Frost's I6 Ice Control, Empathy, Kinetics Guide V2
By
Airman_America,
Posted on: 2006-03-07 13:55 in Player Guides
Empathy (S5)
(E1) Healing Aura (PBAoE, Team +Heal ) - This power is a player based AoE healing power. It will heal yourself and any ally or pet which is close enough to you when you activate it. This power is one of your least powerful heals, due to its AoE nature, healing about half of what a similarly slotted Heal Other will heal for.
Discussion
Well, you kinda have to take it, so there's really no discussion on if it's good or not. In my experience, this power pretty much covered all of my healing needs when combined with the damage mitigation of my primary. It also has a bonus as one of the few healing powers in the game which will affect both you and your teammates. I use it a lot after running in and using glacier to return myself to full health.
Slotting
3 Heal. Optionally 1-2 Endurance Reduction 1-2 Recharge
Slotting for this power will be Heal enhancements. I would put 3 in here. If you have slots which youre not using for your primary, you might consider placing either some Endurance Reduction in this power, as it can be a bit of a drain on your end bar while trying to control as well.
(E2) Heal Other (Ally Heal) - Heal Other is one of the two options empathy has for single target healing. When compared to Absorb Pain, it's heal is smaller, its endurance cost is larger, but it doesn't prevent you from being healed for a short period of time after using it (See the Absorb Pain section for more details). It heals for about twice as much as a similarly slotted healing aura.
Discussion
This is another one of your main healing abilities. I grabbed this power early because of its ability to spot heal someone in trouble if I can't get to them for the Healing Aura.
I'm a believer in the idea that empathy controllers don't need all three heal powers that are available to them, due to their ability do mitigate incoming damage instead of just reacting to it like empathy defenders do. I chose Heal Other over Absorb Pain because I don't like the idea of not being able to heal myself. If I die in a fight, my ice slick goes with me, and in my experience, the rest of the team is soon to follow 
. I'd rather keep my options open for healing if I need to. The endurance cost and healing power of Heal Other isn't bad, and has been more than enough for my needs in most circumstances.
Slotting
3 Heal. 1-2 Endurance Reduction.
Much like Healing Aura, I would go with 3 healing enhancements in this power. Anything more and you start running into diminishing returns. If you have the spare slots, I'd also put 1-2 endurance reduction enhancements in
(E3) Absorb Pain (Ally Strong Heal, Self Moderate DMG(Special) ) - Absorb Pain is one of the two single target ally heal options available to empathy. It differs from Heal Other in that it heals for a lot more and costs less endurance. However, it will deal a small amount of damage to you and prevent you from being healed for a short time, by any means. Effects like regeneration aura will allow you to gain back health while under the influence of Absorb Pain.
Discussion
I'm not too thrilled about this power on a controller, as its tricky to use without potentially getting yourself killed, and, like I've mentioned before, with you control abilities, 3 healing powers really aren't necessary. Most people choose either this, or Heal Other. I prefer Heal Other, for reasons discussed in the section above.
Slotting
1-3 Heal.
This power really doesn't need much slotting. A single heal enhancement gives you a massive heal, large enough for most situations you might come across.
(E4) Resurrect (Ally Rez) - This power returns a defeated teammate to life with full health and endurance. It also protects them from receiving additional experience debt if they happen to die again within a short period of time after being rezed.
Discussion
Teammates die. It's a fact of life. However, you can fix their problems by using this power 
This brings a defeated teammate back to life, with full health and endurance and no side effects. The downside of this power is that it has a pretty large endurance cost, but considering its effect, it's a nice price to play.
I would recommend taking this power at some point, but not at the expense of a control power. It's handy to have and can definitely change the face of a potentially hopeless situation when used in combat, but its far from essential.
Slotting
1 Recharge.
I really wouldn't put too much into slotting this power. It's good to have if you need it, but you really don't want to use it too often. Don't be the guy that advertises to his teammates that he's got 6 slotted Resurrect
(E5) Clear Mind (Ally +Res(Disorient, Hold, Sleep, Immobilize, Fear, Confuse), +Perception) - Clear mind will free your teammates from the effects of every status effect (Like sleep, holds, immobilize, disorient, fears and confuses) that a mob can throw at you, as well as grant them resistance to those status effects for a short time. (30 seconds) It will also increase your perception, allowing you to locate enemies which are using stealth or invisibility powers on you, or if you get hit with a smoke grenade.
Discussion
This power is pretty much essential if you plan on teaming often in the 30+ game as almost every villain group above level 30 has a member which can inflict status effects on an unassuming group of heroes. Pre-30, its less useful, except against certain groups like the Tsoo or the Lost. It can safely be pushed back until later in the build, but if you have room earlier, by all means, take it.
Slotting
1 Range.
Clear mind doesn't really need any enhancements. It recharges fast, uses very little endurance and you can't really enhance any of its actual buff. I'd probably put 1 range enhancement so you can use it on people who are a little further away from you, and forget about slotting anything else into it. It just doesn't need it.
(E6) Fortitude (Ally +DEF(All) , +DMG, +ACC) - This is one of empathy's set defining buffs. It does a little bit of everything, increasing the targets defense, damage and accuracy. The downside of this buff is a long recharge time. Without hasten or any recharge enhancements, you can keep it going on one member of your party.
Discussion
With the loss of perma-hasten in I6, this power has become less potent than it was in the past since you now have to devote some slots to recharge if you want to use this effectively on a team larger than 2-3 people. It's still a really nice buff though. This power not only works well with your teammates, but is a great buff to Jack Frost.
Slotting
3 Defense Buff. 0-3 Recharge.
The slotting on fortitude is going to vary greatly depending upon what you want it to do. I recommend slotting this power, with some sort of mix of defense buffs and recharge depending on how you want to use it.
To-Hit buffs are of limited use in this power, in my opinion. I've found that most people build in enough accuracy so that they don't really need a to-hit buff beyond what is included in the base fortitude buff.
In my build, I went with 3 defense buffs and 3 recharge. I like having it on multiple people and I had the slots for putting Recharge in. To keep it on 2-3 people at once permanently, you need at least 2 recharge enhancements. If you don't need or want to have it on multiple people, I'd recommend dropping some recharge slots out of it and using them in other powers.
(E7) Recovery Aura (PBAoE, Ally +Recovery) - Recovery aura is used to increase the rate at which you and anyone close enough to you regains endurance. This powers area of effect is roughly the same size as an Ice Slick. The buff this power provides is very noticeable, and doesn't really need to be enhanced with recovery enhancements.
Discussion
Other than the heals, this is one of Empathys set defining powers. Nobody is going to object to more endurance, and thats exactly what this power provides. It also helps you with some endurance problems you might be facing as controlling is tough work.
Unfortunately, it has a rather long recharge time and cant be made to recharge before its effect runs out, giving you some substantial downtime. Its still very much worth taking though.
Slotting
3 Recharge.
I'm currently slotting this with 3 recharge enhancements and nothing else. The endurance recovery buff is large enough on it's own for me to use those three extra slots elsewhere.
(E8) Regeneration Aura (PBAoE, Ally +Regeneration) - This power works almost like recovery aura, except it buffs your health regeneration instead of endurance.
Discussion
This is one of the more overlooked powers in the Empathy set, and while its not strictly necessary, I find it to be a decent addition to any build.
It has the same long recharge time problems which Recovery Aura has, preventing it from being activated again before it wears off, but while its active, it allows you to focus your efforts more on control and less on healing.
Its useful, but not so useful that I would push a primary power back in order to take it. If you have a spot where youre scrambling for a power, consider Regeneration Aura.
Slotting
3 Recharge. 0-3 Heal.
I'd slot this power with 3 recharge enhancements and then as many heal enhancements as you can spare in your build. It's not critically important to place heal enhancements in here, but they do make a noticeable difference.
(E9) Adrenalin Boost ( Ranged, Ally +End, +Regeneration, +Recharge, Res(Slow) ) - Adrenalin Boost is basically a souped up Recovery Aura/Regen Aura and Hasten, all in one handy power. It also gives your target a resistance to slowing powers (both recharge and run speed).
Discussion
AB major buff and highly recommended for everyone to take. It also works on your pets, but is of slightly limited use, due to its long recharge time.
Blasters will love you for this power. Heck, everyone will love you for this power. It's essential in my opinion. It's great with a blaster on the team that uses their "big boom" type attacks. You can just hit them with this and they'll be able to keep right on fighting as their endurance will recharge. It's also handy for hitting someone who missed your Recovery Aura.
It has a really long recharge time, preventing it from being used to give it permanently to one player, unfortunetly.
Slotting
3 Recharge. 0-3 Heal.
I slotted this power with 3 recharge enhancements. I had some spare enhancement slots in my build, so I used those for heal enhancements to buff up the heal aspect of the power. The endurance part can stand on its own, but the heal is a little pokey for my tastes. Slotting of this power beyond the 3 recharge enhancements is going to be based very heavily on your play style and slot availability
Kinetics (S6)
Kinetics is a very nice secondary with some very nice buffs included. Kinetics requires that, a lot of the time, you be in much closer to the combat than if you had another secondary for buffs such as transfusion, transference and fulcrum shift. Since it's the case that kinetics buffs are very melee oriented, your best teammates are generally scrappers and tankers who are going to be in melee range. Its fun trying to tell a blaster to get closer to combat so that I can heal him .
Here's my take and recommendations on the kinetics powers.
(K1) Transfusion (Ranged, -Foe End, -Foe regen, Team heal) - Transfusion is the most powerful AoE heal in the game, healing for even more than what an empathy defender/controller can manage. However, it has two downsides, both stemming from the fact that its effects are centered on a mob. First, you have to hit your target in order to heal. This makes it a somewhat unreliable healing mechanism because there's always a chance that you can miss. Secondly, the healing radius, while somewhat large, is still closer to the mobs than most ranged attackers (blaster, kheldians, some defenders and most other controllers) like to be. It can be hard to convince some of these people to come in closer to the mob for healing.
The size of the graphical effect changes depending on the size of your target, but the healing radius stays the same. A Rikti Monkey produces a really small graphical effect, and a giant monster produces a HUGE one, but the actual distance from the target that a teammate can be in order to get healed never changes.
Another quirky thing to note about this power is that if you use it on a target which dies while your character is carrying out the transfusion animation, the graphical effect occurs, the power counts as used, but nobody gets healed. For that reason its best to try and target a minion (easier to hit) which is close to full health so you have a better chance of getting the heal off.
Now, lets discuss what this power does to the target, the most important effect being the -regen. This slows down the targets natural health regeneration abilities, which makes taking down bosses, elite bosses and arch-villains much easier and less time consuming.
The -Foe End part of this power is barely worth mentioning as it's not really a huge effect. Just a small little sliver of endurance drain, and kinetics has better powers with which to do that draining with.
Slotting
2 Accuracy, 3 Heal, 0-1 Recharge, 0-1 Endurance Reduction
As far as slotting goes, I would recommend 2 accuracy enhancements, mostly because missing with this power is a Bad Thing(TM) and I like to make sure I can hit with it. 3 heal enhancements will effectively max out the amount of healing you can get from this power without running into the diminishing returns of enhancement bonuses. If you find you're running low on endurance or really need this power up in time, adding a recharge or an endurance reduction enhancement couldn't hurt.
(K2) Siphon Power (Ranged, -Foe DMG, +Team DMG) - Ah, here's the first one of kinetics big buffing powers. Siphon power is the baby brother version of fulcrum shift. Here's how it works: Target a mob and activate the power. That mobs damage gets reduced by 20%, and every teammate and pet within a certain radius around you gets a 20% boost to their damage output. The important thing to remember about this power is that you have to position yourself before you use it so that you're near most, if not all of your teammates and pets, allowing you to buff them all.
Slotting
1 Accuracy, 0-3 Recharge.
I prefer to leave this power with its default slot early and use those other slots in other, primary powers. I'd probably put an accuracy enhancement in the default slot. Later, once you start having slots you're not sure what to do with, this would be a nice place to put them. But once you get to Fulcrum Shift, a lot of early slots in this power aren't really all that important.
(K3) Repel (PBAoE Knockback) - Repel is one of those fun powers. In a nutshell, when you have this toggle power running, an enemy that gets close to you will get knocked back away from you. Each time a villain gets repelled away from you, you will use more endurance, in addition to its toggle endurance cost. This power also allows you to drop toggles in PvP.
Discussion
This power is good in certain situations. It's handy to have if things are getting a little to close to you for comfort, since it lets you clear out an area around you in an emergency. It's also a good thing to have if you want to bounce something onto your ice slick.
I skipped it, mostly because I had other things I would rather have. It's also a pretty heavy endurance user and Id much rather use that endurance for something useful most of the time.
Slotting
1-2 Endurance Reduction, 0-3 Knockback.
I'd probably slot this with a couple endurance reduction enhancements, and if you really want to have fun, you could throw in some knockback enhancements just for kicks
(K4) Siphon Speed (Ranged, -Foe Speed, -Foe Recharge, +Self Speed, +Self Recharge) - Siphon speed is an interesting power that does a lot of stuff. It' reduces foe run speed and recharge while buffing your own run speed and recharge. Its recharge buff is 20% and both buffs will stack with themselves if you manage to use it multiple times.
Discussion
Everyone loves their powers recharging faster. The faster my powers come back, the more protection I can offer a team and Siphon Speed provides a great way to buff your own recharge. Its buff isn't to the degree of hasten's buff. However, every little bit helps
Its also worth noting that its run speed buff is unaffected by travel power suppression, making it an excellent in-combat movement power.
Siphon Speed also allows you to potentially operate without a pool travel power if you wish to do so, but I don't recommend it, personally. It increases your speed right up with that of super speed after stacking it a couple times. The only problem with this power is that...well...you need a mob to use it on. With that requirement comes another one: you need to actually hit the mob you want to use it on. This power causes aggro, so the only place siphon speed will get you quickly if you run around trying to zap deep purple stuff with it is the hospital.
Slotting
1-2 Accuracy, 3 Recharge.
I recommend an accuracy enhancement and a couple of recharge enhancements to allow you to stack this power easier and increase the usefulness of its recharge buff. I have it slotted 1 accuracy, 3 recharge.
(K5) Increase Density (Ranged, +Res( Hold, Immobilize, Disorient, Knockback, Smashing/Energy damage), -SPD) - Increase Density is kinetics status effect reducing power, being able to break someone out of every effect except for sleeps, confuses and fears. In place of this protection, it has a couple of additional benefits that Clear Mind doesn't have. First is Knockback protection, useful for those Dark Armor scrappers in your life . Second is the substantial resistance to smashing/energy damage which it provides. It also provides resistance to Teleport Foe powers in PvP.
It has a few drawbacks. First is its short duration. The duration makes it hard to keep going on everyone on the team while fighting and controlling at the same time. I use it more as a reactionary action than a preventative buff. It also slightly slows the target. The -SPD effect has been toned down a bit and is barely noticeable, and is easily offset by the speed increase of Speed Boost.
Slotting
1 Damage Resistance.
I've found that Increase Density is fine with its default slot, which I'm using for a damage resistance enhancement. It has a low enough recharge time where additional slots in that area aren't necessary.
(K6) Speed Boost (Ranged, Ally +SPD +Recharge +Recovery) - This power is your one of your signature buffs as a kinetics controller. This increases the run speed of the target, their power recharge rate and their endurance recovery. It also has a really short recharge time, allowing you to keep it going on an entire team and your pets as well with hardly any more effort on your part.
Discussion
One of the major plusses of this power is that it will buff your pets as well. Yes, it effects your pets. A speed boosted jack frost is a scary sight indeed
I've noticed that with speed boost, Jack has a better chance of going into melee range, since he sometimes runs into a mob before he even realizes there's anything there.
Now, some people don't like speed boost. Mostly these people are uninformed about what it does. They think that the only thing it does is increase run speed, which is untrue, as it also buffs their endurance recovery and recharge rates. Usually explaining this to them clears things up and creates a new speed boost convert Other times you get those people who have trouble controlling their characters while speed boosted or otherwise request that you don't give it to them. It's usually a good idea to ask if anyone minds being speed boosted if you're joining a new team with people you haven't teamed with before. If someone says they don't want it, spread the good word about what it does for them, and if they still don't want it, respect their wishes.
If you plan on taking stamina in your build as well as speed boost, you have a decision to make. They both become available at level 20, so you need to choose which one to take at 20 and which to push back. Personally, I took stamina at 20 and speed boost at 22, as I felt I would be more helpful to the team if I actually had endurance to use my controls. This also allowed me to get stamina slotted earlier than I would have if I took Speed Boost at 20 instead. The choice is up to you, however.
Slotting
1-3 Endurance Modification
Speed Boost is an excellent power with its default slot, when slotted with Endurance Modification. However, if you have more slots to use, Id put 2 more in here for Endurance Modification.
If you want people to be really mad at you, slot it out for run speed Most people have a hard enough time dealing with the speed that it provides, let alone anything extra you add on with enhancements. If you want to make friends, Id avoid Run Speed slotting.
(K7) Inertial Reduction (Ally +Jump) - Here's another one of the fun powers of the secondary. This is pretty much Super Jump in a click form. In addition, it effects you, and anyone standing near you, letting you give travel powers to those who have none.
Discussion
This power is not strictly necessary, and the only time I would recommend that you seriously take a look at getting it is if Super Speed was your only travel power. Inertial Reduction can be used to give super speed the vertical movement powers which it lacks.
Slotting
1 Jump.
The default slot on this power is fine, which I used for a jump enhancement. Its effect is perma already, even without hasten, and it doesn't stack with itself, so putting a recharge in doesn't really help much.
(K8) Transference (Ranged, Foe -END, Ally +Recovery) - This is another one of your signature powers as a kinetics controller. Basically, this power works like transfusion, but instead of giving you health, it will give you endurance. This power will also drain a substantial amount of endurance from the target, usually draining them down to zero, while properly slotted, can restore a full bar of endurance to you.
Transference has the same drawbacks as transfusion. You have to hit a mob for it to work, and you have to be close enough to the mob in order to gain any benefit from it. If the target dies while you are performing the animation, the power counts as used, the graphic effect is carried out, but you won't get any endurance from it.
Now, this power has a some discussion associated with it: can Transference replace stamina? The answer to that is, well, yes, with a few notes. If you're not planning on taking stamina, Transference makes your life a whole lot easier to manage once you get to 35 without Stamina, but its a long road to get there. If you do take stamina, and are planning on respecing out of it once you get to level 35 and have transference, Here's a couple things to think about. The first would be that transference needs to hit. If you don't hit, you don't get endurance, and usually it will miss at the absolute worst time. Second would be if you exemplar down below level 35, you will no longer have transference, and you will no longer have the stamina which you were used to at those levels. This can hurt a bunch.
If you don't plan on exemplaring, and don't mind living on the wild side, no stamina and just transference can be a very workable thing. I personally wouldn't be able to do it because of my play style and my preferences (I tend to exemplar a lot), however, if you want to try it, it can work. I'd recommend testing it out on the test server first and seeing if you like it or not before taking the plunge live. With a little experimentation, you can figure out which combination is right for you.
One note though. If you're running some endurance sapping toggle powers (like Arctic Air), I'd recommend going with Stamina anyway, even with Transference. Without stamina, Arctic Air can suck you dry of endurance fairly quickly while you're doing other things in a fight.
Slotting
2 Accuracy, 3 Endurance Modification, 1 Recharge
Transference is a definite 6 slot power. 3 endurance modification enhancements will get you almost a full bar of endurance from one enemy. Therefore I recommend using 3 endurance modification enhancements along with a combination of accuracy and recharge. I recommend 2 accuracy and 1 recharge, but your mileage may vary. Another thing you might do is swap an endurance recovery enhancement out for another recharge.
(K9) Fulcrum Shift (Ranged (Foe AoE), Foe -DMG, Team +DMG) - Fulcrum shift is THE kinetics power. This is your signature move and can really make a huge difference in fights. If you want to imagine Fulcrum Shift, take siphon power, make it hit more than one enemy per use and then buff your team for each enemy that it hits. Sounds good right?
Well, its a little more complicated than that. In order to get buffed by Fulcrum Shift, your teammates/pets/yourself need to be standing near the enemies which were hit with it. If you fire it off at a group of 10 villains from maximum range, you'll notice you only get buffed once (You get a buff for yourself as well as one from the enemies). However, if you fire it off while standing in the middle of the 10 villains, assuming it hit everything, you'll end up with 11 kinetic transfer icons in your buff bar. This power will affect a maximum of 10 enemies.
Your teammates get about a 40% buff to damage by standing near you, plus a 20% buff to damage for each enemy theyre near that gets hit.
Discussion
This power is great for use with scrappers and tankers as they will be in the thick of things where they can get the most benefit from Fulcrum Shifts abilities. Ranged attackers need to be trained to head into melee range when everything is being controlled so they can get their buffs if they want them. Its part of the weird things they need to do in order to effectively play with a kinetics controller.
Fulcrum shift can also be used to buff Jack Frost, as long as he closes to melee range. Like I said in the speed boost section, this happens fairly often with an ice/kin build.
Slotting
2 Accuracy, 3 Recharge.
Fulcrum shift is a power that deserves slotting resources. I recommend 2 accuracy, and 3 recharge.
Power Pools (S7)
With the primary and the secondary out of the way, lets take a look at some of the power pools which might be of interest to you.
Fitness - Might as well list this one first Stamina can be your friend. Even without hasten, if you take Arctic Air, then Stamina will be very, very useful to you.
It's definitely possible to function without stamina, however it requires a certain play style and slotting choices due to the endurance hungry nature of controller powers, I recommend taking it and 3 slotting it as soon as you can, no matter which secondary you choose. If you're taking Arctic Air this recommendation turns almost into a requirement.
If youre interested though, it is possible to make a Stamina-less Ice Controller.
A stamina-less empathy build can be rough at times. While recovery aura helps, there's going to be a fairly sizeable amount of time where you're not going to have that buff helping you out. In that gap it is very possible to burn through your entire endurance bar and not have enough left to use Recovery Aura again when it recharges. You need to be very careful in that downtime to make sure you dont overuse your powers. If you do take stamina, with Recovery Aura, its not critically important to slot it out immediately. Id still go with 3 slots eventually, but you dont have to get them in right after you get Stamina.
With Kinetics, its a little easier to ignore stamina once you get transference, the reasons for which are discussed in the Transference Section.
Speed - Since we just covered fitness, lets cover speed too Hasten, while not able to be permanent anymore, is still a pretty useful power in many circumstances. I find myself using it when faced with a large group of bad guys, multiple bosses or if there happens to be some additions to the fight that the team wasn't expecting. If I need my AoE hold sooner, I'll also use hasten to buff up my recharge rate in order to get it to come back up quicker.
I still recommend taking it, but if you don't desire to, the difference in effectiveness between those controllers with it and those without it has been greatly reduced.
Super speed is the only travel power I'm going to mention here in the power pools section. This power is good to have due to the fact that paired with stealth, it makes you invisible to most mobs. This is handy for using Glacier, since you need to be pretty close to the group of mobs you want to hold in order for you to use it.
Leadership - The leadership pool powers allow you to buff your teammates, as well as your pets. The notable power from this pool is tactics. I'm not sure if tactics, at this point is still worth taking. You're using two power choices and 3 slots for what calculates out as roughly a half SO buff to accuracy. I would rather take those two slots, grab a couple extra controls or something from my secondary and save the slots and my endurance. However, some people still find it useful to take though. For PvP purposes (and increasingly, PvE), it gives you a +perception buff, allowing you to see stealthed or invisible enemies further away than you could without it.
A note here about vengeance from this pool: it can't be used on dead pets. Sorry
Concealment - I'm mentioning this power pool for one power. Stealth. When paired with super speed, as I mentioned earlier it will make you invisible to most mobs and allow you to get into position to use Glacier without attracting unwanted aggro.
Teleportation - Ah, teleportation. Recall Friend is a pretty useful power from this pool, mostly for pet positioning. It's useful for teleporting jack into melee range so you can either buff him with fulcrum shift on an ice/kin build, or so that his Chilling Embrace can help you control/slow the mobs down.
Magnitude and You: Fighting Bosses and Archvillains (S8)
There's been a lot of confusion from new controller players about how holds work in relationship to bosses and archvillains. Ever wonder why you sometimes can't hold something with just one hold? The answer lies in magnitude.
Each enemy class (minion, lieutenant, boss, elite boss and archvillain/hero) has a certain resistance to holds which must be overcome in order for them to be held. This resistance is measured numerically. Minions have a magnitude of resistance of 1, lieutenants are 2, bosses are 3 and elite bosses are 6. In order for something to be held, the magnitude of the holds that are stacked on it at any given time must be greater than its magnitude resistance.
Controller holds are all magnitude 3 with a chance of getting a "critical hold", which adds 1 to the magnitude. Lets look at what happens when a controller goes to hold various mob types.
If a hold is applied to a minion or a lieutenant, then they are immediately held. The mag of the hold (3) is greater than the mag resistance of the enemy ( 1 and 2 respectively).
However, if a boss is the target, one hold just won't do it. With just one hold the mag (3) is equal to the mag resistance (3), meaning the boss is still able to move. If a second hold is applied, then the magnitude (6) is greater than the mag resistance and the boss becomes held. If the first hold ended up being a critical hold, the mag (4) is greater than the mag resistance (3), so the boss is held in one shot.
An Archvillain/Hero has two modes of hold resistances. They can either be high, or low. When the resistances are high, their magnitude is so high that it is almost impossible to hold them solo. When their resistances are low, they get dropped to regular boss hold resistances (IE, 2 stacked holds will hold him). During a fight, the resistances of an AV change between the two modes. These are indicated by little tiny purple arrows which are completely obstructed in most AV fights. If these arrows are pointed up, then the resistances are high. If they are pointed down, then the resistances are low.
My builds (S9)
Ice/Empathy (B1)
This is not the only way you can build an Ice/Empathy controller, but here's my build, respected for I6 and enhancement diversification.
As you can see, I went with fly, and no stealth on this build, pushing stamina back to 22. Ice slick got 6 slotted due to the number of enhancement slots I had free towards the end here.
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Exported from Ver: 1.6.7.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
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Name:
Level: 50
Archetype: Controller
Primary: Ice Control
Secondary: Empathy
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01) --> Block of Ice==> Acc(1)Hold(3)Hold(3)Hold(5)Rechg(5)Rechg(7)
01) --> Healing Aura==> Heal(1)Heal(7)Heal(11)EndRdx(19)EndRdx(39)
02) --> Heal Other==> Heal(2)Heal(11)Heal(19)EndRdx(21)EndRdx(40)
04) --> Chilblain==> Acc(4)Dmg(34)Dmg(36)Dmg(36)Immob(36)Immob(37)
06) --> Hover==> DefBuf(6)
08) --> Arctic Air==> EndRdx(8)EndRdx(9)EndRdx(9)ConfDur(21)ConfDur(37)ConfDur(37)
10) --> Resurrect==> Rechg(10)
12) --> Ice Slick==> Rechg(12)Rechg(13)Rechg(13)Range(40)Range(40)Range(43)
14) --> Fly==> Fly(14)Fly(15)Fly(15)
16) --> Hasten==> Rechg(16)Rechg(17)Rechg(17)
18) --> Swift==> Run(18)
20) --> Hurdle==> Jump(20)
22) --> Stamina==> EndRec(22)EndRec(23)EndRec(23)
24) --> Fortitude==> DefBuf(24)DefBuf(25)DefBuf(25)
26) --> Glacier==> Acc(26)Acc(27)Hold(27)Hold(29)Rechg(29)Rechg(31)
28) --> Recovery Aura==> Rechg(28)Rechg(31)Rechg(31)
30) --> Clear Mind==> Range(30)
32) --> Jack Frost==> Acc(32)Dmg(33)Dmg(33)Dmg(33)Hold(34)Hold(34)
35) --> Recall Friend==> Range(35)
38) --> Adrenalin Boost==> Rechg(38)Rechg(39)Rechg(39)Heal(46)Heal(46)
41) --> Ice Blast==> Acc(41)Dmg(42)Dmg(42)Dmg(42)Rechg(43)Rechg(43)
44) --> Frozen Armor==> EndRdx(44)EndRdx(45)DefBuf(45)DefBuf(45)DefBuf(46)
47) --> Regeneration Aura==> Rechg(47)Rechg(48)Rechg(48)Heal(48)Heal(50)Heal(50)
49) --> Ice Storm==> Dmg(49)Dmg(50)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
01) --> Containment==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)
---------------------------------------------
Ice/Kinetics (B2)
With this build, I went with more of a powergaming approach, taking super speed, stealth and the psi epic pool. Again, Ice slick is 6 slotted due to the fact I had too many free slots floating around.
---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.6.7.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
---------------------------------------------
Name:
Level: 50
Archetype: Controller
Primary: Ice Control
Secondary: Kinetics
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Block of Ice==> Acc(1)Hold(3)Hold(3)Hold(5)Rechg(5)Rechg(7)
01) --> Transfusion==> Acc(1)Acc(11)Heal(11)Heal(15)Heal(19)
02) --> Siphon Power==> Acc(2)Rechg(43)Rechg(46)Rechg(46)
04) --> Chilblain==> Acc(4)Dmg(25)Dmg(25)Dmg(31)Immob(31)Immob(31)
06) --> Hasten==> Rechg(6)Rechg(7)Rechg(15)
08) --> Arctic Air==> EndRdx(8)EndRdx(9)EndRdx(9)ConfDur(37)ConfDur(40)ConfDur(42)
10) --> Siphon Speed==> Acc(10)Rechg(17)Rechg(17)Rechg(19)
12) --> Ice Slick==> Rechg(12)Rechg(13)Rechg(13)Range(40)Range(43)Range(43)
14) --> Super Speed==> Run(14)
16) --> Swift==> Run(16)
18) --> Hurdle==> Jump(18)
20) --> Stamina==> EndRec(20)EndRec(21)EndRec(21)
22) --> Speed Boost==> EndRec(22)EndRec(23)EndRec(23)Run(50)
24) --> Increase Density==> DmgRes(24)
26) --> Glacier==> Acc(26)Acc(27)Hold(27)Hold(29)Rechg(29)Rechg(34)
28) --> Inertial Reduction==> Jump(28)
30) --> Stealth==> DefBuf(30)
32) --> Jack Frost==> Acc(32)Dmg(33)Dmg(33)Dmg(33)Hold(34)Hold(34)
35) --> Transference==> Acc(35)Acc(36)EndRec(36)EndRec(36)EndRec(37)Rechg(37)
38) --> Fulcrum Shift==> Acc(38)Acc(39)Rechg(39)Rechg(39)Rechg(40)
41) --> Indomitable Will==> Rechg(41)Rechg(42)Rechg(42)
44) --> Mind Over Body==> EndRdx(44)EndRdx(45)DmgRes(45)DmgRes(45)DmgRes(46)
47) --> Psionic Tornado==> Acc(47)Dmg(48)Dmg(48)Dmg(48)Rechg(50)Rechg(50)
49) --> Recall Friend==> Range(49)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
01) --> Containment==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)
---------------------------------------------
ABSOLUTELY SUPERIOR!
I am Airman America... Super Hero... and I approve this message!
[ QUOTE ]
(K5) Increase Density (Ranged, +Res( Hold, Immobilize, Disorient, Knockback, Smashing/Energy damage), -SPD) - Increase Density is kinetics status effect reducing power, being able to break someone out of every effect except for sleeps, confuses and fears. In place of this protection, it has a couple of additional benefits that Clear Mind doesn't have. First is Knockback protection, useful for those Dark Armor scrappers in your life . Second is the substantial resistance to smashing/energy damage which it provides. It also provides resistance to Teleport Foe powers in PvP.
[/ QUOTE ]
You forgot Repel resistance again Frosty...
Res(Hold, Immobilize, Disorient, Knockback, Repel, Teleport, Smashing/Energy damage) -SPD
Currently roleplaying, badgehunting, and laughing at the PvPers of CoX. lol, PvP.
Truedusk - Human Rogue
Excellent as ever. Thanks!
loved the guide Frost 
Shenanigans
LotD - JaL - POWT/SMD - SoCo - AJs
Just for the record, this guide is up to date for issue 7. Nothing much really changed about any of the topics discussed
There was some people wondering what my Ice/Ice dominator looked like respeced, soo...here it is
---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
---------------------------------------------
Name: Dark Frost
Level: 50
Archetype: Dominator
Primary: Ice Control
Secondary: Icy Assault
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Block of Ice==> Acc(1)Hold(3)Hold(3)Hold(5)Rechg(5)Rechg(7)
01) --> Ice Bolt==> Acc(1)Dmg(7)Dmg(9)Dmg(11)EndRdx(25)Rechg(40)
02) --> Chilblain==> Acc(2)
04) --> Ice Sword==> Dmg(9)Dmg(11)Dmg(19)EndRdx(34)Slow(40)
06) --> Hover==> DefBuf(6)
08) --> Swift==> Run(8)
10) --> Ice Blast==> Acc(10)Dmg(19)Dmg(23)Dmg(23)EndRdx(34)Rechg(40)
12) --> Ice Slick==> Rechg(12)Rechg(13)Rechg(13)
14) --> Fly==> Fly(14)Fly(15)Fly(15)
16) --> Arctic Air==> EndRdx(16)EndRdx(17)EndRdx(17)ConfDur(25)ConfDur(34)ConfDur(37)
18) --> Hurdle==> Jump(18)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20)EndMod(21)EndMod(21)
22) --> Power Boost==> Rechg(22)Rechg(31)Rechg(31)
24) --> Hasten==> Rechg(24)
26) --> Glacier==> Acc(26)Acc(27)Hold(27)Hold(29)Rechg(29)Rechg(31)
28) --> Aid Other==> IntRdx(28)
30) --> Aid Self==> IntRdx(30)IntRdx(36)IntRdx(36)
32) --> Jack Frost==> Acc(32)Dmg(33)Dmg(33)Dmg(33)
35) --> Greater Ice Sword==> Acc(35)Dmg(36)Dmg(37)Dmg(37)EndRdx(43)Rechg(46)
38) --> Bitter Ice Blast==> Acc(38)Dmg(39)Dmg(39)Dmg(39)EndRdx(43)
41) --> Dark Consumption==> Acc(41)EndMod(42)EndMod(42)EndMod(42)Rechg(43)
44) --> Dark Embrace==> EndRdx(44)EndRdx(45)EndRdx(45)DmgRes(45)DmgRes(46)DmgRes(46)
47) --> Summon Seer==> Acc(47)Dmg(48)Dmg(48)Dmg(48)Rechg(50)Rechg(50)
49) --> Dark Obliteration==> Acc(49)Dmg(50)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
01) --> Domination==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)
---------------------------------------------
I took out Invisibilty and Chilling Embrace to get Aid Self (Aid Other is there mostly so I can get aid self ) Also tweaked some power ordering.
I tend to stay in melee a lot, so that's how the build is oriented. I don't really like Ice Sword Circle since the last time I checked, they still hadn't fixed it's animation :-/
Sloting on the patron powers is very up in the air right now. Could change at any moment The rest is fairly set though.
Fabulous guide, thanks! Easy to read (in terms of both writing style and formatting), and full of useful information.
Love the guide. I now want to work on leveling my Ice/Storm. The gods only know how I'm gonna sort through the powers, the set has a lot that overlaps with Storm. Hurricane and Ice Patch...
Thanks for the kind words everyone
You hit on one of the reasons why I haven't done Ice/Storm yet (aside from already having 2 ice controllers and one ice dominator of course...): Too much stuff. Too hard to try and figure out what to take
Well, I did come up with a theoretical build that would let me get and slot almost everything how I wanted to. The issue is that Ice already has a lot of contradictory elements (immobilize vs KD for instance) and it seems to revolve around Ice Patch. Storm adds, most importantly imo, Freezing Rain, Hurricane, Steamy Mist, and Thunderclap.
Two of these are KD/KB elements which again add over that redundancy in Ice, and increase the risk of KBing the enemy out of the area of effect, especially out of things like Arctic Air (don't know why that works with Steamy Mist, but anyway...).
I'm more worried about the two sets conflicting (though conceptually they shouldn't) than being unnable to take everything. It'll be a very controlling controller if it works though.
[ QUOTE ]
Well, I did come up with a theoretical build that would let me get and slot almost everything how I wanted to. The issue is that Ice already has a lot of contradictory elements (immobilize vs KD for instance) and it seems to revolve around Ice Patch. Storm adds, most importantly imo, Freezing Rain, Hurricane, Steamy Mist, and Thunderclap.
Two of these are KD/KB elements which again add over that redundancy in Ice, and increase the risk of KBing the enemy out of the area of effect, especially out of things like Arctic Air (don't know why that works with Steamy Mist, but anyway...).
I'm more worried about the two sets conflicting (though conceptually they shouldn't) than being unnable to take everything. It'll be a very controlling controller if it works though.
[/ QUOTE ]
Ice/Storm has great synergy.
1. Ice Slick + Freezing is spectacular and availble from level 16.
2. use Hurricane to knock foes onto your slick
3. If you take 02 boost get Shiver. If you take Aid Self get Arctic Air. Definatly take Snow Storm but you don't need all three.
4. Skip Thunderclap, you don't have another disorient to stack with it.
5. Frostbite + Tornado becomes a viable combo. very nice damage
6. Steamy mist helps land glacier. If you get Super Speed too then you have very good stealth.
7. Lightning Storm rocks.
Synergy with Jack is ok. If you want him to consistantly get into melee you may want to get recall friend otherwise deal with ranged attacks. But Imo the Ice/Storm controller is best on team.
Good Luck!
btw wonderful guide Frost.
Frost_Storm posted a really nice supplement to this guide for those who are looking for more information on the storm secondary.
Frost Storm's Guide to Ice Control/Storm Summoning
Very cool guide! Just made an alt version of my main hero (ice/ice blaster) as an Ice/Empathy so I'll be using this guide quite a lot!
Currently level 7 and climbing.
Great guide, just wondering one thing... is it possible to have
Transfusion as permanent or close to m perma move? Want to
get as close as I can to a main healer in a group, as well as a
controller maybe with Siphon Speed + Hasten?
Well, you can make it recharge really fast. It's pretty fast charging by default but a few siphon speeds helps it out too.
It's hard to play main healer as a kin since it's hard getting the blasters and other ranged types to go into melee to get the heal
Great guide, but in my builds I prefer to take chillblain at level 1. I do this mostly for the damage. Chillblain recharges twice as fast as block of ice. Which means it does twice the damage of block of ice.
I understand wanting Block of Ice, because enemies that are held do no damage, but enemies in the first few levels don't do much damage anyway.
Absolutely my favorite guide ever (including for other AT). Very usefull.
Cheers
Thanks for the comments guys.
Empyrean_Knight, it doesn't matter much in the long run, really. However, I stated up front I have a heavy bias towards control and not towards damage. Call me old school or what have you, but containment never really sat right with me. Which is handy, since Ice doesn't get a heck of a lot out of containment anyway So that's why I did it the way I did.
I also prefer slotting BoI first and leaving chilblain until later, something that gets slightly screwed up if chilblain gets taken first. It's a minor thing, really.
Some things i wanted to comment on Frost. First of all good job, but needed to clear some things up. First off, in PvE for AA and Shiver, you really only need one slow enhancement. Once you get to SOs, after one slow you wont really notice any difference in how fast theyre moving. Withthe exception of wolves, igneous, and steel strongmen, one will do fine. <---And on that note you'll need a LOT more than 2 to slow those guys down, they annoy me greatly XD.
The next thing is on fortitude. I slot mine wtih 3 defense buff, 1 to hit buff, 2 recharges. The reason why: Base recharge/duration will perma it on 2 allies, with about a 5 second gap before it gets on the next guy. 2 recharge SOs will make it perma on 3 allies almost exactly, wtih maybe a small overlap past that. The 3rd recharge will make it perma on about 3.5 guys, which is really hard to try to keep it on friends in the proper rotation cause it gets confusing. And the 1 to hit buff always helps. Either way, 6 slot this power Asap IMO, its just that good.
The next i have to comment on is Shiver. Also going with the only needing 1 slow rule. It needs more accuracy, and recharge to try to keep it on the group all the time. I slot mine with 2acc, 1slow, 3 recharge. With one siphon speed it will perma shiver's effects on a mob. And will hit pretty consitently. I found 1 accuracy to be too inferior. That also goes for every power in ice. As a controller you usualy end up fighting +1 to +3s when teaming. So even for block of ice, i'd deem it necesary to have 2 accuracies in all powers, especially after ED you can easily justify that.
The next thing i'd like to comment on is frostbite + ice slick. It is true you don't want to use frostbite after you used ice slick. But the reverse works very effectively. If you cast frostbite before ice slick, and wait those 10 seconds before you cast ice slick, then you can guarantee the mobs stay on the slick, without hindering its knockdown.
Transfusion: For this power, that last slot, i'd suggest recharge. Its endurance is fairly small considering having transference when your already in melee to use it. And the recharge will help for those tough battles where you need healing. If you're worried later on, heal/end hami's will be your friend. But honestly its endurance is fine as is, and i wouldnt even bother with it.
The last thing i saw for now is transference. Your slotting issued 3 end mods. This works for draining endurance, but in PvE that hardly matters anything, especially when it wont drain an EB/AVs endurance, and you can easily hold anything lower than that with block of ice. So that leaves us to its end gain ability. 3 end mods will pretty much fill your bar, however. Take into account if it misses, then your at low endurance, and have a longer time to wait to gain it back. I slot mine with 2acc/2end mods/2recharge. The 2 end mods still will fill my bar about 80% of it. And also you will rarely want to wait until you have only 5 endurance left to use transference, especially when your running toggles as heavy as arctic air. This way you can use it leisurely and it is always effective.
Plasmic's Guide to Sonic/Mental
Plasmic's Guide to Regeneration
Plasmic Fire - 50 Fire/Rad Victory Server
Thanks for the comments wind. I'm not sure you were really clearing things up as opposed to saying what you do, really Not that there's anything wrong with that. Lots of ways to do things.
[ QUOTE ]
The next thing is on fortitude. I slot mine wtih 3 defense buff, 1 to hit buff, 2 recharges. The reason why: Base recharge/duration will perma it on 2 allies, with about a 5 second gap before it gets on the next guy. 2 recharge SOs will make it perma on 3 allies almost exactly, wtih maybe a small overlap past that. The 3rd recharge will make it perma on about 3.5 guys, which is really hard to try to keep it on friends in the proper rotation cause it gets confusing. And the 1 to hit buff always helps. Either way, 6 slot this power Asap IMO, its just that good.
[/ QUOTE ]
Going to have to disagree with the to-hit buff thing. I find that by the time you've got fortitude, people are slotting enough accuracy by themselves to where it won't make much if a difference unless you're fighting really high level stuff. It's not really hard to keep it up on people as long as you come up with a system for doing it.
[ QUOTE ]
So even for block of ice, i'd deem it necesary to have 2 accuracies in all powers, especially after ED you can easily justify that.
[/ QUOTE ]
Again, your personal preference, I prefer my way...but to each his own I've found shiver doesn't really miss all that often with just the single accuracy enhancement, but I do agree that if you're using it heavily, adding another accuracy should be priority. I even listed it that way. The excessive slow slots are listed purely for the optional thing. Like if you've got lots of free slots hanging around
[ QUOTE ]
The next thing i'd like to comment on is frostbite + ice slick. It is true you don't want to use frostbite after you used ice slick. But the reverse works very effectively. If you cast frostbite before ice slick, and wait those 10 seconds before you cast ice slick, then you can guarantee the mobs stay on the slick, without hindering its knockdown.
[/ QUOTE ]
That'd be a good point...I keep forgetting to include that. Of course if you use frostbite before ice slick then the mobs pound you into the ground because they all aggro on you first...
[ QUOTE ]
Transfusion: For this power, that last slot, i'd suggest recharge. Its endurance is fairly small considering having transference when your already in melee to use it.
[/ QUOTE ]
CRAP! You caught a typo. I was going to chuck that part in proofreading but I must have skipped it (I print it out and go over it with a red pen...old school style ) Noted...
[ QUOTE ]
The last thing i saw for now is transference. Your slotting issued 3 end mods. This works for draining endurance, but in PvE that hardly matters anything, especially when it wont drain an EB/AVs endurance, and you can easily hold anything lower than that with block of ice. So that leaves us to its end gain ability. 3 end mods will pretty much fill your bar, however. Take into account if it misses, then your at low endurance, and have a longer time to wait to gain it back. I slot mine with 2acc/2end mods/2recharge. The 2 end mods still will fill my bar about 80% of it. And also you will rarely want to wait until you have only 5 endurance left to use transference, especially when your running toggles as heavy as arctic air. This way you can use it leisurely and it is always effective.
[/ QUOTE ]
One word for you: Sappers I want to be able to go from 0 to full asap. And it recharges plenty fast where I'd rather leave it with 5 slots than throw another recharge in there. But that's just me.
But you've got a point...I should have it 2-3 end mod and 1-2 recharge instead of being absolute like that. I'm surprised I actually had it listed that way to begin with...Noted for the next version.
[ QUOTE ]
Going to have to disagree with the to-hit buff thing. I find that by the time you've got fortitude, people are slotting enough accuracy by themselves to where it won't make much if a difference unless you're fighting really high level stuff. It's not really hard to keep it up on people as long as you come up with a system for doing it.
[/ QUOTE ]
It is true people do slot for good accuracy usually. That is noted, but the main thing i had said that was the "perma on 3 with 2 recharges, odd with 3.5 perma" thing. Thats just what i did with the extra slot. Plus its nice to buff some lowbies with a little better accuracy. And it also finites some more getting by with only one accuracy in jack.
[ QUOTE ]
One word for you: Sappers I want to be able to go from 0 to full asap. And it recharges plenty fast where I'd rather leave it with 5 slots than throw another recharge in there. But that's just me.
[/ QUOTE ]
Block of Ice is your friend . As is what i like to coin "Jackicide" or "Jackikaze" :P
Plasmic's Guide to Sonic/Mental
Plasmic's Guide to Regeneration
Plasmic Fire - 50 Fire/Rad Victory Server
EDIT: Just a FYI...Still figuring out if this is true or not since I have conflicting reports/experiences right now
Sigh. Just a correction. Frostbite doesn't have -fly. No idea why I thought it did. Chilblain does though. We're coming up on a new revision I think...there's some things in here I want to change to be more accurate The revisions are getting to the "new version required" point.
Frosts Guide to Ice Control (and lot's of other Empathy and Kinetic stuff too!)
Id like to thank everyone who sent me their feedback and corrections.
I started playing the game in May of 2004. My first character was a fire/fire blaster which I got to level 36 before realizing I hated him. Therefore, in November 2004 set out to make the exact opposite of a fire/fire blaster: a controller. I chose Ice because at the time, I rarely saw any of them and the powers looked interesting. I choose Empathy for my secondary because I wanted to be primarily team support and a friend of mine already had a kinetics controller. Three months and 440 hours later Frost Magus hit level 50. After playing a kheldian for a bit, I realized I missed controllers...Ice specifically. So I did it again. This time I went Ice/Kinetics after wondering for a while what it would have been like if I went that direction. I can't recall the exact dates for the second one, but needless to day, my Ice/Kinetics controller also hit level 50 in somewhere around 400 hours of play.
Issue 6 Version Revision 2
Table of Contents
This table of contents is organized such that you can use it to quickly skip to any part of the (quite large) guide. Each entry is split into two parts as follows:
<Section Title> (<keyword>
If you search for the keyword, it should bring you right to the section youre looking for. For example, if you want to find information about Arctic Air, then you would search for IC4.
Introduction (S1)
Contact Information (S2)
Common Terms (S3)
Ice Control (S4)
.....Chilblain (IC1)
.....Block of Ice (IC2)
.....Frostbite (IC3)
.....Arctic Air (IC4)
.....Shiver (IC5)
.....Ice Slick (IC6)
.....Flash Freeze (IC7)
.....Glacier (IC8)
.....Jack Frost (IC9)
Empathy (S5)
.....Healing Aura (E1)
.....Heal Other (E2)
.....Absorb Pain (E3)
.....Resurrect (E4)
.....Clear Mind (E5)
.....Fortitude (E6)
.....Recovery Aura (E7)
.....Regeneration Aura (E8)
.....Adrenalin Boost (E9)
Kinetics (S6)
.....Transfusion (K1)
.....Siphon Power (K2)
.....Repel (K3)
.....Siphon Speed (K4)
.....Increase Density (K5)
.....Speed Boost (K6)
.....Inertial Reduction (K7)
.....Transference (K8)
.....Fulcrum Shift (K9)
Power Pools (S7)
Magnitude and You: Fighting Bosses and Archvillains (S8)
My Builds (S9)
.....Ice/Empathy (B1)
.....Ice/Kinetics (B2)
Introduction (S1)
Welcome, to yet another edition of Frost's rambling..er..I mean "Frost's Guide to Ice Control (and lot's of other Empathy and Kinetic stuff too!)" This is the second revision of my Issue 6 guide, which corrects several blatantly wrong numbers, fixes some formatting mistakes, modifies a couple slotting recommendations and reads a lot like it was written by someone who wasnt bitter over Enhancement Diversification
Just a quick note about who this guide is aimed at before delving in. I'm writing this guide as an introduction to Ice Control primarily. The Ice/ part of this guide will probably be useful to you no matter if you're an Ice Controller or an Ice Dominator, regardless of your secondary power set. The sections on Empathy and Kinetics are a look at both controller secondaries as seen through the filter of the Ice primary. I don't PvP much, so most of this content is going to be directed at those who are interested in PvE. If you are looking for hard numbers, you're looking in the wrong place for the most part. I don't enjoy massive number crunching, and I base most of my advice on play experiences. When I do have numbers for something, I'll give them out.
I might as well say this out front: I am not a fan of containment or building a controller to deal damage. I'm old school. I feel the role of a controller is primarily team protection and not damage dealing. Yep, I'm aware that control through damage is also a viable strategy, just not something I'm personally interested in. In this guide I'm going to be concentrating on the control aspects and viewing any extra damage that containment provides as a bonus. I'll try to cater to both camps and mention where containment can be made more effective, but I don't want to hide my bias towards the control side and away from damage dealing. The last thing I want to do is to present my views as the only way to do things. Now that you are aware of my bias, you can interpret the contents of this lengthy tome in the proper light.
Standard Disclaimer: All power choice and slotting advice in this guide is purely my opinion. Yours might be different. That's ok. There's many different ways of building a controller.
So why Ice Control?
Ice has many benefits as a controller or a dominator primary. Instead of concentrating on "hard" controls like a power set such as Mind Control does, Ice offers a mix of "hard" and "soft" controls. This becomes much more important in the wake of issue 5 and issue 6 which took an axe to the Area of Effect hard controls, thereby increasing the importance of the soft. Instead of trying to lock down every enemy in every group, Ice Controllers use slow and knockdown powers, combined with your more standard holds in order to keep a team safe. Every power in the Ice primary has a secondary effect which causes slows, either recharge speed, run speed or both.
Ice Control is one of the most team friendly controller power sets. It has large, visible power graphics, allowing your team to know exactly what's held and what isn't. This is in contrast to other set such as mind control who's graphical FX can sometimes be hard to see in the middle of a fight. At the same time, they're not quite as jarring or obstructing as earth's hold graphics. In addition to hold graphics, Ice's pet, Jack Frost is smart, with a smallish aggro radius, preventing him from running off and aggroing large groups.
The one thing Ice doesn't have is a really good way of doing direct damage to mobs. Unlike some primaries like Mind, Gravity and Illusion, Ice doesn't have an "attack" (levitate, lift and spectral wounds, respectively). You can jury rig chilblain, the single target immobilization to work as such if you desire, but if you're attempting to create a controller that acts as a damage dealer, you might be happier looking into something like Mind Control, at least before the epic power pools. I'm not saying that Ice can't deal damage, I'm just saying that there are probably better choices out there for you.
All right, you've got me convinced! What secondary should I choose?
There really is no "best" secondary. My general recommendation is to think about what you want to do with your controller and choose a secondary that most closely matches that goal. If you like more chaotic control, you might choose Storm for example. If you feel you want to be more of a debuffing controller, then Radiation might be more to your liking, and so on.
I personally have level 50 Empathy and Kinetics Ice controllers therefore the secondary power sets portion of this guide will be addressing those areas.
A note on a philosophical belief of mine about controller secondaries: I believe a controller secondary should exist to support the primary. The best controllers are set up so that they have a nice mix of primary and secondary power choices. Concentrating completely on one or the other seems to me to be ignoring the potential each power set has if they were working together. For example, Empathy controllers might have a temptation to ignore their primary mostly and slot out their healing powers. While this can be a viable build, you're missing much of the damage mitigation potential which removes the need to heal in the first place. Preventative action is generally more useful than reacting constantly to damage dealt by enemies. I don't mean to knock anyone who would choose to build a controller this way, as there are many of way to build a controller. I just wanted to get another one of my biases out in the open so you, the reader, can judge my words and make your own decision.
Empathy is the most healing oriented secondary available to a controller. You have three healing powers at your disposal and two powers which increase healing regeneration rate. In addition to the healing powers, you have access to some nice buffs, such as Fortitude, Clear Mind and Adrenalin Boost. An empathy controller can play the role of a healer pretty well on a small group, but in large groups, it can be too much for a controller simply concentrating on their secondary. This is why I recommend a good mix of powers between the two.
Kinetics is more oriented towards providing your teammates with useful buffs. While it does get a healing power, it's a much more situational heal due to it being a targeted AoE around an enemy. The main strength of kinetics is in you damage buffs and Speed Boost. Almost everyone loves fulcrum shift and speed boost, and with enhancement diversification, you can provide that extra oomph that some people are missing since perma-hasten is gone and stamina isn't what it once was.
Hey, wait a second, who are you and why should I take anything you say seriously??
Warning, boring history ahead. If you don't care, might as well skip this part
Yeah, I like Ice control.
Contact Information (S2)
Have any questions about anything you see in this guide? Comments? Feel free to contact me in game by sending a tell to @Frost. If I'm not online, I'll respond as soon as I get online to read your message. You can also post any questions/comments you might have to this thread and I (or someone else) will try to answer them for you.
Common Terms (S3)
To those unfamiliar with the controller archetype and what we do, some of the terms used below might be a little confusing. Therefore, here's a little glossary of sorts to help you out. Experienced controllers can most likely skip this part
AoE - AoE stands for Area of Effect. This means that the power will affect multiple targets within a certain area. Issue 5 brought with it AoE limits. As it applies to Ice Controllers, it means that AoE control powers are limited to hitting a maximum of 16 foes in a single application. The Issue 5 patch notes have more information about the other limits.
Confuse - A confuse effect is another control which falls into the "soft" category. Confused targets will attack other enemies and, if they have any buff or heal effects, will use those on you.
Containment - Containment was added to controllers in Issue 5. It allows a controller to do double damage to any target which is held, immobilized or disoriented. This extra damage ignores the damage cap, and applies to all non-pet like powers. Pet-like powers include your level 32 pets, and things like Freezing Rain or Ice Storm.
DoT - Damage over time. This refers to a power which deals its damage as a number of "ticks" over a certain time frame.
Enhancement Diversification - Commonly abbreviated ED, this is a change which took place in issue 6 which drastically changed the way the post level 22 game works. There's more in depth descriptions of enhancement diversification, but here's the short version. As you may/may not know, most SOs provide a +33% boost to a certain attribute of a power. Before ED, this boost was constant, no matter how high the total bonus in the power got. ED changed all that by switching to a system of diminishing returns. The first two SOs of the same type in a power provide a +33% bonus. The third provides something like a 23% bonus and the 4th, 5th and 6th provide only a 5% bonus. Therefore, in most cases it makes sense to avoid slotting more than 3 of the same type of enhancement in any power.
Hold - This is the most common controller effect. This type of control prevents the target from doing anything but standing there. It's the most pure form of control available. A held target cannot move, use powers or act in any other way. Holding an enemy sets up containment for your next attack.
Immobilization - This type of control effect prevents the target from moving, but still allows them to act. They can still use their powers and shoot at you, but they are rooted to the spot. Most immobilization effects offer resistance to knockback as well. Immobilizing an enemy sets up containment for your next attack.
Knockback - A knockback effect causes an enemy to be thrown backwards a short distance. This also knocks them down, causing them to spend time standing up and preventing them from shooting stuff at you while they're standing.
Knockdown - More desirable than knockback. This causes the enemy to fall down in place, and prevents them from doing anything while they spend time standing up.
PBAoE - This stands for Player Based Area of Effect. It is similar to Area of Effect, however the area which is affected is centered on the player instead of another target.
Pet - A pet is an AI controlled teammate of sorts which follows you around and helps you out. Most controllers get their pets at level 32, with the notable exception of mind which doesn't get a pet, and illusion, which get pets at 18.
Slow - A slow effect is another form of control. This type of control is often referred to as a soft control, since it doesn't actually stop the target from doing anything, it just prevents them from doing it as often as they might have otherwise. Typically slows reduce the run speed and power recharge rate of the target.
Slow Cap - The slow cap is the maximum amount that something can be slowed before additional slows have no effect. An enemy can be reduced to no less than 10% of its normal run speed and 25% of its normal power recharge speed.
Ice Control (S4)
(IC1) Chilblain (Ranged, Moderate DoT(Cold), Foe Immobilize, -SPD, -Recharge ) - Chilblain is your single target immobilization power, a pretty standard effect for a controller primary. It has a fast recharge timer and low endurance usage. Like most other controller immobilizes, chilblain prevents knockback/knockdown for 10 seconds on any target which it is used on, which makes it conflict with the knockdown power of your Ice Slick if not carefully used. It also has a -FLY component, allowing you to drop flying mobs out of the air so the melee types on your team can get at them. Chilblain sets up containment. Like most other ice powers, chilblain debuffs the run-speed and power recharge of its target.
Discussion
Immobilizations are always a hot topic for debate on the Controller forums. There's pretty much two camps: Those that believe they draw too much aggro to be truly useful and those who find them to be handy either for setting up containment or for certain situations like archvillain fights. I'm in the latter camp, personally. I've found that up until level 12, I use my immobilize extensively. However, after I get Ice slick, I tend to use it only on flying mobs that I have to drop down or Archvillains that tend to run around a lot during the fight. Keeping them in place can be very helpful, especially if they happen to be able to fly.
If you decide that you want to take an immobilization, then you have to decide if you want Chilblain (single target), Frostbite (AoE) or both. There are advantages and disadvantages to each. For Chilblain, its advantages are that it has a faster recharge and a lower endurance cost. It's also easier to use around an Ice Slick, since you can more accurately choose a single target hanging off the edge of the slick, without worrying about immobilizing the stuff on the Ice Slick, canceling knockback. The major disadvantage is that it doesn't set up containment as well as Frostbite does, if that's important for you.
Slotting
1 accuracy. Optionally 1-3 Immobilization Duration or 1-3 Damage
Chilblain really doesn't need a lot of slots to be effective. I'd recommend 1 accuracy enhancement for everyone. If you have extra slots, or find yourself using it a lot, you have a choice. If you're going for maximum control, immobilization duration is the way to go. If you're going for damage, then slotting this power with damage enhancements can really help your damage output ability.
On my Ice/Emp and Ice/Kin builds, I found I had a whole bunch of extra slots in the 30s and 40s, so I ended up 6 slotting this power on both builds with 1 accuracy, 3 damage and 2 immobilization enhancements, which is overkill, but I had the extra slots anyway.
(IC2) Block of Ice (Ranged, Moderate DMG(Cold), Foe Hold, -SPD, -Recharge) - Block of Ice is your standard, single target hold, a staple power for all controller primaries. It does some minor damage, and sets up containment for later attacks. Also like most other Ice powers, Block of Ice debuffs the run speed and power recharge of its target for a time which extends past the duration of its hold.
Discussion
There's not really a whole lot to say about Block of Ice. It's one of the most used powers you're going to have available to you and I would therefore recommend taking it at level 1, right out of the character generator. I really can't imagine playing an Ice controller without Block of Ice.
Slotting
1-2 Accuracy, 2-3 Hold, 2-3 Recharge
This power is probably going to be one which you should 6 slot. What you slot it with is going to depend a lot on your play style and how you use it. Its base accuracy is pretty high (95% to an even level minion), but I would recommend slotting at least 1 accuracy enhancement, just to be safe, two if you plan on PvPing at all.
I am not a fan of slotting this power for damage. I feel it's more useful to use it for its control abilities and leave the damage dealing to powers such as Chilblain or an attack from one of the Power Pools.
With that in mind, I recommend slotting the rest of the 5 slots with a mix of hold duration and recharge. I'd either go with 3 hold and 2 recharge or 2 hold and 3 recharge. If you normally play in a larger group where the enemy mobs are going down pretty quickly, having the extra recharge allowing you to stack it faster on bosses to hold them (see the section on magnitude at the end of the guide). In smaller groups, having the longer hold duration can be important. Theres not a whole lot of difference between the two slottings, so play around with it and see what works for you.
I'm personally using 1 accuracy, 3 hold and 2 recharge.
(IC3) Frostbite (Ranged (Targeted AoE), Minor DoT(Cold), Foe Immobilize, -SPD, -Recharge) - Frostbite, like chilblain is an immobilization power. Unlike chilblain, it's an area of effect centered on the mob which you select as target when you use the power. It has a longer recharge than chilblain and uses a lot more endurance. It prevents knockback/knockdown for 10 seconds, making it conflict with the knockdown power of Ice Slick if not carefully used. It also has a -FLY aspect, allowing you to knock down large groups of flying mobs at the same time. Frostbite sets up containment. Like most other ice powers, frostbite debuffs the run speed and power recharge of its target. This power can hit a maximum of 16 enemies due to AoE limitations.
Discussion
Most of the discussion on immobilization powers is contained in the chilblain section above. Instead of repeating myself, I'll address Frostbite here specifically. Frostbite's AoE nature can be considered both an advantage over Chilblain and a disadvantage. Disadvantage due to the fact that it's much harder to use Frostbite around an Ice Slick than it is chilblain, due to the less precise targeting that Frostbite offers. It can be an advantage due to the fact that it sets up containment on a large number of mobs at the same time.
Personally, I recommend chilblain over Frostbite in almost all circumstances. It simply uses too much endurance and provides too few benefits when you factor in it's interaction with Ice Slick for me to make room for it in my Ice Controller builds. I find I use immobilizations very rarely post level 12, and then usually only for dropping a single flying enemy to the ground of for archvillain fights where there's only one thing to be immobilized. If you're concentrating on containment damage with AoE attacks and the fire epic pool in the 40s however, then Frostbite might be for you.
Slotting
1-2 Accuracy. Optionally 1-3 Immobilization Duration or 1-2 Endurance Reduction
Like Chilblain, Frostbite doesn't really need a lot of slots. Being an AoE attack, it has a lower base accuracy than a single target, so 1 or 2 accuracy enhancements would probably be a good idea. If you plan on using it to set up containment, you might want a couple immobilization enhancements as well. Another aspect to consider is its large endurance cost. If you use it enough, itll be worth it to you to slot a few Endurance Reduction enhancements.
(IC4) Arctic Air ( PBAoE, Foe Confuse, -SPD, -Recharge, -Stealth) - Arctic air is an interesting power. It's based around the player, with its area of effect being just about the same size as an ice slick is. Instead of one very strong power effect, Arctic Air combines several weaker effects into one power, with powerful results. Arctic Air contains an auto-hit slow aura, along with pulses of confusion every so often. It also causes mobs to want to get out of its area of effect.
I've seen a common misconception that Arctic Air is all about the confuse and some think it's not doing anything just because the mobs aren't attacking each other. The main point of AA is how the 3 effects (slow, confuse and the desire to leave the radius of the power) interact in slowing the incoming damage to a team. A mob inside of AA will either be trying to run out of it (slowly due to the slow), be unable to attack due to the fact that it's powers have not yet recharged, or he'll be under the influence of the confuse part of the power and will be attacking one of his friends instead of you. It's a subtle effect, but one with very noticeable results.
Discussion
Due to how long it takes some of the other AoE Controls available to Ice Controllers to recharge, it can be useful to have a standby power which can be used to fill in the gap where you dont have certain powers available.
It can combine well with a number of ice control powers. Stacking it with either Ice Slick, for example, can create a virtual AoE hold and reduce the incoming damage from a group of mobs considerably.
Arctic Air does have two problems though. The first is its VERY endurance heavy. It can be hard to keep it running during a fight if you're also trying to use your other powers, at least before level 22 when you get single origin enhancements. Once the single origin enhancements come in, then it becomes viable to keep it running most of the time. Plan on taking Stamina if you plan on using this power.
The second problem is that mobs tend not to like you very much when you stand in the middle of a group with AA on. I've noticed I tend to draw a lot of aggro while using it, which isn't too terrible since with Empathy and, to a lesser degree, Kinetics I can heal myself if necessary. For other secondaries, this extra aggro might be more of a problem. At least with AA going they won't be attacking you quite as often. I've found that the extra aggro usually isn't a big issue.
Arctic Air requires that you get into the middle of a fight and stay there in order to be most effective. If you find yourself staying out at range more often, I might recommend that you check out Shiver instead of Arctic Air.
Slotting
2-3 Endurance Reduction, 1-3 Confuse, 1-3 Slow
AA is EXTREMELY endurance heavy, even with the recent global endurance cost reduction. I find myself slotting it with at least 2-3 endurance reduction enhancements.
AA works fairly well with just the endurance reduction enhancements. It does benefit from extra sloting though. Should you desire to spend extra slots (as I did), you get to decide between basically Confuse and Slow enhancements. While you can slot fear enhancements, it really doesnt make much difference as the fear effect is an AI behavior. And if they did somehow modify that, then I still wouldnt recommend it since you want things to stay inside of Arctic Air anyway.
Between the two remaining types, there are a lot of different opinions on which one works the best. I personally prefer 3 confusion enhancements, as it will increase the time where the affected enemies are actually unable to attack you. It makes a noticeable difference in the amount of incoming damage.
Slow enhancements work as well, but theyll only increase the runspeed part of the power and not the recharge, which is the more important of the slowing effects, in my opinion.
Id recommend playing around with it and seeing what works best for you, as always.
(IC5) Shiver (Ranged(Cone), Foe -SPD, -Recharge) - Shiver is a LARGE (almost 180 degree) cone area of effect slow power. There's not really much else you can say about it. It's pretty much a one trick pony. Due to AoE target limitations, this power can hit a maximum of 10 enemies in a single application
Discussion
It seems most people either choose Shiver or Arctic Air and not both due to their overlapping effects. Shiver used to be my power of choice over Arctic Air, due to the fact that it's ranged. However, now that I find myself in melee range more often, I've dropped shiver and rely completely on Arctic Air.
When you combine this power with Ice slick, you can use it as kind of an AoE hold, due to the double slowing effect and shiver's power recharge reduction. It really reduces the amount of attacks coming from the slick. It's very handy before you get glacier if things start getting out of hand. It can really turn a fight around.
My recommendation would be, if you find you're playing in melee range, take Arctic Air. If Arctic Air isn't your cup of tea, then shiver might be up your alley.
Slotting
1-2 Accuracy, Optionally 1-2 Recharge, 1-3 Slow
One of the best things about shiver is how few slots it needs to be effective. 1 accuracy SO pretty much covers any accuracy concerns you might have with it. You might wish to include 1 or two recharge SOs due to its slightly long recharge time.
(IC6) Ice Slick (Target( Location AoE), Foe Knockdown, -SPD) - Ice Slick is, perhaps the set defining power for Ice Control. It's a large, ranged, targetable area of knockdown and slow. Almost anything that's in the area of effect of an Ice Slick will be knocked down repeatedly and have their movement speed slowed.
It can do two things to a mob, knock them down, or knock them back. Knockdown is more desirable as this allows you to keep them on the ice slick where they will continue to be knocked down. There are two situations where knockback might occur. The first is when you stack Ice Slicks, something which isnt very common due to its recharge time. If you stack ice slicks (or an ice slick and an earthquake if you happen to be teaming with an earth controller), it becomes possible for knockback to occur, which is consider a Bad Thing(TM). The second situation that can cause knockback are mobs that are vulnerable to knockback, such as Clockwork or Rikti Monkeys. These types of mobs will get knocked back off the slick much, much more often than other types.
Discussion
There's a few tricks to using Ice Slick. The first is, you dont need to have line of sight from your character to the desired ice slick location, you just have to be able to move the camera so that you can see. This lets you hide around a corner and then drop a slick preventing the initial volley of shots that comes your way before they start falling down.
The second and most important thing to remember about ice slick is that IMMOBILIZE ON AN ICE SLICK IS A BAD THING!!! In most cases this is something you never want to do. Most immobilizes give a mob 10 seconds of knockdown/knockback protection, negating Ice Slicks main function for 10 seconds and letting them shoot at you freely. This is why I don't recommend Frostbite and why Chilblain becomes less useful from 12-40, as immobilizing a lot of stuff on an ice slick is generally a bad idea. Immobilization does have its uses though, epically if you're facing stuff that isn't affected by ice slick such as nemesis jaegers, or stuff that goes flying while on an ice slick, like Clockwork.
Ice Slick combines well with Arctic Air and Shiver to create a virtual AoE hold.
Even though Ice Slick can be no longer permanent (there's about a 20-30 second downtime now, depending on if you're running hasten and how much of the recharge was under hasten's effects) without outside recharge buffing, please don't just pass it by! It's still one of the best powers in the set and can make a huge difference in a battle.
Slotting
3 Recharge.
Ice Slick is another one of those powers that doesn't really need a lot of slots. I'd go as far as to say 3 recharge enhancements are a must in this power. Anything else you might have extra in the later levels could be useful. I started throwing slots for range in here in the later levels under Issue 6 because I didn't have anywhere else to put them.
(IC7) Flash Freeze (Ranged (Targeted AoE), Minor Dmg( Cold/Lethal ), Foe Sleep)- Targeted AoE Sleep. This power deals some minor cold/lethal damage to a number of mobs in an area centered on the target and then puts those that it hits to sleep. As opposed to the mind controller mass hypnosis, this power aggros the mobs you use it on, due to its damaging effect. This power will affect a maximum of 16 enemies.
Discussion
I guess it should be stated up front that I've never been a huge fan of sleep powers. People with AoE's tend to break the sleep without thinking about it and it requires some level of teammate familiarity with your power set, something which you can't really count on. Ice slick will also break the sleep effect, making this power slightly incompatible with it.
It does have some good points though. You can use it to effectively cut large spawns in half by sleeping some of them and taking on the rest, being careful of the slept mobs. You can also use it on patrols that happen to run into the middle of an already existing fight to delay them until you can finish off the first group.
Generally I've never felt that I've been in a situation where I really, really wanted a sleep power. My other control options were enough that I never picked this up on live (I've tested it on the test server though). It comes down to a play style choice. Some people enjoy it, other's don't. Only way to see which one you are is by trying it out. If you're looking for room in your build and have this power, this might be the one to cut in order to fit something else in.
Slotting
1-2 Accuracy, 1-3 Sleep 1-2 Recharge
Since its AoE, having at least one accuracy enhancement in here can be a good thing. Other than that, 1-3 sleep duration enhancements, if you can spare them would be all I'd consider slotting here. If you use it enough, a couple recharge wouldn't hurt either.
(IC8) Glacier (PBAoE, Foe Hold, -Recharge, -SPD) - Glacier is Ice Controls AoE hold power. As opposed to some of the other primaries (Mind and gravity in particular), Ice's AoE hold is player based, meaning you have to run into the middle of a group and then trigger it. It has a decent range (larger than the ice animation that appears after you use it). This power sets up containment. It also slows foe recharge and run speed, like most other Ice Control powers. Glacier can only be used while you have your feet on the ground. You can't use glacier in the air while jumping or while power such as hover or fly are activated. This power will effect a maximum of 16 enemies.
Discussion
The first couple things youll notice about Glacier is that it a) Doesnt last very long unslotted and b) doesnt recharge very fast. These two things make Glacier, much like all other AoE holds, a slightly situational power. However, I feel its worth taking for a couple reasons.
The first is one of magnitude (see the section on magnitude below). If you happen to come across a boss, chances are good you want to lock it down as fast as you can to prevent unnecessary damage to your teammates. In order to lock bosses down in most cases, you need to stack two holds on them. Instead of waiting for Block of Ice to recharge, it's very helpful to have glacier to provide that second, immediate hold in order to get them held.
The second reason is an escape button. If things are going badly for your team, a 20-25 second pause in the action might be what they need in order to bring the odds back into their favor. If not, it'll allow those that need to run to flee without danger of being shot at and killed in their escape.
One of the bad things about glacier is that you have to be pretty close to the mobs in order to use it, due to it being a player based hold. This disadvantage can be addressed by going the Super Speed/Stealth route with your power pools giving you effective invisibility to sneak in and get into position to use glacier without any return fire.
If you don't plan on taking Super Speed or Stealth, then you can do what I did with my ice/emp (who was without stealth and super speed and still is to this day). If there's a conveniently placed corner or object to hide behind, you can use that to drop an ice slick on the mob first and avoid the first large volley of incoming fire. After that you can trigger glacier without as much return fire coming at you. If that's not a possibility, I've found that running into the middle of a mob and hitting glacier as fast as you can sometimes hold them fast enough so that they won't be able to fire back at you. If it doesn't, the damage you take by just running in can be repaired easily enough by healing yourself with Healing Aura or Transfusion.
Slotting
2 accuracy 1-3 Hold, 1-3 Recharge
I recommend 6 slotting glacier. It needs at least 2 accuracy due to the fact its base accuracy is somewhere around 55% to an even con minion, like all AoE hold powers are. 2 recharge is also pretty much required if you want to use it with any kind of frequency considering it's long recharge time. And 2 hold enhancements would round out the slotting since without enhancing its hold duration, the hold is uselessly short. I use the 2 Accuracy, 2 Hold and 2 Recharge slotting.
(IC9) Jack Frost (Summon Jack Frost) - Jack Frost is Ice Control's pet power. Contrary to what you may have heard, Jack Frost does not suck. He's a smart, flexible pet which can be a great help to you and your team once you learn to use him. Like all the other pets, You can only have one Jack Frost out at any given time. If you try to summon another one, your original Jack will die and the new one will replace him. His duration, however, is very long, such that its effectively permanent. Jack will follow you up and down elevators and through portals (If theres no other way to get from where he is to where you are), but he will not follow you to a different zone. You need to re-summon every time you zone.
Jack's Powers
Jack lives up to his name as a jack of all trades type pet. Generally, he hangs back at range and launches Ice Bolts at the mobs he's attacking. He doesn't quite do as much damage per hit with these attacks as with his melee attacks, but it recharges pretty fast giving you a constant stream of damage.
Sometimes, Jack will get really angry and head into melee range where he'll pull out his three other powers. Ice Sword and Greater Ice Sword are pretty damaging attacks. His greater ice sword does a ton of damage (I've seen him do 300+ a hit at times), but it has a slow recharge. It's much more common to see him break out the regular ice sword. His third melee attack is Freezing Touch, a hold power that does damage over time. Jack is pretty smart about when he uses his hold. he won't hold anything you already have held and he seems to like to help you stack holds on bosses when needed. I've seen him run in and drop the second hold on a boss many times for me. Jack also has a player based AoE slow, which is a version of Chilling Embrace, without the damage debuff that the tanker version gets. He also has a high resistance to cold and slow effects.
Jack Frost, like all pets, doesn't get any benefit from containment.
Getting Jack Into Melee Range
In order for jack to be most effective, you have to get him into melee mode where he can use his sword, lay down holds and debuff the enemies with his chilling embrace. There's a couple ways of doing this. Either you can summon him right next to a mob (he will appear with the sword out and swinging), use Team Teleport to teleport him as well as yourself right next to whatever you want to attack or you can let him get hit a couple times by the mobs. This will cause him to pull out the sword and charge in.
Discussion
Right at 32, do not be discouraged at how jack performs. It can be very depressing to see his damage and accuracy right at level 32. However, he's one of those things that really improve as you add slots to him.
If you're new to pets in general, it can be a little tricky to learn how to control their actions through your positioning and movements. Once you get the hang of the AI, you'll be able to direct him a lot better. It's a skill that needs to be learned through experience and really can't be taught to you from someone else.
If you ever feel the need to be lonely and wish to send jack to a melted, watery grave, you can use the /release_pets command to kill him off.
Slotting
1-2 Accuracy, 3 Damage. Optionally 1-2 Hold or Slow enhancements.
I recommend slotting Jack Frost with a mix of Accuracy and Damage enhancements. Generally 1 accuracy should be enough for you to get by, but if you notice him missing more than you'd like, you might want to add another one. I'd recommend slotting 3 damage enhancements as well.
You can slot Jack for recharge, but generally, you dont need it. Hes a pretty tough guy for being made out of ice and rarely dies. If you find him meeting an early end more often than youd like, a few recharge enhancements wouldnt hurt, but I found I didnt need them.
If you have extra slots, dropping either slow or hold duration enhancements into Jack will help a bit, but it isnt strictly necessary. I prefer hold, because his powers seems to slow enough by default. However, on the flip side, he only holds while in melee range and he isnt there all the time. Theres a good argument for either type of enhancement.