Cold/Ice essential solo powers post-30:
Bitter Ice Blast
Freeze Ray
Ice Bolt
Ice Blast
Ice Storm
Infrigidate
Benumb
Arctic Fog
Heat Loss
Sleet
Optional:
Snow Storm
Blizzard
Frost Breath
Aim
Glacial/Ice Shield (1 slot for Karma KB prot IO or LttG:+Recharge)
Not recommended:
Frostworks (it's just awful when you understand how it actually works)
Bitter Freeze Ray (incredibly bad animation time and totally unnecessary with Freeze Ray well slotted)
Main ST attack chain: Infrigidate + Freeze Ray + Ice Bolt + Bitter Ice Blast + Ice Blast
Main AoE chain: Snow Storm + Sleet + Ice Storm
Nuke combo: Sleet + Ice Storm + Blizzard + Catch a Breath + Heat Loss
Thanks!
"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
I can be found, outside of paragon city here.
Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.
To start, I'm on a Mac so I can't use Mids.
That said, I have a cold/ice defender (currently in his low 30s) who does great on teams, but is completely helpless when trying to solo missions. By "helpless" I am talking 5 to 7 blows to drop white-con minions, and I don't mess with EBs, I have to drop those missions out of frustration. So my team-friendly build just doesn't cut it and I need to use my second build to make him more soloable.
Currently I have the below powers (slotting and order aren't relevant since I'm using my second build so I won't get to keep any of them):
-----
Cold/:
Infrigidate
Ice Shield
Snow Storm
Glacial Shield
Artic Fog
Benumb
Sleet
Heat Loss
/Ice
Ice Blast
Frost Breath
Aim
Ice Storm
Power Pools:
Haste
Combat Jumping
Super Jump
Hurdle
Health
Stamina
---------
Now, dropping the shields is an obvious place to start since I can't benefit from them. Frostbreath I have not enjoyed very much, so I'm thinking of dropping that one also. It does to reasonable damage, and I have a proc in it, but the activation time is so slow that I don't like using it solo.
I'm looking at taking the Freeze rays (I respecced out of them for teams when everyone killed the mobs so fast they seemed a wasted power), or at least one of them. Though usually things are already so slow from sleet, snow storm, and Ice Storm that a hold isn't needed. I'd rather spend that time doing more damage. Bitter Ice Blast's recharge time doesn't look like it is worthwhile except as an opener. Been contemplating Ice Bolt over Ice Blast for that same reason. Put procs into it to compensate for the lower base damage and capitalize on the shoot faster side of it. Or is it worth getting all three just to have more ways to deal damage?
"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
I can be found, outside of paragon city here.
Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.