Guide to solo Illusion/Radiation for I6
By
BellaStrega,
Posted on: 2006-03-02 16:47 in Player Guides
<BEGIN PART 2>
Effects of I5 and ED on Illusion (and Radiation)
There have been a number of discussions on the forum boards regarding the relative impact of Containment and ED on the various Controller primaries. Some of the discussion was factually driven and some was driven by what I consider to be bitterness and schadenfreude. Listed here is my previously posted effort to enumerate the changes to Illusion due to I5 and ED.
Blind:
I5-> BLIND both enables and fully benefits from Containment. BLIND is the only single-target MEZZ in the set, and thus, the only single-target method to enable containment. The need for BLIND to be both a MEZZ and a damage attack deprecates 6xDAMAGE slotting in I5.
ED/I6-> BLIND is not seriously impacted, due to typical slotting. Loss of Perma-Hasten and Perma-AM results in longer recharge times and somewhat lower damage.
Spectral Wounds:
I5: Spectral Wounds is the only controller direct attack that doesn't gain full Containment bonus. Instead of the typical
(4.55*2)-1.77
the formula works instead as
(4.55) + (2.78) -1.77
Prior to I5, with 6xDAMAGE, SW did 13.65 BI, and was 87% efficient (that is, after healback, you retained 11.88 or 87%)
After I5, with 6xDAMAGE and Containment, SW did 22 BI, 92% efficiency
With ED, 3xDAMAGE, and Containment, you fall back to 14.3 BI and 87.5% efficiency
With ED, 3xDAMAGE and No Containment, you fall back to 7.1 BI and 80% efficiency.
Containment added a best case of 61% additional damage
When ED arrived, that dropped back 35%, and compared to Pre-I5, a net increase of about 5% damage, with Containment.
As contrast: Air Superiority
Prior to I5, AS was 100% efficient, and with 6xDAMAGE , did 8.34 BI
After I5, with Contain, AS 100% efficient, and with 6xDAMAGE, did 16.68 BI
With ED, 3xDAMAGE and Containment, 100% efficient, you fall back to 10.84 BI
AS best case with Contain prior to ED was a boost of 100%
After ED, you lose 35%, netting a 30% increase in damage after Containment and ED.
So, SW benefits LESS from Containment, and suffers more from ED than all other Controller attacks.
Additionally, the loss of Perma-Hasten and Perma-AM results in longer recharge times.
Deceive:
I5-> No negative effect, but does not enable or benefit from Containment
ED/I6-> Due to typical slotting, ED did not have a major effect here. However, loss of Perma-Hasten and Perma-AM do result in longer recharge times.
Flash:
I5-> Max # of targets reduced, Duration of HOLD reduced, Increase to Recharge time, PBAoE has lower target LIMIT than ranged AoE HOLDs
ED/I6-> Due to typical slotting, ED did not have a major effect here. However, loss of Perma-Hasten and Perma-AM do compound the increase recharge time.
Superior Invisibility:
I5-> Defense bonus that had only been recently raised is cut to approx 50% of previous value
ED/I6-> Possibly affects SI if it was slotted 4xDEFBUFF previously. Also, I6 brings suppression of DEF during combat.
Group Invisibility:
I5-> Defense bonus is cut to approx 50% of previous value
ED/I6-> Defense suppresses in combat. Perma-Ability is impacted but not destroyed, by loss of Perma-Hasten, Perma-AM
Phantom Army:
I5-> Does not enable or benefit from Containment.
ED/I6-> Ability to PERMA PA is gone, compounded by loss of Perma-Hasten, Perma-AM. The Summon Animation is now longer than previous, causing a delay in initial attack. Due to slotting, ED doesn't have as big an impact on damage output as it might have.
Spectral Terror:
I5-> Can't summon more than 1 ST simultaneously. Reduction of overall potential FEAR control. FEAR doesn't enable containment
ED/I6-> Due to slotting, ED has little direct effect on ST.
Phantasm:
I5-> Can't summon more than 1 Phantasm simultaneously, but duration increases significantly. Doesn't enable or benefit from containment.
ED/I6-> Damage potential reduced by ED, Increased summon animation time/initial attack delay.
I5 and ED effects on Radiation Secondary
Radiant Aura:
I5-> No changes here
ED/I6-> Given the typical slotting, little or no impact.
Radiation Infection:
I5-> AoE debuff target# limitation
ED/I6-> Given the typical slotting, little or no impact.
Accelerate Metabolism:
I5-> No changes here
ED/I6-> Loss of Perma-Hasten means loss of Perma-AM. Typical slotting isnt seriously impacted beyond availability.
Enervating Field:
I5-> AoE debuff target# limitation, effectiveness reduced for controllers to ~22.5%
ED/I6-> Given the typical slotting, little or no impact.
Mutation:
I5-> No changes noted
ED/I6-> typical slotting is not impacted. Loss of Perma-Hasten capacity does affect recharge times
Lingering Radiation:
I5-> AoE debuff target# limitation
ED/I6-> typical slotting is not impacted. Loss of Perma-Hasten capacity does affect recharge times
Choking Cloud:
I5-> PBAoE target# limitation
ED/I6-> Given the typical slotting, little or no impact.
Fallout:
I5-> target# limitation, but unlikely to actually encounter the limitation
ED/I6->Typical (?) slotting would seem to be unaffected. Deprecated power
EM Pulse:
I5-> Large AoE target# limitation. EMP dodges the bullet on HOLD duration
ED/I6-> typical slotting is not affected, outside of recharge time due to Perma-Hasten loss
<END PART 2>
<BEGIN PART 3>
Illusion Primary Powers from the solo Illusion/Radiation perspective:
The Illusion primary has been well documented over the past nearly 2 years. The guides, however, arent quite up to date, so Im going to provide my views on the set as a Solo controller, heavily emphasizing damage and Sufficient Control.
Spectral Wounds: Available at LVL 1
This is the bread and butter attack for Illusion. It doesnt work quite like other attacks, and as such, I will elaborate.
SW used to be the biggest controller attack, but now that ED is here, it is merely *one* of the largest gross damage attacks available to controllers. It is sometimes misunderstood and damage numbers are confused.
SW damages as follows:
4.55 BI Single-Target, PSI damage
After 10 seconds, if the target is still unarrested, part of the damage done heals back
Unslotted, this is expressed as 4.55 1.77 healback = 2.78 NET (the same as most entry level attacks). This yields an efficiency of 61%
Slotted 3xDamage SOs, the damage becomes 4.55*1.95 = 8.9 gross -1.77 healback= 7.1 NET, with an efficiency of 80% and the NET has jump by 155% (!)
Since SW has a static healback amount, the more enhancers and buffs you can apply to it, the more efficient it becomes. SW gains more benefit from enhancers than other powers due to this fact. Powers like Accelerate Metabolism help nicely, and Enervating Field can also boost efficiencies.
Slotted 3xDamage SOs, and AM, the damage becomes 4.55*2.2 = 10 gross 1.77 healback = 8.23 NET, with an efficiency of 82%
Slotted 3xDamage SOs, AM and EF, the damage becomes 4.55*2.2 * 1.225 = 12.25 gross 1.77 healback = 10.5 NET, an efficiency of 85.7%
Slotted 3xDamage SOs, AM and contain, the damage becomes 4.55*2.2 + 2.78*2.2 =16.1 gross 1.77 = 14.33 NET, an efficiency of 89%
Slotted 3xDamage SOs, AM, Containment and EF, the damage becomes (4.55*2.2 + 2.78 *2.2)*1.225=19.74 gross 1.77 =17.98 NET, an efficiency of 91%
If you can cap your SW (4.55*4 + 2.78*4)*1.225 = 36 1.77=34.15 NET, you can obtain an efficiency of 95%
As you can see, it is vitally important to maximize the enhancers, buffs and containment to Spectral Wounds.
Until you reach Lvl41 and have access to ancillary attack powers, Spectral Wounds will be your largest damaging attack. It does good amounts of PSI damage, which is rarely resisted. However, when someone does have PSI resists, its usually significant, 50% or so. Bots of various types are troublesome for many low-level Illusion controller for this reason, as are Banish Pantheon zombies.
My recommended slotting for SW will be shown in the various level-ranged builds below.
Blind: Available at Lvl 1
Blind is the standard single-target, ranged HOLD with damage. Additionally, Blind offers a low % chance to SLEEP targets who are extremely closeby the target of the HOLD.
Blind does damage at 2.78BI, PSI damage. Throughout most of your career, Blind will serve double duty. It offers good damage, and it is your only source of readily available Containment-enabling in your primary. ED has eliminated the ability to slot effectively past 3xDamage, but that is unlikely to affect most Illusion controllers.
Blind->SW->Air Superiority forms the backbone of this Illusion/Radiation attack chain.
My recommended slotting for Blind will be shown in the various level-ranged builds below.
Deceive: Available at Lvl 2
Deceive, along with its Confuse counterpart, is another power that is often misunderstood.
Deceive is a ranged, single-target Confuse power. It does not generate agro or suppress Invisibility (per my testing). The target, if successfully affected, sees his friends as enemies and begins to treat them as such. Outside of the damage aspect, using Deceive on buffing baddies like Tsoo Sorcerors, Skyraider Engineers and my favorite, Rikti Guardians, can net you some valuable buffs for the duration.
I do see a tendency for some controllers to rely on Deceive for offense. I consider this to be a mistake. Not for the D00D, youre stealing XP from us with your DECEIVE!!!, but rather, the general delays involved in using it on multiple opponents. There are times when this is the right strategy, but those times are not every single encounter
For an aggressive Illusion/Radiation, Deceive has uses, but it is not a bread and butter power. It is a handy tool to have available in the right situation, but when overused, its a drag on your XP/minute. Using Deceive to soften up a boss or AV encounter is a great example of the right situation. Using Deceive against PSI-resistant robots is another great use. Using Deceive to get an entire group of minions to flail away at each other, one target at a time, is an entertaining but ultimately sub-optimal use.
There are several excellent guides to using Deceive/Confuse, including breakdowns on how much XP you do lose when a confused baddie attacks his friend. Those guides are available in the guides section for controllers and are highly recommended.
Flash: Available at Lvl 6
Flash is a power that engenders mixed feelings. On one hand, it is an AoE hold, available very early in your career, much earlier than the other primaries. It can save the day when used as a panic button. On the other hand, it is a PBAoE with low base accuracy and a very short HOLD duration. Used in the wrong situation, it can easily agro another group of baddies and cause a team-wipe very shortly thereafter (and I have been guilty of this myself).
Flash serves two purposes for the Illusion/Radiation controller. First, it is your basic AoE Containment-enabling power, useful when you have access to AoE damage later in your career. Second, it is a powerful panic button when you need to escape a bad situation or fall back.
Given its PBAoE nature, low base accuracy and low base HOLD duration, it is often delayed until SO enhancers are available, or even later. My current build has this power at Lvl35, although originally, I had it much earlier (like LVL 6)
I did and would take FLASH, but I wouldnt necessarily do so until you can leverage it fully with SO enhancers.
My recommended slotting for Flash will be shown in the various level-ranged builds below.
Superior Invisibility: Available at Lvl 8
For a long time, this was a meh power. It was boosted with attack while invisible and a large DEF bonus and for a short time, it was super. The Devs saw fit to nerf it, and currently, it is ok but not a must have power.
It has a very high toggle cost, making it difficult to use offensively at the low levels where you can take it. The DEF is ok, but suppresses in combat, which makes it only really useful against stray AoE attacks.
Debate over whether SI offers better stealth than GI or other Invisibility still persists. I see reports of folks stating that they can stand next to Rikti Drones with SI, but I know that when I had SI, I could not. Additionally, forum debates continue on the relative effectiveness of SI vs. Stalker HIDE powers, in terms of DEF and stealth per unit endurance.
I dont see the real benefit for SI over Group Invisibility, if you can manage the recast timer on Group Invis. I had SI and I respecd out, ironically, in an effort to be a bit more team useful. I suppose it comes in handy running around the Hollows, if thats your cup of tea.
Group Invisibility: Available at Lvl 12
Group Invisibility had a good DEF base for a while, but was cut down when SI was, and the DEF is suppressed in combat, making it as useless as SIs DEF is. Group Invis will stack with the stealth component of other powers, so it has good team applicability.
Group Invisibility has a low endurance cost, and is Perma-able even under ED with a few recharge enhancers. One drawback to GI is that while you can use it to make your Phantasm invisible, it wont work on your PhantomArmy. Additionally, Phantasm will still attack anything within range, so making him invisible doesnt appreciably improve your stealthing ability when hes active.
I respecd into GI and with HeroStats buff timer, I have no issues with GI wearing off at the wrong time. There is a moment of visibility during reapplication and it is possible that such is being addressed in the near future, along with a few other similar powers that turn-off while being re-activated during their duration.
My recommended slotting for GI will be shown in the various level-ranged builds below.
Phantom Army: Available at Lvl 18
For many Illusion Controllers, PA is the reason they chose Illusion. Its one of the set defining powers and it is both instantly and persistently useful.
Phantom Army summons THREE (3) intangible, unaffectable decoys who will attack foes within range. PA has both a ranged attack and a melee attack. The attacks appear to do varied types of damage, but the damage is in actuality, all PSI damage.
PA does damage similarly to Spectral Wounds. After 10 seconds, a portion of that damage will healback if the target is still alive. This healback is often misunderstood and leads people to improperly slot their PA.
Based on PILCROWs testing for Phantom Army, you have basic damage numbers as follows:
3.76 BI PSI, ranged, every 4 seconds, with 1.77 healback (52% efficiency)
6.1 BI PSI, melee, every 8 seconds, with 4.83 healback (21% efficiency)
Unslotted, this is roughly 2 BI every 4 seconds ranged, NET and
1.26 BI every 8 seconds melee, NET
This is not great damage and I can see how someone might consider PA to be less than useful as an attack. It would logical follow that doubling the poor damage with enhancers isnt going to benefit them much. It would follow, but be wrong.
Just like SW, PA benefits tremendously from damage enhancers and any resistance debuffs that can be put on an enemy
Adding 3xDamage,
3.76 * 1.95 = 7.32 gross 1.77 = 5.56 NET (76% efficiency)
6.1 * 1.95 = 11.9 gross 4.83 = 7.07 NET (60% efficiency)
Note the dramatic improvement in both NET damage and efficiency.
Adding Enervating Field
7.32 * 1.225 = 8.97 Gross 1.77 = 7.2 NET (80% efficiency)
11.9 * 1.225 = 14.58 Gross 4.83 = 9.75 NET (67% efficiency)
3xDAM and Enervating Field gives you NET damage boosts of 260% and 670%, respectively. Additionally, with GROSS values as high as they are, you are much less likely to encounter the healback and as such, often PA runs at 100% efficiency for a single-target, so long as they can take it down in <10 seconds.
Recharge on PA under ED isnt quite what it used to be, but it is good enough that you can still have your PA out more than 2/3 of the time. HASTEN and AM provide significant boosts to your PA recharge.
In my case, with HASTEN and AM running, slotted 2xRecharge,
Base recharge of 240 seconds, duration of 60 seconds:
(240 / 1 + .7 + .25 + .67) = 91 seconds 60 second duration = 31 second downtime.
Given the lack of Perma-Hasten and Perma-AM, I cant sustain that downtime, but under best case, I can have that 31 seconds and still have 3xDamage in my PA.
The trick to PA is keeping them focused on a given target, without having any real ability to tell them who to attack. There is a good guide on tactical use of PA available in the guide section and I recommend you familiarize yourself with its finer points.
PA has 2 main uses for my Illusion/Radiation controller:
First, I use them as damage dealers for sixty seconds, especially versus a tough boss. Second, they serve to tank things that have large alphas, like AVs. Even without Perma-PA, you can still engage AVs effectively and the new EB-class AVs provide little challenge.
Against single foes, PA should add roughly 2.5 DPS of NET Psi damage. Given the difficulty in keeping them on task, that can vary significantly. If you can get PA to move in and out of melee range or switch to a distant target, they will cycle between ranged and melee very quickly and when doing so, you see that the recharge times for the 2 available attacks are in fact separate from each other. Forcing them to switch targets by arresting their target for them is a good way to get them to speed up their damage output.
Spectral Terror: Available at Lvl 26
ST is a welcome addition to the control abilities for an Illusion controller. The area FEAR and TERRIFY powers are very powerful. ST can still be made Perma with proper slotting. FEAR resists are limited in the game. One drawback of ST is that he is untargetable and as such, any aggro he draws is transferred directly to you. Opening with ST against a group of baddies with large attacks and FEAR resistance is a good way to get alphad right into the turf.
ST doesnt enable Containment, nor does it do any damage to benefit from Containment. Still, it is nearly a must-have power and it remains useful with minimal slotting throughout your career.
Phantasm: Available at Lvl 32
Phantasm is the real pet for the Illusion class. It is fully buffable, healable, etc. Unlike PA, Phantasm does fully real damage. His attacks are basically the same as an Energy blaster. Damage is a mix of energy/smashing. TORRENT is a valuable tool, both for damage and for aggro management/damage mitigation.
He isnt as robust as Stoney, but he is fairly tough, having inherent resistance against the physical damages. He is vulnerable to Negative damage and as such, things like Master Illusionist Dark Servant pets and Shadows will put a real hurt on Phantasm.
He summons his own Phantasm Decoy. It is intangible and unaffectable, similar to PA, but his damage attacks are 100% Illusionary. They actually do better damage than Phantasms own single target attack, but after 10 seconds, the entire amount is healed back. Phantasm is fairly good about summoning his Decoy when needed and any recharge boosts like AM you can apply to Phantasm will help that.
Per PILCROWs pet damage testing, Phantasm does damage as follows:
Single-Target Ranged blast = 3.6 BI mixed Eng/Smash, 6 second interval assumed
Ranged Torrent attack = 5.56 BI, mixed Eng/Smash, cone with knockback, 6 second interval
Phantasm Decoy:
Single-Target Ranged blast = 5.36 BI, Illusionary PSI, 6 second interval, 100% healback
Ranged Torrent Attack= 5.36 BI, Illusionary PSI, cone with knockback??, 6 second interval, 100% healback
Depending on the nature of the grouping, the Torrent can be very powerful, or barely useful. Getting Phantasm to properly engage a group based on its geometry is an art form, but in general, it works best to drag him into the long axis of a group for Torrent to have its best effect.
As a rough number, Phantasm should add about 1.5 DPS against single foes and his Decoy, when out, should add 1.7 DPS, but that is very short-term damage and cant be added in with equal weight.
Those numbers are ballpark, and vary wildly depending on the situation.
<END PART 3>
<BEGIN PART 4>
Radiation Secondary from the solo Illusion controller perspective
The radiation secondary is well covered in many guides. Im going to focus on how /Radiation can improve your Illusion controller in the solo, damage-driven world.
Radiant Aura: Required at Lvl 1
Radiant Aura is a ~10-12% PBAoE heal.
For a solo Illusion controller, it serves mostly as a downtime reducer between fights. Even slotted 3xHEAL, it is healing for about 20%, which isnt nothing, and isnt huge. Until I hit Lvl35 and respecd immediately proceeding a TerraVolta trial, I had only the base slot. I added another couple to help the team with off-healing. Generally Id say those were unnecessary slots. I use Inspirations for combat healing and Radiant Aura for out-of-combat heals of myself and my Phantasm.
Radiation Infection: Available at Lvl 2
This power is a valuable part of your arsenal. It provides significant survivability, even at its base level, with its substantial ToHit Debuff AoE. The DEF debuff is handy as well in the early levels when DO and SO accuracy enhancers are not available, and later, when fighting things like Rikti Drones.
The toggle cost is noticeable, but manageable, especially when compared to Enervating Field. It is hard to over-emphasize how important this power can be. The only real drawback is the long activation time. That is generally offset by being used as an opener, and anchor-death is minimized with a solo controller (until PA comes along)
Accelerate Metabolism: Available at Lvl 4
AM is one of the best overall buffs in the game. It provides boosts to Run Speed, Fly Speed, END Recovery, HP Recovery, Recharge and Damage. It provides resistance (but not protection) to Hold, Disorient, Immobilize and Sleep. I believe I saw mention of it providing some benefit against Endurance Drain as well, but dont have documentation on hand.
AM isnt the biggest buff at anything it does, but it does a LOT of things. For the solo controller, synergy with stacked AM is less of an issue, but the occasional Rikti Guardian Deceived into giving you another AM is always handy.
The biggest benefit I put on AM is that it can allow you to delay taking STAMINA. You get a Stamina level end buff very early in the game, and as you take things like HASTEN and get SO enhancers, you can keep the buff up and running a goodly portion of the time.
AM will not benefit your PA, but Phantasm certainly enjoys the boost (he told me so). Spectral Wounds benefits nicely from AM, raising your efficiency a bit beyond the normal 3xDamage limit under ED.
Perma-AM is no longer possible, as Perma-Hasten is not possible. You can still achieve around 70% uptime with 3xRecharge, AM and Hasten. Timing your fights can give you effective uptimes higher than that.
Enervating Field: Available at Lvl 10
Here is a power that is a mixed bag for the solo Illusion/Radiation controller.
Since youre usually solo, you dont gain the type of team-wide benefit from Enervating Field that a team-based hero might. Given the endurance cost, even with heavy slotting, it pays to only use Enervating Field when it can be maximized.
The Damage buff for controllers is testing out at 22.5%. Since this buff is outside the cap, it works together very nicely with Containment bonus damage. It also helps Spectral Wounds and Phantom Army with damage and efficiency on their partial healback attacks.
The biggest use for Enervating Field for the solo Illusion controller is as a damage buff for your PA when they are attacking a large target. In that case, the extra damage of multiple attackers against your target pays for the EF.
The other time I use EF is as part of a FLASH-EF-Fireball combo. The extra damage against a large group of baddies is worth the cost. As soon as the fireball lands, EF is turned off to save END for the next attack.
The damage debuff isnt really an important issue, in my experience. When I use EF, its against a boss or AV who is being swarmed by my PA. PA is immune to damage, and Im not being targeted, so what value is the damage debuff? When I fight AVs and PA is about to go down, EF is turned off to save endurance for the next 60 second damage sprint.
Given the costs and applicability of EF to a solo Illusion controller, I recommend taking this power LATER in your build, when you can both afford to run it and leverage it to best efficiency.
Mutation: Available at Lvl 16
This power is wonderful for team-oriented Defenders or Controllers. For the solo Illusion controller, its pretty much a wasted pick.
It cannot be used on your pets (who can just be resummoned anyway), and it doesnt work on YOU. Who exactly are you going to use this on, and when?
Its an example of a fine power that simply doesnt fit the build characteristics.
Lingering Radiation: Available at Lvl 20
LR is another valuable power with soft-control effects. An AoE with MOVE, -Recharge, -REGEN and ENDREC, this power requires minimal slotting to be useful. It works nicely on large groups, and works nicely on things like AV who need to have their inherent regen neutralized.
LR benefits from Radiation Infections DEF Debuff, since LR is not an auto-hit debuff, it can and does miss folks.
Choking Cloud: Available at Lvl 28
Here is a power that is often denigrated as Joking cloud. It provides a pulsing PBAoE Hold that at most, affects ½ of the targets within range. For many controllers, its not a good idea. High END cost and low accuracy combine to hamstring the power.
It has been pointed out to me recently that since Illusion/Radiation suffers from a dearth of Containment enabling AoE powers, Choking Cloud could be used in a short-term fashion prior to attacks like Fireball, or combined with BLIND/FLASH to hold multiple Bosses very quickly. I dont have the power, but I do see how it might be useful. I just dont know what I would DROP to take and slot CC suitably.
Fallout: Available at Lvl 35
This is a AoE attack that does large amounts of damage in a small radius around a fallen comrade. If the AoE were bigger, it might provide an interesting gimmick attack when combined with Containment and Enervating Field. Excepting, were talking about solo Illusion controllers who dont have fallen comrades around to blow up anyway.
If Mutation is a wasted pick, Fallout is a doubly wasted pick.
EM Pulse: Available at Lvl 38
What can you say about the largest AoE Hold in the game, with a duration that escaped the AoE Hold duration nerf of I5? How about that is has a recharge *almost* the same as your smaller, decidedly inferior FLASH? Or that it has a better base accuracy, and an endurance drain, and does some damage to specific bot-type opponents. Did I mention that it has REGEN added in as well, so its useful in that way?
It does cost a fair, but not excessive chunk of END, and it has a short-ish period of time during which you cannot recover END (but you can pop Blue inspirations). The base HOLD duration is in the 30 second neighborhood. With 3xHOLDDUR, its about 1 MINUTE and if you have PowerBoost or the Rikti PowerBooster Accolade (Vanguard), you can get it around 2 MINUTES.
Its crazily good and it works well both as a the worlds best panic button and an AoE containment-enabling power. The visual effects are underwhelming and it takes a second to fire it off, but it has a good range and the AoE is HUGE. Too bad it only affects 16 foes now. Prior to the target# limit, you could herd and hold ludicrous #s of baddies.
Its the ultimate expression of power for a controller, solo or no. Strange that its a defender power :P
<END PART 4>
<BEGIN PART 5>
POOL POWERS:
Concealment: Markedly inferior to your own Superior Invis and Group Invis, although available a bit earlier (Stealth). Phase Shift and then letting your pets attack used to work well but the duration is only 30 seconds these days, so that old trick is less useful. Besides, were talking about kicking [censored] here, not hiding behind our pets like a MasterMind 
Fighting: Boxing and Kick both offer some additional damage. Tough gives Damage resistance, and if you plan on taking Ancillary Armor powers together with TOUGH, you can get a LOT of S/L resists. Weave offers DEF but so does Manuevers, and far less benefit than Radiation infection does. I dont see the need for large amounts of RES in PvE.
Fitness: Swift and Hurdle are a bit of a movement buff. HEALTH helps with downtime, but Radiant Aura does that better. Stamina is the real jewel here, but can be delayed a bit as required if you use Accelerate Metabolism. You cannot have too much END. Its one of the physical constants of the Universe.
Flight: Air Superiority is a great attack with KU offering additional control, especially against hard-hitting bosses. I strongly recommend AirSuperiority, early. HOVER is slow and with ED, not getting much faster. Flight is a fine travel power, safe for a controller. Group Fly is not desired
Leadership: Manuevers is useful for a team controller, but less so for the solo Illusion controller and significantly inferior to Radiation Infection. Assault offers a bit of a damage boost, but only applies to you and Phantasm, and Enervating Field is much bigger. Tactics offers a handy ToHitBuff for your team but again, youre solo and Radiation Infection is better (when you use it). Vengeance is a handy buff when someone dies, but hey, guess what?, youre solo and it doesnt work on Phantasm. Leadership is great when used heavily in a team by everyone. Solo, its sub-optimal.
Leaping: Combat Jump offers Immobilization protection and vertical air control. Jump Kick is significantly inferior to AirSuperiority. SuperJump is a fine movement power but a bit more dangerous to use than FLIGHT. Acrobatics does provide KB and minor HOLD protection but you shouldnt be needing it enough to justify it.
Medicine: Aid Ally is inferior to Radiant Aura. Stimulate only works on your Phantasm (and who cares about him?) Aid Self is again not needed, and Resuscitate is inferior to Mutation, which you already arent taking, because there is no one to use it on.
Presence: Challenge and Provoke are taunts, generally the last thing you want to do as a controller. Intimidate and Invoke Panic are inferior to Spectral Terror.
Speed: Flurry is a slow activating melee attack, inferior to AirSuperiority for our purposes. HASTEN is a valuable recharge boost that I do recommend taking. Superspeed is a good travel power with some STEALTH, but youve got invisibility already. Whirlwind is an interesting Ghetto control power but I almost never see it used, so its hard to say just how useful it is
Teleportation: Recall Friend used to be pretty handy when pets wouldnt follow up elevators. Otherwise, who are you recalling? Teleport foe is a tool that doesnt fit your profile, pulling is for blasters. Teleport is an ok travel power, but its not as simple to use as FLIGHT. Group Teleport seems to provide no benefits and I dont think Ive ever seen it used.
Part of the beauty of Illusion/Radiation is that you are very versatile and as such, you already have better versions of many Pool powers.
In our case, taking a pool attack power is a good idea and that power may well determine WHICH travel pool you take. My recommendation is for Air Superiority and FLY, as you get both the extra attack and a travel power precursor in one. HASTEN and Superspeed would be another good idea. In my case, I took HASTEN by itself for the boosts, but not superspeed.
Ancillary Powers
I have personal experience with only FireMastery, but I will comment in general terms on the others and their applicability to solo Illusion/Radiation controllers. Damage #s for ancillary attacks other than fire are per IANofMoore or SherkSilver.
IceMastery gives some damage, damage mitigation, a panic heal and a large AoE Dot that may well become very powerful in I7.
IceBlast: 2.2 BI Smash + 3.33 BI Cold = 5.55 BI, recharge and -move
Hibernate: A combination of HEAL and Phase Shift.
Frozen Armor: +? DEF Smash/Lethal, +30% Resist Cold, +10% Resist Fire
Ice Storm: 9.4 BI Cold over 15 seconds, AoE Rain attack. AoE Immobilize make this power more useful, and rumors that this damage will be enhanceable as with other RAIN powers in I7 bodes well for its future. Containment does not currently apply.
PrimalForces gives damage, endurance discount, resistance armor and a huge buff to your secondary effects. This strikes me as a PvP ancillary more than PvE
PowerBlast: 2.2 Smash + 3.33 Energy = 5.5 BI, with knockback
Conserve Power: While active, all end costs are cut to ½ normal. This is a very handy power for spamming powers in ugly situations, but the recharge is long due to ED and loss of Perma-Hasten
Temp Invulnerability: +30% Smash/Lethal resist toggle
PowerBoost: Doubles (triples?) the efficacy of your secondary power effects. Things like HOLD, disorient, Debuffs, etc. Duration is short but this power is strong.
PsionicMastery gives damage, resistance and defense armors, MEZZ protection and AoE damage. Likely used for PvP due to the Mezz protection. Illusion is already Psi heavy, so adding more PSI damage doesnt help with diversity of damage types.
Mental Blast: 5.5 BI Psi, Recharge and Speed debuffs
Indomitable Will: Mezz protection against Holds, Disorient, Sleep and Psi Defenses.
Mind over Body: 27.5% Smash/Lethal, 20% Psi resists (psi resists very rare)
Psionic Tornado: .97 x 5 ticks = 4.85 BI Psi AoE with Knockback.
EarthMastery gives a very large attack, resistance armor, an AoE attack with Disorient and Knockback and extra HP/Heal.
Hurl Boulder: 8.33 BI Smashing, slow activation, Containment makes this a BIG attack.
Fissure: 2.5 BI Smashing, AoE, with knockback and disorient effects
Rock Armor: +? DEF Smash / Lethal toggle
Earths Embrace: Dull Pain for controllers. Boosts HP and heals you.
FireMastery gives a large attack, an AoE attack, resistance armor and a way to refill your endurance
Fireblast: 5.55 BI Fire + (0-4 ticks) of .278 BI Fire = average of 6.24 BI Fire
Fireball: 3.89 BI fire + .556 BI Smash + (0-4 ticks) of .278 Fire = avg total of 5.15 F/S
Fireshield: 27.5/20/10% resists for S/L, Fire, Cold
Consume: 1.11 BI Fire + PBAoE Endurance boost
Of these, Primal is the utility belt, Fire is the outright damage, Psionic is the Mezz protection, Ice has damage mitigation and Earth is handy as well.
I chose FireMastery for Fireball. Then I realized just how powerful Fireblast is.
Fireblast outdamages SW in almost every situation conceivable. Fireblast fully benefits from Containment and has no healback. It routinely does DOUBLE the damage that SW does. Only against heavy Fire resistance (Infernal) does SW outdamage Fireblast. Fireblast is that powerful (and by extension, most of the other ancillary attacks are as well)
As an example, here is a comparison of SW and Fireblast damage, 3xDamage, without containment, with contain, and with contain and EF
SW: 4.55*2 for enhancers = 9.1 1.77 =7.33 NET
Fireblast = 5.5*2 + average 2 ticks *.278 DoT * 2 enhancer = 11.55 NET
SW: 4.55*2 for enhancers + 2.78*2 1.77 = 12.9 NET
Fireblast: (5.5*2, + average of 2 ticks*.278 DoT * 2 enhancer)*2 contain = 23.1 NET
SW: (4.55*2 + 2.78*2)*1.225 -1.77= 16.2 NET
Fireblast: ((5.5*2 + 2*.278*2)*2)*1.225 = 28.3 NET
Yep, Fireblast does between 57% -> 79% more NET damage than SW. Gross damage #s are a bit better for SW, and thats why I use BLIND->FB->SW in that order, to help ensure SW doesnt healback prior to arrest.
Consume is going to be part of my EMP->EF->FIREBALL containment combo. When I run low on end due to the EMP endurance recovery suppression, I can use CONSUME and then finish the group off with another Fireball. The Hold duration is so long, you can Fireball twice with an unenhanced EMP, 4 times with slotted EMP and 8 times (as if youd need to), when combining the RiktiPowerBoost accolade.
<END PART 5>
<BEGIN PART 6>
SAMPLE BUILDS
Build to Lvl 20:
01 : Radiant Aura hel(01)
01 : Blind acc(01) acc(5) dam(7) dam(7)
02 : Spectral Wounds acc(02) dam(3) dam(3) dam(5)
04 : Radiation Infection endred(04) thtdbf(9) thtdbf(9)
06 : Accelerate Metabolism recred(06) recred(11) recred(11) endrec(17) endrec(17)
08 : Air Superiority acc(08) dam(13) dam(13) dam(15)
10 : Deceive acc(10)
12 : Group Invisibility recred(12) recred(37)
14 : Fly endred(14) endred(15)
16 : Swift runspd(16)
18 : Phantom Army acc(18) dam(19) dam(19)
20 : Health hel(20)
This build starts strong, with 3 attacks before level 10. AM recharge isnt all that great at this point, but neither is your travel speed, so it is often ready when you arrive at a mission. Group Invisibility is cheap but has a bit of downtime at this point. Fly is my choice for travel powers, but yours may vary. Swift and Health work towards Stamina, and PA is obvious at Lvl 18
Build to Lvl 40:
01 : Radiant Aura hel(01) hel(34) hel(36)
01 : Blind acc(01) dam(5) dam(7) dam(7) hlddur(31) recred(31)
02 : Spectral Wounds acc(02) dam(3) dam(3) dam(5) recred(34)
04 : Radiation Infection thtdbf(04) thtdbf(9) thtdbf(9) defdbf(34)
06 : Accelerate Metabolism recred(06) recred(11) recred(11) endrec(17) endrec(17) endrec(29)
08 : Air Superiority acc(08) dam(13) dam(13) dam(15)
10 : Deceive acc(10)
12 : Group Invisibility recred(12) recred(37)
14 : Fly fltspd(14) fltspd(15)
16 : Swift runspd(16)
18 : Phantom Army acc(18) dam(19) dam(19) dam(21) recred(21) recred(37)
20 : Health hel(20)
22 : Hasten recred(22) recred(23) recred(23)
24 : Stamina endrec(24) endrec(25) endrec(25)
26 : Lingering Radiation acc(26) endred(27) recred(27)
28 : Spectral Terror acc(28) endred(29) recred(37)
30 : Enervating Field endred(30) endred(31)
32 : Phantasm acc(32) dam(33) dam(33) dam(33)
35 : Flash acc(35) hlddur(36) endred(36) recred(39) hlddur(40) acc(40)
38 : EM Pulse recred(38) recred(39) recred(39) acc(40)
This build has matured. Attacks are fully slotted, Hasten and Stamina have both arrived and you have excellent endurance recovery. Spectral Terror and Phantasm are slotted. Lingering Radiation and Enervating Field have arrive. FLASH has finally appeared, now that we can really leverage its strengths and minimize its weakness. EM Pulse arrives in a big way and you now have 2 AoE Containment enabling powers / Panic buttons. FLY is changed to FightSpeed, now that you can pay for the end costs. This is a very powerful build, but it still lacks a bit in single-target and AoE damage.
Build to Lvl 50:
01 : Radiant Aura hel(01) hel(34) hel(36)
01 : Blind acc(01) acc(5) dam(7) dam(7) hlddur(31) recred(31)
02 : Spectral Wounds acc(02) dam(3) dam(3) dam(5) recred(34)
04 : Radiation Infection thtdbf(04) thtdbf(9) thtdbf(9) defdbf(34)
06 : Accelerate Metabolism recred(06) recred(11) recred(11) endrec(17) endrec(17) endrec(29)
08 : Air Superiority acc(08) dam(13) dam(13) dam(15)
10 : Deceive acc(10)
12 : Group Invisibility recred(12) recred(37)
14 : Fly fltspd(14) fltspd(15)
16 : Swift runspd(16)
18 : Phantom Army acc(18) dam(19) dam(19) dam(21) recred(21) recred(37)
20 : Health hel(20)
22 : Hasten recred(22) recred(23) recred(23)
24 : Stamina endrec(24) endrec(25) endrec(25)
26 : Lingering Radiation acc(26) endred(27) recred(27)
28 : Spectral Terror acc(28) endred(29) recred(37)
30 : Enervating Field endred(30) endred(31)
32 : Phantasm acc(32) dam(33) dam(33) dam(33)
35 : Flash acc(35) hlddur(36) endred(36) recred(39) hlddur(40) acc(40)
38 : EMP Pulse recred(38) recred(39) recred(39) acc(40) hlddur(43) hlddur(46)
41 : Fire Blast acc(41) dam(42) dam(42) dam(42) acc(43) recred(43)
44 : Fire Ball acc(44) dam(45) dam(45) dam(45) recred(46) recred(46)
47 : Consume acc(47) recred(48) recred(48) endrec(48)
49 : Fire Shield endred(49) damres(50) damres(50) damres(50)
This build is an extension of the 40 build. EM Pulse is slotted out. Blind is shifted back to 2xACC to ensure Containment against +2/+3 baddies. Fireblast has taken up the slack in damage, so you could reslot BLIND into more control if you desire.
The FireMastery Ancillary has arrived. I took FireBall first in my own build, but since then, the truth of Fireblast has sunk in and Ive put it first here. Consume comes before FireShield to help with endurance issues. You might take FireShield earlier, but I just dont get hit hard enough, often enough, to justify FShield before Lvl49. Nothing else tickled my fancy, but if you have something else you want, feel free to leave FireShield off.
Attack chain for first build:
Normal-sized spawns of -1 to +1 baddies should be quite sufficient as you get your feet wet. Use Radiation Infection on the most annoying baddie, switch targets and use your BLIND-SW-? attack chain to drop him. Change to the next baddie, repeat. Finish the anchor last, unless he is really hitting you, in which case you could cycle Air Superiority or BLIND on him as needed while attacking someone else.
Personally, I dont run a lot of missions before level 14 due to travel time. AM will give you a decent run boost, and along with sprint, life isnt all bad. GI can allow you to stealth missions as required or traverse ugly sections of town.
Once you have Phantom Army, they can be used in both the TANK and attack role, depending on the situation. Deceive may be required in certain situations to tip the scales in your favor.
Attack chain for second build:
Your basic attack chain is still BLIND-SW-AirSuperiority, lather, rinse, repeat. Phantom Army continue to perform. You get Phantasm and he adds a bit of damage and damage mitigation. You finally have some ranged non-PSI damage.
The moment you have SOs slotted, you should be running Unyielding reputation excepting against Banished Pantheon. If you feel your accuracy is meeting expectations, you can try Invincible. I tend to find Unyielding to be equally lucrative and a bit safer.
Deceive is used less frequently at this point, although it still serves well as an opener against bosses and the like, or against specific baddies who will provide buffs, forceFields or similar benefit to you.
Attack chain for the third build:
Your basic attack chain is still here, but BLIND has been reduced from one of your main damage dealers to a Containment enabler. Fireblast does fantastic damage, and against large opponents, BLIND may be only used once and last long enough for 2 or 3 attack chains. That opens the possibility of both attacking one foe and HOLDING another while still receiving containment on your attacks.
Fireball is best suited towards Containment and large groups, but why take it if you arent going to use it? If youve got a group of 3, BLIND one of them, drop EF and Fireball them. Sure, its not the most endurance efficient way to use Fireball, but it ends each encounter FAST. Fireball works well to help convince your PA to shift targets instead of fiddling around with a minion whos almost finished, or if they do switch away from someone you want arrested, you can HOLD and Fireball someone else and catch that person in the AoE.
Basically, every attack power you have should be routinely used or youre wasting power picks and enhancement slots.
Containment is such an important part of your damage that if you miss your foe with BLIND, dont attack him if possible. If I miss with BLIND, I step up and use AirSuperiority to knock that foe down instead of using SW or Fireblast uncontained. Fast Recharging, Accurate BLIND is paramount, even if you have Radiation Infection.
Speaking of which, you may well find that your Radiation Debuffs are used infrequently against normal mission groups of baddies. Why? You simply dont need them. Phantasm draws aggro, his Decoy draws aggro and youve locked down/arrested another in 5 seconds flat. Why debuff anyone? However, try to stay in the habit of using your Debuffs. Should you team up, youre going to face enough foes that those debuffs will be necessary.
Deceive is even less frequently used here, but it still serves well in a 2-boss battle or as an opener against AVs. I have a special place in my heart for Rikti Guardians.
<END PART 6>
<BEGIN PART 7>
Damage output examples, comparison for with defenders and blasters
When Containment came out, there were a number of threads concerned with what Containment does to the defenders role as the intermediate damage class. ED reduced the overall damage, but didnt alter the balance between them.
Im not going to provide detailed attack chains for defenders and blasters, because I dont have time to fiddle with it. I will provide an example for Illusion/Radiation, and normalize it to Defender and Blaster. I will also show the difference between a controller Fireball and Defender/Blaster AoE and NUKES. Activation times are from my HEROSTATS and reflect a mix of AM, HASTEN, AM+HASTEN and just recharges.
Illusion/Radiation attack chain against single target at Lvl 46:
BLIND->FireBlast->Spectral Wounds->Air Superiority
Damage values calculated with Accelerate Metabolism and 3xDAM SOs (2.2 enhancer).
BLIND: 6.1 BI Psi damage + Containment enabled, 1.67 activate, 6.36 recharge
FIREBLAST: 27.5 BI Fire Contained, 1.2 activate, 6.25 recharge
SPECTRAL WOUNDS: 16.1 BI Psi Contained, Gross, 1.0 activate, 4.2 recharge
AIR SUPERIORITY: 12.2 BI Smash Contained, 1.5 activate, 4.25 recharge
62 BI damage, 5.4 activation = ~11.5 BI/s in a burst.
Given the Brawl index of a Controller at Lvl 46 is ~10.8, this should deliver 670 points of damage to the foe, assuming even-con and no resistances. That will nicely handle a +1 minion, generally not requiring the AirSup attack.
Normalized to a Defender, it works to 52.4 BI and 9.7 BI/S
Normalized to a Blaster, it works to 34.1 BI and 6.3 BI/S
Timed out to 60 seconds, and averaged back (assuming Blind as the limiter), 7.5 cycles:
7.75 BI/S sustained
Fireball vs. Nukes
When Containment first hit, there was a thread that discussed the rather large amount of damage that Fireball would be doing. The math wasnt as alarming as some blasters and defenders originally thought, but Ill provide some here for comparision
Attacks are slotted 3xDamage SO. AM is included for Controller and Defenders. Aim and BUILDUP are included for blaster Fireball and Nova. Enervating Field is included for Controller and Defender. Aim is included for the Defender Neutron Bomb and Nova as well. Extra Ticks of damage are set to their average value.
Controller Fireball:
Average Contained Fireball
(3.89 Fire + .556 Smash + avg. 2.5ticks of .278 fire) * 2.2 boost * 2 contain *1.225 EF= 27.7 BI total
Capped Contained Fireball
(3.89 Fire + .556 Smash + avg. 2.5ticks of .278 fire) * 4.0 boost * 2 contain *1.225 EF=50.4 BI total
Normalized to Defenders: 23.4 and 42.6 BI
Normalized to Blasters: 15.2 and 27.7 BI
Defender NeutronBomb:
Average NeutronBomb:
(2.5 Eng)*2.5 boost * 1.275 EF = 7.9 BI
Capped NeutronBomb:
(2.5 Eng)*4.0 boost * 1.275 EF = 12.75 BI
Normalized to Controllers: 9.3 BI and 15 BI
Normalized to Blasters: 6 BI and 8.3 BI
Defender NOVA:
Average NOVA:
(5.56 Eng + 2.78 Sm + avg 1 tick of 4.17 Sm)*2.75 boost *1.275 EF = 43.8 BI total
Capped NOVA:
(5.56 Eng + 2.78 Sm + avg 1 tick of 4.17 Sm)*4.0 boost *1.275 EF = 63.8 BI total
Normalized to Controllers: 51.8 and 75.4 BI
Normalized to Blasters: 28.5 and 41.5 BI
Blaster FIREBALL:
Average Fireball:
(1.94 Fire + .55 Sm + avg of 2.5 ticks .278 Fire) *3.5 boost = 11.16 BI total
Capped FIREBALL
((1.94 Fire + .55 Sm + avg of 2.5 ticks .278 Fire)*5.0 boost = 16.5 BI total
Normalized to Controllers: 20.3 and 30 BI
Normalized to Defenders: 17.2 and 25.4 BI
Blaster NOVA:
Average NOVA:
(5.56 Eng + 2.78 Sm + avg 1 tick of 4.17 Sm)*3.5 boost = 43.8 BI total
Capped NOVA:
(5.56 Eng + 2.78 Sm + avg 1 tick of 4.17 Sm)*5 boost = 62.5 BI Total
Normalized to Controllers: 79.6 and 113.6 BI
Normalized to Defenders: 67.4 and 96.1 BI
Fireball is available much more often in its Uncontained state, but given the dearth of AoE Containment enabling methods, it isnt at full strength as often as you might think based on the recharge values. EMP with slotted HOLD duration offers the best use of Fireball in a contained environment, but has drawbacks for END recovery.
Controller Fireball significantly outperforms both the Defender NeutronBomb and the Blaster Fireball, but has a base recharge double the others and does require Containment to do so. It is possible the the Blaster Fireball BI #s are incorrect, but they do match between JoeChott and SherkSilver. The defender AoE is just weak. There are a few others which do somewhat better damage, but none approach the damage of Fireball.
Important to keep in mind that the Controller Fireball comes at Lvl 41 at the earliest, and as such, is available for much less of the toons career. Contrast that Lvl 41 with Lvl 2 for a blaster. Such is the price for Ancillary power.
What conclusions can we bring from the NUKES? The Defender and Blaster Nuke are both less available due to recharge. The NUKES also deplete your endurance and suppress recovery. The NUKES are less dangerous to use than prior to I5, in my opinion, with their now much lower max #targets.
When a tank could herd 100 Warwolves into your waiting NOVA, leaving 15 of them alive, including bosses and LTs, could be extremely dangerous if the Tanker isnt on the ball.
Now that herding is reduced significantly, and the target# limit is 16, you may well still leave foes behind, but it will be 3-5 foes, not 15 or more. The tanker has an easier task managing that aggro and you have far less cleanup to do.
Getting to the cap is a tricky proposition for most Controllers, Defenders and Blasters. Especially solo, it means popping RED inspirations, preferably KORA fruit. Unless youre a KIN, a capped attack is a nice place to visit, but its not something that happens regularly.
In summary: A contained Fireball is generally more damaging than its Defender or Blaster AoE counterparts, but isnt remotely as damaging as a true NUKE power, from either the Defender or the Blaster. Contained Fireball sits as something of a middle tier AoE, between normal AoEs and Nukes.
Does that make controllers overpowered? I dont think so, personally. It adds a serious AoE punch to an AT that suffers an extreme lack of AoE, but it is available LATE and is only one of the 5 available Ancillaries. It does put a bit of a squeeze onto the defenders, however, and Im not sure what the solution for that is. Defenders are unlikely to gain more damage, as that encroaches on the blasters territory.
Damage Per Second for Illusion/Radiation and PETS
We have discussed Ill/Radiation attack chains in comparison to defender and blaster capabilities. We have put rough #s to the PA and Phantasm damage outputs. Since we have all those, we should be able to put a total DPS # together and at least be in the ball park.
Illusion/Radiation single Target attack chain = 7.75 BI /s
Phantom Army single Target attacks = 2.5 BI /s
Phantasm single Target attacks = 1.5 BI /s
Phantasm Decoy single target attacks = 1.7 BI/s *.16 = .27 BI /s
Phantasm Decoy deals 100% Illusionary damage, and as such, he is only going to contribute damage 10 out of the 60 second burst (that is, the last 10 seconds which dont healback due to foe being arrested)
That 60 second total works to ~12 BI / s over the duration
Figuring out the damage, 12 * 60 seconds * 10.8 damage per BI = 7776
Reducing to a max of 95% accuracy = 7387
In real-world situations, that number could be off by a good deal, since it assumes even-con, non-resistant foes, the ability to sustain such an attack chain over 60 seconds and a foe that can survive such an intense barrage. Regardless of how close it is, it serves as an illustration of just why Ill/Radiation is often considered the AV killer: High damage, invulnerable tanks, debuffs, buffs, -REGEN. Ill/Radiation is truly the complete package when it comes to engaging AV type foes.
None of the EB class AVs has survived more than 2 minutes against my controller, spawned at +1 or +2. Those without a heal survived less than 60 seconds. Given the new AV spawn system, it is difficult for a solo controller to engage an actual AV, as youd be forced to spawn a true +3 AV, which is a tough-nut to crack for even the saltiest, Kora-[censored] Ill/Radiation controller.
<END PART 7>
<BEGIN PART 8, FINAL SECTION>
XP per Minute (or how fast can I level?)
Since were talking Solo here, youre likely going to want to know just what you can expect for time invested. I can give both some real-world numbers and a general feel.
My Illusion/Radiation required 145 hours to hit Lvl35. Containment didnt happen for me until I was Lvl 33, so I solod the lower levels like Illusion controllers did of old: faster than other controllers, but not that fast overall. PA and SO enhancers are the 2 big points where you speed up. In contrast, my main scrapper, (I admit my inexperience at the time), required 185 hours to hit Lvl35, mostly solo. I thought 145 hours to Lvl 35 was pretty fast, until I ran my newest MA/REGEN scrapper to Lvl35 in 85 hours, solo.
Since my MA/REGEN is basically the same level as my Ill/Radiation, I can draw some comparisions. I found the late 30s to be particularly slow for my MA/REGEN, requiring almost 10 hours per level in one case. My Illusion Controller was already requiring that many hours per level, so he didnt feel the difference.
Prior to Fireblast, I would have said my Ill/Radiation would gain XP about roughly 2/3 the rate of my MA/Regen (who is admittedly SPRINTING to Lvl50, skipping badges, farming missions, etc).
Two things happened around Lvl 44. First, I got Fireblast. Second, the Smashing resists for foes hit an all-time high.
The two combined to push my Ill/Radiation up and my MA/REGEN down. I would say that it is generally a tie between the two now. On non-resistant foes, the MA/REGEN can crank out 10K+ XP/Min, but falls dramatically against heavily resistant foes. Ill/Radiation can crank out 11.5K+ XP/Min in the perfect situation (Baphomet mission), but usually does something more like 7K.
The MA/REGEN is pacing at 7 hours per level, the Ill/Radiation isnt racing, and is pacing at around 8 hours per level. It remains to be seen if the trend continues or if something like LaserBeamEyes can push the MA/REGEN up a smidge with less resisted damage. Neither toon is likely to get hugely better from their current positions.
Running the MA/REGEN at 100% war emergency power gets tiring and a bit boring, so when he levels, I switch and play the Ill/Radiation until he levels, then switch back. It keeps both moving forward and I enjoy the story arcs a bit more when I stop to read mission summaries and smell the roses.
Unless the wheels fall off the MA/REGEN, he is on a pace to hit Lvl50 around 192 hours. That wouldnt be fast in the Burn-Tanker herding WarWolves era, but its damn fast in the current world. Its been an experiment on my part to see just how fast you can hit Lvl50, solo, in the I5/ED world.
Villians to watch out for:
Low Lvls/ early teens: Vahz, like everyone else
Late teens/early 20s: Council Mekmen, Banished Pantheon (!), Council Vampyres
30s / early 40s: Nemesis (fear and confuse resists, lots of AoE), Rikti Drones, Rikti Mentalists
Late 40s: Nothing that moves under Sun or Moon.
What else do I need?
You need HeroStats. The buff timers, Pet timers and the like are absolutely essential to optimal performance.
Summary
In the hands of an aggressive, skilled player, a well-built Illusion/Radiation Controller should be able to match the XP/Minute rate of many scrappers. The Illusion/Radiation combo is well suited towards solo play and has a bag of tricks that covers almost every possible scenario.
You wont be the ideal team-based controller of old, but you will be a very effective and sought-after teammate if you do decide to team up here and there.
<END PART 8, FINAL SECTION>
-Deleted - incorrect data
I also have a 50 Illusion/Rad. I got to 50 before i5 though so I dont have much experience with how i5+i6 helps the leveling. But what I can add is to say Q's advise is spot on. When I made my controller I wanted the best soloing controller at that time when I didn't want to team and still advance through the content. From level 1 on my ill/rad was fun and rewarding to play. Each level he only got better, and recently I used a free respec to make him EDD and containment compliant. I took him out for a quick spin and the damage lost from not having 2+ PAs out was offset by blasting held foes with a fireball. Its all good. Blind + SW + Air sup is a nice piece of pain to hand out.
Its amazing... our builds are almost excatly the same, but I took assault and tactics over decieve and fireblast. Tactics I feels helps in team base raids that I hope will be the thing that pulls him out of retirement.
Decieve is just so slow to animate that I found myself never using it. Fireblast does sound like an excellent attack and I am sorry I dont have it, but I just cant think of any other power to sacrifice for it.... maybe fire shield 
Bots/Traps Guide for I19.5
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Nice write up. Enjoyed the number portion and the compare and contrast with the various damage outputs.
Side note: Deceive is great fun against Malta. Sappers just beg to be deceived into zapping their buddies, and Engineers are great fun to have their Auto Turret blast them after they put it down.
Just got finishing getting my Ill/Rad to 50. Excellent writeup
I didnt pick firemastery for one reason...I just couldnt see my illusionist suddenly learning how to manipulate fire. I grew to love the blind, SW, Mental Blast, SW attack chain though.
One word about invisibility. With AM running most of the time and stamina, I basically ran SI continuously, leaving one less thing to do in combat. Whether soloing or team, I never was bored in combat and just didnt want to watch the GI clock.
Just a note from my (dated) experience of a 50 Ill/Rad:
GI and SI work together marvelously if you have opponents that drop toggles.
In Arena matches and vs Psi-heavy mobs, having my SI detoggled was much less traumatic when I was also GIed.
Alas, my days as a Psi-Tank (pre-nerf Mind Over Body and Indomitable Will) are gone. I probably couildn't even solo Psychic Babbage any more.
Still, a fun set and a great guide!
The robot revolt begins!
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Nice write up. Enjoyed the number portion and the compare and contrast with the various damage outputs.
Side note: Deceive is great fun against Malta. Sappers just beg to be deceived into zapping their buddies, and Engineers are great fun to have their Auto Turret blast them after they put it down.
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I have an Ill/FF controller to 20 and a Mind/Rad to 14, and a small part of my soul dies every time I meet controllers who skip their confuse powers.
Like the time I was on a team with two illusionists, doing invincible sky raiders missions. When I suggested they deceive the FFGs, they said "But that would steal XP!"
Elsegame: Champions Online: @BellaStrega ||| Battle.net: Ashleigh#1834 ||| Bioware Social Network: BellaStrega ||| EA Origin: Bella_Strega ||| Steam: BellaStrega ||| The first Guild Wars: Kali Magdalene ||| The Secret World: BelleStarr (Arcadia)
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Nice write up. Enjoyed the number portion and the compare and contrast with the various damage outputs.
Side note: Deceive is great fun against Malta. Sappers just beg to be deceived into zapping their buddies, and Engineers are great fun to have their Auto Turret blast them after they put it down.
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I have an Ill/FF controller to 20 and a Mind/Rad to 14, and a small part of my soul dies every time I meet controllers who skip their confuse powers.
Like the time I was on a team with two illusionists, doing invincible sky raiders missions. When I suggested they deceive the FFGs, they said "But that would steal XP!"
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Deceiving FF generators is certainly one of the "right times" to use Deceive. I was disliked immensely by SkyRaiders.
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Nice write up. Enjoyed the number portion and the compare and contrast with the various damage outputs.
Side note: Deceive is great fun against Malta. Sappers just beg to be deceived into zapping their buddies, and Engineers are great fun to have their Auto Turret blast them after they put it down.
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I have an Ill/FF controller to 20 and a Mind/Rad to 14, and a small part of my soul dies every time I meet controllers who skip their confuse powers.
Like the time I was on a team with two illusionists, doing invincible sky raiders missions. When I suggested they deceive the FFGs, they said "But that would steal XP!"
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Deceiving FF generators is certainly one of the "right times" to use Deceive. I was disliked immensely by SkyRaiders.
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I also love deceiving low-level CoT bosses. It's really funny to see two ruin mages drop earthquakes under such conditions.
Edit: My favorite favorite use of Deceive is against embalmed. It's comedy gold.
Elsegame: Champions Online: @BellaStrega ||| Battle.net: Ashleigh#1834 ||| Bioware Social Network: BellaStrega ||| EA Origin: Bella_Strega ||| Steam: BellaStrega ||| The first Guild Wars: Kali Magdalene ||| The Secret World: BelleStarr (Arcadia)
My only problem with embalmed is that they seem to "dud" a lot.
You confuse them and they just stand there. Low aggro range, I suppose.
I had a group of rikti with 5 guardians in PI the other day. They were a mess when I left with 6 stacked AMs and some force bubblers
I've never really had a problem with them not exploding, but I tend to confuse as many as I can rather than fight them up front.
Elsegame: Champions Online: @BellaStrega ||| Battle.net: Ashleigh#1834 ||| Bioware Social Network: BellaStrega ||| EA Origin: Bella_Strega ||| Steam: BellaStrega ||| The first Guild Wars: Kali Magdalene ||| The Secret World: BelleStarr (Arcadia)
Great guide. Going in my favorite threads! 
Back after 18 months away!
Impressive. I take back what I said about lining my birdcage with it...very thorough and well-thought out. I especially like the fact that you aren't afraid to use a thousand or three words to frame everything in its proper context. I am going to use it as a bible for my recently-created Ill/Rad Controller. That way, if I have any problems I can blame you for giving me bum advice.
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Impressive. I take back what I said about lining my birdcage with it...very thorough and well-thought out. I especially like the fact that you aren't afraid to use a thousand or three words to frame everything in its proper context. I am going to use it as a bible for my recently-created Ill/Rad Controller. That way, if I have any problems I can blame you for giving me bum advice.
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That's what I'm here for. Of course, if you can't pull off the attitude, you might stick with Empathy :P
A couple notes...
Accelerate Metabolism definitely protects from Endurance Drain. Malta and Carnie missions suddenly become a whole lot easier with AM. Also, I've never seen anything about it increasing HP regen.
What's better than a solo Ill/Rad? An Ill/Rad duo of course? Feel free to team up to 8 together if you want. The stacked buffs and debuffs are sickeningly overpowered. Perma AM, Hasten, and PA, 4xFlash every group, add Assault and you're damage capped all the time. It's truly ugly. My first 50 was an all-Rad team, with 3 Ill/Rads usually.
Goodbye and thanks for all the fish.
I've moved on to Diablo 3, TopDoc-1304
An excellent gude! I've never seen the numbers worked out like that before.
I've dusted off my Ill/Rad and definitely notice that since you can't get PA up for every fight, damage has dropped off. While PA charges, I now use Spectral Terror as my soft hold and cycle blind for containment. Fireblast does very satisfying damage with containment and this makes up (somewhat) for not having PA out. (I'm still pissed that the devs have not re-adjusted the recharge time on so many of our powers-- especially PA, which I always used to lead with. With perma-Hasten, recharge time was just right.)
-- Radiana
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My only problem with embalmed is that they seem to "dud" a lot.
You confuse them and they just stand there. Low aggro range, I suppose.
I had a group of rikti with 5 guardians in PI the other day. They were a mess when I left with 6 stacked AMs and some force bubblers
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With my level 20 controller I have found that if you prod them with SW after Confusing them they tend get their act together and attack. While I can't confirm that you get the XPs for doing damage to them, they do count towards the badge requirements.
For the most part I have been following the same path as you have indicated in this guide, but I have found that while I do solo alot I also tend to want to Duo with a RL friend. I have been thinking about picking up Recall Friend as a useful tool. Can you suggest a point in this build that you feel you could insert this power, and what the possible trade offs are.
"The only thing to crave is Immortality, and Death is the last rube to cheat."
They trained the Rikti to drop Fire on people, but they won't let them write (Censored) on their spaceships because it is obscene!
hmm. Where to put Recall Friend?
You could postpone your Stamina Pre-requisites and drop either Lingering Rad or Enervating Field. Of the 2, I use LR less, but when I do use it, I find it very handy (AVs) Honestly, if I didn't have Enervating Field, it wouldn't appreciably alter my damage output in the late game.
Would this RL friend not have a Travel Power? or is he lower level and SK'd to you? In either case, it doesn't take very long to get him up to 14 where he would have access to a travel power. You don't even need to TEAM with him. Just stand alongside, buff, debuff and heal. So long as you don't do damage to his opponents, he won't lose any XP to you.
We leveled a friend to Lvl6 in about 15 minutes, just by buffing/debuffing/healing him as he fought +3 and +4 baddies in Galaxy City.
AM will provide a small boost to his run speed.
Its never easy.
<BEGIN PART 1>
Toms Foolery:
A guide to solo Illusion/Radiation controlling
in the Post-Containment, Post-ED world.
Q_Arkhan
Ver 0.9 3/2/06
Warning: this guide is not concise. It doesnt pretend to be concise. It pushed concise down in the dirt, stole concises lunch money and then kissed concises sister.
Purpose of the guide: I decided to construct this guide for several reasons:
First, I wanted to pass along my experiences and analysis of the Illusion/Radiation combo, specifically as a solo hero.
Second, I wanted to get all this stuff written down and collected into one document to avoid losing pieces of it to the vagaries of other peoples web forums.
Third, I see the same questions asked, over and over, and I figured an updated guide would be good. I learned a good deal from the older guides, and wanted an updated one.
This is guide is not intended to pass along PvP tips, builds or techniques. I never have PvPd in City of Heroes, likely never will. I know what PvP does to many peoples attitudes and behaviors.
This guide is also not intended to pass along TEAM PvE tips, builds or techniques. However, I have done a good amount of teaming with this solo controller, so the builds are not completely unsuited towards that task. However, your teammates might wonder why youre standing next to the scrapper fighting +3 Freakshow Tanks in melee combat
Focus of the solo Illusion/Radiation controller:
The current website blurb on controllers reads like this:
The Controller is at the same time the weakest and yet the most powerful of the archetypes. The Controller has few offensive attacks and possesses the fewest hit points. But the Controller has access to a range of powers that no one else has: the Control power sets. Armed with these powers, a Controller can affect the behavior of villains - from freezing them in place to routing them away. Armed with such abilities, the Controller is the backbone of many groups involved in large-scale battles - but the Controller depends upon his teammates for protection.
The original manual also commented about the difficulty controllers would have in solo play.
Those drawbacks and benefits were taken to heart by the controller community for the first year and change. There were a few exceptions to the rule, but generally, controller soloability was poor until Lvl32 and decent after Lvl32.
With I5 came the implementation of Containment damage bonus and a fundamental shift in the expected role of the controller. That shift was heavily debated by the controller community and to some degree, the role is still under debate.
The subset of controllers who specialized in solo play and overt damage capacity were given a serious boost, while those who specialized in team play and AoE HOLDs were negatively impacted.
Playing a Solo Controller requires two components for success.
First, you need to use a primary and secondary that lend themselves to dealing adequate damage and improving your solo survivability. Illusion and Radiation meet those roles very well.
Second, you need to stop thinking of Controllers as team-oriented support and Mezz toons and start thinking of yourself as a Nigh-invincible Arresting Machine
The Illusion/Radiation controller doesnt broadcast Controller LFT. He requires no team in 99.9% of situations, rather, he *IS* the team.
Attitude is everything, folks. Illusion/Radiation is a scrapper in controller clothing. That is your mindset (and probably why my successful toons are either scrappers or Ill/Radiation)
This concept isnt a new one. There have been scrapping controllers from the beginning. What has changed is the boost from ED making it even more feasible, not just for Illusion, but for other primaries as well.
How much control is enough control?
One important contrast with many other controllers is the concept of sufficient control For the traditional controllers, there is rarely such a thing as too much control. In large teams, the more control, the better. The Illusion/Radiation controller works on a different premise. That premise is largely dictated by the dearth of traditional control powers in the Illusion primary.
Sufficient control is the amount of control required to arrest the immediate opponent and survive to engage the next. If you can muster enough control to survive the encounter in reasonable fashion, you have enough control. That control can be in the form of debuffs, stealth/invis, pets, actual controls, FEAR, Knockdown/back, etc. Whatever it is, it allows you to defeat your target and survive to the next foe.
Illusion does not have the same degree of traditional control that other primaries do, and as such, it is generally considered to be the least controller-ish of the primaries. What Illusion does have is enough control to achieve its goal: Arrest the foe and survive until the next one.
<END PART 1>