Argentae

One option would be to go with a PPP from the villain side and slot some of the uniques in there? The Gremlins are so central to an Elec/s damage, I'd be loath to short change them in useful slots. IMO it would be better to take a couple from a Pet that's only used sometimes.

Arg

So... First entry after starting incarnate content in DA.

First lesson learned was that when you select an incarnate ability on the "create" tab to see what incarnate components you need to craft it: There is a SECOND recipe listed below the one you can see. If you scroll down you'll see a list of components that can be crafted with threads rather than shards.

This is important to know as IFAIK shards don't drop in DA, just threads.

I'm currently working on the Musculature tree. Musculature buffs so many things that benefit Dark/Dark that it seems like the hands down choice: Damage, Immobilization Duration, Defense Debuff, Endurance Modification, ToHit Debuff and Run Speed. So far just have the alpha unlocked (via Mender Ramiel's arc) and have the base Musculature ability created.

Running at +0/+8 with no bosses has been working for me, though it's more challenging in DA than it is in PI etc.

Still getting a handle on what the most effective way to collect incarnate components is when i'm restricted to mostly soloing. I'm working my way through the DA arcs, and will probably try out the signature arcs as well.

Short Version: Dark/Dark/Lev seems to be working very well in powering through initial incarnate content.

Arg

Slowly working through the changes. I'm definitely going to need to take advantage of the upcoming freespec! :-)

I've got a full set of 6 WotC, 4 of the 6 Coercive Persuasion, and working through the Cloud Senses sets (one 6 pack in FS and one in Fluffy). Cloud Senses is really hard to get hold of though particularly one of the tri-aspect and the proc. I think I'm 2 alignment merits short of having enough so I'll probably do some more signature arcs this weekend.

So far I'm liking having a 5 pack of WotC in Dark Grasp and the proc in Living Shadows, that gives me the 4 procs in LS (WotC,Posi,TotH and Cloud Senses) with 2 slots for franken slotting acc/end/rech etc. I know I'm giving up the +def from the six slotted WotC, But I think having the increased dmg in LS is more valuable.

I'm definitely going to need to re-arrange slots to take some away from Waterspout and Coralax and replace them with franken slotted IO's vs the SO's I've got in there atm.

I agree on not using the build-up, but largely because I don't agree with Haunt's being a low dmg power (not saying that's that's what you are saying, but I've seen it posted elsewhere). With there being 2 of them, the aggregate dmg total over their duration is actually really quite high. Unfortunately the way their attacks are split between fear and dmg any procs are split too IIRC. Personally I feel they are best off pure dmg and rech slotting as the priority. Without doing the math on it, I'd probably lean towards saving the slot from the buildup proc for use elsewhere?

The 6 pack of Cloud Senses in Fluffy is tempting for the 3.75 +def... I *think* I'm already at the max for +6.25 rech sets, but I might still have one available. Hrm. If I added the 2 additional Cloud Senses into Fearsome Stare and did the same in Fluffy I'd have an additional +7.5 Def and then add the +5 from the Purp Confuse set. And if I slot out Fade (with LotG?)...

Arg

:: nods ::

The 4 pack of Exp Reinforcement is probably a good choice. I've got the full 6 pack of Exp Reinf in Umbra, so I'm getting the pet resist from there.

Mostly I think I'm looking at where to squeeze slots out where they can do more good elsewhere. I've got Waterspout, Bile Spray and Coralax all 6 slotted with SO's because I wanted to see how effective they were on a Dark/Dark. I'm thinking of putting the Posi Blast set in Bile Spray (probably just a 5 pack with either an additional proc or a franken to shore up whatever bonuses are needed or just 5 slotted).

Arg

Been quite a while since I updated this journal.

Shadow Fallen is now up to about 49.5 (awesome for both teaming and soloing) or so, so I'm looking seriously at a final build. I've transfered some cash and enh to her, so I've got a bit over 1.2 billion (and 6 Hero Merits) so far to play with for outfitting her. This is the first character I'll be taking through the incarnate content (focusing on DA), so I'm trying to get a handle on the whole incarnate system as well. ;-)

I haven't really focused on building for def, though I've picked up the steadfast +3 def global and have Fade, Shadow Fall, Combat Jumping, Maneuvers and Hover (all five slotted with a LotG +rech). Fade isn't really slotted out, with all the -ToHit from Fearsome stare etc there really hasn't been a need to really focus on MORE +def.
YET.
I understand that will probably change in DA?

A few things I've found:

1. The two store bought (Paragon points) procs in LS (Posi and TotH) do *excellent* dmg indeed. I'm planning on adding in the Apoc Purple Neg Nrg proc and WotC proc and then probably two acc/end franken slots. That frees up a 5 pack of Posi Blast to go somewhere… Probably into Bile Spray.

2. I love having Fluffy slotted for healing, but I may need to look at slotting it for -ToHit when I hit DA and the incarnate content. I've currently got the Cloud Senses proc, 3 heal and one acc slotted. Any thoughts on slotting Fluffy would be appreciated, I'm already full up on 6.25% rech sets IIRC.

3. Kinda stumped on slotting Waterspout, on tornado I've occasionally gone with Kin Crash as it gives decent enh values, is SUPER cheap and has quite good set bonuses. MUCH tighter build here so I may have to franken slot it for the most bang for the slots, I also wouldn't want to add any KB and kill the knock up.

Sets I already have:

1. 2 full sets of Expd reinforcements (currently 5 in Haunt and full 6 in Umbra).
2. 4 pack of Dark Watcher in Darkest Night.
3. 5 LotG + rech global
4. 5 pack of Cloud Senses (currently 4 in Fearsome stare and the proc in Fluffy)
5. 5 pack of Doctored Wounds in Twilight Grasp with a +Acc

I'm tentatively planning on:

1. Putting a 5 pack of WotC in Dark Grasp with a +dmg IO. I know that misses the +ranged def, but I'm thinking the proc in Living Shadows will be a way more effective use for damage.

2. Full 6 Pack of the Purple Coercive Persuasion in Possess.

I've been away from my normal setup (house is still being cleaned up from the contractor caused asbestos disaster), but I'm working on getting Mids setup so I can post a potential build.

TIA for any thoughts/suggestions anyone has!

Arg

Love it! That's a good one...

I thought of the *perfect* Dark/DAff name too... Alas, too late as I'd already created Shadow Fallen and she's up to 45 now with her backstory fully fleshed out.

Daffy Dark. Darkwing duck themed character.

Arg

Dark/Storm will be awesome I'm quite sure. I've been using Waterspout from Lev Mastery, and since it's a virtual clone of Tornado (though it's got knock up instead of knock back which is a big help), I can absolutely see how having tornado AND waterspout would just be awesome. Add in Thunderstorm and you've got a lot of fire and forget damage, just keep spamming Living Shadows (which you'd be doing for dmg anyway) to avoid the knockback.

Freezing rain with it's -Def is even better than Tar patch in many ways, though IIRC the radius on Tar patch is bigger? I *would* miss Fluffy, he does a great job of keeping all the melee pets alive and healthy. The -ToHit from Hurricane would certainly work beautifully with FS. and would provide an excellent positioning tool.

I know a lot of folks love the idea of stacking the stun from Thunderclap with Heart of Darkness, but honestly I've had a lot of luck just using the -ToHit as my primary mitigation and saying to HECK with hard control, so that's really not a big deal for me.

re: Dark/Kin:

I *love* /Kin. It was the secondary on my original main Argentae (Mind/Kin) back in I-2, and I've played it with just about every controller primary. Dark/ would go a long way towards improving /Kin's squishiness, esp with problem mobs that resist particular types of control.

With FS as an alpha eliminator for large spawns as well as sufficient mitigation (esp with Possess and the ST Hold), you should be able to run into the spawn and hit FS just like Mind can with Mass Hyp, the difference being Dark/ HAS an excellent AOE immob so containment will never be a problem for you, and with a few Dmg procs in it, Living Shadows does an excellent job at taking down large spawns.

Dark/Kin would be a total blast I'm sure.

Damn.

Now I totally want to play both Dark/Storm AND Dark/Kin.
::sigh:

Not enough hours in the day...

Arg

I still like Lev Mastery.

Waterspout fits in perfectly with it's fear, -Def and tremendous single target dmg +the knock up is great as well.

Once it's slotted the Coralax fits perfectly with the other Dark/Dark pets. It's got a couple cones and then it runs into melee where Fluffy keeps it alive with everything else.

Slotted up, Bile Spray fits perfectly as well as it's cone isn't too different from the cones of FS and Living Shadows (not as wide and long, but still decent).

I don't really have a use for the Res armor, if Lev had a Def armor it would be the perfect set... But I think I *may* pick up Hibernate at 49 just because with 6 pets out being able to turtle up for a bit might be very useful if things start to go bad.

Arg

One... Well, TWO words:

Leviathan.
Mastery.

Waterspout is awesome for adding damage, it's up about 30 sec on 30 sec off with 3 SO rech slotted and about 72% global rech. Does excellent dmg over time, and it does knock UP instead of tornado's (which it is otherwise a slower recharging clone of, albeit with better FX) Knockback. Excellent power. It even causes FEAR (so it fits in perfectly with the Shades etc), AND gives you your only -Def power! As a Dark/Time you would likely get a much better up/down ratio since you have (or will soon enough) Chrono Shift.

Lev Mastery also gives you Bile Spray (decent cone AOE that meshes well with FS and Living Shadows), Hibernate (if you want a panic button it's a great one esp with all the pets and pseudo pets you have), Shark Skin (pretty standard Res based APP/PPP armor) and summon Coralax (decent dmg pet with a cone that meshes well with the cones you and Umbra beast have IIRC as well as melee attacks.).

I vacillated for quite some time, but finally bit the bullet and made the trek to the red side and back... Well, ok, I went to the red side the hard way, I payed the paragon Points for an express pass back to the blue side. I've been very happy with Lev Mastery, seriously, it's excellent dmg esp when fighting single hard targets like EBs, A/Vs etc.

Granted this is from the perspective of a Dark/Dark, but it should be equally applicable to a Dark/Time.

::tosses two shiny coins in hat::

Arg

Don't forget the Villain side PPP's. There are some totally different options in those pools, and one might be just the right combo for you.

Arg

Just as a quick thought... One of the things that I've slotted Fluffy for is Healing. His heal is essentially identical to mine, so having him slotted for healing helps quite a bit in keeping the other pets (and myself!) in the green.

Arg

Just wanted to chime in since I just picked up /Leviathan on my Dark/Dark:

I can't comment on the Coralax as I don't have it yet, but it has a cone attack (IIRC) as well as a lot of melee attacks which makes it fit in very well with both Umbra and the Haunts.

Bile Spray is also a cone and meshes beautifully with the cones of FS and Living Shadows.

Waterspout is a thing of beauty... It's an absolute joy to use it on a Boss/EB/AV and watch the numbers float up in a steady *ahem* stream. Waterspout is also one of the *very* few -Def powers available to a Dark/Dark controller, and thus makes vet attacks more useful as well.

Anyway, I'm not looking at a purpled out build, just building with what I get (and can buy/sell) on the way up. In general the oodles of -ToHit hes minimized the mezzing problems I've had, though having IW wold let me drop Maneuvers as a LotG mule which would be nice.

::shrug::

Since you were looking at exactly the two APP/PPP pools I was I thought I should share some a subjective opinion of how Leviathan fits in with the Dark/Dark in play so far: Very Well.

Arg

My villainous odessy is complete! Last night I finished the alignment missions to switch to the red side so I could pick up Leviathan Mastery. By the time I finished all the tip missions and then the patron arc missions for Mako, I was at level 41.

In the Patron respec I picked up Water Spout at 35 (and 6 slotted it) and Bile Spray at 41.

I love, LOVE water spout on a Dark/Dark. With knockup/down instead of knockback it tends to just sit on targets, esp if you wait a bit so that only LT's and/or bosses are up for long. The damage it does is QUITE substantial when focusing on a single hard target, and the -def it brings to the table is especially valuable for a Dark/Dark as you have no other -def powers and being able to use Vet attacks vs single hard targets is quite handy. With it 6 slotted (3 Rech/3Dmg somewhat stale SO's so 88% of each), and 72% global rech it's up probably 50% of the time (out for 30 sec and recharging for 30 sec though I haven't timed it or done the math, that's about what it seems).

Bile Spray is only single slotted so far with a lvl 40 Acc SO, but it meshes very well indeed with the cones for FS and LS, and it looks like it should do quite good damage to supplement the procs in Living Shadows.

I don't really see a need for the Armor (res armor instead of +def ), and I *probably* will skip Hibernate, but I'll pickup the Coralax pet at 44, and it's ranged cone and multiple melee attacks should mesh perfectly with Umbra Beast and the haunts.

All-in-all I think it's a nigh perfect complement for a Dark/Dark controller. And it means that I'll have SIX pets. Same number as an MM, but with the full resources of a Dark/Dark controller behind them! Sweet.

Now I just need to figure out the slotting for the Leviathan Mastery powers. :: ponder ::

Arg

So. Awesome weekend. :-)
Got to spend quite a bit of time in game this weekend, so I got Shadow-Fallen to Lvl 39.6.

So now I've seen/ played with the build with Mrs. O'Leary AND Fluffy in addition to my faithful Shades. HECK yes. Fluffy totally pulls his weight, and all four of them together ROCK. It'll be even better once the Umbra Beast AI is given a bit of aggression, but even now it's excellent indeed. The Haunts are like guided missiles, while Umbral and Fluffy have my back .

I made the mistake of chatting with Lewis on the Control channel for a bit about how I really missed having some -Def in the build. He dug around and pulled up the info that Waterspout in Leviathan Mastery is a -Def. Not mention I LOVED Waterspout on my Doms both for damage, and for the knockdown and fear. Water spout causes Fear and Disorient, with proper coloring it would fit perfectly with Dark/Dark. Add in the Coralax pet, and the fact that the Cone AOE in Leviathan would match nicely with Dark/'s cones... Bang, I've now committed to the trip to the Red side to pick up Leviathan Mastery. :: sigh ::

Good news is I helped my son do some of his Vigilante tip missions a few days ago, so I had like a 3 tip start and managed to get fully to Vigilante by the end of the evening. :-)

So one more alignment to go and I can respec into Waterspout!

Since I've got decent +rech already (+72.5 from IO sets IIRC) in the build, Waterspout and the Coralax should be up pretty frequently. Just think about it:

2 Shades.
1 Umbra Beast
1 Dark Servant
1 Waterspout
1 Coralax

That's SIX pets on a NON-Storm Controller! It's like a mini-MM but with a full group of powersets in addition to all the pets!

Yum.

(A steadily more villainous) Arg

This is the part of the Beta patch notes we're all talking about:

So when I finally dinged 32 with Shadow-Fallen I asked my kids and frequent teammates what it should be nicknamed.

Gravity's Singularity: Singy
Fire's Imps: Psycho aggro monkeys
Ice's Jack Frost: Jack
Earth's Animate Stone: Rocky, Poo-Man
Plant's Venus Fly Trap: Twitchy or Audrey

But what should the official nickname of Umbral Beast be?

Some folks are calling it the "Puppy" or "The Dog"

But I think my nine year old NAILED it.

Umbral Beast is officially: Mrs. O'Leary (http://camphalfblood.wikia.com/wiki/Mrs._O'Leary)

It's prefect. If you've read the Percy Jackson books, you'll know that Mrs. O'Leary is a huge, pony sized greek hellhound (black with glowing eyes) that DOES tear bad guys apart, but she's also super friendly and really just wants a chance to play frisbee (with bronze shields), knock her friends down and lick them.

Perfect.

Arg

A Dark/DAff's ST damage largely comes from the ST hold, ST immob and Haunt post teens IMO. The shades do almost as much dmg as you do, and there are two of them

I would also NEVER 1 slot your ST hold, it's an absolutely key power in any controller build. I would and have slotted it for both hold and DMG though. I tend to focus on controlling the whole area (-ToHit to floor their acc) and using Possess as my primary ST control (using it to keep all LT's confused.) while using the ST hold to lock down the boss while the haunts help me beat him down. Once my new pal "Mrs. O'Leary" gets slotted out and her AI is changed from Defensive so that she actually attacks something that isn't doing dmg to me or herself :: roll eyes :: that should help too.

Arg