Cult of Rapture

Zak McClendon is back today to answer more questions about Plasmids in BioShock 2. This time, we're talking about the advanced Winter Blast Plasmid.

How does Winter Blast work differently from the first game?
At its core, it still freezes enemies in their tracks and allows you to shatter them if you can do enough damage quickly. The big functionality changes come from the upgrades, but we tried to fix some of perceived weaknesses of Winter Blast, as well. For a lot of people Winter Blast seemed to be a poor choice over the classic Electro Bolt. Both of them “stun” enemies for a short time and, while Electro Bolt multiplies all damage with the classic “one-two punch,” killing a Splicer with Winter Blast results in no body to loot. The choice was pretty clear for a lot of players.

For BioShock 2, we wanted Winter Blast to feel a little more unique and be a viable “main tool” for players. You’ll find that enemies stay frozen for a longer time – meaning you can use Winter Blast to keep enemies out of combat for a lot longer than Electro Bolt – and a lot more of the damage that you do while their frozen carries through to the Splicer. Even if you don’t manage to shatter them in one go, you can knock down their health quite a bit. This makes it a lot more useful against tougher enemies, who tend to be really hard to shatter.

What does Winter Blast do when fully upgraded?
The upgrades make Winter Blast even better! As with all the “elemental” Plasmids (like Incinerate! And Electro Bolt), Winter Blast 2 gives you access to a charged attack. Hitting an enemy with this charged attack freezes them into a solid block of crystal clear ice. Not only does this put them out of commission longer, it also makes them easier to shatter. But when ice blocks shatter, two more great things happen – first, the enemy will leave behind a special lockbox for you to loot (No more losing out on loot!); second, shards of ice will fire off in every direction. Any one hit by these shards will *also* get frozen, leading to huge chain reactions – really useful for putting an whole room on ice!

Winter Blast 3 lets you fire off Ice Blocks with the touch of a button – no need to charge it up first. Instead, charging up Winter Blast 3 will result in a heavy stream of frozen shards firing from your hand. Not only do these freeze enemies solid, they also do damage – enough to eventually shatter a frozen target! There’s even a Tonic that allows you to use this attack to siphon off health, making Winter Blast 3 one of the most powerful Plasmids in the game.

Other than freezing enemies, how does this Plasmid come in handy?
While Winter Blast is pretty effective against your standard Leadhead or Thuggish Splicers, it really comes into its own against the tougher denizens of Rapture. For quick moving enemies like the ceiling crawling Spider Splicers, or teleporting Houdinis, Winter Blast is a great way to stop them in their tracks and get them to stay in your sights for longer. Later in the game, when you start facing multiple tougher, enemies like Brutes or Alpha Series, at the same time, Winter Blast’s long stun time is invaluable for juggling between these heavy hitters – put one on ice while you concentrate on the others!

Want to see Sinclair Solutions official advanced Winter Blast Plasmid ad?



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