Summoners War Ice Beast Guide

Introduction to the Ice Beast

The Summoners War Ice Beast is a formidable opponent found within the Rift of Worlds, serving as one of the six elemental Rift Beasts players must conquer. It plays a key role in farming Determination Runes, which are essential for improving defense-based teams and crafting Fight Runes used in powerful raid compositions like BJ5. Many players view the Ice Beast as one of the more accessible Rift Beasts, provided the team is well-prepared and follows a clear strategy.

To achieve an S+ rank or higher, players must defeat the Ice Beast after the second phase, which involves enduring and countering its signature mechanics. A central challenge in this battle is the freeze mechanic, where the Ice Beast can freeze attacking monsters, reducing their effectiveness and draining their health over time. This makes proper team setup and timing critical.

The Ice Beast belongs to the water attribute, so teams should prioritize using wind attribute monsters, which have a natural advantage, and in some cases, strong water monsters can also be viable depending on their roles. Team compositions often include monsters that offer multi-hit skills, anti-freeze effects, and consistent healing to mitigate the boss’s freeze damage and ensure survival through all phases. Effective synergy, elemental advantage, and reliable damage output are the keys to securing top ranks like SSS in this Rift battle.

Understanding the Ice Beast’s Mechanics

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Ice Beast stats

Stage	Level	Elem	HP	ATK	DEF	SPD	Res
Phase 1	80	Water	187,305	1311	578	23	15
Phase 2	80	Water	267,900	1742	831	26	15
Phase 3	80	Water	391,920	2872	1081	29	15
Phase 4	80	Water	478,200	4558	699	32	15

The Ice Beast in Summoners War presents a unique set of mechanics that require careful team planning and execution to overcome. Its abilities are designed to punish teams that fail to manage debuffs, survivability, and timing, especially during key phases of the fight.

One of the core mechanics is Freezing Roar, which applies a freezing air effect to all allied monsters. This effect reduces the maximum HP of each monster it touches. However, affected monsters can recover some HP proportionally as their attack bar increases. A critical aspect of Freezing Roar is that its strength escalates each time it is used, making the battle progressively more dangerous the longer it goes on.

Closely tied to this is Ice Sweep, which freezes any ally currently under the freezing air effect when the skill is used. Immunity is the only way to prevent this freeze, so proper buff management becomes essential for maintaining team uptime and survivability.

Thorn of Despair targets the frontline units and hits them twice, dealing more damage the lower their defense is. If the frontline is defeated, the attack shifts to the backline, putting the entire team at risk. Maintaining a strong frontline with sufficient defense and sustain is necessary to absorb these strikes and protect more vulnerable units.

Frozen Rageful Breath is a devastating skill that damages all allies and deals increased damage if they are still affected by the freezing air. It also strips all beneficial effects from the team and ignores damage reduction mechanics. This skill is used up to three times during the battle, and the fight ends after the third cast. Ideally, the Ice Beast should be defeated before this skill is used even once, as surviving multiple uses is extremely difficult for most teams.

The Ice Beast also has a passive ability, Twisted Body, which grants it immunity to all debuffs while awake. This prevents the application of harmful effects such as defense break or attack down during most of the fight. Additionally, this passive increases the damage it deals to both wind and fire monsters by 50%, meaning these elements will take extra damage despite their usual role in elemental matchups.

Success in this battle hinges on managing the freezing air mechanic, preventing key monsters from being frozen, surviving the frontline-targeted damage, and maximizing burst damage during the brief groggy phase when the Ice Beast becomes vulnerable to debuffs. Wind monsters are commonly used due to their advantageous damage potential against the water-attribute boss, though they must be carefully geared to withstand the Ice Beast’s increased damage toward them. Timing, team synergy, and survivability are all essential for reaching high ranks in this Rift battle.

General Strategies for Defeating the Ice Beast

Defeating the Ice Beast in Summoners War requires a strategy that balances survivability, speed, and burst damage, all while accounting for the boss’s unique mechanics. Understanding the core abilities of the Ice Beast is essential. Its Freezing Roar reduces your monsters’ maximum HP, but this effect can be mitigated as attack bars increase. Ice Sweep freezes any monster still under the freezing air effect unless protected by immunity.

Thorn of Despair strikes the frontline twice, dealing more damage as their defense decreases. Frozen Rageful Breath, used up to three times during the battle, can deal massive damage to all allies, remove all buffs, and ignore damage reduction effects. The Ice Beast is also immune to all harmful effects while it is awake, only becoming vulnerable during its groggy state.

Managing attack bar manipulation and team speed is crucial. Speed buffs and attack bar increases not only help cleanse the freezing air effect but also enable more turns for healing and damage output. Units that provide these effects, along with consistent healing or shielding, can greatly increase survivability. Building a strong frontline is also key, as this line absorbs the most punishment from the Ice Beast. Frontline monsters should have high HP and, more importantly, high defense—aiming for at least 1500 total defense. Adding more frontline monsters can slightly reduce the required defense threshold per unit due to shared damage.

Wind attribute monsters are favored for damage roles due to their elemental advantage over the water-attribute Ice Beast. Damage dealers that scale with debuffs are particularly effective during the groggy phase, when the Ice Beast becomes vulnerable to harmful effects. This is the ideal time to unleash high-damage skills and apply key debuffs like defense break. The goal should be to defeat the Ice Beast after the second groggy phase, as this is necessary to reach at least an S+ rank.

Team sustain plays a major role in withstanding repeated attacks and the passive HP reduction from Freezing Roar. Healers, buffers, and units that provide immunity help maintain team uptime and prevent debilitating freezes. Immunity is especially important for protecting monsters from the Ice Sweep effect, allowing them to continue attacking uninterrupted.

Leader skills should be chosen to complement the team’s needs—boosting attack, critical rate, or survivability depending on the composition. Optimising runes is also a major factor. While violent runes can offer extra turns, they are not required to reach high ranks. Support units should focus on speed, HP, and defense, while damage dealers should prioritise attack, critical rate (ideally around 60–85%), and critical damage. Debuffers may need some accuracy to land their effects during the groggy phase.

By combining speed control, frontline durability, elemental advantage, healing, immunity, and timing, players can successfully defeat the Ice Beast and farm Determination Runes efficiently. A well-synergized team with balanced stats and clearly defined roles is key to progressing through this Rift Beast encounter.

Recommended Monster

When building a team to defeat the Ice Beast in Summoners War, it is important to prioritize wind attribute monsters due to their elemental advantage over the water-attribute boss. Damage-dealing units, particularly those capable of high burst during the groggy phase, are essential. Attack bar boosters and speed buffers help mitigate the HP reduction from Freezing Roar and enable faster rotations, while healers and sustain units keep the team alive through the Ice Beast’s punishing attacks. Immunity buffs are also crucial to prevent freezes from Ice Sweep. Defense breakers significantly enhance damage output during the groggy state, and units that scale their damage based on harmful effects are especially effective.

Among recommended units, Bernard (Wind Griffin) stands out as a free-to-play option that provides speed buff, attack bar boost, and a defense break on skill one. He’s often used in the frontline due to his utility and tankiness. Yen (Wind Rakshasa) is a strong damage dealer that gains turns quickly and provides good sustain through her passive. Ling Ling (Wind Kung Fu Girl) offers high damage output and consistent defense break through multi-hits. Eirgar (Dark Vampire Lord) is a versatile support with healing, attack buff, and a global attack leader skill that benefits the entire team. Ardella (Wind Magical Archer) provides strong damage with minimal rune requirements, thanks to her passive crit rate boost and defense break.

Kro (Dark Inugami) is one of the most effective damage dealers against the Ice Beast, excelling in the groggy phase due to his high multipliers that scale with debuffs. Fran (Light Fairy Queen) contributes attack buff, immunity, and healing, though her lower base defense requires careful frontline placement. Belladeon (Light Inugami) is a tanky frontline support who offers sustain, attack bar boost, and defense break. Mav (Wind Penguin Knight) brings cooldown reduction, cleanse, and speed buff, often enabling higher rankings due to his team utility. Megan (Water Mystic Witch) supports with attack bar boost, attack buff, and defense buff, contributing to team survivability and damage.

Naomi (Wind Martial Cat) excels when multiple debuffs are on the boss, making her a top damage dealer during the groggy phase. Hraesvelg (Wind Barbaric King) is a strong alternative to Mav, providing similar buffs and added offensive pressure. Sigmarus (Water Phoenix) is capable of huge bursts of damage, while Copper (Wind Living Armor) is a solid frontline option with defense-based ignore defense damage. The Water Twins—Sabrina and Talia—deliver strong damage output when paired correctly, taking advantage of their synergistic skills.

Other notable options include Tarq (Water Hellhound), who offers assist mechanics and cooldown refresh, and Kaito (Wind Samurai), a powerful single-target nuker. Wind Homunculus and Theo (Theomars) provide solid damage options for players with access to them. Fuco (Wind Grim Reaper) can act as a frontline support with a defense break and shield. Riley (Water Harp Magician) brings immunity, attack buff, and healing, making her a valuable sustain unit. Savannah (Wind Beast Rider) scales damage with speed, while Teshar (Wind Phoenix) and Amir (Dark Ifrit) serve as potent nukers with varying accessibility.

Team composition should be tailored based on available units, rune quality, and team synergy. A balance of sustain, speed control, immunity, and strong burst damage during the groggy phase is key to defeating the Ice Beast and achieving high ranks in the Rift of Worlds.

Team Setup and Monster Roles

Defeating the Ice Beast in Summoners War requires a well-structured team setup and a clear understanding of monster roles. The frontline plays a critical role in absorbing damage from the Ice Beast’s skill Thorn of Despair, which targets these units first and increases in damage against those with lower defense. Therefore, it’s important to use monsters in the frontline that have high HP and, more importantly, high defense—ideally aiming for at least 1500 total defense. This can be adjusted slightly based on the number of monsters placed in the frontline. Some players opt for a quad frontline for better survivability, especially when lacking heavily runed damage dealers.

The backline is where damage dealers and support units that are less tanky are typically placed. These units need to be durable enough to survive stray hits or final-phase damage, but their primary role is output and utility.

Damage dealers, often referred to as nukers, are vital for pushing the Ice Beast into the groggy state and dealing heavy damage while it is vulnerable. Wind attribute monsters are ideal due to their elemental advantage, but strong water attribute units can also contribute significantly. Effective damage dealers include Yen, who gains extra turns through her passive; Ling Ling, a fusible option with multi-hits and defense break; Ardella, who is easy to build and has innate crit rate from her passive; and Kro, a backline unit that scales heavily with harmful effects.

Naomi also benefits from debuffs, while Sigmarus brings powerful burst potential. Units like Sabrina and Talia excel when paired, Kaito offers high single-target damage, and Tarq adds assist mechanics and cooldown refresh. Other notable nukers include Copper, Hraesvelg, Savannah, Teshar, Wind Homunculus, Theomars, and Amir.

Attack Bar (ATB) boosters and speed buffers are essential for keeping the team moving quickly, recovering from Freezing Roar, and counteracting the slowing effects of frozen air. Key units include Bernard, who provides speed buff and ATB boost; Mav, who adds cleanse, cooldown reduction, and speed buff; Megan, with ATB boost and double buffs; Bastet, a strong support option with ATB increase; and Eirgar, who also offers healing and a powerful leader skill. Hraesvelg and Belladeon contribute both speed control and utility, while Purian can serve as a backline ATB booster.

Healers and sustain units are the backbone of any Ice Beast team, ensuring survivability through cleansing, healing, and support buffs. Fran provides immunity and attack buff, though her lower defense requires good rune support. Belladeon offers healing and attack bar boosting alongside defense break, making him a common frontline pick. Chasun and Ariel are solid frontline healers, while Lulu excels with continuous healing and cleansing. Eirgar provides healing through vampire effects, and Riley adds attack buff, healing, and immunity. Hwahee is a strong healer for general content but less optimal in this specific scenario due to her fire attribute.

Debuffers, especially those with defense break, are crucial for maximizing damage during the boss’s groggy state. Many damage dealers, such as Yen, Ling Ling, Ardella, and Kro, provide defense break inherently. Support units like Bernard, Belladeon, and Copper also apply defense break, enhancing overall damage output.

Immunity providers like Fran and Riley are valuable for preventing the freeze effect from Ice Sweep, while cleanse units such as Mav and Lulu remove harmful effects and help the team recover faster.

Example team setups can vary based on monster availability and rune quality. A beginner-friendly team might consist of Bernard, Megan, and Lulu in the frontline, paired with backline damage dealers like Ardella or Naomi. For a more damage-focused approach, Bernard and Belladeon can anchor the frontline while backline units such as Yen, Kro, and Ling Ling dish out damage. Teams utilizing Mav benefit from cooldown reduction and added support, and can include Chasun for healing and strong backline nukers like Theo, Tarq, and Xiao Lin.

Ultimately, team synergy and rune quality are key to success. Frontline units should prioritize defense, HP, and survivability, while backline damage dealers focus on critical rate, critical damage, and attack stats. The goal is to defeat the Ice Beast by the second groggy phase to secure at least an S+ rank, progressing toward SS and SSS with further optimization.

Rune Requirements and Minimum Stats

Defeating the Ice Beast in Summoners War requires not only the right team composition but also appropriate rune sets and stat thresholds for each unit. While premium rune sets like Violent can help boost damage output and consistency, they are not necessary to achieve an S+ rank. Instead, players should focus on optimizing rune sets based on each monster’s role and synergy within the team.

For damage dealers such as Ling Ling (Wind Kung Fu Girl/Xiao Lin), Rage runes are a strong option when used specifically for the Ice Beast, with a typical build of Speed/Crit Damage/Attack%. It is important to include some accuracy to land defense breaks, and aim for around 85% Crit Rate.

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Ardella (Wind Magical Archer) can be runed with Fatal or Rage, paired with a Blade offset for increased Crit Rate. Her passive and elemental advantage reduce the required Crit Rate to about 60%, and she performs well with an Attack%/Crit Damage%/Attack% build.

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Kro (Dark Harpy), who excels during the boss’s groggy state, should be runed with Rage and Blade using Attack%/Crit Damage%/Attack%, and should be built to reach 100% Crit Rate for consistent burst.

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Yen (Wind Rakshasa) can be built with Speed/Crit Damage/Attack% on Violent or Broken sets. Her artifacts should prioritize additional damage by attack and speed.

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Bernard (Wind Griffin), a core support unit, does not require a six-star upgrade and is best built with Speed/HP/HP or Speed/HP/Attack%. Though some builds use Speed/Attack%/Attack%, the focus should remain on high speed to ensure his skill rotation is consistent. Useful artifact stats include additional damage by speed and accuracy for his defense break.

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Eirgar (Dark Vampire Lord) performs well with Swift/Blade sets and can be built with HP%/Crit Damage%/Attack% or Speed/Crit Damage%/HP%, especially with Fight runes to boost team damage. Triple Fight or double Fight with Focus are also valid options.

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In general, damage dealers should focus on maximizing attack, critical damage, and Crit Rate while balancing speed and survivability. Wind attribute units have an elemental advantage in this rift and are often preferred. Copper (Wind Living Armor) requires high defense for both survivability and scaling his third skill. A build using Defense/Crit Damage/Defense is ideal. Hraesvelg (Wind Barbarian King) can be built with Speed/Crit Damage/Defense to balance damage and frontline utility, or alternatively with Attack%/Crit Damage%/HP% for added durability. Tarq (Water Hellhound), a strong support damage dealer, should attack last in the rotation and maintain a speed of around 140–144 if other nukers are faster, or over 190 if the team includes a very fast attack buffer.

To achieve S+ rank or higher, the boss must be defeated after the second groggy phase. For this level of performance, frontline units should have at least 25,000 HP and 900 defense as a baseline. However, a more optimized target for frontline support units is 1500 total defense, which can decrease by roughly 100 for each additional frontline unit beyond two. With four units on the frontline, 1300 defense can be sufficient to clear the content safely. HP thresholds also vary depending on role, with Bernard needing around 30,000 HP and Fran often built with up to 34,000 HP. Damage-dealing units in the backline should aim for at least +10,000 HP to survive incidental damage and ensure consistent performance.

Attack stats are equally important, with backline nukers needing a minimum of 1500 attack to effectively contribute. Speed is a vital stat for supports to help manage the Freezing Roar effect and maintain tempo. While supports do not need extreme speed, having them around 200 speed is effective. Frontline units like Bernard should ideally reach about 220 total speed, and damage dealers should be around 180 to prevent being frozen out of the fight. Accuracy is also essential for key debuffs like defense break.

While the cap during groggy state may be 15%, it is recommended to have around 25% accuracy when running one or two defense breakers, and 15% can be sufficient when running three. Units with defense break on their skill one, such as Ling Ling and Ardella, benefit from having some accuracy built in.

For Crit Rate, specific goals should be met to ensure consistent damage: 85% for Yen, 60% for Ardella due to her passive, and a full 100% for Kro to maximize his performance during the groggy state. Balancing all these stats while maintaining synergy within your team is the key to success. Building monsters that are useful across multiple areas of the game can help make the most of your rune investment.

Rewards from the Ice Beast

Defeating the Ice Beast in Summoners War offers a range of valuable rewards that support progression in various areas of the game. Upon victory, players can receive rune pieces, which can be used to craft complete runes, as well as Arcenmon, which are used for powering up other monsters. Mystic Scrolls may also drop, providing chances to summon new monsters. In addition, players can obtain summoning resources such as Invocation Stones and Stones of Metamorphosis, which are useful for exclusive summons and monster transformations.

Victory in the Ice Beast dungeon also grants elemental crystals based on performance. Once an S rank or higher is achieved, a Crystal of Pure Magic is guaranteed. Other crystals that can be obtained include Burning Fire Crystal, Frozen Water Crystal, Breaking Wind Crystal, Crystal of Blinding Light, Crystal of Total Darkness, and Condensed Magic Crystal. These are essential materials used to craft runes, upgrade the Homunculus, and power up various other game features.

Specific runes exclusive to the Rift of Worlds system are also part of the reward pool. These include Combat Runes, which increase ally attack by 8%, and Determination Runes, which boost ally defense by 8%. Determination Runes are particularly useful for progression builds such as Tricaru and for collecting Fight runes required for BJR5 teams. Improvement Runes increase HP by 8%, Accuracy Runes improve accuracy by 10%, and Tolerance Runes enhance resistance by 10%. These runes are part of the newer generation of utility-focused sets, designed to enhance team synergy and enable advanced dungeon and PvP strategies.

Farming the Ice Beast and other Rift Beasts is also crucial for collecting materials required to skill up the Homunculus. Players who can consistently achieve SS or SSS ranks in these dungeons will gain the most benefit, as higher scores result in better drop rates and larger quantities of rewards. This makes mastering the Ice Beast both a practical and efficient step in mid-to-late-game progression.