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A question for Ice Wizards re: Ice Armor

AuthorMessage
Astrologist
Jun 04, 2010
1008
So, I have a question for my fellow Ice wizards. By the time you reach Dragonspyre... Do any of you still use ice armor? If so, I'm curious as to what situation you find it useful in. Because it is our only rank X spell (aside from mega taunt and distract which only alter monster behavior), I would very much like to find a use for it. However, there are three main issues which limit its usefulness:

1. It cannot be boosted in any way (Gear resist values do not apply either).
2. It can only be cast on yourself.
3. It can easily be swept aside with earthquake or pierce.

I definitely found use for it during earlier parts of the game and well into Mooshu, but by the time I hit Dragonspyre, it started to become more useful to just heal. I can't recall my stats from then, so I'm going to have to give an example with my current character who has completed Celestia. I have currently have gear resist of 37% to all. Therefore, if I cast a four pip Satyr for 860 health, I have effectively given myself a buffer of 1365 vs. a four power pip ice armor which would only give me 1000.

I also have an athame which boosts outgoing healing by 21%. Therefore, that 860 goes to about 1040. With that amount of healing factored against my resist all, I have now given myself a buffer of 1650 again vs. 1000. Obviously, there are several other ways to boost healing further here. I can also cast satyr against other players to assist a team. Additionally, by healing vs. armoring, neither pierce nor earthquake can rob me of my pip investment outright. Incidentally, the point at which ice armor becomes less effective per pip than healing is when your resist all value goes to 17% and above.

Can anyone think of a situation in which ice armor remains useful (vs. alternatives) by the end of Dragonspyre and beyond?

Addendum: Ok, while re-reading my post, I did think of one possible strategic use for ice armor at this level. KI will have to fix this bug again since it appears to have come back with the gardening update, but when they do: If you cast ice armor after a tower/other shield, it will keep the shield from being broken until the armor wears out, thereby protecting your shields from small wand hits and low pip damage over time spells. If you can think of any more strategic uses, I'd love to hear them.

Survivor
Sep 12, 2010
11
gtarhannon wrote:
By the time you reach Dragonspyre... Do any of you still use ice armor?


Not me and I don't even have satyr (unless I polymorph treant). I rarely even need to do that. I even usually used pixie over ice armor at lower levels. And now that it is pretty easy to get a pet with an overactive spritely talent (I say easy as it seems that everyone except me seems to have one :) ), ice armor and other heals seem even less valuable.

Explorer
May 09, 2009
81
gtarhannon wrote:
So, I have a question for my fellow Ice wizards. By the time you reach Dragonspyre... Do any of you still use ice armor?

I just used it today! Ice armor is very helpful for me when I'm fighting a fire or storm boss and I have low health. I cast it first, then they attack, however it almost never breaks the shield and gives me time to heal.

Defender
Feb 17, 2009
118
Truthfully, I have never used it. Except when I first got, cause hey it's a new spell. The when I really started to use it, I found that it just was a waste (considering ice has weaker spells and we need to attack more often, not insulting ice, my favorite school). And in PvP it's useless cause someone can steal it or earthquake, or pierce.

Thomas Swiftthistle, Legendary Ice

Armiger
May 10, 2010
2080
I would like to give you some good news, but unfortunately, I can't. There really is no use for the Ice Armor. Any Heal is better in pips than the armor will ever be. Unless, KI actually allowed a critical in armor and made it to where earthquake and/or pierce can't touch it.

One question for you though, since you brought it up. I made me a damp demon with spritely, spell proof, pips, and ice giver. A great pet for ice. But, I have crafted my hat, robe, and amulet. Not sure if you have looked at the differences, but what do you think is better, more resist all, or more power for ice? My Ice is extremely powerful and can critical all the time, with a much higher accuracy and 39 ice strength. But, I lose 18 of your resist all point. Yet, I could have 47 resist all, so actually I lose 28, but gain more damage, health, and I am at 94% accuracy.

Astrologist
Jun 04, 2010
1008
darthjt wrote:
I would like to give you some good news, but unfortunately, I can't. There really is no use for the Ice Armor. Any Heal is better in pips than the armor will ever be. Unless, KI actually allowed a critical in armor and made it to where earthquake and/or pierce can't touch it.

One question for you though, since you brought it up. I made me a damp demon with spritely, spell proof, pips, and ice giver. A great pet for ice. But, I have crafted my hat, robe, and amulet. Not sure if you have looked at the differences, but what do you think is better, more resist all, or more power for ice? My Ice is extremely powerful and can critical all the time, with a much higher accuracy and 39 ice strength. But, I lose 18 of your resist all point. Yet, I could have 47 resist all, so actually I lose 28, but gain more damage, health, and I am at 94% accuracy.


Hmmm. That's an interesting question. Actually, I think that is potentially a fluid situation, but since I am generally inclined to arrange my stats and deck as generically as possible (I hate taking the time to swap stuff around between battles), I would try to get the damage and resist all a little more balanced with each other. As an example, I'm at +34% ice damage, +37% resist all, and +14% ice accuracy. I've found that this hits plenty hard enough with the use of a single ice blade and gargantuan spell on most enemies in Celestia when I balance it against my resist and the use of one fortify spell. Now, that works well for me personally in about 95% of the situations I tend to get into. However, I think it largely comes down to your play style.

I guess the other thing to look at here is to look at any health boost differences as well. Is there a significant health difference between your different gear? If you have a lot more health with the crafted gear vs. the other, then what I would do is to compare your total effective health in each scenario. For instance... My current max health is 2975. With the 37% resist all, that means my effective health is actually 4722. In other words, that's how much damage they have to hit me with (assuming I don't shield, etc..) before they kill me. The formula for it (if you don't have it handy) is health / (1-resist all value).

Hope that helps. And thanks for the feedback on the ice armor.

Defender
Jun 04, 2009
157
I'm only level 36 and i NEVER use ice armor its not so useful

Elizabeth Goldenblossom lvl. 36 ice

Mastermind
Oct 15, 2010
315
there are only a few good situations. the one that i know (with spirit armor too (robe)) is that its good when you have full health, but that will be hard to find after mb. another good place is pvp where you have a doom and gloom(around the battle)/infection (on you). then the ice armor/ spirit armor will not be changed at all. also if your friend is taking care of the enemy but the enemy is attacking you, you can armor, because after a while you might run out of healing [treasure] cards. and in that case the ice armor will consume all the pips that you dont need for attacks.