A Chilly Guide to Everything Ice

Well I'm acro so no DD, I'd only use freeze ray I'm prime maybe where there single target but if blizzard is better the V-bubble I use blizzard. I know all about that neck my tank has it and if I'm lucky my dps has it too lol. I don't see you using frost snipe or impaling ice and isn't RG only good or better for 3-4 adds? And I do like that damage from frost blast but hate being interrupted so much.

With 2200ish might atm I hit for about 900 with res gale on a single target. This is ice armor and ice bash up so it could be the IB damage or the RG damage and definetly the IB is helping boost the RG damage BUT I don't worry about using RG on just 1 target b/c it still gives the 50% damage buff and still gives the icy field (from range if needed) on all npc with the exception of some T5 bosses. So I keep it in b/c yea for groups its amazing but it still has a very good single target value as well imo. Tested V-Bubble and Blizzard and found Blizzard to be better. But as I encourage with anything you read on the forums TEST TEST TEST it yourself and see which fits your style better.

Since your acro (I used to be acro as well and would highly suggest going to flight just for sheer ease of use) I'd sub in frostblast or even robot drone. I use robot drone w/ my healer and it can do sick damage (in healer role mind you!) and is fairly tough, although I wouldn't suggest it for T5 raids. Frostblast is a power I'm personally still experimenting with due to the massive damage and 60%buff. TONS of potential with this power i've yet to untap i'll admit (home turf mods, utilizing the buff properly, etc). I went with DD simply b/c it's a consistant 800-1200 damage, quick cooldown, non interruptable, usable from any range, clippable, quick cast DoT that can hit multiple adds and that has a variety of uses where as FB has to have everything set up perfect in order to reach its potential. Even if I only use DD on a single target I still get 1000ish damage over 5-6 seconds where I can still be using my weapon/other powers to create more damage that can surpass frost blast where I'm stagnant for 3 seconds. But if your determined to be acro then I'd probably roll with FB and just be smart about picking my spots to use it.

With my staff melee loadout I have a constant 3 DOT going hitting for about 4-500 per second on top of weapon damage being clipped with RG and Reflect that's all been buffed by IB....... And guess what........ It works! Like I said I LOVE ice b/c of the amazing balance of DOT/Burst, Range/Melee, single target/aoe variety we have.

Edit: some grammatical errors I know but it's late and i've had a long week.

....... something else you may want to try if you're going to stay as acro is to put Inescapable Storm in your loadout in place of DD. It has a decent aoe, range, and hits harder than expected with a quick cool down. It would be great for those mobs when you dont have time to get off a FB (which in my experience is often). Also it doesn't need to be set up with chill effects to be AoE like snowball does. Also it almost rotates perfectly with RG while each other are on cooldown for those times you want to spam power on mobs from a safe range.

It's interesting to see the different approach your taking the jeebie, I will have to try it out. I am staying Acro because eventually I'm going back to HL. So let me get this loadout straight, WT,IB,RG,Reflect,Blizzard and IS over FB. I know you can spam IS without being interrupted which is easily something to consider when deciding between the 2. And lastly you don't use impaling ice? Oh and are you using the same loadout for range?

God why can't this be as easy as tanking lol

No, I don't use impaling ice. I currently at 747 precision hit very consistently around 4k with staff's focused spin. This is with ice bash active (IB should ALWAYS be active) and a 50% modifier from either RG or ice armor. Impaling Ice has to have one of those "OH SH*T" crits in order to beat this. The only down side is that it's a single target move. I haven't been fortunate enough to get 2 handed weapon over 113 so I'm not sure on the exact numbers from it, but prior experience with it tells me that it's charged range attack would likely have similar damage to the focused spin only it hits multiple adds. The same can be said about dual wield's ranged charged attack.

In my opinion the game has been split into two factions now that Origin Crisis has been released: T5 Raids and Everything Else. For the Everything Else category I wouldn't even bother running a ranged loadout b/c the healers and dps gear is now so overpowered for what we're running there's no need to give up the extra damage for a tad bit more safety. If you're intent on running ranged anyways though I'd run my loadout as WT,IB,RG,FB, Blizzard, Robot Sidekick. Clip WT w/ IB then hit RG followed by FB (gotta be quick here) AS SOON as FB ends begin a charged attack from DW or 2 Handed then hit FB IMMEDIATELY after the charged attack ends. Rinse and repeat. Doing this I'd have the Enduring Damage tac mod of course so that I could keep the 60% mod going indefinitely. This will establish 2 AOE hits with 2 DoTs followed by a 50% buffed FB followed by a 60% buffed charged weapon attack that's AOE and has a buff from IB on it followed by a 2nd FB before starting the now 60% buffed combo all over. Oh yea and Robot Sidekick is doing damage the whole time. You need to realize though that running ranged loadouts in lower tiered raids will get you beat by less geared players that choose to melee. I haven't run any T5 raids yet but will be getting around to it in the next week or so after I get my 5th piece of T5 gear. I plan to use the same loadout I listed but will swap Robot Sidekick for reflect. Reflect is a great power to have when wanting to be left alone at range b/c if you're pulled to a boss or they teleport to you all you have to do is to hit reflect and roll away. It gives you a second to not take damage and give your healer time to cast a heal while also leaving the boss with a quick 3 ticks of damage.

Coming from HL and being full T5 presicion of course, my stats are 2200+ might and 1200+ presicion, I'm not planing to change to might base but I do still hit pretty hard. Your loadout is pretty nice been running it all day now, I'm using IS over FB in melee do to interrupts and T5, eclipso and tala are the only places to use range now which is why I asked, fb great in T5 if your not being pulled or knocked down, I was using it the other day but now ill throw in RG also for more damage. Thanks for the insight.

Glad to help! Any other questions feel free to ask or if you discover something PLEASE POST IT so I can use it lol.

How is the ice boulder throw? I have read it does some sick damage, but also have read that it is garbage.
Anyone have a knowledgeable statement for it?

You'll find your answer in here https://forums.station.sony.com/dcuo/index.php?threads/ice-dps-pve-guide.162452/#post-1868224 It also list a single target loadout for Nexus but i've yet to try it out yet so I cant comment.

From personal experience, I can get off 800-3k damage on multiple targets, only thing is you have to find a clear pathway to throw and land on a target, or else damage may not go through. As long as it hits on it'll hit the others hard because they're in close proximity. as an aoe its even more effective then res gale, and less power consumed during the process.

Just thought I'd post some tank loadouts I like to use and the thoughts behind them:

Traditional Tank - Reflect, WW, IS, BW, SR, Hard Light Shield (Iconics)/Ice Elemental
Crowd Control Tank - WT, BW, IS, RG, Reflect, Movement skill tree power: DD for flight or Throwing Knives for acro (dont play SS sorry)
Damage Tank - WT, IB, IS, Reflect, BW, Blizzard/RG/DD(flight)
Balanced Tank - BW, IB, IS, Reflect, Ice Elemental, WT/RG/SR/WW/DD(flight)

Traditional Tank - Prevents as much damage as possible. I prefer using Ice Elemental in place of Hard Light Shield so that I have an "Oh #$%&" ability to get me out of bad situations or one in which I have no power but this is purely preference. Great loadout of PVP. Crowd Control Tank - This loadout is great for controling adds as every power except for reflect is a CC power. With this loadout you can easily keep adds on the ground or juggled. If an add is being juggled, grounded, or knocked down it is not attacking. This is another way we as tanks can help mitigate damage to the group. The weakness of this loadout is that it is pretty useless against bosses in a lot of content as they cant be CCed. Damage Tank - Basically my goal here is to get all the adds as close to me as possible then: hit BW clipped w/ IB to give a shield and weapon buff, weapon combo clipped with WT (for a 2nd DoT), RG/DD (for damage and 3rd DoT; yea RGs icy field DoT is small in tank mode but every little bit counts), use IS to group up enemies and weapon combo until BW is off cooldown. Balanced Tank - This is the loadout I run pretty much all the time when tanking. I get shields from BW and Reflect. I get DoTs from BW and WT. I get crowd control from BW, WT, IS. I get a weapon buff from IB. I have Ice Elemental for times when I pull too much agro or am out of power. I start fights with a lunge and BW clipped with IB, weapon combo until the adds get up then hit WT, hit until the adds get up then roll to the side and pull them with IS and weapon combo. I RARELY use reflect. I save it for picking up people or for when my health starts dropping fast. Ice Elemental is great b/c if you have no power you can still pull agro, you cant really die when it's active, and it boost your dominance. I use Ice Elemental when I see a potential wipe coming and need to make sure that doesn't happen ex.) pulling to many adds in gotham or metro in the T5 alerts, entering the theatre in Family, Eclipso fight when he summons the adds, Tala fight when hellwisp are summoned, boss fights, or any time when things just start to go bad: just hit this power and use IS to pull all the adds to you. I have my innates set for DPSing with some SPs in dominace for when I want to tank. I almost always do more damage than any other non DPS in the raid/alert using this loadout all while maintaining agro and CCing the enemies. Hope this gave someone some ideas! Also for Ice Elemental I always throw WT, BW, IS, IB, RG, and Reflect on this loadout. This allows me to do good CC to mobs when in this form or decent single target damage while maintaining agro on a boss. Save Reflect for when you're transitioning out of Ice Elemental form.

Not Sure About PC But Ice Elemental Is Horrible On Ps3. Takes Forever And A Day To Form Change And When You Come Out You Have No Tank Buff and Can't Do Anything About It While You're Changing.

just for fun, in t5 family, I have aggro all mobs, spider, robot, drône on the place and I survive with the team...I think I have easy 50mobs on me, just cast reflect and bw, no need ice emental...

But when I go to Nexus with some pick-up I take Ice Emental, sometimes with a bad group, we can beat the boss...

Hi, im a cr 55, pvp 82 ice tank. i was wondering if it was worth replacing blizzard with ice elemental and winter ward with reflection. this change will allow me to have an extra 3 power points which can be better used in the innate iconic powers.
my current loadout is: ice bash, bitter winds, cold snap, winter ward, wintry tempest, blizzard
i've heard alot of bad things about ice elemental in the past but alot of changes has been made since. so what do you guys think?

Reflection is an Ice tanks best move period. If you've got IB then i'd spend the extra power point on reflection and replace cold snap with reflection. Also when you get you CR to 70 where you can get home turf mods you can get one that will give you back health when you cast reflect. Ice elemental is a move I like to have when tanking. It comes in handy when you know your about to be in a tight spot. Cast it and you pretty much cant die. Since you said you're a tank i'd switch my SC from blizzard to ice elemental. This will still give you 2 power points to use in the innate and 2 of the best (if not the best) "OH #$%&" moves in the game. This will give you an imo GREAT balanced tank loadout of: IB,BW,REF,WW,WT,Ice Elemental. Thats 3 shields (4 if you count ice elemental), 2 CC moves BW and WT, a group immunity, a weapon buff, and 2 DoTs. Pretty solid loadout if you ask me! Of course I'm assuming you realize you dont have Inescapable Storm....... While i've heard of people running without it or subbing it in a certain times I personally have to have it on me at all times, even on lower tiered stuff.

Ahh i see. Thanks for the help!
Yes i deliberately took Inescapable Storm off my loadout since most of the time I've got agro of both boss and adds, so there's no need to pull anything in. Kinda realised that most of the time i only use my powers to make shields, and the bulk of my damage comes from melee. So I'm leaning more towards a precision build than might (in terms of offensive capabilities), hence explaining why i replaced IS with IB.

This guide would benefit from a list of cast and recharge times for each power.

http://dcuniverseonline.wikia.com/wiki/Ice

Ice Tanks not using IS............ that is the reason that I can't play DPS or with my other toons......
Seriously, that is also a reason why tanks get a bad rep in this game, another reason that some groups just refuse to include us in runs. An Ice Tank not using IS doesn't fully understand what a tank's primary job is.
Now that I bashed a little, allow me to explain some:
IS is the best pull move available in the game and is the cheapest (power wise) move an Ice toon can have. As a tank our primary job is to get and maintain aggro. In accomplishing that job, it is best for the group that we A. use as little power as possible, and B. gather adds up as quick as possible. IS is the only move that accomplishes both these. As a "bonus" feature, IS can also be used on bosses to gain and renew aggro.
A couple examples, for those that still don't understand:
In Prime while fighting sub-avatars, I tank the avatar while pulling all the adds to me. Doing this allows for a quicker burn of the adds and boss while keeping the adds off of my teammates.
In Nexus, the 3rd room, a pull is necessary to pull the bot near the Batman.
In Wave a pull is necessary to gather the adds to keep away from the group.
I can keep going on and on with examples, but please do the community a favor, if you are a tank use a pull move. If you are an Ice Tank use IS.

Oh, i thought using Wintry Tempest when jumping into a group of enemies was enough to keep agro on me. i'll substitute IS for IB in pve