The Cold, Dark Night- a Dark/Cold Corruptor guide

Fixit · 09-17-2006 01:10 PM

Dislcaimer- This little known build has become my favorite character. A lot of what is to follow is based on my observations and experiences, it is meant as a basis of recommendation and information to those wanting to know about the experiences of a player. This guide is subject to editing and is a work in progress, I will leave notes as I learn more.

Dark Blast and Cold Domination, a match seemingly made in heaven. These two sets synergize so well I wonder if they weren't made for one another. There's no self-heal in /Cold, but Dark/ gets one. There's no Aim in Dark/, but /Cold gets a massive defense debuff as the very first power. Dark/ debuffs accuracy and /Cold increases defense. In this build you have access to the following status effects: foe (-resist, -defense, -acc, -recharge, -regen, -endurance, -recovery, -speed, -damage), ally (+def, +HP, +res including psi and slow, +recovery, +endurance). This is in addition to fast animating damage. Nice eh?

The other good thing about this combination is that it's a jack of all trades. You can be team support, you can be AoE, you can go single-target, you can be a debuffer, or you can do all of the above. It's very versitile and will fit in any niche.

Let's break it down.

Dark Blast- This is your bread and butter attack. It has decent damage, very fast animation and recharge and fills in the chain nicely. Just like Ice Bolt only with -acc instead of slow. Suggested slotting: 1ACC, 3DMG

Gloom- A very underestimated attack and one you should always take and use liberally. High damage, the highest available for a tier-2 attack, but done as a DoT. Animates fast, recharges okay. Suggested slotting: 1ACC, 3DMG, 2RechRed

Moonbeam- The snipe of the set. If you like snipes, this is a good one as it comes in time to deliver some high damage at early levels. Because of the -ACC inherant in Dark Blast and slows in /Cold, you can usually get this one off mid-combat without interruption. This is the only attack in the set with a superior damage rating. I took it and use it occasionally on anything with more HPs than a lieutenant, as it does an appreciable chunk of their life off and Scourges very, very well. Suggested slotting: 1ACC, 3DMG, 1EndRed. You probably won't be using it enough to justify more slots as your regular attacks recharge so quickly.

Dark Pit- This is a "meh" power. In PvE, it's largely useless because the base duration is so low and recharge is so high and the accuracy is attrocious, and it will instantly aggro everything. It requires six slots to be functional at all. What it is good for is in PvP, blasting through Acrobatics and giving you a break from MMs. Suggested slotting: 2ACC, 3DisDir, 1RechRed

Tenebrous Tentacles (henceforth referred to as TT)- This is a signiture Dark Blast power. It is a Swiss army knife. It does decent damage, has an AoE immobilize, is a good AoE debuff, and recharges as it expires. You should pick this up as soon as it becomes available and use it in every fight. As a Corruptor, you get no melee unless you delve into power pool attacks. Being able to keep everything at range and debuffed is a game-changing experience. Suggested slotting: 2ACC, 2DMG, 1RechRed, 1EndRed

Night Fall- The compliment to TT, a high-damage cone attack and the best accuracy debuff in the set aside from Blackstar. Line up your TT, then step back some and let this rip. The sweep is much narrower on NF than TT, but the range is deeper, hence the stepping back. It's somewhat annoying to have to switch ranges to use the two together, but the end result is a lot of orange numbers and mobs unable to hit you. Suggested slotting: 1ACC, 3DMG, 1RechRed, 1EndRed

Torrent- I don't know why this power is even in here. I suppose if you want to send things flying and scatter them widdershins, messing up your cones, then you can take it. The damage is pitiful, it won't do much of anything to mobs caught up in TT, it costs a lot and recharges longer than any attack in the set outside the nuke. Pass.

Life Drain- The other set-defining power of Dark Blast. This is a ranged self-heal, damage and debuff. If you opt for few attacks, this can fill in your single-target blast chain as a damage dealer. Otherwise, just pop it off every now and then to keep your green bar high and stack another debuff on your target. Suggested slotting: 1ACC, 3Heal, 1RechRed, 1EndRed

Blackstar- As nukes go, this one is unimpressive, both visually and functionally. The only thing worth mentioning on this thing is that the accuracy debuff is huge. I took it for a while as an "[censored] we're in trouble" power, but in a set where you have so much to offer when you have endurance, the crash on this one isn't worth the power. Pass.

Infrigidate- You don't have a choice on this one, but what a nice power to be stuck with! This is the sole reason you can get away with only one accuracy in most of the rest of your build. This should be the first thing you fire off in any encounter on the most dangerous target in the bunch, then anything else you want to hit, will. Not to mention the slow and -recharge on this are hovering quite close to the caps. This is step 1 to utterly messing up your target. Hit anything using fire attacks with this and forget about them (Longbow Flamethrowers, I'm looking at you ). Suggested slotting: 3ACC, 1DefDeBuff, 1RechRed, 1EndRed

Ice Shield- Step 1 to protecting your team. The defense on this is close to the base shield on an SR Scrapper! Add to that some fire and cold damage resist and you have one heckuva power. In issue 7, they added positional defense to this so it stacks with all other types of defenses. If you team at all, take it. In PvP, the resist on this shines as there are so many ice-slinging Corruptors and Blasters out there. Suggested slotting: for PvE, 3DefBuff. For PvP, 3DefBuff, 2DamRes

Snowstorm- This is a signature power for the /Cold set, but I recommend skipping it as a Dark/Cold. You already get an AoE control power in TT, the only reason to take it would be the AoE -recharge. But it's a bit endurance heavy for that, when you'll already be fighting for breath because of the machinegun nature of your primary. You already also have the selfsame debuffs in a single-target hit with Infrigidate. Pass.

Glacial Shield- Step #2 for protecting your team. Same thing as the Ice Shield.

Frostwork- The only external HP buff in the game. I can't say how much this power helps Brutes, MMs, heck, anyone who's on the front lines. Give it to a regen or invuln who already has DP and watch them tank the map. Just don't try to keep it on the whole team, it recharges long enough that you want to pick two at most and just keep it going. Even with three recharge reducers, you're at 3 targets max, and it's maddening enough keeping shields on everyone. Suggested slotting: 3Heal

Arctic Fog- This is one you can put off until later or drop if you're hurting for power slots, but is still a good pick. Self damage resist and stealth is nice, 20% damage resistance to fire/cold/energy for the team is even better. For PvP, this thing packs slow resist, again a good way to thwart those ice-slingers. Together with the ice shields you're talking 40% cold resist. Suggested slotting: 2EndRed, 3DamRes

Benumb- The regen-killer. This is what makes it really possible to utterly mess up your target no matter what it is. Paired with Infrig, you've effectively killed everything about your target. No regen, no endurance recovery, halved resist to status effects, halved damage, halved defense, I mean really, stacked with all the debuffs from Dark and about now they're wondering why they bother fighting. For 30 seconds they are gimped beyond belief. Kill them fast. Suggested slotting: 2ACC, 3RechRed, 1EndRed

Sleet- Here is the fun part; with TT you get to keep everyone in Sleet for the duration, so it becomes a very nice damage dealer. It's also a massive debuff, so everything you're doing becomes better. Pick it up ASAP. Suggested slotting: 3DMG, 2RechRed, 1EndRed

Heat Loss- This is like a hybrid between Transferrance and Recovery Aura coupled with a huge defense and resistance debuff. This is step 3 to utterly messing up your target. It does it all, buffs the team, debuffs the target, and makes life easy. Definitely a keeper. It just recharges soooo bleeeeeding sloooooow. Suggested slotting: 3RechRed, EndMod to taste and availability

Pool Powers- Stamina is pretty much a necessity. You're firing off fairly expensive attacks and debuffs so rapidy that you'll eat through your blue bar very quickly. Heat Loss will not save you. Slot almost everything for EndRed and it'll help some, but not all. I went Leaping for travel and mez protection. You get Medicine and Concealment built in to your build, but might want Invis if you're PvPing to drop toggle debuffs. Everything recharges so fast that I find Hasten unnecessary. Outside of that, the build is so good I find myself neglecting the pools because I like so much of my power sets.

PPP- I refrain from offering advice on this because everyone is different. Whatever your taste, you'll probably want a hold, because your powers don't offer you any. Luckily all of them come with one. I took Mu for Power Sink both as a way to recover endurance for my hungry build and to drain in combination with Heat Loss.

Origin Powers- This is a valid concern because Infrigidate makes the origin power hit reliably. I find that either the -res debuff from Magic or the sleep from Science fill in very nicely. The sleep is most effective as it does last a bit as long as you leave the guy out of the TT chain and you don't have any other way of knocking a person out of the fight until PPPs. People get upset when I knock off Acro with it. The -res on the Magic origin power will kick in mid-DoT, so can be used any time to increase the amount of damage the target is taking, most effective with DoT builds.

Play Tactics

Early on, you'll want to focus on single-target attacking, always leading off with Infrigidate. Infrig/DB/Gloom and you're set up for a Moonbeam because your target can't reach you, they're doing the running man, and they can't hit you, they've got debuffs on. Shield to taste on whatever team you're on, if any. The first 15 levels are fairly self-explainatory. Slot up multiple accuracies until you get SOs, especially in Infrig. Remember that what makes this combo shine is both debuff and damage, so don't spare the debuff in your haste to destroy.

Once you can pick up TT and NF then you've got the beginning of an AoE build with DB and Gloom to clean up. Then you can start leading off with TT to immediatly debuff the whole group, then Infrig your target. I find at this point it's generally worthless to try and Infrig a minion, anything above that will do. Watch aggro on teams, TT will draw a lot for you. Personally, I waited until 30 to pick up NF to go with Sleet as I found my single-target and buff game to be more than adequate to fill my time, though I got TT as soon as it was available and used it the whole time for safe blasting. A note on bosses; Benumb one before dropping TT and it will be caught in the effect just like everything else.

Then you find yourself with Stamina and can start shifting to a machinegun attack style. Remember that the more attacks you field, the more debuffs you're stacking on your target and the less they'll be able to hit back. Death by a thousand paper cuts! The numbers will be small, but there will be a whole lot of them. A note on Scourge; all Dark Blast attacks Scourge. It's not always readily apparent on TT and NF because you only get the "SCOURGE" message on the initial hit. If you focus, you'll see that there are two numbers instead of one, but it's hard to notice when there's so many numbers floating away. Rest assured that you *are* getting the Scourge benefit. A favorite of mine is TT/Infrig/DB/Gloom/TT/Apprentice Charm/DB/Gloom. Very nice damage.

Your big debuffs start coming at about the same time you start seeing a lot of big enemies. I did the first respec at 28 and we made the Thorn Tree cry with all the debuffs this build brought along. Sleet will change your tactics again, because you'll want to start focusing more on your AoE as it becomes safer. You'll be tempted by Heat Loss to go crazy with your endurance and drop the EndRed slotting and maybe even Stamina, don't do it! It's nice, but it's not up all the time.

Team play is even better with this build because at the same time you're boosting your team's defense, you're dropping the enemies' accuracy. This leads to a very noticable difference in the green bars, even PUGs generally take note. If you team a lot, be sure to take all the team buffs (IS/GS/FW/AF) as together they make a nice addition. The debuffs from /Cold make bosses/EBs/AVs/GMs short work for a team. Try to avoid using AoEs on a team, even TT, unless there's a good aggro magnet around, which usually means a Brute with a PBAoE damage aura. TT is very nice, however, when brought around with another Corr that has a rain power, or a Fire Brute. Used discriminately it can be a very powerful tool.

PvP Tactics

PvP is only somewhat different for this build. In team play, Arctic Fog becomes more a personal tool, and the shields' resistance comes into full play. Night Fall is only marginally useful, you'll want Life Drain to be up more often and Dark Pit becomes useful. TT becomes more of an attack than an immob, though it does a good job of making people switch from SJ to CJ, which puts your team at a travel advantage. If all you plan to do is zone PvP, you can probably use your PvE build.

Arena PvP will force a respec. You'll want Hasten here to get your long recharge timers on Benumb and Heat Loss down to more managable levels. The timing of the debuffs is crucial. Watch out for Aim, it will cancel whatever -ACC you've got going. Use Dark Pit liberally against squishies, followed up by your ST hold. Invis is useful against /Rad users, drop the toggles and then hit them with all the -recharge you have to prevent them from getting their most powerful tools back up. Sleet is good for revealing Stalkers and making MMs have trouble, plus works as an area denial tool if dropped at your feet against melee types. You will destroy Scrappers, especially Regens, if you can keep out of range while Build-Up is active. Slot Hurdle and CJ and you'll have some pretty good movement advantages over your slowed opponent. A pet helps too! People like to complain that DoT isn't optimal in PvP, but with -recharge and -regen in /Cold, I find DoT is just as good and has the added benefit of making Aid Self nearly impossible to use.

All in all, Dark/Cold has been a very enjoyable experience for me. Hopefully it will be for you too!

Combat · 09-17-2006 06:53 PM

Very nice.

Combat agrees with the above post

TW/Elec Optimization

Chazzmatazz · 09-19-2006 11:28 AM

Excellent guide! I have no disagreements regarding any of your power observations, though I have differred a little in power selection in my build to this point (currently lvl 36). I took Snowstorm and it is a bread and butter debuff for me (moreso in teams, vs bosses or for its excellent application in dropping flyers out of the sky) but it does slow things down as far as laying down the offense, and I can see your reasons for passing on it. I respecced out of Dark Blast at lvl 26 and have a Hasten/SS build.

I also love Life Drain, but have shifted two slots to damage (from heal) so that it works better in my attack chain and as a VERY satisfying "finisher".

Due to the lack of hard control I find that judicious insp use (esp. Lucks and Break Frees) to be the key to survival in big battles.

I have only PvP'd a little bit in Siren's and mostly served the role of buff-bot to very grateful stalkers/brutes. Tended to get whacked by scrappers who get the first shot and controllers of any sort. If I could get the drop on a blaster, I could perhaps get an opportunity kill, but I haven't really tried to play aggressively in PvP with this build.

Again, great guide for a currently somewhat obscure corruptor build.

-----------------------
Yeti Gone Bad (lvl 36 Dark/Cold, Liberty)

Contempt · 09-19-2006 11:00 PM

Well. You convinced me. I'm going to make one.

Great guide.

Tam_Lyn · 09-22-2006 06:45 AM

Great guide! Thanks for writing it. My Dark/Cold is only level 18, but I agree that it is a very effective and fun combination.

Tam Lyn Carter, Ialuine, Propitious Puma, Seraf Berylwing, Snowsprite, Damian Newmoon

Chibi Dark Tam, Mr. MacStabbity, Turlin, Frostsprite

And many many more across all servers.

Marvizzle · 10-01-2006 03:28 PM

Wow really nice guid. Rolled one today cause of this and just wow. Level 9 right now and it is FUN! And this from a Brute/Scrapper player.... Anyways, great powerset and great guide. very informative and helpfu. TYVM

Chill_Out · 10-20-2006 02:10 PM

Nice write up, thank you. Just rolled one the other nite. Not as safe as my /dark, but the debuffs are brutal, and it is a bit more of a challenge

BonSavant · 02-18-2007 05:05 PM

My only beef with your guide is the recommendation that Sleet be slotted with three damage. This is so wrong it hurts my eyes just to see it. A better way to slot it might be 3 recharge, 2 Debuff and 1 Acc. This is a debuffing power, not a damage dealing one. Play to its strengths.

Vel_Overload · 02-18-2007 09:32 PM

Cold and Dark synergize very well no matter what the combonation. Cold/Dark is a powerful AoE/Single Target killer and Dark/Cold is an awesome Debuff Set. I'm still waiting on a Dark/Dark blaster

Whining about everything since 2006.

Ammo switching for Dual Pistols was my idea:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=135484

Fixit · 03-04-2007 03:29 PM

[ QUOTE ]
My only beef with your guide is the recommendation that Sleet be slotted with three damage. This is so wrong it hurts my eyes just to see it. A better way to slot it might be 3 recharge, 2 Debuff and 1 Acc. This is a debuffing power, not a damage dealing one. Play to its strengths.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually Sleet does almost the exact same damage that Tenebruos Tentacles does. There's really no reason *not* to slot it for damage unless you're hurting for enhancements elsewhere in your build. You have enough -def in the /Cold set as it is.

Ochosi · 03-10-2007 08:28 AM

Following the link you posted in my topic (Ice/Dark or Dark/Cold) brought me to this guide.

It's been very helpful to me with the planning of my toon, and so far this is a great set.

Thanks!

MAINSTAY - Champion Server
Shamelessly plugging the SG, one post at a time.

Gearsmith · 04-09-2007 09:39 AM

I loved this guide but found myself curious about various details: the below numbers are culled from Red Tomax's site, and seem about right given forum discussions, etc.

Infrigidate is a 25% defence debuff, -70% runspeed. While it recharges before the duration expires, it does NOT stack on itself.

Dark Blast/Gloom/TT/Life Drain are all -7.5% ToHit
NightFall is a -10% ToHit debuff.
Blackstar is a -50% Tohit debuf.

Snowstorm is a -50% speed and recharge debuff.

The shields are comparable to FF, at 11.25% DEF base; Arctic Fog is a 15% resist (En, Neg, Fire) with a 3.75% defence bonus to the vairous types.

Benumb does -50% damage and halves effects produced by, and resists of, the target.

It is critical that you pay attention at this time.

Gaming in Limited Times
Guide to Plant/Ice Doms

Ekibiogami · 05-03-2007 01:52 PM

I cant help but think that snow storm has been useful for me in pvp with the -fly toggle which stays on em.

Insane_Asylum · 05-14-2007 11:03 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I cant help but think that snow storm has been useful for me in pvp with the -fly toggle which stays on em.

[/ QUOTE ]

My ice/storm controller destroys with snow storm used on someone

Echinacea · 06-10-2007 04:13 PM

I made a Dark/Cold a month or two ago and started playing it recently. Its a build I havent seen much of and made it for conceptual reasons. It is currently 23rd level and I find myself making some tough choices in slotting. When I first made a post about it people said you either make them for PVP or for PVE team support but with this build I dont see why you cant do both. I dont PVP much at all so I may be missing something.

The build was tough to level until you get SOs and life gets a lot better at 22.

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
---------------------------------------------
Name: MidnightChill
Level: 50
Archetype: Corruptor
Primary: Dark Blast
Secondary: Cold Domination
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Gloom==> Acc(1)Acc(13)Dmg(15)Dmg(15)Dmg(19)TH_DeBuf(23)
01) --> Infrigidate==> Acc(1)Acc(3)DefDeBuf(3)DefDeBuf(5)DefDeBuf(5)Slow(7)
02) --> Dark Blast==> Acc(2)Acc(7)Dmg(13)Dmg(17)Dmg(17)TH_DeBuf(23)
04) --> Snow Storm==> Slow(4)Slow(40)Slow(42)
06) --> Ice Shield==> DefBuf(6)
08) --> Tenebrous Tentacles==> Acc(8)Acc(9)Dmg(9)Dmg(11)Dmg(11)TH_DeBuf(19)
10) --> Glacial Shield==> DefBuf(10)
12) --> Hover==> Fly(12)
14) --> Fly==> Fly(14)
16) --> Swift==> Run(16)
18) --> Health==> Heal(18)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20)EndMod(21)EndMod(21)
22) --> Arctic Fog==> DefBuf(22)DmgRes(43)DmgRes(45)
24) --> Night Fall==> Acc(24)Acc(25)Dmg(25)Dmg(31)Dmg(33)TH_DeBuf(34)
26) --> Frostwork==> Rechg(26)Rechg(27)Rechg(27)
28) --> Life Drain==> Acc(28)Acc(29)Heal(29)Heal(33)Heal(33)
30) --> Benumb==> Acc(30)Acc(31)Rechg(31)Rechg(34)Rechg(34)
32) --> Moonbeam==> Acc(32)Acc(36)Dmg(37)Dmg(37)Dmg(45)
35) --> Sleet==> DefDeBuf(35)DefDeBuf(36)DefDeBuf(36)Slow(37)Slow(40)Slow(43)
38) --> Heat Loss==> EndMod(38)EndMod(39)EndMod(39)Rechg(39)Rechg(40)Rechg(43)
41) --> Dark Embrace==> DmgRes(41)DmgRes(42)DmgRes(42)
44) --> Soul Storm==> Acc(44)Acc(45)Dmg(46)Dmg(46)Hold(46)Hold(48)
47) --> Summon Mistress==> Acc(47)Acc(48)Immob(48)Immob(50)DisDur(50)DisDur(50)
49) --> Blackstar==> Acc(49)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
01) --> Scourge==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)
---------------------------------------------

Ekibiogami · 02-15-2008 04:22 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Use Dark Pit liberally against squishies, followed up by your ST hold

[/ QUOTE ]

ST hold? which power is that again?

Frostweaver · 04-03-2008 05:24 PM

[ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
Use Dark Pit liberally against squishies, followed up by your ST hold

[/ QUOTE ]

ST hold? which power is that again?

[/ QUOTE ]

He was talking about the holds that all PPP's get, from the PPP section.

Maxim · 02-17-2009 01:32 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
Use Dark Pit liberally against squishies, followed up by your ST hold

[/ QUOTE ]

ST hold? which power is that again?

[/ QUOTE ]

He was talking about the holds that all PPP's get, from the PPP section.

[/ QUOTE ]to make it simple PPP stands for Patron Power Pool referring to the 4 patrons you can aquire powers from at level 40 (completing the patron's story arc is required in order to obtain these powers)