Local_Man

Take a look at the City of Data entry on Controller Stealth HERE. Stealth gives you 2.25% defense plus another 2.25% defense except when you attack or touch a glowie (or just about anything else). The second 2.25% is suppressed for 10 seconds. In battle, that defense is worthless -- you are only enhancing a total of 2.25% rather than 4.5% -- that's a lot of slots to devote to such a small amount of Defense. (Personally, I would take Maneuvers over Stealth, as Maneuvers is slightly more defense, but for the entire team. If I want invisibility, I usually go with Super Speed+Stealth IO.)

Roots does twice the damage that other AoE Immob powers do from other controllers. Then you double that damage for Containment. That means that while the foes are confused and can't move, you are doing a decent amount of damage over time. Slot up Roots for Damage, then add your 15% Resistance Debuff from Disruption Arrow and 15% Resistance Debuff from Acid Arrow, and you can take down large groups almost as fast as you can take down individuals. This is why Plant controllers are considered second to Fire Controllers as the best damage dealers.

Slotting for Immobilization duration isn't all that important since the power recharges much faster than the Immobilzation runs out. If you are constantly firing off Roots for Damage, the foes will all be Immobilized until they drop.

Besides, you don't really want your confused foes doing lots of damage to or killing each other. The more damage they do to each other, the less XP there is available for you and your team to earn. By slotting up Roots for Damage, you are able to do a decent amount of that damage yourself, allowing you to earn more XP.

Yeah, I plan on putting the Contagious Confusion proc in my Seeds for my Plant/Kin. (I never IO'ed out my Plant/Rad.) I see three benefits, even though they are not huge: A) it has a chance to confuse foes that might have been missed by the Seeds cone. B) it might hit foes outside of the cone, and C) it will increase my chance of confusing bosses. Seeds already has a 20% chance of an extra Mag (for a much shorter duration). The proc will allow you to add extra Mag 33% of the time. Combining the two will give you about a 46% chance to confuse bosses.

True. A Perox (Dam/Mez Hami-O) will be worthless in Seeds of Confusion.

I'm not crazy about that build by Scarlett Shocker. Roots need to be slotted for Damage. 5-slotting Stealth for Defense when it supresses?

As you get closer, each second seems to mean more. From 8 seconds down time to 7? Think of it as a 16% reduction . . .

My suggestion is that you MOVE the knockback protection to Steamy Mist, so that you can slot 5 Red Fortunes in SI. You can put a Karma OR a Steadfast in Steamy Mist.

A single 4 mag -knockback IO protects you from about 92-93% of the knockback in the game. That's good enough for me. A second 4 Mag -Knockback will only increase that to about 97-98% -- there are still a few things that will knock you back. I have even had my Invuln Tank knocked back once or twice, and I think his knockback protection is Mag 10.

Concept and fun always wins over optimal builds.

Congratz on the first purple. In the game today, there is an easy way to earn lots and lots of Infl with a little bit of effort. Do your 5 Tip Missions per day (Hero or Villain, not Rogue or Vigilante). After 2 days, you get a Hero or Villain Merit (Allignment Merits or "A-Merits") from doing the Morality Mission. (Actually, the first time you get 50 merits. You don't start to get A-merits until the second time through.) One A-Merit can buy you some pretty valuable recipes, but 2 will get you a Luck of the Gambler Recharge or a Kinetic Combat Triple -- those sell for 160 to 180 Million each, and about 200 Mil if you craft them. Just do a few of those and you will have enough for most of your slotting. (Another option to get an A-Merit is to buy it with 50 Reward merits and 20 Mil Inf.)


I would take Hibernate over Shark Skin. As for Ice Armor vs. Hibernate . . . it depends on a lot of things. How much other Defense do you have? How much of an Endurance issue do you have? It depends on playstyle and the types of teams you are on (or solo). Are you tight on Slots? (Hibernate is fine with only a Recharge in the default slot.)

No, it isn't quite fast enough to be an attack chain. One of the main reasons I generally recommend the Fire or Ice APP is the fast-recharging single target blast. That gives you a great attack chain of Blind-SW-Blast-SW.

On my characters who take the Ice APP, Hibernate is a pretty good panic button power, especially for a character (like an Illusion/Cold) who does not have another self-heal power. My Ill/Cold used it about 3 or 4 times on the STF I did yesterday.

For Illusion, Phantom Army is the most important power in the set. Spectral Terror, Blind, Spectral Wounds, Phantasm are powers you should take the moment they are available. I strongly recommend Deceive, but not everyone agrees. One but not both of the forms of Invisibility are strongly recommended . . . except that Ill/Storm can choose to go with Storm's Steamy Mist + Super Speed and skip both forms of Invisibility from Illusion (That's what I did leveling up before inherent Fitness). I like to have Flash, but opinions are mixed on it -- many people feel that the AoE Hold is essential, while others feel it is skippable.

On Storm, the most essential power is Freezing Rain. Lightning Storm is pretty much required. Most of the others fit in the "strongly recommended" category, but they may be skippable depending upon your playstyle. I find Thunderclap skippable, as it is only a mag 2 PB AoE stun (minions only), even though it recharges much faster than Flash . . . I'd rather have Flash. (However, at level 50, the Spiritual Alpha enhancement also buffs stun, so that might be something to consider.) Some people find O2 Boost skippable -- I like to have it, but it is not a high priority. Some people skip Snow Storm (I think they are nuts -- Illusion needs that extra AoE control of a big slow). Steamy Mist is kind of optional if you are using another form of Invis because it is stealth . . . except Steamy provides several other things, too; it has a small amount of defense and Resistance to 3 kinds of damage. Steamy has saved my team from unexpected encounters many times. Gale would be the most skippable power if you could skip it. Tornado is essential on most */Storm controllers, but since Illusion has no -Knockback powers, Tornado is not quite as useful for Ill/Storm -- but I would never skip it.

I've never slotted for range. The ranged attacks are beyond the aggro range of almost all foes. And if one decides you look tasty, you can take him out with Deceive. For the most part, PA should be drawing aggro of the group. After level 26, you will also have Spectral Terror (a/k/a "Spooky") to make foes cower in fear. You should be taking foes out one by one with Blind-SW and your other attacks.

In spite of how it looks, Phantom Army is mostly a control power. Recharge is essential. Damage is nice, but PA needs to be slotted for Recharge first. You want your three ghostly guys up as much as possible. SO slotting is 3 Recharge, 2 Dam, 1 Acc. I recommend you read my Guide on slotting and strategies to use Phantom Army. Later on, you'll want to look at the Recharge Intensive Pet sets, which seem to have been made for PA. With IO sets, you will be able to maximize both Recharge and Damage.

Recharge is so important for Phantom Army that the main goal of a fully IO'ed out Illusion Controller is to get the Recharge up high enough to be able to keep Phantom Army out all the time. That is referred to as a "Perma-PA" build. It is easier to do a Perma-PA build on an Ill/Rad than an Ill/Storm because */Rad has a power that gives a 30% Recharge buff.

Many people find O2 Boost to be skippable. I like it, but it is a wimpy heal. It can be handy to a) heal a teammate, b) heal your Phantasm, c) remove a stun from a teammate, especially after he/she has rezzed, d) provide some Endurance Drain protection. But it is fairly low priority.

As for Pool powers, Hasten is essential . . . you want Phantom Army (and your other controls) up as much as possible. If you want to stealth missions for a team, Recall Friend is really handy, but certainly not necessary. Some */Stormies take the Medicine Pool for a self-heal.

Leadership will NOT affect Phantom Army -- they cannot be buffed by anything other than enhancements slotted in the power. It will affect Phantasm, but the effect is not all that significant. I take Leadership on very few of my controllers (and not my Ill/Storm), and you may have trouble with enough endurance to run those toggles (Storm can be tough on endurance). Leadership is not a bad pick, but not all that valuable, either, unless you are stacking it with several others. But there are varying opinions on this.

I have yet to take the Fighting Pool on any of my 10 level 50 controllers or many other controllers.

I discussed the benefits of the various travel powers in my guide.


See my guide for strategy tips. Deceive first to take out problem foes -- Deceive does not aggro foes, so you can use it before the fight begins. Then PA, Freezing Rain. No need to use Flash when PA have the aggro. Your attack chain should ALWAYS start with Blind-SW, as Blind sets up Containment, essential for a Controller. In low levels, consider Air Sup to have a Blind-SW-Air Superiority-SW attack chain. I use Deceive a lot in battle, too, but not everyone does.

Use Flash for when PA are Recharging. At 26, you will get Spectral Terror, which becomes your every-group control power to fill in when PA despawn. There are various techniques you can learn like "herd-i-caning" and trapping foes in corners to help you take down foes faster and safer.

I'm old enough to have seen Superman, The Movie in the theater when it first came out. I was a comic book reader growing up, with Supes as my favorite. I was so looking forward to the fulfilment of the ad slogan, "You will believe that a man can fly!" And the first film was everything it should have been until the end of the Helicopter scene.

We had seen George Reeves in "The Adventures of Superman" in re-runs for years. We knew that Superman could be played straight, with straight villains rather than comic ones. Sure, the show had an occasional comic villain, but had plenty of serious ones, too. The problem was the perception that a "comic book" character should be comic, and should be surrounded by comic characters and villains who were really nice guys underneath. And most of all, the perception of "Hey, it's science fiction/comic book . . . plots don't matter. We can do anything we want with no reasoning behind it."

When I saw Christopher Reeve playing a bumbling Clark Kent, that was, in fact, brilliant to show how people would never think of that bumbling, annoying klutz as Superman even though the only difference was the glasses. Frankly, Reeve's performance was awesome, especially in the context that he was asked to play. He did a great job both as Superman and Clark Kent. I know how seriously he took the responsibility of playing the iconic hero. The special effects were great for the day . . . after years of seeing George Reeves and the cheesy effects of the TV show. However, it was the other characters and the plot that ruined it.

After years of seeing Noel Neill as an attractive, professional and mostly smart Lois, we got the comic version (and not very attractive), Margot Kidder. She was a neurotic idiot. There was very little that made her appealing as the "love of his life." Heck, compare Kidder to the way that Annette O'Toole later played Lana Lang . . . Lana was a lot more attractive than Lois.

And worse of all was the comic Lex Luthor and his bumbling buffoon henchman, Otis. No possible way Lex was "the greatest criminal genius" of the day. If he was so smart, why would he put up with a moron to do his errands? And why would Miss Fass-what's-her-name put up with the guy? He wasn't her boyfriend or anything. I don't fault Gene Hackman . . . he played the character written. The plot was amazingly stupid. The guy is going to set off two Nuke missiles . . . as a way to manipulate real estate prices? Huh?

But to me, the worst part of Superman I was the warning in the beginning of the film that Kal-El could not tamper with time. And he does. With no consequences. And all it did was to keep Lois from dying, but nothing else? If you are going to turn the entire globe backwards, there need to be consequences. I remember sitting in the theater, thinking . . . "OK, what's gonna happen because he broke the rule . . . What's it gonna be?" And nothing. I remember walking out of the theater being disappointed with the story. I'm sorry . . . a lame "deus ex machina" gimmick is bad, bad writing. That was truely a "WTF" moment. While Chris Reeve was good, the writing and story were horrible.

(As much as people complain about Smallville, at least when Clark went back in time to save Lana and prevent her from dying, then his father died. See? Consequences.)


I haven't seen the Donner cut. I understand that there was a lot of drama behind the scenes, but the film should be judged on how it was released. I saw Superman II that was released in the theaters, and it had many of the same faults of treating a comic book movie like it had to be comic, and didn't have to worry about continuity or common sense in the plot. And the same poor choices of a bumbling Lex and somewhat comic villains in Zod and friends. Yes, it had all the other stupid "add-ins" like the telekinetic finger spray, "throwing the S" and the amnesia kiss, but the underlying core was faulty, too.

It had a few good things. I will never forget the moment that Clark decided to tell Lois who he was in that cheesy honeymoon hotel. You could see the great acting job done by Reeve, when he transformed from stoop-shouldered Clark to Superman for just a moment, and then retreated. That was great acting.

I liked Terrance Stamp and Sarah Douglas as Zod and what's-her-name. There were a few cute moments as the Kryptonians tried to make sense of Earth and tried out their new powers . . . but not enough. The fights were lame. Lex Luthor and his desire for Austrailia were really lame. I know it was the 70's, but Superman should not be going for a one-night-stand . . . that Kansas-raised farm boy would insist on getting married before you-know-what. And the plot, again, was capped with a key "WTF" plot device.

I recognized and appreciated the Action Comics #1 moment. I thought the set up for it was a bit cheesy, but I got what he was doing. One big problem was that Bryan Singer thought that the entire film was supposed to be an homage to Superman past and forgot to do anything else.


I agree that Chris Reeve was fantastic. I think he would have been just as fantastic in a well written movie. But breaking the 3rd wall won't work as well with today's audiences . . . it is cheesy. A modern Superman needs more of an edge . . . not necessarily dark, but there has to be some seriousness to it.

Cavill looks good, and appears to have the acting chops to pull off the role. The chemistry between him and the actress cast as Lois is important. And the writing is especially important. I have confidence in Nolan and Snyder. Dark Knight was so good because it had something to say. It had a great villain who was very disturbing. Snyder appears to have a great eye for action. Snyder is able to be reverant to the source material while still telling a great story. (I really liked "300" but never read the graphic novel. I DID read Watchmen, and thought is was an amazing achievement to put that complex story on film. However, Watchmen showed that total adhearance to the source material does not always make a great film. I loved it, but I can see where someone who did not love the source material might not.)

Two things teams hate most are (a) knockback and (b) Intangibility. You have them both in FF. It is a real challenge to make knockback effective so that it can be used, but not abused, for team play. Melee players generally dislike knockback because they may rely upon foes being close for their damage buff (shield), defense (invul) or regen (willpower), or they may want the foes close to do damage on them (stone, fire, dark). As a result, the melee guys usually want to draw the aggro and gather foes near them. Repulsion or Force bubble are not very helpful.

I have Force Bubble on my Mind/FF, and use it occasionally when things get out of hand to protect myself and my squishier teammates from melee attacks. I may use it solo or duo, but rarely pull it out on teams except in "panic button" moments. Every once in a while, I can use it to block a hall or push foes into a corner.

Sure, you can do that. Heals are not nearly as important as buffs/debuffs/controls in the later game. I have several controllers with no self-heal. Most of them, however, take the Ice APP set for Hibernate. Heals are nice to have, but not essential. You may want to get a bunch of Regen buffs. The one problem with Elec control is that Conductive Aura tends to put you into melee, where you can take more damage. Look at your build and see if you can somehow skip the Fighting Pool's three powers, if you need to, to fit in the medicine pool. You can always try it and respec later, or use your second build for a different build.

I found that Mez was my biggest problem on my Fire/Rads, so I went with Indomidable Will and the Psi Pool . . . but I haven't come close to fully IOing out my two Level 50 Fire/Rads yet. My Fire/Rads are not farmers or soloists -- mine were built with a team in mind. In fact, mine were built expecting to team with a particular team of Fire/Rads. A Fire/Rad on its own is good, but a team of Fire/Rads is pretty extreme.

Getting S/L defense capped will deflect a number of those Mez shots at you. But I don't know from experience whether that will be better than IW or not, especially for a solo and/or farming build.

That chart needs a couple of minor changes: You don't need to be level 35 to ACCESS Rikti War Zone anymore, even though you need to be level 35 to get the badges and start the missions.

Hami-Os can be slotted at level 47. You don't have to wait until 50, like purple sets.