Let's Talk ill/Cold...What's The Optimal App/Ppp?

Right now I have the fire App...loving fire blast and fireball most of all...but the shield is resistance based, which may cause a problem when trying to soft cap ranged def. Was thinking earth but they have no ST blast, and the shield is hideous. Ice...iceblast is good, good AOE with Ice storm but that shield is hideous as well. Now Mace mastery, the only draw back I see there is the redraw from poisonous ray. Alittle help?...cant post a build I'm at work atm.

I really don't see a need to softcap an Ill/Cold. You have so much mitigation at your fingertips that is your "softcap". Personally I went with Ice APP, partially for concept and partially for mechanics. ST blast for blind---SW-----blast. Ice storm which goes very nicely with Sleet. And hibernate for times when end/hp drop.

That said, I usually forget it's in my tray because she holds up so well.

I'm stubborn about those ugly shields...I dont want to be covered in earth nor ice hence the inclusion of mace mastery. I'm pretty sure for when your doing trials that your controls simply wont be enough and having EXTRA layer of protection will be welcome.

Each I think has it's downside for "ME"....

Ice/Earth- Ugly shield(yes I know Im being petty)
Fire-Resist Shield, No heal, and rise of phoenix should be traded out for rain of fire
Mace-Redraw

Right now fire is OK...but that resist shield isnt stacking with Manuevers, or Def in Artic fog, although it's resist alone is 27%, or else I'd keep it.

Don't get so caught up in this false notion that you somehow need to be softcapped. It's a luxury, but far from necessary for proper play of a controller.

Incarnate trials are fine with just ice shield and arctic fog. Leadership is not needed on an Ill/Cold. Destiny typically can plug all the holes that come up anyway and by now most people you'll be running with will have some type of Destiny unlocked. Whether or not you are softcapped may be the diffence between dying in 35 seconds as opposed to 37 seconds. /shrug

I also went with the Ice APP with my Ill/Cold. Ice Armor is a S/L defense-based shield, and it makes you consistant with your teammates because now you have an Ice Shield, too. (The shield works fine with my character concept, too. His name is "Florida Snowman." Since there are no snowmen in Florida, he is clearly an Illusion.)

Ice Blast is a fast-recharging, effective offensive power, and lets you have the fast Blind-SW-Ice Blast-SW attack chain. While Fire is just as fast and does slightly more damage, I felt that the other benefits of the Ice APP made it the best choice.

I love Hibernate on this character. As long as I'm quick enough on the button, Hibernate lets me heal up both my health and endurance. Most of the time, I rely upon Phantom Army to draw the aggro, and don't really need defense. Hibernate covers me most of the time when I draw too much aggro myself.

I actually chose Frost Breath instead of Ice Storm. It recharges faster and is up-front damage to help me kill stuff faster to take advantage of the Illusory damage in SW, Phantom Army and Phanty's Decoy.

my ill/cold is nowhere near softcapped, the most defense he has is about 25% smash/lethal defense and about 8-10% on everything else

i also went with ice mastery due to how awesome it is lol, i originally was earth mastery but it was too melee focused to be of much use to me when im soloing AVs

honestly going mace mastery would be alright, poisonous ray is a really good debuff and dmg, the shield is also defense based and has some toxic resist, and if you wanted another power you could get an additional pet in the form of a toxic tarantula

IMO the redraw isn't bad on the mace since you won't have another weapon. From using it for awhile the -res and if you want another pet helps. Since your primary is Ill/ the tarantula will pretty much be around all the time if you want to make it perma and will probably help you alot more than it did my Elec/Cold.