Arctic Breath

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UnDeaD_CyBorG wrote:

So, if I use a high level Ice to Fire, shouldn't I get burning ground?^^

+1. ^^

I see the ground ice from this spell being an extreme annoyance in PvP. At least with +100%+ inc. projectile speed. :)

I see it as a danger to pvp (which I don't play) in another way; As a framerate killer for those with lesser PCs.
Shoot that with MP and fc, add a skeleton totem, and let the fun begin.

My witches of late are fire based but I have had ice based in months past.

I ran into this gem the other day and decided to test it out to see what I think of it.

Bottom line. I'd not use it even if I currently ran a ice centered witch .

PRIMARY reason: The spell FAILS as soon as a small pile of rubble is in the way. Fireball
can easily pass over the same pile of rubble or small object.
Using this spell in a dungeon would just be so bloody annoying to me, so it is a tosser.

Freezing pulse delivers far more and I use it as a adjunct on my fire based witch.
Due to the game targeting design it can be extremely annoying to try and hit a target at range with spells like this (and fireball).

IF I were to attempt to fix the spell I'd first.

1 Remove the ground effect trail (it seems pointless in my testing offering no real benifit)

2 Rig it so it works more like a ice based version of fireball, so it can be used on stairs
and not be so subject to failing on small objects in the path.

3 Increase the rate of speed of the ice object some to make it more attractive to bother with, and increase splash from base default.

4: OR just redo from start and make it a cool orb effect as was so much fun for my Ice Sorce in Diablo 2.



Oh, and on my system no impact on FPS was noted. However I dont' have alow end system.
Intel I7 2600k@4.3Ghz and Nvidia GTX580.

so does cold to fire or added lightning work on the ground ice? how much damage is the ground ice doing? is it just chill effect instead like vaal's ice ground?

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soul4hdwn wrote:

so does cold to fire or added lightning work on the ground ice? how much damage is the ground ice doing? is it just chill effect instead like vaal's ice ground?

The ground ice is like Vaal's, it does no damage just chills monsters making them move slower

If the ground ice is so weak because enemies never run over it, why not make it so that it drops ground ice in the area around the target and in a path behind them?

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Veshkiidryn wrote:

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soul4hdwn wrote:

so does cold to fire or added lightning work on the ground ice? how much damage is the ground ice doing? is it just chill effect instead like vaal's ice ground?

The ground ice is like Vaal's, it does no damage just chills monsters making them move slower

That's interesting, in my tests I separate the ground ice from the head projectile via firing it through ice walls. The ground ice after the pierce definitely does damage. It seems to me that the ground ice is the bulk of the projectile and the skull just a visual ornament?

The arctic breath projectile seems also to be significantly fatter than the ice spear, which makes it easier to shotgun. Got the most mileage out of shotgun-chaining, although framerate is definitely a killer.

Reworking the mechanics such that this passes over rivers and other obstructibles would be nice. Otherwise, rework it so that it pathes to the target point, making it the closest thing to bone spirit in the game.

I also noticed that this spell cannot be shot over cliffs like ices spear can, it just hits it as though it were a wall. It even gets stuck on patches I can walk over sometimes.

I really do like this spell though (especially with LMP) it's just not very useful in enclosed maps.