Void Gauntlet Ice Spike PvP Build for New World

In all types of PvP burst damage is incredibly powerful when focusing players who have been affected by a crowd control (CC) effect. While typical Ice Gauntlet and Void Gauntlet builds will follow a support style that is more defensive, there is still room in War rosters and other types of PvP for light armor mages who run with Ice Spikes. This is a build that focuses on taking advantage of aiming your Spike in a way that allows for it to hit a target three times for incredibly high burst damage. It offers a large kit of cc with fantastic damage output and kill potential.

• Petrifying Scream — Unleash a Void-infused scream, dealing 100% weapon damage, staggering and inflicting Root on nearby enemies. This also provides a high level of defensiveness through the fortify on Fortifying Echoes. As a Void Gauntlet player this skill is crucial to use properly. Focus on setting up large "clumps" of enemies by combining it with a Gravity Well or any other form of crowd control (CC). This is also great for locking down players who have exhausted themselves after avoiding other abilities.
• Orb of Decay — This is the main source of damage output. When used correctly a player can cast this ability and right as it hits a taget they can detonate it so that it double hits the target, also applying 2 stacks of rend and a damage over time effect. When used on large clumps it results in a large amount of cooldown reduction in addition to damage due to the passives in the Void Gauntlet skill tree.
• Oblivion — The most common use for this ability comes through its perk Nullifying Oblivion to remove buffs from enemies. Otherwise, it deals a deceiving amount of AoE damage that is commonly under-rated. But its other purpose is to regenerate Stamina and provide all those within the zone an empowerment buff to do more damage. This ability is great to use before going through a Void Gauntlet rotation to maximize damage.

• Ice Spikes — When used properly this is one of the highest damage abilities in the game. If you aim at the target's feet and slightly to the right it will allow for all of the Ice Spikes to hit one target. This is because the largest Spike will shoot out two seperate projectiles. If tight enough to the hit box a target will take three devistating hits that can all critically strike. This can be reactivated earlier to shorten its range and immediately cause the Mighty Spike to strike the target.
• Ice Storm — This activates a large AoE damage ability that has high overall damage ouput but also results in large amounts of crowd control (CC) opportunity. Those within the ability will be slowed and when using the perk Unending Thaw the slowing effect will last an additional two seconds. This makes them prone to being rooted from Heavy Freeze. It is fantastic for frontlines due to its stacking damage component based on the number of players within the storm.
• Entombed — The most common use for this ability is for survival. It can be held in times where there is heavy damage, to avoid incoming CC, or simply for damage reduction. Also, when used correctly it can be used for cooldown reduction through Refreshing Frost.

This is the optimal attribute distribution when playing something like a light armor damage focused build. If you feel that you have enough damage output you can certainly choose to go 200 Constitution for more survivability. Otherwise in this setup it is easy to put out incredible amounts of damage through Ice Storm and Orb of Decay, then pick off low health targets with a quick Ice Spikes.

Slot	Perks	Gem	Weight	Attribute	Source
Ice Gauntlet	Unending Thaw or Iced Refresh* Refreshing Move or Keen Vicious or Keenly Empowered or Enchanted*	Runeglass of Frozen Opal	-	Intelligence	Crafted/BoE *
Void Gauntlet	Putrefying Scream Keen Vicious or Chain Ice	Runeglass of Frozen Opal	-	Intelligence	Crafted/BoE
Helmet	Ability Perk* or Refreshing*** Resilient Freedom or Elemental Aversion***	Runeglass of Frozen Onyx	Light	Intelligence or Constitution	Crafted/BoE
Gloves	Ability Perk* or Refreshing*** Resilient Freedom or Elemental Aversion***	Runeglass of Frozen Onyx	Light	Intelligence or Constitution	Crafted/BoE
Chest	Ability Perk* or Refreshing*** Resilient Freedom or Elemental Aversion***	Runeglass of Frozen Onyx	Medium	Intelligence or Constitution	Crafted/BoE
Pants	Refreshing or Freedom*** Resilient Shirking Energy	Runeglass of Frozen Onyx	Light	Intelligence or Constitution	Crafted/BoE
Boots	Ability Perk* or Refreshing*** Resilient Freedom or Elemental Aversion***	Runeglass of Frozen Onyx	Light	Intelligence or Constitution	Crafted/BoE
Amulet	Health Stamina Recovery Slash Protection	Cut Pristine Opal	-	Intelligence or Constitution	Crafted/BoE
Ring	Invigorated Punishment Keen Awareness or Ice Damage Hearty	Cut Pristine Opal	-	Intelligence or Constitution	Crafted/BoE
Earring	Refreshing Toast Purifying Toast Refreshing	Cut Pristine Opal	-	Intelligence or Constitution	Crafted/BoE

*: Depending on your preference and RNG, you can run Crystalline Curse when you have 200 Arcana. Otherwise you will have to try to get an alternative to drop.

**: This build is dependent on a significant number of ability perks. You can place these perks anywhere depending on the gear you have access to. No matter what you should be trying to have Iced Refresh, Unending Thaw, Putrefying Scream, Nullifying Oblivion, and Diminishing Orb.

***: Freedom, Elemental Aversion, and Refreshing, are all viable options. When using Freedom you should stack 3 or 5 times. Any combination of these perks is viable.

Overall with gearing, this is the ideal loadout of perks for a best in slot build. With that being said, be sure to refer to the Void Gauntlet/Ice Gauntlet perks guide to have a better understanding of other flexible perk options to fit into your build. You can decide what you are most comfortable with.

For more specific information on optimizing your gems in PvP and PvE please refer to our Void Gauntlet Gems and Consumables guide.

Brutal Heartrune of Grasping Vines is the best pick to make sure that enemies caught in the rooting effect are vulnerable to high damage bursts.

If you are looking for more individual damage output you can use Brutal Heartrune of Detonate.

Your Heartrune will be used similarly in PvP and PvE scenarios. As such, please refer to our Void Gauntlet guide for tips on how it can be used most effectively.

• Use Petrifying Scream to lock a target, or targets, in place.
• If time permits, place Oblivion on the ground. This could also be used premptively depending on the situation. But this can also be held to take advantage of its buff removal.
• Use Ice Spikes for burst damage or to secure a kill (This can also be the first priority depending on target's health).
• Hit the target(s) with Orb of Decay (This can also be used before anything else to place a rend on the target).
• Detonate Orb of Decay as soon as it lands the inital hit on the target(s).
• Drop a Ice Storm on large groups for additional damage.(This could also be used before all other abilities if there is a large group, similar to Orb of Decay).
• Heavy attack with Ice Gauntlet when a player is under the effect of Unending Thaw and you can secure a Heavy Freeze opportunity.
• Light attack with Void Gauntlet as a filler or use Refreshing Harvest during downtime or if cooldowns are close to being active.
• Repeat

When using the Void Gauntlet or Ice Gauntlet in PvP and PvE there are many similar aspects that go into gameplay decisions and rotations. To learn more about how you can improve your gameplay, use certain secondary weapons, or additional information on specific abilities, please refer to the Gameplay section of the Void Gauntlet page or Ice Gauntlet page.

For more information on the most frequently asked Void Gauntlet or Ice Gauntlet questions please refer to the FAQ section of the Void Gauntlet guide, or Ice Gauntlet, for answers on PvP and PvE topics!