Local_Man

I agree that it is a well-done build that meets the goals . . . but it skips several powers that I like and make frequent use of in my Ill/TA -- Ice Arrow lets me quickly hold bosses. Glue Arrow. I prefer SI to GI. No travel power -- (Yes, you can use Ninja Run, but I prefer something else.)

Sacrifices have to be made to get to high defense, and that means giving up some of the ability to Control. I just don't think an Ill/TA really needs all that defense vs. the added control and utility.

My opinion from playing my Ill/TA? Defense really isn't needed -- Slot for max recharge instead. I send in PA, then stand back out of melee and fire off my debuffs and ranged attacks. If any foe even looks like he might try to look at me funny, he gets Deceived, or Ice Arrow+Blind. I even skipped Flash because I always stay out of melee.

OK, here is a quick build I put together. Ranged, Energy and Negative are capped. While S/L is a little bit low, that is made up with high S/L resistance. Decent Recharge. No purple sets.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.942
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Technology Controller
Primary Power Set: Gravity Control
Secondary Power Set: Force Field
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Primal Forces Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Crush

• (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage
• (3) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance
• (5) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge
• (15) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (17) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (25) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge

Level 1: Personal Force Field

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 2: Gravity Distortion

• (A) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Hold
• (3) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Recharge
• (5) Basilisk's Gaze - Recharge/Hold
• (15) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge/Hold
• (17) HamiO:Nucleolus Exposure
• (31) Damage Increase IO

Level 4: Deflection Shield

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
• (11) Luck of the Gambler - Defense

Level 6: Propel

• (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage
• (7) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance
• (7) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge
• (23) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (23) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (25) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge

Level 8: Crushing Field

• (A) Trap of the Hunter - Accuracy/Recharge
• (9) Trap of the Hunter - Endurance/Immobilize
• (9) Trap of the Hunter - Accuracy/Endurance
• (37) Trap of the Hunter - Immobilize/Accuracy
• (37) Trap of the Hunter - Accuracy/Immobilize/Recharge
• (46) Trap of the Hunter - Chance of Damage(Lethal)

Level 10: Insulation Shield

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
• (11) Luck of the Gambler - Defense

Level 12: Hasten

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
• (13) Recharge Reduction IO
• (13) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 14: Super Speed

• (A) Celerity - +Stealth

Level 16: Maneuvers

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
• (29) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
• (43) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

Level 18: Gravity Distortion Field

• (A) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Hold
• (19) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Recharge
• (19) Basilisk's Gaze - Recharge/Hold
• (34) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge/Hold
• (37) Essence of Curare - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge

Level 20: Dispersion Bubble

• (A) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance
• (21) Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge
• (21) Red Fortune - Endurance/Recharge
• (39) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
• (40) Red Fortune - Defense
• (40) Red Fortune - Endurance

Level 22: Boxing

• (A) Empty

Level 24: Tough

• (A) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance
• (42) Steadfast Protection - Knockback Protection
• (48) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge
• (48) Reactive Armor - Resistance

Level 26: Wormhole

• (A) Stupefy - Accuracy/Recharge
• (27) Stupefy - Endurance/Stun
• (27) Stupefy - Accuracy/Endurance
• (31) Stupefy - Stun/Range
• (31) Stupefy - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge
• (39) Stupefy - Chance of Knockback

Level 28: Weave

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
• (29) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
• (42) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance

Level 30: Force Bolt

• (A) Accuracy IO

Level 32: Singularity

• (A) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Recharge
• (33) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage
• (33) Expedient Reinforcement - Damage/Endurance
• (33) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (34) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge
• (34) Expedient Reinforcement - Resist Bonus Aura for Pets

Level 35: Repulsion Bomb

• (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage
• (36) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge
• (36) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range
• (36) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance

Level 38: Force Bubble

• (A) Endurance Reduction IO
• (39) Endurance Reduction IO

Level 41: Conserve Power

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 44: Temp Invulnerability

• (A) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance
• (45) Aegis - Resistance/Recharge
• (45) Aegis - Endurance/Recharge
• (45) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge
• (46) Aegis - Resistance
• (46) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%

Level 47: Power Boost

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
• (48) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 49: Energy Torrent

• (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage
• (50) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge
• (50) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range
• (50) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance

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

• (A) Empty

Level 1: Containment
Level 1: Sprint

• (A) Empty

Level 2: Rest

• (A) Empty

Level 2: Swift

• (A) Run Speed IO

Level 2: Health

• (A) Numina's Convalescence - Heal
• (43) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
• (43) Miracle - +Recovery

Level 2: Hurdle

• (A) Jumping IO

Level 2: Stamina

• (A) Performance Shifter - EndMod
• (40) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End
• (42) Endurance Modification IO

Level 4: Ninja Run
------------
Set Bonus Totals:

• 5% DamageBuff(Smashing)
• 5% DamageBuff(Lethal)
• 5% DamageBuff(Fire)
• 5% DamageBuff(Cold)
• 5% DamageBuff(Energy)
• 5% DamageBuff(Negative)
• 5% DamageBuff(Toxic)
• 5% DamageBuff(Psionic)
• 3% Defense(Melee)
• 3% Defense(Smashing)
• 3% Defense(Lethal)
• 7.69% Defense(Fire)
• 7.69% Defense(Cold)
• 22.7% Defense(Energy)
• 22.7% Defense(Negative)
• 3% Defense(Psionic)
• 25.5% Defense(Ranged)
• 7.69% Defense(AoE)
• 3% Enhancement(Stun)
• 5% Enhancement(Immobilize)
• 62.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
• 41% Enhancement(Accuracy)
• 13% FlySpeed
• 61 HP (6%) HitPoints
• 13% JumpHeight
• 13% JumpSpeed
• Knockback (Mag -4)
• Knockup (Mag -4)
• MezResist(Confused) 2.5%
• MezResist(Held) 5.25%
• MezResist(Immobilize) 5.8%
• MezResist(Sleep) 2.5%
• MezResist(Stun) 2.5%
• MezResist(Terrorized) 2.5%
• 15.5% (0.26 End/sec) Recovery
• 62% (2.63 HP/sec) Regeneration
• 10% Resistance(Smashing)
• 10% Resistance(Lethal)
• 14.4% Resistance(Fire)
• 14.4% Resistance(Cold)
• 10% Resistance(Energy)
• 10% Resistance(Negative)
• 10% Resistance(Toxic)
• 10% Resistance(Psionic)
• 18% RunSpeed
• 2.5% XPDebtProtection

Well, what do you call Oil Slick Arrow? Lightning Storm? Tornado?

My experience is with a Grav/Storm and a Mind/FF . . . I haven't actually played a Grav/FF. I tried several Gravity builds, and the only one I was happy to stay with was Grav/Storm. Gravity is weak on AoE control, and its strength is single target damage. FF is all about Defense and Knockback.

Let me say a few things about your build. If you are going for a defense-oriented build, you mainly want to get Ranged defense and maybe some AoE defense. Once you get Singularity, it can be either your tank or your bodyguard, so you won't need melee defense. Of course, you could go for S/L defense by taking one of the APP defense shields.

Crush: To me, this is a damage power. It actually does more damage than Lift. When playing solo and small team, my single target damage chain is GD-Crush-Propel. If GD misses, then Crush still sets up Containment for Propel, which hits pretty hard. On large teams, Propel is so slow that it often will hit foes who have already been killed by teammates. (I call this "necroblasting.") If you only play on teams, you may want to consider replacing Propel with Lift, but Crush should still be slotted as a damage power. Consider using Thunderstrike in Crush and Propel (or Lift) for its ranged Defense.

I would recommend adding Propel (or Lift if you mostly team, but Propel hits a LOT harder and looks cool). Another Thunderstrike set.

PFF is past the Defense softcap on its own. A single Recharge is usually good enough. You could put a Karma -Knockback in there. And that frees up a lot of slots.

Crushing Field. You took it at 30, leaving you with no AoE control until level 18 (and GDF is on a long timer). AoE Immobs provide fast-recharging control if you know how to use them . . . like casting it and then hiding around a corner. Once you get high ranged defense, the AoE Immob will be like a fast-recharging AoE Hold . . . they can't move and they can't hit you. I would take this early. It is far more useful than Force Bolt.

GD: Lockdown is OK if you are building for Ranged Defense. Otherwise, I prefer a combo of Acc, Hold, Rech and Damage for my mostly solo build. I went with 4 Baz Gaze, an Acc/Dam Hami-O and a common Damage.

Fly: Consider Super Speed with a Stealth IO for full invisibility. Why? You can lead Singy into the fight to tank for you while you stay unseen. The Raptor pack is just barely slower than Fly, so it makes a fine substitute. If you keep Fly, slot it with just an EndRdx since the default speed is the Flyspeed cap. Or use a Zephyr -knockback. However, you should use either 1 -knockback or 3. Two provides little benefit.

GDF: If you are going with the Lockdown set, take all 6 for the Ranged Defense bonus.

Tough: I personally did not take the Fighting Pool as I use Hurricane's ToHit Debuff. but if you are going to take Tough, consider slotting the Aegis set for its AoE Defense. Same with your APP armor.

Repulsion Bomb: It kind of sucks. I have it, but I've never been impressed by it. It does knockdown, not knockback. However, if you slot it with knockback IOs, it will do knockback. I slotted it for damage.

Before pulling the build up in Mids, I saw a few little things:

Fossilize: I would replace the Perox with a Nucleous, since Fossilize is often an Alpha attack that you use before you have cast all your Defense Debuff.

Earthquake: Earth Control already has tons of Defense Debuff. Quicksand alone is 25%. You would do best to slot Earthquake for Recharge and ToHit Debuff.

Volcanic Gasses: If you can, fit in the Damage proc from Unbreakable Constraint. The multiple guysers that the psuedo pet spawns result in lots of chances for the proc to hit.

We get a lot of "make me a build" posts. It is generally a better idea to try to make a build yourself in Mids, and then ask for help in those areas where you may not be sure. Try searching for some recent threads on Plant/Rad for discussions on the suggested powers.

I have it on my Plant/Kin. I mainly use it when I have already used Seeds, and then get a new group adding in or an ambush. I use it far more solo and on small teams than on the usual large steam-rolling teams.

It's a pretty good power for a situational pick-up, and it takes the cheap (for purple) Fortunata Hypnosis or Call of the Sandman sets if you are looking for Recharge. Induced Coma has 2.5% Melee Defense, and Lethargic Repose has several kinds of Defense. Assuming you want to devote 5-6 slots to it.

I see it once in a while, but I don't consider it a major issue. I see it and I think, "Hmm, that's interesting." The graphics in other areas have occasional issues, too. It doesn't happen often enough to bother me.

I have an Earth/Storm at 50 and another one (on another server) at 44, plus I have played a LOT of both Earth and Storm. I haven't yet fully IO'ed out my level 50 Earth/Storm (too many alts), but I'm working on it. But here are a few suggestions and comments:

Earth/Storm is a great combo with a huge amount of ranged AoE control and some self-protection from the secondary. Plus the added damage can help you play solo if you want to. There are the obvious conflicts of Earthquake and the -knockback in Stone Cages. But that -knockback only lasts for 12 seconds. If you cast Stone Cages, wait a little and then cast Earthquake, the foes will bounce around in their cages.

You have to be careful of the many Storm knockback powers since many of your controls and your main debuff are AoE location based. I almost never use Gale. I learned to use Super Speed with Hurricane to "herdicane" foes into my AoEs -- that took some practice. A misplaced Lightning Storm can knock foes out of your Control AoEs. (One fun thing to do is jump up to cast Lightning Storm -- If you do it just right, the knockback may turn into knockdown.) Tornado is a force of pure Chaos that can be somewhat limited with Stone Cages, but SC will miss some and Tornado will send them flying.

First, its all good to look ahead and all, but I really don't think folks new to a character should really focus on their level 50 IO'ed out build before they have played the character to a significant level. Each person has his own playstyle and way of using the powers. What may be great for me may not be the way you like to play the character. Personally, I don't like to sacrifice control powers for Defense powers. If you are playing a team controller, you should be able to work with your teammates to control groups before they begin to shoot at you. Let the Tank and the other melee guys draw the aggro . . . or use stealth to lead your Rocky into the frey and let him draw the aggro. Once you control the group, you don't need defense. If you drop things like the Fighting Pool (which only provides benefit to you and not your teammates), you will have more room to take those powers that will provide a benefit to the entire team. (Besides, Hurricane with its ToHit Debuff provides enough protection when needed most of the time.)

You have slotted several things to get the Ranged Defense at the expense of other benefits. For example, the Stupify Knockback IO is horrible, but you have it there twice for the ranged defense. 6-slotting Blood Mandate in Rocky, when adding the two +Resistance Pet procs will substantially help him survive tough situations -- I use him as my tank when solo or on small teams without a tank.

On the other hand, if you find that you are constantly faceplanting, then you may need those defense powers to stay alive and contribute. It depends on your playstyle and the kinds of teams you join.

Snow Storm v. Quicksand: The two powers may be Slow powers, but they do very different things. Snow Storm is the Foe-anchored toggle with -Recharge and -Fly . . . That -Recharge is a huge benefit, and the fact that it goes on and stays on a foe makes it very effective. Snow Storm is also great for knocking fliers out of the sky. Quicksand is a location-targetted AoE with a huge -25% Defense Debuff. I generally throw it underneath all my other Earth AoE controls to catch anyone getting away and to make it easy for any AoEs to hit. Frankly, Quicksand makes Tactics unneeded, unless you want to spend that powerpick and endurance on a +perception power.

I use them both -- Quicksand gets used continually underneath Earthquake, underneath Volcanic Gasses and underneath Stalagmites+Stone Cages, as well as for setting up traps for ambushes and corner pulls. Snow Storm is more situational, but very nice to have when other controls don't work, like against those Cimmeroans -- put Snow Storm on a Cyclops and he slows to a crawl and can only attack once in a blue moon.

Fossilize: If you can afford it, replace one of those Damage with an Acc/Dam Hami-O. The Baz Gaze set is a little bit low on accuracy for a power that will sometimes be an opener and needs to hit. Otherwise, good slotting.

Stone Cages: If you can, go for 5 of the Gravitational Anchor set with its Chance for Hold proc. Then add the Posi Blast proc at the end. That Chance for Hold proc goes off all the time.

My view is that Tactics is mostly wasted on an Earth Control character because of all of the -Defense in the set. Plus, I find that running Leadership on an already-endurance-heavy character is too draining. And you want to run Fighting toggles, too. My Earth/Storm has the Cardiac Alpha boost and still gets low on endurance sometimes, even with a few Recovey buffs and without Leadership or Fighting.

I went with the Ice APP. Hibernate takes care of my lack of self heal and lack of End Recovery power. Two ranged AoE attack powers. And a S/L Defense shield in one power, not 4 or 5.

The Hero Merit process is the slow-n-steady sure thing way of getting your Luck of the Gambler Recharge recipes. The market is the fast-n-risky way of maybe getting your recipes.

I took one of my oldest characters sitting on 110 mil and decided to try a little bit of marketeering (I'm generally not a Marketeer). I picked a niche that seemed to have a pretty quick turnover. Bought up recipes and Salvage, crafted them. The IOs were selling pretty steady for 20 mil, and I was crafting them for about 3-5 mil, a nice profit. I put them up for sale at 17 mil and they were selling quickly. After about 2 sets of 10, I crafted and put up my third set of 10. 6 sold at the same 20 mil mark, but then there seems to have been a market price switch . . . to 15-16 mil, just below my listing price. Those 4 have been sitting on the market now for 3 weeks at 17 mil . . . I could just eat the listing fee and re-list them, but I'm not really in a hurry. I keep hoping they will sell eventually.

The point of the story is that the market is volitile. You can earn a bunch very quickly, but you can't be sure if a market price fluxuation will suddenly result in losing out on some significan listing fees or take longer to sell. If you have Reward Merits and even a moderate amount of Infl, you can buy one Hero merit per day with 50 Reward Merits and 20 Mil Infl, earn one Hero Merit every other day with Tip Missions. Craft and sell a desired 1-merit recipe on one day and then buy your LotG Recharge the next day. If you choose your recipe-for-sale right, you should be easily able to make up the 20 mil it costs to buy one Hero Merit per day. You will have to do other things to make sure you have 50 Reward Merits per day.

The Stupify set will only work when you are using the default ammo. If you use Fire or one of the other ammos, isn't Supressive a Hold then? How about changing to the Lockdown set? You will also get a chance to Hold a Boss with the proc in that set.

Welcome to the forums! Controllers are my favorite AT in the game, as different power combos have widely different playstyles and abilities. Plant/Kin is a busy build with a lot of time spent "up close and personal" to the foes -- I found that mine usually used a few powers at range and then ran into melee. Making a build depends a lot on your particular playstyle. Do you play mostly solo or on small teams or large teams? Are they regular friends or just a PUG ("Pick-Up-Group")? Do you have preferences for certain travel powers?

Fortunately, Plant/Kin is a pretty open build with a lot of personal options. The key powers in Plant are Strangler, Roots, Seeds of Confusion, Carrion Creepers and the pet, Venus Fly Trap a/k/a Twoey (nicknamed after the carniverous plant in "Little Shop of Horrors.") Take those as soon as they are available. All of them need 5 or 6 slots eventually. Slot Strangler for Acc, Hold, Rech and damage. Slot Roots for Accuracy (at least 2), max damage and some Recharge and EndRdx if you can. Seeds of Confusion needs Accuracy, Confuse and Recharge (2 of each is good). Creepers and the pet come later.

Other powers are optional and there are varying opinions. I think Vines is a must have. Entangle is good to add single target damage if you mostly solo, but otherwise skippable. Spores is a targetted AoE Sleep, which can be useful solo or on small teams, but is mostly worthless on large, fast moving teams because teammates will immediately wake them up. Spirit Tree adds a lot of Regen, but with the strong heal from Kinetics it's easily skipped.

From Kinetics, you definitely want Transfusion (you have to take it, but you would want it anyway), Siphon Speed, Speed Boost (for teams! if you only play solo, it could be skipped), Transference and Fulcrum Shift. Slot everything other than Speed Boost for Accuracy to start. SB only needs a single EndMod enhancement.

For the optional Kinetics powers, I always take Siphon Power -- some folks say it is skippable once you get Fulcrum Shift but it works better on single targets than FS. Repel is widely considered the most skippable power in the set, but it has its uses as the only strong defensive power in the set -- Repel has actually saved me and let me save the team a few times. Increase Density is a nice teammate buff that has a very short duration but does several things, but skippable solo. IR is a limited duration Super Jump . . . I always skip this because I find it annoying to use as a travel power, but some people like it.

One choice that I found was significant -- I chose Hasten/Super Speed for my travel power, and put a Celerity Stealth IO in Super Speed for full invisibility. You can earn a low level one with 2 Hero Merits. This let me get in just the right position for using Seeds to get the largest groups and helped me avoid faceplanting quite a few times. If you don't want Super Speed, you can get a Stealth IO and combine it with Stealth from the Invisibility Pool.

All you people upset about the failure of Fox to follow X-men continuity from the comics? Go watch the cartoon, X-Men: Evolutions. Now have fits.

The First Class movie was pretty good. I observed several continuity errors, but just didn't worry about them.