Ring of Pain – Hermit’s Tiara Build / Freeze Build

A guide on how to use a Hermit’s Tiara and its Freeze ability.

Introduction

All credit goes to Asschen-Sukar !

I haven’t played Ring of Pain all that much, but the moment I came across Hermit’s Tiara, I had to work out how to make it work. Since I was so inspired, I figured I might as well share how I did it. It’s also a good way to get the Minimalist achievement (Complete a run with 4 or fewer items equipped), or – dare I suggest it? – the Master of Strategy achievement (Complete a run without any Epic or Legendary items equipped). And, of course, the two Freeze-related achievements.

I hope you enjoy my guide.

Priorities

Things you must absolutely focus on, in order, to make this build work:

• Hermit’s Tiara (taken from treasure or bought from store)
• Speed stat
• Survivability (Defense and Health stat)

Relevant Descriptions

Hermit’s Tiara: attacks Freeze if you have 4 or fewer items equipped. This applies to all your items, including the mandatory candle.

Freeze: Freeze stops creature actions and death effects. Frozen creatures unfreeze after being attacked.

How It Works

Creatures you attack will not be able to attack you or do anything else. Once you’ve landed one hit, you’re free to kill them off, because they will become frozen again with every one of your attacks.

Frozen creatures stay frozen when you move away. Sometimes you will simply want to freeze a creature to stop it from hassling you, then focus on something more important.

Attacking exploders (creatures that explode on death) will stop them exploding or poisoning you when they die. This is a major nuisance in the game, so this is a big part of why this build works well.

Strategy

Spend as many Souls as you need to get Hermit’s Tiara as soon as possible. You spend Souls, preferably, on rerolls for common items, but a few dungeons in you may also want to buy treasures with Souls. I would advise to be sparing with rerolls, at first (only 2 or 4 souls max), but spend more on them the further you go in, because common items will – paradoxically – become less common. Pick up another helmet if you get one in a reroll, because you’ll be able to replace it with Tiara later, anyway. Remember: the first reroll on a common item is always free.

Prioritize building up your Speed stat; you want to be the first to attack, always. I recommend to get at least 21 Speed, as quickly as possible.

Prioritize building up your Defense and Health. You will take some hits, at least, so it’s best to be prepared for that. I recommend having at least 20 Defense before you get anywhere near the boss fight.

This build does not rely on Damage. You will always deal at least 1 damage per hit, so you can always attack as many times as the creatures max hp. You can win with a weapon equipped, though, so see it as a nice-to-have, if you take one.

If you decide to pick up a scroll, and it’s your fifth item, make sure you can use it right away. Some of them can be really useful, so don’t ignore them. Just don’t go into the next dungeon expecting it to be alright; if you’re Tiara isn’t active, you’re much more vulnerable.

Enemies

You should have no problems with melee attackers, if your speed is high enough. But beware of a few enemies: ranged, poison (if your speed is too low), and freeze resistant.

Ranged enemies will wittle down your hp if you don’t keep your distance, or you don’t get to them fast enough.

Poison enemies only need to hit you once to do a lot of damage. Especially those with high speed, like the Banefang, must be handled with caution.

Freeze resistant creatures, like the Ice Beast, exist (and don’t forget at least one of the bosses). It’s best to simply avoid these.

Recommended Items (Common Quality)

Remember: You can only fill two (additional) item slots!

Shield

• Misting Vessel: +10% Stealth for each empty inventory slot. Stealth can reach 100%.
• This isn’t in the Shield slot for nothing; it will save you a lot of hits when passing enemies.

Mask

• Spiritual: +5 Soul Damage to random creature if you have 5 or fewer items equipped
• Imagine attacking an enemy with 40 hp, and you’re only dealing 1 damage per hit.

Crystal

• Black Opal: +1 Clarity for each empty inventory slot.
• Thunder Egg: Each dungeon has an additional small potion.
• Higher rarity crystals are better, and a decent number of them fit this build well. Thus, crystals are a solid pick.

Important Notes on Items

Some Rare, Epic, or Legendary items may be a better fit than the ones mentioned above. If you do get lucky and you find a non-common item that fits this build, that’s nice. But I don’t recommend you keeping a slot open and expect to come across them.

Be careful with seemingly synergizing items. Items like Scale Top or Dasher’s Cloak seem like they would fit, but their advantages are not comparable to those mentioned in this guide.

Needless to say, other items that grant freeze on attack are completely useless in this build. Items that give bonus damage on frozen creatures are only slightly less useless.

Items that grant Intimidate are only useful against the few creatures that this build is weak against, but these can generally be avoided, so I wouldn’t bother with Intimidate.

Honorable Item Mentions

Common

• Poison Dagger: +2 Poison on attack.
• Weapons in this list are mainly there because they allow you to click less. Carpal tunnel syndrome is a thing, people!

• Ice Breaker: +4 damage to frozen creatures.

Rare

• Poison Sword: +4 Poison on attack.

• Camouflage: Ranged creatures won’t attack you.
• For when they really annoy you.

Epic

• Fury Ore: +1 Attack for each empty inventory slot.

• Oil: +1 Speed for each empty inventory slot.

• Poltergeist: +1 Soul Damage for each empty inventory slot.
• Very good damage; better than Fury Ore.

• Titanium: +1 Defense for each empty inventory slot.

• Siphon Gem: Destroy equipped gem and gain its primary stats. Cooldown: 2.
• Only when you come across this one, and you only have a crystal yet. A very restrictive build but potentially very strong.

• Salvage: Destroy target item or mimic card and earn half its Soul cost.
• Only take a fifth item if you also have one of these.

• Glacier: Inflict Freeze on Parry.
• If you’re really unable to get your Speed up enough to beat all creatures, this will at least help you do what you’re aiming for with this build.

Legendary

• Soul Craft: Destroy an equipped item. Gain its primary stats and Soul cost.
• Probably the fifth item you’ll want to get most – along with a sixth item to break.

• Freezing Aura: Freeze creature when hit.
• The better version of Glacier.

• Bolster: Item gains +1 to all primary stats for each empty inventory slot.
• The item you wish drops together with Soul Craft.

• Dual Wield: Target both front cards on attack.
• So you can freeze (or damage) two creatures at once. This can actually be helpful, and it’s more manageable than splash damage.

• Backpack: Item effects behave like you only have 3 items equipped.
• There is nothing better to get when you’re trying to pull off this build. Unless it’s in the last dungeon, of course.

• Absorb: Destroy an equipped item. Gain its primary stats. Cooldown: 6.
• Better version of Siphon Gem, but longer cooldown.