Post by PoochieHellhound on Feb 1, 2011 16:36:15 GMT -5
As there is no real guide for Glacier, and a lot of question marks are floating around about it, I decided to make an effort and explain the basic pro's and con's about stats, power choices, and advantages to the Glacier Archetype. Note that I have never tanked with this Archetype, but I have used it on other occasions, and just wanted to make a basic guide.
The Glacier runs in Tank Role, which means it trades offense for defense and Threat Generation, making it an effective tank.
Powers
Overview
PowerHouse (Link to this build)
Super Stats:
Level 6: Constitution (Primary)
Level 10: Endurance (Secondary)
Level 15: Ego (Secondary)
Talents:
Level 1: The Glacier
Level 7: Ascetic (CON/EGO)
Level 12: Boundless Reserves (CON/END)
Level 15: Daredevil (END/EGO)
Level 20: Acrobat (CON/DEX)
Level 25: Shooter (DEX/EGO)
Level 30: Accurate (DEX/END)
Powers:
Level 1: Ice Shards
Level 1: Ice Blast (Hard Frost, Crippling Challenge)
Level 6: Ice Cage
Level 8: Invulnerability (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Snow Storm (Rank 2, Eye of the Storm) OR Frost Breath (Frost Bite)
Level 14: Concentration (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 17: Ice Sheath
Level 21: Ice Shield (Rank 2, Frigid Air)
Level 25: Shatter (Crushed Ice, Rank 2 [R2 Only if you chose Frost Breath w/ Frost Bite]) OR [PvP] (Nailed to the Ground, Rank 2 [R2 Only if you chose Frost Breath w/ Frost Bite])
Level 30: Unbreakable (Rank 2)
Level 35: Ice Burst (Freeze, Dirtbag)
Level 40: Avalanche (Rank 2, Rank 3, Challenging Strikes)
Specializations:
Constitution: Unyielding (2/2)
Constitution: Fuel My Fire (3/3)
Constitution: Adrenaline Rush (2/2)
Constitution: Armored (2/2)
Constitution: Tough (1/3)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Locus (2/2)
Guardian: Ruthless (2/2)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Protector: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Protector: Bulwark (2/2)
Protector: Debilitating Challenge (2/2)
Protector: Resolute (3/3)
Mastery: Protector Mastery
Detailed Rundown
Ice Shard: I decided not spending any Advantage Points on this power will be the best, since there are better places to spend the points.
Ice Blast w/ Hard Frost: This will be your bread-and-butter power. I would suggest choosing Crippling Challenge and Hard Frost, since that will help you cause a huge amount of threat by tap-spamming the power. When you get 2 Advantage Points at Level 9, you should get Hard Frost immediately. Ranking up Invulnerability can wait.
Ice Cage: From my experiences in PvP, this power is useful to kill off runners. If someone is going low on health, and you think that he/she will run away soon, you can pop this power and then keep on spamming Ice Blast, which usually ensures a kill if used at the right time. This is even viable against Teleporters if you time it perfectly. If you manage to get an Ice Cage up right before someone pops his/her teleport, he/she will phase out, but still be immobile. He/she will then have to phase in and spam Z to escape the Root. This is when you kill them.
In PvE it can be used to stop mobs that are chasing your teammates on the run.
I wouldn't use Crippling Challenge on this one, but Subzero Cellblock may be useful if you happen to have some spare Adv. Pts. It's not as useful as it sounds, though, and thus I wouldn't recommend it.
Invulnerability: A huge part of your survivability. Rank up when possible.
Now, at 11, you reach your first choice. This is a reference choice. Frost Breath is a great set-up power for Ice Blast and Shatter, thanks to its advantage, which gives it a 100% chance of applying the Chill debuff. Snow Storm, however, can do extremely good damage with the advantage, and stays active when you stop maintaining. The deal breaker for one who want to tank a lot is that Frost Breath has access to the threat building advantage Challenging Strikes, where Snow Storm does not. For this reason, Frost Breath will be more useful if you intend to tank at level 11-39, before you get Avalanche. However, from a solo perspective Snowstorm does the job a lot better.
Concentration: This Form increases your damage every time you hit an enemy from over 25 ft away, half charge a power or hald maintain a power. This can be a bit difficult to maintain, since you will be in melee against melee enemies while tanking, and most of your attacks are most effectinve when charged/maintained for less than half their time (Snow Storm and Avalanche are the exceptions). Therefore, I have chosen Rank 3, so that you have a decent damage buff whenever.
Ice Sheath: This is an Active Offense that also increases your Critical Severity, increases the power of Shatter and chills enemies. After activating it, spam Shatter for the best effect. More damage helps with tanking.
Ice Shield w/ Frigid Air: When you are not dealing damage to gain threat, you should block, especially if you don't have a healer. With the advantage, you will chill enemies at range while blocking, which is also very nice.
Shatter: There are a few uses for this power. Before level 40, and if you did not choose Snow Storm, it will be your main AoE damaging power. However, when you get Avalanche, the use gets restricted to three things: Finishing off Chilled enemies, comboing it with Ice Sheath and Nailed to the Ground, the latter only being useful in PvP.
Unbreakable: This is one of the best "Oh S***" buttons in the game. Basically, it's a damage absorber that refreshes itself every time you're hit. If you have a healer on your back, this will be very useful to then. Even if you don't have a healer, this will be very useful to any DPS in your team, since it gives them even more time to take down your opponents.
Here comes the second choice. Ice Barrier gives you damage resistance, and even better, a plethora of structures to explode. Combined with Ice Sheath, the combo of Ice Barrier and Shatter will do insane damage, even in Tank Role. The only downside to this power is that it sets you Energy to 0 when used.
Ice Burst has a few uses. It can be used to knock opponents away, which is usually unwelcome while tanking, but the advantage turns the knock into a paralyze. This gives it about the same use as Ice Cage, only that it adds direct damage and completely paralyzing the opponent, as opposed to just Rooting it. So, if you'd like to shut the opponent down completely before killing them, or just want to knock 'em away at will, go with Ice Burst.
Finally, on level 40, you get Avalanche. This is a very good power, for both damage and tanking aspects. It does huge damage to anything in its range, and can get Challenging Strikes to get lots of Threat in a short time. Use this a lot against mobs of Henchmen and Villains, and watch them drop.
Stats:
I have added DEX into the Talent spreads because crits on this AT will help a lot.
For Gear, stat for your SuperStats and some REC if you can. Also, you will want a Crit chance Mod on your Primary Offense. It's even better if you can get some Critical Severity from that Primary Offense as well. The best Primary Offense for this build would be [Heroic Gloves of Piercing] with a Gambler's Gem in the Offense slot.
Also, something for everyone to remember is that there are some steep diminishing returns after raising a stat to 200-220 (at Level 40). For this reason, if you have one of your Superstats at 220, additional stats gained through gear or Talents are better spent elsewhere.
Basically, the key to play this Archetype is:
Get the threat building advantages, and take advantage of them.
Don't forget Unbreakable. It may save you in a tricky situation.
Deal lots of damage.
That's all for me this time, feel free to ask questions about the Archetype, I'll be happy to answer them and include the answers in the OP! ;D
EDIT: Here's a rundown of tanking as a Glacier, by an experienced Glacier player:
I have a 40th level Glacier that's a tank for my SG.
what can i do i have my guy so he has like max health and i have alot of recovery
At level 25, keep getting items that add to your Constitution as well as Endurance. Try to get Primary items that can add to your Recovery (like +50 Con and +20 Rec) as well, obviously, but that's a lower priority than Con and End. Also, when leveling you should invest in like +5 Con/+5 Rec and +5 End/+5 Rec.
Reason is, Con and End are your Superstats that add to your damage so that you need less Recovery. I tried once to focus on Recovery, which was less effective.
To get those items easier, check out the Auction House and do searches for all Rare items in Primary and Secondary Utility/Offense/Defense.
However, it's not just about max hit points, it's also about damage resistance. You'll find that, even when others have as high a Con as a Glacier does, the Glacier will do much better because his hit points go down slower. The Glacier has Powers that give self damage resistance, which you should invest in. My recommendations:
Invulnerability - invest in Rank 2 and Rank 3 immediately, gogogo
Unbreakable - this is an Activated Power you'll get soon, when you have points to spare, invest in Rank 2 and Rank 3
I have a lvl 25 glacier and need help makin it a tank
Being a Tank is more than just having max hit points and damage resistance, which is why I separated this issue. You also have to be able to draw Threat, making enemies come to you instead of your teammates. You need some powers to do that, IMHO these are your priorities:
Ice Blast - Crippling Challenge and Hard Frost, this is to draw threat from a single-source, like a boss
Avalanche (you get this at level 40) - Challening Strikes, Rank 2 and Rank 3, this huge area effect attack is to draw threat from a mob
Once you get the above, there's also some icing on the cake powers. Being a Tank means being Team-oriented, so here's some team powers.
Ice Shield - Frigid Air. So assume you drew a mob with your attacks and ran out of energy, so you block while your team attacks. Frigid Air basically makes attacking enemies chill, so even if the mob decides to go after your team, they're really slow.
Ice Burst - Freeze Dirtbag. You got some guys charging your teammates, you need something to freeze the enemy NOW! That's Ice Burst with Freeze Dirtbag. It freezes 1 enemy in place, then everyone around him gets knocked back.
Agility - this Travel power basically lets you move faster around the fight scene to quickly draw threat and to help teammates.
Alright, so you got those abilities, how do you put them together to be a good Tank teammate? I actually wrote something like this for my SG, Umbra Capitulus, a while back. It was designed so that they knew what I was doing to protect them. Remember this was written for an audience of non-Tanks to show how I Tank for THEM:
--- excerpted from Umbra Capitulus website ---
Hi all, teamwork is important. This Team Tips & Tricks post describes how my Glacier Vanguard, Icebreaker, tanks for YOU.
I wrote this because we know how to play our characters, but not our teammates'. This is just sharing for better teamwork.
Phase 1 - Drawing Threat w/ Avalanche (over a mob)
It Looks Like - huge chunks of ice falling on a mob.
It Does - maximum Threat-draw at medium range over a large area. You'll see black skulls appear over the heads of enemies (as shown on the left dummy), which indicates they see me as the primary threat and ignore you.
I'll Do - charge in, drop this over one or multiple mobs. If I see enemies approaching you, I will drop it over them.
I Suggest You - all-out attack AFTER you see the black skulls appear to indicate the enemies are gunning for me. If you see that black skull disappear, consider playing defensively, until I draw their attention back.
Phase 1 Alternative - Drawing Threat w/ Ice Blast (on a single boss)
It Looks Like - a straight shot of ice at one enemy
It Does - maximum Threat-draw at really long range on a single target. You'll see black skulls appear over the heads of enemies (as shown on the hit dummy), which indicates they see me as the primary threat and ignore you.
I'll Do - this repeatedly to keep the guy's attention on me. UNLIKE Avalanche, I'll probably be moving when I use this to draw the boss away from you.
I Suggest You - all-out attack AFTER you see the black skulls appear to indicate the boss is after only me. If you see that black skull disappear, consider playing defensively, until I get his attention again.
Phase 2 - Restock My Energy Builder with Ice Shield
It Looks Like - I'm blocking, a huge Ice Shield appearing.
It Does - re-stock my Energy, actually. This is a trait of the Glacier's role as a Protector, where Energy accumulates fastest by Blocking, NOT attacking. Enemies attacking me with my Ice Shield up may also get Frosted, which slows their movement.
I'll Do - move around, positioning myself, while I keep an eye on you to make sure mobs aren't attacking you.
I Suggest You - keep on attacking, I'll usually only Block once I know just about everyone's Threat is on me.
Phase 3 - Freezing and Knocking Back Mobs with Ice Burst
It Looks Like - 1 enemy trapped in a huge ice crystal while nearby enemies fly backwards (notice the left dummy in mid-air even).
It Does - lock 1 person in place for a few seconds while others get knocked down.
I'll Do - use this if mobs get near you, giving you breathing room. This is like a emergency move.
I Suggest You - assess the situation to either attack or move to a more defensive position.
--- end of excerpt ---
Please note, some of the advice above has a trade-off. You're getting Tank abilities in exchange for PvP ability. Also, some builds, like the Inferno and Soldier AT, draw so much threat themselves it's usually hard to Tank for them, so just keep an eye on those guys.
The Glacier runs in Tank Role, which means it trades offense for defense and Threat Generation, making it an effective tank.
Powers
Overview
PowerHouse (Link to this build)
Super Stats:
Level 6: Constitution (Primary)
Level 10: Endurance (Secondary)
Level 15: Ego (Secondary)
Talents:
Level 1: The Glacier
Level 7: Ascetic (CON/EGO)
Level 12: Boundless Reserves (CON/END)
Level 15: Daredevil (END/EGO)
Level 20: Acrobat (CON/DEX)
Level 25: Shooter (DEX/EGO)
Level 30: Accurate (DEX/END)
Powers:
Level 1: Ice Shards
Level 1: Ice Blast (Hard Frost, Crippling Challenge)
Level 6: Ice Cage
Level 8: Invulnerability (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Snow Storm (Rank 2, Eye of the Storm) OR Frost Breath (Frost Bite)
Level 14: Concentration (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 17: Ice Sheath
Level 21: Ice Shield (Rank 2, Frigid Air)
Level 25: Shatter (Crushed Ice, Rank 2 [R2 Only if you chose Frost Breath w/ Frost Bite]) OR [PvP] (Nailed to the Ground, Rank 2 [R2 Only if you chose Frost Breath w/ Frost Bite])
Level 30: Unbreakable (Rank 2)
Level 35: Ice Burst (Freeze, Dirtbag)
Level 40: Avalanche (Rank 2, Rank 3, Challenging Strikes)
Specializations:
Constitution: Unyielding (2/2)
Constitution: Fuel My Fire (3/3)
Constitution: Adrenaline Rush (2/2)
Constitution: Armored (2/2)
Constitution: Tough (1/3)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Locus (2/2)
Guardian: Ruthless (2/2)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Protector: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Protector: Bulwark (2/2)
Protector: Debilitating Challenge (2/2)
Protector: Resolute (3/3)
Mastery: Protector Mastery
Detailed Rundown
Ice Shard: I decided not spending any Advantage Points on this power will be the best, since there are better places to spend the points.
Ice Blast w/ Hard Frost: This will be your bread-and-butter power. I would suggest choosing Crippling Challenge and Hard Frost, since that will help you cause a huge amount of threat by tap-spamming the power. When you get 2 Advantage Points at Level 9, you should get Hard Frost immediately. Ranking up Invulnerability can wait.
Ice Cage: From my experiences in PvP, this power is useful to kill off runners. If someone is going low on health, and you think that he/she will run away soon, you can pop this power and then keep on spamming Ice Blast, which usually ensures a kill if used at the right time. This is even viable against Teleporters if you time it perfectly. If you manage to get an Ice Cage up right before someone pops his/her teleport, he/she will phase out, but still be immobile. He/she will then have to phase in and spam Z to escape the Root. This is when you kill them.
In PvE it can be used to stop mobs that are chasing your teammates on the run.
I wouldn't use Crippling Challenge on this one, but Subzero Cellblock may be useful if you happen to have some spare Adv. Pts. It's not as useful as it sounds, though, and thus I wouldn't recommend it.
Invulnerability: A huge part of your survivability. Rank up when possible.
Now, at 11, you reach your first choice. This is a reference choice. Frost Breath is a great set-up power for Ice Blast and Shatter, thanks to its advantage, which gives it a 100% chance of applying the Chill debuff. Snow Storm, however, can do extremely good damage with the advantage, and stays active when you stop maintaining. The deal breaker for one who want to tank a lot is that Frost Breath has access to the threat building advantage Challenging Strikes, where Snow Storm does not. For this reason, Frost Breath will be more useful if you intend to tank at level 11-39, before you get Avalanche. However, from a solo perspective Snowstorm does the job a lot better.
Concentration: This Form increases your damage every time you hit an enemy from over 25 ft away, half charge a power or hald maintain a power. This can be a bit difficult to maintain, since you will be in melee against melee enemies while tanking, and most of your attacks are most effectinve when charged/maintained for less than half their time (Snow Storm and Avalanche are the exceptions). Therefore, I have chosen Rank 3, so that you have a decent damage buff whenever.
Ice Sheath: This is an Active Offense that also increases your Critical Severity, increases the power of Shatter and chills enemies. After activating it, spam Shatter for the best effect. More damage helps with tanking.
Ice Shield w/ Frigid Air: When you are not dealing damage to gain threat, you should block, especially if you don't have a healer. With the advantage, you will chill enemies at range while blocking, which is also very nice.
Shatter: There are a few uses for this power. Before level 40, and if you did not choose Snow Storm, it will be your main AoE damaging power. However, when you get Avalanche, the use gets restricted to three things: Finishing off Chilled enemies, comboing it with Ice Sheath and Nailed to the Ground, the latter only being useful in PvP.
Unbreakable: This is one of the best "Oh S***" buttons in the game. Basically, it's a damage absorber that refreshes itself every time you're hit. If you have a healer on your back, this will be very useful to then. Even if you don't have a healer, this will be very useful to any DPS in your team, since it gives them even more time to take down your opponents.
Here comes the second choice. Ice Barrier gives you damage resistance, and even better, a plethora of structures to explode. Combined with Ice Sheath, the combo of Ice Barrier and Shatter will do insane damage, even in Tank Role. The only downside to this power is that it sets you Energy to 0 when used.
Ice Burst has a few uses. It can be used to knock opponents away, which is usually unwelcome while tanking, but the advantage turns the knock into a paralyze. This gives it about the same use as Ice Cage, only that it adds direct damage and completely paralyzing the opponent, as opposed to just Rooting it. So, if you'd like to shut the opponent down completely before killing them, or just want to knock 'em away at will, go with Ice Burst.
Finally, on level 40, you get Avalanche. This is a very good power, for both damage and tanking aspects. It does huge damage to anything in its range, and can get Challenging Strikes to get lots of Threat in a short time. Use this a lot against mobs of Henchmen and Villains, and watch them drop.
Stats:
I have added DEX into the Talent spreads because crits on this AT will help a lot.
For Gear, stat for your SuperStats and some REC if you can. Also, you will want a Crit chance Mod on your Primary Offense. It's even better if you can get some Critical Severity from that Primary Offense as well. The best Primary Offense for this build would be [Heroic Gloves of Piercing] with a Gambler's Gem in the Offense slot.
Also, something for everyone to remember is that there are some steep diminishing returns after raising a stat to 200-220 (at Level 40). For this reason, if you have one of your Superstats at 220, additional stats gained through gear or Talents are better spent elsewhere.
Basically, the key to play this Archetype is:
Get the threat building advantages, and take advantage of them.
Don't forget Unbreakable. It may save you in a tricky situation.
Deal lots of damage.
That's all for me this time, feel free to ask questions about the Archetype, I'll be happy to answer them and include the answers in the OP! ;D
EDIT: Here's a rundown of tanking as a Glacier, by an experienced Glacier player:
At level 25, keep getting items that add to your Constitution as well as Endurance. Try to get Primary items that can add to your Recovery (like +50 Con and +20 Rec) as well, obviously, but that's a lower priority than Con and End. Also, when leveling you should invest in like +5 Con/+5 Rec and +5 End/+5 Rec.
Reason is, Con and End are your Superstats that add to your damage so that you need less Recovery. I tried once to focus on Recovery, which was less effective.
To get those items easier, check out the Auction House and do searches for all Rare items in Primary and Secondary Utility/Offense/Defense.
However, it's not just about max hit points, it's also about damage resistance. You'll find that, even when others have as high a Con as a Glacier does, the Glacier will do much better because his hit points go down slower. The Glacier has Powers that give self damage resistance, which you should invest in. My recommendations:
Invulnerability - invest in Rank 2 and Rank 3 immediately, gogogo
Unbreakable - this is an Activated Power you'll get soon, when you have points to spare, invest in Rank 2 and Rank 3
Being a Tank is more than just having max hit points and damage resistance, which is why I separated this issue. You also have to be able to draw Threat, making enemies come to you instead of your teammates. You need some powers to do that, IMHO these are your priorities:
Ice Blast - Crippling Challenge and Hard Frost, this is to draw threat from a single-source, like a boss
Avalanche (you get this at level 40) - Challening Strikes, Rank 2 and Rank 3, this huge area effect attack is to draw threat from a mob
Once you get the above, there's also some icing on the cake powers. Being a Tank means being Team-oriented, so here's some team powers.
Ice Shield - Frigid Air. So assume you drew a mob with your attacks and ran out of energy, so you block while your team attacks. Frigid Air basically makes attacking enemies chill, so even if the mob decides to go after your team, they're really slow.
Ice Burst - Freeze Dirtbag. You got some guys charging your teammates, you need something to freeze the enemy NOW! That's Ice Burst with Freeze Dirtbag. It freezes 1 enemy in place, then everyone around him gets knocked back.
Agility - this Travel power basically lets you move faster around the fight scene to quickly draw threat and to help teammates.
Alright, so you got those abilities, how do you put them together to be a good Tank teammate? I actually wrote something like this for my SG, Umbra Capitulus, a while back. It was designed so that they knew what I was doing to protect them. Remember this was written for an audience of non-Tanks to show how I Tank for THEM:
--- excerpted from Umbra Capitulus website ---
Hi all, teamwork is important. This Team Tips & Tricks post describes how my Glacier Vanguard, Icebreaker, tanks for YOU.
I wrote this because we know how to play our characters, but not our teammates'. This is just sharing for better teamwork.
Phase 1 - Drawing Threat w/ Avalanche (over a mob)
It Looks Like - huge chunks of ice falling on a mob.
It Does - maximum Threat-draw at medium range over a large area. You'll see black skulls appear over the heads of enemies (as shown on the left dummy), which indicates they see me as the primary threat and ignore you.
I'll Do - charge in, drop this over one or multiple mobs. If I see enemies approaching you, I will drop it over them.
I Suggest You - all-out attack AFTER you see the black skulls appear to indicate the enemies are gunning for me. If you see that black skull disappear, consider playing defensively, until I draw their attention back.
Phase 1 Alternative - Drawing Threat w/ Ice Blast (on a single boss)
It Looks Like - a straight shot of ice at one enemy
It Does - maximum Threat-draw at really long range on a single target. You'll see black skulls appear over the heads of enemies (as shown on the hit dummy), which indicates they see me as the primary threat and ignore you.
I'll Do - this repeatedly to keep the guy's attention on me. UNLIKE Avalanche, I'll probably be moving when I use this to draw the boss away from you.
I Suggest You - all-out attack AFTER you see the black skulls appear to indicate the boss is after only me. If you see that black skull disappear, consider playing defensively, until I get his attention again.
Phase 2 - Restock My Energy Builder with Ice Shield
It Looks Like - I'm blocking, a huge Ice Shield appearing.
It Does - re-stock my Energy, actually. This is a trait of the Glacier's role as a Protector, where Energy accumulates fastest by Blocking, NOT attacking. Enemies attacking me with my Ice Shield up may also get Frosted, which slows their movement.
I'll Do - move around, positioning myself, while I keep an eye on you to make sure mobs aren't attacking you.
I Suggest You - keep on attacking, I'll usually only Block once I know just about everyone's Threat is on me.
Phase 3 - Freezing and Knocking Back Mobs with Ice Burst
It Looks Like - 1 enemy trapped in a huge ice crystal while nearby enemies fly backwards (notice the left dummy in mid-air even).
It Does - lock 1 person in place for a few seconds while others get knocked down.
I'll Do - use this if mobs get near you, giving you breathing room. This is like a emergency move.
I Suggest You - assess the situation to either attack or move to a more defensive position.
--- end of excerpt ---
Please note, some of the advice above has a trade-off. You're getting Tank abilities in exchange for PvP ability. Also, some builds, like the Inferno and Soldier AT, draw so much threat themselves it's usually hard to Tank for them, so just keep an eye on those guys.
