A pair of Illusion controllers or an Illusion controller with perma-PA can handle GW easily since she can't heal off of PA. Everybody just stay out of PBAoE range and let the PA(s) tank.
Another approach is to root her in place and attack from max range. She won't be able to hit with her PBAoE and her ranged Heal attack has a relatively short range. This in fact is the standard "safe" STF tactic if you don't have something like perma-PA. You immobilize GW and a Tanker taunts her from max range.
She can still do her uber hold but dropping PA right at that point will draw her away from the held target and allow them to recover.
Use immobs, PA and max range her. /rad is also the key, especially if you can zip in and EMP her. When all else fails, vengeance works quite well too.
I used to run All Controller STFs on Guardian for quite awhile. Others have said it, yes the keys are PA and immobs (and as the previous poster said vengeance too). Also make sure everyone else has dismissed their pets and are out of range. Keeping PA aggro on GW constantly is important, so good coordination between the Ill's is vital. I'd probably recommend three Illusionists for good rotation to keep her double covered at all times, incase someone slips up. It's also nice for Recluse as well.
@Mental Maden @Maden Mental
"....you are now tackle free for life."-ShoNuff
With enough Rad's, you could also floor her To Hit enough so that her heal wouldn't hit, but you'd need way more than just 2 (an even lvl AV has 85% resistance to debuffs, not sure what +4 AVs have ottomh). 8 Fire/Rads w/Maneuvers should be able to swamp her w/Imps (and EF, AM, etc x8) and take her down *very* fast.
On a less optimized group, yeah, stay out of range, immob & blast from afar.
An Offensive Guide to Ice Melee
One more thing, bringing a mind controller works really well for sleeping AVs in case you get more aggro than you intended.
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With enough Rad's, you could also floor her To Hit enough so that her heal wouldn't hit.
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TA will do it better, since flash arrow is unresistable.
Basically, RI slotted with 3 to-hit debuffs is about 39% -tohit, she's level 53, so that means your debuffs are only working at 65%, so about 25.35%, factor in the 85% debuff resistance after that and you're looking at a whopping 3.8% to-hit debuff, even with 8 rads, you're still going to be well below the to-hit floor (30.4%)
Flash Arrow 3 slotted will give about 7.8% to-hit debuff, meaning you'll floor her at 6 TAs.
No
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
I think you underestimate our fools, sir.
Why /duel is a bad idea
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With enough Rad's, you could also floor her To Hit enough so that her heal wouldn't hit.
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TA will do it better, since flash arrow is unresistable.
Basically, RI slotted with 3 to-hit debuffs is about 39% -tohit, she's level 53, so that means your debuffs are only working at 65%, so about 25.35%, factor in the 85% debuff resistance after that and you're looking at a whopping 3.8% to-hit debuff, even with 8 rads, you're still going to be well below the to-hit floor (30.4%)
Flash Arrow 3 slotted will give about 7.8% to-hit debuff, meaning you'll floor her at 6 TAs.
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<<Makes note to add Flash Arrow to my Ill/TA's second build>>
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
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With enough Rad's, you could also floor her To Hit enough so that her heal wouldn't hit.
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TA will do it better, since flash arrow is unresistable.
Flash Arrow 3 slotted will give about 7.8% to-hit debuff, meaning you'll floor her at 6 TAs.
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Wow, I didn't know that. I still think 8 /Rads will be better since I'm also assuming 8x Maneuvers and you'll still hit def cap one way or another for the imps. TA will have better -resists w/Acid & Disruption than just EF, but then you get AM and more -regen with the Rads. Either way, it'd be a slaughter. 
An Offensive Guide to Ice Melee
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With enough Rad's, you could also floor her To Hit enough so that her heal wouldn't hit.
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TA will do it better, since flash arrow is unresistable.
Flash Arrow 3 slotted will give about 7.8% to-hit debuff, meaning you'll floor her at 6 TAs.
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Wow, I didn't know that. I still think 8 /Rads will be better since I'm also assuming 8x Maneuvers and you'll still hit def cap one way or another for the imps. TA will have better -resists w/Acid & Disruption than just EF, but then you get AM and more -regen with the Rads. Either way, it'd be a slaughter.
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When comparing TA's Damage Debuff to Rad's, most folks forget that AM contains a 20% Damage buff. While that doesn't affect Phantom Army, it does affect all teammates and most of the other pets. When you combine the 20% damage buff to he 22.5% Resistance Debuff from EF, Rad is actually more effective at increasing damage than TA's Acid and Disruption Arrows.
And Rad has a self heal . . . . but it doesn't have an oil slick.
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
I am, by no means, saying that TA is better than Rad, I dislike getting into "this set is better than that set" arguments, because it's all relative.
All I was pointing out is that TA is better for to-hit debuffing the AVs in the STF.
No
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
I think you underestimate our fools, sir.
Why /duel is a bad idea
The thing with rads is that they are pretty much the best at AV killing since they have so much -regen in their set. The -to hit is just gravy on top of things.
storm also has -to hit with hurricane but it's pretty much useless since you have to close in to make it work, which increases the chance of getting hit by PBAoEs. A dark defender works better in those types of situations, and has -regen from HT.
Thank you very much for all this info guys. It will help us next time we try it.
Much appreciated.
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The thing with rads is that they are pretty much the best at AV killing since they have so much -regen in their set. The -to hit is just gravy on top of things.
storm also has -to hit with hurricane but it's pretty much useless since you have to close in to make it work, which increases the chance of getting hit by PBAoEs. A dark defender works better in those types of situations, and has -regen from HT.
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-regen is resisted by AV resistance, -resist is not, therefore, -regen is less effective than -resist
also, Dark is 1. not available to controllers, and 2. does not fair well against purple patch or AV resists.
Using Darkest Night and Fearsome Stare (both slotted for 3 to-hit debuff) against a level 53 AV gives a whopping 5.7% tohit debuff, while Defender TA will provide 9.75%
No
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
I think you underestimate our fools, sir.
Why /duel is a bad idea
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The thing with rads is that they are pretty much the best at AV killing since they have so much -regen in their set. The -to hit is just gravy on top of things.
storm also has -to hit with hurricane but it's pretty much useless since you have to close in to make it work, which increases the chance of getting hit by PBAoEs. A dark defender works better in those types of situations, and has -regen from HT.
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-regen is resisted by AV resistance, -resist is not, therefore, -regen is less effective than -resist
also, Dark is 1. not available to controllers, and 2. does not fair well against purple patch or AV resists.
Using Darkest Night and Fearsome Stare (both slotted for 3 to-hit debuff) against a level 53 AV gives a whopping 5.7% tohit debuff, while Defender TA will provide 9.75%
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If you read carefully, I said Dark def, and neither a 5.7% or 9.75% to hit debuff are anything to write home about. Besides I was talking comparing the to-hit debuff of utility of /storm to being next to useless in that particular context since you have to close in. Besides, arguing about the accuracy rate of an AV trying to hit Phantom Army is a bit useless, don't you think?
/TA, like rad, has -regen powers that even when highly resisted, can floor an AV's regen. Try EMP arrow, it works like EM Pulse. The -resist component(s) of TA is nice, but at 15% each, doesn't compare to using a tier 9 -10,000% -regen (before resistance).
Of course, using both is even better. It's just that rad has a bit better balance than TA with AM and a slight heal. I'd take a /TA any day over /storm to fight an AV (or 4 or 5), but I'd make sure I had a rad first. My point was that even Dark defs have a massive -regen component in Howling Twilight, and storm has no -regen components to bring to the table.
Dark's heal, Twilight Grasp, also has a -Regen component that can be stacked, the same as Kin's Transfusion. Between Twilight Grasp and Howling Twilight, I think Dark Defenders have more -Regen than anyone on an ongoing basis. Yes, the -Regen in EM Pulse is huge, but it doesn't last very long.
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
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Dark's heal, Twilight Grasp, also has a -Regen component that can be stacked, the same as Kin's Transfusion. Between Twilight Grasp and Howling Twilight, I think Dark Defenders have more -Regen than anyone on an ongoing basis. Yes, the -Regen in EM Pulse is huge, but it doesn't last very long.
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Could be true...however, most AVs don't last very long when you have Lingering Rad and EM Pulse on them, so even though the debuff doesn't last very long it usually drops them pretty far down in health during the debuff period (10s?) when you have a full team on the AV. I don't have a 50 Dark Def but I have a 50 Bots/Dark that can solo most AVs, so as far a direct comparison of Dark/ vs /Rad, I'm not too sure about which is faster at dropping an AV.
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I have a 50 Bots/Dark that can solo most AVs
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But can they solo RSF AVs? (comparable to the STF AVs)
@Mental Maden @Maden Mental
"....you are now tackle free for life."-ShoNuff
We're going a bit afield here, but...
Do ppl actually use EMP during AV fights? I mean, I guess w/multiple AMs or Transferences (SBs), etc going, it's no big deal, but I find it a bit too end intensive for a not very long lasting effect for solo fights. And I say a "bit" for my own Fire/Rad, cuz he has massive end recovery and can actually weather an occasional EMP rotation into the chain--a normal /Rad by himself prolly couldn't maintain it w/o eating a lot of blues to compensate. -Regen is a bit overblown for AV/GM fights and I find LR is more than enough.
Having said that, I do find EMP *does* help a bit, esp w/robotic types (Paladin. etc), and TA only gets EMP Arrow for -regen, so that's a little different story too. And if you have enough +end tools, why not go for broke?
An Offensive Guide to Ice Melee
I don't typically find a need for EMP during an AV fight. Lingering Rad's -regen seems to handle most situations just fine, especially if there is another source or two of -resist on the team.
@Mental Maden @Maden Mental
"....you are now tackle free for life."-ShoNuff
Might be tough, but 3/4 of them I'd be pretty sure of, it would just take a long time. My current bots dark even has mongrel slotting. Each Hero would have to be done solo too.
I'd venture all of them except Statesman with a fully IO'd build in a RSF solo. Stateman does way too much damage and has big damage PBAoEs for me to say he's doable without having solo'd him.
Bots/Dark would probably have a bit of trouble with him, maybe Bots/FF could do it though.
Solo I wouldn't use EMP but with a team I would definitely. Try a KHTF on invinc and see what the difference is like with a rad/ on using EMP and without using EMP.
For STF, EMP can shave a few minutes off all the AVs to get those sub 35 minute times.
Okay here's a question for all you expert Controllers out there. On the weekend 8 of us tried an all Controllers Statesman Taskforce. Now the makeup was something like 3 - 4 firekins, two rads (plant + illusion) and we were ripping right through the task force. Now we came to the last mission and had no real problem with three of the four AV's. We even managed to take on and defeat two of them at once... However.. once we came to take on Ghost Widow the story changed. We initially swamped her with pets and of course all stood close to take advantage of the heals and transference etc. We quickly realised that was a mistake as she kept healing off us so we killed off the pets moved back as far as we could and kept attacking. We could get her down to near half health but each time she would just quickly heal herself back to full.
We also brought her back to the ship to see if the extra firepower of the Longbow and the turrets would make a difference. To no avail. The turrents barely fired.
After what seemed like hours of trying we ended up giving up the ghost and bailed.
Has anyone successfully defeated Ghost Widow with an all Controllers team? Or is there some trick that we missed? (and yes I have tried searching first).