About Ice Cages/Ice Objects/Shatter...

blumoon8

So, I'm building an Ice DPS, and I'm staying away from the ice cages/ice objects/shatter because I'm not sure... how overall useful they'd be? So I wanted to talk about them a little bit and get all of your opinions. When I first played Champions Online back in the beginning of 2010, ice cages seemed soooo cooooool (pun totally not intended), but now they feel mostly awkward to me, and thus my avoidance.

Generally, how useful are they? They are roots, true, but is the shatter mechanic worth investing it? I have frost breath on my ice DPS, and sometimes I'll have a whole group of mobs ice caged, but I just don't know if taking a power slot for shatter would be worth it? Would it be a waste of a power slot?

What is the usefulness of Ice Cage VS Ice Wall? Which would be better for what, or what both be preferred?

Do they scale with Pre? As a type of CC, I think they would, but because I find them rather unique, I'm not sure about this one. I had an interest in creating an icy support toon, but I don't know if Pre would affect them.

What's the damage potential of ice objects like Ice Burst (that's the name, right? I can't remember) or Ice Barrier? Does breaking this with shatter produce some worthwhile result? Someone I know a few years ago did create a build with DPS that involved using a lot of shattered, and they got some decent DPS out of it, but I'm wondering today what it's worth might be.

The reason I bring up these questions is because a lot of these powers show low numbers in their descriptions, and I know they are mostly utility, but I wanted to see what you guys might have to say about it because I just have a giant question mark about my head about them.

Thanks for reading!

flowcyto

It can be some decent AoE burst to use Shatter, but it does take some setup that typically itself isn't ideal for dps (Frostbreath is lower dps, and ya can't always have Cold Snap up and available)- and esp when Avalanche exists and is more straightforward for AoE dps. Just my opinion, though; doesn't mean Shatter can't be effective in some way.

blumoon8

I agree, Flow, and from what I've seen of it, I feel much the same way. There's something there, but I don't know if that something would pay off or be worth it, especially with Avalanche and Icicle Spear. I think I'll try making a character dedicated to it at some point, but I'm definitely seeing these two paths in Ice: Ice Objects and Not Ice Objects. Ice Objects is how it started...but they made things more "standard." Of course there's powers outside of that, and overall, Ice could use some other areas buffed like support abilities.

Anyway, my ambivalence towards Ice Cages et al. prompted me to make this thread. Please feel free to share your experiences and ideas everyone.

flowcyto

Yeah they could do something diff w/ Ice Objects- maybe proc a stun (and proc Manip) at 3x Chill or something, I dunno- cause for CC they're not great atm. You can very briefly distract enemy packs if you open w/ Ice Cage and don't have other aggro, but that's a very minor thing and not something I'd build around. A more straight-up dps build for Ice will always be better atm.

hamsupfaymui

FYI - I only use Ice Cage to selectively interrupt those mobs who have better than average attacks; against cosmics and bosses (legendary) the interrupt advantage for Ice Cage (dont remember the name right now) is ineffective.

kallethen

Setting up Ice Cages and other ice objects (and Chills of course) for Shatter always seemed cumbersome to me. Too much setup for the spike damage reward. Also, Ice Cage is only a Root, so the NPC caught in it can still attack you.

Maybe if there was more to Shatter than just bonus damage per Chill/Ice Object? Like, a cumulative chance for stunning foes for each Ice Object that is Shattered?​​