Grav/Storm Controller Guide
Hello, excellent guide!
I just started a gravi/storm last night. I know sings can't be healed but can they be buffed by the steamy mist and the leadership pool that I am going to take?
Once again excellent information thanks again for providing it.
They sure can. They are a bit on the mindless side, though, so they are quite happy to wander outside AoE buffs. (Though, being mindless, they take little damage from mental attacks. )
You might want to check out the Singularity Guide in the guides section.
First, here's another Grav guide. It's good and a different take on our powers: another Grav/Storm guide
Next a few things for you:
- Wormhole is becomming AoE in I4 and having it's recharge time increased.
- Propel is having it's damage increased in I4
- Thunder Clap is auto hit at the moment but it's magnitude (1) only affects Minions, so don't bother with the ACC enhances, and don't expect it to disorient LTs and above. This may combo well with Wormhole soon though because both have disorients. So I say slot some Disorient Dur enhances in it and call it a day. (they may change the auto-hit at some point, but doesn't appear to be have changed in I4)
- Leadership can be really nice for Grav/Storm. The Def buff combines nicely with Steam Mist to give you and your buddies some nice D buffage, Dam buf can't be enhanced right now so is not so great, but you do low damage so every bit helps and of course soloing with sings, you get the buff on you and your pets. +ACC is the really nice one here. Of course it's nice for your buddies, but you have so many things that need +ACC (Lift, Gale, GD, CF, GDF, Wormhole, maybe Propel and others) that this is very helpful. You can remove an ACC SO from each of these powers and use it elsewhere. They do use a fair amount of End though.
- Personally I find Snowstorm to suck up too much End to use. I have it now but never find a time where I wouldn't rather toss a hold or other ability. I may respec away soon.
Ah my old guide! I think I'll add a bit more before Issue 5 gets on Test.....
As far as holds go, Gravity Distortion is really one of the best, IMHO. Bosses often resist holds (see a guide about Magnitude for why) but grav distortion also hits them with a nice slow. Also, the graphic animation for this hold is to hold them up in the air with their arms out. Ice and Stone lock enemies up in such a way that make it hard for melees to see what they are hitting.
Propel got a big boost to damage in Issue 4, it's no longer a horrible joke. It's still slow and expensive so don't expect to be putting blasters out of work but at least now it does a bit of damage. Like Lift, it's knockback also acts as a minor control effect (though Lift is far far better at it).
Crushing Field is downright wicked in the deeper parts of the Shadow Shard where enemies aren't always over land. Is that spawn a little bigger than you would like to deal with? No problem. Crushing field on one of the edges of the spawn will drop half of them into Oblivion - never to be seen again.
Wormhole had the biggest change in I4. It's now an AoE attack and does a good bit more to stun enemies. Some things aren't so easily done now, like pulling individual DE pets out of a fight. Some new things are possible now, though. Now, instead of picking out individual enemies, you can pull half a spawn to your group.
One new trick with wormhole takes some practice - tightening spawns. Mobs in a spawn often mill around and the group ends up spread out so far that there's no way for AoE attacks to get them all. With wormhole you can grab the left half of the spawn and drop them into the right half making life much easier on the AoE attackers (and your own AoE attacks)! The reason it takes practice is the wormhole knockback. If the enemies are already locked down or if there's a wall behind them, no biggy, but out in the open it's rather like bowling. You can do it with some practice but you will need to practice - and not on enemies twenty levels below you.
This tactic can also be used in small groups if you want to combine a couple of spawns.
Knockback is in for PvP (and PvE for that matter) so life is REALLY good for the storm power set!
O2 Boost got an additional bit of love - it now also protects pretty well against endurance drain. You don't see many attacks like that until high levels (namely the Dark Carnival and Malta sappers).
Also, snow storm can take down fliers, though I would rather use crushing field for that wth my grav/storm.
Hurricane is just incredible in PvP against melee players. (So much so that I wouldn't be surprised if it got nerfed a bit.) A melee will be lucky to get a single shot on you!! Hurricane does do knockback which melees almost always resist but it also has a repel effect which, as near as I can tell, can never be resisted. Just be sure to watch out for ranged attacks. Even some melees have them - particularly if they are high enough to get "epic" power pools.
Lightning Storm in PvP is also pretty sweet because it has a high chance to turn off a toggle power the target is using. Like, say, their hold/knockback protection. The hold resisting powers melees use actually just negates the effect of the hold - your hold power is actually still there so when your lightning storm turns off the protection they are instantly held! (Some heroes don't use toggles for this, though. Super-Reflex scrappers come to mind as an example.)
Also, lightning storm can take accuracy enhancers now. Those bolts do miss sometimes and that's real noticable against enemies with high defense values.
A note on Suppression: new rules turn off your travel powers for about 4 seconds after you activate a power that affects an enemy. This really isn't a big deal to Grav/Storms. The gravity powers all have long ainmations anyway so, by the time you can move at all, most of the supression time is already taken up anyway. Also, damage done by other entities doesn't turn off your travel powers so your pets, freezing rain, and lightning storm aren't going to cause problems. Snowstorm is the only power to watch. As a toggle-power debuff it will turn off your travel power and KEEP it off until you drop the snowstorm! If you've got snowstorm knocking out your travel power plus steamy mist slowing your run speed down, you'll be moving just as slow as they will!
Ah my old guide! I think I'll add a bit more before Issue 5 gets into production.....
First the big changes:
1. Grav Distortion Field doesn't last as long and takes longer to recharge.
2. You now only get one singularity at a time. However, they no longer expire plus they can follow you up elevators.
3. Endurance costs are down in many places. Plus you won't be using that summon singularity power mid-battle very often for even more endurance.
4. You do double damage when an enemy is under some sort of mez power (stun, hold, immobilize, confuse (?), sleep). This is only when you do damage directly from your powers, not through something summoned like a pet or a lightning storm.
4. Wormhole's stun power gets stronger as you level up.
5. AoE powers have a limit to how many bad guys they can hit. Honestly, I didn't even notice this change. But then, I don't herd up multiple spawns worth of bad guys.
Grav Powers
Crush: A little bit better now because the mez means you can do double damage but still not enough to be worth getting, IMHO.
Lift: Same as it ever was. The double-damage possibility makes damage enhancers sane even in the teens but I think it's still better as a quick crowd control power.
Grav Distortion: Same as it ever was, except now the animation is a bit faster. Bet on using this staple even more in Issue 5.
Propel: Finally, propel is actually kinda handy at times! Especially after you get crushing field and can keep everything under mez pretty much all the time.
Crushing Field: Now extra handy because this is an AoE mez that recharges pretty fast. With haste, it isn't going to be difficult to keep most your enemies perma-mezzed with this power. The power will also be more important in I5, I believe, because you'll be more likely to need it to keep the bad guys in your freezing rain.
Dimension Shift: Might be a little better in I5 because of the increased need for strong mez powers but I still don't plan to get it.
GDF: WHACK! Oh well, no more hanging every spawn up in the air for the first 30+ seconds of battle. Now it will have to be every other spawn being held for the first 15 or 20 seconds of battles. The power is still VERY much worth getting. Recharge enhancers are more worthwhile now.
Wormhole: Still a good power for any Grav controller and still extra handy for Grav/Storms. Lightning Storm doesn't move to your enemies so move your enemies to the lightning storm! Recharge time on this power might have been made longer though I haven't timed it. (It's always ready at the start of battle which is when I mostly use it these days.)
Singularity: Loose the recharge enhancers and any endurance reduction you put in. Put in damage and hold duration.
Storm
Gale: Same as it ever was.
O2 Boost: Same as it ever was.
Snow Storm: Same as it ever was (though it no longer breaks your travel power while it's running). I found myself using it a lot more in I5 testing because the enemies are no longer "mostly held anyway."
Steamy Mist: Doesn't defend as well as it used to but you'll still want it up all the time.
Freezing Rain: Same as it ever was.
Hurricane: Same as it ever was.
Thunder Clap: Stun -> mez, mez -> double damage. All the more reason to use this power more in I5!
Tornado: This counts as a pet so don't expect it to do double damage to mezzed enemies. However, it's yet another source of stunning.
Lightning Storm: If this thing did double damage you would be a god among heroes - so it doesn't. The truckload of endurance has been reduced from a semi to a large pickup truck, though.
Pools
Hasten: Not quite as desperately needed thanks to Singularity pets not expiring. Get it anyway for the rest of the reasons listed.
Stamina: YOU CAN LIVE WITHOUT THIS! You're going to really need some endurance reducers in the big ticket powers which means they can't have some other enhancements you might want there. However, no stamina means you can free up three power slots. If there are three other powers you want to snag or if you just want to put the stamina power off for awhile, by all means skip over it. Personally, I'm going to keep it and switch several of my endurance reduction enhancers to other things.
Recall Ally: You won't need to pull your pet around nearly as much now that they figured out elevators. They still (I think) need help with portals but with I5 there's a real good chance your Singularity power will be recharged anyway. Just replace the lost pet with a new one. Get this for helping your friends now, not your pet.
Leaping: No changes.
Acrobatics: Very handy post-I4 because of all the enemy knockback powers. Getting knocked away from the people you are protecting with steamy mist or hurricane ain't a good thing. Plus you waste time standing up again.
Epic Pool
See that double-damage-when-mezzed bit? See all those blaster powers that do nice damage at range? Yep, you can start putting the hurt on some bad guys now! Note the Ice Storm power probably counts as a pet so it isn't going to get the double damage thing. A crushing field, a freezing rain, and a fire ball can sure do some damage now, though!
Hibernate: a late change made the tank version of Hibernate give back endurance but I don't think the controller or blaster versions got it. No idea if it was by design or not. If not, you may soon be able to drop endurance reduction enhancers from the power.
Strategy
Pre-18: life is a bit easier. With your double damage options it no longer takes an eon to solo a mission. Now it just takes half an eon.
18-32: The tactic in the original guide still works but you can't use it as often and there's no longer a question about whether the GDF will drop before the battle is done. Some folks seem to think that this makes you so weak that there's no point in a team inviting you along any more. That's true, if you're dumb enough to rely on just that tactic.
However, you are not a one-trick poney. Sure, a hold is the second best mez out there (confuse is the best, though it can cost a little xp to use) but stuns are great, too, and you've got a lot of them. Combine a stun with an immobilize and you've got yourself a hold!
You've also got more endurance available to you in Issue 5 because several powers have had their endurance requirements lowered a bit. Snowstorm was always overshadowed by GDF (why slow them when you can stop them completely?) but now the power can get more use. Ditto for Hurricane and Thunder Clap. Wormhole might actually be used for stuns now as well as moving enemies. Before I5, I would normally follow the Wormhole up with a GDF so the stun really didn't matter much.
32+: Singularity is still a handy handy thing. You can't totally dominate by having three of them follow you around any more but you will still find you're a lot more viable running solo once you get one. Lightning storm really helps out.
The Singularities aren't going to fill up the "control gap" at all, though. Your one pet will help hold a few but just a few. YOU need to close the gap with your Thunder Clap and Wormhole. Snowstorm won't stop them but it will sure slow them down a bunch. Freezing Rain, Lift, and sometimes Hurricane will make them waste time standing up over and over again. Dimension Shift, as long as your allies understand what the hades is going on, takes enemies completely out of the battle for awhile, too.
Don't panic, use all your powers (you can do that now that endurance costs have been lowered), and you'll do just fine. In fact, you'll probably have more fun because you'll need to be paying attention and reacting through more of the battle. No more GDF, Freezing Rain, Lightning Storm, /em Newspaper tactics!
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Crushing Field: This is a good power but you might want to put it off for a few levels. You can use it to keep the bad guys in your freezing rain. If other people in your group have AoE DOT powers (burn, fire rain, and so on) it gets even more useful. Damage is minimal so dont slot for that. It recharges pretty fast and lasts long enough for me so I didn't slot for those. As an AoE it does burn some endurance so you might want to put an enhancer or two in there to take the edge off. Otherwise, crank that accuracy. The anti-fly aspect of this power has come in handy only on rare occasion, but could prove very helpful in PvP.
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I love when people actually point out the POSITIVES of AoE immobs like Crushing Field rather than the usual "the power sux" nonsense.
Oh yeah... very nice guide!
Thanks for sharing this guide, it has been a great help. I love playing my grav/storm!
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Crush: Does anyone get this? It just doesnt look very handy. Single target only, just immobilizes, doesn't do much damage. Bah, just wait for the AoE version.
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Crush does about the same damage for Lift, and it has -fly. Since it does more damage ticks then the AoE immob. You could in theory fly to the ceiling of sirens call, hit a stalker chasing you, and the DOT effect of it +the neg fly would basically one shot him.
Plus its good for setting up containment.
Ah my old guide! I think I'll add a bit now that I7 is out on the live servers....
First and foremost regarding Stamina....
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If there are three other powers you want to snag or if you just want to put the stamina power off for awhile, by all means skip over it. Personally, I'm going to keep it and switch several of my endurance reduction enhancers to other things.
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I got rid of Stamina completely and replaced it with some attacks from the Ice Ancillary pool. Ice Storm + Blizzard (+ Containment?) is pretty fine! It definitely IS possible for me to run out of endurance in the middle of a very long battle but, well, that's what the blue inspires are all about. They've worked quite nicely, too, and the additional damage has more than made up for the bother of having to watch my blue bar. I ddn't do this until level 50, though, so this may be harder to do while coming up the ranks.
Another huge change is that "pseudo-pets" now inherit our buffs. It hasn't been real obvious sometimes but a lot of the Storm powers actually summon pets. Tornado, Lightning Storm, and even Freezing Rain are "pseudo-pets". So now, with issue 7 out, these things will inherit your own buffs. Pop and Aim inspire before using your freezing rain and the rain will hit more times. Pop a damage inpsire before you do your lightning storm and it will do even more massive damage. I'm still not totally clear on how all these will work out (do they inherit your containment ability? if you are speed boosted, will your tornado zip around at high speed?) but I am clear that it's a great big help to us!
A big change was made to Hibernate either in I5 or I6 - it no longer can be left on indefinitely. When battles went very badly before I could just hunker down under the ice and wait for everyone to get back from the hospital. You could even take the "cheap way out" and simply log out while hibernated to escape any impending doom. No more. Now it just lasts 30 seconds. Still way more than enough time to heal up, though. Also, it now takes effect immediatly where the old version took about three seconds after you started the power to begin protecting you. I treat this power mostly like a super-rest power that works faster and that you can use right in the thick of battle.
Over in CoV my Corruptor has been using Snowstorm quite a bit. It's a very good power all right but dangerous. You MUST keep track of your anchor, particularly against teleporters like the Rikti! They can and will teleport to another spawn and your snowstorm will send that entire spawn out to hunt you down. Also, it's quite an endurance hog. It sure does a lot, though, by slowing down the enemies' recharge rate by roughly 40% and combined with freezing rain taking them down a bit more....
Oh, something else of note - I've been hearing from some people that some of you controllers have been getting lax in the immobilize department! Folks, on a lot of the teams out there the AoE Crushing Field power is actually more important than even the AoE Gravity Distortion Field! If your team has "scatter powers" that tend to send enemies running around and if the group isn't having much trouble with damage mitigation then it's time to switch gears. Rain powers, the fire tank's Burn power, Assault Rifle's Ignite power - all these do great damage but, without somebody to hold them in the area of effect, don't do the damage for long. Immobilize is also good for keeping enemies clustered after a tank has taunted them all into one spot which can easily translate into much more damage from all the AoE powers. And, of course, our very own Freezing Rain power can debuff much more effectively if they stick around in the rain.
Also an oddity - it seems that intangibility enhancers, unlike all other mez enhancers, add to magnitude of the intangibility. I have no idea how much it adds or even if it's true but it could give rise to some interesting strategies. Especially if you find yourself staring at Lord Recluse and Ghost Widow at the same time.
Oh, and Lift now has the -fly component so it will take down fliers as well. Gravity is getting quite good at knocking down the fly boys! Snowstorm can knock down the fliers, too. If you can get in the air yourself and you have the endurance, a lot of enemies are going to have a lot of difficulty getting into melee range.
Another one I could use a check on because I'm not certain.... If you put a slow enhancer into freezing rain or snowstorm you only slow movement rate, you don't slow the enemy's recharge rate.
My no stamina build - well, most of it. Whoops, though now that I look at it, I need to get an intangibility instead of endurance in Dim Shift.
Does anyone have a recent Grav/Storm build they'd be willing to share?
I didnt see any Grav/Storm guides out there so here you are! I may not be level 50 but Im level 49 and moving fast. This is being written before any real details of the Issue 4 (Arena) update are known.
My character is used almost exclusively in groups and mostly groups that are a bit above her level, at that. While she is very group oriented, she has become quite a solo powerhouse in the upper levels.
Grav Powers
Crush: Does anyone get this? It just doesnt look very handy. Single target only, just immobilizes, doesn't do much damage. Bah, just wait for the AoE version.
Lift: Get it for damage when you are low level. Once you get in the teens, though, it becomes better as a make-shift hold. When you hit with this, the enemy flies up, falls down, and has to stand up again all the while not shooting at anyone. By the time that happens, your real hold power should be ready. I wouldnt six-slot this but the power is quite useful. Damage enhancers are good early on, but migrate to accuracy and knockback when you start getting DOs.
Gravity Distortion: This is your main power until you hit 18. Even after 18 it's a vital power. Six slot it soon! Youll want accuracy and hold time in there, and possibly a recharge as well. Dont bother with damage or endurance reduction.
Propel: Copy your character to the Test server then get this power there. Its fun to watch it a few times but the power is really pretty horrible. By the time it actually fires off, the target will probably be dead already. It uses a ton of endurance and does little damage. It can do knockback but, with your secondary, thats not an issue for you anyway. If you really want a damage power, look to the power pools.
Crushing Field: This is a good power but you might want to put it off for a few levels. You can use it to keep the bad guys in your freezing rain. If other people in your group have AoE DOT powers (burn, fire rain, and so on) it gets even more useful. Damage is minimal so dont slot for that. It recharges pretty fast and lasts long enough for me so I didn't slot for those. As an AoE it does burn some endurance so you might want to put an enhancer or two in there to take the edge off. Otherwise, crank that accuracy. The anti-fly aspect of this power has come in handy only on rare occasion, but could prove very helpful in PvP.
Dimension Shift: I got this in beta but skipped it in production. It can be a good power to use. Youll need to train the people you often group with on how it works, though. Also, unlike most AoEs, with this one youll probably want to miss a lot of the enemies. Instead of aiming for the center of a group, pick on the right or left edge. Shift them out then have your group attack the baddies on the opposite side.
Gravity Distortion Field (GDF): This is the defining power for Grav Controllers, IMHO. Its got good range, holds a lot of bad guys, has no accuracy penalty, makes it easy for everyone to see who is held without obstructing vision... the thing is just plain great! Six slot it ASAP and make it the priority for SOs when you get in the 20s. It burns a pretty good hunk of endurance but I piled on the accuracy SOs for this one. Hold duration is a good one here, too, but not as important for a Grav/Storm as some other builds. You might toss a recharge enhancer in here, too.
Wormhole: If you plan on doing the solo thing much, youre going to want this before level 38. Honestly, Ive used this power a ton from the time I got it onward. Use it to send enemies away (especially immobile ones and most especially those pesky D.E. fungi), use it to pull enemies to you, and use it to feed that Lightning Storm! Sending enemies straight up in the air can be fun but it doesn't do much damage. When using it for pulling, youll need at least one range SO and preferably two. Accuracy is nice, of course, and endurance reduction is a good idea. This most definitely does not need six slotting but you might want to give it one or two extra slots.
Singularity: Before Singularity, you can not solo in any kind of reasonable time. It will take you 30 seconds to take down a minion ten levels below you! After Singularity, you can take on red minions without much trouble. Even outside of solo they are extremely handy critters. They can act as tanks, they can hold bad guys all over the place, and they can do some real damage. Crank them up with some recharge and some damage enhancements. Six slot for sure. Watch your endurance, though, because they suck about half of it away.
Storm
Gale: Pretty handy in your earliest levels just for doing damage and keeping the bad guys away. After level 10, though, it becomes a solo-only power and you better not be going solo. Mostly fun for laughs at the higher levels. Could be a very handy power in PvP, depending on how knockback is put in for players. Slots? Nah.
O2 Boost: This is a mighty fine heal, never mind what other folks are saying. True, it doesnt do as many points of healing as some other power sets but it is a lot easier to use. Just pick who you want to heal and heal them. No worries about whether you (or an enemy) are standing near the person. No worries about that enemy dying before you get the power off. No worries about missing. Plus you get some stun/sleep protection thrown in to boot! (And rumor has it that it will have some sort of endurance-sapping protection in issue 4, too!)
At the low levels, O2 Boost was terribly important for me. After I had done the hold on whatever looked more dangerous, I mostly did O2 Boosts on people, tossing out more holds as they became available. Not only is this group friendly, it generates very little agro so you might find yourself the last one standing in quite a few battles. (A good thing, given that you cant heal yourself with it.) Six slot this one. Put in some recharge, some endurance reduction (its definitely and end hog), and fill the rest up with heal enhancements. Once you hit level 18 youll find yourself doing it less often, but it still comes in very handy.
Snow Storm: The best power I hardly ever use. Not only does it slow the target down, the thing increases the recharge time for a lot of foes standing near target! If you need help understanding how nice that is, there are some storm shamans out there ready to give you some lessons. I didnt use it early on, though, because it brought too much agro my way. Later, I didnt use it because the enemies were mostly held anyway so why waste endurance slowing them down? It has come in very handy in the end game, though, for slowing down AVs and monsters. This can be an endurance hog.
Steamy Mist: This is your bubble! Its main use is against all those fire and energy attacks of the Circle of Thorns, Clockwork, and Freakshow. It adds some all-around defense, too, but its the energy/fire/cold attacks that really will have troubles working on you and your group. Its stealth is also handy for those grab-the-glowy missions and helping you use your travel power in high level zones safely. Its a toggle so you will likely need an endurance reduction or two in there.
Freezing Rain: Fun and handy!! It makes your enemies easier to hit (very handy against those spirit masks), it gives about a 30% increase in damage, it makes the enemies run slower, and enemies will often fall down. Enemies will scatter (or at least try to scatter) when the rain falls on them, so you can use this when enemies get past the melee people and start beating on squishy heroes. If you dont want them to scatter, use your crushing field or put them in a hold.
Hurricane: Situational, but sometimes handy particularly before Singularities and their repel effect come into play. When battles start to go bad and a lot of bad guys start in on you, this works great for keeping them out of melee range. You can use it to block doors, too. If theres a corner handy and you can back them in to it (either with hurricane or good old wormhole), this power can leave enemies eternally falling down and standing up! It does burn some endurance but a couple of enhancements will take care of that. Beyond that, I didnt slot it.
Thunder Clap: This is how you take care of gravitys infamous control gap. Once the GDF wears off, you jump in and fire one of these off followed by a crushing field to keep the bad guys from wandering off. Doesnt work so well on lieutenants, never mind bosses, so hopefully most of those will be gone by the time the GDF falls. Youll probably want to lean toward accuracy on this one.
Tornado: I just got this at 49 so Im still playing with it. Honestly, it mostly seems a plaything right now. Damage is about as much as Grav Distortion per tick. I suppose if you were to keep the enemy held and the tornado concentrated on it, it would do reasonable damage. It recharges fast enough that some slotting would not only make this perma but you could probably manage to get a couple of tornadoes out there all the time. Still, the knockback on this is so large and unpredictable that it should only be used for fun when in groups. (But, as playthings go, this is a pretty good one. Herd a bunch of low level bad guys around you then toss it out!) PvP use of this power might be quite interesting.
Lightning Storm: Now you can start doing some serious damage! This thing plus freezing rain plus two or three singularities can really dish it out. It will not follow you around but, with wormhole, youre pretty good at moving things to it. It also has a pretty big knockback to make those corner fights more enjoyable. With haste and no recharge enhancers, Im able to put up a new cloud as soon as the old one vanishes. It does burn a truckload of endurance and the knockback can be a problem in groups. I like to jump in the air just as I cast it, too, in order to keep it from blocking my camera.
The Lightning Storms targeting seems a little strange. It seems to go after things that are close to you. If you get too far away, it wont shoot anything even if there are enemies right under the cloud. This means you cant put your cloud up far away from a spawn then just shoot enemies into it with wormhole. You have to be there for it to work.
Pools
Speed/Hasten: I hate to be so cliché, but youre going to need this one. At early levels you need it to get your O2 boosts out and speed up the single-target hold. Youll need it for Grav Distortion Field very badly. Youll need it for the Singularity, too, and freezing rain could certainly use it. Get it, slot it, and make it your auto-fire power.
Fitness/Stamina: Not needed as badly as most. You certainly do not need to sacrifice powers to get it at 20th. Just keep an eye on your endurance and dont use toggle powers when you dont need them. You will want this power once you get up to the big drain powers like Singularity and Lightning Storm, though.
Teleport/Recall Friend: I hang around the Shadow Shard a lot so I got this at 41. Its pretty good for bringing your pets up elevators, too, though hopefully pets will be learning how to use elevators themselves soon.
Leaping Travel: I went for this mostly because its just so much fun. It also seems to work real well with O2 Boost when battles get separated. Just click the person you want to heal, click O2 Boost, jump by them, and youll heal them when you land regardless of how far away you land. Steamy Mists stealth is a big help in safely leaping through high level zones.
Leaping/Acrobatics: Seems kinda so-so so far. I got it in the 40's thinking it might be handy in PvP battles.
Epic Pool
I got the Hibernate in the Ice set. I had other plans for my character so I really couldnt get enough of the Energy epic powers to get the power boost. Anyway, Hibernate has been a life saver almost every night Ive played. Its a way to heal yourself something O2 Boost just cant do! Its superb when you suddenly get a ton of agro, too (most often because one of your pets got a ton of agro and then died/expired). Given that your Singularities, Lightning Storm, and maybe Tornado will be doing most of your damage anyway, why not go under ice and protect yourself?
My only real problem with it is that it sometimes leaves me sitting there watching my entire team get wasted. For a support archtype, thats just harsh to watch! Luckily, it can be turned off pretty fast so you can save the day with a quick GDF. Even with Stamina, Hibernate needs an endurance reduction SO to work well for me. A recharge might be nice, too, if you find yourself using it often. I really dont think it needs more slots than that, though.
Strategy
Pre-18: Hold the boss. Toss Freezing Rain up if you have it, followed by a crushing field (presumably the tank will have agro by this time, so thats safe). Then just start O2ing anyone with so much as a scratch. Youll get very little agro this way. You wont be nearly as effective as an empath but youll carry your weight. Barely.
18-32: Follow the melees in to keep them in Steamy Mist range, particularly against energy/fire/cold enemies. Try to wait a few seconds to let the bad guys clump around the melee people, then drop the GDF on them. Follow with freezing rain. (If blasters are going in for a nuke, try to get the rain started a split second before they blow up.) If a boss escapes the GDF, lock him down with the single target Grav Distort. If the battle lasts long enough that the GDF drops, leap in and Thunder Clap them, followed by crushing field. Freezing rain comes back up fairly quickly so be sure to use it again in the long battles. If the enemies have annoying pets or particularly slow bosses, wormhole them away. This goes triple for D.E. fungi, which will cancel all your mez effects! Cornering tactics start to come into play at these levels, too.
32+: While your character may be reasonably safe going solo before this point, your sanity will suffer. Even a small spawn of green minions and lts will take agonizingly long for you to gum to death. Your Singularity has some teeth particularly once you get two out there. Lightning Storm adds even more and Tornado doesn't hurt, either. Obviously you wont be matching the damage output of blaster or scrapper but, with all the holds going on, your enemies damage output is going to be near nothing.
When battles look pretty easy, Ill start by jumping just behind the spawn and clicking the GDF power while Im in the air. The Singularities will get in range without coaxing that way. Then do the lightning storm and the freezing rain. If any are still alive when the GDF wears off, hit them with a single-target hold or the old lightning clap/crushing field bit. If the spawns are close together, have patience and dont use the lightning storm or it will take a shot at another spawn and draw a lot of agro right to you. If the battle finishes quickly, use wormhole to bring something from the next spawn under your lightning storm.
When battles are harder, get the singularities between you and the spawn then wormhole the boss out preferably into a corner or at least up against a wall. Hold then use lightning storm and freezing rain on the boss. If the rest of the spawn comes, the singularities will keep them at bay for a good while. Finish the boss then start using wormhole to feed your lightning storm. Make sure you keep an eye on your singularities and, if it looks like they are going to go down, run away and try something easier.
Corner Fighting: You are death incarnate in a corner. Lightning Storm strokes come fast enough that a single cornered enemy will have a hard time getting any shots off between the knockbacks. Hurricane can put enemies in eternal knockback in a corner. Dropping a singularity just in front of an enemy in a corner will keep leave it bouncing up and down between holds. Using all three is just downright mean. Do it.
AVs are, of course, pretty much immune to this tactic but even large bosses are going to be in a whole world of hurt here. Whats more, none of these powers require your attention once you start them up. Get the enemy trapped and you can turn your back on them and take care of the rest of the spawn! (Or use the ;newspaper emote, if youre in that kind of a mood. )