You don't need AA and Shiver.
I'd say drop Thaw and replace it with Heat Exhaustion. You'll only lose 1.25% S/L defense which I doubt would be too bad especially considering the mitigation you get from ice control. You'd also conveniently have 3 free slots to place into HE to have it set up with 1x Acc, 3x Rech.
- @DSorrow - alts on Union and Freedom mostly -
Currently playing as Castigation on Freedom
My Katana/Inv Guide
Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either. -Einstein
Quote:
Yes, because IMO the bane of the set for the most part, is certainly worth giving up for a few points of defense.|
Originally Posted by Icecx
You don't need AA and Shiver.
|
On the OPs note, I really don't see why you *need* to be softcapped. Just get what you can, shoot to make it so one luck will cap you, then keep the build working the way it should otherwise.
Plasmic's Guide to Sonic/Mental
Plasmic's Guide to Regeneration
Plasmic Fire - 50 Fire/Rad Victory Server
Quote:
Why?|
Originally Posted by Icecx
You don't need AA and Shiver.
|
I rarely would take both, but in this case I could certainly make an argument for it. Building for smashing/lethal means one is generally planning to spend some time in melee and Arctic Air won't floor the enemies recharge alone. Even Shiver alone won't floor +2 minions. The two acting in tandem will.
If one relied on AA alone, they would serve up about 50% recharge reduction to +2 minions; enough to double the recharge times on enemy powers. Toss in Shiver and you'll hit the recharge floor of 75%, doubling their recharge once again to 4 times its original length. Because of the nature of defense, there will always be a 5% chance for an attack to come through. However, you can assure that the 1 in 20 happens less often by lowering the rate of incoming attacks. This becomes even more important when facing off against enemies with defense debuffs. If you slow the rate of attacks, then you can slow or even prevent cascading defense failure.
That would be my justification for taking it in this case. Can you tell use why you wouldn't use both Shiver and AA rather than simply stating not to do so?
As for Tex's build, you could skip Cauterize to make room for Heat Exhaustion. Without seeing how it plays I can't say if that's a good idea or not. If you can provide enough mitigation to get away without the single target heal, then Heat Exhaustion would definitely help out in AV fights. In Thaw, I would focus on endurance reduction and recharge from the set you're using. Because Thaw only offers resistance to cold, the resistance enhancement is pretty limited in its usefulness. It's also a shame to miss out on the Achille's Heel proc in Melt Armor.
I've always found Ice Control particularly difficult to IO. I'll have to take a longer look at it when I have time.
Thanks guys.
Ketch, I agree with you about Ice Control being especially hard to IO. The two best controls, Arctic Air and Ice Slick, don't measurably contribute to bonuses.
I will be keeping both Arctic Air and Shiver for some of the reasons described above. I'm also doing it because I think building on the assumption that you are "always melee" or "always ranged" is too limiting. I'm building on the assumption that I will go to melee when the situation allows it (Force Field defender on team, good tank, enemies with few mezzes etc) and hang back when that's more beneficial. I also find it helpful to be able to camp in a spot with one sub-group of enemies and fire Shiver into other groups nearby when I can't fit all of them into Arctic Air or when it's too dangerous to get into the middle, so I just tap a few guys at the edge in hopes the Contagious Confusion proc catches some of them (works pretty well actually) and use Shiver to keep the rest from shooting as fast.
The reason I think I will keep Cauterize is how effective it is at keeping the pet alive. Heat Exhaustion is certainly not a bad power; actually, the "problem" is the combo doesn't have enough truly bad powers. I always run into that with Thermal builds--you're always having to skip a power or two you'd like to have. My logic is that skipping a good power doesn't hurt you any more than playing a set that simply has fewer good powers overall. (That is, a character with a set like Kinetics or Force Field isn't necessarily "better off" than a Thermal just because the powers they decided to skip were not very good.) I need to think about it some more. The good news in the meantime is the build is relatively cheap.
Lose Thaw...keep Heat Exhaustion. Really. This is the -Regen, -DMG power.
BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection
Hey guys,
I just recently went back and took a look at my first 50, who as an Ice/Therm troller. I asked if anyone had a build back then and no one did. Now I finally feel like I have something that's ok-ish, with capped Slash/Lethal defense.
The main casualty of the build is Heat Exhaustion; I just can't find a way to put it in without losing something important elsewhere or dropping below capped defense. IMO the power is ok but very specialized. If I could find 4 points of slash/lethal defense somewhere I could drop Maneuvers for it... but that's unlikely to find for this combo I think.
[EDIT: I realize I could probably do it with the Earth epic pool. However unless and/or until we can recolor the Earth armor blue so it looks like Ice I'm avoiding that option.]
Here is the build as it stands:
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.621
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Solar Winter: Level 50 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Ice Control
Secondary Power Set: Thermal Radiation
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Ice Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Block of Ice -- CtlSpd-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(A), CtlSpd-Acc/Slow(3), CtlSpd-Acc/EndRdx(5), CtlSpd-Dmg/Slow(17), HO:Perox(17), HO:Perox(33)
Level 1: Warmth -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(3), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(23), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Dct'dW-Rchg(42)
Level 2: Thermal Shield -- RctvArm-EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam(13), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(43), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(43), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(46)
Level 4: Cauterize -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(5), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(23), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Dct'dW-Rchg(40)
Level 6: Arctic Air -- CoPers-Conf%(A), CoPers-Conf/EndRdx(7), Mlais-Dam%(7), Mlais-EndRdx/Conf(9), Pplx-EndRdx/Conf(9)
Level 8: Shiver -- CtlSpd-Acc/Slow(A), CtlSpd-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(19), CtlSpd-Acc/EndRdx(37), CtlSpd-Rng/Slow(37)
Level 10: Plasma Shield -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(11), RctvArm-ResDam(11), RctvArm-EndRdx(15)
Level 12: Ice Slick -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(13)
Level 14: Frostbite -- Enf'dOp-Acc/Rchg(A), Enf'dOp-EndRdx/Immob(15), Enf'dOp-Acc/EndRdx(19), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob(31), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob/Rchg(42), Enf'dOp-Immob/Rng(42)
Level 16: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 18: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(21), EndMod-I(21)
Level 22: Thaw -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(37), RctvArm-ResDam(39), RctvArm-EndRdx(43)
Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(25), RechRdx-I(25)
Level 26: Glacier -- UbrkCons-Hold(A), UbrkCons-Hold/Rchg(27), UbrkCons-Acc/Hold/Rchg(27), UbrkCons-Acc/Rchg(29), UbrkCons-EndRdx/Hold(29)
Level 28: Forge -- Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(A), Rec'dRet-ToHit(31), RechRdx-I(31)
Level 30: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(33)
Level 32: Jack Frost -- SvgnRt-Acc/Dmg(A), SvgnRt-Dmg/EndRdx(33), SvgnRt-Acc/EndRdx(34), SvgnRt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), SvgnRt-Acc(34), SvgnRt-PetResDam(36)
Level 35: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(36), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(36)
Level 38: Melt Armor -- AnWeak-Acc/Rchg(A), ShldBrk-Acc/Rchg(39), RechRdx-I(39)
Level 41: Hibernate -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx-I(45)
Level 44: Frost Breath -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Posi-Dam%(45), Posi-Dmg/Rng(46), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46)
Level 47: Ice Storm -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(48), Posi-Dam%(48), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50)
Level 49: Frozen Armor -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(50), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(50)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Containment
Level 1: Ninja Run
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Set Bonus Totals: