Psionic Mastery would allow the same slotting, in Psionic Tornado and Indomitable Will.
I didn't know that Indomitable Will allowed defense sets. Mez protection would be amazing... I'm still kinda new to the set IO things.
I'm assuming tornado is more useful than fissure too.
I think I'll go that route... now I need to do another respec trial... crap.
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
How many epic powers can you take?
I would go Primal forces -
Power boost is going to boost your self heal and holds/confuses
and temp invuln for resistance. If your looking for just recharge bonuses then yeah psi master for IW and PT.
If your building for recharge then I am guessing you have hasten and am - if you have am close to perma your getting mez shortening with AM (am lessens the duration of mezzes) plus if you carry break frees your probably better off than waiting for IW to come back up (but then again if your close to perma on hasten and am IW would be up fast 
).
What is your goal for the epic powers? To increase your global recharge?
Yes, the idea is to get perma (and if at all possible overlapping) Phantom Army. I have AM and hasten, and you're right about AM, I forgot about that. I was wondering why I never seemed to get mezzed for very long...
Doesn't Indomitable Will prevent mez? That would keep my debuff toggles from dropping.
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The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
in pve yes. Nothing prevents mez in pvp.
your probably not going to get overlapping PA - that requires over 190% recharge - which you could definitely do - but you get to a point of sacrificing your build to achieve one thing.
If by overlapping PA you mean more than three decoys at a time, you can't do that. Any decoys you already have out automatically despawn when you cast PA again.
I didn't think you could but since I don't have my recharge up that high - didn't know 
Another note: I don't really need powerboost. I don't have heals. If someone's dying, it's not my problem. I've got two AoE holds that are well slotted, plus a single target hold.
If mids is right, then I'm not sacrificing anything by going all for recharge bonuses. The intended build has everything recharging so fast that I hold everything all the time, and have an army of decoys always throwing down damage on enemies with debuffed resistance. Spectral Wounds will be recharged by the time it's done animating, and Blind is almost that fast as well.
A no lapse attack chain will be blind, spectral wounds, blind, spectral wounds... etc. Use anything else any time you want and there's never any dead time.
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The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
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If by overlapping PA you mean more than three decoys at a time, you can't do that. Any decoys you already have out automatically despawn when you cast PA again.
[/ QUOTE ]
I did not expect to be able to get more than three decoys at a time. If the recharge is fast enough, though, then I have room to play with when the time's almost up. If the PA drops for half a second, that's enough time that I could get blasted by an entire mob. By having it recharged before they go away, I can ensure that I don't have a lapse.
Does this still sound like a good plan, or is this over the top like Challenger?
And by the way, thanks for all the advice so far everyone.
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
actually the heal is for you ...just makes you more attractive to teams if you have an aoe heal plus you can slot it with dr wounds for 5% recharge :P.
and power boost will affect your holds as well (plus if you are looking for cheap recharge and some kb protection - the two attacks in there can be 6 slotted with kinetic crashes for 7.5% recharge and +3 pts of kb).
Sorry, I'm well aware that power boost makes my holds longer, it's just that the recharge makes this kind of useless.
The heal just feels really week, and I think my slots are better spent on control to prevent the damage in the first place.
Again, on the heal: Maybe I'm a pretentious jerk, but if you kill my anchor, it's not my fault the baddies can hit and damage you. I understand AoE is an indiscriminate killer, and I understand that my anchor can't always be the last one to die. Generally though, even if he dies early, nothing else should be moving anyway.
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
I use a few factors to decide my APP for an Illusionist.
(a) Blind-Spectral Wounds has a gap that can be nicely filled with one of the single target blasts from the APP sets. Blind-SW-Blast-SW makes a great attack chain. Earth is the only set without a fast enough single target blast.
(b) Except for Phantasm's smashing/energy attack, all of Illusion's damage is Psi. In the later game, you run into a lot of psi-resistant foes, including lots of Robots. Having a different damage type really helps with these foes. All the APP sets except Psi would work for this.
(c) Illusion has no AoE damage powers, and has no AoE Immmobilize. Therefore, getting an AoE damage power would be a nice addition. Ice Storm does good AoE damage, but foes can run away without an AoE Immobilize. Ice also has Frostbreath, a cone. Primal has only a cone, Torrent. Fire gets Fireball, a fast damaging AoE available at 41. Psi Tornado's AoE is DoT but includes knockdown. Earth's AoE is very short range but includes some stun, activates fast and recharges fairly quickly.
(d) Each set has a key power that makes the set. Earth's is Earth's Embrace the heal/HP boost, but Seismic Smash is pretty good too as a melee attack. Primal's is Power Boost -- however, Illusion doesn't have many powers that will benefit much from Power Boost. Fire is Consume for Endurance recovery and Damage. Psi is periodic mez protection from Indomidible Will. Ice has Hibernate as a great panic button that lets you heal and recovery endurance.
(d) The armors are either Defense based (Ice and Earth) or Resistance-based (Fire, Psi and Primal). If you need another place to slot a Luck of the Gambler Recharge, you want a defense-based shield. Knockback protection can be put in either, but the Karma can also go in SI or GI. Also, the Earth armor is really, really ugly.
(e) Illusion has spectral damage in Spectral Wounds, Phantom Army and Phantasm's Decoy. This means that some of the damage heals back after a few seconds. If you are able to defeat the foe fast enough, you get to keep the spectral damage. Therefore, you want something that will help you kill off the foes faster. Powers with up-front damage will help more than ones with Damage over time. The AoEs in Fire and Earth are quick damage, as are the cones in Ice and Primal. Psi Tornado and Ice Storm are DoT.
I have one Ill/Rad at 50, another in the 40's. My 50 went with Fire, because of the single target blast, Fireball and Consume. I tried Primal at one time, but wasn't impressed for this character. My other Ill/Rad went with Ice for the single target blast, Hibernate and Frostbreath. I have the Psi set on my Fire/Rad, and tried the Earth set on my Ice/Storm. I've tried them all, and each one has some really nice features.
Each of the APP sets have good things that can be useful for an Ill/Rad. I haven't tried to get mine to the perma-PA stage -- don't want to put that much of an investment into one character when I have so many alts.
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
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If by overlapping PA you mean more than three decoys at a time, you can't do that. Any decoys you already have out automatically despawn when you cast PA again.
[/ QUOTE ]
I did not expect to be able to get more than three decoys at a time. If the recharge is fast enough, though, then I have room to play with when the time's almost up. If the PA drops for half a second, that's enough time that I could get blasted by an entire mob. By having it recharged before they go away, I can ensure that I don't have a lapse.
Does this still sound like a good plan, or is this over the top like Challenger?
And by the way, thanks for all the advice so far everyone.
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Even with overlapping PA you going to get aggro switched to you (for 1-3 seconds), when you recasting PA
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I'm thinking Earth Mastery for two powers: Fissure and Rock Armor.
Fissure lets me add kinetic crash IO set for recharge bonus.
Rock armor lets me add one more LoTG recharge.
Good idea? Bad idea?
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For my money, with the extreme +recharge that a ill/rad build thrives on anyway, Psionic Mastery is a solid choice for permanant Indomitable WIll. Mezz protection owns!
That said, assuming you dont mind the painful, costuem-obliterating ugliness of Rock Armour, or the fact that you have to stay on the groun, Earth Mastery is a very close second. Its one of the few epics for any class that really has no bad options to choose from, and it has a lot of versatility to offer any controller build.
...in pve.
who pvp's anymore anyways :P
Besides, for power mastery. Can use positrons blast in energy torrent, kinetic crash in power blast.
Likewise in psionic, decimation in mental blast, pos blast in psy tornado (please, its much more worth having positrons blast, maxing damage, and getting the good stats to use it as an attack, thatn it is losing that piddly 1.25% recharge by going pos blast instead of kinetic crash), and then lotg in IW.
Plasmic's Guide to Sonic/Mental
Plasmic's Guide to Regeneration
Plasmic Fire - 50 Fire/Rad Victory Server
I would go with Stone or Ice. I really love Seismic Smash and Fissure, so unless you are using Hover for KB protection I would go Stone. If you are using Hover, I'd probably go Ice for the slow in Frost Breath and the great panic button in Hibernate. Ice Blast is nice too because it's got two damage types you don't normally do with Illusion.
If you think you need the armor, Fire Shield and the invulnerability one look much better than the Stone or Ice.
FWIW, I'm going with Fire Mastery, due to the quick AoE attack from Fireball (not to mention the damage) and the nice endurance recovery from Consume (which comes in handy for long battles). The shield is good for some resistance, but it isn't all that important, so if you want to pass it up for Fire Blast, then that's another quick and damaging attack in your favor.
Quite honestly, I mulled over all of the APPs for a long time and Fire Mastery seemed to have the best synergy with Ill/Rad. Of course, it all depends on your play-style, too.
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FWIW, I'm going with Fire Mastery, due to the quick AoE attack from Fireball (not to mention the damage) and the nice endurance recovery from Consume (which comes in handy for long battles). The shield is good for some resistance, but it isn't all that important, so if you want to pass it up for Fire Blast, then that's another quick and damaging attack in your favor.
Quite honestly, I mulled over all of the APPs for a long time and Fire Mastery seemed to have the best synergy with Ill/Rad. Of course, it all depends on your play-style, too.
[/ QUOTE ]
That was my feelings, too. I tried Fire first, then tried Primal and tried the other APP sets on other controllers, and then went back to Fire.
Do not discount the benefit of Fire Blast! I think it is more important than Fireball, because it works very well in a Blind-SW-Blast-SW attack chain. Because of the spectral damage in SW, you want to take down foes fast to benefit from damage before the heal-back. A fast single target attack chain really helps. Oddly enough, you get more benefit by taking down minions first because you CAN take them out fast. That concentrates the attacks of Phantasm and Phantom Army on the higher level foes where you don't get as much benefit from spectral damage because they last longer.
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
Which power blast, ice blast, slightly slower but still mental blast also offer. I really don't find much synergy between fire epic and ill/rad at all personally. Its just damage, but offers next to no tactical advantage to the combo.
At least power blast/energy torrent offer knockback/down as a mini-control form to make up for illusions lack of positional control, as does psy tornado, in addition to mental blast/psy tornado's addition to adding more -recharge to the battle, which of course IW also helps you from your toggles being shut off.
Energy blast/torrent are a bit more thematical as well given phantasms abilities.
Plasmic's Guide to Sonic/Mental
Plasmic's Guide to Regeneration
Plasmic Fire - 50 Fire/Rad Victory Server
Alright, well, for what it's worth, I picked Earth. I stopped looking at what IO sets I could afford now, and started looking long term. I love the character, and I'm going to play him until he's fully purpled and has every badge attainable.
Fissure looked like a great AoE that offered even more control (something that ill is lacking), and it lets me slot Absolute Amazement. I didn't realize its short range until I tried to use it though...
Meh, it was a perfect reason to pick up Seismic Smash. I'm already in melee range, and this power will let me slot a fifth purple set with -recharge, Hecatomb.
Finally, there's rock armor, for the LoTG.
I don't have the build with me now, but in Mids, with AM and hasten active, the global recharge bonus is just over 216%.
Perma everything. Perfect.
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
[ QUOTE ]
Which power blast, ice blast, slightly slower but still mental blast also offer. I really don't find much synergy between fire epic and ill/rad at all personally. Its just damage, but offers next to no tactical advantage to the combo.
At least power blast/energy torrent offer knockback/down as a mini-control form to make up for illusions lack of positional control, as does psy tornado, in addition to mental blast/psy tornado's addition to adding more -recharge to the battle, which of course IW also helps you from your toggles being shut off.
Energy blast/torrent are a bit more thematical as well given phantasms abilities.
[/ QUOTE ]
I wanted Fire because I also wanted Fireball with its fast AoE damage (not a cone) and for Consume for those occasional situations where I run low on endurance. Conserve Power will reduce your use of End, allowing you to slowly recover, but not get it all back in one shot.
I tried Primal in the days before Torrent was added. I agree that it is more appealing now, even if Power Boost doesn't do much. Ice with Frostbreath is also more appealing. I wonder why Fire can't add Fire Breath to make it match.
The four reasons I wouldn't go with Earth are (a) it doesn't have a fast recharging single target blast to make an attack chain, (b) Since Ill/Rad has a heal, Earth's Embrace isn't needed that much, (c) the AoE damage attack has very short range, and (d) the Earth armor is really ugly. My stone tanks were designed with the armor in mind, but not my Ill/Rad.
Still, Seismic Smash makes the Earth APP very tempting.
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
[ QUOTE ]
The four reasons I wouldn't go with Earth are (a) it doesn't have a fast recharging single target blast to make an attack chain, (b) Since Ill/Rad has a heal, Earth's Embrace isn't needed that much, (c) the AoE damage attack has very short range, and (d) the Earth armor is really ugly. My stone tanks were designed with the armor in mind, but not my Ill/Rad.
Still, Seismic Smash makes the Earth APP very tempting.
[/ QUOTE ]
(a) With the amount of recharge I plan to pack into this build, my attack chain can be Blind, SW, Blind, SW... or hell, maybe even SW, SW, SW much like the neutrino bolt.
(b) I didn't plan on taking Earth's Embrace. I don't even use my heal, to be honest.
(c) The short range is annoying, but I'm willing to trade that for more control (good stun), which the other sets don't offer. Psy comes close with the knockup, but this has knockdown and stun.
(d) I don't plan on using the armor, only taking it for a place to slot LoTG. Although, I might just take acrobatics instead.
And yes, from my limited experience so far, seismic smash is incredible. I don't even have it slotted yet!
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
I'm thinking Earth Mastery for two powers: Fissure and Rock Armor.
Fissure lets me add kinetic crash IO set for recharge bonus.
Rock armor lets me add one more LoTG recharge.
Good idea? Bad idea?
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.