Olepi's Ice.ice Blaster Guide
In I5, there is only 1 type of range enhancement. The Devs felt that there was too much confusion between regular range and cone range enhancers, so they unified them both.
So a range enhancement will extend its reach both length and width?
"Most people that have no idea what they are doing have no idea that they don't know what they are doing." - John Cleese
@Ukase
I do not know firsthand, as I primarily play Dr. Kara Lokison, Invuln/SS tanker.
Cones now affect up to 10 foes (I5 limit), and each enhancement will not make a big difference on their short ranges. I think the cones will get wider as they progress outward, but even a SO offers only 20% more range on an already short ranged attack. Case in point, Energy Torrent has a 12' range. Add an SO and you only get 14.4' range, and a barely wider cone at that end.
Once you have up to 10 affected (and can potentially miss all 10), no more foes will be affected by the attack. If you had 15 foes in your cone, only the first 10 will receive a To-Hit roll check, and the other 5 will be totally ignored by the affect.
I think you should be slotting cones for holds/slows/damage instead of range, but your milage may vary.
I agree on that, slot FB for dmg. I put one cone range in it just to give me a few extra feet space in case I have to run It does take some time to get the cone just right, that's why it is like bowling to me LOL. Aim at one of the mobs in the middle/back of the group, and it should hit the most ... shoot for the 5-pin
Although Ice is weak in AOE, I've been on some teams where I was the only blaster. Once the controller locks them down, BU/Aim, pop a red, and FB -- blam! you can do some real damage. It's fun, almost makes me want to roll a fire blaster LOL
edit: interesting, they changed my cone range enh to a regular range, didn't notice that. So right now, 1acc, 1range, 4dmg is my slotting on FB.
2012 -- 35 years on the Net
NOTE: This guide is obsolete now, with the advent of I6 and Enhancement Diversification. Putting more than 3 SO enhancements in any power is now a waste. Powers that this affects in my build are:
Ice Bolt - big dmg reduction
Ice Blast - big dmg reduction
Bitter Ice Blast - big dmg reduction
Freeze Ray - was slotted with 4-5 holds
Bitter Freeze Ray - was slotted with 4-5 holds
Frost Breath - big dmg reduction
Ice Sword - big dmg reduction
Blizzard - from 6 dmg to 3, big dmg reduction
Hasten - reduced in effectiveness
Stamina - reduced in effectiveness
Hover - no more 5-6 slot Hover
This has caused my blaster to play quite a bit differently, and so I have decided to retire him. I don't want to always be thinking of how it was in the good 'ole days
BP
2012 -- 35 years on the Net
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This has caused my blaster to play quite a bit differently, and so I have decided to retire him. I don't want to always be thinking of how it was in the good 'ole days
BP
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Sadly, I feel the same way about my level 42 Invuln/SS tanker. Having experienced every AT here before ED and I5, I think I should focus on villains for now, as they have no prior feel in my experience.
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NOTE: This guide is obsolete now, with the advent of I6 and Enhancement Diversification. Putting more than 3 SO enhancements in any power is now a waste. Powers that this affects in my build are
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I've been respecing my ice/ice blaster this month (decided to do something else with ED and came back to him now.) The build I had was pretty close to what you had listed here (some minor differences, but pretty much same strategy.)
I've decided to slot the bolts with 2 ACC, 3 Damage, and on BIB one range. The two holds, the same, but with Hold enh instead of damage.
Three recharges on both Blizzard and Ice Storm. I'm trying Slow enhs on Ice Storm, though I may try a 2/2/2 mix with damage/slow/enh. I may even experiment with an ACC on there on the Test server, though it's going to be tough to determine the difference.
Hasten and Stamina back to 3 slots - though I may re-add another slot to each in the 40's (or maybe not.) I had left Hasten on auto, but will probably learn to fire it when needed again.
Overall, it is different play, but still fun for me.
Amazing that my guide from 7 years ago is still posted
2012 -- 35 years on the Net
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maybe a cone range
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Hey, not sure about before issue 5, but there is no cone range option for frostbreath. Or is there a mistake in the frost breath options?
"Most people that have no idea what they are doing have no idea that they don't know what they are doing." - John Cleese
@Ukase