Dark Control/Icy Assault/Ice Mastery questions

[Zumberge]

So I've been playing with the idea of creating a Darkness Control/Icy Assault Dominator, and before you point out that those two sets have very little synergy, I know, but it fits the concept.  In any case, Pine's has been helpful in that it answers a few of my questions, but it raises a couple more about the performance and slotting of either and both as a whole.  I'm familiar with Controllers, and I'm familiar with Ice Blast, but that said:

 

[*]Darkness Control seems like one of those sets where everything is good, barring the single-target immobilize.  However, what's the verdict on Possess?  I'm not a fan of single-target confuses in control sets, but still recognize that they're useful, at least up to a certain point where the rest of the kit can be used with more regularity and teams as a whole start coming into their own respective powers.  Does that point come so soon that it's not worth getting just to respec out of it a short time later?  A short leveling time, that is, double XP boosts being what they are and all.

 

[*]Icy Assault is very heavy on single-target attacks; I used Ice Blast, so I saw that coming.  But for a Dominator, would skipping Ice Sword Circle be a good idea?  Argument for skipping being a long recharge and high cost with damage that maybe doesn't make it worth it and the other attacks in the set cycle relatively fast, but argument against it being that AoE damage is AoE damage.

 

[*]Same question as above, but with Frost Breath, another AoE but ranged this time.  I guess the better question would be, "can you skip Ice's AoEs?"  Experience would say "yes," but it never hurts to ask.

 

[*]Is Chilling Embrace worth taking, even just to put an endurance reduction IO in it, or would the control powers make it redundant?  Wouldn't having it active just draw more aggro to me?

 

[*]Power Boost increases the duration of mezzes and secondary effects, but not the magnitude, right?  Is it worth taking with some control sets but not others, and is Darkness Control one of them?  That is to say, should I take it here?

For reference, the skunkworks build I cobbled together took everything but Shadowy Binds in Darkness and Ice Sword Circle in Icy, dipped heavy into Ice Mastery, and only Umbra Beast had six slots, which... isn't gonna play well with a lot of IO sets.  Speaking of which:

• What's the consensus on Ice Mastery?  I actually kind of like Hibernate from when I had an Ice Tanker (it's a tier 9 you actually use!), and Sleet and Ice Storm seem good on paper, but that's a bunch more slots.
  

[marex]

Ice Mastery has a few points for it and is a very strong Epic pool set.

 

If you go Ice Mastery have room for this 3 powers

 

Sleet is a location dot with -def and -RES that does knockdown and can take addtional 2 -res IO procs. If I could descripe this power with just one word it would be AWESOME.

 

Hoarfrost is not only a big emergency heal but it has +HP too and will add some significant hitpoints and  it has a toxic resist too. Take it and enjoy it.

 

Frozen Armor The S/L def shield with fire/cold RES. It opens up your way to cap +45% s/l without much trouble if you use melee attack. Since the changed a few numbers with I24 it's even worthful to throw a Shield Wall IO with +5res vs all in it with a 2er Luck of the Gambler for global recharge and extra def.

 

Now there are 2 powers left

 

Hibernate Theoretical it should be your oh &$/$ button but it's not insta cast and if you really that deep into trouble the chances are good that you will simple die from a alpha attack or can get out of this trouble with e.g. Hoarfrost with a aoe stun etc. I tested it back on live and never liked it.

 

Ice Storm This is a rain location dmg power. In this case the dmg is not minor like sleet. It does more dmg then the aoe dmg from the other sets but has a much larger cooldown. Additional mobs will run out of the area if the are not under control, with a stun or are rooted. It's a good power but your build need room for it and it it really needs  2-3 extra slots for IOs.

 

I have it in my live version but on test I respec out of it for the instant snipe version that is tested there atm. Not essential and with a primary dark I doubt you should make room for it.

 

 

 

[oedipus_tex]

I'm going to be upfront and say I am not a huge fan of Icy Assault. I took it to 5 years ago on a Mind/Ice Controller and was not super impressed with it. That said, it's not strictly bad, just not IMO on the same level as Fire or Psi Assault. Just be aware Icy is going to have some struggles with AoE in particular despite having two AoEs in the set.

 

 

Darkness Control seems like one of those sets where everything is good, barring the single-target immobilize. 

Yes. It was the final control set released when the game was live, and benefited from lessons learned in other sets.

 

However, what's the verdict on Possess?  I'm not a fan of single-target confuses in control sets, but still recognize that they're useful, at least up to a certain point where the rest of the kit can be used with more regularity and teams as a whole start coming into their own respective powers.  Does that point come so soon that it's not worth getting just to respec out of it a short time later?  A short leveling time, that is, double XP boosts being what they are and all.

 

Confusion is probably the strongest control effect in the game. Not only does it not notify the mob, for some reason Confusion is also the longest lasting hard mezz. I would never recommend skipping a Confusion power on any Controller or Dominator build. (The one exception is the World of Confusion power available in the tertiary pools, which is terrible).

 

Also, if you decide to IO this character out, the purple Confusion set is one of the best IO sets in the game, offering an eye popping +10% Recharge at T5 and +5 Ranged defense at T6, making it the strongest combo of Recharge and Ranged defense I'm aware of in the game, and a cornerstone of soft-caped perma-dom builds.

 

 

Icy Assault is very heavy on single-target attacks; I used Ice Blast, so I saw that coming.  But for a Dominator, would skipping Ice Sword Circle be a good idea?  Argument for skipping being a long recharge and high cost with damage that maybe doesn't make it worth it and the other attacks in the set cycle relatively fast, but argument against it being that AoE damage is AoE damage

 

The main argument for taking Ice Sword Circle is you don't have anything else to pick from, which is never a great place to be. Sadly most of the Dominator PBAoEs have long animation times that make them less than ideal (Psychic Scream in the Psi set is an exception and the reason it is well regarded).

 

Dark Control relies on a cone Fear power but also a PBAoE Stun, meaning it already has its own conflict of powers. How you feel about Ice Sword Circle may come down to how you feel about the Fear cone and the Stun.

 

 

Same question as above, but with Frost Breath, another AoE but ranged this time.  I guess the better question would be, "can you skip Ice's AoEs?"  Experience would say "yes," but it never hurts to ask.

 

Since you don't have access to anything else, it might be worth taking. With it's 2.9 second animation time though, this power takes a relative eternity to cast.

 

 

Is Chilling Embrace worth taking, even just to put an endurance reduction IO in it, or would the control powers make it redundant?  Wouldn't having it active just draw more aggro to me?

 

Chilling Embrace is complete trash. It has a radius of 10ft and the slow lasts 5 seconds. It MIGHT (huge might) be worthwhile if the Slow lasted a long time or if the radius was 20ft or so. As is, this is one of the worst powers in the game, not even worth the endurance cost. If a dev is reading this, please put this power on a list to be fixed.

 

Sadly it's partly because Chilling Embrace is so poor and takes up one of Ice's "unique" slots in the set that Ice lags behind other sets.

 

 

Power Boost increases the duration of mezzes and secondary effects, but not the magnitude, right?  Is it worth taking with some control sets but not others, and is Darkness Control one of them?  That is to say, should I take it here?

 

Correct, Power Boost boosts Duration but not Magnitude in most cases. Note although the power says its boosts your Knockback I don't think it has done that in a long time. In the case of Knockback tho, it is Magnitude that would be boosted because Knockback is a special type of status effect.

 

I'm 99% sure Power Boost boosts the -ToHit in your Dark Control powers so is very much worth taking, but it's been years since I looked at it so there's a chance I'm wrong.