New player here, getting the most out of Frost Blast

[Greywander]

Roguelikes aren't really my thing, but I know Dead Cells has been very highly praised so I thought I'd pick it up and try it out. Having a blast so far and got as far as the Hand of the King, so I'm looking for a few tips to help push me that extra mile.

I've really been enjoying the Nutcracker + Frost Blast combo. Frost Blast doesn't deal a lot of damage, but it has a fairly long range and is an AoE attack, and it freezes enemies in place allowing me to pick them off one by one with the Nutcracker, or reposition myself. Once I unlocked the Frostbite mutation it got even better, and Frost Blast is now capable of killing most enemies on its own.

I've considered trying something besides the Nutcracker, but I'm not sure what other weapons would synergize well with Frost Blast, and the Nutcracker still works well for bringing down the stronger enemies and bosses. I'm also not sure what skills would complement this build. I've found Maria's Cat to be quite helpful, although it does sometimes unfreeze enemies before I can hit them with the Nutcracker. I've occasionally used the Tonic when I'm low on HP and out of heals.

I have found a few different types of enemies to be somewhat bothersome to deal with. Namely, enemies that can attack from above or below (such as the grenadiers), enemies that can attack through walls, and enemies that are fast enough to interrupt or dodge my Frost Blast. For example, there were these swordsmen in the Clock Tower that would often teleport behind me just before my Frost Blast went off. Are there any skills or other weapons that would help me deal with these?

I also had a question about the Frostbite mutation. Is it affected by weapon affixes? For example, if my Frost Blast has an affix that makes it deal extra damage to slowed enemies, will Frostbite also deal extra damage to slowed enemies?

[Greywander]

After putting some hours into the game, I feel like I have a much better understanding of Frost Blast and Frostbite.

First, Frost Blast + Frostbite is enough to one-hit-kill most of the weaker enemies. It can also go through shields and force fields, such as those generated by the training dummies, which is very helpful and allows you to basically ignore them.

Frostbite only seems to scale with stats, not the item. This means on the one hand that even a low level Frost Blast or Ice Grenade will still deal the same damage. On the other hand, this is also likely why I see people saying Frostbite does not scale well into the harder difficulties.

The most important affix you want on Frost Blast are the "thaws more slowly", which doesn't extend the duration of freezes but rather gives a chance not to break the freeze when the frozen enemy takes damage. This is particularly important for bosses, as it can sometimes allow you to double-tap with your Nutcracker before the freeze breaks. The other affix you want to try to get "freezes nearby enemies on death". As a corollary, you want to avoid affixes that could accidentally break freezes, like causing burning or summoning biters.

For the Nutcracker, the major affix you want is the +175% damage on frozen targets. That's nearly 3x damage, which will also be a crit because of the Nutcracker's innate effect. Another good one is the one that stuns on a hit, which can be paired with the +70% damage to stunned targets. Otherwise, +20% or +40% damage are always decent options, or the +30% crit damage.

For skills, the Ice Grenade is able to reach enemies below you without needing to jump down and expose yourself. In this case, "freezes nearby enemies on death" is more important than "thaws more slowly". Unlike the Frost Blast, the affix to summon biters can actually be useful here, just make sure to wait for them to expire before moving forward.

I don't have it unlocked yet, but I have my eye on the Ice Armor. Not only does it tank one hit for you, which apparently does preserve flawless killstreaks and prevent death by curse, but it will freeze nearby enemies when it does so. This can give you a precious second to eliminate the enemies or reposition yourself.

Another option I don't have unlocked yet is the Cocoon. Its ability to parry attacks from any direction could be especially useful against enemies that can attack from above or below.

A third option that I have made use of is the Diverse Deck (aka "Barricade", the top card of the deck). Barricade gives you some bonus health that can allow you to take a few hits without losing any real health. You can then spend a moment cycling the deck to refresh the bonus health. If you get cursed, Foresight can protect you from one hit. Cycling the deck will also damage nearby enemies when you discard Barricade and Electrodynamics, which crucially can allow you to take out enemies above or below you, or through walls.

[Greywander]

I've discovered that the Homonculus rune can be used to deal with enemies above or below you fairly trivially. Just attach your head to the enemy and it will drain their HP.