health. Katanas like Rivers of Blood or the Seppuku Ash of War excel at building up a target’s Hemorrhage bar, which is why players are exploiting them before From Software decides to nerf them to the ground. However, while Bleed is currently the star of theElden Ringmeta, there is another status effect that players should be paying more attention to.
Frostbite is a status effect that works very similarly to Hemorrhage. Players can proc the Frostbite status by filling upanElden Ringenemy’s invisible build-up barusing weapons, spells, and Ashes of War that have Frostbite effects. The first and most immediate effect Frostbite has is that it does instant damage to a target. While the damage done isn’t quite on par with a Hemorrhage-afflicted foe, Frostbite has a few more hidden surprises that the target and the unsuspecting Tarnished who applied the status effect might not know about.
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The Hidden Effects of Frostbite
The second effect of Frostbite is that it decreases the target’s damage absorption by 20%. Depending on when and how often a Frostbite player attacks during the debuff duration, they could potentially deal more damage than a player who specializes in applying the Hemorrhage status effect. Players should note that, unlike Hemorrhage which can start building up as soon as the bleed-out damage occurs, Frostbite cannot be built-up and triggered until the debuff has run its course. Though the debuff can be removed byattacking the afflictedElden Ringtarget with fire damage(great attention to detail on From Software’s part), it would be best to take full advantage of the Frostbitten opponent and just attack their more vulnerable body.
The third and final effect Frostbite has is that it decreases stamina recovery. Apart from the snow-veiled effect that covers an NPC enemy or boss, it is hard to tell if they are actually afflicted by this debuff. The rate that which they attack does not seem to change, and bosses are as ferocious as ever. While the stamina recovery decrease is an unknown when it comes to NPCs, it definitelyworks wonders inElden Ring’s PvP. Seeing an enemy player visibly take more time between their attacks to recover stamina is a telltale sign that Frostbite is doing its job. Players who have applied the status effect on their enemies can push the offensive by attacking more often and taking advantage of both the stamina recovery decrease and the reduction in damage absorption.
The Best of Both Worlds
Players might get the wrong impression that they have to choose between a Hemorrhage build and a Frostbite build, when in reality they can do both.Elden Ringallows players to build their Tarnished the way that they want, and going for a dual-status effect build isn’t out of the question. Some weapons, such as the Icerind Hatchet and Uchigatana, come with built-in status effect build-up. By applying the appropriateAsh of War, spell, or scaling, they can effectively create a weapon that can build up both Frostbite and Hemorrhage at the same time.
A prime example of this is bytaking the Uchigatana katana(which has an innate build-up for Hemorrhage) and infusing it with the Chilling Mist Ash of War. Using Chilling Mist will spread a wave of Frostbite mist in front of the player while coating the Uchigatana in frost. Attacking while the weapon is coated will increase the enemy’s status build-up for both Hemorrhage and Frostbite.
If players don’t like the idea of a single weapon applying two status effects, they could either opt for a spell that applies one of them or dual-wield a second weapon with the other effect. Considering how dual-wielding allows players to attack with two weapons of the same type in a single animation, they can still apply multiple status effects without sacrificing the effectiveness of a single weapon.This applies to all theElden Ringstatus effectsand not just Hemorrhage and Frostbite.
WhileElden Ring’s bleed builds are getting their timein the sun, Frostbite builds are unsung heroes. If players are looking to separate themselves from the current meta ofElden Ring, they’ll find that there are many ways to be creative when it comes to tackling the game’s most difficult tasks.
Elden Ringis now available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
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