Winter Blast

From BioShock Wiki

"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.

Winter Blast 1

Casting Cost: Approximately 80 EVE

Location: Winter Blast 1 is first available for purchase from the Gatherer's Garden in Neptune's Bounty for 60 ADAM

Winter Blast 2

Casting Cost: Approximately 90 EVE

Location: Winter Blast 2 is first available for purchase from the Gatherer's Garden in Fort Frolic for 100 ADAM

Winter Blast 3

Casting Cost: Approximately 108 EVE

Location: Winter Blast 3 is first available for purchase from the Gatherer's Garden in Olympus Heights for 150 ADAM

Note: Higher levels of this plasmid increase the freezing duration.

[edit] 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.

Winter Blast is effective when utilized with hit, run, and hide tactics. Since it has a greater stun duration then 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 your 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 you use 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 you are. 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.

- Machines: 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Trivia

• Originally, Winter Blast had a liquid shot rather than an instant freeze out of the palm of Jack's hand (BioShock launch trailer).