I thought I'd take a crack at an abbreviated guide for anyone wanting to know how I did things with Black December. (I get PMs every not and again asking me.)
Essentially I crafted Black December to be the ultimate boss killer. He can lock down bosses and take them out with an efficiency a scrapper could only dream about. In addition, I am able to solo my missions on Invincible, which makes for some pretty quick leveling. If that sounds like your particular brand of vodka than this build may be for you. I call it the "Ice Assassin."
First let's run through the primary powers:
ICE BOLT AND ICE BLAST. Take them early (you don't really have a choice). Get them six-slotted as soon as you can. I have one accuracy enhancer and five damage enhancers in each. These are good, single target damage dealing attacks that will serve you well into the upper levels, if not for the entire game. One thing I will say is, if you're coming from the fire set, don't shy away from Ice Bolt. It's not the gimped power that Flares is.
BITTER ICE BLAST. This is your bread and butter attack. It does massive single target damage from a decent distance. I can't be sure, but I think it gives you more range than it's fire equivalent, Blaze. Probably goes without saying to six slot it ASAP with one acc and five damage.
FROST BREATH. While primarily a single target build, I find Frost Breath to be invaluable. At the early levels it's going to enable you to take mobs down to 1/2 health, then use you other attacks to finish them off. At the upper levels, it enables to you take enemies (which on Invincible missions often spawn as red pairs), freeze them with your two holds, then blast them both with FB reducing their health by a significant amount. I find PB+BU+FB+BFB+FB to be an efficient attack launch sequence. It also comes in handy for clean up when on large team missions. There's nothing quite like seeing 10 orange numbers floating toward the ceiling...but you have to be careful otherwise you'll draw ungodly aggro. Slot with one acc and five damage.
FREEZE RAY. THE defining power in the ice set, in my opinion. This is what separates you from every other blaster and is the KEY to being able to kill bosses with efficiency. Once you experience the luxury of being able to lock down your enemies, you'll find it hard to go back to anything else. This power, along with Bitter Freeze Ray, is like having a mini controller at your side at all times. I have mine slotted with one acc, two hold and one recharge. With permahasten and power boost (which I'll get to later) that's really all you need.
BITTER FREEZE RAY. A controversial power because of its wind up time but a MUST HAVE if you wish to build an ice assassin. I launch virtually every fight with Bitter Freeze Ray. It's the KEY to locking down bosses which require TWO shots. Some people fire Freeze Ray twice but I don't like the boss to even get ONE shot off on me. There are also times when, against a Luit, BFR will miss and you'll have FR as a backup. Without TWO hold powers, if one misses you're SOOL. BFR also does a nice little slice of damage. Nothing to write home about, but it's a decent little bonus. As of level 37 I only had this slotted with one acc enhancement but had I the slots to spare, I'd have thrown in an extra hold and some damage if I could manage it. It's not really necessary though as you're basically using it to stack with FR.
AIM. You do NOT want to miss with your holds against high level enemies. Aim doubles your base accuracy and increases your base damage by 62%. No respectable ice assassin would be without it. One to two rechargers is all you need depending on your play style. I find one with perma-hasten lets me use it every fight.
The two powers I did NOT take in the ice primary set are Blizzard and Ice Storm. Had I taken Blizzard, I'd have taken Ice Storm to accompany it, but an ice assassin functions better with powers that help him in EVERY fight, not every 3rd or 4th fight. The ice assassin also does not like to be drained of endurance and disoriented for 10 seconds. This build is about doing your job and doing it quickly against mostly single targets. Neither of these powers help you accomplish this.
Okay...now to the secondary. The relative uberness of energy is pretty well known so I won't go into that. I'll just talk about the powers I took.
POWER THRUST. You have no choice but it's not a bad little power to be stuck with. In the early levels it's a great "Oh Crap!" power, but in later levels I moved it to my 3rd tray and replaced it with Bone Smasher.
BUILD UP. Doubles your base damage and increases your base accuracy by 62%. And you get it at level 4. Your chance to be uber before anyone else. Same slotting as Aim, one recharge, two at most.
CONSERVE POWER. Not just a luxury, but against high level Invincible setting bosses and arch villians, a necessity. If you're going to hang in a LONG battle against a purple boss you can't be running out of endurance. Get it 6-slotted with rechargers as soon as you're able and essentially your endurance worries are over. With perma-hasten you're talking about just one minute of downtime.
POWER BOOST. Doubles the base of VIRTUALLY every effect but damage. For an ice blaster this is an incredible power as it temporarily DOUBLES the base length of your holds. It's the main reason you can get away with only slotting BFR with one acc enhancer. In addition, it doubles your base defense and improves accuracy. With PB you're well on your way to being a devastating killing machine. Three rechargers seem to do the trick as it comes back fairly quickly.
BONE SMASHER. You might be tempted to take this early. In this build Power Thrust functions nicely as your "Too Close!" power. Rather than a staple attack, I use Bone Smasher in instances when my enemies close to melee range, which they invariably do. You COULD take Total Focus over Bone Smasher. It does better damage AND gives a 100% chance to disorient...but it's got a longer wind up time, making it ill suited to be a safety power. One acc and five damage as soon as you're able.
BOOST RANGE. Here is where you could work in Total Focus if it suited you. But at upper levels enemies begin to outrange you. For you to do your job you need to be able to get the drop on them (and we won't be taking Stealth for reasons I'll explain later). Boost Range makes this possible and is essentially perma with just one recharger.
The powers I did not take in the energy secondary include Stun, Energy Punch and Total Focus. Stun and EP are melee powers and we're not building a blapper. Total Focus is a GREAT power and if you wish to work it into your build, I can't blame. But for THIS build, Bone Smasher does the job more quickly. Other blasters that do not have holds swear by TF, and I would too, but you won't need it.
Okay...now let's talk pools. Essentially what you're building here is a hovering, at range blaster. Your defense is your range and your mobility. Nothing against blapping, but we avoid being in melee range at all costs (unless you have an enemy held or down to just a bit of health in which case you can swoop in and Bone Smash their sorry a**). Here are the pool powers for this build:
HOVER (FLIGHT POOL). Gives you defense, allows you to stay at range and enables you to survey the battle field. Don't worry about slotting it for defense. PB will double its defensive effect. Five-slot it for speed. You can go six if you like, but I actually find that's a little TOO fast and you can end up flying around a corner and into a bad situation. I prefer to move with a little more deliberate caution. With a five-slotted hover you'll be able to dart in and out of melee range to take advantage of Bone Smasher. You'll also be able to leave it on at all times. Black December is somewhat unique in that he never touches the ground. On team missions this makes him stand out a bit which I find to be a fun aspect of his character.
FLY (FLIGHT POOL). The slowest travel power in the game but I took it for purely conceptual reasons. Superspeed would be FAR more efficient. Although, since we're not talking Stealth (to maintain our combat mobility) it helps to be able to fly above the landscape and out of harm's way. Slot it with one endurance reducer so you can land still at full endurance as it's a very endurance heavy power. One you have 6-slotted stamina you can swap it out for a flight speed enhancer.
(NOTE: Logitech makes a great mouse with a lower leftside button that you can click with your thumb. Until you get hover slotted up for speed, this button makes toggling back and forth between hover and fly a breeze with a relatively simply hover/fly bind. It also makes hasty exits a bit less awkward.)
HASTEN (SPEED POOL). By now you know the benefits of Hasten. 5% defense (which PB again doubles) and the ability to cycle through your powers like mad. Some ice blasters will tell you that you don't need it, but the ice assassin does. Six-slot it with recharges for permahasten, combine it with Conserve Power and you're basically an ice machine gun.
COMBAT JUMPING (LEAPING POOL): 5% defense (which PB doubles) and some minor status resistances that does not negatively impact your mobility the way Stealth does and with a negligible endurance cost. Slot it with one endurance reducer and you can leave it all pretty much all the time and it won't cost you a thing.
HURDLE/HEALTH/STAMINA (FITNESS POOL). You all know the drill here. A blaster with 6-slotted stamina is a happy blaster. Try to take it no later than level 22.
One final note about the APPs. As Ice/Energy I find that you can take either Cold Mastery or Force Mastery and it fits very well with the build from a conceptual standpoint. Which is best for you is really up to your playing style. My recommendation, however, would be Cold Mastery as Power Boost enhances the powers in this particular APP very nicely.
That's essentially it. This is a very specific build designed a very specific way and is certainly not for everyone. But if you want to do missions on the Invincible setting with relative ease and be the person on your team whose job it is to take on the BIG MAN, this build is designed to enable you to do exactly that. Basically it takes the boss killing bragging rights away from scrappers as you'll be able to do it faster AND without the boss so much as touching you.
The last thing I'll post is at what level I took each power:
1) Ice Bolt
1) Power Thrust
2) Ice Blast
4) Build Up
6) Hasten
8) Frost Breath
10) Aim
12) Hover
14) Fly
16) Freeze Ray
18) Hurdle
20) Health
22) Stamina
24) Bitter Ice Blast
26) Combat Jumping
28) Power Boost
30) Conserve Power
32) Bitter Freeze Ray
35) Bone Smasher
38) Boost Range
41) APPs
If PVP is your thing, Id suggest a slightly altered build:
1) Ice Bolt
1) Power Thrust
2) Ice Blast
4) Build Up
6) Hasten
8) Frost Breath
10) Aim
12) Hover
14) Fly
16) Energy Punch
18) Hurdle
20) Health
22) Stamina
24) Bitter Ice Blast
26) Combat Jumping
28) Power Boost
30) Conserve Power
32) Bitter Freeze Ray
35) Bone Smasher
38) Total Focus
41) APPs
Essentially here, all I did was swap out Frost Breath and Boost Range (great PVE powers) for Energy Punch and Total Focus, for extra damage and toggle dropping ability.
Thats it. Its not THE most comprehensive guide every written but who has time to read an entire novel on how to build a good blaster? If this guide can help even one new blaster, well, then thats not very many is it? But heres the guide anyway. Enjoy.
(One FINAL final note...some of those defense #s for Combat Jumping, Hover, etc. will be off come Issue 5. They're being reduced but it remains to be seen by just how much.)
First, to the guy that wrote the definitive Ice/Eng guide and made MANY Blasters much more effective: welcome back!