Lights and Sounds. Illusion/Sonic. Take 3


Belabras

 

Posted

(My guide got purged again somehow. Hopefully putting it here will keep it safe)
This is the same guide as the one that somehow found itself in the Bermuda Triangle. I dont think there are any changes to note except that now AD is 50, where he was only 45 when I wrote this.
Lets talk Illusion first shall we? Why take Illusion? I would say because its damage is psionic in nature, and there isnt a whole lot that can resist psionic.
Blind, Flash, and Spectral Terror are nice little holds.(I don't know the diff between hard control or soft control, so if they cant attack its a hold to me). YOu also get pets earlier
than the other controllers, first through Deceive cause really when you deceive someone their doing your work and then Phantom Army. Or maybe you just don't see yourself as being able to control the elements and mind control doesn't suit you but being an illusionist sounds like fun.
Anyway, on to the powers.

Spectral Wounds- Your first and pretty much your only real attack power through out the game. A ranged attack that convinces the enemy he is taking damage, so much so that he actually does take damage. When the illusion of the wounds wear off, the enemy will gain back some health. Since this is your only attack, you'll more than likely 6 slot it if you can. I have it 3 dmg, 2 acc, 1 recharge.

Blind- Your early single target hold and one you'll be using quite often. It says that others around the target could be blinded too, but i have never noticed it. It also causes psi damage as well as holding the target. Slot it for holds mostly, one recharge so its available soon, and possibly one damage. I never noticed a lot of endurance being used with this power so i don't have any end redux in it.

Deceive- "Hey waitaminute, your not my friend. Take that!"
"Im on your team asswipe!" Ah yes, Deceive. The ability for you to turn enemies on one another while you just laugh. I wont even get into the arguments about whether or not you lose xp for mobs defeated this way. Suffice it to say though, this power comes in very handy quite a few times, especially while soloing. What can be better that watching an Embalmed explode his fellow zombies or a Sapper drain his own Malta allies of their endurance? Probably want to slot it for confuse duration or accuracy so it hits more.

Flash- PBAoE flash of light that holds everyone it hits. However, if it misses, you get the aggro, or at least I found that to be true anyway. It also requires you to be in the middle of the mob for it to get any effect out of it, and that's not good in my opinion. Early on, I did use this quite a bit as it was one of my few holds, but as I got up in level I sometimes forgot I even had it. Slot it for holds, give it an accuracy or two.

Superior Invisibility- Stealth! Plus you can attack while this power is activated. But what's the point of SI you ask? Well for one, it doesn't slow you down when activated like Stealth from the pool powers. It offers you a nice defense and the enemy cant see you until you attack. Seriously, I am standing in front of a level 49 Nemesis with SI on and he's just picking his nose. Slotted with 2 Def, and one end redux, since it is a toggle.

Group Invis- Early on I took this power but respeced out of it later. PBAoE team stealth, adds defense to the team. Good on paper, but I didn't see anything good about it. Its on a timer and wears off eventually, it can make the tank invisible who cant hold aggro now. The wearing off seems to always happen at the most inopportune time and the recharge is so slow that its ridiculous. If you must take it, then slot it for defense and recharge I would say.

Phantom Army- What you've been waiting for. Your mini tanker army. summon these fellas and they'll take the alpha strike for you and your team. There's one of two ways you can slot this. You can slot them to cause more damage or you can slot them for recharge. Either way, they take a little endurance to summon them so you may want a end redux.

Spectral Terror- OMG! A bear! Ok, so maybe that's not what the enemy sees but ST is a ranged fear. Bring up in the middle of a group and watch as they cower in fear. You'll get one or two who either aren't affected or run away, but for the most part thats a minority over the number cowering. Summon PA, throw up ST and watch with joy as PA takes down each cowering mob. ST lasts for almost a minute and with one recharge its ready for use before its even down. Slot for fear duration, recharge, and I put in acc, so it would hit more.

Phantasm- Your level 32 pet. He doesn't disappear unless you leave the mission map or he dies. I think I've seen him die maybe 10 times or less. He has energy attacks which can knock back, he flies, and he can summon his own decoys, who are intangible and cant be harmed. You can also buff him. Slotting wise, since he does stay with you longer than PA you might not have to worry so much about recharge. It takes a long time to recharge so you may want to still put one in. I also would say one or two end redux and a couple damage.

All right, that's the illusion part of things. coming up next the Sonic side of things. This is the first time I've written anything like this so please don't tar and feather me quite yet.

Now we come to the /Sonic side of the Illusion/Sonic controller. Sonic may not be the most
popular choice of secondaries but it still has some good uses. Sonic's shields are all about lowering
the damage resistance of the enemy while raising your teammates own damage resistance. I know
what some of you are probably thinking, "I can do better with the slowing effects of Storm, or the debuffs
of Rad, I can do better protection with Force Field, etc, etc. why should I take sonic?" Well, because
if their resistance to your damage has been lowered they will go down faster and with you and your teammates
damage resistance increased, well that little bit can make all the difference in the world.

Sonic Siphon- No choice in taking this one, but thats all right. Its a good one to have. Single target debuff
lowering the damage resistance of all types on the enemy. Slotting? For some reason it seemed to miss quite often
so I put in a couple accuracy, along with a recharge to lessen the downtime.

Sonic Barrier- Single target ally buff, increases the resistance to Smash, Lethal, and Toxic damage of whoever you hit this with.
Recharge is pretty quick and the duration lasts about 60-90 seconds. It doesnt use a lot of endurance really, but when on a large team
combined with the other shield applications and your illusion attacks, endurance can drop fast. Slotted for damage resist and one end redux.
Can be used on Phantasm

Sonic Haven- Single target ally buff, increases the resistance to Fire, Cold, Eng, Neg Eng attacks. Recharge and duration is the same as Sonic Barrier and the endurance usage is the same as well. Slotted for damage resistance and End Redux also. Can be used on Phantasm

Sonic Cages- Single target Foe intangibility. Description says foe hold(special) but i believe it makes him intangible. Hit one of the baddies with this and he wont be attacking you or able to help his buddies. You cant attack him either though, nor can the team if you're on one. Most times by the time you or your teammates are ready to attack the foe in the cage, you end up having to wait for the cages to wear off. I dont know how it would do in a PvP situation, but PvE wise, skip it. If you really want to see how it works and if its a good thing to use in PvE, then I suggest you copy your charecter on test and play with it. Okay, I've been hearing of some folks taking this power and loving it. It all depends on your play style I guess.

Disruption Field- Ally Anchor sonic debuff toggle. When set up on your ally, any enemy that gets within range has their damage resistance, so its best to apply this to one of the tanks or scrappers on the team. I have used this on Phantom Army so its still useable while your soloing. If you dont have a tank or scrapper or even someone who keeps jumping in melee, than throw it that person who always seems to grab the mobs attention. There's only two enhancements you can put in and thats recharge or end redux. Being toggle, I would slot for end redux.

Sonic Dispersion- You set up a large area shield around yourself and your teammates raising the damage resistance to all types except Psionic. It also protects from Immob, Disorient, and Hold effects. Its a toggle so you might want to throw in a end redux. Like Sonic Barrier and Sonic Haven slot it for Damage Resistance and End Redux.

Sonic Repulsion- Set this up on an ally and the enemies get constantly knocked back. I really dont see any good reason for having this, except for maybe in PvP teams, and even then thats probably stretching it.

Clarity- Frees your allies from Immob, Disorient, Holds, Confusions, and Fear effects and protects them from such effects for awhile. It also raises the allies perception of things. Duration seems to be less than the other Sonic shields, so you can either keep applying this when it goes down or apply it when you need to apply the other shields. Only enhancements you can use for this is range, end redux, and recharge. Slotting is up to you. I have one range and one end redux.

Liquefy- Create a powerful localized earthquake, holding all foes in its area, and causing minor damage. If a enemy walks into the area theres a good chance he will fall down. Liquefy also lowers the accuracy and defense of the enemies caught in its area of effect. Recharge is slow so you will want at least one or two recharges. The rest is personal preference, as it can be slotted for holds, defense debuff, to hit debuffs, or damage.

As far as Power Pools go, thats up to you. I took the Fitness pool for Stamina because I needed it. Soloing or small (2-4 people) teams you may be able to get by with jsut putting end redux in each power, but on full teams I kept dropping endurance faster than a high school prom dress. I went the Jumping pool cause I wanted my travel to be Super Jump.


So thats it. I suppose if need be I could go into how to play your charecter in the low, mid or upper levels but that would seem like I am trying to hold your hand. You'll discover what works soon enough. I will say though that in early levels one of the better strategies is to blind one enemy and while he's held attack the other one. When you get Decieve, this can be a very useful tool for thinning out the herd. When you get Phantom Army be sure to send them in first, each and everytime.

Okay, thats really it. I hope I did a decent job with this and that you all wont be too critical of it. I will answer whatever questions I can but keep in mind I dont know numbers. Thank you for your time and have fun gaming.

((Lets hope third time is a charm.))


 

Posted

Thanks for reposting this, Muad_Dib!


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
Group Invis- Early on I took this power but respeced out of it later. PBAoE team stealth, adds defense to the team. Good on paper, but I didn't see anything good about it. Its on a timer and wears off eventually, it can make the tank invisible who cant hold aggro now. The wearing off seems to always happen at the most inopportune time and the recharge is so slow that its ridiculous. If you must take it, then slot it for defense and recharge I would say.

[/ QUOTE ]Emphasis mine because this is a false assumption that everyone passes around as fact. Group Invis and Grant Invis have not had negative impact on Tanker aggro since Stealth Supression was added.

Please test it before perpetuating the same false rumor.


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.

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Group Invis- Early on I took this power but respeced out of it later. PBAoE team stealth, adds defense to the team. Good on paper, but I didn't see anything good about it. Its on a timer and wears off eventually, it can make the tank invisible who cant hold aggro now. The wearing off seems to always happen at the most inopportune time and the recharge is so slow that its ridiculous. If you must take it, then slot it for defense and recharge I would say.

[/ QUOTE ]Emphasis mine because this is a false assumption that everyone passes around as fact. Group Invis and Grant Invis have not had negative impact on Tanker aggro since Stealth Supression was added.

Please test it before perpetuating the same false rumor.

[/ QUOTE ]

The statement was based on playing with tankers who complained that it was my Group Invisibility that made it hard for them to hold aggro.


 

Posted

Thanks for reposting Muad_Dib!


 

Posted

Not a problem. Thankfully I did the guide in Word and saved it for this reason. Hopefully by posting in this section with a link to it in the controller section will mean it wont get lost in the next forum purge.