Local_Man

The +2 Mag proc and the Devastation Chance for Hold proc both show up as a Tesla Cage. The Gravitational Anchor (Purple Immob set) Chance for Hold show up like your Gravity Distortion hold, where the foe floats.

I generally don't recommend those procs in standard Holds. It appears that they are doing a lot more than they really are because the T-Cage shows up even if the foe would have been held anyway. You would do better slotting GD with Damage.

Here's why: The single target holds, if they hit, will hold a Minion or Lieutenant in one shot. They have a 20% chance to "overpower" and hold a boss in one shot. So, even though that proc may look like it is helping, it isn't. It only provides any benefit at all on the 80% of bosses not held. And there's only a 20% chance to hit one of those 80%, which really means you have about a 16% chance ON BOSSES for the proc to help, and 0% chance on minions and lieutanants. That ends up being around 2-4% of the total foes. Compare that to slotting for Damage, where the damage will be applied to 100% of the foes hit.

Pretty much the same analysis on AoE holds, but you don't get the option to slot for Damage. That slot will probably do you more good somewhere else.

If you choose Tactics, you may regret it . . . Tactics improves perception, allowing the Fire Imps to have a larger aggro radius. Also, as a Fire/Rad, you already have some endurance-eating toggles.

One other option you may not have considered: Super Speed with a Stealth IO for full invisibility. It is very handy for running into the middle of a group of foes and hitting Cinders. It also lets you stealth missions, running around to find glowies or find targets in those "find x" missions. If you have the Assemble Team vet power or Temp power, it can be even more handy. (Frankly, I prefer Super Speed + Raptor Pack over Super Jump.)

Mutation is a handy power to have. Certainly not essetial, but nice for teaming. Fallout is kind of fun, but very situational; also, if you have Fallout, not being able to rez a teammate after you have exploded his corpse is kind of rude. Another option, especially if you go with Super Speed + Stealth, is Recall Friend.

I actually have 2 Fire/Rads at 50 . . . both of them have the Psi APP for Indomidible Will. Getting mezzed knocks off your Hot Feet and Choking Cloud toggles, and you can substantially reduce that happening with IW. Plus, Psi Tornado is nice AoE damage with a different damage type than Fire AND some knockup to provide additional control. The Shield, Mind Over Body is decent. You do give up access to an endurance Recovery power, but you can get past that with good slotting. (One of my Fire/Rads has Mutation & Fallout, the other has Mutation and Recall Friend.)

I haven't taken Acrobatics on a character since the -knockback IOs came out (except one, and I eventually respec'ed out on that one). Put a Karma -Knockback in Combat Jumping. I get knocked back once in a while, but not very often. I don't find that it is worth a power choice.

The movies and TV shows are their own separate "universe" from the comics. The producers, writers and directors pull the key elements from the comics, but they only pull whatever they choose and make up the rest. Look at how "Smallville" has butchered the comics continuum. X-Men definitely don't follow the comics. Even the Burton "Batman" film had the Joker (as Jack Napier) killing Bruce Wayne's parents.

But this is OK since comic book writers have been doing the same thing. The origin and powers keep changing over the years. Superman was not able to fly when he first appeared, and has picked up a variety of abilities over the years.

The Marvel movie universe has, thus far, been lacking in "magic." Iron Man & Hulk are pure technology. I don't have a problem with treating the "gods" derived from Norse mythology as extra-dimentional super-powerful beings. Besides, it will probably keep the film from being as offensive to the many religious folks who only accept a single deity. I think it is a good move from a marketing point of view.

I just finished re-reading the first four books, so this is good timing for me. I have really enjoyed the books so far. It is nice to see a fantasy series with complex characters instead of the classic stalwart adventuerers vs. Great Evil plot.

I haven't gotten into the Jordan series . . .

If you are going to go for Defense, you get a definite benefit by going for S/L, since you can get an APP shield with S/L defense . . . but you have to give up the mez protection of Indomidible Will.

On EM Pulse: Flash is a Mag 3 PB AoE Hold with a smaller radius than EM Pulse. EM Pulse is better in all ways except for (a) longer Recharge, and (b) stopping your recovery for a short time. I like to have them both because it allows me to use Flash as much as I want and still have EM Pulse as a back-up "panic button" power, and using both of them together will hold bosses -- a LOT of bosses. It is also nice to use EM Pulse against Robots (it does AoE damage) and in an area where there is an AV (it has a large -Regen). The area of EM Pulse is so big that you don't have to go into the middle of the group, like you do for Flash. You can stay to one side and still get the entire group. EM Pulse is generally considered to be one of the best Hold powers in the game for good reason. I don't use it all that much, but I'm glad that I have it when I need it.

As for the Basilisk Gaze set . . . Yeah, they are expensive, but you can also get them with Hero Merits: 1 merit for most, and 2 for the triple. Take a little bit of time, and you don't have to spend anything on them . . . AND you can slot them much earlier than level 50. There are times that you want some hold duration in Blind . . . mainly for stacking holds on bosses or spreading around holds to various foes. Plus, 4 Baz Gaze gets you the 7.5% recharge, leaving you room for some damage in a power that you will use a LOT. Enhancing for Sleep, on the other hand, is a complete waste.

Thinking of an Ill/Rad as only a "support class" is missing out on one of the main benefits of the build . . . it is a damage-dealing controller. That's like playing a Defender without using your Secondary. Yes, a lot of your build is intended to provide distraction and debuffing, but you have plenty of time to contribute to the damage of the team, too.

Overall a nice build. You give up a fair amount of damage for the softcapped defenses . . . No damage in Blind, no single target blast. But that's a valid choice. To keep things running, you will have to vigilant to fire off AM and GI.

Also, if you try to run Tough, RI and EF and your other toggles at the same time, you will have some serious endurance issues.

The one improvement that jumped out at me . . . replace the Recharge in PA with the Soulbound Dam/Rech. It will take your damage from 68% to the ED cap without hurting your Recharge by more than a small fraction of a second.

If you are new to Controllers, I generally suggest you learn to walk before you learn to fly . . . i.e. learn to play the character and what you like before coming up with a level 50 end game build.

Plant/Storm is a great combo with some good AoE damage, good AoE control, nice debuffs and a few weaknesses to Confuse-resistant foes and a lack of single target damage. I generally suggest that folks new to controllers play a secondary other than Storm because Storm takes some experience and practice. A badly played Storm can really be a problem. Start out with an Ill/Rad . . . see my guide linked in my sig. That guide will give you, new to controllers, a lot of basic information and strategy.

You have severely underslotted Strangler, your single target hold. This is the one power you should probably use most. I generally 6-slot my single target holds for Acc/Hold/Rech/Dam.

Gale is mostly useless except in the lowest levels, but it needs an Accuracy since it has a 20% accuracy penalty.

You devoted 6 slots to Stamina where I would use 3 or maybe 4. 3 slots in Super speed? Maybe 2.

No Tornado? This is the power that can make up for your lack of -Regen, and it is an AUTOHIT damage power. You have the Immob with 12 sec of -knockback to turn Tornado into a pretty good damage power.

You passed up several good control powers for Leadership and Fighting . . . not something I would do.

The term, "Perma-PA" is actually a bit of a misnomer . . . Even when you get enough recharge so that PA recharge before the last one expires, you can cast the new set before the old one expires, but there is still a moment when the previous guys despawn and the new guys come in. Each PA guy appears about a second after the previous one appeared, so it take a total of about 3 seconds to replace PA.

"Perma-PA" simply means that the Recharge time for the power is shorter than the duration of the pets. It lets you re-cast to keep PA out all the time except for that short period during re-casting. (Of course, you need to keep Hasten and AM and any other powers that boost your recharge running at all times. While most people keep Hasten on Auto, it may be hard to remember to keep re-casting AM all the time.)

As a result, even a "Perma-PA" Illusion controller needs to take that short time into account when casting PA, as sometimes an AV might take a pot shot at the controller while PA are being recalled. (This is a big problem on the Statesman's TF if you want to try to tank Lord Recluse with a Perma-PA Illusion Controller. It works better with two who stagger the cast time of their PA.) Often, Phantasm's Decoy can fill the gap and pull aggro while PA are re-summoned. It is also useful to be invisible during this time, as it may keep you from being noticed quickly enough for an attack during the re-summon. Another way to deal with the cast time solo is to duck around a corner when you cast. Another, easier way is to pop a Purple Insp or two so that any shots at you will likely miss. Some folks like to use a high defense build.

One of my little favorite tricks that works most, but not all, of the time . . . Just when I'm about to re-cast PA, I will fly around BEHIND the AV, on the opposite side from where the PA are currently. Then I cast the PA in front of the AV. Often he won't get a chance to turn around and see me, especially if Phanty is on the front side, too. However, if the AV has a lot of AoEs, this has less of a chance to work.

It looks to me that you have pretty good power choices there. I understand why you went with Teleport, but I would personally prefer Hasten/Superspeed with a Celerity Stealth IO in Superspeed . . . when you get Singularty, leading him into groups of foes can be a main way of controlling smaller groups. Singy draws aggro while knocking foes every-which-way, while you stand back and pick them off one by one with your GD-Crush-Propel attack chain.

You are a bit lacking in AoE because you are missing Crushing Field, the AoE Immob. I use CF a lot in combination with other powers. Wormhole-CF will stun foes and then keep them from wandering off; the combo of a stun + AoE Immob is often referred to as a "pseudo-hold" since it has all the same overall effect as an AoE Hold -- used a lot by Fire and Earth Controllers. The AoE Immob can also be used defensively . . . if you are being chased by a group, you can AoE Immob them and then hide around a corner. You can also AoE Immob the foes to keep them at range, which is safer than melee.

One unique aspect of CF is that it does not prevent knockdown. As I mentioned above, my Grav build is Grav/Storm (but I also have a Mind/FF, so I have experience with both sets, just not together). An added benefit to the AoE Immob to me is that Freezing Rain is a knockdown/debuff power, and CF lets me keep foes in its area of effect. You might be able to do a one-shot version of the same thing . . . Crushing Field followed by Repulsion Bomb would be an AoE knockdown in place. (However, I tried Repulsion Bomb on my Mind/FF, and I find it to be disappointing. Not enough damage, not enough guarantied knockdown, too long an animation.)

However, I agree that Crushing Field is less needed on your build than on mine.

For a team-friendly build, you may want to consider Maneuvers from the Leadership pool to add to everybody's defense. On a mostly team build, I would probably take Maneuvers over the Fighting Pool. It is only one power rather than three and helps the entire team. Adding Combat Jumping can also add a little bit of defense.

I'm not a fan of the Stealth Pool ever since Stealth IOs were introduced. If I want invisibility, I generally go for Hasten/Superspeed and get a Celerity Stealth in Superspeed. That way, I get a travel power PLUS full invisibility. I take Hasten on almost all Controllers anyway, so choosing SS lets me stay in the same powerpool and uses only one power choice for multiple benefits. (I also have Hasten/Superspeed on my Warshades, so it would fit the theme. Shadow Cloak + Super Speed is full invis.)

Singularity probably provides a greater benefit to Gravity than any other pet to its powerset other than Phantom Army in Illusion. Singy's damage is moderate, but it provides a lot of control and protection. Before Singy, Gravity is pretty lacking. Once you get Singy, the set becomes a lot more fun.