Winter Blast

BioShock


"Don't get caught without this powerful self-defense tool at the ready. Give your foes the cold shoulder with Winter Blast!"

Winter Blast is a plasmid available in BioShock. When selected, it manifests itself as severe, ice-covered frost burns on Jack's wrists and palms, with icicles emerging from the back of his hands and knuckles. Winter Blast is an active plasmid that instantly freezes solid a target enemy or object at the cost of EVE.

The target is temporarily disabled while frozen, being unable to move or act until the ice thaws enough for the target to break out and resume action. It is effective against all enemies, unless resistant or immune to cold attacks. In which case, the freeze duration is either reduced or negated completely. Attacking frozen enemies before they thaw will cause them to shatter into pieces, leaving behind no corpse or loot (A bolt fired that shatters an enemy will sometimes be recoverable). If frozen Splicers are allowed to thaw after being attacked, they will have incurred only a fraction of the damage done to them while being frozen.

Combat Strategy
Hit location damage bonuses still apply to frozen enemies. The player can also use the Research Camera with full effect.

Using this plasmid on Security Cameras, Security Bots, or Turrets will freeze and disable them, allowing the player hacking access. The liquid flow will be slowed while hacking frozen security devices, thus allowing for an easier hack.

It is possible to freeze vending machines. Doing so will slow down the flow of the liquid when hacking.

Winter Blast is effective when utilized with hit, run, and hide tactics. Since it has a greater stun duration than Electro Bolt, this plasmid is the premier choice to stun an attacking Big Daddy when the player has need of time in order to reload, take cover, or heal.

It must be noted that killing a frozen enemy will shatter it, and they will no longer will be lootable. Depending on the player's resources and the game difficulty, it is recommended to use this plasmid with moderation. Here's a list of who it is recommended to or not to freeze:
 * Thuggish Splicers: Freeze at will. Typically these Splicers do not hold very valuable loot, and since they are very numerous the loss in resources won't be too great.


 * Leadhead Splicers: Same. These Splicers are also very common, and do not frequently hold valuable loot.


 * Nitro Splicers: Depends on how much the player uses the Grenade Launcher. Their loot is rather mundane but occasionally they may yield a Grenade.


 * Houdini Splicers: Try to avoid freezing. These Splicers tend to hold rare U-Invent components, most notably Chlorophyll Solutions, which is also a quest item at one point in the story. Ice Houdini Splicers are immune to freezing attacks as well.


 * Spider Splicers: Avoid freezing if at all possible. These enemies are the only reliable source of the very valuable (and very rare) Distilled Water, used for making Electric Gel and Trap Bolts, which are respectively the best anti-Big Daddy ammunition and the best defensive ammo.


 * Big Daddies: Depends on how short on money the player is. Big Daddies occasionally yield rare components, but their corpse itself holds around 70 dollars each time. Note that only the Rosie's Rivet Gun yields invent components, so Bouncers are more recommended for freezing.


 * Security Devices: Freeze at will. Not only is Winter Blast the best Plasmid to use when hacking, since it deals no damage and slows down the water flow. It is also useful in combat, since it prevents the machine from exploding. Machines don't usually hold loot of much value, and as such it is safe to shatter them.

Recommended Tonics

 * EVE Saver will slightly reduce the amount of EVE consumed when casting Winter Blast.
 * Surprisingly enough, the Frozen Field line of tonics won't upgrade the plasmid's effects at all.
 * If the player is willing to use this Plasmid as an escape tool, it is advisable to also equip Natural Camouflage.

BioShock 2
Winter Blast makes a return in the sequel. In the singleplayer, only a slight change has been introduced to its effects: instead of freezing the enemy's entire health bar, a portion of it will freeze, indicating how much time the player has left before their foe thaws out.

Upgrade Path

 * Level One: Able to freeze enemies.
 * Level Two: Winter Blast can be charged, encasing foes in a block of ice which can be used as a projectile. Shattered enemies leave a lockbox containing loot and upon being shattered will spray ice shards, encasing any foe they touch in another block of ice.
 * Level Three: Charging up Winter Blast 3 will result in a heavy stream of frozen shards firing from Delta's hand. Not only do these freeze enemies solid, they also do damage.

Tips: 
 * Using winter blast on a security bot that is flying around will drop straight to the ground for an easy hack. Using winter blast on a camera, turret, or security bot will cause the hacking time to be slower than normal.
 * With level two winter blast and level two telekinesis, you can throw the splicers that are encased in the ice block. Big daddies can even be thrown with telekinesis if they are encased in ice. Throwing a big daddy will cause it to fly very far, hit something, then fall to the ground. The big daddy will then get up slowly allowing you to put some good damage in.

BioShock 2 Multiplayer
In the multiplayer, Winter Blast works slightly different from its singleplayer version. Enemies under the effects of this plasmid will have their speed and attack rate severely reduced instead of stopped outright. However, they will be much easier to kill, and a melee hit or an Aero Dash will shatter a frozen enemy in one shot. Shattered enemies cannot be researched. However, Winter Blast will still be able to completely disable enemy Turrets for a moment. Casting Winter Blast on a teammate or friendly machine will extinguish their flames if they had been ignited using Incinerate!. This plasmid can also be used to douse fires, and can be charged for an increased slowdown time. Along with Electro Bolt and Incinerate!, this plasmid is unlocked at the start of the game.

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Trivia

 * Originally, Winter Blast had a liquid shot rather than an instant freeze out of the palm of Jack's hand.
 * Also, Winter Blast was originally referred to as Cryokinesis, it is possible to hear some of the developers refer to it as such in one of the podcasts.