I'm surprised none of my fellow wizards have delved into this - once you hit a certain dps to ehp breakpoint, ice armor with ice reflect is absolutely amazing. It allows you to drop the frost nova all together essentually, specifically for archon. I'm a basic wizard I'd ask Jaetch to show some game play using this...the wizard audience would be amazed I think.
I'm surprised none of my fellow wizards have delved into this - once you hit a certain dps to ehp breakpoint, ice armor with ice reflect is absolutely amazing. It allows you to drop the frost nova all together essentually, specifically for archon. I'm a basic wizard I'd ask Jaetch to show some game play using this...the wizard audience would be amazed I think.
Battletag: thatshitcray#1175
For Archon it's not all that great. You should be killing mobs fast enough that it hardly procs. Against elites it can be useful but you'll get more dps out of pinpoint or storm armor and more consistent damage reduction from prismatic armor. Also, Archon uses Frost Nova to keep mobs frozen while refreshing Archon. Removing it doesn't really open any options.
It's an option for other builds, and I particularly like it for channeling builds since it won't interrupt, especially if you try to use arcane dynamo. Otherwise it's not that great because of the lack of dps, and right now dps is king because you can just lower MP to make up for lower survivability.
As Loroese pointed out, Ice Armor isn't really necessary for Archon builds, let alone Ice Reflect. The Frost Nova spawns are by chance (25%) and you're supposed to melt mobs before they even touch you. I would personally rather use Pinpoint Armor for the permanent increase to crit chance or Prismatic for guaranteed survivability. If you want to use Ice Armor no matter what, I'd even recommend Crystallize more. All it takes is three hits from enemies to increase your armor by up to 60%, which is more than what'd you get with Energy Armor. But the bonus only lasts for 30 seconds. And then again, if you want survivability, Prismatic increases your AR as well, which Ice Armor does not.
If you want to utilize Ice Reflect, it's really only useful against elites. Again, let me emphasize that it's only 25% chance on hit. If they never hit you, Ice Armor is just sitting there doing nothing. And if you let elites hit you so often, it might mean you're taking too long to kill them. 10-15 seconds tops per non-Extra Health elite pack is relatively standard on your max MP level. Finally, if you throw in a follower with a cold weapon like Buriza, chances are melee elites won't get to you fast enough to land more than a couple of hits here and there. And no need to rely on the Frost Nova procs if your follower can chain freeze for you.
TL;DR - If you want to use Ice Armor, the most useful runes right now are Crystallize (for the extra armor) and Chilling Aura (if you want to run Cold Blooded but don't use a follower).
Battletag: thatshitcray#1175
also , ice armor is best in farming act2 keywarden
For Archon it's not all that great. You should be killing mobs fast enough that it hardly procs. Against elites it can be useful but you'll get more dps out of pinpoint or storm armor and more consistent damage reduction from prismatic armor. Also, Archon uses Frost Nova to keep mobs frozen while refreshing Archon. Removing it doesn't really open any options.
It's an option for other builds, and I particularly like it for channeling builds since it won't interrupt, especially if you try to use arcane dynamo. Otherwise it's not that great because of the lack of dps, and right now dps is king because you can just lower MP to make up for lower survivability.
Crusader DPS and EHP Spreadsheet, meant for Crusaders
My Wizard
If you want to utilize Ice Reflect, it's really only useful against elites. Again, let me emphasize that it's only 25% chance on hit. If they never hit you, Ice Armor is just sitting there doing nothing. And if you let elites hit you so often, it might mean you're taking too long to kill them. 10-15 seconds tops per non-Extra Health elite pack is relatively standard on your max MP level. Finally, if you throw in a follower with a cold weapon like Buriza, chances are melee elites won't get to you fast enough to land more than a couple of hits here and there. And no need to rely on the Frost Nova procs if your follower can chain freeze for you.
TL;DR - If you want to use Ice Armor, the most useful runes right now are Crystallize (for the extra armor) and Chilling Aura (if you want to run Cold Blooded but don't use a follower).
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it's for trash mobs farming build afterall