Ice/Ice Build Request

[AwkwardGiraffe]

Anyone have any experience with Ice/Ice Armor? Went with the combo from an RP perspective and this is my first Sent, so kind of in the dark here. Thanks for any advice you can offer!

Edited August 30, 2023 by awkwardowlet

[stryve]

Ice Armor is generally considered to be the weakest of the Sentinel armor sets, and does have some glaring issues.  That said, it can be made to work just fine, and I have an Energy/Ice Sent that I enjoy a lot.  There is a pretty good overview of /Ice here, though I disagree on a couple points.  Some highlights from my own experience are:

 

Hoarfrost is great, but has a long recharge.  If you can get the recharge to match the duration (120 seconds), it's even better. 

 

Wet Ice is your Mez Protection, so obviously take it as soon as possible.  I do wish you could enhance the Def All portion, but on the other hand you don't have to invest any slots, so trade offs.

 

Frigid Shield is a fast-cycling Absorb Shield like Instant Regeneration from Sentinel Regen, which should be great. Unfortunately it gives a very small amount of Absorb, even with heavy investment (89.6 at level 50 with Panacea 5 slotted).  I have actually noticed it keeping me alive on multiple occasions, but I five-slotted it more as a mule than for the power itself.

 

Moisture Absorption doesn't stack the Defense buff from multiple targets like Energy Absorption on other Archetypes.  It does grab more Endurance from each target, so it's worth trying to hit a group anyway. I still slotted it for Def, since even a small boost to all Typed Def (except Psi) can help.

 

Frost Protection is auto and gives +Max HP.  Between this and Hoarfrost it doesn't take much to hit the Max HP cap, which of course means you'll survive longer.  

 

Icy Bastion is vastly preferable over Hibernate, in my opinion.  It may make you Invulnerable, but it also doesn't lock you in block of ice.  35% Resist to all, 200% Recovery Rate, 400% Regeneration Rate, and more than doubling Mez Protection/Resistance for 30 seconds before any enhancement is pretty darn good.  It cannot be made perma, but you can get around 33% uptime if you really try.

 

Wet Ice, Permafrost, Frost Protection, and Frigid Shield all give Recharge Time Resistance; if you take all four, it adds up to 100% resistance.  No Slows for you!

 

You may want to invest in Power Pools that give extra survival.  I always take at least Maneuvers from Leadership, but also went in for Tough and Weave from Fighting on this build which is much less common.

 

Mitigation from your Primary can make a huge difference; Water Blast is decent for that with Hydro Blast and especially Water Burst at low levels, and Geyser later on.  The enemy can't shoot you if they're picking themselves up off the ground.  Similarly, Whirlpool can help keep them from closing to punch you in the face.

 

I do also have a Water Blast Sentinel I've been playing up, so I'll probably add some about that later.  For now, there's a pretty good overview of the current Sentinel set here.