Sagamemnon

I have a Demon/Traps, she is just rounding the corner of lvl 46. Traps is a very strong pairing with any MM. With demons it has nice settings. Your in melee a lot, as are your pets. Demons have some nice -res to stack really well with your acid mortar. With some +def procs in hell on earth and FFG + Manuevers you can get some high DEF.

AOE will still melt your pets with ease, but that is the fate of all MM pets. I also find taunt to be useful for keeping things off your pets and on you. I also find Heal OTher to by quite usefull with high def.

I usually go with GW on my traps MMs, Oppressive Gloom is a good power since your in melee a lot and the stun can stack well with the seeker drones.

Demons tear stuff up with all their -res add the best stand alone -regen power in the game and you are very effective at taking down hard targets as well. Provided you can keep your pets alive. Demons have a lot of usefull tools in their toy box too, a heal, some -rech, a hold, and more.

Best part about traps is its light on power picks. You can honestly skip the last 2 powers in the set, this opens up new worlds with the changes to epic/patrons coming in Issue 21. Many sets you have to wait till the 30s to fully bloom, traps develops early and it develops strong.

Ymmv

What about Dark Blast/Time? Good self heal, some nice -to hit to go along with the +def of Faright. I know darks damage isn't the best out there going but dam Gloom hits hard.

To TheOOB, I agree whole heartedly with you. It compliments every set differently making for some over all great combos. Not OMGIWIN combos like some other pairings, but still very strong.

With Time manipulation coming out, which looks really cool, I'm looking to make the best time manipulator that I can.

I really loathe asking this on the boards, but I'd like to ask what power set out there that can go with TM to make the most effective character.

'Most effective' meaning most useful in incarnate trials... able to survive and overcome medium sized groups of +1s to +3s.

I'm currently leaning towards a fire/time controller. Although I would have loved to make a grav/time for thematic reasons, I don't think grav/time would be as effective in trials.

Perhaps */TM corruptor or MM would be better?

Opinions?

Are you trying to solo the Itrial? Most effective is different depending on that question. Many people don't team to be a part of the team, but rather team to solo with others. Are you strictly talking running the baf only? Most effective in each scenario varies.

Fire/Time is the most effective at dealing damage on a trial requiring you to be in melee for the most of that damage.

Plant/Time is most effective at providing some good damage with some nice forms of mitigation and a smidge of healing/recovery.

Illusion/Time is most effective as decoy taunting with some good, albeit scattered damage. If it is one target then the damage is amazing but in mobs the PA has a tendency to jump around.

Earth/Time is the most effective at team support and enemy lock down.

Electric/Time is most effective at draining enemies with some nice layers of mitigation.

Ice/Time is most effective at effectively nuetering your enemies recharge and speed with a midge of mitigation knockdown.

Gravity/Time is most effective at long animations and the king of all pets for helping to lock down stuff.

On Itrials I find damage is usually there in spades. You got scrappers/brutes/blasters for that. IMO the most effective toon on a trial (from the ones I've run) are the most balanced toons.

IOs were not considered as part of my thoughts. Those change things a lot depending on what type of player you are. I do not knock min/max as there is a certain art to it. I do not think that if you have to say my Xxx/Xxx rocks with soft cap, and tier 4 everything kicks ***, then it is not a performance of the character. Since every toon in the game can have those same stats (more or less).

Even a gravity toon with soft cap and tier 4 everything will be bad ***.

I did not include Defender/MM/Corruptor pairings as this is the troller boards. It should be fairly solid on a MM , tho MMs have varied performances on trials since pets eat carpet rather quickly sometimes, especially on the keyes.

Sorry OP if I did not give a clear cut answer as to most effective. Without knowing what type of play style you prefer I tried to give a small snippet into some of the combos and there fields of effectiveness.

Electric/Time will be very strong. Elec is already in melee to get best use of conductive. The sleep patch in Elec + the hold patch in Time + Conductive Aura + Times Aura. Elec also gets a radial chain confuse which is actually pretty strong. IT jumps alot and I have had it confuse the entire Freedom Phalanx on the LRSF, albeit not for long.

Conetptually You will see a lot of Gravity/Time. Time covers a lot of the control functions lacking in gravity. Singy is a control fiend and does remarkably good damage.

Mind/Time will be potent as well tho light on the damage aspect.

Which if your going for damage then Fire or Phantom Army will be best. I agree it won't replace PA/Rad builds for av destruction tho. But time seems to be a bit better at handling/dealing with mobs, something I personally find rad lacking in as well as being a bit on the boring side. Note this is just my feeling and not a bash on the set, it is just a bit to fire and forget for my likings. My Phantom Army/Rad is fairly boring to play solo and even a bit more so on teams since I really don't need the other 8 people most of the time.

Even Ice/Time has a lot of good stuff going for it. Just not as good as some other sets mind you.

I think in general it comes down to what you want. Since your looking primarily for incarnate trials I honestly don't think it matters. In most trials I have been on I have not noticed a difference between any of my controllers. Stuff just dies so fast or people just go off in their own direction. Hell I wager most people have no idea what anyone else on their trial is doing or even what their powersets are. I have participated in a trial with no enhancments what so ever. Just to test a theory and the experience honestly wasn't that different. But YMMV.

Damage: Fire, Phantom Army, Plant
Control overkill: Earth
Best Rounded: Mind, Electric, Ice
Thematic Fun and effective: Gravity

Just my thoughs

Doesn't Poison have a single target hold as well? That would give it an AOE hold and a single target hold and a pbaoe debuff.

Wow Earth/Poison sounds really strong right about now. Lockdown master?

I can provide some insight into this combo, as I have one. First Electric Assault is a very solid set, you get 2 big melee hitters and build up. Its a bit meh on AOE but plant has decent enough AOE damage on it's own. Elec can also be light on power selections, which depending on your preference can be good or bad. You can easily skip a few powers in ELEC and not feel gimped. That opens up space for some other goodies. Want Tough/Weave, no problem. Full leadership, no problem.

Voltaic isn't that bad, sure its no big hitter and it expensive, but it's damage can add and it is damage that is being done without you clicking anything. Elec is great at burst damage, from my experience I have taken an Earth/Elec and a Mind/Elec to high lvls.

I actually find slotting the tier 1 for damage is pretty good, it has a rather impressive DPA for a tier 1 and beats Lightning Bolt. Between that and the 2 melees plus the cone, I don't really need any other attacks from the set. I took thunderstrike as a purely conceptual reason. Something about having a mob confused in Creepers then running in and jumping sky high and crashing down feels good to me. May not keep it in final build, since the creepers and immob halt a lot of the KD goodness from it, but it is still fun and adds a bit more AOE damage, no much mind you but any AOE prolly beats no AOE and can't be that bad.

The Ice Epic, which I am leaning towards when I hit 41, will add some very nice thematic touches. 2 Rains on top of Electrical blast will give it that force of nature feeling. Tho Mako has waterspout as well, so it is a tough call.

They look amazing coupled together and I find it to be very thematic. It may not be the king of damage, and you will certainly not be a FoTM, but you will be strong with reasonable damage output, some nice -end and have a blast if you stick with it. Just don't put to high an expectation on it and enjoy the ride.

A bit torn on the Final phase of a Traps/Ice character. Was hoping for input from people who have experience with the Defender Epics & Patrons. I was thinking Traps/Ice/Elec might be a helluva lot of fun and has just about all the debuffage one could ask for. It has holds in spades, -regen, -rech, -dmg, stuns, slows figured getting what looks like a huge -END power might just be gravy. But Ghost Widow also offers a nice +acc/dam, and a great Power Boost.

Not looking for build advice as much as much as synergy, overkill, or wasted advice. Based on the options available to defenders. I have very little interactions with defenders as a whole especially high level ones, so my experience with their high end is limited.

Thanks in advance.

Fire/Storm!!!

Whirlwind+Hurricane, Throwing out Bonfires+Lightning Storms+Tornados+Water Spouts. Great amusement.

Ah, interesting. Since darkest night has no damage component, does it mean its not resisted and they take full debuff?

Thanks for the info.

Just curious is the -DMG resisted? and Can 5 tanks with it reduces an AVs damage to ZERO?

Mind/Earth can be very strong. Earth has power boost and a really good hard hitting hold. Mind is generally considered a ranged set, but it can safely enter melee. Aoe Sleep means your single target (earths single target attacks are nasty) damage goes unhindered.

Once you get your AOE confuse, melee becomes so safe its criminal. With power boost they stay confused for a long time.

You may feel lacking in AOE carnage tho. Mind has 1 cone damage power which is terrible to line up in melee sometimes and its damage is just ok. The AOE sleep is pretty decent in melee tho, from my use on a my Mind/Elec. Tho I do find myself hovering back to do the Terrify+Elec Cone tango. The AOEs in earth are decent but nothing spectacular.

Your single target damage is sick. Its just you have to do it in close quaters. And even on a MIND dom that can be a scary proposition. A problem single target destroyer combos like Mind/Energy don't have.

Give it a go. I say experiment with the combo and see how you find it. Just don't play expecting to be an AOE carnage god

The crystals are a waste, IMO. You could use that pick for any number of much better powers. The AOE control in earth is obscene. The to hit debuff on EQ is nice, when power boosted WOW!!! Also the lvl 38 blast has a nice -to hit debuff.

Ice has some nice AOE, and it has it really early. It also provides soooo much SLOW on top of Quicksand, you can floor enemy movement/recharge. Which is good since your gonna be in melee if you want to use Ice Swords and the Ice Sword Circle.

I would ditch salt crystals for Leaderships. They will help especially manuevers and Power boosted vengence!!!

Only a 30% chance for 4 seconds, blah. Still sounds tempting for the Surge of Power and having a pet that is actually beneficial, even if for a short time. The gremlins leave much to be desired.

Thanks for the input.

Thanks for the input. I thought Surge of Power only flat lined your blue bar, not your green bar? Since in the game data it only shows -100% End.

I don't see a lot of talk about it. I read through Lili's guide and from a sapping point of view, the AOE has -100%recovery, as does the PBAOE End drain.

In looking at stuff I was considering tryin it on my Elec/Psi. I currently have Ice Master for Sleet. However Mu looks like it has some fun stuff to try. 2 Powers with -recovery to help maintain flat lining END. Surge of Power also seems to be tempting on a dom. Since domination can instantly refill your end after it crashes.

Any even use Mu anymore? I see Fire, Ice, and Psi mastery as the goto sets more often then not. And it is really hard to argue against those choices.

Just lookin for some input, thanks in advance.

Archery/STorm!! Rain of Arrows, Freezing Rain! Also very thematic.

Interesting, thanks for the replies. Both the AOEs in ice make mobs do the House of Pain?

So I'm creeping my Elec/Psi dom close to the magic lvl 41. I am however torn between which Epic or Patron set to choose.

I know Ice is a popular one for its AOE carnage. Curious if World of Confusion would be viable as well to stack confuse with Synaptic Overload. Mu also seems like a good choice in being able to use Surge of Power and the healing MU. Ghost widows sets are always very good (IMO).

So I'm torn and curious if anything has an incredible amount of synergy?

Ran my Elec/Psi on a Synapse, with Conductive Aura poorly slotted, I was able to take out and keep babbage at effectively no END.

I find even PSI resist foes aren't that bad. The -regen helps alot, and most are dry within seconds. I also have never really been fond of sapping in general.

I skipped Jolting Chain and both Fence powers. I really soley on conductive aura, and man its brutal, with minor sloting. Can't Imagine if it was tricked out fully. Sleep the mob, drain psyche, use the melee attacks and the scream.

I think there is a stealth bug. I have noticed great fluctuation in the stealth power from certain powers from time to time. Such as having stealth (power pool) show up twice while in ouro in my tab for a total of 70ft. Zoned out and it dropped back to 35 feet. I know on a few occasions a buddy has been running Stealth and the Stealth IO and been seen on mishes by Clockwork and Outcasts.

However, I have not been able to reliable produce or see the effect consistently.

Neither Benumb or Heat Loss does -recovery. They have -end. Cold has no -recovery powers. Thermals Heat Exhaustion does -recovery tho, if your looking for a buffing/debuffing set with it.

How does power Boost effect powers like say Force field generator? or Force field bubbles? Does the boost last for the duration of the power? or just till power boost ends?

Also some Pet sets give decent +END and +RECOVERY. While you don't spend end on your damage (minions take care of that) some secondaries bleed chunks of you blue bar. Lightning Storm costs close to a whopping 40 END!!!! Re-summoning minions in combat can cost a hefty chunk of blue as well. You can also grab some decent +REGEN from pet sets, to help with say Pain Domination.

Really depends on how you want to play it. You may get less from a global damage bonus but sometimes that damage bonus is just part of a set you want another bonus (DEF/RECH/ETC.) from.

One thing to point out. Controllers have a very nice setup with the pulsing sleep. Since sleep sets up containment and it pulses rather quickly it makes the AOE Immob very attractive. While meaningless on a team, solo it can be strong very quickly.

With some frankenslotting, you could get a nice mix of damage/end drain off it. Add a range boost into the mix (hello target AOE set) and you can do from a rather safe distance. The benefit is that it doesn't stop KB, if I recall correctly, so with jolting chain mobs be put on their *** and asleep before they can hit you back.

I am not saying its better on a troller, but I am suggesting that it is not as weak as some may think. It just doesn't have that raw damage some other sets put out.