Tree of Savior Forum

Rework Cryomancer

Class and Rank Wizard
#1

With all the recent changes, the class is now in an awkward state…

  1. Elemental build vs CC build

Up to now, the class used to be part of CC builds, like cryo-kino-sage or cryo-kino-onmy. But since the split between elemental and non elemental classes, you’re now supposed to play it with elemental classes. And everyone will pick pyro-ele-tao, leaving cryo aside for non-meta builds.

  1. Rod+shield vs rod+dagger vs staff+trinket

If you want to use cryo in a DPS build, you will pick classes that pretty much require staff+trinket. With cryo-pyro you will use the pyro Vaivora. With cryo-kino you will use the kino Vaivora. Both these choices will leave you with skills that take two seconds to cast unless you sacrifice a class for Chronomancer or use Asio ichor + Lynnki Sit accessories. And cryo Vaivora is a rod, not mentioning the extra damage you deal with a rod if you activate the attribute. So the clear choice is go rod+dagger with cryo Vaivora, activate the attribute to transfer dagger atk to main weapon and benefit from the -50% casting time of the rod. But then you have Subzero Shield… which requires a shield. So if you want to use that skill, you need rod+shield combo, which obliterates your damage output.

  1. Freeze sucks

Okay it works vs mobs and bosses in CM, but if you want to use it against top bosses or in PvP it simply almost never work…

So to improve the class again:

  • make “thin ice” effect not only turn debuff into Chill, but change ice to non property damage (with Chill increasing ALL damage by 10%, not only ice property)
  • change “Subzero Shield” to not require a shield (same as Magic Shield for Wizard), remove the Counterattack attribute
  • buff Freeze effect again so that the first time is a guaranteed freeze and consecutive times have more chances to freeze
#2

the -50% casting time applies only to shield users. Rod + dagger do not benefit from it.

#3

Didn’t even remember that lol…
So rod+dagger has the same issue as staff+trinket. Even worse…

#4

My thoughts:

If you change thin ice as proposed, you won’t benefit from Taoist strengthen charm, which already provides a huge boost to dps. However, you would be able to use Sage, Rune Caster, and Onmyoji. The flexibility is interesting, but I believe Taoist would be the superior path for most content.

Removing the requirement of using a shield for the use of subzero shield does not mean you would use rod+dagger or staff. Cryo damage is basically ice blast (with the break attribute) and frost pillar, and they both have obscene cast times (2 seconds without cast time reductions).

The last point is a big no. Being able to freeze end-game bosses and in PvP constantly is unfair. With the right set-up, you can use hail and frost pillar consecutively, while gaining 30 stacks to freeze even more with the Cryo vaivora.

For myself, a big portion of the damage is tied to using ice blast (with attribute) on ice wall. Ice wall is an installation that can be targeted by anyone. This means that in party content, it can be destroyed fairly easily by players. Even some WBR bosses can destroy ice wall with attacks easily, like Rexipher. In party raids, the duration of ice wall is halved, meaning you can only use one ice blast per wall.

I have not used snow rolling enough to comfortably comment on it, so I will not talk about it. I will say that at a glance, being locked out of your skills for up to 10 seconds (not counting skill gem or divine might) sounds terrible. I will try it out to get a better idea of how to use it in a bossing rotation, so expect that soon I guess.

Ice pike is fine, ice bolt adds nothing of value since it has such a low cooldown, but neither skill requires changes. I wouldn’t be against adding a 0.5 second cast time on ice pike, but that’s just me being greedy for more damage because of the goddess set.

Changes I would like to see on Cryo (for now) would be:

  1. Changes to thin ice that allow non-cryo ice skills to proc chill, even if they have no freeze associated with it.

  2. Changes to ice wall that stop others from destroying it in PvM content (blockade battle, boss raids, etc).

  3. Change the current ice wall art. For example, remove the current functionality, apply the chill effect around yourself and damage enemies over time. The damage can start off at a low sfr that increases if an enemy is within range. If the enemy stays within range long enough they take a lot of damage and freeze. If you use it with thin ice, the duration doubles and the enemy cannot be frozen.

  4. Lower the cast times on ice blast (with attribute) and frost pillar. One second casts are long enough. IMC would be able to remove the 50% cast time reduction from Wizard’s rod mastery. Then the player can decide between shield and dagger, rather than forcing shield onto all Cryo.