KokopelliJoe

Hey Mr. Squid. I like your taste in fiction!

I would give The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher a shot. It is a modern fantasy series about a Wizard living in Chicago who supports himself as a Private Investigator. Sounds cheesy (and it kinda is at first) but it is a fantastic series. The fantasy world Butcher explores in the series is very rich. Demons, Vampires, Cops, Wizards, Necromancers, Werewolves, Faeries, Archangels, Chicago Gangsters etc. Lots and Lots of very cool magical and paranormal action (and a good dose of gunplay too.)

The 13th book in the series comes out in March. And apparently he has something like 12 more planned.

And the Seventh law of magic in the series is; "Thou shalt not seek beyond the Outer Gates." So there is a small (yet to be explored in depth) Lovecraft element.

And a personal note, I have a tattoo of Cthulu on my leg. Then I had a dream about Cthulu not long ago. I told my girlfriend why this means the end of the world and she just rolled her eyes at me. It's hard being a geek.

Edit: I second the Dark Tower series. My all time favorite series and inspiration for one of my other literary tattoos.

Best Movie: Inception. I actually watched this for the first time TODAY. Not able to get to the theatres much anymore. Slow start, actually got bored and played some CoH for a while. The second time I sat down to watch it I was definitely rewarded. Once they start their "mission" it is like an hour long climax (not that kind. Well maybe a little bit.) And I was worried about the ending after all the fuss over it, but was pleasantly surprised that once again the internet was at war over nothing. Toy Story 3 is my runner up. And that might be because Inception is fresh on my mind.

Best TV: Sons of Anarchy. Tough choice for me, but this is the show that I would always watch as soon as I got home. Some silly plot twists, but they amped everything up this season and made the clubs actions have more real impact. The finale especially raised the bar for this series. Justified and Walking Dead were fantastic. But new shows, not nearly as invested in those characters.

Best Video Game: Red Dead Redemption. I won't start talking about it because then I won't stop.


My list of shame: (Have not seen that I think I will love) True Grit, Black Swan, Boardwalk Empire, The Social Network.

Welcome back! I have also only been back for about 2 months after a lengthy break. So I definitely know where you are coming from. I am hardly an expert when it comes to set bonuses (and quite frankly, don't care about them on my Earth/Storm as much as I do on my tanks/scrappers, etc.) but I do have a few things to suggest!

I have the Fire APP, and do good damage for solo between Fire Blast, Fire Ball, Stoney, Lightning Storm and Tornado (when I get a little bored). I initially slotted my Alpha with Damage to increase this, but honestly it didn't make a huge difference in the speed I went through things solo. When I team it is primarily for TF's or other long runs with big teams and I rarely get a chance to shoot things with fire because once I get my first string of powers off, everything is dead. So the damage increase wasn't helping me much on large teams.

I recently changed the alpha slot to Recharge and I slapped myself for wasting shards on making the musculutare. It is great for my playstyle. Earthquake is a few seconds away from being perma. Stalagmites can be my opener on every mob. More freezing rain, more lightning storm, it's fantastic. This is especially helpful on those big teams that burn through enemies. With inherent Stamina and Consume from Fire APP end is not a problem.

I only have a few opinions on Sets for this build, as purples are a "wouldn't that be nice someday" for me as well. Lockdown is a great set that right now I have in Fossilize. It has a chance for a +2 Mag hold (will add the tesla cage VFX to your hold). I see it fairly often, and holding a boss with one shot just makes me smile. (Has anyone used this in Volcanic Gases? Is there a chance for the +2 hold on every pulse?)

Also, I had a set (Don't remember which sorry) slotted into fireball that had a bonus to knockback. Might be great for a blaster, but ended up completely changing Earthquake from knockdown to knockback as if it was slotted that way. Earthquake knocking everyone OUT of my AoE controls, great! I ran a TF where I did not use my Quake and it drove me insane. This was right after I came back and did not know the bonus would do that. So if you didn't already know, watch out for the knockback bonus!

Good luck and have fun.

This is kind of a mess. Not being smart about it, but honestly curious, have you played an earth/storm before? For *any* purpose, this slotting and power selection is just all over the place. I will have "Earth/Storm" put on my tombstone, but it is not going to be better than Rad for soloing an AV. It's a HEAVY control pair. But control alone doesn't kill an AV.

But just so I can talk about Earth/Storm, here goes.

As Mental said, you will need single target damage. This also will apply to your controls. Why take stone cages and slot it up? Take Stone Prison, and leave cages out of the build. Stone Cages is not cheap end wise, and you will be wanting to spam your immob (if they don't resist it) to keep the AV in one place and to set up containment when they otherwise can't be mezzed.

And the most curious choice to me is Salt Crystals. A PBAoE sleep. That should be nuff said. This power selection (among other things) says a lot.

And Stalagmites, an AoE disorient. It isn't going to help you much against an AV. You will be relying on Volcanic Gases and Fossilize to get the AV held when they drop.

Freezing Rain has a slow effect, but is not a slow power (especially when you have two other great slows, there is a slow cap ya know)

Damage will come from Lightning Storm, Stoney, Tornado, and whatever Pool attacks you get. But it will still be a LONG fight. Hurricane's -tohit will be the best thing you have going for you. But you will still most likely die.

Again, not trying to be snarky but it seems like you just picked random powers from both sets and put the top end IO sets in them. I suggest you roll up an Earth/Storm and actually spend some time with it, understand what the powers actually do, how well they do them etc. THEN plan out how to attempt an AV Solo with it. Besides, that way maybe you will have saved up enough influence for one of those IO sets you want!

Baby Steps!

Welcome back Lunar!

And not to hijack, but I didn't want to make a new thread about the exact same thing. I too just came out of a long retirement, and was extremely glad to see so many familiar names online. Thanks to everyone that gave me such a warm welcome back (too many to list! Several in this thread already ). The game is fun and all that, but without all you awesome old timers I don't think it'd be worth paying for.

See ya out there.

Thanks for all the great comments.

I have effectively retired from playing CoX. I come back every so often, but I have no working knowledge of IO's or many of the other changes that may effect this guide. So this will be the last update by me. Anyone that is willing is more than welcome to use any or all of my guide and fill in the holes.

Hope that this still benefits someone or encourages someone to roll an earth/storm. Been a fun run...

Joe

Hey, I have a guide listed here that has an update floating around.

The old guide (Issue 6) that is currently in this guide listing is here.

The newest (Issue 8, but still stands better than my old one) one that is not listed in any guide to guides is located here.

Please let me know if I need to do anything else to get the old guide replaced. Thanks!

[ QUOTE ]
Just remember that if you're reporting an AT guide to notify the "Guide to this AT" thread in the appropriate AT Forum also.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks!

Hey, I have a guide listed here and in the controller forum that has an update floating around.

The old guide (Issue 6) that is currently in the guide to guides is here.

The newest (Issue 8, but still stands better than my old one) one that is not listed in any guide to guides is located here.

Please let me know if I need to do anything else to get the old guide replaced. Thanks!

Ok So I have been away for a very long time...

(waves)

I have a guide currently listed in the "guide to guides" that is out of date (Issue 6). The link in my sig was the update I wrote for that guide right before I left the game (Issue 8).

How/who/where do I get the old one replaced with the new?

I grabbed a 14 day pass from a website and would like to make sure the updated guide is in place before my account dies again.

Thanks for any help on this and send me an invite or a tell in game while Im around!

Joe

[ QUOTE ]
Snow Storm actually isn't that great on AVs due to the fact that they resist it's effects rather well(75%-95% IIRC). Iakona's data will back this up. I have put it on an AV only to watch them run around as if it was never there. Tornado, however, is great for AVs.

[/ QUOTE ]

Changed to reflect that.

And I knew the slow didn't affect them, but was specifically talking about the -recharge, which I was pretty sure did. *shrugs*

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[u]Power Pools[u]

With so many great primary and secondary powers, it is very hard to find room for Pool Powers. Here are my thoughts on each.

Concealment
Stealth and Invis turn off Steamy Mist. Grant Invis could be useful, but you have team stealth, and I wouldn’t want to waste a power pool on that one power. I don’t think any Earth/Storm will find much value in Phase Shift.

Fighting
The two attacks might have some use to a solo controller, but Air Superiority is much better for those purposes. Tough and Weave: no thanks. You don’t need the end drain, and you give yourself much more survivability by just mezzing the mobs.

Flight
I love hover in combat, and 3 slotting it and swift is very nice. But with an Earth/Storm, I don’t think you have the slots for it, not to mention most people like to slot up Fly. Travel power is down to personal taste, but if I took this pool, I would do it for Air Superiority and/or Fly. Also, remember that one of your main opening powers, Stalagmites, requires you be on the ground to use - kind of conflicting with using hover in combat. And again, getting up into the air away from baddies is great, but you have a ton of other ways to protect yourself.

Leadership
Assault: you increase the damage of your team with Freezing Rain. Maneuvers: again, mezzed mobs don’t hit people. Tactics: You have more –def in the entire Earth Set and with Freezing Rain than you will really need. Not to mention you just don’t need toggles. And I’m not taking 2 powers I don’t want or need to get to Vengeance, no matter how nice it is.

Leaping
Nothing here worth getting unless you chose SJ for your travel power. Then I would probably go with jump kick and SJ. See above for reasons to skip combat jumping. The knockback/immobilize protection from the set is nice, but you really won’t need them.

Medicine
You have 02 boost, which is much, much better than aid other. Getting stimulant and aid self would be useful. I like taking Aid Self on characters and slotting it 3heal/1rech/2interrupt reducers so I can use it in combat. This one just comes down to personal choice.

Presence
You don’t need the quasi-taunts, and you don’t need more control.

Fitness
You will most likely want Stamina. Sure you could not take it and be cool, but in my opinion, you will be a *much* less effective controller (*waits for the “Stamina is the devil” posts*). Either you will have to spend *way* too many slots on end reducers, or you will be out of gas after one mob. Taking it makes you a better controller, because you can constantly pump out control, and that might make the difference for the team that is depending on you. Being able to spam your powers over a lengthy fight is a benefit that is too great to ignore. And times like those are when the team is really going to need everything you have.

I love Hurdle and Swift. Steamy Mist slows your movement speed. Swift makes up for that, and Hurdle is just plain handy for getting around.

I used to take and slot Health, because, by God that’s what people do. I don’t have it anymore. And I haven’t noticed much difference. It doesn’t make you more survivable in a fight. If someone is going to kill you, it is going to happen regardless of if you have Health or not. The only thing this helps with is downtime. Pop a green, or just stand there a few seconds longer. Either of the auto movement powers would be a better choice in my book.

Teleportation
My travel pool for concept reasons mainly. TP has some synergy with Salt Crystals and Thunder Clap, but most people skip those powers anyway. Recall Friend is always a great tool to bring to a team. 3 range enhancements in TP make travel something I don’t even have time to think about. TP foe… TPing someone into your location AoE’s is fun, but kind of pointless when you can safely take on two or three mobs at once. And I generally don’t like pulling. Team TP… no thanks.

Speed
I hate the hasten visual effect, and didn’t take it until I was in my 40’s because of it. I will never respect out of it. Especially since the duration/recharge nerf to our AoE controls, anything that brings them back faster is my best friend. Helps with my Stoney tactics too. It would be much simpler if I took SS instead of TP so I could save a pool and slots, but concept is important to me. SS also works well with steamy mist to make you even harder to see.

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Jerry’s… erm… Joe’s Final Thoughts

I’m not going to give thoughts on the APP’s, because I’ve only used two of them extensively, and these, even more than the normal pools are about personal taste. There is plenty of good advice to be had on these just by asking.

I am also not going to give you an example build as I practically have with the slotting suggestions. I also think that Earth/Storm has some of the most diverse options in builds while still making an effective controller. There are many different ways to go with Earth/Storm, and the best way to decide what that is for you is to go try all the powers.

I cannot emphasize enough how nice it is to have the test server (even though this is my only emphasization of it… and emphasization isn’t even a word.) Since there are a few love/hate powers in the sets, when you level up, copy to the test server so you can feel out your choices and save yourself a respec or two. I am always relieved to find out on test I hate a power I was going to take. Now I don’t like forming builds for people and saying “do this,” but if you want me to look at your build or help you come up with one, don’t hesitate to PM me.

Enjoy!

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[u]Storm Summoning[u]

Just like the Earth set… I wish I could have every one of these powers. There isn't a bad apple in the bunch. There is a lot of very nice synergy between these two sets. Not to mention that it is a very cool theme. If you take the Fire Epic Pool, you will almost have a Captain Planet! (God I hope I didn’t run anyone away from the sets with that…)


Gale No choice here, gotta take it. Might as well learn how to use it! Great in the early stages when all you have is a slow, an AoE immob and a hold. *Use corners* Like I mentioned earlier, use gale to blow a mob back in a hallway, quicksand the area between them and you, and stone cage them. Then you and your team can sit around the corner and attack them when you want. Also great for knocking extra mobs or stragglers onto your location based controls, which is still something I use at level 50.

And something that is completely useless… Knockback distance scales with level difference (you will knock a level 10 farther back than a level 20). Nothing quite like blowing lvl 6 Trolls off rooftops in the Hollows as a lvl 50. Ragdoll physics makes it even more enjoyable.

Rating: Definitely does what it’s supposed to, and is actually a decent tool when used correctly.

Slotting Suggestion: 1 Accuracy... 2 if you *really* love the power.



02 Boost A heal, and a disorient/sleep protection. Also has endurance drain protection! Great for everyone else on your team when fighting malta. Very good power if you are going to do some duo-ing, but once you get into larger teams of people you don't know... they may start asking you to "heal me, heal me!" While you should be concerned with your teammate’s health, you cannot be a “healer” for even a midsize team with this one power. Concentrate on control and your team’s health will hardly move. This is the one power I have dropped and taken back more than any other. I have it once again, and love it for the previously mentioned tactic with Animate Stone.

Rating: If you use the Animate Stone as an alpha tool, I would recommend it.
Besides that, it comes down to if you want to have a heal or not. Easily skipped, or if taken you can leave it with the default slot and it is still useful for the protections it offers.

Slotting Suggestion: I have mine 3 heal/2rech/1 end. I duo with my wife a lot still, and I want the freaking heal badges. Medicine Man fits perfectly



Snow Storm A target based toggle AoE slow and -recharge. In the early levels it is nice, but the end drain can be a pain. It has all the issues related to anchors, which can be mitigated with just an immobilize. The -recharge is the selling point since you already have a great slow with quicksand, but in normal length mob to mob fights, they are mezzed for the majority (if not all) of the fight, so -recharge might as well be -hair growth in those fights.

Rating: Very useful in lower levels. Another fantastic slow.

Slotting Suggestion: One or two end reducers and 3 slows. Quicksand and Snow Storm both being slotted for slows is redundant, since you can just about slow cap mobs with either power. You can easily leave this at 2 end reducers. I personally like to have the option of slow capping *two* mobs or a split mob. Also, 3 slotting both powers with SO slows brings them to the cap. But from level 6 up until you get those SO’s, two stacked slows is a very nice thing. Note that the –recharge in Snow Storm is not affected by enhancements.



Steamy Mist Love this power for one thing... team stealth. The fire, cold and energy resistance bonus is very nice and worth slotting if you have room, the defense is almost not there.

Rating: Does what it advertises! Nothing special, but good to have.

Slotting Suggestion: 1 or 2 end reducers, or you want to slot for resistance. Don't slot for defense, since the base is around 3%.



Freezing Rain: In my opinion, the most important power in the set. Great defense debuff, resistance debuff, more knockdown (much less effective than quake’s… so get both) and a slow. On top of that it is another location AoE. Get this when it is available. Your team will hit more often and for more damage, which is an unbeatable benefit. Make sure they are otherwise controlled or the rain will cause them to scatter.

Rating: More damage more often, more control, more location AoE combo possibilities. Great power.

Slotting Suggestion: Don’t slot for damage. You can slot for defense debuffs, but your Earth powers should be helping you out plenty there. It takes accuracy enhancers, but really doesn’t need them. I primarily use the power for it’s –resistance, which is unslottable. So I slot with a combination of recharges and endurance. Right now I have it 3rech/3end. It is up all the time, and is dirt cheap. Another fantastic tool for AV’s, GM’s, or just tough enemies in general.



Hurricane: Extremely useful power. I don't use it much, because it doesn't suit my play style well. It has a great tohit debuff (-30%). It has knockback and repel, and has a pretty high end cost. You can use it a variety of ways. Stand directly in front of the backline folks, and it will protect them from incoming melee attacks. Herd people into a corner and keep them repelled with lowered accuracy. Push mobs around to corral them onto your location controls. On a boss or AV and stand just close enough to where the debuff will affect him. This power can make things a bit messy, so do practice with it before you take it into a team setting. Even when folks are in stone cages and have knockback resistance, you can still move them around with the repel (the cages will stay in place, but you will push the mobs around anyway), so be cautious when you use it or you may end up scooting the mob *off* your location powers.

Rating Now I know some of you swear by hurricane, but to me it isn’t an every fight kind of power. When I did have it, I didn’t use it that much. If mobs needed to be corralled into location controls, I used gale. Much cheaper. The to-hit debuff is the selling point to me.

Slotting Suggestion: The tohit debuff is the most beneficial thing to slot, I would go 3 of them, and 2 end reducers, or 3/3.



Thunderclap PBAoE disorient that only affects minions. You may say "What? That sucks!" I used to also. If for some reason you had a mob of 5 bosses (in, you know, example land)... you could disorient all of them in two clicks (so long as they hit).... stalagmites + thunderclap. Unbeatable benefit. Granted, you will take quite a good licking in between the time you cast the two powers. The majority of almost every mob is minions, and if all you do is take them out, you are still saving yourself and teammates from a lot of damage. Don’t use this as an alpha, as the Lt’s and bosses don’t like you being up in there faces. Use stalagmites from range, then rush in (or TP in, very effective) and thunderclap them. You will probably take a hit from them since the animation is long, so make sure you aren’t doing this against +4’s.

Now, this is a useful power… but there are many much better ones available. Take it only if you will have room for it in addition to all the better powers in the sets. Which you probably won’t.

Rating: It is good, but if I had to rank all the powers in both sets, this would be second from the bottom, right above Salt Crystals.

Slotting Suggestion: 2 acc/2 duration/2 recharge or something similar.



Tornado A tornado that chases around baddies and throws them in the air. Fun to watch, but dangerous. There are two circumstances I use this in. I slot it for damage, and spam stone cages every 10 seconds to keep up the -knockback. The tornado will rip through them like paper (especially with freezing rain). The second is if it is about to be a team wipe, I will just throw it out there to create a little bit of chaos among the enemy ranks so we can make a getaway. The tornado+stone cages is best for soloing, but works great. If you miss someone with stone cages, hit them with stone prison, as even one guy getting tossed away can be disastrous if the tornado decides to chase him (which it will).

Rating: Can be easily skipped. The damage is nice, but is a little annoying to have to spam stone cages so often. Great tool for a solo troller or as a panic button.

Slotting Suggestion: Depends on what you want it for. For damage I have mine 3 dam/2 end/1 rech. The recharge is extraneous, but I like this technique a lot and use it often. If you want it as a panic button, just 1 or 2 end reducers.



Lightning Storm: Great power. Pretty simple too… it stays in one spot and deals damage and knockback. Great for use in hallways, doorways or to position around the backline to keep people off them and support them with damage. Does quite a bit of damage, and is a key reason I can solo on Invincible.

Tip - If you cast it standing on the ground, it will knock mobs back. If you hover/fly above a mob and cast it, it will knock them down instead. If you can immobilize a mob when they are packed tightly, one strike from LS will hit most of them. A good combo is to use the Animate Stone alpha sponge to pack them tight, immobilize them, then cast it above them so they don’t get separated from the knockback.

You can also use it to keep baddies on your location AoE’s. Lay your controls down, possibly in a corner, gale them into it if need be, then cast lightning storm in a spot where the knockback will send them into the AoE’s should they manage to step out of them.

Rating: My second source of damage, more control, and great graphics.

Slotting Suggestion: 3 damage and a mix of endurance and recharge. You can have a few out at a time this way with enough recharges. It takes accuracy, but really doesn’t need it. It also has an end drain component on it that can be slotted… but meh. I’d rather them be dead.



Ok so again, wish I could take them all. You now have 4 location based AoE powers to combo. Quicksand, Earthquake, Volcanic Gases and Freezing Rain. From complete safety you can cast these on a mob and then let your team know when they are ready. Add to this the fact that you can cast your pet from safety also. Might be overkill, but it's fun and safe! Your combos will depend on your play style, so just try out the powers and what works together for you.

Keep in mind, there are several very costly powers in both sets. Endurance reducers should be pretty common among them, and you will probably want Stamina.

There are so many different ways to play an Earth/Storm it is hard to keep track. The good thing is, you just take the powers you like, and the play style forms itself.


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[u]Earth Control[u]

I really wish I had room in my build for every single Earth power. Yes, even the much maligned Salt Crystals. That being said I have almost never had room for all of them. This combo is control Nirvana, but planning your build, choosing powers, and figuring out slotting is Hell. Hope some of my experience with these powers will help in your decision making.


Stone Prison The basic single target immobilize. Has a -fly, -knockback and -def attached to it. This is one of my favorite powers to bring to an AV fight. AV's are just downright hard to control. While they cannot be perma held/disoriented by normal means, most of them can be perma immobilized. This is a lot more useful than it sounds. Keeping an AV right in front of the tank is extremely important. The melee members of your team will not be chasing the AV all over the room, and the squishies will not have to worry about getting bum rushed if the Tank dies or loses aggro. Stone Cages can perform the same function, but not quite as well. It is a lower mag, the recharge is longer, and the endurance cost is significantly more. Not something I want to be spamming over and over during an already exhausting AV fight.

The –fly component is also extremely nice to bring any flying opponent down into melee players reach.

It also makes a good addition to Stone Cages for when it misses a baddie or two, which can be very important as I will get to later.

Not so useful in the early levels, as stone cages is better at controlling groups of enemies. If you plan on fighting a lot of AV’s I would take it in your late 30’s or early 40’s. If not it is a pretty optional power.

Rating: Can easily be left out of some builds depending on personal taste, but a very good utility overall.

Slotting Suggestion: I recommend minimal slotting. I haven't had anything but one acc in it for a long time and it serves my purposes. Many, many other things to spend slots on in this build.



Fossilize Your single target hold. A great power that is useful from level 1 to 50. Take it at level 1, and slot it quickly. Not too much else to say here. If you are new to controllers, know that you can hold minions and lieutenants with one application, and bosses with two applications (from any hold power). A great tool for anyone you miss with AoE controls or anyone that gets outside of your target AoE’s.

Rating: You will use this in almost every fight in your controller’s career.

Slotting Suggestion: I feel most comfortable with 2 acc/3 duration/1 recharge. 1 acc is probably fine, but I do not like to miss with my hold. Always better in my opinion to have more duration than recharge. I would rather wait a bit longer between castings than have to worry about re-applying. With this slotting, you can easily hold 3 or so people for a decent amount of time.



Stone Cages The AoE Immobilize. One of the visually "loudest" powers in the game, and one of the reasons some people leave the Earth set. "I can't see anything..." or “It makes me lag.” I personally love the over the top graphics of the set. Anyway, it is very beneficial to take this power early on as you will be short of any *real* way to control the mobs. Once you get this you can combine this with gale to do some “poor man’s controlling.” Use gale to blow the baddies around a corner or anywhere out of line of sight, then pop your head around the corner and hit them with cages. It’s a good tactic for keeping additional mobs immobilized *and* unable to shoot you. Cages has the -fly, -knockback, and -def that stone prison has. If you have a group of flying baddies (like the cabal) it is a beauty. Note that early on, improper use of this power is one of the main ways to get yourself killed. Do not charge in and hit a mob with this first thing, unless you plan on hiding afterwards. It is a very big aggro magnet. By itself it doesn't do much to save your butt, but is one of the best "combo" powers in the set. Combined with Stalagmites, it is as good as an AoE hold.

Keep in mind that the –knockback will cancel out Earthquakes main function. Use the two powers separate from each other. Or cast quake after the 10 second knockdown protection has worn off.

Rating: Get this, and at level 12 when you get stalagmites, you have your first AoE hold.

Slotting Suggestion: Again, I would go minimal and save your slots for the bigger controls. One or two acc, an endurance reducer if you are going to be using any of the tactics that require you to spam it.



Quicksand -fly, -jump, -def, -speed. Quicksand is extremely useful. Again, in the early levels when you have no way to mez more than one target, a location based slow can be a life saver. You can cast it around a corner (use it with the gale+cages combo also), and be safe from aggro while your team can pop their heads around the corner and blast at their leisure. Almost all the earth powers have a -def to them, but quicksand's is a quite a bit heftier. This is very useful in combination with your other Location AoE’s since people can occasionally run out of your Quake and Volcanic Gases. Slowing that down is a big help.

Rating: . Love this power. Simple, cheap, fast recharge but great.

Slotting Suggestion: I put 3 slows in it. That should hit the slow caps on most mobs. I also like to have 1 recharge in there if I have the slot to spare. You can keep it down in one spot permanently out of the box, but being able to cover an entire room with it, or two separate mobs is very nice. It also has a very low end cost.



Salt Crystals The least liked power in the Earth set. Why? It is a PBAoE sleep. So you have to run into the middle of a mob, and then cast a sleep and hope someone doesn't use an AoE right after you do. And who doesn't use AoE's that has them? Personally, I love the power. It is hard to get used to, and can be frustrating. I have teamed with a lower level Earth/Storm, and she used salt crystals every mob... and just about every time, I would be the one to break them... and immediately slap myself on the forehead. It is just a hard power to use unless you are teaming with people that understand it. And even then, like in my case, if you don’t let them know you are using it, they may already have an AoE attack queued up. Most people see the controller doing something, and then just let loose on the mob. If you take this power and like it, here is my suggestion to you. Use it as your "break glass in case of" power. When an extra mob gets aggro’d, jump over to them and cast salt crystals. Make a bind with it if you prefer, saying "Finish the first mob before starting on these guys" or something similar. Just use it to hold off an incoming attack from a mob that your team isn't ready for. It is extremely useful this way, since your team won’t have to deal with 2 mobs at once, and you will still have all your “main” control tools to deal with the mob that you are fighting.

However, I do not recommend this for a high level Earth controller. There are too many other great powers that you need to take and slot to be worrying about whether or not people pay attention to some bind.

This could also be a great tool for a solo Earthie, at least until level 12.

Rating: If you are going to take it, try it on the test server. Most of you will probably hate it.

Slotting Suggestion: If you take it, and like it… I would honestly just wait until every other “good” control is slotted out then see what you have left and spend it on accuracy, duration and/or recharge.



Stalagmites Your AoE disorient, and the first great control power you get. Take it as soon as you can. Even after it took a huge hit in recharge/duration in Issue 5, it is still the best "opener" in the set. It may not be ready to open on every mob, but every other mob isn’t so bad. The mob tends to wander as they will with disorients, but with stone cages, quicksand or quake that can be controlled. As with all controls, it takes two disorients to affect a boss (see thunderclap for a boss disorienting combo).

Rating: . It used to be much better with the old duration, but it is still one of the sets “Bread and Butter” Powers. Although unlike other sets, almost every power in both of these sets is your “Bread and Butter.”

Slotting Suggestion: 2 Acc/2 Duration/2 Recharge. Again, I hate missing with the *real* controls, so 2 acc is going to be the norm for me. Yes Earth has great –def in it, but that is usually something I lay down for the rest of the team. My opening controls don’t benefit from a –def debuff that comes two powers later. I will get into strategy a little here; Stalagmites is the best opener in the set because it is very quick. If you hit everyone in the mob, there will be no time for the mob to attack you. It’s aggro-less control! I have had great success using this solely as an opener, without regard to duration. I will use it to initially disorient the mob, which will give me time to apply holds, earthquake, volcanic gases etc... things that would normally get me shot if they weren't disoriented. By the time the disorient wears off, I will have had them otherwise controlled. So I can definitely see a benefit in slotting it 2acc/1duration/3 recharge, or 3 acc/3 recharge if you want to use it just as a short duration alpha control. This is also extremely beneficial because it will most likely be up for every single mob, depending on how fast you and your team goes through them.



Earthquake Location based knockdown. My personal favorite power. You can only have one out at a time now *mumbles about the old days*. Use it around corners with quicksand to keep them on top of it. Again, simple power, good power, 'nuff said. Take it when you get the option.

Another huge bonus to this power is that it doesn’t need an accuracy check to work. I was in the Ernesto Hess TF, and was exemped to the lowest person on the team. Everything was a +4 or +5 to me… and I was still an extremely useful member of the team. Quake will keep anything on their backs (as long as they aren’t knockback resistant… like jaegers… *shivers*). This plus quicksand was really all I could use, which made it boring… but after I came back from a disconnect, everyone was dead. Coincidence? I think not. Not saying I’m that good… I’m saying quake is that good.

Rating: . That is all.

Slotting Suggestion: Recharge is all I would put in it, but it does take tohit and def debuffs, which are both very low base values. Not worth slotting in my opinion. If you are thinking about putting anything other enhancement than recharge or maybe an end reducer in this, I can show you much better places for them.



Volcanic Gases Location based AoE hold. Awesome power. Unlike some other set's holds, if you run up to a mob and use this on them by itself, you will catch some aggro, as it is a pulse hold and takes some time to go into effect. Some other baddies may also have time to run off of it. But you now have 3 location based powers that you do not need line of sight to use. Stand around a corner and start with quicksand, quake, and then this. They won't be able to get out and run over to you, and the slow/knockdown will keep them there long enough for the hold to kick in. Also, this is another extremely useful power for AV's. Use stone prison to keep them perma immob’d and keep volcanic gases under him as much as you can. This way you don't have to put your nose against the monitor to watch for the terribly designed AV triangle system. Throw a fossilize out every now and then, and when his mag protection drops down, he will be held until it goes back up. You don’t have to pay attention to the triangles at all. Also great for just bosses. Lay this down at the feet of a boss, then queue up fossilize while the animation is still going and you will have a held boss within seconds.

Rating: . I haven’t played many other controllers, but it seems to me this is the best hold in the game. You don’t click it once and hope it works. You lay it down, and it continues holding people the entire time it’s down. If another mob runs into it, no problem, they are held.

Slotting Suggestion: I don’t put accuracy in mine. I usually have quicksand down first, and I have never noticed it just not working. Sure the first pulse may miss from time to time, but that’s the great thing about it. Just wait a second or two and problem solved. I like 3 duration/1 end/2 recharge. It is expensive, but you want it up ASAP.



Animate Stone: I have ranted about him for a very long time. But when it comes down to it, he is very useful. He does decent damage. If I didn’t have the extra damage from the Storm set I would be a bit disappointed in my soloing rate, but it is certainly better than Pre-32. He is extremely tough, and is Immune to Psi damage which comes in very handy late game. One of the main uses I have for him these days is an alpha sponge. Before a mob is aggro’d I will cast him right into the middle of them. They will all attack him, and melee opponents will get nice and tight around him. Then I start to lay on the controls. Now you have two ways of starting out a fight with absolutely no danger of serious alpha aggro on yourself. Be aware that he is tough, but he can be killed. On large teams and/or higher difficulty, his health can vanish fast when used as an alpha sponge. If he dies, the mob will find that little tag on his collar that has your name on it, and turn straight towards the unlucky owner of one dead Animate Stone. A good way to prevent this is by getting O2 Boost and using it to keep him alive in between controls. A targeting bind helps with this a lot, seeing how it might be hard to click him when he is surrounded by enemies

He has three attacks. Hurl Boulder, Heavy Mallet, and Stone Fist. He will aggro on mobs pretty far away and usually begins by using Hurl Boulder. He has a real hard time figuring out that he should cycle attacks, and will sometimes stand *behind* you playing a blaster rather than getting into melee and acting like the tank pet he is. You can run to the other side of the mob to drag him into melee, use Recall Friend, or just get close and /em slap him. That last one might not do anything, but it sure is therapeutic.

He is a great tool that is very rough around the edges.

*mumbles something about giving Animate Stone mudpots*

Rating: When they nerfed our pets from almost 3 perma stones to 1, I was so upset I respec’d out of him completely for more control. I have never hated a build more. As stupid as he is, I believe he is essential for almost every Earth controller. And the only reason he isn’t getting a better rating is because I saw what he was capable of when he had one or two siblings out with him, and he has some pretty bad AI issues at times.

Slotting Suggestion: 1acc/3dam/2rech. With all the –def you have, he will hit plenty. And the recharges are great for making use of the above mentioned alpha sponge.


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Kokopelli Joe’s Guide to the Earth/Storm Controller

If you are reading this, it is presumably because you are interested in making a Controller that has either the Earth Control primary, the Storm Summoning Secondary, or hopefully, both!

As of writing this, I have logged over 1000 hours on my Earth/Storm controller. I have also had every power in both sets at one time or another. That does not make me an expert, and that doesn’t mean you should take my word on everything. I am writing this guide because I have had a blast playing this combination, and I want to share what I have learned from that previously mentioned unhealthy amount of time. Hopefully after reading this, you will go roll up a brand new Earth/Storm controller if you haven’t already!

Earth/Storm is a very potent combination, and is an extremely satisfying combination to play. It is one of the best “control” builds in the game.

A few disclaimers first:

• This is not a solo friendly combo. Once you get your pet, some storm powers, and get them slotted you will be able to solo on Invincible with no problem. But before you hit 32, it is probably one of the worst solo combos in the game. You can solo a low level Earth/Storm, but it will be a challenge even with containment. This is just the price you have to pay for all the control you will end up with. Be aware of that going into any Earth control character.

• I do not slot my control powers for damage. All the slotting suggestions are coming from a level 50 character with other means of damage. Furthermore, I got my Earth/Storm to 50 before containment was put into effect, so I will not be giving advice on how to slot to best benefit from containment for pre-32 controllers. I am sure that there are other forum goers that can help with any containment slotting questions you might have.

• I will likewise not be including any major PvP builds, thoughts or strategies in this guide. I have done some PvP with my Earth/Storm between friends, and it seems like a very capable set. However I do not consider myself a “PvPer” and I have only ever used a PvE build, built for teams and soloing. Once again, I am sure there are many people in the PvP forums that can help you with this much more than I can.

• I am not going to list all the minute details of every power. If you want to know exact numbers, I highly suggest Red Tomax’s Guide to City of Heroes. It is the most extensive collection of game data available.



The Guide

I will be listing each power in both sets one by one. I will give my thoughts, advice and general information about the power. Then I will give it a rating and suggest slotting that I have found beneficial.

Remember that all this is based on my own personal experiences. I will try to present facts about the powers and ways to use them, but as always, your mileage may vary.

Each Rating will have 1 to 5 smileys.

- If you actually take this power, you need to lead it into a dark alley and murder it.

– Probably not something many of you will want. May be valuable to certain play styles.

– A Decent Power. Nothing special or extraordinary about it, but gets the job done.

– Powers that most everyone should take. Useful in most situations.

– This power is the father of your first born.


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Excellent guide. If I ever get around to updating my Earth/Storm guide I will definitely be listing this as a reference for new players/controllers.

Thanks all!

So can I call myself an RP'er? Or is there some rite of passage? :P

And yes... SoaP is going to kick.

I love making characters with rich backstories, and even write some shorts about my mains... and I do RP "a bit" in game, for instance, if I am playing an Alien, I will refer to everyone as "human" or things like that.

However, when someone talks about Superman Returns, or the games bugs, or computers, I will chat about it with them.

How do you handle that? If I break my character and start in on a conversation like that, does it revoke my RP status? To be considered an "RPer" are you your character from log in to log out?

I really know nothing about "RP." I just enjoying getting into my characters... just kind of curious about how others do it.

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a nice person

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*Waves at Taxi*

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Blasters with targetting drone cannot have build up.


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I love how the playerbase consistently knows more about the game than the devs. But there is no accuracy problem.

My new claws/SR Stalker has a problem with accuracy. He misses 4 or 5 times in a row frequently on +1's. Has green acc enh in all attacks.

And I'm not going to sit down and crunch numbers for the dev team. I will test changes they make, but finding bugs and having to figure it out for them is ridiculous. I really wish they would stop ignoring the problem and do what they are being paid to.

Perhaps the dev's are playing with some accuracy change akin to ED that is in place on their server that they just haven't told us about.

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possible...

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likely.

or...

Some level 50's on Liberty used to exemp down to a lvl 2, run into a mob, die, unexemp, then get TP'd back under the globe in a big pile of dead level 50's. Would confuse a whole lot of people since AT's without access to absorb pain would be lying there dead.

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ARE YOU ON CRACK!?!?!?!

The number of pinheads, blowhards, and motards that post on these boards (and others) is beyond counting. That's not to say that there ISN'T more current and also valuable information on boards, but it can take some serious time and effort to determine what is "right" and what is "crap". Some people don't have the time, or want to take the time, to sift through much of the fluff and banter here, to get to the good stuff. I'm sure Prima will do well with these guides, IF they put some solid effort into it.

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Not to mention that if someone needs to look up something like "Where is the magic store in talos..." The guide won't respond with "OMG just use your map n00b!"

Updated... Here