Coldsnap is a powerful demon/group of demons. Records of it reach back to Sanctuary's ancient history. In every language known, they describe its cruel stare and the blistering ice left in its wake. As common are tales of its vanquishing: might its spirit be fettered to an object,^[1] or to the world? Or are there multiple such demons, each returning until all of them are slain at once?^[2]

Biography

In 1270, Cold Snap was summoned by Sargoth during his confrontation with the Shard-seeker in the Temple of Namari. Cold Snap was defeated, and his essence used to fuel Sargoth's power.^[3]

Fifteen years later, Cold Snap was defeated by the Nephalem inside a Nephalem Rift.^[4]

In-game

Diablo Immortal

Cold Snap appears as a mini-boss in the Temple of Namari dungeon in Diablo Immortal. He is one of three monsters potentially summoned by Sargoth in the boss fight of the dungeon. His attacks are Cold-themed. It is also the boss of the side quest "Let Us In".

In combat all his attacks apply chill, though the effect does not stack.

• Swipe: Coldsnap swipes diagonally with his mace.
• Slam: Coldsnap slams his mace on the ground, creating a frosted surface that deals damage over time if the player stands in the area.
• Frozen Pulse: Coldsnap slams the butt of his mace on the ground creating a frozen pulse, but with a much larger range than the similarly named monster trait.

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Quotes

• Bleed...freeze...and shatter! (after being summoned)

• Rahhg...GRAHH! (after being killed)

Diablo III

Cold Snap appears as a Rift Guardian in Diablo III, as a greatly empowered variant of Izual. He can only be encountered as a random boss in a Nephalem Rift.

In combat, he gains greatly increased damage of melee blows, as well as following abilities:

• Frozen Pulse affix (with increased damage and reduced cooldown), summons more frequently as he loses more and more Life.
• Basic attack: single-target blow of the flanged mace.
• Slam: slower, but more powerful attack of the mace. Can be avoided by stepping away.
• Charge: identical to that of Oppressors, but with greater range.
• Frozen Bomb Storm: only used when below 50% Life. Creates a series of 9-14 mini-crystals (one by one, with a 0.3 seconds interval) that are identical to the Frozen affix crystals of elite monsters. The crystals generally spawn close to the player, but can be avoided if moving quickly enough. The number of exploding crystals does scale depending on the number of players in the game. Unlike normal Izual, Cold Snap's crystals are of exactly the same size as usual Frozen crystals (but still cannot do damage over time), and may fully intersect, and in a group of four players, they may actually keep a character permanently frozen.
• Frozen Nova: deals slight Cold damage and Freezes all enemies within 100 yards, avoidable only through use of certain skills. The duration of freezing for a hero with no control impairing effect reductions is 4-5 seconds, but ends immediately if Cold Snap hits them with a melee attack.

Having the Talisman of Aranoch equipped can make this fight very trivial, however, as this boss does not summon aid and does not (usually) limit the player in space to outrun the freezing blasts, he may be actually easier than a normal Izual fight.

Trivia

• Cold Snap is a Mage spell in World of Warcraft.

• He is commonly believed to have the highest Life of all Rift Guardians.

References