Ice might be better than Fireball [Opinion]

No one ever posts here so I figured I'd encourage a discussion and gather some opinions. I actually plan on making more posts like this because we never really discuss mage issues as much.

Anyway I had a bunch of respecs this month and decided to try out a few different combinations of builds. During my tests I found ice to be more effective than fb.


FB was really useful for maps that were wide and had enemies spread apart however newer maps 61-81 are generally tighter, making enemies cluster together, this bringing out ices full potential.


In addition to this ice's freeze lasts longer than fbs stun, AND has the added bonus of slowing down enemies.


Further more Ices mastery is way more useful than fb's. While some newer bosses can't seem to be frozen, the mastery has been very effective against mini bosses.


Of all the builds I've used: Ice, gale, clock and shield provided the best survival for not just me but also my teammates (especially in the expansion maps).


Currently I'm using Ice, light, clock, shield. Mainly because I like the damage from light. Tbh the only downside with Ice so far is it's really a pain for running solo, but it's great with a team.

Anyway I was hoping some of you would try it out and let me know your opinions (I'm better in PvP than I am in PvE so hearing opinions will be nice). Heck, what are some builds you use that aren't normally used by most that you feel work well for you?

Yes. Ice with mastery works well when rogues are running for the packs. In pve I don't see much damage. Main difference is that fb stuns and cancels any attack from mobs in 3 secs. Ice freezes but u still receive attacks... I think. Nice thread. Ice get overlooked a lot

Been using fire-ice-lightning-gale for a while happily
Fits my play style and for me works great in new maps

I’d rather have 4 attack skills in new maps to speed up runs being that mobs n boss have high health & the only way I die is when I miss a tell from reflect or a boss red zone

Also if you hit the red merman w ice before he shields he’s pretty much frozen until dead

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Originally Posted by Frekken

Yes. Ice with mastery works well when rogues are running for the packs. In pve I don't see much damage. Main difference is that fb stuns and cancels any attack from mobs in 3 secs. Ice freezes but u still receive attacks... I think. Nice thread. Ice get overlooked a lot

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Woah I didn't know they can still attack 0.0 I'll have to test that out.

But yeah it's pretty great in PvP especially the last man standing mode for honor PvP. In the last one I managed to consistently get top 3 by using ice to gale to stun and then ice to freeze/slow whenever the circle was closing in

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Originally Posted by Stephencobear

Been using fire-ice-lightning-gale for a while happily
Fits my play style and for me works great in new maps

I’d rather have 4 attack skills in new maps to speed up runs being that mobs n boss have high health & the only way I die is when I miss a tell from reflect or a boss red zone

Also if you hit the red merman w ice before he shields he’s pretty much frozen until dead

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I've never considered not using shield but I'll try this out seems pretty effective

I now am using FB, Ice, Lightning and shield. I used to use clock but it only worked in some occasions as my party usually moves real fast and clock couldn't keep up with our pace to be useful. My tank friends didn't like me using gale cause they would try hard to pull all the mobs together and gale just pushed them away. I'm going for as much stun affects as I can get and this seems to work good.

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Originally Posted by Crystalwiz

I now am using FB, Ice, Lightning and shield. I used to use clock but it only worked in some occasions as my party usually moves real fast and clock couldn't keep up with our pace to be useful. My tank friends didn't like me using gale cause they would try hard to pull all the mobs together and gale just pushed them away. I'm going for as much stun affects as I can get and this seems to work good.

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I've had that issue with gale as well, it's a wonderful skill with lots of benefits. But it's spreads mobs so far apart :/

I've actually switched to Fire, Ice and clock (my runs are a bit more normal paced). I realized ice was a bit more effective than light so I replaced light with ice and brought back FB cuz it's still a good crowd control skill. Light does a lot of damage but it's usually on a single target, I wish chain lightning had a higher chance to proc. I guess it would be to OP in PvP though.

If you don't want gale spreading mobs, use only +50%armor upgrade (protective current i think). Easy.
This way you can control where you push mobs. In fact, you can use it to pack mobs together.
I've been using gale with only this upgrade for years, never had a problem nor anyone complaining

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Originally Posted by Bluehazee

If you don't want gale spreading mobs, use only +50%armor upgrade (protective current i think). Easy.
This way you can control where you push mobs. In fact, you can use it to pack mobs together.
I've been using gale with only this upgrade for years, never had a problem nor anyone complaining

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In your case I think it's also a matter of you also being skilled haha. But I HAVE tried this in the past it works really well when you're soloing. In a team setting (or atleast in my teams) the mobs get cleared before I can even park.

I also just like being able to hit in all directions which sucks cuz it spreads them further [emoji2357]. The skill has a picture of a tornado, we should at least have a sub skill that lets us suck enemies towards us :/

Gale force is super skill for mage, I never use the first upgrade, I like the push back.
About ice :after testing in a new maps the fireball is way better from the ice.
Ice making game slow , and when you freeze one mob and after freeze one more ,the first unfreeze.

Decided to try gale without 1st upgrade (I've always used first upgrade so it felt like a give) and wow you guys are right it's pretty good. I just wish it didn't miss sometimes.

After trying a bunch of builds I'll take back what I said about ice being better than FB. On paper ice seems better but in reality it's slightly below FB. Ice isn't completely useless though.

Right now I'm respecing back and forth between three builds to see which I like more:

Fire, Light, Ice, Shield. Mainly for bosses and maps that don't have many mobs.

Fire, Ice, Gale, Shield. Mainly for situations where I'm gonna get debuffed heavily and will be running on a team. I switched light for ice because the ability to freeze both bosses and mobs seemed more important to me for the sake of survivability.

Fire, Ice, Clock. Maps with lots of mobs

thank you for all this info! very useful :)