Min-maxing my ill/cold - Which APP/PPP?

So I timed myself against a pylon and pulled out 2:10ish with no lore pets. Good, but a bit lower than I expected for an ill/cold. So my question is this: What APP/PPP is best for taking down hard single targets? I'm using Mace Mastery's Poisonous Ray and the Toxic Tarantula. Should I switch to /ice or /fire? Does a smooth attack chain outweigh the additional -resist and pet damage over time?

My personal opinion, not based on any testing, it that it does. That Blind-SW-Blast-SW continual attack chain puts out pretty good damage . . . but I would be interested to see your results if you make the comparison. If you are looking only at damage, then Fire has a little DoT so it will do more damage overall. Fireball is nice AoE damage, too.

I went with Ice on my Ill/Cold, mainly because of the other powers in the set: Ice Armor is not only a defense-based armor but also looks like the Ice Shields that I can give my teammates. And Hibernate works as an emergency heal/panic button since */Cold doesn't have a self-heal. The damage done by Ice Blast is only slightly less than Fire Blast and just as fast. Frost Breath makes an OK AoE that recharges much more quickly than Ice Storm.

However, you also have to remember that when you are going up against a single tough target, you are bypassing one of the strengths of Illusion -- Spectral Damage. Going against targets you can take down quickly will substantially increase your overall DPS because you don't lose that Spectral Damage to a heal-back. To get a really good measure of the DPS of an Illusionist, you have to include lower level foes.

I'll be sure to record the results from a few runs once I finish my incarnating (that is a word, right?).

The reason I tested against tough single target enemies is because that is what Illusion tends to be best at dealing with. While Spectral Damage no doubt technically benefits most by focusing fire on weaker enemies, I'm not really out to play an Illusion controller with the intent of taking out minions or lts. Let's face it--there are far better choices for that.

Rather, as we all know, the indestructible nature of Phantom Army is the biggest part of what lures me to Illusion and it makes for a great AV/GM solo'er.

From what I gather from peeking into the massive Rikti Pylon Results thread from time to time is that Illusion/Cold tends to lead the pack in terms of DPS including debuffs. But they all used the Fire APP for Fire Blast whereas I'm rocking Mace Mastery.

After taking on a few high level AVs, I'm beginning to question Mace Mastery more and more though. Even fully shielded and buffed with Frostworks, the Toxic Tarantula struggles to survive very long against the frequent PBAOE attacks, nullifying a big reason to take Mace Mastery over Ice. Granted, I don't have Barrier or Rebirth yet, which may make a huge difference when combined with the Ice Shields and Frostworks. So I'll wait to respec into Ice until I can properly test Mace with the full gamut of Incarnate powers. But as of now, keeping the Tarantula alive long enough to deal enough dps to make up for the lack of a proper attack chain is a real challenge.

Once I finish incarnating Dr. Von Freez and give Mace Mastery a proper test, I'll switch on over to Ice to compare. And good point about Ice Armor's appearance making me look like my teammates. I never thought of that, but now that I do, that WOULD be really nice. I feel so naked without any ice on me. <.<

Here's my current build in case anyone was wondering. I'm thinking of sacrificing the last few percentages of ranged defense to fit in the Pet +def and +resist uniques in an effort to increase the Tarantula's survivability against heavy AoE bosses such as Pylons and GMs. I'm not entirely sure of whether that would help much though. At most, I could only maintain 42% defense on Phanty and the Tarantula if I did that (~26 from Cold Dom/Manuevers, 10 from pet uniques, and 6% minimum from Agility-boosted Barrier). That might be enough... I don't know. I need more influence and respecs!

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I run fire blast - sw chain on my ill/cold and he has gotten times in the low 1 minute ranges without lore. I have a hard enough time keeping my phantasm alive is a reason I never tested mace.

While I'm kind of considered to be a bit of an expert on Illusion, I have to admit something . . . I don't like "testing." I certainly look at the testing that others do and try to remember the results, but "testing" is not something I especially enjoy doing in a game. My only criteria on whether to play a character, a power or a build is, "Is it fun?"

Ill/Cold is fun. It helps take down tough foes quickly, and can do it both solo and on teams. When I run TFs with my Ill/Cold, we seem down AVs faster than if I played any other AT and powerset combo. That's enough testing for me.

Still, Fire will get you SLIGHTLY more damage than Ice. I just think that Ice fits better themewise and has other utility powers that are more useful than Fire for an Ill/Cold. (I use the Fire APP on both my Ill/Rad and Ill/TA.)