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Impackt

Impackt: Snow Day

Have an ice day

Crystalice Targe (T11 Shield)
Cold Iron Axe (T5 Axe)
Fire Pit/Snowflakes (Decorations)
Snowball/Hoser Hat (Avatar Items)

Blueprints

Cold Iron Axe (T5 Axe)
176 ATK/6 HP
Affinity: Water
66 Iron/14 Steel/3 Rustwyrm Scale

Joining a line which already has quite a few low tier options, the Cold Iron Axe makes a pretty solid addition to it. With its boost to health and pretty low crafting costs post-milestones, it’s a great addition for your axe-levelling heroes (and also looks pretty cool.)

Crystalice Targe (T11 Shield)
320 DEF/80 ATK
Affinity: Water
354 Wood/103 Ironwood/29 Ether/1 Sigil of Spark/3 Boreal Gale

From a crafting perspective

A slightly unusual pairing for the Shield line with the requirement of Ether, though you can lower that to 20 with the ascension milestones (it’s split over 2 of them.) It’s not the greatest in terms of Wood options we’ve had recently but it’s respectable and doesn’t have some weird precraft/material use.

From a meta perspective

Whilst it lacks the health boost that the Honeycomb Defender provides, the Crystalice Targe does offer a reasonable boost in defence and some damage to go with it. The difference in defence values can make this a more attractive option in some cases for your Fighters and with its Water affinity bonus this is a very useful item for Geomancers.

Scenarios you should consider using Crystalice Targe

  • It’s for a geomancer
  • The extra damage would mean your fighter can reduce the kill time by a round which in turns reduces break chances/death etc.
  • Preparing a winter theme for your heroes

Scenarios you should not consider using Crystalice Targe

  • The hero you’re planning to use it on has pretty low health – in that case you’d be better with the Honeycomb.
  • You don’t need the affinity bonus for your geomancer.
  • It’s summer

Decorations

Avatar Items

Superior

Ice Queen’s Summer Hat (T11 Magician Hat)
Snowblown Carpet/Winter Cabin Veranda (Flooring/Wallpaper)

Blueprint

Ice Queen’s Summer Hat (T11 Magician Hat)
265 DEF/66 ATK
Affinity: Water
354 Leather/103 Fabric/34 Ether/1 Sigil of Spark/3 Boreal Gale

From a crafting perspective

With its milestone and ascension bonuses the Ice Queen’s Summer Hat becomes a very nice option for your leather crafting spot (though that might be occupied at the minute with cloaks.) You can drop the Ether to 27 and Fabric to 61 – if you have the reduction from the Magician Hat ascension tree you can drop that even further. A competitive craft option.

From a meta perspective

So this is where we get to enter the fun realm of affinity and what effects it can have on the value of an item. Whilst traditionally we would have not paid too much heed to this hat due to its competitor (Elegant Top Hat) having extra HP as its secondary which is awesome for those who can wear it, now we need to factor in what the affinity bonus can do.

Of the 4 Magician Hat wearing classes 2 of them can take advantage – Spellblade and Geomancer. Geomancer will really appreciate this as it frees up other slots – you could opt to not use the Crystalice Targe for example, or you can run dual-stat gloves instead of the Corsair ones. Whilst I would not advise it for the other 2 classes it’s a solid pick for Geomancer (and Spellblade, though their vast range of equipment means you might be using something else already.)

Scenarios you should consider using Ice Queen’s Summer Hat

  • You’re a geomancer1
  • Embracing the cold reality we currently experience in a post-Sokka world.

Scenarios you should not consider using Ice Queen’s Summer Hat

  • Mages and Clerics would be better served with the Elegant Top Hat.
  • You don’t need the affinity bonus for your Geomancer (so you can consider taking more survivability stats instead.)
  • You hate winter.

Flooring/Wallpaper

Summary

  • The Cold Iron Axe is a pretty cool choice for your levelling axe-users
  • Crystalice Targe helps addresss a major affinity issue that geomancers suffer from.
  • Ice Queen’s Summer Hat will send a shiver down your enemy’s spine when they see your very fashionable caster.

Final Score

Mega Pack: 8/10
Superior Pack: 8/10

  1. recycling points from a post not even 12 hours old.

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