My Own experience with Ice has been its a safe soloer. The technique I use is
Ice Patch
Back Up
AOEs
Hold whatever survives.
Or in the case of a boss
Ice Patch
Back Up
Double hold boss.
AOEs
Keep boss held till dead
Teaming Its drop a blizzard as often as you can, Drop an ice storm when you like, Help the controller lock down the bosses.
I've never used any of the Ice AOEs since Issue 1.
(QR)
As an Ice/Mental player myself - nothing jumps out as out of place. You've got the three basic ST blasts you should, and the AoEs you should. Frost Breath + Psi Scream + Static Discharge is a devastating combo. You're running a little bare minimum to my eye, but you have all the crucial powers and enough +recharge to make it happen.
I have an Ice/Dev which while safe always felt a bit low powered, especially on a team. This was mainly due to having only one AOE in the Frost Breath. Then I got Static Discharge and the game changed. Since I was already lining up for Frost Breath, Static Discharge fit right in. The quick two shot cones deals a lot of damage. It's not uncommon to cause a whole spawn group to look over their shoulders to check me out even though the Tank had them well under control.
And in case you're interested, the Charged Armor graphic is pretty discreet.
Teams are the number one killer of soloists.
As you're going to IO them, a soft capped range defense build is certainly your best option. It really changes the life of a blaster. Once you've played yours in this way, it's really hard to go back leveling a new one, as you get used to this great level of survivability, at least in my experience.
Especially on an Ice/Ice when nothing can reach you with Shiver, and also chillblain in your attack chain, it's totally awesome.
You need 45% range defense. A few tips to get there :
- Slot as many thunderstrike x6 as you can.
- As many zephyr x2...
- Some Mako x6 if you use your melee attacks
- A steadfast 3% if you have a power to slot it (taking Tough/Weave can be an option, but it's not mandatory).
- A gaussian x6 for Build up.
- The purple confuse x6 on your Ice/MM (world of confusion).
... and a few other sets like Lockdown, Stupefy, Numina, Tempered Readiness... etc.
- Use also Combat Jumping for 2% more defense that are very handy.
That would be my advice 
PS : I've done a build in this thread, you can check it too to get an idea (minus the purples, they're not necessary at all, they even make the build harder to soft cap).
I have an Ice/Ice/Cold blaster, and it remains the most fun I've had on any character. You didn't post that build, so I am just going to start throwing out suggestions.
1. Do you have Hasten? I know, the glowy, fire-like animation is a pain in the butt, however it is what makes it fun to play. (I am all about themed toons, but I made that one exception so that I could enjoy my favorite character.) I don't have any IO sets on mine that give +Recharge, and I have Hasten down for maximum 20-30 seconds. And that's if I'm solo, if you have a Rad or Kin on your team with Accelerated Metabolism or Speed Boost (respectively) it will practically be permanent.
2. Manage your attack chain well. A lot of people like to start with the heavy hitters like Bitter Ice Blast. My advice, attack in this order (the following is of course after you've used your holds/sleep/immobilize/etc.): Ice Bolt, Ice Blast, Bitter Ice Blast, and by then Ice Bolt will be back up and you can use that again, launch another attack of your choice, then Ice Blast is up. If you are saying, "Well duh, of course I do that," then I'm sorry to have wasted space. It is just a good tool for providing a constant attack chain so that you don't feel like you are sitting and doing nothing.
3. Finally, I would only use the AoEs on teams. It is like someone said earlier: Throw up Ice Storm, Blizzard, and Shiver as often as you can while teamed. But solo? You have almost as much damage mitigation as a controller, and with Cold Mastery, you get Flash Freeze which is almost unfair. You put the whole mob to sleep, then take them out one by one with the single target blasts. If they wake up, you have 2 Holding blasts to keep them off of you.
If recharge is your only problem, I'd say put a regular Recharge IO in your main attacks, 3 slot Stamina to eliminate endurance problems, and 3 slot Hasten to have it up as often as possible. At that point, you should hardly notice any problems.
@Winter. Because I'm Winter. Period.
I am a blaster first, and an alt-oholic second.
Thanks everyone.
I didn't post the build of my ice/ice because i never planned it out with mids. I kind of played it and picked powers as I leveled trying what looked fun.
The ranged defense idea with sleep and shiver looks interesting. Frostbreath+Shiver+Ranged defense looks like it should shut down the baddies.. I have to play with that on my ice/ice but that looks like it could be a real bad pug build for the ice^3.
Tempest_56 you said I was kind of bare minimum where should I look to improve.
[ QUOTE ]
The ranged defense idea with sleep and shiver looks interesting. Frostbreath+Shiver+Ranged defense looks like it should shut down the baddies.. I have to play with that on my ice/ice but that looks like it could be a real bad pug build for the ice^3.
[/ QUOTE ]
Investing in ranged defense is a wise move. At 30% bonus you will have serious comfort when blasting from range. At 45% (soft cap) you'll be quite indomitable.
Aim+BU+Ice Storm+Frost Breath is a potent non-nuke opener. Any Lts. still standing are ready to be mopped up.
As for boss killing, there is no better tool than Chilblain. It can be a stellar anchor in your ST attack chain.
I have two Ice blasters, and Ice/Ice/Cold and an Ice/Ment/???. I am struggling with both of them. My Ice^3 (That's Ice Cube) seems to be suffering from too much of a good thing. Its safe but it seems horribly expensive to get the recharge levels that would make it fun. Between the built in large cool down for aim and build up and the long recharges on the AOEs (1 minute base for ice storm ?? Where is that from ??), this blaster just seems a little glacial in its pace. ( I make no apologies for the ice jokes in this post)
My new Ice/Ment so far seems a little faster and I am thinking of going electric for the APP which might make it work which might thaw the pace of this one. I just have to wonder is my outlook frozen in place by the other blasters I play ?
Here is what I am looking at as the final carved in ice build
I was melting a little towards taking out the world of confusion and putting in ice storm and franken slotting with positrons blast detonation and pacing of the turtle. No set bonuses to speak of but the triples from the sets give a nice assortment of bonuses.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]
Icy Meme: Level 50 Magic Blaster
Primary Power Set: Ice Blast
Secondary Power Set: Mental Manipulation
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Flight
Ancillary Pool: Electrical Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Ice Bolt -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(3), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5)
Level 1: Subdual -- Dev'n-Acc/Dmg(A), Dev'n-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(7), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9)
Level 2: Ice Blast -- Dev'n-Acc/Dmg(A), Dev'n-Dmg/EndRdx(11), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(11), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13)
Level 4: Frost Breath -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(15), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(15), Posi-Dmg/Rng(17), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(17), Range-I(43)
Level 6: Aim -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(29), RechRdx-I(31)
Level 8: Freeze Ray -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(19), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(19), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(21), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(21)
Level 10: Psychic Scream -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(23), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(23), Posi-Dmg/Rng(25), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(25)
Level 12: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(27), RechRdx-I(27)
Level 14: Super Speed -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 16: Concentration -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(29), RechRdx-I(31)
Level 18: Bitter Ice Blast -- Dev'n-Acc/Dmg(A), Dev'n-Dmg/EndRdx(31), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(33), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33)
Level 20: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 22: Health -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(34)
Level 24: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(34)
Level 26: Telekinetic Thrust -- KinCrsh-Dmg/KB(A), KinCrsh-Acc/KB(34), KinCrsh-Rchg/KB(36), KinCrsh-Rechg/EndRdx(36), KinCrsh-Dmg/EndRdx/KB(36), KinCrsh-Acc/Dmg/KB(37)
Level 28: Drain Psyche -- Dct'dW-Rchg(A), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(37), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(39), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(39), Acc-I(45)
Level 30: World of Confusion -- CoPers-Conf/EndRdx(A), CoPers-Conf/Rchg(39), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg(40), CoPers-Acc/Rchg(40), CoPers-Conf%(40)
Level 32: Blizzard -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(42), Posi-Dmg/Rng(42), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), RechRdx-I(43)
Level 35: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 38: Hover -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 41: Static Discharge -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Range-I(45), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(46), Posi-Dmg/Rng(46), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46)
Level 44: Shocking Bolt -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(48), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(48), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(48), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(50)
Level 47: Charged Armor -- TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(50)
Level 49: Surge of Power -- TtmC'tng-ResDam/Rchg(A), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Defiance
------------
[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]
[*]13% DamageBuff(Smashing)[*]13% DamageBuff(Lethal)[*]13% DamageBuff(Fire)[*]13% DamageBuff(Cold)[*]13% DamageBuff(Energy)[*]13% DamageBuff(Negative)[*]13% DamageBuff(Toxic)[*]13% DamageBuff(Psionic)[*]5% Defense(Energy)[*]5% Defense(Negative)[*]2.5% Defense(Ranged)[*]2.25% Max End[*]36% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]4% Enhancement(Heal)[*]83.7% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]4% Enhancement(Confused)[*]94.9 HP (7.87%) HitPoints[*]Knockback (Mag -3)[*]Knockup (Mag -3)[*]MezResist(Confused) 10%[*]MezResist(Held) 19.9%[*]MezResist(Immobilize) 12.8%[*]MezResist(Sleep) 10%[*]MezResist(Stun) 10%[*]MezResist(Terrorized) 12.2%[*]18% (0.3 End/sec) Recovery[*]42% (2.11 HP/sec) Regeneration[*]2.5% Resistance(Smashing)[*]7.56% Resistance(Fire)[*]7.56% Resistance(Cold)[*]3% RunSpeed[/list]------------
[u]Set Bonuses:[u]
[u]Decimation[u]
(Ice Bolt)
[*] MezResist(Immobilize) 2.75%[*] 13.6 HP (1.12%) HitPoints[*] 2.25% Max End[*] 6.25% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[/list][u]Devastation[u]
(Subdual)
[*] 12% (0.6 HP/sec) Regeneration[*] 27.1 HP (2.25%) HitPoints[*] 3% DamageBuff(All)[*] MezResist(Held) 3.3%[/list][u]Devastation[u]
(Ice Blast)
[*] 12% (0.6 HP/sec) Regeneration[*] 27.1 HP (2.25%) HitPoints[*] 3% DamageBuff(All)[*] MezResist(Held) 3.3%[/list][u]Positron's Blast[u]
(Frost Breath)
[*] 2.5% (0.04 End/sec) Recovery[*] 1.58% Resistance(Fire,Cold)[*] 9% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*] 6.25% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[/list][u]Basilisk's Gaze[u]
(Freeze Ray)
[*] 2.5% Defense(Energy,Negative), 1.25% Defense(Ranged)[*] 2% (0.03 End/sec) Recovery[*] 7.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*] Status Resistance 5%[/list][u]Positron's Blast[u]
(Psychic Scream)
[*] 2.5% (0.04 End/sec) Recovery[*] 1.58% Resistance(Fire,Cold)[*] 9% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*] 6.25% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[/list][u]Devastation[u]
(Bitter Ice Blast)
[*] 12% (0.6 HP/sec) Regeneration[*] 27.1 HP (2.25%) HitPoints[*] 3% DamageBuff(All)[*] MezResist(Held) 3.3%[/list][u]Kinetic Crash[u]
(Telekinetic Thrust)
[*] 3% RunSpeed[*] 2.5% Resistance(Smashing)[*] Knockback Protection (Mag -3)[*] 6% (0.3 HP/sec) Regeneration[*] 7.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[/list][u]Doctored Wounds[u]
(Drain Psyche)
[*] MezResist(Terrorized) 2.2%[*] 1.26% Resistance(Fire,Cold)[*] 4% Enhancement(Heal)[*] 5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[/list][u]Coercive Persuasion[u]
(World of Confusion)
[*] 4% (0.07 End/sec) Recovery[*] 4% Enhancement(Confused)[*] 4% DamageBuff(All)[*] 10% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[/list][u]Positron's Blast[u]
(Blizzard)
[*] 2.5% (0.04 End/sec) Recovery[*] 1.58% Resistance(Fire,Cold)[*] 9% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*] 6.25% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[/list][u]Luck of the Gambler[u]
(Combat Jumping)
[*] 7.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[/list][u]Luck of the Gambler[u]
(Hover)
[*] 7.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[/list][u]Positron's Blast[u]
(Static Discharge)
[*] 2.5% (0.04 End/sec) Recovery[*] 1.58% Resistance(Fire,Cold)[*] 9% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*] 6.25% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[/list][u]Basilisk's Gaze[u]
(Shocking Bolt)
[*] 2.5% Defense(Energy,Negative), 1.25% Defense(Ranged)[*] 2% (0.03 End/sec) Recovery[*] 7.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*] Status Resistance 5%[/list]
Code:[/color]