Ice Blaster

My first blaster was fire / fire so decided try an ice / ice one can tell from the get go this is way different. Anyone have a helpful guide or something to assist me. Thank you for responding.

My first Blaster and my first Blaster to 50 is my Ice/Ice. While Fire revels in AoE, Ice/Ice is virtually a Blaster/controller with three holds, an awesome cone Slow and Ice Patch. The holds allow you to limit the damage you take. Plus, because you can stack holds on a boss, you become the Boss-killer for any team.

Folks often say that it is weak on AoE . . . I feel Ice/Ice may not be an AoE buzzsaw, but it has sufficient Aoe with Frost Breath, Ice Storm and Blizzard -- Blizzard may be the nuke power with the highest overall damage. Also, Cold Damage is rarely resisted, so you get more bang for your powers than a set with tons of Smashing or Lethal damage.

My playstyle is as a ranged character, so I didn't take any of the melee attacks -- just the melee hold. I generally fight from Hover. I took everything in the primary, and Chilblain, Ice Patch, Shiver and Freezing Touch. Shiver is a key power -- it is your AoE that keeps foes from running away from Ice Storm and Blizzard. Some people say to skip Bitter Freeze Ray because of the long animation, but I loved having it . . . Use it first on a boss, followed by Freeze Ray to hold the boss while you pound away on him. If you use BFR as your opener, then the longish animation doesn't matter.

My Ice/Ice Blaster is one of my favorites on the ITF . . . the Romans can resist many controls, but not slows -- Shiver has a huge effect on them.

I would suggest getting Static Discharge from the Elec Mastery epic pool. It will help with your AoE issues a lot, making you considerably more team friendly. Soul Mastery is also a good choice, and it will help you keep mobs in place for your powers(which may or may not be a bad thing). But it is more slots needy than elec(2 cone powers with high recharge instead of 1 cone power with low recharge) and has narrow cone arcs.

I have an Ice / Ice / Ice at 45, a year 1 character actually that I've just never taken the time to kick over to 50. It's a different experience to be sure, and a power combo you don't see very often. People don't seem to have a high opinion of it, generally.

However, it's a powerful, utilitarian combo with a lot of options available to it.

The slows and holds are brutal; I've actually managed to stack enough holds to hold AV's (though just briefly), and the slows, ice storm, and ice patch generally leave mobs too busy running (slowly) in all directions to pay any attention to me while i pick them off. It's like shooting fish in a barrel.

On the other hand, you have to marshal your AoE's carefully and if you lose control of a fight you need to bottle out and run, then come back in and reassert control after the mob bunches up again.


Outdoors I hover-blast. You have several drops and cones, and a top down attack works extremely well.

Indoors I typically stay on foot and use Ice Patch + corner pulls to excellent effect. The cones and ice storm work really well in hallways, especially with an ice patch between me and the mob. It's pretty comical to see the mobs in disarray, slipping and falling, and generally bumbling around in slow motion.

I use the Concealment, Fitness, and Flight pools, and skipped all the melee attacks.

In the Ice epic pool, I have Snow Storm which is a really major benefit, and Ice Armour. The Cold Mastery pool is very cool in general; I'm planning on getting Hoarfrost and Hibernate if I ever level to 50, and wish I could also pick up Flash Freeze.

I tend not to use Blizzard (the t9), unless my goose is already cooked, but that's because I generally don't care for the big-crash nukes. However, it is pretty brutal when I do use it.

Bottom line, Ice / Ice is very tactical and controller-ish. If you want to just run around and blast things it's probably not a great fit for you, but if you like to run around and set up killzones, or use some basic strategies it is very effective for that kind of play style.

It also teams very well, particularly on smaller teams thanks to its hybrid nature. All of your slows and holds benefit your compadres, and only Ice Storm and Blizzard have a side effect (mobs scatter to get out of it) that might irritate teammates.

Ice/Ice gives you excellent damage and mitigation.

-speed and -recharge can stifle the trickiest of mobs.

Frost Breath slotted and aimed correctly is a potent junior nuke.

Chilblain meshed between your blast attacks (IB, BIB...) will keep bosses stymied as you chop them down.

Blizzard is a superior nuke and highly safe to execute. LOLInfernoes.

Enjoy icing things up, down, and sideways.

Not sure how much I can add that hasn't already been said, but like a few already on here, my first ever character and first to fifty is was/is my Ice/Ice/Cold Blaster. I strongly recommend taking your ranged attacks and skipping your melees (like some have suggested). Most of your ranged attacks are comparable to, if not better than, the melees anyway, and since your damage output will probably be a little less than the fire/fire (at least for the first 20 or so levels) you will probably want to keep your distance since you won't kill everything as quickly. Now, for bulletpoints!

-Chilblain is a great companion almost all the way to lvl 25, after that you probably won't need it. But up 'til then, use it. You gotta take it anyway, it does decent DoT, recharges as fast as your tier 1 blast, and will keep things away if you start to get overwhelmed.
-I recommend taking both Freeze Ray and Bitter Freeze Ray. Nothing cooler than being able to hold a boss like a controller, but kill it 3x as fast. Yes, the latter has a long animation... so use it as an opener! By the time you get access to it (26) you'll be doing decent enough damage that, in a 3 enemy mob, you freeze 2, and you can likely kill everything with hardly a dent to your health.
-Shiver, Ice Patch, Ice Storm, and (kind of) Frost Breath are your large scale mitigation powers. They work best on teams, with the exception of Frost Breath which will be effective no matter what or when.
-If you are not opposed to hover blasting, I highly recommend it. It allows you to set up your cones quickly and most effectively, but also can keep you out of harms way should (say) Freeze Ray miss an opponent that your really needed to stay frozen.
-I also recommend Hasten. The recharge times on this set can be painful (you start out with 4 and 8 seconds on your tier 1 and 2 blasts, respectively). You might find it isn't such a big problem post lvl 30 or so, but from someone who is big on their Single Target attacks, Hasten helps keep a steady chain of attacks. (To me, there's nothing more painful than launching 3-4 blasts consecutively, then just having to stare at my opponent for a few seconds while an attack recharges).

If you choose to stick with the ice theme, Cold Mastery I wonderful. Flash Freeze has allowed me to solo groups of 5-6 +2 bad guys with ease. Frozen Armor is great because... well, defense for blasters is great in general. And Hibernate makes for a great themed panic button (about to die, Hibernate, yawn for a few seconds, break out and finish what you started). Hoarfrost I didn't find to be as useful, and Snowstorm is almost unnecessary, considering Frost Breath and Shiver together get you darn near the slow cap.

Long story short: You are the ultimate blast-troller. Instead of the "Fire! Fire! Fire! BURRRRRN!" mentality that works and kills everything for a fire blaster, you'll probably be thinking more along the lines of, "Okay, you two, freeze! I'm gonna take out your buddy here first, just chill for a sec." A bit slower, but just as effective, and a lot of fun.

Hmmm, really Knight Jolt? I'll have to give it another shot. I think it just got phased out of my attack chain once I had both Freeze Rays, then especially once I got Flash Freeze. Though, I definitely can still hypothetically see where it would be useful

An Ice/Ice was my first character and first 50.
Fun times, and he still gets a tour of duty periodically.

Play him like an angry controller, and you won't be disappointed.

And I echo the value of Chillblain.