Well, this is my attempt at creating a guide for the flavor of Blaster that is Ice Blast / Energy Manipulation. These are my experiences and will not contain number cruching, Brawl Indexes, etc. This was my first character, chosen pretty much randomly and with no guide help to it. This was also the first character that I got to 50, as well as the fourth Ice / Energy Blaster on the Protector Server (to the best of my knowledge) without powerlevelling. I have invested over 700 hours on designing and playing this character. This isn't the longest, nor most detailed guide, but gives a good look at Ice / Energy.
First thing I should say is that this build is based around NOT taking Hasten. If you want a cookie-cutter, perma-Hasten build, look elsewhere. There's only 2 situations that I would endorse Hasten and those are: 1) You are a team oriented defender or Controller and need to get those buffs out as quick as possible and 2) You are going for Superspeed as your main travel power. You are in no way gimping yourself by not having a 6-slotted Hasten, despite what nay-sayers may say. Please note that the ratings I assign the powers are pretty much arbitrary, but rate how I feel about the power.
Ice Blast Primary
This primary is designed around single-target control. It can come close to rivaling some primary control sets of Controllers. I like to refer to the Ice Blasters as more mini-controllers than as Blasters.
Ice Bolt
Description: Ice Bolt quickly pelts an enemy with small icy daggers; their chill Slows a foe's attacks and movements for a time. Fast, but little damage.
Damage: Minor, Recharge: Fast.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Range, Enhance Rechrage Speeed, Enhance Damage, Enhance Accuracy
My Take on this Power: I never took this power on my main build. I've tried it on Test and for me, there's not really any downtime cycling between Freeze Ray, Bitter Freeze Ray, Ice Blast, and Bitter Ice Blast, so I can keep shooting continuously pretty much. I cannot justify taking a minor damage power and spending 6 slots on it and by having this starting out, I would be forced to spend a power choice to get Ice Blast. You could take this and respec it out, but I'm also not a big fan of spending respecs, since we never know when more are coming. Not really necessary in my book.
Rating: 1-2 / 10
Ice Blast
Description: Ice Blast hurls shards of ice at foes and Slows their attacks and movement for a time. Slower recharge than Ice Bolt, but more damage. Damage:
Moderate, Recharge: Moderate.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurace Cost, Enhance Range, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance Damage, Enhance Accuracy
My Take on this Power: I took this starting out as my initial Ice attack. You never really outgrow this power, IMO. If I combine Ice Blast with a Bitter Ice Blast, I can 2-shot yellow minions. A good moderate damage attack.
Rating: 8 / 10
Frost Breath
Description: Unleashes a cone of frosty breath that can Slow your opponents' movement and attacks. Very accurate and very deadly at medium range. Damage:
Moderate (DoT), Recharge: Slow
Allowed Enhancements: Enhance Cone Range, Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance Damage, Enhance Accuracy
My Take on this Power: This power is somewhat iffy. In my estimation, it benefits very well from a single Cone Range Increase. It is useful in those situations where the villains haven't spread out yet, generally one of your first attacks on a group of enemies. However, it gets dangerous in teaming situations where you have a tank holding a group for pounding. It seems every time I use this when in a group, the herd (however small) will immediately turn on me, ignoring the tank. Use at your own risk, but still a good power, especially when solo. Also, the DoT is somewhat misleading. The attack does two ticks of equal damage, so I don't really think of it as a DoT, even though it 'technically' is.
Rating: 5 / 10
Aim
Description: Greatly increases the Accuracy of your attacks for a few seconds. Slightly increases damage. Recharge: Long
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance ToHit Buffs
My Take on this Power: With one accuracy in your attacks, there's not quite that big of a need for Aim. I use it really only for going up against a boss / AV or when taking on reds and purples. Its still useful in situations, I just don't find myself clicking it that much.
Rating: 6 / 10
Freeze Ray
Description: Although this power deals very little damage, the Freeze Ray encases your foe in a block of ice, holding him helpless in place for a while.
Damage: Minor, Recharge: Moderate.
Allowed Enhancements: Enhance Hold, Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Range, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance Damage, Enhance Accuracy
My Take on this Power: One of the defining, if not THE defining, power of the Ice Primary. Two shots of Freeze Ray will hold a boss and if you keep applying, will keep him held the entire battle. Get it, slot it, love it. With a couple hold enhancers in there, you can get the boss held, then every other cycle of Freeze Ray, apply it again to the boss for a perma-hold, all the while taking out his cronies. Had a friend try an Ice blaster and never took this power. He was getting very frustrated until I suggested taking it. He is VERY happy right now.
Rating: 10 / 10
Ice Storm
Description: Shred your foes with this Ice Storm. This power deals a lot of damage and in a large area and can Slow all affected targets movement and attack speed. Damage: Minor (DoT), Recharge: Long. Location AoE.
Allowed Enhancements: Enhance Slow Movement, Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Range, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance Damage
My Take on this Power: Had this for awhile, got sick of its lousy damage, respec'd it out. You can easily use this in conjunction with Blizzard to keep them in your nuke's AoE with 3 Slows slotted in it. This power is more for slowing the enemy down than for doing damage. Get it if you want, but I haven't
looked back from getting rid of it.
Rating: 4 / 10
Bitter Ice Blast
Description: A slower yet more powerful version of Ice Blast, Bitter Ice Blast deals much more damage and can also reduce your enemy's Accuracy. Like other Ice Blast powers, Bitter Ice Blast can slow a target's movement and attack speed. Damage: Superior, Recharge: Slow.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Range, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance ToHit Debuffs, Enhance Damage, Enhance Accuracy
My Take on this Power: Your primary attack. The closest thing the Ice Primary gets for a snipe. Does quite good damage. Combine this with Ice Blast and you can fell yellow minions in 2-shots. I wouldn't waste a slot on putting in a Slow for this (or really, any of the Ice single-target attacks). It's always seemed to me that the villains do actually slow down when hit by Ice attacks.
Rating: 10 / 10
Bitter Freeze Ray
Description: This power can Hold your opponent frozen solid in a block of ice. The victim can be attacked and will remain frozen and helpless. After the Ice thaws, the victim emerges chilled and Slowed. Bitter Freeze Ray deals medium damage. Damage: Moderate, Recharge: Slow.
Allowed Enhancements: Enhance Hold, Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Range, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance Damage, Enhance Accuracy
My Take on this Power: This is a somewhat situational power. I use it as an opener on a boss. Combine it with Freeze Ray and it gets a boss held. One thing to watch out for that I've noticed is that if you Miss with this, the boss will immediately turn around and attack before the animation finishes. However, if you hit with it, he won't until the animation finishes. I didn't slot for damage on this as I would rather have the Holds in there. Once you get to 50, you can start putting in Dmg / Mez Hami-O's in it and getting both benefits.
Both this and Freeze Ray allow you to attack the villain without breaking the hold.
Rating: 8 / 10
Blizzard
Description: The massive damage from the Blizzard can Slow the attack rate of all your opponents in a large area, reducing their Accuracy. Activating this power leaves you drained of Endurance and unable to recover any Endurance for a while. Damage: Extreme (DoT), Recharge: Very Long. Location AoE.
Allowed Enhancements: Enhance Slow, Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Range, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance ToHit Debuffs, Enhance Damage (Enhance Accuracy coming with Issue 4)
My Take on this Power: Currently on Live, Blizzard is a little lackluster. The upped damage and lowered AoE time on Test is very welcome. One Slow enhancement in this will mean up to orange lieutenents won't get out before its done with. I would avoid putting in a ToHit Debuff as the debuff isn't really that noticeable, in my estimation. This nuke requires more setup than Inferno / Nova / Thunderous Blast as well as more of the 'This might not be the time to use it' mentality. In conjunction with an Ice Controller's Ice Patch / Slick, it is quite good. What I like to do is hit Conserve Power then Blizzard the enemy group. CP means that it takes less end to recharge before you can start blasting again. It's also good to have a wall or something to hide behind after you fire Blizzard off. It also is not affected by Build Up, Aim, enrages, etc. unlike other nukes. Also remember that if you get dropped, the Blizzard ceases.
Rating: 7 / 10 (current) 8 / 10 (Test)
Energy Manipulation
The Energy Manipulation secondary is geared around disorienting your target as well as providing several self buffs.
Power Thrust (required)
Description: A focused attack that violently shoves the target and sends him flying. Deals minimal damage, but can be very effective. Damage: Minor, Recharge: Moderate.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance Knockback, Enhance Damage, Enhance Accuracy
My Take on this Power: Can't get rid of this power. It is good in some panic situations where too many are clustering around you. This is also a good indicator of when Freeze Ray is about to drop off a minion / lt, i.e. if the baddy goes flying then the FR is about to drop, if not, you still have some time. Don't use more than the minimum slot for it.
Rating: 2 / 10
Energy Punch
Description: Powerful focused punch that may Disorient your opponent! Damage: Minor, Recharge: Fast.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Disorient, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance Damage, Enhance Accuracy
My Take on this Power: Not the greatest of powers. Still a minor damager. The disorient chance is not the greatest. I'd recommend not taking it. However, this is one of the attacks in the Energy secondary that is supposed to drop toggles in PvP. Your call really.
Rating: 3 / 10
Build Up
Description: Greatly increases the amount of damage you deal for a few seconds, as well as slightly increasing your Accuracy. Recharge: Long.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance ToHit Buffs
My Take on this Power: Build up is available in the Energy pool before the Build Up in any other Blaster secondary. Again, I find myself using this only before bosses / AVs / etc. If I'm in the middle of a long fight, I'll tend to hit it again. Build Up + Aim is probably one of the few combos that will let you hit a SR scrapper in the Arena.
Rating: 7-8 / 10
Bonsmasher
Description: The Bone Smasher is a slow attack, but makes up for it with a good amount of damage. Has a greater chance to Disorient than Energy Punch.
Damage: High, Recharge: Moderate.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurance cost, Enhance Disorient, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance Damage, Enhance Accuracy
My Take on this Power: A good damage attack. This is the second of the melee attacks in the Energy secondary that can drop toggles in PvP. If this hits a scrapper / tank with his toggles down and you combine with Total Focus, you have one punch-drunk person.
Rating: 8 / 10
Conserve Power
Description: You can focus for a moment to Conserve your Endurance. After activating this power, you expend less Endurance on all other powers for a while.
Recharge: Very Long.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Recharge Speed
My Take on this Power: One of the most important powers to get. Slot it, use it, love it. It cannot be made perma, even with perma-Hasten. No real downside to this other than its long recharge time. Six slot it for recharges.
Rating: 10 / 10
Stun
Description: Stun deals a little bit of damage, but Disorients its target a great deal. This attack can Disorient most opponents. Damage: Minor, Recharge:
Slow.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurace Cost, Enhance Disorient, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance Damage, Enhance Accuracy
My Take on this Power: Never took this power, no real experience with it. I try not to get into melee range anymore unless the villains are already held and then a disorient won't make that much of a difference. Does not drop toggles in PvP.
Rating: 2 / 10
Power Boost
Description: Greatly boosts the secondary effects of your powers. Your powers effects like Heals, Defense Buffs, Endurance Drains, Disorients, Holds, Immobilizes, Knockbacks and more, are all improved. The effects of Power Boost last a short while, and only the next couple of attacks will be boosted.
Recharge: Long.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurace Cost, Enhance Recharge Speed
My Take on this Power: This power is great for right before battles. It basically doubles your holds (if I remember right). It also allows Hover to travel faster and increases all secondary effects pretty well. I've always wondered if it increased the +Acc of Build Up and the +Dmg of Aim, but have never gotten an answer on it. Take this power.
Rating: 7 / 10
Boost Range
Description: You can boost your powers to increase the range of your next few attacks. Recharge: Long.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Recharge Speed
My Take on this Power: Tried it on Test. Wasn't too enthusiastic about it. With Stealth, you can get close enough to fire off your ranged attacks and really not worry about range. Would make more sense if Ice had a snipe.
Rating: 3 / 10
Total Focus
Description: Total Focus is complete mastery over Energy Melee. This is a very slow, but incredibly devastating attack that can knock out most opponents, leaving them Disoriented. Due to the exhausting nature of Total Focus, recharge time is very long. Damage: Extreme, Recharge: Long.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Disorient, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance Damage, Enhance Accuracy
My Take on this Power: The final melee attack for Energy secondary. Stuns pretty much anything short of an AV. Total Focus + Bonesmasher + Ice Blast will 3-shot most squishies, if I recall. Does not drop toggles in PvP.
Rating: 10 / 10
This following is the Build I have at 50 and is not nearly an 'optimized' build by any means, but it works. I don't quite remember which level I took what
power at, so some of these may be off, please feel free to correct me if I have a power taken at a level that it is not available. I should also note that
I've only used 1 respecification on the Live server and that was to dump Ice Storm and rework the whole Fitness pool power choice levels (like I said, this was my first character). I will follow with what could be a termed a near-optimized respec'd build.
My Current Build
Level Power
1 Power Thrust (required)(1 Knockback)
1 Ice Blast (1 Recharge, 1 Range, 1 Accuracy, 3 Damage)
2 Frost Breath (1 Recharge, 1 Cone Range, 1 Accuracy, 3 Damage)
4 Energy Punch (1 Stun)
6 Hover (1 Defense, 1 Flight Speed)
8 Freeze Ray (1 Accuracy, 2 Recharge, 3 Hold)
10 Swift (1 Run Speed)
12 Stealth (1 End Redux, 5 Defense)
14 Fly (1 End Redux, 4 Flight Speed)
16 Health (3 Health)
18 Bitter Ice Blast (1 Accuracy, 5 Damage)
20 Stamina (6 End Recovery)
22 Conserve Power (6 Recharge)
24 Build Up (1 ToHit Buff, 3 Recharge)
26 Bitter Freeze Ray (1 Accuracy, 3 Hold)
28 Aim (2 ToHit Buff, 2 Recharge)
30 Grant Invisibility (1 Defense)
32 Blizzard (1 Slow, 5 Damage)
35 Phase Shift (3 End Redux)
38 Power Boost (1 Recharge)
41 Personal Force Field (1 End Redux, 2 Resist / Defense (can't remember which it is))
44 Temp Invulnerability (1 End Redux, 5 Resist / Defense (again, can't remember))
47 Force of Nature (1 Resist)
49 Total Focus (3 Damage)
Possible Respec Build
Level Power
1 Power Thrust (required) (1 Knockback)
1 Ice Blast (1 Recharge, 1 Range, 1 Accuracy, 3 Damage)
2 Aim (1 Tohit Buff, 1 Recharge)
4 Frost Breath (1 Recharge, 1 Cone Range, 1 Accuracy, 3 Damage)
6 Hover (1 Defense, 1 Flight Speed)
8 Freeze Ray (1 Accuracy, 2 Recharge, 3 Hold)
10 Swift (1 Run Speed)
12 Stealth (1 End Redux, 5 Defense)
14 Fly (1 End Redux, 3 Flight Speed)
16 Health (1 Health)
18 Bitter Ice Blast (1 Accuracy, 5 Damage)
20 Stamina (6 End Recovery)
22 Conserve Power (6 Recharge)
24 Build Up (1 Tohit Buff, 1 Recharge)
26 Bitter Freeze Ray (1 Accuracy, 3 Hold)
28 Power Boost (1 Recharge)
30 Grant Invisibility (1 Defense)
32 Blizzard (1 Slow, 5 Damage)
35 Phase Shift (3 End Redux)
38 Total Focus (5 Damage, 1 Disorient)
41 Personal Force Field (1 End Redux, 2 Resist / Defense)
44 Temp Invulnerability (1 End Redux, 5 Resist / Defense)
47 Force of Nature (2 Resist)
49 Bonesmasher (2 Damage, 2 Disorient)
Notes on my builds
First off, this build is not for everyone. If you rely on Hasten, you won't like this. I can't see dedicating 5 additional slots for that power. This is also not an optimized PvP build, but I've done ok with it. You won't be king of the cage for PvP, but it is more than a respectable PvE build (my Live build), which in my opinion is the better way to go since there's so much more PvE than PvP.
Aim & Build Up - I only put the one recharge in there (for my respec build) as I don't really use them all that much, other than as an opener. You could go for 2 recharges in each as opposed to the Tohit Buff. I've used HeroStats and with the 1 Accuracy enhancement (without using Aim / Build Up) and I can maintain a greater than 90% accuracy. I like them as a little bit extra oomph when I'm facing bosses and AV's. Not really necessary when facing minions and lieutenents.
Fly - I might remove that fourth flight speed enhancement from my Live build. However, in going to Test and having just the 3 flight speeds in there, I can notice a fairly sizable difference, so the fourth might stay in there. If I was to keep it, I would take one slot off of Force of Nature.
Conserve Power - 6 slot this thing. It is what keeps you going. While CP is active, I can generally keep my end up above 50% while continuously firing.
Ice Storm - One of the accepted methods of getting the full effect from Blizzard is to lay down an Ice Storm. However, I try different things and I can reliably keep yellow minions in the AoE without using Ice Storm.
Blizzard - This power got a lot of loving on Test. It is now a lot better than it currently is on Live. I keep a Slow enhancement in there because I respec'd out Ice Storm. A single Slow will mean that yellow lieutenents (even orange too if I remember right) can be dropped by Blizzard on Test.
Energy Punch - The real reason I have this is I started out Blapping. I got tired of the debt from it, and I've just never really wanted to use a respec to get rid of it. It has its uses for me, minor though they are.
Total Focus - Like I said, for my Live build, I got away from Blapping. Didn't really have anything else to take at 49 so I got it then.
Health - Yes, there's 2 additional slots in there. Those will be going away if / when I respec. A relic from my early days when I thought extra health in there would make a difference.
Toggle Powers - All my toggles have at minimum 1 end redux in there. With a 6-slotted Stamina, I can run PFF, Stealth, TI, and Fly at the same time and my end never drops. The 3 in Phase Shift are for the same reason. I don't like seeing my Stamina dropping when I run stealth glowie missions.
Epic Power Pool - I went for Force Mastery. I've tried the Cold Mastery on Test and didn't care for it. Force of Nature was the real selling point for me. It allowed me to (with 1 Resist) tank Black Swan and her mob group long enough (and I didn't die) to get a Void held so our Dwarf-form PB could continue to tank Black Swan.
Final Words
I've tried playing other types of Blasters, but I keep coming back to my Ice / Energy. I like being in control while still kicking some tail, and Ice has allowed me to do that. The only other type I've tried that I've liked has been my Elec / Ice.
With the build that I'm using on Live, I have been able to get Archvillains held for an appreciable amount of time with no other Controlling-type character on the team. It's so refreshing to see an AV in a block of ice.
One of my highlights was keeping a portal Devouring Earth Thorn perma-held solo. I couldn't kill him, but he could never get unfroze. This build was also able to hold off and survive 2 red bosses back when they were boosted right after I3 came out. An Ice blaster is also very welcome on Hamidon raids as you contribute 2 single-target holds.
This build is also very solo friendly. I spent probably around 75-80% of the game solo, teaming only for Task Forces / Trials / Archvillains / occasional teaming with friends. Granted it took me awhile (around 660 hours) to get to 50, but I was having fun reading all the clues, collecting all the badges (only got 2 defeats left to get), going through all the story arcs, etc.
Well, that's all I can think of for this guide. A lot of people (most who are dependent on Hasten) don't like this one bit, probably because it show that it isn't necessary to get to 50, nor to be effective. This guide goes against 'accepted' wisdom, but it is still eminently playable. I like playing non-standard builds and see what happens. I have had 0 complaints on my playstyle (no Hasten) in the game. If you don't like it, well, that's your opinion. I've had several friends in game ask me how I built this character, so I thought I'd finally write up a guide for it. I must say that it isn't for everyone and your mileage may vary. Thank you for your time reading this.
P.S. Did anyone else notice that I don't like Hasten?
P.P.S. Please no discussion about the lack of Hasten and how anyone not taking it is gimped. If you want people to take Hasten (or design a character around it), then please write your own guide with it in (or look for Black December's Ice / Energy guide). I wanted this one to show that Hasten is not necessary and that you are not gimped without it. Thank you.
