Smoke and Mirrors v1.6: Illusions/Storm guide
By
Carnifax_NA,
Posted on: 2008-05-13 14:10 in Player Guides
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1. Introduction
To say that I absolutely love the combination of Illusions/Storm Summoning carries more weight when you realize that over the years of playing City of Heroes/Villains I've created and deleted more alts than I can remember and I think I've teamed and played personally with possibly every possible build in the game at the time of writing this. So for that reason alone you should realize that Illus/Storm is something very very special. That's why I felt the need to create this guide as I personally think that there isn't a nice thorough (or recent) guide around to fully explain the wonders of this set plus it's a set which feels powerful, is very flexible in its potential tactics and above all else it is one of the most visually impressive of all the power combinations the game has to offer. All information contained within is accurate as of Issue 12 for City of Heroes.
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2. What this guide will tell you
Don't you just hate those guides which you pick up looking for something specific and skim through the whole thing to find it is not there? Yeah, me too. So here's a quick rundown of what this guide is intended to cover (and what it won't).
- Powers. General information including animations, visual effects, damage type, status effects, general recharge, endurance costs and damage infomation, slotting options, important notes and some personal comments from me, (NOT COVERED: all specific stats on powers - as you can now get these in-game, example builds and epic power pools) Although some hard numbers are available from data mining I have done, these are included for reference material at the end of the guide.
- PvE Tactics. What to use in what situations, what not to use together and specific tips on certain enemies. Advice on soloing and teaming in PvE (NOT COVERED: how to powerlevel with this set or how to level the fastest)
- PvP Tactics. What to expect from PvP, what to be aware of, who you'll have no problems fighting with and who you'll struggle with. Various approaches to PvP using Illus/Storm. Some general advice about PvP. (NOT COVERED: zone by zone guide or how to 'pwn' everyone)
- IO sets, procs and suggestions for slotting your powers.
- Common myths about Illus/storm controllers debunked, proven and explained.
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3. 'Illusions' powers
3a. Summary of Illusions
Some things to remember about Illusions is that if you're expecting to be keeping tight control over the enemy then you're going to be disappointed. Illusions offers a lot of what they call 'soft control'. The best way to describe soft control is to say that powers are intended to mitigate damage away from you and your team without stopping the NPCs dead in their tracks completely. That is not to say that it doesn't have any hard controls, it does have 1 PBAoE hold and 1 single target hold but other than that it has got nothing else. That said it is one of the most damage dealing capable control sets due to its heavy use of psionic and energy damage types.
3b. Specific powers
SPECTRAL WOUNDS
Available at level: 1
Type: Ranged single target click
Damage type(s): PSI/SPECTRAL (see 3c. Understanding 'Spectral' damage)
Damage potential: Moderate/High
Recharge: Low
Endurance cost: Moderate
Status effect(s): NONE
What does it look like: Looks like you throw a handful of light particles, the target then developers a blue/purple aura made of ghostly screaming skulls with flickering red lines (like deep cuts)
Animation used: It's the quick backhand sweeping movement also used by spines scrappers using Throw Spines (left handed)
Compatible IO set(s): ranged damage
Slotting options:-
(acc/dmg/dmg/dmg) - saves slots with decent damage
(acc/acc/dmg/dmg/dmg/rch) - maximum damage, also suitable for PvP
(acc/acc/dmg/dmg/dmg/end) - PvP/PvE stamina-less option
Additional Notes:-
Spectral wounds is capped so you won't get full containment damage as with other controller powers, this is because with full containment enhanced spectral wounds this power would be devastating so the devs placed a limiter on it. This power also has a +10% base accuracy bonus.
Tal-N's notes:-
A staple power for Illusionists but oddly enough it's not critically important as the character matures mainly because a lot of damage is produced by the phantasm, phantom army, tornado and Lightning Storm. However it's an excellent power for PvP and in the pre-32 game. So skip it at your peril.
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BLIND
Available at level: 1
Type: Ranged/Special single target click (small AoE)
Damage type(s): PSIONIC
Damage potential: Moderate
Recharge: Moderate
Endurance cost: Moderate
Status effect(s): HOLD (SLEEP)
What does it look like: A burst of light flashed from the eyes, a flickering white light appears over the enemies' face. They clutch their head as if blinded and in pain.
Animation used: Character leans forwards and fires the flash from their eyes
Compatible IO set(s): hold, sleep, ranged damage
Slotting options:-
(acc/hld/hld/rchg) - ideal bare minimum slotting for control purposes
(acc/dmg/dmg/dmg) - ideal bare minimum for damage
(acc/acc/hld/hld) - slot saving, high accuracy, decent hold
(acc/dmg/dmg/dmg/rchg/rchg) - maximum damage effectiveness
(acc/hld/hld/hld/rchg/rchg) - maximum hold effectiveness
(acc/dmg/dmg/dmg/acc/end) - stamina-less, PvE/PvP damage dealing
Additional Notes:-
Blind has the unique aspect of being a ranged attack which doesn't actually have a ranged ToHit check. Essentially if you have ranged specific defense it bypasses it completely, this is also a trait of Mind Control's hold called Dominate. The power also has a very small AoE of around 1' so if you have two targets almost on top of one another the nearby targets will be effected by a sleep style effect from the flash hold placed on the main target. Has an inherent +10% base accuracy bonus.
Tal-N's notes:-
Basically, if you want to be a controller you ideally want at least one status effect. This is it. It's also about the only solid one you have besides Flash. This is pretty much an essential since it's needed to set up containment damage bonuses plus it is Psi damage as well. A good Blind+Spectral Wounds combo is great for killing minions. The 'AoE' sleep is a complete joke however, it is very rare to get enemies to stand close enough to make it of any use, even using hurricane to herd them into a corner tends to result in only 2 enemies being caught at once. The sleep component is not reliable at all.
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Deceive
Available at level: 2
Type: Ranged single target click
Damage type(s): NONE/PSIONIC
Damage potential: None
Recharge: Moderate
Endurance cost: Moderate
Status effect(s): CONFUSE
What does it look like: Light particles appear around your hands, there is a flash over the eyes of the target and purple dots/haze appears around their head
Animation used: Reaching out with both hands and gently waving the fingers as if trying to hypnotize someone
Compatible IO set(s): confusion
Slotting options:-
(acc/conf/conf) - minimum advisable slotting
(acc/conf/conf/conf//rchg/rchg) - maximum effectiveness for single targets
(acc/conf/conf/rchg/rchg/rchg) - maximum effectiveness for groups
(acc/conf/conf/end/rchg) - slot saving with regular usage and cost effective
Additional Notes:-
Damage done by confused NPCs to other NPCs will cut into the exp you get from defeating the enemy which was harmed. Details on this can be found in section 7f. This power has a +20% base accuracy bonus.
Tal-N's notes:-
Is it essential, or is it a luxury? It's a much debated power but not one person will say it is useless because that's a blatant lie. The fact is that there are times when the confusion status effect can really turn the tide of a fight in your favor compared to times when it works against you. It's a power which needs a lot of knowledge and skill to use effectively, timing can be critical as can knowing what you should confuse in a horde of enemies that want to tear your face off. Very much worth getting if you have the space for it in your build but there are alternative ways to overcome the problems which this power is designed to help with. (Please see 5e/ii of the PvE Tactics section for more advice on how to use Deceive.)
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FLASH
Available at level: 6
Type: PBAOE click
Damage type(s): NONE/PSIONIC
Damage potential: None
Recharge: Extremely Long
Endurance cost: High
Status effect(s): HOLD
What does it look like: A large flash around the player which looks like the old style phosphorus camera burst.
Animation used: Character crouches slightly while bringing their arms close to them and then reaches out as if spelling a Y with their arms and body to accompany the flash.
Compatible IO set(s): hold
Slotting options:-
(acc/acc/rchg/rchg) - bare minimum slotting for best effect
(acc/acc/rchg/hld/hld/hld) - long duration, infrequent use
(acc/acc/rchg/rchg/rchg/hld) - regular usage, moderate duration
(acc/acc/rchg/rchg/hld/hld) - best of both
(acc/rchg/rchg/hld/hld/hld) - less accurate but good recharge time and long hold
Additional Notes:-
Has the usual -20% base accuracy penalty.
Tal-N's notes:-
This is one of those powers which needs a lot of slots to really be of value. When you first pick it up the recharge is so long that you'll barely be able to use it in most fights and the duration is painfully low. With 3 recharges and 2 holds it becomes a lot more useful but frankly what you'll find is that Phantom Army is better at aggro mitigation compared to Flash. These days Flash is only really any good for setting up containment since it is effectiveness in crowd control and as a panic button is limited, especially as you need to stand in the middle of the mob to get the most from it. If you're that close to a crowd of enemies who are out of control without phantom army up then you won't last long anyway.
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SUPERIOR INVISIBILITY
Available at level: 8
Type: Self affecting toggle
Damage type(s): None
Damage potential: None
Recharge: Moderate
Endurance cost: High
Status effect(s): SELF STEALTH and +DEFENSE TO ALL (EXCEPT TOXIC)
What does it look like: You turn invisible with a blue tint outline
Animation used: A 'powering up' type animation with the head tilted up and the arms down by the side while semi-bent. Same as Build-up's animation.
Compatible IO set(s): defense
Slotting options:-
(end) - minimum slotting
(end/end) - optimal
Additional Notes:-
Most powerful toggle invisibility power in the game for heroes. Hides you from just about anything. SI does stack with any other stealth powers however there are caps placed upon the stealth value of players, in the case of SI it's such a high stealth bonus that it'll send the player straight to the cap so additional stealth powers are of little value except in one rare exception (see section 7c. later in this guide) Please note that the AI will aggro to you as the result of some pets.
Tal-N's notes:-
There is often much discussion about what is better to take SI or GI (listed below) as both of them do the same job AND both have almost the same stealth capabilities. The benefit of SI and why I feel it is the better to take of the two is that it is a toggle rather than a click power. So you have complete control over how visible you are. Additionally if you get killed or suffer from -recharge debuffs then you cannot loop GI endlessly to be always invisibile should you need to. On top of that you need to slot GI more heavily than SI for it to be permanent, SI only needs 2 slots in total and they're to lower the rather heavy endurance cost for running it. In any event, it is a purely optional power in the grand scheme of things. It makes life easier but it's far from an essential.
There is some debate over if using certain non-aggro powers will cause SI to suppress so far as to make you visible when standing near the enemy. It's seems to be that the SI value increases as you gain levels meaning that in the teens when you stand in a group of enemies and use Deceive it'll suppress enough for the enemies to aggro however at the higher levels (post-30) you'll remain invisible when using Deceive at close range.
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GROUP INVISIBILITY
Available at level: 12
Type: PBAOE click
Damage type(s): None
Damage potential: None
Recharge: Very Extremely Long
Endurance cost: Moderate
Status effect(s): SELF AND ALLY STEALTH and +DEFENSE TO ALL (EXCEPT TOXIC)
What does it look like: Player and allies are invisible with a slight blue aura
Animation used: Character crouches slightly and reaches out left and right with their arms, light particles trickle like water from their hands.
Compatible IO set(s): defense
Slotting options:-
(rchg/rchg/rchg) - optimal, frequent use
Additional Notes:-
Most powerful click invisibility power in the game for heroes. Hides you and your allies from just about anything. GI however does not suppress in PvE but will vanish completely in PvP and when clicking on a glowie. GI stacks with any other stealth power however there are caps placed upon the stealth value of players, in the case of GI it's such a high stealth bonus that it'll send the player straight to the cap so additional stealth powers are of little value except in one rare exception (see section 7c.of the FAQ later in this guide for details on this quirk). Be warned: GI will make you visible for a moment when you reapply it!
Tal-N's notes:-
As much as it is a shame I have to say that I've rarely found Group Invisibility to be much of a use.
Never in the years have I been playing have I been on a team where someone asked for GI to be placed upon them. Not that I haven't seen it used on teams but it is really not all that useful. If you want it for your team and your phantasm then it's better than grant invisibility, if you want it purely for soloing and yourself then take superior invisibility. It's far more flexible. bare in mind that this power also has the drawback with Tankers of making it harder for them to maintain aggro, since enemies will choose targets based upon distance, threat multiplier, damage and visibility a tanker who is invisible won't be an appealing target unless they're dealing damage or able to grab aggro with Taunt generating powers. This means enemies outside of melee range aren't going to be as bothered with the Tanker compared to the squishie Defender who is right next to them. If you're going to use GI make sure you give Tankers a chance to get out of it's AoE before you activate it! Where this power is of use is mainly when you have groups of enemies close together and you don't want excessive aggro. It's nice to be able to fight one group when right next to another one and still find that the 2nd group is totally oblivious to you. Of course due to the duration of the buff it leaves open the chance that it'll either drop half way through the fight or need to be reapplied, the reapplication wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for the fact that it makes everyone visible for a split second which is the last thing you need when you're standing near a 2nd spawn of enemies.
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PHANTOM ARMY
Available at level: 18
Type: targeted click summon
Damage type(s): PSIONIC/SPECTRAL (see 3c. Understanding 'Spectral' damage)
Damage potential: (individual) minor/moderate (combined) moderate/high
Recharge: Very Extremely Long
Duration: 60 SECONDS (Very Long)
Endurance cost: High
Status effect(s): TAUNT
What does it look like: Summons 3 random body-type phantom heroes dressed in blue and white bodysuits. They have a blue/white aura. They then attack using fake super strength punches (as well as Hurl), electrical blasts, ice blasts and fire blasts. All of these attacks however do not do anything but psi and spectral damage.
Animation used: Left hand outstretched, light particles appear around the hand and 3 phantom heroes appear to run into where you directed them to appear. They appear 1 at a time.
Compatible IO set(s): pet damage
Slotting options:-
(acc/rchg/rchg/rchg/dmg/dmg) - best recharge and decent damage
(rchg/rchg/rchg/dmg/dmg/dmg) - inaccurate but high damage and recharge
(acc/acc/dmg/dmg/dmg) - pure damage, minimum slotting
(acc/acc/acc/rchg/rchg/rchg) - purely for tanking purposes
(rchg/rchg/rchg) - panic button or distraction purposes
Additional Notes:-
The phantoms are intangible, you cannot buff, heal or effect them in any way but they also cannot be effected by the enemy. The Phantoms will often choose to target separate enemies rather than double up on single targets, this obviously means that the larger spawns aren't going to be hurt much by the PA as the damage per NPC isn't being done fast enough to overcome the Spectral damage healback.
Tal-N's notes:-
The corner stone of the most solid and risk free tactics that an Illus/Stormie has in their arsenal. The description in-game is a little misleading as these guys/gals (yes, it'll spawn either randomly) are quite capable of defeating enemies without any help. Their main role however is to draw aggro, they do this by the AI choosing them as a target above all else unless you're practically standing next to the NPC causing some massive damage. This works exceptionally well except against AVs and high level enemies like giant monsters. (There is more on this power in chapter 5h. of the PvE Tactics section.)
All I can say is... you'd be mad not to get this power and 6-slot it.
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SPECTRAL TERROR
Available at level: 26
Type: Targeted click summon
Damage type(s): None
Damage potential: None
Recharge: Very Long
Duration: 30 SECONDS (Long)
Endurance cost: High
Status effect(s): FEAR COWER and FEAR RUN, -ACC
What does it look like: Hard to describe. A ghostly visage made of light with screaming skulls and what looks like two claws hovering in the air.
Animation used: Arms are raised slowly from the side to be palm up at eye level, as if the player is attempting to lift something. Light particles trickle from the hands like water.
Compatible IO set(s): fear
Slotting options:-
(fear/rchg) - more than ample
(rchg/fear/end) - regular usage, stamina-less build
(fear/fear/fear/rchg/acc/acc) - getting the most from the fear 'attack'
(fear/fear/fear) - casual use, maximum duration
Additional Notes:-
While the Terror might float in the air it will actually will fall to ground level where it will hover a fixed distance from the floor. This allows you to drop it onto enemies even when you're well out of range. However be aware that while the autohit fear aura will be applied from any distance the Terror's 'attack' will not activate unless you are within 45-50' from the Terror itself.
Tal-N's notes:-
It's rare to come across a power which works to it's full potential without any slotting at all. But the Terror is it. Fresh upon getting it at level 26 you can use it and find it to be very very effective. It has two traits, an autohit PBAoE fear aura with the terror as it's centre and a directed Fear attack which will be directed at enemies and usually causes them to run a short distance and cower. Very effective for soft crowd control however against bosses you need for that fear attack to hit so it stacks with the aura. Excellent in almost all circumstances but loses it's effectiveness in the late game a little due to fear resistant enemies. While the power does not accept tohit debuff enhancements the aura and the 'attack' which the Terror has contains a 15% debuff to the targets tohit value, this can be quite effective when combined with the tohit debuffs within Hurricane.
Very much worth getting however. (Further information on this power is available in section 5e/iii of the PvE Tactics section.)
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PHANTASM
Available at level: 32
Type: targeted click summon
Damage type(s): ENERGY/SMASHING/SPECTRAL (see 3c. Understanding 'Spectral' damage)
Damage potential: Moderate/high
Recharge: Very Extremely Long
Duration: Permanent unless killed or zoning
Endurance cost: Extreme
Status effect(s): KNOCKBACK
What does it look like: A male human figure made totally of light, the 'body' is invisible with only the vibrant light aura showing its outline. Quite spectacular.
Animation used: Raises arms and is surrounded by an aura of light as if copying yourself into the image of the Phantasm.
Compatible IO set(s): pet damage, knockback
Slotting options:-
(acc/dmg/dmg/dmg) - ideal minimum slotting
(acc/acc/dmg/dmg/dmg) - saving slots, best damage
(acc/acc/dmg/dmg/dmg/end) - stamina-less build, best damage
Additional Notes:-
The duration of the phantasm means it's essentially perma, the devs said it will vanish given enough time but it would take ages. Do remember that it'll not zone with you so don't go summoning it before entering a mission as it won't be there when you get inside. The phantasm will also produce a decoy phantasm of itself which is intangible like the Phantom Army decoys are, it deals 100% spectral damage while the true phantasm does 100% energy/smashing damage. The phantasm's decoy is also 'attached' to a specific target so if that target is defeated then the decoy vanishes until it is resummoned by the Phantasm on another target.
Tal-N's notes:-
If the phantom army is the pocket-tanker and the spectral terror is the pocket-controller then the phantasm is a a pocket-corruptor... yes, it's odd but the phantasm is slightly better with damage than a defender but slightly worse than a blaster. So a corruptor from the villain side is about as close as you'll get. It's handy, it's flexible and half the time you forget it's there beside you kicking some villainous butt. The modest stats don't seem like much on paper but the phantasm decoy is really what keeps the phantasm alive as the decoy is summoned in the thick of things so it tends to take the aggro a lot of the time. It is however a little bit of a liability due to the knockback not being very helpful with things like freezing rain or spectral terror which are fixed location AoE. But then again all pets have their drawbacks. It's worth taking as the extra firepower is very much worth it, however it is not essential by far. It is however your ever-loyal bodyguard. (Please see PvE section 5e/iv for more details on Phantasm)
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3c. Understanding 'Spectral' damage
Unique to Illusions is a special feature not found naturally on any other current power set, this feature is called Spectral Damage. This can be best described as temporary damage. When a power which causes spectral damage hits, you find that after a fixed duration of time part of the initial damage caused will vanish. In-game this appears as if they are healed as the green text appears over the target's head, this is the Spectral damage wearing off. The main benefit of Spectral damage is that its nature means powers with it are initially more damaging than you'd expect, this means those powers are ideal for burst damage however over longer periods of time they are actually fairly weak. Remember however, that if the target's health hits zero then they're defeated as normal even if the spectral damage has not worn off yet - spectral damage does not wear off once the target is defeated. As such it is mainly useful on minions and targets which will be defeated quickly compared to targets which take time to damage.
Now the quirky thing about spectral damage's values is that it will vary depending upon the power itself. There is no standardised percentage or duration for all powers. What is consistent is that the Spectral damage itself is always a fixed portion of the base damage which the power causes when unenhanced, plus the spectral damage cannot be boosted by enhancements. The enhancements do instead boost the base value of the power leading to the total damage of the power increasing as do inspirations and damage buff the spectral damage portion is always the same. Below are specifics on the values for each power in regards to the Spectral damage component.
Spectral Wounds - 39% of unenhanced base damage is spectral, duration of 12 seconds. Spectral damage accounts for 20% of total damage when power is fully enhanced. Containment bonus only affects the real (psionic) damage portion of the attack, Spectral damage gains no bonus.
Phantom Army - 79% of unehanced base damage for melee attacks is spectral, 71% of unenhanced base damage for their ranged attacks is spectral. Duration of both is 8 seconds. Spectral damage accounts for 35% of ranged attack damage while for melee attacks it accounts for 39% of the total damage done when fully enhanced.
Phantasm - 100% of the decoy's damage is spectral in nature. The duration is 6 seconds. Unlike the Phantasm it does the same damage with both it's cone attack and it's single target attack unlike the true Phantasm which does more damage with it's cone attack.
Due to this mixture of how Spectral works it is understandable that there is often some confusion on how it operates. In general however a simple rule is that the more you enhance the damage of a power which has Spectral damage the less of the total end damage ends up being illusionary.
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4. 'Storm Summoning' powers
4a. Summary of Storm summoning
The Storm set is essentially a toolbox, it is a nice selection of abilities which are utilities meaning that they can sometimes be very situational. The synergy with Illusions is impressive to say the least with very few conflicts arising between them however within storm summoning itself there can be powers which don't partner well together. A greatly misunderstood set due to a lot of player focus being mainly on the lower level powers while the upper level powers are rarely reached by anyone other than defenders and the fact that certain powers tend to have multiple functions and undocumented capabilities in-game.
4b. Specific powers
GALE
Available at level: 1
Type: Cone click
Damage type(s): SMASHING
Damage potential: Minor
Recharge: Moderate
Endurance cost: Moderate
Status effect(s): HEAVY KNOCKBACK
What does it look like: A high speed gust of wind which rushes from behind you towards the target, kicks up some dust and debris
Animation used: Character raises arms in a slight forward tilt as if directing the wind
Compatible IO set(s): targeted AoE, knockback
Slotting options:-
(acc/acc) - casual use, good accuracy
(acc/acc/end/end) - frequent use, good accuracy
(acc/acc/end/rng/rng/rng) - wide cone, frequent use
(acc/kb/kb/kb/rng/rng) - powerful crowd control
(acc/acc/kb/kb/rng/rng) - accurate crowd control
(acc/acc/kb/kb/kb/kb) - just for laughs, insane knockback
Additional Notes:-
There is a -10% base accuracy penalty with this power.
Tal-N's notes:-
As far as compulsary powers go this isn't too bad. It's function becomes very diminished as times goes on as it is mainly intended as a limited form of soft control used for throwing enemies away or simply buying some time for you and your team. Not really worth slotting except for comedy value as it is one of the most powerful knockback abilities so it can send enemies flying quite some distance. Occasionally helps with herding enemies into a corner to set up an AoE or similar. (For additional notes on how to use Gale please refer to section 5e/i of the PvE section)
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O2 BOOST
Available at level: 2
Type: Single target click ally-only heal
Damage type(s): NONE
Damage potential: None
Recharge: Fast
Endurance cost: Moderate
Status effect(s): HEAL, SLEEP and STUN PROTECTION, PERCEPTION BOOST and ENDURANCE DRAIN RESISTANCE
What does it look like: Target is surrounded for a couple seconds in bubbles of purified air and water. The usual green glow of a heal accompanies this
Animation used: Arms outstretched forward with head down slightly as if concentrating.
Compatible IO set(s): heal
Slotting options:-
(heal/heal/rchg) - ideal minimum
(heal/heal/heal/end/rchg/rchg) - temp combat healer
(rchg/rchg/end/end) - downtime healer
Additional Notes:-
None
Tal-N's notes:-
It's a very simple power. It heals. It gives some stun and sleep protection which is a nice bonus however it is by no means going to turn your controller into a full time healer. It's good for when someone is lingering close to death and you want to just patch them up to keep them in the fight for longer or as something to help with downtime or the inevitable 'zzzzz' from team mates who have been stunned or put to sleep. It's a nice multipurpose ability really but only of any real value if you intend to team up a lot with others. Does help in keeping the Phantasm alive too if you find it's taking a lot of damage. If anything could be said for O2 Boost is that it's a handy toolkit power for teams, the duration isn't long enough to keep spamming it over and over for solid protection but with features like a boost to perception and endurance drain resistance it comes in handy when you face occasional enemies who sap your endurance or attempt to floor your perception values (like Night Widows) so that you cannot see them. A smart controller will pass around O2 Boost to get their team back in action and help things along better. Consider it like you would Increase Density from the Kinetics set, it's a reactive (rather than proactive) buff intended for application in certain uncommon situations.
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SNOW STORM
Available at level: 4
Type: Toggle anchored AoE
Damage type(s): NONE
Damage potential: None
Recharge: Moderate
Endurance cost: Minor
Status effect(s): -SPEED, -RECHARGE and -FLY
What does it look like: A big swirling snow storm
Animation used: Character raises their arms above their head as if calling down the storm
Compatible IO set(s): slow
Slotting options:-
(end/-spd) - casual use
(end/end/-spd/-spd) - frequent use, slot saving
(end/end/-spd/-spd/-spd) - optimal maximum
(-spd/-spd/-spd) - best slow, normal cost, infrequent use
Additional Notes:-
Remember that Slow enhancements don't effect -recharge debuffs, just -speed debuffs.
Tal-N's notes:-
It's a nice power. But hardly essential, it does help but only in some circumstances. Since Illusions tends to be a little weak in crowd control but excellent in damage mitigation which is where snow storm helps as it stops the group of enemies from wandering too far very fast. The -fly component is also quite valuable in PvP. It's worth getting as I said, but it is not a 'must have'.
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STEAMY MIST
Available at level: 10
Type: PBAOE toggle
Damage type(s): NONE
Damage potential: None
Recharge: Slow
Endurance cost: Moderate
Status effect(s): RESISTANCE to COLD, FIRE and ENERGY DAMAGE. PROTECTION against CONFUSION and +DEFENSE TO ALL (EXCEPT TOXIC)
What does it look like: A circle of mist that appears at ground level around your character (looks kinda ugly and fake when not standing on the floor)
Animation used: same as used for Spectral Terror, hands lifted slowly with palms up in front of the character.
Compatible IO set(s): resistance, defense
Slotting options:-
(end) - optimal minimum
(end/end) - active use for stealth
(end/end/res/res/res) - optimal maximum for combat protection
(end/res/res/res) - infrequent combat use
Additional Notes:-
The defense base value is only a few percentages compared to the much higher resistance base values. Estimated resistance value is around 20% compared to 2-3% of defense as a base value. So don't slot the defense, put them into resistance if you want this power for protection purposes.
Tal-N's notes:-
As far as powers go this one isn't much use for solo PvE but will help in team PvE and PvP in general. The resistance boost is nice but the fact is that you're pretty well protected against damage thanks to the damage mitigation of phantom army. It does help you to take a couple more hits though and the team surrounding you will appreciate that especially if you intend to stand close to the tanker or scrapper to buff their protection. A good solid team support power which tends to benefit the more defensive nature ATs compared to the squishies as it makes them last even longer. Due to the nature of the power it's not useful against all enemies though. The confusion protection in PvP is invaluable as the last thing you need is your pets turning against one another or against you. As more NPCs are given confusion abilities it's usefulness in PvE is gradually rising.
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FREEZING RAIN
Available at level: 16
Type: targeted Summon AoE
Damage type(s): COLD
Damage potential: Minor
Recharge: Very long
Duration: 30 SECONDS (Long)
Endurance cost: High
Status effect(s): -DEFENSE, -RESISTANCE, -RECHARGE, -SPEED, KNOCKDOWN and FEAR RUN
What does it look like: The area is covered with a layer of ice where the rain and hail is falling
Animation used: Same as snow storm, arms raised in a V into the air to call down the hail and rain.
Compatible IO set(s): defense debuff, slow, targeted AoE
Slotting options:-
(rchg/rchg) - minimum slotting for regular use
(-def/-def/-def/-spd/-spd/-spd) - infrequent use, maximum effect
(rchg/rchg/-def/-def/-def/end) - frequent use, high debuff, stamina-less option
Additional Notes:-
The AI will react with a fear-like behavior to the rain by trying to run out from under it. It requires a ToHit check for each 'raindrop' and the debuffs will only apply if they hit the target. The effect remains for a few seconds after contact. This power has a +100% base accuracy bonus!
Tal-N's notes:-
I've heard some people call freezing rain one of the best debuffs in the game. I'm inclined to agree, it's a multi-component power which suits a number of uses and is almost universally beneficial. For a build which uses pets it is ideal as it has no anchors which will be accidentally defeated and result in the loss of the debuff nor does it effect only one target at a time. It is really an excellent DPS buff for you and even for your team and can allow the phantom army and a phantasm to wipe out a whole spawn of yellow con minions within 30 seconds due to the boost it gives to their accuracy and damage. It's regularly available without any recharge slotting as well which is a bonus, it also doesn't need heavy slotting to be effective. Work this into your build as soon as you can, teams love it. You'll love it. Your pets will love it. (Please see section 5e/vi in the PvE chapter for further details)
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HURRICANE
Available at level: 20
Type: PBAOE toggle
Damage type(s): None
Damage potential: None
Recharge: Moderate
Endurance cost: Moderate
Status effect(s): REPEL, KNOCKBACK, -ACCURACY and -RANGE
What does it look like: A vortex surrounds the player like a hurricane forming a disc. (Has some nice physics effects as it pulls leaves, twigs and rubbish around you in the wind)
Animation used: arms stretched out sideways with the character swatting slightly, same as Group Invisibility
Compatible IO set(s): tohit debuff, knockback
Slotting options:-
(end/end) - bare minimum for combat usage
(end/end/-hit/-hit/-hit) - optimal maximum for combat usage
(end/end/end/kb/kb/kb) - regular use for keeping enemies away
(end/-hit/-hit) - infrequent use, slot saving but decent debuff
Additional Notes:-
The repel effect works on a 'pulse' which pushes targets away with each pulse. In PvE the pulse is every 0.5 seconds, in PvP it is every 1 second. This means it is a slightly weaker effect in PvP to reduce its ability to pin someone into a corner.
Tal-N's notes:-
If there was ever a power that people associated with a 'stormie' it would be the Hurricane. While not being the most powerful tool in the Storm Summoning set it is certainly in the top 3 for being very very useful. Strangely enough its benefits are overshadowed a lot by some of the powers in Illusions which are far better at keeping the player from taking damage. (which is oddly enough, the purpose of hurricane). Even so this is one power very much worth getting as it helps with keeping crowd under tight control with some forced positioning. It also helps to maximise AoE damage if you get skilled at 'hurricaning' groups of enemies into a tight space. (See the 5e/v PvE Tactics section in this guide for more info.)
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THUNDER CLAP
Available at level: 28
Type: PBAOE click
Damage type(s): None
Damage potential: None
Recharge: Very Long
Endurance cost: Moderate
Status effect(s): STUN and (PvP) DETOGGLE
What does it look like: A massive flash of lightning over the area with bolts which appear from the air and are directed at the character's hands
Animation used: Same as twilight grasp, the arms are slowly pulled back in an underarm arc, then they are quickly moved in a forwards arc with the fists meeting above the head of the character to form an almost X shape with their wrists. This power has a -10% base accuracy penalty.
Compatible IO set(s): stun
Slotting options:-
(acc/acc) - ideal minimum slotting
(acc/stun/stun/stun) - best effect, slot saving
(acc/acc/acc/rchg/rchg/rchg) - PvP toggle dropping
(acc/acc/rchg/rchg/rchg/stun) - regular use, decent duration
(acc/acc/stun/stun/rchg/rchg) - best of both
Additional Notes:-
This power is low magnitude and will only effect minions in PvE, but will effect players with no status protection in PvP and has a good chance to detoggle a target. Has the usual -10% accuracy penalty as with all AoE control powers.
Tal-N's notes:-
Quite possibly the most visually appealing power in the whole game and probably one of the best sounding as well. The Thunder clap isn't as great at control compared to Flash but it is available a lot more of the time meaning that you'll find it ready almost every time you need it. Some people take only one or the other as having the two is a little redundant however taking both does have the benefit of meaning you almost always have a nice panic button to lock down some of a crowd. Good power, skippable if you find Phantom Army is more useful for crowd control. But it compliments other powers nicely so it is worth adding if you have space.
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TORNADO
Available at level: 35
Type: targeted click summon
Damage type(s): SMASHING
Damage potential: Minor/Extreme (see details)
Recharge: Very Long
Duration: 30 SECONDS (Long)
Endurance cost: Very High
Status effect(s): KNOCKBACK, STUN, -DEFENSE and FEAR RUN
What does it look like: It's a 6ft tall spinning tornado which is quite wide, sucks up nearby debris
Animation used: Same as Phantom Army, one arm outstretched in a side-standing pose as the tornado is summoned ahead of you.
Compatible IO set(s): defense debuff, knockback, pet damage, stun
Slotting options:-
(rchg/rchg/rchg) - regular use, general disruption purposes
(rchg/rchg/rchg/stun/stun/stun) - regular use, high stun
(rchg/rchg/rchg/kb/kb/kb) - NEVER use in open spaces, great for enclosed areas
(kb/kb/kb/stun/stun/stun) - panic button
(rchg/rchg/rchg/dmg/dmg/dmg) - damage dealing purposes
(rchg/rchg/end/dmg/dmg/dmg) - stamina-less, damage dealing
Additional Notes:-
The tornado will never wander far from your location and it'll randomly seek out targets to 'bump' and it'll rarely stay on a single target for long. Probably the only 'pet' with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) but this is by design. This power is also autohit, it'll NEVER miss unless something is intangible. bare in mind that it follows the same rules as a normal NPC in that it'll try to stay close to you. If it cannot get to your location or you get too far away it'll come to a dead stop.
Tal-N's notes:-
Now these last two powers in the Storm Summoning set tend to be the ones which people get a little confused about or fail to completely understand. Fair enough as they are near the upper levels and in the case of controllers you don't get them until you're well into your 30's. There's a lot to say about the Tornado so I apologize if the notes here are a lot longer than some of the other powers. The primary role of the Tornado is to cause chaos, it randomly moves around (rather quickly I might add) and bumps into random targets. It'll attempt to throw them away with some potent knockback as well as a decent chance to stun them as well.
One of the lesser known features of the Tornado is that it causes some minor damage. Now, the quirk of this is that as it whirls around it'll create a DoT if allowed to focus on the single target. Now each 'tick' of damage is indeed minor, but what you have here is a single power which will last 30 seconds and if allowed to focus on one target will deal 2 ticks of minor damage almost every second. As you can imagine that means this one power is very very damaging if you can get it focused on something, although it's slow to cause the damage you need to remember that time isn't something an Illusionist has to worry about as they can totally stop all damage coming from their targets via a number of methods.
If you were to work out just how powerful a damage dealer the Tornado was consider this. The Tornado itself ticks around 60 times in it's 30 second duration, each tick is equal to around 60% of how much damage your brawl power does at any level when unslotted for damage. Thus if your brawl does 10 points of damage then the Tornado does 6 per tick. As it does this twice per second you're actually finding it is hitting with both ticks within the same duration of time it takes to activate Brawl and have the animation cycle. Thus in reality it does around 120% of what Brawl is capable of upon one activation. If you put this into perspective, when it's fully enhanced it is doing 120% of brawl's damage per tick. Toss some numbers in and you have a monstrously powerful damage dealer. Again going back to the example, let's say Brawl does 10 damage and your fully slotted Tornado is now dealing 12 ticks per second. In the 30 second duration has the capacity to cause 360 points of damage to a single target! When you think about that you can see it's almost capable of outright killing a defender or corruptor in PvP and does a huge amount of damage to AVs and GMs who aren't thrown around by the Tornado allowing it to maintain full contact for it's duration. Remember of course you can chain the Tornados end to end very easily and with a little bit of a recharge buff you can have two active at once for a decent duration of time. (Further information can be found in section 5e/vii of the PvE Tactics chapter)
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LIGHTNING STORM
Available at level: 38
Type: Click summon
Damage type(s): ENERGY
Damage potential: High/Extreme
Recharge: Extremely Long
Duration: 52 SECONDS (Very Long)
Endurance cost: Very high
Status effect(s): KNOCKBACK, -ENDURANCE and RUN FEAR
What does it look like: A Lightning cloud with flashes of lightning appearing within it, a large bolt strikes nearby targets with furious force.
Animation used: Same as snow storm, arms raised above head in a V to call the storm (yes, storm summoning uses this a lot)
Compatible IO set(s): ranged damage, endurance modification, knockback
Slotting options:-
(rchg/rchg/rchg) - regular usage
(acc/rchg/rchg/dmg/dmg/dmg) - regular use, damage dealing
(acc/acc/kb/kb/kb) - rarely missing, bodyguard/crowd control, slot saving
(dmg/dmg/dmg) - minimum slotting for decent damage
(acc/dmg/kb/rchg/rchg/rchg) - multi-purpose
(rchg/rchg/rchg/endm/endm/endm) - sapping lightning
(dmg/dmg/dmg/rng/rng/rng) - large coverage, damage dealing
(rng/rng/rng/kb/kb/kb) - large coverage, crowd control
Additional Notes:-
The cloud will only strike at targets when you are within around 80' of the cloud itself. This power benefits from buffs applied to the player prior to summoning the storm. Unlike the Spectral Terror this can be summoned in the air where it'll remain rather than falling to near ground level. Remember that you cannot target where this will appear like other summons, it will always be summoned over your head at your current location. Has an inherent +100% base accuracy bonus. The storm will stop attacking if you move too far away from it, estimated cut off range is around 50-60'.
Tal-N's notes:-
The big daddy of Storm Summoning, a shame that the cloud isn't a little larger but makes up for the size with sheer atmosphere and presence. The thunder rumbling while it's around is great, the lightning strikes are visually and auraly stunning. Frankly it's just plain 'wow' in a can.
Well that's enough preaching, so down to business. Get this power. That is all the advice you need. The Lightning Storm is truly a must have power.
Why? Quite simple. It does some impressive damage, it has knockback making it an ideal body guard, it's got some insanely high inherent accuracy and it can be looped endlessly due to duration and recharge times. Best of all though, it'll adopt any buffs applied to you when you summon it. That means if you have Hasten running when you summon it then it'll fire off it's Lightning strikes at a faster rate than normal. The thing to remember though is that it'll only adopt buffs applied at the moment of summoning, if you bring it out and then pop some inspirations afterwards then they'll not benefit the storm at all. For this feature alone it makes the power worthwhile.
Some people might be asking why they'd want a damage dealing power at all if that isn't something you're interested in for their build. Well damage is just one of the Storm's features. It does endurance draining as well at around 10% a blast so enhanced that's a nice 20% chunk, add to that something like Power Boost (remember the buffs transfer over) that's 40% endurance being taken off with every hit which makes it an ideal sapper against single targets. Without Hasten it'll fire every 8-9 seconds, with Hasten it'll be around 5-6 seconds so that means you can drain enemies dry in around 15-30 seconds. It's also possible to have two storms active at once in the same way it is possible to have two tornados at once. This tends to require additional recharge buffs beyond what you get with enhancements and Hasten however for the both of them to be out for any significant length of time though. It's also exceptionally handy as a bodyguard since it has a high chance of knockback, if you position yourself under the cloud you'll rarely have enemies able to stand close to you for very long. In PvP it is also very handy as it has a chance to detoggle the target, this can be ideal when you want to soften up brutes who have status protection or some solid defense like granite armor.
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5. PvE Tactics and advice
5a. What is PvE?
Figured I'd start with something basic for newbies or folks who don't know the jargon. PvE means Player Vs Environment. The environment is a unified term for enemies that the game creates and is controlled by the AI. These are commonly known as NPCs (non-player characters) or mobs (mobiles, an old RPG term). But it also includes hazards in your surroundings. In the game anything which can be done while solo and without coming into conflict with other players who are able to attack you is classed as PvE. That includes missions and content set within a PvP zone which can be completed without getting into a fight with another player. For example, the Shivan Shard mission in Bloody Bay.
5b. Things to remember about your controller
There's not much here to point out but I feel it is worth making a few things perfectly clear. A controller is mainly recognized as a crowd control specialist and (de)buffer by the general CoX population. However, while this is partially true an Illus/Storm controller is more focused on damage dealing and damage mitigation rather than raw crowd control. They can provide a tanker for the team, they can provide the damage and even provide some limited healing as well. Quite a nice package over all however... some of the powers you have are not suitable to teaming and some are less valuable when soloing. This part of the guide will explain when and where to use certain abilities for the best effect as well as what works well together and what needs to be avoided.
One of the most important things to remember is that your controller is very vulnerable to damage and status effects so you need to keep careful watch on your surroundings. Since Illus/Storm hasn't got much hard control it's very easy for the enemies to start wandering around and potentially focussing on you as their next target. Also be aware of different enemies capabilities. If they have AoE powers then the worst possible place to stand is right next to one of your phantom army decoys because you just know that they'll probably be targeted by it. So if you're right next to them it's gonna hurt. Some people forget something as simple as that. If you die then the pets do too which on a team means that your controlled chaos becomes uncontrolled chaos, you walk that fine line between potentially getting you and your team killed and preventing them from taking damage at all. On the plus side though a pet-heavy controller isn't as crippled as normal controllers when stunned, disorientated, asleep or held. This is because the pets obviously carry on even when the controller is incapacitated.
5c. General soloing advice
As far as controllers go illus/storm is one of the best for soloing because you have a lot of damage potential and a lot of flexibility. I think the only enemies they struggle with is the Nemesis group of villains who tend to have resistance to a lot of your powers forcing you to approach them with caution.
Damage wise you're using energy and psi quite heavily and thankfully you'll not often come against enemies who are resistant to both. On the whole those which are tend to be odd enemies within a larger faction. Prime examples are the Arachnos robots who have the inherent robotic resistant to psionics (they have no mind after all) and energy resistance due to their high-tech armor bodies. This of course plays havoc if you want to run the missions in the PvP zones which (used) have a nice bonus to exp because you need to work a lot harder to defeat the Arachnos troops. Other enemies include the Rikti who tend to have some psi resistance on a basic level and most of the bosses and lieutenants have the rikti armor which has strong energy resistance. Mentalists are a pain as they have both the armor and high inherent resistance to psi. On the flip side you'll cut through enemies like the Clockwork, Freakshow and certain Crey like a knife through butter as they can be vulnerable to both or especially weak against psi itself.
In terms of progress you'll find the road from 1 to 18 is a little slow and tedious since you only really have 2 main offensive powers, blind and spectral wounds (unless you dig into the power pools). At first it'll seem like you're not all that powerful and some people give up before getting to a point where the Illus/Storm controller really starts to come into their own. Once you get Phantom Army it totally changes how you play the game and becomes increasingly potent as you slot it up. You then have an ever growing feeling of power from that point on as each new power allows you to take on larger groups of enemies who are higher in level. By the time you have Phantasm you'll be soloing on Invincible missions and able to take on minions which are +5 above you if they are in small groups. By the time you're 40 you'll be laughing all of the way against just about anything. So what begins with a slow start does gather a lot of momentum. That's one of the great things about this build, you'll always have a power which is worth taking so you'll not feel that your character is 'complete' until their into their 40s. That's the kind of motivation which helps to defeat the grind of leveling up some types of characters.
5d. General teaming advice
The words 'handle with care' seems to apply here. This combo of powers has the potential to make you the hero of the team or their worst enemy depending on how you handle it. The trouble, if you can call it that, is that you will generate chaos. Now it is organized chaos admittedly but for your average player who isn't familiar with partnering with someone with illus/storm they'll struggle to keep up if you're cutting loose with all of your powers. With all the knockback and such combined with enemies running around confused or tossed into the air over your allies' heads it is easy to understand how some people would feel like they were chasing pinballs. It's not so bad for ranged ATs but the melee ones tend to struggle, also AoE loses its effectiveness if enemies are spread out.
Given that fact, my best advice is that you need to take the environment into consideration. A good rule is that the more room there is for enemies to move around the less knockback you should use. Obviously this makes sense as enemies hitting walls and scenery will stop them from being thrown too far, thus confusing your team less and avoiding having a group of enemies spread over a large area. bare in mind however that the number of enemies is also a factor, the more there are the more you need to be careful of spreading them out too much. The odd boss being thrown around like crazy isn't too bad as people tend to only get confused when there is a lot happening rather than a single target moving around randomly.
That being said, each player has their own preferences so you may need to find out what your teams limitations are when it comes to playing skills. Check the specific power combo tactics section for low or moderate knockback options you have open to you.
On the subject of teaming I'll also mention that you'd be wise to position yourself near the squishies with hurricane up. It helps to keep them alive plus if you have Steamy Mist the stealth bonus means enemies will be less likely to aggro to them as the AI chooses targets by a number of factors which include visibility. (i.e. they'll choose an unstealthed target over a stealthed one.) The hurricane will also help to keep the hard hitters out of range, a lot of the enemies favor melee attacks and quite often. This is often their most damaging attack so hurricane protects a great deal.
A quick word on arch-villains and giant monsters. While it might seem like a bad idea you'll want to regularly use Rest while fighting these guys. Even without stamina the summons take big chunks of endurance and for these enemies you want to be throwing out everything you can at them. standing there spamming spectral wounds isn't all that useful compared to the more permanent damage your pets will cause, you're better off using debuffs like snow storm and buffs like steamy mist to help keep the attention off of the squishies. The best time to use Rest is while Phantom Army is active since they draw aggro like crazy even against these kinds of enemies who are partially resistant to they're autoaggro effects. Just remember that while you can rest with something like snow storm or hurricane on their effects will stop, even if the graphics remain, until you come out of rest again.
5e. Situational powers and when (or when not) to use them
I mentioned a number of the powers have pros and cons to their use. Some of them don't work well together and others work exceptionally well to counter each others shortcomings. This part of the guide will let you know what, how and when to use these situational abilities.
5e/i. GALE
Sometimes a very underestimated power, it's also overshadowed by Tornado which is capable of the same job but doesn't require line of sight. If anything can be said of Gale is that it's somewhat free of the kind of chaos which Tornado causes so it's more team friendly. Ideally it's best used to hurl enemies somewhere that you want them or to keep enemies at a distance. Can be used as a nice opener should you be short on tankers or too low for Phantom Army. Superior Invisibility to get close and then have your team rush in while the enemies are getting to their feet. It takes some timing but it's handy at lower levels. It's other use is for when you want to push enemies into a corner, combined with hurricane it makes setting enemies up for some nice AoE a little easier. It's just too bad you can't respec out of this as it's usefulness in the late-game is dramatically reduced as other powers function as the same role but do it much better.
5e/ii. Deceive
Here is a power which is about as situational as it gets. How you use it can mean the difference between it being worthless or a god-send. As it has been covered in the powers section what I think I'll do is list specific enemies worth confusing other than the obvious things like bosses and leuitnenants. As I'm sure you can imagine confusing the biggest and nastiest is the best use of this power in most cases, this list is going to cover the more interesting of enemies to confuse and explain their obvious benefits or how you can exploit their abilities. An interesting thing to remember is that if an NPC summons other NPCs as pets then if you confuse the summoner the pets will also be confused - quite often turning on their master and beating the snot out of them.
Generally you'll find a lot of these are buffers, controllers and debuffers as these are most dangerous to you and your team while also being great to assist you once they're on your side. Also because they're not major damage dealers you'll get a lot of benefit from them being confused without any major exp loss. Some of them will also be something you may want to exploit for laughs or because they spawn pets or allies:
Sorcerers (Tsoo) - [Accuracy debuffer, status protection and healer]
These guys as you may know are a complete pain. They teleport, they have hurricane and they also heal. They're actually very very handy to confuse as their hurricane will stack with yours. As a healer it tends to be great to patch people but however it will attempt to heal the phantom army which is a little annoying as they gain no benefit from it and the recharge on the sorc's heal is kinda slow.
*Kinetics* Blue/Red Inkmen ect.. (Tsoo) [Speed, damage and recharge debuffer and buffer]
They normally come equipped with siphon power and siphon speed. Both are a pain when used against players but siphon power is ideal when you receive it yourself by standing near a confused inkman who uses it. Also keeping them debuffing enemies with siphon speed while running around at hyper speed with their weapons is also very handy.
Embalmed cadavers/Embalmed abominations (Vahzilok) [Massive AoE damage]
Not anywhere nearly as popular as they may kill everything around them and sap a ton of exp as well since they do more than 60% damage. However in a pinch they are extremely effective at thinning a crowd or stopping them from blowing up you (or your team)
Communication Officers (Rikti) [Damage via portals]
If you're familiar with the Rikti you'll know that these guys are a pain purely because the portals summon reinforcements. Well the great thing is that confusion is passed down to pets and the portal is classed as a pet. Further more the portal itself also summons Rikti which are classed as pets of the Portal. So a confused officer results in confused reinforcements who normally end up smashing the portal that they came out of an killing anyone within sight.
Guardians (Rikti) [Bubbler, healer and buffer]
I love these guys! The main reason is for the PBAoE Accelerate Metabolism buff which if you're familiar with the game you'll know it's a great buff as it boosts how fast you recover endurance, speeds up movement speed, grants resistance to mez effects while boosting your damage and best of all it boosts how fast your powers recharge which for a summoning themed build. The bubbles/shields they grant are somewhat unreliable to get compared to AM which is fired in an PBAoE from the Guardian, they tend to do this as soon as they aggro or attack something and they fire it allowing you to position yourself before they trigger it. They also have an PBAoE heal which is random fired and the bubbles themselves are a decent boost if you're lucky enough to get them. They're a joint Insulation and Defection shield so they cover ranged, melee and AoE situational damage as well as offer some damage resistance.
Storm/Avalanche/Death shamans (Banished Pantheon) [Debuffers and damage via zombies]
While the BP might not be that common in the game the shamans are a pain in the aft as you'll know when you fight them. The Earth shamans summon earthquakes, the storm shamans summon snow storm and lightning storms while also having hurricane and the death shamans summon zombies. Now the first two are the best ones with storm shamans being the best as they have similar powers to your own which allow for some nice stacking. There's also quite a comical value about a Storm shaman being blasted by his own lightning storm which he just that moment summoned over his head.
Storm Mavens/Mistress of the Storm (Cabal) [Debuffers]
Much like Storm shamans these two are very very handy for confusing. Their storm powers obviously have a good synergy with your own.
Herders/Devoured (Devouring Earth) [Debuffer via swarms]
I say Devoured but basically the lesser, normal and greater are all the same except for how hard they hit and how bad they smell. The swarms themselves suffer from the affliction of confused master syndrome, so confuse the summoner and you confuse the Swarms. Normally these are a real pain even for an Illus/Storm controller as their hit and run tactics make it hard for Phantom Army to hold aggro and the -recharge is a real killer. If anything you'd confuse the summoner more to keep the Swarm off of your back rather than to use them since NPC recharge times aren't severely long anyway. But every bit helps.
Engineers (Sky Raiders) [Buffer and status protection via force field generator]
I'd say the engies are around the 2nd best enemies to confuse. Now you can confuse the FF generator directly if you want but sometimes because they're always bubbled it can be hard to hit them, sometimes its easier to catch an engineer who is standing outside of the bubble. The buff is around the same as a Dispersion field so it grants a nice significant defense boost and protection from holds, stuns and immobilization.
Sappers (MALTA operatives) [Debuffer and status effects]
The Sappers are by far one of the most feared NPCs in the game due to their ability to drain endurance by large amounts and chain hold targets. Confusing them obviously allows you to safely enter into a fight with their allies in the same group but also helps to ensure that the other operatives can't return fire once fully drained. bare in mind however that Sappers themselves have unlimited endurance so two confused Sappers trying to drain one another won't get anywhere.
Agony Mages (Circle of Thorns) [Empathy, buffs and status effects]
There is nothing as great as confusing an NPC with Empathy powers. The Agony mages can grant fortitude and have the direct heal which is very handy in those long fights where you made some mistakes. They also have their mind control holds and sleeps which are equally useful so on the whole this is one boss you'll get a lot of benefit from if you confuse them.
Earth Thorn Casters (Circle of Thorns) [AoE debuffs]
Not really a problem for someone with Illus/Storm however for a lot of other ATs and builds they can prove to be a problem mainly due to their Quicksand. Confusing them reverses the effect so the defense buffs and the speed debuff is applied back onto the mages who created it in the first place.
Air Thorn Casters (Circle of Thorns) [AoE status effects]
While it is not that common for them to use their Thunder Clap powers if they do it works very very well with your own Thunder Clap as the stacking will allow it to effect leuitnenants with one application if the mages have already used it. If you get enough of them using it at once they might even stack it enough to let you stun a boss.
Ruin Mages (Circle of Thorns) [AoE status effect and buff, single target control]
I'd say these guys are probably one of the third best enemies to confuse mainly because they really do mess things up for their allies while giving a nice buff to you and your team. The Earthquake they summon is one of the most annoying status effects in the game hence if you reverse it you find the NPCs flipping like salmon going up stream for spawning season. The Dispersion Bubble the mages generate is very handy for protection from the enemies who aren't effected by the earthquake or manage to get a few shots off. With the mage also having other earth powers they might manage to hold a few enemies if they stop doing backflips from their own Earthquake.
Concierge (Family) [Status effects and damage via singularity]
The Family bosses don't tend to summon their pets unless they're a higher level so this won't work unless you're into you're fighting enemies in tthe higher levels. The Singularity is the same as the one from Gravity Control, it is surrounded in a knockback field, it has a single target hold and immobilise to make up it's control side and its also got Lift which is an attack which causes knockup as well. Having this on your side is very handy indeed.
Lead Scorcher/Lead Freezer (Outcasts) [Damage via pets]
While they don't tend to use them too often the Outcasts bosses do have the ability to summon the elemental pets from their respective element. Freezers can summon Jack Frost and Scorners can summon Fire Imps. While these aren't especially powerful it is nice to have the boss being attacked by their own pets.
Bright Nova/Dark Nova (Nictus) [AoE and direct damage]
You probably won't come along these much while solo but they'll appear if your team has been hanging around with a Kheldian. The Novas are possibly one of the most lethal of bosses in the game, their AoE blasts can be devastating as can their direct attacks. Worth confusing just to avoid being killed by splash damage aimed at your pets. Your Phantasm is energy resistant and Steamy Mist will boost that resistance even further so the Bright Nova won't be much of a threat but the Dark Novas will be a real problem.
Devouring Earth Eminators (Devouring Earth) [Special]
A common misconception is that everything which you confuse is reversed in your favor. Enemies become allies, enemy debuffs don't work against the NPCs who cast them and enemy buffs work for you. While this is largely true the exception is with the eminators which the DE produce. Things like the Tree of Life, the Cairn and Fungus which provide heavy buffs to these mutant-plants and living rock simply get turned off by being confused. They won't provide you with the buff as they specifically target Devouring Earth NPCs.
Researchers/Radiologists (Crey) [AoE debuffers]
While the Crey might not be the most feared of groups the fact is that if the AI was advanced enough to properly use their debuffs. They tend to use them intermittently however when they do hit they are somewhat significant, the radiologists have a version of Enervating Field which is great IF they anchor it to something which won't die in 3 hits while the Cryologists will have a cone -recharge and -speed liquid nitrogen debuff which is great... IF they position themselves correctly. As mentioned these would be dangerous if they weren't so stupid.
Master Illusionists (Carnival of Shadows) [Damage and Debuffs via pets, AoE status effect]
An Illusionist vs Illusionist fight is always a gripping battle of summoned pets and special effects. Thankfully you have Deceive and they don't. Since they have the sneaky ability to summon the Dark Servant you can turn this heavy debuff pet against it's master for some giggles. They also have a habit of firing off Flash the second that they aggro so if you confuse them while they're surrounded by allies you'll get a nice AoE hold which makes it easier to approach the group. Some Master Illusionists will also summon Illusionist minions who will also turn on each other and their allies.
5e/iii. SPECTRAL TERROR
Not especially situational however it does require some thought on how to use this. While it might seem obvious it is better not to use the terror when there is a lot of AoE and DoT attacks around as its effects are greatly diminished. If however there is more enemies around than the AoEs can deal with it helps to minimize damage a great deal. This is often used as either an opener on a group of enemies you've not yet aggro'd OR to deal with accidental aggro such as a nearby spawn or a patrol which has wandered into the middle of an ongoing fight.
Some great uses of the Spectral Terror is to create a barrier which slows or stops enemies from running or getting into range of you/your team. Sometimes in the game you'll encounter ambushes who announce their presence when triggered and you'll normally be able to tell what direction they'll come from. The trouble with ambushes is that they'll automatically aggro to the player if given the chance so things like Phantasm aren't much good as it doesn't draw aggro very well. Phantom Army is a great tool here or alternatively you can slap down a Terror in a prime location to capture the ambush as they approach. Since aggro is determined by a number of factors (visibility of target, distance to target, threat multiplier and damage taken) you ideally want to stop the target from hitting you until either the phantasm or one of the phantoms have landed a hit, this is why Terror is so helpful as it'll keep them contained until they take damage from something. The trouble is that if they're hit by Lightning Storm or Tornado then that is classed as damage from the player so they'll aggro to you. Just make sure you're a target which is further from the NPC than the phantasm or phantom army and ideally you're using steamy mist or superior invisibility to make you a lower priority target. Be aware of that!
5e/iv. PHANTASM
While the Phantasm might seem like an all-occasions power but the fact is that sometimes it does work against you a bit. Thankfully it's not so situational as to require a ton of information but here are a few pearls of wisdom.
The drawback to the phantasm is three-fold. Firstly it does knockback with it's cone attack and direct blast, not a fantastic amount but it will throw enemies around 20' which can be a pain. Secondly it'll aggro to anything within around 45' which can be both good and bad depending on circumstances plus the 3rd issue is that enemies will aggro to it from their normal distance, that aggro is automatically transferred to you as well. Some people who are familiar with pets would probably be thinking now that this is obvious, but I figured I'd mention it for folks who have never even used a pet in CoX before. Because of these drawbacks you'll want to avoid using the Phantasm in times when you need to keep enemies in a fixed position, for AoE reasons for example, or when fighting in places where they can fall out of reach as that could lead to problems as well. Not so much a case of needing to only use them in certain situations as the knockback is very manageable. More of a case that I mention it here so you know to be aware of these potential drawbacks.
5e/v. HURRICANE
Quite obviously using the hurricane is delicate work and can be the #1 way to totally ruin your chances of crowd control if not used properly. It's really catch 22 with this power. If you want to use the debuff you need to keep enemies within the hurricane, but if you want to stop them from getting within melee range you need to keep them at the edge of the hurricane. Thankfully the debuff does extend a little beyond the edge but it's not as consistent a debuff unless they maintain contact with the hurricane.
While it might seem silly but some people who don't understand the dangers of scattering a crowd of enemies will run into the middle of a big pile of NPCs with hurricane on to debuff them. They think it is a good idea but really, it isn't. The correct way to use hurricane is really two phase. First of all you need to use the repel feature to push enemies into objects to the point where it holds them in place. The most common environmental feature in the game world which works well is corners. If you position yourself adjacent to the corner where the two walls meet, the position of the repel field will push them into the corner away from you and into the walls. As the NPCs have no friction they'll slide along the wall as you funnel them into the edge of the corner.
Once here they'll have a hard time getting out, this allows you to move forwards a little so they are constantly debuffed and kept out of arms reach. This tactic works both in teams and while solo but considering how knockback can mess up your positioning you'll need to be aware of where the phantasm is so he doesn't make things harder on you. Also don't use Tornado or Lightning Storm until you have the enemies pinned as these will definitely cause you problems when attempting this.
5e/vi. FREEZING RAIN
Not very situational but it can work against you if you're not careful.
The main drawback to it is that it does damage, very very minor damage but it is there. That means if someone uses a sleep or fear status effect you don't want to be summoning the freezing rain over the affected targets as it nullifies the effects. The other aspect to remember is that it generates a fear type effect, not the cowering but the fear as in running away from under the rain itself. Enemies will try to get out from under it and put some distance between it and themselves. This can cause problems unless you set up something like spectral terror to capture the run-aways. The run-away feature of the rain can also cause problems with giant monsters and AVs who can sometimes run from them under some conditions, this can be a pain as you end up with them running all over but this can also work to your advantage as enemies will not be attacking if they're running in fear. They'll need to stop to attack. Try to keep this in mind when you want to direct an AV or a GM towards a certain direction, placing the rain on the right spot can help you direct them where you want them.
5e/vii. TORNADO
Here is quite possibly one of the most situational of powers in the game. It needs to be used with such precision and caution that some people completely misunderstand and underestimate the use of the power leading to many people not taking it on their characters. But the fact is, this is one of the most powerful abilities anybody with storm summoning can have.
Tornado has several drawbacks which are also it's strengths if used correctly. It's a real paradox as its best aspects are also its problems. Firstly it does a lot of knockback. It'll throw enemies all around the shop and if allowed to focus on only a few enemies it'll have them spending most of their time either in the air or on their backs. Especially handy in boss fights as it has a similar effect as an especially long stun. The drawback to this is that in a large open area with a lot of enemies it can actually cause you to lose control over the situation. With enemies spread out and the Illus/Storm controller having limited AoE control abilities you get a recipe for disaster, some clever sweeping up with Hurricane can correct the problem but this is obviously a lot more work and it is better to avoid causing problems to begin with. The ideal time to use the Tornado is either with several (3-4) enemies to a point with which you're comfortable to deal with. This is of course with a fairly large room where the enemies can be somewhat bounced around by the roaming tornado. As a good rule it's wise to remember that as the room size decreases the number of enemies Tornado can actively keep out of the action increases. Get a small enough room with enough obstructions to stop enemies being thrown clear of your area of influence and it's able to deal with an almost unlimited number of enemies.
Secondly the Tornado is insanely active and quick to aggro to just about anything, however it'll quickly switch targets if given half a chance. This means in a situation where you need to carefully maintain control over aggro the Tornado needs to be left out of the equation. This trait of the Tornado is however what allows it to be a very handy bodyguard as it'll never stray too far from the player and if there is a shortage of enemies it'll typically stay near you and instantly attack anything which comes near you. On top of this basic function the aggro-addicted Tornado simply wouldn't function very well as a form of chaos-control if it wasn't able to quickly deal with multiple targets, of course while it's movement is fast and it's attention span short it always helps to get the most out of it by restricting it to situations where the environment won't cause enemies to be tossed too far from your range of influence.
Now a lot of the confusion over Tornado is that it's just a soft control power, while this is true it is also an extremely potent damage dealer if allowed to remain in contact with a target. Prime targets for this are Arch-villains, monsters and giant monsters who are all very resistant to knockback. Some basic enemies have limited knockback resistance such as flying Outcasts and such but on the whole it is more difficult to use on your standard minions, lieutenants and bosses. In situations where you have these more tricky enemies you need to use some skill to get Tornado functioning as a potent damage dealer. More of this will be covered later, so just be aware of Tornado's limitations for now.
5e/viii. LIGHTNING STORM
In general you won't have many problems with Lightning Storm as the knockback is fairly minimal however it's positioning can totally change how useful it can be. On the whole though it can be used in any situation, it provides a nice bit of soft crowd control as well as some potent damage. With some builds it's possible to have two of these active at once, with buffs and accolades you can have even more than that!
Depending on circumstances Lightning Storm can function in two roles. Offensive and defensive. The difference is totally on where you place it. If you want to use it on offense you need to position it in a place where it has the best 'view' over the area you're fighting in. For Stormies it is always thematically worthwhile having flight and Lightning Storm benefits from this. Unlike Spectral Terror it doesn't fall to a fixed position above ground level. Where you summon it, is where it stays. As such the best place for a cloud is right over the area you're fighting in. Remember of course that the cloud has a striking distance estimated around 45'-60' so it has less reach than the player - avoid placing it too high in the air. The point of this position is two-fold. First of all the knockback the lightning strikes produce a velocity relvant to the direction of the cloud to the target. Hence if you place it above the target the knockback will actually be directed at the floor so the NPC won't travel very far which is always handy. Secondly because of the range of the strikes having it positioned over the fight ensures that it has the maximum coverage even if the fight shifts position a little.
Due to the limited range of this it's also quite handy in a defensive role to keep enemies out of melee range of you, while this role is also covered by Hurricane with greater reliability you'll find the Lightning Storm is a nice alternative which doesn't cut into your on-going endurance use. Ideally you want it positioned low to the ground (so summon it from standing) and around 10-20' behind you. This means anyone coming close will be blasted away.
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5f. A Word on Combat and Tactical thinking with Illusion/Storm Controllers
Surfice to say that Illus/Storm has a lot of flexibility. There have been times people have asked which characters are the most diverse in what they can do or which build in CoX is closest to what is called a 'Tankmage'. In each case I've pointed out that Illus/Storm has such a huge mix of powers to call upon that there is almost nothing they cannot handle. However, with such diversity you'll also find people build and play their characters in drastically different ways. Storm and Illusions both have close range powers for active combat but it's also capable of a more passive role due to it's summoning nature, as such you can also opt to stay out of the fight and remain somewhat undetected in the shadows while your illusions and forces of nature tear the room up before your eyes.
There is of course a middle ground, a blend of aggressive and passive gameplay although to be honest a skilled Illus/Storm controller should know when to move between the passive, aggressive and the middle ground based upon the situation. However, building the character will depend on which you tend to favor. The aggressive methodology will require a lot of endurance reduction enhancements as well as Stamina from the Fitness pool to maintain, however the passive methodology can get away with just having endurance reductions and has utterly no need for Stamina. How you intend to play the most will determine which powerpools you may want to eventually invest it. bare in mind however that there is almost no powers in either Illusions or Storm Summoning which can be classed as useless so the more you dig into the powerpools the less powers you can take from your primary and secondary. As such you'll be closing doors to tactics which require a certain power unless you think carefully about what you want to do with your character.
5g. The Black List
While these powers give the player a broad spectrum of abilities and choice in a fight there will always be enemies who give you as really rough time and need to be dealt with cautiously, or are barely affected by certain powers so you need to rethink your approach. Thankfully this list is quite short. I have rated them in degrees of difficulty, here is the top 3 biggest thorns in your side.
5g/1. Nemesis
On the plus side you'll not come up against the Prince of Automation until the higher levels. But I can assure you, it doesn't come much tougher than this. There is a number of abilities that these guys have and a number of units in their faction who have tricks up their sleeve to cause your average Illus/Storm controller to grit their teeth before every major fight with them. In small numbers it's not so bad, 2-3 enemies can be handled with relative ease as long as you're careful. Soon as you start to face 4-5 enemies in a pack you're running into trouble and need to consider going on the defensive or thining the crowd with pulling individuals away.
There are three frustrating factors with Nemesis troops which will always be present in almost all their units. Firstly is that they're resistant to Fear so you'll need at least two applications to lock them down. That means Spectral Terror isn't much use unless it nails a target with it's Fear attack. Secondly is that they're also resistant to confusion so you can't simply toss on Deceive for that rogue Nemesis solider who wandered away from the Phantom Army and aggro'd to you. The third and more frustrating fact is that they are resistant to the taunt effects of Phantom Army more than other factions, this often leads to them paying attention to the Phantasm or you even when PA is active.
This of course removes a number of your best crowd control abilities or at the very least hinders how they function. The time then comes to fall back on knockback powers and things like Flash and Thunder Clap to minimize aggro to yourself and your team. sadly in large groups this means Tornado isn't always a useful option however Gale does start to become more useful as a result. Lightning Storm isn't generally seen as a great crowd control tool but it does some very accurate knockback so it'll deal with a few enemies that you can then afford to pay less attention to while you focus your attention on the rest. The crowd control abilities wouldn't be that concerning except that the steam-powered robot's that Nemesis produces are 50% energy resistant, this inherently leads to some very long fights as they resist a sizable chunk of the damage your average Illus/storm controller throws at them resulting in a greater need to keep using status effects.
Another other issue besides their mental fortitude is that Nemesis weapons tend to favor AoE and Cone attacks. This can be an issue only if you're standing too close to your Phantoms or the Phantasm as the splash damage can catch you off guard and kill you very quickly if you're not alert. I'd say if I looked at how many times I died to Nemesis soldiers it was due to splash damage and me not realising how close I was to my pets who were the true target of the blast.
The final point on Nemesis is that they have snipers. These guys have insanely long aggro range and hit hard enough to kill you in around 2 hits if you allow them. As such NEVER walk around a Nemesis mission without SI turned on as they'll often shoot you before you realize they were there. One drawback still remains with this method however as the Phantasm (which hopefully you'll have chosen as a power) is still visible and the sniper will open fire on him instead. Again if you're standing too close the AoE will hit you too. This would be probably the only time when GI would be of genuine use.
Nemesis. Your nemesis.
5g/2. Rularuu
Although the Shadow Shard isn't an especially popular zone it is certainly one of the most awe inspiring to play within and explore. Nothing spices things up more than spending your whole game in an urban environment and then stepping into a world which has a whole of reality has been fractured with scattered, floating rock islands, red/orange swirling skies and creatures which look like something that could pass for a teleportation accident victim. Of all these creatures the biggest problem is that they are diverse and they are also especially hard to kill due to their resistances.
The Wisps are probably the greatest theat here as they are Psi resistant and resistant to all status effects. That means they need two or more applications of hold, sleep, stun, fear or confusion to take effect. Which in total means you're totally gutted of effective crowd control except for knockback and they'll take a beating to actually damage as well. You then have the Brutes who will clobber you with ease if they get their hands (?) on you and have a ton of hitpoints on top of some heavy resistance to smashing and energy damage. That means Tornado isn't much good but thankfully you have that extra psi damage component which will help a little. You then have the menace which is the Watchers and Overseers, which can be catagorised as being the single most irritating creatures in the game, probably second only to the Howlers in CoV. A giant eyeball surrounded by a mouth with sharp teeth. Their eyeblasts have a minor hold component which can catch you out, their accuracy is insanely high so they'll rarely miss and they have a perception bonus so they can see you fine through Superior invisibility. The good news is that they're not all that resistant at all but if you're not packing Phantom Army then a direct assault will prove to be difficult when faced with more than 2-3 of them. They also have cone attacks as well so you need to watch where you stand.
Rularuu. Big. Bad. Fugly. 24/7.
5g/3. Arachnos
I swear that these guys were designed to be as tough as possible to all ATs and as many builds as possible. That said the only real issues with these guys is that they have a lot of bots in their ranks which are both psi and energy resistant, then you have the Fortunata's who are also psi resistant. But by far annoying is the bots as you can't use Spectral Terror for crowd control and you're barely doing damage to them so they take an extra bit of hammering. On the plus side they haven't got AoE galore and they aren't resistant to status effects which is why they're down here at number 3 and not any higher. They're an annoyance more than anything else but do require extra effort compared to other villain groups.
Arachnos. Tough... if they're made out of metal.
5h. Specific tactics using Illusions and Storms
Some things just work really well together. Jam and peanut butter (jelly if you're from the US), milk and cookies and Illusions with Storm Summoning. While there might be some powers which don't complement each other the fact is that the majority do and when it happens the whole becomes far more than the sum of it's parts. I'll open this guide with the single greatest tactic someone with Illus/Storm can perform - The DoT of Doom!
If you can excuse that little bit of melodrama I'll continue. This trick has no formal name but whenever I'm on a team and pull it off and call it the DoT of Doom I always get a laugh so it kinda stuck. It's actually fairly simple to explain but harder to pull off reliably because it tends to need either a single tough enemy or a large group of smaller enemies to be worthwhile. The net result is what justifies Illus/Storm as the most damage dealing controller in the game even over Illus/Rad and Fire/Kin.
Recipe:
Hurricane
Tornado
Lightning Storm
Phantom Army
Superior Invisibility
(optional Phantasm, Gale)
1. Find either a single tough enemy or a large group of enemies
2. Find a suitable corner nearby
3. Position yourself with SI on so you can turn on Hurricane and push them into the corner
4. Turn on Hurricane
5. Push the target(s) into the corner, using Gale if you wish to stop them sliding out of the way.
6. Summon Phantom Army to draw aggro
7. Summon Tornado between you and the cornered target(s)
8. Do NOT summon them too close to the corner!
9. Summon Lightning Storm
10. Enjoy the carnage
What you have here is a concentrated mix of smashing, psionic and energy damage. Typically something like this will kill a purple boss without any effort, usually the Tornado will occasionally end up scooping the enemies into the air and between the hurricane pushing them into the corner and the Tornado under them you'll have enemies being continually juggled in the air while taking occasional damage from the Tornado and full damage from the rest. Having used this on an Elite Boss it's amusing to see them completely incapable of doing anything but die. This trick can also be used in PvP against tougher enemies like Brutes although it's harder to achieve as players will think their way out. The effort isn't once they're in the corner, it's the herding part which is needed to get them there. Unless it's done with a lot of enemies or a tough enemy like a boss you'll find the target(s) is/are dead by the time you summon Lightning Storm anyway.
Moving on to the more everyday kinda tactics we have the classic phantom+freezing rain trick.
Recipe:
Snow Storm
Freezing Rain
Phantom Army
(any optional offensive powers)
1. Any group of enemies
2. Summon Phantom Army so they aggro the group
3. Wait a couple seconds to let them huddle around the phantoms
4. Toggle on Snow Storm using leuitnent, boss or strongest anchor
5. Summon the Freezing Rain
This is probably one of the most reliable way to deal with a group of enemies, the PA pulls them into a tighter huddle because NPCs tend to favor melee attacks as they deal more damage. There are some exceptions to this (Nemesis ...grrr...) however on the whole this will help make them into a nice tight cluster. The Snow Storm is set up next ahead of Freezing Rain in order to prevent the enemies from moving too far when they try to run out from under the rain, the just summon the rain over them and watch them squirm.
While these are the most reliable and best combination of powers in an offensive situation there are times when you also need to go on the defensive as well. As the set has a multitude of possibilities and situational abilities the best option is to create layers of protection between you and those who are intent on separating your head from your neck.
Recipe:
Spectral Terror
Freezing Rain
Lightning Storm
Hurricane
(optional Steamy Mist or Superior Invisibility)
1. Toggle on Steamy Mist or SI to reduce your aggro
2. Summon Lightning Storm and then step back around 30-40'
3. Summon Spectral Terror over the enemies
4. Summon Freezing rain between the terror and the storm
5. Turn on Hurricane if anything starts to get through
Now this of course tends to be enough to deter almost any enemies from trying to get close to you, the drawbacks is that some enemies still favor ranged attacks which this will not help much against (gahh.. Nemesis... again!). However the Steamy Mist will help lower aggro if this is used on a team with someone up front who is a more appealing target. This defense also works especially well with a slight variation as well, if you position yourself around a corner and twist the camera to see around the edge you can place the summons down without being in line of sight of the enemies. If you then step out to summon the Lightning Storm and then step back you'll get the maximum benefit from the cover while having the ability to use your phantasm and phantom army to deal damage. Soon as something starts getting too close the Lightning Storm will start firing so you'll have a nice early warning even if you can't see whats happening very clearly.
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6. Invention Origin enhancements and IO sets
6a. Introduction
As of issue 9 the developers opened up new possibilities for players to enhance their characters. The level of customisation has created a whole new dimension to how a hero or villain is designed as optimising no longer is a matter of thinking within a single power but rather thinking about the character as a whole. The previous version of this guide listed advisable methods for slotting powers however given the volume of potential enhancements it is not feasible to recommend slotting options to include partial invention origin sets. In case you are unfamiliar with what Invention Origin (IO) enhancements and sets are this guide will include a brief run-down of how they work and what they are before moving onto specifics in how they relate to Illusions/Storm controllers.
6b. Invention system summary
6b/i.What are Inventions and Salvage?
If you have ever joined a supergroup and played in SG mode you'll be familar with Salvage, they are items which are randomly put into your inventory when you defeat enemies. In other MMOs you might call it loot however in City of Heroes/Villains the items aren't looted from the body by choice, they are automatically added to your inventory. The items themselves are usually themed around the enemy defeated and there are three typical kinds of Salvage in the game, the first is Supergroup Base salvage. This is not part of the invention system and has a separate category in your inventory, these items are used by supergroups to make furniture and utilities for the base itself. The other type is Invention salvage and finally there is Special salvage. The Invention salvage is what you need to make Inventions, the Special salvage is only used as part of certain seasonal events or special zone events and is typically used as a form of currency to purchase items from special NPCs. Special or event salvage has nothing to do with Inventions.
Invention salvage is broken into two catagories, mystical and technology. The reason for this has never been explained but suffice to say that enemies in the game which are magical or supernatural in nature tend to drop only mystical salvage and enemies like robots, militant types and gangsters drop technology salvage. Some organisations actually drop both types but typically you'll find in the game that mystical salvage is somewhat rare due to the fact that very few magic exclusive groups exist, the groups which drop both tech and mystical are commonplace and as such the chance of getting either type is 50/50, further reducing the chances of getting mystical salvage. You can only hold a certain amount of invention salvage and the capacity rises as you gain levels, this inability to hoard salvage leads to people continually putting items into the auction system for other players to buy.
6b/ii. Wentworths auction houses
The Wentworths buildings around the city are auction houses for the buying and selling of all kinds of stuff. It operates on a 'blind bidding' system so that the minimum of undercutting or price fixing can occur, put simply the owner of an item puts the item up for auction and specifies a minimum price they are willing to accept for the item. This then appears on the system, it does not list who the person is who is selling nor the person who purchased it. The asking price is also not displayed however there is a sales history which tells you what that item was purchased by others for. This gives you a clue to the true value of the item. When someone wants to purchase an item they make a bid which is held on the system, as the items are standardized you might see that the auction house has 7 available at once and each item might have been put up by a different person asking for very different prices. When you make a bid for an item the amount you place into the system will have one of two possible outcomes. If your bid for an item is equal or greater than what someone is asking for an item then the sale is processed automatically, the system holds the influence for the seller to come and collect it (minus a 5% service fee) and the buyer sees the item being sold appear in the auction inventory for them to collect. If however the bid you make is less than the asking price for any of the items then your bid is held in the system, this allows you to go away and come back later. If someone then places that item for sale and put an asking price on it which is lower than your bid then the sale is automatically made to you. Be advised however, if more than one person is bidding on an item then the sale is made to the highest bidder.
The Wentworth's auction houses sell just about everything. Inspirations, normal enhancements, invention enhancements, base salvage, invention salvage and recipes.
6b/iii. What are Recipes?
The crafting process for IO and IO sets (among other things) involve 3 essential components to create the final item. Invention salvage you have been told about already but to make anyting with salvage you need a recipe and also influence to spend. The recipe itself will detail what it needs and what it will produce. A basic recipe for example will say:
-What it creates
-what the item created does
-The influence cost of constructing the item
-Salvage needed
-Amount of required salvage you already have (excluding what you have in storage)
-Amount of influence you have to spend
Once you have everything needed for the recipe you can go to either a University or SG base workstation and you'll see the completed recipe appear on your menu (as well as recipes you can purchase directly from the workstation). Once you click the create button everything involved to make the item is deleted from the game and whatever the item was appears. If it's a special costume piece a message appears on-screen to let you know it's now available via Icon, if it's a temp power it appears in your powers menu and if it's an enhancement it appears in your enhancement tray.
6b/iv. IO enhancements
So why are IO enhancements considered 'better' than normal enhancements? Well there are really two main reasons. Firstly they NEVER expire or degrade, unlike regular enhancements which require you to be within the -3/+3 range of the level of the enhancement itself an IO enhancement is a fixed value no matter what level you are. To compensate for this you cannot combine IOs together to update them like normal enhancements. The second benefit is that IOs at level 50 provide greater benefits than normal enhancements, a typical single-origin enhancement caps around 35% (once at ++) however level 50 IOs are around 42%. This is countered by the fact that IOs cost a lot more than normal enhancements by the time you add up everything needed to create them. Remember however that you also need to continually replace IOs as you level up if you intend to get the most from them, a level 10 damage IO is certainly more powerful than Training Origin enhancement and will never stop functioning if you're level 17, however it only gives a small bonus compared to dual-origin enhancements you can purchase and gives significantly less than the level 20 IOs that a level 17 character can use. It used to be a case where you couldn't fully enhance aspects of a power very easily until level 22 and you gained access to SO enhancements, now with IOs players can do this at level 17 because level 20 IOs offer a 25% boost and sits at a nice middle ground between DOs and SOs.
That's about all you need to know, if you want to know more you can run a small tutorial mission at the university found in Steel Canyon for some hands-on experience.
6c. IO sets and Illusions/Storm controllers
6c/i.Understanding IO set bonuses
An IO set is a themed combination of enhancements which, when combined, provide additional bonuses to your character that are permenant as long as you have the set slotted. Each set is intended only for certain powers, this guide will explain what category of sets are accepted by each power available. Sometimes you will be surprised on what is and what isn't available.
Phantasm for example only accepts pet damage and knockback IO sets, some may think that it would take Ranged damage sets intended for blast attacks which is something that the Phantasm has but remember here that the Phantasm itself is a power, what it does to attack enemies is not 'your' power thus cannot be directly enhanced. IO sets might seem like a no-brainer since they offer standard enhancement AND extra bonuses, however you'll find that sets quite often don't offer what could be considered the 'optimal' way for slotting powers. A prime example is scrapper and tanker defensive powers, sets for them typically contain recharge enhancements which aren't actually very useful for powers which recharge within a few seconds. Additionally you regularly need to invest 5 to 6 slots to get the full benefit from Io sets, inherent set bonuses are tied to how much of the set you have. Typically you get the first bonus once you have 2 out of the set, the next bonus once you have 3 and onwards as you add one more.
To illustrate it might be worth giving an example with a fictional IO set. Let's call it: Tal-N's Talos.
Now the Tal-N's Talos set is intended for summoned pets. Thus it will be classed as a PET DAMAGE set. That means only powers which accept Pet Damage IOs can slot it. The set itself contains 4 enhancements. They are:
1. rechage/damage [25%/25%]
2. damage/end [25%/25%]
3. recharge 33%
4. damage 33%
The first thing you may notice, if unfamilar with more rare enhancements, is that two of the enhancments affect two separate stats at the same time. You may recall that Hamidon Origin enhancements also boost two or three stats at once, many of the IO set enhancements behave in the same way. Given that this set is fake I'll need to give it some bonuses, this is how they work:
(1/4) no bonus
(2/4) + 7.5 recharge bonus to all powers
(3/4) + 3% to maximum endurance
(4/4) + 7% recovery bonus
(4/4) + 2% damage bonus
You'll see this a lot with IO sets where but it lists them simple as a number rather than (x/y) and this indicates how many of the set you need to have the bonus. In the Tal-N's Talos bonus you get no extra benefit from having just one of the set but you gain a decent recharge boost if you have two. When you have 3 you gain the recharge bonus AND the increased endurance bar. Once you have the whole set you have all of the bonuses at once, sometimes as you'll see here you will gain more than 1 bonus for the whole set. In this case you gain both a damage bonus to all powers and increased recovery.
The thing to remember is that you can only slot one of each IO set enhancement in each individual power. So for example you can't put in two of the 4th enhancement (the damage one) into a single power. However you may use some IO sets as many times as you want in your character, you simply need to put the sets into different powers. For example, since this is a pet damage set you could in theory put Tal-N's Talos into Tornado, Phantom Army and Phantasm and gain each of the bonuses three times. It is this stacking which is critical to getting the most from IO sets since you are essentially ending up with weaker powers since IO sets do not result in optimised individual powers.
Of critical importance to stacking bonuses you need to remember that you may only stack a bonus of the same type and same value a total of FIVE times. That means if you have an IO set on your character which offers a 2% bonus to damage then you are only allowed a maximum of FIVE 2% damage bonuses from the sets on your hero/villain. Therefore to get the most from stacking you need to vary the values of the bonuses you're getting. For example to achieve the +53.25% recharge bonus I have on my Illus/Storm controller I put together sets which gave me four different types of recharge bonuses, I capped out the ones which offered +6.25% because I had five powers offering the same bonus, thus to keep stacking I needed to use IO sets which offered +5% recharge bonuses and a couple others.
6c/ii. IO procs - Programmed Random occurance
IO sets themselves are beneficial for the bonuses they grant, however there are also special enhancements which are parts of a set called Procs which stands for Programmed Random occurance. Procs are special as they can transform the capabilities of the powers they are slotted into, their effects vary greatly but they are often the most valuable IO enhancements you can lay your hands on and tend to sell for a lot on the auction system. The way they function is that they add a percentage chance of something extra occuring when a power is active or used, for example they might give a 20% chance to cause damage which is additional to what the power normally does or it debuffs the target.
Because of the nature of these they behave slightly differently depending on the power they are put into and this is where confusion can occur. To put it in simple terms there are five types of powers within City of Heroes/Villains;
Single click, Toggles, Summons, Pets and Passive
SINGLE CLICK powers are basically any power where you activate them and they trigger once and have no ongoing endurance cost or independant action outside of the player. Things like ranged and melee attacks for example, or Hasten. When a proc is placed into these powers they will fire every time the power is triggered. It doesn't matter if the power hits or misses, it'll simply have a percentage chance of occuring when the power is activated. Examples within Illus/Storm are Blind, Spectral Wounds, group invisibility, Gale and O2 Boost.
TOGGLES are powers which have an on/off state and usually have a continual endurance cost. Things like anchor debuffs such as Snow Storm or defensive powers like Hurricane. Powers like this trigger the procs differently, when first activated they have a chance of triggering and while the power is active it will have a percentage chance of firing every 10 seconds. If the power is one which can cause damage to enemies then the enemy must be in contact with the toggle's AoE when the proc triggers and successfully fires. Examples within Illus/Storm are Superior invisbility, Hurricane and Snow storm.
SUMMONS are much like toggles except that they are independant of the player, the quirk to these however is because they're independant they have a chance of the proc triggering when first summoned and the proc will function on the player and the summon if it's a buff or if it's a debuff or damage proc then it'll have a chance of the summon causing that effect to enemies within it's AoE. Important Note: Because not all summons can benefit from certain buffs there is something situations where a proc is almost wasted on these powers. Examples within Illus/Storm are Spectral Terror, Freezing rain and Tornado.
PETS can often be confused with summons because they often share similar characteristics. The difference is that pets have their own powers and recharge times for those powers, they are treated as being buffable as well which is why there is never a proc you can put into them which isn't useful. Procs will fire for the player when they summon the pet and but not for the pet itself, once the pet starts to use their powers they then can have the proc fire for them. But like the Summons the player does not benefit from the proc firing due to the pet using their powers, all buffs are applied directly to the pet. Examples of pets in Illus/Storm are Phantom Army, Phantasm and Lightning Storm.
PASSIVE powers are ones which are always on, these are unique among the powers as they have no on/off state and no endurance cost. Procs for these abilities are few and far between but do exist, the proc itself will continually fire without interuption leading to some interesting benefits. For example you can put procs which are normally intended to boost the healing abilities
such as O2 Boost but the proc gives an added +recovery boost as well. This kind of proc can be placed into Fitness/Health (which accepts heal enhancements) to give yourself a permentent increase to your recovery rate. While these kinds of enhancements have a 100% chance of firing they can still be considered Procs because the enhancement provides features to a power which it didn't originally have. Illus/Storm has no passive abilities.
As long as you keep the behavior of the procs in mind you'll be able to understand how a power can be tweaked to benefit your powers the most. Of interest you should know that one power can only have one proc from one type of set. For example you can't have the Decimation chance for Build up more than once in a power, however you can have multiple procs from different sets in the Ranged Damage category. As such the best powers for Procs are ones which can use a lot of sets, for example Blind can take ranged damage, hold and sleep sets which means it can accept 3 procs at once as long as they're from different sets.
6c/iii. Unique sets and IO enhancements
There are some rare examples of sets or induvidual enhancements where you are only allowed one of them, these are often very powerful and grant high or special bonuses to the player's abilities. For example Numina's Convalesence has an enhancement for +recovery/+regeneration, because this is a potent enhancement and gives a permanent boost to these two attributes you may only have one on your entire character. Any time you see UNIQUE in capital text on a recipe or enhancement you need to remember you will only be able to have one of them for your character. There are also level 50 only rare IO sets which are also unique, you may only slot the set once into your character.
6d. Your character and IO sets
When it comes to IO sets there are a number of things you need to consider, of greatest importance is HOW you like to play your characer. As mentioned in my guide I built my character around summoning of pets because I enjoy the passive style where the pets do the damage and I manage the crowd, hence why I find recharge bonuses to be the most beneficial stat to stack. That said someone who plays aggressively would no doubt want things like status effect resistance, damage bonuses and other protective measures as they'll be in the line of fire. Defences also work very effectively with the ToHit debuffs caused by Hurricane so even a small amount can make a big difference. There are also sets which offer some unique benefits such as debt protection, overall increases to accuracy or boost status effects for your character. However not all of them can be stacked very high so may not be considered worth getting.
Also consider that some sets only appear within certain level ranges, this means while the bonuses from a lower level set might be appealing the set itself won't be as powerful as one which goes to a high level. For example Triage is a level 10-30 healing set and as such it's enhancements won't offer induvidual boosts to a power's stats compared to enhancements which appear in a 30-53 set like Numina's Convalesence. But in some cases it's worth having a lower level set if it gives you something you want from a unique IO or from it's bonuses.
Below is information relevant to IOs and IO sets in respect to your available powers. There is also recommendations on what sets offer all-around good bonuses to a typical Illus/Storm controller with a focus on recovery, recharge, damage and endurance bonuses. The reason for this is that status effect protection isn't of much use to Illus/Storm as being held or stunned isn't a major problem considering that your pets keep fighting on without you. It is also clear that reducing the downtime on Phantom Army is often something the majority of players aim for, thankfully Illus/Storm lends itself well to stacking sets with recharge bonuses.
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SPECTRAL WOUNDS
Since this power only takes Ranged Damage sets your choices are limited. Any kind of damage boost is always helpful or you could put the Thunderstrike hold proc into it to allow for better stacking of hold with blind, this makes the spectral wounds+blind attack chain more effective as the proc will help set up containment and also hold bosses better. There are procs for things like Chance to Heal but the heal back and chance of it firing are so low that it's not really worth the investment.
This power can take the Apocalypse rare-set and offers some very appealing bonuses for Illus/Storm, the main ones being a +3 damage buff and a 10% boost to recharge times.
RECOMMENDED IO SETS:
Apocalypse, Decimation, Thunderstrike and Devastation
RECOMMENDED PROCS:
(Devastation) chance for hold, (Decimation) chance for BU, (Apocalypse) chance for negative energy damage
UNADVISEABLE PROCS:
(Tempest) Chance for endurance drain, (Entropic Chaos) chance for self heal
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BLIND
Because of the unique nature of Blind having a sleep component it's the only hold in the game which also takes sleep enhancements, this opens up some interesting options as you could slot Call of the Sandman/chance for heal with Entropic blast/chance to heal in order to pull health from a target who is hit with Blind. Since the two procs will activate independantly from one another so you might get benefit from just one or both at the same time. Since you have two procs doing the same thing the overal chance of getting a heal is increased. You can also have a forced critical hold by slotting Thunderstrike/chance to hold which will instantly stack with the hold already in the power letting you hold a boss in one hit more easily.
Because it can take 3 types of sets there is a lot of flexibility on how to slot this. It can accept the Apocalypse ranged set but if you've already used that on Spectral Wounds then you're only available rare-purple sets are Unbreakable Constraint and Fortunata Hypnosis. The bonuses from both sets are identical however it's far more useful to slot for the hold set since the sleep component only effects enemies around the held target. There is a chance for placate proc which can be used for Blind however which will fire when the hold hits but placating an already held target seems somewhat useless not to mention the fact that your have pets which might hit the placated target would instantly gain aggro again. Depending on how you intend to use the power it is acceptable to slot it with a ranged damage set as this is one tasty pure-psi damage attack which can even be slotted with TWO of the chance for psi damage procs from the Hold sets thus increasing it's damage significantly.
RECOMMENDED IO SETS:
Apocalypse, Decimation, Thunderstrike, Devastation, Neuronic Shutdown, Ghostwidow's Embrace and Unbreakable Constraint.
RECOMMENDED PROCS:
(Devastation) chance for hold, (Decimation) chance for BU, (Apocalypse) chance for negative energy damage, (Entropic Chaos) chance for self heal, (Call of the Sandman) chance for self heal, (Neuronic Shutdown) chance for psi damage, (Ghostwidow's Embrace) chance for psi damage and (Unbreakable Constraint) chance for smashing damage
UNADVISEABLE PROCS:
(Fortunata Hypnosis) chance for placate, (Tempest) chance for endurance drain, (Induced Coma) chance for -recharge
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Deceive
There isn't really a lot of procs which are useful with this as many of them involve causing damage, the trouble is that if you're using confusion on an enemy where you need to be apply it more than once then the damage proc firing before you apply the second Deceive will aggro them to you. Which isn't ideal at all. However one of the sets for confusion is quite handy as it boosts things like recharge times and recovery while the actual enhancements themselves are optimal for using Deceive using normal IOs or SOs. So it's not as if you're making the power unoptimised for the sake of set bonuses for a change.
The purple-rare set it accepts is Coercive Persuasion, quite a nice set offering recharge bonuses, damage bonuses and even a recovery bonues. This set has the ability to also slot a proc which turns Deceive into a small AoE power which can be quite handy even if it's only a 20% chance.
RECOMMENDED IO SETS:
Malaise's Illusions, Coercive Persuasion
RECOMMENDED PROCS:
(Coercive Persuasion) Contagious confusion
UNADVISEABLE PROCS:
(Malaise's Illusions) chance for psi damage, (Cacophony) chance for energy damage
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SUPERIOR INVISIBILITY
sadly Illusions doesn't benefit as much as some other powersets from IO sets. Both SI and GI don't really need slotting to be at their maximum effectiveness as they simply work fine without slots. Sure they can be made more convenient but you can't enhance them to the point where you're gaining a lot. However with IO sets you might consider putting a lot of slots into the power if you're stacking bonuses. Red Fortune is intended for defense powers which is what SI happens to be considered as due to it's +defense bonus. This power can also accept the Luck of the Gambler +7.5% global recharge enhancement which applies a recharge bonus to every power you have, they're very costly but also very very effective.
There is no rare-purple sets currently available for defense powers, also many of them are geared to help melee characters so offer things like boosted health and regeneration. However Red Fortune offers exactly what your typical Illus/Storm controller needs with a damage boost and increased recharge times. If you then combine that with the Luck of the Gambler enhancement then this single power can give you a 12.5% boost to global recharge times. Very handy.
RECOMMENDED IO SETS:
Red Fortune
RECOMMENDED PROCS:
(Luck of the Gambler) +7.5% global recharge
UNADVISEABLE PROCS:
none
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PHANTOM ARMY
To be honest, the way in which PA operates means that IO sets result in a lot of penalties to how they function and offer very little in return. None of the pet damage sets include much recharge and that is the cause for the problem because rechage times are what PA really needs reduced, sure the pet damage sets offer damage and endurance costs but really you need PA uptime more than it has downtime. I can't really recommend slotting this with whole sets but sometimes partial sets can be helpful because things like Blood Mandate offer a recovery bonus for 2/6 in the set. If you take the damage and rech/dam from Blood Mandate you get to keep near to your original spec for the power but gain a benefit as well. It has been suggested that the Build Up proc from the Soulbound Alligence rare-purple set might be useful however it does come at the cost of removing an enhancement from a power which ideally wants all 6 dedicated to something. The potential payoffs are huge however as each attack each one of the PA deal has a chance of buffing the damage output for all 3 phantoms. Because of the expense involved with purchasing this proc testing has been limited so it has yet to be determined if the loss of a slot to put this proc in is justified.
Some of my recent tinkering around with partial sets however has yielded an interesting combination of IO sets which give maximum benefit with no loss to your normal slotting. What you need to do is have Phantom Army slotted like this -
(Blood Mandate) accuracy/damage
(Blood Mandate) damage
(Soulbound Allegiance) accuracy/recharge
(Soulbound Allegiance) damage/recharge
(Soulbound Allegiance) chance for build up
Normal level 50 recharge IO enhancement
This combination of sets and normal IO enhancement will allow for maxed stats on damage and recharge, some impressive accuracy while also offering the build-up proc AND comes packaged with a recovery, regeneration and hitpoint bonus to boot.
RECOMMENDED IO SETS:
see above
RECOMMENDED PROCS:
(Soulbound Allegiance) chance for build up
UNADVISEABLE PROCS:
(Commanding presense) taunt/placate resistance, (Edict of the Master) +def to all for pets, (Sovereign Right) +resistance to all pets
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GROUP INVISIBILITY
Much like SI the advice here is the same, slot Red fortune for a nice bonus to commonly used stats and consider purchasing the Luck of the Gambler proc to boost global recharge.
There is no rare-purple sets currently available for defense powers, also many of them are geared to help melee characters so offer things like boosted health and regeneration. However Red Fortune offers exactly what your typical Illus/Storm controller needs with a damage boost and increased recharge times. If you then combine that with the Luck of the Gambler enhancement then this single power can give you a 12.5% boost to global recharge times. Very handy.
RECOMMENDED IO SETS:
Red Fortune
RECOMMENDED PROCS:
(Luck of the Gambler) +7.5% global recharge
UNADVISEABLE PROCS:
none
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SPECTRAL TERROR
'Spooky' as he's casually known is usually one of the powers you don't need to invest many slots into. But again the IO sets offer a lot which reinforces an already strong power into a more effective one plus the bonuses are well worth it. Fear sets are somewhat limited in how they behave but a word of warning, slotting the psi damage proc is not really worth it and does actually hamper the pros of the Spectral Terror. The thing is that the fear effect is lost by damage being caused, as such when the proc fires the fear effect locking them down is lost so the Terror's crowd control is less effective. It might have been worthwhile had the damage been more than mediocre at best but sadly it's an utter waste. I would like to recommend the Stun proc however it's pitiful 2% of triggering means it'll most likely never happen. I have done extensive testing to see if this was a typo from the developers but it does seem that it is only 2%, I don't think I've ever seen it trigger to be honest.
There is no rare-purple set available at the moment for Fear powers.
RECOMMENDED IO SETS:
Glimpse of the Abyss
RECOMMENDED PROCS:
none
UNADVISEABLE PROCS:
(Glimpse of the Abyss) chance for psi damage, (Unspeakable Terror) chance to stun
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PHANTASM
The faithful bodyguard is in a similar position as the Phantom Army, thankfully it's not quite as bad since recharge times as less critical to the functionality of the Phantasm. That said a full IO set build can be very slot heavy and the bonuses from pet damage sets don't tend to benefit things like recharge or endurance or damage. In the end there will always be hard choices to make when creating an IO set build character because there will never be enough slots for all the powers or sets you want. The Phantasm does however benefit greatly from Procs as it has a number of quickly cycling powers including the ability to create a decoy, the decoy additionally gains the benefits of the Proc as well since it's a pet of the pet and thus part of the power itself. I personally recommend the Force Feedback +recharge proc which is from the knockback sets, this fires quite regularly for the Phantasm and allows it to have 2 decoys active at once which obviously increases not only it's DPS but also it's chances of not taking damage. There is also a build-up proc for pet damage from the Soulbound Alligence set which would be quite interesting as much like the +rech proc it has a chance to fire for the decoys as well. Since the decoys do 100% spectral damage then it would certainly boost their brust damage but I have to wonder if it would make enough of a difference to justify the extra slot. Again given the expense with purchasing this proc extensive testing has not been done to get firm figures to see if it's worthwhile but in general any kind of damage buff is considered worthwhile when the proc fires and benefits multiple entities at once.
Phantasm can have it's damage boosted further by the Explosive damage chance for smashing damage proc, this again would be interesting as the decoys which normally do 100% spectral damage would actually have a chance to do genuine damage for a change. sadly none of the knockback sets lend themselves to boosting what an Illus/Storm controller really needs either though.
RECOMMENDED IO SETS:
none
RECOMMENDED PROCS:
(Soulbound Allegiance) chance for build up, (Explosive Strike) chance for smashing damage, (Force Feedback) chance for +recharge
UNADVISEABLE PROCS:
(Commanding presense) taunt/placate resistance, (Edict of the Master) +def to all for pets, (Sovereign Right) +resistance to all pets
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GALE
Something of the underdog within the Storm set as it's overshadowed by it's sibling the Tornado when it comes for knocking enemies off of their feet, the only benefit being that Gale is more controlled than Tornado for buying you some time as the enemies do backflips. That said once fully enhanced is does become a handy tool and the sets available do offer a lot of benefits should you consider investing slots into it. 6 slots for Kinetic Crash may seem like a lot however it offers knockback protection (which is rare for a controller) combined with recovery and recharge bonus. Some may consider the benefits not worth the cost of slotting a barely used power however I've found since Gale was enhanced to the full that I'm using it more and more. Gale can accept a lot of sets to be honest, some of which offer added damage which would be handy to turn Gale into a sort of AoE damage power. It will not get containment bonuses however from the proc firing.
Since Gale is considered to be a targeted AoE it can accept the Ragnarok rare-purple set. The benefits from this set would be considerable however the set is in high demand and thus very expensive. Considerinf how Gale isn't meant as a damage attack the enhancements wouldn't be of much use but then again a 15% boost to accuracy and 10% to recharge isn't to be sniffed at, not to mention it comes with a recovery bonus. Personally I opted for Kinetic Crash which doesn't offer as many useful bonuses except for the knockback resistance and a 7.5% recharge boost but at least it enhances the best aspects of the power itself.
RECOMMENDED IO SETS:
Kinetic Crash, Force Feedback, Positrons Blast and Ragnarok.
(Explosive Strike) chance for smashing damage, (Force Feedback) chance for +recharge, (Positron's Blast) chance for energy damage
UNADVISEABLE PROCS:
(Ragnarok) chance for knockdown
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O2 BOOST
The patchjob Heal which Storm gets actually doesn't benefit much from IO sets or procs. Two of the sets do give boosted recharge rates but don't offer a recovery bonus. Those which offer a recovery bonus but nothing else of use. It's a case here where it is hard to recommend a whole set, a bit of dabbling with the sets which offer a recovery bonus would seem worthwhile since those bonuses are granted early but the recharge bonuses take a large investment in slots. Three of the most valuable enhancements in the game however do slot into healing powers, the proc for +recovery/+regeneration, +recovery and +regen are all quite handy and the extra recovery is always useful for Illus/Storm.
There are no rare-purple healing sets currently available in-game.
RECOMMENDED IO SETS:
Regenerative tissue, Harmonized Healing, Miracle, Doctored Wounds
RECOMMENDED PROCS:
(Numina's Convalescence) +recovery/+regeneration, (Regenerative tissue) +regen and (miracle) +recovery
UNADVISEABLE PROCS:
none
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SNOW STORM
There isn't a great deal of IO sets dedicated to slowing powers, the ones which are there tend to favour the aggresive build controller which is handy since an aggresive controller can always do with slowing the attack speed and movement of their opponent so a fully slotted snowstorm isn't too strange of an idea. That said you do get some recharge bonuses from some although they're not the best and are heavy slot investments. The most suitable one is Tempered Readiness which offers a recharge and a recovery bonus. You might find that procs are somewhat hit and miss for effectivenes with Snow Storm due to the fact that they only trigger every 10 seconds, most Illus/Storm fights don't tend to last long enough to benefit from that except maybe once or twice. But then again, extra damage is never a bad thing so it is up to you. Snow Storm works effectively without much enhancement so a spare slot to add some damage could be considered useful. There is a -rech proc but debuffs of this nature work better in powers which don't follow the 'every 10 seconds' rule simply because they're random and brief. It would be best to save those for attack powers or click powers.
There are currently no rare-purple sets for slowing powers.
RECOMMENDED IO SETS:
Tempered Readiness
RECOMMENDED PROCS:
(Impeded Swiftness) chance for smashing
UNADVISEABLE PROCS:
(Pacing of the Turtle) chance for -recharge
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STEAMY MIST
There is a wide variety of possible IO sets to put into Steamy Mist as it accepts both resistance and defense types, however if you intend to make the most of Steamy Mist I'd suggest opting for the resistance ones. A significant number of both resistance and defense sets offer recovery bonuses which allows for a lot of stacking if wanted, however the benefit of enhancing defense on this power is insignificant compared to enhancing the resistance. The beuaty of this power is that you can slot the Luck of the Gambler +7.5 global recharge enhancement into it. These do cost a fortune (around 35-55 million on most servers) to purchase the recipe but this is the proc which is key to getting some impressive recharge bonuses. Most of the sets are intended for melee characters so offer additional mes protection, however the real gem here is Impervious Skin. Although it caps out at level 30 (so you don't get quite as much enhancement to the power as a result) this set is the only one to offer a recharge bonus. If you want functionality for Steamy Mist and a useful bonus then this is really the only choice, the other option is to put Red Fortune here which offers better bonuses but doesn't enhance Steamy Mist's protection anywhere nearly as much. Not to mention the Red Fortune recharge bonus is only 5% compared to Impervious Skin which is 7.5%. There is a large number of procs available for this power but most of them are things like psi protection, reduction of status effects, bonuses to movement and accuracy and such. This may be valuable for a more aggresive player so consider looking into them but remember that the values are so low you need to stack them high to have any significant benefit from them.
There are no rare-purple sets for resistance at the moment.
RECOMMENDED IO SETS:
Impervious Skin, Red Fortune
RECOMMENDED PROCS:
(Luck of the Gambler) +7.5% global recharge
UNADVISEABLE PROCS:
none
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FREEZING RAIN
There are some alternative options available for Freezing Rain which unoptimise it in favour of some alternative bonuses or procs. Since it will accept targeted AoE, slowing and defense debuffing sets you could load it up with damage procs if you wanted, however since these will only trigger every 10 seconds it may be a very expensive way to slot the power considering the minor benefit. In general you will want the defense debuff sets however there are none currently which offer bonuses to recharge, however they do buff damage and endurance. The most popular option I can recommend is to place the Achille's Heel proc into Freezing Rain so that it has a chance for an added resistance debuff. Since the proc has a 20% chance of an additional 20% drop to resistance in addition to the 30% it already has the combined debuff becomes quite impressive, the proc has a chance of firing every 10 seconds so over the duration of Freezing Rain's lifespan you have an almost 50/50 chance of it triggering.
This power does accept the Ragnarok rare-purple set however I would advise against wasting good influence on doing that.
RECOMMENDED IO SETS:
Undermined Defenses
RECOMMENDED PROCS:
(Achille's Heel) chance for -resistance
UNADVISEABLE PROCS:
none
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HURRICANE
Since i11 was launched the debuff powers in the game have received a really good boost from the new IO sets. Hurricane previously had no IO sets at all however now it can take ToHit buff and Knockback sets which offer some nice bonuses. Slotting for knockback would be a poor idea as hurricane is best used for it's ToHit debuffs as it allows you to keep close to the enemy with reduced risk. The hurricane is essential for the aggressive illus/storm so it will benefit from heavy slotting. The knockback sets and tohit debuff sets are somewhat short on options however both sets lend themselves well to the typical bonuses that Illus/Storm benefits from. Damage buffs and recharge boosts on the knockback side and damage, recharge and endurance bonuses on the debuff side. My recommendation is to stick withthe debuff sets as they offer more and with less slots as well. The player then has a hard choice between the Dampened Spirits set or the Dark Watchers Despair set. Both boost recharge times and damage, however one boosts recovery while another increases your endurance total. DWD gives you the recharge perk with less slots than Dampened Spirits but lacks the damage buff as a result. You might also find DWD a little more expensive to purchase. In the end both are useful and will suit the demands of the player so in the end it comes down to personal choice. I opted for Dampened Spirits because it was cheaper and because increasing the total endurance is helpful for large summons. When it comes to procs Hurricane gives a number of interesting options. One popular idea is to use the Force Feedback/+recharge proc to get a chance for a recharge buff every 10 seconds or by toggling the Hurricane off and on rapidly to increase the chance of it triggering. However there is also a chance to cause smashing in the knockback sets as well. Some may consider the -recovery proc but to be honest it wouldn't make for an effective choice as enemies are pushed away from the hurricane which makes the chance of it landing even less than normal toggle debuffs with it slotted. The same applies for the -rech proc as well.
There isn't any rare-purple sets at present.
RECOMMENDED IO SETS:
Dark Watcher's Despair, Dampened Spirits
RECOMMENDED PROCS:
(Force Feedback) chance for +recharge, (Explosive Strike) chance for smashing damage
UNADVISEABLE PROCS:
(Dark Watcher's Despair) chance for -recharge, (Deflated ego) chance for -recovery
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THUNDERCLAP
Stun/disorient sets are especially limited and tend to offer less than interesting procs. Things like knockback for example aren't that great unless used in melee abilities which have a stun component, however with Thunderclap you might find the knockback proc from Stupefy adds a nice bit of flavour. The drawback being is that the scattering effect it has might be seen as a problem so it depends on the player. To be honest Thunder clap doesn't lend itself well to IO sets because it only accepts stun enhancement sets and that set type is very very limited. That said the one saving grace is that it has Stupefy which offers a tasty recharge bonus and increased recovery, it is really the only set of any real use to Illus/Storm with the exception of the rare-purple set. It does require heavy slotting but the extra control which Thunder Clap brings means it's not wasted to 5 slot this ability.
The rare-purple set Absolute Amazement is actually the star of the show here as it offers a large recovery, accuracy and recharge bonus. The only let-down is the fire/cold resistance but at least that stacks with what Steamy Mist gives you for added protection so it's not a total loss if you have Steamy Mist enhanced for resistance. It also comes with a proc which causes a ToHit debuff which is very useful considering you'll be standing in the middle of a crowd of enemies who won't be very happy with you should they not get stunned by the Thunder Clap. Certainly worth considering that for adding to your chance of getting out of an aggro'd crowd alive.
RECOMMENDED IO SETS:
Stupefy, Absolute Amazement
RECOMMENDED PROCS:
(Absolute Amazement) chance for tohit debuff, (Razzle dazzle) chance for immobilize
UNADVISEABLE PROCS:
(Stupefy) chance for knockback
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TORNADO
Ahh, now here is a power which can be transformed by IO procs. In particular this is because it can take pet damage, knockback, defense debuff and disorient sets which offer a wide variety of options which give a variety of bonuses. I personally recommend the Achille's Heel/-resistance proc because it offers a 20% of a 20% debuff to resistance. The good thing is that because each Tornado is considered a separate entity it can result in the proc being applied more than once to a target when normally it'll only apply once. It's like it's coming from two separate players and thus allowed. Given the buzzsaw nature of the Tornado against highly resistant targets like arch-villains and giant monster grade enemies a heavy resistance debuff is ideal for wearing them down. It is unknown at present if the debuff itself is bugged as it has no duration, it's a permanent debuff. Expect this to change in the future I'd say. This is also a power which can get very little benefit from some procs such as the force feedback/+recharge proc which has no effect upon the Tornado as it has no attacks and thus no recharge times. The player would also only gain the buff when summoning the Tornado. You can get a number of other procs into Tornado since it accepts so many sets but since it's a duration power they only have a chance of firing every 10 seconds. In the case of things like the chance for build-up from the Soulbound Allegiance set the bonus would only last a short while and is buffing very small numbers so wouldn't be of much use. However the ToHit debuff proc would be handy here as well. sadly many of the procs are of very little use here. Sets wise you have a ton of options, ideally you want to enhance tornado by recharge and damage though and only the defense debuff sets offer enough to boost the recharge but don't enhance the damage. Therefore a mix and match is needed here to acheive what you want and get some set bonuses. You can slot a whole set but you'd find Tornado suffers somewhat as a result. Nevertheless if you aren't worried about burning some slots then I can recommend the Stupefy, Absolute amazement, Touch of Lady Grey and Kinetic Crash sets which all offer useful bonuses including extra recharge.
This power accepts the Absolute Amazement rare-purple set as well as Soulbound Allegiance.
RECOMMENDED IO SETS:
Stupefy, Absolute amazement, Touch of Lady Grey and Kinetic Crash
RECOMMENDED PROCS:
(Achille's Heel) chance for -resistance, (Absolute Amazement) chance for -tohit
UNADVISEABLE PROCS:
(Commanding presense) taunt/placate resistance, (Edict of the Master) +def to all for pets, (Sovereign Right) +resistance to all pets, (Stupefy) chance for knockback, (Razzle Dazzle) chance for immobilize, (Touch of Lady grey) chance for negative energy damage, (Explosive Strike) chance for smashing damage and (Force Feedback) chance for +recharge
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LIGHTNING STORM
Because it's classed as a pet but not a true pet you will find that you have several interesting options. It will accept knockback enhancements meaning it will take the +rech proc, it'll also accept the decimation build up proc so there is potential there to boost both the speed of it's attacks and the potency of them. That does of course come at the cost of needing two slots free so either the damage or recharge (the most commonly slotted enhancements) will need to be reduced. Again nobody has run the numbers to see if this kind of trade off is worth it, but judging from the irregular nature of the procs and the fact that the build-up only lasts 5 seconds you'll probably only see the increased damage on the next lightning strike which fires as they're around 5 seconds apart with hasten. Without hasten the damage buff will wear off before the next strike hits. In terms of the suitable set there isn't really any I can recommend as very few offer recharge and damage in large quantities leading to you typically taking a loss on effectiveness of the power should you use a whole set. Ususally 2 or 3 from Thunderstrike will give you a recovery boost and some energy defense which is handy without compromising on the normal enhancement types you slot. The hold proc is quite handy although the duration is quite low, the nice thing is that since the Lightning storm inherits buffs your powerboost extends the duration of the hold not to mention the ability to have more than one storm allows for stacking of the hold effect which if you get lucky can be enough to allow chain holding of an Arch-Villain until the purple triangles free them. The small AoE when a bolt hits does mean however it can effect multiple targets giving it a higher hit chance if you tighly pack them. There isn't really a whole set suited for Lightning Storm so it's a case of mix and match to keep it effective and get some bonuses from it.
The rare-purple set called Apocalypse is accepted by this power.
RECOMMENDED IO SETS:
none
RECOMMENDED PROCS:
(Devestation) chance for hold, (Apocalypse) chance for negative energy damage, (Energy Manipulator) chance to stun, (Explosive Strike) chance for smashing damage, (Force Feedback) chance for +recharge
UNADVISEABLE PROCS:
(Tempest) Chance for endurance drain, (Entropic Chaos) chance for self heal, (Decimation) chance for build-up
Hopefully that is enough information for you to make some smart choices with IO set slotting, the fact though that given the sheer volume of sets out there and how they can be combined it's hard to recommend anything since you can pretty much tailor your character's powers as much as you can customize your character's appearance now. The devs have said they intend to keep adding more sets but until a number of bugs are worked out that isn't going to happen. Be advised however that sets only give their bonuses when you exemplar down to the point where the set first appears, meaning that if you have a proc from a set which doesn't appear until level 30 then you don't get that proc feature if you exemplar lower than 30. The set bonuses and procs from the ultra-rare purple sets however do function at all levels which is partly why they're so expensive.
I understand that this is a lot of information to take in so here's a fast recap on the key points to remember;
- you can only stack a single bonus value a total of five times
- set bonuses and procs do not function below a certain level when you exemplar
- stacking is essential to get the most from IO set bonuses
- you may have to settle for unoptimised powers to acheive the best stacked stats
- sometimes the perks from a set do not justify unoptimising a power
- some procs give very little benefit to some powers
- don't start focussing on IO sets until you're past level 30 for best effect
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7. PvP and you
It's fair to say that almost anyone who looks at a guide is planning ahead, never is that more important than it is for PvP. A poorly planned character can inhibit your success more than you realize as PvP is a whole different ballgame compared to PvE, tactics need to be adjusted as your opponent won't be some dumb AI with predictable behavior. I won't dig too far into PvP as it's a huge subject but some general advice is always helpful I feel.
7a. Things to keep in mind about PvP
(1) You will DIE!
No matter how good you are. No matter how uber you think you are. No matter how prepared you feel, there is one true constant. You'll eventually make a mistake or simply have someone out-think you or overpower you. It's the nature of the beast and something everyone who steps into PvP need to remember. Thinking you won't be killed is silly, thinking you'll constantly get killed and never kill anyone is also therefore silly. No matter how bad you think you are there is always someone who'll make a mistake for you to exploit to your advantage. Don't be afraid of taking part in PvP because you think you'll be killed, accept that you will and don't be afraid of it because you're no different than anyone else.
(2) CoX PvP is balanced around teaming
In an MMO like this the archetypes are designed to ensure that every character has weaknesses and limitations to encourage teaming, what you'll find is that there is another AT who has the tools to expoit those limitations and weaknesses to ensure an easy victory. A super-speed martial arts scrapper is NEVER going to be able to defeat a flying energy blaster who stays in the air. It's a no win situation for the scrapper and an easy win for the blaster. Soon as you accept that there is no such thing as a character which can never be defeated the sooner you'll start enjoying the game. A defender is a good ally for a scrapper, a controller is a good ally for a blaster and so on and so forth. The more ATs are teamed together the less weaknesses they'll have to exploit. The perfect team in PvP has at least one of each AT and everyone is working together. When a complete villain team and a hero team clash the battle will be decided to which is the better organized and the fights are normally epic!
(3) Diversity for the win!
Excuse the paraphrasing of a classic l337 quote but it seemed appropriate. Your opponents in PvP are quite often quite intelligent people, not always but they certainly possess the ability to learn from their mistakes. Using the same trick over and over will eventually lead to it not working anymore on the same person if used too much, especially if they team up with someone. If you're constantly diving out of the air with build-up, aim and bone smasher primed to land a slap down on some controllers head and they know your trick then one of these days they'll either phase shift out, turn invisible just to break targeting and then slap a status effect on you the second you come into range after your buff has worn off. That's a simple example but it makes my point. When building a PvP character you want a number of options available to you just so you're not stuck with a predictable bag of tricks, eventually someone will have the perfect counter to your trick and you'll not have an alternative to fall back on.
(4) More accuracy
PvP has all players set with a base ToHit of 50% rather than 75% which you find in PvE. As such you'll be missing more if you don't compensate. For PvE it's common practice to have only 1 accuracy single-origin enhancement as that is ample, however in PvP it's better to have 2 accuracy enhancements. The difference in slotting and not slotting that extra can be quite noticable. With the addition of IO sets you may also want to consider opting for sets which offer an accuracy bonus as these will be especially helpful in PvP.
(5) The essentials for a soloing PvP build
There is a simple rule in what is 'required' on a good soloing PvP focused character. While there is many many ideas on how to play there is a constant line of parallels which can be drawn between everyone's opinions which leads to a conclusive 'recipe' for PvP builds.
To have a good PvP build your character needs to meet the following requirements.
A. Burst damage
B. A way to prevent escape of your target
C. A way to escape for yourself
In any situation you'll want a quick and decisive victory, that isn't always an option however protracted fights inherently lead to greater risk of your opponent getting time to think around what you're doing to them. Thus (a) burst damage is very important, the ability to quickly dispatch someone is always valuable however bare in mind that sometimes not all ATs are equal in this respect. A blaster's idea of burst damage will always be much faster and more potent than what a defender is capable of. But you'll have degrees of how fast each type of defender can deal damage, aiming for the best your AT can produce is the point of a PvP build.
Moving on we have (b) a way to prevent your target from escaping. While there is a culture in PvP circles of the 'honorable defeat' the ultimate rules are that of the game. If you die then you have consequences and penalties for that defeat and the winner gets a reward. If you want to stand there and give up any thought of self-preservation then fine, you just gave someone an easy kill. But that's your choice. a lot of players however will often bail out when things get rough and a soloing player needs a way to stop that. Status effects, endurance draining and -speed debuff are excellent solutions to this problem which is why a lot of PvP builds have one or more of these abilities. They also help with ambushes as people rarely stand still for long, so the ability to stop them from breezing by is critical.
In a very circular balance way you know that a PvP built opponent will have the same capabilites as you. Able to deal damage to you quickly and attempt to stop you escapaing. That is why you need to consider point (c) which is the need for one or more solution to allow you to get out of these sticky situations. This can vary from things like extra travel powers, invisibility, phase shifting and other things which allow you to get away or break out of a particular situation which would be impossible otherwise. Invisibility is a popular option as it causes all targeting to be lost which means the majority of people simply can't see you to follow you or even attack.
Linking together with (b) and (c) is the need for freedom of movement although it is not a requirement in itself the difference is instantly visible. Typically if you're limited in where you can go then you'll have issues with successful PvP mainly because people who have freedom of movement have a significant advantage over those without. This is mainly why super jump is so popular as its fast travel and also gives you the ability to move in all directions, compared to something like super-speed which is limited to horizonal travel.
(6) Zone PvP vs Arena PvP
Remember that there are two forums for PvP. Despite arguments to the contrary the open PvP zones have no rules other than that defined by the End User Licence Agreement (EULA). It's not considered griefing to continually follow someone around however in a PvP zone nor is it against the EULA to intentionally cause someone debt. This can inherently mean that PvP zones are a very hardcore way to take part in PvP as it's no holds barred and the stakes are much higher than in the arena. That said the rewards can also be higher as well. You will find a lot of talk about PvP Ettiquette which is all well and good but ultimately it's fake rules covering over official rules, it is admirable to respect your opponent and such but sometimes it can (and will) be taken to extremes. The zones are not intended for things like dueling or specific rules, remember that. If you want to add clauses and regulations to your fights then stick to the arena which lets you customise how you fight. If you can accept that zone PvP means people won't play by your rules then you'll enjoy it a lot more.
(7) Don't take it too seriously
Above all else try to remember that while it is fun to be the winner it is not always going to happen. Don't take PvP personally when you win or when you lose as in the end it's always for fun. If you lose then pick yourself up and go out there to get some friendly 'revenge'. If you start to get frustrated or irritable then just step away from the PvP environment and go do something else in the game, both you and the other people playing will be better for it.
7b. PvP with Illusions/Storm controllers
As mentioned previously there is a plethora of ways to build and play an Illus/Storm character. As such you'll find a ton of perspectives on how to fight in PvP while solo and also while on teams. In both circumstances however you'll find that there is a common ground in how they are played. The element of surprize is the best tools at your disposal as you have the 2nd best invisibility power in the game, second only to the Stalkers 'Hide' ability. Depending on what you favor you can either lunge in with hurricane up and push someone around as you hit them with blind and spectral wounds or you can be sneaky and summon an army of pets onto your opponent while remaining completely invisible, then step back and watch them try and deal with it. Whatever way you decide to approach things there will be various enemies you'll struggle with depending on your approach and powers.
Dominators - While not all that popular in PvP due to them being difficult to use outside of domination mode the fact remains that just about anyone with status effects will give the aggressive player a problem as you need to be visible and in close range of the target. As such if you're hit with one then you're left with just the hope that your pets will do enough damage to allow you to get loose. The passive approach here works much better as a well timed ambush where the victim can't find a target they can attack leaves them with only two choices, run or be defeated. Thankfully something like Tornado has enough status effects to keep the enemy busy while they're attacked. Beware of Dominators running the Tactics skill as this will allow them to see through SI at close ranges get a status effect on them before they get one onto you. The best option against a Tactics Dominator is to drop the Terror onto them from high above. If you can get them to stand still that is....
Brutes - The aggressive option here works very well as hurricane is more than ample to give most Brutes a hard time plus some Brutes have perception buffs which will allow them to see through SI. The other problem is that Brutes have enough health and defenses to survive an assault purely from the pets unless exposed to them for a significant length of time, it's generally required for the player to get involved when dealing with them. Given their build a Brute might require a lot of work to defeat but it'll be the safest kill an Illus/Storm controller can have thanks to them having a trick to counter almost everything a Brute has in their arsenal. For added safety use Deceive on them combined with Hurricane so they struggle to land a hit on you even more.
Stalkers - Most Stalkers don't stick around long enough to engage in fights. As with all other ATs you'll find yourself dying to them more often than you will to any other enemy. If they do stick around then don't be concerned as Hurricane is enough to keep them from getting too close to you without difficulty and assuming they don't have perception buffs you can just vanish from sight and have the pets finish them off. When a Stalker is visible they're practically a squishie so don't be too worried about an unhidden stalker. The great thing with taking on Stalkers is that their ability to placate you has utterly no bareing on your pets. Even if you can't attack them until the placate wears off the fact remains that the pets can still pummel them.
Corruptors - Much like dominators you'll find corruptors to be difficult. In fact they are probably the second toughest enemies you can face IF you catch them the wrong way. The main drawback is that they can have status effects of their own as well as some nice firepower. Ambushes are also not always possible as a corruptor with perception buffs will have no issues seeing you well in advance of you getting within range to fight. If you do fight them, finish them off fast or you'll regret it. Try to catch them with a status effect before they get you with one is best. A few extra range enhancements or using tp foe will help you to get that first hit in.
Masterminds - Out of all of the ATs you'll face in PvP the MM will be the most annoying. Since you don't direct your pets they'll aggro to random henchmen instead of focussing on the MM player, the MM however can direct all of his firepower onto you without problems as the autotaunt effect of the Phantom Army doesn't work well on henchmen. With features like bodyguard to spread the damage you're not going to be able to defeat a MM unless you can get them away from their henchmen for a few moments. An upfront attack is almost always fatal and you can't even lay a hold on the MM first as henchmen in defensive mode will aggro straight to you. Another problem is that perception isn't an issue for the henchmen once they have aggro'd to you. Even if the player themselves can't see you the henchmen will keep attacking which is a real pain. Unless you have a way to separate the mastermind from their minions you may as well just not bother fighting this AT one on one. Tp foe is very handy for this although since pets will quickly follow their master it can lead to you needing to finish off the player asap before their buddies show up.
While hero vs hero fights tend to only take place in the arena or Warburg the fact is that certain parallels can be drawn between how you deal with the heroes and how to handle the villains. Tankers and scrappers are much like brutes (i.e. it's possible to totally dominate them), controllers and defenders however are a lot like corruptors as they'll give you a hard time in some situations. Blasters on the other hand won't be much of a threat as they are fairly light on status effects although they can hit you at range, however if they see you coming you could find yourself flat on your face before you can say 'WTF!' Peacebringers and Kheldians in general are rare in PvP and again at the moment you'll tend onto to find them in the arena or warburg, that said they are most adaptable of ATs so they'll have ample ways to overcome your tricks so treat them with caution as there is very little they can't counter.
When approaching targets who can see you all benefit of an ambush is totally lost, perception values run much higher than stealth values for non-stalkers and players who PvP a lot will have as many perception buffs as possible in their character builds. This naturally removes your greatest advantage so you need to resort to your next strength - controlled chaos.
Controlled chaos is hard to maintain in PvP zones because of their open nature and presense of NPCs, in the arena you will have more success in enclosed areas. But central to successfully fighting with a PvP in the open are 4 powers. They are Hurricane, Deceive, Spectral Terror and Tornado. Since most players have protection from Fear you gain quite an advantage by placing Spooky near to you and staying near it, since it also has an -acc debuff this will give you an added advantage since this will stack with Hurricane especially if the terror keeps stacking it's aura and fear attack on the same target so that they are under a 30% tohit debuff. With what Hurricane adds to that your opponents will start to really struggle to hit you even before you decide to make their day even worse. Next you have Deceive which will make it very very hard for your opponent to even maintain a target lock on you, if you are being ambushed by multiple opponents they even stand a chance of hurting each other or debuffing one another. Finally you have Tornado which might not seem like a major contributor to chaos if your opponent has knockback protection, however the continual damage it causes if they do can often be distracting and the drop in their defense due to it's debuffing qualities will make your job of fighting back much easier. If you're fortunate enough to be facing someone who doesn't have knockback protection then they'll be cursing you out as they're flung around even 10 seconds or so as the Tornado's you keep summoning bounce into them. So overall your opponents accuracy will be very low, they will continually be cowering in fear every time they come near you, find it nearly impossible to target you because they are confused and they'll suffer continual damage from the Tornado with the possibility of being thrown around like a pinball.
The drawback to this kind of active defense is that it is very heavy on the endurance over a length of time, you may want to keep some blue inspirations handy before entering any PvP zone as you will find this tactic being used quite often.
7c. Illus/Storm PvP Tips and Dirty Tricks
They say a good player in any game doesn't let the opposition 'see their hand'. Keeping your best tricks secret might be wise but it wouldn't make for a very informative guide now would it? So here's a brief run down of tips and dirty tricks you can do with your Illus/Storm controller.
::The Pile of Phantoms::
In PvP there is a well-known trick of */devices blasters where they lay down a pile of tripmines and toss in some caltrops over the top. They then use tp foe to pull the victim onto the pile which often results in their instant death. While this might be seen as extremely cheap you have to admit that it is a sure-fire way to get a kill. Thankfully Illus/Storm controllers have their own version of this which isn't quite as effective but does a good job.
You will need Phantom Army, Freezing Rain, Blind, Spectral Wounds and Teleport foe as a bare minimum. If you are high enough for Tornado and Lightning Storm then great as it makes this even more effective. Set yourself up in a nice comfortable spot, if possible have SI, GI or Steamy Mist concealing you're location. Make sure your target is within tp range. Summon Phantom Army first, summon the freezing rain second and then teleport the victim into the middle. Have Blind queued up so it hits as soon as they appear. If done correctly the target will be dead within the next 10 seconds especially if you chip in with Spectral Wounds or use additional pets. The one drawback to this is that unlike caltrops the freezing rain won't slow someone enough to prevent them from using SS or SJ to get away. Thus it's not quite as reliable. If possible you could purchase Web Grenades from Sirens Call as they prevent flying and jumping which pairs nicely with Freezing Rain as the defense debuff from the rain means it hits with more reliability.
:
oT of Doom::
Please refer to part 5h. of the PvE section for how to do this. It works in PvP very well except that you'll ideally need Snow Storm to help slow the opponents movement as the pulses from Hurricane are less frequent and allow a smart player to slip out from the Hurricane. Again the web grenades come in handy.
::Confused campers::
Sometimes you get people who like to sit down in the middle of a massive trap they have created and let someone come to them. Common tricks are standing in the centre of a Tar Patch, Quicksand or perching over a pile of freshly laid tripmines. In every case these people forget that if they're confused then their own powers turn against them. Confusion protection is very very rare so if you ever see someone doing this simply summon the Phantom Army onto them and then hit them with Deceive. In the case of the guy/gal sitting on the tripmines you'll notice a nice satisfying BOOM followed by much swearing over broadcast. Why the Phantom Army? Well, you don't get credit if they kill themselves so you will hopefully get the killing blow in and in the case of tar patch and quicksand the PA will get a nice DPS boost with the victim being unable to run away very easily.
::Invisibility, don't leave home without it::
It may seem like common sense but everyone knows that the hospitals are watched and often camped by villains. If they see you coming out then you're at a disadvantage, use SI or GI BEFORE you step out of those doors.
::Terrors on a Plane::
Since Spectral Terror is intended to hover at a fixed distance above ground level it is often a good idea to use this to your advantage. If you have someone apparently standing around below you just drop the Terror from high above them so it lands on or near them. It'll instantly apply the Cowering Fear status effect and allow you to follow up with relative safety. Be warned, people quickly become wise to the air-dropped terror trick since it's so effective.
::Stalker free zone::
The fact is that without their ability to use assassin strikes the majority of Stalkers are totally harmless. If you ever need to fight without hassle from a stalker or want to check if a patch of ground has any Stalkers hiding away you can flush them out completely by summoning some Freezing Rain over the area. The DoT it causes knocks them out of Hide and also prevents the Stalker from using Assassin Strike. Sometimes this is a great trick to use on someone who is known for camping a specific spot all of the time.
::The 'I-Win' button::
Sometimes people fall for this, sometimes they don't. It depends on how preoccupied or unaware the opponent is. While being really sneaky this trick is actually simple to do. Quite simply the Illus/Storm controller has the capability to carry on fighting even when phased. If you get either the Phase Shift power from the Concealment power pool or a temporary power like the one you get from the 'patrol warburg' mission then you can summon all of your pets and then phase out. Admittedly it only lasts for 30 seconds (unless you chain two or more phase shift powers end to end) but that's 30 seconds of being completely undefeatable while being perfectly able to defeat someone else. Of course, if someone is dumb enough to stand around watching 'unaffected' continually appear over their opponent's head for 30 seconds then they deserve to be defeated. Most people realise what is happening and simply back off until it wears off because they know if they stick around they'll either end up badly hurt or dead. You can prolong how long it takes someone to notice the phased effect by using any of the stealth powers, SI and GI work best because they almost totally obscure the phased special effects. Because of the need for the pets to deal damage this trick becomes better once you're into your high levels with things like Phantasm and Lightning Storm at your disposal.
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8. Myths and Misunderstandings involving Illusions and Storm Summoning
8a. "Stamina is essential for Illus/Storm controllers" (False)
As has been covered briefly in this guide earlier the fact is that this is not true for all characters. The fact of the matter is that you can play the controller aggressively and handle most of the effort yourself or you can play passively and rely on the pets to handle the work. (or a mix of the two). Because of the nature of the pets they'll allow you the capability to stand around doing nothing to recover endurance should you need it, even in the middle of a fight. The one requirement of playing without stamina is that you WILL need to have some endurance reduction enhancements in certain powers to avoid running dry too quickly, typically one enhancement is ample to off-set the lack of stamina in the case of Illus/Storm controllers.
One of the main reasons why stamina is not required is that the pets themselves tend to last far longer a duration than you need to naturally regain the cost of summoning them, thus you can create a perfect summoning cycle that allows you to keep your pets out without needing to have endurance recovery bonuses. If you do find that you want to have a lot of endurance in a short space of time it's perfectly safe in most situations to actually use Rest while mid-fight as long as you Phantom Army out to distract the enemy. You will only tend to need to do that when on a team facing an especially large group of enemies or when fighting an AV or GM. Or if you have very little patience and want to get back into the fight.
If you do prefer to get more actively involved then you'll tend to be spamming spectral wounds and blind quite regularly and no doubt running hurricane and maybe snow storm. This method is obviously not relying so much on the pets and thus has a far higher endurance drain to overcome while in combat. As such you'll see the need to have stamina. In the long run, you'll see the need to take stamina in the build become more important or less important depending on your play style, if you lean towards pets you won't need it but if you prefer to be more active you may feel things get frustrating without it. Always remember however that it's a good idea to turn off Superior Invisibility while fighting as it'll suck endurance like crazy and give you very little benefit in return.
8b. "Superior Invisibility stacks with Steamy Mist" (False)
A common mistake, the two cannot be active at the same time. If you're running Steamy Mist and turn on Superior Invisibility then the game will automatically turn off Steamy Mist, and vice versa.
8c. "SI and GI stack together to give extra stealth benefits" (True)
While this isn't quite what you'd expect the fact remains that there is a stealth bonus from these two combined. The thing however is somewhat quirky as some time ago the developers of the game introduced stealth caps which prevent archetypes from exceeding a certain value of stealth. All non-stalker ATs have a cap which increases with their level and is estimated at around 600' at it's highest point. It is actually a little short of that in reality but for the sake of this discussion we'll keep it as a nice round figure. This is different from Stalkers who can go well over a stealth value of 1000' when stacking multiple types of invisibility powers. Both Superior and Group Invisibility have a stealth bonus so high that it instantly sends the affected player to their stealth cap. So combining SI and GI doesn't have any bonus for the maximum stealth value as you already hit the cap with just one of them. The quirk appears to be a limitation of the AI which is using the maximum total stealth value of a target to determine if it should attack or not.
The AI determines aggro by a number of factors such as the level of the target, any damage done to the NPC, any damage done to nearby allies, distance to target, stealth value of target, how much damage was done and threat multipliers. Now when you use stealth abilities like SI or GI your threat value drops for starters, the AI might have specific tolerances for determining aggro as you may have found on rare occasions that you can hit a lone enemy and not have them aggro to you unless you move closer or if circumstances change. It appears that the stealth value over-rides many of the other factors which determine aggro with the exception of when an allied NPC dies in a spawn. If you use SI+Gi and attack a single enemy in a spawn only that enemy aggros to you, once that enemy dies the rest of the spawn will suddenly aggro to you IF you are in line of sight. It's a very curious bug.
8d. "Phantom Army causes energy damage" (False)
As it turns out the in-game description of Phantom Army is incorrect. The phantoms actually cause pure Psionic damage. Additionally some people get confused by the various attacks they see PA do and think they are different damage types. These are infact ALL psionic damage attacks but with different appearences.
8e. "Range enhancements allow pets to attack from greater distance" (False)
Unfortunately while it might be nice to have the ability to get them to attack and aggro from greater range the fact is that the range enhancements only allow you to summon them from greater distances. The exception to this rule is Lightning Storm which isn't classed as a true pet but a pseudo-pet, essentially the game treats it the same as the 'rain' powers like freezing rain, blizzard and rain of fire. This is why it gains the benefits from inspirations and other buffs. bare in mind however that there is very little point in adding range enhancements to increase the summoning range as the pets are designed to never wander too far from you and the basic distance they can be summoned is usually near to the maximum range that the pets are allowed to be away from you. Increasing beyond that range simply means that they'll spawn at that point and then run back to you before they start to aggro to enemies. While this might be handy for pulling it could also result in you being caught in AoE and cone attacks.
8f. "Confused enemies can actually lower the amount EXP gained" (True... under certain conditions)
Of much debate is the value of using confusion in a fight. The simple fact of the matter is that if more than 50% of the damage an NPC has taken was caused by a confused enemy then the exp from that damaged NPC will be significantly lower once they are defeated. As such you'll find that if you let a confused enemy do most of the work you'll barely get any exp from the enemies that are defeated.
However, some will argue that while the exp per person (EPP from now on) is lowered, the exp over time (EOT) actually increases. The reasoning for this:
Hero A can cause 100 points of damage every 5 seconds.
NPC X can cause 100 points of damage every 5 seconds.
NPC Y has a total of 600 points of health.
..thus..
Hero A can defeat NPC Y in 30 seconds.
..however..
Hero A plus a confused NPC X can defeat NPC Y in 15 seconds.
Because the total damage is split 50/50, Hero A takes a significant cut to exp which has been found to be around 20%. However they've gained that exp with a 20% loss in half of the time it took to defeat an opponent while solo. Thus in the 30 seconds that you could defeat a single enemy solo (without the help of a confused enemy) you can defeat 2 opponents in the same length of time if you have a confused enemy to help. Thus resulting in a net gain of EOT at a loss of EPP.
But where this thinking falls apart is when you have confused enemies who have AoE/Cone attacks or are able to generate significantly more damage than the player can to nearby NPCs. This is obviously because the player has less of a chance to deal the majority of the damage and thus suffers more from the penalty which confusion has.
Consider this:-
Minions are worth 10 exp, have 100 hitpoints and deal 25 damage every 5 seconds
Boss is worth 30 exp, have 300 hitpoints and deal 95 damage every 5 seconds.
Hero A deals 50 damage every 5 seconds.
Recharge time on confusion is 5 seconds.
Hero A is invulnerable to damage for this hypothetical test.
(this is a fair comparison to in-game where a boss is considered somewhat equal to 3 minions with a DPS boost)
So you have a spawn of 1 boss (Boss A) and 3 minions (Minion A, B and C). The total worth of 60 exp.
:::::Scenario 1:::::
- Boss A is confused.
(1 second into the fight)
- Minion A is hit for 95 points of damage by Boss A. (Minion A HP: 5/100)
- Minion B is hit for 50 points of damage by Hero A (Minion B HP: 50/100)
(6 seconds into the fight)
- Minion A is hit for 95 points of damage by Boss A, Minion A is defeated.
**Hero A gains 0 points of exp, 10 points lost**
- Minion B is hit for 50 points of damage by Hero A, Minion B is defeated
**Hero A gains 10 points of exp, 0 exp lost**
(11 seconds into the fight)
- Minion C is hit for 95 points of damage by Boss A (Minion C HP: 5/100)
- Minion C is hit for 50 points of damage by Hero A, Minion C is defeated
**Hero A gains 5 points of exp, 5 lost**
(( Hero dmg = 5, Boss dmg = 95-75% = 23.75 [total dmg = 28.75] Hero % = 18% ))
(+30 seconds later)
Boss A is defeated by Hero A
**Hero A gains 30 points of exp, 0 exp lost**
Total fight time: 41 seconds.
Exp gained: 45 exp
:::::Scenario 2:::::
- Minion A is confused.
(1 second into the fight)
- Boss A is hit for 25 points of damage by Minion A (Boss HP: 275/300)
(6 seconds into the fight)
- Boss A is hit for 25 points of damage by Minion A (Boss HP: 250/300)
- Hero A confuses Minion B
(11 seconds into the fight)
- Boss A is hit for 25 points of damage by Minion A (Boss HP: 225/300)
- Minion C is hit for 25 points of damage by Minion B (Minion C HP: 75/100)
- Hero A confuses Minion C
(16 seconds into the fight)
- Boss A is hit for 25 points of damage by Minion A (Boss HP: 200/300)
- Minion C is hit for 25 points of damage by Minion B (Minion C HP : 50/100)
- Minion B is hit for 25 points of damage by Minion C (Minion B HP: 75/100)
- Minion C is hit for 50 points of damage by Hero A, Minion C is defeated.
**Hero A gains 8 points of exp, 2 lost**
(( Hero dmg = 50, Minion B dmg = 50-75% = 12.5 [total damage = 62.5] Hero % = 80% ))
(21 seconds into the fight)
- Boss A is hit for 25 points of damage by Minion A (Boss HP: 175/300)
- Minion A is hit for 25 points of damage by Minion B (Minion A HP: 75/100)
- Boss A is hit for 50 points of damage by Hero A (Boss HP: 125/300)
(26 seconds into the fight)
- Minion B is hit for 25 points of damage by Minion A (Minion B HP: 50/100)
- Minion A is hit for 25 points of damage by Minion B (Minion A HP: 50/100)
- Boss A is hit for 50 points of damage by Hero A (Boss HP 75/300)
(31 seconds into the fight)
- Minion B is hit for 25 points of damage by Minion A (Minion B HP: 25/100)
- Minion A is hit for 25 points of damage by Minion B (Minion A HP: 25/100)
- Minion B is hit for 50 points of damage by Hero A, Minion B is defeated
**Hero A gains 8 exp, 2 is lost**
(( Hero dmg = 25, Minion A dmg = 75-75% = 18.75 [total dmg = 43.75] Hero % = 58%))
(36 seconds into the fight)
- Boss A is hit for 25 points of damage by Minion A (Boss HP: 50/300)
- Minion A is hit for 50 points of damage by Hero A, Minion A is defeated
**Hero A gains 8 exp, 2 is lost**
(( Hero dmg = 25, Minion B dmg = 75-75% = 18.75 [total dmg = 43.75] Hero % = 58%))
(41 seconds into the fight)
- Boss A is hit for 50 points of damage, Boss A is defeated
**Hero A gains 24 exp, 6 is lost**
(( Hero dmg = 150, Minion A = 150-75% = 37.5 [total damage = 187.5] Hero % = 80% ))
Total fight time: 41 seconds.
Exp gained: 48 exp
As you can see, the duration of the fights are identical however there is a drop in the overall exp gained in the situation where the boss is confused. The amount of damage it can produce limits the ability of the player to cause damage to the target. This is also subject to the amount of hitpoints and resistance of the nearby NPCs which the confused NPCs will attack. Admittedly the drop in exp between the two is only minor in these simulations however consider that would happen if the boss had an AoE attack. Or if there was even more minions which the player could only attack one at a time while the boss could keep using their AoE! As you can see, for the best exp gain from confusion it's far better to confuse a bunch of minions who help to chip in rather than to confuse the big boss who is likely to finish off his/her allies before you've had a chance to even look at them.
Due to this there are some basic rules to follow if you wish for Deceive to actually increase your EOT value.
- avoid confusing enemies who have significantly higher DPS than you
- avoid confusing enemies who have AoE/Cone damage powers
- start causing damage as soon as possible
- don't spend too much time confusing targets while the fight is raging
- focus on enemies you can finish off quickly, save tough threats until later
- make sure you at least get a hit on all of the enemies, no damage done equals no exp at all
8g. "Inspirations can be used to boost the damage/accuracy/defense of pets" (False)
If some people are coming from CoV there is sometimes a little confusion about the difference between pets and henchmen. The mastermind AT in City of Villains has the perk of being able to pass inspirations to the henchmen and they'll use the inspiration instantly with the relevant benefits. sadly this isn't the case for pets that Illus/Storm has with one exception. The Lightning Storm (which isn't a true pet) has the ability to benefit from ANY buffs that are applied to the player when the storm is summoned. For example, it is often wise to have Illus/Storm controllers work Hasten into their build, mainly because it's always helpful to be able to have summons recharged by the time their duration is up. If you use Hasten and have it active when you summon the Lightning Storm the attack rate of the lightning bolts will increase in the same way that you're recharge rates are increased as well. Likewise if you have anything which buffs damage or accuracy then the damage and accuracy of the storm will increase as well. This adds an extra element of tactical consideration when you finally have the ability to summon the Lightning Storm.
8h. "Group Flight works with Phantom Army" (False)
sadly while it would be nice to see Phantom Army going through the air or have Tornado turn into a mid-air funnel of doom the fact is that Phantom Army's intangible nature means it's uneffected by any bonuses and Tornado isn't classed as a true pet so it cannot adopt buffs of any kind. The only pet this would benefit is Phantasm by increasing its flight speed. You also cannot use Team Teleport to move Phantom Army or Tornado around.
8i. "Vengeance can be used on a Phantasm upon their defeat (if you're quick)" (False)
The vengeance power which gives a nice buff to allies and yourself does not function at all on any pets when they are defeated. Phantasm doesn't even leave a corpse anyway. You also cannot ressurect a Phantasm for this reason.
8j. "Spectral damage is always Psionic in nature" and/or "Spectral damage is unresistable" (False)
Due to the mixed nature of how Spectral damage works such rumors were sure to exist. The fact is that the damage type is always shared with the powers' true damage type. In the case of the Phantasm, the Decoy (although it causes 100% spectral damage) is paired with the Phantasm itself resulting in the Spectral damage being Energy based in nature however for Phantom Army the Spectral damage is actually Psionic as the real damage the Phantoms cause is Psionic based. Because of how Spectral damage has a fixed value it's easy to see why some people thought the damage was unresistable, the fact is that it IS effected by resistances because it is a percentage of the unenhanced base damage which the power causes. Thus if the base damage is 100 while the spectral damage is 20 and the NPC has 50% resistance to that damage type then the real damage is cut to 50 and the spectral damage is cut to 10 as well.
8k. "Phantom Army does not transfer aggro to you like other pets do" (False)
This is somewhat complicated. Basically it appears from my research that you are indeed added to a spawn's aggro list when the PA starts to attack. If you dismiss any of the Phantoms the enemies aggro'd to them will run straight to you in many cases. However on some occasions after PA has unspawned enemies will stand around as if you weren't there. From what I can determine the decision to aggro to you is based upon the normal rules which govern your threat rating in the eyes of the AI. Distance, visibility, damage done and threat value are all factors and the decision to aggro to you after PA despawns will weigh these up. Typically you'll find that if you stand as far from the fight as possible while invisible then enemies which were spawned from the NPCs (such as rikti reinforcements from portals) will ALWAYS aggro to you, so thats one thing to remember. No doubt something to do with how they were spawned initially with you on their aggro list but then the PA was targeted due to them having an inherantly higher threat value than you. Secondly, enemies which sustained damage will aggro to you after PA has unsummoned but their eagerness to run to where you are is based upon the damage the PA has done to them. I have seen 3 enemies head for my direction after the PA despawned, 2 gave up after several steps because they could not attack since I was behind a wall. They were only damaged slightly by around 1/7th of their health. The only enemy to come running around the wall to me and start a fight was the one with around 1/3 damage. All of the other NPCs in the spawn did not come after me and all of them where not damaged or damaged by such a small amount it was barely visible on their health bars.
This would explain why some people have seen mixed results with Phantom Army and leads to the myth that they don't transfer aggro to you. It is clear that they do but other factors come into play once they despawn. So be warned.
8l. "Spectral damage is not increased by resistance debuffs" (False)
In order to maintain a fair damage boost from resistance debuffs you will find that spectral damage will increase by the expected amount of the resistance debuff. That means if you have 100 real damage and 20 spectral damage and the enemy has a 25% resistance debuff then the real damage becomes 125 and the spectral damage becomes 25. The total of the damage normally is 120, with the resistance debuff the total is 150. If the spectral damage wasn't increased then the player would be dealing too much damage, in this example they'd be dealing an extra 5 points extra which wasn't justified.
8m. "Buff procs do not work in PA because they are intangible" (False)
A common mistake is that procs from IO sets, such as chance for Build-Up, will not work in PA because they aren't tangible pets. However this is not true as the proc becomes part of the physical make-up of the power and the pets as if they were buffing themselves. Much in the way a phase shifted player can use powers to buff themselves so to does the PA recieve the build-up buff from the proc slotted into them. One of the nice benefits is that since every attack from any of the 3 decoys can trigger the proc the chance of it happening is quite high, further more when it does trigger all three decoys gain the bonus to their damage for a few seconds.
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9. F.A.Q
Q1. What's City of Heroes
A. Very funny....
Q2. What does AoE / DPS / ect... mean?
A. Jargon is inevitable in anything which resembles an RPG-style game (look there's another one) so here's a brief run down of some terms you may come across within this guide.
SINGLE TARGET - Only effects one target
TARGETED - when you activate the power a targeting circle appears to direct when the power will be triggered at (or where it'll go). targeted powers do not require line of sight.
AOE - Area of Effect, essentially an ability which will effect more than one target
PBAOE - an AoE which has the user as the central of the effect
ANCHORED - a power that uses an NPC or player as the point of origin, if the anchor dies the ability is turned off.
LOS - Line of Sight, a line that can be drawn between the attacker and the target indicating a clear shot. Corners can be used to break line of sight in some cases.
COV - City of Villains
COH - City of Heroes
COX - A collective term for City of Heroes and City of Villains. i.e. City of X (where X is a variable)
STATUS EFFECTS - temporary conditions which place certain limitations upon those affected, see below
HOLD/HELD - target is unable to move or take actions, all toggles are turned off
SLEEP - target is unable to move or take action, condition is cleared completely if they take damage or are healed, all toggles are turned off
STUN/DISORIENT - target is able to move but very slowly, unable to take action, all toggles are turned off
FEAR - target cowers down and is unable to take action or move unless they take damage, upon taking damage they have a few moments to move or take action before returning to the previous cowering state. toggles stay active.
KB/KD/KU - Known as knockback, knockdown and knockup. Target is knocked off of their feet in the specified direction. Target cannot take action or move until they stand up again. Actions which take a while to fully execute, and are triggered before the knockdown, will continue even while the target is being knocked down however
REPEL - the target is pushed out of the repel area of effect relative to the position of the centre of the effect
PHASED/INTANGIBLE - the target cannot move or attack, they are also unable to be harmed and are non-solid (NPC and players are normally immobilised however in PvP there is a bug where if you have immobilization protection you can still move around). Target can only use powers that effect themselves, all of their toggles remain active. Anchored toggles stay active but lose all of their effects.
IMMOBILIZE - the target cannot move, but can take action
-FLY - target cannot use any powers that let them fly or hover
-JUMP - target cannot jump
CONFUSE - causes NPC AI to see allies as enemies, meaning they will not attack players and will instead attack NPCs who used to be allied to them. In PvP it causes player targeting to randomly switch between targeting allies and enemies. The name colours over player heads also switch. This state can be inherited by pets and pseudo-pets which the affected target summons, often leading to pets attacking their master.
TOGGLE - a power which has an off/on mode, while on it will constantly have an endurance cost
DETOGGLE - an ability which forces a random toggle ability to turn off on the target it hits
CLICK - a power which is activated and then does something with a one-time endurance cost
MELEE - need to be within 5' of the target
RANGED - distance will vary can hit from 0' to maximum range of the specific power. (usually 80')
AT - archetype
DPS - damage per second
DPE - damage per endurance used
DEFENSE - protection that causes attacks to miss (debuffed by -defense)
RESISTANCE - protection which reduces the damage from attacks which hit by a percentage (debuffed by -resistance)
TOHIT - a percentage value which defines when something hits or misses (ei. players have a base 75% chance ToHit NPCs as standard, ranks and levels of NPCs alter this)
-RANGE - causes the distance at which powers will function to be reduced, this does not affect melee range powers. These always remain at 5'.
Q3. I don't understand half of what you're talking about here. Why don't you explain everything in detail?
A. This guide is intended for people who are familiar with the game and have played through enough to understand the fundamentals of soloing and teaming. The guide is not intended for first time players who haven't sat down and played the game for several weeks.
Q4. What does DMG, RNG and such mean in the slotting section of the power descriptions?
A. They are short-hand for the various enhancement types. Here is a list of the enhancements you may see mentioned in this guide.
DMG = damage
RNG = range
-DEF = defense debuff
+DEF = defense buff
RCHG = recharge speed
ACC = accuracy
-HIT = ToHit debuff
+HIT = ToHit buff
END = endurance reduction
ENDM = endurance modification
HLD = hold duration
STUN = stun duration
CONF = confusion duration
STN = stun duration
SLP = sleep duration
FEAR = fear duration
KB = knockback/knockup/knockdown distance
-SPD = slow movement debuff
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10. Reference Material
Of course producing a guide which covers as much as this one isn't possible without help from the CoH/CoV community and people who have dedicated so much of their time to help understand the game we all enjoy so much. This section includes a number of links and hard numbers from my own data gathering and also from people who I have sourced material from for the purposes of writing this guide. Please ensure that you give proper credit if you intend to use any of this information for your own guides or publications.
10a. For intitial release I used the CoH planner from Joechott.com. An excellent planner with some very accurate numbers for individual powers. Mid's Hero designer was used for version 1.5 of this guide, downloadable from this URL: http://www.honourableunited.org.uk/mhd.php. Lots of features and I'd highly recommend it for the most up to date information.
10b. Here is how I broke down the recharge times, duration times, damage and endurance costs into rough caragories. The numbers were sourced from the CoH Planner and then used to generate these catagories for the powers section of this guide. These numbers are designed to parrallel the rough catagories used for in-game power description as closely as possible. Allow for some minor discrepancies at the lower and higher end of each category so expect a certain amount of overlap in some cases when comparing with in-game descriptions.
ENDURANCE COSTS
1-5 minor
6-15 moderate (spec w, blind, deceive, gi, gale, 02 boost, thunder clap)
16-25 high (flash, spec terr, freezing rain)
26-35 heavy (tornado)
35+ extreme (pa, phantasm, lightning storm)
TOGGLE ENDURANCE COSTS
0.41-0.82 minor (snow storm, steamy mist)
0.83-1.25 moderate (hurricane)
1.26-1.66 high (si)
1.67-1.99 heavy
2+ extreme
RECHARGE SPEEDS (ALSO USED FOR DURATIONS)
1-5 fast (spec w, o2 boost)
6-15 moderate (blind, deceive, si, gale, snow storm, hurricane)
16-30 long
31-60 very long (spec terr, freezing rain, thunder clap, tornado)
61-120 extreme grade 1 (flash, lightning storm)
121-240 extreme grade 2 (gi, pa, phantasm)
DAMAGE (BRAWL INDEX/BI)
0-2.4 minor (gale, freezing rain)
2.5-3.5 moderate (blind)
3.6-5.5 high (spec w, lightning storm)
5.6-8 superior
8.1-10 extreme grade 1
10.1-15 extreme grade 2
15.1+ extreme grade 3
10c. As there was no reference material done before on the subject of spectral damage here is the data I gathered from an old test centre copy of my Illus/Storm controller. This data was gathered using the human nemesis troopers in Peregrine Island with a level 41 character. Data is organized like this:
# Enhancements used : total damage - spectral healback value (percentage of spectral damage out of total damage)
Note all enhancements used were yellow grade damage SOs which offer a fixed 30% boost each.
::Spectral Wounds::
0 SO : 47 - 18 (39%)
1 SO : 61 - 18 (30%)
2 SO : 75 - 18 (24%)
3 SO : 92 - 18 (20%)
:Phantom Army:: (has both ranged and melee attacks)
0 SO ranged : 41 - 29 (71%) --- 0 SO melee : 68 - 53 (79%)
1 SO ranged : 54 - 29 (55%) --- 1 SO melee : 89 - 53 (60%)
2 SO ranged : 66 - 29 (44%) --- 2 SO melee : 109 - 53 (49%)
3 SO ranged : 84 - 29 (35%) --- 3 SO melee : 138 - 53 (39%)
As it turned out, PA causes more damage at range than melee due to greater percentage of spectral wounds and the fact that their ranged attacks recharge faster than melee. Thus for damage purposes summoning them in the middle of a crowd isn't ideal. The PA will however randomly use ranged attacks at melee range which may be found to boost DPS.
10d. Cforce's wonderful guide to Exp loss when using the confusion status effect. A great reference for any number chunchers out there :- http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...part=1#2354729
Here's a quick reference for the relevant section for dmg/exp:
"Here's a handy table for this, rounded to the nearest percent. If you do A% of the total damage to the mob, and all the other damage is 'confused' damage, you get B% of the total XP for the mob:
A.....B
0.....0
10....31
20....50
25....57
30....63
40....73
50....80
60....86
70....90
75....92
80....94
90....97
100...100
A handy way to remember this table for approximations in-game is: 20 gets you 50, 50 gets you 80, 80 gets you 95."
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11. Acknowledgements
Big thank you to everyone who helped to contribute directly and indirectly to this guide, I've learned a great deal from the community during my time spent on the forums and couldn't have written this guide without picking up bits of information over a long period of time from everyone who posts. All of this information could never have been learned by a single person from scratch so consider the majority of this guide a collection of wisdom from thousands of people which I simply organized together and added a few of my discoveries to. 
This guide was authored by Chris 'Tal-N' Blane. Please do not reference items from this guide without giving proper credit to those involved.
Special thanks go to the folllowing people for their invaluable contributions:-
- Joe Chott for his extremely helpful Hero Planner.
- Matt Bauer for creating the impressively flexible Mids' Hero Planner.
- Cforce for his amazingly indepth guide to Confusion/Exp Loss.
- Emnity, for an excellent proof read to work the bugs out of the guide for v1.0.
- Tremere for correcting me on invisibility suppression.
- Hilker, Fotheringay, _Enos_, Melancton and Local_man for helping to proof read v1.6.
- The CoX community for enduring my continued ramblings on their forums for the past few years.
- The Cryptic/NCSoft development team, for not nerfing Illus/Storm yet. 
Thank you for reading!
You may also find version 1.0 of this guide on the official City of Heroes forums at the following URL:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...=0#Post7731043
--end--
Great guide and an awesome read for anyone interested in playing an Illusion Controller!
Lighthouse
Community Relations Manager
If you have a specific in game, account, tech or billing problem please contact our Customer Support team via The Knowledge Base "Ask A Question" page.
I haven't read it all, but I did look a bit (primarily) at the Storm part. A few comments:
[ QUOTE ]
STEAMY MIST
Additional Notes:-
The defense base value is only a few percentages compared to the much higher resistance base values. Estimated resistance value is around 20% compared to 2-3% of defense as a base value. So don't slot the defense, put them into resistance if you want this power for protection purposes.
[/ QUOTE ]
15% Resistance and 3.75% Defense. 3.75% Defense translates into 7.5% damage mitigation, so the Resistance gives double the damage mitigation, but in return the Defense works against (almost) all attacks (and also protects you from secondary effects). Most people tend to focus on the Resistance, but the Defense is actually quite decent too.
[ QUOTE ]
FREEZING RAIN
This power has a +100% base accuracy bonus!
[/ QUOTE ]
Freezing Rain has a base Accuracy of 1 (no Accuracy bonus). The Defense debuff does however make it easier for the later ticks to hit, and since there are so many ticks, some of them are bound to hit.
The summoning power itself does have a base Accuracy of 2 (100% bonus), but it doesn't make an Acc check, so...
[ QUOTE ]
HURRICANE
Additional Notes:-
The repel effect works on a 'pulse' which pushes targets away with each pulse. In PvE the pulse is every 0.5 seconds, in PvP it is every 1 second. This means it is a slightly weaker effect in PvP to reduce its ability to pin someone into a corner.
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The activation period appears to be 0.25 seconds for both PvE and PvP. The duration of the Repel is however shorter for PvP.
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THUNDER CLAP
Has the usual -10% accuracy penalty as with all AoE control powers.
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Thunder Clap has a base accuracy of 0.8 (-20%).
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LIGHTNING STORM
Has an inherent +100% base accuracy bonus.
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Base accuracy of the Lightning Storm attack is 1.4 (40% bonus).
As with Freezing Rain, the summoning power does have a base Accuracy of 2 (100% bonus), but it doesn't make an Acc check.
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8j. "Spectral damage is always Psionic in nature" and/or "Spectral damage is unresistable" (False)
Due to the mixed nature of how Spectral damage works such rumors were sure to exist. The fact is that the damage type is always shared with the powers' true damage type. In the case of the Phantasm, the Decoy (although it causes 100% spectral damage) is paired with the Phantasm itself resulting in the Spectral damage being Energy based in nature however for Phantom Army the Spectral damage is actually Psionic as the real damage the Phantoms cause is Psionic based.
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The Phantasm Decoy appears to do Psionic damage, not Energy damage.
edit: Removed something I think I may have read wrong
tl;dr
However, I would add that I love my ill/storm, sadly, it's on my second account...
A powerful combo, indeed.
I will assume this is a good guide (pound-for-pound, as it has much more pounds than any other I've seen); maybe use a little BB code to color it up?
-r0y
"Look how many pages of crap are in this thread already!" -r0y to all threads on these forums.
Maybe if I get very very very bored I'll give it some colour. Very bored.
I love the guide, just like the last one you did lol. One of my mains ( since I have two ) is a illusion / storm, took me almost a year to perfect my skill with her, and even now I'm still learning a few new tricks. The only thing of notice that I caught was that flash wasn't listed in the IO section, i'm not sure if that was intentional or not.
I use a few IO sets as well, perferably for the recharge bonuses, however i do use alot of HO's across the board for a few of my powers, namely Flash and Blind. I just wasn't impressed with the hold sets, aside from the newly added purple set and I'm going to toss that in flash. I wasn't sure honestly how to slot Blind with IO's and keep my damage / hold combo I currently have with HO's. =P
Overall, lovely guide. =)
LDZ
True Justice is the defense of the weak, the lonely, the homeless, the widowed, the abused, the poor, the hopeless, children, and those who cannot do for themselves. True Justice fights injustice, it fights evil. Its easy to talk about Justice, it is not however easy to talk about True Justice. The important question is, what are you willing to do? -- Lady Zealot
Tal_N - absolutely the best, most thorough guide I have read. I built an Ill/Storm as a result, and, at level 42, still loving it immensely. Thank you!
I remember at one point you talked about adding the Epic power pools to the guide - is that still in the works, or can you (or anyone else) recommend a good 'troller guide for epics?
Stargazer - thank you for the errata!
Cheers,
TxCelt
Since it looks like I missed Flash from the IO chapter and completely missed it I'll need to do a small revision of this. I might add a small word or two on epics since a lot of folks are asking but since there isn't much to say on them don't expect that chapter to be very lengthy.
a sample build of a toon would suffice
wow, very impressive. i'm still working on my ill/storm that was inspired by your last guide/videos. definately one of the more toons to play in my line up. thanx for the info.
<QR>
What a guide!
I think you covered all the bases plus the dugout and bullpen.
My 50 Ill/Stormie is my favorite of all my Heroes and reading through this guide is making my fingers itch for some Can 'o Chaos top-popping.
Thanks Tal_N!
Gonna revamp the tutorial with some clearer formatting at some point this month since the new forum allows for a lot more tweaking than the old one which this was designed for. If there has been any developments in the last 2 years since this guide was written which are relevant and helpful please let me know.
Pets & Pseudo-pets no longer benefit from Recharge bonuses. This means Set IOs with Recharge in them won't make Lightning Storm or Phantie shoot faster. By the same token LS won't benefit from Hasten or any other Recharge boosts who have when running. In PvP I'm fairly sure Toggle Dropping has been abolished.
Epic Power Pools have been boosted and have 5 powers in each now. You can get the details on the Red Tomax site which now lives on The Titan Network
Thanks for the heads up, for one moment I thought you meant that the recharge times on summoning the pets had been normalized. Not their own powers.
================================================== ======
========Smoke and Mirrors: A guide to Illusions/Storm controllers=[v/1.6]
============ by Tal-N=====================================
INDEX
1. Introduction
2. What this guide will tell you
3. 'Illusions' powers
3a. Summary of Illusions
3b. Specific powers
3c. Understanding 'Spectral' damage
4. 'Storm Summoning' powers
4a. Summary of Storm summoning
4b. Specific powers
5. PvE Tactics and advice
5a. What is PvE?
5b. Things to remember about your controller
5c. General soloing advice
5d. General teaming advice
5e. Situational powers and when (or when not) to use them
5e/i. Gale
5e/ii. Deceive
5e/iii. Spectral Terror
5e/iv. Phantasm
5e/v. Hurricane
5e/vi. Freezing Rain
5e/vii. Tornado
5e/viii. Lightning Storm
5f. A Word on Combat and Tactical thinking with Illusion/Storm Controllers
5g. The Black List
5g/1. Nemesis
5g/2. Rularuu
5g/3. Arachnos
5h. Specific tactics using Illusions and Storms
6. Invention Origin enhancements and IO sets
6a. Introduction
6b. Invention system summary
6b/i. What are Inventions and Salvage?
6b/ii. Wentworths auction houses
6b/iii. What are Recipes?
6b/iv. IO enhancements
6c. IO sets and Illusions/Storm controllers
6c/i. Understanding IO set bonuses
6c/ii. IO procs - Programmed Random OCcurance
6c/iii. Unique sets and IO enhancements
6d. Your character and IO sets
7. PvP and you
7a. Things to keep in mind about PvP
7b. PvP with Illusions/Storm controllers
7c. Illus/Storm PvP Tips and Dirty Tricks
8. Myths and Misunderstandings involving Illusions and Storm Summoning
8a. "Stamina is essential for Illus/Storm controllers"
8b. "Superior Invisibility stacks with Steamy Mist"
8c. "SI and GI stack together to give extra stealth benefits"
8d. "Phantom Army causes energy damage"
8e. "Range enhancements allow pets to attack from greater distance"
8f. "Confused enemies can actually lower the amount EXP gained"
8g. "Inspirations can be used to boost the damage/accuracy/defense of pets"
8h. "Group Flight works with Phantom army"
8i. "Vengance can be used on a Phantasm upon their defeat (if you're quick)"
8j. "Spectral damage is always Psionic in nature" and/or "Spectral damage is unresistable"
8k. "Phantom Army does not transfer aggro to you like other pets do"
8l. "Spectral damage is not increased by resistance debuffs"
9. F.A.Q
10. Reference material
10a. Link to Joe Chotts' CoH Planner
10b. Tal-N's recharge/damage/endurance cost catagories
10c. Tal-N's Spectral damage data
10d. Link to CForces confusion/exp loss guide
11. Acknowledgements