Eye of the Storm, The Not-So-Definitive guide to Ice / Storm controllers.
When I reached Hero of the City on my first character, I found myself reflecting back on her career. She was my first controller and my favorite one. It was a long road. I created Snowlily in Issue 2; played her off and on through out her teens and early twenties. I respecd her, re-slotted her; even re-rolled her once when she was 16. At times it was very frustrating. I kept coming back though. Above everything else, playing her was some of the best fun I had in City of Heroes, and it took me a long time to put my finger on why that was.
This guide is meant to be an insight into the powerset combination that is Ice Primary, and Storm secondary. I realize there are good guides out there for both already. This guide is not meant or intended to detract from them. Indeed, read them. Read controller guides for Ice, read defender guides for Storm. The more you study this set, the more depth you realize it has. Ice/storm is truly a toolbox character. You have a tool for almost every job, and the mark of a truly great player, in my opinion, is the ability to quickly recognize what tool you need, and apply it in the manner that best benefits you and your team.
I want to take a moment here and emphasize one point before I go on. In the last paragraph I said, You and your team. I feel that this is a team powerset. You will get the most out of this type of character playing in a team setting. Not necessarily a full eight man team. I, in fact, prefer four and five man teams to be honest. But it is very difficult to solo (though by
no means impossible) with ice/storm, before Jack, Tornado, and Lightning Storm. More on that later, but I just want to clarify that here at the beginning.
At the end of this guide, Ill post my own build. It may or not be useful to you, as its a respec build; the one that carried me through my mid forties to fifty. I do try to be as backwards compatible with power selection as possible, in case I find myself exemplaring, but I was less careful with slotting. What Id rather do instead is go over each power in the set, offer my thoughts on it, possible slotting, and ways I use it. After that, Ill offer a tactics session in which Ill try to cover as many situations where various power combinations can be applied to mitigate as much incoming damage to you and your team as possible. Ill also try to cover how to apply your strengths around other controllers. We (controllers) seem to be fairly common now, and knowing how to play nice with other controllers is something I think ice in particular finds difficult sometimes. Ive logged over 300 hours on Snowlily, and in my opinion, the best thing an ice controller can do is learn how not be the only controller on the team.
This guide assumes that you understand the difference between holds and immobilizes; movement slows and recharge reducers. Also, I am not always going to go into extreme detail about what each power does, or the numbers behind it. Frankly, numbers can change; and the only thing new I can add to a powers section, is my own opinion of them.
One last thing before I delve into the rest of the guide. This guide is
not short. If you cant tell already, I am a wordy person. I like long thoughtful posts that are unhurried. If you are looking for a How do I build Ice/Storm to dominate!!! or a Quick and Dirty guide to Ice/Storm this is not the guide for you. This is a long thoughtful look at a complex and powerful set. You have been warned; now please dont complain about the length.
Seriously. Its very long.
Ice Control
Chilblain
Your first power: your single target Immobilize. I would take this power first, if for no other reason than its your best source of low endurance damage for several early levels. I would not however, put more than one more additional slot in it for some time. Probably a second accuracy while you are still in trainings and DOs. Perhaps a recharge and an accuracy when you hit SOs. This power remains useful throughout your career, but after tenth or so it is no longer the workhorse it starts out as. Its handy for when Frostbite misses someone in a group, or you get a runner, or any other time you want a foe planted in place without spending a lot of time or endurance on them. Personally, this power found its way in and out of my respecs and Ive finally left it in. When I dont have it, I want it. When I have it, I always find times where I can use it.
Block of Ice
Your ranged single target hold. It does decent damage, and is the way you solo bosses and lieutenants for quite some time. Its slow to recharge in the beginning. I recommend getting it to five slots quickly. Two accuracies, two recharge and one hold duration I think is optimum. I can keep two things held without stress easily with this slotting, or one boss with room for error. This power is better than a heal in most cases for saving soft ATs in a pinch. The defender pull agro on an orange lieutenant? Block it up, and give the defender some breathing room. Blaster on the run? Hold a couple of his pursuers and his day got a whole lot easier. As your storm powers develop this power will see slightly less use, as you get into teams that are taking on more and more foes. But always get it, never respect out of it, and keep at minimum of three slots in it. This is one you want two accuracies in. Not because it has a hard time hitting, but because the times you most want it to land, are on foe who are very tough, and a few levels higher than you.
Frostbite
This is the first power you can skip until later. This power needs some of your storm powers to really shine. However, taking it after you have Block of ice and Chilblain is acceptable. Just be aware its not going to see a lot of use after you pick up Ice slick, until much later in your career. With that in mind, no more than three slots to start. This power needs two accuracies, and at this pre-stamina point in your life, an endurance reducer is probably a good idea too. This is one of those situational powers Ill cover in more depth in the Tactics section.
Artic Air
This power is a love it or leave it power. Its a power that seems to do a lot, but really isnt that good at any of them. That doesnt mean its not a good power though! The very fact it is doing several things at once can be turned to your advantage. What it does, is slow the movement and recharge of any foe in its area. In addition to that, it has a confuse pulse. Like Caltrops, or a rain power, it also scatters foes as they try to run out of its effect. This power, when applied in a deliberate fashion, is a very good damage mitigator. Ill cover this power more in the Tactics section Shiver vs. Artic Air. As far as slotting, if youre going to take this power, do yourself a favor and give it three endurance reductions. If you can spare the slots, two confuse enhancers will make the confusion effect much more noticeable. The Slow factor is very good already right out of the box, and wont benefit from more than one Slow.
Shiver
Shiver is a very wide cone that has a hefty movement slow and recharge reduction. Thats it. However, it is so good at both of those, that combined with almost any other power that does one of those, that it will come very close to flooring that effect. Shiver is most useful when fighting very difficult foes that will take a long time to defeat: Archvillians, deep red and purple bosses and elite bosses. Using this power on blue minions, which your blaster friend is going to drop with one built up fireball is a waste of endurance. Ill cover a bit more in Shiver vs. Artic Air in the tactics section. For slotting, a single accuracy, and perhaps a range enhancement is really all you need if you run Hasten. If not, a single recharge reducer with the accuracy is plenty.
Ice Slick
Here it is, the power that made you (presumably) want to play an ice controller in the first place; a nice wide patch of ice that knocks down everything but very tough foes. Its not
quite as effective as it once was, however thats no reason not to take it. Its still devastatingly effective for a long time, and the best source of damage mitigation you bring to the table for an equally long time. Triple recharge reducers and a range enhancement are highly recommended: As well as a lot of practice in laying it down. This power does not require Line of Sight to use. Which means it is one of the few ways you have (one of the few ways in the game in fact, short of an AOE hold) of mitigating the alpha strike before it happens. Used from around a doorway, or around a corner on the main group of foes, then let the tanker jump in an gather agro, he can now do so without having to take the often deadly first strike that such a large number of foes would have (early in the game anyway, later in the game most tankers live for alpha strikes, its the only time they see their health bar move.) More in tactics, as this is such an important power for you, do not skip it, do not wait to give it its four slots, and do not respec out of it.
Flash freeze
A sleep power, which I ordinarily would not mind; I like sleeps. What I dont like, is having to be in the middle of a group of foes who are awake in order to put them to sleep. This power is not ranged, it requires you to be in the center of the area you wish to effect. Ive never taken this power, and Ive never found myself wishing for it.
Edit: Apparently I was mistaken, this is not a pbaoe, it is ranged. Either way. with so many other great powers, I've never missed this one. ymmv of course.
Glacier
Ah, Glacier, our area of effect hold. We waited so long for it! And, Wow, is it disappointing. Short duration, long
long refresh timer, and again, point blank area of effect. And you have to be on the ground. I had this power a long time and tried to figure out a way to make it work. Throughout my thirties, I had it slotted with two accuracies and three hold durations. My thinking was to make it an emergency power. That I didnt need to use it very often, but when I did, damnit, I wanted it to work well! It ended up sitting on my tray, unused for several levels. I respecd out of it and have never missed it. Yes, gasp, Im a controller without an aoe hold. No group has ever asked me about it, or asked me to use it. Its really just fluff in my opinion, left over from a time when all controllers were expected to do was hold things still for their team mates to beat on.
Jack Frost
Your pet, your friend, your silent companion in those long dark missions you end up soloing. He gets five slots, two accuracies and three damage. ASAP. Now.
On behalf of my faithful friend, I offer you a few words on what Jack is
not: Jack is not fire imps. Hes not going to suddenly make you a soloing god. He is not going to replace real live teammates, and he is not going to tank elite bosses for you without a considerable amount of help from you. Jack
is a fantastic pet, and I wouldnt trade him for any other controller pet out there. Jack is a nice source of damage when soloing. Hes another target besides you for foes to shoot at (thats important!) while soloing. He has a decent hold that he is not shy about using. Jack is not hard to get into melee range, where he has a couple of really heavy damage attacks that have far more front loaded damage than anything you can generate. Jack is your
assistant; he is not your replacement. Jack has his own section in tactics, like the rest of our really important powers.
Storm Summoning
Before I get into the storm set. I want to say a few words to my storm defender brethren. First, Im sorry. Im sorry that in many cases, the set works better for me than you. They arent my design decisions, but Im certainly going to take advantage of them. Second, Thank you. Watching good storm defenders (not controllers who had storm secondary) is how I learned what a gold mine of a set I had stumbled upon. A well played storm defender is a true asset to a team and something awe inspiring to witness. Im sorry for all the times you get skipped over by ignorant players who think they want a real defender set, with heals, rezs and buffs. They dont know what they are missing out on.
If Ice Control is the tool box, then Storm Summoning in the power house. Applied properly, there are few ways to gain such geometric gains in your ability to control the flow and tide of battle. Storm Summoning is
powerful all by itself. Combined with the hard controls of ice, it will make you a god among mortal foes. The wrath of the heavens set loose upon the sins of mankind.
On to the powers.
Gale
You have to take it, but do not bemoan this humble power! While it never needs more than its single free slot, it is useful for positioning. Sweeping up stragglers onto the pile that is your tanker; knocking runners back into your debuffs; and is the yet one more way of telling the enemy No, you cant come over here. This is my ground. It takes more finesse than you might think to angle foes just so to get them where you want. Some practice on grey foes might be worth your time.
O2 boost
A single target heal, that you can not use on yourself. It also has a nice, though short lived, secondary effect of breaking sleep and adding resistance too it. In the teens, fighting Lost, Clockwork and Circle of thorns, your companions will cry for this again and again once they realize you have it. It is not a fantastic heal however, and it wont make you a healer. So dont rely on it for that! As Ice/storm, damage mitigation is your game, not healing. Slot it with enough heals to make you feel comfortable and an endurance reducer. Put it in a convenient slot in your tray and remember to watch for snoozing teammates. Itll save a soft AT from immediate death, but it wont keep them alive with a mob of foes on them.
Snow Storm
This power is useful though out your career, but doesnt really come into its own until you are fighting tough foes that take a while to defeat, just like shiver. You can put this off until later if you must, but youll want it by the time you hit the Archvillian runs in your forties. Slot it with a couple endurance reducers and not worry about more.
Steaming Mist
Take. This. Power. Slot it quickly with three endurance reducers. Turn it on when you log in, and never turn it off unless youre hanging out in Pocket D. It gives you a minor stealth effect (meaning it reduces the range at which foes see you, but does not make you invisible) adds a noticeable defense boost, and gives a very good bonus to fire, cold, and energy resistance. Good enough that youll see an immediate reduction in the amount you take from those three types even without slotting it. Even better, this affects all team mates around you for 20 feet. Jack too. I would hazard to guess this probably maxes out Jacks cold resistance when slotted. In the late thirties and forties, when you have some extra slots, it wouldnt hurt to finish this one out with three more and get the full benefits of the damage resistance. Combined with the armor from your epic pool, it will give you noticeable and substantial (for a controller) defense against most damage types.
Freezing Rain
A rain power, that slows, knocks down, debuffs damage resistance
and defense, and sends foes running to get out from underneath it. Whats not to like? Take it as soon as you can and slot it with recharge reduction. Important note: with three SO recharge reductions in each, it is possible with good timing to keep Ice Slick and Freezing rain alternating so that you have a constant slippery patch. Its a skill worth practicing. I prefer it for its debuffs rather than its knock down, however and often drop both, or just Rain. Its damage is negligible and not worth slotting.
Hurricane
Another love it or hate it power. Range reduction, accuracy reduction, and a tremendous knock back. It takes a lot of practice and finesse, however to use this power to its full potential and not just fling foes all over the place. Immobilizes and holds will
not save foes from being moved by hurricane! Even if under the ten seconds of knock back protection your immobilizations and holds provide, foes will scoot along the ground, pushed away by the hurricane. With a corner, and/or some terrain obstructions however, this power is exceptionally powerful. With its accuracy debuffing slotted up, you can lower their To Hit by almost 40%! Combined with your other numerous knockdown powers, you can keep very tough foes (though not archvillians, who tend to be immune to it) locked in a corner, unable to do anything but helplessly be flung about. More about Hurricane in the Tactics section.
Thunder clap
Every power set has its stinkers, and Thunder Clap is Storms I guess. I tried for a long time to like this power. I tried various slotting methods, and nothing seemed to make it worth the weak magnitude and long animation time. I tried, I really did. I just couldnt make it worth the power and slots. Some people swear by it though, so your mileage may vary. You might want to try it for yourself at some point. I, however, dislike it and it fell off my build in favor of things I personally, got more use out of.
Tornado
This power is unskippable. It is worth all six slots you should give it. It will also take you a long time to master and not make your team mates scream at you. Tornados use is involved enough that it too has its own section in tactics, so Ill only cover slotting here. Three damages, two recharges and an endurance reducer should do you just fine.
Lightning Storm
Summons a cloud that throws out lightning bolt cones at anything it and you can both see. The storm only shoots things that are in a certain radius of you. It actually has quite a long range though, so if you move away from the cloud, it will continue to shoot things from behind you. The bolts it fires are in a tight cone and have a hefty knock back component.
This is another power that gets six slots. I found one accuracy is all you really need, especially if you run Freezing Rain a lot. Two recharges allow you to have a cloud up whenever you like (but not two) if you run hasten, and with its huge endurance cost, I have mine slotted with three endurance reducers. This is generally the second or third power I activate in a given battle. Sometimes the first if I am setting up a pull too area.
Travel Powers and Pool Powers
Theme is always a factor when selecting travel powers for me. If I dont have a specific theme in mind, I generally default to Flight, as it is my favorite. However, when selecting a travel power, there are two additional things to consider: will you use anything else in the power pool; and when are you going to get it? With the addition of the police band missions, it is no longer necessary to pick up a travel power right at 14th. In fact I know several people, including myself, who put it off until the early twenties now, due to the safeguard mission rewards. It is certainly fine to do so, just know about when youd like to have it, so you can properly plan for it.
Flight
Flying is certainly thematically appropriate for Ice/Storm, especially storm. I would choose Air Superiority over Hover, as its a nice damage attack that benefits from containment; very useful in your early levels, and not bad in your later ones for single foes. Hover is also nice too, as it offers some knock back resistance and some defense. Flight is a good solid choice, and the one I made.
Speed
Hasten is nice. Especially once you pick up your longer refresh powers such as Lightning Storm and Tornado. It also makes keeping Ice Slick / Freezing rain patches constantly up very easy. Flurry is not as strong as Air superiority, and I wouldnt bother with it. Super Speed is very nice, and will stack with steaming mist to give almost total invisibility from foes. Speed is as solid of choice as flight really. I myself have Hasten from here in addition to Flight. Vertical movement is limited, but thats not as crippling Hero side as it is Villain side.
Teleportation
Recall friend is always nice, and teleportation is a fun travel power. But I never could make it work thematically, and never found room for it in my builds. I dont see teleportation being a particularly strong (or weak) choice for Ice/storm.
Leaping
Combat Jumping is nice for the Immobilization resistance. Super Jumping works ok thematically, especially if you see it as sort of ice surfing rather than jumping. Acrobatics is a nice toggle. Unless you see yourself always near the center of the pile of foes, however, its probably going to be tough to fit into your build. Its a decent choice for ice/storm, better than teleportation, but not as strong as flight or speed, in my opinion.
Medicine
The medicine pool could certainly fill a few holes in ice/storm. Namely a self heal and a Rez. However, Aid Other is roughly equal to O2 Boost, and O2 Boost gives nearly the same buff as Stimulate, so your first choice to break into the pool is kind of a waste in my opinion. Personally, I always just carry Awakens to pass out, and green inspirations for self heals.
Leadership
The leadership pool is a strong choice, Jack will defiantly benefit from Assault and Tactics. Not a bad choice if you want to go that route. I did for a while, but dropped them in favor of more powers from my primary and secondary sets.
Stamina (err, I mean the Fitness) Pool.
Stamina is probably one of those powers you arent going to want to skip. You have a lot of toggles in this power set, and keeping them all up
and having enough endurance to be a good controller is tough without Stamina. Its possible, though I wouldnt recommend it. Swift or hurdle by personal preference, Health, and then two additional slots for stamina. But then you already knew that.
Epic pools
Our Controller APPs recently took a hit damage wise, but they are by no means gimped. I myself have tried out three of them, so Ill offer my thoughts on those here.
Ice Mastery
Ice is certainly a good thematic fit. It has some nice powers, and was my first choice. Hibernation is very useful, especially due to the lack of a self heal in our set. Ice Armor adds good lethal and smashing defense, as well as giving us some nice defense to stack with the fire/cold resistance we get from steaming mist. Ice blast is ok single target damage with containment, but by this point, I think youll find you dont need it. Ice Storm now benefits from containment (supposedly), and is an ok choice for a 47th level power, as by now you probably have everything else you want anyway.
Fire Mastery
Ah, Fireball. It is ok; I recently tried it out during the last round of freespecs we just got. It was nice, but I didnt see what all the fuss was about; my soloing was only slightly faster than before. On a team, I found if I was busy worrying about setting up contained fireballs, I was ignoring other aspects of my controlling. Personally I have enough to do without worrying about blowing stuff up too. Fire Shield adds nice resistances and Consume can be handy, though I never got that far with it. No one is going to fault you for this choice, and can make the tedious soloing in the forties a little less so.
Psionic
This is the APP I finally settled with for myself. Indomitable Will is very handy. With Hasten and three SO reductions there is only about a minute or so you dont have access to it. It makes fighting Carnies, Rikti, and anyone else who sleeps and mezs much less of a pain. (And there are a lot of them in the forties) Mind over Body compliments Steaming Mist greatly. In fact with the two, Toxic damage and Dark energy are the only damage types you dont have any resistance to.
The other two have their strong points and their weak points. I cant comment too much on them as I never tried them out personally I suggest finding some one with personal experience with them post damage adjustment and gathering their opinion.
That covers your power choices. If this is not the first guide youve read, it was probably all review though. Hopefully you took away something new. Now, however, is when I am going to cover some of the better combinations within the powerset and offer some strategies for getting more out of Ice/Storms synergy.
Tactics
Everyone and everybody who has even briefly looked at Ice/Storm have gone, Wow Ice slick + Freezing Rain = Lock down! and... Its not
quite true, though it is very close on equal level minions and lieutenants. It is such an easy combo to pull off, that I am hardly going to bother with it besides mentioning it here. However, that is only one of the many combinations available too you as a weather manipulator.
First, two important points. Storm and Ice, both rely to some extent on knocking things back and down for soft control. Controversially, Ice holds and immobilizes have approximately ten seconds of knock back protection attached to them. Meaning when you drop that Ice slick under a group of foes, and then Frostbite them, they are going to ignore your ice slick as if it wasnt there; you just gave them protection from it. Also, Fire controllers and Earth controllers both also have this same attachment to their immobilizations and holds; which often times leads to some controversy within groups, as two controllers battle over which style of control is used. I must admit, in my early days, before I understood the versatility of my set, I was guilty of myself. I tore into more than one hapless earth controllers for stone caging my ice slicked group, or fire controllers for virtually ignoring my existence altogether.
Now that I am older and wiser, I say Phooey to all that rubbish! I am a manipulator of the very weather! I use my weaknesses as strengths and my team benefits from it.
One of the problems storm defenders face when trying to unload the full fury of their powers is a tendency to, well, scatter foes to hell and gone. Not generally a problem in indoor missions when they have a room in which they can unleash the forces of nature within and keep the foes inside with them; but on outdoor maps, where blowing foes away with hundred mile an hour winds smack dab into another group of foes is, shall we say, a tad dangerous at times. Fortunately, as an Ice Controller, you have the power to keep those bad guys nailed firmly to the ground, unable to escape the awesome power of your storm debuffs.
Pulling with Snow Storm
The team I find myself with most often is two or three others. A tanker who knocks back, a Peacebringer, and sometimes an Earth/Radiation controller Now at first glance to an ice controller, this team seems like an exercise in frustration, If you try to just ice slick and debuff, the tanker and peacebringer will knock your foes all over the place, the other controller with radiation cant unleash her abilities efficiently, nor can you. In this case, the Ice Slick / Freezing Rain combo thats brought you so far is less useful, though not entirely.
I am generally the puller (Gasp! You say, Not the Peacebringer? Or the tanker?) No, me. In fact, this pull works well for about any team willing to let you try it. It takes a little finesse, but is worth the practice.
Imagine you have a room with two groups of foes packed in fairly close. Charging in will get you both groups, which might be a bit more than your team can handle. Now, in almost every map that has rooms, there is a way to funnel the foes towards you, a corner, a doorway, a pillar, whatever. All you need is a way to break line of sight.
Target a foe on the edge of the closer group. You dont want one in the middle; you want one on the edge close to you. Lay down an Ice slick so that the leading edge of it is just brushing up the edge of your funnel point. This is your front line, so you want it far enough way that fighting at it will not agro the other group. Now, activate Snow storm. Now Snow Storm has about a second between the moment of agro, and the completion of the animation which lets you move again. You are going to use that moment to slide behind the Line of sight breaker you have selected (in this case, lets say its a corner, you are pulling from one hall, around the corner, to another section of hallway.) What you have just done, is done a sweep. Your Snow storm, once activated, does not require line of sight to stay toggled, it will grab the mob you anchored it too, and all of his friends, and they will run (slowly) around the corner to you and run into the edge of your ice slick. Now, they fall on their butts, realizing they have been ambushed. Your tanker, now taunts, which generates far more hate than your snow storm. Now, either you, or another controller drops an AOE immobilize on the now tightly bunched and funneled foes. And the two of you let loose with the debuffs. Freezing Rain, Quicksand, Rads debuffs (from the earth controller). Defense and damage resistance is now significantly lower, The peacebringer runs up and does her huge AOE attack (which they have a couple of) and it does insane amounts of damage due to the debuffs, with almost no danger of foes being knocked into the next group, due to the immobilizations. Clean up any stranglers and rinse and repeat as needed.
What you managed to do, in case it wasnt clear, was separate two close groups without an alpha strike from either group, no danger of accidentally agroing the second group while fighting the first, no runners, and no fear of your storm powers scattering the foes to hell and gone. This method works well for almost any kind of pulling you want to do.
Youll notice in this case, I wasnt using snow storm to debuff: frankly the foes wouldnt last long enough for it to be noticeable. I just wanted to safely agro a lot of them without exposing myself to an alpha strike. Nor was I using Ice slick to incapacitate foes while we fought them. I just wanted a nice neat stack for the Peacebringers area of effect. Since as soon as my pulls reached the front edge of it, they start tripping and falling down, they stack up nice and neat right on our funnel point. They were almost immediately immobilized after that, so the Ice Slick had done its job and its knock down was no longer needed. The tanker has agro, so the AOE immobilize is safe to use, a few second after that, the foes have been debuffed, and are dispatched by the peacebringer. This works for any kind of team. I found it works especially well in teams without a tanker. Since the alpha strike is greatly reduced, you dont need the bulky meat shield to soak it up for you. Its faster than single pulling, but nearly as safe.
Pulling with Lightning Storm
Another method that can be used is to let your Lightning Storm pull. Cast it on the edge of a corner and peek around as it zaps the nearest foe. Then run around and lay your ice slick so the leading edge is right on the edge of the corner (You can also do this first). Foes, angry at you for the lightning, will run around the corner into your ice patch and trip and fall. Debuff and dispatch. I often employ this method when soloing, or duoing with another soft AT. The cloud will tend to string out the foes, rather than them coming in a large clump, due to its knock back. This makes them easier to deal with.
Fun with Dorothy or Pulling with Tornado
(Yes, I named my Tornado, Dorothy
what?)
This is almost exclusively a soloing technique, but if you are duoing with a defender, or a blaster, it comes in handy sometimes for breaking up large groups into more manageable chunks. I wouldnt recommend doing it outside though. Basically the idea is to set loose your tornado into a group of foes, and let it do its thing while you concentrate on the tougher boss or elite boss (This is how I solo elite bosses as an ice/storm controller. I used this method with 100% success rate to solo the Baby Time missions, fighting Snaptooth on Rugged. The conditions were ideal. A red elite boss who could kill me in one or two blows, who was very difficult to hold, and always had friends in the room with him. But it was a contained room, with only one exit.)
Stepping into the room, I let loose tornado right at the bosses feet. Quickly, before they can retaliate I duck around the corner again, giving tornado a couple seconds to get their attention. While this is happening, I toggle on hurricane to defend me from melee, position, and debuff their accuracy and range. With hurricane on, and Jack now engaged in the fight as well, turning some of the attention to him, I rush back into the room and concentrate on the Elite boss. I run right up to him and use hurricane to fling him away. While hes recovering, I lay an Ice slick against the wall I aimed him at. I toggle on Snow Storm and run up to him again. My goal is to use the combined knock down/back of hurricane and ice slick to keep the boss busy while I turn my attention now to his friends.
Between Tornado and Jack, the friends of the boss are probably in a sorry state. I might toss Jack an O2 Boost if needed. Now more or less in the center of the room, I summon a Lightning Storm for further damage and knock back assistance. I assist Jack and the Tornado with dispatching the remaining friends, and turn my attention to the helpless Elite Boss bouncing in the corner of the room where I have him pinned.
This method works very well for safeguard missions, where you are in the relatively tight quarters of the bank lobby. It wont work at all on an outdoor map with no place to corner the boss.
Frostbite
Frostbite, once again, is your AOE immobilize power. It stacks nicely with some of your Ice powers (Artic Air, Shiver) and very poorly with some of the others (Ice Slick, for instance.) It will pull fliers to the ground and has a recharge decrease that is worth noting. It also prevents its victim from being knocked down or back for ten seconds.
Its that last benefit that I want to discuss for a moment. Yes, knock back prevention is a benefit. Just because something doesnt stack with Ice Slick, doesnt mean it is not beneficial. There are many ways to use this little gem of an ability to your advantage. Especially with your Storm powers.
Freezing Rain is the big one for a while. Like any Rain power, foes will scatter trying to get out from underneath it (albeit, slowly while slipping and sliding with this particular one.) Now, Frostbite has a duration that is a bit longer than its knock back protection if slotted, up to 48 seconds longer with three SO immobilizations, but well assume you only have one, or two, so it lasts about twice as long. You can open up with Frostbite (after Jack or your tanker agros the group of course, giving time for the tanker to get a taunt off), Blast them with a Shiver now flooring their recharge rate. Maybe Hold the boss or lieutenant, and toggle Snow Storm on him. Its now been eight seconds or so, but your Frostbite still has another 20-30 seconds of duration. Drop Freezing Rain on the group now, by the time the animation finishes (or within another second or two) they will be tripping and falling in place,
and kept from running away by the immobilization portion of Frostbite, but no longer defended by its knock down prevention.
Frostbites knock back protection also offers up a realm of Tornado that Storm Defenders can only dream of. Use the Pulling with Snow Storm technique to make yourself a nice stack of foes. Frostbite them and fling a Tornado into them. Tornado will grind away like a meat grinder. Just make sure you keep hitting Frostbite every time it refreshes or your foes will be flung away from the tornado like so many leaves before a lawn blower. Here is where your single target immobilization, Chilblain is handy too, for hitting foes that Frostbite misses. This works just as well with Lightning Storms cone as well.
Keep in mind, that you can use these techniques around other controllers who like to use their AOE immobilizations too. Dont sigh at the Fire Controller whos setting up containment with his cages, use them! Just because you cant use Ice Slick doesnt mean you are useless. Ice Slick is only one of your powers. Frostbite is another. Use both. Use whichever one is the best for the situation. Dont bicker with your teammates; adapt to their strategies and make them better by being there. They probably dont have the versatility you do, so be flexible!
Artic Air vs Shiver
The common school of thought, is that if you are aggressive and like to be in thick of things, you take the PBAOE toggle, Artic Air; and if you like to hang back at range, take the cone, Shiver. I can find no fault with that logic, and Ice/Storm has so many great powers, youre going to have to make a few hard choices and some either-ores while leveling up.
Artic Air, I think is a more useful power while leveling up, before you get access to Hurricane. Frostbiting a group of foes, and then jumping into them with Artic Air and Snowstorm results in a bunch of foes spinning around in place confused, occasionally shooting you, each other, or just wishing they could get out of this mess. It mitigates a lot of damage. Its not going to let you gleefully watch them all kill each other, but it is going to stop them from attacking you every chance they get. It is not however, as useful against Archvillians, whom you generally dont want to be in melee range of. And it flat out doesnt work with Hurricane unless you have a steady supply of corners to pin things into. Even then, Artic Air is just wasted endurance if you already have something pinned with Hurricane.
Shivers recharge reduction is really not noticeable until you start fighting things that take more than forty seconds or so to defeat, when its recharge reduction really has a chance to shine. Things like Elite Bosses and Archvillians. Which you generally dont see until the late thirties and forties with any regularity; and, its not mutually exclusive with Hurricane, the two work pretty well together.
I would say therefore, that pre-thirty, you will probably get more mileage out of Artic Air than Shiver. Post-thirty, you could respec out of it, and pick up Shiver, which requires less slotting, and by then, have enough other damage mitigation tools that you wont miss Artic Air so much.
Jack Frost
Jack is a great pet. Dont think for a second otherwise. You keep your bouncing little fiery gremlins. Ill keep Jack. We know and respect one anothers strengths and weaknesses.
Jack is a pretty smart pet when you consider that its a bit of computer code that controls his actions, not you, or another player. (Hes smarter than some blasters Ive grouped with >.>
Everyone bemoans that Jack likes to blast wishing he would get in there and use his very fantastic melee attacks. I think its not so much that Jack likes to blast, as Jack likes to stay close to you, his controller. The best way to get Jack into Melee is to get in there your self. Here is where having Artic Air and Air Superiority is really nice. I have found that if I run into a group of foes that I have just debuffed, perhaps with Ice Slick and/ore Rain, and Snow Storm, jack follows after he finishes up a cycle or two of Blasting. Better yet, Jack is really good at chasing down runners, which allows me to ignore them for the most part and concentrate on the toughest foe in the bunch.
Jack is smart enough however, that I tend to ignore him in missions for the most part, he does his thing, and he does it well enough that he doesnt require much from me beyond the simple factor of me doing what I do best, controlling the battle. He blasts, he freezes, he occasionally runs up and swings his sword, he adds more damage than you think he does while you arent paying attention to him. He also likes to stick close to you, so hes not going to run off too far. And if you are in the middle of things, so is he.
Pre-battle Preparation
A few of our powers require no target, and have decent durations, enabling us to set them up before a battle, saving us valuable animation time once the bullets and fists start flying. Especially when solo, I encourage you to set up a Pull To area. Summoning your Lightning Storm, and lay down your ice patch before you pull the mobs. Thats two less powers you have to spend time activating when stuff is trying to kill you, and more time you can spend attempting to stop them.
In Conclusion
There was more I was going to add to the Tactics section, perhaps some day I will. For now I think, 14 pages and nearly 7500 words is enough for a forum guide. Im going to wrap up with my current build and a few more thoughts on the set as a whole.
My Build
Name: Snowlilys 44 respec
Level: 50
Archetype: Controller
Primary: Ice Control
Secondary: Storm Summoning
---------------------------------------------
01: Block of Ice - Acc(1) Acc(3) Hold(5) Rechg(5)
01: Gale - Acc(1)
02: Chilblain - Acc(2) Immob(3) EndRdx(43)
04: O2 Boost - Heal(4) EndRdx(46)
06: Arctic Air - EndRdx(6) EndRdx(7) EndRdx(7) ConfDur(17) ConfDur(23) Slow(45)
08: Snow Storm - EndRdx(8) EndRdx(9) EndRdx(9)
10: Steamy Mist - EndRdx(10) EndRdx(11) EndRdx(11) DmgRes(42) DmgRes(43) DmgRes(43)
12: Ice Slick - Rechg(12) Rechg(13) Range(13)
14: Air Superiority - Rechg(14) Dmg(15) Dmg(15) Dmg(17)
16: Fly - Fly(16)
18: Freezing Rain - Rechg(18) Rechg(19) Rechg(19) DefDeBuf(21) DefDeBuf(21) EndRdx(23)
20: Swift - Fly(20)
22: Health- Heal(22)
24: Stamina - EndMod(24) EndMod(25) EndMod(25)
26: Hurricane - EndRdx(26) EndRdx(27) TH_DeBuf(27) TH_DeBuf(29) TH_DeBuf(29)
28: Hasten - Rechg(28) Rechg(31) Rechg(31)
30: Frostbite - Acc(30) Acc(31) EndRdx(34) EndRdx(34) Immob(37) Rechg(40)
32: Jack Frost - Acc(32) Acc(33) Dmg(33) Dmg(33) Dmg(34)
35: Tornado - Dmg(35) Dmg(36) Dmg(36) Rechg(36) Rechg(37) EndRdx(37)
38: Lightning Storm - Acc(38) Dmg(39) Rechg(39) EndRdx(39) EndRdx(40) EndRdx(40)
41: Indomitable Wil l- Rechg(41) Rechg(42) Rechg(42)
44: Mind Over Body - EndRdx(44) EndRdx(45) DmgRes(45) DmgRes(46) DmgRes(46)
47: Psionic Tornado - Acc(47) Dmg(48) Dmg(48) Dmg(48) Rechg(50) EndRdx(50)
49: Shiver- Acc(49) Rechg(50)
Youll probably notice that I ignored some of my own advice from earlier. For instance I have both Artic Air and Shiver. Frankly, there was nothing else I wanted at Fifty. I also dont have three recharge reductions in Ice Slick honestly with Hasten I didnt need the third, its still up every battle. Block of Ice only has four slots, not five. What can I say, by the time I took this respec, single target holding wasnt as important to me.
I understand, that this build, and this guide for that matter, represent only one method of thinking. There are others. Others whose lines of thinking and approaches are as equally valid as mine. Mine is born from three hundred hours of experience on my Ice Controller, my personal tastes and play style. Shaped also by the people I commonly team with, as well as what I like to bring to a team in the first place. Ive spent many fine hours in pick up groups (and many not so fine hours) and many many hours slugging my way through missions solo, waiting for a spot on a team.
I encourage everyone to find their own style. Experiment with your powers. You get a chance for a minimum of three respecs. More with veteran rewards. Use them. Dont be afraid to try a power you arent sure of, you can always get rid of it later. I myself, between the Respec trials, freespecs and veteran rewards have respecd Snowlily six times. With one early reroll when she was 16. The only power I havent tried is Flash Freeze, so I can honestly say Ive personally used 95% of the powers in the set for some length of time. You should try the same if you can. Try weird combos, dont be afraid to break the mold and play around. Ice/Storm is a very forgiving set, and its pretty hard to gimp yourself. At worst, youre stuck with a bad power choice for a few levels while you work for another respec trial.
Above all, enjoy yourself, and be confident you are one of the most powerful and versatile of all the control powerset combinations.
But I care about yours! post your UI, don't shrink the resolution, let us see it in all it's glory (or not). Windowed mode or no? Window UI scale? (Mine's 70% set to desktop resolution in windowed mode). And don't be shy about giving insights as to the whys!