I learned today... Ice is pretty effin shweet.

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I've tried Munitions, Fire, and Archery all at least to level 11, as well as a little of Darkness. Munitions is a lot of fun, Archery does ass loads of damage and was great for PvP, but I still wanted to try Ice, but was reluctant to start another new character. But I bit the bullet and went through the tutorial for the 3rd time since Early Access began with a primarily Ice char.

What spurred me to do this was getting wrecked by multiple ice toons in PvP, multiple times.

I gotta say, I'm not dissapointed, it's an endlessly fun powerset with a lot of possibilities, and I'm only level 10 so far. I'm glad I saved this powerset till live, because it may just end up being my main if it continues to go well.

Pointless post, I know, just thought I'd express my opinion, though I know many people already like Ice as it is.

I would reccomend the powerset to any lover of more complex ranged combat.

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Not a pointless post, it'll help a lot of people sitting on the fence for Ice. Glad you found something you really like, good luck!

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I've tried Munitions, Fire, and Archery all at least to level 11, as well as a little of Darkness. Munitions is a lot of fun, Archery does ass loads of damage and was great for PvP, but I still wanted to try Ice, but was reluctant to start another new character. But I bit the bullet and went through the tutorial for the 3rd time since Early Access began with a primarily Ice char.

What spurred me to do this was getting wrecked by multiple ice toons in PvP, multiple times.

I would reccomend the powerset to any lover of more complex ranged combat.

Outside of PVP..why is it so good?
What was your build..what powers did you take in what order?

didn't you find the damage to be a bit low?

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Outside of PVP..why is it so good?
What was your build..what powers did you take in what order?

didn't you find the damage to be a bit low?

It's very good in both PvP and PvE and damage is certainly not low on it.

I ended up moving away from ice for retail simply because every man and their dog started rolling it when they saw how good it was in PvP. You burst them down to death in 3 seconds and they all go and roll the same kind of toon lol.

As good as it is i'd rather be little different.

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lol what powers burst people down?

hope you don't mean bugged wall of ice.

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Ice Wall is awesome. I tested it out, and the ice wall traveling across the ground moves kinda slow, but it homes in on enemies. It looks cool as hell.

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if you can get shatter to do what its supposed to its decent burst.

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At level 13 (in this order) I've grabbed ice wall (honest question: How's it bugged?) Iceform and Frost Breath. Purchased the advantage for ice blast that does extra damage to enemies who are chilled, and frostbite advantage for frost breath whih gauruntees chill on anyone it hits, plus I've got the darkness power replacer for my attacks, so all (except ice wall) has a 6.5% chance to do an extra 165 damage.

I eat groups of henchmen, villains, and supervillains for breakfast.

P.S. Ice form increases all elemental damage (ice, fire toxic) by a % which scales with your endurance. superstat end. and omg omg omg, at rank 2 it's ALREADY doubled my damage.

Also, how is shatter? I'm tempted to get it, but not sure if breaking the hold is worth it. advice?

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Yeah, for anyone having damage issues with Ice, just pop on Ice form. Viola, problem solved. At the end of beta I made a 40 Ice character and played around in some BASH matches, with ice form he was able to 2-3 shot people who didn't have a passive D ability simply using Ice Blast.

Overall it was a lot of fun to play. :)

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lol what powers burst people down?

hope you don't mean bugged wall of ice.

Wall of ice Advantage Frozen Footsteps is not bugged, even if you wish it were so. That's not the main part of ice's damage but it's certainly a component.

Seriously quit saying everything is bugged just because you don't like it being used on you folks.

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Icewall + Shatter.

It's god-like.

I went to rescue Lee Tosi at level 9, and the 5 (or was it 6?) mobs ambushed me as part of the event. Icewalled them all and hit "Shatter" and they all dropped dead. 6 mobs in one go.

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Icewall + Shatter.

It's god-like.

I went to rescue Lee Tosi at level 9, and the 5 (or was it 6?) mobs ambushed me as part of the event. Icewalled them all and hit "Shatter" and they all dropped dead. 6 mobs in one go.

you can't hit 6 things at once with anything, but anyways...

damage numbers? villains or just henchmen?

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You can hit 5+ stuff with ice easily...solong you have a bunch of ice cages up then use shatter...and see everything explode ;)

As each cage counts as its own explosion you are able to take down huge numbers of enemies at the same time.

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I must be doing somethign wrong because i'm seeing "meh" on Ice. At level 9 shatter is onyl doing about 60dmg per ice cage, and the wall of ice itself does about 20 dmg when it freezes the mob. Thats it.

And its a horrible hold to boot because all it does is ROOT the mobs, they can still attack!

What am I doing wrong?

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Get the frozen footsteps advantage for wall of ice, use it first and stand beside the mob and use shatter on them while wall of ice/footsteps is ticking. It does more damage the more your targets are chilled and the more ice cages, ice burst etc you have on them again it causes more damage as it causes these to explode. Hence being in melee with frozen footsteps running continually giving you stuff you blow up with shatter.

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Indeed. Frozen Footsteps + Shatter = tons of dead mobs and me giggling like a school girl.

Level 16 and still haven't found a need for a Defensive Passive yet.

~Sun

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Indeed. Frozen Footsteps + Shatter = tons of dead mobs and me giggling like a school girl.

Level 16 and still haven't found a need for a Defensive Passive yet.

~Sun

I'll give this a try thanks. I was going to try and AVOID melee range since I plan to take ice form and not a defensive passive, but since it seems to be workign for you .. :)

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It seems you need to use the Ice Cages...then Shatter against mobs held in ice cages.

You also need to have your Passive Ice Form always up to get the extra damage.

Secondly, you need to take the Advantage for Ice Wall that gives you the Frozen Footsteps.

You may also need to take the advntage for Frost Breath that causes a 100% chance to Chill targets that Frost Breath hits.

There also seems to be a fixed rotation that you use against all mobs to maximise effectiveness. Miss any component of the rotation and you probably aren't going to be happy with the results.

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I'll give this a try thanks. I was going to try and AVOID melee range since I plan to take ice form and not a defensive passive, but since it seems to be workign for you .. :)

You will have a problem with Ice Form.







The mobs will likely be dead before you use shatter as ive form gives frozen feet +110% damage :p

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It seems you need to use the Ice Cages...then Shatter against mobs held in ice cages.

You also need to have your Passive Ice Form always up to get the extra damage.

Secondly, you need to take the Advantage for Ice Wall that gives you the Frozen Footsteps.

You may also need to take the advntage for Frost Breath that causes a 100% chance to Chill targets that Frost Breath hits.

There also seems to be a fixed rotation that you use against all mobs to maximise effectiveness. Miss any component of the rotation and you probably aren't going to be happy with the results.

Anything constructed of ice resulting from your powers will explode with shatter. Ice form will put automatic ice cages on things for you and so does frozen footsteps, footsteps does it continually.

This is why in the 40 PvP i was using Ice Burst as i moved in, frozen feet as i'm getting to them. That would give LOTS of things to explode, especially (as always happens in BASH) more people jump into the middle of the fight, footsteps if still running then encases them adding to more shatter carnage.

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Wait ice form will do the same thing frozen footsteps does? DOH! I just wasted 2 advantage points then since i'm taking ice form next level.

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I'm in the struggling camp, so this is a nice thread to find. :)

Thanks for the pointers.

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I'm in the struggling camp, so this is a nice thread to find. :)

Thanks for the pointers.

Really like the costume in your sig!

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don't get used to frozen footsteps, there's no way in hell it should be doing that much damage. It's like 2 pyre's worth of damage for a click.

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don't get used to frozen footsteps, there's no way in hell it should be doing that much damage. It's like 2 pyre's worth of damage for a click.

My fire toon does WAAY more damage in less time. Thats why i'm strugglign with Ice.

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Wait ice form will do the same thing frozen footsteps does? DOH! I just wasted 2 advantage points then since i'm taking ice form next level.

No not quite the same thing. Ice form will chill your targets and ice cage them, the ice cages from it cannot be relied on but are pretty frequent. Icewall/footsteps continually cages them and does 4 or 5 good ticks of damage. Remember, chill stacks so the more different skills you have going that can apply it the higher your shatter damage will be as well as the AoE damage from all the solid blocks/cages exploding.

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don't get used to frozen footsteps, there's no way in hell it should be doing that much damage. It's like 2 pyre's worth of damage for a click.

Wasnt it you who tried to say some nonsense about frozen Footsteps doing 10k damage? If so then quit exagerrating things you don't like in an effort to get them nerfed.

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My issue with Forms was never the damage, it was the survivability.

I felt like Paper when I took and slotted Shadow Form, regardless of the increased Darkness damage.

I also tried Ice I think up to level 5 or 8...and...yeah. Paper. Died constantly in Canada. So I dunno....

So far for me it has been Balanced mode with a Defensive Passive for survival. Anything else is toast against 5 mobs.

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Well thats the pointhtough, its a tradeoff. You do a lot more dmg but get hurt a lot mroe, or you do a lot less damage and get hurt a lot less. Thats how it should be.

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Yeah the offensive passive do make you flimsy, but there are plenty of tools to help out with that such as heals, field drones (unless they're going to be permanently broken as they have since yesterdays patch), force shield with the force sheath advantage which gives you an 8 second shield just for tapping it for a second.

these things seem to hold up well against normal mobs and at 40 PvP but ive no idea if they'll be enough when it comes to group content.

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Anyone have experience with the new form of Ice Sheath?

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Ok i'm starting to get the hang of it now, and honeslty it seems pretty equal to Pyre, EXCEPT this has a cooldown and Pyre doesn't.

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Is frozen footsteps really that good? I tried it in the powerhouse, but dumpled it straight away. You cant icewall anyone outside melee range with it.

I generally cast icewall at the mob at the back of the group, so it runs past and cages anyone in the way. Then I get in close - not too close, shatter doesnt need to be melee range, I've found - and blast their cages apart.

Does Frozen Footsteps increase damage done, or just change the mechanics for trapping them?

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Yeah its a lot stronger in the "real world" than in the powerhouse. This is why I wish the powerhouse were more of a "Danger Room".

The reason it increases damage is because it continues to tick DOT damage, unlike normal where it only applies damage on intial hold and then on explosion. But yeah you need to get up close and personal to do it.

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The reason it increases damage is because it continues to tick DOT damage, unlike normal where it only applies damage on intial hold and then on explosion. But yeah you need to get up close and personal to do it.

It will only DoT so long as your in range. beyond that, it'll just cage them. An changing to to the footsteps increases the damage dramatically too.

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Question on the shatter+ ice object combo, if you only have limited adv. point, which power should be raise to rank 2 in order to give the combo max effectiveness ? shatter or ice wall

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Okay so after reading this I've decided to definitely go with the whole Ice build....but what stats do I mainly get to do really good damage? Because the whole stat and superstat and all that still confuses me...please help somebody!!!

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Choose 2 stats that you think you would benefit from the most and then choose them as your superstats, whatever you choose is what your damage will be based off. Mostly it's down to personal preferance, i prefer Constitution so i get that bit of extra HP to be a buffer as i don't choose defensive passives, and Endurance so i can have crap loads of end to comlpetely unload on someone.

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Yeah for my first superstat I chose Endurance, mainly because the strength of damage increasing while in ice form benefits from it...I dunno what my next should be, but I don't have to decide that yet lol

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dex and endurance just caus they are great stats but they also both enhance your ice form.

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Iceform also grants Cold Snap if you crit, increasing the damage of Shatter. Just another reason to superstat Dex (or at least prioritize it on gear).

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guess we found the cookie cutter PVP build everyone's going to pick :D

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I'll give this a try thanks. I was going to try and AVOID melee range since I plan to take ice form and not a defensive passive, but since it seems to be workign for you .. :)

melee or range won't matter everything in this game has a ranged attack so your getting hit one way or another ALL the time :P

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any of you guys feel like posting your builds or do you wanna keep it a secret lol

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I hope it doesnt become a popular PvP build cause I don't want it to get nerfed. It does good damage, but no better then fire or electric.

Frozen footsteps does need to get nerfed, I will admit that. I tried it briefly, but dropped it cause I didnt want to get stuck with it once it gets fixed. For those of you who are using it, be aware, there is no way it's gonna stay the way it is, so think about if you want to keep it long term if the super damage gets removed and you are left with a slightly different way to apply wall of ice. For me I would rather have the normal ranged version.

For those of you who haven't tried it, if you buy the frozen footsteps advantage, the wall of ice that spawns at your feat also ticks for huge damage to things in melee range of you as it freezes them. At level 10, with Ice form, I was doing ticks of 200-250, and it ticks every second or so. I could just fire it off and stand next to master villains and they die before it runs out of the timer.

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any of you guys feel like posting your builds or do you wanna keep it a secret lol

Something along these lines.

Build by championBuilder 0.2.4 (http://champions.zarzu.ch)

Download this Build here. (http://champions.zarzu.ch/download.php?download=4131g604002704200170412205zz 00704510170411207042102706720160i52270340025045050 d7060642260a1126zz0325zzzz75y10l5y2025y2075y20p5y2 0o5y20z5y20625y0025y0071)

: Level 40 Champion

Superstats:
Level 5: Super Constitution
Level 13: Super Endurance

Powers:
Level 1: Ice Shards -- Accelerated Metabolism
Level 1: Ice Blast -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 5: Wall Of Ice -- Frozen Footsteps, Rank 2
Level 5: Flight
Level 8: Ice Form -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 11: Shatter -- Crushed Ice, Rank 2
Level 14: Ice Burst -- Rank 2, Freeze, Dirtbag
Level 17: Field Drones -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 20: Resurgence -- Evanescent Emergence
Level 23: Force Shield -- Rank 2, Force Sheath
Level 26: Ice Sheath
Level 29: Ego Choke
Level 32: Nanobot Swarm -- Rejuvenating Injectors
Level 35: Thunderbolt Lunge -- Essence Assault
Level 35: Acrobatics -- Versatility
Level 38:

Talents:
Level 1: Abyssal
Level 6: Enduring
Level 9: Energetic
Level 12: Boundless Reserves
Level 15: Quick Recovery
Level 18: Amazing Stamina
Level 21: Tireless

[Archived Post]

Something along these lines.

Build by championBuilder 0.2.4 (http://champions.zarzu.ch)

Download this Build here. (http://champions.zarzu.ch/download.php?download=4131g604002704200170412205zz 00704510170411207042102706720160i52270340025045050 d7060642260a1126zz0325zzzz75y10l5y2025y2075y20p5y2 0o5y20z5y20625y0025y0071)

: Level 40 Champion

Superstats:
Level 5: Super Constitution
Level 13: Super Endurance

Powers:
Level 1: Ice Shards -- Accelerated Metabolism
Level 1: Ice Blast -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 5: Wall Of Ice -- Frozen Footsteps, Rank 2
Level 5: Flight
Level 8: Ice Form -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 11: Shatter -- Crushed Ice, Rank 2
Level 14: Ice Burst -- Rank 2, Freeze, Dirtbag
Level 17: Field Drones -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 20: Resurgence -- Evanescent Emergence
Level 23: Force Shield -- Rank 2, Force Sheath
Level 26: Ice Sheath
Level 29: Ego Choke
Level 32: Nanobot Swarm -- Rejuvenating Injectors
Level 35: Thunderbolt Lunge -- Essence Assault
Level 35: Acrobatics -- Versatility
Level 38:

Talents:
Level 1: Abyssal
Level 6: Enduring
Level 9: Energetic
Level 12: Boundless Reserves
Level 15: Quick Recovery
Level 18: Amazing Stamina
Level 21: Tireless

Thank you for your very informative posts. If you don't mind, I have a couple of questions for you as well as any other ice experts out there.

Would you suggest respecing out of Ice Blast post tutorial in order to get the Ice Wall + Shatter combo earlier and just take Ice Blast post Ice Form? I do not see Frost Breath + Frost Bite in your build. Was that a mistake orintentional? Do you feel that stacking more chill with Frost Breath isn't needed before going for a huge shatter? I really like the idea of super stating End/Con for the damage increase with ice form and slightly more survivability but what do you suggest for a third stat focus or can anyone convince me that going Dex over Con will increase my damage substantially enough that the mobs will drop faster making the increased Con inferior? It looks like you suggest recovery. Is recovery the best option over Dex (increased crit) and Int (energy reduction)? Just been hearing a lot of people even super stating Dex over Con for increased damage and can't decide myself. If planning to PvP would Con be the definite choice?

I thought I had more questions but I can't really think of them at the moment. Thank you for any help with answering any of these questions.

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Thank you for your very informative posts. If you don't mind, I have a couple of questions for you as well as any other ice experts out there.

Would you suggest respecing out of Ice Blast post tutorial in order to get the Ice Wall + Shatter combo earlier and just take Ice Blast post Ice Form? I really like the idea of super stating End/Con for the damage increase with ice form and slightly more survivability but what do you suggest for a third stat focus? It looks like you suggest recovery. Is recovery the best option over Dex or Int (the only other 2 stats besides recovery that look worthy of consideration)?

I thought I had more questions but I can't really think of them at the moment. Thank you for any help with answering any of these questions.

Nah just pick up wall of ice and add the frozen footsteps advantage, at early levels you're not really fighting anything with much HP and ice wall will kill anything you come across.

I add a fair bit of recovery through the taslents but in stats from gear i just tend to concentrate mostly on con+end then make sure i have enough recovery to open with a couple of skills, then try and keep my crit chance via dex to around 8-10%. Without adding substantial ego the crits don't hit all that hard but it's nice to keep the crit rating around that for constant cold snap buff, ice is all about multiple targets so even 8-10% crit means you crit a lot. I've messed around with Int a little bit but as a far as trying to get a large enough amount via gear to make a difference you sacrifice too much, you just don't get enough benefit from it.

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Hey just so you all know, they nerfed ice form (along with the other passive offensives) so if you try it and don't understand why people like it so much, now you know why. :(

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Wow, thanks for the quick response. I added a few things in my previous post.

Frostbreath + Frost Bite not needed? Ice Shield < Force Shield + Force Sheathe (I love the combo)? Dex vs. Con super stat is still bugging me...is Con > Dex when considering PvP? Is going Con super stated with Dex as your third focus better than Dex with Con as third focus? How much HP vs Crit chance do you lose going one way or the other?

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How do these builds work in PvP since the patch yesterday?

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I don't know what the hype around ice is - I've played more than a handfull of tier 2 PvP games and plenty tier 1 - I haven't found anyone playing ice well enough to impress me.

I did, however, run into a might character who kicked the living crap out of me in 3 hits and he did it 3-4 times.

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I started up "Absolute Zero" last night and he is fun. I noticed the decreased survivability but it got better once I hit 13 and super stated Con. I had work early so I had to stop once I hit 13. I think I'll take Force Shield next level for survivability.

Thanks for the informative posts in this thread.

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How do these builds work in PvP since the patch yesterday?

It still works just as well, we're somewhat more fragile now though as the changes to defense from gear is most noticable in PvP, at least for me it is.

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Just a random side note...kinda disappointed on how Ice Slide sucks. Fire Flight w/ blue flames looks pretty sweet, kinda like my character's body is breathing in the middle of winter look (lol can't think of the scientific term but you get what I'm saying).

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It still works just as well, we're somewhat more fragile now though as the changes to defense from gear is most noticable in PvP, at least for me it is.

About to reroll due to the fact of not liking my character much after the nerfs. Have always liked Ice in MMO's but I dunno, I tried Ice and it didn't seem too impressive, on the damaging side. Just figured their damage was gimped due to the fact that they had some nice crowd control. Guess I was doing something wrong. Just looking for a class/build that I can do some really nice damage with in PvP, ignoring survivability for the most the part. What's the highest damaging class, do you know? Just out of curiosity. Probably give your build a try today. Thanks.