Ice Shot

the cone needs to be way bigger to be able to compete with lighning arrow as an aoe ! pls buff GGG

What does the Ice patch left by this skill do? Does it just chill or is it any noticeable damage?

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Berjiz wrote:

What does the Ice patch left by this skill do? Does it just chill or is it any noticeable damage?

it is an always chill for as long as the patch lasts and a foe is inside it.

I feel that the quality should be something like 0.5% chance to freeze per 1% quality
or 2% increase freeze duration per 1% quality

the current quality on ice shot is fairly useless, and I feel if the quality on it was a little more useful then perhaps it could compete with more prominent bow skills

Yeah I agree with that. Quality across the board needs a little adjustment in general; you have things like Frenzy where it's crazy good (the equal of 12.5 skills points when maxed; fair since you lose skill points acquiring max Frenzy charges on the tree), Elemental Hit where its good (~5 skill points), and then here where its "eh, don't care".

I don't mind the cone not being a swirling vortex of hell that swallows everything on-screen in its maw, but I do feel Ice Shot is a smidge overcosted for how much coverage it gets compared to Lightning Arrow.

Also disappointed in how ineffective multishotting this is, but that goes for every bow attack that isn't Lightning Arrow. Or chaining literally anything that isn't Lightning Arrow. Lightning Arrow's really weird. Possibly balance-warping?

I'm currently running an Ice Shot + Cold to Fire + Avatar of Fire Scion. So far so good at level 40, if a bit slow.

The only problem with Ice Shot is how unreliable the cone is. Even when monsters aren't desynced, it seems like it frequently doesn't hit enemies directly behind the target, and it occasionally hits guys that you wouldn't expect to get hit.

The skill gem has also highlighted desync issues that weren't as apparent before using this skill. The issue is related to stunning monsters. Because the ground ice is created at the monster's server-side position, it's a good desync indicator. When I shoot certain enemies repeatedly with Ice Shot, they're stunlocked and, on the client, are unable to move. However, the AoE ground ice gets closer and closer to my character as I'm shooting them, indicating that they're getting closer server-side.

In regards to the quality, here's something that would make me invest in it: each point of quality increases the width of the cone AoE by x degrees. I can't really speculate on a good number because I could never be certain of exactly how large the cone is by default.

Edit: Now at level 60, I'm about fed up with Ice Shot. When I line up enemies so I can hit them with the AoE, 50% of the enemies don't get hit. Then I /oos and the enemies warp a few feet to either side. Because the AoE is short and narrow, one or two feet of desync is all it takes to completely miss. I end up taking twice as long to kill things because I need to reposition myself to kill the desynced mobs.

Ice Shot is great when it works, but like all other positioning-dependent skills, it's just too unreliable because of desync.

Does anyone know you can hit an enemy with multiple ice cones from separate projectiles from one skill use? In a way I mean "shotgunning", but with the multiple areas of effect.

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Vipermagi wrote:

As is always the case, yep. Works fine.

In fact, it works really well, given an appropriate situation. Ice Shot + Pierce is hilarious against dense packs; I have one-shotted Rares on an RT build with some frequency. Bunch of fun. I love Ice Shot.

Thanks. I was growing skeptical of the exact mechanics at points because it didn't seem to work, but I guess that was just a combination of the ice cone size and desynchronization.

Does the Cone's AoE/Dmg also hit the initial target as well?