SqtYork

Now that I reached 47 and can slot my HOs I also respec'd to based on some ideas and suggestions

I'm still into my Grav/FF controller it's just an awesome laid back build.

Chicklets (aka inspirations)

I think I actually buy them maybe once every 10 hours of game time, if that often. But that's just me.


Blues are your best friend - with stamina and conserve power 4 slotted ... I don't use them that often, but I like to share.

Lavender need a couple for those awkward moments when you get slepted or stunned and your always ons, aren't.

Yellows need them for GDF or for the named bosses or purples

Purples - if you are getting hit, you are doing something wrong. I use them as I get them to make room

Reds - give to someone who can use them - but now that I have Power Blast six slotted .... hmmm I can do about 200pts of damage.

greens - just in case you do get hit ...

Sky blues - one maybe two, rest I toss, I rarely, if ever, get dropped. Usually when I'm being cocky and/or stupid.


Travel powers


I took Super Speed instead of Hover / flight. SS gives you stealth, that hover doesn't. LIke quaterbacks, I would occasionally get sacked by blitzes from, unblocked rushers, or unoccupied shooters that noticed I was annoying in the backfield.

When I remember I just pull back my camera and shift the field of view to overhead when I need more visibility over the battle, but even without that I can tell by the floaters and movement who needs my attention.

Prior to respecing post 32, I had to survive with a single slotted Hurdle to clear obstacles and ran with team that had recall friend. I now have Teleport, and swapped hurdle for health. Using TP and SS I can cross zones with ease.


Damage


Learn to live with it, everyone else does more damage than you, give your reds to the damage dealers.

You can solo with as a Grav/FF controller, it's sometimes painfully slow, but it's very possible, with patience.

Most solo indoor mission have groups of 2 - 3. I can solo three reds safely with GDF, GD, Crush rotations.

Prior to Sings, I three slotted Crush with Damage, and 4-6 slotted GD with hold. Post 32, I respec'd Crush back to one damage, and GD to end reduc, one acc,four holds

I really considered retaining Lift, but I found that GD and Crush do about the same total damage as lift. I could alternate between GD and Crush for several minutes even with upto three targets. I decided to live without Lift and use that power choice for something else, because GD and Crush have to hit bonuses and Lift doesn't.

Now I just alternate Power Blast and GD ... stuff falls down a lot faster now. I should have taken PB at 41 and six slotted it back then ... but live and learn. I strongly considered taking the PSI Aux powers, but opted for the Primal, even respec'd out of temp invulnerability. If I'm taking damage, something is wrong ...

Knockback


For those of you that don't like KB, keep in mind it's a life saver when you need it. I used Force Bolt a lot to save my blaster, or myself from abuse, or to push bad guys, over walls, off buildings/bridges/cliffs.

I found repulsion field is even better, cheaper endurance wise, than FB per KB, as long as you can live without the range. With SS I can run up, punt them, and run back easily.

I found that using RF doesn't draw as much aggro, but it's awesome for sweeping bad guys off their feet. I was feeling rather helpless as the pet bubbler in a mission that was +5 relative to me. But when the Main and his SK got in trouble, I decide to go for broke and toggled RF. I was able to plow thru minions, Lts, and bosses with running passes like a speedboat throwing up a rooster tail. I didn't draw aggro that often. When they are flying backwards and getting up then couldn't hit us. Had to becareful of my end. Now I toggle RF to get myself some breath room, or to rescue a blaster or healer from a dogpile.

After I got Force Bubble, I am considering replacing RF with Repulsion Bomb during a post 40 respec. I did respec out of FB mostly because I very rarely got to use it, and in order to use it I had to keep it six slotted. RF is only two slotted freeing up 4 slots for other stuff.


Wormhole

I hated the AoE for a long time ... then I started playing with it. I WH group into walls, into the air, into the floor, in place, I use it as a combo follow up for GD in most fights these days. I am not as completely happy with it as I was, but it does get a lot more use than it did as a single target power.
Range is shorter, recharge little longer? but still nice.
If you thought lift or lift-force bolt was fun, try Wormholing Straight up. With one range SO I do some damage, regardless of level. Downside is you don't get credit for damage if you are not the only one doing damage, and like heros, fall damage won't kill, but it will take them as far down as one.

Target them with GD as soon as WH begins and they won't move after WH finishes. Locked them down with GD or GDF before WH to prevent knocked back. I should just creat a bind/macro that executes WH, then toggle GD auto afterwards. But I'm lazy and keep Hasten running auto instead. Maybe I'll create a bind/macro chain that GDs, then WHs and autos GDs, then toggle my hasten back to auto.

Use range enhancements to extend not only the reach of WH, but also to increase the throw height.

I saw a posting in The Training Room I will have to remember to apply ... using the jails with a Sing in the doorway and then WH'ing everything into it. That's just mean, rude, crude, and totally acceptable. Except if it's done to my team.

Until I got Sings, WH was my best way of doing a lot of instant damage.

I also use WH to move villian into the AoE fires, ice patches, or just drop them into the melee pile so the damage dealers can stay in one place

Can't really do this with WH anymore, but I did consider getting Teleport foe ... GD or Crush pesky force field generators and DE emitters, then WH them behind you or away from the bad guys. Throwing the occasional GD or Crush will keep them from hindering your teams efforts, and they won't be replaced by their creators, because they are stil there. Detention field work for this too but it's harder to time and maintain the lock.


Singularities


Sings making you lazy

Once you get them the world changes, you gain the ability to smash foes that you never thought you would ever get

Solo missions are now measured in instead of minutes instead of hours

You learn to hate portals and elevators

With one recharge SO, I can keep 1 - 2 out, With 4 Reduce recharge SOs, I can keep three up easily.

Watch out for getting caught up in the feeding frenzies and forgetting to re-bubble the groups.

Sings are awesome for creating a do not cross line, especially if you need to run. A sing with bubbles in a hallway will aggro and slow most pursuits if not stop them altogether.

Use recall friend to move them to move them somewhere nearby. I've used it to pull them thru elevators and portals. Yes, your teammates can also do this too, and pull up the other sings with them.
Try and tell the blasters and defenders to park next to, or even inside my sings to avoid getting punched.

This rocks - binding teleport to control - left click

So I'm still somewhat miffed that I don't have a single target TP Foe anymore. I guess I can get that from the Teleport PP. I started using WH instead of GDF while soloing. I have sings slotted 4 recharge, 2 dam. I stand near a wall, and WH a group into a wall right into my sings. It's like dropping them into a blender.
Now that SS doesn't have the acc debuff, life rocks again. I double slotted WH for acc, and 1 range. If I don't have a wall then I make it rain minions and watch the sings bounce them. I still think my acc dropped some, but I can't tell for sure.
Not sure how this will work in a group, but I can I can imagine that adding scrappers and other nasty surprises to the drop zone won't make it any better for the incoming folks. I guess if I have enough ACC and Range enh, then the mobs I miss can get picked up by the blasters or tanks?

I liked being a Grav / ff controller, instead of one like everyone else. There are definitely challenges to being a Grav controller. But I would get bored pretty quickly if there wasn't some challenge.

As far as soloing. I can solo +1/+2 mob missions all day. Any group of 3 or less isn't too much of a challenge. Larger groups get GDF instead of WH'd into a sings blender. My Sings don't seem to suffer from damage, might be the Dispersion Bubble, it's not the others because I only bubble them individually when I am facing Malta TOs/OEs, or PPS and I only have 1 or 2 out, or against AVs.

In summary, I still am not completely happy with I4 changes, but combined with the UI improvements, It's a net good ... once they get all the bugs resolved.

I got a chance to play around with the new WH. I still don't like it as much as the previous version. But I have to admit it was funny as heck WH villians straight up in the air and watching it rain bad guys. Would that be considers a hell storm? It might even be more entertaining to have someone AoE the center mob so the fall right into the frying pan, deep freeze, or whatever shocking experience might befall them ....

ROFLMAO
I might keep it just for that twisted sense of humor aspect. I used to think it was funny giving someone a demonstration of the alleyoops of a single bad man fall down go BOOM, this is much more fun. Dangerous, stupid for even cons maybe, but not worth 30k+ in debt ... that often.

SqtYork

I HATE the new wormhole. LEAVE IT ALONE. If it changes, I'll add it to the group of powers I don't need so I can increase number of PP and Ancil powers. I don't need another power to scatter mobs, I can do that will repulsion field, repulsion bomb, and force bubble. I have no use for it. I can understand why everyone wanted something to fill in the 'control gap', but grav control is all about massive single target control. It's something I excel that no other controller group matches. Wormhole enhanced my single target powers. the AoE wormhole does not. Grav control about great focused single target control. AoE knockback is not a control power it is a scatter power. The only use I can see is to cover the 15 sec hold invulernability timer during pvp. I don't plan to PvP so now it's useless to me. The ability to take someone and wormhole them away from a fight, that was awesome. if we wormholed them straight up they were out of action for the duration of the fall, plus the rest of the disorient. Having propel do more damage is nice, I haven't used it in the past, I will consider it in my next respec.
If you want to make this like all the rest of the control powers then just have one and let us pick the type of animation we want, fire, ice, grav, electric, storm ...

Do it. Do it now ....

Awesome Guide.
I use a lot of the concepts. I still refer to a lot when I need to decide what power to get or what I might want to slot.
I have almost burned it into memory along with the A Guide to Sings by Scrapulous.
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...part=1#1489494
Now that I've reached 33 almost 34 I'm so into my Grav/FF controller it's just an awesome laid back build.
I am looking forward to what the next levels bring, and even the axcillary PP / Epic PP.
I will probably end up with conserve power just to enhance the time and number of targets I can lock down.
Soloing reds and small orange groups is now very possible with Sings.
I have a few trusted folks that will just drag me around with recall friend and auto follow while I am AFK between bubbling rotations.

Chicklets (aka inspirations)

I think I actually buy them maybe once every 10 hours of game time, if that often. But that's just me.

<ul type="square">[*]Blues are your best friend [*]Lavender need a couple for those awkward moments when you get slepted or stunned and your always ons, aren't.[*]Yellows need them for GDF or for the named bosses or purples[*]Purples - if you are getting hit, you are doing something wrong. I use them as I get them to make room[*]Reds - give to someone who can use them[*]Resists - not needed often, just when you know you are facing lots of psi casters[*]greens - just in case you do get hit ...[*]Sky blues - one maybe two, rest I toss, I rarely, if ever, get dropped. Usually when I'm being cocky and/or stupid.[/list] Travel powers <ul type="square"> [*]I took Super Speed instead of Hover / flight. SS gives you stealth, that hover doesn't. LIke quaterbacks, I would occasionally get sacked by blitzes from, unblocked rushers, or unoccupied shooters that noticed I was annoying in the backfield. [*]When I remember I just pull back my camera and shift the field of view to overhead when I need more visibility over the battle, but even without that I can tell by the floaters and movement who needs my attention. [*]Prior to respecing post 32, I had to survive with a single slotted Hurdle to clear obstacles and ran with team that had recall friend. I now have Teleport, and swapped hurdle for health. Using TP and SS I can cross zones with ease.[/list]Damage

<ul type="square">[*]Learn to live with it, everyone else does more damage than you, give your reds to the damage dealers.[*]You can solo with as a Grav/FF controller, it's sometimes painfully slow, but it's very possible, with patience. [*]Most solo indoor mission have groups of 2 - 3. I can solo three reds safely with GDF, GD, Crush rotations.[*]Prior to Sings, I three slotted Crush with Damage, and 4-6 slotted GD with hold. Post 32, I respec'd Crush back to one damage, and GD to end reduc, one acc,four holds[*]I really considered retaining Lift, but I found that GD and Crush do about the same total damage as lift. I could alternate between GD and Crush for several minutes even with upto three targets. I decided to live without Lift and use that power choice for something else, because GD and Crush have to hit bonuses and Lift doesn't.[/list]
Knockback

<ul type="square">[*]For those of you that don't like KB, keep in mind it's a life saver when you need it. I used Force Bolt a lot to save my blaster, or myself from abuse, or to push bad guys, over walls, off buildings/bridges/cliffs. [*]I found repulsion field is even better, cheaper endurance wise, than FB per KB, as long as you can live without the range. With SS I can run up, punt them, and run back easily. [*]I found that using RF doesn't draw as much aggro, but it's awesome for sweeping bad guys off their feet. I was feeling rather helpless as the pet bubbler in a mission that was +5 relative to me. But when the Main and his SK got in trouble, I decide to go for broke and toggled RF. I was able to plow thru minions, Lts, and bosses with running passes like a speedboat throwing up a rooster tail. I didn't draw aggro that often. When they are flying backwards and getting up then couldn't hit us. Had to becareful of my end. Now I toggle RF to get myself some breath room, or to rescue a blaster or healer from a dogpile. [*]After I get Force Bubble, I am considering replacing RF with Repulsion Bomb during a post 40 respec.[/list]Wormhole

<ul type="square">[*]If you thought lift or lift-force bolt was fun, try Wormholing Straight up. With one range SO I do about 90 pts of damage, regardless of level. Downside is you don't get credit for damage if you are not the only one doing damage, and like heros, fall damage won't kill, but it will take them as far down as one. [*]Target them with GD as soon as WH begins and they won't move after WH finishes. Locked them down with GD or GDF before WH to prevent knocked back. I should just creat a bind/macro that executes WH, then toggle GD auto afterwards. But I'm lazy and keep Hasten running auto instead. Maybe I'll create a bind/macro chain that GDs, then WHs and autos GDs, then toggle my hasten back to auto.[*]Use range enhancements to extend not only the reach of WH, but also to increase the throw height. [*]I saw a posting in The Training Room I will have to remember to apply ... using the jails with a Sing in the doorway and then WH'ing everything into it. That's just mean, rude, crude, and totally acceptable. Except if it's done to my team.[*]Until I got Sings, WH was my best way of doing a lot of instant damage.[*]I also use WH to move villian into the AoE fires, ice patches, or just drop them into the melee pile so the damage dealers can stay in one place[*]GD or Crush pesky force field generators and DE emitters, then WH them behind you or away from the bad guys. Throwing the occasional GD or Crush will keep them from hindering your teams efforts, and they won't be replaced by their creators, because they are stil there. Detention field work for this too but it's harder to time and maintain the lock.[/list]Singularities

<ul type="square">[*]Sings making you lazy[*]Once you get them the world changes, you gain the ability to smash foes that you never thought you would ever get[*]Solo missions are now measured in instead of minutes instead of hours[*]You learn to hate portals and elevators [*] With one recharge SO, I can keep 1 - 2 out, With 4 Reduce recharge SOs, I can keep three up easily. [*]Watch out for getting caught up in the feeding frenzies and forgetting to re-bubble the groups.[*]Sings are awesome for creating a do not cross line, especially if you need to run. A sing with bubbles in a hallway will aggro and slow most pursuits if not stop them altogether.[*]Use recall friend to move them to move them somewhere nearby. I've used it to pull them thru elevators and portals. I only seem to get one this way. But I haven't tried it again for a while. [*]Try and tell the blasters and defenders to park next to, or even inside my sings to avoid getting punched.[/list]
Things I haven't done yet, mostly out of laziness, but could have done instead of writing this guide ....

[1] binds/macros that:
<ul type="square">[*]Explain in short bites my strength and weakness: minimal damage,awesome crowd controlling, bubbling, Detention fields, the fact that I can lock down a boss or two, indefinitely, but the massive number of minions that are hovering right now are going to kick my tail in about 30 secs if they don't leave the floating bosses alone, it's easier for me to keep everyone bubbled if I can bubble from top to bottom rather than keep track individual bubbling[*]Tell folks that they are out of range or line of site for bubbles[*]Tell folks to enable or disable TP prompt with me around[*]Tell folks that they need are getting pummelled because they are no longer protected by bubble[*]Chain bubbling[*]Tell the group you are dropping and reinvite you so you can be on the top or bottom of the list - (easier to visually track bubbling)[*]binding teleport to control - left click[*]Creating Macros that add chat and emotes to powers,or even rotating chat .... (Oh, if I only had the time ...) [*]Toggle my always on stuff - Super Speed and Dispersion Bubble[*]Retoggle Hasten to auto[*]Toggle TP prompt if possible[/list]
SgtYork
Two Bald Guys, Inc
Justice Server