Ice Armor

Ice Armor is a Utility Wizard skill unlocked at Level 2, slowing movement and attack speeds of enemies attacking the character and damaging them a little as well.

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

Background

Ice Armor in action

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 around as well as delivering some pain from the cold.

Skill Effects

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

Icon	Skill	Description

{{{icon}}}

[[{{{name}}}]] Conjuration Armor spell

14

{{{desc}}}

	Jagged Ice	Attackers take 30 - 38 Cold damage and are chilled for 5.5 seconds.
	Chilling Aura	Lower the temperature of the air around you. Nearby enemies are chilled, slowing their movement and attack speed, for 3.0 seconds.
	Frozen Storm	A whirling storm of ice builds around you that deals 57 - 71 Cold damage per second for 16 seconds after casting Ice Armor.
	Crystallize	Whenever you are struck by a melee attack the bonus armor granted by Ice Armor is increased by 85% for 10 seconds. This effect can stack up to 3 times.
	Ice Reflect	Attacks have a 55% chance to create a Frost Nova on the attacker dealing 78 - 85 Cold damage.

Note: Information is based on a level 60 character and rank 7 runestones.

Skill Design

Pretty straightforward skill. Useful especially when trying to run away from things, but also if the Wizard is occupied in melee combat, it will lower the damage she takes in a fray. It likely won't increase Armor or any other defensive stat.

The duration of the spell was shown as almost exactly 3/8 duration with 2 minutes left so it's safe to assume the duration is 6-8 minutes, but we do not know what the exact duration of the spell is.

Synergies

Ice Armor benefits from the following Wizard passives:

Skill	Unlocked	Description

{{{icon}}}

[[{{{name}}}]] See: Armor spell

40

{{{desc}}}

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, and Ice Armor became a level 2 skill.

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:

• Diablo III screenshots and pictures
• Ice Armor specific gallery contents

• 

  Ice Armor active.

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 Active Skills -- Diablo III 12th Sep 2011

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer primary

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer secondary

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer corpses

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer bloodandbone

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer reanimation

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer curses