Ice Armor

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From Diablo Wiki

Ice Armor being cast.

Ice Armor is a Conjuration Wizard skill unlocked at Level 14, freezing or slowing movement of enemies attacking the character.

This is an Armor spell. Only one Armor spell can be active at a time.

Background

Lacking physical armor, a Wizard needs magical protection in dangerous places. This Ice Armor will have a chilling impact upon anyone striking her, cooling them to the point where their movements becomes slower, and limiting their ability to move.

Skill Rune Effects

The following is a very quick summary. See the Ice Armor rune effects page for a more thorough description of rune effects, or any of the individual rune pages for numbers, screenshots, blue quotes, and much more.

Name	Level	Description

Ice Armor
(database)
Conjuration
Armor spell

14

Cost: 25 Arcane Power

Surround yourself in a barrier of ice. Melee attackers are either Chilled or Frozen for 2 seconds. Lasts 120 seconds.

This is an Armor spell. Only one Armor spell can be active at a time.

Chilling Aura
(database)

21

Lower the temperature of the air around you. Nearby enemies are chilled, slowing their movement speed by 30%.

Crystallize
(database)

31

Whenever you are struck by a melee attack, your Armor is increased by 15% for 30 seconds. This effect can stack up to 3 times.

Jagged Ice
(database)

42

Melee attackers also take 100% weapon damage as Cold.

Ice Reflect
(database)

49

Melee attacks have a 25% chance to create a Frost Nova centered on the attacker, dealing 75% weapon damage as Cold.

Frozen Storm
(database)

53

A whirling storm of ice builds around you that deals 30% weapon damage as Cold over 3 seconds after casting Ice Armor.

Skill Design

Pretty straightforward skill. Useful especially when trying to run away from things, but also if the Wizard is overwhelmed in melee combat, it will briefly Chill or Freeze enemies attacking her. With some rune effects, it will damage enemies as well.

Appearance

The initial casting graphic is pretty cool, as a sort of hexagonal scaled globe rises up from the ground and vanishes over the Wizard’s head. After that though, there’s just a sort of blueish mist around her feet, which isn’t real impressive.

Synergies

The following Wizard passives provide a benefit to Ice Armor, runed or not:

Name	Level	Description

Galvanizing Ward
(database)
Passive

40

Increases the duration of your Armor spells by 120 seconds. As long as an Armor spell is active, you gain 310.097 Life per second.

The following skills are improved:
Energy Armor
Ice Armor
Storm Armor

Development

Ice Armor was first shown in August 2009 at GamesCom, seen in the gameplay demo. It was then not known if the spell was a Wizard skill or a shrine effect. The spell was seen more clearly at BlizzCon 2009, where it was a Tier I skill on the Storm Skill Tree. Unfortunately, this skill was unnecessary in the PvP demo, as Flux explained:[1]

As with the other defensive skills, this was just not needed at Blizzcon. I cast it a few times between battles, but never took any hits when I had it active.

It was still in the game as of BlizzCon 2010, but moved to Tier 2 in the new tree-less skill system. Skill tiers were removed for the July 2011 Press Event, allowing skills to unlock steadily from levels 1 to 30. Consequently, all skill levels were adjusted and Ice Armor became a level 2 skill.

Beta

The Diablo III Beta started in September 2011, and while it ran, all of the skills continued to undergo extensive iteration. Skill changes varied from changing the levels the skills are unlocked, to changes in resource cost, damage, and even function. A few skills were removed altogether, and a few new ones were added. Also, the entire skill system received an overhaul with the Beta Patch 13 update in February 2012, with physical runes replaced by rune effects that automatically unlock at various levels for the different skills.

Ice Armor remained at level 2 when the beta started. Flux was able to try it out, but it remained unnecessary:[2]

Like all defensive skills, the only reason to use this in the beta is out of curiosity or thoroughness. I did it for both those reasons, and was underwhelmed. It does chill melee attackers that get to you, but so few do that it’s hardly of need. The dangers to a Wizard in the beta come from exploding bosses and ranged attackers. Obviously the utility of Ice Armor may differ in other areas of the game, but those aren’t available for testing just yet, alas.

With the Patch 13 changes, Ice Armor was classified as a Conjuration skill and bumped all the way up to level 14, out of reach of beta players. For March's Beta Patch 14, Cold damage was removed from skill, and several rune effects were tweaked.

Media

Ice Armor can be seen in action on video here:

Video: Blizzcon 2010 Rune Effects

You can find pictures in the Diablo III screenshot and picture gallery:

Ice Armor active.
Just being cast.

References

BlizzCon 2009 Full Wizard Skill Trees
Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report — IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
Silva's Wizard Runestone Effects — IncGamers 5th Sep 2011
Wizard Beta Skills Mega-report: Part One — IncGamers 4th Oct 2011
Wizard Active Skills — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site

Fan-made Classes			Fan-made Skills [e]
• Alchemist • Arcane Warrior • Artisan • Aurian Mage • Bard • Channeller • Dragon Warrior	• Flagellant • Giant (U) • Hollow Man • Nomad • Onaga Manji • Phase Knight	• Ranger • Slayer (U) • Techpriest (U) • Telepath • Untainted (U) • Zealot	Dragon Warrior Skills • Bow and Throwing Skill Tree • Dragon Disciplines Skill Tree • Martial Arts Skill Tree	Untainted Skills • Divine Skill Tree • Void Skill Tree • Wrath Skill Tree	Aurian Mage Skill • Holy Power Skill Tree • Shadow Spells Skill Tree • Nature Forces Skill Tree
(U) = Unfinished

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