Energy Absorption is nice in that you gain most of the benefit (about 6% defense) with just one foe, but you only gain about an additional 2-3% for having 10 foes in range. At least with my build. The defense is still helpful, but equally beneficial is the +End.
I don't really get why Wet Ice even has defense. Its only +1% defense. Can anyone tell me why they even bothered?
For me, the defining features of Ice Armor are:
- 100% resistance to slow
- Hoarfrost (easy to hit max HP)
- Chilling Embrace (reduces damage by 15% and prevents runners)
- Icy Bastion (can increase resistances to all but Psi by 60%, potentially up close to half the time)
At the end of the day against to hardest content, Ice Armor on scrapper to me is a resistance set with Icy Bastion. Ice Armor does not have enough Defense Debuff Resistance to prevent cascade failure. I also highly recommend getting 75% psionic resistance from set bonuses, Defense amplifier, base buff, etc.