Can I get some help with ice/storm

[KalChoedan]

Not seen too much around on ice/storm which if I remember from live was a lot of fun and very thematic. Ice Slick + Frozen Rain, herding back into the patch with Hurricane. Fun times.

 

I have a loose idea for a build, but I still have 4 power picks I haven't been able to settle on, and no idea about slotting.

 

What I have so far:

 

1: Block of Ice, Gale

2: O2 Boost

4: Snow Storm

6: Hasten

8: Shiver

10: Steamy Mist

12: Ice Slick

14: SS

16: Freezing Rain

18: CJ

20: Hurricane

22: Maneuvers

24: Tactics

26: Glacier

28: Thunder Clap

30: ???

32: Jack Frost

35: ???

38: Lightning Storm

41: Ice Blast

44: Frozen Armor

47: ???

49: ???

 

Am I even remotely on the right track here? Can anyone offer any advice?

[Ringo]

I'm away from Pines but it looks like you don't have an AoE immobilize?  With the immobilize/knockdown change, your aoe immob works with Freezing Rain and Ice Slick now keeping enemies flopping within the kd patch.  Which means that it also keeps enemies from flying away when you  unleash tornado on them!

 

So grab your aoe immob and then Tornado at 35

[carpenlov]

Back in the day my first lvl 50 was an ice/storm (my second was a fire/storm).

 

Some random thoughts

The thing with a ice/storm to me is to decide wether you wish to be more melee focused or ranged focused.  I choose the melee type because it more suits my style. 

Shiver and Snowstorm pretty much cover the same thing, and Artic Air is similar also but with a confuse added. So you can skip at least one of the three.  Shiver is a nice sized cone from what i remember and Snowstorm is one where you just toggle it on a bad guy (has a nice -Fly aspect to it also).  Artic Air is a self toggle that has a confuse added to it.  Each has its strengths.  Personally I preferred Snow Storm and Artic Air.  Try all three and eventually settle on the ones that fit your play style.

Ice Slick and Freezing rain is just pure fun.  It's great control and helps teams mow through enemies.  Big problem in teams is that teammates would always seem to use their immobilize powers on the enemies and nullify the knockdown.  But with the newest patch that shouldn't be much of an issue any more.

I hope this is a team build that you have because leveling will be ultra slow if you solo.  When I was leveling mine I had Block of Ice, Chilblain, and Air Superiority to help with soloing.  I slotted the later 2 for damage.  When I hit 50 I dropped Air Superiority and Chilblain.

 

Your blue bar will be tough to maintain without help.  Storm just guzzles endurance.  Running Maneuvers and Tactics will be rough until you slot up for it.  I didn't really run with them until I 50'd.

Thunderclap can be very underwhelming without any other stun to stack with it.  I liked the power but used it more with my fire/storm than my ice/storm.

Tornado on the other hand is just pure fun.  immobilize a foe and drop the nado on them and watch it grind them down. 

I always loved Artic Air.  I usually stayed in the middle of things and the confuse aspect when slotted can be very useful.  It is an endurance hog from what I remember.  And back in the day it was great to spot those pesky stalkers in siren's trying to sneak up on me.

 

Flash Freeze was always my Oh No! power.  Just drop it and sleep the enemies.  In groups it wasn't to useful, but had it's moments.

O2 Boost is a ok heal.  You will never be considered a healer (but hey, if your playing storm, healing should be the last thing you think of).  The side effects of the power are the best part of the power.  Protection from stuns, sleep and end drain.  I used to get asked a bit from farmers that would want me their to just apply o2 boost to them as they farmed.

 

That's all I can think of at the moment.  I hope it helps.  Good luck, it's a fun combo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GlacialGadgeteer]

Ringo and carpenlov already hit some key points. Ice/Storm was also my first 50 on live. I loved it then, and Homecoming just made it better. There's no better time to play Ice/Storm!

 

It was traditionally considered a toolkit powerset. A lot of powers were incredibly situational, but the recent patch here opens up a lot of synergy. The damage output on this set has never been phenomenal, so my perspective is mainly based on group play.

 

Now that Ice Slick and Freezing Rain KD through immobilize, you aren't at odds with other controllers using their immobilize as DPS. Immobilize also turns all your other storm powers' KB to KD, so Tornado, Lightning Storm, and even the humble Gale can be used without destroying your teams' ability to AoE if you're just focused on lockdown. Hurricane is still situational due to Repel.

 

Must-Haves

Block of Ice - Bread and butter hold. Don't leave home without it.

Gale - Pretty literally a must-have. You don't have a choice. Emergency herd if not slotted for KB to KD. One extra chance to KD if targets are immobilized.

Frostbite - Better than ever after KB/KD patch. Why herd to patch when you can lock them on patch? This power offers synergies with literally every other power in both sets now.

Ice Slick - Leave it at one slot and slot for recharge. Great when additional enemy groups are accidentally aggro'd or just stacking with Freezing Rain/Frostbite.

Glacier - AoE Hold that can now be used while in the air. That change meant a lot to me, as I prefer Hover as a defensive ability and previously had to be positioned on the ground with the tank to use this. (Circle of Thorns quake powers can suck an egg.)

Jack Frost - Jack is the kind of child that makes you rethink whether putting children on a leash in a supermarket is unreasonable. I love him anyways. Sometimes he inflicts hold when he hits something.

Snow Storm - This is my primary slow of choice. I find that later stages of the game don't have room in a power rotation to constantly cast AoE slows. This power is set and forget and does not aggro. If you can get close enough to a boss or AV to drop this without noticing, it doesn't take any combat time.

Steamy Mist - Defense and stealth for the team. Pair the Steamy Mist stealth with Super Speed's stealth, and you can run off and be sneaky if you want. That combo has always made me want to add team teleport powers, but I've never found the room in a build for them.

Freezing Rain - Ice Slick but better. With the right end-game build, you have multiple of these going at a time.

Tornado - I used to never take this, but after the most recent patch, this is a lot better for group play. Frostbite first and spawn this wild child for more KD.

Lightning Storm - Damage, End Drain, and KB/KD. This was good enough before the patch that the KB was a perfectly acceptable negative side effect. It's just better now. If enemies are close enough, this damages multiple per bolt. With my build, I can have 3 spawned at a time.

 

Situational

O2 Boost - I hear people give this power some flak, but it's the perfect post-wakie pick-me-up. Treat it as a fast-cast buff or a way to help your team self-res and get out of combat to recover faster.

Arctic Air - Underrated for confusion proc, but even confused enemies can't blast each other if they're constantly slipping in place. Has the advantage of being a toggle, but also the disadvantage of keeping you in melee range.

Hurricane - Pros: Repel herding. Keeps you safe. Good in tight hallways. Cons: By end-game, it will not be enough to save you from AVs. Most lesser mobs are getting nuked within seconds of the group engaging in combat. You can try spending your time nudging mobs around, but a blaster will have already picked off that straggler and you could have spent the time casting 2-3 more immobilizes and holds.

 

Maybe Just Don't

Chilblain - Single target immobilize. Yuck. You will never have a reason to use this, let alone the time to use this.

Flash Freeze - Frostbite, Jack Frost, Freezing Rain, Tornado, Lightning Storm, and the entire rest of your team spamming as much AoE as they can will all break sleep. Regrettably, no part of the meta of this game is sleep-friendly.

Shiver - Nah. Just nah. Everything this does, Frost Breath will do better (if you take Ice Mastery) and Snow Storm does without you having to activate it more than once per group/fight.

Thunder Clap - I find you've got to put in a lot of work to get mileage out of this power. You just have better powers that lock down and can be used at faster rates.

 

Ice Mastery - It's Thematic!

Ice Blast - I'm going to pretend I'm a blaster and no one can stop me. While I'm waiting for Ice Slick, Freezing Rain, Glacier, Tornado, and Lightning Storm to recharge, I'm cycling between this, Block of Ice, and Frostbite.

Hibernate - This is my favorite self-preservation power. If I have done something to gain aggro above all other members of the group, I can smash this and pretend I'm a tank until the tank gets aggro back.

Frozen Armor - I like looking like Jack Frost and also slotting another Luck of the Gambler 7.5% global recharge.

Frost Breath - I like Snow Storm better, but this does have a really cool alternate casting animation.

Ice Storm - It's like Freezing Rain without the slick. When it says "Minor DoT," it's not kidding. Can't say this is good, even if I really like stacking Ice Slick/Freezing Rain/Ice Storm on the exact same spot.

[KalChoedan]

Brilliant replies, thanks all. Some food for thought for sure!

[KalChoedan]

So, I haven't worried too much about slotting yet, but in terms of power picks this is how I've adjusted things:

 

1: Block of Ice, Gale

2: Frostbite

4: Snow Storm

6: Super Speed

8: Air Superiority

10: Steamy Mist

12: Ice Slick

14: Combat Jumping

16: Freezing Rain

18: O2 Boost

20: Hasten

22: Maneuvers

24: Tactics

26: Glacier

28: Super Jump

30: Vengeance

32: Jack Frost

35: Tornado

38: Lightning Storm

41: Ice Blast

44: Hibernate

47: Ice Storm

49: Frozen Armor

 

Looking a bit better?

[Doc Ranger]

50 Ice/storm was my first 50 troller back in the day and Glacial pretty much hit it on the head.

[GlacialGadgeteer]

So, I haven't worried too much about slotting yet, but in terms of power picks this is how I've adjusted things:

 

1: Block of Ice, Gale

2: Frostbite

4: Snow Storm

6: Super Speed

8: Air Superiority

10: Steamy Mist

12: Ice Slick

14: Combat Jumping

16: Freezing Rain

18: O2 Boost

20: Hasten

22: Maneuvers

24: Tactics

26: Glacier

28: Super Jump

30: Vengeance

32: Jack Frost

35: Tornado

38: Lightning Storm

41: Ice Blast

44: Hibernate

47: Ice Storm

49: Frozen Armor

 

Looking a bit better?

 

I like it! This is extremely similar to my personal favorite build, and I think it gives just the right mix of utility and synergy for the power sets. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

 

A general guideline for slotting:

 

1 slot

Gale: Knockback to Knockdown.

Ice Slick: Plain recharge IO.

O2 Boost: Healing IO? Recharge IO? The buff part works regardless.

Hibernate: Based on what kind of trouble you tend to find yourself in, a Recharge, an Endurance Mod, or a Healing IO.

Ice Storm: I think a Recharge IO is fine for this. I went old school and slotted a proc chance for immobilize, but ever since procs changed to X per minute instead of purely chance per hit, this is definitely not optimal. I'm definitely still doing it.

 

2 slot

Hasten: 2x Recharge IO.

 

1-3 slot

Health: Slot this anywhere 1-3 based on how many fancy health procs you can afford.

 

 

Naturally, the most-used powers wind up being 5-6 slots. I personally dedicate 4-5 of those to best-in-class IOs or ATOs with recovery/recharge time set bonuses + one extra slot for some proc I really enjoy - e.g. chances for knockdown and hold on Frostbite, chance for +2 magnitude hold on Block of Ice and Glacier, chance for Build Up on Jack Frost because I spoil the boy.

 

I don't really get into min-maxing match up stats, etc, but I can use anecdotes. I used to notice a few enemies always slip through a Glacier cast. As crowd control experts, we know enemies become more susceptible to a status the more they're exposed to it in a short period of time, but in emergency situations or in a dangerous opener, I probably haven't hit every mob in the group with Block of Ice recently. The recharge rate of Glacier + procs/minute of Lockdown: chance for +2 mag hold basically guarantees that when Glacier hits, it will treat enemies as though you've already cast some hold on them. It also adds a visual electric field around the enemy when it procs (which isn't so thematically bad for Ice/Storm), so you'll be able to pretty clearly notice when it's doing some heavy lifting.

[oedipus_tex]

I have a ton of experience playing Ice Control as both a Controller and Dominator, altho not Ice/Storm specifically.

 

I think the big question mark in Ice Control is Arctic Air. It's a key power for a couple of reasons, although a weird one in that it has certain holes in usefulness.

 

From level 8-35 you generally won't encounter that many enemies with mezzes. You can run AA without it getting detoggled.

 

There's a very uncomfortable zone for Ice Control between levels 35-50 where melee range becomes far more dangerous and the risk of detoggles very high. If you never IO your character out, AA may not be the most attractive power during this segment. This is the range where a lot of people decide AA isn't tat great.

 

However, if you start adding IOs, this equation changes drastically. AA is a Confusion power that screams out for the Coercive Persuasion set and the massive bonuses it provides. It also becomes an exponentially better power once you add some Defense. Specifically, I would IO for Ranged defense (which Coercive Persuasion provides tons of, so there's built in synergy). Against most enemies you can make an Ice Controller very very very very survivable against enemies caught in your AA radius with an Ice Slick underfoot. AA is unique in that it is always up, can't miss, ignores Accuracy entirely.

 

 

It's worth noting that the relative positioning of Ice Control has changed. With the recent change to Immobilize powers, Ice Slick has gone from being situational to being one of the best powers in the game. Back in the old days, Ice Control could easily find itself shut out from providing meaningful contributions to the team.

 

The technique I used to use for Ice Control was to leap into a group with AA running, immobilize them, Ice Slick, wait for the -kd in immobilize to wear off and them to be rooted while they fell over. Now you don't even have to wait. Slotted for Ranged Defense you are darn near unhittable. It's glorious.

 

IMO Tactics/Manuevers are too endurance expensive on an already endurance-pressed build. If I was going to expend that endurance somewhere it would be on AA. You will probably still need a Cardiac Alpha or other incarnate ability to manage endurance.