About Ice Rain

[Pwnz]

First off - I have no idea where to put this thread but since there's no class-related subforums this is a viable Choice I guess.

 

I'm just wondering why no Force Master I've ever seen is using Ice Rain. A friend of mine which plays Force Master as well describes it as "just too slow, Blazing Beam is way better and does more damage." It's worth noting that we both aren't Max Lv yet, his Char should be Lv40 or so and my Force Master is Lv38, so we both aren't using our chars to grind endgame instances yet.

 

So far my experiences about Ice Rain: 

- It's amazing when used with Cold Snap. It's kind of a shame Cold Snap only lasts 5 secs and has a CD of 30 secs, but during Cold Snap, Ice Rain does a lot of damage (2,1 - 2,3k Crit and about 800-900 Crit without Cold Snap with my current equipment - no Infernal Bangle yet, sadly). I'm still thinking about how I should use Cold Snap properly, casting it first, then using Ice Rain is easier, but wasted damage since it takes an eternity to cast at the beginning.

- You gain your Focus back during Cold Snap, so casting it permanently is no problem. I've had instance runs when I could cast Ice Rain nonstop until the next Cold Snap. Not sure if it is related to a Summoner or another class. However, gaining Focus back with Ice is no problem - if it crits, you can just use Frost Fury and gain 5 Focus back.

- It's not that great for Low-life targets though (normal monsters and instance trash), Blazing Beam should be way better for them.

 

These arme my thoughts about Ice Rain -and I'm curious what you think about it.

 

Greetings

[Teiji]

Fire beam (with Burn effect) deals higher dps overall.

[Dairy]

Personally I use the path 1-4, Its a lot more spamable and extremely effective in pve dgns, aoe effect as well unlike the beam.

[NightBladeDK]

I use Ice rain w/o cold snap. I just found out what cold snap is and i think it is  not as usefull as putting the points into utility abilities. Trying to use it in any boss fight (solo or not, blackram is a good example) is a task in itself. It would better off with a higher area of effect(8-10m), a lower cooldown(12-14 secs), or a longer effect time(8-10 secs). It would probably be best with a combination of those. Something like: aoe of 8m, a cooldown of 14secs, and a effect time of 8 seconds). This way it would be equally effective in pvp and pve without being needlessly op, atleast still a bit weaker than Blazing beam but overall better for aoe seeing as how fire and forget ice rain is.

 

 

Edit: Ice rain tends decently with Cold snap, thought i still have the above problems, i would prefer that cold snap atleast have a longer time of effect (7 or 8 secs would be nice) or a shorter cooldown(12-14 would be cool). Overall it works well even though it isnt the best option for doing damage to a single enemy. I find that spamming Ice rain on a boss or multiple enemies works best, then right as the first hit lands pop cold snap. I tend to out damage every other class when fighting bosses and i tend to be the best tank too(gotta love sustain based builds).

[FrostyOblivion]

What the hell is Cold Snap and where do I find it? I'm trying to understand this build but no where in the skill book do I see this ability.

[Nayuribe]

17 hours ago, FrostyOblivion said:

What the hell is Cold Snap and where do I find it? I'm trying to understand this build but no where in the skill book do I see this ability.

 

Same here, i dont know wtf cold snap is.... Im just lvl 25 but i cant find that skill in the skill book anyway lol

[Drumbomb]

Cold snap is our z ability after you upgrade it into the furthest right side of the tree. I find ice rain good mostly when I need to solo a boss from a decent range, as staying in ice form is more defensive and you can upgrade frost fury to heal as well. When I was level 38 I managed to solo the tomb of exiles boss (without infernal bangle) just managed my ice block, and c ability to block projectiles. You heal a decent amount with fury as well. If you don't take aggro I find fire better dps though, ice just safer

[Spirits]

Many successful high level Force Masters I have seen use a perpetual ice rain and coldsnap setup for boss fights. Very high sustained damage.

[Kaitonomiyaki]

As an Oceania player I tend to find Ice Rain a bit too fiddly, it might because I'm not using it right or key response delay is making it ineffective but I find Blazing Beam with Burn Status effect really effective against bosses. while it may not have an Area of Effect, other low cooldown Area of Effect skills seem to compensate for it. Although that ultimately comes down to player preferences.  

[mose]

Ice rain is life.

[PhoenixMM]

I think the best way to put dmg is use fire2 first column(not familiar with names).  lr2, isnt it?

using ice rain is kind of slow

so far i barely see fm using ice rain, they use either fire 2 first column, or fire 2 third column. i prefer first column for aoe and higher attacking speed

my char is fm, just my opinion