Build Help for Ice/Storm

[Tonio]

Anybody mind helping me out with this build? Was asking about a slotting a couple of powers in general chat in Excelsior, and someone ( @Nemu?) suggesting I post here, so here goes: 

 

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Ice Storm Troller - Controller (Ice Control).mxd

Ice Storm Troller - Controller (Ice Control - Storm Summoning).mbd

Edited May 5, 2023 by Tonio

[Nemu]

I did recommend you ask for help here. I'll look at this build more closely tomorrow. Are you going Ice/Storm/Cold for theme or is the epic/patron pool flexible? Also, what are you looking to accomplish with this character/build? Based on slotting I'm also assuming budget isn't an issue?

[Tonio]

Budget isn't an issue, right.  I'd really prefer to stay ice/storm/ice for theme, but I'm willing to bend that somewhat (like, no Mace Mastery, but maybe Mu colored like regular lightning, for example).  As to what I'm looking to accomplish... I'm not 100% sure. I tend to solo a lot, due to my schedule, but I realize that ice/storm isn't the best build for soloing, so I'd be fine just using this for teaming up, if need be.  I *would* like to focus more on the controller (control/support) aspect, and less on actually hurting enemies (without entirely ignoring that, though).  Honestly, this was just my first toon back when live launched, and I re-created it years ago when I found HC, but I've never been able to fully build him out in a way to feels fun to play.

 

Appreciate you taking the time to help!!

[Nemu]

8 hours ago, Tonio said:

I *would* like to focus more on the controller (control/support) aspect, and less on actually hurting enemies (without entirely ignoring that, though).

You can do both. The game has warped to a more damage oriented meta, but that doesn't mean that you need to sacrifice the conventional wisdom about slotting controllers back in the days to do damage today. Storm alone will take care of damage.

 

To begin there are a few things you need to vet out:

 

Playstyle/range (you solo a lot, want more control which is fine, but what about where you want to execute the game plan? at range or within melee range where arctic air can do its thing?)

Theme, if any (check)

 

The former will dictate a lot of your survival loadout, the latter will dictate the tools that you have to work with.

 

Arctic air is set defining so we are going to build around that. Survival means you need to be able to stay alive while in the thick of mobs. There are a few ways to accomplish this:

 

1 - Leverage your toolkit to soft/hard control mobs around you. Storm is especially good at creating controlled chaos and ice is no slouch either, slows really mess with mob AI

2 - Build up defenses with epic armors/set bonuses.

3 - Get teammates to buff you. Monitoring your in game stats can help you make tactical decisions about how to alter your playstyle.

4 - Inspirations.

 

On defense the conventional wisdom is S/L will cover a lot. and most people softcap that for builds that stay in melee and call it a day. I challenge that. Most people worry about the critters in their face so they think melee def/ or S/L is the most important for squishy builds that stay in melee. I think about it this way: if all you got is melee defense then you are not using your tools, and smart people use the tools in their toolkit and interact with those critters in their zone of interaction to mitigate melee damage. What they CAN NOT interact with are those outside of their zone of interaction shooting at them, sometimes with nasty debuffs. Range defense covers that entire vector regardless of damage type. So I tend to build for both S/L defense AND range defense for squishies that favor melee range.

 

It's time to consider synergies with the pairing, there's not a whole lot but that's ok. You could make a case for hurricane as a positioning tool to push stuff into your patches. I've not seen people use that tactic too much nowadays but the rare opportunity may present itself where you can actually take advantage of that.

 

So the game plan with this combo is to stand around in melee range to confuse/slow mobs and then drop lightning bolts/tornadoes/ice storm on them.

 

We also need to consider the major holes in the build that will prevent you from executing your game plan:

 

1 - It's an end hog. Arctic air is an end hog, Freezing rain, tornado and Lightning storm are all end hogs, all the toggles will suck you dry. Hasten doesn't help either even though it's highly desirable for controllers in general and especially for storm.

Solution - This is a build that's going to depend on recovery serums leveling up and on cardiac Alpha for incarnate.

2 - Mezzes can temporarily shut off arctic air.

Solution - The rest of your toolkit can create controlled chaos to keep things busy, you have defenses to reduce chances of mezzes landing, and finally clarion/break frees

3 - General survival in melee range

Solution - Covered that already above.

 

So the build goals are the following:

1 - S/L and Range defense

2 - Recharge

3 - Enough tools to control stuff

 

On recharge, a single well placed force feedback +rech proc is worth more than a whole set of purples. Don't miss the forest for the trees and solely focus on recharge set bonuses via purples and miss out on slotting FF procs.

 

I'll add a 4th: Slow resistance. All the recharge in the world means nothing if you are slapped with -100% recharge and there are mobs that will do that. Part of your survival relies on your ability to fire off ice slick/tornado and the like and those have a fairly long recharge. You don't need 100% slow resistance, there are temp base buffs and dayjobs that will grant you some, but I'd recommend a healthy amount of it with any high budget build.

 

Keeping with your epic/pool selections this is what I came up with:

Veronica Frost (Ice Control - Storm Summoning).mbd

 

If you want a more in depth breakdown of build optimization read through this thread
 

 

Edited May 5, 2023 by Nemu

[Tonio]

Wow, that's a lotta great info, thanks!

 

Regarding playstyle: didn't mention it, but yes, I intended to play more in melee range.

 

I did notice many of the toggles were tough on end, so I was hunting for +recovery or end discount bonuses on IOs.  Hadn't thought about Cardiac, though!

 

Hurricane... I'd read about using it for herding, to push enemies into corners, or into patches, etc., but my experience was that either the mob was by dead by the time I positioned, or they just wouldn't go where I wanted them to, which is why I slotted a kb2kd and a ff +recharge on it (kb2kd now affects repel, right?).  I often just ended up using it to debuff AVs.

 

Slow resistance... I don't know why I always forget about that.  I tend to just slot KB protection on movement powers and call it a day.

 

While looking over your build, comparing it to mine, I noticed I'd included 6 LotG, oops. 😄

 

I'll pore over the build some more, and check out the thread you suggested.  Thanks again!!!