Rime is an Intelligence-based DPS hero in Fellowship with gameplay based around frost magic. In this Rime Fellowship guide, we will cover her strengths, weaknesses, abilities, mechanics, talents, rotations, and gearing priorities. If you’re looking for more heroes, check out our dedicated Fellowship guides for Meiko and Mara.
Key Takeaways
- Rime is a ranged frost caster.
- She offers massive AoE and burst damage.
- She requires smart positioning and rotation gameplay.
Fellowship Rime Strengths and Weaknesses
Rime rewards precise timing and smart resource use. She shines in burst AoE situations, but poor Winter Orb management can quickly lead to a big drop in damage.
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| Deals very high AoE damage with Ice Comet. | Overcapping Winter Orbs causes a big drop in DPS. |
| Uses a simple priority-based rotation that’s easy to adjust in fights. | Can pull threat during burst if not careful. |
| Has strong burst when using Ice Blitz with talents. | Loses a lot of power when main cooldowns are down. |
Want to learn how to burst effectively with Rime? Our Fellowship Quickplay Matches service lets you practice her resource flow and burst windows in real runs.
Rime’s Abilities
Rime’s rotation builds around managing two key resources. Her core spells generate Anima, which converts into Winter Orbs, and those orbs you then spend on her strongest abilities for burst damage.
| Ability | Description | Cooldown |
|---|---|---|
| Frost Bolt | Hurl a bolt of frost magic at target enemy, dealing damage. Generates 1 Anima Anima: Your Anima is shown as a bar beneath your character. For every 9 Anima you generate, you gain 1 Winter Orb, used to cast your powerful spender abilities. | 1.5s cast |
| Cold Snap | Assault the target with extreme cold, dealing damage. Generates 1 Winter Orb Winter Orbs: They are required to cast your powerful spender abilities; Glacial Blast, Ice Comet, and Dance of Swallows. | 12s |
| Freezing Torrent | Flay your target with a beam of frost energy, dealing damage every couple of seconds for 2 seconds while channeling. Generates 1 Anima per tick | 15s |
| Bursting Ice | Conjures an icy crystal inside a target that pulses frost damage, dealing damage every couple of seconds for 3 seconds to the target and nearby enemies. Generates 1 Anima each time it pulses | 10s |
| Frost Ward | You take 40% reduced damage for 4 seconds. Can be used during Global Cooldown | 30s |
| Ice Dash | Quickly travel forward a short distance. Can be used during Global Cooldown | 25s (2 charges) |
| Brain Freeze | Interrupt the target’s spellcasting and prevent it from casting for 4 sec. Must interrupt a spell, or it will have no effect. Can be used during Global Cooldown | 20s |
| Glacial Blast | Hurl a mass of ice at the target enemy, dealing damage. | – |
| Ice Comet | Unleash a large Ice Comet from above target enemy to crash down on them, dealing damage to all enemies caught in the impact radius. | – |
| Ice Blitz | You enter a state of focused casting for 20 seconds, causing you to deal 20% more damage for the duration. Can be used during Global Cooldown and while casting | 120s |
| Flight of the Navir | Summon 5 frost swallows to circle above target enemy for 20 seconds. Your Cold Snap and Freezing Torrent command the frost swallows to swoop down on enemies, each dealing damage to their target. Fracture: Any time a frost swallow deals damage to an enemy it has a 35% chance to Fracture, dealing damage equal to 70% of the initial hit to other nearby enemies. | 60s |
| Frigid Winds | Blast enemies in front of you with arctic winds, Knocking Back enemies and Slowing them by 50% for 12 sec. Can be used during Global Cooldown | 60s |
| Winter’s Blessing | Your Spirit is increased by 20% for 20 seconds and 30% of all damage you deal is replicated as healing divided equally between all allies. Can be used during Global Cooldown | 60s |
| Wrath of Winter (Spirit Ability) | Invoke the spirits of the frozen tundra for 20 seconds, granting you 1 Winter Orb every 4 seconds. You deal +25% increased damage and your Glacial Blast ability is instant cast while Wrath of Winter is active. Winter Orbs: They are required to cast your powerful spender abilities; Glacial Blast and Ice Comet. Spirit Ability: When you activate your Spirit ability you gain Spirit of Heroism, granting +30% Haste for 20 sec. | 20s |
Anima and Winter Orbs Mechanics
Rime’s gameplay is all about managing her two key resources, Anima and Winter Orbs.
- Anima is generated by main spells like Frostbolt, Freezing Torrent, and Bursting Ice.
- When you reach 9 Anima, it converts into 1 Winter Orb, up to a maximum of 5.
- Winter Orbs are then spent on Glacial Blast for single targets or Ice Comet for AoE.
Keeping both resources in check is very important. Spend orbs as fast as you can to avoid overcapping. Good timing turns these mechanics into huge burst chains during Ice Blitz or Wrath of Winter.
How to Play Rime in Fellowship
Rime’s playstyle is all about proper cooldown management and making the most of Winter’s Embrace. Keep your generators like Bursting Ice, Freezing Torrent, and Cold Snap on cooldown at all times. Use your spenders to avoid overcapping Anima or Winter Orbs.
Most of Rime’s burst damage comes from Winter’s Embrace. With Ice Blitz, Winter’s Blessing, and the Winter’s Embrace talent, you can safely pool up to 5 Winter Orbs and 8 Anima, allowing you to set up a strong burst phase.
During each 3-second Winter’s Embrace window, you can usually fit:
- One Glacial Blast (2s cast);
- One instant spell like Cold Snap or Ice Comet.
With high Haste, especially when boosted by legendary boots, you can squeeze in up to three global cooldowns within that window. You can also get Haste from upgrading your gear, for which you will need some gold. Don’t want to farm gold? Let us handle it for you.
Rime Single Target Rotation
On single-target fights, your goal is to keep every cooldown active while avoiding overcapping on Cold Snap and Anima. Here is the rotation you can use for single-target fights:
Single Target Priority
- Ice Blitz
- Winter’s Blessing
- Flight of the Navir
- Bursting Ice
- Freezing Torrent
- Cold Snap
- Glacial Blast
- Frostbolt (filler)
Rime AoE Rotation
For AoE, the rotation remains similar. The change is that your Winter’s Embrace windows will center on Ice Comet instead. Aim to bank up 4 Winter Orbs before activating Winter’s Embrace. Here is the AoE rotation:
AoE Rotation Priority
- Ice Blitz
- Winter’s Blessing
- Flight of the Navir
- Freezing Torrent
- Bursting Ice
- Cold Snap
- Ice Comet
- Frostbolt (filler)
Rime Talents in Fellowship
Rime’s talent tree builds around three main goals: boosting Frost damage, improving Winter Orb generation, and expanding the power of Winter’s Embrace. Most talent choices come down to finding the right balance between steady cooldown uptime and explosive burst potential during empowered phases.
Tier I
- Chilling Finesse: Each tick of Freezing Torrent reduces the cooldown of Bursting Ice by 0.3 seconds. Each time you cast Cold Snap the cooldown of Freezing Torrent is reduced by 1.5 seconds.
- Winter’s Embrace: While Bursting Ice is active on an enemy you gain Winter’s Embrace, causing you to deal 20% more damage. Winter’s Embrace does not affect Bursting Ice.
- Glacial Assault: Your Cold Snap ability grants you 1 stack of Glacial Assault. Once you have 4 stacks of Glacial Assault, your next Glacial Blast is instant cast, deals 40% more damage and has no cost.
Tier II
- Burstbolter: When your Frost Bolt deals damage to an enemy, it triggers a single pulse of Bursting Ice and generates 2 additional Anima.
- Talon’s Edict: Your Cold Snap critical strikes conjure 3 Frost Swalllows to instantly attack your enemies. Additionally, your Cold Snap and Freezing Torrent damage has a 15% chance to conjure 1 Frost Swalllow.
- Navir’s Keeper: Your Flight of the Navir ability grants 2 charges of Cold Snap.
Tier III
- Icy Flow: Your Cold Snap grants you Icy Flow for 8 seconds, reducing the cast time of your next Glacial Blast by 0.5 seconds or reducing the impact delay of your next Ice Comet by 0.5 seconds. Both abilities gain +25% increased critical strike chance when consuming a stack of Icy Flow. You can have up to 2 stacks of Icy Flow.
- Avalanche: Your Ice Comet has a 15% chance to strike twice, and a 7% chance to strike three times.
- Coalescing Frost: Each hit of Freezing Torrent infuses the target with Coalescing Frost for 3 seconds. Once it expires, the afflicted enemy releases a pulse of frost damage in an area around them, dealing 43% Intellect damage for each stack of Coalescing Frost that was infused. Freezing Torrent critical strikes have a 50% chance to apply 2 stacks of Coalescing Frost.
Tier IV
- Tundra Guard: Your Frost Ward duration is increased by 2 seconds and while it is active, you heal for 50% of all damage you deal.
- Greater Glacial Blast: Your Glacial Blast deals 40% more damage but its cast time is increased by 0.5 seconds.
- Magic Ward: You take 10% reduced Magic damage.
Tier V
- Cascading Blitz: For each Anima you generate while your Ice Blitz is active, you conjure 1 Frost Swallow to attack your target. The duration of Ice Blitz is extended by 0.2 seconds each time a Frost Swallow hits an enemy.
- Soulfrost Torrent: Each time you cast an ability, you have a chance to gain Soulfrost Torrent for 18 seconds, causing your next Freezing Torrent to have 40% increased tick rate and +100% increased critical strike chance. Grievous Critical Strike: Any critical strike chance you have beyond 100% causes a grievous critical strike. Grievous critical strikes increase the base damage of the hit by an amount equal to the overflowing critical strike chance.
- Frostweaver’s Wrath: Each time you generate Winter Orbs, you have a 17% chance to gain Frostweaver’s Wrath for 12 seconds, causing the next Glacial Blast or Ice Comet that deals damage to have 100% additional critical strike chance. Grievous Critical Strike.
Tier VI
- Biting Cold: The power of your Critical Strikes is increased by 10%.
- Spirited Fortitude: You take 10% less Area of Effect damage.
- Wisdom of the North: The cooldown of Ice Blitz, Flight of the Navir & Winter’s Blessing is reduced by 0.3 seconds for each Winter’s Orb you spend.
Rime Build
Rime has a few different ways to build her talents, but the Winter’s Embrace Build is the most reliable overall. It focuses on frequent, repeatable burst windows and smooth synergy between Winter Orbs and weapon abilities. This setup cycles major cooldowns roughly every 12 seconds, delivering strong single-target damage while keeping solid AoE performance.
Core Build: Winter’s Embrace (1B)
The core of this build is Winter’s Embrace (1B). It creates a 3-second burst window after every Bursting Ice cast, during which all your damage is increased. Even with low Haste, you can fit two major abilities. These abilities are usually Glacial Blast and Cold Snap. As your Haste improves, these short windows become the main driver of Rime’s burst potential.
Resource Generators
To keep your rotation smooth, you’ll need a steady source of Anima generation. There are two main options for this:
- Burstbolter (2A) – Triples the Anima gained from Frostbolt and adds bonus AoE damage, making it a reliable choice for both single-target and cleave fights.
- Navir’s Keeper (2C) – A strong alternative that boosts resource generation without depending on Frostbolt casts.
Both talents help maintain consistent resource flow and prevent downtime between Winter’s Embrace windows.
Mid-Tier Damage Choices
- Avalanche (3B) – Gives Ice Comet a chance to cast two or three times for free, greatly boosting average AoE and cleave damage.
- Coalescing Frost (3C) – Powers up Freezing Torrent with a large AoE burst effect.
Essentially, you pick between Avalanche for AoE or Coalescing Frost for stronger burst damage.
High-Rank Power Picks
- Greater Glacial Blast (4B) – Unlock this once you have enough substats. It upgrades Glacial Blast and pairs well with Wrath of Winter, making the cast instant. As your Haste increases, this talent scales naturally and adds power to your rotation.
- Frostweaver’s Wrath (5B) – A late-tier choice that increases your damage and stacks up to twice. You do not need to micromanage it.
Capstone Options
- Wisdom of the North (6C) – Shortens your major cooldowns. This lets you fit in more Winter’s Embrace windows during a fight.
- Biting Cold (6A) – A simple, efficient pick that boosts your Critical Strike power. It isn’t affected by diminishing returns, making it a solid filler for steadier burst damage.
The Winter’s Embrace Build helps with burst windows every 10–12 seconds by syncing cooldowns. Start with Winter’s Embrace (1B) as your main talent, pair it with Burstbolter (2A) for faster Anima generation, and then choose between Avalanche (3B) for AoE or Coalescing Frost (3C) for stronger bursts. As your stats increase, Greater Glacial Blast and Frostweaver’s Wrath will push your burst even higher.
📌 Adjust your setup based on the legendary effects or weapon trees you acquire.
Rime Stat Priority
Rime benefits from all primary substats, but some will benefit you more than others. Here is an explanation for all the stats for Rime in Fellowship:
Rime Stats:
- Critical Strike: Doubles the effect of your damaging abilities when they crit. Some of Rime’s important talents gain additional benefits from Critical Strike.
- Expertise: Flat increase to all damage, healing, and absorption effects.
- Haste: Reduces cooldowns, increases casting speed, and speeds up the tick rate of DoTs and HoTs. It also lowers the cooldown of Cold Snap, lets you generate more Winter Orbs, and allows more casts inside Winter’s Embrace.
- Spirit: Increases the charge rate of your Spirit ability and grants a small chance to refund Winter Orbs spent. While this adds extra casts during Winter’s Embrace, Rime already gains bonus Spirit from Winter’s Blessing, and diminishing returns make it weaker than raw throughput stats.
Stat Priority:
- Haste: Smoothest gameplay and highest overall uptime on burst abilities.
- Critical Strike: Strong burst scaling and talent synergy.
- Expertise: Reliable flat damage increase.
- Spirit: Secondary benefit only, valuable early on but quickly overtaken by other stats.
Rime Gearing Priority in Fellowship
When gearing Rime, prioritize item level above everything else. After that, focus on completing your weapon tree, unlocking your legendary, and refining your gear with the best stat combinations. Here is the gearing priority for Rime in Fellowship:
Gearing Priority:
- Weapon Tree – Main source of power and key damage boosts.
- Legendary Item – Changes how you play and sets your burst rhythm.
- Item Level – Higher ilvl gear always gives the biggest upgrade.
- Set Bonus – Keeps your main cooldowns working well together.
Stacking Haste and Critical Strike will give the best results for both single-target and AoE.
Rime Tips
Here we have prepared some quick tips that will help you play Rime more efficiently in Fellowship, and avoid common mistakes that can lower your damage.
- Plan your burst windows. Always line up Winter’s Embrace, Ice Blitz, and Winter’s Blessing together for the biggest damage spikes.
- Don’t overcap Winter Orbs. Use Glacial Blast or Ice Comet before you hit 5 Orbs to avoid wasting generation.
- Keep generators on cooldown. Always use Bursting Ice, Freezing Torrent, and Cold Snap as soon as they’re ready.
- Save mobility for safety. Ice Dash can cancel casts or reposition you quickly during dangerous boss mechanics.
- Time Wrath of Winter carefully. This Spirit ability makes Glacial Blast instant and supercharges your burst; align it with Winter’s Embrace whenever possible.
Fellowship Rime FAQ
If you’re new to Rime or struggling with her resource flow, these frequently asked questions cover the most common issues players face in Fellowship.
How Do I Avoid Overcapping Winter Orbs as Rime in Fellowship?
Keep an eye on your Anima bar. Once you’re close to full, spend a few Orbs with Glacial Blast or Ice Comet before using more generators like Cold Snap or Bursting Ice.
What’s the Best Opener for Rime in Fellowship?
Start with Ice Blitz, then cast Bursting Ice, Freezing Torrent, and Cold Snap to build resources before using Winter’s Embrace for your burst combo with Glacial Blast and Ice Comet.
How to Stay Alive During Burst Windows as Rime in Fellowship?
Use Frost Ward before entering Winter’s Embrace or when you expect damage. It reduces incoming damage and can heal you through Tundra Guard if talented.
The Fellowship Rime is all about timing and control. Every moment in your burst window matters. With solid cooldown management and good resource tracking, she can chain powerful frost attacks that cut through bosses and groups alike. Keep practicing until Winter’s Embrace becomes natural, and you’ll see your damage climb quickly as your gear improves.




