Storm Blast and Ice Manipulation?

[SeraphimKensai]

So I rolled one of these the other day as I was thinking it was time to make a new blaster (admittedly it's been awhile), but I was trying to think outside of the box and come up with a non typical blaster. After storm blast was released I made a defender and a corruptor with it but hadn't tried it out as a blaster. So I thought what secondary would fit, and I was thinking it would be interesting pairing it with ice manipulation for ice patch but more so for frigid protection's 30-foot slow figuring it would help keep mobs inside cat5.

 

I've got it up to the mid 40's currently and just playing a bit with it on generics, before I finish it up and IO it all out. So far it seems to work pretty well for the intent of it (I figure more recharge will help have storm cell and cat5 available for more groupings, as I slot it out).

 

I'm planning on mu mastery for a res shield, abd digging through a pet to get to electrifying fences for an AoE immobilize to keep targets in cat5.

 

Does anyone have experience playing these two sets together? I haven't seen another one out there to pick their mind on it. 

 

Thanks.

 

 

[UltraAlt]

7 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

Does anyone have experience playing these two sets together?

 

I have a Defender that's Cold Domination/Storm Blast, does that count?

 

[schrodingercat]

1 hour ago, UltraAlt said:

 

I have a Defender that's Cold Domination/Storm Blast, does that count?

 

I have one of those (completely awesome and fun combo, maybe will try it as a corrupter?) and I also have a storm/cold blaster, Bad Meteorologist. I felt like cold didn't add as much to storm as i would have liked. I expected synergy but it didn't feel like it was anything special. I did get more mileage from storm from a storm/TA blaster using glue arrow to keep them in my category 5, but overall, it doesn't feel like it has the oomph as a set as I want it to have. I use it as soft control on my defender more than doing actual damage with it, though I get by and can hold my own in fights. It just takes so long for Cat 5 to do its thing and for the storm cell to get to me that in most content these powers and mechanics still just dont get applied as much as I would like. Cat 5, sleet, and snow storm is very funny though.

[Hjarki]

Frigid Protection is a 30’ radius, 10 target 70% slow with a 2.0s activate period.

Reaction Time (Martial Combat) is a 30’ radius, 10 target 70% slow with a 1.0s activate period.

 

So while Frigid Protection also has -damage% attached, Martial Combat is actually better than Ice Manipulation at the core task of slowing down nearby opponents.

[TECHWON]

oooooooooooooooooh sounds very fun!!!! combo

[UltraAlt]

27 minutes ago, TECHWON said:

oooooooooooooooooh sounds very fun!!!! combo

 

It's icy cool!

[SeraphimKensai]

This thing is 50 now, and I'm working on getting accolades/incarnate XP.

 

Gameplay it's interesting. Because of the DoT nature of several attacks it's nowhere near as bursty as other blasters, but I've yet to die while at the PC with it. There was one time I died while I was changing a diaper to +3 nemesis reflections out in the shard. Two groups had respawned within frigid protection's range while I was gone for 10 minutes.

 

Overall it's a nice flavor of blaster, but not as flashy as a fire/fire or it's ilk.

Edited April 8 by SeraphimKensai

[schrodingercat]

Ok, I have now gotten my storm/ice to 50. It plays a little more like a controller than a blaster, but that's ok. I usually lead with a run in to do Frozen Aura and sleep everything since the sleep is autohit, as any /ice secondary would. I throw down ice slick. I hold the most annoying mob in the group and do category five centered on me. From there, it's spamming attacks while everything tries to flee category 5 and frigid protection, and then they fall down and can't. It's super safe, does pretty good damage, and quite enjoyable from a graphics/ragdoll perspective. I took ice epic because category five and ice slick stay in place if I am hibernating, and snowstorm is a (damage free) control tool that works very well with category 5 to keep them in the radius. Sometimes I can't get into melee, so I use snowstorm if I am playing at range to keep them in my cell.

I intend to go for ranged defense set bonuses, clarion and intuition incarnate. I haven't really proc slotted much of anything since storm disfavors procs, but a force feedback: chance for recharge lives in my storm cell, hail, and jet stream.

 

I almost didn't play with category 5, then I discovered (by reading the power info) that it gives npcs the "wet" condition, making it another storm cell. So I can use it and get my lightning chain procs out without waiting for my storm cell to catch up with me. That was the turning point for me in my love for the character, because waiting or casting non-damaging powers is not really fun as a blaster.

[SeraphimKensai]

Between storm cell and frigid protection mobs are already floored for movement as the slow cap is 90% (assuming you didn't enhance for slow), so unless they have resistance to slows, snowstorm likely isn't slowing down any movement. It could be beneficial in helping slow down the mobs' recharge though as the base for storm cell is -14% and frigid protection's is -40%.

 

That's pretty much why I went Mu for an AoE immobilize, as it seemed more useful for keeping things in cat5. Mind you ice patch definitely helps with the KD, but it's radius is only 10 feet.

Edited April 10 by SeraphimKensai

[ShimmerDoll]

I'd be curious to see your build if you ever share it?  I made Storm/Electric and I have yet to die on that blaster too like I have on others. I find it interesting, The pacing is different but it really is effective in a non-traditional way, and goes through the levels quickly and I'm just playing solo. A Storm/Cold sounds fun because I'd love to play more of Storm (my favorite for some reason).

[SeraphimKensai]

On 4/13/2024 at 5:06 PM, ShimmerDoll said:

I'd be curious to see your build if you ever share it?

Overtime I've gotten away from publicly releasing builds, because it doesn't really help people understand how to make them in mids if they are just slotting someone else's build. That said I've been open about directly helping people with their builds via private messages here or a few times over on Discord to help people understand the theory behind the build. And how to reach for their goals.

 

If interested send me a pm with a copy of your own build and your build goals, and what kind of content you want to use it for. I'll make some tweaks and to help you get there and increase slot efficiency.

[Erratic1]

1 hour ago, SeraphimKensai said:

Overtime I've gotten away from publicly releasing builds, because it doesn't really help people understand how to make them in mids if they are just slotting someone else's build.

 

How do you know what people are doing with posted builds?

 

I've looked at dozens upon dozens of builds over time to see what someone has done (in this game and others) and have NEVER copied a build. As goes COH, there are a couple of slotting tricks I've picked up. 

[SeraphimKensai]

19 minutes ago, Erratic1 said:

 

How do you know what people are doing with posted builds?

 

I've looked at dozens upon dozens of builds over time to see what someone has done (in this game and others) and have NEVER copied a build. As goes COH, there are a couple of slotting tricks I've picked up. 

 

I don't know what people are doing with posted builds, and yes you can learn some slotting tricks from people's builds (typically more so if you understand how to make them).

 

Maybe it's just my personality, but if I'm asked for help on something, even though it's often quicker to just do it myself, I like to help the person asking for help by empowering them to be able to do the job effectively themselves. I think that goes back to how I was raised. It might be more upfront effort on my part but think it helps ensure people understand more about the "why" a choice was made through having a dialogue with them then just reading a recipe.

[schrodingercat]

On 4/10/2024 at 12:56 PM, SeraphimKensai said:

Between storm cell and frigid protection mobs are already floored for movement as the slow cap is 90% (assuming you didn't enhance for slow), so unless they have resistance to slows, snowstorm likely isn't slowing down any movement. It could be beneficial in helping slow down the mobs' recharge though as the base for storm cell is -14% and frigid protection's is -40%.

 

That's pretty much why I went Mu for an AoE immobilize, as it seemed more useful for keeping things in cat5. Mind you ice patch definitely helps with the KD, but it's radius is only 10 feet.

 

i take it because Cat 5 is a big aoe fear and snowstorm also makes them run slowly around. It guarantees every mob in those two power radiuses short of an AV is going to slowly run around instead of attacking. I don't like immobilizes because it cancels that effect and it requires me to do something non damaging when I could just set up snowstorm, forget it, and blast away.

 

that being said, i rarely use it and just get into melee on hard targets with snipe->chain lightning->freezing touch->cloud burst->ice sword as my chain. For aoe, I just spam chain->jet stream *with kb->kd*->snipe->cloud burst (on bosses) when cat 5 is on cooldown. Cat 5, snowstorm, and ice slick all stay when I hibernate, so it is my endurance/hp restore/get out of jail free card when I need it.

 

I only use ice patch when i know I can bottle neck things on it (because its funny) or when something gets out of my slows and runs over to smack me. I have only died once in the past couple months and that was on the UG Itrial when the warwork boss got flipped around and killed everyone.

 

My favorite trick is to run into packs of mobs, aoe sleep (placate proc), ice slick, cat 5, hibernate and they are all aggro on me/dead while I am untouchable. I know ice/ blasters can also do this, but cat 5 with storm cell up feels better and more damaging than blizzard/ice storm to me.