frost scaling does int scale the build up

[Ill-Natured Man]

hey guys does int play a part in the build up of cold weapons

[Gnasty Gnorc]

I waaaant to say yes, but I'm not 100% sure.

[Lord Bob]

Originally posted by Ill-Natured Man:

hey guys does int play a part in the build up of cold weapons

Int does not increase frost build up on cold infused weapons, it increases the magic damage those weapons inflict.

From what I could gather (meaning I am not entirely sure about it), frost build up is fixed to weapon level, meaning it can only be increased by upgrading your weapon.

[Imperator Ricardo]

Frost build-up is only tied to your weapon level, nothing else will increase its scaling.
Your Int will only increase the Magic damage.

The only build-ups that scale are: Bleed, Poison, Madness and Sleep.
All of these will only scale on a weapon with Arcane scaling.
Madness is currently only available on an infused Fingerprint Shield.
Sleep is available exclusively on a Ripple Axe/Halberd with Sleep Grease
Bleed and Poison can be infused to any weapon.

[Duilf]

Frost doesn't scale. The only status effects that do scale are bleed, poison, sleep, and madness. Even then they only scale with arcane when the weapon/catalyst has arcane scaling. However if you look Frost affinity weapons have more natural status build up then poison, bleed, or an occult weapon with natural bleed. Say if I put a level 25 uchigatana through a build calculator with 60 arcane for cold, blood, and occult the fixed frost results in 105 frost, the bloods higher fixed bleed with lower scaling gives 114 bleed, and the occult with lower fixed bleed with higher scaling gives 85. So your not really losing much if anything due to frost not scaling. In fact with such a high base if Frost did scale it would be insane.

[Ill-Natured Man]

Originally posted by Duilf:

Frost doesn't scale. The only status effects that do scale are bleed, poison, sleep, and madness. Even then they only scale with arcane when the weapon/catalyst has arcane scaling. However if you look Frost affinity weapons have more natural status build up then poison, bleed, or an occult weapon with natural bleed. Say if I put a level 25 uchigatana through a build calculator with 60 arcane for cold, blood, and occult the fixed frost results in 105 frost, the bloods higher fixed bleed with lower scaling gives 114 bleed, and the occult with lower fixed bleed with higher scaling gives 85. So your not really losing much if anything due to frost not scaling. In fact with such a high base if Frost did scale it would be insane.

So if I wanted a build that focused purely on frost and bleed (using dual nagakibas) would it still be better to use skill into INT to get more damage or would I be better off using frost weapons to build up frost and swap into another wep?

[Ill-Natured Man]

Originally posted by Ill-Natured Man:

hey guys does int play a part in the build up of cold weapons

Thanks everyone for the helpful tips!

[Imperator Ricardo]

Powerstanced weapons deal slightly decreased buildup per hit, if you hit both attacks, the total buildup compared to a single weapon hit is a mere x1.2.

You can of course carry a frost and a bleed weapon, but i would personally recommend either sticking to one or the other.
If you insist on both, then i would recommend carrying two setups, one with frost, and another with bleed.

And if you want to make a frost + bleed build, i would actually recommend turning it into a direct Arcane build and have backup frost weapons at hand, since bleed scales with Arcane, but frost does not scale. Only downside is that you will not be able to cast magic.

But of course, both are still viable as they are, even without Arcane investment, it is just going to be less effective. Experiment and see what sticks!

[Duilf]

Originally posted by Ill-Natured Man:

Originally posted by Duilf:

Frost doesn't scale. The only status effects that do scale are bleed, poison, sleep, and madness. Even then they only scale with arcane when the weapon/catalyst has arcane scaling. However if you look Frost affinity weapons have more natural status build up then poison, bleed, or an occult weapon with natural bleed. Say if I put a level 25 uchigatana through a build calculator with 60 arcane for cold, blood, and occult the fixed frost results in 105 frost, the bloods higher fixed bleed with lower scaling gives 114 bleed, and the occult with lower fixed bleed with higher scaling gives 85. So your not really losing much if anything due to frost not scaling. In fact with such a high base if Frost did scale it would be insane.

So if I wanted a build that focused purely on frost and bleed (using dual nagakibas) would it still be better to use skill into INT to get more damage or would I be better off using frost weapons to build up frost and swap into another wep?

I was just pointing out the differences with a weapon that has natural bleed so occult works for status purposes. Natural bleed weapons with frost have very poor bleed still using the Uchigatana as an example it has 38 bleed compared to the 45 they have with say keen which is less then half of a weapon somehow focused on bleed, or occult. Now that is still bleed status, but that half is going to amount to less then half of the bleed procs you would get. So it is much better to focus on 1 style with a character instead of trying to dip into 2.

Cold is more rounded then magic having less int, but more str/dex scaling while having cold bases skills still only using int for damage. So 30-40 in the physical stat is useful, and it will be better before counting the status on enemies resistant to magic.

Quite frankly the unique weapons that have cold are so crazy it is honestly best to make a cold build around them. Those weapons are

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Death's+Poker
A greatsword that has terrible Int scaling, but 2 skill variants that scale purely of int which decimate opponents.

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Helphen's+Steeple
Is a greatsword that has a skill which buffs the weapon with more magic damage, and a sizable amount of cold making it good for melee characters.

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Dark+Moon+Greatsword
is a cold greatsword that focuses on int with a skill that shoots blade blasts, and coats the weapon like a frost version of sacred blade.

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Royal+Greatsword
Is an ultra greatsword that has a skill that acts like a modified frosty lion claw.

In other words there is a clear Greatsword favoritism in the unique cold weapons.

Or you can focus on skills like
https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Ash+of+War:+Ice+Spear
for damage which I would recommend a https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Twinblades with.