Blunderbuss Ice Gauntlet Build

Introduction

The Blunderbuss/Ice Gauntlet is a PVP Tank build that focuses on bursting enemies down on point.

PROs

Great Burst Damage
ELITE Survivability

CONS

Cooldown Dependent
Lacks Mobility

Mastery Points

Blunderbuss Mastery Points

Active Abilities – Net Shot, Azoth Shrapnel Blast, Splitting Grenade

For this build, you will be running the burst combination of Azoth Sharpnel Blast and Splitting Grenade. Net Shot is a utility spell that can be used in two ways. Net shot can be used to slow people trying to escape or (if moving backwards with the ‘S’ key) can be used to help you escape bad situations.

Ice Gauntlet Mastery Points

Active Abilities – Ice Storm, Ice Shower, Entombed

Ice Shower is the Ice Gauntlet’s critical ability. Learning to land Ice Shower on targets is key to setting up kills.

Entombed is the final active ability in the Ice Gauntlet Mastery tree. It is a Utility spell that can help you survive the pressure and minimize damage taken if used correctly.

Below is how you’ll invest the rest of your Ice Gauntlet Mastery Points

Attributes

The Attribute distribution for this build is 250 STR, 150 INT, and 200 CON. Since you will be playing on point 200 CON, combined with heavy armor and the ELITE survivability utility of the Ice Gauntlet and Blunderbuss makes you as tanky as they come. 250 STR and 150 INT give you access to 15% increased Elemental damage while also scaling both of the Weapon Damage Attributes of the Blunderbuss.

Equipment

You will be in the Heavy Equip Load for this build which requires you to wear all heavy armor. We will discuss more on the armor perks you will be looking for below!

Armor

Artifact Armor

For this build, we recommend the following Artifact Armor pieces:

Tumbler Shoes – Successfully dodging an attack, gives you 15% empower and 25% fortify for 5s, you are also healed for 200 + 2% of your max hp.
Featherweight Jacket – Weightless: This armor is weightless
Nimble Leather Coat – Highly Refreshing: Reduces max cooldowns by 10%.
Unyielding – Hard Head: PvP Only: Receive 20% less damage from critical hits.
The optimal Perk Upgrade for any piece can range from Refreshing to Freedom.

All of the Armor you will want for this build will be custom-made through crafting or bought from the Auction house. Below is the ideal perk spread you will want across all of your armor pieces. They are listed in order of importance from top to bottom. Start with armor with 2 perks on it and work your way up to three!

Plagued Splitting Grenade
Unending Thaw
Health or Freedom (3-4)
Refreshing (3)
Shirking Fortification (5)

Weapons

Artifact Weapon

For this build, we recommend the Artifact Blunderbuss, Pestilence. The unique property of Pestilence is the following; Blighted Enchantment: Attacks against targets inflict a stack of poison and a decrease to incoming and outgoing healing effectiveness by 5% per stack for 3s (Max 3 stacks).

Crafted Weapons are also a must for this build. As with the Armor section, the Perks on the weapons are listed in order of importance, this time left to right.

Ice Gauntlet – Deadly Frost, Frost Attunement, Refreshing Move

Blunderbuss – Enchanted, Keenly Empowered, Frost Attunement

Jewelry

All of your jewelry will need to be custom-crafted. The perks for each piece are in order of importance from right to left so you can prioritize obtaining them

Amulet – Champion’s Amulet from the PVP Reward Track. For an artifact, we highly recommend “Ankh”.

Ring – Champion’s Ring from PVP Reward Track

Earring – Doom’s Chance Earring. “Endless Thirst” is a fantastic Artifact option. This Artifact provides increased potion potency at the cost of higher cooldowns. If possible, ensure that you have your 4th stack of Refreshing on this piece.

Gems

The Meta and your resistance division will determine what gems you use in your armor. Runeglass of Sighted Malachites or Runeglass of Sighted Diamonds is the recommended gems to balance your armor as these provide the most amount of resistance possible.

In your weapons, you will want to use the following gems:

Blunderbuss – Runeglass of Sighted Aquamarine
Ice Gauntlet – Runeglass of Sighted Opal

Heartgem Rune

The Greater Heartrune of Stoneform is the Heartgem to use in the BB/IG tank build. Stoneform makes you immune to CC and gives you a significant increase in mitigation that will help you stay on point.

Consumables

Potion

Consumables on this build are pretty straight forward. You will want one of each type of Infused potion on your bar (Health, Mana, and Regen) and a Stack of Hearty Meals. When your Health pots are on cooldown, you should use an Infused Regeneration Potion and Hearty Meal together while kiting away to increase survivability and reduce time out of the fight.

Food and Utility

You will use food to balance out your gear to your desired Attribute Thresholds. The cheapest food available with the appropriate stats is most likely:

Carrot Cake
Pork Belly Fried Rice
Spaghetti Bolognese
New Strength or Intelligence or Constitution Banana Food (+48 to a stat).

Tier V Honing Stones and Incense can also be used In Wars or other PVP situations. You can also use GemStone Dust to avoid spike damage in bad situations.

How to use the New World Blunderbuss Ice Gauntlet Build

The Goal of Blunderbuss Ice Gauntlet Build is to stay on our around the point while picking off enemies with the same goal. For bursting enemies down, you will need to use your combo. Below is the sequence in which you’ll cast your abilities for the combo.

First, You’ll want to catch someone in your Ice Shower. This will rend you target and trap them in place. Once immobilized, you will swap to Blunderbuss and use the following combo.

basic attack
splitting grenade
basic attack
Azoth Shrapnel Blast

This should deal enough damage to finish off most enemies and help clear off the point for your team to capture.

Survivability

The key to survivability with the Blunderbuss Ice Gauntlet Build is using your abilities and dodges to stay on point. The most important abilities you have are Entomb and Net shot. Use Entomb to survive enemies combos/ccs. Net shot will be used to escape situations where you are outnumbered.

Also, don’t forget to dodge, using your iframes to sponge damage and proc Shriking fortifications.