Hedon's Guide to Mind control and Telekinesis

Hedon · 01-12-2005 09:50 PM

A GUIDE TO MIND CONTROL

Among the various Controller types Mind control is the least common. There are many reasons for this, among them are such prevalent issues as: 1)Little to no solo ability that produces experience in any way comparable to many other classes. 2) The lack of a pet spell at level 32. 3) A situational skill that is very risky, and 4) a seeming disparity between the leaning of the class and the play style promoted by a great deal of the game. All of these things create a challenge to the brave player that picks up the mind control primary.

I am writing this guide because I love playing a mind controller, and I think (under the right circumstances) they can benefit a group better than any other Controller type. A couple of things about this guide though: I am writing a guide with the sole purpose of getting exp fast with the mind control type. I find that earning exp fast, but also in a challenging way is the most rewarding thing to do in CoH. In all cases, I will be making choices to maximize combat effectiveness. This means that I will be taking a hard line on certain skills, powers, and types of play, as I believe in being as efficient as possible with a character build. To Restate, this is not a Solo Guide, if you want a solo guide for Mind control visit angelic_kitten's guide, it is well done, and should cover the basics.

PLAY STYLE

"This above all-to thine own self be true"
-Polonius, Hamlet

Shakespeare said it then, it's still true today, don't try to be what your not. As a mind controller, you are good at crowd control; you are pure control. You are not damage, you are not healing. Do not, do not act like you are. Make your character about Crowd control, make it about being good for your group. If you want to be good outside a group, then may I recommend a good fire/rad build.

To this end, you will want to focus on making the group work faster, smoother, and more efficiently. This means having holds ready, quickening the pace, not fretting about AoE casters, not making the group stop to recover end, and most importantly: locking down the enemies quickly. Use your control to lock things down, watch for stragglers, group the enemies to the best of your ability, work with the tank to create the easiest fights, and make sure that everything stays locked down. Anything beyond that is a waste of your time, someone else in the group should be doing it, that is why it is called a group. I will cover Nuances of situations and Skill based strategy in depth later. First lets talk about skills.

SKILLS

MESMERIZE
Sleep just isn't that good, let's be frank. In other games, (DAoC, Everquest, etc, etc) Mesmerize and its ilk were the modus operandi of crowd control. In CoH things are different though, Battles are more hectic, AoE is thrown around a lot, and many, many, enemies are being fought at the same time. No one has time to check and see if there are little Zs coming off the enemy's head. With this in mind, you can think of sleeping an enemy as holding him for about 3 seconds, and not all that often at that. I do not recommend taking mesmerize.

LEVITATE
Mesmerize isn't that good and Levitate is useful early on for some damage. So take it. Later on, you can use it for a more complex task, that I will talk about later.

DOMINATE
The skill you will find yourself using most often. You will need to get it as soon as possible, and 6 slot it.

CONFUSE
Good early on, but it dwindles in power fast. There are better things to spend your hard earned skills on. If you plan on using a respec, then pick it up with the plan of dropping it.

MASS HYPNOSIS
OK, So sleep sucks, but you know, it can have its uses, and is made worth it in this AoE version, especially as a tool in combination with Total dominate. Heck, it's pretty good at earlier levels when grouping with scrappers. Still, I think that slots are better spent elsewhere. It has a good place in the tool kit of a smart mind controller, and I will cover its basics later.

TELEKINESIS
It's the best skill in mind control. It is just that simple. Its power is completely based on your personal skill with it, so practice. I mean it. If you screw up with Telekinesis you can kill your party, and you don't want that hanging around your neck.

MASS DOMINATE
Your mainstay, use it. Use it a lot. six slot it.

TERRIFY
Issue 3 has made this a good back up hold. It is by no means as good as Total Domination, Mass confusion, or Telekinesis, but it does have its place. Its main advantage is its quick recast time. At 20 seconds you can throw out this power and feel no guilt at all. I usually throw it right after Total Domination just to pick up any I might have missed. What I am not sure on yet is what to slot it with. It is not that accurate so, I put in two accuracies, and I like it fast so I put in 2 recharges, on top of that I put 2 cone ranges so that I can be sure I am hitting the whole group. But this is just a first plan, and I think I will find something more useful later on.

What Terrify hasn't done is bring us into the soloing main. Its damage is just not enough to be much more than supplementary.

MASS CONFUSE
As far as level 32 powers go, it is bad. I use it as a back up hold, for adds and such, a good group will kill so fast that the experience penalty will be negligible. Still, not all that great. I would get it, but I wouldn't think of slotting it first on my list. New changes to Confuse have made this power better, (The enemies now buff and heal you as they would their friends.) I still do not think this is enough to make this power the list topper it is.

OTHER SKILLS AND SLOTTING

A couple of quick things. Stamina: take it, for the love of god take it. Take it by level 20. Take it and slot it up. This means you are going to have to take some fitness powers early, so do so. Hasten: Take it: You need it. You need it like super models need heroine. Take Hasten, have it six slotted by level 22, A note about these two powers: I have heard many people say that you don't need them, but as I went higher in levels I found that less and less people were without haste and stamina. I also found that grouping became faster and easier, I would like to think that this is not a coincidence. Take some defensive powers too, starting in your thirties it will seem like you are made of paper, you need to be able to survive. Combat jumping, maneuvers and stealth are all great choices for keeping your butt out of the fire.

Slotting your powers is simple. Is it a hold? 6 slot it. This means that Dominate and Mass Dominate deserve 6 slots, and so does Telekinesis. In both of the dominates' cases you are just going to go with a time honored tradition: 2 accuracy, 2 recharge, and 2 hold duration; Either this, or (if your team moves exceptionally fast), you can consider swapping out one hold duration for another recharge. When it comes to Telekinesis though you are going to want to have the six slots to pay down the exorbitant endurance cost. All six slots should be Endurance cost reduction. Some people might say that since TK is such a situational skill, why should you six slot it, what they fail to recognize is this: when you use TK you are going to need to keep it up forever, that is the beauty of TK, it lets you lock down a segment of the enemies forever. In addition to this, you will increasingly find yourself, keeping a group in TK while being required to do the rest of your Controller functions too, this can be quite draining, and I find that the end reduction helps a lot at times like these.

I have also noticed that some mind controllers like to slot up early powers like Levitate, mesmerize, and mass hypnosis. Honestly, I don't know where they find the slots for it. At level 22 you have 20 slots to spend. 20 slots of which you are going to want to have spent: 4 on Total Domination (as many as you can by then), 5 on Hasten (6 slotting SOs allows it to be a perma-hasten), 5 on Dominate, and 5 on Telekinesis (The endurance cost is the worst at low levels so the slots matter the most early on.) That adds up to 19 slots there, leaving only one slot for even a single secondary power. Finding the time to 6 slot even 1 of the 3 powers some people talk about means that your are robbing from the 4 most powerful skills open to a mind controller. You don't get free slots to throw around until you are level 29, as you will be spending levels 23, 25, and 27 finishing off total domination and 6 slotting up stamina. (though I am a little willing to put stamina on hold for just a little while to power a really good secondary, (like RA, or AM). Later on, of course, slots become much more prevalent. It is at this time that your secondary catches up, but even now I cannot see six slotting levitate or Mesmerize, as the damage output of your mind controller has gone so far down compared to the life of the mobs. I just cannot see putting slots into those powers.

TACTICS

The difference between a bad mind controller and one who over comes the odds (and is good), comes entirely from tactical knowledge, and skill with powers.

To begin with you will want to understand that AoE damage is your friend. I have heard many, many mind controllers constantly complain about Blasters breaking their Sleeps with AoE damage. I have even seen them declare moratoriums on AoE powers. They are cheating themselves: AoE damage is the best thing going in this game, it is an exp machine. Everything you do should be structured around facilitating AoE damage. To do that you must understand a few things.

GROUPING ENEMIES
Enemies should be kept in tight groups, this means hitting them early with AoE hold before they can spread out, or waiting for the tanker to get them to clump before hitting the enemies. Do not hit them with hold until the tanker tells you to. Remember, the closer enemies are together, the easier it is to hit all of them with one AoE.

NO SLEEPS IN THE KILLING ZONE
This is hard for most Mind controllers to understand, but I am going to repeat it, don't use sleep unless you have to. It's going to get broken. Use it to keep adds out of the way, use it to keep the team from aggroing nearby groups, use it as a calming agent in a very hectic battle, but don't even think of using it anywhere near the Focus of the group.

KEEP THE BOSSES WITH THEIR GROUPS
When you approach a group, find the boss, center the AoE on him, and follow with a single target right away, this way the boss won't bolt from the group and create chaos, keep him in the group.

WATCH FOR STRAGGLERS
Start noticing who you missed with the initial AoE hold, and try and hit them with single targets immediately. 2 or 3 stragglers nearly double the time it takes to finish off a group.

Next a little back to basics for first time controllers.

SINGLE TARGET WORK

Being able to switch between AoE hold and a few single target holds in quick succession will save you time and frustration. To do this you will have to understand a few basic concepts. The first among these is place holders. Place holders will keep an enemy out of the fight until a real hold can come up. Examples of place holders are Mass Hypnosis, Mass Confusion, Confusion, Telekinesis (Sometimes), and Levitate, yea levitate. Early on, levitate will do damage for you, but later on damage is the farthest thing from your mind, so what do you do with levitate? Well, you use it as a place holder. It is highly accurate, has a good recharge time, stops an enemy in their tracks, and it takes them out of the combat for a few seconds, just long enough for Dominate to recharge,in addition it can be done even when AoE damage is flying everywhere. An example: You come upon two enemies in a mission, you hold the first one, quickly levitate the second, and as he hits the ground, you hit him with a hold. Or you can use it on a boss: Hit him with hold, then levitate, then hold again. The boss never gets to move, and is now quite safely held, at least for the moment.
To this end levitate remains one of your common powers throughout the whole game. With this method, a really sharp player can juggle 4 enemies until they are all in hold. Practice, because it pays.
The next concept I am going to need new players to understand is this: Bosses need more holds. You have to stack holds on bosses, and they are quicker to come out of holds on top of that. 2 holds should do it, and about half the time you get lucky and the hold automatically upgrades itself to the point where it gets a boss on the first try.Similarly lieutenants are harder to lock down, because holds have a shorter duration on them. On a side note, a good thing about Telekinesis is that it continuously keeps a boss at one hold, allowing much easier holding.
Lastly, always remember to renew your holds, try to work through them in an intelligent manner, hitting those that have been held the longest first.

With The new Boss changes it becomes even more important to be able to juggle well. If the only arguement for Levitate over Mesmerize is that it can stop a boss in his tracks just long enough to allow for another dominate, then I would consider it good enough. The newly more powerful bosses can easily one shot you if you are not careful. Here is an example of Juggling:

At the start we have 1 boss and one Minion.

First we use Dominate on the boss.

Then we Levitate him.

Finish up the controlling with another Dominate.

Dominate isn't recharged, so we levitate the minion

Then we dominate him too.

Finally we have 2 controlled mobs.

Remember you always go after the boss first, you cannot take a hit from one these days, and they are going to take 2 holds to go under.

AOE WORK

AoE is much simpler, and it only builds upon what you have already learned, a couple of things though. Don't be a hero, let the tanker go in first. Hit the group with AoE First, then follow up with singles, the other way round lets you get a free sample of local dirt specimens. Be safe, don't make your defender cry, cause when they do, fairies die, or something like that.

A MASS HYPNOSIS PRIMER

To go over Mass Hypnosis in depth would require incredible amounts of time, and more work than I am willing to do. However, I am willing to spend a little time talking about one of the more unappreciated tools in the mind controller's tool kit.

First, Mass Hypnosis is not a primary combat tool like Total Domination. It is a mistake to think of it as such. It would closer to true if we called it a combat suppliment. It is like support for the support class. What you are going to use Mass Hypnosis for is secondary crowd control. The first and most obvious use for Mass Hypnosis, is to keep another group from aggroing while you are attacking one near it. An example:

You come upon two groups.

you Sleep the first with mass hypnosis

Then Hold the second and go to work.

I call this the stay safe

The second use for Mass Hypnosis is to stop a group that has aggroed on the team, if the second group from the former example had aggroed during the middle of the fight, you would throw MH on it, to keep the battle less chaotic.

The third use for Mass Hypnosis is a little more Dangerous. Some people like to use Mass Hypnosis as a primer for Total Domination, this is a good idea, (though it does keep you from using Mass Hypnosis if another group aggros), but its main drawback is that your team must know that you are doing it, otherwise the team will just start blasting, figuring you have hit the enemies with a hold. this will be especially bad because it will give all the aggro to the blasters, the squishiest of the group. So, only use this idea if your team is ready for it.

Lastly, you can Use Mass Hypnosis in a long battle, especially one that has gotten chaotic. Throw down mass Hypnosis, and it will calm the battle down a little, enough to let your team take a breather or for them to reorganize.

This of course is just a primer, there is much more to know on Mass Hypnosis, I am just not the one to be writing about it.

A SPECIAL GUIDE ON TELEKINESIS

I have heard of, but never seen another mind controller use Telekinesis well, and I have yet to see a guide that explicitly laid down the frame work for using telekinesis well. In that vein, I have written this special guide.

Telekinesis is the best skill mind controllers get, if you are not using it, you are wasting your character. It is very much a skill that reflects on the players skill. It doesn't have much of a middle ground either, you either succeed wonderfully, or horribly fail. The way TK works is complex. It is a toggle and never misses. It places an repel effect on one target, this target projects a very small aura that spreads the repel and the aura to its neighbors. If at any time an enemy is repelled out of an adjacent aura, then he comes out of TK, and acts freely. Here are a few screen shots of Telekinesis in action.

hitting the first target

picking up the second

and the third

See how the anchor can pick up more people and how these people in turn create auras to grab neighbors? This can be bad, as repel powers are notorious for spreading out enemies, and that is against our stated goal of grouping enemies. But if you use it in the right situation you can group the enemies using TK and, in turn keep them held forever.

The key to understanding TK is to understand the mechanics behind it. Each of the MOBS in the effect are each repelled. How they are repelled and it what direction depends on their orientation to you. An Example:

Remember in Highschool where they taught you that all angled force could be broken down into two seperate perpendicular forces?

This can help you understand why the corners are the first thing to come out of TK, and how to solve this.

The trick to getting the enemies to clump is to use corners to funnel them. The corners can be big.

Like this one.

Or small,

Like this one.

In either case, you need to find a corner, or small area to herd them into. Try to find corners everywhere, look over areas, corners are not always obvious, here are a few examples.

A nook in a building

A bus stop

Using objects

Where two corners meet

An indentation for a doorway

Another Person

ADVANCED TK METHODS

1. Clumping with TK in the open. To clump with Telekinesis in the field you are going to have to learn pin point timing with the skill, this takes practice. I prefer to do the clumping in 2 steps. First get the enemies in a line.

Step one

Then, from the side, clump them.

Step two

2. The zig zag, or sweeping the corridor. This method involves using your TK anchor as a sort of broom to sweep up enemies along a hallway and deposit them in the back corner. For this technique it is imperative that you can keep up TK forever, as you will be keeping a ton of enemies in it.

To begin with, we will look at the concept behind the technique and then I will show you it in practice.

First you begin with a fairly loose knit group and you TK them straight on.

How it looks at the beginning

This creates a flattening effect, just like the beginning of the open field clumping.

Putting them in line

Next, keeping TK on, you sweep to the side, beginning to corral them an push them toward the wall.

Now begin the sweep

Now, you pull closer to them and flatten them against the wall.

Readying them for the clumping

Lastly, you pull yourself against the wall, clumping up the once flattened group.

A nicely clumped group

In game, it looks something like this.

Starting them off with TK

Bringing them in line

Beginning the sweep

Using an extra sweep to grab stragglers

Sweeping up the consolidated group

Bringing them into the corner

Tightening up the group

Practice this a lot, it looks a lot easier than it is, and it is even harder when people's lives are on the line. But doing it right, and the reaction your group gives you is more than worth it. Remember that you might have to sweep multiple times, and to move with deliberate speed, if you go too fast you will make the group come apart, too slow and it will slowly erode.

3. The repel wall and repel resistant mobs.

You can use TK for many purposes that are not in any way like the others. One way is to create a repel wall to seperate enemies.

Lets say that you come upon a group of Devouring Earth, and you use Total Domination on them.

Unfortunately they have dropped an Eminator and they are all brought out of hold.

Drop TK on the eminator, this creates a repel wall that half of the group can't pass. Now the group is split in two.

Then bring half the group around the corner to be finished off in piecemeal

In game it can look something like this:

Seperating the group

Then finishing in piecemeal

This tactic can work with any Repel Resistant MOBS, like DE Eminators or Carnie Strongmen.

4. Bringing the boss out. Or Reseting the TK.

This tactic works only if you have a boss as the anchor for TK. Bosses will only stay in TK as long as they have another hold on them. If you let the hold on them lapse then they will begin to slowly try to attack you, though they still will be slightly repelled. You can use this to your advantage, if you are daring or very good with TK. When the boss stops being held take a few steps back to allow the repel effect on him to fade, he will then walk out a bit. Use this opportunity to mop up any stragglers.

I think of this tactic as a last resort. I would much rather simply have another teammate herd the enemies in, (with a taunt or repel effect), or do it myself, with TP foe or a repel effect.

GENERAL RULES OF THUMB FOR TK
1) Don't TK out of your sight, if you can't see the enemies in TK you are just asking for them to move by and aggro all sorts of nasties.

2) Don't just TK one enemy, unless it is a boss. your Expectation should be to get at least 3 enemies in TK, less than that and you are probably wasting endurance.

3) Long TKs are harder to do, and much more dangerous. Start with easy TKs and work your way up,

here is an example of a good group to start with.

Suppliments and General Knowledge to keep in Mind with TK

1. End Reduction enhancements. TK has a base cost of 3 endurance per second. End reduction enhancers can signifigantly reduce this cost, here is how much it will cost with end reducers:

Single Origin Enhancers:
1. 2.25 per second
2. 1.80 per second
3. 1.50 per second
4. 1.29 per second
5. 1.13 per second
6. 1.00 per second

Dual Origin Enhancers
1. 2.57 per second
2. 2.25 per second
3. 1.99 per second
4. 1.80 per second
5. 1.63 per second
6. 1.50 per second

As you can see, you get diminishing returns, but in my opinion it is still worth it to bring it to 6 or atleast 5.

2. Using /bind with TK. TK still has no animation to define its anchor. To combat this I suggest using the /bind command. To use the letter T on your keyboard as the button for Telekinesis then you would type in this /bind t powexec_name Telekinesis, To add something to tell your group which enemy is the anchor for TK, just type this in: /bind t powexec_name telekinesis$$ group $target is the anchor for TK, kill it last. What this will do is every time you cast Telekinesis you will say "blank" is the target for TK, kill it last, where "blank" is whatever creature you are targetting. So if I were to target a crey medic with TK, my group would hear in the group channel "medic is the anchor for TK, kill it last. You can make your character say whatever you want, but I would recommend saying something, it will keep your TKs from falling as much.

A NOTE ON DIFFICULTY LEVELS

I have found the difficulty levels to be a great boon to Grouping, and as such, a great boon to Mind controllers. I would suggest turning your's up, Unyielding if you like lots of enemies, and Invincible if you like them hard, or if you just like yelling "I am invincible!"

These of course aren't the only methods open to a mind controller, and if you think that you have something to contribute, just speak up, the mind control community needs all the help it can get to overcome the problems the game has laid at our feet.

Chewy27 · 02-14-2005 09:12 AM

Ok Hedon, you and I got off on the wrong foot in that other Mind Guide. I would like to start fresh.

First off, fantastic guide. I remember reading this when you first posted it, and decided to take TK on your recomendation. (before I was posting in these forums) I use it on a semi regular basis now, although I find myself mainly using it when I am fighting bosses, especially multiple bosses. Tk certainly is a skill unto itself, one that I have not quite yet mastered.

I have found a couple of other uses for Mass Hypnoisis though. It tends to parallel your use of it as a Total Domination primer. It is if you are teamed with another controller with an AoE hold, or a blaster with his/her BOOM power. I use it on the mob first, as it doesn't draw any agro. My teamate can then get into optimal position without having to dodge gunfire. Then if the other big AoE power misses, either with the hold or a boom, the ones that were missed don't shoot back. The ones that were hit are either held, or sucking pavement. Then you can stick a hold or two on the ones left standing/unheld and everyone is safe.

I didn't end up taking Leviate at all. I tended to use my Mez in it's place. First Levitate just didn't fit my character idea, and I ended up in smaller groups starting out, so my sleeps were broken much less often. I did almost my first 20 levels teamed up with a scrapper. As a duo, sleep works amazingly well. The scrappers gets to know to hit the guys that are holding thier heads, as opposed to the ones that are head down napping. I also use it in large groups to catch runners/stragglers. If there are a couple of baddies outside of the main mob, I use the Mez on them, refreshing/cycling as it comes up. Then when the group finishes pounding the main mob, they look around to find three guys having a nap on the perimeter. They are quickly dispatched. I don't think I could do the same with Leviate as it disrupts them for 5 seconds or so, where my sleep will last for 30.

Stamina and Hasten. This is a tough one. I really do believe that as a Mind Controller you can do without Stamina and Hasten. I think Mind is one of the very few builds that can say that. I made it to lvl 30 without either of these. I think the Hasten/Stamina tend to be a duo that has to be taken together. If you can fire off your powers faster, then you will need more endurance to keep you powers firing. I found that I could reapply my holds before they ran out without Hasten. Now, without a doubt with Hasten and Stamina you will work more quickly and will be able to handle larger groups with a shorter time between groups. Because of that, you're XP/Minute will certainly go up. If you are in a regular group that does a bit more chatting that "lvl 35s here" between groups then you might be ok. That being said, when I did my respec I decided to go with both the fitness pool and Hasten. I did it for two reasons. One was because I was starting to team with much larger groups on a regular basis. They were hunting and doing missions quickly and I found that without them I really couldn't keep up. That was the first and most important reason. The second was that I honestly ran out of powers to take. I don't have either of the Confuses or Levitate (more of a character idea than anything against them in game) and was starting to run out of powers that I wanted to take that were of use to me and that fit my characters background/story.

Now I have two questions, strictly out of curiousity. What was your secondary, and do/did you have trouble finding teams as a controller?

Hedon · 02-14-2005 09:42 AM

My secondary is Rad. I do have trouble finding a team sometimes. It is just the way of the game. If you have a large SG it is made easier though.

I agree with your extra uses for Mass Hypnosis, and when I update the guide, I will be adding to the section on sleep.

I think our differences in other powers just have to do with play style, I play in larger groups at a fast pace. I am late for a meeting, so I finish the rest of this later.

Hedon

Hedon · 02-14-2005 08:55 PM

On to a couple of other areas. Many People say that Stamina and Hasten are not needed, and I agree. Stamina and Hasten are not needed in the same way that you can build a Mind controller who doesn't use Total Domination. I think it can be done, it is just a bad idea. Of course, if you are a mind/emp, then you can perma Recovery aura and take care of the stamina side of things.

The thing with Levitate versus Mesmerize is this: later in the game Levitate is a very viable tool for juggling, and Mesmerize just doesn't let you do that. With the ramp up of AoE damage in the late game, you are also looking at a smaller and smaller role for Mesmerize. Thus, as mesmerize's power shrinks, in a team setting, so does Levitate's power rise. This is probably the best reason to choose levitate over Mesmerize if you are team mind controller.

Btw. if you are not in a large SG, the way to get into a group is to be proactive about it, broadcast lft, and move around alot. Hit your friends list up, and build a good one.

Hedon

Chewy27 · 02-15-2005 07:18 AM

I agree with the Hasten/Stamina combo. I just hate getting a power that everyone has, I like to make my characters at least a little bit original, but you are right. Later in the game they become basically a neccesity.

I think I might pickup Levitate soon. When I respeced my character one of the things that I did was to lessen the number of slots that I put on Mezmerize. I just wasn't using it as much, and from what you are saying, it sounds like that will use it less and less as times go on.

And yes, a large supergroup is the way to go. The one I belong to is all real life friends, so sometimes they just aren't available to help when I need it. The nice thing is now that I have hit 32 is that I get a lot more invites to teams. They don't know that I am a mind controller, and don't have pets. Usually after the first couple fights they ask me where my pets are. I just say, "The baddies are not shooting back, so I am not using them today"

Thanks for your guide Hedon. I would like to see your take on the Radiation powers in conjunction with the Mind Powerset.

Hedon · 02-16-2005 03:38 PM

My take on Rad powers used in conjuction with mind is simple.

AM is great, it helps with Telekinesis, it buffs your allies, it is just nice, I made it perma as soon as Hasten was perma.

EF and RI are incredible, I try to drop them right after I am done with primary control, Depending on the speed of the group, I drop EF first (fast groups) or RI first (slower groups).

LR I just added to the build and I use it to help out in many situations: Multiple bosses, AVs, monsters, chaotic fights, I could go on and on. Mainly I use it whenever my holds aren't enough.

EMP, how many ways can I say "I love EMP" there is nothing quite like a huge hold you can keep tucked up your sleeve for the bad times.

RA, well I had to take it, but I use it to get team mates out of sleep.

Other notes, LR, RI and EF on a group is almost a hold, and RI+ Terrify is quite powerful.

TK can be used it bursts to herd held guys into your debuffs.

Rad really pays off in the AV fights. Just throw them on.

As far as slotting for the powers, I use this set up.

RA (1 heal) If I could skip it, I would.

AM (4 recharge,2 end rec) for perma, and you can always use more end.

RI (4 acc reduc) It could use 6 slotting, I need to free up some space for it.

EF (2 end reduc) it is a bit heavy on the endurance.

LR (1 acc, 2 slow) 2 slow hits the cap, and that is what we are looking for.

EMP (2 acc, 1 hold, 3 recharge) The recharge on this thing is huge, but so is the hold time.

I hope that helps.

Hedon

Trauma74 · 03-15-2005 10:50 AM

Hey Hedon, great guide I have used your core concepts for my MC, lvl 30 now, and loving it. I think you give the forums a lot of tough love that is needed so kudos to you!
Anyways, as I'm still learning the fine art of TK which is so amazing and so sad not enough people are diligent enough to learn it's intricacies (like you said MC set learning curve requires a patience that is in direct opposition to how CoH teaches you to play), but I'm having some real difficulty when I start TK it activates right away, however, I'm not able to move and start sweeping or adjusting the movement of my anchor until the animation finishes. This gives about 1 or 2 seconds of uncontrolled drift that I often end up with just 2 or 3 in a clump. This is mostly when I'm trying a TK without the mobs setup nicely. If they are in a good line or clump it's much easier but when I try to throw it on during a good fight I lose them easily with that movement delay. Any suggestions?

Thanks so much for the great guide and keep it real.

Orange Juliet 30 Mind/FF
Pinnacle

Hedon · 03-15-2005 09:39 PM

There are two ways to solve this problem, one of them is bold, the other requires a really keen eye.

The bold one requires you to start the TK on an enemy a little far from the action. He then becomes the catalyst for the group you want to control and herd, allowing you to control from the very beginning. But you very rarely have this luxury as a mind controller.

The second option is to account for the straight start you are going to have to deal with. I tend to only sweep in corridors, this helps deal with the limitation. Another way of dealing with it is to use secondary powers to help in the clumping, (such as Gale, repel, some forcefield powers, Hurricane, and others.)

I have been trying to deal with that problem myself. And now that I am off set for a few days, I might update the guide, complete with exercises for learning TK.

Hedon

Ignatz · 03-16-2005 03:04 AM

I really appreciate the time and effort it took to compile this guide.
My Mind controller had been collecting dust for quite some time
before I came across this guide a couple of weeks ago. All I have
to say now is WOW! Such a fun build! I've started to get some
real use out of TK now, and I feel like i can control nearly every
fight i come across. Can't wait to see how I do in a respec setting.

Psychokenisis · 05-09-2005 08:35 AM

Hey,

Just a quick thought since CoH rounds up/down damage I would guess it does the same for end usage on powers.

If that is the case then wouldn't it be a waste to 6 slot telekenisis since at 3 SO enhancements it's 1.5 end/sec not sure if this rounds to down I think it does, but anyhow at 4 it's 1.29 end/sec which would round down to 1 end/sec so the last 2 enhancement slots would be wasted since it's already rounding down to 1.

Not 100% sure on this but damage works that way so I would guess that end does the same but I could be wrong not 100% sure.

Psychokenisis
Mind/Bubble Controller
Ya find another one like me haha!

Hedon · 05-09-2005 08:07 PM

Well, The numbers I have posted currently in the Telekinesis section are wrong. Telekinesis doesn't cost 3 endurance per second, it looks like it costs 4.33 per second. In addition I really don't think they round Endurance cost, seeing as how the base cost isn't rounded in the first place. But thanks for posting, take a look at the new version of the guide.

Hedon's guide to mind control and Telekinesis v2.0

Hedon

Psychokenisis · 05-10-2005 08:43 AM

After posting I got telekenisis and you're right they don't round endurance cost which in a way makes sense. So by all means 6 slot it not sure too lazy to work out actual numbers with correct end cost.

Psy

PratzStrike · 05-15-2005 04:30 PM

Just wanted to /sign this post real fast - when I first got a chance to get Telekinesis I picked it up and haven't looked back since. The corridor sweeping technique looks really complex, though. I gotta ask, though, do the secondary targets really generate their own fields? It always seems more that the anchor generates one large field and secondaries can float out of it.

Neo_Pegasus · 05-16-2005 08:09 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Just wanted to /sign this post real fast - when I first got a chance to get Telekinesis I picked it up and haven't looked back since. The corridor sweeping technique looks really complex, though. I gotta ask, though, do the secondary targets really generate their own fields? It always seems more that the anchor generates one large field and secondaries can float out of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, secondaries definately have their own fields

Rufus_NA · 05-16-2005 11:51 AM

[ QUOTE ]
but I'm having some real difficulty when I start TK it activates right away, however, I'm not able to move and start sweeping or adjusting the movement of my anchor until the animation finishes. This gives about 1 or 2 seconds of uncontrolled drift that I often end up with just 2 or 3 in a clump. This is mostly when I'm trying a TK without the mobs setup nicely. If they are in a good line or clump it's much easier but when I try to throw it on during a good fight I lose them easily with that movement delay. Any suggestions?

[/ QUOTE ]

Depending on your build, this may not be practical, but if you have Whirlwind active, then you can move while activating powers. Taking a single power for such situational applications is questionable, but you might want to check it out on test.

Ace___ · 05-23-2005 05:36 AM

I have a 30 Mind/Kinetics. More and more I find myself in teams without a lot of damage. Here Terrify seems to be useful, at least with Power Siphon. It is fairly easy to get two layers of Siphon going, adding 50% to my damage continuously. I can hit everything in sight with Terrify. This does the same damage as about 5 ticks of Burn (rough estimate based on observation from playing with a Burn tank last night) while locking down the whole room. Also it easily renews before it expires, and when you hit the mobs with it while the previous one still has them, they don't seem to get the opportunity to attack then that I was expecting. Sure 5 ticks of Burn isn't much, but it is to the whole room and it does hold them well enough that often TD is redundant. So it often goes something like this: While the tank wades in I target the boss. One TD to keep the mobs near the tank. D the boss. Siphon, Terrify, D, Siphon, Levitate, Terrify, D, Siphon, Levitate, Terrify...

Currently I have Terrify with 2 Acc, so it recycles slower than Siphon. I'll be adding slots to it, Probably 1 more Acc and 3 recharge. Note that I don't have TK. I figure we have enough holds that are easier to use without needing an end drain that isn't.

Psychokenisis · 06-08-2005 10:07 AM

Ace

If you're comfortable with that then by all means do it, but remember you are selling yourself short as a mind controller without TK.

Remember that TK works off of player skill totally not on the build of the super. It is something you need to learn to use, you have to be willing to commit the time to TK to make it work.
I can't stress this enough that your personal skill with TK will make or break that power.

Also in reguards to low damage groups: If your group has poor damage then I can see no better benefit to the group than being able to hold a nearly infinate amount of baddies indefinitely (which you can to with TK and stamina 6 slotted).

Anyhow that is my 2cp take it how you want but just remember that this game is all about having fun not the race to max level, so do what you have fun with, me I'll be sweeping the halls (that's what I call fun ).

Psychokenisis
Mind/Bubble controller
Find another like me I DARE YA!!!

Two_Trick · 06-08-2005 11:10 AM

I just wanted to say that this is a great Mind/* guide, and I wish people who didn't know much about us would read it. I respeced in TK in my 40's and I love it. I love it for the continuous hold, the ability to stack so easily, and the fact that it gives me 3 true holds instead of two.

Also confuse, man, how much fun is that?

notquitebatman · 07-11-2005 08:55 PM

ahh easier said than done, that TK, I've been practicing and having alot of trouble

If someone could help me learn it would be appreicated

Glowworm_Nexus · 07-12-2005 12:27 PM

Great Guide! Thanks especially for the TK advice.

Regarding Mass Hypnosis, someone told me a useful tactic that I have used several times to good effect. It goes against your "keep the boss with the mob" advice but it is handy if you have a non-aoe team or are taking on a very difficult boss. You can use your mass sleep as a boss-puller. Start the attack with mass sleep; you will sleep most of the group and probably not the boss. Have your teammates shoot the boss (not aoe) to get him to leave the group. Fight him a bit away and beat him (and the minion or two who might have come too) all outside of the main groups aggro range.

When the main group wakes up they are not aggroed and act like nothing happened. It's not a strategy you'd use all the time but it can be handy when you really need to pare down the opposition into manageable packets. Even if the main group wakes up they don't agro since you and the boss are out of range.

My MC is only 18 but he has found it handy early on. I look forward to my TK and my mass hold as soon as I get Stamina (I wish I'd read this guide first and probably would have arranged my powers a bit different so I would not locked into the 14 travel power, 16/18/20 Fitness pools, but live and learn).

Pinnacle
Glowworm * Brrr * Lilinoe
Protector
Kid Trance * Ms. Impala * Red Helen
Virtue
Pooka Pete

Two_Trick · 07-12-2005 01:18 PM

The guide that he wrote out here for Telekinesis is really well thouth out, I reccomend finding groups of low level mobs and practicing. IF you're on victory, I can bring out my Mind/Emp and show you a few things. Global Handle: @Miss Suckatash

ezrider · 07-13-2005 12:39 PM

mass confusion + terrify=total domination
i cast mass confusion and follow it up with terrify, i lock down a crowd and dont have to worry about all the feared mobs hitting me all at once. that way i still have total domination available.

Ultra_Violence · 09-08-2005 11:33 AM

With the I5 changes to Holds your guide to Telekinesis becomes all the more important.

The only change is that now Mind Controlers are powerhouses solo if they slot their single attacks instead of their AoE holds. Because they have so many more attacks vs other Controllers, by skipping Haste (to get more slots) they can actually do quite well damage wise now. With the pet reduction they can actually compete quite well solo now and pre-32 are solidly better.

----------------------------
You can't please everyone, so lets concentrate on me.

chasitychase · 02-16-2007 07:05 AM

Good article.

I made a MInd/force field controller on the victory server.

I really like it. People tend to pick my controller for her force field ability, especially Kheldians. My main attack is force bolt ( I think that is the name. If people get to close or crowd the team, I will bat them away.
I see the build I made more as a defensive unit to the group and a support for the damage dealers. I use telekenisis a good deal of the time. I mainly use it to keep the enemies crowd from amassing firepower on the team. I have slowly learn the sleep all though is not effective as a long term hold, it is wonderful for disrupting the timing of the mobs. Combined with force fields, mind control is a very effective build. I really like mesmerise. In a way i put it on auto fire, and I target of whoever is on point for the team. Mesmerise is great for a one-two punch with dominate ( ithink that is the power, its the 3 or 4 power on the set). Because most mobs tend to not be resistant to psionics, their resistance is most times minimal. I tend to slot my powers with accuracy, endurance cost, and recharge rate. I think the key to this build is energy efficiency. In the end if you take the two powerset powers with the psionic epic powerset, i took flight as my power pool set, the build is nice. I didn't get stamina, becuase it isn't really useful to me for the amount you will have to spend to upgrade it. I rather have the mobility of flight. If i end up using all my endurance for telekenis, iwill simply turn on my personal shield from force fields powerset, that way i can heal up with virtually no threat of being killed. The personal shield if slotted right is invulnerable to most anything.
At the later parts of the game the dispersion bubble, repulsion field, repulsion bomb, and Force bubble, I find are team favorites...
I think if you take mind control, force field is the best compliment to it. It really beeefs up your and the teams defense. Most people tell me the only really want me to stand there and keep the foce fields going. In a way the force fields are the main set.