Well, I was going to suggest /stone, but that one's out. 
My first 50 was an Ice/Ice, back in the day. It's a good, thematic combo that will suit your goals well. The mitigation combination of the two sets works well together, and will keep you standing through a lot of punishment. Yes, you will be lower on damage than some other secondaries, but your aggro management will be top notch. With inherent Stamina now, I'd say that the only power that you might want to skip is Greater Ice Sword. It's DPA is pretty bad, and you likely won't need it anyways. Even permafrost is good because it doesn't need any additional slots, and the base slot is a great place for a +Def IO.
However, let's go through the rest of the secondaries, just in case:
Axe/Mace: These two sets will play kind of similarly, with Axe being all KD, and Mace being a combo of Stuns and KD. Decent mitigation and damage options, and fairly easy to make work from a thematic point of view (i.e., a barbarian from the northern climes).
Dark Melee: A good combo with Ice Armor, especially before you can get to the softcap through IO useage. The -ToHit from Dark Melee "stacks" with your Defense to make you even harder to hit. A little light on the AoE damage front, but you'll get two End recovery tools, two heals, and great single-target (ST) damage.
Dual Blades: An Icicle-wielding monster. With inherent Stamina, I think that Dual Blades is looking better for Tankers. Before, it was tough to fit in all of the survival powers that you'd want, and get all of the DB combos that are good. Now, you can take more of the attacks, and single-slot those that you won't be using often. The additional mitigation will come through the combos, so if that's not what you're looking for, then I'd vote against this. If you don't mind it, this might not be a bad combo.
Electrical Melee: Somewhat unreliable mitigation at the beginning, but it gets much better towards the high-end game. Decent AoE and ST damage, and you get a Teleport attack.
Energy Melee: Well, it's Energy Melee. Former king of ST damage. Weak in the AoE department, the two big hitters in this set for ST damage animate very slowly, so you might be annoyed on teams where your target is down before you even hit them. The first attack isn't actually the fastest-recharging, which is odd for Tanker secondaries, so you might be annoyed by that, too. Up to you, but I think I'd stay away from it.
Fiery Melee: Great on damage, weak on mitigation. Well, except that dead enemies don't attack. Great AoE damage, Great ST damage. You just might feel a little weaker defensively than with other sets, so that would be your tradeoff. Still, a great soloing pair, and still very good on teams.
Kinetic Melee: The most recent set, so I'm sure you've heard about it. The -Damage from your attacks will stack with Chilling Embrace, which should help a lot, especially at low levels and against AVs. The +Damage from Power Siphon will boost Icicles, which is quite nice. And there's a decent amount of mitigation in the secondary from stuns and KD, too. Not a bad pairing, but to be honest, I've never seen this combo in the game (though to be more honest, I rarely see Ice Tankers in the game).
Super Strength: A more common combo than most others, at least from looking at the forums, though I think that is due to the popularity of /SS in general. Rage helps boost Icicles, and the other mitigation and damage tools are great at most stages of the game. You'll feel a bit weak offensively before you get Rage, but that's common with /SS. The only downside is the -Def that comes from a Rage crash, which hurts Ice Armor a bit more than with Resistance-based armor sets, but if you keep a keen eye out, you should be able to avoid that.
Hope this helps!
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
Quote:
It sure did! That's a great sumup. |
Originally Posted by Aett_Thorn
Hope this helps!
|
I'm thinking now it's either ice/DM or ice/ice. Lack of AoE with DM could be solved by picking up salt crystals from earth mastery.
Another question: I was thinking of making Hoarfrost perma, but how necessary is this? Is an ice tank generally fine without it up or is it more common to have it up as much as possible?
The downside of making it perma would be I no longer choose when to hit it which partially removes the effect of the healing in many scenarios. In other words I suppose it would actually become less useful as a tool for handling the stray massive damage hit from for instance an AV getting through my def.
Quote:
Making Hoarfrost perma isn't necessary, especially if you also build for getting to the softcap of S/L defense. However, just because it CAN be perma doesn't mean you always need to use it as such. For instance, if you know that there's no AV or EB in the mission, then might as well keep it up. If there is, you can save it for if you need a heal.|
Originally Posted by LarsNL
It sure did! That's a great sumup.
I'm thinking now it's either ice/DM or ice/ice. Lack of AoE with DM could be solved by picking up salt crystals from earth mastery. Another question: I was thinking of making Hoarfrost perma, but how necessary is this? Is an ice tank generally fine without it up or is it more common to have it up as much as possible? The downside of making it perma would be I no longer choose when to hit it which partially removes the effect of the healing in many scenarios. In other words I suppose it would actually become less useful as a tool for handling the stray massive damage hit from for instance an AV getting through my def. |
If you do go Ice/DM, then it becomes less important to keep it as a heal, since you'll have Siphon Life, which in a pinch can be used as your emergency heal.
Also, keep in mind that Salt Crystals does no damage. Stalagmites does some damage, but isn't all that great at it compared to some of the other Ancillary Pool AoE powers. For instance, Fireball does 10 more damage, unslotted, and recharges twice as fast.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
I want to roll an ice tanker today as I've always sort of liked the idea but never got around to making one.
The big question is: what secondary?
I feel inclined to just go with ice/ice and figure something out for that along the way, but just to prevent making a big mistake here I'd like to hear the experience of people who have ice tanks first.
What really notable differences do the various secondaries offer for an ice tank particularly?
Any reason I should not pick ice/ice or any reason a different combo is just much better?
Bear in mind however I see my role as a tanker as follows: I need to have capable aggro management, be durable and be mobile in that order. Dealing damage is NOT a factor AT ALL. I couldn't care less if it deals little to no damage as long as it keeps the mobs away from the squishies and doesn't die.
Edit: PS: Oh yeah... absolutely no stone - that one's not in the running.