Ice Warden build ideas

Athan1

Considering an ice-only Warden build. I don't care about meta viability etc, just a thematic build for overland pve. Any ideas regarding what ice-themed sets and monster sets to use? What skills from the winter embrace and frost staff skill line would you recommend? TYIA

ke.sardenb14_ESO

I can't really speak on abilities because I don't play warden, but I have theory crafted some set options you may like

So regarding monster sets, you cannot go wrong with ice heart helm, because on top of ice damage it provides, you will get a juicy damage shield to protect you.

For the body and weapons you have some options.
If you are looking for a tanky cheese build you can use frozen watcher set to give to a larger guaranteed ice storm. The primary down side being that you will need to block to get it.

Some other sets that play better and don't require you to turtle are winter born, ice furnace, and icy conjurer. Winter born and ice furnace are nice simply because all you need to do to activate them is use ice damage. Icy conjurer can also do decent ice damage so long as you are applying a minor debuff, which should work out well provided you are using the swarm ability in animal companion line.

2 sets that may actually be strongest are elemental succession and elemental catalyst. Neither has a flashy ice effects, but succession increases the spell damage of your ice spells so long as you are doing ice damage, and catalyst increases critical damage done so long a you are doing ice damage. These two sets will actually buff other elements as well.

UrbanMonk

I had the same idea a couple of weeks ago, about a complete ice damage build for magden, which is not only fun but does output serious damage and is pretty easy when it comes to doing vMA or vVH or for vet dungeons. I still have to farm one more piece I need for it and then test it on weekend. If works then ill for sure post it here.

ESO_Nightingale

Athan1 wrote: »

Considering an ice-only Warden build. I don't care about meta viability etc, just a thematic build for overland pve. Any ideas regarding what ice-themed sets and monster sets to use? What skills from the winter embrace and frost staff skill line would you recommend? TYIA

i made a build back in harrowstorm that can do what you want. i still need to update it for markarth though. but, basically i'd drop winterborn for mother's sorrow, or use julianos and mother's sorrow. additionally, you no longer need to do vMA for a maelstrom frost staff

https://youtube.com/watch?v=3PLoAsGFNdA&t

ESO_Nightingale

ke.sardenb14_ESO wrote: »

I can't really speak on abilities because I don't play warden, but I have theory crafted some set options you may like

So regarding monster sets, you cannot go wrong with ice heart helm, because on top of ice damage it provides, you will get a juicy damage shield to protect you.

For the body and weapons you have some options.
If you are looking for a tanky cheese build you can use frozen watcher set to give to a larger guaranteed ice storm. The primary down side being that you will need to block to get it.

Some other sets that play better and don't require you to turtle are winter born, ice furnace, and icy conjurer. Winter born and ice furnace are nice simply because all you need to do to activate them is use ice damage. Icy conjurer can also do decent ice damage so long as you are applying a minor debuff, which should work out well provided you are using the swarm ability in animal companion line.

2 sets that may actually be strongest are elemental succession and elemental catalyst. Neither has a flashy ice effects, but succession increases the spell damage of your ice spells so long as you are doing ice damage, and catalyst increases critical damage done so long a you are doing ice damage. These two sets will actually buff other elements as well.

we tested these sets

Frozen Watcher is really quite meh, and only somewhat useful for tanking because of the 2-4 piece bonuses. it's only upside is that it looks cool, Winterborn is one of the best theme sets if you don't care too much about viability as it's uptime is decent and doesn't get wasted, it's downside is that it doesn't offer any crit bonuses and it can be annoying to get. Ice furnace is alright, but it's heavy armor and deals flame damage, not frost, icy conjuror is horrible in pve because it can often get wasted on trash mobs, while it also has a longish cooldown. Elemental succession isn't actually the highest dps for frost, and gets beaten by other more meta sets, and elemental catalyst is purely for buffing group critical damage, and thus, is worse for solo than using another set.

Julianos and Mother's Sorrow are probably the best sets to use for a new player looking to make a frost build because they're very easy to aquire, extremely powerful (in the case of mother's sorrow) and offer good crit bonuses, which is especially important considering minor brittle and glacial presence.

Taleof2Cities

Remember the OP is looking for a thematic build, @ESO_Nightingale ... not necessarily what's meta with Ice Wardens these days.

Winterborn will still work fine if aesthetics is important ... along with Ysgramor's or Frozen Watcher.

zvavi

Taleof2Cities wrote: »

Remember the OP is looking for a thematic build, ESO_Nightingale ... not necessarily what's meta with Ice Wardens these days.

Winterborn will still work fine if aesthetics is important ... along with Ysgramor's or Frozen Watcher.

Hey, ESO_Nightingale is trying the best to meet half point of frosty and viable, I think the job he/she does is well done!

The_Lex

Taleof2Cities wrote: »

Remember the OP is looking for a thematic build, @ESO_Nightingale ... not necessarily what's meta with Ice Wardens these days.

Winterborn will still work fine if aesthetics is important ... along with Ysgramor's or Frozen Watcher.

Meta and Ice Warden should never be used in the same sentence. And I say that with sadness.

ealdwin

I seem to recall testing previously on the pts a build using Ice Furnace + Winterborn + Master's Ice Staff so that I could use Frost Reach as a semi-viable spammable. Don't remember if it was a viable build, but it was fun to use at least on the Dreughs outside of Wayrest.

FrancisCrawford

Some thoughts:

• The cloak and AoE skills are pretty effective. No reason not to use them.
• The Frost version of Wall of Elements looks a lot icier than it used to.
• The ice ultimate has been nerfed a bit but should be fine.
• The netch is blue. It fits well with ice. Use it.
• The other non-ice skill that's so important that you shouldn't do without it is Shalks.
• The Winter's Respite set covers a lot of ground with ice. It's quite cheap to buy in guild stores these days. You can run it on a single bar.
• If you use Crushing Shock/Force Pulse as your spammable rather than Birds, and have a Charged frost staff, you'll cast a lot of icy conditions.

Athan1

Awesome ideas, thanks guys! I'll get started this weekend

jaws343

If I were to put together a fun overland Ice build, I'd run Icy Conjurer, Winterborn, and Iceheart.

YandereGirlfriend

You could also do something like:

Iceheart Monster Set
Elemental Succession (or Icy Conjuror) body pieces
Ancient Grace jewelry (to complement Northern Storm as your ultimate)
Master's Frost Staff front-bar (use Frost Reach DoT as your spammable)
Maelstrom Frost Staff back-bar

Your rotation would be really strange with Frost Reach every 4th GCD but if you're not planning on using Shalks (since not Frost Damage) it would be much easier.

FrancisCrawford

By the way, my main warden happens to be white-haired. I dressed him in the Jephrine Paladin outfit styles (available very cheap in guild stores) and slathered on a white dye. I think the look works very well.

He also rides one of the white Indriks, which is a great match.

Wolf81

https://arzyelbuilds.com/eso-magicka-warden-pve-build/

ESO_Nightingale

The_Lex wrote: »

Taleof2Cities wrote: »

Remember the OP is looking for a thematic build, @ESO_Nightingale ... not necessarily what's meta with Ice Wardens these days.

Winterborn will still work fine if aesthetics is important ... along with Ysgramor's or Frozen Watcher.

Meta and Ice Warden should never be used in the same sentence. And I say that with sadness.

Well, it is actually meta for magden in solo and small scale pve. Just as long as you're using enough crit chance (ms) and chilled application (and no-one else in your group is using any other form of minor maim).

Norith_Gilheart_Flail

You can actually get super creative with being an Ice Mage, I've found. Though it's more about the ability choices, and less about the gear.

If you have not familiarised yourself yet with the build editor, it's mostly correct and will give you a good feel for what spell power, crits, synergies, and everything all look like together.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData

I have a one bar frost build, with back bar heals that I play as an ice mage / assault healer and I am more than happy with it.
Quick queue's and legitimate contribution to group support as well as dishing out decent dps yourself. Soloing dungeons is not difficult either.

Araneae6537

Zavijah_Arventi wrote: »

You can actually get super creative with being an Ice Mage, I've found. Though it's more about the ability choices, and less about the gear.

If you have not familiarised yourself yet with the build editor, it's mostly correct and will give you a good feel for what spell power, crits, synergies, and everything all look like together.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData

I have a one bar frost build, with back bar heals that I play as an ice mage / assault healer and I am more than happy with it.
Quick queue's and legitimate contribution to group support as well as dishing out decent dps yourself. Soloing dungeons is not difficult either.

What do you use as your destro staff? I had wanted my warden to be ice dps / nature healer but with a frost staff and gear Winter’s Respite and Spell Power Cure, dps feels negligible whatever skills I slot.

White wabbit

Winters respite

Faulgor

Don't forget a Frost enchant for you weapon! It also helps to apply Chilled. As your spammable you could use Elemental Weapon from the Psijic skill line, which has a chance to apply Chill and gets boosted by your bonus to magic damage, or Force Pulse / Crushing Shock, which deals additional frost damage.

As far as ultimates go, Besides Sleet Storm and the destro ulti, there is also Ice Comet from the Mages Guild.

Araneae6537 wrote: »

Zavijah_Arventi wrote: »

You can actually get super creative with being an Ice Mage, I've found. Though it's more about the ability choices, and less about the gear.

If you have not familiarised yourself yet with the build editor, it's mostly correct and will give you a good feel for what spell power, crits, synergies, and everything all look like together.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData

I have a one bar frost build, with back bar heals that I play as an ice mage / assault healer and I am more than happy with it.
Quick queue's and legitimate contribution to group support as well as dishing out decent dps yourself. Soloing dungeons is not difficult either.

What do you use as your destro staff? I had wanted my warden to be ice dps / nature healer but with a frost staff and gear Winter’s Respite and Spell Power Cure, dps feels negligible whatever skills I slot.

My Warden healer (SPC + Winter's Respite) runs Maelstrom lightning staff backbar for heavy attacks. With Winter's Revenge, Wall of Elements, Mystic Orb, occasionally Soul Trap, and your heavy attacks, AoE DPS in trash fights is fantastic. It's not as frosty as could be, but it's good in groups.
If you want to stick to frost staff, you could try to fit in Impulse for more AoE frost damage, although that will impact your sustain quite a bit. You might actually benefit from the Black Rose Prison frost staff in this case!