Credits: The Art of Ice Stacking - A guide to understanding ice stacking mechanics by Deneb
The purpose of this is to go more in depth with regards to ice stacking. This thread will not talk much about Ice Witch builds or equipments. This guide will focus mostly on Ice Witches
What is Ice Stacking and Why do I need to care?
Ice stacking is the act of using skills that freezes the monster to increase the damage done to it. A monster will appear to be frozen if only there appears to be diamond shaped ice on the monster. The current implementation is that for every layer of ice applied onto the monster, the damage done by it is increased by 30% each stack up to 100%.
Ice stacking can potentially last longer than the typical burst windows given by skill buffs if it is optimized properly. Knowing that, through the power of ice stacking, a bonus damage of 30% to 100% can be done to the monster for a fairly long duration.
Historical Note
Previously, near the beginning of 70 cap, ice stacking only involved 2 layers with each layer applying a 50% bonus damage each. This made ice stacking a lot easier and could've made it permanent for bosses during raids. An experienced Ice Witch could have kept on a double stack for over 50 seconds. It was then later nerfed because a competent Adept + Pyromancer combo could have also kept a permanent ice stack. The rumor was that ice stacking was nerfed so that it will be more of a burst mechanic and that only ice witches could have executed it efficiently.
How does Ice Stacking Work?
Like it was written above, ice stacking applies layers of ice onto the monster and allows it to take an increased bonus damage of 30% to 100% depending on how many layers of ice are applied to it. This means the first layer will enable any damage taken by the monster to be increased by 30%, second layer by 60%, third layer by 90%, and fourth layer by 100%. This damage bonus will NEVER go above 100%.
Ice layers only have a certain duration depending on the skill used and it is not possible to tell how many layers of ice was applied onto the monster. This requires you to mentally keep track of it in your head as you do your ice spells. When an ice layer has expired, it will display a shattering animation.
EACH SKILL WILL ONLY APPLY ONE LAYER OF ICE. Skills that attempts multiple times such as Frozen Fury or Frost Chaos will only apply 1 layer. If it manages to freeze again, the previous layer applied by this skill shatters and a new layer is applied. Essentially, such reapplying will only refresh the duration of the ice layer
Warning
Ice stacking can only happen optimally IF YOU HAVE ICE QUEEN OFF. Ice queen will replace most of your abilities to apply ice layers with the frost bite debuff (See below) except for Frozen Fury. During raids or nests, you SHOULD NOT use ice queen UNLESS the extra DPS is absolutely required from you.
Ice resist debuffing
Ice stacking also goes hand in hand with ice resist debuffing. Skills that decrease the ice resistance of a target will allow the duration of the ice layer to be extended by 15% per 10% of ice resistance. This means that the more ice resistance debuff that has occurred onto the target, the longer the ice layer will last. This debuff is called the frostbite debuff. If the enemy have ice resistance, it will work in reverse (15% less ice layer duration per 10% of ice resistance)
HOWEVER, the ice witch's frostbite skills itself do not stack on top of each other OR with other classes' frostbite debuff. This usually will put ice witch at a disadvantage in terms of ice resist debuffing because other classes' debuff percentage is higher
Warning
Frostbite tend to have a behavior of overriding other ice resist debuffs and even Ice Cold Field's ice layers if the frostbite skill level is higher than the other skill level. An example of this would be that ice spikes will override ice cold field EX's ice layer if the level of ice spikes is higher. This is also true for ice swords and chilling mist. These debuffs will also override other classes' ice resist debuffs if they are higher level also. HOWEVER, frostbite will not override glacial spike, glacial freeze, frozen fury, frost chaos, or ice beam. A possible reason why this will override Ice Cold Field EX is the normal Ice Cold Field will only apply frostbite but the EX version applies the ice layer. Developers might had overlooked that.
The tip would be to keep your ice cold field level as high as possible to ensure it will not override. You can also not spam the frostbite skills if there are engineers or adepts in the party. This though, requires a higher level of coordination between you and team members.
Warning
Only ice resist debuffs can elongate the duration of ice layers. Your personal ice damage percentage does not.
Historical Note
Before, the skill Icy Gust would apply a 30% ice resist debuff for about 2 seconds. Most people would have used it before casting glacial freeze to maximize the ice layer duration of that skill. Unfortunately, it has been nerfed to 10% making it not as effective.
The Freezing Arsenal
Glacial Spike: Available to all sorceresses - variable rate of up to 32% with an animation of 3.5 seconds for a duration of 4 seconds. 7 seconds cooldown
This skill is the go to spam skill. For it to land is mostly luck. The skill itself will hit a target 1 time up to 3 times depending on the size of the target, each with a chance of applying an ice layer. The cooldown of this skill is very short compared to other ice stacking skills which makes it spammable. It is always nice to use this skill whenever but NEVER actually rely on this skill as its rate is not 100%. Use it as a "bonus" ice layer skill but not for actual burning of monsters
Glacial Freeze: Available to All elementalists - 100% freezing rate for a duration of 8 seconds, 9.6 seconds with epic duration plate. 24 seconds cooldown
This skill would be the core skill for Ice Witches. It has a moderate radial range around you and a fairly long duration of almost 10 seconds, more if frostbite is applied. This skill has an instant cast animation and a full animation of 1 second. It is recommended to use this skill in conjunction with another stacking skill, typically Frost Chaos or Ice Cold Field EX. This skill should also be used during a burning.
Ice Cold Field EX: Available to Ice Witches - 100% freezing rate for a duration of 5 seconds. 25 seconds cooldown
This is more of an utility skill in my point of view in a sense that I do not exactly like to use it for burnings. This skill requires distancing yourself and aiming at the monster so that it is at the center of the field where the effect will take place. If it is on the edge, it will apply the frostbite debuff. The duration of this skill is fairly short and this in my opinion, less reliable as compared to Glacial Freeze or Frost Chaos. I see it being more beneficial for 2 layer endurance stacking rather than critical burn stacking. However, I will rely on this skill if one of my more reliable skills are on cooldown
Frost Chaos: Available to Ice Witches - 40% freezing rate, 22x4 attempts, 1 in each Cartesian direction with an animation of 8 seconds, for a duration of 8 seconds (practically 100% if casted correctly). 34 seconds cooldown
Although on paper this skill looks to be an extremely good skill, it should be known that the skill itself moves linearly meaning if the monster is mobile, there is a very good chance it will move out of the path of the skill. Not all 88 attempts of the skill will land on the monster and it is most certain most monsters in this game, including minibosses, are smaller than the total length of travel distance of this skill. At most, you might probably get a good 2 or 3 effective seconds where the skill will land 100%. However, this is a very good skill to use for burning because of its long duration (over 10 seconds of ice layer prior to ice debuff calculation).
Frozen Fury: Available to all elementalists - 50% freezing rate, 10 attempts with an animation of 5 seconds, for a duration of 10 seconds (practically 100%). 150 seconds cooldown
This is the goto skill for burnings. This skill have a moderate radial range that is bigger than glacial freeze. This however, is an ultimate skill and thus should not be used lightly. It also provides a moderate amount of damage. The biggest thing to know about this skill is that it will put you in an animation lock for 5 seconds. This means during those 5 seconds, you will only be casting this skill and this skill only. It is necessary to have the other ice layers applied before hand along with the necessary ice resist debuffs before casting this skill. Once you have started casting it, you yourself cannot stop it.
Ice shield: Available to all elementalists - unknown freezing rate, unknown but extremely short duration
This skill is more so used for its damage reduction and super armor. Its freezing side effect is highly unreliable and should never be used to try and freeze a monster. The range of this is also extremely short making you extremely vulnerable if you try to use this skill for freezing.
Ice barrier: Available to Ice Witches - 100% freezing rate for a duration of 2.5 seconds. 60 seconds cooldown
This skill is more so used for its buff. It does apply a very short duration ice layer. This will only reliably happen if you destroy your shield within 5 seconds of casting it, it is even more unreliable if you are expecting to get hit for it to break (and extremely dangerous as you are getting hit). Should not be relied for its ice layer capabilities but if you do like, you can destroy the shield to get that short freeze on the monster.
Ice beam: Available to Adepts - 40% freezing rate, over 10 attempts with an animation of 2 seconds, for a duration of 5 seconds (practically 100%). 38 seconds cooldown
This skill is only available for adepts and is the only other skill that can apply ice layers. Though
Summon Slime: Available to Alchemists - ?? freezing rate for a duration of approximately 5 seconds.
This skill is only available to Alchemists and is not reliable because it is reliant on an AI summon to cast the ice layer. The summon have 3 to 4 attacks and the attack it will use is mostly random and unpredictable. Though if it does do the ice attack, an extra ice layer is still beneficial.
The Ice Debuff Arsenal
Icy Gust: Available to all elementalists - frostbite duration of 2 seconds
This skill used to be the goto skill prior to glacial freeze due to its 30% ice resist debuff. However, after the nerf this skill is not reliable anymore. Would not recommend using for any other freezing skills other than Glacial Freeze
Icy Shards: Available to all elementalists - frostbite duration of 2 seconds
The skill is overall unreliable. I personally had never used it for applying the frostbite debuff however, it does have a decent range which might be taken advantage of if Frost Chaos strays too far away from you
Ice Cold Field: Available to all elementalists - frostbite duration of 12 seconds
This skill should be used for its freezing capabilities rather than its frostbite debuff. However, it does provide the longest frost bite duration and thus might be useful if you are going to be consecutively casting freezing skills including Frozen Fury
Frozen Spikes: Available to all elementalists - frostbite duration of 6 seconds
This skill would be the goto skill for applying a quick ice resist for Glacial Freeze or Frost Chaos. It has a short casting animation and a fair duration of 6 seconds. However, do know that the frostbite debuff is shorter than the animation duration of Frost Chaos and thus you might need to cast another frostbite at the end of the Frost Chaos animation. This is also useful to cast right before casting Frozen Fury as the frostbite duration matches the animation length of that skill.
Chilling Mist: Available to all elementalists - frostbite duration of 8 seconds
This skill has a high cooldown but is still useful due to its long frostbite duration. This means you can potentially cast Glacial Freeze, Frost Chaos, and Frozen Fury provided by the frostbite of this skill. However, I would still recommend casting Frozen Spikes prior to casting Frozen Fury even with Chilling Mist's frostbite debuff on for the reason that you will never know when you have to dodge an attack. This skill has an animation of approximately 2 seconds
Chemical Grenade: Available to all engineers - elemental resist of 15% for a duration of 20 seconds
Ice Pump Tower: Available to all engineers - ice resist debuff of 30% for a duration of 3 seconds
Coolent: Available to all alchemists - ice resist debuff of 30% for a duration of 8 seconds
Superglop Cocktail: Available to Adepts - elemental resist of 16% for a duration of 15 seconds
If you have an engineer or an adept in the party, it is better to rely on their ice resist debuff skills as they do stack with each other (Chemical Grenade with Ice Pump Tower for 45% or Coolent and Superglop Cocktail for 46%) but can be overwritten by frostbite. However, this requires some coordination between you and the adept or engineer. It is best to tell them to cast their debuff skills during burning so your ice stacking would not be interrupted with you casting your ice debuff skills.
How do I Ice Stack?
Applying a few layers of ice on top of a monster is simple. There is enough ice skills for an Ice Witch to apply 4 ice layers for a 100% bonus damage but that will only last for 5 seconds. It is necessary to optimize your skill rotation along with knowing when you ice stack to make the most out of it.
It is necessary to also have the right ice resist debuff applied so that the duration of your ice layers are elongated. Longer ice layers means a longer window for more damage. It is always best to have some type of ice resist debuff on the monster prior to stacking a layer of ice.
Ice stacking is not as simple as pressing a skill and have the effects out. It requires an optimized combination of ice resist debuffs and ice stacking skills to reap the full benefits out of it. Below are a few situations
The Burn
In all cases, ice stacking is required for the burn. This means your team will want a definitive 3 ice layers to maximize the damage output and fast. If there are engineers or adepts, you can reply on them for the ice resist debuff and go on with only ice stacking skills. If not, you have to apply the frostbite debuff yourself. It is always best to start off with 2 skills that can reliably put ice layers on the monster with an ice resist debuff skill before it. When the time for the burn has come, it is expected that all your skills should be off cooldown
I usually cast chilling mist then to glacial freeze and frost chaos. Afterwards, I would cast Frozen Spikes to set up the ice resist debuff for my Frozen Fury ultimate. If done right, within 6 seconds, 3 ice layers would be on the monster for the next 7 to 8 seconds with Glacial Freeze duration plate, 2 to 3 seconds after the animation lock of Frozen Fury is finished.
After the animation lock, a few Glacial Spikes may bring the layers to 4 if needed or back up to 3 after Glacial Freeze's ice layer expires.
The time line is as followed:
2s: Chilling mist is casted
3s: Glacial Freeze is casted (1 layer)
4s: Frost Chaos is casted (2 layers)
5s: Frozen Spikes is casted
6s: 1st hit of Frozen Fury has hit (3 layers)
11s: finished casting Frozen Fury (3 layers)
12s: Glacial Spike is casted
14s: Glacial Freeze ice layer Expires (3 layers)
16s: Average case (2 to 3 optimal seconds) of Frost Chaos ice layer expires with Glacial Spike ice layer expires (1 layer)
22s: Frozen Fury Expires
The Chunking
In some cases, a burn rotation is not necessary because there does not exist a window of opportunity or the burn should be saved for later. During this time, moves that are made for burning such as harmonize, dance 2, etc are not used because it would be a waste. HOWEVER, ice stacking is unique in the way that you can still ice stack and be ready for the burn later. This is under the assumption that a burn usually happens after a long mechanic which allows your skill to get off cooldown.
For chunking, it is not necessary to have 3 layers of ice on the monster because having 3 ice layers would be extremely expensive in such a way that you will end up having no ice stacking skills. You should also never use your ultimate for chunking because it should be saved for the burn. Overall, it should be enough to have 1 or 2 ice layers along with spamming Glacial Spike for that extra ice layer.
This really becomes a test to see how long you can keep 2 layers of ice on the monster and it is necessary to optimize your stacking rotation.
I would typically start with an ice debuff skill followed by Glacial Freeze and Frost Chaos. I would then cast Glacial Spike to gamble for that extra layer and run around until my Glacial Spike is off cooldown. When the Glacial Freeze layer expires, I would case Ice Cold Field EX and Glacial Spike again until my Glacial Freeze is off cooldown
The time line is as followed:
1s: Frozen Spikes is casted
2s: Glacial Freeze is casted (1 layer)
3s: Frost Chaos is casted (2 layers)
4s: Glacial Spike is casted (possible 3 layers)
8.5s: Glacial Spike ice layer expires (2 layers)
11s: Glacial Spike is casted (possible 3 layers)
13s: Glacial Freeze ice layer expires (1 or 2 layers)
14s: Frozen Spikes is casted
15s: Average case (2 to 3 optimal seconds) of Frost Chaos ice layer expires with Glacial Spike ice layer expires. Ice Cold Field EX is casted (1 layer)
18s: Glacial Spike is casted (possible 2 layers)
21s: Ice Cold Field EX ice layer expires (1 layer)
22.5s: Glacial Spike ice layer expires (0 layers)
25s: Chilling Mist is casted
26s: Glacial Freeze is Casted (1 layer)
27s: Glacial Spike is casted( possible 2 layers)
The Soft Burn
The soft burn would usually happen after a mechanic and the goal is to burn to the next bar for the bar mechanic for some bosses. For soft burns, Frozen Fury might or might not be needed depends on the scenario. Typically, I would skip out on casting Frozen Fury because it is either on cooldown from a previous cast, or I want to save it for the ultimate burn. Soft burn would also require 3 layers of ice but not for a long duration. This means putting on Glacial Freeze, Frost Chaos, and Ice Cold Field EX are enough.
The time line is as followed:
1s: Frozen Spikes is casted
2s: Glacial Freeze is casted (1 layer)
3s: Frost Chaos is casted (2 layers)
4s: Ice Cold Field EX is casted (3 layers)
10s: Ice Cold Field EX ice layer expires (2 layers)
11s: Frozen Spikes is casted (possible 3 layers)
13s: Glacial Freeze ice layer expires (1 or 2 layers)
15s: Average case (2 to 3 optimal seconds) of Frost Chaos ice layer expires with Glacial Spike ice layer expires (0 layers)
Commentary
These are just a few of the scenarios and rotations for ice stacking. As you become more experienced with your teammates and your playstyle, you will find a better rotation that works for you. There will always be a different rotation of ice stacking per situation due to the buffs you or the monster have, the moves you have to dodge, and the mechanics you have to do. It is also important to coordinate with your teammates to time the debuff skills right to maximize the duration of ice stacking
How do I Work with Other People for Ice Stacking?
Since ice stacking revolves around using different skills in rotation, it is affected by cool down reduction skills such as fast forward, slime shake, or spirit boost. Ice stacking also revolves around the ice element meaning that anything relating to the ice element will affect your rotation and abilities
Adepts
Adepts and Ice Witches pretty much goes hand in hand with each other in terms of synergy. Adepts also have a freezing skill and a summon that can freeze which stacks with your ice stacking skills. This means that often enough, the party will receive a longer duration of multiple ice layers on the monster. Adepts also have ice resist debuffs which aids Ice Witches ice layer durations. When an Ice Witch is in a party with an Adept, it is recommended to not use any skill with the frostbite debuff as it will override the Adept's ice resist debuff skills. However, coordination is also key to know what moves the adept have used.
Adepts also have Cocktail which can reduce the cooldown of your skills by 18%. This is useful but will still leave a little bit of gap between the ice stacking rotations.
Engineers
Engineers do provide skills that gives off ice resist debuff at a percentage that is almost the same as Adepts. Engineers however do not have a freezing skill like Adepts but they are still extremely useful and beneficial to Ice Witches. It is also recommended for the Ice Witch to use skills with the frostbite debuff sparingly as it will override Engineer's debuffs. It is also good to know that the duration of the debuffs given by the engineers are shorter as compared to Adepts but still enough time to notice them being cast, especially ice tower that can give up to 10 seconds of ice resist debuff.
Acrobats
Acrobats provides the Spirit Boost buff which shortens the cooldown of your skills BUT NOT the duration of the ice layers. This means that you can do a longer ice stacking. If you use your ice stacking skills right when the Spirit Boost buff is up, it is possible to use them again at the moment it goes away, giving you another rotation. Most of the time though, Spirit Boost is likely to be saved for a burn situation because of its action speed buff.
Mystics
Mystics provides the Fast Forward buff which drastically shortens all your cooldown for your skills. With that, you are allowed to spam any freezing skill to your heart's desire but know that you need to cast different freezing skills or else the new ice layer will only override the previous ice layer instead of applying a new ice layer. I usually just do Glacial Freeze -> Frost Chaos -> Frozen Fury and rotate my first 2 skills again after the animation lock
Lencea, Dancers, Other Classes With Buffs made for Burning
Usually these classes will save their buffs for a burn. By that time, it would be wise to have a 3 ice layer stack ready.
What Other Benefits does Ice Stacking Provide?
Ice Stacking also neglect the effects of damage reduction from multiple hits to target. This means if a skill used by a party member have its damage reduced by a certain percentage after some amount of hits, this will not apply to it if there's a layer of ice on the target.
A few examples of above would be:
The Minotaur in Black Dragon Nest at the end of 2nd and 3rd bar would enclose the map in flames. During that time, if an ice layer is on top of it, the party can do full damage to the Minotaur.
Many bosses in Volcano Nest would have an end bar mechanic where they are invincible; however, if an ice layer is on them, they are open for being damaged
The Dragon Cultist Warden in Phase 3 of Black Dragon Nest would cast Block if his hp is below a certain point, this block would evade any attacks done to him. An ice layer bypasses that.
What is my Role in Parties? What am I Suppose to be Doing?
The role of an Ice Witch is most definitely a support role. Your job is to provide ice stacking for your party efficiently and at the right time. It is better to focus more on defense and survivability (more HP) with offensive stats coming after that. For Ice Witches, dodging attacks is a main priority as the only skill that provides iFrame is blink (albeit, blink do provide more iFrames as compared to other dash moves). It is essential for an Ice Witch to survive in a party as the ice stacking provided is a huge boost to the damage out put of the party. The higher the damage output, the faster the bosses will be taken down and the better chances of avoiding deadly mechanics that can potentially kill other people.
It is also essential for Ice Witches to synergize with the party properly. Ice stacking is made for bursts instead of long time stacks. It is essential for Ice Witches to know and understand when are the good burn points for a boss. In raid situations, the raid leader typically calls out when it is time to burn and when that time arrives, it is essential to have all the ice stacking moves be available to use. Typically though, burns will usually happen at an end bar mechanic where it will take several seconds to execute. During that time, your and your party's skills are ready for use
Sometimes, the Ice Witch herself will conduct the burning time of parties. This task can be made more effective by learning the nest more and more and understanding which points are good for burning and which points are not. This is overall dependent on the experience that one have with the nest or raid.
Overall, to become a good Ice Witch is more so by experience rather than a formula. Every party have its own composition and playstyle and every boss have its own moves. Being an Ice Witch means you need to be adaptive to your environment and be good at improvising to respond to the environment. No two Ice Witches will have the same playstyle. There are too many possible scenarios to explain as you play an Ice Witch. In the end, it is all about the experience you have gained from playing Ice Witch.
Ice stacking is truly an interesting mechanic where it is executed not by just pressing a buff button but rather by sequencing skills which will maximize the output. The concept of how it works is easy to learn but to execute it properly and effectively is an art of itself.
Source: http://dragonnest.nexon.net/community/forum#%2Fshowthread.php%3F1409928-The-Art-of-Ice-Stacking-A-guide-to-understanding-ice-stacking-mechanics%26nxid%3D62
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