Local_Man

I have the 12 extra thumb buttons bound to several keys and key combos so that I can have instant access to various powers that are not my main attack powers.

I use combinations of u, i, o and k with Shift and Control to give me 12 combos to load as binds to be controlled by the buttons on the mouse. Then I use the old CityBinder program to set up my binds. CityBinder lets me use the same set-up on every character, customized to that character's powersets.

#1 on the mouse is "u," and is bound to a power in my primary that I use often but not as one of my first 6 attacks.
#2 is "shift-u" and is usually bound to Build Up or the equivalent if my character has it.
#3 is "ctrl-u" and is usually another primary power that is used less. For Controllers, this is usually my AoE Hold.
#4 is "o" and is an often used secondary power.
#5 is "shift-o" and is Aim if I have it, or otherwise an often used secondary power.

And so forth.

#10 is "k" set up to trigger Hasten if my character needs to manually trigger Hasten. #12 is "ctrl-k" and usually triggers the Raptor Pack on characters who do not have Fly. If the character has Fly, then #12 triggers Ninja Run.

I'm planning on the Nerve tree on my Plant/Kinetics/Earth controller (currently 49) and when my Mind/FF/Primal controller (currently 44) reach 50 -- they can use Acc, Hold, Confuse and Defense buffs. That provides more benefits than any of the other trees.

Both of them will really benefit from the Hold and Confuse enhancement, as well as the Defense and Accuracy.

We have been getting a lot of "Make me a build" requests lately, so those often don't get many (or any) responses. Plus, Grav/FF is not an overly popular combo.

You would do better to ask specific questions or post a proposed build. Open ended questions like "Any suggestions for what I should do with him?" are asking for a snarky response. You should explain your playstyle, how much you team or solo, and what your goals are. Try making a reasonably priced build and ask if that build will work with your goals.

Both builds are pretty solid. All other things being equal, I would say Defense is better than Resistance. Additionally, Defense can help you avoid being mezzed, while Resistance cannot. Another factor is that since you took Maneuvers, you share defense with the team at the cost of a continual drain of endurance.

Ice has a single target blast almost as good as Fire and Frost Breath, a cone attack that adds some Slow. If you took it, Hibernate is a great "panic button" power.

However, Fire does more damage than Ice. Not only does the single target blast do more due to the DoT after the initial blast, but Fireball is a Targetted AoE that can hit 16 targets while Frost Breath is a cone limited to 10. Plus, I happen to like hitting things with Fireball . . . it is just plain satisfying.

I have the Fire APP on my Ill/Rad and my Ill/TA. I have the Ice APP on my Ill/Cold and my Ill/Storm. Both are great choices. The question is whether you want to trade some extra protection for extra damage. I take Fire for Fire Blast and Fireball. Rise of the Phoenix is a nice addition to the set -- The armor and Consume are OK but not great. I like those Fire attacks better than Ice Blast and Frost Breath, but Ice's secondary powers, Ice Armor and Hibernate, are better. (Ice Storm is good on some builds, but not that great for Illusion/Rad.)

One thing that might have an effect: I have Hover/Fly for travel instead of Super Speed. That lets me stay out of melee and be less likely to get hit. I can fire my attacks from range with less danger, so I can be more offensive. If you are down on the ground in melee range, you may need the higher defense.

There is no "conscensus" on what to skip. I skipped Salt Crystals and Stone Prison on mine, took everything from Storm, and took Hasten/Super Speed. I like Super Speed on a Stormie to enable me to "herdicane." Plus, the stealth combines with Steamy Mist for full invisibility without having to get a Stealth IO. Other pool power options include the Medicine Pool, Leadership, Recall Friend. Some people going for a high defense build may want the Fighting Pool.

Some folks might want to skip either Quicksand or Snow Storm, as they are both Slow powers. However, Quicksand is a location-based power with a massive Defense debuff and some nice strategic uses. Snow Storm is a foe-AoE toggle with -Fly and substantial -Recharge. So I took them both.

Stalagmites and Thunderclap are both stun powers, but both are made better by having both -- you can stun Bosses with the combo.

Mental Maden has started up the All Controller Task Forces again on Guardian . . . we really should try to do an All Fire/Rad one . . . just to see how fast we can go!

Somewhere around here is a thread of a bunch of Fire/Rads leveling up together. Once you get Hot Feet, Choking Cloud and the Imps slotted up, it is just too easy.

I finally got caught up on last Monday's Chuck this weekend . . . and it was a great episode. One of the great lines of the season was:

Lester: Pregnant women, ewwww. (disgusted)
Jeff: Pregnant women, ewwww. (interested)

(Just soooo creepy!)

That and Jeffster playing "Push It" for the birth -- was simply fall-on-the-floor funny.

Yes, it came across as a season finale. I'm glad it is not.

In the past week, I have run the STF about a dozen times. Only failed once, due to an experienced but badly formed team. Good players, but the team was made up of 4 scrappers, 2 blasters, something else without support and my Plant/Kin Controller (who started at level 48). No tank. No other support.

In spite of the above, we did pretty well until LR. We tried several ways to handle him. My buddy is a softcapped BS/Shield scrapper, and tried to tank LR with my Plant/Kin healing him next to a tower . . . and he just couldn't hold the aggro. LR would lose interest, smack me for a quick faceplant and then run around to slaughter everyone else. We gave up after a couple of hours.

Every other team I was on found a way to succeed, from teams with great players who I have known for a while and teamed with regularly (did one in 1:09 without rushing . . . just going through it normally), to a few pure PUGs on secondary servers. The only other team that succeeded without a Tank was the All-Controller WTF on Guardian -- we made up for the lack of a tank with FOUR Illusion Controllers boxing LR in with four sets of PA. (That one got done in 1:10 without rushing.)

A good tank is nearly, but not absolutely, essential. You have to have some way to manage LR's aggro. I tanked two of the runs with minimal problems. My Invul/Axe tank faceplanted twice with LR because I had not gotten loaded up with the right Inspirations and he had no support. My Stone/Fire Tank had a Fire/Empathy backing him up and his green bar barely moved.

On one of my PUG teams, we started out with our only Tank being WP/Mace with no taunt . . . I saw a failure likely, mentioned that it would be hard for a WP/Mace without Taunt to hold LR's aggro and suggested that we try to get another tank . . . and the WP/Mace suddenly quit anyway. In his place we got an Invul/SS who did a fine job without much support. I was on my less-than-optimally-slotted Ill/TA who isn't anywhere close to Perma-PA, and I was the one who faceplanted the most due to my AoE debuffs drawing a lot of attention.

A decent team can complete the STF, as long as you have a decent tank or some other way to manage aggro. It can certainly be failed without that element.

I see my deciples have been here before me. . . .

To the OP, take a look at my Illusion/Rad guide. See the link in my sig. It goes through each of the powers and explains why each should slotted how it is. I still need to finish the updates to be I-19 compliant, but as Call Me Awesome and Griff said, there is easily some room for variation depending upon what you want.

Storm is a fun and challenging powerset. It has a lot of tools for just about every situation, but a lot of those tools are situational. A good Stormie is a huge benefit to a team, while a bad Stormie can create a mess.

Fire/Storm is one of the highest endurance drain characters anywhere. So you will probably have to manage your powers with an eye towards the endurance costs at all times. You may want to play to get some Endurance and Recovery buffs early . . . use your other characters to help you earn the Numina and Miracle procs at low levels to buff your Recovery rate. Plan on slotting everything for EndRdx. You also may want to expect to use "frankenslotting" instead of SOs -- using Dam/End from two sets is better than using a Damage and an EndRdx SO.

On Storm powers:

Gale: This is the one power that most */Storm controllers wish they could skip, but can't. It has some minimal use in early levels. It has a 10% Accuracy penalty, pitiful damage. If you want to use it with regularity, it needs a minimum of 2 Accuracy. Personally, I put a single Acc in the default slot and only use it rarely as a "get out of my face" power.

O2 Boost: A wimpy single target heal that adds some other nice buffs: protection from Stun and Sleep, Endurance Drain and a perception buff. Nice to have for a team or to heal your pets, but one of the more skippable powers in the set.

Snow Storm: Slot it with 2 EndRdx and you're done. A ranged toggle AoE slow with a huge -Recharge and -Fly. Some folks skip it, but I really like it. In the late game, this is wonderful on the ITF. It's pretty good in the rest of the game, too, to slow bunches of foes to a crawl, and more importantly, substantially reduce their ability to attack. I think the playerbase underrates the effectiveness of Slow powers. Add Fire Cages and Snow Storm, and the foes can't move and can't shoot very often . . . pretty good control to me, and available very early.

Steamy Mist: Another power that does a lot of little things. Stealth, but it needs something else to be full invis like Super Speed or a Stealth IO. You can slot it for Defense OR Resistance, so it is a perfect place for either a Steadfast or Karma -Knockback. Resistance to 3 types of damage is decent, but you may want to slot for Defense if you are going for a defensive build. On teams, I have had Steamy Mist allow my team to turn corners and come up against a group of foes without aggroing them . . . very nice. (I take Steamy and Super Speed.)

Freezing Rain: The most important power in the Storm set, and another power that does a lot of stuff. Defense Debuff, Resistance Debuff, Slow and Knockdown, with a minimal amount of damage and an "afraid" component that makes foes want to run out of the Rain. Don't bother slotting for damage. You want 3 recharge as minimum slotting. Some people slot for Defense Debuff, but it is not really needed. The Achilles Heal -Resist proc is great here. Many people slot various damage procs here -- a nice luxury if you have slots to spare.

Hurricane: This is a tricky one to master. A PB AoE toggle that repels away foes and applies a significant ToHitDebuff. You want to slot it for EndRdx and ToHit Debuff. Hurricane is a great "panic button" power that can also be used strategically to push foes into corners or trap them in rooms. It also has a lot of strategic uses. A great way to deal with an Ambush is to turn on Hurricane and get around a corner -- As the foes turn the corner, they are debuffed by the ToHit Debuff and pushed away. With practice, you can learn to "herdicane" or run around groups to push them together -- I love Super Speed for that. This is an example of a good power that can be used badly -- Hurricane and Hot Feet do NOT go together unless there is a corner involved.

Thunderclap: It is a flashy PB AoE stun that is only Mag 2 -- it only will stun minions on its own. However, you have Flashfire! You can stack Flashfire's Mag 3 with Thunderclap's Mag 2 to stun bosses. This becomes a very powerful aspect of a Fire/Storm. Slot for 2 Acc, 2 Stun, 2 Recharge as standard SO slotting. By using Frankenslotting, you can combine Acc/Stun/Rech from several sets to reduce the slots to 5 or maybe 4. Thunderclap recharges pretty quickly, so it should be available every group.

Tornado: Many people underestimate the amount of damage that can be done by this pet. Over the time of its life, the damage really adds up -- if it focuses on one target. But 'Nado grenerally runs around the room, hitting and throwing every foe every which way. You can prevent the chaos with the 12 seconds of -Knockback in Fire Cages -- as long as you keep hitting Fire Cages every 12 seconds, you can keep foes from being tossed around. 'Nado is great for "panic button" moments, on AVs and on other things that can't be knocked back (Like the computer console in the ITF), and adds some stun. And by the way, it is one of the few "auto-hit" powers in the game, so it can take down foes that you can't otherwise hit like Paragon Protectors who just hit their MOG. Slot for Damage, Recharge and EndRdx.

Lightning Storm: Another pet, but this one is stationary while it fires out lightning bolts. Nice damage with knockback. Another advantage of Super Speed is being able to run in close to cast LS, then run back out. Slot for Damage, Recharge and EndRdx.

RealBomber, that is an Impressive, outragiously expensive, and I bet very effective build.

There are a couple of small things you may want to consider. In Health, putting a Numina's Health (Lev 50), will actually get you more regen than the Regenerative Tissue proc.

My experience with Speed Boost is that a single EndMod is plenty in the power. The endurance cost is minimal and I am usually boosting the team between battles when endurance doesn't matter. I'm not sure I have ever seen someone slot Range in SB . . . my feeling is that if a teammate isn't close enough to me to receive SB, then he must not have wanted it very badly. That would free up two slots, to add more Defense and some EndRdx in Maneuvers or some EndRdx in Weave, or a lot of other places. You could put a Hold in Strangler and/or a Grav Anchor Chance for Hold in Roots.

In Fly Trap, if you replace the Call to Arms with level 50 Expediant Reinforcement, you will increase your damage from the 70's to 91.

Those are pretty minor tweeks. Overall a nice (but expensive) build.

You haven't gotten any responses because folks around here are kind of tired of the "make me a build" requests. Yes, since you are on a Mac, you can't use Mids so your request is not quite the same as others. Sorry. You may want to try the on-line builder HERE.

Part of the problem is that Gravity Controllers are not very popular. I have a Grav/Storm who has almost entirely solo'ed his way to level 44, but stalled there. He's fun, but my buddies play on a different server. I haven't come up with a "end game" build for him, since I'm not sure he'll ever get there. (I was hoping for Free Server Transfers again this winter, but Oh Well.)

One problem with the "make me a build" requests are that there are a lot of different ways to make builds. I think a Team-Friendly build could be quite a bit different than a solo build. Therefore, your playstyle can make a big difference. There are also a lot of choices to make. Do you want the Medicine Pool? Slot for Recharge? Damage? Defense? And if you go for Defense, do you go Smash/Lethal? Ranged? Singy can protect you from most melee attacks for as long as he lasts, but the epic shields give you a good start on Smash/Lethal defense if you go that way.

I have gone with the Cardiac boost for my Ice/Storm, and will go for it on my Earth/Storm (she just hit 50 over the 2XP weekend and did the Incarnate arc last night). I went with the Spiritual Boost on my Illusion/Storm to boost the recharge of Phantom Army. I can see where Cardiac is probably the best choice for a Grav/Storm. One interesting thought is that the upper level Cardiac also boost Intangibility. Now, I generally hate Intang powers, but agree that they can be useful solo (or if the team understands what you are doing). The upper level boost to Intangibility might make me tempted to throw Dimension Shift into the build just for the heck of it.

From Grav, I took everything except Dimension Shift and Lift. I have Crush slotted purely for damage, so my attack chain is GD-Crush-Propel. That mostly insures that I get Containment for Propel. (On a team build, I might be tempted to take Lift over Propel.) When I hit 47, I will think about using some Acc/Mez and Dam/Mez Hami-Os in Singy to enhance the multi-aspects of the power. On the Storm side, I skipped O2 Boost on my solo build since Singy can't be healed.

In terms of slotting, I mostly go for Recharge, Recovery, Regen. I rely upon Hurricane and Singy to protect me, so I have not gone for the High Defense build. Others will do it differently.

The key to using Wormhole in a group is to get the group to buy into it. And that takes a lot of communication. You have to have fun with it. If your team has players who can set up a "zone of death," ask them to set up such an area around a corner from a big bunch of baddies, and you'll bring the main dish. Just imagine what the bad guys are thinking when Wormhole hits them . . . "Hey, what's this . . . What the . . . Oh, crap!" Wormhole is one of those powers that is more fun than practical. Actually, Propel fits in that mold, too.

On the other hand, if you have a team that only wants to steamroll through content and kill stuff as fast as possible, then Wormhole isn't very useful. You can still use it to stun some every now and then. I still wouldn't skip it. There are places where you can make use of it effectively even on a fast-moving team. You know those open, multi-floor rooms? While your team attacks a group on the bottom floor, you can Wormhole more guys from the other parts of the room into the area your teammates are killing, allowing them to kill stuff faster.