Hoarfrost — Silence and Squall (Stasis Hunter)

Anchor: Fr0st-EE5 · Subclass: Revenant · Role: Self-sustaining crystal-seed-and-shatter Frost Armor engine — sprint-fuelled add clear — dual-exotic with Verglas Curve Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Built 2026-06-27

Verglas arrows plant Large Stasis crystals; shatter the field for Stasis shards, scoop them for Frost Armor (Grim Harvest), and Frost Armor both juices Verglas's Stasis damage (Fr0st-EE5) and unlocks Stasis/Kinetic-weapon shatter on kills. Fr0st-EE5's sprint loop doubles grenade + melee regen and floods class-ability energy, so Duskfield and Withering Blade come back to reseed before the field stops shattering. One bow, one pair of legs, infinite ice.

Loadout

Slot	Pick	Why
Super	Silence and Squall	Stasis Super — Squall's roaming storm slows/freezes a whole pack, instantly seeding frozen targets for Verglas to crystallise. Also feeds the freeze→shatter→shard loop wholesale.
Class ability	Gambler's Dodge	Dodging near enemies refunds melee (Withering Blade back fast). The dodge is Fr0st-EE5's trigger — it grants the sprint buff and tops class regen. (Marksman's Dodge if you'd rather instant-reload Verglas.)
Melee	Withering Blade	Ricocheting Stasis shuriken — slows/freezes for Verglas direct-hit value and can shatter the crystal field. Fr0st-EE5 doubles its regen while sprinting.
Grenade	Duskfield	With Touch of Winter: larger slow-field + a Stasis crystal on impact — a second crystal seeder. Fr0st-EE5 (doubled regen) + Whisper of Shards make it the primary reseeder.
Aspect 1	Grim Harvest	The engine. Picking up Stasis shards grants Frost Armor; while you have Frost Armor, Stasis/Kinetic-weapon kills may shatter (chance scales with stacks); taking damage with Frost Armor returns class-ability energy.
Aspect 2	Touch of Winter	Enhances Duskfield (bigger field + crystal on impact). More crystals = more shatters = more shards = more Frost Armor. (Shatterdive if you want on-demand field detonation; Winter's Shroud for dodge-slow + class regen.)

Exotic — Fr0st-EE5 (Legs) + Verglas Curve (Kinetic slot)

Dual-exotic (one armour + one weapon is legal). Fr0st-EE5 — Rapid Cooldown: using your class ability grants +6.25% sprint speed for 10s (not refreshable); while sprinting you get +100% [200%] base class-ability regen, doubled grenade and melee regen (PvE), and you accrue Frost Armor. While you have Frost Armor, Stasis weapons deal additional damage — and Verglas is Stasis. Verglas Curve (Combat Bow, Stasis, Primary ammo, Kinetic slot — manifest bucket Kinetic Weapons 1498876634): Hail Storm — Stasis arrows create Large Stasis Crystals on impact and Freeze on direct hits, and it deals +50% damage to Frozen enemies and Stasis crystals. Hail Barrage frame — kills bank a stack (max 5); hip-firing dumps them as a spread Stasis volley. Catalyst Shiver Quiver — Freeze or Slow cuts Draw Time 35% (567ms→368ms).

Why this works (the mechanics)

• The crystal-shatter loop is closed by the exotics alone. Verglas arrow → Large Stasis crystal (Hail Storm). Shatter it — Verglas itself does +50% to crystals, or pop it with Withering Blade / Shatterdive / Squall — and the shatter drops Stasis shards. Grim Harvest turns shard pickup into Frost Armor. Frost Armor makes Verglas (Stasis) hit harder (Fr0st-EE5) and lets Grim Harvest shatter on Stasis/Kinetic kills, so the next Verglas body-shot detonates the next crystal. Self-feeding.
• Fr0st-EE5 is the regen pump, not just a stat stick. Every dodge triggers the 10s sprint window; sprinting doubles grenade + melee regen and pours +100%/200% class-ability regen in. That's what brings Duskfield (reseed) and Withering Blade (shatter) back before the field goes quiet — the reason the loop never stalls.
• Two independent crystal seeders. Verglas arrows and Touch-of-Winter Duskfield both plant crystals, and Squall freezes packs for Verglas to crystallise. You're never short of crystals to shatter, so Frost Armor stacks stay topped.
• Frost Armor is generated three ways. Sprinting (Fr0st-EE5), shard pickup (Grim Harvest), and the artifact (Wind Chill / Frost Renewal). Layered generation = near-permanent Frost Armor = permanent Stasis-damage buff on Verglas + permanent DR.
• Whisper of Shards short-circuits the reseed. Each crystal you shatter spikes grenade recharge (stacking per crystal). Stacked with Fr0st-EE5's doubled grenade regen, Duskfield is back almost as fast as you can throw it — the cheapest way to keep new crystals on the floor.

Weapons

• Kinetic: Verglas Curve (Exotic Stasis bow, Primary) — the engine; never leaves the build. Seeds crystals, freezes on direct hits, and rides the Frost-Armor Stasis-damage buff. Lands in the Kinetic slot despite being Stasis (verified), so both elemental slots stay free.
• Energy: a Chill Clip Stasis special (e.g. Riptide) — Chill Clip slows then freezes, which feeds the same crystal/freeze loop and gives the build real champion teeth (slow stuns Overload, freeze interrupts Unstoppable). Any Stasis special works to keep the Frost-Armor damage buff live.
• Power: flex heavy — player choice for boss/major phases. Prefer a Stasis heavy (e.g. a Stasis LMG, Cold Comfort, or a Stasis sword) so it also rides Fr0st-EE5's Stasis-damage buff; Verglas is an add-clear engine, not a boss-DPS tool.
• Champions: this artifact set carries no anti-champion mod, so coverage = Stasis CC (Withering Blade / Duskfield / Verglas freeze + the Chill Clip flex's slow→freeze). For guaranteed stuns or Barrier, either swap Brain Freeze → Kinetic Impacts (T3, Unstoppable) and slot a Kinetic GL, or bring a flex with an intrinsic breaker.

Stats & archetypes

Grenade → Class → Weapons → (Melee/Super/Health). Grounded spread from `stat_optimiser.py --priorities Grenade Class Weapons`: Grenade 200, Class 130, Weapons 80, Melee 30, Super 30, Health 30 (sum ~500). Grenade 200 = fastest Duskfield reseed (the loop's fuel); Class 130 keeps Gambler's Dodge — Fr0st-EE5's trigger — on a short leash; Weapons' first 100 carries the PvE damage/handling bump for Verglas. Chase Demolitionist (Grenade+Class) and Grenadier rolls; put the Tier-5 Fr0st-EE5 in whichever archetype best tops your weakest priority. Shift ~20 from Super/Health into Melee if you lean on Withering Blade to shatter.

Set bonus (none required)

No set bonus is load-bearing — the loop runs entirely off the two exotics + Stasis kit. A 2pc that adds Stasis-weapon damage, ability regen, or armour stats is free garnish, never the driver. Run whatever Demolitionist/Grenadier rolls you actually own.

Artifact — Slayer Baron Apothecary Satchel

Picks (2/3/2): Wind Chill + Crystalline Converter — Hail The Storm + Frost Renewal + Debilitating Wave — Served Cold + Brain Freeze

The thematically-perfect pool — every pick is Stasis. Tier 1: Wind Chill (rapid Stasis-weapon hits → Frost Armor; hits on slowed/frozen targets → a Stasis shard — Verglas does both at once) and Crystalline Converter (after a class ability, a Stasis-weapon kill drops a shard; banked shards make your next Stasis melee spawn crystals — Withering Blade becomes a crystal-planter). Tier 2: Hail The Storm is the keystone — shattering frozen targets/crystals deals increased damage and the shatter throws off shards that damage and slow, so it amplifies the core action and feeds Grim Harvest; Frost Renewal (take crit damage with Frost Armor → freeze burst + more Frost Armor) is the panic button; Debilitating Wave (finisher emits a Stasis wave → Slow, since your Super is Stasis) adds free CC. Tier 3: Served Cold (picking up a Stasis shard grants class-ability energy) directly refuels Fr0st-EE5's dodge trigger, and Brain Freeze (frozen targets fog and slow neighbours) widens the freeze field so more enemies crystallise. Audited clean (2/3/2).

Loop

• Open with Duskfield (or a Verglas arrow) into the pack — slow field + a crystal (Touch of Winter). Squall the room if it's up for a wholesale freeze.
• Verglas the cluster — direct hits freeze; arrows plant Large crystals (+50% to them).
• Shatter — Verglas body-shots the crystals (+50%), or Withering Blade / Shatterdive pops the field. Hail The Storm makes the bursts bigger and scatters shards.
• Scoop shards — Whisper of Conduction pulls them in; Grim Harvest converts pickup → Frost Armor (and Served Cold tops class energy). Frost Armor now buffs Verglas's Stasis damage and arms Grim Harvest's kill-shatter.
• Dodge to sprint — Gambler's Dodge fires the Fr0st-EE5 window: doubled grenade + melee regen, flooded class regen. Withering Blade and Duskfield come back; Whisper of Shards has already half-charged the grenade off the shatters.
• Reseed before Frost Armor decays and repeat. The field never goes cold.

Notes

• Verify (exact %): Fr0st-EE5's Frost-Armor Stasis-weapon damage bonus and Frost Armor's per-stack DR / max stacks aren't in the manifest and weren't returned by `clarity_lookup.py` (Clarity doesn't model the Frost Armor buff-verb) — treat both as "meaningful but unquantified" until checked in-game.
• Clarity numbers (`clarity_lookup.py "Verglas Curve" "Fr0st-EE5"`): Fr0st-EE5 Rapid Cooldown = +6.25% sprint speed 10s (not refreshable) on class-ability use; sprinting = +100% [200%] base class-ability regen + doubled PvE grenade/melee regen. Verglas Hail Storm = Large Stasis Crystals on impact + Freeze on direct hits + 50% increased damage to Frozen/crystals; Hail Barrage = kill → 1 stack (max 5), hip-fire dumps the volley; catalyst Shiver Quiver = Freeze/Slow → −35% Draw Time (567ms→368ms).
• Premise adapted: the prompt's "Hail the Storm" crystal mechanic is actually two separate things — Verglas's own intrinsic "Hail Storm" plants the crystals (not a fragment), while "Hail The Storm" is a Slayer Baron artifact Tier-2 mod that boosts shatter damage. Both are used here; the names are easy to conflate. Verglas is also Kinetic-slot / Primary (not the prompt's tentative "Kinetic — verify slot" guess about element) — confirmed Stasis damage, Kinetic bucket, so it costs you no elemental slot.
• 9.7.0 caveat: active ability-cooldown scaling was nerfed (190%→125%), so Grenade/Class past 100 give steeper diminishing returns — but Fr0st-EE5's multiplicative sprint regen is applied after additive modifiers, so the legs do most of the uptime work regardless of the stat ceiling.
• Champion gap is real: the all-Stasis artifact carries no built-in breaker — see Weapons for the Chill Clip flex / Kinetic Impacts swap. Don't take this into a Barrier-heavy GM without one.