Kripp's Steam Ladle Pygmalien Build

Fiery and Frosty

Steam Ladle has the ability to scale off of Freeze, adding an element of control to an otherwise aggressive strategy. While Burn builds certainly put the opponent on the clock, they usually need some form of survivability in order to contest other late game builds.

Freeze is an excellent form of disruption, allowing you to lock down enemy items long enough to Burn them out. Additionally, the rate that Steam Ladle scales is so strong that finding the right skills isn't even necessary.

While the more common Matchbox setups are faster out of the gate, Steam Ladle builds have greater late game potential, making them a great pivot option if your run allows it.

Kripp started off the run with a Restorative Steam Ladle which gave him a very clear direction from the get go. Restorative is a great enchantment for extra survivability, essentially turning the Steam Ladle into a Seaweed.

Stopwatch

Stopwatch works with Steam Ladle in a similar way to how it works with Giant Ice Club. Sure, it's Cooldown makes it slow, but it definitely has an insane impact when it goes off.

This creates a full lockdown of the board (excluding Radiant items), all while scaling the Steam Ladle a ridiculous amount. The higher quantity of items the better, and while everything is Frozen, the opponent will still be Burning to a crisp.

Cold Room

Cold Room is a key supporting piece for Steam Ladle thanks to its (usually) fast activation rate. Having built-in Regen is a nice form of Healing in the early to mid game, and depending on the full setup can still be relevant later on.

It's very important to upgrade Cold Room as much as possible, as each tier affects the quantity of items it Freezes on cast. At Silver hitting only one item means far less scaling than the 2-3 items at Gold/Diamond. The better the Cold Room, the greater rate of scaling for your Steam Ladle.

Matchbox

Matchbox may not be at the forefront of this build, but there's no denying the value it provides. Any applicable positioning Burn skills should still go to Matchbox as its activation rate still can't be matched by the likes of Steam Ladle.

Early on it will be a key component to your success, as it often takes time to find all the Freeze items. Allow it to carry you until the rest of the build is established, and even then, it'll still be a great part of the team.

Kripp had a Turbo Matchbox which is an excellent way to accelerate the build. Freeze items tend to have long Cooldowns, so being able to spam Haste triggers repeatedly can go a really long way. Another point in Matchbox's favor (phenomenal host of enchants).

Snow Globe

Snow Globe may have had its Freeze duration nerfed, but it's still viable within the right build. As mentioned earlier, when it comes to scaling Steam Ladle, it's all about the quantity of triggers. Snow Globe definitely fulfills that role well.

Upgrading Snow Globe will certainly aid its usability, but Cold Room should still take precedence in order to maximize triggers. Although if you want to make either of them even stronger, there's always the potential of a Snowflake.

Model Ship + Marbles

Model Ship acts as an "honorary Property" for Snow Globe. While it doesn't actually have the Property tag, it can still provide the Multicast thanks to Snow Globe being a Toy.

Additionally, it also works great with Marbles, adding additional disruption via Slow. All this combines to create more spammy non-Weapon triggers, keeping Matchbox running at peak speeds.

Reaching the Summit

Reaching the Summit is a very strong form of Crit Chance scaling, given just how many individual Freeze triggers there are. This alone should be enough to build up a respectable amount of Crit, allowing you to skip on other options.

Final Flame

Final Flame or any other Burn increasing skills should be highly prioritized early on. They are a big factor in making Matchbox overpowered during the first handful of days.

Assuming you've picked up a Matchbox or other Burn item within the first 1-2 days, you'll want to reroll your level two Bronze skill in hopes of finding Burn. Level four is also worth it as well, unless you're in dire need of the Bronze upgrade.

Defense Grid

Defense Grid adds a nice defensive buffer, which can certainly make the difference at times. While it's not exactly a priority pickup, it's generally worth grabbing if you encounter it (instead of rerolling for something else).