My first attempt at an Ice/Cold anything

[Story Archer]

I haven't actually played a Corruptor beyond 10th or 12th level to this point and I figured it was time. Ditto the Ice/Cold power sets. I wanted a character that could stay back, (reasonably) safe at range and either shred the battlefield or pick apart hard targets. I wanted to be effective both solo and on teams with the understanding that the former might drag a bit in the early to middle levels. I'd also never done anything with the Leviathan EPP so I thought that might be cool.

 

 

I put the Build data at the end of the post.

 

So for AoE, this character seems king - I assume the usual pattern is just Sleet + Ice Storm (or Blizzard if its up), then follow up with a Frost Breath?

 

Single target it also seems quite strong, with three powerful attacks and then Infrigidate and Benumb to work into the rotation when facing a particularly hard target. Spirit Shark Jaws is also there when I need to stack Holds in a hurry. I skipped Bitter Freeze Ray because I hate long animation times.

 

I figure the shields are just a nice bonus, a useful mule to help group survivability early and to top players off late, but I didn't see much benefit in slotting them, ditto Frostwork.  Having a pet will be kind of cool, but he's really just there to mule Blood Mandate. I feel like Endurance could be a problem with so many toggles, but I'm hoping the 7.5% Gloabal EndRedux will help.

 

Defensively I'm almost at soft-cap for Ranged & AoE (about 43%) with very respectable Melee as well (32.5%). I think Resistances are solid enough for a character who shouldn't get hit very often, though I would like some sort of heal... I suppose that's what the chiclets are for.

 

As I said, I haven't really played a Corruptor or an Ice/Cold character before - any advice from the vets as I set out on this adventure, or suggested tweaks to the build itself?

 

Data chunk:

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Edited October 12, 2023 by Story Archer

[Doomguide2005]

I'll have to try and get a look at this later as currently on my phone on a break at work.  Defensive mitigation on an Ice/Cold or Cold/Ice in general when running with larger teams in particular doesn't need to be capped or even that high.  Several of your powers cause the foes to try and run out of the area rather than attack.  Mix that with all the slow and recharge debuffs well they just don't attack nearly as much while running slowly out of the AoEs.  Then add in the hold(s) in Ice and some of the most annoying or dangerous foes may not be moving at all.  One of my favorite sets though typically I run the mirror Cold/Ice.

 

Back later

[Without_Pause]

End should be fine with Heat Loss. In terms of self healing, I'll just point out Power Transfer: Chance for Self Heal can go in things like Stamina and Heat Loss. 

[Story Archer]

1 hour ago, Doomguide2005 said:

I'll have to try and get a look at this later as currently on my phone on a break at work.  Defensive mitigation on an Ice/Cold or Cold/Ice in general when running with larger teams in particular doesn't need to be capped or even that high.  Several of your powers cause the foes to try and run out of the area rather than attack.  Mix that with all the slow and recharge debuffs well they just don't attack nearly as much while running slowly out of the AoEs.  Then add in the hold(s) in Ice and some of the most annoying or dangerous foes may not be moving at all.  One of my favorite sets though typically I run the mirror Cold/Ice.

 

Back later

 

Thanks for the preliminary thoughts. It's just instinct to try and cap my Ranged/AoE defenses on a ranged character, especially if it's not gimping anything else to do so. The build I posted above was for 50, but the pre-50 version (without the 'Superior' versions of Scourging Blast, Malice, or Frozen Blast) actually has my Ranged/AoE at 42% and 37.5% respectively, and even that is actually a lot lower until 47+ (31% and 27%) when I finally pick up and slot Weave & Maneuvers, so it's good to hear that I won't have to be too worried while leveling up and a lot more vulnerable.

 

Taking and slotting Spirit Shark Jaws and Summon Coralax as I do is responsible for about 8% of both defenses. If defense isn't that important, perhaps I should consider something else with those slots or a different EPP altogether?

 

An alternate version I'm looking at goes Psychic Mastery - it'll give me that second Hold to stack, Mind Over Body  to help with Psi Resistance and give me access to World of Confusion (which I love, even though its only moderately beneficial on a ranged character).  Leaning into more purps for slotting (Unbreakable Constraint and Coercive Persuasion) let's me jump my Recharge up another 20% and still has me at 40% Ranged and AoE defense. Again, all post-50.

 

 

Edited October 12, 2023 by Story Archer

[Doomguide2005]

I'm guessing I can't get the data chunk to open because my Mids is older than the above.  So lets try uploading one version I have in Mids for my Cold/Ice/Elec

 

Grey Grissom ColdIceElec Hasten (v2.00 i27.6) - Defender (Cold Domination - Ice Blast).mbd

 

Off to see if that opens from my end.

EDIT:  See if that works for your version and let me know.  Be careful with what's enabled or not when looking at values.

 

 

Edited October 12, 2023 by Doomguide2005

[Story Archer]

13 hours ago, Doomguide2005 said:

I'm guessing I can't get the data chunk to open because my Mids is older than the above.  So lets try uploading one version I have in Mids for my Cold/Ice/Elec

 

Grey Grissom ColdIceElec Hasten (v2.00 i27.6) - Defender (Cold Domination - Ice Blast).mbd 45.95 kB · 2 downloads

 

Off to see if that opens from my end.

EDIT:  See if that works for your version and let me know.  Be careful with what's enabled or not when looking at values.

 

 

 

Between being a Defender, taking the Force of Will pool and the Electric Mastery pool that's a wildly different build, but it does open my eyes to a few new things - thank you for posting it.

[Doomguide2005]

  Glad to help.  One reason I went with Electric Mastery is it is one of a few epic pools with both an Immobilize and Hold.  The Immobilize for AVs while the Hold can be nicely proc'd into a strong attack to use.  In enlarging and looking longer at your screen shot I noticed you had a single Miracle IO in Frostworks.  I'm assuming it's a Miracle +recovery unique if not please ignore the next bit.  If it's the unique I would replace it with a +5 boosted Heal IO unless you are willing to only have the Miracle unique work for 2 minutes (120 seconds) after you cast Frostworks as that proc IO is one of what is called a proc 120.  It'll work for 120 seconds after it has been cast.  In toggles the toggles typically renew themselves every 10 seconds essentially renewing the boost to recovery.  Same with auto powers which is why folks to often stick it in Health.  You can use it in a click like Frostwork but unless you recast Frostwork every 120 seconds or less on an ally the buff to you will expire.  Frankly once the build matures and Heat Loss is cycling you can probably just unslot the Miracle and use it another character but while leveling before HL is available it would be useful as long as you have teammates or pets to buff on a 2 minute or less schedule.  In fact a specialized build I had on an Emp/Sonic used the Numina's unique (also a proc 120) this way in Healing Aura in order to get the boost to regen and recovery as well as the set bonus for range defense as HA requires no ally or foe to use.

 

PS: It's also fairly different from the one I used on Live where I had Power Mastery.  Aim, Tactics and PBU all had 5 Adjusted Targeting slotted in them.  When I hit PBU with the other two active it did rather insane things to his To Hit buff (push it to the +175% hard cap) 

Edited October 13, 2023 by Doomguide2005