EmperorSteele

Oh WOW, and I just happen to be off all next week!

Someone up there likes me, they really likes me!

... Ponies. WHY'D IT HAVE TO BE PONIES?!

I was gonna make a series of videos to the same effect with my mind/kin, but seeing as my phantom pets were the ones doing all the work, i felt it was worse than using temps =/

Kin is also a good secondary for melee fun. Three of your best powers work exclusively or best in melee.

As for primary, you want probably Fire, Ice, or Earth, as they each have, AFAIK, at least one PBAoE mez or effect.

When Time Manipulation comes out, that seems like it'll be a decent candidate for a secondary for this type of character as well.

Dark/Kin =)

You know, Vent, you can't just SAY that arcs have a 5-mission max? You have to leave him bewildered and confuzzled and possibly make him feel stupid?

I knew I liked you for a reason!

I thought Ill/Rad was the next Ill/rad?

Ill/time? I see it doing one or two things better, but having less -regen and -res doesn't allow it to trump Rad in teh av-soloing department.

PS, reserving "Time 2 get Ill" on all servers =P

Oookay, now we're getting somewhere! I'll post a build I think you might be happy with based on your criteria. But first I'll answer your questions!

1) Good point on CJ. I hadn't considered that. I usually just hover over enemies and have found immbs to be a very rare problem, because i sneak up on things and they never get an attack off. I also keep 3 BFs on me at all times, just in case.

2) You asked about how slotting for damage compares with slotting for mez, and then asked about my usage of mez procs. Well, that's answering your own question: I make up for my apparent lack of mez duration by making sure all my ST attacks have a (possible) hold component! That, along with a T4 Alpha Nerve (which enhances Hold duration) helps keep hard targets held while I attack them. Make sure you have TK on a boss, that way any procs going off will keep them held. (TK is mag 3, all the procs are mag 2. You only need 4 mag to overcome most bosses hold protection)

See, slotting for hold duration is nice, but I'd rather kill my target outright. If you're worried about them breaking mez while you buff (Siphon power, siphon speed, fulcrum shift, maybe a heal and/or an inspiration), Sleep or Confuse them first.

Also, AFAIK, damage procs will wake/alert foes. Though sometimes the hold procs will make enemies aware, but most of the time not.

3) As for Inf, the market forums are rich (har har) with advice. I'm not much of a money maker... It's taken me a LOOONG time to get all these purples, though you'll find that the Mez sets are cheaper than the damage ones.

One of the best ways to make Inf right now is to do Tip/Morality missions and save up A-Merits. Buy rare stuff (lotG, Numina Uniques, etc), sell it on the market. Run TFs (especially the weekly target!), get merits, do random rolls in the 30+ tier. Keep what you need, market or vendor the rest.

Finally, put in low-ball bids on expensive stuff before you log-off. When you come back the next weekend, see if your bids filled. Then, re-list the items at a higher price and hope someone impatient offers up more than what you paid. Don't list for a super-huge amount, but somewhere between what you paid and what you want (When someone bids, the item with the lowest listed price is sold... or at least that's how it's supposed to work. But you want to make sure you make a profit after the listing fee is taken care of!)

ooo

Anyway, here's a quick and dirty, and cheap, build that i think does what you want. A few notes: No hover. If you want, swap out Siphon Power or just buy jetpacks from an in-game vendor or as a temp power.

And yes, i put in, and 6-slotted, repel. If you wanna be a telekenetic, you'd be remiss not to take the most "kinetic" power in kinetics =) The 6-slotting is for the rather delicious recharge bonus and KB resist. However, if you end up really not using or dislike using repel, then you should obviously pick a different power and assign the slots elsewhere.

Also, there's TWO unassigned slots. Put 'em wherever you want =)

And finally, some powers have "alternate" slotting for when you DO get money. The three LotGs are gonna be expensive if you don't already have 'em, but most everything else you should be able to get easily. Some of the slotting may seem a bit weird, but I tried to maximize each power's stats instead of -just- going for set bonuses. Though once you get the purple Hold, Sleep, and Confuse sets slotted, you'll notice a decent improvement in your recharge times and other stats.

This build, blow-for blow, is comparable with the one you posted. Better acc, recharge, and recovery. Your current build has slightly better regen and damage bonuses. Doesn't completely blow yours out of the water, but if you hit up the alternate slotting, you'll see a marked improvement.

... How do you want your character improved? I mean, yeah, this build is a bit of a mess (World of confusion kinda stinks, especially 1-slotted. You have two travel powers. Slotting is all over the place), but without knowing what you want out of your build, it's hard to give you suggestions.

Like, you say you team AND solo. Okay, is either of those difficult for you right now? Do you have a hard time locking down targets solo? Do you feel you don't contribute enough to a team? Are you having survival issues and want more defense?

To be honest, I don't agree with a lot that you've dong here. 3 slots in hover for speed is a waste. You have SIPHON SPEED. That will put you at the speed cap. Dominate should be slotted as an attack, IMO. You picked up CJ for a LotG mule, yet you could have put that in Hover or Indomitable Will and gotten a different power. And again, two travel powers... feels like a waste.

There's a lot more you can do with your build, but you need to focus on what you want to do!

I'll show you two of my builds. The first is my main build. Some things look under-slotted (like Fulcrum Shift), but mind you i have over +90% in recharge and accuracy bonuses from IO's alone. That is, I don't have hasten or SS active in the build boosting my stats... And I don't think it counts incarnate abilities, either...

Kin goes great with ANY Control primary because it has powers that a) Boost your damage (a weakness of controllers), and b) can give you +Recharge to get your AoEs back quickly.

What Kin does NOT have is a way to boost your own Defense or debuff enemy ToHit. You cannot give yourself mez protection with Kin. Also, it needs to hit enemies for a lot of the self buffs to work.

I think Earth/Kin would have good synergy, if just because Earth powers give the enemy -Defense.

Finally, having played Mind/Kin to 50, i can tell you that it's a beast. A bit light on AoE damage, true, but a lot of times you're too busy to notice.

... No >_< I kinda started ignoring the word "Freedom" after CoH started pasting it to the title....

=(

... What server? I think that's the most important bit of info =)

Have you tried playing non-AE missions to see whether or not AVs revert to EBs despite your challenge settings?

Hhhhrrmmm... It sounds a little TOO well-balanced. I wish there was more self +recharge (Near as I can see, it's only in the last power in the set, and probably can't be made perma). Still, seems like a nice combination of Rad and Kin all rolled into one. The extra holds will be KILLER on a controller....

Death Mage's belt buckle looks like a flower >_>

Local: Spooky is the best AoE control... but what good does it do against AVs or GMs? If this build has only ONE purpose: destroy single, hard targets, I don't see how something that only affects Bosses and lower would help him.

Of course, I'm assuming he's doing this SOLO, and not on a team.

One thing about av/gm soloing builds is you really want perma-PA. I noticed you had an extra slot left, so i put that in, and activated the Spiritual Incarnate tree. If you get at least a second-tier Spiritual boost, you'll get enough recharge in PA to make it perma.

Aside from that, I think you really should have gone after RANGED defense instead of SL. If you're hovering, a foe HAS to use a ranged attack to hit you. And while many attacks have an s/l component, not all of them do.

Otherwise, it seems to be a fairly solid build. You should check out Local-Mans ill/rad guide... yes i know your secondary is cold but a lot of his advice for getting perma PA w/out incarnate boosts and soloing big targets should still be viable

One thing you should be aware of in regards to buff powers like SB: a LOT of them were recently made AoE so you don't have to buff every individual character now. As long as they're within 30 or 60 feet of your target (I forget which), they all get the buff. You, the caster, however, still don't benefit.

Anyway, a controller's ability to buff and debuff is somewhat... depreciated now that incarnate abilities let you debuff your foes and buff everyone around you. These buffs/debuffs don't make buff/debuff classes meaningless, however at this point the best way to contribute in end-game content is to stay alive and deal damage or complete other objectives. Heck, with the +levels and everyone else's ability to self-buff, debuff, summon pets, etc, most normal groups of foes will be dead before you can hit an AoE hold.

So my advice? Don't try be be king of the hill when it comes to team-play. Find something you wanna play solo or on small teams. When it comes time to do an 8-man TF or 18 person raid, check your ego at the door and just kill stuff.

EDIT: Ahh, ninja'd by like, everyone else in the thread =(

One question for the OP: Did you notice this during a LAMBDA trial? Because the containers that explode stun AND repel you, which might be why you're flying so quickly.

PS: Carry break-frees.

I noticed that play on the test server was smoother than on Live, but it DID mapserve a lot. I was even mapserving while skiing at the chalet. The Mapserves seemed to coincide with people running BAFs.

I'm almost thinking it's a hardware problem and not exclusively a programing one.

Most controllers are not good for dealing direct damage, no.

However, having a buff/debuff secondary, they act as force multipliers and can do all sorts of wicked things, either solo or on a team.

Playing a Controller solo is safer than a Dom, usually. Granted, the enemy you're safest from is a dead one, but against hard targets, Doms are downgraded blasters until Domination comes up. Controllers can still buff themselves, their pet, and/or debuff their foe to the point where said foe is not a threat.

And there are some ways in which a Controller will out-damage a Dom. Sleep 10 foes, walk in and use fulcrum shift, and you're at the damage cap... and your first hit will do double-damage on top of that.

Now you can discuss outliers all day trying to figure out who's better, but Doms and Trollers are really an apple-to-orange comparison. It's almost as bad as trying to compare Stalkers and Peacebringers.

If your concept is all about the "appearance" of allies and enemies going faster and slower... perhaps, just perhaps you should wait until Time Manipulation comes out. That might work with your concept a bit better.

Otherwise, having a Mind/Kin myself, I can tell you that it's a blast to play. There's very little a well-built mind/kin can't handle... though in this game, that's true of everything.

Here's my guide to mind/kin if you want to take a look.. it's sliiightly outdated, but i'm going to amend that soon =) http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=122388