Staff/Ice

[Tacheyon]

So last winter I started a Staff/Ice Brute with a Christmas theme.  But given I was still in a my "make a new alt everyday" phase of CoH I proceeded to shelve her for my love on MM's and Controllers (not really a melee person myself).

 

But recently as I have had a copious amount of time handed to me I have finished off those characters and turned back to her.  Now as I didn't do a lot of research in Ice Armour back then, I didn't notice that Scrappers get a different T9 ability in Bastion which sounds a lot more appealing then the Brute/Tanker ability of Hibernate.

 

I am looking for some insight on this power.  Is it as good as it seems?  Or maybe keeping my brute and skip Hibernate and get a extra Power from my Epic or regular Pool.

[JayboH]

Yeah I would just build it to be tough all the time and I usually skip the god power in armor sets.  That one has a 5 min base recharge and lasts 30 sec I believe.

[Microcosm]

Bastion is the best t9 available to a melee class and is absolutely a reason to go Scrapper/Stalker over Brute/Tank for Ice Armor. Ice itself is just meh unless you really invest in it, at which point it jumps to one of the toughest sets there is (thanks mostly to Icy Bastion). You can also still get Hibernate by going with Leviathan patron pool. However, I would actually recommend switching to a Stalker for this combo, as Stalker staff is superior to every other version. This is because staff gets great utility and good AoE, but is a little light on single target damage until you throw in AS.