Mr_Grumpums

It seems like, the longer I play this game, the more fun controllers get.

In my case, one of my first characters to actually hit 50 was a Plants/TA controller (and given that I've been playing this game off and on since launch, you can see where I might have a thing about alting around too much to get any real leveling done), who still has an amazing capacity to manipulate and dominate the area around him.

My second controller to hit 50 was my Ill/Rad, who has slain many giants and who is my favorite for running Blueside SSAs. When I think of my strongest blueside toons, he's at the top of the list.

My third controller to hit 50 was a Fire/Dark, which spends most of its time in an ever-expanding cloud of pain right in the middle of mobs while his pets dance merrily about the chaos. It's a great character for soloing, and has pulled his SG's butts out of the fire on many occasions with a well-placed Howling Twilight, followed up by Flashfire to mez even bosses, then Fire Cages (for damage and control), THEN Bonfire (for damage and to bounce anything which avoided being mezzed), and finally tossing around team buffs, heals, and fireballs while Hot Feet also ticks away at enemy health.

And now I'm leveling a Gravity/Time controller, which I'm planning to have a lot of fun with. Wormhole enemies into a Distortion Field which has a +chance to Hold Proc in it? Check. Time's Juncture and Defense powers to be near the softcap? Check. Power Boost (from Force Mastery, so I can also snag a res toggle to bolster protection and increase the effectiveness of Foresight) paired with Levitate for crazy fun with mobs outdoors? Checkity check check. Double ST holds? You betcha. Added ToHit from Foresight and IO ACC bonuses actually making the AoE Immobilize a useful power and then slotting the Gravitational Anchor +Chance to Hold set into it (And maybe a few damage procs while I'm at it)? Check. Helpful mezzing pet? Check.

Damage? Um...Sorta? My planned build will have very little AoE damage. I'll mostly be relying on Single-Target attacks, which can WORK, but it'll take longer.

My planned Grav/Time is a controller that is heavy on proc holds, stuns, and survival. It'll need a lot of recharge, some defense buffing, and patience until you hit 38 and Chrono Shift starts to take the edge off of your endurance usage. When it all comes together, though, it should be a lot of fun to play with!

Okay, so here is the skinny on Fire Manipulation:
-Awesome PBAoE Damage (damage radiating around you, usually best for melee) in the form of Fire Sword Circle, Blazing Aura, and Burn.
-A solid Single Target Immobilize with comparatively solid damage in Ring of Fire.
-A solid Single Target Melee Attack with Fire Sword.
-Build up to boost your damage like a boss, and Consume to help keep your endurance up.
-A stinker of a PBAoE power in Combustion which has too long of an animation time and a very delayed DoT. Skip this one.
-An occasionally useful additional damage aura at level 38: Hot Feet. This power stacks quite well with Blazing Aura, and has a -Speed component that would be extremely helpful if it didn't also cause enemies to scatter away from you.
-Absolutely no damage mitigation other than Hot Feet and a single Immobilize, which won't even prevent enemies from taking a swing at you.

So how do you play a /Fire character?
-Easy. You use those powers up close and personal.
-That's also very dangerous, because Melee is where you'll be using your awesome attacks...And Melee is where most enemies are able to hit YOU the hardest.
-Playing a melee-oriented blaster also makes some powers (ranged cones) more difficult to use to their full effect.

So what kind of Primary works best with an PBAoE-oriented secondary like Fire Manipulation?
-Sets that don't have a lot of cones.
-Sets that also have a lot AoE damage which can be added to your close-up-kill-everything arsenal.
-POSSIBLY sets that wouldn't cause undo amounts of redraw (that's a personal opinion, and while I think it's worth mentioning, I don't want you to broadcast it as a hard and fast rule).

What does the above eliminate?
- Assault Rifle (best uses at a distance), Sonic Blast (best used at a distance), Beam Rifle (no PBAoE), Psychic Blast (Only a PBAoE Nuke), Dark Blast (All of its AoE is in Cone or Nuke form).
-POSSIBLY Archery and Dual Pistols (due to redraw) and Ice Blast (I love Ice Storm and Blizzard, but it isn't the biggest contender, here).

What does that LEAVE?
-Water Blast: High AoE damage, a small self-heal, mitigation via Knockback and a nice Nuke which a high recharge build can have you firing off every 45 seconds to destroy or heavily damage an entire mob at once. It has one skippable cone, and all of its other powers work very well in melee.

-Fire Blast: The classic combo. It has no mitigation, which means you'll die. A lot. It also has the strongest single target damage of all blast sets, and all of its powers (barring Fire Breath) work very well in melee.

-Radiation Blast: Two solid AoE attacks (one being a PbAoE), a sweet ST Blast with a stun component, and a nice PBAoE Nuke. This isn't the classic Fire/Fire combo, but it works nicely and has just a touch of mitigation on top of the energy damage type.

-Electrical Blast: Two moderate DoT attacks which work very well in melee, plus a hold and an extra unkillable pet which tosses out damage all on its own (and gives a hefty defiance boost at the same time, something like 40%) as well as a very cool looking ranged AoE nuke which can also floor enemy endurance. It's an interesting combination, and the right high-recharge, high-damage build can make it a powerhouse. Now take the knife away from my neck, @Alisha Shatogi.

-Energy Blast: "Merely" solid damage paired with a lot of knockback doesn't make this the "Ultimate" combination, but throwing the Overwhelming Force proc into either Energy Torrent or Explosive Blast (I suggest Explosive Blast) will turn the knockback into knockDOWN, meaning that enemies will be knocked onto their backs right where you want them to be, ready for AoE evisceration. This combo can actually have a whole lot of survivability.

-Honorable mention goes to Archery, which has an awesome mini-nuke (Rain of Arrows) which is great for softening up enemies. Pair it with the overwhelming Force proc in Explosive arrow to knock enemies down as guaranteed mitigation, then hop into melee for further murder and/or mayhem.

-Honorable mention goes to Dual Pistols, which has some solid AoE and a cool Nuke that is up very often and works best in the middle of a mob.

Those are your OPTIONS. What -I- would pick would be either Fire Blast (for raw damage!) or Water Blast (for the most AoE damage additional survivability!)

So, after raising my new Shield/Mace tank to 14, I'm seeing a few things which raise questions for me about how the character will progress.

1) I'm assuming that the enormous rise in enemy s/l resistance as you progress will eventually knock a significant chunk out of this build's overall damage in the later levels. How is the damage for a Shield/Mace tank boosted with Against All Odds if you plan on softcapping and reliably being boosted by having 16 enemies in proximity?

2) How difficult will it be to slot this character for sustainable recovery? A lot of Mace attacks have a big Endurance cost...

3) How reliable is the mitigation for Mace in the later game? Its stuns are all fairly low magnitudes, I'm aware.

4) Exactly how is Jawbreaker not one of everyone's favorite powers in the game? You uppercut someone in the face WITH A HEAVY, BLUNT OBJECT so hard that they go FLYING INTO THE AIR!

I think that I second almost everything that magikwand stated.

Dual Blades are flashier, have more interesting mechanics, and have more mitigation in the form of Sweep. They also possibly have more AoE damage (Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on this). Their largest downfalls are high endurance cost and a highly resisted damage type. The animations feel awesome, and they're very versatile (It looks just as cool on a "nimble dagger-using" toon as it does on a heavy-armored knight with large broadswords).

Katana is a good deal more ST focused than Dual Blades, and has the lovely Divine Avalanche to bolster its defense. Having played a BS/Fire to 50, I can attest that the +defense is amazing for keeping you alive in melee, as Broadsword has a Divine Avalanche analogue in Parry. Its single target damage is very cool, and the attack animations feel more overall...Aerial, as if the character is liable to hop into the air and do something violent/likely unpleasant while up there.

Has anyone tried using a high recharge Dark Blast build with the Overwhelming Force proc slotted into Umbral Torrent? I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on it in terms of how effective it would be when paired with Tenebrous Tentacles (which I love to slot with the Unbreakable Constraint +chance to Hold proc). Given the power's long-ish 15 second downtime, I was wondering what sort of recharge would be a realistic expectation on a high-end build with, say, near perma hasten.

Right now, I'm leveling a DB/NRG Blaster and having a ball with it. Corners are your friends, especially with Tenebrous Tentacles and Gloom, but I was wondering if I could take him a step towards the ridiculously awesome.

I'd check myself, but I have no mids.

My biggest worry for a Water/Kin and Steam Spray is the animation time and its nature as a cone.

/Kin requires you to be in melee at least part of the time, and cones don't do all that well in melee when you need to be back at a distance to really get the angle going that is needed to hit the whole group. Not only that, but its animation roots you for too long to warrant the damage (just a personal opinion) and its recharge feels really long compared to the rest of the set.

I eventually respecc'd out of it for my Water/Cold blaster. With enough recharge in Water Burst, I didn't notice the lack and ended up with a lot more overall mobility to move in-between ranges without having to worry about my powers being less effective at one particular range.

Yep! This build was a little bit slower to start than, say, my Demons/Thermal who came out swinging with pets who could be cranked out to the gills with +res buffs, but once I got Lifegiving Spores, Spore Cloud, and Wild Growth (then learned how to properly USE them), then he became my new MMM (melee mastermind) build. My biggest frustration right now is that it's difficult to use Regrowth in melee and hit your entire party. Once Entangling Aura is properly slotted with the Lockdown +chance for Mag 2 Hold proc, it'll be a bit frustrating to have to walk out of melee to zap my uglies with a heal.

That being said, it's pretty impressive how quickly I can kill stuff at only level 18. Zombie vomit is a surprisingly effective weapon.

What I pick for dominators varies by the build and powers.

For Mind/Fire, I would absolutely permadom that sucker with IOs alone, then slap Musculature on him/her to crank out that damage. In my experience, domination alone needs no additional buffs from an Alpha. If you're permadom, you're good to go on control.

For a Plant/Psy, it depends heavily on your build. If you need additional recharge for Drain Psyche, then Agility or Spiritual. For more damage (and added -Def), Musculature or Radial Paragon Intuition.

So I've got a Zombies/Nature MM, and I'm enjoying the new game mechanics while simultaneously wishing I knew how he was going to turn out by level 50.

This combo will basically be all about zombies who can repeatedly heal or regenerate as well as support now and again. Truthfully, the only Patron/Ancillary pool I found that I believed would be helpful was the Mace Mastery pool for Power Boost and Scorpion Shield. That being said, the debuffs seem mostly just enough for what is needed for most zombies to gain a needed edge in a fight.

Has anyone else tried out this combo? Any tips or insights?

I see Ice Manipulation the same way that I see Devices: It's an advanced set for people who can think tactically.

There are two "primary" ways to play it, the way I think with my faulty brain. One is as a "trapper", using Ice Patch along with Shiver and Ice Storm to set a trap for enemies, then pull them over into your freshly made nearly inescapable kill zone while you throw frozen murder at them. The other is "Melee Control" where you use Chilling Embrace, Ice Patch, Freezing Touch, Ice Storm, and your full range of damaging attacks for all ranges (Melee, AoE, and Ranged) to chew enemies apart. For both methods of play, you could do much worse than Frozen Aura as a power to fall back on when things get hairy. It won't work well when Ice Storm or another AoE attack is in play, but you can use it to break enemies one by one.

And then there is Cold Manipulation, which is one of the best APPs in the game. Frozen Armor for much-needed defense, Snowstorm to add to your litany of powers that keep enemies full of -Rech and -Speed, and the lovely Flash Freeze. Adding in Flash Freeze FOLLOWED BY Frozen Aura will enable you to even put bosses to sleep (but not the other way around. Flash Freeze deal damage with its sleep, which would nullify Frozen Aura's mez. Thankfully, Frozen Aura deals no damage, enabling you to stack it on top of Flash Freeze). Then there is Hibernate, which is beautiful, and Hoarfrost, which I don't have a whole lot of use for due to its extremely long recharge time and negligible benefit.

So an Ice/Ice/Cold Blaster is QUITE viable, especially for solo play if you want to explore their full range of control. On teams, you'll focus more on dealing damage than debuffing, with maybe throwing down Shiver, Freeze Ray, and Snowstorm and hopping into melee just long enough to fire off an Ice Patch near the tank and stack Freezong Touch on top of Freeze Ray to hold a Boss.

I've yet to see a TW build that can outdamage, outsurvive, and outlast (in terms of endurance) a TW/Elec Brute full of IOs. It simply has an excellent combination of resistance, regeneration, defense (added via IOs), recharge, and recovery to make a beastly damage dealer. While it won't ever be outfighting a SS/Elec brute in terms of AoE damage, the Single Target chain can hit harder, and the mitigation is much the same with Whirling Smash, only you get it at a much earlier level.

That being said (into the ground by now), TW/Regen should be very interesting to watch. The only thing I see which could be a problem is that you'll be struggling with redraw on occasion. Good luck!

My Fire/Fire/Fire Blaster is coming along well, and oh good lord does he die all the time. That doesn't mean, however, that he isn't hilariously fun, especially once Consume was acquired and put to work to help counter his ridiculous endurance use. I already picked up Tactics and tossed a Kismet into Combat Jumping (along with my smallest LotG: Recharges in Combat Jumping and Maneuvers, because recharge is going to be the key to having Blazing Bolt in a ST attack Chain), and the overall damage output is pretty impressive.

For now, my Overwhelming Force Proc is in Fireball for some occasional protection, but the final build will probably replace the Overwhelming Force Proc in Fireball with the Proc from Ragnarok, giving added KD goodness, which I'm aware is a far cry from real protection. 5 Blaster's Wrath ATOs (all but the proc) round out the rest of Fireball's 6 slots, making it my low level damage workhorse, followed by Fire Sword Circle, Rain of Fire, Blaze, Fire Sword, and Fire Blast. I'm still debating where Blaster's Wrath will go later on. Again, I don't have mids, so I don't know where exactly it will fit the best.

For Blazing Bolt, should we still slot it with Sting of the Manticore? The Interrupt reduction is useless, but the numbers seem solid enough and it gives a 7.5% recharge bonus when 5-slotted. I suppose the Alternatives would be either Apocalypse (for raw damage output), Devastation (for regeneration/Max Health), Thunderstrike (for Ranged Defense) or Decimation (lower overall damage, but a 6.5% recharge bonus).

With I-24 coming out soonish and the fancy new -KB proc making Bonfire into viable control, I was wondering what the forums think about the solo viability of a Fire/Fire/Flame Blaster. Bonfire makes for an awesome platform from which to use Rain of Fire, Burn, Fire Sword Circle, Fireball, Blazing Aura, and Hotfeet. Yes, there are going to be enemies that resist Knockdown, but for those enemies, there is going to be the first taste of fiery death, possibly by Blazing Bolt if the I-24 changes make it viable (I haz no math to see if you could turn it into a viable power).

Now, I'm on a mac so I can't post a Mids build. What I'm thinking so far, however, is:

Lv 1 - Flares (Fire Blast on completed build, but I like Flares for leveling)
Lv 1 - Ring of Fire (Slotted for damage while leveling, maybe? Slotted for sets post-50)
Lv 2 - Fireball (Ragnarok here, if I can swing it. Just...Ragnarok.)
Lv 4 - Fire Sword (Great ST attack, and this build will have melee time)
Lv 6 - Rain of Fire (For raining fire)
Lv 8 - Combat Jumping (For teensy defense, maneuvering, and IOs)
Lv 10 - Fire Sword Circle (For AoE Damage)
Lv 12 - Aim (For Spiking)
Lv 14 - Hasten (For recharge)
Lv 16 - Build up (For spiking)
Lv 18 - Blaze (For ST facemelting)
Lv 20 - Maneuvers (for IO sets)
Lv 22 - Blazing Aura (Moar damage!)
Lv 24 - Tactics (For +ToHit in hopes of making Blaze viable)
Lv 26 - Super Jump (For traveling)
Lv 28 - Consume (Because fire needs fuel)
Lv 30 - Blazing Bolt (WANT BUT DO NOT KNOW IF CAN HAVE)
Lv 32 - Inferno (For more AoE goodness)
Lv 35 - Bonfire (Ouch at having to delay Burn. Fancy new proc here)
Lv 38 - Burn (Yay burn!)
Lv 41 - Hot Feet (Good for safety outof Bonfire and damage inside of Bonfire)
Lv 44 - Fire Shield (Token paper shield. At least is looks pretty?)
Lv 47 - Rise of the Phoenix (Probably going to be used ALL THE TIME!)
Lv 49 - Vengeance (For IOs)

Why yes, this is going to be a one-trick pony. The damage will also be lots and lots of fun, though I'm sure that a bunch of SS/Fire Brutes are wondering why I'd bother. I had a SS/Fire brute for forever, too, until I got bored and dismantled him to finance like 6 other toons.

I guess that what I'd LIKE to see on this build would be lots and lots of Recharge, Recovery enough to handle the ridiculous endurance consumption with Consume's backing, Enough ToHit to make Blazing Bolt a viable Attack (if it's even possible to make it part of an attack chain) and then some measure of protection.

Let's be honest, though, slotting for defense while putting killing power first is likely going to be a harsh and fruitless endeavor. I didn't even put Tough/Weave into the build. Just loaded up the attacks.

Still! Think it might be fun! Thoughts?

Honestly, I had no problem running the Praetorian arcs on my Fire/Dark/Fire, and it has less in terms of control than Dark/Dark. More damage, sure, but I relies on purple insps and break frees. Wasn't too bad, and I found that placing plenty of recharge into the ST hold helped stave off the enemies immune to stun.

To be honest, I've yet to see a role on the team that a /Rad corrupter can't fill, aside from "Tanker."

It's got scads of support powers, and a Fire/Rad in particular also has solid damage. Enervating Field, Lingering Radiation, Rain of Fire, and Fireball alone will help you clear out groups of enemies while debuffing an AV. You have one of the best buffs in the game, a decent heal, and a rez.

The way I play my /Rads depends on the team. Some steamroll so fast that you just play mop-up on minions for brutes while spamming AM and heals, because the debuffs take longer to set up than the team takes to knock mobs down. There are other times where my /Rads carry the whole team, and you have to put emphasis on your debuffs while throwing out that heal as often as possible.

Yes, Radiation Infection isn't the AV-whooping powerhouse it once was. I tend to leave it for especially annoying enemies in hopes of forcing them to miss their attacks, which is a surprisingly good tactic for Malta.

An Earth/Dark controller would have a lot of advantages as a team character, and would even be an extremely safe soloing character.

Stacking Stalagmites and the stun from Howling Twilight is a nice thought that comes to mind, and I don't think anyone would complain about stacking Quicksand and Tar Patch would be a nice way to debuff. Add in Darkest Night, Volcanic Gasses, and Earthquake with an Achilles Heel proc, and you've got a beautiful chaotic tower defense.

Rocky will even make it easier for you to wander into melee and make good use of Soul Absorption.

No matter what, you'll be feeling the low damage. I'd say that Epic/Patron attacks will be a must (I would personally pick Ice, Fire, or Earth Mastery depending on whether you want a varied, offense-based, or more melee-based playstyle). The question is whether it's enough of a problem to not enjoy what the character CAN offer.

Personally, I'm interested in Fire/Dark. Mine is about to hit lv 14. I'm lacking in mids, but so far it's been a lovely character to play and I'm eager to see a few sample builds down the road.

So far, this is my toon's -EXTREMELY TENTATIVE- power selection plan (I can't call it a build without mids, slot allocation, and/or IO planning):

1: Char
1: Twilight Grasp
2: Fire Cages
4: Tar Patch
6: Hasten
8: Hot Feet
10: Howling Twilight
12: Flashfire
14: Super Speed
16: Shadow Fall
18: Cinders
20: Fade
22: Darkest Night
24: Combat Jumping
26: Maneuvers
28: Soul Absorption
30: Boxing
32: Fire Imps
35: Tough
38: Dark Servant
41: Weave
44: Fireball
47: Fire Blast
49: Consume

Endurance is a bit ouch, but I'm hoping that Soul Absorption and the Perf. Shifter/Miracle/Numina procs will help ease that. As the power list tells you, at level 12 A Fire/Dark can AoE stun up to Mag 5, res debuff, self-heal, and dish out some decent damage with Hot Feet and Fire Cages.

Dark Blast has a very cool power in Abyssal Gaze, but what keeps me playing it is Drain Life, a legitimate Blaster heal without all the pitfalls of Aid Self.

I'd also be interested to see how the Gravitic Anchor proc works in Tenebrous Tentacles. TT is 8 tics of DoT, and that -might- qualify it for 8 chances per enemy to trigger the proc. Even if it only triggers once every ten seconds or so, it will make a difference in conjunction with Abyssal Gaze.

I'm enjoying my Dark/Energy Blaster tremendously. The AoE is a bit lacking (I skipped the cone KB), but it's a steady single target killer both at range and in melee. Power Boost and Boost Range make for interesting tactics.

My overall plan is to make both a PvE and PvP build, but we'll see how it goes.

Personally, I don't feel the need to get an extra attack on my Thugs/Therm. I'm planning on going for Mace Mastery.

Mace Mastery gives Defense from Scorpion Shield, as well as a nice AoE Immob, a hold, a cone blast I have no intention of taking, and POWER BOOST.

Power Boost is your friend. Your bestest friend. The best friend of any therm. It makes your debuffs more devastating, your buffs more beefy, and makes healing far easier. I love that power and use it in conjunction with my buffs and debuffs on other characters with scary success.

On my DEMONS/Therm, though? I plan on getting either Soul or Mu.

I'd be interested in seeing a Permadom build for Dark/Psi, personally. It seems like anything Permadom you do will likely result in having perma or near-perma Haunt.

I checked. It can't. Sadness.

Does anyone know it the proc can be added to Ice Bolt in Ice Assault? It would be -perfect- there.

I actually deleted my lv 41 Dark/Dark Blaster as soon as I played a Dark/Dark Dom in the beta. It plays WAY more like how my concept for the character would be. Sure, I'll miss being able to use Build Up and turn Drain Life into a Lieutenant-killing *YOINK* gesture, but the pets will help spread the pain around.