Local_Man

The only thing that is absolutely essential is the Midnighter arc to open up Cimmeroa. At 35, a quick run to the Vangard base to join Vangard and be able to get Vangard Merits. Everything else is optional. But there are a lot of things I LIKE to do and try to complete. (blue side)

The first four safeguards.
Get the Spelunker badge (but can be done through Ouro)
The Task Forces needed for TF Commander.
The Stephanie Peebles arc in Striga to get the Wedding Ring Temp power.
Tobias Hanson in Striga to get the Warwolves temp power and a great start on the Defeat badges needed for the Atlas Medalion.
A run to get Shivans.

My little group uses Ventrilo almost every night and it works great . . . except last night when the server was down. The CoH settings should have no factor in Ventrilo.

My Illusion/Rad guide has a bunch of strategy tips that will mostly apply to Illusion/Cold. In low levels, use Deceive a lot. Take your time taking down one foe at a time and avoid aggro. Phantom Army will make all the difference once you get it at level 18, but they only last 60 seconds, so be prepared. That will be less of a problem at level 26 when you get Spectral Terror -- Spooky will provide that AoE control you need.

The Cold side is a late bloomer. The shields are good for teammates, but you won't get the best stuff until Benumb, Sleet and Heat Loss. Until then the Slow in Infridgidate and Snow Storm will help.

I generally 3-slot Stamina with common EndMods. If I get the proc, it goes in a 4th slot for endurance-hungry characters, and I may change all 4 slots to Performance Shifter at that point.

The best part about end-game Fire/Rads is joining with other Fire/Rads to make an unstoppable team. A team of Fire/Rads is like a cloud of locusts, destroying everything in its path.

Even a single Fire/Rad is great in the late game. You need to have several of the powers well-slotted, and get lots of Recovery -- running both Choking Cloud and Hot Feet is expensive on the blue bar, but oh, so worth it. You really don't start to see how effective a Fire/Rad can be until the late 30's, when you can have Flashfire, Fire Cages, Hot Feet and Choking Cloud fully slotted. At 50, try to get the Grav Anchor Chance for Hold proc into Fire Cages, as it make the power far more effective. But just slotting purple sets everywhere is generally not the best way to go -- it takes some understanding and frankeslotting to maximize many of the powers.

In low levels, one of your most effective combos is Fire Cages + Radiation Infection. The foes can't move, and the ToHit Debuff in RI means they can't hit you very often. Plus, the Defense debuff in RI means it is easier to keep hitting Fire Cages. You can then get close to let the foes cook with Hot Feet. It isn't fast, but it works.

My latest pet project seems to be pointing out the effect of hold procs in single target holds.

You have both the Devastation and the Lockdown procs in Strangler, which does both Hold and Damage. Like the other single target holds, if Strangler hits, it will hold minions and lieutenants in one shot. It has a 20% chance to apply an extra Mag, which will hold bosses (the "overpower" you see). So, for any boss, you have only a 20% chance to hold him with a single shot of Strangler.

The Devastation proc can hold only if Strangler hits, and then only 15% of the time. The Lockdown proc will add 2 mag, if Strangler hits, 20% of the time. However, those effects are useless for all minions and lts. You may see the tesla cage, but all it does is stack more hold on an already-held foe. The only foes where those procs will have an effect are the 80% of bosses who are hit by Strangler but not held by the "overpower" extra mag. So, the pool of foes who will be affected by those two procs is pretty limited. I think the numbers with both procs will be that you will hold 45% of bosses vs. 20% without the procs, and that is for bosses only. While the procs will look like they are doing more than they are (they will show the tesla cage even if they are just stacking holds on already held foes), they really don't do much.

Then compare that to replacing those two procs with an Acc/Dam Hami-O and a common Damage. That would result in you (a) hitting more often due to higher accuracy and (b) doing Damage to 100% of the foes hit -- minions, lts and bosses. It seems to me that the damage slotting will provide a LOT more benefit.

Now, in Ice Arrow, the reasoning is different. Ice Arrow does not have the 20% chance to Overpower. Ice Arrow has no damage. So, the only question is whether the 20% Chance for Hold proc is worth some extra Acc/Hold/Recharge that you could put in the power. That's more of a judgment call. To some degree it depends on how you use the power. I generally use Ice Arrow to stack holds on bosses with my single target hold, so the proc wouldn't do much good for me.

Emp Arrow has a 50% chance of the extra Mag. That means that you only have a 20% chance to add 2 extra mag to 50% of the bosses -- but it is AoE so you hit a bunch of them. You can decide if it is worth it.

(I love the Devastation on my Arrows blaster -- I have 4 of them. I also love the Lockdown proc in Choking Cloud and a few other places.)

Yes, Acid Arrow is much better, but the radius is too small. I try to use them both for the stacked Resistance Debuff. TA seems to be most effective from stacking all the various effects.

Slotting Carrion Creepers is difficult. It generates pseudopets, and the enhancement of one aspect of it may not carry through to other aspects. I'm not sure that the Posi Blast set will enhance all the kinds of damage it does, since that set will only enhance the damage that is coded as "Targetted AoE Damage." Consider slotting 2-3 Acc/Dam Hami-Os (enhances all damage), 2 Recharge, and maybe the Impeaded Swiftness Slow damage proc. All parts of the power have a slow component, so the proc works all the time.

Arctic Air needs to be slotted with max EndRdx and CONFUSE, not slow. The duration of the Confusion pulses is small, but it has a noticeable effect. The power actually has 3 effects: Confuse, Slow and Afraid. Foes who enter the area are slowed. They try to slowly leave the area, but occasionally get confused and may turn around to target a buddy or go a different direction. The Confuse duration does not usually last long enough for the foes to actually attack a buddy (although they do occasionally), but the main purpose of the power is to neuter most of the attacks for foes in its range. The effect will not be very dramatic, but it does a lot. If you watch foes in the area, they tend to kind of run one way, then the other and look, well, confused. They sometimes will fire off an attack, but won't fire another off for a while.

My Ice/Storm usually tries to let the Tank and melee types go in first to draw the aggro, and then follows them shortly afterwards. I find that Arctic Air seems to mitigate about 60-75% of the attacks from foes in its area. Solo or small team without a tank, I lead off with Ice Slick, then run in with AA running.

Toggle AoEs for controllers usually are part of a kind of stacking control. By themselves, they are not much. But stacked with other types of control or pulling aggro by teammates, and those toggles become very effective. Ice Slick, run in with AA is the standard tactic. Sometimes you could use Frostbite to keep foes in the AoE of AA, but then you lose the "afraid" aspect, which is part of the mitigation. AA + Choking Cloud is a key combo for Ice/Rad.

The Contagious Confusion Proc from Coercive Persuasion is wonderful in AA. The confusion from the proc is much longer than the pulses in AA, so it has a noticeable effect. Still, the power without the proc is very effective as a way to mitigate 60-75% of melee attacks. Before you can really evaluate it, you need to slot it up correctly and use it as a stacking control.

Stormfront,

Mez powers aren't much of a problem for many characters. Admittedly, mez powers can sometimes create a challenge, but isn't that what the game is about?

Any well played Illusion or Mind Controller can use Deceive/Confuse to take care of foes with mez, including bosses, before the fight begins. It can be stacked with NO AGGRO, so it is easy to handle bosses. Plus, Illusion Controllers can send in Phantom Army to pull all the aggro, and follow it up with Spectral Terror. Mind Controllers have aggro-free AoE control powers in Mass Hypnosis and Mass Confusion, allowing them to stack mez powers with single-target controls.

Other controllers have other options. Earth's Earthquake and Ice's Ice Slick (and Fire's Bonfire, too) can knockdown bosses with the first shot. Some controllers have an AoE power that will cause even bosses to try to avoid the area, like Arctic Air or Hot Feet. All controllers other than Mind can use their pets to draw aggro.

Part of the strategy of playing other characters is learning how to deal with Mez. Tanks, Brutes and Scrappers get mez protection because they can't avoid the mez. Other characters have to learn how to deal with it. I have high defense on very few of my non-melee characters, and part of playing them is learning how to deal with a variety of foes. Yeah, I get mezzed (and faceplant) from time to time. That's part of the fun.

Maelstrom, in general it is a good idea to post the build in a readable format, as not everyone has access to Mids when they look at the forums. You may miss out on some helpful advice.

I mostly agree with the advice given by Morganite, except for a few small points.

He's absolutely right about the PvP IOs in your build -- they will be a lot more expensive than several Purple sets. I also agree that the damage proc needs to come out of Synaptic. I learned that the hard way with Illusion's Deceive.

3-slotting Hasten may not be that bad an idea, even if the benefit is minimal -- it changes the down-time from 11 sec (2-slotted) to 5 sec(3-slotted). If you can get a bit more global Recharge, you can drop the third slot, but before then, it is a judgment call.

However, the third EndRdx in EF is reducing the end cost for EF by .045 -- virtually nothing. So that slot can be used somewhere else.

Choking Cloud is a unique power. My Illusion/Radiation guild explains most of how it works and why it is important to slot the HOLD Duration to the ED cap of 95%. It makes a big difference. Of course, it needs as much EndRdx in it as well. This slotting is more important than set bonuses in this power, or you will be wasting it. After you have Hold fully slotted and EndRdx nearly there, the first proc you look at should be the Lockdown +2 Mag proc. The addition of mag works especially well with Choking Cloud.
Maybe more later when i have a chance to look.

A couple more points:

Consider moving the Unbreakable Constraint set to Flash. Slot Blind with 4 Bas Gaz, plus an Acc/Dam Hami-O and a common Damage IO. You will get a lot more benefit from that, since you should be using Blind continually to set up Containment for Spectral Wounds.

Where do you get the two slots for that? Change Ling Rad to a common Accuracy and that's it. You should have enough Global Recharge and Accuracy so that a single Acc in LR will be enough.

Do you really need that Micro in Super Speed? I recently sold two of them for 400 Mill, which I think is nuts. I find that a single EndRdx is enough since SS is near the speed cap on its own. A Micro seems like a lot of Infl. for very little return.

Uh, Gale slotted for damage??? Its base damage at level 50 is 3.06. Fully slotted and Contained, that means you are getting 12 damage . . . if it hits, since it has an accuracy penalty. That is a pretty poor return on slots. You would get more overall damage from procs.

Personally, I throw a single Accuracy in Gale and that's it. I very, very rarely use it as a "get out of my face" power or a "Push them into a corner" power, but Hurricane is usually better for that, since Hurricane debuffs ToHit at the same time.

As for the build, I have a few questions. What is your playstyle? You said that Arctic Air doesn't fit, but nothing else. That's too bad . . . when I first made my Ice/Storm, I thought that Ice Slick was the key power to the primary. But after having played it for 4 years, I find that Arctic Air is the defining power. Shiver is OK, but Arctic Air is great.

As for your playstyle, do you ever try to solo? Mostly team? Are you in the middle of the action or staying at range? Chilblain is a damage power with Immob, and you have it slotted for damage. I'm guessing from your slotting and lack of AA that you stay at range and try to do a little bit of damage. You have some good things in the build . . . 30% Ranged Defense is pretty good for a controller. Hurricane will help you keep foes out of melee. You are still weak to AoE, though.

If you try to do some damage, you missed the opportunity to slot Block of Ice for some damage. Two more slots in there with Acc/Dam and a common Damage will add a lot to your damage.

Speaking of Damage -- Tornado can be a huge source of damage -- the damage over time from Twisty really adds up. And it is AUTOHIT . . . how many damage powers in the game are autohit? Fantastic on AVs. Great on Paragon Protectors who just hit their MOG, and are otherwise unhittable. Great on Fake Nemesis with PFF up. The total damage from Tornado really adds up on a single target if you can keep the target from being thrown around or who has knockback protection -- and both Frostbite and Chilblain have -knockback. Instead of slotting for Defense Debuff (you already have plendy of Defense Debuff in Freezing Rain), which is a bit of a waste, slot Tornado for Damage and Recharge, with some EndRdx if you can. Against AVs, I try to keep Tornado out continually -- the damage comes pretty close to countering the huge amount of Regen that most AVs have.

I used to slot Freezing Rain for Defense Debuff, until I realized that with the 95% ToHit cap (you always have a 5% chance to miss, no matter how much Accuracy or Defense Debuff) made huge amounts of Defende Debuff unnecessary. Now I slot just for Recharge and, if I have room, some procs. You could pull a slot out of here for Block of Ice. I'm not sure where to get the other slot for BoI. I can see that most of the slots are devoted to sets that give Ranged Defense.

As for the proc in Lightning Storm . . . I use a Decimation Chance for Hold. It also matches thematically since a lighting bolt will suddenly put the foe into a Tesla Cage. But Damage and Recharge slotting should come before any proc.

Void Spirit above was wrong to suggest a Celerity Stealth . . . Steamy Mist+Super Speed is full Invis in PvE. I use the same combo on all my Stormies. I love Super Speed for "Herdicaning," which is running around the outside of groups with Hurricane on to gather them in tighter while debuffing their ToHit.

How often do you use Hover? If it is rare, then you can use a Raptor Pack for those times you need to fly, and replace Hover with Combat Jumping. It give you a place for a LotG Recharge, some Defense, some battlefield maneuverability and, best of all, protection from Immobilization. All in a toggle with some of the lowest endurance cost in the game. On the other hand, if you spend a lot of time in the air, then Hover is a good choice.

Personally, I would replace Assault with Snow Storm. I find Snow Storm very useful, especially on AVs and EBs or to knock down flyers. My Ice/Storm is wonderful on the Imperious TF specifically because I can put Snow Storm on the big AVs, EBs and tougher bosses -- they are protected from most kinds of mez, but Slow has a huge effect on them.

Taking a look at your build, I see you have done a number of things differently that I would, but that's a matter of personal choice. I have a few comments:

Blind: I don't think that the Devastation Chance for Hold is nearly as beneficial as adding Damage (or even more control, but I think Damage is needed more). Here's why -- that proc has only a 15% chance to hit, assuming Blind hits. On its own, Blind will hold minions and lieutenants, so the proc will do nothing for them. It may show its Tesla Cage animation, but those foes would have been held anyway. Blind also has a 20% chance to add an extra 1 Mag. So of the boss-level foes hit by Blind, 20% will be held by Blind alone. So, the only way the proc will provide any benefit whatsoever is the 15% chance of hitting the 80% of bosses that weren't held by Blind. That's a pretty small actual benefit, even though it looks like it is doing more when the Tesla Cage shows up on foes who would have been held anyway.

Now compare that to slotting Damage, where it will provide a benefit by doing damage to 100% of the foes hit. Seems like a pretty easy choice. I suggest filling out those last two slots in Blind with an Acc/Dam Hami-O and a common Damage IO.

You have tried to add a lot of Defense into this build, devoting a lot of slots to powers like Combat Jumping and Weave. As a result, you skipped some nice utility powers like EM Pulse, Mutation, Recall Friend. You have 24.3% Ranged Defense, which is OK if you want to go that way. But you took the Psi APP, and took Idomidable Will slotted with a Defense set, when it only provides Defense to Psi. To me, if you really want to go with Defense, you want defense to the most common kind of damage. Taking your exact build and changing only your APP to Ice Blast, Ice Armor and Frost Breath, I was able to get your Smash/Lethal Defense to 36.3% -- which is going to be a heck of a lot better. Yeah, you lose mez protection, but you gain slightly faster blast, a different damage type (for those Psi-resistant foes) and a lot of Defense to the most common damage type. If you want a Defense build, I suggest you consider changing to the Ice APP.

You are going to have a HUGE problem with Endurance. If you run all or even most of those toggles and try to do anything else, you will chew through your blue bar in no time. You will have no choice but to go with the Cardiac Boost to try to reduce your endurance usage. Even then, you may have problems.

No offense intended, BlissfullChaos, but any Illusion build that skips Spectral Wounds is an instant Fail in my book. I suppose if you want your character to be a Healer/Pet Wrangler, but that is a gimped character. One of the main strengths of Illusion is its ability to do damage, and Spectral Wounds is the main source of damage.

You are correct, however, that a perma PA Ill/Emp will be very difficult without any purple sets. It might be possible with the Spiritual Boost, especially in the upper levels, but Mid's doesn't reflect that added Recharge yet.

The general prohibition of "no purples" is also not taking into account the relative values of IOs recipes. The Coercive Persuasion purple Confuse set doesn't cost much more than a set of 4 Basilisk Gaze or even 2 LotG Recharge IOs. You can earn the Infl needed to buy that set in just 8-12 days by running Tip Missions and then selling the LotG Recharge IOs.