Good guide, man.
Are you sure the slow in Chilling Embrace is unenhanceable? As of this writing, the power does accept slow enhances, but my toon is too low a level (10) to tell if they do anything or not. Did the power not accept slow enhancers in the past?
Thanks for a great guide!
KABOOM!
The -Speed effect is Enhanceable, but the -Recharge effect is not. Generally the -Speed is fine at the base amount and not really worth Enhancing . If you could Enhance the -Recharge it would be great, probably too great (% .
regards, Screwloose.
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How I would slot it: Energy Absorption is one of the most flexible powers in terms of slotting. The power is great right out of the box, but adding defense really helps. If you want to make it perma, 2 recharge reductions with hasten or 3 without. In PvP, you can use the End drain on this power to your advantage, and if youre focused on that, you might consider adding an end drain, but this wont really help in PvE. I would suggest 3 defense and 3 recharge if youre concerned about perma and dont have hasten, 3 defense, 2 recharge, 1 endredux with hasten. If youre totally unconcerned about the recharge and only plan on using this occasionally, 4 defense and 2 endredux.
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EA is already perma with Hasten and no recharges in it.
And it only takes 1 +0 SO Recharge to make it perma without Hasten.
If you want to compare the effects of DEF vs Recharge enhancers in EA, I suggest you look at the guide an calculator link in my signature.
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EA is already perma with Hasten and no recharges in it.
And it only takes 1 +0 SO Recharge to make it perma without Hasten.
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Hm... I stand corrected then.
I appreciate the kind words and the feedback. I had been planning to write an Ice Armor guide for a while, when a friend of mine came along and asked me for one, so it was fortuitous circumstance that this came into existence. It had lounged around in the guides section for some time, and I was beginning to wonder if anyone had even seen it. Then I log on after a brief hiatus and boom! It takes off. So, thanks again for taking the time to read it.
My story arcs: #2370- Noah Reborn, #18672- The Clockwork War, #31490- Easy Money
Sartre once said, "Hell is other people." What does that make an MMO?
My first toon I did was an ice armor tank. I chose this armor over the others because of the fact that they could be stacked. It just seemed that with 5 toogles going at once would make me unstoppable, that of course is not the case, but I can hold my own. It was difficult for the lower lvls, but after i respec'ed twice (I screwed up so bad 
), my tank finally began to pull his weight. After the second respec, I could really see a huge difference. All the info you supplied will definiately keep others from screwing up an ice tank like me. All I say is to get stamina and 6 slot it ASAP. Theres nothing worse than getting in the middle of an intense battle and all your toogles shut off. That is a bad time indeed.
Thanks for the guide! I've been playing an Ice/SS Tanker on and off for a while, and I've been hoping for more guidance on the powers and such. This helps a lot.
Question: Statesman posted this piece of information today. Given that Wet Ice only gets to 3% defense (which just seems so wrong), I guessing we should slot it for just 1 End Reduction now...unless I'm missing something?
*Edited because I hadn't had my morning coffee yet and realized how redundant parts of my post were.*
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Question: Statesman posted this piece of information today. Given that Wet Ice only gets to 3% defense (which just seems so wrong), I guessing we should slot it for just 1 End Reduction now...unless I'm missing something?
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To be honest, I haven't had much chance to test various slotting combinations with my Ice Tank because I don't have a respec available. However, based on what I have been reading on the forums, I would say as it stands now, slot Wet Ice with one End Reduction- the +def boost from SO's won't justify the slots.
If, when I5 hits, I find I can enjoy playing Rock-hopper still, then I might release another guide updated for I5. Otherwise, I have a Sonic Blaster just calling my name 
. My advice for you at the moment is to wait. Play your tank on live, keep yourself abreast of changes on test, but too many things are up in the air right now to say anything definitively.
My story arcs: #2370- Noah Reborn, #18672- The Clockwork War, #31490- Easy Money
Sartre once said, "Hell is other people." What does that make an MMO?
This was a helpful guide, and you can ever get around to updating it to I6, it would be much appreciated.
I've been planning a new release of it for some time now, but real life cuts heavily into my writing time. Theoretically, I only need to take an evening to pull something like this together (it is a quick guide after all), but it seems I start to get around to it and then end up distracted. (OOH... Shiny!) I'll see about putting something together on the weekend, but I can't make any promises.
My story arcs: #2370- Noah Reborn, #18672- The Clockwork War, #31490- Easy Money
Sartre once said, "Hell is other people." What does that make an MMO?
I have a question on EA?
I made an ice ice tanker after I noticed I never see them anymore.
Does EA recoup endurance too? if it did, that would really help things.
I am going to take tough now, as i am 22 and just getting stamina. Not slotted stamina helped alot. That will bump EA a couple lvls but i am ok with that.
Will tough help? I am getting one shotted or two slotted, and think that is a direct hit sometimes. I use CE slotted for slows after I start to herd not before. Seems to keep them nice an tight. Much tighter than my other tanker. With tough, FA, wet ice then plan on cycling EA will I be tankable?.
End has really improved, but i also boo boo ed. My planner said to put def in Wet ice, so i slotted it with 3 slots, and now no defense enhancments. So i put end reduc in them.
i am just concerned when i fight and use attacks more i will need more end.
thnx
A quick guide to the Ice Armor tanker primary:
So, youve chosen to make an Ice tanker? Be warned, of the four tanker primaries, Ice is probably the toughest to run. Its a good set if youre looking for a bit of a challenge, while still feeling super. The lack of any proper resistance will likely cause you to be one-shotted on more than one occasion, and enemies with defense debuffs or accuracy buffs can be a pain in the neck. On the other hand, you will be able to stand in a group of dozens of enemies and still be able to click a glowie without having to worry about being interrupted. The set is also one of the strongest in terms of herding capability. WARNING: All 3 of the armours accept +resistance enhancements. Dont be fooled! All that adding +resistance to these armours will do is to boost your resist to cold (and fire in Frozen Armor). Because cold is an underused damage type, it is unlikely that you will need any kind of resistance to it. Instead, go for solid defense enhancements, and get the most out of your buck.
The Powers:
From what I have seen, there are pretty much 2 ways to run an Ice tank. The first is the Wet Ice/EA tanker. This variant has gone very much out of style since the Ice armours were allowed to stack. With the I4 changes to Energy Absorption, this variant may be impractical now. Basically, this type of ice tank runs only Wet Ice, and supplements with Perma-EA when herding. I have seen it work, and its less of an endurance drainer, but I find that this type of build is weaker simply because of its lower defense.
The second variant runs all 3 armours (not necessarily at the same time), and is a massive drain on endurance. The advantage with this variant is that EA can be socketed more for defense than recharge, and can be used more as a panic button than something you need to use every battle. Regardless of which build you choose to try, before respecifying, you will likely be building both exactly the same way, because a tank cannot survive the 26 levels to EA on Wet Ice alone. Because I have no experience with the first type of build, I will write the power evaluations based on the second variant.
Frozen Armor:
This is your base armour, and will save you a lot of grief in the early game. Later it shines again against the Freakshow, but does gradually lose its usefulness in the later game. This is not to say that in the later levels, FA is useless, just not quite as good as when youre only fighting things with smashing and lethal damage.
How I would slot it: 6 slot this ASAP. Its a large part of your early game defence, and is solid even in the later game. Go for 6 Defense buff enhancements, or if youre really concerned about endurance, 5 defense, 1 Endurance reduction.
Hoarfrost:
Yes, I can hear the little kiddies giggling in the backseats already (for those of you who dont know what hoarfrost is, you can find a picture here. ) Hoarfrost is another solid power, which both heals you and adds to your max HP. Many people use this to permanently keep up their HP. I personally prefer to use it more like the Freaks do: as a panic heal. Later in the game, its a better heal than a medium green inspiration, plus it has the HP buff.
How I would slot it: 4 recharge will make this perma with hasten, otherwise, 5 recharge. I suppose if you want to use it as a heal, you could go for 4 recharge, 2 heal, but I dont recommend it.
Chilling Embrace:
One of my fave powers in the set, Chilling Embrace is both a defense and a herding tool. The slow is unfortunately unenhanceable, but it still reduces the number of incoming attacks significantly. The taunt is very strong and I believe it is the strongest of all the taunt auras. It can sometimes be tricky to herd with slowed mobs, but when you get used to it, you should have no troubles. CE also has one benefit that not everyone thinks of: It interrupts. If a Raider Engineer is going to put down a forcefield generator, just walk next to him, and he stops. Be careful when using travel powers with this on, as it will activate suppression.
How I would slot it: CE can be a bit taxing on your end with all the armours on. You might consider adding in end reduction. I currently have it 2 slotted with taunt, though, and it seems not to be too much of a problem.
Wet Ice:
The defining armour of the Ice set, Wet Ice provides defense to everything except psionic, plus resistance to status. You will likely be running this armour at all times. Its defense boost isnt huge, but you cant go wrong with defense to everything (except psi).
How I would slot it: Again, 6 slot ASAP. All defense or 5 def, 1 endredux.
Permafrost:
Wow- the set has been so very strong up to this point, then they throw this garbage power into the mix. It adds resistance to cold and fire damage. Whoop-dee-freakin-do. With the cold resistance already built in to the 3 armours, cold resist here is superfluous. Fire damage isnt common enough to be a real problem, plus you DO get defense against it from Wet Ice and EA. Unless youre going for concept, or are paranoid about fire, permafrost just isnt worth it.
How I would slot it: I wouldnt. I wouldnt have taken the power in the first place. If you have, then put one resist in the default slot, and wait for the respec.
Icicles:
Icicles is another fairly weak power. It doesnt do as much damage as any other of the damage auras, and is ludicrously expensive to boot. Plus, it does lethal damage, which is resisted by many enemies. That being said, I use it frequently. With Ices capacity to herd, its not uncommon to have herds of 50-100 following you, and if you dont have any particularly strong PBAoEs, like in stone melee, this can help take care of the enemies when soloing.
How I would slot it: Accuracy is something that should be added here. Optimally, I would probably go 1 acc, 2 endredux, 3 dam, but if you dont have that many slots to put towards it, 1acc, 2 end redux, 1 dam should do fine. Otherwise, skip the power.
Glacial Armor:
The final armour of the Ice set, GA is probably also the least useful. Energy and negative damage are relatively uncommon. It certainly will not be very useful at level 18, when you can first pick it up. If you get it later, around 30, it should be more useful. Nonetheless, Wet Ice and EA can take up the slack should you choose to skip GA.
How I would slot it: I would probably recommend 6 slotting it, 6 def or 5 def, 1 endredux. If you cant do that, you should still try for about 4 def enhances in it.
Energy Absorption (EA):
This is the defining power of Ice Armor. This will change you from a Scrapper with no damage to a Tanker. It adds defense to everything except Psionic, plus adds resistance to slow- something that you dont see much of. Unfortunately, as of now, the slow resistance doesnt seem to be scaling properly, and you will likely still find yourself slowed to a crawl if you come across a horde of Earth Thorn Casters or the like. The power has been toned down considerably, and now caps off at 5 enemies affected. This is generally enough, but you will still be feeling the lack of defense if you get caught with a defense debuff. The power will also drain endurance from enemies, but with only 5 affected, this will not make a significant impact on the gameplay.
How I would slot it: Energy Absorption is one of the most flexible powers in terms of slotting. The power is great right out of the box, but adding defense really helps. If you want to make it perma, 2 recharge reductions with hasten or 3 without. In PvP, you can use the End drain on this power to your advantage, and if youre focused on that, you might consider adding an end drain, but this wont really help in PvE. I would suggest 3 defense and 3 recharge if youre concerned about perma and dont have hasten, 3 defense, 2 recharge, 1 endredux with hasten. If youre totally unconcerned about the recharge and only plan on using this occasionally, 4 defense and 2 endredux.
Hibernate:
Well, weve made it to the ultimate power of the Ice Armor set, and its really a bit of a disappointment. It has been improved some, but anything that will take your tank out of the battle and cause you to lose aggro is generally a bad thing. I can see Hibernate being more useful for a soloer, but at level 32, its getting harder and harder for a tank to keep up the experience while soloing. Its not a bad power, but it is situational. If you plan on teaming a lot, I would put this power off until you have nothing else better to take.
How I would slot it: Hibernate is an end waster in and of itself, so you should put one endredux in it. Other than that it should be good, unless you want it to cycle faster, in which case you could throw a recharge into it.
What type of wine should I serve with the Ice Armor?
No powerset is an island. I would be remiss in this guide if I didnt mention a few powers that go well in an Ice Armor build.
Fighting>Tough: The first and foremost power to talk about is tough. Out of the box, it gives 20% resistance to smashing and lethal damage, increasing to 44% with 6 resist SOs. This is a godsend to the poor ice tanker with high defense and no useful resistance. On the other hand, it does add more burden on an already heavy end drain. Its not necessary, but it does help a lot.
Fighting>Weave: Weave is personal preference. It adds 12.5% defense to everything, including the omni-absent psionic defense. If youre going up against a lot of psi enemies, you might want to take weave. On the other hand, its even more end drain for a modest 12.5% defense boost. As I said, personal preference.
Medicine>Aid Self: With high defense, youre not being hit often, and that means that the interrupt on Aid Self becomes a non-issue. In theory. In practice, Murphys law will come into play, and youll probably be getting hit right when using it. If you feel like making this gamble, then a self heal is a huge boon in Ice Armor. Otherwise, stick with Hoarfrost. On the plus side, the path to Aid Self goes right through Aid Other, which can turn you into a very team friendly character indeed.
Fitness>Stamina: I shouldnt even have to mention this. Ice Armor is such an end heavy set that stamina is (almost) 100% necessary. 6 slot it, and youll be good to go.
Fitness>Health: In most cases, Health is really just a stepping stone on the way to stamina. In Ice Armor, youre being hit less frequently, and health can have a practical use. Its a good way to reduce downtime outside of battle and increases your survivability in battle. I would say that it would not be out of line to add maybe one or two sockets to increase the healing rate.
Speed>Hasten: It had to come up eventually. I personally dislike Hasten, but even I admit that it has considerable use in an Ice build. Just be very careful, because this can lead to you to burn through your endurance like gasoline-soaked Kleenex.
Presence>Provoke: I mention this because it used to be a major part of any tanker build. With the changes to taunt, taunt is now superior because it auto-hits whereas provoke makes a check. If you want to go old-school, you can still use provoke, but I wouldnt recommend it.
Concealment>Stealth/Invisibility: If youve just not got enough defense, stealth will add 7.5% and invisibility adds 10%. Invisibility wont let you attack while its active, so not such a great combat power.
APP Energy Mastery>Conserve Power: Anything that reduces the amount of endurance that you use with a set like this is a good thing. If you have a chance, grab this.
Combat Jumping/Hover: The defense that these powers give is useful in the early game, but later youre probably better off respeccing into Jump Kick/Air Superiority if you go for flight or super jump.
Travel Power: The nice thing about Ice armor is that it has no demands on which travel power you choose. Any of them will work.
So long, and thanks for all the fish.
The ice tank has long been considered "gimped." If more people played one, I believe that they would soon find that the Ice tank is a strong powerset with some challenges along the way. Don't expect your Ice tank to be at par with a Inv Tank. It's not going to happen. But put a good ice tank in any team, and you'll see that they more than hold their own.
My story arcs: #2370- Noah Reborn, #18672- The Clockwork War, #31490- Easy Money
Sartre once said, "Hell is other people." What does that make an MMO?