Frost Adventure - Master Guide

Introduction
This Guide is the author’s recommendation for one successful method for defeating the “Frost Adventure” campaign on Master Difficulty.

This guide is by no means the only method. Please enjoy the game and discover for yourself all the possibilities. Contained within are some strategies that can be employed to help you achieve a Master Difficulty victory. These strategies are by no means required for a victory. Feel free to develop your own strategies and contribute what you learn to the wiki and the community at large. With these disclaimers behind us, let’s begin.

The game begins with the adventurers tasked with three quests that can be completed in any order. 1. Find and solve the Tavern. 2. Find and solve the Closed Contest. 3. Find and solve the Crashed Wagon. You have nearly as much time as you care to take to complete these quests.

If you have questions or comments you'd like to leave for us, please edit the Discussion page at the top of this guide and feel free to leave those questions and comments in there! Thanks!

Frost Adventure Mechanics
The “Frost Adventure” campaign presents new mechanics to the player when compared to the normal For The King campaign.

The amount of Cold Damage taken upon ending a turn depends on the biome the character is in:
 * There is no Chaos/Flood mechanic that forces the party to progress (except for Scourges). So if you aren’t worried about some Scourges activating, you can take all the time you wish to grind out gold and experience.
 * A unique mechanic you’ll find in the Frost Adventure is that each party member who ends their turn outside of a town or camp will be exposed to the harsh winter elements. That means they’ll take some “Cold Damage” upon ending their turn. In the Frost Adventure, ending a turn with unused movement does NOT result in gaining that extra movement as healing.  So you cannot offset the “Cold Damage” by moving less. Regeneration will help to negate the “Cold Damage” taken as it is applied simultaneously.  So do consider picking up and wearing gear with Regeneration.
 * 1) Guarding Forest: 1 Cold Damage
 * 2) Shivering Woods: 3 Cold Damage
 * 3) Frozen Expanse: 5 Cold Damage
 * 4) Frigid Sea: varies
 * 5) Any Town Hex: No Cold Damage


 * Towns in the Shivering Woods and Frozen Expanse are not immediately accessible. They must be opened first by conducting a series of 3 combats. Freeing a besieged town can be made easier by placing a Tinder Pouch next to the town.  Heal party members between combats as necessary using the Tinder Pouch.
 * Not all town markets sell Godsbeard. Don’t count on it because it might not be there.
 * There are no Sea Caves in the Frost Adventure, making access to Precious Pearls rare.
 * Mini-dungeons (e.g. Snow Caves) have pre-determined levels that do NOT scale with Town Refreshes or any other mechanic.
 * Town Refresh rates are uniquely different compared to the For The King campaign. Players can expect the towns to refresh (increasing prices) at the following times:
 * 1) Completion of the main questline from the Guardian Forest biome.  This results in the party being rewarded with a Merchant Boat Deed as well as the Towns refreshing.
 * 2) Towns refresh again once 2 of your party members reach level 5.
 * 3) Towns refresh again once all 3 of your party members reach level 7.
 * 4) - None
 * 5) - None
 * Due to there being no 4th or 5th town refresh, getting access to top end gear is impossible.

A Discussion about Goals
As with the normal For The King campaign, you want to:


 * Acquire as much gold as you possibly can.
 * Upgrade your gear as soon as humanly possible.
 * Gain experience for your characters as quickly as possible.
 * Avoid taking damage.

However, there are two additional goals that are unique for the Frost Adventure:
 * Acquire and stockpile as many herbs (Godsbeard, Golden Root, Panax) as you can.
 * Acquire and stockpile 8 or more Tinder Pouches (1 for each town that is besieged and 4 for the climb up Frostbite Peak).

Keys to making the Frost Adventure easy

 * 1) Grind enemies early on. This is normally a very bad idea when playing the normal For The King campaign, but is essential when playing the Frost Adventure. You want to spend lots of time grinding as many enemies as you can find in your starting Guarding Forest biome. You should grind enemies and use the towns Inns for healing until each team member has an improved weapon; each team member has reached level 2; at least one team member has had their Pipe upgraded; and you’ve purchased every herb and Tinder Pouch from Oarton and Woodsmoke.
 * 2) Do NOT finish all three primary quests until you have everything listed above accomplished.  If you accidentally complete all three primary quests, this will result in the Towns Refreshing and doubling their prices as well as triggering the next questline to find the Armory and eventually conquer the Frostbite Peak.  Only finish the 3rd quest when you feel ready or if a Scourge has appeared on your timeline.
 * 3) Locate the Sanctum, Statue, and Dark Cave in the Guardian Forest before leaving.
 * 4) If you come across a Goblin Staff at any point in this early time frame, buy it!  It is often found in Night Markets!  This is HUGE!  Make a point to always check Night Markets for this Goblin Staff while you’re in the Guardian Forest.  This weapon may become your main go-to weapon to win the game!
 * 5) After finishing the Guardian Forest, use your Merchant Boat Deed to sail to Saxahvall.  This is the only town after the Guardian Forest that is NOT besieged.  Find this town in the islands and icebergs and use it for gear upgrades as well as trigger its town side-quest.
 * 6) Use “+ Find Distance” items (Torch, Brass Compass, Gathering Bonnet, Spyglass, Disciple Hood, Fishing Hat) while sailing or moving on land as much as possible.  Everything is hidden, including side-quest destinations, sanctums, statues, mini-dungeons, etc.  Searching the land with Find Distance bonuses will mean taking less damage from the weather.
 * 7) Open and clear each of the 2 besieged towns in the Shivering Woods.  Use these towns as staging areas to search the surrounding area.
 * 8) Grind, Grind, Grind until you reach level 5. Kill what you can safely.  Once the 2nd Town Refresh occurs, check the towns markets you’ve opened and upgrade your weapons and armor the best you can.
 * 9) Take care of scourges as they approach.  Get your team devoted to Sanctums.
 * 10) Visit the Armory to clear that main quest and progress it to trigger the two Ice Shrine main quests.
 * 11) Open and clear the last 2 besieged towns in the Frozen Expanse.
 * 12) Grind, Grind, and Grind some more until you reach level 7.  This will trigger the 3rd and last Town Refresh.  Once you’ve triggered that last Town Refresh, buy as many herbs and Tinder Pouches the towns make available, as well as equip your team with the best weapons and armor you can find among all the town markets.
 * 13) At some point along the way, pick up a Hildebrant's Reserve potion.  If you only find one, save it for the final boss fight.  Pick up as many extras as you come across.
 * 14) Finally, after fully equipped and leveled, clear the 2 Ice Shrines.
 * 15) After vanquishing the 2 Ice Shrines, go back and visit the Armory to pick up the free Ancient weapons.  In particular… you’ll covet the Ancient Blade.  Be careful with these Ancient weapons as they will break on critical fails.
 * 16) Continue to Grind until you reach level 10 or until you feel you have the necessary gear to take on the level 10 Frostbite Peak.
 * 17) Give the Ancient Blade to your character with the largest Focus Pool, and allow them to use 2 or 3 focus for massive AOE attacks.  Use this Blade only so long as you can restore the focus of the character using it. It helps to have a large stockpile of Golden Root for this purpose.  Conserve this Blade and the Golden Root for the final fight with the Dragon Whitemoon.

Ideal Team Load Outs
Intelligence Character ideal set : Weapons: Starfish Staff or Great Fire Staff. Both is even better. Armor: Wizards’s gear (Chestpiece/Headgear/Boots) Trinkets: Golden Hourglass; Bellowing Horn; Noise Maker Necklace: Old or Polished Necklace Strength Character ideal set : Weapons: Iron Anchor or Great Hammer or Great Sword or Gladius and Iron Tower Shield Armor: Great Helm; Iron Plate Mail; Iron Boots; plus Boots of Might if you can get it. Trinkets: Bellowing Horn; Golden Skull; Great Rune Necklace: Rusty or Golden Medallion or Amulet of Souls Talent Character ideal set : Weapons: Fancy Theorbo or Silver Lute Armor: Jester's gear; plus Lucky's Hat or Princess Hat Trinkets: Lucky Coin; Four Leaf Clover; Noise Maker; Bellowing Horn Necklace: Fancy Ruff; Shiny or Sparkling Pendant Awareness Character ideal set: : Weapons: Assassin's Bow; Dragon Bow; Silver Bow; or Waldhar's Wrath; or Razor Armor: Shadow gear (Chestpiece/Headgear/Boots) Trinkets: Great Rune; Steel Plate; Golden Skull; Bellowing Horn; Golden Hourglass; Noise Maker; Lumotus Luminous Necklace: Clouded Crystal or Pale Crystal; Silk Scarf

The climb up Frostbite Peak
Once you enter the gateway to Frostbite Peak, you’ll encounter a series of 4 switchbacks up the mountain. Each switchback has 4 segments. Two of the segments will be combats. One will randomly be chosen as either a Trap, Frozen Healing Fountain (which can result in a full party restore), or a Chest. The 4th segment is a place to use your Tinder Pouch to Party Rest before heading up the next switchback. You will want to have conserved 4 Tinder Pouches at minimum to ensure you can heal your party and restore some focus between each switchback.

The 8 combats you must face on the way up the mountain are going to be damaging. You can face all sorts of nasty enemies like Acid Blobs, Vampires, Bone Wizards, Boomers, Ogre Brutes, Chaotic Skulls, Feral Warlocks, Black Witches, Banshees, Red Jellys, Master Thieves, Wretched Bards, and Lich Lords to name a few. Many of these enemies do magic damage, while the ones that do physical damage are big healthy brutes that take time to kill.

It is quite easy to find yourself running out of focus as you fight your way up the mountain. Not to mention you’ll need to heal quite a bit. Having conserved some Godsbeard and Golden Root for the fight up the mountain will serve you well. Party Heal will also be a lifesaver.

Strategies for the End Game
You can spend as much time as you wish grinding out levels and equipment before making the trip up the mountain. However, as was mentioned earlier, in the Frost Adventure, the Town Refresh process stops after 3 refreshes. That means you’ll never be afforded the opportunity to equip high-end gear that you may have been used too from the normal For The King campaign.

You will NOT have access to: Armor: Assassin Gear; Mystic Gear; Dream Gear; or Royal Gear. Weapons like: Tome of Wonder, Great Water Tome, Golden Lute, Royal Lute, Golden Bow, Royal Bow, Dragon Blade, Frozen Great Hammer, Fire Axe, etc.

You will have the Ancient weapons you acquired from the Armory!

Two important weapons that will be available to you include the Starfish Staff (for Starfish Staff Cheese), and the Goblin Staff (for Party Rush). If you wish to make use of the uber strategies that use these two weapons, check out those strategies detailed in the FTK Master Difficulty Guide.

The final fight will culminate with your party facing off against Whitemoon, the Frost Dragon! Whitemoon on Master Difficulty has 825 hp with 12 Physical Armor and 12 Magic Resistance. Whitemoon is also wicked fast with a speed rating of 125. Yeah that’s right…125!

There are two effective combat strategies you can use to kill Whitemoon. You can:
 * 1) Use the Party Rush strategy by employing a Goblin Staff and a second character using a single target rush weapon like a Minstrel with an Ornate Lute or Silver Lute to rush the party rusher.  This provides your 3rd team member infinite turns to kill Whitemoon.
 * 2) Make use of the Ancient Blade in combination with a Hildebrant's Reserve potion to maximize damage.  Support this strategy by also having other characters Rush the Ancient Blade wielder to provide more opportunities to hit while the Hildebrant's Reserve is still active.  This is ideal if combined with strat #1 above.  It is often best to give the Ancient Blade to the character with the largest Focus Pool so you can fully focus your attacks for a longer period of time.  Additionally, if using the Hildebrant’s Reserve, this character must also be equipping something that confer’s Confuse Immunity like Faded Pearls or a Wizard Hat.

Here is an example of the Ancient Blade in action. Whitemoon killed in 3 hits: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/896223813

If you can’t use either of the two strategies above, then you're in for a long protracted fight. Best to bring some Armor piercing weapons and also have a good stockpile of Panax to counter the Bleed condition that Whitemoon will inflict. You can also make use of speed down and enemy reset weapons to try to limit the number of attacks Whitemoon will get.

Conclusion
Well… I hope you find this guide helpful. Visit us on the FTK Discord. Special Thanks to  Sheldon1994  for all the play testing and ideas.

Author:  SirImperialMike