Am a hybrid player that has avoided crowd control weapons so far. But having been in places like gauntlet, I can see the relevance of having some crowd control weapons. Hoping to hear from players who uses both blizzbrand n SVB, and is able to comment on pros n cons of both. Currently, I'm on da, Acheron, dtb, vile striker, Sudra, dbb, aoa, graviton, magma driver, Callahan, ap, sentenza, virulent catalyzer, blitz. I'm on skolver, volcanic demo n shadowsun. Appreciate all comments n guidance :)
Blizzbrand or SVB ?
Lun, 01/21/2013 - 16:39
Lun, 01/21/2013 - 23:03
#2
I agree with Bopp. In fact he
I agree with Bopp. In fact he stated my opinion.
For minor crowd control, go for VT : it does great damage in addition, and the shock isn't very disruptive for your teammates.
I would totally skip Stagger Storm though, as it totally mess up the timing attack of mobs. But it can be good because it totally shuts down certain mobs (I don't know which ones since I don't use it, I think kats at least), and it's certainly great in LD too.
There are a few situations where I really like Shivermist Buster, the main one being to Needle big slags in Legion of Almire. On the other hand, it's generally not needed in a lot of situations : when it's not needed, do your team a favor and use a damage weapon instead. That really depends of how good your team is. Be careful, since you stated the Gauntlet : the 2nd arena have freeze mobs, which are immune to shivermist.
Other freeze weapons shouldn't be considered because they just can't freeze on-demand. Glacius in particular is not very good for the reason Bopp told.
Lun, 01/21/2013 - 23:51
#3
Why do you have a Graviton and a Sudaruska if you've been avoiding crowd control weapons?
Mar, 01/22/2013 - 03:01
#4
SVB? Dont you mean SB? it's
SVB? Dont you mean SB? it's shivermist buster, not shi vermist buster.
Also I prefer glacius for raw damage, but SB is better for a support role. Up to you, but I think people rely too heavily on shivermist.
Mar, 01/22/2013 - 07:23
#5
thanks all.
@ Bopp & Fradow - Thanks for the reminder about the drawback for freeze - i recalled reading about it. but when i posted this comment, i totally forgot about it. personally, i hate the effects of shock, more than any other effect. so would be great to wish it upon the enemies of clockwork. but given i already have AOA, would u ppl think that its a little silly to get VT ? or would u ppl consider a shock effect to be more disruptive / damaging than effects of fire ? ignoring the fact that AOA will not be useful in fire-theme levels.
@Zeddy - hahaha. those are the weapons i got, after i got my main weapons. its the gotta-catch-them-all syndrome, but not quite -all-. i have avoided anything that is visually disruptive. for a while, i contemplated a jelly knight called Irritant - and was going to load him up with nitro, polaris and levi. but i figured no one would wanna play with him. so i dropped the idea.
@Batabii - not sure if i recalled wrong, but i thought i use to see ppl call it SVB for short. when i first got AOA, i thought for a very long time, if i should have AOA or SB, bec thats the 2 that ppl always recommend. eventually i chose AOA, cos i wanted to deal more damage, rather than crowd control. the crowd control thingy came back, cos after doing some places, like Gauntlet, where there are so many enemies, i figured it would make things easier if i could hold things in place. but like Bopp & Fradow reminded, that very effect, causes some problems too.
Mar, 01/22/2013 - 08:14
#6
Completely different weapons, different purposes
Glacius is intended as a damage-dealer. It's a sword, with freeze tacked on at the side, and is primarily intended for the damage. The freeze is useful for setting enemies up for another charge, although some people dislike the fact you can potentially have enemies locked in your face, and that also reduces the damage of the charge.
Shivermist Buster is intended as pure, reliable crowd control. The bomb's blast doesn't do a great deal of damage, but it will keep a large number of enemies locked in place for a time, and is more reliable at freezing than Glacius (I seem to recall that the charge can break its own freeze). This can also be something of a pain if your friends are trying to fight in close quarters and don't have any room to manoeuvre.
Really, it all depends on what you plan on doing with it. I would say that in general, Glacius is more useful. The Buster is good at fairly specific situations where you need an enemy to stay in place (large numbers of Devilites, Greavers, Kats, Trojans or Vanaduke). However, I might add that Voltaic Tempest makes a reasonable alternative to Shivermist Buster in certain occasions, being able to shut down Kats with the spasms and not inhibiting allies' movement so much.
And yeah, people don't use that as an acronym. If you refer to that bomb as SVB, nobody will really have much of an idea as to what you're talking about. Just take the extra two seconds to type out 'Shiver' instead.
Mar, 01/22/2013 - 08:18
#7
In any case wouldnt it be better to call it SMB ShiverMist Buster just like SwiftStrike Buckler is SSB.
Mar, 01/22/2013 - 09:07
#8
"but given i already have
"but given i already have AOA, would u ppl think that its a little silly to get VT ?"
On contrary, the beauty of haze bombs is that you can alternate 2 of them to have both effects on mobs : with that regard, AoA + VT is the highest damaging combo (since other status don't actually damage, save freeze thaw that is inexistent in practice). It is, for this very reason, my favorite way to do RJP, and overall any non-resistance arena or danger room (though VV is valid replacement due to healers, but that's off-topic).
Aureate said "Glacius is intended as a damage-dealer." : the problem is that, in that regard, it fails short compared to Combuster. And compared to Shivermist, it fails short on the crowd control area as well. It's really not getting the best of both worlds in my opinion (a lot of people have a different opinion though).
Mar, 01/22/2013 - 14:46
#9
Good point juances, however
Good point juances, however remember there's also Shocking Salt Bomb so maybe SB would be better?
Mar, 01/22/2013 - 20:36
#10
not sure which
i have both the shivermist and glacius, i would recommend both but, judging from the other post here, i use glacius slightly different. when i use glacius when i need crowd crontrol i use the charge attack to freeze as many as i can then go in for damage with the normal swings, so i potentially fight fewer at a time reducing risk, at least untill the ice thaws out. Shivermist i would recommend if you do stuff like FSC alot. use it to hold a group of undead still while your team wipes the floor with them.
Ive never really thought of glacius's charge attack as a damage dealer personally, the damage was always a bonus to me :P
Vie, 01/25/2013 - 07:32
#11
@Aureate & Wyvernblast - i
@Aureate & Wyvernblast - i guess this just goes to show why ppl have different opinions on similar weapons - ppl use similar weapons in different ways. hence, often, ppl are encouraged to get whatever they want to get - even when most agree that certain weapons are just plain useless.
@Fradow - thanks for the reminder that many knights do alternate between the two haze bombs. its pretty fun to watch your enemies go into spasms, even as they are burning.
overall though, this post reminded me that SB lock enemies down, and thats not always a good thing. and VT is an interesting alternative in that it allows the enemies to move, while shocking them from moment to moment. so yea, i like that idea. and besides, i kinda hate kats, the way they glide across the floor, and take a bite off u. so yea, if u see leeroy going with a VT one day, its thanks to your contributions.
& to all singaporeans, living in a particular area - vote wisely.
I have Glacius, Shivermist Buster, and Hail Driver. And Voltaic Tempest and Stagger Storm.
In my opinion, you should use Voltaic Tempest or Stagger Storm to control crowds. If it's a shock level, and you don't have Stagger Storm, then use Shivermist Buster. The reason is that freeze can be disruptive to your teammates. It hinders knockback, shield-bumping, and kiting. Fradow is always complaining, as a heavy sword user, that freeze makes him worse. He's not alone.
Glacius isn't bad, but its freeze effect often cancels its charge knockback, greatly lessening its damage in comparison to Combuster. Hail Driver isn't bad, but you have to use it very carefully, or else your shots will unfreeze things as often as they freeze things. So my opinion is that, if you really want freeze, then go whole-hog: Shivermist Buster. It's also useful in many Vanaduke parties.