Preamble
All the following information, tactics and such are mostly my opinion. Many Pvpers out there, better than I, have differing philosophies to mine. That doesnt make them better or worse, just different.
This guide was written while I was bored at work and may be a bit rambling. My build shown near the end of this guide is from memory but is very close to what Im playing.
Some Background
My current main PvP character is a Fire/Rad controller. When I was looking for information on a PvP build I found that many people either didnt know or kept their secret super duper builds and tactics to themselves. After a long time PvPing and many repecs later I finally found a build that suits my play style.
Im going to assume you have a working knowledge of controllers and the Fire/Rad controller in general. If you dont, you may need to read some PvE guides out there or just play a Fire/Rad for a while to get a feel for it.
Philosophies
My PvP build is designed to be viable in all the PvP zones and is surprisingly good in very low level arena matches.
My play style follows the same basic principles in each zone but each zone has several unique tactics that are available to them due to the powers you and your targets have and the difference in your surroundings.
My Controller will be referred to, in this guide as Choff. I got sick of typing the controller or the build.
Choff allows me a lot of flexibility. I have many PvP Characters but Choff seems to have the most variety when it comes to tactics and counters.
Choffs main tactic is to kite his target while stacking holds, immobilizes and debuffs to set up containment and then close in to bleed the target as quickly as possible. To enable the kiting part of this tactic he uses Hurdle and Combat Jump. Both are 3 slotted with Jump SOs. Choffs damage comes from his single target immobilize, Hot Feet, Imps, Power Blast and Sands of Mu. It takes time for Choff to kill things. During that time the kill may be stolen or their friends may show up to help. This is part of being a controller though. You wont kill quickly.
Power Choice and Slotting Explanations
Choff is a endurance hog. He runs a lot of toggles and his debuffs are toggles as well. Since the containment nerf he is even worse in Bloody bay and Sirens. He takes longer to kill things in these zones and runs out of endurance as a result. He has taken Stamina and AM from the Rad side for this reason. I enter a PvP zone carrying nothing but Break frees and Blues. Nearly all my toggles are 3 slotted with Endurance Reducers.
He needs to stack holds, immobilizes and debuffs quickly so he has taken Hasten and slotted Recharge SOs in many of his attacking powers.
Bonfire is a tool Choff uses in nearly every fight. It is used to separate a Master Mind from his pets, to unhide stalkers or to pin a target against an object. I often place one on my target once my immobilse has taken hold to give me a safe-ish place to finish the fight as it will not knock back a target with ring of fire running on it. Bonfires damage is Auto hit. It will knock back those without knock back protection.
Hotfeet does an accuracy check in PvP. I have a lot of HOs and find that once my green glowies of death are on a target it hits easily. Your mileage may vary and you might want to slip an accuracy in there.
TP foe is very handy. I can lay Bonfire around a corner and TP a mastermind to me and hold him. While I slowly kill him his pets are bouncing around at the corner. Its useful to bring back an escaping target to allow several more holds to hit him.
Smoke is not as good as I thought itd be. After testing it with a friend Ive found it lasts 20 seconds. During that time Im stealthed from the target. Once I attack the stealth drops and wont come back until I reapply smoke. Its has helped me attack teams but I may respect it out.
Superspeed is very handy for kiting and chasing runners while leaving combat jump on.
Tactics
Choff is very good 1 on 1. Following are some standard attack sequences.
Melee
As soon as Choff sees the target he hits Hasten and AM. Hit AM while at the top of a jump so you dont get rooted on the ground for the stalkers. Hell either jump over the target or around it and place his green glowies on it, Radiation Infection, Enervating Field and Lingering Radiation. Choff will then start alternating between Ring of Fire and Char. Keep stacking them until he gets held. Land next to the target and drop bonfire on him, Ring of Fire will stop him flying back. Use Sands of Mu and Ring of Fire to kill him. If you can have Imps out theyll catch up eventually or you can cast them as well.
Ranged
When fighting a ranged Character like a corrupter try and hit them with a hold first before debuffing them. Ring of Fire is Fly. If a target is hovering above out of reach you can try to reach him by jumping and hitting him with Ring of Fire. TP foe has helped Choff in this situation as well sometimes.
Masterminds
Masterminds can be a challenge when theyre played well. I tend to try different things to see what will work. Choff tends to stay out of range while Tabbing through targets until he gets the mastermind. Then he may jump up over the Mastermind and his pets and determine the best spot to land and drop Bonfire. If done correctly this can separate the Mastermind from his pets and break bodyguard, giving you some time to kill him. Another tactic is to land away from the Mastermind, drop bonfire in front of you, between you and the target. Turn around and TP the mastermind to you. You then hold and attempt to kill him before his pets work their way around bonfire. Using the buildings and landscape to your advantage help with this tactic.
Stalkers
Stalkers are fun to fight. Ive had some great games of Cat and Mouse in Sirens. Bonfire will unhide a stalker if he stands in it. If you are standing on Bonfire trying to lure him in have a breakfree ready. A good stalker will jump over the Bonfire and stun you. If hes your bounty and youre tracking the red dot hit bonfire while in the air and as you land on the bountys spot drop bonfire as well. If a stalker runs away during a fight stop moving and use TP foe to allow you to get some more holds on him. You need to try and keep hitting a stalker with Ring of fire or Char every now and then otherwise they re-hide. Ring of Fire then the slow, Char then Radiation Infection. That sort of thing. Water will hide Bonfire and allow you to see where stalkers are. Throwing bonfire onto a ripple and seeing a stalker go flying on his butt unhidden never gets old.
Play Tips
General play tips are as follows. Use your follow key. PvP is fast moving and this allows you to keep facing the right direction. Sometimes its better to manually follow. You need to work out when. Choff has a simple /whoall macro he uses in PvP zones. Type /macro ? whoall. Another macro he uses is this /macro TGT afk Im talking. Hit that while trying to look like stalker bait on your bonfire. Stalkers find it hard to resist a squishy, standing still and having a conversation in a PvP zone. Map a key to 'target closest enemy'. I map Tab as my 'closest target key' and the ~ key to cycle through targets.
Breakfrees
Breakfrees get their own paragraph. People will use breakfrees, deal with it. Choff uses them himself and during duels I allow their use. They help me more than they do the target generally. Choff will make his targets burn through their breakfrees very quickly. Generally after running around a zone for a while most his targets are without breakfrees. Even with breakfrees Choff will wittle down their health as he stacks his holds and immobilizes. Slows from Hotfeet and Lingering Rad will stack and Lingering Rad slows down any health regeneration on the target.
Endurance Management
During long fights you will run low on endurance. If you have no blues or dont want to use any yet there are some things you can do mid fight. Untoggle Enervating Field and Acrobatics. Keep Radiation Infection on the target as long as possible. If youre really struggling for endurance turn of all toggles but combat jump and Radiation Infection and kite until AM is back or your endurance is up enough. Try to keep hitting them with lingering rad if you can.
Choffs Build
I sometimes miss Tactics for stealthy Foes but I do ok without it. This build couldnt afford them, endurance wise, anyway.
My current build is shown below.
Name: Choff
Level: 50
Archetype: Controller
Primary: Fire Control
Secondary: Radiation Emission
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Ring of Fire==> Acc Acc Dmg Dmg Dmg Rechg
01) --> Radiant Aura==> Heal Heal Heal EndRdx
02) --> Char==> Acc Acc Rechg Rechg Rechg Hold
04) --> Radiation Infection==> TH_DeBuf TH_DeBuf TH_DeBuf EndRdx EndRdx EndRdx
06) --> Accelerate Metabolism==> Rechg Rechg Rechg EndMod EndMod EndMod
08) --> Hot Feet==> Dmg Dmg Dmg EndRdx EndRdx EndRdx
10) --> Enervating Field==> EndRdx EndRdx EndRdx
12) --> Combat Jumping==> Jump Jump Jump
14) --> Super Jump==> Jump Jump
16) --> Hurdle==> Jump Jump Jump
18) --> Swift==> Run
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod EndMod EndMod
22) --> Hasten==> Rechg Rechg Rechg
24) --> Lingering Radiation==> Acc Acc Rechg Rechg Slow Slow
26) --> Bonfire==> Rechg Rechg Rechg
28) --> Acrobatics==> EndRdx EndRdx EndRdx
30) --> Teleport Foe==> Acc Acc Range Range Range
32) --> Fire Imps==> Acc Acc Acc Dmg Dmg Dmg
35) --> Smoke==> Acc Acc
38) --> Super Speed==> Run
41) --> Conserve Power==> Rechg Rechg Rechg
44) --> Power Blast==> Acc Acc Dmg Dmg Dmg EndRdx
47) --> Power Boost==> Rechg Rechg Rechg
49) --> Mutation==> Rechg
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Empty
01) --> Brawl==> Empty
01) --> Containment==> Empty
02) --> Rest==> Empty
Three powers I consider as flavor powers are Smoke, Super Speed and Mutation. These could easily be swapped for something else without affecting the build a great deal. Superspeed is real handy in RV when chasing stalkers though.
