Combat Arts/Cold Guard

There are six Cold Guard Combat Arts available to Spheromancers: two first-level, two second-level, and two third-level arts. You can have only one of each level active at a time.

## Frozen Stance

*Perfect guard an attack and counter with a cold strike, slowing down your enemy.*

Lea waits ~1 second with her shield up and a small arc of frost in front of her. Her shield perfectly guards attacks during this time, blocking all damage they would have done. As soon as she guards against a melee attack, she drops her shield and knocks the attacker back with in frigid counterattack that slows it in time for ~2 seconds.

Frozen Stance is great against enemies with predictable and slow attacks that deal large damage, such as Bosses. It is generally also very useful for players who struggle with perfect guarding, as it gives a much larger time window for the perfect guard. Lea will perfectly guard multiple ranged attacks, but only one melee attack. The Cold element can provide Lea with a lot of Pin Body, adding to Frozen Stance's damage, but the benefit from Bastion does not apply. The slow gives valuable time to execute delayed attacks and holds down nimble foes.

## Brisk Barrier

*Blast enemies away and spawn several icicles in front of you, blocking projectiles and damaging enemies on contact.*

Lea knocks back all enemies close by and creates an arc of icicles in front of her that lasts 5 seconds. The icicles and initial impact increase the Chill status meter of hit enemies.

The initial knockback has an effect similar to Proximity Blast in a smaller radius. Brisk Barrier creates a wall between the player and enemies that may be sorely needed to recuperate or prepare attacks. Upon use, this art shatters all existing icicles.

## Freeze Frame

*Perfect guard an attack and completely freeze the enemy, leaving it open for more attacks.*

Lea waits ~1 second with her shield up and a small arc of stormy frost in front of her. Her shield perfectly guards attacks during this time. As soon as she guards against a melee attack, she drops her shield and knocks the attacker back with a frigid counterattack that encases it in ice, holding it completely still for ~3 seconds. The ice shatters, damaging the attacker again and releasing it. Both hits inflict Chill.

An upgrade of Frozen Stance. The same properties apply to Freeze Frame, but the attacker is immune to knockback while encased in ice.

## Icy Bastion

*Spawn multiple icicles around you and envelop yourself in a protective but slowing shield.*

Lea surrounds herself in 3 layers of icicles and a protective shield lasting ~6 seconds that slows her running speed.

Just like Guard Sphere, this shield can combine with your regular shield to block even more damage and Pin Body to punish your enemies. Icy Bastion doesn't knock enemies back, but its icicles get in their way. This art shatters all existing icicles.

## Crystal Keeper

*Perfect guard an attack, initiate a quick combo and completely freeze all enemies in front of you.*

Lea waits ~1 second for a guardable attack with her shield up and a small arc of stormy frost in front of her. She perfectly guards the attack. If it was a melee attack, she interrupts the attacker with a short flurry of melee strikes, then blasts it and nearby enemies with wintry chill that encases them in ice, holding them completely still for ~6 seconds. The ice shatters, damaging, Chilling, and releasing them.

Unlike Cold's lower triggered guard arts, Crystal Keeper only perfect guards one attack, ranged or melee. In all other ways it is an upgrade.

## Fimbulvetr

*Winter is here. Summon multiple huge icicles around you and envelop yourself in a powerful protective shield.*

This art begins by blowing enemies away from Lea while she concentrates for a second. She then surrounds herself in 3 layers of huge icicles lasting 10 seconds and a protective shield lasting ~12 seconds. These icicles are more durable, inflicting damage and Chill upon enemy contact up to 3 times before shattering.

Fimbulvetr transforms the battlefield into a freezing hellscape that your foes have a very hard time getting through to reach you. If they do, they will likely find you prickly since Fimbulvetr's branch provides Pin Body to the shield. It no longer slows Lea, allowing her to close in on targets or retreat from shattered icicles to fresh ones. This art shatters all existing icicles.

### Icicles

This section exists because so many Cold arts create these icy spikes on the ground. All icicles inflict a similar amount of damage, Chill, and knockback whenever an enemy touches them, regular ones breaking the first time. Lea's foes never target icicles, and attempt movement and attacks as if the icicles were not there. They block projectiles, a few if the projectiles are weak, but usually just one before breaking. The combat art descriptions claim their icicles deal ranged damage, but it is Brawler, not Shooter, that boosts their damage. Whichever the case, their damage is based on your Attack stat.

Their primary purpose is to make attacking you difficult. They halt, encumber, and slow enemy maneuvers and entirely block projectiles, but never Lea or her allies. They allow you to target and close in on an enemy while holding the rest back, so they cannot all attack you together, helping you take less damage. Their secondary purpose is simply to deal damage, though not a lot. Icicles are basically environmental hazards, like water and cliff drops. The better you can push and pull enemies around, the more efficiently you can make use of this little extra damage and Chill that might otherwise go to waste. Icicles typically do not last long at 5 seconds, and most arts that make them immediately shatter all of them before doing their effects.