Which "fire and forget" Ice power?

williamkony

A new character I'm making uses the typical four "magic" elements (Fire, air, earth, water) alongside a ton of weapon abilities. I've been following a fire-and-forget style for the elemental powers, so that they can be in effect while I fight normally. So far, this looks flippin' awesome, as I'm switching between weapons while the entire battlefield is being torn apart by a localized apocalypse. :P

At the moment, I'm using Fissure for earth, Flashfire for fire, and Dust Devil for air. But water/ice is far less clear-cut than those. A lot of the ice powers have lasting effects... Not necessarily good ones, but lasting.

What I'm looking at currently are Ice Cage, Ice Burst, Wall of Ice, Wall of Ice with Frozen Footsteps (which makes it different enough for me to consider it a different power altogether), and Ice Barrier.

Ice Cage is nice in that it's quick to trigger, has neat utility in its Subzero Cellblock advantage, and does nice, simple damage over time. What I don't like is that it's single-target, whereas all the other abilities are AoE. It's also kind of underwhelming visually.

Ice Burst is-... Well, it looks cool. And it-... ...No, that's about it, it looks cool. On the bad side, the cooldown is ridiculous for what it does and it knocks enemies in all directions, and I'm melee. Honestly, there has to be some grand hidden secret to Ice Burst to make me want to take it, which I'm hoping someone has.

Wall of Ice looks neat, has more of an area of effect, and has 100 foot range. It also does a lot more damage than Ice Cage... When it feels like it. Sometimes it'll hit over and over, and sometimes it'll quit after the first hit. I have no idea how to control that. It also doesn't have much of an effect at close range, and it's hard to get it to do much to a group even when used from far away since it just stops once it reaches the target.

Frozen Footsteps looks really cool, and is far more reliable in terms of hitting groups of enemies. It's also far more reliable in regards to the damage it does versus Wall of Ice... Reliably on the low end. It also requires me to move about for it to have any actual effect, which isn't a CONSTANT problem, but it does mean it's pretty incompatible with Dual Blade's Eye of the Storm power, which I have to use pretty often to survive when there's no competent tank around.

Ice Barrier... The resistances are certainly handy, it looks pretty nice, and it's a quick activation for a long duration. But that cooldown prevents it from taking part in the whole localized apocalypse thing. I'll be piling on Cooldown Reduction, so it'll be usable quite a bit more often than its usual 90 seconds, but nowhere near enough to be part of every fight.



Right now, I'm leaning towards Frozen Footsteps, but I hate taking useless powers just for the sake of theme and I do feel Frozen Footsteps might be in that realm. I'd appreciate any insight from others, one these powers or any others that might fit what I'm looking for. (I've looked at Snow Storm as well, and the amount of time that has to be maintained versus the duration gained is not enough for me.)

flowcyto

Wall of Ice I find has a better chance of getting multiple hits registered when ur right next to its target. I wasn't having nearly as much success w/ the thing when I put it on a ranged build vs. a melee one. The dmg still wasn't great though, yea. It prob is the best 'fire and forget' thing in ice, unfortunately.

Ya can always recolor a power from a diff set- like getting a blue firesnake or gas arrow/pellets (vapor snake/arrow).

novaninja555

Ice burst is good in a combination with shatter. Cuz f the high dmg Burst. That's about it.

I have frozen footsteps in alerts and I actually like it more. I suggest snowstorm though its not fire n forget ... Or avalanche

williamkony

flowcyto wrote: »

Wall of Ice I find has a better chance of getting multiple hits registered when ur right next to its target. I wasn't having nearly as much success w/ the thing when I put it on a ranged build vs. a melee one. The dmg still wasn't great though, yea. It prob is the best 'fire and forget' thing in ice, unfortunately.

Ya can always recolor a power from a diff set- like getting a blue firesnake or gas arrow/pellets (vapor snake/arrow).

Hm... Fire Snake might work, yeah. Definitely does look rather misty when colored blue, and helps with my Thermal Reverberation. Just wish it would encase enemies in ice. X)

novaninja555 wrote: »

Ice burst is good in a combination with shatter. Cuz f the high dmg Burst. That's about it.

I have frozen footsteps in alerts and I actually like it more. I suggest snowstorm though its not fire n forget ... Or avalanche

How well does Frozen Footsteps seem to operate in your experience? What are its best uses?

novaninja555

Mostly the fact that it freezes your enemies and also is relatively spam able compared to the other options. Not to mention that the effects are actually cool (hehe) in a way

skylyger

Well the thing is more then 1 attack power is already watering down your build by taking redundant if not outright useless powers.

I do get the whole combining of all 4 elements theme, I mean who doesnt love little aang and the whole avatar jazz. I mean its damn cool no doubt about it.

Personally Id suggest for additional attacks, DPS not be the focus on what you choose, but the 2ndary effects of those powers, like CC, debuffing, etc. Or at least different kinds of applications, for example make sure one is superior single target DPS, one a strong aoe, one a pbaoe for when mobs close. hell maybe even a melee move if any fit your theme just to add in some style and flair if nothing else.

Still Id be suggesting looking to non attack powers as ways to fully flesh out your concept rather then more attacks. as I said in reality any more then 1 is redundant at best, any more then 3 out right a waste.

williamkony

skylyger wrote: »

Well the thing is more then 1 attack power is already watering down your build by taking redundant if not outright useless powers.

I do get the whole combining of all 4 elements theme, I mean who doesnt love little aang and the whole avatar jazz. I mean its damn cool no doubt about it.

Personally Id suggest for additional attacks, DPS not be the focus on what you choose, but the 2ndary effects of those powers, like CC, debuffing, etc. Or at least different kinds of applications, for example make sure one is superior single target DPS, one a strong aoe, one a pbaoe for when mobs close. hell maybe even a melee move if any fit your theme just to add in some style and flair if nothing else.

Still Id be suggesting looking to non attack powers as ways to fully flesh out your concept rather then more attacks. as I said in reality any more then 1 is redundant at best, any more then 3 out right a waste.

Oh, trust me, I made sure every attack I took had a purpose. XD I've just hit 40, and I make use of every attack I have.

Element-wise, I have...

Fissure, which helps stack Enrage and also gives me healing due to its advantage.
Flashfire, to trigger Thermal Reverberation and keep my energy topped off.
Dust Devil, for basic damage and a 100-foot attack, plus the slight bonus of Disorient.
Currently using Frozen Footsteps, which roots enemies so they don't run out of the other effects or away from my melee attacks, plus it makes it a good idea to run around a lot in the fight, which makes the character look even MORE badass.

Weapon-wise, I have...

Strafe, basic energy builder.
Viper's Fangs, basic single-target attack.
Holdout Shot, with the advantage for healing.
Eye of the Storm, which really helps when I'm getting dogpiled.
Guard, which gives a substantial damage boost to Unleashed Rage.

So, I think I succeeded in avoiding superfluous powers. XD None of them are really the BEST for any of the things they're there for, but they do all come into play.

hasukurobi

Ice Burst really IS just useful for its looks... Otherwise it is pretty solidly poor.

Wall of Ice works best without its perk. Just boost its damage and send it straight at a target. If you fire it off at relatively close range it will get a lot of hits in and do some rather notable damage. Basically the further it travels the less times it can hit but it will hit enemies in-between.

Ice Cage is ok but not really all that great. As far as fire and forget Wall of Ice is your baby.

warcanch

Wall of Ice at close range, without target MARKED, gives you a kinda DoT of ice. Acts different if the target IS marked.

williamkony

warcanch wrote: »

Wall of Ice at close range, without target MARKED, gives you a kinda DoT of ice. Acts different if the target IS marked.

What do you mean by this? Doesn't it require a target to be used?

riltmos

skylyger wrote: »

Well the thing is more then 1 attack power is already watering down your build by taking redundant if not outright useless powers.

I do get the whole combining of all 4 elements theme, I mean who doesnt love little aang and the whole avatar jazz. I mean its damn cool no doubt about it.

Personally Id suggest for additional attacks, DPS not be the focus on what you choose, but the 2ndary effects of those powers, like CC, debuffing, etc. Or at least different kinds of applications, for example make sure one is superior single target DPS, one a strong aoe, one a pbaoe for when mobs close. hell maybe even a melee move if any fit your theme just to add in some style and flair if nothing else.

Still Id be suggesting looking to non attack powers as ways to fully flesh out your concept rather then more attacks. as I said in reality any more then 1 is redundant at best, any more then 3 out right a waste.

Not in all builds. There are a lot of builds, especially ones that focus on DoT that work better with three to four, I've had one with eight at one point. This is most common in the telepathy builds or power armor builds. Since all of the OPs attacks are DoTs none of them are redundant as they will stack together. It's not the best DoT build, but it is a theme build, and workable considering the concept (DoT + turtling) so I'd say this is a decent elemental build if everything else works together.

You can also use a telepathy DoT and color it blue to make it look watery.

warcanch

warcanch wrote: »

Wall of Ice at close range, without target MARKED, gives you a kinda DoT of ice. Acts different if the target IS marked.

williamkony wrote: »

What do you mean by this? Doesn't it require a target to be used?

Yes, sorta.

Like most powers, it does require a target to fire at. However, if you have your control options set to not Select your target AND you are in melee range of a foe AND facing them ... THEN fire off Wall of Ice without the target SELECTED. You'll see what I mean.