Xarei

With the new version of Mids supporting Nature Affinity, I'm trying to come up with a build for a new Controller. The two Controller Primary sets I'm looking at (for flavor reasons) are Ice & Electric, and I'm trying to figure out which has the better synergy.

Nature Affinity seems like the sort of secondary that would encourage an up-front style of play, with Wild Growth, Wild Bastion, Entagling Aura and Overgrowth all being PBAOE. At first glance, it would seem that both of the primaries in question have PBAOE toggles that nicely compliment that style. Ice control also has Glacier for PBAOE hold stacking, but Electric control might get more benefit from the buffs and AOE heal since it gets 2 pets.

So, any thoughts on which would work better?

Hey, just thought I'd weigh in since I have a Plant/Fire dom that I really love (my first Villain 50 actually).

I'm going to assume since you posted an SO build that you are not rolling in INF and are looking for build advice that isn't all about perma-dom, soft-cap nastiness. So, with that in mind here are some things I noticed:

1. You took Incinerate and Flurry, which makes me think that you want to be at melee range, but you didn't grab Combustion. You should consider either picking it up or dropping the melee attacks.

2. Defense is one of those things that doesn't really make a difference unless you have quite a bit of it (25%+ in my experience). Maneuvers is giving you 4% for 4 precious Enhancement Slots. I'd drop it unless you plan on getting 20ish% more defense from stuff like Weave, Hover/CJ or Set IOs.

3. Should you have some cash a very cheap way to improve your build is the Thunderstrike set, it can be slotted in Flares, Fire Blast and the amazingly great Blaze. At 4 slots it's got Recovery, Ranged Defense and Accuracy all of which are great. Slap 1 set into each of those three powers and you can go down to 1 Accuracy SO in most of the rest of your powers.

Hope that helps.

Wow, that is a lot of merits, but I guess some way other than cash is nice.

Thanks

Hey All,
Can you get the ATOs from the new Super Packs for Reward or Incarnate Merits yet, and if so, how much do they cost?

I realize I could look in game, but it's 6 agonizingly long hours till I'll be back at my machine to login.

Thanks

I am thinking about switching my fairly normal ranged-ish Plant / Fire / Lev over to a more melee focused Plant / Fire / Ice build to take advantage of Combustion, Consume, Incinerate and the short range of Blaze as well as picking up Sleet and Ice Storm because they seem awesome. I've tried to go this route before while leveling up (pre I18) and it seemed like I died pretty much any time Seeds of Confusion expired, so I was thinking that upping my defense might be the key. I don't have the cash for perma-dom or many sets, so I'm looking for something that can work on just SOs and I had some of questions.

1. Is this even remotely feasible?
2. Is the Fighting pool worthwhile for a Dom?
2a. I was thinking Kick, Tough, Weave and don't actually use Tough.
3. Is Maneuvers worth it given that I probably only team 50% of the time?

I recently gotten my Crab Spider up to the upper 30s playing as your standard AOE blasting, tough shelled Arthropod. Love the AT, love the backpack, but I'm thinking of trying something a bit different.

I rolled over to test and tried out a tanky, pet focussed build and had a lot of fun running against 3-4 villains worth at +1 using SOs (insert rant about Black Market on test server here). I'd like to respec the character over on live and IO it up, but here's where I need your help.

The two best set bonuses for this build are +def (I think) and +rech to keep me alive and to get my pets as close to perma as possible... which happen to be the most sought after bonuses. I'm no farmer and I'd like to get the most out of my enhancements without breaking the bank. So, what can I do to save money on this planned build without sacrificing (too much of) my Tankermindyness?

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Natural Arachnos Soldier
Primary Power Set: Crab Spider Soldier
Secondary Power Set: Crab Spider Training
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Presence
Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Slice

• (A) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 38
• (3) Crushing Impact - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 38
• (3) Crushing Impact - Damage/Recharge: Level 38
• (5) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 38
• (5) Crushing Impact - Damage/Endurance: Level 38

Level 1: Crab Spider Armor Upgrade

• (A) Resist Damage IO: Level 40

Level 2: Combat Training: Defensive

• (A) Defense Buff IO: Level 40

Level 4: Channelgun

• (A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage: Level 38
• (9) Decimation - Damage/Endurance: Level 38
• (9) Decimation - Damage/Recharge: Level 38
• (17) Decimation - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 38
• (17) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 38

Level 6: Hasten

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 40
• (7) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 40
• (7) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 40

Level 8: Hurdle

• (A) Jumping IO: Level 40

Level 10: Tactical Training: Maneuvers

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense: Level 38
• (11) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance: Level 38
• (11) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Recharge: Level 38
• (31) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 38

Level 12: Venom Grenade

• (A) Detonation - Damage/Endurance/Range: Level 40
• (13) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 40
• (13) Detonation - Damage/Recharge: Level 40
• (46) Detonation - Damage/Endurance: Level 38
• (50) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage: Level 38

Level 14: Health

• (A) Healing IO: Level 40
• (15) Healing IO: Level 40
• (15) Healing IO: Level 40

Level 16: Super Speed

• (A) Run Speed IO: Level 40

Level 18: Arm Lash

• (A) Obliteration - Damage: Level 38
• (19) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 38
• (19) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 38
• (23) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge: Level 38
• (23) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 38
• (43) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage: Level 38

Level 20: Stamina

• (A) Endurance Modification IO: Level 40
• (21) Endurance Modification IO: Level 40
• (21) Endurance Modification IO: Level 40

Level 22: Mental Training

• (A) Run Speed IO: Level 40

Level 24: Fortification

• (A) Reactive Armor - Resistance: Level 38
• (25) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance: Level 38
• (25) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge: Level 38
• (33) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Recharge: Level 38
• (34) Reactive Armor - Endurance/Recharge: Level 38

Level 26: Frenzy

• (A) Obliteration - Damage: Level 38
• (27) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 38
• (27) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge: Level 38
• (31) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 38
• (37) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 38
• (46) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage: Level 38

Level 28: Serum

• (A) Miracle - Heal/Endurance: Level 38
• (29) Miracle - Endurance/Recharge: Level 38
• (29) Miracle - Heal/Recharge: Level 38
• (34) Miracle - Heal/Endurance/Recharge: Level 38
• (40) Miracle - Heal: Level 38

Level 30: Maneuvers

• (A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 40
• (31) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 40
• (34) Defense Buff IO: Level 40

Level 32: Omega Maneuver

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 40
• (33) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 40
• (33) Accuracy IO: Level 40

Level 35: Summon Spiderlings

• (A) Call to Arms - Defense Bonus Aura for Pets: Level 30
• (36) Call to Arms - Endurance/Damage/Recharge: Level 30
• (36) Call to Arms - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 30
• (36) Call to Arms - Accuracy/Damage: Level 30
• (37) Call to Arms - Damage/Endurance: Level 30
• (37) Call to Arms - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 30

Level 38: Call Reinforcements

• (A) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 38
• (39) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage: Level 38
• (39) Expedient Reinforcement - Damage/Endurance: Level 38
• (39) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 38
• (40) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge: Level 38
• (40) Expedient Reinforcement - Resist Bonus Aura for Pets: Level 40

Level 41: Electrifying Fences

• (A) Enfeebled Operation - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 38
• (42) Enfeebled Operation - Endurance/Immobilize: Level 38
• (42) Enfeebled Operation - Accuracy/Endurance: Level 38
• (42) Enfeebled Operation - Immobilize/Range: Level 38
• (43) Enfeebled Operation - Accuracy/Immobilize/Recharge: Level 38
• (43) Enfeebled Operation - Accuracy/Immobilize: Level 38

Level 44: Ball Lightning

• (A) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 38
• (45) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage: Level 38
• (45) Detonation - Damage/Endurance: Level 38
• (45) Detonation - Damage/Endurance/Range: Level 38
• (46) Detonation - Damage/Recharge: Level 38

Level 47: Summon Striker

• (A) Blood Mandate - Damage: Level 38
• (48) Blood Mandate - Accuracy: Level 38
• (48) Blood Mandate - Accuracy/Damage: Level 38
• (48) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 40

Level 49: Provoke

• (A) Trimuphant Insult - Taunt: Level 20
• (50) Trimuphant Insult - Taunt/Recharge: Level 20
• (50) Trimuphant Insult - Chance to Disorient: Level 20

------------
Level 1: Brawl

• (A) Empty

Level 1: Sprint

• (A) Run Speed IO: Level 40

Level 2: Rest

• (A) Empty

Level 1: Conditioning
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Also thinking of dropping Omega Maneuver and Superspeed for a different travel power as Grandville is a pain for SS. I was debating over Teleport to get Recall Friend or Super Jump to get Combat Jumping, any thoughts?

Thinking of dropping Maneuvers since on test I was having end issues, though I think IOs will fix this, anything awesome I could swap it for?


Thanks for your help.