Path of Exile 2: New Arctic Armour - Trampletoe tech, explained (0.2.0)

Everyone loves Arctic Armour in Path of Exile 2. For 30 spirit reservation, the skill deals cold damage to any enemy dealing a melee attack on the user. But what if we told you that you’ve been using the skill wrong? Turns out, Arctic Armour can 1-shot most monsters in the game, as one Path of Exile player showcased.

If you don’t know about Arctic Armour, it is a persistent buff skill that gains stages each second up to 6 by itself. Stages are the number of hits the skill will deal to enemies. Once it reaches zero, it will not deal any damage, but the stages recharge very quickly.

This article will explain how the player managed to take Arctic Armour to level 38 and started 1-shotting an entire group of monsters.

Path of Exile 2 Arctic Armour - Trampletoe tech explained

At first, it was hard to believe it was happening, mainly due to never witnessing an enemy killed by arctic armor. To make this build work, you’ll require some unique items and very good rolls of gear. The most important unique in this build would be Trampletoe boots and The Deepest Tower helmet.

Video of level 38 arctic armour + trampletoe byu/cironoric inPathOfExile2

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Using Trampletoe will deal 36% of the overkill damage to all enemies within 2 meters of the enemy killed. The Deepest Tower will have all enemies in your presence count as being on low-life, despite being on full health.

Low-life here means enemies who are below 35% health. The Execute support gem is perfect for this situation, as it deals 50% more damage to enemies on low-life.

Additionally, this tech is very powerful while playing as a Gemling Legionnaire and will require a lot of min-maxing. To bring Arctic Armour to level 38, you’ll have to pick up all +cold skills nodes, along with gaining more levels through gear and Ascendancy.

Here is the skill tree setup

Skill tree layout for the build (Image via Pathofbuilding || Grinding Gear Games)

Here’s a breakdown on how to increase skill levels:

+20 from regular skill gems
+7 from weapon affix
+3 from amulet affix
+3 from Prism of Belief Diamond jewel
+2 from Neurological Implants in Ascendancy passive
+1 from Endless Blizzard passive
+1 from Cold Mastery support gem

Here are all the jewels used:

Jewels	Affixes
From Nothing (unique)	Passives in Radius of <Chaos Inoculation> can be Allocated without being connected to your tree
Prism of Belief (unique)	+(1-3) to Level of all <Cold> Skills
x4 Sapphire Jewels	Increased area of effect - Presence effect - Meta skills gain more energy - Energy shield recharge rate - Cast speed - Mana regeneration

Gear setup for Arctic Armour in Path of Exile 2

Trampletoe and The Deepest Tower (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

After you pick up all possible nodes to increase skill level, you’ll need to get more through gear. Not only that, since the build min-maxes the passive tree, gear is also essential to build defenses.

Gear	Affixes
Helmet (The Deepest Tower)	(70-130)% increased Armour and Energy Shield +(70-100) to maximum Life +(17-23)% to Chaos Resistance 50% reduced Presence Area of Effect 10% reduced Light Radius Enemies in your Presence count as being on Low Life
Body Armor	Armor - Energy Shield - Spirit - Resistances - Life Regeneration - %increased Armor/Energy Shield
Weapon	+7 to Level of all Spell Skills - Spell Damage - Extra Cold Damage - Mana - Mana Regeneration
Amulet	+3 to Level of all Spell Skills - Spirit - Mana - Mana Regeneration
Rings	Resistances - Mana - Mana Regeneration - Item Rarity - Attribute
Gloves	Life - Resistances - Item Rarity - Defense - Added Damage to Attacks
Belt (Shavronne's Satchel)	Flasks gain 0.17 charges per Second Has (1-3) Charm Slots (20–30)% reduced Flask Life Recovery rate +(20-30) to Intelligence (20-30)% increased Flask Charges gained Life Recovery from Flasks also applies to Energy Shield
Boots (Trampletoe)	15% increased Movement Speed (50–100)% increased Armour 50% increased Attribute Requirements Deal 30% of Overkill damage to enemies within 2 metres of the enemy killed

How does the build synergizes with Gemling Legionnaire

Gemling Legionnaire (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Geemling Legionnaire is an Ascendancy focusing heavily on improving the skill gems. With patch 0.2.0, the class received some changes, including the Implanted Gems Ascendancy Passive. Previously, it was +1 to level of all Skills.

After changes, it now provides a choice of +2 to level of all Skills based on Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence requirements. Arctic Armour is a blue gem based on Intelligence, so get that +2 level increase.

Furthermore, the nodes leading to Implanted Gems passive grants an extra 14% to gem quality, letting you reach 34% quality. Each of the Fox Talisman gives you another +2% to quality, making it possible to reach 40%. This provides you with two extra stages on the skill.

Another massive boost to damage is the Integrated Efficiency passive that grants Critical Hit Chance, Damage, and Skill Speed based on different color support gems.

Skill setup for Arctic Armour in Path of Exile 2

Cold skills in the build (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Your main damage skill will be Arctic Armour, but since this build will have a massive increase to all cold skills, why not add more damage? Cold Snap is another powerful skill to set up with Ice Nova for constantly freezing enemies and shattering them.

Arctic Armour: Execute - Cold Mastery - Elemental Focus - Cold Penetration
Cast on Freeze: Cold Snap - Execute - Elemental Focus - Impetus
Frost Wall: Magnified Effect - Concentrated Effect - Spell Cascade - Considered Casting
Cold Snap: Considered Casting - Concentrated Effect - Cold Mastery - Cold Penetration
Ice Nova: Arcane Surge - Arcane Tempo - Glaciation - Inspiration
Convalescence: Clarity - Ingenuity - Persistence
Blasphemy: Hypothermia - Magnified Effect - Clarity
Mana Remnants: Magnetism - Dissipate

With this setup, the build only requires you to cast Ice Nova to build up freeze. Both Arctic Armour and Cast on Freeze with Cold Snap will trigger automatically. Frost Wall is also a great option for a little more damage compared to Ice Nova, but it has a cooldown.

Since we don’t have much for defense, Convalescence provides quick shield recovery. Mana Remnants will keep you topped on mana requirement, as Integrated Efficiency will guarantee critical hits. The final skill — Blasphemy — isn’t necessary if you don’t have spirit, simply cast Hypothermia manually.

Check out our other guides on Path of Exile 2:

About the author

Mayank Singh Rathour is an MMO writer at Sportskeeda. He graduated from college with a degree in Business Administration and has over two years of experience as an esports journalist.

Mayank was introduced to gaming at an early age and played Contra, Double Dragon, Castlevania, etc., on his Nintendo DS. When he was a little older, Counter-Strike — a title that majorly helped develop his passion for gaming — became his favorite pastime. Though he's played a bunch of games since then, his love of CS has remained strong. Shroud, a former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro, is an inspiration to him. He's also a fan of series' esports scene, following teams like Vitality, NAVI, and The Mongols closely.

When Mayank has some free time, he plays basketball and helps people build PCs.

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Edited by Ripunjay Gaba