If you’re looking to get a frost build going in Elden Ring, you’ll want the Cold affinity on your weapons. One way to do so is to use an Ash of War that grants this affinity—like Hoarfrost Stomp.
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Location of the Hoarfrost Stomp Scarab
Hoarfrost Stomp is one of the easiest Ashes of War to get that possesses the Cold affinity. It’s located in the northern part of Liurnia of the Lakes. From the Main Caria Manor Gate Site of Grace, head east until you find a small and shallow lake. Making laps around this large pond will be something invisible that leaves a white trail behind it. This invisible being is the scarab that holds the Ash of War: Hoarfrost Stomp.
How to Catch the Invisible Scarab in the Pond
Usually, due to how small scarabs are, you’re better off trying to take them down on foot unless you’ve got a longer melee weapon or a ranged weapon. However, that’s not the case with this scarab, as it’s actually got a larger hitbox than others. You can catch up to the white trail and attack from horseback to quickly and relatively easily hit this pond-skating scarab.
About This Scarab’s Large Hitbox
You can’t tell by just looking, but this scarab is a bit different than others of its kind. Although the beetle itself is the same size as any other scarab, the ball they’re pushing is much larger. Interestingly, the ball doesn’t seem to technically be part of the scarab’s body, but it’s still part of the scarab’s hitbox.
This means that hitting the huge ball will let you kill the scarab. Though, again, there’s no way to visually realize this before you take down the invisible insect. But it’s nice to know that the game is giving you a bigger target—and an easier time catching this beetle.
What You Need to Know About the Ash of War: Hoarfrost Stomp
When you apply Hoarfrost Stomp to a weapon, the skill you’ll get is pretty handy. When used, you will stomp on the ground in front of you, which will cause small icy spikes to appear in a cone-shaped area ahead of your position.
Followed by the spikes will be a chilling mist that lingers briefly. The ice spikes will do the initial damage and the mist will build up the frostbite effect on targets in the area of effect. While it’s best to put this skill on Intelligence-based weapons, you can technically put Hoarfrost Stomp on any melee armament.
How to Use Hoarfrost Stomp
It’s quite quick and you can spam it due to the FP cost being only 10. Although you can’t charge it up like some other Ash of War skills, you don’t need to for Hoarfrost Stomp to be effective. The range, high potential damage, status effect build-up, quick usage, and staggering are more than enough to make this skill a powerful weapon.
However, remember that the Cold affinity scales with the Intelligence stat. This means that the builds that can make the most of Hoarfrost Stomp are ones putting a lot of stat points into Intelligence. If you go down this path, you can potentially do a crazy amount of damage with Hoarfrost Stomp.
As this skill is meant to be used at fairly close range, it gives spellcasters another option with which to defeat melee-focused enemies. This can be useful for PvE and PvP respectively.
Other Ways to Get the Cold Affinity
There are other ways to get the Cold affinity on your weapon besides the Ash of War: Hoarfrost Stomp. The best method is to obtain the Glintstone Whetblade, which lets you freely apply the Magic or Cold affinities. However, to get the Glintstone Whetblade, you’ll need to brave the magical academy of Raya Lucaria.
This sorcerer-filled castle is located in the center of Liurnia of the Lakes. You’ll find the Glintstone Whetblade in the area just after the boss fight against the Red Wolf of Radagon.
