Local_Man

Do you realize that the status "resistance" from IO sets does not provide "protection?" Status "Resistance" only shortens the duration of the Mez power, but does nothing to prevent that power from hitting. The net result is that a small amout of status "resistance" is pretty much useless. Defense will do more to keep the mez from hitting.

If you really want status protection, you need to go with Indomidible Will from the Psi APP or the Clarion Destiny power. It is very hard to get IW to permanent, but it will provide protection while it is up. At tier 4, the Clarion is perma or pretty close to it.

I learned (or was reminded something) last night. My buddy and I have been duo-ing a pair of Dominators through Praetoria. Mine is Elec/Earth, his is Mind/Fire. I play mine melee and tend to die a lot, but it has been fun.

Last night, a friend of ours decided to join us for a while on his level 50 Fire/Rad. Fire control makes Electric control pretty much worthless. The Sleep in Static Field is destroyed by DoT from Hot Feet and Fire Cages. The knockdown in Jolting Chain is completely neutered by the -knockdown in Fire Cages. My level 16-19 character was trying to run far enough ahead to be able to throw out Static Field before the Fire/Rad showed up . . . who instantly used Fire Cages (with a purple Grav Anchor set including the Chance for Hold) to invalidate any efforts at control I made. And I really couldn't complain because we were wiping out groups much faster than my Mind/Fire buddy and I had been.

It was amazingly frustrating. I was pretty much limited to my single target hold and my damage powers. So, Electric Control does NOT play well with Fire control.

Illusion/Radiation controls through distraction and debuff. Not only by drawing aggro to Phantom Army, but also with Invisibility and Deceive . . . sneaking around the edges, confusing foes who would otherwise be a problem. Still, the combo has a lot of control that is usually referred to as "Soft." Spectral Terror is available for permanent control. Perma-PA is possible with enough Recharge. Getting good Recharge for Flash and EM Pulse will give you some "control."

Of the APP sets, Earth has a little bit of control -- Fissure has a mag 2 stun, and Seismic Smash has a mag 3 hold. Psi has knockup in Psi Tornado. All of the Ice powers come with some slow.

OK . . .

Are you posting this to: (a) ask if it is any good? (b) claim that it is a good build that others should follow? (c) just posting it to increase your post count?

If (a), then a little bit of explanation of your playstyle would help. Do you plan to solo some? Team control? Do you stay at range or try to get up in the action?

In my opinion, your build needs some work. Exactly what are you trying to do with this build? Recharge? Maximize control? Cheap but well slotted? Defense? You have a few things slotted well, while others aren't. Also, the order of your powers seems a bit off, since some key powers are taken later (Rad Infection, Stalagmites) than they should be.

Stone Prison, Radiant Aura, AM, RI and Earth's Embrace are well slotted. A few other powers are close: Stalagmites could use a Recharge in that last slot -- and take it at 12, not 28.

Fossilize: Slot for Acc, Hold, Rech and Damage. If you are going for a Recharge build, then 4 Basilisk's Gaze. Then add Acc and Damage. Hami-Os are an option to maximize all aspects of the power. Or Frankenslot. But 4 level 30 Lockdowns aren't doing much for you.

Stone Cages is not a damage power. You actually get more damage from procs. You got about 19 damage from your slotting. Instead, slot it for Acc and EndRdx, then put in the Posi Blast Chance for Energy Damage and the Trap of the Hunter Chance for Lethal, and your average damage goes up to about 39. If you can afford it, put the Grav Anchor chance for Hold in it, too.

Quicksand: The Slow only affects run speed -- not very useful since the run speed cap is -90%. If you have that slot, use a damage proc or use the slot somewhere else.

Earthquake: Why slot for Defense Debuff when the Earth Control already has massive Defense debuff (20% in most powers, 25% in Quicksand.) Just use Quicksand underneath all the other powers and don't worry about slotting for Defense debuff. Earthquake should have Recharge, and then maybe the Achilles Heal Chance for Resist Debuff if you have a spare slot. You could put the Explosive Strike proc in there if you have a spare slot, but that's low priority.

Ling Rad: Slot for Acc and Recharge, not Slow. (See my Earth/Rad and Ill/Rad guides for why.)

Adding the two Pet 10% Resist Damage procs will make Rocky (Animate Stone) survive quite a bit longer.

Grant Invis? I suppose if you want to provide a service to some teams, but that's not really your role. If you want a place for a Luck of the Gambler Recharge, why not Combat Jumping?

Fissure is a damage power and should be slotted that way. Personally, I prefer a ranged APP set over the short-range Earth set. Ice or Fire.

As Airhammer said, Electric Control is really more about layered powers. Static Field is a key part of the set, but the most effective use is by combining powers. In low levels, Jolting Chain helps to occupy foes just long enough for Static Field to pulse its sleep. In upper levels, Jolting will likely become less useful, but I still think it is a fun power to make an entire group look like popcorn.

I have an Elec/Rad Controller at 47. Unfortunately, he's not on my main server or he would have been 50 long ago. I leveled him up all on PUGs, and have just started playing him solo. He is a safe, but not fast, solo controller. Adding Choking Cloud to the variety of controls in Electric makes him effective at shutting down groups continually. As Mr. Grumpums said, knockback becomes an issue since the set relies heavily upon Location-targetted control and chains.

As I said earlier, I'm working on an Elec/Earth Dom, mostly teaming with my buddy on a Mind/Fire. His DoT from his Fire set can sometimes be a problem for Static Field, but other than that, it is a really good combo. Electric Control is great at shutting down a group with Sleep and Endurance Drain. The Earth Assault set lets me take out individual foes while the rest sleep. (I plan to skip Mud Pots.) At low levels, I am far better at AoE control than my buddy's Mind Dom. Even with DOs, Static Field recharges quickly. It looks to me like a Dominator that I can stick with.

Earth/Kinetics is an interesting combo . . . Earth Control is a great ranged AoE control set with very little damage, while Kinetics pushes you into melee with its close-range buffs and allows your damage powers to do a lot more damage. Both powersets are great, but the synergy is somewhat lacking. Earth Control tends to draw aggro due to its AoE controls, and Kinetics has almost no defensive capability -- you generally make up for its lack of protective powers by killing faster -- but that is hard to do when you don't have much damage. Before the Pet Recharge Nerf, putting Speed Boost on Rocky was one of the biggest benefits of the combo but that doesn't help anymore. Still, both Earth Control and Kinetics are great powersets with a lot to offer.

This build isn't very well focused and is lacking in a few areas. Even with Transfusion and Transference, its is a good idea to have a few slots in Stamina and possibly health. There are a few power picks with which I don't agree, like taking the Medicine Pool when you already have a strong heal in Transfusion. It doesn't focus on Recharge or Defense or much of anything. There are a few different ways you can go with an IO build (build for Recharge, build for Defense, build to maximize power slotting for cheap), but it really needs a focus.

Fossilize: This is a single target hold, but slotted for damage. If you are going to try to do damage, then the build needs some damage power picks like Stone Prison slotted for Damage or Air Superiority. You are getting 6.25% Recharge from slotting the Decimation set, but you could be getting 7.5% Recharge from 4 Basilisk Gaze, a Hold set. If you are going for Recharge, then get the 4 Baz Gaze and finish slots 5 and 6 with an Acc/Dam and a common Damage. If you want to go for Ranged Defense, then the full Lockdown set.

Stone Cages: The Gravitational Anchor set is great for a Recharge build, but I suggest trading out the pure Immob for the Immob/End -- Stone Cages uses a lot of endurance. Fit a 6th slot in there if you use it a lot for a damage proc like the Posi Blast Chance for Energy.

Quicksand: I like to use this a lot underneath every AoE control. It has a huge (25%) Defense Debuff in addition to the Slow, -Jump and -Fly. If you use this a lot, you can slot less accuracy -- and accuracy is always an issue for Kinetics. I personally like more Recharge, and if you have a slot to spare, the Impeded Swiftness Chance for Smashing Damage is nice.

Salt Crystals: This is the most frequently skipped power in Earth Control. It is a PB AoE sleep in a set of better, ranged AoE controls. Some folks would take this as a mule for the fairly inexpensive (for a purple set) Fortunata Hypnosis set in a high Recharge build, which it appears that you have done. But it is not the most useful of powers. Looks cool, though. I'm not a big fan of mule powers, but a lot of folks use 'em.

The slotting for Transfusion and Stalagmites is OK. If you can afford it, 5 of the purple Stun set gives even more Recharge.

Earthquake: Your slotting is OK, but you could replace the ToHitDebuff/End with an Achilles Heal Chance for Resistance Debuff. Or use one less slot, as you are mainly getting a small 2% damage buff from that 5th slot when you already have Fulcrum Shift and Siphon Power. The Recharge in this power is far more important than the ToHit Debuff.

Speed Boost only needs one EndMod. That slot can be used somewhere else.

I don't like the Medicine Pool for a */Kin. Transfusion is already one of the stronger heals in the game. That can also free up some slots.

Volcanic Gasses: If you are spending the Infl for purple sets and going for Recharge, then 5-slot with Unbreakable Constraint, and consider putting the Lockdown proc in the 6th slot. Because of the way this power works, it needs capped or nearly capped Hold and Recharge. Then procs are very effective in it, and this is one of the best places for the Lockdown proc.

Acrobatics: Ever since -Knockback procs came into the game, I have not been a fan of Acrobatics. It uses a lot of endurance for not much benefit. Replace this with Increase Density, and slot a Steadfast -Knockback in it.

Animate Stone: There are a few ways to slot Rocky. Rocky doesn't need capped Accuracy. However, both 10% Pet Resistance procs are very nice here since Rocky already has high Resistance. So for a Recharge build, slot 4 Expediant Reinforcement (Acc/Dam, Dam/End, Acc/Dam/Rech, Resistance proc), keep your Sovereign Right proc and an Acc/Dam.

Fire APP: I prefer the Earth APP for a */Kin. You are already in close, so the short range of Fissure isn't a problem. Fissure recharges faster than Fireball and adds some Stun to stack with Stalagmites. The ugly armor is Smash/Lethal Defense, better than a Resistance armor. Seismic Smash is a melee damage/Hold power that will let you hold bosses more easily when you stack it with Fissure and will do a LOT of damage buffed by Fulcrum Shift. And Earth's Embrace is a Hit Point buff as well as a heal -- more reason not to take the healing pool.

I had just gotten my first 50 when I had to immediately make my first Kheldian. Sadly, I was not yet inspired with one of my usual puns and I had to come up with something quickly. Area Man was the level 50, so the PB became "Aerial Man"

My Warshade was later. Since her powersets were Umbral, she became "Umbral-La," who seeks to shield the Citizens of Paragon City from the reign of evil.

Then another Warshade on a different server had a long backstory: young Sue Sherman (her parents were tanks, of course, who had been killed by the Council) found a dying Nictus named Shee T'kar. To save the life of the dying alien, Sue agreed to merge with the Nictus to become: "Sue-Shee"

All of the sets have the same base damage for the single target hold and one other single target attack. (Spectral Wounds also does Illusory damage that heals back.) A couple of sets (Fire, Plant, Grav) get a little bit of extra damage from DoT. The AoE Immobs on every set other than Illusion and Mind all have the same (low) damage, except for Plant -- Roots does double the damage.

The reason I say that Electric is a low damage controller is that most other sets have some kind of additional damage power (other than the pets). Fire's Hot Feet. Mind's Levitate and Terrify. Grav's Lift and Propel. Plant's Roots and Creepers. Illusion's Phantom Army and the Illusory damage from Spectral Wounds.

Electric, Ice and Earth are the low damage control sets because their other powers do little or no damage. Electric only gets Jolting Chain (very low damage), Static Field (no damage), Conductive Aura (no damage) and Synaptic Overload (no direct damage, although an argument could be made that confuse powers do some damage). The low damage control sets are very, very slow to play solo. Even with Veteran Powers, it will take you a long time to level a solo Elec, Earth or Ice Controller. Even if you consider the pets, the Gremlins are not very high in damage . . . even Earth's Rocky is better. Personally, I consider Ice to be the lowest damage primary, then Electric and then Earth.

My Elec/Rad controller was made as a team-oriented controller. He focuses on providing AoE and single target control, debuffs and buffs for the the team. It is not unusual to make controllers who do not plan to solo. Before level 35 or so, I pretty much never solo'ed. Now with the Gremlins I can solo if I have to, but it is very slow compared to most other controllers.

I have been playing a low-level Elec/Earth Dominator a bit lately, which has reminded me of the value of an AoE Immob. Since Chain Fences recharges so quickly, it allows you to keep foes together in a group and at range while your other control powers recharge. Chain Fences allows you to Immobilize a new group coming in after you have just used your other control powers, keeping the new group from overrunning you and your team. Chain Fences lets you keep a group in place while you have time to duck around a corner and catch your breath/heal/recharge/pop an Insp/prepare a temp power, etc.

There is definitely some usefullness in a fast-recharging AoE Immob even before you can proc it up.

Unless you are using it as a single target damage power, I would say that the single target Immobilize, Electric Fence, is skippable. What makes it even more skippable is that it is Damage over Time, which will wake the foe up from Static Field. Granted, it is the only power in the set with -knockback, but for the most part, I find single target Immobs to be skippable unless needed for damage.

Personally, I find a number of uses for Jolting Chain. On teams, it is not uncommon for a teammate to use some kind of area DoT power, making the pulsing sleep in Static Field far less effective. Jolting Chain will act as a substitute short-term control power, giving you enough time to take other action. I have used Jolting Chain to stop an incomming ambush long enough for the Tank to establish position and get aggro. Jolting Chain just seems to have little uses here and there to make it worth while.

Two Fire/Rads would be the easiest. Both running Hot Feet + Choking Cloud, popping AM whenever it is up. The follow character could even be spamming the AoE Heal.

Stacked Choking Cloud means most of the foes will be held in a few seconds. Hot Feet to chip away at their health. 6 Fire Imps to wipe out the foes.

There are some important questions that you did not answer in your post: What is your playstyle? Team Support? Cautious solo? Agressive solo? Aggressive Team?

What are you aiming for? Defense? Damage? You mentioned Recharge, which is almost always good for a controller.

Gravity in general is a fairly weak "team" controller -- Three single target damage powers (Crush, Lift, Propel) while other sets generally have one or maybe two. The main AoE control power (other than the AoE Hold that every control set has) is a quirky foe-teleport with knockback and a long recharge -- far less useful than powers like Flashfire, Static Field or Spectral Terror. Dimension Shift is widely disliked for good reason (I dislike Phase powers, too.), so one of the AoE control powers is skippable. As a result, Gravity is one of the least effective group control sets. I could never get into it until I paired it with Storm.

My Grav/Storm is mostly a cautious solo character who can join in on teams when available to contribute what he can. I built my Grav/Storm to be able to break up groups so that I could take down one foe at a time with my GD-Crush-Propel attack. You appear to have made more of a team character, or you would not have taken powers like Resusitate or Vengence.

Now, I don't have access to Mids at the moment, so I'm going to just make a few suggestions on the build:

Fitness: all */Storm controllers have endurance issues. You should put at least 3 EndMod in Stamina, maybe a 4th slot with the Perf Shifter proc, and use both the Numina and Miracle procs in Health. A third slot in Health for the Miracle Heal will buff your Regen and give you a Recovery buff.

Lift: I skipped Lift in my usual build. Crush does more damage AND sets up Containment. Frankly, I think Crush is a much better choice even though it does Damage over Time. However, the real choice is between Lift and Propel. Propel is great damage, but it is SLOW . . . on a team, it is very common to activate Propel on a foe, and then have a teammate kill that foe before Propel hits. I call it "necroblasting" when I hit something that is already dead. I do a lot of necroblasting with Propel. If you spend almost all your time on teams, you may want your attack chain to be GD-Crush-Lift rather than GD-Crush-Propel. So I would take Crush here over Lift. If you only play on teams, you may want to consider taking Lift instead of Propel, but take Crush.
6-Slotting Thunderstrike is good if you are going for Ranged Defense. If you are going for Recharge, then use 5 Decimations. You took 5 Thunderstrike in Lift and 5 Decimation in Propel. Are you going for Recharge or Ranged Defense? Pick one and go all out for it.

Gravity Distortion: Most of the Hold sets are not great. If you are going for Ranged Defense, then Lockdown is good for the defense bonus. However, that Lockdown proc is not all that useful -- it only has an effect about 2.4% of the time or less. (It often shows that it is working on foes that are already held so that the proc is adding nothing.) If you are going for Recharge, then 4 Basilisk's Gaze. Finish out the last two slots with an Acc/Dam and a common Damage.

I skipped O2 Boost: I take it on most Stormies, but not on my Grav/Storm since Singularity can't be healed. Since I play this character mostly solo, it is a wasted power pick. Many people skip O2 Boost. On a team build, it has some benefit but it is a weak heal, often better used for the protection from Stun and Endurance Drain. O2 Boost is nice to use on a teammate who has just used a Wakie, to break him out of the stun.

I took Snow Storm here. The main benefits to Snow Storm are the -Recharge and -Fly, neither of which can be enhanced. Since Gravity has Slow as a secondary effect of its powers AND it has an AoE Immob, I see little to no benefit to slotting Snow Storm for Slow (which only affects run speed). I used 2 EndRdx.

Steamy Mist: 6 Slots of LotG is probably too much. Take out the Dam/Rch and End/Rech. Maybe add back a Karma -Knockback or a Steadfast -Knockback . . . it will take either one. I personally use Super Speed with Steamy Mist for full invisibility, but if you don't want Super Speed, get a Stealth IO for Sprint or your travel power. There are some nice strategic advantages to full invisibility.

Crushing Field: As far as slotting, it mainly needs Accuracy and EndRdx. After that, damage procs are nice. The best proc is the Gravitational Anchor Chance for Hold from the purple set. You can slot this in a variety of ways depending upon which set bonuses you want. Trap of the Hunter is cheap and provides some nice bonuses, if that's what you want. The most important use of this power is in conjunction with either Freezing Rain or Wormhole's Stun (or Thunderclap's).

Fly: Since I-19 (or was it I-18?), Fly is at speed cap by default, with no flightspeed slotting. So unless you need that small defense bonus, slotting anything other than EndRdx (or maybe a Stealth or the Zephyr -Knockback) is wasted.

Freezing Rain: This is a key power -- Slot for Recharge first, then the Achilles Heal proc, then other damage procs if you have room. The damage it does is misleading . . . those "-1" you see are actually "-.3" so slotting for damage is wasted. Slotting for Defense Debuff is also not really needed, as the amount of defense debuff it already does combined with your standard Accuracy and any accuracy bonuses you have will almost always take you to the 95% accuracy cap.

GDF: It can be slotted a lot of different ways, depending upon which bonuses you want. Lockdown for Ranged Damage, Baz Gaze for Recharge. I think I have mine 5 slotted with 4 Baz Gaze and an extra Acc/Hold/Rech.

Medicine Pool: Can be useful, but consider slotting Heal and Heal/Rech from Miracle for the Recovery bonus. Resusitate is mostly unneeded unless you have nothing else to take -- there are so many ways to rez folks in the game today (Combine Insp to make Wakies, temp powers, day job powers, etc.), that a rez is far less needed than before. Resusitate is a somewhat weak rez, too. There are a lot of other powers I would take over the Rez from the medicine pool.

Singularity: I suggest 4 of the Expediant Reinforcement set with its 10% Resist proc. Singy already has high Resistance, so stacking more makes him much more durable. Consider stacking in the other 10% Resist proc, too.

Wormhole is the AoE control power, other than the AoE Hold, in the Gravity set. Yes, it has situational uses. Solo, it is very useful. On some teams, it can also be very useful, but it takes learning how to use it with strategy. I took it at 26 and have 5 Stupify plus a Recharge in the power. I find Wormhole to be one of the main reasons to play a Gravity controller -- without it, it is a fairly boring set.

I also took Thunderclap to stack with the stun in Wormhole. It looks cool, recharges quickly and can stack a mag 2 stun on top of the mag 3 stun in Wormhole.

I consider Tornado to be more of a damage power that also can be an effective "panic button" power. The overall damage it does over time is significant, and the fact that it is AUTOHIT makes it great for doing damage to foes who may be otherwise difficult to hit (AVs, Fake Nemesis in PFF, Paragon Protectors in MOG). I use it less on my Grav/Storm than on other controllers who have -knockback in their AoE Immob, but it is still useful. It can also take a Pet damage set, like 4 Expediant Reinforcement.

Leadership: In my opinion, */Storm characters use so much endurance that they can't afford the Leadership toggles. A buddy of mine just came to the same conclusion on his own on his Plant/Storm, as he was running out of endurance even with the Cardiac in his Alpha Slot.

As for APP sets, I like Ice. Hibernate gives you a way to get both Health and endurance, and it can get by with a single Recharge. The Armor is S/L Defense, which you could buff with several sets like the Enfeebled Op set in Crushing Field. You have accest to one fast single-target damage power and two AoEs . . . and Gravity could use more AoE damage.

I made a Psi/Mental Blaster and copied the gold lady on our right, Statesman's left. I named the character, "Splash Screen." If her costume was Red, White and Blue instead of Gold, White and Blue, I would agree that she is probably supposed to be Maiden Justice a/k/a Monica Richter Cole, Stateman's wife and Recluse's sister.

I've always wondered about the names of these folks. Someone once told me that they thought the one I copied was actually named "Golden Girl" . . .