Laiynas Guide: Ice/Ice Dominator I10
If you want to put your problems in the fridge to handle them later, this is the way to go. You do not have the firepower to easily smash through all the ranks, but you can keep a constant control/domination over the combat. At level 25 I was able to solo a spawn of 1 boss, 2 lieutenants and 6 minions (that is before Glacier) level 26 of Circle of Thorns mobs. The fight takes a while, but I got very little damage. And after that it only gets better, trust me
Also I had some comments on this guide that are true for PvP point of view. This guide focusses on Group and Solo build, but not on PvP. I will make some notes for PvP purpuse when needed. Also it needs to be noted that I like good/nice grafix, this is important for me to enjoy the game.
Notes:
My judgement of powers is based on:
M = Must have (only Dumb people skip it, dont be Dumb)
P = Primary Power, Recommended
G = Good Power, Not a bad choice
S = Situational, Think about it before you take it
B = Bad Power, Skip it
PvE = Player vs Environment
PvP = Player vs Player
Main Powers
Chilblain
Judge: S
It seems to be good in PvP as an extra factor of control, as a player becomes immune to each control type for 15 seconds. But for PvE I would skip it.
Block of Ice
Judge: M
Slot: 6
Prime Dominator power, max from 1 mob a boxing ball
Frostbite
Judge: B
Slot: unsure
It seems to work oke if you work with Masterminds to keep mobs on range in the early levels or flee if things go badly.
Arctic Air
Judge: G
Slot: 5-6
It would not be fair to call this a primary power, but it is really good. All targets in range of the Arctic Air (and it has a huge area) get slowed on they're attack cycles and run speed, besides that it got confuse and fear effect. But walking so slowly when feared they just walk away from you and can hardly walk out of the Arctic Air. Arctic Air also has some major IO options that makes this very good defensive power a rather good offensive power, more about that below the power section. This power is a huge endurance drain though, so taking this level 22+ is not a bad idea (SOs for End Redux or/and Stamina).
Shiver
Judge: S
Slot: unsure
I do not like cones, and you do not need Arctic Air and Shiver. While the effects are a bit niftier it got a narrow area and can be hard to use. This does not make it a bad power at all, but in my book makes Arctic Air better.
Ice Slick
Judge: M
Slot: 2-3
One of the 3 corner stones of Ice, it pretty much immobilizes all mobs and keeps them knocked down. Only on small occasions will they be able to shoot or cast a spell. It covers a huge area and it is perfect right out of the box. Only slotting that this power needs is recharges.
Flash Freeze
Judge: S
Slot: 3-4
Makes a ranged area fall asleep, making them unable to attack anybody.... Till they wake up by damage or the time expires. This works very great solo, to sleep the whole group, then slowly take out the mobs you want. In-groups with all the area damage spells, masterminds, etc this power becomes close to worthless.
Glacier
Judge: M
Slot: 6
Makes whole groups hold, unable to do anything for the duration, it works great in teams, and its pretty good solo. This is the only "Must Have" that could be skipped because you have Ice Slick, still this is not recommended and helps you and your group better to survive then Ice Slick does.
Jack Frost
Judge: M
Slot: 5-6
This power works great, its the reason you took Ice. Jack has got some major improvements in I10, so now it actually likes to melee. And performs very well as melee tank. It drastically increases your damage output. Only real draw back is that it will not protect you and has a tendency to wander off in search to kill stuff.
Secondary Powers
Ice Bolt
Judge: M
Slot: 4
Part of your ranged attack chain, and no choose in taking this. Nice little attack. Some people make this a long ranged attack (alternative to snipe) for pulling, but I think this is not needed.
Ice Sword
Judge: G
Slot: 4
You need this spell for damage output, and a hold opponent can not hurt you, so melee attacks are not bad. But if you have other forms of damage it theoretically could be skipped (Must Sand springs to mind).
Ice Sword Circle
Judge: G
Slot: 5-6
Hold opponents can not hurt you, and loads of abilities are melee ranges, so tossing in some nice area damage is a very good thing, you will dammage the mobs that are not hold and at the same time damage the mobs you are fighting. This speeds up the process a lot. In group play your AoE does nice damage but less then a Masterminds or Corrupters AoE, so you wont get the agro. Besides that, ice sword got nice graphics!
Ice Blast
Judge: M
Slot: 4
This will be a major damage power for a long time. Not taking this would seriously hurt your performance, its also needed for your ranged attack chain.
Power Boost
Judge: S
Slot: 3
This helps a lot to create very long holds, but the holds already cycle fast enough to keep a boss hold, and we have domination what already increases the duration of holds. It does not help with your damage output, nor does it increase the Ice Slick duration. Still it is a nice power to have when domination is down and you need an edge. It needs to be noted that in PvP it helps a lot against the high defense players, and some claim it is very needed there.
So in short for PvE you better skip it or for PvP it is a good power, what makes it very situational.
Frost Breath
Judge: B
Slot: unsure
As told before I do not like cone attacks, and this one is even iffy for a cone attack. If you took the damage powers of lower levels you wont need this power.
Chilling Embrace
Judge: S
Slot: 5
This power is not as good as Arctic Air, but it has a few nice uses. It stacks with Arctic Air, so people within the radius reach the slow cap (max movement reduction). Together this is a huge endurance hog.
Greater Ice Sword
Judge: S
Slot: 4
This power is not very good, it does 20% more damage for 20% more endurance, got a greater chance to hit, and a 60% chance to drop. Sounds nice but, its a level 35 Power, the 60% toggle drop is for 1 random toggle, the remote chance that it will drop one good toggle from your opponent is small. Also by this time you have already more then enough descent attacks, but this attack is not very much more better (in some cases even worse) then all other attacks you have. And do not forget your next power is Bitter Ice Blast, what is much better. It is also a very, very ugly power.
Bitter Ice Blast
Judge: M
Slot: 6
This is the crown jewel of your secondary Ice, it is also your 3rd ranged attack, and by that it is even a very good attack, with great damage.
Power Pools
I will only describe power pools that are remotely useful. If it is not mentioned it better can be skipped.
Concealment
I like Stealth for two reasons. First I love to skip needles parts of missions, just saves time. Second part is I love to have a defensive power so I can slot: "karma: knockback protection" and "Luck of the Gambler Global Recharge 7.5%". This makes it very much worth it to take it, and do not forget that stealth also gives a nice defense bonus, not worth enough to slot it up, but still very nice.
All other powers within concealment are skippable.
Fitness
Ice is very endurance heavy, and you really should have stamina at level 20, it makes running Arctic Air much easier and really helps in big fights.
Flight
I find this the best travel power for a Dominator. Early on you can use the attack: Air Superiority, and later on this stays a perfect attack for some damage mitigation (what is down on the floor can not attack you), worth 2 slots accuracy and take it as soon as possible, it compliments Ice Sword perfectly. Fly is the most easy travel power there is. Maybe not the fastest but for sure reliable. Group fly can be skipped, hover is maybe a nice power for slotting IOs in.
Leadership
The leadership pool is pretty heavy on power consumption, and that makes it to expensive to take this, while I need to confess that I love to have Tactics.
Leaping
Combat Jumping is nice and gives a nice boost in defense, also increase your jump height. But the travel power is not to good, it is very hard to reach some high places because some walls/fortifications are build very high. Also jumping through water makes me kind a..... Acrobatics is not that useful for a Dominator, all your dangerous targets should be hold.
Medicine
With inspirations it defeats the purpose for me to take this, I already have powers to few, and I seldom to never have the time to heal besides the crowd control I do, watching the mobs closely while doing some damage, and besides that also staying close to group members and watch they're health is a little to much for me.
Speed
Hasten is a must have if you want Perma Dom (this is a state in witch you always are under the effect of domination). But besides that this pool has little to offer, super speed is too bad with all the walls and fortresses in the way.
Teleportation
This is a good travel power, but I find it hard to use Teleportation without Levitate (I always fall down without it). And losing so many powers to be able to travel (levitate and recall friend) is a bit to expensive for me if I can get a very good attack and a travel form for only two powers what with this pool would take me four powers.
Slotting:
This is a rough guide for Slotting up Powers that can not be wrong, maybe better for personal taste though, but for sure not wrong:
1) Control powers should have 2 ACC, 3 Duration 1 Recharge
2) Single Target Damage powers should have 1 ACC and 3 DAM
3) Area Damage Powers should have 2 ACC, 3 DAM and 1 Recharge
Tricks of the Trade:
1) Perma Domination can be achieved at level 50 with an Ice/Ice Dominator. Not going to explain how in this guide, but it should easily be possible.
2) Arctic Air can be slotted with IOs that give Chance on Damage (in total 4 available for this power) for some very good AoE damage, and a nice bonus for 1 on 1.
3) Try to get 5 attacks by level 10 (2 ranged, 2 close combat 1 area) and you will level very fast with your Hold to boot so you get Ice Slick at level 12. The whole road you can solo very well and function in teams perfectly. No need to worry about control early in the game, there is not much what needs more or can not be handled with your single target hold if it is slotted up.
4) You can skip your travel power till your late 20s, you can find 3 fly packs and 1 super jump pack as temp power, and enough for a total of 7 hours of travel power.
Build
I could post here my complete build, but positing it till level 22 will tell you all enough, after that it all becomes very personal preference any way, I myself invest heavily in Ice Control and takes the new abilities as soon as they come. You can take Hasten instead of Stealth, what is a VERY good choice, but I dislike the glowing hands, and will take it very late for Perma Domination, but not before that.
1) Block of Ice, Ice Bolt
2) Ice Sword
4) Ice Sword Circle
6) Air Superiority
8) Stealth
10) Ice Blast
12) Ice Slick
14) Fly
16) Hurdle
18) Health
20) Stamina
22) Arctic Air
I did take Flash Freeze for example and Glacier, but really after level 22, there is little that really can go wrong if you have a plan or keep in mind what it all does.
Hope this helps some people out there.
If there are comments feel free to post them, and I'll see what I do with it.
Laiyna
