Freezing arrow synergy

[Fairlady]

ice arrow adds 5% duration per point invested. Is this before or after items, charms, etc? Anyone know this for a fact?

[Relativity]

Pretty sure it's before charms / items.

The general consensus is it's not worth investing 20 points into. Use them in strafe or passives.

[Bladewind]

It is not worth adding skill points to ice arrow to increase the duration, a small SC charm that deals 1 or 2 cold damage adds a MASSIVE 1 second increased duration when compared to the 0.1 second added by ice arrow to freezing arrow.

[Fairlady]

Yes im well aware of the conventional wisdom. I still would like to know if there is evidence (not second hand info) of whether the bonus in duration is before or after the charms, gear, etc. If it is AFTER, then 20 pts invested is basically doubling the freeze time, which I think is somewhat useful. I am making a pure frostmaiden with strafe. I have 17 skill points remaining after ive invested in EVERYthing that i need. This means max FA and synergy, strafe, valk, 100% pierce, d/e/a and CS at diminishing returns, etc. I have ITD on bow, so penetrate is only going to help with bosses, but then i also have inner sight to help with that. I guess some people would put points into decoy, but in my previous experience I rarely use it and this time I have a merc that can tank anything. Since this is a hardcore char, extra freezetime would be helpful. If however extra time is indeed applied before charms + gear so it is merely 2 seconds, then i guess i'll just find something else to pump.

[Relativity]

Well conventional wisdom dictates that it doesn't increase the freeze length after items, otherwise many more people would be maxing that skill, no?

[Fairlady]

What I've read so far about this synergy never mentioned whether it's before or after gear. Either way like i said, if anyone has first hand experience at this, put this to rest

[Bladewind]

i made a FA/Strafer zon just a month ago. :)