Help with Ice/Dark


Graile

 

Posted

I've been considering an Ice/* corrupt build, and have been leaning towards dark for my secondary. However, I've been having a hard time making a build. Mainly just fitting everything in. I need to fit in stamina as soon as possible. I feel hover/fly is a must for a range attacker, and the secondary seems to have a lot of good powers (I'm coming from an ice/ice blaster, and ice secondary really only has 2-3 good powers).

Looking for suggestions for the order of things to get. What to hold off on, and what to skip all together. This is mainly a for pve, so pvp doesn't really matter to me. Also, does scourge still check against each tick of rain? The ice/dark guide is from I6, which is too out of date for me, and why I'm asking. Thanks for any help.


 

Posted

It's tight all right. I'd be tempted to go dual builds. One for soloing, a different one for teaming. Freeze Ray + Petrifying Gaze for solo, Howling Twilight for teams. The nuke I'd skip on the solo build too, and possibly Ice Storm as well. Squeezing all the good stuff into one build just isn't possible, you'll have to prioritize.


 

Posted

Actually, I think I got pretty close. Only problem was I couldn't quite slot everything the way I wanted. Is dark servant really good?

Two builds is a great suggestion. I suppose I could toss the holds for teams. Doesn't HT still do things even if it doesn't rez someone, though thats probably a mute point. Not convinced to do away with Blizzard for solo, but I will take that in to account. Does scourge still check on each tick of rain though? Anyway, would you happen to have such builds?


 

Posted

1) I can't say that I would ditch Blizzard if you go solo. Fearsome Stare + Tar Patch + Blizzard (or Ice Storm) = Happy Spawn Fun-ness. Solo or teamed. Re-applying your toggles is annoying but if you go with Mu for your patron, you can offset that some and really, everything is hurting pretty badly that you probably won't need them soon anyway.

2) If you do go with the Dual Build idea and you're pressed for what to change out, I agree that your ST Holds are much more solo friendly than on teams. I think you could still get by with one build though unless you're really wanting to take a lot of pool powers other than travel and Stamina.

3) Keep Howling Twilight though. Really, all of the powers in /dark are great except for Black Hole and they all have their place. The /dark guides out there are right when they say to think of it as an attack power that, oh-by-the-way, rezzes everyone nearby.

4) Yes, Dark Servant is that good.

5) As far as Hover/Fly goes, I take Hover to put in some Knockback protection but I go with Hasten/Super Speed. You will be perfectly comfortable in melee range with Darkest Night running and if you run into problems, you have two rains to get them running, Ice/'s slows, and Tar Patch already to make sure they don't get to you any time soon.

6) Speaking of travel powers, it is a very tight build (I even like Frost Breath for Ice/Dark) so fitting in two travel spots is difficult. Try to get those temp travel powers to get you through the early levels so that you don't have to take whatever you pick until that later years.


 

Posted

Well, that does raise a few good points. With all the slows/acc debuffs, I could just go haste/ss. It would also give me a different playstyle from my blaster.

Going off of that. A couple of powers I wasn't too sure how to slot are Twilight Grasp, Darkest Night, Fearsome Stare, and Howling Twilight. Not sure exactly how many slots, and what to slot in them. Currently I see TG 3 slotted with 1acc, 2 heal. DK with 5 Dark Watcher. FS with only two slots. HT with 3 recharges. Oh, and dark Servant with 4 Dark Watchers.


 

Posted

Well, twilight grasp just needs to be slotted for some acc at bare minimum, some heal, end, and recharge on top of that if you have spare slots. If you're going for 3, I would try to get as many cheap pieces of the new accurate healing sets as you can, and try to frankenslot it for maybe 40-60% acc, and as much heal/end/recharge as you can fit in. It's a power which could make good use of more slots, if you can spare them, but it should be functional with three.

Darkest night with 5 dark watcher's is fine - in fact, you can probably strip it down to 4 if you need the spare slot. Dark servant, on the other hand, needs more -- a lot of his powers have to-hit checks, and neither you nor him have any way to debuff defense. Thus, he needs at *least* one SO's worth of acc, and preferably more. The other annoyance (when it comes to frankenslotting, anyway) is that the powers which need acc are diverse in nature, and to boost each power's acc would require a set IO of the appropriate type -- for example, an accurate tohit debuff IO with an accuracy component wouldn't boost the accuracy of his petrifying gaze power since it doesn't take those sets, and an accurate healing IO wouldn't boost the accuracy of anything besides his twilight grasp. For that reason, for his accuracy needs I just like to give him 2 generic accuracy IOs, since those apply to all of his powers. 2 acc IOs plus 4 dark watcher's is fine, but he will need at least one of those accuracies.

Finally, fearsome stare... I kid you not, this is the best power in the set. 6 slots, absolutely no question. A gigantic cone fear with a long duration, quick recharge, and decent size tohit debuff, this power wants as many enhancements as you can give it. If you're slotting for set bonuses, the glimpse of the abyss set has decent bonuses and might be cheap. Personally, though, I would frankenslot this power to try and maximize both the fear and -tohit aspects of it. Try to get 50-65% acc and recharge, and as much fear and -tohit as you can fit in. Other aspects are secondary - the endurance cost is already low, and the cone already has huge range. Just get those 4 aspects slotted up.


@MuonNeutrino
Student, Gamer, Altaholic, and future Astronomer.

This is what it means to be a tank!

 

Posted

I agree with Muon...your whole leveling life will change when you get Fearsome Stare. Take it at 20 even before Stamina. For slotting, I am of the camp to slot it with the Glimpse of the Abyss set. You can leave out the proc in the set or put it in for some extra +Psi defense.

There are all sorts of IO slotting strategies for your Dark Servant. I've been experimenting with putting the Dark Watcher's Chance for Recharge Slow into several powers to see how effective that is but ol' Fluffy's current slotting for me is Four pieces of Dark Watcher and two Dampened Spirits.

I currently have Darkest Night slotted with four Dark Watcher pieces as well (including the proc).

How about Shadow Fall? Does anyone have an efficient way to slot that one?


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
I agree with Muon...your whole leveling life will change when you get Fearsome Stare. Take it at 20 even before Stamina. For slotting, I am of the camp to slot it with the Glimpse of the Abyss set. You can leave out the proc in the set or put it in for some extra +Psi defense.

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I also agree it's a power overflowing with awesome. Six slot it for sure. What to put in those slots is up to you, and there is no single best answer. I try to get as much -tohit in there as I can, along with some fear duration enhancement if I can. Overall my priority is -tohit and recharge though. You can't extend the duration of the -tohit effect, so having the power up as quickly as possible means you can keep enemies debuffed pretty much full time. Enhancement of the fear duration is a "nice to have" for me. I'm not that worried about the enemies cowering in fear though if they can't hit me anyway.

[ QUOTE ]
How about Shadow Fall? Does anyone have an efficient way to slot that one?

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Not everyone will agree here either. Mostly people say to slot for damage resistance, and end redux of course because it's an expensive toggle. There is an argument to be made for slotting up the defense as well though. Sure it's only 3.75%, but that's a lot more than something like Maneuvers offers, and for teammates with defense-based protections, an extra almost 6% defense from slotted SF can make a big difference. Ideally on a really team focused build I'd six slot it and do both.


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
I suppose I could toss the holds for teams. Doesn't HT still do things even if it doesn't rez someone, though thats probably a mute point. Not convinced to do away with Blizzard for solo, but I will take that in to account. Does scourge still check on each tick of rain though? Anyway, would you happen to have such builds?

[/ QUOTE ]

For a team-focused build I'd keep Freeze Ray only. There is an abundance of annoying minion and lieutenant class mobs and Freeze Ray is enough to shut them down. No more Hurricane (Tsoo Sorcerers), Chill of the Night (Spectral Demon Lords), etc. The meleers on your teams will love you for it. For soloing I'd want two holds for fast boss lockdown though.

Howling Twilight does a low mag stun completely separate from the rez effect. I know some people love it for that, but for me soloing, especially with multiple holds available, I just don't find it that useful.

Scourge still works the way the older guides mention with regards to rain powers. Even if the mobs in the rain are not in Scourge range when you fire off the power, it will begin doing Scourge checks once they are in range.


 

Posted

Thanks everyone, this has all been helpful. I moved the build around so that Darkest Night is 4 slotted with DW. Fluffy is 5 slotted with DW, and fearsome is 6 slotted with abyss and a recharge, all while still keeping my bonus's. Personally, the way I'm using Shadow Fall is a combination of Red Fortune/Luck of the Gambler to increase my global recharge by 12.5%


 

Posted

That looks good, but fluffy still needs some accuracy. His twilight grasp, petrifying gaze, and tenebrous tentacles all need a tohit check. I would seriously suggest scaring up a 6th slot from somewhere and putting a generic accuracy IO in there. It's just one slot, but it'll improve his abilities quite a bit.


@MuonNeutrino
Student, Gamer, Altaholic, and future Astronomer.

This is what it means to be a tank!

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
Not everyone will agree here either. Mostly people say to slot for damage resistance, and end redux of course because it's an expensive toggle.

[/ QUOTE ]

Some endrdx is nice, but I wouldn't go out of my way. With no enhancements, it uses 0.52 eps. With a single SO endrdx... about .40 eps. Most attacks use at *least* 1.0 eps if you use them every time they are up. If I had an extra slot to put somewhere and I had room in an attack (which was already slotted for decent acc and max dmg) then I'd put the endrdx there instead of in Shadow Fall.


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Heroes: The Clockwork Mime, Soccerpunch, The Fissioneer, Samurai Houston, Oversteer

Join The X-Patriots on Virtue!

 

Posted

I'm wondering, does the global acc bonus's affect his acc? The reason being is right now, almost all my powers are 5 slotted so I can get the set bonus, and I'm not sure what to sacrifice at this point. Here's the build so far.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Level 50 Science Corruptor
Primary Power Set: Ice Blast
Secondary Power Set: Dark Miasma
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Ancillary Pool: Leviathan Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Ice Bolt <ul type="square">[*] (A) Devastation - Chance of Hold[*] (3) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage[*] (5) Devastation - Damage/Endurance[*] (7) Devastation - Damage/Recharge[*] (13) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[*] (15) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge[/list]Level 1: Twilight Grasp <ul type="square">[*] (A) Accuracy IO[*] (9) Healing IO[*] (31) Recharge Reduction IO[/list]Level 2: Ice Blast <ul type="square">[*] (A) Devastation - Chance of Hold[*] (3) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage[*] (11) Devastation - Damage/Endurance[*] (13) Devastation - Damage/Recharge[*] (25) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[*] (27) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge[/list]Level 4: Tar Patch <ul type="square">[*] (A) Pacing of the Turtle - Chance of -Recharge[*] (5) Pacing of the Turtle - Accuracy/Slow[*] (17) Pacing of the Turtle - Endurance/Recharge/Slow[/list]Level 6: Hasten <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO[*] (7) Recharge Reduction IO[*] (9) Recharge Reduction IO[/list]Level 8: Darkest Night <ul type="square">[*] (A) Dark Watcher's Despair - Chance for Recharge Slow[*] (17) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Endurance[*] (36) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Recharge/Endurance[*] (50) Dark Watcher's Despair - Recharge/Endurance[/list]Level 10: Freeze Ray <ul type="square">[*] (A) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Chance of Damage(Psionic)[*] (11) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Accuracy/Recharge[*] (15) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Endurance/Hold[*] (25) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Hold/Range[*] (34) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge[/list]Level 12: Swift <ul type="square">[*] (A) Run Speed IO[/list]Level 14: Super Speed <ul type="square">[*] (A) Run Speed IO[/list]Level 16: Health <ul type="square">[*] (A) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery[/list]Level 18: Bitter Ice Blast <ul type="square">[*] (A) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage[*] (19) Devastation - Damage/Endurance[*] (19) Devastation - Damage/Recharge[*] (23) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[*] (27) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge[*] (29) Devastation - Chance of Hold[/list]Level 20: Stamina <ul type="square">[*] (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End[*] (21) Endurance Modification IO[*] (21) Endurance Modification IO[*] (23) Endurance Modification IO[/list]Level 22: Ice Storm <ul type="square">[*] (A) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy)[*] (31) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage[*] (33) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance[*] (45) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge[*] (46) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance[/list]Level 24: Shadow Fall <ul type="square">[*] (A) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance[*] (33) Red Fortune - Defense[*] (34) Red Fortune - Endurance[*] (40) Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge[*] (40) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge[*] (43) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed[/list]Level 26: Fearsome Stare <ul type="square">[*] (A) Glimpse of the Abyss - Accuracy/Recharge[*] (33) Glimpse of the Abyss - Endurance/Fear[*] (34) Recharge Reduction IO[*] (37) Glimpse of the Abyss - Accuracy/Fear/Recharge[*] (37) Glimpse of the Abyss - Fear/Range[*] (45) Glimpse of the Abyss - Accuracy/Endurance[/list]Level 28: Petrifying Gaze <ul type="square">[*] (A) Lockdown - Accuracy/Hold[*] (29) Lockdown - Recharge/Hold[*] (37) Lockdown - Accuracy/Recharge[/list]Level 30: Howling Twilight <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO[*] (31) Recharge Reduction IO[*] (40) Recharge Reduction IO[/list]Level 32: Blizzard <ul type="square">[*] (A) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy)[*] (36) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage[*] (39) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge[*] (43) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range[*] (50) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance[/list]Level 35: Aim <ul type="square">[*] (A) Adjusted Targeting - Recharge[*] (36) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Recharge[*] (39) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Endurance/Recharge[*] (42) Adjusted Targeting - Endurance/Recharge[*] (43) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff[/list]Level 38: Dark Servant <ul type="square">[*] (A) Dark Watcher's Despair - Chance for Recharge Slow[*] (39) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Recharge[*] (42) Dark Watcher's Despair - Recharge/Endurance[*] (42) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Recharge/Endurance[*] (46) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Endurance[/list]Level 41: Shark Skin <ul type="square">[*] (A) Resist Damage IO[/list]Level 44: Spirit Shark Jaws <ul type="square">[*] (A) Lockdown - Accuracy/Hold[*] (45) Lockdown - Recharge/Hold[*] (46) Lockdown - Endurance/Recharge/Hold[/list]Level 47: Frost Breath <ul type="square">[*] (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage[*] (48) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance[*] (48) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge[*] (48) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range[*] (50) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance[/list]Level 49: Hibernate <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO[/list]------------
Level 1: Brawl <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Sprint <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 2: Rest <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Scourge


 

Posted

I would definitely take Fearsome Stare before level 26. I would take it as your 20th level pick and Stamina at 22. Try to get a temp travel power so you can put off Super Speed for a while. Even Hasten I think can wait a bit if you want to bump up Ice Storm. That might depend on how often you plan on teaming vs going solo though.

In Twilight's Grasp, if you are only going with invention IO's, I would take out the Heal and put in another Acc. I hate missing with that power more than any other that I can think of.../kin's Siphon Speed comes in second maybe.


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
I'm wondering, does the global acc bonus's affect his acc?

[/ QUOTE ]

Depending on exactly how the set bonuses are handled internally by the game engine, he *may* inherit your global accuracy bonuses, but if he does, it'll only be for a few seconds after you cast him. In other words, no, he won't. That's why he'll need some accuracy enhancement.

Looking at your build, you certainly are tight on slots if I'm understanding correctly which set bonuses you're going for. At this point, seeing the specifics of your build, what I'd do is just switch out the dark watcher's despair chance for recharge slow in fluffy for the accuracy. The proc itself isn't *that* powerful, and the 2% damage set bonus is probably the one you can most afford to sacrifice. And you really do want to get at least that one acc in there.


@MuonNeutrino
Student, Gamer, Altaholic, and future Astronomer.

This is what it means to be a tank!

 

Posted

Oh yeah, forgot about that. Yeah, I'll replace the DW with an Acc. With that, I'll still have two moves that will have the chance to do that, which should be enough. Replacing the DW lowers my dmg bonus to 19%, but scourge seems to cover it up well (this is my first corruptor if you couldn't tell). Also, its my first time with dark powers, which is why it's been a tough sell on how amazing fearsome stare is over stamina. Maybe a good description of the power. Because on paper, it just seems to be another -tohit and fear, which mechanics I'm not familiar with. At this point, I'm not at 20 with him yet, so I'll make the choice then. I'm just not sold yet on sacrificing my end for another 2 levels for this power, but then I might.


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
I'm wondering, does the global acc bonus's affect his acc?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm almost positive it does not. I recall testing him before slotting accuracy and he was hitting even con minions at 75% chance, according to the combat window (remember to add Pet Tohit and Combat messages to it) and I know I had at least some accuracy bonuses in sets. A decent bit actually.

[ QUOTE ]
Also, its my first time with dark powers, which is why it's been a tough sell on how amazing fearsome stare is over stamina. Maybe a good description of the power. Because on paper, it just seems to be another -tohit and fear

[/ QUOTE ]

You roll up to a team-sized spawn cloaked in Shadow Fall. You make your scary face. The entire spawn cowers in fear. The Brute on the team gives you a dirty look of his own for taking away his alpha strike.

What's not to like? And the base 15% tohit debuff is nothing to sneeze at. Bosses will be able to shoot back after the Stare but they'll have a reduced chance to hit you even if they aren't terrorized. Stack this with all of Dark's other tohit debuffs, and then drop Fluffy in the mix so he can do all of that too and your foes are shooting blanks.


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Heroes: The Clockwork Mime, Soccerpunch, The Fissioneer, Samurai Houston, Oversteer

Join The X-Patriots on Virtue!

 

Posted

With Fearsome Stare, it's great "out of the box" and with a bit of slotting, it will be back up before it wears off. Zem's description is pretty accurate. You fear them and then you can either dance around with your bare costume in front of the whole spawn or you can proceed with wiping them out one by one. It makes solo'ing so much easier. As you work your way up in levels, you will use some of your other secondaries less and less but The Stare is always a great way to lead off your attack. When you do attack a Fear'ed mob, he does get to take a pot shot at you which does make people nervous but it really has very little effect and you go on about your merry way.

I take it before Stamina just because once I have it, moving up to 22 to then pick up Stamina is a breeze.

And an aside note, I might have to try putting an Acc IO in my Servant. I have never tried that and I have been perfectly happy with his DW slotted set but if you say that it works much better, then I'm game to try.