Ice Armor / Kinetic Melee - How's the Synergy?

It looks to me like the combination will have mitigation in spades. Between the defense, +max HP, -damage, -recharge and knockback aplenty, I think it should have no trouble with most content. I've never been comfortable with defense based sets, though, so I have a few questions.

The plan right now is to put off the S/L shield until level 12. I don't see it helping as much as Chilling Embrace and Hoarfrost will until SOs start to come into play. Does this sound like a decent idea?

I don't plan on taking Tough. Without innate resistance to build on, I don't see it providing enough benefit to justify the costs. Again, does this sound reasonable?

Regarding AVs: they shouldn't hit me often, but I worry about being two or three shotted by a lucky streak. I'm hoping Chilling Embrace and the kinetic attacks should stack enough -damage for that to not be a problem. I'm fuzzy on -damage, but I'm pretty sure it cannot be resisted by anything. Am I correct on that? Of course, there's also Hoarfrost.

Speaking of that, is the combination of Hoarfrost and -damage likely to be enough to hold my own against enemies heavy on fire and psi damage?

Sounds like it should work out well.

I can hold my own against pretty much anything without psi/toxic only damage on my Ice/SS/Pyre who runs without Tough as well. I can't see you having problems with an Ice/KM because it has more -DMG on top of the KD.

As for postponing Frozen Armour: I'd rather postpone Hoarfrost, it has a long recharge (6 mins) so you won't be using it much in the lower levels anyway. Getting Frozen Armour to stack with lucks and using respites for healing would IMO be a better idea.

You're always answering my questions through PMs, so I'll answer yours now! My friend and I built fire and ice tanks and levelled to 50 together, so I know almost as much about ice as I do about fire.

-damage isn't resisted by anything, although it might actually be resisted by resists, oddly enough. So -lethal damage will be resisted by robots, if I remember correctly.

If you stack up -damage fast enough w/KM you shouldn't need tough for AVs. I personally would still take and use tough, though; it can give you time to retreat into hibernate since you don't have scaling resists like SR.

Don't skip the S/L shield; you'll be kicking yourself if you do. At that level I would sooner skip chilling embrace or even hoarfrost. You have to remember hoarfrost won't be up all the time until much later, so it's a bit less useful at low levels.

Hoarfrost and -damage and -recharge will probably be enough to handle average fire damage; fighting infernal is another matter. Likewise, they're enough for average psi (e.g. rikti) but maybe not enough for full on heavy psi encounters (mother mayhem's home, for example). The main reason is because you are going to have a rampup time on your -damage effects during which you may get splattered. In particular, with psi avs, they all also do -recharge, so you can't leverage KM's -damage so easily even with your 20% (40% w/ios) resist to -recharge.

This is another reason to get tough, actually; so that you can get weave. It also lets you cheaply softcap defense. One steadfast, weave, and a gaussians in something and you've more or less softcapped everything, if I remember correctly. I was always pissed that his build was finished so quickly and cheaply...

Dechs, you make me sad.

This sounds like a great concept I haven't thought about, but I already leveled an ice/ tanker, and I don't repeat sets. KHAAANNN!!!

Good luck on it though it you plan to take one to 50!

Thanks for all the advice guys. I've made the character twice now, but I think I'll be rolling him a third time tonight. I started with Hoarfrost, which seems to work well enough. I haven't used it more than twice, but then again I've only made it to level 6 so far. Another reason why I picked it was to assuage the endurance costs of running another toggle until I could more reliably enhance my powers. The reason to roll him a third time is I added an extra slot to chilling embrace for accuracy, not realizing that the power is autohit in PvE until it didn't let me slot the TO.

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Originally Posted by PennyPA Dechs, you make me sad. This sounds like a great concept I haven't thought about, but I already leveled an ice/ tanker, and I don't repeat sets. KHAAANNN!!! Good luck on it though it you plan to take one to 50!

Thanks Penny. I love the concept I've come up with, as I've colored the kinetic attacks blue and they look very much like water. It's the closest thing we have to an aquatic melee set.

I think I even snagged a great name. "Frigid Tide"

I took an Ice/Axe to 50 so I will try to answer as best as I can...

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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison The plan right now is to put off the S/L shield until level 12. I don't see it helping as much as Chilling Embrace and Hoarfrost will until SOs start to come into play. Does this sound like a decent idea?

If I were you, I would take the S/L Shield asap and then CE. Constant mitigation is better than a temporary boost in health. At that level your not really dealing with burst damage and so green's will more than suffice.

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I don't plan on taking Tough. Without innate resistance to build on, I don't see it providing enough benefit to justify the costs. Again, does this sound reasonable?

No, for a couple reasons. One, -damage is pretty much +resistance which will stack well with Tough. Also, its a great place to put a steadfast unique for +3 defense to all. Finally, The end drain will peanuts when you have a Energy Absorbtion slotted.

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Regarding AVs: they shouldn't hit me often, but I worry about being two or three shotted by a lucky streak. I'm hoping Chilling Embrace and the kinetic attacks should stack enough -damage for that to not be a problem. I'm fuzzy on -damage, but I'm pretty sure it cannot be resisted by anything. Am I correct on that? Of course, there's also Hoarfrost.

So soon after GR Launch I really dont know how much KM's -damage benefits players when stacked, however with my Ice/Axe I found that I dont have problems tanking AVs. If there is ever an issue I have Hoarfrost and Hiber for extreme occasions.

Good luck!

Don't forget to grab Darkest Night from Soul Mastery for even more -damage goodness.

Thanks again for all the advice guys. Here's what I've got so far. See anything I can improve?

Hover/Fly and Arctic Mastery are thematic choices. With the exception of fly, I plan to use this as a leveling build as well. Permafrost will be put in fly's place while I'm leveling so I can put that +3% defense IO in sooner.

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