Mesmer

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And that range enhancer you've put in Firebreath... I'm not entirely sure if this is worth it, I forget which schedule Range enhancements are. You might be better off with a recharge or endrdx.

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It's actually very good to put a range slot on cone attacks, because the longer the cone becomes, the wider it also becomes, making it possible to hit more mobs with it.

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I have to say though, that while I find fire manipulation to be poor, Ice manipulation I find exceptionally versatile, with something to offer for both team and solo play. Although the set has some weaker powers I find shiver and ice patch, then later freezing touch, really make up for that. Realistically with the level of control the set gives, you just couldn’t give the mele attacks the same oomph as the elec or energy ones, or it’d be seriously overpowered. The only change that I’d like to see to ice manipulation is the addition of some sort of endurance recovery power. Generally I find it a very enjoyable set to play.

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Ice secondary is very good, but I do think it's low on damage. The added slowing abilities gives is good control options, but I still think the best option for control is pure damage. With the longer animation time of both Frozen Fist and Ice Sword, compared to similar level attacks in the NRG set, it's simply lacking. NRG hits much harder and faster.

So I would like improved damage on the melee attacks in Ice, especially concerning they only get 2 of them, unlike Electric and Energy.

Also, the final power in Ice secondary sucks. Something more useful would be nice there.

I do like Chilling Embrace though. It's a bit of a weird power for a blaster, because the of aggro it attracts, but it's a very useful PVP power as the -recharge is very powerful when going up against multiple opponents. A lot of people won't be able to escape it and they will have a lot of difficulty getting off any attacks.

Powerblast at lv 22? I'd take that before Powerbolt.

I'd slot combat jumping with jump height for unsurpressed vertical movement during combat. It's a waste of slots to slot it for defence as the base value is so low.

3 slots on Superjump? A bit overkill perhaps? I've never seen the need for more than 1, especially considering you're slotting hurdle already. Same goes for Superspeed. With slotted Swift your already at the run speed cap with one slot on SS, the second slot adds nothing.

Why take stealth? A concept thing maybe? With Superspeed you don't really need it in PVE and in PVP it's not that useful. If your gonna take it, better slot it with end reduc instead, because the defense is basically nothing.

Grant invis is a good power, but it's very very end heavy. Better slot it with end reductions as the recharge is already minimal.

I'd also slot both Total Focus and Bone smasher with End reducs as those tend to drain quite a bit of endurance.

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Yeah, PFF is a real bugger to hit through. I was teamed with a Fire/NRG blaster, he popped Aim + BU (not sure of his slotting), had fortitude (3 slotted with ToHitBuff), and tactics (also 3 slotted)...and still missed more often than not!

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My aim and build up both have 2 slots of tohit on them. I'm looking to increase that a bit more though, if i can find the spare slots. PFF can be a real pain indeed when it's slotted properly.

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KB has it's uses; but it doesn't work on Aerial foes; doesn't toggle drop and doesn't stop powers being queued.

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It might not stop powers from being queued, but it sure does stop them from being triggered, which gives you a big advantage. I always try to get a knockback in my attack chain, because I can always follow it up with at least 2 more attacks before the target is back on it's feet and attacking back.

Also, I don't completely agree that PVP builds nuke your PVE game. At least not for blasters. Both my blasters are PVP built and they kick serious [censored] in PVE as well. It's just how you tend to play them. To me PVE is like PVP with really stupid enemies.

I agree with the roleplaying comment you made though. I personally don't see high concept Roleplay characters being effective in PVP, unless maybe their concept is being kick [censored] in PVP . The same can be said for roleplaying characters in PVE though.

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Well, yes... Scrappers are 'Boss Killers' so a competent Scrapper should be able to decimate any AT in fair, close range 1 on 1. That's their original vision. Blasters have range for a reason.

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Disagree a bit. Scrappers shouldn't be able to kill Tanks in melee 1 v 1. Well they might be able to, but it will take forever. And a competent scrapper can still kill a blaster in melee range, but i really have to emphasize the word competent here(and maybe put an exclamation mark behind it or something).

I do agree a little bit on the range issue you bring up. I do think Blaster have an advantage in range, but i also think that that range is basically nullified by the damage of our ranged attacks after ED. Toggle dropping was always important, but now it's basically impossible to do any lasting damage without dropping toggles first. So a bit more ranged damage would be nice.

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So why not Power boost (to double the effectiveness of the buffs)

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Because that doesn't work. Powerboost boosts "special", which are also referred to secondary effects. This does not apply to the damage buff of aim and build up. It does however buff things like aid self, run speed, fly speed, slowing effects, knockback, hold duration etc... . It's a bit confusing as to what it exactly buffs sometimes, but it defenitely does not buff the damage increase on aim+build up.

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Had a thought on defiance which will obviously never get implemented but would be quite nice to actually make it worth it - and should also give you the impression it is doing something.
So what i suggest is:
The damage should start scaling earlier. (more than likely been suggested before but couldn't be rsed to look)

90% health - 10% increase
80% - 20%
70% - 30%
60% - 40%
50% - 50%
40% - 100%
30% - 200%
20% - 300%
10% - 400%
01% - 500%

The defiance bar should gradually increase as you start taking damage and the health bar drops. The first major increase is at a point when 3 even level minions will possibly drop you. It should also help with the current damage nerf blasters have had giving a bit more damage kingdom come.

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Looks good, but I'd probably do it a bit more like this:

90% health - 20% increase
80% - 40%
70% - 60%
60% - 80%
50% - 100%
40% - 150%
30% - 200%
20% - 300%
10% - 400%
01% - 500%

Also, this is just talking about the damage increase. Defiance also buffs both accuracy and secondary effect. Those should probably scale a bit less as +500% accuracy might be a bit overpowered

In my experience Chilling Embrace drops hide as well, as well as totally nuking the oppositions recharge. I wouldn't take it for just interrupting AS though. Chilling Embrace is a melee range power and as long as your in melee range, you might as well do some damage with Frozen Fists and Ice Sword. Good for toggle dropping.

I wouldn't take Electric Primary with Ice secondary though. Electric Primary lacks the damage of other pools and you can't stack effects with it, like you could do if you have a similar primary/secondary, like Ice/Ice or elec/elec.

If you plan on taking Ice secondary, i suggest taking either the Ice primary, for stacking slow effects and good ranged damage, or Fire primary for pure damage.

I'd replace it with *gasp* Defiance, but make it scale proportionally, unlike now. That way it would actually be of some help to the blaster, especially to the */devices players who don't get build up.

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...that said I will do all I can to ensure I do not cause the player debt, I have `saved` many players from debt by ASing them before the NPCs kill them

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You sir, are a saint among men. May small children sing songs praising you

that would be a very welcome addition to any base in my opinion. It would be ever better if it didn't actually charge those ridiculous prices the regular Icon does.

Anything really, but if there are a lot of pets around I tend to take out MM's first because they screw up my targeting. I also like Brutes because they think they can stand and take my damage(litte tip: you can't). Stalkers tend to run at the first sign of trouble, so I don't spend too much time on them, unless I see one about to AS a teammember.

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Annnnnnnd... Stun is an integral part of a toggle dropping build.

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Stun isn't any more important than any other mezzing power. If you want something to combine toggle dropping with, I'd suggest using the knockdown more, as it's unresistable by inspirations and clear mind etc... unlike stun. And again, it's more fun seeing people fly all over the place

yeah, i'd have another look at the order in which you pick things. Even though you're an Electric blaster going without stamina for so long is not a good idea. I'd only take a no stamina build if I had both Electric Primary and Secondary.

I'd skip both conserve power and stun, because you really don't need them. You've got plenty of stunning potential already and you've got a hold as well. As for conserve power, the recharge is too long to be of any use. Try Short Circuit instead, that seems a lot more fun(yes, fun is important as well ) to me and if you use it with powerboost, you've got some serious draining potential.

Looks good. If you can spare some slots, I'd slot at least one tohit buff on both aim and build up. That way you can cycle them for added accuracy and stack them if you're ever debuffed or need to hit through very high defense buffs. For PVP though, you don't need this for PVE.

Also, slot sprint intead of swift

I'd slot both Ice blast and Energy punch for 2 acc and one recharge. The recharge on those is fast enough already, and you could always be more accurate, especially in PVP.

Defenitely slot freeze ray with more holds. I'd probably go 2 acc, 2 hold, one recharge and one end reduc. You don't need uber long hold time, because you'll be killing fast, but if you plan on dropping a hold before dropping toggles, the extra duration will be helpful. Powerboost will be good to use here as well.

I'd put one end reduction on both Bone Smasher and Bitter Ice blast as they can be a bit end draining when used often.

It would be better to put the 2 slots on swift on sprint instead, because sprint actually gives a better speed boost that swift, even at lv 50. Also it's nice because you can turn it of an on, so you won't be shooting by everything as much, because of 3 slotted swift.

The same goes for combat jumping really. CJ mostly adds height to your jump, while Hurdle is more about forward momentum. I'd probably not slot both of those so heavily.

Forget stun, you've got 2 holds already. Also, Total Focus is a high mag stun, while both energy punch and Bone smasher have a chance of stun. You don't need this.

I'd be more useful to slot Powerthrust a bit more as it's like a mini hold already. Just put 2 acc and a recharge on it and you'll be knocking people all over the place. Good chance for a follow up with bonesmasher and Bitter Ice blast. Best of all, it's practically unresistable when toggledropped(unlike holds, which can be resisted with inspirations and buffs)

Bitter Freeze ray is your slow animation, but long duration hold. It's good as an openener. I'd suggest 3 hold duration, 2 range and an accuracy. You should be hitting stuff from fairly far away then, perfectly safe, even with the long animation time. Again, buffin this with powerboost is a good thing.

Frosth breath already has a fairly high accuracy, so you could probably skip the acc slot and put a range on it, making the cone bigger allowing for more hits. This is mostly a PVE power anyway, so I expect you to buff it with aim and build up before using it. It's not bad in PVP, just not great.

Blizzard has already been mentioned, you don't need acc on this, another recharge or a slow is better. Slow is probably the best choice as this power is very situational is won't be used that much anyway.

conserver power, i'm not sure if this is good anymore. You have 10 minute recharge for a 60 second power?? That sounds like a glorified accolade power to me. It's occasionally handy in PVE, but in PVP you can do without it.

Defenitely put an end reduction on total focus.

I see you've chosen the Ice Epic, which I personally like. I wouldn't take Flash Freeze though. I don't see the point of taking a sleep power, unless your a controller(who gain containment damage from it). I'd pick Snow Storm instead, as it's a fantastic slow and sure to [censored] of any team that is effected by it.

Frozen armour might be good, i'm not sure at the moment. I think defense might benefit a blaster more than resistance, as not getting hit is always better than getting hit for less damage. It kinda depends if defense buffs can be buffed by powerboost, like some people say. If it does, than it's a great power to have, especially considering that Defiance also has a similar effect as powerboost(+damage, +acc, +special). If this is true, then you can boost your defense by 100% with powerboost and another 100% with full Defiance. Then again, it all depends if the defense is boostable, of which i'm not sure. Either way, i'd only slot it with 3 defense and maybe one end reduc, forget the resistance.

I have never tried Hibernate, but I am interested by it. Might be cool to try sometimes with a respec.

forget Icebolt. Too low damage to do any good whatsoever. Don't put any slots on it, don't pick it at all.

Last, but not least. Put 3 recharge on Powerboost, it's a very critical power, especially for the Ice/Energy build.

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Short Answer: Frozen Aura

Edit: Longer answer now I have a bit more time:

Can only speak for ice. Many of the secondaries for my play style, in pve, are close to useless. If I played more pvp or blapper style I could see them being fairly useful. In my own build I left out frozen fists, chiling embrace, shiver and frozen aura.

Frozen Aura I think is total [censored] in any circumstances. I tried it on test just to be sure, slotted with 6 accuracy SO's, all green (this is pre ED). I found a mob of minions who where -10/15 to my lvl. I missed about three quarters of the mob, maybe more. This wasn't sometimes but every time.

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Agreed.

Note to cryptic: Sleeps suck on anything but a troller. Ice blasters are still not trollers. Give us something better already. There are some damn good powers in Ice primary and secondary, it's a shame that there are some really [censored] ones in there as well.

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Start with Freeze Ray, it's faster and it doesn't ground you for like 3 seconds.

As a matter of fact just don't bother with Bitter Freeze Ray.

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Bitter Freeze ray has much longer duration and better range. The animation isn't an issue if you use it as an opener, which is how I use it. Once in the fight it's freeze ray all the way though... and frozen touch, if you have that.

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my blaster is ice/ice

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Start with Bitter Freeze ray from range, then run in and use Ice Sword and Frozen Fists. This should drop all their toggles, including the mez protection one, making the Brute vulnerable to the hold you started out with.

Then hit aim and build up and start spamming the Ice Blast, Bitter Ice Blast, Ice sword combo. Drop a freeze ray every couple of hits to keep the Brute held. It shouldn't take long to take them down then.

If the Brute is smart and has brought some Break Free's, then I suggest using your slowing powers a bit more. Chilling Embrace is a nice tactic as it nukes their recharge, meaning that they will have trouble getting their toggles up after you knocked them off. It will also stop them from running away to fast.

If you're particularly cruel and have the time for it, try dropping an Ice patch after you've toggle dropped them. It should be fun seeing them fall down over and over.

ps. Brutes are my favorite PVP target, when I'm playing on one of my Blasters

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PvP is nothing but a bit of occassional and casual fun, except in this instance it wasn't and I left - without complaining I might add, but similarly with him refusing to acknowledge my broadcasts.

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Villains and heroes can't see each others broadcast messages by default. It's something that has to be activated in the settings. So either the Stalker didn't have it activated, or you don't have it activated, so you can't see the reply. It's very likely that this is the case and the person wasn't ignoring your broadcast messages purposely.

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This is simply reiterating events. I don't want to hear "oh it's a PvP zone, says so in big red letters, you gotta expect that kinda thing."
Like that makes it all alright.

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There's more to it really. You doing missions, or fighting hotspot fights actually puts the villains side at a disadvantage. So it's in their best interest to stop you at all costs, even if this just means distracting you from whatever it is you are doing. Anything goes really. Even boring you to death, but pointless attacks .

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I think my point is simply this; if it's obvious the other person can't beat you and when you've proven this, give them some peace and TELL them you're giving them some peace.

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Both my previous comments apply here really. Also, i just want to add that nothing is sweeter than finally defeating that unbeatable foe in PVP. It makes all those previous deaths worth it. I expect a lot of people to feel that way, so I don't expect anyone to just give up and even send someone a tell, informing them that they won't attack you anymore. It just doesn't work that way. It would be like a Counterstrike player saying "Please mister terrorist, i can't beat you anyway. Just go ahead a plant those bombs all you want. I'll even lend you my screwdriver"( Are CS references allowed on this board? )

The fact that you bring up that you had 4 scrappers on your team trying to take down the Brute is the problem. Level does not matter as much as you think. Tactics do. Scrappers will not win you a PVP fight, especially against a Brute.

The key thing is toggle droppers. You have to remove the Brute's defenses before you can do proper damage to them. So that means Blasters. Did your blasters even try to melee attack her? I find most defense based AT's, like Brutes, Tanks and Scrappers very simple to defeat after their toggles have been dropped. Most of them don't even notice either, since they're so used to playing PVE.

I've gone 1 on 1 with the Brute you are talking about on both of my blasters(one of which is not lv 50) in both Warburg and Siren's Call and I've never had much trouble with her. After I toggle drop, she either dies or runs away really quickly.

ps. I'm not saying Lady Fuya is easy to defeat, he/she is a good player as well. I just think that you need proper tactics to take down specific AT's. Always check the AT of the person you are fighting.

pps. The PVP accuracy nerf sucks bit time, I think that's one of the other problems you seemed to be having during this fight. That was a very big mistake made by the devs IMO.

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You'll miss a lot more in PvP because the base accuracy for all powers is reduced to 50% iirc. This was done because it was too easy to kill Ice tanks and Super Reflexes scrappers.

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Damn those Ice Tanks and SR scrappers. They ruined it for everyone!! Nerf Ice Tanks and SR scrapper!!

Seriously though, the original poster makes a very good point. With the 50% nerf anyone slotting with DO's, like some of the people in Bloody Bay, stand no chance whatsoever. This will completely put off anyone just starting out to play the game, or just trying out PVP for the first time. Nobody likes to miss 5 times out of 10 and I think it just kills the fun of a PVP fight. This fix was not needed.

ps. can someone please point me to the actual thread or patch notes that make note of this nerf? I'd like to see the reasoning behind it.

Sounds like a good idea, but to make it more interesting, I'd prefer to be TP's to a villain or hero type containment facility that I have to be either rescued from, or can escape from. Much more fun that way.

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50% now to hit in pvp, so it should work better now than in S4

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When exactly was this implemented as I've never seen it in any of the patch notes. I was just wondering if it was implemented before or after the actual S4 final.

Also, this "fix" to accuracy is about the worst idea implemented into PVP so far. This makes acc debuffs like the ones from the Dark Miasma set ridiculously overpowered and basically cripples everyones build once again. Now we'll have to slot 2 accuracy enhancments to make up for the loss, which actually limits us the number of choices for slotting. Right now 2 acc and 3 damage enhancements seem like the standard PVP slotting. Not very "diverse" now is it?

Also, the lower level villains, who are still slotted with DO's are getting absolutly destroyed by something like this. How does this help new players just starting to play the game? The have no trouble hitting stuff in PVE, but can't hit [censored] in PVP, how is that logical?

I feel like this is some weird way to fix some of the defense based powersets, without actually giving them a boost in base values, like they should have. A PVP fight with everyone missing all the time is really not much fun. Just imagine all the fun, after I pop 2 lucks on my blaster , hit aim and build up and solo an entire 8 man team of DO slotted villains in Bloody Bay. I'm sure many petitions will be sent out after something like that.

Frostblaze lv 50 Ice/Ice/Ice Blastroller
Captain Napalm lv 34 Fire/Energy Blapper
Hornet Girl lv 19 Energy/Energy Blapper
@Mesmer

You can contact me with any questions about Ice primary/secondary or the Fire primary pools. Haven't leveled enough yet to know all about the Energy Primary or secondary pools, but I do know the lower level powers in those.