Ice Defense (Tanker/Brute/Scrap) seems to suck, but people swear it's awesome. Please point the way!

[PyroNugget]

thought the "staff/Titan" thing was in reference to other builds/tricks as you cant have a staff/titan those are both primaries

-and those both have a +melee  smash(titan) or leathal(staff) attack his DEF should be over 20% without slotting anything.

 

..or did i read/interpret that wrong?

[kelika2]

ice armor is weird and i dont like it

typed defense to s/l/energies.  no cold, naturally no fire.  weird no psi since someone can bullshit ice refraction or something

energy absorption is available way too late for tankers 24(ex19) and stalkers 28(ex23)

the old sets should get Hoarfrost and Permafrost shuffled around for some absorption, +hp and more resists

[SeraphimKensai]

59 minutes ago, Ukase said:

The Glad Armor only gives you that 3% and some fairly useless 20% chance of teleportation protection. And the reason that's fairly useless is you won't know if you were about to be teleported. It could work great; I just have no way to know. I know it doesn't stop me from being tele-swapped in Advanced Mode Lady Gray. 

It honestly works pretty well for what it was designed for: providing protection against getting teleported by a player into a trap or a drone in a PvP area.

 

Gotta remember that it's a PvP IO at heart, just that the unique defense aspect works pretty well in PvE as well.

 

[Spaghetti Betty]

Ice Armor is great! It's one of my favorite armor sets. My Ice/EM is in my top 3 most played Tankers and stomps pretty much everything!

In fact, I just ran a 4* LGTF with it last night and it succeed with flying colors!

I don't really play it in a way that's newbie friendly, though!

[Snarky]

8 hours ago, supersonick said:

Title. 

I feel like i'm taking crazy pills. Everyone says ice is a great tanking set, and i want to use it on a brute. I want an interactive tanking set (not a toggle-on, forget it set, such as Invul/WP etc. i have those already). 

 

But i'm in the mid 20's and i've played countless brutes. Ice tanking seems to be the set that dies the easiest. All my other brutes can solo on 4x +0 with just single original enhancements. My ice brutes? Die on 3x +0 with team support in my group. 

 

What's up? What am i doing wrong? I'm chaining energy absorption, i'm keeping hoarfrost up and using it to heal as well to maximize survivability. I'm running all the toggles. I'm slotted. I even have a little extra defense from staff/titan weapon builds i've tried. still seems to suck. doesn't matter what villain group i fight, i just die. 

 

When i ask the /help channel people just say "energy absorption is awesome!" and "i'm so good at tanking energy damage" but that doesn't address general survivability. saying "i'm so good at tanking energy damagee" is like saying "i'm so good, 5% of the time." 

 

When i look at the defense stats on the power monitor, i see that i have the most defense to Smashing/Lethal and Fire/Cold at around 25%. So when i go shopping for Attuned IOs, i'm looking for more S/L and Fire/Cold bonuses i can stack on that, but there doesn't seem to be much i can find. 

 

Should i slot for Ranged/Melee/AoE Defense, and not the "damage type" instead? 

 

I don't expect my brute to be the tankiest tank, that's for tankers to do. But i expect to be able to tank for my groups on 6x +0 difficulty because literally every other brute i play can do that. I really want to play ice, i love the theme. 

 

Someone point me down the right path, and don't just "link a build" but just explain the basics as to what i need to be doing and what to expect. thanks heroes 

i ran an ice tanker for the winter holidays.  i was impressed.

 

my main takeaway was the absolute ease of holding agro.

 

 

Tanker - Ice Ice v1.51.mxd

[Rogueseraphim]

7 hours ago, catsi563 said:

I can confirm as someone whose taken 2 ice tanks Ice ice ice and ice battleaxe ice to 50+ incarnate that ice is awesome but it takes work to get to where it hits it pinnacle

 

and that pinnacle is Energy absorption and Ice block

 

Energy absorption is the big kicker because the more bad guys you drain the higher your defense spikes to the point where you can comfortably sit in the middle a +4x8 fre farm mob and giggle as the fireballs blast past you  with chilling embrace the enemy gets slowed to absurd levels and with icicles they take damge which they cant ger away from especially if you have ice slick which means theyre flopping around you like grounded fish

 

ice block is the top power in the set for a reason namely that it makes you basically invulnerable while you rest and heal inside the block of ice and come out fully healed and able to fight it also gives you a chance to let EA get off cooldown which means you come out of it surrounded by EA targets which you can zap to make yourself nearly impossible to hit

 

that is admittedly where Ice armor falls off a bit against single targets like bosses. and EBs etc  less mobs means less defense so you lose out against avs and such however youre still debuffing them with a nasty slow which means you only have to deal with the occasional hit

 

with ice armor its about those two top powers you have to put your ego aside and say yeah im nearly dead iceblock time SIESTA!! and rest till youre healed

 

monitoring your health until the right point to hit ice block is key and spamming EA as much as possible to keep your defense maxed

 

Working on an Ice/Battleax now, any chance you could post your build?  Thanks in advance

[Frozen Burn]

10 hours ago, supersonick said:

Title. 

I feel like i'm taking crazy pills. Everyone says ice is a great tanking set, and i want to use it on a brute. I want an interactive tanking set (not a toggle-on, forget it set, such as Invul/WP etc. i have those already). 

 

But i'm in the mid 20's and i've played countless brutes. Ice tanking seems to be the set that dies the easiest. All my other brutes can solo on 4x +0 with just single original enhancements. My ice brutes? Die on 3x +0 with team support in my group. 

 

What's up? What am i doing wrong? I'm chaining energy absorption, i'm keeping hoarfrost up and using it to heal as well to maximize survivability. I'm running all the toggles. I'm slotted. I even have a little extra defense from staff/titan weapon builds i've tried. still seems to suck. doesn't matter what villain group i fight, i just die. 

 

When i ask the /help channel people just say "energy absorption is awesome!" and "i'm so good at tanking energy damage" but that doesn't address general survivability. saying "i'm so good at tanking energy damagee" is like saying "i'm so good, 5% of the time." 

 

When i look at the defense stats on the power monitor, i see that i have the most defense to Smashing/Lethal and Fire/Cold at around 25%. So when i go shopping for Attuned IOs, i'm looking for more S/L and Fire/Cold bonuses i can stack on that, but there doesn't seem to be much i can find. 

 

Should i slot for Ranged/Melee/AoE Defense, and not the "damage type" instead? 

 

I don't expect my brute to be the tankiest tank, that's for tankers to do. But i expect to be able to tank for my groups on 6x +0 difficulty because literally every other brute i play can do that. I really want to play ice, i love the theme. 

 

Someone point me down the right path, and don't just "link a build" but just explain the basics as to what i need to be doing and what to expect. thanks heroes 

 

7 hours ago, supersonick said:

 

i feel you, but the leveling experience is a part of my core gameplay. So if ice can't level very well, it's a junk set in my opinion. 

 

this is another common theme with this set i hear. "OMG my mega-IO'd tanker is so good!"  Yeah, but a blaster that is mega-IO'd can also tank soem content. if a set needs 500mill inf to be good, it's just not good IMO. 

 

 

 

You're in your 20s... you're not not going to be uber right now.  It gets better gradually as you level up.  This is how it is with ALL ATs and powersets.  You really don't get good until your 30s and 40s.  And that doesn't mean this or any other similar sets are "junk."  It just hurts more with Defensive sets as you try to avoid being hit, but when you are hit, you have lower resists so you feel it more.  Just like the lower levels, be sure to stock up on purple, orange, and green inspires until you get more powers, more slots, and set bonuses to get your defenses up higher.

 

If you have 25% def to your types now, you are 20% under the soft cap.  So, you still have a long ways to go.  And you can get there by slotting IO sets for TYPED def (not positional) and taking pool powers like Weave, Maneuvers, Combat Jumping, etc - every little bit helps.  Be sure the Gladiator's Armor +3% Def and Steadfast Protection +3% Def special IOs are in your build.  

 

Additionally, be sure you slot Energy Absorption for max Def, then Recharge, and if any room left, End Mod.  Hitting that as soon as you enter a mob can boost your def very high to get you to and eventually well-over the def softcap.  

 

Here is my Ice/Energy Tanker build for your reference.  Hopefully, this will give you some ideas of what you can do...

 

Frigid-Dare - Tanker (Ice Armor).mbd

 

Good luck!

 

 

 

[Without_Pause]

13 hours ago, supersonick said:

My ice brutes? Die on 3x +0 with team support in my group. 

I still can't get past this. No Brute with even a single support character should be dying with regularity at +0x3. That should be straight steamroll. It's bare minimum soloing at that spot.

[catsi563]

16 hours ago, Rogueseraphim said:

 

Working on an Ice/Battleax now, any chance you could post your build?  Thanks in advance

sure

 

basic caveat this is the build i used its fun and worked for me but shouldnt be considered the BESTEST most optimal build ever

 

like i said though it worked for me and works in every encounter ive done so there it is

 

she hits like a truck and as long as EA holds out her end is never an issue

 

[Haijinx]

I'd suggest Ice/ for Tankers which does a great job at Tanker numbers.

 

And it's buffed cousin /Energy Aura for brutes/scrappers and stalkers