Hi guys. I am sure some of you may have heard of this term “Ice Stacking”, but do you guys actually know what it is all about, and how to do this effectively? I know some of you played other versions of DN before, and may have seen some articles on this. You guys may thought this has been “fixed” by the developers. But you know what? I just tested it out this morning and here’s the result in a video format.

Base non crit damage of Poison Missile = 122 – 128 per hit

After 1 layer of ice = 184 – 187 per hit (~50% increased damage)

After 2 layers of ice = 245 – 248 per hit (~100% increased damage)

The damage shown may not be an exact figure after you used the formula, but you get the idea. The damage amplification is Number of Ice Layers X 50%.

Note that the ice I’m talking about does not refer to the usual frostbitten slow effects, but referring to the ice fragments shown on the target. For bosses, you know that they can’t be frozen totally, but a layer of ice will appear around his body. Why did I use Freezing Field first? Freezing Field has the best ice resist debuff (@ 33%), and hence it will be the best skill to prolong Glacial Wave’s duration compared to other skills (@ 20%). With a Lv6 Glacial Wave and a Heraldry, At Boss Rush, I can activate Phoenix Storm, Firewall, Chilling Mist, Fireball, and the ice is still not broken yet.

How to do ice stacking then? –> Freezing Field->Glacial Wave->Glacial Spike (Most Basic Version) In the video I used Glacial Spike before Glacial Wave because Glacial Wave has a chance to freeze. I wouldn’t know if the freeze activates if I used Glacial Wave first. So that video combo is only for demonstration purposes. You should fully utilize the debuff effect from Freezing Field on Glacial Wave.

At our current level, the best possible stacking can go up to 4 layers but you need luck on that. Currently, only 4 skills can allow us to achieve this “Frozen” effect. I have already mentioned 2 of them (Glacial Spike and Glacial Wave), and the last 2? Yes you’re right. Freezing Shield and Blizzard Storm. Freezing Shield is really random, and Blizzard Storm has about 30% chance to freeze. Glacial Spike is also dependent on luck, and so congrats to those who picked Glacial Spike over Poison Missile. And that is a luck factor, so if you can achieve 3 or 4 layers, good luck to you!

In PvE, once you succeeded in your stacking, unleash all your DPS spells (Flame Road, Fiery Vortex, Chilling Mist, etc). Do take note that if you have another EL in your party, don’t use the same fire spells together because the burn effect will be overridden by the 2nd spell that comes. Similarly for ice spells. If you have another EL who casted Glacial Wave after you used Glacial Wave too, it will not be counted as a 2nd layer.

**Note: Same spells will not increase the ice layer, and will not add another burn status.

When lv50 comes for Elestras-to-be, IF this is not fixed like what other players said, we can achieve up to about 6 or more layers. And how do we do so? I will release a guide when level cap comes! I’m sure you guys will know what skills will help us in achieving that!

As for Saleanas-to-be, I’m sorry but you guys already have the best possible damage from all your fire spells. The most number of layers you can reach will be 2 – 4 based on what spells you learn. As I have said many many times, Saleanas are more to damage and Elestras are more to debuffs.

And here is a table showing the difference in SLOW and not the ICE RESIST for various ice spells at their different levels. Notice those I highlighted in RED? Those are the minimum levels that you can achieve a 95%-100% elemental lock. As for those in PURPLE, I still need further verification.

Feel free to make a comment down below if you have any queries.

View my post on my blog here http://dragonnestblog.com/2012/01/23/ice-stacking-effect/#more-1712 or visit http://dragonnestblog.com for lots of other guides.