Nightshivers (Ice/Dark)

Back when I started CoH (I2), I figured my first character should be sturdy and easy to manage, so I could learn the game. Thus began Schatten Turm, my Inv/Ax tank. After I got him into the 40s, I began to see it was hard for me to team as well as I could (post GDN/ED) without knowing the other ATs. After starting a few, altitis quickly set in, and except for a SS/WP brute, I have gotten no other characters to lvl 50.

Recently, after copious alts and mock-up builds, I decided to settle on one new character which should be fun from 1-50. The AT and sets were to be flexible, so that if I ran into a wall of boredom, I could respec the character and not have to start over again.

I decided on an Ice/Dark Corrupter, and Nightshivers began. I wanted to take him heroside as quickly as possible, so began in Praetoria. Nightshivers just hit 20 last night, and is now in Talos Island.

I want to use this thread to share his progress, and to assess Ice/Dark with your input.

Flexibility. That's why you play Corrupters anyway, right? Corrupters can be damage-dealers, can control, can support, can offtank, can solo well, and can team well. Why not take the most flexible of the builds?

Dark brings enough survivability and a lot of flexibility by itself, however Fire only brings damage. Yes, I know that defeating enemies is the ultimate way to control them, and that one only needs enough survivability to defeat enemies. Let's say I end up needing a little more survivability than some to defeat those enemies. If you needed the minimum survivability, you'd roll a Blaster anyway... (j/k - maybe)

There are other Corrupter primaries which also have some levels of control, but it seems that they are either biased more towards ST or AoE, use more cones, etc. That's why Ice is the pick for me. Ice has 3 STs, 1 cone, 1 targeted AoE, 2 holds (1 which, while slow, does tier 1.5 ST damage as well), 1 buff, and 1 nuke. Pretty dang flexible.

The build (using short forum post for those w/o Mid's, Data Link for those with):

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.81
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Nightshivers: Level 50 Magic Corruptor
Primary Power Set: Ice Blast
Secondary Power Set: Dark Miasma
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Electricity Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Ice Bolt -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43), TmpRdns-Acc/EndRdx(43)
Level 1: Twilight Grasp -- Nictus-Heal(A), Nictus-Acc/Heal(7), Nictus-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(7), EndRdx-I(27), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(27), Acc-I(50)
Level 2: Ice Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), TmpRdns-Acc/EndRdx(40)
Level 4: Tar Patch -- RechRdx-I(A), TmpRdns-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(9), P'ngTtl-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(9)
Level 6: Darkest Night -- DarkWD-ToHitDeb(A), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(11), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(11)
Level 8: Hover -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 10: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
Level 12: Ice Storm -- Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(A), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(13), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(13), Posi-Acc/Dmg(15), Posi-Dam%(15), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 14: Fly -- Winter-ResSlow(A)
Level 16: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Numna-Heal(17), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(17), Numna-Heal/Rchg(46)
Level 18: Bitter Ice Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(19), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(19), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), TmpRdns-Acc/EndRdx(37)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(21), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(21), P'Shift-End%(46)
Level 22: Fearsome Stare -- Abys-Acc/EndRdx(A), Abys-EndRdx/Fear(23), Abys-Fear/Rng(23), Cloud-ToHitDeb(31), Cloud-Acc/ToHitDeb(33), Cloud-Acc/Rchg(50)
Level 24: Freeze Ray -- Lock-Acc/Hold(A), G'Wdw-Acc/EndRdx(25), G'Wdw-EndRdx/Hold(25), EoCur-Acc/EndRdx(34), Hold-I(34)
Level 26: Shadow Fall -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 28: Petrifying Gaze -- Lock-Acc/Hold(A), G'Wdw-Acc/EndRdx(29), G'Wdw-EndRdx/Hold(29), EoCur-Acc/EndRdx(34), Hold-I(36)
Level 30: Howling Twilight -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31), RechRdx-I(31)
Level 32: Aim -- RechRdx-I(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(33), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(33)
Level 35: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(36), RechRdx-I(36)
Level 38: Dark Servant -- Nictus-Heal(A), Nictus-Acc/Heal(39), SipInsght-ToHitDeb(39), SipInsght-Acc/ToHitDeb(39), TotHntr-Immob/Acc(40), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(40)
Level 41: Thunder Strike -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(42), EndRdx-I(43)
Level 44: Shocking Bolt -- Lock-Acc/Hold(A), G'Wdw-Acc/EndRdx(45), G'Wdw-EndRdx/Hold(45), EoCur-Acc/EndRdx(45), Hold-I(46)
Level 47: Power Sink -- Efficacy-EndMod(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(48), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(48), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 49: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Scourge

Now we get to the first reason I'm sharing all this. I would like your opinions on what you think is good, and what you'd do differently. Not necessarily to convince me to change, but to share with all who may try Ice/Dark in the future all the options and why. Who knows, maybe this'll lead to a new guide for Ice/Dark. I'm not knocking Silas's wonderful support guides nor Wintervoid's Ice/Dark guide at all, I'm just saying we might find some additional information which could lead to a new Ice/Dark guide.

So rather than go ahead and post all my reasons for this current build, I'll stop my contribution to this thread for a bit and see whether any of you have initial comments. Even if your only thought here is that I'm FoS, hey - at least thanks for reading!

I actually thought I was hallucinating when I saw you left Blizzard out of your build. Corruptor Blizzard + Tar Patch/any -res debuff (bonus points for Ice Storm as well) is one of the fastest ways to obliterate a mob across any AT. It Scourges. Even if you don't take nukes normally I highly recommend it in the case of Ice/. I know the end crash can be off-putting at first, but in those situations where Blizzard is appropriate you will be very happy you have it.

Other than that, the main thing I would do different with this build is just the levels that you pick up certain powers. Howling Twilight at 30 is something I wouldn't do, personally; it's a tremendous power in solo and team play.

As far as slotting goes, I always prefer to slot my DM characters for recharge. I can't tell what you're going for here since I don't have access to MIDS atm (off the top of my head looks like a defense build -- correct me if I'm wrong) but I think slotting defense on a DM is a bit superfluous unless you're trying for a farm build of some kind. When you get decent -tohit values in Darkest Night and Fearsome Stare you can basically nullify an entire alpha. Of course, I might change my tune when you explain your reasoning for this build; there's more than one way to miasma a dark.

I know this post might sound negative, but I'm actually excited to follow your progress and hear your thoughts on Ice/Dark as you level. I really enjoy reading threads like this.

An Ice/Dark corruptor is one of the most powerful control/tanking characters in the game.

The use of powers in extraordinary ways is the key. Howling Twilight is an amazing Hold that can actually rez people as well!

You job as a corr is damage and your goal is to drop a rain on your foes causing scourges to melt them away. Tarpit + Howling Twilight + Blizzard = a complete spawn dead - of any size.

A corruptor thinks maximized damage FIRST. I was told yesterday on my Ice/Dark - Please don't bring big groups to us all at once. Understand my bringing 2 or 3 groups at once never led to a death - just hectic and massive xpgasms. You see the difference in mindset - I was seeing hordes of orange numbers and scourge flying - they were seeing lots of bad guys.

It is an addictive thing and I will warn you it will lead you into temptation, that other group so close - if you just used Darkest night on them they will come into your glorious rain of death as well...........

Nickolas85 and Infernus_Hades, it seems you're emphasizing a possible "issue" with Ice/Dark: there are so many tasty powers, it's difficult to really know what's "best" to pick and when!

The resources for most of my picks are:

1. Silas Does Support - Dark Miasma
2. Wintervoid's Ice/Dark guide
3. The recent Is Ice/Dark viable? thread
4. All three are well worth the read in considering an Ice/Dark Corrupter.

1. Vet "City Travellers" - go straight to travel power, skip prereq.
2. Ninjas - delay travel power until later.
3. I19 - inherent Stamina!

• ST damage: Ice Bolt/Ice Blast/Bitter Ice Blast. Unlike Fire, which has damage powers out the wazoo, you pretty much need all three of these. Note to newbies: you'll likely need Frost Breath as well during levelling up, since you won't have Veteran attacks like Sands of Mu nor Darkwand.
• Heal: Twilight Grasp. Use it for heal, be glad of the debuff - spam if you got the endurance or other people are taking care of damage.
• Debuff: Tar Patch/Darkest Night/Fearsome Stare. Others have said it all about these.
• AoE Damage: Ice Storm
• Movement: Fly (with Hover prereq)
• End management: Stamina (with Swift/Health prereqs)/Power Sink (with Thunder Strike/Shocking Bolt prereqs)
• Pet: Dark Servant

• Aim: this really isn't needed often, but if suffering under a lot of ToHitDebuffs, facing extreme Def, or when wanting a damage spike, it has its uses.
• Blizzard: after reading Wintervoid's guide, I'd decided to leave Blizzard out of the build entirely. I'm not about killing enemies the fastest, and it honestly seems that the time spent recovering after Blizzard would even out the enhanced speed from using it. However, that was before I reconsidered my level 49 pick today (thanks Nickolas85), after getting Power Sink at 47. Power Sink can support a very quick recovery after Blizzard, so I'm getting it rather than Assault.
• Bitter Freeze Ray: this does a bit of damage along with its long-duration hold - but it's slow-animating, and with 3 other holds (Freeze Ray, Petrifying Gaze, Shocking Bolt), it's just not needed, so it didn't make the cut.
• Frost Breath is one of those high-End low-damage cones. With Ice Storm and enough recharge (hello Hasten), I just don't feel like this AoE is needed. Now this is very, very debatable, and I'll probably get into this more later in the thread.

• Black Hole - others have said it all about this power.
• Electric Fence - as others have said, /Dark has Tar Patch. Ice is slowing even more. There are plenty of holds in the sets (in fact, I'm skipping one of those). No real use from Electric Fence - taking Shocking Bolt instead.
• Charged Armor - there should really be enough survivability in my build without Charged Armor. I would rather have the damage available via Thunder Strike instead (though if I decide I want to use fewer slots in this "power pick," I might change my mind.)

Flight

Fly is a safe, easy travel power. Super Speed works for many, with the benefit of Super Speed/Shadow Fall providing practical invisbility. But this isn't a /Traps Corrupter - I don't really see the need for practical invisibility.

Hover is not just a prereq for Fly, but a debuff power, and one of the reasons I easily survived all the ambushes in Praetoria. Have you defeated 100 weakened Destroyers without a single hit against you? Have you laughed while all of Shen's go-gangers fall under your AoE slow/damage powers? Yeah, you have Hover too, don't you? It's a 100% effective debuff against melee attacks.

Speed

Purely for Hasten. This power might be optional for you. Hasten does allow for much faster use of Tar Patch and Ice Storm, along with some other power spamming.

Electricity Mastery

The Is Ice/Dark viable? thread convinced me on this, along with the Fire/dark corruptor need defense? thread. I'm playing a Corrupter, not a Tankmage. My mindset is to debuff/control/"arrest" them, not have res/def to the cap. If they hit me for debuffed damage, I'll Twilight Grasp 'em. If they mez me, I'll have Break Frees to counter and mez 'em back (or even use BFs pro-actively, if I don't want Darkest Night detoggled).

However, I need Endurance! So far, my End drops faster than most Tankers/Brutes I've played, and even one Brute I teamed with last weekend (even with 1 lvl 15 EndRedx IO in each power). I understand that the End will be more manageable later on, but I agree with PHIRE that I'll want an epic/patron pool that has and End power. I don't want Nightshivers going villain at all, so it's just epic pools. Conserve Power doesn't return End, just reduces cost - I want a power to return End. Dark Consumption requires a hit check and is on a longer recharge than Power Sink. Electricity Mastery it is. I also get a PBAoE on an OK timer (often enough to pair with Power Sink), with decent damage and a status effect, and a fast-cycling hold. Those are quite acceptable as prereqs for Power Sink.

Where's Leadership?

Well, with including Blizzard in the build again, Leadership had to go. Now when I19 rolls around and Fitness is inherent, Leadership may make it back into the build.

Honestly, this build is in a state of flux. You can see that I've already changed some powers just today thanks to Nickolas85's comments. I've found some opportunities to improve some slots, and I have a feeling they can be improved much more - I'm looking forward to some discussion over these. I19 will obviously bring some more changes, where I'll need to decide to add Bitter Freeze Ray, Frost Breath, Assault, Tactics, or even Super Speed. I'm currently leaning towards the last three since they won't require any slots!

Actual play experience will also change the build and slots. I've already done a respec from Freeze Ray to Bitter Ice Blast at level 20 due to experience in levels 18-19. I have a feeling there will be more - but hey! That's why I chose Ice/Dark.

Broad goals for this character are...

Highest priorities:

1. Enough ST damage to take down bosses.
2. Enough debuffing to survive my own aggro.
3. Enough healing to keep me vertical.
4. Enough AoE so that I don't have to plink down every single enemy.
5. Enough Accuracy to hit reliably.
6. Enough Endurance so I don't have to slow down a reasonably-paced PUG.
7. Use cheaper IOs primarily for frankenslotting power effectiveness.
8. Be able to have fun solo and on teams.
9. Stay heroside.

1. Enough control to prevent runners and lock down annoying mobs.
2. Enough recharge to use my powerful abilities almost every "battle" (as opposed to "hold my beer, watch this!" moments of wiping spawns).
3. Get set bonuses occasionally or as an "add-on" to the frankenslotted IOs; use "extra" slots for procs (AoEs first; quick-recharge STs second).

1. Soft-cap defense
2. Be able to run TFs (I may join if I have the time, but I'm not building specifically for them)
3. Be able to PvP

Changed my mind - enough theorycraft for now. At level 24, so time for a recap of the ride.

Nightshivers's background and story so far:

A small group of free-willed magical creatures (one of the last) in Preatoria divined Cole's plans, saw Scott's own selfishness, and discovered the recent portal opening to Primal Earth along with the true heroes there. Sensing this was their last chance to save Praetoria from the evils that beset it on every side, they chose a human with magical bloodlines, brought him in gently to their group, slowly educated him in their goal and morals, and imbued him with heroic levels of potential. Almost a decade later, they sent him to Nova Praetoria to work within the Loyalists, figuring this would be his best chance to get to Primal Earth.

So Nightshivers went, not seeing many good choices. Yes, he was a "superhero" now. However he knew he could be defeated and knew he had to work within the framework of Praetoria, quietly, in order to bring the coven's plan to fruition. Nightshivers used his time within the Loyalists to curb Reese's and Praetor Duncan's excesses, letting all think he was just after power and glory. He did get to meet and work with the only Praetorian hero he was interested in - Transmuter, of course learning what really happened to Transmuter's powers. Oh, the weakness of relying on a focus rather than inner learning... Nightshivers jumped at the opportunity to enable IVy to actually help others, and did enjoy taking Dr. Hetzfeld out of commission. However, he actively resisted working with Mother Mayhem and Bobcat at the last. The coven had directed him not to contact Scott, so he ended up with what he considered the lesser of these evils - Bobcat. Luckily, he got the opportunity to leave Praetoria earlier than expected, and did not have to do more than that.

Nightshivers was absolutely shocked by the transition to Primal Earth - especially finding Emporer Cole already there! Add to that Cole's denunciation of Nightshivers even after following the Loyalist way, and Nightshivers had all of the direct confirmation he needed that Cole must be stopped. Indeed, Praetoria was absolute proof that "superheros" were no better than "normal" humans in making moral choices, so what right had Cole to take freedom of choice away from all other humans? Nightshivers was so angry that he couldn't even form words with that response - he was also rightly afraid that Cole would take him out then and there. So Nightshivers let Cole believe what he would and got away as quickly as possible.

Levels 1-7: went in a blur as they normally do. One or two-shotting most enemies, plowing through missions, hardly touching secondary powers.

• If I was a new player with no vet rewards, my power choices would have been Ice Bolt, Twilight Grasp, Ice Blast, Frost Breath, Tar Patch. As it was, I was able to skip Frost Breath, get Tar Patch a little sooner, and get Darkest Night. Darkest Night especially made Reese and his gang pushovers.
• Since Nightshivers has a magical background (and I don't want to cause knockback out of Tar Patch/Ice Storm/etc), I chose vet Darkwand over the Nemesis Staff. Since I was choosing Hover, I knew that the spectrals would just fly up to me, and I could laugh as I pulled out my Ghost Slaying Axe, so this time I did not choose Sands of Mu.

• Freeze Ray allowed me to mez the mezzers first.
• Hover was a 100% debuff against melee attacks.
• Also began to manage inpirations: whenever 3 of a kind were available, converted them to Break Free until I had three, then to blues until I had three, kept a green or two, and used the rest. This became critical to survivability against mezzers.
• Tactics were to use Tar Patch first usually; Freeze Ray first on mezzers or when TP not recharged and I didn't need to rest.

• Ahh, IOs. Why IOs rather than SOs? I got some funds, and hate outlevelling enhancement bonuses. Prior to 12, I slotted TOs that I could use, sold TOs I couldn't, and kept all salvage I would use for IOs. Went through IO training to get the free Acc, and luckily had the salvage and funds to get at least one Acc/End in the powers that needed them. It helped a bit - just a bit. However, my hit rate was still worse than in the beginning.
• Ahh, Ice Storm. Oh, wait. Only gets them down to almost 1/2 health, and takes a lot of end? Oh well, it'll get better later, especially when adding 2 Dmg IOs. Make sure End bar is full, open with Tar Patch/Ice Storm, then Darkwand one, then Ice Blast/Ice Bolt another, and let Scourge take those two while finishing the others. For mezzing Lieus/Bossees: Freeze Ray, Tar Patch, Ice Storm, maybe Darkest Night, all STs on Lieu/Boss until he's gone. If hold resistant lieu/boss, Darkest Night, Tar Patch, Freezing Rain, Freeze Ray someone else, all STs on Lieu/Boss until he's down.
• Besides the End problem, this range was golden. If I had put off Fly, I would have taken Sprint instead so I would not have had to respec later on and still fit in Stamina at 20. It was in this range that I really saw the power of Hover - at least in Praetoria. Most of the endless ambushers don't have range powers to speak of (Weakened Destroyers none at all), so this part was an absolute cakewalk. The only issues I found was with multiple Blast Masters in one spawn, but it was manageable. Blast Masters note: if you have one of their DoTs on you (forgot which one) while Hovering, don't go near the ground! You can avoid the fire spawning so long as you stay in the air the entire time...
• The End problems actually got worse during this range, enough that I had my lvl 50 craft/gmail Lvl 20 IOs to Nightshivers at lvl 17. They did provide some help, but still not enough - Stamina was needed.

• Damage began to suck, slowing down progression. Made me wonder whether Health at 18 was better than Bitter Ice Blast. By the time lvl 19 rolled around, I knew I needed to respec Freeze Ray out and replace with Bitter Ice Blast.
• In avoiding Mother Mayhem and Bobcat, I did street sweep for a while. But that got so frikkin' boring that I did Bobcat's missions after all.

• Level 20 was the respec out of Freeze Ray and into Bitter Ice Bolt. Good choice - less controller, more blaster, enough debuffs to stay alive and arrest villains.
• Stamina allowed better End management.
• At 22, picked up Fearsome Stare. Much like Ice Storm, this was a play-changer. Now I opened with Fearsome Stare (didn't hit much until I got more Accs slotted at lvl 23, but still...), Tar Patch (no alpha), Darkest Night (no alpha), Ice Storm (broken up alpha which missed), then began ST attacks/heals.
• At 22, I also got a full set of lvl 25 IOs - 1 End/2 Acc in all powers that took them (except replaced 1 Acc in Ice Storm with 1 Rech), 2 Dmg in Ice Storm, 3 Rech in Tar Patch, 1 End/2 ToHit Debuffs in Darkest Night, 2 Heals in Twilight Grasp, 1 Heal in Health (no other slots assigned to it), and 3 EndMods in Stamina. Life is good - end management problems solved (for now, especially since I don't yet have Howling Twilight).
• The only times I got into trouble were when I had to fight 4 Lieus. A few maps of Castellanos missions have this (split Rikti tunnels under office), and a Banished Pantheon mission in a graveyard. Well, I didn't HAVE to do the latter - but I'd been fighting through all the Shamans with Nightshivers telling them "Your weather powers are no match for mine!" So when I came upon 6 Shamans circling around in one area, I figured what the hey - let's see whether I can do this. When the four Death Shamans summoned their minions, there were enough hits to bring me to orange, and before I could take out a 2nd Shaman, the -7 dmg/tick DoTs piled on. Unfortunately, I reacted like a Brute (I can still pop out two attacks!), my Twilight Grasp hit, but the damage piled on faster, I went up, up, and a-splat! The Shamans all chuckled and said "Yes, you are strong, but we have something you don't - teamwork!" After my first hospital visit, I avoided them, got all the glowies, killed the mission boss not 100 yards from them, and went on my way.
• I should say something about my teaming here. I've had both wonderful and horrible experiences teaming. First is that my play schedule is erratic. Second is that I don't give a damn about "kill 'em all FAST". Third is that I like having some sort of story experience going - it's what keeps my mind involved in the game. Fourth is that I suck at recruiting. So I primarily play solo, but I'm trying to make a difference with Nightshivers. I won't hide from teams if I'm online for at least an hour, and will put up my LFT (missions) search note.
• So the mission after my first death I get an invite for AE missions. I have never done this, so I accept, wary of what it might be, and turned out to be. A farm. Alright, if you like to farm, so be it - no skin off my back. OK, so let's see how this build does with massive spawns who rez, along with a timed ambush from the mission door. 1 Brute, 1 Tank, 1 Defender (TA/Arch), 1 Controller (Plant/something), 1 Warshade, me, and I think someone else. We did damn well - the only team wipes happened the first two missions when we weren't yet prepared for the timing of the massive ambush. Fearsome Stare and Darkest Night were huge contributions to mitigation, and Tar Patch was a huge contribution to AoEs. Ice Storm helped, and selective Twilight Grasps saved me and others several times. The STs were really just filler, cleanup, and wanderer removal. But by the 3rd (or was it 4th?) time through, I was bored out of my skull. No mission text, custom mobs not even named (other than "minion," "lieutenant," "boss") and pure constant spamming of appropriate powers. Still, I don't quit immediately unless PO'd. So I let team know the next was my last mission, and then quit after that mish. I'll have to remember to put "no farms" on my LFT search notes.

Nightshivers will not now disclose the name he was born with, although he shares that his family lived outside Praetoria's sonic walls, in freedom and fearfulness of Devouring Earth. The coven took him in at the start of his adolescence, convincing his family that Nightshivers had a long and hopeful fate in store.

The magic shared with and poured into Nightshivers over time woke up his own arcane bloodline, to the point where it altered his physical form somewhat - he now has pointed ears, claw-tipped fingers, and a distinctive fae appearance. He adopted the dress of the coven, which very much looks like fantasized Victorian wear. This dress definitely helped him stand out among all of the other heros in Praetoria, and has become quite iconic for him. The magical practices were always helpful to Nightshivers, but often not pleasant, especially given the powers he has manifested. He has been frozen through, and has fully experienced death and resurrection. He has not only witnessed horrors, but been them - which was an exercise in understanding what evil truly is, so it can be guarded against. Yes, Nightshivers is a mere 21 Praetorian years old, yet looks like he is in his 50s.

When the coven sent Nightshivers to Nova Praetoria, they also sent a wisp companion to provide a bit of aid to Nightshivers, and so they could keep in contact. While Nightshivers heavily relied on the wisp at first, he gradually outgrew the need. Even so, he liks to summon it for comfort from time to time.

After Nightshivers escaped from Emperor Cole's presence, he made straight for Field Agent Keith Nance. Rather than being worried about the "double" situation, he actually looked forward to this chance to prove to Primal Earth he truly was a hero. He was also curious about whether his double was actually a parallelax from Primal Earth, much like Statesman and Tyrant are. Unfortunately, he was never able to find out, as it appeared his "evil double" was just a simulacrum created by the Protean and/or the Council of his "good double," and his "good double" ended up sacrificing himself before Nightshivers could really talk to him. That was the saddest moment of Nightshivers's life so far - seeing multiples of multiples of himself all dead or waiting to die in order to stop Protean's invasion. Why hadn't his "good double" worn a medi-teleporter? What did he mean by "two worlds to protect" - Praetoria and Primal Earth, or another unknown dimension where the "good double" originated? Unfortunately, Jenni Adair was woefully inadequate to answer these questions.

Oliver Haak had also called, requesting assistance, which Nightshivers gratefully supplied, especially snice Nightshivers wanted to investigate more of the magical groups in Primal Earth. While nothing truly exciting happened during these adventures (yes, he kept the forces of evil from getting the Wheel of Destruction, but that's all in a day's work), he kept learning and expanding his own powers.

Following that, he attended a short workshop at the University in Steel Canyon, seeing how Paragonians supported the creation of power enhancements, and met Montague Castanella there. As of this writing, he has completed Montague's tasks, joined the Midnight Squad, and has just met Mercedes Sheldon. Nightshivers isn't sure what to think of the Midnight Squad - the magical interest is a definite fit, so he knows he can learn much through them, however just like Scott back in Praetoria, they follow an unknown and mysterious leader, and Nightshivers knows very well that followers should know their leaders very well or risk manipulation. For this reason alone, Nightshivers feels no special loyalty to the Midnighters - if they turn to evil, he will attempt to shut them down.

I ended up on a 8-character level 45 team going against Nosferatu as an AV. Team makeup changed during the mission, but there was at least 1 tank, 2 scraps, 1 MM, 1 controller, 1 def. I can't remember whether the eighth was a scrap or controller most of the time.

We were able to wade through the Nemesis front-end without too much trouble. Yes, there were two (or three) wipes before the AV, but the players on this PUG were still all good, and the team (including myself) "came together" more as the mission progressed.

I need to state here: I am a competent player, but not an excellent nor hardcore one. I know most of the tactics to use, and have extremely quick reflexes. I have a 2nd-tier gaming rig with a decent internet connection. However, I am not going to devote my life resources (time, energy, money) into becoming a hardcore CoX player - I do this for enjoyment and destressing, nothing more.

I wondered whether I was helping the team enough for my spot given the relative paucity of my powers and enhancements - Howling Twilight would have been immensely useful here, as would Dark Servant - Shadow Fall could have helped too. Still, Darkest Night, Tar Patch, Fearsome Stare and Twilight Grasp did hold their own, and I don't feel I should have swapped powers at this level. Unfortunately, I could not by myself debuff Nosferatu enough to really make a difference. Add to that the MM really couldn't use her Thugs against him (she couldn't keep them out of melee well), and three melee toons seemed to be enough for Nosferatu to fill to 1/2 health at a moment's notice. No one mentioned doing a running aggro battle, and since some of my previous tactics comments had been ignored and I wasn't the leader, I didn't bring it up - it's seems a pretty hard-core tactic anyway, one which I've yet to be a part of.

Then the leader left the team (someone said she DC'd), and the team fell apart at that point without finishing it. I'm looking forward to how I might be able to take Nosferatu when Nightshivers is level 45 himself...

One item I learned is that against Nemesis, it takes longer for a Shield tanker to gather the aggro than against "nameless mobs" such as the previous night's farm had - of course, that farm had a tanker and a brute splitting aggro, so maybe that was the difference. I don't remember having such trouble against Nemesis with my Inv/Ax tank (even after aggro caps were implemented). At first I didn't wait long enough before casting Fearsome Stare/Tar Patch/Darkest Night against the Nemesis, and suffered for it.

Even though the players were good, one thing I've noticed about practically every PUG I've ever been on - you can always tell a player who doesn't understand pulling. They're always beside, not behind, the puller when he begins his pull, then they start shooting as the mobs are incoming rather than waiting until the mobs come around the target corner/point, and that always craps what otherwise would be a nice clumped group, which then quite easily ends up with stray aggro from other spawns. Pulls aren't always needed, absolutely true. But when the PUG can't handle the steamroll or need to thin out a room a bit, they're extremely useful...

Nightshivers continued on Sheldon's arc, leveling to 25, added 2 Acc to Freeze Ray so it would hit reliablty, got to frustrate plenty of Freakshow by using Freeze Ray to deny them Dull Pain...

Then was invited to a team running at 28. Now this, THIS was an excellent team! Although the team makeup varied from mission to mission, every single player kept things going, the leader selected a good difficulty level, and everything went well. No, a tanker is not needed, but it is nice to have one on a team. The leader was a tanker, handled the pace of the battles, and EVERYONE else on the team waited the few extra seconds required until he had fully pulled or plowed and had aggro before going in. It worked wonderfully, and I don't think anyone felt either rushed or bored.

In addition to the tanker, there were at least two scrappers the whole time, 2 then 1 then 2 controllers, 1 then 2 blasters, but no defenders nor other corrupters. The 2nd beginning and ending controller were /kin, but other than that, I had the only group heal - which (likely wasn't necessary, but helped).

For the latter part of the missions, an initial level 2 joined - no-one complained, and the level 2's player kept her involved. Again, an excellent team.

Nightshivers got Howling Twilight at level 26, and while it was never completely needed, it helped a good deal in some Tuatha patrols joining battles and multiple close spawns. This could have helped against the previous night's Nemesis, but I still feel I needed my other powers first. I did some things sub-optimally myself this night, such as using Freezing Rain near the end of a battle (couldn't really tell how many were still up and how many were just dead bodies, so I wasn't sure and wasn't going to take the time to cycle through enemies and count). However, I kept the debuffs up (first priority), kept the Twilight Grasp going when useful (couldn't make it to a few targets when I wanted to, but they still survived), and then added holds and damage - which, being a Ice/ Corrupter, was perfectly possible.

We decided to take on Eochai then Jack in Irons - the lowbie character swapped out to her level 47 Earth/Kin corrupter, and we downed both GMs. On these two, I of course did spam Twilight Grasp for its debuff (along with Tar Patch, Fearsome Stare, and Howling Twilight - all for their debuffs) while staying well out of melee - I knew the /Kin had the tanker's/scrappers' HP handled. There were no isues (other than one strange death, where the player said "that wasn't Shadow Maul" - so I guess maybe she hit the cyborg self-destruct?), and the monsters went down in fairly short order. I do wonder what would have happened if the GMs had Nosferatu's heal...

I hoped you do notice a theme up there - no specific powers were necessary, no specific ATs were necessary. However, we all adapted our playstyle and focus based on what was available, and we all played well, which meant it worked! And with an Ice/Dark Corrupter being so versatile, it was quite easy for me to swap roles between debuff/heal/control/damage as I felt best. This AT/powerset is allowing exactly what I had hoped it would.

Alright, Nickolas85 and Infernus_Hades, I've looked at the numbers on Blizzard, compared them to other Corrupter nukes, and yes it seems a crime NOT to take the highest-damaging Corrupter nuke of all...

The question is when. I don't want to play a one-trick pony, and I don't want to slow down the team by having to rest after a nuke, or delay my ability to Tar Patch/Darkest Night the next spawn and have Twilight Grasp ready.

My choices for 32, 35 and 49 boil down to Blizzard, Hasten, and Aim.

Hasten: I feel like Hasten will provide the best consistent usefulness of the three, since it'll allow me more Tar Patch, Ice Storm, and Howling Twilight (3 boons for the price of one power).

Blizzard: the power at the price

Aim: almost a filler power, but can provide a spike for Ice Storm, and if my calcs are correct, Aim + Ice Storm provides greater damage than Blizzard alone over the same amount of time, without the End crash. (EDIT: I don't mean over the 15 seconds, but over the recharge time of the powers.)

Am I missing anything in my decision to take Hasten and Aim before Blizzard?

I usually get it after I have begun to IO my characters out - about 37-38ish.

Then you aren't impacting the things you really NEED to have to buff/debuff your team. I use Blizzard only at times you can impact multiple groups, but using Aim + Snowstorm + Blizzard (and if you select Power Buildup) you can destroy multiple groups and with ease.

I don't take power selections as a slight or personally - it's YOUR hero/villain and I love concept builds just as much as min/max builds. I have a Fire/dark corruptor who is slightly different from the normal builds. He has slightly less max defense but I added a LOT of mez resistance and defense. When he get held I literally count to 3 and he is back. This makes even AV's unable to stop him, normally. I survived 2 hits from Recluse when the tank in an STF died.

So trying and evolving a build that starts as a concept and then hits the real world is what I like.

Thanks, Infernus_Hades - that pretty much confirms to me that Blizzard should be my crowning damage power, and get it once the other pieces are in place.

Today (during down times for my office work), I narrowed in on EPPs/PPPs more. I know I want and End return power, and the best two seem to be Power Sink (lowest recharge time, requires enemies but no hit check) and Hibernate (recharge still less than Blizzard, perfect as a follow-up to Blizzard). Notice the reasons for Hibernate - I think I'll need to come up with a story reason for Nightshivers to go villainous for a bit around 44, get Blizzard at 41, Shark Skin at 44, Hibernate at 47, then Assault at 49.

I keeping now imagining Howling Twilight + Tar Patch + Aim + Ice Storm + Blizzard + Hibernate...

EDIT: why Hibernate over Rest? I can Hibernate during the battle if/when more attacks come in...

Ok... was bored. Just made an Ice/Dark corruptor. Heres a build I threw together with no corr exp!

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Anyone going to critique the build I made? Would be nice...

Since it's the weekend, I think everyone's playing the game...

Personal viewpoints on your build:

It looks like your focusing on spikes (Aim/Power Build Up), maximizing recharge to use your heavy hitters most often, and maximizing damage.

What I would do different in meeting those goals:

• Choose Freeze Ray over Petrifying Gaze. FR has less end cost, faster recharge, faster activation, same duration, and is much more visible (valuable on a team). PG does have slightly greater range, however you also take Bitter Ice Blast, which has less range than both.
• Without Ice Bolt, Frost Breath, and a reliable team (and especially without veteran powers), that build might be harder to get through to level 18 - if you don't have a team, you might want at least Ice Bolt until 18, then respec later.
• I suggest Howling Twilight earlier in the build, delaying Hasten or Aim instead - for the same reasons given to me previously in this thread.
• Unless you have outside End help, you might have some trouble managing it with that build - this is conjecture right now. I'll be able to verify high-level end issues in Ice/Dark once Nightshivers is 45+.
• I personally cringe at the though of two crash powers - Blizzard and Force of Nature - but that's just me.

Ok, here's my slightly altered build, of the original one i posted...

Code:

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Force of nature for my o crap moments

Nightshivers has continued with that same excellent team found on 10/7 - a few core players always the same; the rest of the team invited from whomever is available at the time.

On 10/8, I did get to use Howling Twilight for its rez several times. One time there was a point of confusion - as a spawn was dying and a teammate was down and Howling Twilight was still recharging, I asked for the team not to kill the last mob (they were the only ones in 80 ft) - - heroes do what they do, and the mobs are arrested. I then asked someone to bring an enemy near - one new teammate misunderstood and thought I meant to bring the enemy right next to me - I don't think I was successful in conveying that I just meant within 80 feet, but oh well. A teammate did bring an enemy close enough, I hit Howling Twilight, and the downed teammate was apparently afk (he DC'd a little while later), so some wasted effort there. No biggie, just wish we had known...

On 10/9, Nightshivers got to 32. Got Shadow Fall at 30. Now, I have a villain MM Bots/Dark at 43 - Shadow Fall to me is a "take asap" on an MM, as it lets you position for the battle without immediate aggro. While I didn't see it quite such a priority on the Corrupter (after reconsidering the picks for HT vs SF), I still feel a little more comfortable having SF now . At 32, I did pick up Hasten - in Freakshow battles, even with Speed Boost on, I still wanted a some more recharge for Tar Patch, Ice Storm, Fearsome Stare, and Twilight Grasp. I never needed to spam Howling Twilight - I still saved it for "oh crap" or rez moments.

One thing I noticed on this team - 90% of the time, the individuals I targeted for Darkest Night were taken out within 10 seconds of casting it - regardless of which target I chose, and regardless whether I Freeze Rayed them. Part of it is that I did not request the team to leave Darkest Night anchors alone (though I could tell they attempted to do so much of the time, and such a request was not needed - ever), but the greater part of it is that the team had so much AoE going on that the anchors were going down regardless. What really got me on this was the long activation time for Darkest Night - I had other powers (like damage) I could have been casting during that activation time. Especially last night, the team was Controller-heavy, so I concentrated more on damage and tended to only cast Darkest Night on purple bosses/lieutenants and when the battle was taking longer.

At the last, we also had a second tank (Stone/). This did create some issues for me knowing which tanker was leading, as the second tank would aggro extra spawns that were close, and being defense-based, did take spike damage. I should have coordinated with the /kin controllers and we "split up" which tank we were going to primarily support (which really means I should have offered to support the off-tank primarily) - I'll remember that next time.

One thing nice - with all the control, I got to concentrate mostly on damage. I still popped Fearsome Stare and Tar Patch when up, of course (except the tail end of battles), and at times did need to spam Twilight Grasp to attempt to keep toons vertical. For all those who say heals aren't needed, that buffs/debuffs will suffice - I'm not seeing that's true when the mission difficulty is set high enough. Having heals along with all the other stuff allows a team to take on what it otherwise could not. A blended approach appears to really be best, including heals (not heal-bots, mind you) into the mix.

Another thing nice - when solo, with Freeze Ray and Petrifying Gaze, I can juggle Holds pretty well on multiple targets, and when teamed (especially with controllers), quickly lock down even mez-resistant mobs. Having extra Holds seems to be never redundant.

I am finding that Ice Bolt does piddly damage by the early 30s (at least w/o damage enhancements). However its slow is still useful (when stacked with Ice Blast, runners become walkers), and when solo, it's an excellent pull (low-aggro) power, so it stays in my build.

So far, I like the build powers I've chosen - it's doing what exactly I wanted. My outstanding questions are:
1. Hibernate or Power Sink? Hibernate is really just for Blizzard; Power Sink requires me going into melee range (which granted I do plenty of now)
2. Petrifying Gaze or Bitter Freeze Ray? In other words, will the extra activation of Bitter Freeze Ray really slow me down, or can I use its extra Hold time and bit of damage to good effect? This one I'm going to have to end up testing for myself to really know.

We just might be able to coordinate Katie Hannon's TF tonight (I've never done it), so it'll be interesting to see how that goes. Time to read up on this TF on Paragon Wiki. I still have painful memories of the original Positron TF way back when, but I understand TFs are able to be done by people with RL responsibilities now...

Perfect_Predator, I probably won't get to look over the latest version of your build in the thread you started until tomorrow, but I'll respond then unless someone else does and says the things I would have .

Wyldhunt,

I just wanted to say thanks for sharing all of this with us. Both the RP and the mechanics make for a good read, and your writing skills keep things smooth and even. Please keep up the good work.

Thanks!

B1u3Jay, thank you for your kind words. I'd actually like to see more "play diary" threads in the A&P forums - I'd get value out of seeing how other people/ATs/powersets play through the levels and content as well!

---

Nightshivers enjoyed being able to help people in Paragon, without worrying whether Cole was going to come smash him in. He enjoyed the freedoms given to people, and enjoyed drinking water he knew was not psych-drugged. However, even though he knew people chose bad behaviors, he began to notice a similar pattern to Praetoria - those in power (such as Mother Mayhem and Contessa Crey) got away with evil much more easily than those not in power. Even worse, innocents were still used as pawns. Worst of all, it didn't seem to matter how many hundreds of villains Nightshivers busted - there were always thousands more. Plots to take away a decent life for "normal" humans waited around every corner. Rescuing hostages only let villains get away with more heinous crimes.

Nightshivers thought back to how he had infiltrated Praetoria's regime, in order to fight the corruption within. He could not believe he'd been as successful as he was, even turning Reese around, so he resolved to try this again, with Arachnos. Of course he'd have to make sure he acted in an "appropriate" way, but would target only villains. So Nightshivers began his slow infiltration with acting the part of the vigilante, rationalizing that at least the villains he took out would not haunt Paragon again.