Weatherby Goode

Electrical Control

Level 1: Electric Fence [Ranged, Moderate DoT(Energy), Foe Immobilize, Minor DroT]

Level 1: Shocking Bolt [Ranged, Moderate DMG(Energy), Foe Hold, Minor DroT]

Level 2: Electrifying Fences [Ranged AoE, Minor DoT(Energy), Foe Immobilize, Minor DroT]

Level 6: Neural Scramble [Ranged, Foe Confuse]

Level 8: Synaptic Overload [PBAoE, Foe Sleep, -End]

Level 12: Blackout [Ranged AoE, Minor DMG(Energy), Foe -End]

Level 18: Static Field [Toggle: PBAoE, Foe -End, -Stealth, Chance for Sleep]

Level 26: Shock [PBAoE Chain Hold, Minor -Rec, Minor -End]

Level 32: Thunder Gremlins [Summon 2 Gremlins: Melee High DMG(Energy)] (Prefers Melee)
<ul type="square">[*]Charged Bolts [Ranged, Moderate DMG(Energy), Foe -End][*]Charged Brawl [Melee, Moderate DMG(Smash/Energy), Target Sleep, -End][*]Havoc Punch [Melee, High DMG(Smash/Energy), Target Sleep, -End][*]Resistance [Auto: Self +Res(Energy, Smashing, Lethal,, Psi, End Drain), -Res(Negative)][/list]


Second in my series of Control set suggestions, here is Electrical Control. This set is intended to be a high damage, low hard control, moderate soft control set with a focus on Sapping. As fitting the theme, the set uses Energy damage with a side order of Endurance Drain. I'll outline the powers in more detail below, but I'm going to leave out the Sapping aspects of the powers for the very last bit of this post, since End Drain is a complex and potentially overpowering game mechanic.

Following the precedent set by the other elemental sets, I've started the set off with the Immob/Hold/AoE Immob trifecta. Fairly standard, they are essentially the same as the existing trifectas. I cribbed the names from existing powers, following the precedent begun with the other elemental sets. Secondary effects will be discussed in the End Drain section.

Level six throws in an additional single target control. Using her exceptional control over electricity, the controller can temporarily re-wire a targets brain causing him to fight his comrades. Neural Scramble is a Confuse, in the same vein as Deceive or Confuse.

The next three powers are where End Drain becomes a major part of the Electrical Controller's power. Synaptic Overload is a ranged area Sleep with some minor, but important End Drain. Blackout is pure End Drain, nothing else. It isn't enhanceable but it isn't resistible either, so the player can save some slots.

Static Field is an amalgamation of Arctic Air and Hotfeet. It has a decent damage component and a good chance to Sleep opponents, in addition to it's End Drain. Yes, I realize the damage will interrupt the sleep and that is the point. With an activation time of 5s, the power will roll it's hit check for damage and then apply the Sleep after a short delay. Five seconds later, the damage will wake everything (letting the mobs get a single attack in) and then roll to see which ones get put back to sleep. By using a Sleep rather than a Stun or Hold I can eliminate stacking, strictly control the duration, and get a neat randomizing effect. As a whole, Static Field doesn't really provide a lot of control. That's ok, since it gives some nice damage and a solid amount of End Drain.

Shock is a standard PBaoE hold, with the Chain Induction effect added on for flavour.

The pets I've chosen are the oft requested Cap Au Diable Gremlins, renamed to Thunder Gremlins and recoloured blue for Controllers (Doms keep the red version). They are squishy (with only minor resists, around 7.5%) but should deal out lots of damage in melee. Noting out of the ordinary here, except the power summons two of em.



End Drain for Control Sets

End Drain is the trickiest Debuff affect in Co*. As E^3 blasters will attest, it is worthless unless a mob is completely drained, after a full drain is achieved it then becomes one of the most powerful effects in the game. In order to keep a mob drained, it must be coupled with either -Recovery or a DroT (Drain over Time), or else recovery will begin restoring enough endurance for the critter to begin attacking. End Drain is a binary affect (either on or off with no middle ground). This is very similar to the Mezz system, and treating it as a mez is a much better method of looking at it. Since different mobs have different amounts of Endurance, it's even possible to treat End Drain by magnitudes.

But wait, I hear you say, isn't Endurance drained by a set percentage? Wouldn't that mean it affects all enemies equally?

Well, yes. Percentage drains would affect all critter classes equally. That's why my proposed set only uses Absolute drains (which some existing powers already use). By looking at the End pools different mobs possess:

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>Minion: 100 End
Lieutenant: 140 End
Boss: 200 End</pre><hr />

I can set up a quasi-magnitude system and base Electrical Control's drains on those amounts. Here are the detailed numbers for the three major sapping powers in the set:
(Regular effects are separated from AT inherent effects)


<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>Synaptic Overload: (90s base recharge, 0.9 base Acc)
-30 End (enhanceable, resistible)
18.6s Sleep (Mag 3)
...
20% chance for 18.6s Sleep (Mag 1) (Controllers only)
37.2s Sleep (Mag 6) (If Domination)


Blackout: (60s base recharge, 1.2 base Acc)
-90pts (un-enhanceable, irresistible)
...
20% chance for -150 End (un-enhanceable, irresistible) (Controllers only)
-150 End (un-enhanceable, irresistible) (If Domination)


Static Field: (Ticks every 6s, Autohit)
-10 End (enhanceable, resistible)
20% chance for 6s Sleep (Mag 3), after 0.2s delay
Scale 0.5 damage (Requires Tohit check)
...
75% chance for Containment damage (Requires Tohit check) (Controllers only)
20% chance for -10 End (enhanceable, resistible) (Controllers only)
50% chance for 12s Sleep (Mag 6), after 0.2s delay (If Domination)
-20 End (enhanceable, resistible) (If Domination)</pre><hr />

As you can see none of those powers can sapp a spawn on their own. They must all be used together. The layer has the choice of opening with the ranged Blackout and suffering the alpha strike or they can run into melee and sleep the spawn with Synaptic Overload. Both options are hazardous, but the end result is worth it. After their opener, the player should use the other drain power to establish lockdown. Together, Synaptic Overload (if well slotted) and Blackout will drain 140 points of endurance or enough to sapp minions and lieutenants. If the player gets lucky, Blackout with get a critical control and sapp enough to drain Bosses. Static Field then prevents the enemy from regaining too much endurance, although the slow tick rate may allow an attack or two to slip through. On the plus side, once a spawn is sapped and Electrical Controller can keep it that way almost indefinitely.


One note on Dominators. I'm not certain what a Dom's AT modifier would be for end drain, but the values I've outlined can not be any lower or else the set won't be able to sapp within the required parameters. Domination could add in additional end drain



Recap:
-Can reliably sapp Minions and Lieutenants with slotting
-Blackout has a chance to sapp Bosses and Lieutenants in one go
-Can keep mobs drained indefinitely
-Will most likely eat an alpha opening with a Sapping power
-Requires 3 powers for reliable every spawn control. Most sets require one.
-Blackout requires only minimal slotting (1 Acc, 2 Rech should be enough)
-High AoE damage


Oh, and the -End Over Time on the Immobs and Hold is just for flavour. It shouldn't be enough to drain anything. Likewise for the -End in the Gremlin attacks.


To compliment the set, here is a quick suggestion for an electrically themed ancillary:

Lightning Mastery (Controller)
Level 41: Lightning Bolt
Level 41: Charged Armour
Level 44: Ball Lightning
Level 44: Thunder Strike
Level 47: Power Sink


I hope you've enjoyed reading my suggesting as much as I enjoyed creating it. As always discussion, questions, and comments are welcome. Also: look for my Water Control suggestion, coming soon™!

I recommend reading some existing guides to get a feel for what a good guide contains. Also, you might want to read up on both Tanks and Defenders as well as Enhancement Diversification to fix the errors in your builds.

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Ah, good additions, I'll go ahead and roll those synergies in there.

If you were paying attention to my regged date, you'll see I've played this game even longer than you have, so the truth of the matter is I just didn't bother considering every single possible synergy so much as provide a general recommendation guide.

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Well, as a general guide you miss a lot of important points. You should probably explain what makes good synergy, and how to pick sets based on design goals. Building a solo toon requires different synergies then building a teaming toon. Building a Tankermind requires different synergies than building a Blastermind, etc, etc.

Also, I don't generally look at Reg dates, since they provide only the most basic ideea of how advanced the player is.

Well, you are talking about synergy (Fusion is a term I've never heard in this context) so , using the example of Blaster /Energy Manipulation,it would be worth mentioning things like the way Boost Range power dramatically increasing cone length. This can boost the effectiveness of sets with lots of cones (Assault Rifle comes to mind). Power Boost is another factor to consider, sets like Energy/ and Fire/ aren't affected by it all while Sonic/, Ice/, or Psi/ can get a lot of use out of it. Also, consider Stun stacking with the Primary sets. There is also Ancillary Pool and regular pool synergy to consider. Although that greatly increases the complexity of the guide, a short summary of any notable synergies would be nice (like the super survivability that Power Boost, Aid Self, and Personal Force Field provide). Also, you briefly touch on the advantages of stacking mezzes to affect bosses but you don't mention which sets have synergy in this respect. Ice Blast and Energy Manip can take care of them by themselves, Mental Manip can stack Scare with Intimidate. /Ice and /Elec have melee holds, and they have nice synergy with the primaries with holds (Ice/ and Elec/) while Archery/, AR/, Sonic/, and Psi/ all have stuns that can stack with //Elec's EM Pulse or /Energy's Total Focus.

Toebombing, in particular, is a playstyle choice and can be very effective if the player chooses to go that route. For a guide on Synergy you might want to mention that Sonic/ can completely shut down a spawn with Siren's Song making it the premier toebomber.

Other assorted Blaster synergies: Assault Rifle's Ignite works well with an Immob or Caltrops, but it works even better with Ice Patch from Ice Manip. You mention the synergy between Elec/ and /Elec, but /Energy can use Power Boost to increase Short Circuit's drain high enough to sapp effectively. Fire can synergise with either a high damage secondary (for an all out offense team-oriented blaster) or with a high defense secondary (for a safer more solo/small team blaster). /Elec provides an inexhaustible supply of endurance and a damage aura to create a fragile but damaging form of synergy. /Mental has lots of AoE damage to go with Fire and Drain Psyche can provide some safety as well. There are other synergies, but that should give you some ideas.

A decent guide, though I find Range to be only one of several factors when considering synergy between sets.

Also: There are a number of factual errors and misconceptions there. For example, you mention that Blaster's should avoid melee at all costs. That is not really good advice, especially when you consider the number of really good melee range abilities that Blasters can access. Among other things, Toebombing is not as useless as you make it out to be, Gravity's Immob does not prevent knockback, most Defenders are more than capable of soloing, and...

Well I don't want to discourage you, but your guide could use a rewrite. Keep at it though, gather some info from the boards/CoD and have at it again!

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Merit Change Tracking -- No Commentary, Please!

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Some vital Carrion Creeper info can be found here.

Basically, don't slot CC for anything other than recharge.

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What happens when you change your signature?
It's better to post the actual link, just in case.

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This is true. Direct Link Here

Not sure what section it belongs under, but my Carrion Creepers mini-guide is in my sig.

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Curious - how does the OP get around without a travel power?

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Temp Jetpacks from the vendor in Grandville. It's what I use on my VEATs anyway.

Edit: NM, not relevant to the OP.

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Well to answer your question Poisonus Ray is one of the strongest ranged attacks of any VEAT

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So it is. I was looking at/remembering the wrong number in Mids. Hrm, now I'll have to find a place for it.

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Not true. Burst, Dominate, Subdue, TK Blast, Gloom, and Mu Lightning all have better DPAs.

Poisonous Ray is the best of the ranged mace attacks, though. It's good enough to incorporate into your regular attack chain, so long as you use the melee attacks first.

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Edit: Sorry to the OP, I would love to see a damage increase. Power Bolt (tier 1) for Blasters does more damage than Power Blast (tier 4) for Dom's and Power Blast (Tier 2) for Blasters does more damage than Power Burst (Tier 9) for a Dom, That doesn't even sound fair, and defenders have better ranged damage than we do.

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You're saying a damage increase across the board or just for Energy Assault? The low damage for Energy Assault is already in the list.

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Across the board, it is not fair that /Elec gets melee stats of a Blaster, I beleive all secondary melee attacks should be on Blaster values, its really not fair that one does. As for ranged attacks, I don't think we should be on Defender values they should be at the very least Corruptor values (pre - domination).

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What are you talking about? All the sets use the same modifiers.

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Add: The ridiculously low DPA of Mental Blast means it is always a wasted attack.

Actually, that goes for Psi Dart too.

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You mean reinstate it? The venerable Mental Blast activation time issue.

Could you give us a bigger more comprehensive case for Psionic Assault's woes? On the last go around we concluded that things were just acceptable for Psionic Assault.

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Well, my opinions on Psi Assault are probably not those of the majority. PErsonally, I feel that an overpowered PsiShockwave props up a terrible set in desperate need of rebalanced.

Just for perspective, Psi Dart has a base DPA of 16.3 and Mental Blast has a base DPA of 21.6. They are the two worst attacks a Dom can get. Even Subdue is only 35.5, far too low for the big ST attack in the set.

Overall the set is good, but in my opinion, it isn't balanced. It needs to have a lot of Shockwave's power redistributed to the other powers.

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Another one to remove:

<ul type="square">[*]The long travel time of Mental Blast means that it is an often wasted attack.[/list]
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Add: The ridiculously low DPA of Mental Blast means it is always a wasted attack.

Actually, that goes for Psi Dart too.

See my sig for some Carrion Creepers issues you might want on the list.

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You can see how tough this will make your toon in my Mind/FF solos Rikti Pylon video.

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You used two nukes, a shivan, and an HVAS. I recommend replacing that vid with one that shows what a 'naked' Mind/FF can do. As it stands, its more of an advertisement for CoH's temp pets than for your build.

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First, I'm not getting into arguments over the definition soloing.

Second, the video shows how using Earth's Embrace and PFF + Aid Self lets the Controller survive repeated hits from the pylon.

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PM incoming, don't want to derail.

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You can see how tough this will make your toon in my Mind/FF solos Rikti Pylon video.

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You used two nukes, a shivan, and an HVAS. I recommend replacing that vid with one that shows what a 'naked' Mind/FF can do. As it stands, its more of an advertisement for CoH's temp pets than for your build.

This is the updated version of my guide. It takes into account the changes that Issue 14 and Issue 15 bring to Carrion Creepers. Also, since the Carrion Creeper pets are the same for Dominators and Controllers this guide is accurate for both archetypes. The old i13 and i14 guides are preserved in this thread for interests sake.

...


This guide attempts to explain just about everything about the complicated series of pets and psuedopets that make up one of the most unique (and convoluted) powers in the game. It also explains some quirks with the power that have a large impact on the suggested slotting.

CC's mechanics can be a bit overwhelming, so if you just want the end result read the yellow bit about halfway down. If you have questions post them here and I'll do my best to answer them.



Carrion Creeper Patch, the original summon
The power that the player uses (called Carrion Creepers) summons an entity called Carrion Creeper Patch. This Patch has several powers of it's own. It is also mobile and will follow you around (though the 'bramble' graphic doesn't move). The Patch is invisible, and has a snare power called Bramble, a second pet summon called Carrion Creepers (we'll call it Carrion Creepers2 or just CC2), and a power called Vines. Interesting side-note: Even though the Carrion Patch is invisible, it still makes ripples in water. So you can summon it and go for a swim, you'll 'see' the pet following you around.

Bramble
The Bramble power is an autohit AoE snare power. It is always on, and every 0.2s it will apply -fly, -runspeed, -maxrunspeed, and -jumpheight over a 20ft area.

Carrion Creepers 2
CC2 summons Carrion Creeper Patch2 every ten seconds, at every enemy corpse in range. CCP2 is a short lived pet whose only purpose is to attack with an AoE version of Entangle and then self-destruct silently. This AoE Entangle applies a Mag4 Immob to an 8ft area, deals a decent amount of Lethal and Smashing damage, and prevents flight and knockback on the targets. Creeper Entangle has a max target cap of 5 and a base accuracy of 1.0.

Vines
The Vines power has a 50% chance of summoning a Carrion Vine every ten seconds for every living enemy (PC or NPC) in range. These are the vines we know and love and they are the most visible part of the power. Each Vine lasts for 15s and has a ranged Vine Thorns attack and a melee Vine Smash attack. Both the attacks applie a small recharge slow, a movement snare, and a -fly effect. The melee Vine Smash also has a guaranteed knockdown. Both attacks have an accuracy of 1.0.





Slotting Suggestions:
As before i14, Recharge is the most important aspect and if you can only spare three slots, three Recharge SOs is the absolute minimum you should accept in this power. Ideally, you have 6 slots in Creepers. Within those 6 slots you have a lot of freedom, and that means there are a lot of good ways to slot it.

My suggested slotting is:
~40% Accuracy
95% Recharge
95% Damage
and as many damage procs as you can cram in. It no longer matters what sets you choose to use, so go for the cheapest one.





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STOP READING HERE IF YOU ARE EASILY CONFUSED!
The information after this note is all inaccurate now, and is only here for historical reference.




The following is the original i13 version of my guide. It is NOT up to date, and is preserved her in case anyone is interested about the original behavior of Carrion Creepers.


This is a version of my standard Carrion Creepers post. It explains just about everything about the complicated series of pets and psuedopets that make up one of the most unique (and convoluted) powers in the game. It also explains some quirks with the power that have a large impact on the suggested slotting.

CC's mechanics can be a bit overwhelming, so if you just want the end result read the yellow bit about halfway down. If you have questions post them here and I'll do my best to answer them.



The Carrion Creepers power summons an entity called Carrion Creeper Patch. This Patch has several powers of it's own. It is also mobile and will follow you around (though the 'bramble' graphic doesn't move). The Patch is invisible, and has a snare power called Bramble, a second pet summon called Carrion Creepers (we'll call it Carrion Creepers(2) or just CC2), and a power called Vines. Interesting side-note: Even though the Carrion Patch is invisible, it still makes ripples in water. So you can summon it and go for a swim, you'll 'see' the pet following you around.

The Bramble power is an autohit AoE snare power. It is always on, and every 0.2s it will apply -fly, -runspeed, -maxrunspeed, and -jumpheight over a 20ft area.

CC2 summons Carrion Creeper Patch(2) whenever it detects a corpse. CCP2 is a short lived pet whose only purpose is to attack with a version of Roots (an AoE Immbilize) and then self-destruct silently.

The Vines power has a 50% chance of summoning a Carrion Vine every ten seconds for every living or dead NPC in range. Supposedly it will summon Vines on dead PCs as well, but I haven't tested that. These are the vines we know and love and they are the most visible part of the power. Each Vine lasts for 15s and has a ranged Vine Thorns attack and a melee Vine Smash attack.



Now the problem with enhancers is that the Carrion Creeper Patch's powers aren't set up properly. In order for the enhancers to transfer down to the Vines and CCP2 pets, their summon power must be set to allow those enhancers.

Looking through CoD you can see that the initial summon power takes enhancers, and the Vine Smash and Vine Thorns powers are set up to take enhancers, but that the middle pet's powers (aka the first CCP) CC2 and Vines don't take any enhancements. The Brambles power does take slow enhancers so those types can transfer down at least partially.


End Result:
Damage, Knockback, Accuracy, and Immobilize enhancers have no effect. Recharge, Endredux, Range, and Slow all work. Slow Procs will also work, but they will only check every 10 seconds, rather than every time the Vines attack.

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Yeah, I can't get to it either.

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Ditto

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I ran into him in a Founders Falls Safeguard.

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Who called it? I did.

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Shouldn't that be an Ascendant Archon?

Council Ascendants are The Center's personal guard. They're very rare, and don't even show up until the mid 20's I believe.

The first time I ever saw one was the mission to defeat Maestro in Striga Isle.

They do occasionally spawn as the end boss in Council Radio/Newspaper missions also.

These are the Galaxy soldiers.

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It's neither, it's a mob called "Galaxy Archon" that looks like a combination of the two. I took a screenshot with the UI and posted. The link is fixed now (no longer my entire photobucket album :blush).

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It's a mislabeled Mayhem/Safeguard mob.

Vid is here, courtesy of GadgetDon

...It's the only way to be sure.

I've completed the list (I'll update it later for those that are interested) but I still need the model name for the carnie mallet. If anyone has it, could you look up the name in a demo or costume file and send it to me?