With the imminent arrival of DNA Tracker, widely touted as the new best ICE in the game (replacing Tollbooth **) - what is the single best piece of ICE in the game right now?
Additionally at Nordic Nationals this year, it was stated once more that the best icebreaker in the game is Parasite. A bold, but convincing claim. What is the single best icebreaker right now?
Best ICE, best icebreaker, one of each. Go.
** opinions may vary, no matter how wrong they are
ICE needs to have a purpose to be good at anything.
Eli is an excellent piece of purely taxing ICE, since it typically costs 4 to break (or 3 now with paperclip) and only costs 3 to rez. This compares very favorably with Wall of Static, which for the same rez cost is only 2c to break. However, Eli is not a good piece of rush ICE, since he can be clicked through and does not force a gear check.
In RP, it is important for a lot of ICE to have subroutines you can’t just ignore to install (as outermost ICE) on centrals. In this case, ETR ICE makes the RP ability a click tax, but if the runner has to choose between hitting Ichi, Crick, or DNA Tracker before making a run on a remote, the cost is much greater.
/soapbox
Best ICE: Sherlock 2.0
Best icebreaker: Mimic(+Datasucker)
I guess if we’re really stretching things then Blackmail is the best breaker by far (followed by DDOS).
If it doesn’t interact with the ICE in any way, it doesn’t count. The Thread Overlord has spoken.
ICE
IFF You run tag-punishment: Data Raven
Otherwise: DNA Tracker
Breaker
Atman
Atman is AMAZING these days. It can pinpoint a single ICE and break it for 1-2 creds, which is beautiful in a meta with few ICE. It can blank 2/3 pieces of ICE, and if you combine it with NRE or Datasucker it becomes absurd.
ICE: Vanilla
0 to rez, still ends the run. What about that, Siphon decks?
Breaker: Mongoose
It simply has the better flavour text over Faust.
Gordian Blade will take over as the best ice breaker soon, as code gates are the new sentries when DNA Tracker and Mausolus arrive …
ICE: Susanoo-no-Mikoto : has won me plenty of games simply because a STR 7 sentry can be tough to break and its sub is essentially an ETR (which is my fave kind of sub)
Icebreaker: Gordian Blade : tempted to say either Faust or Paperclip, but when I see Gordian hit the table, I know none of my fun code gates stand a chance anymore, esp when they are stacked on one another.
