Local_Man

One of the advantages of Super Speed is the built-in Stealth that combines with Steamy Mist -- no need for a stealth IO. Invisibility is very, very helpful on this character because you have to get in "just" the right position to maximize the use of the Seeds of Confusion cone. It also allows you to lead your pets, Carrion Creepers and Venus Fly Trap, into battle without drawing aggro yourself.

I also like Super Speed to run in near the group in just the right position for Lightning Storm . . . if you cast lightning storm on the far side of the group from your team, the storm will knock foes INTO your team instead of away -- which is usually better. Super Speed lets me get into the best position faster. (Another technique if you fly/Hover -- cast Lightning Storm while hovering over the foe and the Storm has a better chance to knock DOWN instead of BACK. But you have to be right overhead or the angle will make it knockback.)

I also like Super Speed for "herdicaning." This is where you use Hurricane to push foes around the outside of a group into a tighter group, making the group better for AoE powers. Hurricane also debuffs their ToHit at the same time, so they can't attack you very well.

As for slotting: Recharge is most important because you want Seeds up as much as possible. Casting Roots more often is good, too, since that is most of your AoE damage. Plant is probably the second best Controller at AoE damage (after Fire), but weak at single target damage -- it can defeat a group almost as fast as a single. Storm adds some good single target damage in Tornado and Lightning Storm.

Defense is less important if you use Hurricane -- the ToHit Debuff is significant. With experience, you can learn to use the "Hurricane Kiss" -- where you can touch foes with the outer edge of Hurricane to apply the debuff, but without knocking them back. I keep Hurricane linked to a bind to an extra button on my mouse, so with a touch of a button, I can turn it on and off.

In the movie and play, Seymore Krelborne names the plant after his co-worker/future love, Audrey, by calling it the "Audrey II." However, when he talks to it, he calls it "Twoey." "Audrey" was the girl, "Twoey" was the plant. (Oddly enough, the ending of the play is very different than the ending of the movie -- the movie has a "happy ending" while the play does not.)

Mental Maden uses a different name that I found amusing (if you know anything about women's tennis). She calls hers "Serina" because she is stronger and better than "Venus."

Thunderclap looks cool, but is sadly not nearly as effective as it looks. I think its usefulness depends on your playstyle. I have it on my Earth/Storm, Grav/Storm and Fire/Storm because they can all stack stuns with powers from the primary. My Plant/Storm stays more at range, in position for the Seeds of Confusion cone. If anything gets too close, I blow them away with Hurricane or (rarely) Gale. So, for me, it is skippable. But I can certainly understand liking it.

Use Hurricane and/or Gale to knock him into the Lava, and his regen is no longer a problem. I've beaten him that way about 3 times. Even the Lollipop of Doom (Nemesis staff) works for this, but it takes better aim.

Because Merits cannot be traded, they cannot be consolidated to buy the higher cost, more desireable items. Thus, 10 characters with 30 merits each will be limited to 1 Random Roll each with a good chance of getting a useless or less desired item. If you could consolidate those merits, 300 merits could buy just about anything available for Reward Merits.

Would it ruin the economy? Probably not, but it would have an effect.

Another perma-pet is certainly appealing, but I don't really need Defense. A perma-PA build is built around pulling the aggro of foes to the PA and Phanty's Decoy, so they should be drawing the attacks, not you. Some folks believe that the -Resistance in Poisonous Ray will make up for lesser damage due to a slower recharge, but to me the key is trying to reduce the heal-back by getting fast damage.

I'm also not sure how the time spent drawing the mace will affect your damage.

The one time I have done the Apex TF with my Ill/Rad, we had 66 deaths, and only 4 of them were mine. The soft-capped guys died a lot more than I did. That indicates to me that Defense is not really a priority.

To pick a nit . . . You run into the Clockwork King in the first mission of the Tina McIntyre arc for levels 40-45 in Peregrine Isle. And that is not a Task Force.

He also shows up in the Lady Grey TF.

I mostly disagree with your post. Some of the best stuff is saved for Task Forces, but that is usually stuff that is best handled by a team. It should be more interesting, so that people will be willing to re-run the TF.

But much of the new tech is being included in the newer and updated content -- like changes to the Maria Jenkins Arc and just about everything in Praetoria. The main problem is that the older content doesn't have the newer tech, and the Devs are choosing to devote their limited resources to newer content rather than updating old stuff.

Yep . . . and I have tried all of the APP sets with my Ill/Rad. My recommendations are first, Fire, then Ice. I'd rank Primal next, then Psi with Earth last. If you have not read my Illusion/Radiation guide (linked in my sig), most of the points made below are in the guide.

The most important thing to me is that quick single target blast. Illusion is built for distracting groups while taking foes down one at a time. Illusion is not great at setting up Containment on groups, so AoE damage is less important. Plus, to gain benefit from the Illusory Damage in Spectral Wounds and Phantom Army (and Phanty's Decoy), you want to take down those single foes fast. That Illusory Damage heals back after a few seconds, but if you can defeat the foe before the heal-back, you get to keep the damage. That can substantially increase the amount of damage you do. So you want fast damage without a lot of Damage Over Time.

You also want a fast recharging single target blast -- because you can get that fast damage with the Blind-SW-Blast-SW attack chain. That's why I don't recommend Earth because Hurl Boulder is too slow.

Another consideration is damage type. Illusion is all Psi damage except for Phantasm's blasts. Psi is heavily resisted by some foes in the late game, like Robots -- and you see lots of robots. Getting a different Damage type will help you take those foes down more quickly. That drops Psi down the list.

Fire Blast does the most damage of any of the single target blasts, except for the slow Hurl Boulder. It adds a bit of DoT after the initial blast. Fire and Ice also activate slightly faster than Primal and Psi. Fire and Ice are rarely resisted damage types.

Then look at the rest of the sets. Fireball is mostly fast, up front damage, with a little bit of DoT. And it activates quickly. Ice has two AoEs, Frostbreath is a cone, so it requires positioning and hits fewer foes, while Ice Storm is a location-targetted AoE with all of its damage coming over time (letting the Illusory damage heal back) and with a long Recharge. So, for Damage only, I think Fire is better by a little bit. However, if you want a Defense-based shield, Ice can then be a great choice. You can also consider the usefulness of Hibernation vs. Rise of the Phoenix and/or Consume. Fire's Resistance-based shield is OK and can help reduce the damage you take, but it is not the reason to take the set.

Primal has a good but slightly slower single target blast, a resistance-based shield, Conserve Power and the key power, Power Boost. However, Illusion doesn't have that many powers that will gain from Power Boost -- compare it to Mind Control, which has many. Primal's only AoE damage is a cone, with the limitations of a cone.

If you are getting Mezzed a lot (and you shouldn't be), then Psi is worth considering for Indomidible Will. Psi Blast is slightly slower, like Primal's. Psi Tornado is a nice power, but it is all Damage Over Time, giving more time for that Illusory Damage to heal back. And there is the problem of damage type. The Resistance Shield is OK, and on the plus side, IW and Mind Over Body provide some Psi Defense and Resistance. On the downside, the last power, World of Confusion, stinks.

Earth is great for Melee types, with the very short range Fissure and Seismic Smash. But I play my Ill/Rad at range, as part of his protection. Earth has a good, but ugly, defensive shield and a great heal/HP boost, but the damage powers just don't fit.

I can't help you much with the PPP powers . . . concept-wise, my Ill/Rad just can't go Red-side. But I know none of the Villain PPP sets have a single target blast that recharges quickly enough for the Blind-SW-Blast-SW chain. You need a recharge when fully slotted of 4 seconds or less. Mace has Poisonous Ray, which is the closest thing at about 6 seconds. A few people have said that they wanted to go that direction. I have yet to hear from anyone who had the fast Blast first, then tried Poisonous Ray and thought Poisonous Ray was better.

Just to clarify, the OP misstated his powersets. He must be Ice Control/Storm . . . so he does not have Benumb. He can use Snow Storm to drop Recharge, but the best strategy is to use Hurricane to knock Trapdoor into the lava. It is pretty easy to do if you have any kind of knockback powers -- and even the Nemesis Staff works.

Obviously, if you plan to knock the guy back, you DON'T want to use Chilblain or Frostbite, since both have -knockback for 12 or 15 seconds.

Radiation Infection and Enervating Field are both autohit toggles. Lingering Radiation needs Accuracy and Recharge, as it is a Targetted AoE Click power that needs a ToHit check. However, if you have already applied Quicksand and/or some of your other Earth Control powers and/or Radation Infection before using LR, you will have applied a lot of Defense Debuff making it much easier for LR to hit.

Fallout and EM Pulse also need accuracy.

If you want a LOT of information and strategy tips on the Radiation secondary, take a look at my Earth/Rad and Illusion/Rad guides . . . the Ill/Rad guide has IO slotting for the Rad powers and is more up-to-date.

With Inherent Stamina, it should be easy to fit in Terrify earlier, but then I don't use the Fighting Pool. But at level 32, definitely get Mass Confusion regardless.

If you have questions about Confuse powers, my Illusion/Radiation guide has a section on the confusion (pun intended) and misconceptions about Confuse powers. Solo, you should be using Confuse a LOT.

As previously suggested, my strategy for playing my Mind Controllers solo generally starts with Confusing any tough foes. Then Mass Hypnosis (it draws no aggro, so if you stay out of aggro range, any foes missed shouldn't notice you), then Terrify. The I work on single foes with Dom-Mez-Lev. Refresh Terrify when needed. And I use Mass Confusion whenever it is up.

From what I have seen, much of this thread is "this is what I dislike" rather than "this is overhyped."

Illusion is not "overhyped" . . . and this is coming from one of the main "hypers." It is very good at some things, and not so great at others. It is the best controller to solo safely against tough targets. It is the best "team spy," using invis+Deceive+PA to allow an Illusionist to stealth to targets and take them. Illusion is great as a second or third controller on any team because its powers rarely conflict with the powers of other controllers. Illusion is great at adapting to a wide range of situations.

Illusion is not ideal for mowing down large numbers of foes. Illusion is not the best at AoE control for a large team. Illusion is not the best for some specialized situations. Some people use it in those situations because it is so good most of the time, but Illusion just isn't made for those things. Illusion is not at its best when played like a Mastermind . . . yeah, it has pets, but the single target controls and damage need to be used to make Illusion most effective -- a MM can sit back, using only his secondary while the pets do all the work.

Some folks were saying that the Radiation secondary is "overhyped." Much like Illusion, Radiation is more of an all-purpose set rather than a specialized set. Other sets are stronger in certain areas, but Rad puts all of these areas together -- team buffs (that affect the player, too), debuffs and controls in a set that provides both offensive and defensive benefits. It is the only secondary that includes a Recharge and Endurance team buff together with Defense, ToHit, Damage and Resistance debuffs.

Personally, I think Empathy is the only secondary that I would consider to be "overhyped" among the players, even if it isn't overhyped here in the forums. Too many players consider Healing to be more important than it is, and the good buffs in Emp have become less important since IO set bonuses have allowed characters to gain significant buffs through slotting.