ice ranger guide

Ice Pierce Crit Ranger

Concept: shotgunning with IS AoE

Saw a post somewhere in gameplay help that mentioned ice shot overlap, it caught my fancy, and I asked a bunch of mechanics questions to make sure my understanding of how the skill and its keywords worked was right. (I was a noob at the time, okay.)

Started crafting the build based on "more" multipliers. The original intent was Chin Sol Point Blank, and I did use a Chin Sol for a good few levels. Switched to GMP starting from here, because IMO CS works better with GMP (local spread is important when you're close up.) Also at this point, switched to a BM gem because mana leech wasn't cutting it. GMP made the difference there.

Somewhere along the line, I realised I was offscreening even when I wasn't trying to, and so I didn't see the point in point blank any more, pun intended. And I got a lovely crit Imperial so I swapped out of CS.

Decided to get into power charges for more crit chance, picked up a Voll's. That got me through to 77 maps. When my friend found (bought?) a Thief's Torment, I borrowed it for a couple minutes and absolutely loved it, so obviously I just had to get one. Freed up the BM gem slot, and therefore I get to run WED on a 4-link.

Then I picked up a Tabula for cheap. One link to PCoC since I was giving up Voll's, but I got one more I could use for Pierce. The difference was huge, since I wasn't cursing PW in parties anyway. And that was that. Played to 86 on this setup.