Stealth you should drop at respec, you can get shadow fall which does the same thing and more. Get fearsome stare and stamina quickly. From /dark, everything but black hole (and maybe the res, depends on your playstyle) is worth taking, and from ice I'd take everything but the 2 rains (although combined with tar patch and fearsome stare they could give you a nice AoE combo).
I've been playing an Ice/Dark since shortly after CoV's release, currently at level 32... here are some random bits and pieces of advice.
There are a LOT of ways to go with an Ice/Dark, and I'd really suggest just taking powers that sound good, and playing around with them to get the feel of the build, and respec relatively late on. I honestly don't believe there's an outright bad power in either set, and which to take and not take will probably come down to what you find you enjoy after playing it for a while. Some powers are more useful in PvE, and some are more useful in PvP, and some just suit certain playstyles. It can be built more for solo play or for teamplay, and you can focus on making it more a control-build (holds, fear, slows, intangibility), a damage build (slot up Tar Patch, concentrate on attacks, make sure you have Aim early and slotted), a support build (buff, debuff, heal, resurrect, pet which heals and debuffs), or a mixture. When I first played solo after getting my single origin enhancements in, I felt like a one-man team with all the powers I had.
As has already been said, drop Stealth, and go for Shadow Fall instead. It's Stealth with added extras. If you then go for Super Speed as your travel power, you can use Super Speed + Shadow Fall to be invisible to most NPCs. Very handy if you want to stealth through a mission. Grab Hasten if you go for Super Speed - it really helps in rough moments, since ice attacks are fairly slow-loading, plus it means you can quickly fire heals off when your team needs it. I've not added any slots to Hasten, as I have too many other powers that need them, but it's still a very handy panic button when it's available.
One of the main problems I've found with Ice/Dark is that it eats through endurance like nothing I've ever seen. Go into the Fitness pool ASAP, and put three slots in Stamina. If you're planning to use the character for PvP and want two accuracies per attack, you may not have the room, but you might want to consider slotting your attacks something like 1 acc/3 dam/1 recharge/1 end reduction. Toggles like Shadow Fall and Darkest Night benefit from endurance reductions, too.
You can get three holds total in Ice/Dark - Freeze Ray, Bitter Freeze Ray, and Petrifying Gaze. You may find all three to be overkill, especially since Bitter Freeze Ray has a somewhat slow activation time. Taking two of them is a good idea though, as with some recharges and hold durations, you can hold bosses. If you team with another Ice Corruptor or a Dominator, you'll be able to help hold Heroes and Arch Villains.
I believe Tar Patch stacks, so throw recharges in it if you can find the slots. You can also put slow enhancers in it, but looking at my build, I know I'm never going to have enough spare slots for that!
Darkest Night is an excellent debuff, and aside from endurance reductions, you may well want to put tohit debuffs in it. Slotted, in PvP, it enables me to fight scrappers toe-to-toe. In PvE, it's fantastic against Heroes and AVs. You might have a hard time running it before you have Stamina and/or endurance reductions in it, but it's really worth it.
Fearsome Stare is a life-saver (as well as really being quite a fun power), and deserves any slots you can afford to put in it.
Oh, and even if you don't keep it in the end, I'd really suggest at least trying out Blizzard. It's a fantastic thing to see with a Tar Patch down. 
[/ QUOTE ]Super Speed - it really helps in rough moments, since ice attacks are fairly slow-loading, plus it means you can quickly fire heals off when your team needs it. I've not added any slots to Hasten, as I have too many other powers that need them, but it's still a very handy panic button when it's available.
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Hasten; slot it with 3 recharge without a doubt. Hasten is good stuff, and when you take it you want it up as much as possible. SS is great too as it stacks with shadow fall to invis, which means you can REALLY stealth.
[/ QUOTE ]I believe Tar Patch stacks, so throw recharges in it if you can find the slots. You can also put slow enhancers in it, but looking at my build, I know I'm never going to have enough spare slots for that!
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Also here make room for a few recharge (prefferably 3) its another brilliant power from DM, and again you want it up as much as possible. Since ED it only stacks when hasten is up, and only then for a short period. A slow is not needed, but if you have a slot to spare it keeps the mobs longer in the patch and away from you.
[/ QUOTE ]Darkest Night is an excellent debuff, and aside from endurance reductions, you may well want to put tohit debuffs in it.
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DN imho is the best power of DM. (well fluffy is a pet so different category) Anything less then 3 slotted tohit debuff is a waist of this extremely gorgeous toggle. An end reducer is worthwile too.
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Hasten; slot it with 3 recharge without a doubt. Hasten is good stuff, and when you take it you want it up as much as possible.
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There are actually two reasons why I don't have slotted Hasten; as mentioned, I have a lot of other places those slots need to be. The other reason, which ties in with why I use Hasten as a situational power only is that Ice/Dark has some horrendous endurance problems. I've never played a character as endurance-heavy as this. Now, in part, I'm sure this is down to play style. If I didn't use Darkest Night and Shadow Fall much, then I probably wouldn't have quite so many problems... but it'd just be silly not to use those powers a lot. 
And as an Ice Corruptor, I really think it'd also be silly not to act as a primary damage-dealer (and don't forget the ever-useful holds), which all adds up to a lot of endurance being used. There's just a lot to do, as an Ice/Dark. Even with slotted Stamina, I had a rough time until I respecced and put in two end reductions in my toggles. In that same respec, I took the slots out of Hasten, because I just can't use it most of the time. With Hasten on, I quickly run my endurance into the ground without very careful management... and then it ends and takes more endurance when I'm not necessarily expecting it.
If I had the spare slots, I'd throw them in just so that I'd be more likely to have it up whenever I wanted it, but given how rarely I use it, and how slot-heavy Ice/Dark can be (especially since I have more of a PvP build), there's just no way. Hence, I'd not suggest slotted Hasten as high priority for an Ice/Dark. Most other characters, sure, but not this particular one.
If you're lucky enough to team with a /Kinetics Corruptor all the time though, ignore this, and get three-slotted Hasten on your Ice/Dark.
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If you're lucky enough to team with a /Kinetics Corruptor with 3-slotted (EndMod) Speed Boost every single second of your gametime, ignore this, and get three-slotted Hasten on your Ice/Dark.
[/ QUOTE ]
Fixed.
@Synaesthetix
"Here, take some more bees with you. You may need them."
Union: FU//LoUD
"that Syn is that that" - Mothers Love
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If you're lucky enough to team with a /Kinetics Corruptor with 3-slotted (EndMod) Speed Boost every single second of your gametime, ignore this, and get three-slotted Hasten on your Ice/Dark.
[/ QUOTE ]
Fixed.
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Oi, SB monkeh. Less chat, more SB (pounds floor angrily while huffing and gasping for breath)
Synaesthetix:if your mum wasn't already dead I would go kill her for bringing
you into the world
So true! About the end usage and the number of options. I tried putting a build together up to 40 and I just don't have the slots or number of powers I want! So far I'm at 18 with Haz-Mat and I've got the 3 single target blasts, a hold, tar patch and the lovely debuff. Any suggestions where to take this build? He was going to be geared towards PvP but having been confused by so may powers I want to play with I have no idea where to take him!
IN MEMORIUM OF GAYBABY
CRUELY TAKEN FROM THIS WORLD WHILE SO YOUNG
[ QUOTE ]
So true! About the end usage and the number of options. I tried putting a build together up to 40 and I just don't have the slots or number of powers I want! So far I'm at 18 with Haz-Mat and I've got the 3 single target blasts, a hold, tar patch and the lovely debuff. Any suggestions where to take this build? He was going to be geared towards PvP but having been confused by so may powers I want to play with I have no idea where to take him!
[/ QUOTE ]
I really think the best thing is just to keep going, and know you're going to need to do the respec mission. Respeccing at 32 gave me the chance to try out most of the powers I wanted to, and gave me ample time to get a feel for PvP in Siren's (my favourite zone).
Personally, I've tried to go for a sort of all-rounder build that works pretty well in both PvP and PvE. I have two holds (Freeze Ray and Petrifying Gaze) so I can still stack them to hold bosses, but dropped Bitter Freeze Ray due to its longer activation time. I've found it doesn't hurt me in PvP, because I just didn't have the endurance to use the three holds (and attack and debuff) anyway. Besides that, I don't need to try and hold players with high hold res - I can drop Darkest Night on them instead. My holds are often used on irritating nearby NPCs, or to stop squishies from running. At this point, slotted DN and the single-target attacks are the bread-and-butter of my PvP, along with Shadow Fall which I'm slotting as I can afford to. I find I really notice the difference if I don't have it up, and try to fight someone who's doing energy damage. Fearsome Stare is invaluable in the Siren's Call hotspots, and gets heavy use in one-on-one PvP battles. Tar Patch is less useful in PvP (so I'm not slotting it as much as I'd like to), but it's still too good for me to think of dropping. So nice in PvE (especially just before hitting Blizzard), and it has slowed people enough for me to take them out before they could run in PvP a few times.
The nice thing I'm finding about Ice/Dark is that while it's frustrating not having all the powers I'd like, and not having enough slots for the powers I do have, I'm still really happy with the build I now have. It works beautifully, it's fun to play, and I feel useful and powerful both solo and in a team. It's just a matter of finding which things you're happiest giving up, and keeping in mind that you're only giving them up because the character will work better that way.
And now, I'm going to stop sounding like the crazed Ice/Dark junkie I am, and get some sleep.
tar patch + ice storm will do serious damage and will also keep them under the storm until it dies out.... hold any people near the edge of the storm with freeze ray but I'm sure you knew that.
you could use freeze ray to hold a baddie nearby for a ready supply of heals 
And yea, drop stealth... shadow fall is a group stealth as well as +def and +res (to psi and energy I think)
I slot ice bolt with 1 acc/3dam/2 recharge so it's up very quickly and fills in the gaps between the other two attacks. Ice blast slotted 2 acc/3 dam/1 end reduction. Bitter ice blast slotted 2 acc/3dam/1 range (to make it;s range closer to the range of the other two.
I have never taken frost breath - it's brawl index is only slightly above ice bolt and in my opinion ice storm is a superior aoe. However, if you are mainly PvE then it might be worth taking it.
I really wish you lot would stop going on about Ice/Dark.
It's making my altitis itch!! Must... resist... creating... new... character.
Thanks! Taking in what you've said, my build is a lot more managable now. I was going to have all 3 holds, but like you say, that's overkill and there are other ways of dealing with those that have mez protection. Still, there are more powers I want to take - let us get to 50! Screw the epics!
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Exported from Ver: 1.7.3.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://home.comcast.net/~SherkSilver/index.html)
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Name: haz
Level: 41
Archetype: Corruptor
Primary: Ice Blast
Secondary: Dark Miasma
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Ice Bolt==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Dmg(15) Dmg(34) Dmg(36) EndRdx(37)
01) --> Twilight Grasp==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Acc(5) Heal(7) Heal(7) Heal(9)
02) --> Ice Blast==> Acc(2) Acc(5) Dmg(15) Dmg(34) Dmg(36) EndRdx(37)
04) --> Tar Patch==> Rechg(4) Rechg(13) Rechg(13)
06) --> Darkest Night==> TH_DeBuf(6) TH_DeBuf(9) TH_DeBuf(11)
08) --> Freeze Ray==> Acc(8) Acc(11) Hold(17) Hold(17) Hold(19) Rechg(19)
10) --> Hurdle==> Jump(10)
12) --> Hasten==> Rechg(12)
14) --> Super Speed==> Run(14)
16) --> Health==> Heal(16)
18) --> Bitter Ice Blast==> Acc(18) Acc(23) Dmg(23) Dmg(36) Dmg(37) EndRdx(39)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20) EndMod(21) EndMod(21)
22) --> Fearsome Stare==> Acc(22) Acc(25) Fear(25) Fear(27) Fear(27)
24) --> Shadow Fall==> DmgRes(24) DmgRes(31) DmgRes(31)
26) --> Ice Storm==> Dmg(26) Dmg(29) Dmg(29) Rechg(31)
28) --> Petrifying Gaze==> Acc(28) Acc(33) Hold(33) Hold(33) Hold(34) Rechg(39)
30) --> Combat Jumping==> Jump(30)
32) --> Blizzard==> Dmg(32) Dmg(40) Dmg(40)
35) --> Whirlwind==> EndRdx(35)
38) --> Dark Servant==> TH_DeBuf(38) TH_DeBuf(39) TH_DeBuf(40)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
01) --> Scourge==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)
---------------------------------------------
IN MEMORIUM OF GAYBABY
CRUELY TAKEN FROM THIS WORLD WHILE SO YOUNG
just some comments on the /dark bits.
3 Acc's in twilight grasp is probably a bit overkill.. maybe just try with 2. it'd then either free up and additional slot elsewhere or u could put in a recharge. if you do miss lots then put a 3rd one in.
Darkest Night/Shadowfall - if you can spare some slots from somewhere its worth putting end reds in.
Fearsome Stare - Consider swaping a fear with a recharge. some things require more than 1 application. 2 fears should be enough to keep minions out of the fight so you'd want it up quicker to put another fear onto the boss.
consider getting ice storm earlier. You won't be disapointed. Just remember to lay tar patch down first!
With scourge you can finish off a huge mob of enemies in one go. So satisfying.
It does as much damage as bitter ice blast, just over time
You may well find you want end reducers in Shadow Fall and Darkest Night. I have two in each, and still have endurance problems. I tried it with less, after reading two was really overkill, but it just didn't work for me. Of course, everyone's playstyle varies, so you might not have as many problems as I tend to, but it's worth keeping in mind.
Hi all, been playing CoV since mid-November and I'm really enjoying it.
Anyway, more OT, I've been playing around with Corruptors since I started, the first toon I made was an Ice/Cold and I loved Freeze Ray. Then I tried a Dark/Dark, liked the healing in Twilight Grasp, and Tar Patch saved my skin a few times, but without Freeze Ray I found myself biting the dust a bit more often.
So anyway, I decided to combine the two, Ice/Dark, I've only gotten my toon up to level 12 so far, but I'm finding it a lot easier going.
I was wondering what powers higher level people find come in most handy, which movement powers you find compliment the build best, and what enhancements you put where?
So far my powers are: Ice Bolt (with 3 slots), Ice Blast (with 3 slots), Frost Breath (with 3 slots), Freeze Ray (with 3 slots), Twilight Grasp (with 3 slots), Tar Patch (with 1 slot), Darkest Night (with 1 slot) and Stealth.
Any advice, opinions or experiences would be really appreciated, thanks.