Choosing the Controller that's Right for You

Enantiodromos · 05-29-2006 09:31 PM

ENANTIODROMOS' GUIDE TO SELECTING
THE CONTROLLER THAT'S RIGHT FOR YOU
IN PvE v 1.0

I. Introduction
II. Choosing your Primary
III. Choosing your Secondary
IV. Combination Synergies
.....1. Mind
.....2. Gravity
.....3. Fire
.....4. Illusion
.....5. Ice
.....6. Earth
Appendix A: Controller Alternatives (skeletons)
Appendix B: Weird Statistical Nonsense

INTRODUCTION

So, you've decided you want to play a controller. Currently, there're six primaries and seven secondaries to choose from, meaning you have to choose between a bewildering fourty-two possible combinations each with it's own synergy, before we even talk about what pools and ancillary pool you'll be taking.

This guide aims at giving you a lot reasonably accurate views on those sets and combinations, to look over as you try and decide. I take responsibility for anything here that's completely stupid, but this guide makes no attempt to be the final word on anything. Also, the guide has been reviewed by a number of the most knowledgeable people on the controller forums I know. Best I can do.

CHOOSING YOUR PRIMARY

The controller primaries control the enemy, changing his behavior and generally keeping him from hurting you and your team. Plus, they do a modest amount of damage. Additionally, each set has specialties and secondary effects. First, let's look at a few distinguishing characteristics of primaries:

<ul type="square">[*]Best Area Damage: Fire, maybe Mind [*]Best Single-Target Damage: Gravity, Illusion, Mind, maybe Fire.[*]Best Single-Target Control: Mind [*]Best Area Control: Earth, Mind, Ice [*]Best vs AVs, etc: Illusion, Ice, Grav, Earth [*]Best Damage Pets: Fire, Illusion [*]Best Control Pets: Gravity [*]Most noticeable animations: Earth, Ice [*]Least Noticeable animations: Mind, Gravity [*]Most Common: Fire, Illusion [*]Rarest: Earth, Gravity [*]Quickest Soloer (Early Game): Mind, Ill[*]Quickest Soloer (Late Game): Fire, Ill[/list]
Now, for a slightly more specific look at the primary sets' peculiarities:

<ul type="square">[*]Earth:
Area hold is pulsing. Some minor -Def, quicksand with major -def. Damage is smashing + lethal.
[*]Fire:
Has an early AoE modest damage toggle, an AoE -Per, and an area-placed knockback + dmg. Some DoT. Damge is Fire.
[*]Gravity:
Area disorient can be used to teleport foes. Has an Area foe Phase. Damage is smashing.
[*]Ice:
Has a PBAoE combined slow/Confuse/-stealth toggle. Several modest slows. Damage is cold.
[*]Illusion:
Has self +stealth +def and a team +stealth +defense powers. Can summon trio of invincible unbuffable pet, earlier on. Dmg is Psi and energy. Odd healback and reduced containment on early damage attack (spectral wounds).
[*]Mind:
Has a single-target sleep with high magnitude. Has a toggle narrow area hold +pushback. Has an Area confuse. No pet. Dmg is Psi. [/list]

CHOOSING YOUR SECONDARY

Secondaries do a wider range of things, and they come in a wider range of percieved effectiveness than primaries. Here's an overview of distinguishing character:

<ul type="square">[*]Strongest overall: Radiation, Kinetics [*]Weakest: Difficult to say, since two of the three candidates (trick arrow, sonic) are rarely played. Probably Trick Arrow and Forcefield make the list.
[*]Best Soloing: Radiation [*]Best Teaming: Empathy, Kinetics [*]Most team dependent: Forcefield, Empathy, Sonic [*]Least Team Dependent: Radiation [*]Best Control: Radiation, Trick Arrow, Storm [*]Best Defensively: Empathy, Sonic, Forcefield [*]Best Blaster/Range Support: Storm [*]Best Scrapper/Melee Support: Kinetics [*]Earliest 'Blooming': Radiation [*]Latest 'Blooming': Kinetics [*]Strongest Heals: Empathy [*]With Endurance Support: Empathy, Kinetics, Radiation [*]Most Common:Radiation, Kinetics [*]Rarest: Trick Arrow, Sonic [/list]
COMBINATION SYNERGY
Obviously this section is incomplete. It's intended that sooner or later people will supply me with increasingly useful synergy comments for each of the 42 combinations. It should be obvious by looking at the credits at the end that different people have written different sections-- some as if they'd been asked simply: "What's best about this combination," others more like "What's worst about this combination?" and everywhere in-between. I leave it to you to get what you can out of the following.

<ul type="square">[*]Mind/Force field
Force field is predominantly a team +def and knock back set. In addition to three bubbles you'll use to keep your team from being hit by about a third of the attacks that would've otherwise landed (one of the three defends you as well-- the other two have to be spammed through your team periodically) you get a pretty much iron-clad self defense toggle that you can't attack while using as your first power, a nice single target knock back tool (this can be handy for supporting blasters, and after all, all your controls are at range too), a foe phase power called "detention field," that takes a single foe out of the fight if it hits, for 30 seconds, a power called force bubble, which keeps most foes at a distance, and two other weird and rarely seen powers I don't understand well, that involve area knock back.

In other words, Force field is all about keeping foes at range and keeping your teammates' defense high. As a highly defensive approach to the game, this makes Mind/Force field probably the purest team defensive set there is. So you know, before you start trying to level one, it's still possible, even after the defense nerf, to be too defensive. Mind/FF will not solo strongly. You'll need to look for big teams of blasters to join, with a Mind/FF character.

[*]Mind/Kinetics
Kinetics is widely held to be one of the two strongest controller secondaries, along with radiation. It's second and last powers allow you to boost your own and your team's damage output, while slightly reducing your foes'. Speed boost, the star of the set, comes in at 20 and lets you boost the recharge, endurance recovery, and movement speed of teammates. Powers rounding out the set include a targeted area heal, a PBAoE knock-up toggle, an ally jump buff, an ally -mez, and a power that steals endurance from enemies and gives it to allies (including yourself).

Mind has one of the best large area damage powers (Terrify), and with the damage multiplying powers of kinetics, this can be made into a formidable tool for ending large fights fast. Mainly aggressive, but team-oriented, Kinetics is an interesting balance with Mind that a lot of people swear by, and is probably one of the strongest controller builds in the game for teaming. There's not a lot of explaining to do, with Kinetics (aside from: don't accidentally run into the next spawn!), and in combination with mind's single-target controls to deal with problems, can keep a team careening through missions without a hitch.
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Your choice of secondary really comes down to your playstyle and what you want to be bringing to a team. I've seen Mind controllers with each of the secondary options and I don't think any of them are less suitable than others. I chose Kinetics as it is also quite a hands-on set to use and I wanted to have plenty to do It has actually worked out pretty well as I have tools for every occasion and never have a gap in my 'attack' chain. With containment, it also capitalises on the damage capabilities of Issue 5 Mind Control.
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Mind/Kinetics is great for the team player. Large teams are where you will really excel since you can offer so much control and fulcrum shift works best when faced with lots of mobs to cap everyone's damage. Teams will absolutely love you for speed boost and your other kinetics powers, on top of your primary control abilities. With containment, Mind Control can do rather well solo, but no-one will be there to appreciate your terrific skills!

[*]Mind/Storm Summoning
Storm is a set I adore, though I've not played it a whole lot. It has an area knock back to start you off, a single-target heal that's the game's earliest ally mez relief, and a nice target aoe toggle slow. Next comes a great team stealth and +def, +res, in steamy mist-- not overwhelming, but definitely useful. Next it has a monstrous area -resistance -def foe slow in freezing rain, which is an area-targeted AoE with a touch of damage to boot. Next comes a PBAoE accuracy debuff and knock back. See where this is going? A whole set of powers for defending the squishy "back line" of a team. A PBAoE disorient comes next, and the set rounds out with a couple of pseudo pets that knock around, disorient, and damage.

With Mind, as with Radiation's EF and Kinetics' fulcrum shift, Storm's -res is a great combo with containment-enhanced area damage from terrify. Mind/Storm is nice because it supplements mind's ability to neuter large spawns, and can still make great use of Mind's single target controls. Storm is fairly controlling and aggressive, which is, like Radiation and Kinetics, probably a stronger balance with Mind. It's also fairly chaotic, unlike most of mind, although if you were to specialize in confusions, terrify, and storm's later controls, to my thinking you'd have chaos control to rival Illusion/Storm.
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What differentiates Mind/Storm from other Mind builds? In a word, positioning. Mind/storm offers a level of mob positioning tools that are probably only surpassed by a herding tank. Telekinesis, in addition to being a strong AoE hold, adds to storms formidable array of mob positioning effects. Confuse, always fun, doubles as a great way to deal with 'stragglers' who are out of position, and convince them to rejoin the 'crowd'

[*]Mind/Trick Arrow
It is possible to have too much single target control with Mind/TA, but the combination really shines in its area control/damage/debuff aspects (especially after Oil Slick) and in its soft/hard control mixture. An example: layering Glue Arrow, Disruption Arrow, Poison Gas and Flash Arrow +/- Oil Slick onto a Mass Hypnotized group will ensure a well debuffed/slowed group before a drop of aggro is ever generated. (When Poison Gas is fixed the additional sleep effect will be a great mesh with MH.) Much fun is achieved by opening with Mass Confusion followed by Terrify, then lobbing in a set of debuffing arrows and lighting an Oil slick under the lot. O the humanity! One big down-side: no method of self-lighting the slick until APPs.

As is the case with Gravity, two unbreakable and stackable AoE holds are available. Total Domination + EMP Arrow are the last word in long-acting utter control. Both Levitate and Entangling Arrow can bring down flyers (a big plus when you get a runner, as one of them is always ready to go). TK clumps foes well for the debuffing arrows. Entangling Arrow, like Crush for Gravity, is a long-range Containment enabler. The large amounts of control available in Trick Arrow can also substitute for Mind or take the lead when foes have high Psi defense (Carnies), immunity to sleep (robots), or are Confuse resistant (Nemesis).

Mind has few if any skippable powers. This may mean limited choices when it comes to the secondary, and /TA has the options to tailor your playstyle. Want to be the ultimate lockdown king? Take Ice, Glue, Oil Slick, Poison Gas and EMP. Want to debuff your held mobs? Use Flash, Disruption, Acid and Poison Gas. Developing an attack chain that lets you fire multiple arrows consecutively helps to avoid the annoying redraw time.

As there are no toggles with the exception of Telekinesis, endurance use is moderately low and Stamina could be skipped with proper End Rec slotting. Mind/TA also has one other crucial element that makes it a good controller combination: range. Most arrows (except EMP) will work at or beyond the limits of all the Mind powers.

Most arrows (except EMP) will work at or beyond the limits of all the Mind powers. Teaming over the last few nights I've found that I can stand *well* back while the rest of the team goes at the baddies and never have to get anywhere near the combat. For a squishie, this is a very good thing

[*]Mind/Sonic Resonance
Sonic Res is an interesting set, in some ways a reprise on Force field, Radiation, and Kinetics. It does a lot with defensive bubbles, in a similar format to Force field (two teammate bubbles, one area bubble), but is resistance rather than defense, and has a foe phase power similar to detention field. At the same time, it has some -resist powers-- a single target that is your initial power, an ally-targeted AoE -resist. Finally, it has an ally-targeted AoE knock back and an AoE pulsing knockdown. (I think that's what liquefy does-- never actually seen it!)

Because of its ally-targeted effects and team-oriented bubbles, Mind/Sonic is a build that's very heavy on team defense. It can certainly solo fine, and it's single target -resistance is especially nice with Mind's higher damage but often resisted Levitate, which does smashing damage. Like Mind, Sonic isn't big on visual effects, either. You could thoroughly bubble an ally and take as many as 18 foes out of commission with 5 clicks, and if somebody wasn't watching closely, they might miss it.

[*]Mind/Radiation
When it comes to the Mind/Radiation combo, there's so much good about each set that the main thing to talk about is pitfalls:

First off, Radiation, like Mind, has a lot of powers your teammates can work with, or screw up, depending on their actions. Hence, more that possibly any other set, Mind/Rad requires you to talk to your teammates and explain yourself if they don't already know Mind and Rad. It also be worth your while to develop some macros (there are FAQs on this), to announce whom you're targeting with your mezzes, toggles, and mez toggles. Also, experience as a blaster helps a lot with this-- you'll notice quickly that the guy your tab-select first hits is the SAME guy everybody else's tab-select hits. I recommend you learn to tab 80% of the way through a spawn to select your target, if that's the method you're going to use for target selection.

One of the trickier things about Mind/Radiation is that Mind and Radiation both have lots of great stuff in the early build. Which forces you to make tough choices about power selection until you're nearly in the endgame. You have a lot of viable alternatives in a Mind/Rad build, but you should *really* plan your entire build ahead, looking at what you want to be able to provide, and when you'll be able to support the endurance cost on which powers.

Another awkward thing about Mind/Rad is that both sets are control heavy. For example, supposing you decided to stick to holds. A L38 Mind/Rad could run Dominate, Telekinesis, Total Domination, and Choking Cloud simultaneously. The holds would all stack. That's more area hold power than $Deity, before we even talk about Lingering Radiation, Mass Hypnosis, and Mass Confusion. On the upside, Telekinesis and Choking cloud are both great ways to stack holds on AVs. It would be certainly worthy of testing, to see if choking cloud, telekinesis, and dominate can chain-mez an AV.

A third thing to notice about the combination is the endurance cost. With 3-slotted stamina, it's possible to run Telekinesis, Enervating Field, and Radiation Infection, each with 2 end reduction slots, indefinitely, if you're not running anything else. With AM up, things are a little better. Both sets can, potentially, make enormous endurance demands on you. This can actually make decisions about your pre-21 build easier, since you can choose to pick up end-light powers, and/or slot for end redux, in the first 20 levels.

Finally, radiation debuffs with mass confusion can be completely fight altering. Particularly if you focus on defense debuffs without accuracy debuffs in Radiation Infection, running it and EF on a mass-confused spawn ensures a sickeningly fast rate of spawn self-destruction. On the other hand, using an accuracy debuff heavy Rad infection and Lingering Radiation without Enervating Field, will tend to slow down the rate at which a mass confused spawn will die. This is an arcane point about confusions, but getting the right ratio of confused mob-to-team damage is the key to getting the best XP/time buff out of confusion use, and radiation debuffs enhance your control over this.

[*]Mind/Empathy
MC/Empath is really a build for multitaksers and skill players-- people who think it's fun to try and keep their finger on the pulse of everything going on, especially in a pickup team, where it approaches impossible, even if folks stay together. MC/Emp is one of the least susceptible of all builds, to the "What is there to do but stand here and hit things" syndrome. You will have to become very accustomed to your preferred method of selecting both teammates and enemies. Tab (in the default keyboard configuration) cycles you through enemies. And you can select teammates with mouse clicks on the team list. I recommend mapping the "~" key to cycle through teammates. You can also select targets of either sort with a click directly on the target. Only you can come up with the target-selection scheme that works best for you, but choose wisely. Also, strongly recommended you turn the health and status display bar for other heroes to to "always on."

Mind control has a lot of aggro-free attacks, and Empathy has no aggroing debuffs. You could live your life virtually aggro-free under this build. You will be the last man standing, more than almost anybody. If you are prone to survival guilt, you may want to consider another build.

Neither Mind nor Empathy is a 'Swiss-army-knife' set. Empathy heals and buffs. Mind hard controls, and that's a reasonably narrow area of expertise. Also, mind is pretty much a grouping-oriented set, and Empathy the most grouping-oriented of the controller secondaries. MC/Emp is therefore an extreme group build. That's how to think about playing Mind/Empathy IMO.

Mind control is not surprisingly an End Hog with its advanced stunts, nor are heals or resurrection light on the end. Fortunately, Empathy has one major power that works directly with you-- Recovery Aura. You can readily eat your entire native + stamina endurance recovery doing Mind Controller Tricks, so having Recovery Aura ready to go can be a real boon.

Mind/Empathy can be fantastic if you're working with a modest number of damage dealers who're squishy or would prefer not to rely only their own defenses. Duoing or trioing with blasters and/or Super Reflexes scrappers, particularly, can be quite lucrative, especially if you're at a stage where you can boost their accuracy a little, you have missions set on invincible, and your allies are a couple levels below you. The ideal sidekick for a Mind/Empathy is a Blapper!

[*]Gravity/Empathy
For the player that likes to team. No additional offensive potential from the secondary, but with Fortitude, Regeneration Aura and Adrenaline Boost on Singularity, it basically lets you make somebody an unstoppable killing machine of infinite power. Recovery Aura is also nice for yourself.
Nothing particularly complicated.
[*]Gravity/Force Fields
A personal shield for when you need to escape, self status protection, a quickfire knockback power for extra defense, a minor AoE disorient, and two shields that add Defense to your Singularity's Resistance. Very useful.
Remember that Gravity Distortion from yourself or Singularity, or Gravity Distortion Field, will interfere with the knockback from Force Bolt, Repulsion Field and Repulsion Bomb.

The endurance cost for casting shields on a full team can be taxing, so if you don't intend to take Stamina, be prepared to slot endurance reductions in more than a few powers.
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Has great "knocktroller" (knockback control) possibility towards the endgame-- the the main reason to take this set, dude! Also, the immobilize does not have -kb.
[*]Gravity/Kinetics
Extra damage, increased recharge for your slow AoE control powers, two kinds of makeshift travel power and an impressive Endurance Recovery power. Never unwanted on teams, particularly with Speed Boost.
Few powers that help Singularity, but a great number that help your team. Repel won't work on Gravity Distorted targets, and watch out that you don't wind up devoting so many slots to your secondary that your primary gets overlooked.
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A singularity's resists, backed up with Increase Density, become exceptionally impressive. Speed boost makes everything nicer. Do not discount the buffs of /kinetics. Also, remember that repel does work on immobilized targets. That makes this knocktroller build one that opens up very early.

[*]Gravity/Radiation Emission
Arguably the most powerful Controller Secondary available. Radiation Infection cripples enemy accuracy, so in conjunction with Crushing Field you've got yourself another makeshift hold. Accellerate Metabolism reduces the duration of control effects on you, as well as increasing your recharge nicely. Enervating Field increases your damage, Lingering Radition slows enemy recharge for even lower damage, Choking Cloud is a PBAoE hold for extra personal defense, and EM Pulse is supposedly the best Hold in the game.
No issues with Gravity Distortion, either.
[*]Gravity/Sonic Resonance
More damage through lowering enemy resistances, and some nifty shields for extra damage resistance. Singularity could probably get pushed to the Resistance cap, and your teammates wouldn't be hurting either. Just like Forcefields, you get self mez protection, and a final power that doesn't seem to suck as a debuff.
No real issues.

The endurance cost for casting shields on a full team can be taxing, so if you don't intend to take Stamina, be prepared to slot endurance reductions in more than a few powers.
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It may also be a good idea to click a CaB inspiration once every four minutes, and actually use inspirations in combat to make sure they have a continuous supply of the little blue pills. Gravity itself has no toggles, but /sonic has two-- not necessarily that end-intensive, depending on how you play it.
[*]Gravity/Storm Summoning
Possibly the second most powerful Controller Secondary, several of the powers in the Storm Summoning set actually work better with a Controller than they do with a Defender!
You get a PBAoE stealth for better movement around the battlefield, a Slow to stack with Crushing Field to reduce incoming damage, a Knockdown to reduce it further that also debuffs with -Def and -Res for more damage more often, a PBAoE Repel with -Acc and Repel which not only provides amazing melee defense, but also increases the amount of Locational Control available, a PBAoE Disorient that stacks well with Wormhole, a "pet" that deals good damage provided you use Gravity Distortion to keep it from throwing everything around, and another "pet" that deals good damage and acts as yet another melee defense.
No real defense against ranged attacks, though, and nothing that really helps Singularity too much.

This powerset has a lot of toggles that drain a lot of endurance. If you're not planning on taking Stamina, be ready to slot many Endurance Reduction enhancements in the toggles.
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Crushing field has one downfall-- it immobilizes but does not root. Tornado is hard for gravity users to control, since the -kb is on the holds not the immobilizes, which makes the AoE impossible to spam. This makes gravity, a set that is usually played quite orderly, into a chaotic control set when paired with Storm. That makes tornado into a situational chaotic control for grav instead of a damage/mez dealer, which it is for many other sets.

[*]Gravity/Trick Arrow
Extra containment from Entangling Arrow combined with the Propel's relatively high damage early-on, makes this a heavy-hitting combination in the lowest levels. While the damage and soloablity ultimately don't scale well, you'll find your Gravity/TA contoller maturing into very capable ranged controller in the higher levels. Synergies between Gravity and Trick Arrow include two ranged AoE holds (GDF and EMP Arrow), and the location based arrow powers (Oil Slick and Dispersion) combined with the fantastic mob positioning power of Wormhole. Using Wormhole to drop a group into a corner, and then setting an Oil Slick underneath them is a very effective controlling tactic for Grav/TA. While there are still issues and bugs associated with Trick Arrow, controllers using /TA as a secondary can pick and choose from the best of the set to maximize their control abilities.
[*]Fire/Empathy
Fire/Empathy is a relatively safe build, if slower than the true powerhouse combinations. The strength of the empathy secondary revolves around healing and recovery, but it also possesses some excellent single-target buffs which make it a terrific team player. Its power is easy for groups to appreciate, and it still offers a very respectable soloing punch after level 32. Finally, Empathy is one of the most intuitive powersets, requiring very little experimentation and few puzzles related to choosing slots.
[*]Fire/Forcefield
Fire/Forcefield is a build for the defense-oriented team player. Most of its buffs work only on others, and many of its non-buff powers are, to be blunt, not very good. The strength of the buffs, however, helps make up for that, especially below level 40. Forcefielders can solo very well, if more slowly than some; "bubbling up" a couple of imps makes them very difficult for enemies to hurt. The fact that few secondary powers are necessary is sometimes seen as a strength rather than as a weakness, since it allows for more dipping into power pools.
[*]Fire/Kinetics
Fire/Kinetics is what I believe to be the most overwhelming controller set in terms of raw power. A developed and talented controller with these sets can take on just about anything. On the flip side, however, is the fact that the controller doesn't reach anything like full power until level 38. This is not a build for the impatient, and if you're the type who likes to solo exclusively, I wouldn't recommend this build. If you're group-oriented and can put up with a long haul, however, the reward is vast power and, yes, soloing ability. Many Kinetics powers are melee-oriented; this creates strong synergy with imps, and scrappers and tankers will especially appreciate what you bring to the table.
[*]Fire/Radiation
Fire/Radiation is a relatively safe, quick, and effective build. It makes for great teaming at lower levels, and very effective soloing after pets. While I do not believe it is the most powerful combination in the long run -- Fire/Kinetics is, in my opinion -- it is more versatile, and it reaches its peak of power sooner. A skilled Fire/Radiation controller can manage to overcome nearly any group of enemies, often with very little risk to himself. It's still not a quick path to power, though; only after level 32 will you hit your peak.
[*]Fire/Sonic Resonance
Fire/Sonic Resonance is very similar to Force Field: a team-oriented, defense-oriented powerset. The major difference is that Sonic Resonance deals with damage resistance, while Force Field deals with defense. It's a very strong powerset for a team player, but on the weak side solo until after pets.
[*]Fire/Storm Summoning
Fire/Storm Summoning is an uncommon combination, but it's also a very effective one. While the Storm powers take quite a lot of experimentation to get a handle on, the experienced Fire/Storm controller can cut through enemies, falling somewhere between a Radiation specialist and a Kineticist in terms of safety and speed. The major problem this build will encounter, once its player has learned to use its powers, is endurance; unlike Radiation or Kinetics, Storm has no recovery-boosting power.
[*]Fire/Trick Arrow
Fire/Trick Arrow is a debuff-oriented set. Many of its low-level powers are lackluster, which makes it a challenging set to play; its main attraction lies in its increased control options, which include a second single-target hold and area-effect slow, knockdown, and hold powers. It also offers a higher total defense debuff than other sets, although this is split between two powers, which open at levels 20 and 28. It's not quite as difficult to learn to handle as Storm Summoning, but it's not easy, either; experienced players who are patient enough to wait until late game, though, will find that the combination offers an appealing combination of control and damage.
[*]Illusion/Storm
I give Storm Summoning a solid meh, when paired with Illusion.. Its very hard to play effectively and its not very team friendly in the extreme. Rain, although a fantastic debuff, scatters anything +2 or higher like crazy, because it cant knock them down (snow storm would help immensely with this). Thunder Clap is good (filling a bit of a control hole in Illusion), but makes them wander everywhere without at an AOE immob to go with it. Hurricane is a good debuff, but pushes mobs all over the place, making it hard to use well. Lightning Storm sends mobs flying all over the place usually right out of the freezing rain patch. By the time I got to my 40s I started feeling really sorry for my teams, and had been asked more than a few times to not use some of my powers. So all that said, it is still fun. It has arguably some of the coolest looking powers in the game, and lots of utility. I still get immense satisfaction everytime that loud crack from thunderclap goes off. It debuffs mobs, adds some control and good damage to any control set. With some immobilization abilities, this set would be awesome.
[*]Illusion/Empathy
Althought I feel that Illusion is one of the most solo friendly contoller sets, Illusion/Empathy combination is best utilized as a team oriented set, at least until Phantasms. This is mostly due to the fact that Empathy's three Aura powers are the only powers that directly benifit the caster. In a team, however, the Ill/Emp becomes a powerhouse of dynamic crowd control on both sides. With strong single target buffs like Heal Other, Fortitude, and Adrenaline Boost, the controller can turn a teammate into a battle tank. All this while using flash, confuse, ST, and Phantom Army to distract and nullify the enemy. When Auras are added in, the larger group is able to handle more difficult situations because the Ill/Emp can become the uber damage control/mitigator.

Soloing becomes a better possiblity once the power of Phantasms is aquired, because the Phantasm can be boosted by any of the Empath powers. However, the Ill/Emp controller only becomes a stronger team player in the higher levels.
[*]Illusion/Trick Arrow
Illusion Control/Trick Arrow really shines for those of you who like to stay at a distance. It also offers a good balance between offense, control and debuffing ability. Illusion offers the offense and a bit of the control while Trick Arrow makes up the rest of the control and all of the debuffing. With this combination you are preparing to make a late game giant. Invisibility, 3 great summons along with 3 great arrows that can be picked up at lvl 28, 35 and 38. A nice AoE Damage Resistance Debuff in Disruption Arrow. An AoE Knockdown that can be set on fire with Oil Slick Arrow. And a really nice ranged, large AoE Hold that does special damage to robots and has a good duration in EMP Arrow.
[*]Illusion/Radiation Emission
Ill/Rad is a strong set early-on, with a HOLD, an attack and Deceive, combined with Radiation Infection for safety. Illusion has the lowest number of "hard" mezz powers of any Controller. However, it does have access to its PBAoE HOLD much earlier than other sets, perhaps too early for effective use. In teams, early access to Group Invisibility can help in trouble zones like THE HOLLOWS. Phantom Army is the earliest "PET" for controllers and is an effective tank/pseudo-hold/damage dealer. Spectral Terror fills the void left by not having a sleep or immobilize power and can be made PERMA easily. Phantasm fills the standard PET role and helps diversify your PSI-heavy damage. The Radiation triumverate of Radiation Infection/Enervating Field/Lingering Radiation can combine to equal or surpass the damage mitigation of most controls. Choking Cloud is a mixed bag, but the pulsing PBAoE HOLD does help fill a control gap. EMP is the ultimate MEZZ in the game. Its huge, it holds 16 people, has a duration 5 times longer than FLASH. Together, Illusion/Radiation work to make a superb solo controller with an answer to every situation. For a team-based controller, Ill/Rad is equally powerful, but different in its feel compared to other sets. Illusion/Rad controllers are well-suited towards engaging large, powerful foes like Elite Bosses. Honestly, if you can't succeed with Ill/Rad, you're doing something very wrong. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but the potential power puts it at or near the top of the list.
[*]Illusion/Forcefield
The Illusion / Force Field set excels at a mix of high defense, medium chaos, and medium damage. Between the protection of force fields, the distraction power of Spectral Terror and Deceive, the knockback of Phantasm and the FF utility powers, and the tanking ability of Phantom Army, you have every opportunity to close the gap of risk. The odds are low of anything getting through your diverse safety net. Force Fields can be endurance intensive on teams, and the set lacks a heal, but with this combination you'll rarely need a heal. Your damage isnt as high as with other Illusion combinations and Illusion / FF can't leverage containment as well as most builds but the damage is still good. Blind + Spectral Wounds will do the trick. Phantom Army provides excellent burst damage. Phantasm eventually brings excellent constant damage. You dont need a damage buff from your secondary when you can outlast the enemy. Your control is loose and inexact, but the defense, distraction, knockback and chaos will make up for it. This combination is very powerful on a team, and the knockback / chaos aspects of the set are easy to reign in (or avoid entirely) if your group needs you to hold back. I personally consider this to be one of the best team builds possible.

[*]Ice/Storm
Ice/Storm is a set of overlapping powers, usually to your benefit. Both the primary and secondary provide multiple slow powers, which is nice, because recharge can never be enhanced, only stacked. Ice Slick and Freezing Rain are patches that are put on the ground, and take up about the same amount of space. Hurricane can be used to push MOBs back onto the patches, or arctic air can be used to slow them from running off. Ice/Storm does very little damage until lvl 32, but has access to Jack Frost, tornado, and lightning storm in the thirties. In general, you will team better with ranged attackers than with melee attackers, but with smart play, youll be a benefit to both. Ice/Storm is also at its strongest when there is at least one other support toon on the team (any other controller or defender, or tanker who can and does grab up agro), but thats not to say its a liability if there isnt.
[*]Ice/Empathy
The Ice/Empathy controller is not one of the stronger soloist controller builds out there, but in a team support role is very effective. It makes use of the strong control powers provided by Ice control to protect the team and Empathy's healing and buffing powers to deal with anything that gets through. While most solo oriented players should probably look elsewhere, the empathy secondary provides several decent buffs for Jack Frost, in Fortitude and Adrenaline Boost, as well as allowing you to heal your pet wherever he is (since he's probably not going to be in melee) Ice Control can be somewhat endurance hungry at times, making Recovery Aura a welcome addition to your power choices.
[*]Ice/Kinetics
Ice/Kinetics is all about making your enemies weaker and your teammates stronger. Ice provides the -recharge and -runspeed debuffs along with it's various other controlling powers, such as knockdown and a couple actual holds. Kinetics contributes with it's damage and recharge debuffing/buffing and, notably, transference for when you get low on endurance. This particular combination can work well in either group or solo settings. On the solo side of things, Jack Frost benefits greatly from Speed Boost and when he gets into range, Fulcrum Shift. In groups, those same powers will greatly benefit your teammates.

Notable power synergies include using frostbite to trigger containment on an entire group, Fulcrum shift to give yourself a damage boost and then using an AoE damage power from the epic pools (such as Fireball or Psychic Tornado) to deal a lot of damage quickly. Since Kinetics is such a melee oriented set, a power like Arctic Air to protect you when you are required to move into close range is also a benefit.
[*]Ice/Trick Arrow
Ice/Trick arrow has a lot of debuff and a lot of control. In the debuff side, Ice has a lot of slows and trick arrow covers pretty much everything else. There is no heal, but you can more than make up for that by saving your team from taking damage at all with the two slick powers(one of which can light on fire), two AoE holds, and two single target holds. Add in the Arctic Air for confusion and you have one of the most control-oriented builds in the game.
[*]Earth/Storm
Earth/Storm is an AoE control monster, and lends itself to a team-focused build. It's a low-damage combo until the APPs, but you'll never run out of control tools. You've got 2 slows, a PBAoE sleep, 2 AoE disorients, an AoE immob, a location-based pulse-based AoE hold, a PBAoE debuff/repel, a location-based AoE knockdown, and 3 pet/pet-like entities. For what it's worth, this build can also hold its own in PvP -- the built-in stealth (Steamy Mist) + Hurricane will give you some defense against melee characters, and all those hard and soft controls can really turn the tide of a battle.

Specific power synergies: Freezing Rain + Stone Cages/Stalagmites/VG/Earthquake: Use FR without scattering the group to the four corners of the Earth.
Stone Cages + Tornado: Tornado slotted for damage + SC's knockback suppression turns the tornado into a dangerous AoE DoT. (Might as well toss in some Freezing Rain as well.) Thunder Clap + Stalagmites: Boss-level AoE disorient. Freezing Rain + Quicksand: Doubled slows and two stacked -DEF effects make those reds and purples a little easier to hit. Arch-Villain disabler: Though the focus is AoE, you've got some great tools for weakening A-V's and giant monsters. Snow Storm + Quicksand + Tornado + Lightning Storm + Volcanic Gasses + Animate Stone will slow your target to a crawl, hold him as soon as he's vulnerable, deal out some nice damage, and make him easier for your teammates to hit.
[*]Earth/Rad
Earth gives defense debuff, and mezzes are the ultimate in accuracy debuffs. So you can either stack that debuff with the rad powers for insane defense debuffs on statues (or bouncing mobs) or skip some /rad powers considered "essential" (RI and LR) and still have an excellent build. AoE immobilization is good for /rad because it has target AoE toggles which mobs tend to run out of when left to their own devices. Honestly, /rad doesn't need much synergy--it can perform practically every buff and debuff in the game anyway (it has end recovery, damage buff, speed buff, heal, mez resists, rez, resistance debuff, accuracy debuff, damage debuff, defense debuff, holds in the secondary, and even a couple of damaging powers buried deep in the set.

[*]Earth/Trick Arrow
Trick Arrow has extremely good synergy with Earth Control. A problem many Trick Arrows face is how to keep mobs within their zone of debuff, or how to get them onto the ground. Earth Control, with its dirt-cheap Quicksand snares mobs quickly and easily for such a purpose. Trick Arrow also fills in for some of Earth Control's weakness: It has a single target immob that can stack with the primary that brings single-targets to the ground, where Earth's control region lies; EMP arrow is an instantly acting AoE hold that Earth lacks, and Oil Slick, once on fire, helps supplement Earth's low damage, together with the hefty -res debuffs from stacked acid and disruption arrows. Whatever falls under the powers of both sets is truly going nowhere and doing not much, ie clay pigeons in a firing range. Beware of knockback heavy teammate though!

The Earth/TA might feel a bit inadequate in the early game due to the late blooming nature of the set (limiting team desirability) and the lack of damage (for soloing). The player is advised not to give up until at least 22, when recharge SOs can be slotted into earthquake and his arrows. After this it gets better, with more and more fun powers coming in every four levels or so. As a secondary, the arrows are flexible in allowing the Earth/TA to choose how they want to play their controller. He can pick up the controllerish arrows to become a of king area controls, or pick up the the debuffing arrows for damagey goodness. The lack of end-heavy toggles lets an Earth/TA opt out of stamina and frees up three power picks if desired.
[/list]
CREDITS:

Mind/* mostly me (Enantiodromos).
Mind/Trick Arrow by Bandeeto.
Additional Mind/Storm stolen from cforce.
Additional Mind/Kin stolen from _Brev_.
Fire/* stolen from Sakura Kitsuke.
Gravity/* stolen from Arinara.
Illusion/Storm stolen from Tanzier.
Gravity corrections by CircuitBoi.
Gravity/Trick Arrow by Anachrodragon.
Illlusion/Empathy by Lunderwost.
Illusion/Trick Arrow by _Enos_.
Illusion/Radiation by Q_Arkhan.
Ice/Storm by DrObvious.
Ice/Empathy and Ice/Kinetics by Frost.
Earth/Storm by Robson.
Earth/Rad by CircuitBoi
Grav/Sonic correction by Mallornwood.
Illusion/Forcefield by UnicyclePeon
Earth/Trick Arrow by Rasalgethi.

APPENDIX A: Controller Alternatives (skeletons)

Are you bored with controllers?

The following list tries to provide a few build skeletons that sketch out a kind of controller that goes beyond the routine mixed bag of single-target and area control plus healzorz and other routine basics. These builds are not meant to be extremely effective, rather, they demonstrate the range of the AT, and most of them are very fun.

<ul type="square">[*]Splattroller: Fire/Storm
2 Fire Cages
8 Hot Feet
10 Hurdle
12 Flashfire
14 Super speed
16 Freezing Rain
20 Health
22 Stamina
24 Cinders
28 Thunderclap

Notes: The Splattroller is a controller that specializes in brinksmanship, incomplete area control, and area damage. Fire Cages sets containment, hot feet does the contained damage, and freezing rain debuffs resistance so mobs take more damage. Everything else is gravvy to increase survivability. Damage, accuracy, and endurance reduction in hotfeet, flashfire, and fire cages, particuarly, are critical for this build.

[*]Scraptroller: Mind/Kinetics
1 Mesmerize
1 Transfusion
2 Levitate
4 Dominate
6 Siphon Power
8 Air Superiority
10 Siphon Speed

Notes: The Scraptroller is a solo-oriented controller who uses a lot of single target control & damage, and gets in close. Dominate and Mesmerize provide extensive control, as in fact do levitate and Air Superiority. Transfusion heals you (when you're close to enemies), and the siphons get you hitting faster and harder.
[*]Unaggrotroller: Mind/Empathy
1 Healing Aura
1 Mesmerize
2 Heal Other
4 Absorb Pain
6 Confuse
8 Mass Hypnosis
10 Resurrect
12 Hasten
14 Superspeed
16 Hurdle
18 Health
20 Stamina
22 Fortitude
24 Clear Mind
26 Stealth
28 Recovery Aura
32 Mass Confusion

Notes: The unaggrotroller is designed to make enormous contributions to teams without ever directly gathering any aggro to himself. This makes using Absorb Pain particularly convenient, and means you're virtually invincible if you just avoid AoE Mezzers and heavy hitters. Mass Hypnosis, Confuse, and Mass confusion can all be applied at zero aggro, and superspeed + stealth makes you fully invisible. Also, the build's obviously also oriented to empathy. Recommend slotting controls heavier than you would otherwise for recharge, and possibly including a range enhancement.

[*]Distanttroller: Mind/TA
1 Mesmerize
1 Entangling Arrow
2 Dominate
4 Flash Arrow
6 Confuse
8 Mass Hypnosis
10 Ice Arrow
18 Total Domination
32 Mass Confusion
38 EMP Arrow

Notes: Distanttrollers provide strong single-target and area control at meaningful range, which can have certain advantages.

[*]Blastroller: Grav/Sonic
1 Crush
1 Sonic Siphon
2 Lift
4 Grav Distort
6 Propel

Notes: The Blastroller is a high damage ranged single-target controller. First priorities for slotting are 2 acc/4dmg for crush and 3 acc/4 dmg for propel (at TOs-- change a dmg and acc to recharge later in each power).

[*]Phasetroller
Phasetroller I: Grav/Sonic:
6 Grant Invisibility
8 Recall Friend
10 Sonic Cage
12 Dimension Shift
14 Teleport
20 Phase Shift
26 Wormhole

Phasetroller II: Grav/Forcefield:
1 Personal Forcefield
8 Recall Friend
12 Dimension Shift
14 Teleport
16 Detention Field
26 Wormhole

Notes: Something of a concept build especially with inclusion of teleport elements, neverthless the builds are grounded in the ability to cherry-pick when you're fighting what, with Dimension Shift and Sonic Cage or Detention field. Slot dimension shift with 1-2 recharges, and NO accuracy OR phase enhancers; this allows you to guarantee that bosses and some of the minions will be unshifted when you use the power against even+ cons. Slot the single-target phases with 2 accuracy and 1 recharge, since this'll let you reliably chain-detain AVs, who can be phased with the power assuming they're hit. These builds also, by virtue of the teleport and wormhole elements, allow you to rearrange the battlefield a lot. You have a lot of control over both timing and layout of every fight, with such a controller. The kind of thing we can all imagine being devastating in the hands of a genius.
[*]Pooltroller: Grav/Forcefield
1 PFF
1 Lift
2 Gravity Distort
4 Deflect Shield
10 Insul Shield
18 Grav Distortion Field
22 Dispersion Bubble
32 Singularity

Plus 10 pts from the following:

[3 pts] Resusicate + {2 of Aid other, Stimulant, Aid Self}
[2 pts] Aid Self + {1 of aid other, stimulant}
[2 pts] Teleport + {1 of Recall Friend, Teleport Foe}
[2 pts] Assault + Tactics
[1 pt] Aid Other
[1 pt] Stimulant
[1 pt] Recall Friend
[1 pt] Teleport Foe
[1 pt] Stealth
[1 pt] Grant Invis

[3 pts] Stamina + {2 of swift, hurdle, health}
[2 pts] Hasten + Superspeed
[1 pt] Propel
[1 pt] Dimension Shift
[1 pt] Wormhole
[1 pt] Detention Field

Notes: The pool troller isn't a specific controller, so much as a build that takes everything that's best about being a traditional control & de/buffer from its primary and secondary and makes as much room as possible for outside elements.

[*]Ragdolltroller: Gravity/Storm
1 Lift
1 Gale
2 Crush
6 Propel
20 Hurricane

Notes: Ragdolltrollers are designed to make the most of the hilarious way badguys flop when you toss them about, not to mention the neato new particle flurries.

[*]Chaostroller: Illusion/Storm
1 Gale
2 Deceive
4 Snow Storm
16 Freezing Rain
20 Hurricane
18 Phantom Army
26 Spectral Terror

Notes: The Chaostroller does a lot of varied forms of mitigation without ever freezing anything in its tracks. Slows, knockbacks, debuffs, taunting pets, confusion, terrify. May be less than welcome among AoE-focused teams/builds.
[*]Pettroller: Illusion/Storm
2 Deceive
18 Phantom Army
26 Spectral Terror
32 Phantasm
35 Tornado
38 Lightning Storm

Notes: Behold a build that has pets and pseudopets galore, and as many badguys working for you as you can spam deceive on, into the deal.

[*]Utilitroller
Utilitroller I: Illusion/Empathy
2 Deceive
6 Recall Friend
8 Superior Invisibility
10 Resurrect
12 Group Invisibility
14 Teleport
16 Clear Mind
18 Phantom Army
20 Fortitutde
28 Recovery Aura

Utilitroller II: Illusion/Rad
2 Deceive
4 AM
6 Recall Friend
8 Superior Invisibility
12 Group Invisibility
14 Teleport
16 Mutation
18 Phantom Army

Notes: The Utilitroller is one of those builds that does a variety of convenient things. It heals, resurrects, evacuates allies, renders invisible, wields a confuse against unique foes it's well suited to, buffs strongly, maintains endurance, and totes its own tank substitute.

[*]Defensitroller: Illusion/FF
2 Deflection Shield
6 Maneuvers
10 Insulation Shield
12 Group Invisibility
20 Dispersion Bubble

Notes: Defensitrollers concentrate on pushing a team's defense to the limit.

[*]Teamtroller: Earth/Empathy
1 Healing Aura
2 Stone Cages
4 Absorb Pain
10 Resurrect
12 Stalagmites
16 Clear Mind
18 Earthquake
20 Stamina
22 Quicksand
24 Salt Crystals
26 Volcanic Gasses
28 Recovery Aura

Notes: Teamtrollers overwhelmingly ensure team safety and up-time. Its function on teams will never be to deal direct damage, but of any such build, its contributions to the team will be extremely visible.

[*]Overtroller
Overtroller I: Earth/Rad
1 Fossilize
2 Rad Infection
4 Stone Cages
6 Swift
8 Salt crystals
12 Stalgmite
16 Health
18 Earthquake
20 Stamina
26 Volcanic Gasses
28 Choking Cloud
38 EMP

Overtroller II: Earth/Storm
1 Fossilize
4 Snowstorm
6 Swift
8 Salt crystals
10 Stone Cages
12 Stalgmite
14 Health
16 Freezing Rain
18 Earthquake
20 Stamina
26 Volcanic Gasses
28 Thunderclap

Overtroller III: Earth/Trick Arrow
1 Fossilize
1 Entangling Arrow
4 Glue Arrow
6 Swift
8 Ice Arrow
10 Hasten
12 Stalgmite
14 Stone Cages
16 Health
18 Earthquake
20 Stamina
22 Salt crystals
26 Volcanic Gasses
35 Oil Slick arrow
38 EMP Arrow

Notes: The Overtrollers essentially provide a vast surplus of area control forms.
[*]Slowtroller: Ice/Storm
4 Snowstorm
6 Arctic Air
8 Shiver
16 Freezing Rain

Notes: A build with a superabundance of slows. Normally not sought after, but can be used to either slow *multiple* groups, or on AVs, whose resistance to slows is such that you can probably get your full oomph out of having the whole set of slows. This build is, BTW, in some ways an overtroller too.

[*]Lazytroller: Ice/Radiation
2 Radiation Infection
6 Arctic Air
12 Ice Slick

Notes: Lazytrollers are designed to provide heavy area control/mitigation early with an absolute minimum of power clicks. In a team that knows what it's doing, you should be able to turn on RI and place Ice Slick once per fight, and in so doing contribute more to the team than most controllers doing three times as much clicking at the same level. Slot RI and AA for endurance, RI for defense debuff, and AA for confusions. Later on, powers like choking cloud and Jack Frost accentuate the lazy aspect.[/list]
APPENDIX B: Weird Statistcial Nonsense

I took a poll on the controller forums, sometime late 2005, that asked about primary, secondary, level, and origin. Some of the information from that poll follows. Caveat: these lists may be misleading if you don't think through what it means to be "common" vs "correlated." The first pair gives the most common and most rare primary/secondary combinations (by absolute frequency).

Most Frequently Occuring combinations:
1 Fire Rad
2 ILL Rad
3 ILL Empathy
4 Ice Kinetics
5 Grav Kinetics
6 Fire Kinetics
7 Mind Kinetics
8 Earth Rad
9 ILL Storm
10 Ice Empathy
11 Mind Rad

Least Frequently Occuring combinations:
1 Earth Sonic
2 ILL Trick arrow
3 Fire Trick arrow
4 Ice Trick arrow
5 Ice Forcefield
6 Grav Sonic
7 Earth Trick arrow
8 ILL Sonic
9 Mind Trick arrow
10 ILL Forcefield
11 Ice Sonic

The next two lists show particularly popular or unpopular particular combinations *GIVEN* the frequency of the primary and secondary. For example, Illusion/Kinetics is negatively correlated-- meaning people tend to avoid putting them together for some reason.

Examples:

Illusion and kinetics are each, respectively, the second-most-popular primary, or secondary. But they appear in combination only about 1/6th as often as you'd expect considering the popularity of illusion and kinetics.

Gravity and Trick arrow are each extremely uncommon. But for all their rarity, when people do actually play either, they seem to want to pair them up.

Inversely Correlated Combinations
1 ILL Kinetics
2 Fire Storm
3 Ice Forcefield
4 Fire Trick arrow
5 Grav Empathy
6 Fire Empathy
7 Earth Empathy
8 Ice Trick arrow
9 Ice Rad
10 Grav Rad
11 Mind Rad

Positively Correlated Combinations
1 Grav Trick arrow
2 Earth Forcefield
3 ILL Empathy
4 Earth Storm
5 Mind Trick arrow
6 Grav Kinetics
7 Fire Rad
8 Mind Sonic
9 Earth Trick arrow
10 Ice Kinetics
11 Ice Sonic

______________________

In May of 2006 I did a small survey asking for primary, secondary level, and hours played. Mainly I wanted to know what we can "expect" in terms of hours of play to get to a certain level.

Sparing the worst of the horrible math except for the equation, what I came up with based on the data I got is:

hours= (level *.259)^2.325

IOW, the predicted hours for a given level are:
L 3: 33 minutes (First slots!)
L12: 14 hours (DOs!)
L18: 36 hours (Area Hold! ... typically)
L22: 57 hours (SOs if somebodys bankrolling you.)
L27: 92 hours (SOs on your own!)
L32: 136 hours (Teh pet! ... typically)
L44: 286 hours (Fireball! ... typically)
L50: 385 hours (Younna gowt the Hammy raid tonight?)

I mention this also because, since I had the powersets of the various entries, I was able to figure out what the levels/hour performance average was for different primaries and secondaries, and I'm going to list it here, but there is great reason to NOT TAKE THIS INFO SERIOUSLY. The samples for some sets ESPECIALLY including Sonic and Trick Arrow were as few as five seperate players-- and those sets in particular are likely to look skewed for another reason, which is that nobody was playing them over the first 3 issues of the game.

That said, here's how the sets ranked for performance in this cripplingly small sample:

Primaries (best to worst)
1 Fire
2 Mind
3 Ice
4 Ill
5 Earth
6 Grav

Secondaries (best to worst)
1 Rad
2 TA
3 Storm
4 Kin
5 Emp
6 Sonic
7 FF

anachrodragon · 05-29-2006 10:22 PM

I'll be the first to say it. Fantastic guide!

SuperDense · 05-30-2006 04:06 AM

Wow! Nice guide Enantiodromos. "Comprehensive" doesn't quite do it justice.

Frost · 05-30-2006 02:51 PM

Thanks to Enan for compiling this and to all the members of the Controller community who contributed. Turned out very nicely

CircuitBoi · 05-31-2006 09:04 AM

I DEMAND GRAVITY/KINETICS BE BOLDED LIKE THE REST OF THE SETS ARE! THIS DISCRIMINATION AGAINST MY BELOVED COMBO WILL NOT STAND! ENANT SHOULD BE SEVERELY PUNISHIED FOR THIS OVERSIGHT! WHIP HIM WITH A WET NOODLE! OR BETTER YET, NERF MIND CONTROL!

Sorry, I always have to respond to Enant's posts with at least one correction. It's my nature.

Enantiodromos · 05-31-2006 03:56 PM

Ha. Grav/kin. Nerfed by yours truly.

Fire/Rad is next.

Possibility · 06-01-2006 03:00 PM

Another fantastic breakout by Enantiodromos.

I've recently started an Earth/Rad controller, and something tells me that this is going to be a particularly effective combination. I created him to team with some new player friends of mine, and I went for maximum support, since they were playing a scrapper and a tanker. I chose to take all of the Rad powers up to AM before taking any further Earth powers. Now I will refrain from taking any more Radiation powers and build up the control side. Stone Cages + RI is a fantastic blend, a fairly early AoE combo that is incredibly defense-enhancing for a team. As you pointed out, keeping critters within the enemy debuff anchor range is paramount to protection and maximizing effectiveness of the debuffs, and keeping the anchor from aggroing other groups is an added bonus. Very good synergy.

Voidstrider · 06-01-2006 09:46 PM

Awesome analysis and data correlation.

illicity · 06-12-2006 04:01 PM

I coudln't read it all the 1st time, came back to finish it before posting. Incredible guide [cut/paste ] Enantiodromos!

* * * * *

Nocturne_NA · 06-13-2006 06:08 AM

Great googlie mooglie, you're killing me man! I have enough alts already without wanting to try out some of your proposed build alternatives. My splattroller is amusing enough, in an "OMGOMG I'm gonna die... oh wait, I won!" kinda way. Gah!

Drusus · 06-14-2006 05:43 PM

One of the best guides I've seen. I've been itching to roll a troller....Now I want to give up my MM's ques tfor 50 and do it tonight...now what to choose..................

Vojin · 06-16-2006 06:24 AM

Hey
Just got my account reactivated recently and never got the chance to thank you for putting my name up there.
It is the first thing I've really contributed to the forums.
Makes me proud...
gonna cry.
Thanks again.

Feign · 06-19-2006 07:11 AM

I have an Ill/Kin and feel the burn of impossible soloing... On most teams, I'm more of a Kinetics Defender with some control rather than blasts. Other than travel, the combination takes a LONG time to bloom, I'm still dreaming of te day when I can port in my Dense and Speedy Phantasm in the middle of a Flashed group to get hit with a full Fulcrum Shift from inside my invisibility.

On the other hand, Superior Invis+Siphon Speed+Recall Ally=a very happy team in the Hollows at level 10. I sort of picked the build for a theme rather than fast leveling.

Inv/EM Tank
EB/EM Blapper
Kin/EB Offender
Ill/Kin Deftroller
Yeah, I'm plenty crazy.

All that is planned fails. All that is born dies.
All that is built crumbles. This will always be true.

But memories remain, And that is beautiful.

Combat · 06-19-2006 01:47 PM

385 hours for 50? Wow then my level 19 Mind/Kin should have been 50 a while ago (513 Hours).

P.S. My Emp/Dark (in siggy) has been played for 1093 hours. It took him 1011 for 50...

TW/Elec Optimization

Vauluur · 06-27-2006 08:10 AM

Nice Guide!

@Rorn ---- Blue Baron ---- Guardian

keyyotee · 06-27-2006 08:35 AM

Great guide!
No Earth/Kinetics build? I can say it is a great build, especially for teaming. However, it is pretty good for soloing in the higher levels.
Stalagmites/stone cages (area immobilize)/Fulcrum shift is a great combo! Animate stone, though slightly stupid at times, works great with speed boost too! Oh, and so do your teammates (work great with SB, I mean).

Axterix · 06-27-2006 07:44 PM

Good guide, though I'd suggest a few changes for the next version. Some opinion, some just some phrasing that I think could stand to be clarified a bit for, well, better clarity.

[ QUOTE ]
# Most noticeable animations: Earth, Ice
# Least Noticeable animations: Mind, Gravity

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd suggest replacing animations with graphics. Animations makes it wound like you're talking about the character's animations. At least to me

[ QUOTE ]
Earth:
Area hold is pulsing. Some minor -Def, quicksand with major -def. Damage is smashing + lethal.

[/ QUOTE ]

Volcanic Gasses is fire damage, so that gives earth some fire as well.

[ QUOTE ]
Most Common:Radiation, Kinetics

[/ QUOTE ]

In my experience, the most common secondary has been empathy, especially with all the illusion/emps running around. Rad is quite a bit down the list, I see more /storm than /rads. Least on my server.

[ QUOTE ]
Best Teaming: Empathy, Kinetics

[/ QUOTE ]

Rad belongs on here because of -regen and slow for AVs, in my opinion, coupled with emergency powers like EMP and always useful things like RI, EF, and AM. Although perhaps an AV debuffing category would work instead.

[ QUOTE ]
Best Defensively: Empathy, Sonic, Forcefield

[/ QUOTE ]

Think you meant best buffs or best team targetted powers? The term defensive is a bit misleading, as I'd rate both storm and rad ahead of empathy in terms of "defense", with multiple debuffs.

[ QUOTE ]
Fire/Kinetics
Fire/Kinetics is what I believe to be the most overwhelming controller set in terms of raw power. A developed and talented controller with these sets can take on just about anything. On the flip side, however, is the fact that the controller doesn't reach anything like full power until level 38. This is not a build for the impatient, and if you're the type who likes to solo exclusively, I wouldn't recommend this build. If you're group-oriented and can put up with a long haul, however, the reward is vast power and, yes, soloing ability. Many Kinetics powers are melee-oriented; this creates strong synergy with imps, and scrappers and tankers will especially appreciate what you bring to the table.

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe its just my experience from playing an earth/rad prior to my fire/kinetics, but I do think this sells fire/kin's early development short. Makes a good soloer early and only gets better as it goes along.

Enantiodromos · 06-28-2006 11:03 AM

Everybody--

Thanks for your praise. I couldn'ta done it without everybody on the controller forums, really. I just don't like to give them credit because they made me (the lazy guy) compile the thing.

Asterix,

Good input; "animation" is a little ambiguous, and I didn't know VG actually had a damage component!

Rad's staying off my "best teaming" component until I play either of my rad toons three session in a row were somebody doesn't *seem* to be deliberately killing my anchors first in every fight despite explanations. ^_^ Anyway, I'll think about it.

Re: Empathy-- my stats are ... er, around 9 mos old now. The frequency of */empathy controllers has been steadily rising that whole time. I'm quite sure that at least we could say empathy's in the top three ATM. I'm pretty confident it's still not #1, though, frequency-wise.

On "defensive," it might be that the category should read "Most defensive:" rather than "Best defensive." Of course, as your comment re: empathy reminds us, I've made zero distinction between single ally and AoE in this category.

Cuppa_fluff · 06-28-2006 02:54 PM

alright, im just gonna have to plain dis-agree with you on gravity being the worst controller. Gravity offers great damage for soloing, its holds are very un-laggy on teams when the AoE is used, its pet is tough as nails, one of the very few controllers who can solo hold an AV (pet has a hold). I dont disagree that some sets are better, i just think that it should be removed from the bottom spot and replaced with ice, in my opinion. i just dont think its the lowest.

Axterix · 06-28-2006 04:41 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Good input; "animation" is a little ambiguous, and I didn't know VG actually had a damage component!

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup, it does, not impacted by containment though, due to its "pet" nature.

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Rad's staying off my "best teaming" component until I play either of my rad toons three session in a row were somebody doesn't *seem* to be deliberately killing my anchors first in every fight despite explanations. ^_^ Anyway, I'll think about it.

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Hehe, yah, that's a fact of life, although once you adapt to your team, it doesn't tend to be much of a problem most of the time. Really, if your team is killing off your anchors just like that, it means you either aren't targetting them well or the team doesn't really need 'em, so no biggie. Me, I'm often blasting my own anchors when playing my rad or darks...so that shows how much I worry about that The ol' getting your anchors blasted thing might be worth mentioning somewhere though for those it annoys.

I figured you were going for a slot for each of the secondaries with those 3 categories in that area, hence the suggestion of retitling it or adding an AV debuffing one. People love rads and kins for AVs, worth noting.

Enantiodromos · 06-28-2006 06:05 PM

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alright, im just gonna have to plain dis-agree with you on gravity being the worst controller

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I disagree with whomever said that too.

What I said was, in a sample so small that it's at least a little flakey to draw conclusions from it, it looks like gravity is the slowest leveler.

Gravity's the set I've played second most, after Mind. I dig on it.

Cuppa_fluff · 06-29-2006 09:56 AM

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alright, im just gonna have to plain dis-agree with you on gravity being the worst controller

[/ QUOTE ]

I disagree with whomever said that too.

What I said was, in a sample so small that it's at least a little flakey to draw conclusions from it, it looks like gravity is the slowest leveler.

Gravity's the set I've played second most, after Mind. I dig on it.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah gravity pwnz >.>

Amarsir · 07-01-2006 07:17 AM

Very impressive!

I have a theory on the relative scarcity of Illusion/Kinetics. At least it's a thought process I've had discouraging that combination and presumably others would have had the same.

The obvious first answer is knockback from Phantasm. Not like it was back with multiple phants per caster, but still Phantasm is somewhat known for that. And having your pet knockback your Transfusion/Transference target can be unpleasant. That may be a slight deterrant.

The larger reason IMHO is indirectly through Phantom Army. Kinetics is frequently taken as a secondary with intent to boost offense - as are, say, Rad and Storm. Naturally PA doesn't benefit from a Fulcrum Shift, as it doesn't benefit from any buffs. However, if I debuff resistance, PA will do more damage.

Therefore if I'm choosing from "boost the offense" secondaries I have a specific reason to take a debuff over a buff, increasing Rad/Storm/(TA?) and decreasing Kin. On the other hand if I was choosing secondaries with the intention of boosting defense I wouldn't care about buffing PA and would choose Emp/FF/Sonic however inclined.

To me this explains why Illusion/Kinetics negatively correlate.

-------

You've commented expertly on offense/defense considerations in powerset selections and also specific power synergies - probably the two most important considerations in pairing. I wanted to mention two more I feel worth note - not that they were left out but just to emphasize.

1. Early Bloom / Late Bloom: You mentioned in Earth/TA how two late-blooming sets can feel empty at early levels, very true. It's exacerbated by the controller being in a spot (say, level 4) where he has to take a power he's not crazy about because the more attractive stuff isn't open yet.

Using Earth/TA as an example, suppose I don't really want either the single or AOE immobilize for whatever reason. On the other hand I'm also not crazy about Flash or Glue arrows. (Not knocking the powers, just hypothetical preference.) Well like 'em or not, I have to take two of those four powers at levels 2 and 4. And every respec I do trying to fit more pool powers in among the later must-haves these choices will mock me.

The reverse is also true. Consider Illusion/Rad. Of the first 4 powers on either side, none are easy to skip and most are hard to even push back. Therefore, ideally I'd like one early- and one late-blooming set in the pair.

2. Another thing worth thinking about is how busy a set is during combat. I think one reason I've seen a lot of Ice/Empathy is that it's fairly easy to lay down an Ice Slick, maybe have Arctic Air running, and spend most of combat watching players to heal/buff.

On the other hand Illusion relies more on single-target effects making it pretty busy during combat. So I might pair that with Force Field which does its buffing between fights and demands little during.

As an altaholic who tries to use every set and keeps a notebook of builds on my desk, these are considerations that have occurred to me in hindsight on several characters and that I now think about before creating new toons.

Ehryn · 07-11-2006 12:32 PM

Hehehe, I just love the fact that my character ends up bottom on both of those final lists...Grav/FF. I personally think it's an awesome build, and with containment I feel like I can solo through many of the missions I used to have so much trouble with before.

Ravenbane · 07-11-2006 12:52 PM

Holy Schnikeys man! This is an amazing guide! I am amazed at all the time and effort you must have put into this! You deserve a flipping medal! Kudos to you!

P.S. I have an Ice/Storm and an Ill/Rad. One for serious controlling and another for more soloability. Based on what I just read, good to know I made good choices.

P.P.S. *5-Stars the thread*