A Hasten Free Ice / Energy Guide - (semi-long)
By
Anti_Product,
Posted on: 2005-04-14 17:01 in Player Guides
I like both the builds a lot.
Quick comment on Hasten - you have 6 recharges in powers that could go into Hasten. It isn't necessarily a better choice, since you have to give up some other power, but it might not be too bad if you respec at 50. Heck, since you won't be levelling any more, if you can get five 53 recharge reductions, you only need 5 slots in Hasten (1+ adding 4). Would have to drop something though, which might cause problems with the build.
ICE/NRG unite! heh.. great guide. I had to learn through trial and error, but my build is about the same granted, shes only 38 at the moment.
Global: @Pandemonia
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dark one,
very nice review of most of the powers. but I would question, just a bit, your review of aim and build-up, especially aim. you basically dismiss this power, except for bosses or AVs because you don't need the extra accuracy.
to that extent I agree with you, but as I understand it the two components of aim are: greatly increases your accuracy (this = 100% increase) and slightly increase your damage (this = 66%). a 66% increase to your damage !! not sure I would consider that a "slight" increase. I know you are just repeating the wording that's on the power, but (to me) that wording is very misleading.
build-up is reversed. it grants you a 100% increase to damage and a 66% increase to accuracy.
with the fairly quick recycle times on ice attacks, you can usually get off several blasts, bitter ice blasts, freeze rays, etc in the 10 second duration of those powers.
think about it this way. Aim basically = 2 damage SOs and Build up = 3 damage SOs. that's pretty significant starting as early as lvl 4.
to each their own, but one of the big advantages of the energy secondary is that you get build up at lvl 4, by far the earliest of any secondary. I slot both of those with at least 2 recharges, would probably go 3 here without hasten, and use them in every battle.
if there is one mob I really, really need to hit I might wait until both are ready and hit aim + build up. normally, I just alternate with which ever one is up.
Wow, been so long since I've looked at my own thread. 
Thank you for the comments. Didn't even know it was up to almost 350 views. 
I took a fairly long hiatus for most of the summer, in fact, tonight (09/12/05) was the first time I've pretty much logged in since about May or June.
I wouldn't say I truly dismiss Aim and Build Up, I know they are good powers, it's just that I tend to not use them too much. Like I said, with just the one accuracy, I get a pretty consistent hit rate. Before I was able to get SO's, I found myself using Aim + BU a lot, but afterwards, they tended to only be Boss / AV / Monster powers. Like my power slotting shows, I tend to not do things that others normally would.
I've tried playing around with her some on Live and really, there's been only a few changes that I've found so far.
-Phase Shift. Now a toggle that acts as a click. I could possibly dump this power now, but it still has some slight use in Kora missions. Haven't really played with it yet. Yay for PvE nerfs from PvP whining. If they wanted it to act as a click, then they should've made it a click. Cut and dried.
-Freeze Ray & Bitter Freeze Ray. Read that the duration was reduced on the holds. Hasn't really been noticeable to me. *shrug*
-Blizzard. Tried it once. My previous method of using Conserve Power then using Blizzard would allow me to start shooting pretty soon after using the nuke. Not anymore. I don't really have numbers on it, but it seems as if this tactic is no longer feasible, at least in the admittedly VERY limited playing I did with it.
-Stealth and Suppression. Hate suppression with an absolute passion. There was nothing wrong with switching to Hover for Combat, then Fly for a quick getaway. Nothing else needs to be said.
Otherwise, I would say this is still a pretty viable build. Haven't noticed anything really glaring other than the overall nerfs to Stealth / Phase Shift and Suppression to Fly.
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dark one,
very nice review of most of the powers. but I would question, just a bit, your review of aim and build-up, especially aim. you basically dismiss this power, except for bosses or AVs because you don't need the extra accuracy.
to that extent I agree with you, but as I understand it the two components of aim are: greatly increases your accuracy (this = 100% increase) and slightly increase your damage (this = 66%). a 66% increase to your damage !! not sure I would consider that a "slight" increase. I know you are just repeating the wording that's on the power, but (to me) that wording is very misleading.
build-up is reversed. it grants you a 100% increase to damage and a 66% increase to accuracy.
with the fairly quick recycle times on ice attacks, you can usually get off several blasts, bitter ice blasts, freeze rays, etc in the 10 second duration of those powers.
think about it this way. Aim basically = 2 damage SOs and Build up = 3 damage SOs. that's pretty significant starting as early as lvl 4.
to each their own, but one of the big advantages of the energy secondary is that you get build up at lvl 4, by far the earliest of any secondary. I slot both of those with at least 2 recharges, would probably go 3 here without hasten, and use them in every battle.
if there is one mob I really, really need to hit I might wait until both are ready and hit aim + build up. normally, I just alternate with which ever one is up.
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Just to back this up:
Aim + Build Up means I can finish many bosses in 4-6 attacks. Using both before a boss fight makes that fight very short and much less dangerous.
Elsegame: Champions Online: @BellaStrega ||| Battle.net: Ashleigh#1834 ||| Bioware Social Network: BellaStrega ||| EA Origin: Bella_Strega ||| Steam: BellaStrega ||| The first Guild Wars: Kali Magdalene ||| The Secret World: BelleStarr (Arcadia)
Dark One,
assuming I want to keep Ice Storm for the slow, do I need to slot slows in Blizzard as well?
Elsegame: Champions Online: @BellaStrega ||| Battle.net: Ashleigh#1834 ||| Bioware Social Network: BellaStrega ||| EA Origin: Bella_Strega ||| Steam: BellaStrega ||| The first Guild Wars: Kali Magdalene ||| The Secret World: BelleStarr (Arcadia)
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Dark One,
assuming I want to keep Ice Storm for the slow, do I need to slot slows in Blizzard as well?
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Well, here's how I feel, if you're going after Knockdown, Slow, or Cold resistant foes, you're going to want as much Slow as possible, to keep them in that area as long as possible and get the most bang for your buck.
I've slotted it right now with 1 Damage/Acc Hami-O, 2 53 Damage, 1 52 Slow, 1 52 ToHit Debuff, 1 52 End Redux. I just ran a quick check on a Yellow Behemoth Overlord + 2 Possessed Scientists (white con). They went down pretty quick and didn't make it out of the area of effect.
But really, what else are you going to slot in there? You could stick in recharges, but I don't find myself using it all that much since I solo mostly. It doesn't accept Knockback/down enhancements (though that would be a nice change if it did). End reductions are nice if you're using it after you've been blasting for a bit. I don't know the ToHit Debuff percents it slaps on the baddies. With Special ED, 3 damages are the limit for those. More than 1 acc might be a waste (possibly helpful if you intend to use it in a group facing reds and purples - I definitely DO NOT recommend using it solo against reds and purples as it will not kill them and you'll be fairly helpless), since it is pretty accurate to begin with (I use the Dmg/Acc since its left over from other powers and really wouldn't benefit anything else).
If a person doesn't have Hamis, I would say 3 damage and 1 accuracy would be the baseline, the other 2 slots (if used at all) are really whatever the person feels would benefit them.
Some changes that I've made:
Switched to the Electric Mastery Epic. According to Hero Planner, with the 3 Resists in Charged Armor, I'm getting 32.53% Resist for S&L and 23.66% for Energy. Compare that with 38.44% for S&L from Temp Invul, I'm willing to lose that 6% for S&L for an additional 23% of Energy resist. Granted there's Force of Nature and PFF with Force Mastery, but with Elec, I've also got another attack that with 1 End Mod will replenish what it takes for an attack (plus is a cone attack). Plus EMP Pulse that I've used and it drained about 80-90% of the end from a group of baddies (not kidding, there was a sliver left).
Honestly, ED wasn't all that bad for me, since I was mostly compliant to begin with, at least for this character. *shrug* What makes me mad now, is it usually takes an extra attack to finish off a white con minion. Ice Blast + BiB leaves a sliver of life left on them that a Freeze Ray will take off. Its very annoying to not be able to 2-shot most minions now.
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-Stealth and Suppression. Hate suppression with an absolute passion. There was nothing wrong with switching to Hover for Combat, then Fly for a quick getaway. Nothing else needs to be said. Haven't noticed anything really glaring other than the overall nerfs to Stealth / Phase Shift and Suppression to Fly.
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/Agree 110%. Travel Suppression was one of the absolute WORTHLESS Gimps ever put into this game. It is as if a Dev looked and said in a sadistic-fashion: "Oh Look... Players are actually smart and use sniping tactics in our game. How horribly human of them! So how do we make them as gimped and stupid in reaction-time as the rest of our AI? Oh.. I know! SUPPRESS their movements and take away their Legs.. Wings... what-have-you in combat situations!"
Now we are all just as 'stupid' in movement and tactical fighting as the rest of the AI, and now stuck with all those nerfed-features which were designed to slow down actual damage or utilization of quickness skills.
So the squishy Blaster is saddled with poorer working battle options now with the removal of those quick-movement fighting/dodging decision-making tactics. Just Spray and Pray...sit there for three seconds like a total lummox and hope you don't get too much of the Mob-strike in return.
to Shego.
I'm surprised as many people have read this as they have. Hopefully, it's helped people out.
One final thing that I changed with yet another free 'spec (think it was a freebie anyways ) was to swap out the cone attack from Electric Mastery for the single target hold, Shocking Bolt. That one is also slotted with 1 Acc/Mez Hami, 2 Hold Duration, and 1 Recharge. It takes 2 seconds for activation compared to Bitter Freeze Ray's 3.7 seconds (according to Hero Builder), making for a quicker cycle with Freeze Ray. One day, I'd like to get 3 Acc/Mez Hamis in there.
Shocking Bolt makes for 3 single target holds in the build. Extremely powerful.
I used this build for PvP and did earn myself Disruptor, mostly solo, with some teaming. It was fun in the early days going in toe-to-toe with Brutes and even Scrappers. Too bad in order to keep the melee'ers happy they nerfed toggle dropping to nigh useless.
One thing that did bother me in Siren's, was the fact that to hold a Corrupter, they typically needed at least two holds on them, while all it took to get me held was a single Freeze Ray from an Ice/. Very frustrating. Yes, I could've swapped to CJ/SJ/Acro for the character, but that would be a concept breaker just for the mini game that is PvP.
Very Nice Guide, ive actually followed this guide exactly to lvl 27... and Blu is a BEAST! although, i was thinking for the main build you have, instead of aim, wouldnt Bone Smasher be better?
Keep in mind, this was the first run through I made of my character. Yes, Bonesmasher would be better there. Back in those days, I wasn't too into blapping, but now I am.
Also, you might want to check out the Issue 8 updated version. Alot of things in my build have changed, such as dumping GI and Phase Shift and switching over to the Electric Mastery APP.
Can You Post a Link to that here? i cant seem to find it...
Well, this is my attempt at creating a guide for the flavor of Blaster that is Ice Blast / Energy Manipulation. These are my experiences and will not contain number cruching, Brawl Indexes, etc. This was my first character, chosen pretty much randomly and with no guide help to it. This was also the first character that I got to 50, as well as the fourth Ice / Energy Blaster on the Protector Server (to the best of my knowledge) without powerlevelling. I have invested over 700 hours on designing and playing this character. This isn't the longest, nor most detailed guide, but gives a good look at Ice / Energy.
Both this and Freeze Ray allow you to attack the villain without breaking the hold.
One of my highlights was keeping a portal Devouring Earth Thorn perma-held solo. I couldn't kill him, but he could never get unfroze. This build was also able to hold off and survive 2 red bosses back when they were boosted right after I3 came out. An Ice blaster is also very welcome on Hamidon raids as you contribute 2 single-target holds.
First thing I should say is that this build is based around NOT taking Hasten. If you want a cookie-cutter, perma-Hasten build, look elsewhere. There's only 2 situations that I would endorse Hasten and those are: 1) You are a team oriented defender or Controller and need to get those buffs out as quick as possible and 2) You are going for Superspeed as your main travel power. You are in no way gimping yourself by not having a 6-slotted Hasten, despite what nay-sayers may say. Please note that the ratings I assign the powers are pretty much arbitrary, but rate how I feel about the power.
Ice Blast Primary
This primary is designed around single-target control. It can come close to rivaling some primary control sets of Controllers. I like to refer to the Ice Blasters as more mini-controllers than as Blasters.
Ice Bolt
Description: Ice Bolt quickly pelts an enemy with small icy daggers; their chill Slows a foe's attacks and movements for a time. Fast, but little damage.
Damage: Minor, Recharge: Fast.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Range, Enhance Rechrage Speeed, Enhance Damage, Enhance Accuracy
My Take on this Power: I never took this power on my main build. I've tried it on Test and for me, there's not really any downtime cycling between Freeze Ray, Bitter Freeze Ray, Ice Blast, and Bitter Ice Blast, so I can keep shooting continuously pretty much. I cannot justify taking a minor damage power and spending 6 slots on it and by having this starting out, I would be forced to spend a power choice to get Ice Blast. You could take this and respec it out, but I'm also not a big fan of spending respecs, since we never know when more are coming. Not really necessary in my book.
Rating: 1-2 / 10
Ice Blast
Description: Ice Blast hurls shards of ice at foes and Slows their attacks and movement for a time. Slower recharge than Ice Bolt, but more damage. Damage:
Moderate, Recharge: Moderate.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurace Cost, Enhance Range, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance Damage, Enhance Accuracy
My Take on this Power: I took this starting out as my initial Ice attack. You never really outgrow this power, IMO. If I combine Ice Blast with a Bitter Ice Blast, I can 2-shot yellow minions. A good moderate damage attack.
Rating: 8 / 10
Frost Breath
Description: Unleashes a cone of frosty breath that can Slow your opponents' movement and attacks. Very accurate and very deadly at medium range. Damage:
Moderate (DoT), Recharge: Slow
Allowed Enhancements: Enhance Cone Range, Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance Damage, Enhance Accuracy
My Take on this Power: This power is somewhat iffy. In my estimation, it benefits very well from a single Cone Range Increase. It is useful in those situations where the villains haven't spread out yet, generally one of your first attacks on a group of enemies. However, it gets dangerous in teaming situations where you have a tank holding a group for pounding. It seems every time I use this when in a group, the herd (however small) will immediately turn on me, ignoring the tank. Use at your own risk, but still a good power, especially when solo. Also, the DoT is somewhat misleading. The attack does two ticks of equal damage, so I don't really think of it as a DoT, even though it 'technically' is.
Rating: 5 / 10
Aim
Description: Greatly increases the Accuracy of your attacks for a few seconds. Slightly increases damage. Recharge: Long
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance ToHit Buffs
My Take on this Power: With one accuracy in your attacks, there's not quite that big of a need for Aim. I use it really only for going up against a boss / AV or when taking on reds and purples. Its still useful in situations, I just don't find myself clicking it that much.
Rating: 6 / 10
Freeze Ray
Description: Although this power deals very little damage, the Freeze Ray encases your foe in a block of ice, holding him helpless in place for a while.
Damage: Minor, Recharge: Moderate.
Allowed Enhancements: Enhance Hold, Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Range, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance Damage, Enhance Accuracy
My Take on this Power: One of the defining, if not THE defining, power of the Ice Primary. Two shots of Freeze Ray will hold a boss and if you keep applying, will keep him held the entire battle. Get it, slot it, love it. With a couple hold enhancers in there, you can get the boss held, then every other cycle of Freeze Ray, apply it again to the boss for a perma-hold, all the while taking out his cronies. Had a friend try an Ice blaster and never took this power. He was getting very frustrated until I suggested taking it. He is VERY happy right now.
Rating: 10 / 10
Ice Storm
Description: Shred your foes with this Ice Storm. This power deals a lot of damage and in a large area and can Slow all affected targets movement and attack speed. Damage: Minor (DoT), Recharge: Long. Location AoE.
Allowed Enhancements: Enhance Slow Movement, Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Range, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance Damage
My Take on this Power: Had this for awhile, got sick of its lousy damage, respec'd it out. You can easily use this in conjunction with Blizzard to keep them in your nuke's AoE with 3 Slows slotted in it. This power is more for slowing the enemy down than for doing damage. Get it if you want, but I haven't
looked back from getting rid of it.
Rating: 4 / 10
Bitter Ice Blast
Description: A slower yet more powerful version of Ice Blast, Bitter Ice Blast deals much more damage and can also reduce your enemy's Accuracy. Like other Ice Blast powers, Bitter Ice Blast can slow a target's movement and attack speed. Damage: Superior, Recharge: Slow.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Range, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance ToHit Debuffs, Enhance Damage, Enhance Accuracy
My Take on this Power: Your primary attack. The closest thing the Ice Primary gets for a snipe. Does quite good damage. Combine this with Ice Blast and you can fell yellow minions in 2-shots. I wouldn't waste a slot on putting in a Slow for this (or really, any of the Ice single-target attacks). It's always seemed to me that the villains do actually slow down when hit by Ice attacks.
Rating: 10 / 10
Bitter Freeze Ray
Description: This power can Hold your opponent frozen solid in a block of ice. The victim can be attacked and will remain frozen and helpless. After the Ice thaws, the victim emerges chilled and Slowed. Bitter Freeze Ray deals medium damage. Damage: Moderate, Recharge: Slow.
Allowed Enhancements: Enhance Hold, Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Range, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance Damage, Enhance Accuracy
My Take on this Power: This is a somewhat situational power. I use it as an opener on a boss. Combine it with Freeze Ray and it gets a boss held. One thing to watch out for that I've noticed is that if you Miss with this, the boss will immediately turn around and attack before the animation finishes. However, if you hit with it, he won't until the animation finishes. I didn't slot for damage on this as I would rather have the Holds in there. Once you get to 50, you can start putting in Dmg / Mez Hami-O's in it and getting both benefits.
Rating: 8 / 10
Blizzard
Description: The massive damage from the Blizzard can Slow the attack rate of all your opponents in a large area, reducing their Accuracy. Activating this power leaves you drained of Endurance and unable to recover any Endurance for a while. Damage: Extreme (DoT), Recharge: Very Long. Location AoE.
Allowed Enhancements: Enhance Slow, Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Range, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance ToHit Debuffs, Enhance Damage (Enhance Accuracy coming with Issue 4)
My Take on this Power: Currently on Live, Blizzard is a little lackluster. The upped damage and lowered AoE time on Test is very welcome. One Slow enhancement in this will mean up to orange lieutenents won't get out before its done with. I would avoid putting in a ToHit Debuff as the debuff isn't really that noticeable, in my estimation. This nuke requires more setup than Inferno / Nova / Thunderous Blast as well as more of the 'This might not be the time to use it' mentality. In conjunction with an Ice Controller's Ice Patch / Slick, it is quite good. What I like to do is hit Conserve Power then Blizzard the enemy group. CP means that it takes less end to recharge before you can start blasting again. It's also good to have a wall or something to hide behind after you fire Blizzard off. It also is not affected by Build Up, Aim, enrages, etc. unlike other nukes. Also remember that if you get dropped, the Blizzard ceases.
Rating: 7 / 10 (current) 8 / 10 (Test)
Energy Manipulation
The Energy Manipulation secondary is geared around disorienting your target as well as providing several self buffs.
Power Thrust (required)
Description: A focused attack that violently shoves the target and sends him flying. Deals minimal damage, but can be very effective. Damage: Minor, Recharge: Moderate.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance Knockback, Enhance Damage, Enhance Accuracy
My Take on this Power: Can't get rid of this power. It is good in some panic situations where too many are clustering around you. This is also a good indicator of when Freeze Ray is about to drop off a minion / lt, i.e. if the baddy goes flying then the FR is about to drop, if not, you still have some time. Don't use more than the minimum slot for it.
Rating: 2 / 10
Energy Punch
Description: Powerful focused punch that may Disorient your opponent! Damage: Minor, Recharge: Fast.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Disorient, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance Damage, Enhance Accuracy
My Take on this Power: Not the greatest of powers. Still a minor damager. The disorient chance is not the greatest. I'd recommend not taking it. However, this is one of the attacks in the Energy secondary that is supposed to drop toggles in PvP. Your call really.
Rating: 3 / 10
Build Up
Description: Greatly increases the amount of damage you deal for a few seconds, as well as slightly increasing your Accuracy. Recharge: Long.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance ToHit Buffs
My Take on this Power: Build up is available in the Energy pool before the Build Up in any other Blaster secondary. Again, I find myself using this only before bosses / AVs / etc. If I'm in the middle of a long fight, I'll tend to hit it again. Build Up + Aim is probably one of the few combos that will let you hit a SR scrapper in the Arena.
Rating: 7-8 / 10
Bonsmasher
Description: The Bone Smasher is a slow attack, but makes up for it with a good amount of damage. Has a greater chance to Disorient than Energy Punch.
Damage: High, Recharge: Moderate.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurance cost, Enhance Disorient, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance Damage, Enhance Accuracy
My Take on this Power: A good damage attack. This is the second of the melee attacks in the Energy secondary that can drop toggles in PvP. If this hits a scrapper / tank with his toggles down and you combine with Total Focus, you have one punch-drunk person.
Rating: 8 / 10
Conserve Power
Description: You can focus for a moment to Conserve your Endurance. After activating this power, you expend less Endurance on all other powers for a while.
Recharge: Very Long.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Recharge Speed
My Take on this Power: One of the most important powers to get. Slot it, use it, love it. It cannot be made perma, even with perma-Hasten. No real downside to this other than its long recharge time. Six slot it for recharges.
Rating: 10 / 10
Stun
Description: Stun deals a little bit of damage, but Disorients its target a great deal. This attack can Disorient most opponents. Damage: Minor, Recharge:
Slow.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurace Cost, Enhance Disorient, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance Damage, Enhance Accuracy
My Take on this Power: Never took this power, no real experience with it. I try not to get into melee range anymore unless the villains are already held and then a disorient won't make that much of a difference. Does not drop toggles in PvP.
Rating: 2 / 10
Power Boost
Description: Greatly boosts the secondary effects of your powers. Your powers effects like Heals, Defense Buffs, Endurance Drains, Disorients, Holds, Immobilizes, Knockbacks and more, are all improved. The effects of Power Boost last a short while, and only the next couple of attacks will be boosted.
Recharge: Long.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurace Cost, Enhance Recharge Speed
My Take on this Power: This power is great for right before battles. It basically doubles your holds (if I remember right). It also allows Hover to travel faster and increases all secondary effects pretty well. I've always wondered if it increased the +Acc of Build Up and the +Dmg of Aim, but have never gotten an answer on it. Take this power.
Rating: 7 / 10
Boost Range
Description: You can boost your powers to increase the range of your next few attacks. Recharge: Long.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Recharge Speed
My Take on this Power: Tried it on Test. Wasn't too enthusiastic about it. With Stealth, you can get close enough to fire off your ranged attacks and really not worry about range. Would make more sense if Ice had a snipe.
Rating: 3 / 10
Total Focus
Description: Total Focus is complete mastery over Energy Melee. This is a very slow, but incredibly devastating attack that can knock out most opponents, leaving them Disoriented. Due to the exhausting nature of Total Focus, recharge time is very long. Damage: Extreme, Recharge: Long.
Allowed Enhancements: Reduce Endurance Cost, Enhance Disorient, Enhance Recharge Speed, Enhance Damage, Enhance Accuracy
My Take on this Power: The final melee attack for Energy secondary. Stuns pretty much anything short of an AV. Total Focus + Bonesmasher + Ice Blast will 3-shot most squishies, if I recall. Does not drop toggles in PvP.
Rating: 10 / 10
This following is the Build I have at 50 and is not nearly an 'optimized' build by any means, but it works. I don't quite remember which level I took what
power at, so some of these may be off, please feel free to correct me if I have a power taken at a level that it is not available. I should also note that
I've only used 1 respecification on the Live server and that was to dump Ice Storm and rework the whole Fitness pool power choice levels (like I said, this was my first character). I will follow with what could be a termed a near-optimized respec'd build.
My Current Build
Level Power
1 Power Thrust (required)(1 Knockback)
1 Ice Blast (1 Recharge, 1 Range, 1 Accuracy, 3 Damage)
2 Frost Breath (1 Recharge, 1 Cone Range, 1 Accuracy, 3 Damage)
4 Energy Punch (1 Stun)
6 Hover (1 Defense, 1 Flight Speed)
8 Freeze Ray (1 Accuracy, 2 Recharge, 3 Hold)
10 Swift (1 Run Speed)
12 Stealth (1 End Redux, 5 Defense)
14 Fly (1 End Redux, 4 Flight Speed)
16 Health (3 Health)
18 Bitter Ice Blast (1 Accuracy, 5 Damage)
20 Stamina (6 End Recovery)
22 Conserve Power (6 Recharge)
24 Build Up (1 ToHit Buff, 3 Recharge)
26 Bitter Freeze Ray (1 Accuracy, 3 Hold)
28 Aim (2 ToHit Buff, 2 Recharge)
30 Grant Invisibility (1 Defense)
32 Blizzard (1 Slow, 5 Damage)
35 Phase Shift (3 End Redux)
38 Power Boost (1 Recharge)
41 Personal Force Field (1 End Redux, 2 Resist / Defense (can't remember which it is))
44 Temp Invulnerability (1 End Redux, 5 Resist / Defense (again, can't remember))
47 Force of Nature (1 Resist)
49 Total Focus (3 Damage)
Possible Respec Build
Level Power
1 Power Thrust (required) (1 Knockback)
1 Ice Blast (1 Recharge, 1 Range, 1 Accuracy, 3 Damage)
2 Aim (1 Tohit Buff, 1 Recharge)
4 Frost Breath (1 Recharge, 1 Cone Range, 1 Accuracy, 3 Damage)
6 Hover (1 Defense, 1 Flight Speed)
8 Freeze Ray (1 Accuracy, 2 Recharge, 3 Hold)
10 Swift (1 Run Speed)
12 Stealth (1 End Redux, 5 Defense)
14 Fly (1 End Redux, 3 Flight Speed)
16 Health (1 Health)
18 Bitter Ice Blast (1 Accuracy, 5 Damage)
20 Stamina (6 End Recovery)
22 Conserve Power (6 Recharge)
24 Build Up (1 Tohit Buff, 1 Recharge)
26 Bitter Freeze Ray (1 Accuracy, 3 Hold)
28 Power Boost (1 Recharge)
30 Grant Invisibility (1 Defense)
32 Blizzard (1 Slow, 5 Damage)
35 Phase Shift (3 End Redux)
38 Total Focus (5 Damage, 1 Disorient)
41 Personal Force Field (1 End Redux, 2 Resist / Defense)
44 Temp Invulnerability (1 End Redux, 5 Resist / Defense)
47 Force of Nature (2 Resist)
49 Bonesmasher (2 Damage, 2 Disorient)
Notes on my builds
First off, this build is not for everyone. If you rely on Hasten, you won't like this. I can't see dedicating 5 additional slots for that power. This is also not an optimized PvP build, but I've done ok with it. You won't be king of the cage for PvP, but it is more than a respectable PvE build (my Live build), which in my opinion is the better way to go since there's so much more PvE than PvP.
Aim & Build Up - I only put the one recharge in there (for my respec build) as I don't really use them all that much, other than as an opener. You could go for 2 recharges in each as opposed to the Tohit Buff. I've used HeroStats and with the 1 Accuracy enhancement (without using Aim / Build Up) and I can maintain a greater than 90% accuracy. I like them as a little bit extra oomph when I'm facing bosses and AV's. Not really necessary when facing minions and lieutenents.
Fly - I might remove that fourth flight speed enhancement from my Live build. However, in going to Test and having just the 3 flight speeds in there, I can notice a fairly sizable difference, so the fourth might stay in there. If I was to keep it, I would take one slot off of Force of Nature.
Conserve Power - 6 slot this thing. It is what keeps you going. While CP is active, I can generally keep my end up above 50% while continuously firing.
Ice Storm - One of the accepted methods of getting the full effect from Blizzard is to lay down an Ice Storm. However, I try different things and I can reliably keep yellow minions in the AoE without using Ice Storm.
Blizzard - This power got a lot of loving on Test. It is now a lot better than it currently is on Live. I keep a Slow enhancement in there because I respec'd out Ice Storm. A single Slow will mean that yellow lieutenents (even orange too if I remember right) can be dropped by Blizzard on Test.
Energy Punch - The real reason I have this is I started out Blapping. I got tired of the debt from it, and I've just never really wanted to use a respec to get rid of it. It has its uses for me, minor though they are.
Total Focus - Like I said, for my Live build, I got away from Blapping. Didn't really have anything else to take at 49 so I got it then.
Health - Yes, there's 2 additional slots in there. Those will be going away if / when I respec. A relic from my early days when I thought extra health in there would make a difference.
Toggle Powers - All my toggles have at minimum 1 end redux in there. With a 6-slotted Stamina, I can run PFF, Stealth, TI, and Fly at the same time and my end never drops. The 3 in Phase Shift are for the same reason. I don't like seeing my Stamina dropping when I run stealth glowie missions.
Epic Power Pool - I went for Force Mastery. I've tried the Cold Mastery on Test and didn't care for it. Force of Nature was the real selling point for me. It allowed me to (with 1 Resist) tank Black Swan and her mob group long enough (and I didn't die) to get a Void held so our Dwarf-form PB could continue to tank Black Swan.
Final Words
I've tried playing other types of Blasters, but I keep coming back to my Ice / Energy. I like being in control while still kicking some tail, and Ice has allowed me to do that. The only other type I've tried that I've liked has been my Elec / Ice.
With the build that I'm using on Live, I have been able to get Archvillains held for an appreciable amount of time with no other Controlling-type character on the team. It's so refreshing to see an AV in a block of ice.
This build is also very solo friendly. I spent probably around 75-80% of the game solo, teaming only for Task Forces / Trials / Archvillains / occasional teaming with friends. Granted it took me awhile (around 660 hours) to get to 50, but I was having fun reading all the clues, collecting all the badges (only got 2 defeats left to get), going through all the story arcs, etc.
Well, that's all I can think of for this guide. A lot of people (most who are dependent on Hasten) don't like this one bit, probably because it show that it isn't necessary to get to 50, nor to be effective. This guide goes against 'accepted' wisdom, but it is still eminently playable. I like playing non-standard builds and see what happens. I have had 0 complaints on my playstyle (no Hasten) in the game. If you don't like it, well, that's your opinion. I've had several friends in game ask me how I built this character, so I thought I'd finally write up a guide for it. I must say that it isn't for everyone and your mileage may vary. Thank you for your time reading this.
P.S. Did anyone else notice that I don't like Hasten?
P.P.S. Please no discussion about the lack of Hasten and how anyone not taking it is gimped. If you want people to take Hasten (or design a character around it), then please write your own guide with it in (or look for Black December's Ice / Energy guide). I wanted this one to show that Hasten is not necessary and that you are not gimped without it. Thank you.