Give me your thoughts on Ice Blast.

[00Troy00]

Which powers would you take, and which would you skip?

 

Also, how would you slot them?

[Psylenz0511]

5 hours ago, 00Troy00 said:

Which powers would you take, and which would you skip?

 

Also, how would you slot them?

Ice blast is a good set. I paired it with Storm and Cold Domination. Ice is a bit clicky. I don't think EA would do too well with ice blast.

 

Three points about ice: good dps, good slows, and nice holds. I would pick ONE of these to level with and then respec at level 50 for the late game. Note with Ice Storm and Blizzard, you can cast around corners or from different levels without establishing line of sight. It's a cool trick for safe dps. Also note that you can proc damage for slows or holds. When you are leveling, slows can be a very handy tool for mitigation.

[Onlyasandwich]

Ice is an excellent blast set, and I believe it still stands as one of the blast sets that especially shines on Defenders.

 

A few reasons why:

• Procability - the slow smashing proc for every power adds a bit of extra oomph, and this is a better % improvement on a Defender than a blaster or even corruptor, who would benefit more proportionally more from base damage enhancement.
• Secondary effects - The slow itself is more powerful on a Defender, and is somewhat meaningful in practice.
• Unique Nuke - Blizzard is very flexible in placement compared to other nukes - being able to nuke from around a corner is quite nice.

 

As for the powers, they all have their place, but here is a brief review:

• Ice bolt - One of the better T1 blasts, and you're forced to take it. Drop some basic enhancement with a couple procs on top and it's not too shabby.
• Ice Blast - I skip this, much like most Defender T2 blasts. Useful for early level attack chains.
• Frost Breath - A very solid aoe, and highly procable. I like a little baseline acc/dam and add procs to fill it out. Works well enough traditionally slotted if you need the set bonuses.
• Aim - It's Aim. I usually take it, but you can skip it if you want.
• Freeze Ray - Set-defining power. Super strong proccy hold with higher base damage than other holds and very fast activation. Similar to Frost breath slotting for me - some Acc/Dam or Acc/dam/end baseline, with procs to fill, including two purple procs!
• Ice Storm - A great aoe, though obviously with the drawbacks of any rain power. A good place for those big sets like Artillery, as rains are less desirable for proc damage.
• Bitter Freeze Ray - Doesn't have much to sell itself beyond what Freeze Ray already does. I don't see a good argument to take this. Some people really like double-stacking holds, which is fine, but even then an epic hold would be better. It's usable if you really want to stack holds and stay in theme.
• Blizzard - Beautiful nuke. Can handle whole spawns with ease, and keeps them knocked down as well. Pop it on a mob and carry on with your day. Another great place for full IO sets.