Originally Posted by Aitchuu
Introduction
C-Dog wrote a useful guide to this set based on the situation in I7, but we are almost 10 issues past that, and things have changed. He pointed out that earth powers offer the best hold mastery in the game. What he apparently did not realize is that this combo is the key to dominating ALL motion on the battlefield – nothing moves without your permission, and nothing can resist when you push.
You have two solid tactics available, Cutting-one-out (cutting) and working-the-clock (clocking). Cutting is the art of separating your foes and taking them out one at a time. Sometimes this mean pulling your target out of a pack, sometimes this means pushing the pack away from your target.
Clocking is the art of keeping your foes occupied while you (or your teammates) work towards your own goal. Clocking occasionally looks like a Benny Hill conga line as you pin and attack your primary target while you lead his companions on a merry chase. Each time you come around you apply another pin and more damage, and eventually the Boss notices that the rest of his pack is gone.
And it’s great when you can do both. Force Bolt the minion over a balcony railing and Fossilize the Lt. You have ‘cut out’ the Lt. and at the same time you have ‘clocked’ the minion who must now run back.
So what’s changed since I7?
Well, first there’s the dual build option. You can now trick out a solo (swap out Deflection and Insulation Shields for more attack powers) and a team build (focus on your buff debuff role).
Second, this combo is very diverse in the types of invention enhancement sets it can use: Hold, Immobilize, To Hit Debuff, Defense Debuff, Sleep, Slow, Knockback, Stun, Pet Damage, Ranged Damage, Targeted AoE, PBAoE, and Defense. I strongly recommend you read up on slotting strategies. These powers don’t have great frankenslotting potential. But 2-slot a power with end/hold and recharge/hold (for a bonus 4% boost to recharge rate) with an SO for more hold and you’ve got a potent power.
The Build
Earth Powers:
These are your cutting tools, your ying set. You bring an awesome debuff combination to your team. You can get 75% defense debuff on a target with Quicksand (25%), Stone Prison and Cages (20% each), and Earthquake (10% and enhancable) debuff. This makes you are valuable on TFs and other challenges that involve bosses and archvillains. The Prison and Cages almost never affect monsters though.
While most Earth Control powers can be used at range, they are best utilized when you yourself are inside the area effect. As much as I’m going to talk up your melee prowess here, keep in mind your Health is lower than any melee archetype. Play linebacker. Learn when to rush the line and when to fall back into coverage. Most of these powers have an 80’ or better range, as good as any Blaster. In a PVP arena match your opponent is going to load up on purples to get out of your traps. In a PVP zone, you’ll fare better. Use your Force Fields to wait out their ‘purple time’ or to fight opponents with heavy protection to Earth (melee archetypes).
Fossilize (even, even):
Your best attack bar none. The Containment advantage makes you want to use this attack second in a combination, but that’s not always smart. Cut out a Vampiri and it’ll Sleep you while you Prison it, washing out your advantage. So know-your-foe! Damage is greatly enhanced in PVP.
Stone Prison (Solo, PVP):
Single target damage-over-time makes this a weak looking power because your target will regen while it takes damage. It does includes defense debuff, –Fly, and –Knock back on the target, so it’s a fine cutter, and an excellent way to begin Containment. Use in conjunction with your Force Bolt to push a target out of a mob and Immobilize them at range. Or use with Fossilize to Contain and defense debuff your target, then apply your best damage. The –Knock back is marginal, your own FF powers can easily push this around.
Stone Cages (Team, PVE):
Weaker version of the Prison, this nabs multiple targets but weakens the DoT and movement modifiers (and does not improve in PVP, but has the charm of making multiple opponents expend a purple with one shot). It still has the defense debuff, so its can be a help to your melee line. It’s only an Immobilize, so nothing prevents the targets from shooting back. Not much of a cutting tool, this one is for crowd control. Best use in tandem with Stalagmites to set Containment or keep the stunned mob from drifting apart. Also good for a counter-attack if your team gets caught in a crossfire (Cage one group to take their aggro, put your PFF on, and have your team press the fight towards the other group first).
Quicksand (Solo, even):
Slow power with Defense Debuff. Not a cutting tool since you want to attack the targets inside the effect. Use with the Prison to get a 45% defense debuff on a tough target (assuming you can get the Prison to stick). Another good tandem is to get your Salt Crystals on a mob, lay down the Quicksand (this doesn’t disturb the sleeping effect), carefully pick out your first victim (somebody you missed is a good place to start), take a red, and start smacking.
Salt Crystals (Solo, PVE):
This much maligned power is actually awesome! PBAoE Sleep is both a cutting and a clock tool, but you need a method of delivery. Teleporting, Invisibility, Superspeed or Fly along with the ‘F’ key, or even just using your PFF and walking to the center of a mob all work fine. Teams have trouble taking advantage of this power, but teammates with offensive aura powers can learn to save the endurance from them, holding the toggle until the salt crystals give out (assuming the fight takes that long), and then applying their own PBAoE powers to finish off. Luckily, Salt has a very obvious effect, unlike the snoozing versions of Sleep powers. Stony doesn’t understand what Sleep is, so you should let it take the lead in selecting targets that are asleep. Great way to start Containment.
Stalagmites (even, PVE):
Paired with Salt Crystals, this power can leave you in command of the pace for a very long time. You will quickly discover that Salt Crystals don’t last long enough for you to take out a whole mob one at a time, and doesn’t recharge fast enough to reapply. So you learn to time yourself, use the Salt, lay down your Sand, take out the first couple minions, and just before Salt ends stomp down with Stalagmites for the Containment bonus and continued clock time. The surviving mob does the dizzy dance while you polish off the next couple. If there’s anybody left to fight, Fossilize and Stone Prison should finish the job. On a team, you can use this to assist the front line by targeting through an invulnerable teammate and stunning his/her immediate foes – this jacks their Defense and To Hit up through Invincible without having to get pummeled. You may need to follow up with Cages to keep the mob together. The stun effect works just as well in PVP, but it’s easily countered with a purple.
Earthquake (Team, PVP):
I say team, but they will hate you for this power because they don’t understand it. C-Dog said this is knockdown only, but I’ve seen it hurl foes all about. But you can slot both/either To Hit Debuff or Defense Debuff on it, and your team really wants this. They may not realize it but they do; cause nothing cuts the fight time on bosses/villains/monsters like these debuffs. Great fun in PVP when you know there’s a Stalker nearby who keeps getting interrupted by the quake pulses. This is a cutting tool when you combine with Prison or Fossilize to keep your target inside the quake area while the rest of the mob flops around. It can also tandem with your Repulsion Field. Earthquake has a 25’ radius and the Repulsion Field has a 10’ radius. Lay the Earthquake to one side of your team and then you flank to the other (conveniently, your Dispersion Bubble also has a 25’ radius, so you can use the edge of the bubble to gauge your distance from the geyser). The targets now bounce back and forth between you and the geyser.
Volcanic Gasses (Solo, PVE):
Like Salt, Stalagmites, and Earthquake, you can use this for clock time against an entire mob while you whittle away at their numbers. Better than Cages since the targets are busy coughing on the fumes rather than shooting back at you. In PVP, using a purple let’s your foe out of the Hold, and thus they can escape the DoT. So stand in the middle of it and make them use range. And yet another annoyance to Stalkers.
Animate Stone (Solo, PVE):
This is one tough pet, especially while inside your Dispersion Bubble. Affectionately known as Stony or Rocky, this pet does most of the damage for you. But it chases things, and that can get it (and you) into a lot of trouble. Once you have this ultimate weapon, you need to switch your tactics a bit – using your earth powers to keep foes nearby to control what Stony targets, and your FF powers to push others away so it won’t stray. It’s aggro range is not great, foes with stand-off weapons can injure you and this pet will stand at your side totally oblivious. This pet can also be tough in PVP. Your foe(s) will naturally ignore the pet and focus on you. So you should focus on keeping them stepping and fetching while Stony does the hitting.
Force Field Powers:
Your yang powers – for keeping foes away and your teammates from harm. Defense as a whole is a clock tactic. Say an opponent can make a 50pt attack every 2 seconds. Ten strikes takes 20 seconds to generate 500 points of damage. If you can deflect 1/3 of the incoming attacks, then on average you opponent must make 14 attacks to reach the 500 damage mark, taking 28 seconds. So 8 seconds of their time wasted (plus endurance for 4 extra attacks).
Dispersion Bubble adds 7.5% defense from all damage methods (melee, range, AoE) and 7.5% from all damage types (smash, lethal, etc.) so that’s 15% from all attacks. Learn the difference between Deflection and Insulation Shield. Deflection adds 11% against Melee, Insulation adds 11% against Range and AoE. Deflection adds 11% against Smashing and Lethal, Insulation does the rest. If your opponent’s use guns (ranged and lethal), do both. If they use knives (melee and lethal) don’t waste time/energy on Insulation Shield. Many Bubblers will just do both all the time. By 20th level, you will be very tired of constant Bubbling, which causes many players to give this archetype up. The result is this: un-enhanced, you add 36% defense (which means you can deflect 1/3 of the incoming attacks).
Personal Force Field (Solo, PVP):
A defense between 60-90% means you escape when the team wipe comes. This tapers off at higher levels as critters begin to use defense debuff on you, and there is always the 5% chance. Slot early, and then come back with another slot or two late. Other toggle powers (like Repulsion Field) are suppressed until you drop the PFF, so you can conceal what you are preparing to do. It works nearly as well with targeted powers since you control the timing of the switch. If your team gets in trouble, you can use one of your AoE attacks to attract attention and flip this on and play target dummy while your team recovers their balance. Remember that Dispersion Field, and other buff powers will cut out on your teammates when you activate this – so use it wisely. In PVP, use this to wait out any foe using ‘purple time’.
Deflection Shield (Team, PVE):
Ignore for your solo build (despite the text on Stony you cannot buff it with this power). This is a power your team expects from you. Consider what sort of team you typically play with when slotting. If you typically team with one or two partners, then slot for more defense, and live with the slower charge cycle and higher endurance. If you are always on a team of 5+, then slot for recharge and endurance so you can get through the whole team quickly. Chances are they will be happy for the bubbles and never notice you just provide the league minimum. There is no defense to toxin attacks, but this provides 30% resistance (non-enhancable).
Force Bolt (Solo, PVP):
This is a prime cutting power. Slot for knock back and accuracy, and use it to keep one foe at bay while you pound on his partner. In PVP, it will still work on foes despite them using special KB resisting powers/enhancements. Or slot towards endurance and recharge. This way, you can quickly separate a mob. If you lose the initiative in the fight, get an obstacle between you and your target (a corner say) and trigger the Bolt. The instant your target clears the obstacle they get the ‘sledgehammer-to-the-skull’ treatment; and you can reclaim the tempo. Once you have Stony though, you need be careful that your target has NOT attracted its attention or your pet may give chase.
Insulation Shield (Team, PVP): Again – expected on teams and ignorable solo. I feel this is the stronger of the ally buffs, since almost every teammate can find something to deal with smashing and lethal damage on their own. But this one offers AoE defense – where are they gonna find that?
Detention Field (Solo, PVE):
Lts. and Bosses tend to be harder to hit with the stop* powers, but this works just fine on all targets (it’s duration will be shortened, but it will work). This power is excellent for Cutting tactics – preventing one foe from acting while you take out the other(s). Very useful against de/buff types too (sky pirate FF generators, Devouring Earth cairns and fungus, Tsoo Sorcerers, Rikti Guardians, Malta Sappers, etc.) This power will lose a lot of value once you have Stony, who doesn’t notice it. If a foe gets too close this is an escape hatch. You can also use this at long distance as a kind of taunt; putting one mob member in Detention to alert the rest (but not so great if they have long range attacks). Be very careful of using it to try to hold an escaping NPC. They often can overcome the Hold value, in which case you just made it nearly impossible to stop them. In PVP, it’s reduced to a mere 8 second effect.
Dispersion Bubble (even, even):
The keynote FF power – it helps you, Stony, and your team. It is nice defense all around and protection from all the powers that generate Containment except Sleep. Stony becomes ‘Diamond’ as long as it stays inside the bubble. Endurance use is reasonable for what you get, but better if you slot for it (keeping the field on is better than increasing its protection).
Repulsion Field (team, PVP):
This power was a puzzle for me at first because the endurance use is ‘per affected target’. Take this into a Rikti Invasion or Zombie attack, and your blue bar will disappear within five seconds – and then every loose critter will make your green bar disappear. But if you stay tight with a Blaster, this will sweep away any foes they attract. It can halt foes trying to sweep around/through your melee line. As a cutter, it can sift out the Lts. and Bosses (or any targets you Immobilize with an earth power) since they are they only ones likely to resist the effect. Just remember that it only cuts 10’, which isn’t much for the hassle it creates. It can protect you from the rear ambush and Stalker, but that often goes similar to the Rikti mosh pit. In zones or on maps with mobs in high density, it just gets messy. Not good with Stony, which will chase everything. If this offered some ‘to hit debuff’ or defense to AoE attacks (snow storms and caltrops shouldn’t work very well inside a repulsion field), it would be much better.
Repulsion Bomb (solo, PVE):
Much better than the Field! Targeted, damage dealing, usable at range, and a fixed endurance use. The slow wind-up makes it best as a starter, but it scatters mobs and can disorient, so it causes Containment. Since you can’t control the scatter effect, it’s a random cutting tool, and Stony will chase the targets around.
Force Bubble (team, PVE):
Almost nothing can resist the Bubble’s repel. It still has the down side of affecting every target it comes in contact with, so you will collect a lot of unwelcome aggro. It will most definitely overcome your earthly power’s rooting features, pushing every target to the extreme of your reach. There are great applications for this – where foes are in a corner or an alcove and you can pin them. Keeping baddies away from the reactor core, barring foes from hallways and doors, going around blind corners - this is the tool. I’ve never had the courage to try using it in a Rikti mosh pit. Using the Bubble should generate a region of 7850 square feet with a player density of 20+ and a Rikti density of 0. Players will spit fire and venom at you, but if I understand Grey Watcher’s notes on generating Heavies, this should actually be excellent.
Complementing Pools:
First and foremost – get a melee attack. Don’t worry that Controllers have a ‘weak’ damage base, thanks to Containment you do double damage. You need something to boost your damage output anyway.
I recommend Fighting for your solo build. Box (chance for Stun/Containment) or Kick (even more knock back/cutting options) are both good. If you solo often, then take Tough for some resistance to common damage types to go with your defense. Air Superiority, Flurry, and Jump Kick all get you credit toward a movement power while covering your need for more damage.
As for which movement power to go with, I’m most impressed with Teleport. Recall Friend in team mode and Teleport Foe (more cutting) in solo granting use of Teleport (which works well with Salt and your Repel powers). I find Superleap lacks the precision you want for cutting but is good for clocking, and both Combat Jumping and Acrobatics bolster your melee capacity. Whrilwind, another maligned power, offers more ‘clocking’.
Concealment works well. Grant Invisibility pushes your base team defense to 41% (but will drive you mad with bubbles), while Invisibility and Phase Shift fit right in as clocking tools. If you like cutting, then the Presence Pool is very useful by taking just Challenge and Intimidate. Both Taunt and Fear are good cutting tools, and you open two more enhancement set categories.
If you are heavy on the team support by buffing your teammates and debuffing foes, then add Medicine or Leadership. Medicine plus Teleport can make you something of a team saver after a wipeout. Maneuvers in particular boosts the team D even more, and the prospect of using to-hit and defense debuffs via Earth powers while buffing your team’s to-hit through Tactics has some charm for knocking over heavy targets. I’ve never tried Fitness, but a high regen and/or recovery rate is always a good thing. And Swiftness’ Sleep protection helps close the one hole in your Dispersion Bubble.
As for the Ancillary pools, I have not respec-ed Rat to try these all out, so anything I offer would just be conjecture. By the time you reach 41st level you should already have a good idea how the set powers work with your play style so you will know which of these you want.
* Most people lump the stop powers in with mez powers, which is not quite correct. Mez are powers that restrict/redirect your attacks: sleep, confuse, stun, fear, placate, taunt. Stop powers restrict/redirect your movement: hold, immobilize, slow, knock back/down/up, repel, cage. Cage, Fear, and Immobilize have some crossover abilities, the rest do not.
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