Ice Tanking in t10e raids

Discussion in 'War Room (Powers, Artifacts, & Builds)' started by Tangent Line, Mar 11, 2020.

  1. Tangent Line Level 30

    I need help. I have always mained tanking and love it. I have the most experience (gameplay time) with rage, ice, earth, fire, atomic. I have switched to Ice before trying to tank DMe and PCe with little success. The adds in DMe are just eating away at my shields. I realize we have moved to a trend of kite style tanking. Which is ok.. but I need advice. I am currently earth and absolutely am having a blast with the aftershock l/o in elites and other content, but my heart lies with ice. Any advice?

    Am I not rotating the shields right?

    My tank is 289/ 432 sp 160+ Mystic, EoG, and Manacles. 257 augments and 23 head augs. I run straight purples, with a hybrid spec with similiar spec for both earth and ice. 10/10 crit heals 255 in dom, 100 something in health.

    Ice: Inescapable storm, resonating gale, reflect, winter ward, hard light shield, dash attack.

    Any advice? Thanks.

    - Crispy Oreo
    • Like x 1
  2. DeitySupreme Steadfast Player

    I haven’t yanked the elite raids as ice yet so take my advice with a grain of salt.

    How much did you spec in resto? As and ice tank you want your shields to be as strong as possible. This means that resto should not be forgotten. IE

    With 432 sp I’m assuming
    5 point in movement (dash attack)
    1 point in weapon
    3 in iconic (Lasso, HLS, Amazonian deflection)
    10/10 crit innates
    255 Dom
    100 resto
    48 health

    If you are putting points into your weapon for specific combos than take those out of your health.

    If your health is getting hit than you are dead regardless so beefing your your shields should be your main priority.

    As for your shield rotation, what are you doing. I personally do WW > reflect > HLS > reflect > repeat.

    Between each shield cast I will use my utility items to either help cc or shield up between cast. Speaking of utility slots what are you using?

    Also adding another shield in place of gale might not be a bad idea. You can do either shatter restraint in fights were getting stunned could get you killed like PCe. Or using Amazonian could be a great Emergancy shield.
    • Like x 3
  3. Tangent Line Level 30

    Hey! I really appreciate your help!

    I couldn't tell you the rotation because I don't remember BUT I want to say it was:
    InE Storm clip into Reflect, the WW, then Reflect and then something else... yeah I was all wrong..

    I was specing into resto but only like 50 points and the rest into health. Should I spec more into resto?

    Utility was damp fields, graviton emitters (Quantum stun, orbital, breakout trinket.
    • Like x 1
  4. Psyfur Well-Known Player

    Diety is spot on with how you should spec. Since you have EofG at 160, you can take advantage of that more with the following shield rotation:
    WW > Hard Light Shield > WW > Dash Attack > repeat
    Use extended supercharge chest mod and supercharged Dash Attack head mod.
    Hold block after you hit Dash Attack so you won’t dash out of the green circle.
    • Like x 1
  5. DeitySupreme Steadfast Player

    Yes I would personally flip health and resto. Yes you aren’t healing but shields get calculated with resto too.

    And for utility I also use Personal damps and the emitters too. However for last 2 slots I will use sidekick (since it can help pop a shield too) and Ms boo or boo jr I can’t remember the exact one of the top of my head since it also pops a shield. The shields aren’t strong at all but I also like them since they are another body and I sometimes use them to help pin a target lol.

    I do want to toy around with other consumables but I haven’t gotten around to testing them.
    • Like x 1
  6. Brav Well-Known Player


    Hello Tangent,

    It seems you have the standard load and spec most ice tanks may run with. It then comes down to execution of your rotation and reaction to your current situation. (Stat spec is a small portion of success, most stats will come from the gear, etc. Health, Dom/Resto spec or a mix of each can work and is just as viable).

    Shield Rotation is key and avoiding some damage with crowd control, counters and dodge (roll, lunge). Abiding by the mechanics for each encounter of course is another big factor. You definitely want your shields to last as long as possible.

    (Key Note: Tank shields do not stack but a tank shield and a healer shield does. Hard Light shield is a healer shield and the movement shield is another (supercharge) type of shield. Both can stack with tank shields if needed. Now don't stack them right away or at all if it's not needed. Use that knowledge and capability to your advantage).

    If an unavoidable big hit is incoming or you are taking a lot of damage that is breaking your shields sooner even while rotating crowd control abilities (Gale, Emitters, etc) for adds and counters (Block Break, Melee Block, Range Lunge) for bosses, then at certain points in your shield rotation/cool down you can rotate in a non tank shield to close the gap/down time some. (Usually at or a little after the half mark is okay for using either of those 2 shields as a stack with your tank shield to cover the remaining mitigation and close the gap some).

    For your tank shields, try to make them last as long as possible. Only refresh another tank shield if needed at or a little after the third quarter mark, unless it breaks sooner of course then pop another shield right away.

    (Tip: Using a weapon to help with some crowd control can be useful as well. Usually a power and consumable for cc is enough though. But a quick combo or cross combo with a nice crowd control ability can go a long way and be just as viable if not better).

    For certain encounters that have little to no adds, you can swap out your cc ability for another mitigation ability (Shatter, Phase, Deflection, etc). Any ability that you may prefer for your current situation that can be used as a quick emergency in your rotation to help close the gap/cool down some, until you can use your next ability and continue your rotation.

    (Side Note: Position strategy is another factor. You don't necessarily have to kite everything. Mid range tanking or semi circle kiting can be just as viable. Using your casters watch circle as a distance reference for that method can be helpful).

    Just remember rotation management, crowd control, dodge and counters if possible, will give you more up time on your shields/mitigation abilities.

    Hopefully this was helpful to you and anyone else. If you have anymore questions please feel free to ask. Good luck and have fun.

    Sincerely: Brav
    • Like x 4
  7. TheLastSuperman Well-Known Player

    Dampners are fine but emitters are the best imho. While they do differ, there are only so many slots we have available, so I skip the dampners and instead have the tank trinket for health in a utility belt slot which grants extra health in a pinch. I do like the dampner cooldown time though.

    I choose chronometric emitters because with the right spec into dominance, those things will freeze fire, lliterally a group of adds chunking away at your health just freeze, this also keeps them from jumping to or heading off towards teammates... it also allows them to target the adds with AoE powers. Stun the adds, keep beating in the bosses face or get ready to block when the skull comes up... with adds frozen you're no longer taking Boss Dmg from Big Hit + Add Dmg, less dmg is always preferred.

    An add can start to do a larger move, or something that would interrupt you or more importantly a group member (prime example, the healer or troller being targeted by an add and having to deal with that instead of being able to focus on their job) and you can interrupt this with a chronometric emitter quicker than you can trying to weapon hit to stun - not only that but some moves once an add is in certain animation can't be interrupted with any other power or weapon BUT you can pop that emitter and they stun just fine even at the start of or during mid-animation and their move just ends instantly. I just love emitters with the right dom, hands down. *Also currently they do work on all lower type bosses, you can see upwards of 13,000k+ dmg / Pop it on a group of adds for added dmg on the area of effect, usually ranges from 3k-9k dmg per add.

    Soon as you pull all the adds, pop an emitter, focus on boss(es), rinse and repeat. If a team mate if mind controlled, don't target them... emitter them every chance you get and they won't be an issue = Lunge+Emitter teammate, Lung back to boss+clip with shield soon as you hit the boss.
    • Like x 1
  8. DeitySupreme Steadfast Player

    Agreed that emitters are the best option. I just like the damps purely for that little bit of extra damage ignored. It’s not a lot but still something that can fit in between other shields when needed.

    Also I have been toying around with other consumables too. What do you think about the ice consumable that slows targets? Haven’t tried it yet since I haven’t been on much. But I do remember liking the effect when ice used to have that effect lol.
    • Like x 1
  9. TheLastSuperman Well-Known Player

    I revised my post with a little more info on lunging mind-controlled teammates with emitter then back to boss.
  10. TheLastSuperman Well-Known Player

    Well not only that but I use them as DPS too and you'd be surprised to find that usually all dlc below the current you can freeze adds as dps w/ emitters. Even on the current content as a dps I can freeze some adds so they're helpful all around imho.

    Edit: I don't mess with the ice related consumables, only for the simple matter that my current loadout including favorite consumables doesn't allow for their use. I could swap out a trinket and use them but then we get into cooldown times with other consumables. I'm sure others may have some good feedback on those though. Ohh and I'd like to add that I instantly clip emitters with a power, time is of the essence when using consumables that also display animation/take time to do.
    • Like x 1
  11. TheLastSuperman Well-Known Player

    This is great advice ^ @all. Read it, soak it up, incorporate what you need from this into your current play style.
    • Like x 2
  12. Jay Smeezy Dedicated Player

    This is what the community should be like 100% of the time! Not English natzis and jerks trying to bring players down! Good job guys!
    • Like x 2
  13. Chia Death Well-Known Player

    *****, not natzis.

    Edit: Oh, they censor it. Was probably going to be misinterpreted as me being serious anyway.
  14. theAverageGuy Well-Known Player

    Good advices.

    Going phillosphical a bit, things like chrome emitters are practical, but they're really a crutch, because you have to go outside your power for what I'd consider is fundamental. The ice shields have a tough time handling on grouped adds in elite. The numbers becomes too much so you're left with stuns or kite.

    In your first post, you mentioned your're using mystic of seven, so you're trying on your part.

    There's a bit stigma to it too, especially if raid mates don't know limitation of ice vs other tank powers. It's one thing to die from a mechanic or a big boss, (whatevs), it's another when dying from adds.

    Dash attack 25% SC shield, luxury that flight and acro ice tanks don't have. Hibernation is there just rotting on the tree. Venting a little.

    Happy gaming, best of luck.
  15. Black Jaq Devoted Player


    Perfect Poise is every bit of good as Dash Attack, doesn't shoot you across the map, and stuns adds. Also, Dash Attack doesn't work in a place where movement mode is prohibited, like Shattered Gotham.
  16. theAverageGuy Well-Known Player

    Thought perfect poise cost more, but it is 25%, so viable if digging into movement tree. As far as the knock on dash attack, it's trivial. Can block cancel it from running too far. Half of population is flight, then a quarter each for acro and speedster.

    The main point is that the tank SC in the powerset underperforms. Players rather go with a 25% SC (cheap) that can proc the EoG artifact.
  17. spack2k Steadfast Player

    The tanking community is the best community, its just very small.
    • Like x 1
  18. DeitySupreme Steadfast Player

    I personally don’t understand why some people are so against using abilities/consumables outside the power. Tanks already have the hardest jobs (except healers who are tasked with keeping dps alive who want to melee every boss in elite), so I think it’s ok to use everything including the kitchen sink to not die
    • Like x 2
  19. TheLastSuperman Well-Known Player

    We have two jobs, making sure we don't die and watching out for everyone else (pull the add hitting the healer etc).

    I think perhaps AvgGuy meant overuse of consumables? 1 consumable in a slot where a power can't be placed is just another option we have. I won't change my stance on chronometric emitters though, sure it's a consumable but if you can stun 6/10+ adds at once to make their movements and damage on your teammates stop AND you can then focus on the boss during those few seconds it just makes sense. Why would a tank choose to not stun adds whenever given a chance?

    • (Elite Content - Full Tank is a Must)
      Full Beefcake Tank (Heath / Dom / Resto OR Health/Dom)
      = Pull+Stun+Done!
    • (Safe to use Alert+Duo, okay for Reg Raids but some bosses may need to switch to Beefcake ^ Armory)
      Hybrid Tank aka Battle Tank (Not much spec'd into Health or Dom, instead spec'd more like a DPS)
      = No pull SWAP OUT to Stun+Big Hit Power
      -- Example Frost Blast as Ice, normally there is no time to do this before interrupt but if you chrono emitter the adds, then immediately clip w/ Frost Blast the adds are stunned and your Frost Blast has enough time to execute dealing upwards of 75-80% dmg on the Adds. Hybrid tanks shouldn't have a pull, your artifacts and augments should also differ. *Also please note there are variations on Hybrid Tank Loadouts, some even run all DPS gear and loadouts but simply switch to tank stance where others may mix+match in a sense. Typically hybrid tanks don't use a pull but w/ the right artifact you may wish to use this variation of hybrid.
    *Try switching your loadout up when using chrono emitters, you might be able to use a bigger move that is normally interrupted if you freeze the adds first using emitters!

    Consumables help, just don't overdo it AND use them wisely, like my tip above on freezing adds then using your bigger hitting, longer animation move.
    • Like x 1
  20. Erin Arror Dedicated Player

    Beside emitters, do players use other consumables or moves for stuns?