The Illusion Control Powers
Level 1: Blind - Single Target Hold with Damage and Small AoE Sleep.
Painfully Blinds a single targeted foe so severely that he is rendered helpless. Blind is so bright that additional foes may also be blinded, though they will not take any damage, and attacking them will free them from the effects.
Accuracy: 1.1
Range: 80 ft.
Endurance: 8.3
Recharge: 9 sec.
Cast time: 1.67 Sec.
Damage Scale: 1.0 Smashing Damage (2.77778 BI)
Damage: 30.59 (at level 50), doubled with Containment
Duration: 18.625(at level 50) at Mag 3 Hold, 20% chance for an additional 1 Mag for 12.423 sec.
Additional Effects: Summons a pet creating a 14.9 second (at level 50) sleep within a 2 ft radius of foe blinded.
Blind is an essential power, and I strongly recommend taking it at level 1 or no later than level 2. It is almost the same as other controller's single target holds, with a couple of small exceptions. Blind trades a slightly shorter duration for an odd and somewhat rare ability to sleep another foe standing very, very near your target. Both bad guys will look like they are held with Blind, but the second one will wake up with anything that would disturb a sleep power. The Sleep is not something you can count on, and happens only rarely. Don't bother enhancing for it and it is not worth taking extra steps to make use of the sleep. When it happens, just think of it as a nice, unexpected bonus. (From various discussions on the forums, my understanding is that Blind summons a momentary pseudo-pet that sleeps foes within a 2 foot radius of where it was summoned.)
Blind and Spectral Wounds are the two powers you will use the most from 1 to 50. Because Blind sets up containment, Blind is your lead-off single target attack as well as a control power. You should get used to using Blind-Spectral Wounds as your 1-2 attack. I like to put Blind in slot 3, for easy access, with Spectral Wounds in slot 2. Frankly, any controller who doesn't take Blind shouldn't be a controller.
Slotting: 2 Acc, 2 Hold, 2 Recharge is the standard slotting for control on a team-oriented build. This is the default slotting for all holds and most other mez powers. I suggest starting with 1 Acc in the default slot, then add 1 Hold, 1 Recharge within the first 5 levels, then try have Blind 5- or 6- slotted eventually. Under ED, the default slotting gives you the most bang for your slots. Some folks like using 3 Hold, while others prefer 3 Recharge. That third Recharge only gets you about .5 seconds faster recharge, so I suggest that you try the default slotting above, and then you can adjust according to your preference. Even though Blind has a 10% bonus to accuracy, I suggest eventually using 2 Accuracy because you want it to hit higher level foes.
Another good option is to slot Blind with Damage. That is a reasonable choice, especially if you mainly expect to solo. With the smaller number of foes you see when solo, use Blind as an attack and to set up Containment for Spectral Wounds, as hold duration rarely does you that much good. Slotting Blind for damage will help you take down foes faster. However, because Illusion has so few control powers, I prefer to slot Blind for control when I mainly expect to team, allowing the team to do more damage. If you want to slot for Damage, I suggest 1 Acc, 2 Dam, 1 Hold, 2 Rech unless you are going up against higher level foes - then make it 2 Acc, 2 Dam, 2 Recharge. If you are using Blind mainly as a damage and containment power, then hold duration is less important.
IO Sets: Hold, Ranged Damage, Sleep. There are a lot of options for slotting IO sets in this power, and even more options if you consider HOs. The best options are, of course, very expensive. Of the Hold IO sets, 4 of the Basilisk's Gaze is good because you get 7.5% Recharge out of 4 of them. The PvP set, Gladiator's Net, gives 7.5% Recharge for 5 of them. The other Hold sets don't have impressive bonuses unless you get up to the Purple level. The purple set, Unbreakable Contstraint, gives 10% Recharge for 5. If you don't want to go for the mega-expensive route, then you generally want to slot for Accuracy, Recharge and Hold duration. If you solo a lot, you want to add damage, and can give up a little hold. This is one power that benefits from frankenslotting Acc/Hold/Recharge from multiple sets. A good amount of recharge is the highest priority, followed by accuracy. Most of the time, I'm using Blind as a lead-off attack to set up Containment and control the foe while I beat on him, and I'll probably be firing off Blind again as soon as it comes up again on the attack chain. Some folks like to slot up the Ghost Widow set or at least the GW Proc for Psi Damage. I'm not a fan of putting damage procs in a power that does so many things, including damage. I feel that using those slots for, say, damage enhancements, will get you more benefit than a proc that only hits one out of every five times. Another good option at levels 47-50 is using Hamidon Origin enhancements. I like 1 Acc/Dam HO, 1 Acc/Mez HO, 2 Dam/Mez HOs and 2 Recharge Common IOs. This is the slotting I currently use, since it gives good accuracy, capped damage AND hold, and very good recharge, but I give up IO bonuses. One interesting choice is the Lockdown set, with its +2 Mag proc. If it hits, you get a higher mag that will allow you to hold a boss in one shot. Personally, I think I get more out of the damage from my HO slotting. In general, slotting for sleep is a mistake since you are giving up the primary purpose of the power. Some people like to slot the purple Sleep set in Blind, however, for the purple level bonuses, since the Sleep set is one of the cheapest purple sets.
Level 1: Spectral Wounds - Single Target Ranged Damage with Heal-back.
Spectral Wounds convinces the target that he has taken severe damage. The illusion is so convincing that the victim can fall from the Spectral Wounds. However, the damage is not real, and if the victim survives long enough, the illusion will fade and some of the wounds will heal.
Accuracy: 1.1
Range: 80 ft.
Endurance: 6.86
Recharge: 6 sec.
Cast time: 1.07 Sec.
Damage Scale: 1.0 Psi Damage (2.77778 BI), not including spectral damage
Damage: 50.16 initial damage, less heal-back of 19.57 after 10 seconds (30.59 net damage), plus 30.59 Psi Damage for Containment (at level 50).
Additional Effects: 0% Run Speed for 10 Seconds
Spectral Wounds (SW) is both simple and complicated. SW is a single target blast power, with a minor secondary effect of stopping the target from running for 10 seconds. The initial damage from SW is pretty impressive for a level 1 power on a controller, and as long as you can finish off the foe in 10 seconds, you get to keep that damage. However, if the foe lasts longer than 10 seconds, then some of the damage heals back. The underlying concept of the heal-back is that SW deals spectral or "illusory damage - you have fooled the foe into thinking that he has been hurt, and after 10 seconds, he realizes it was not real and heals back.
If you watch for such things, you will notice that (1) Blind and Spectral Wounds have the same base damage, but that is only after the heal-back, and (2) Containment with Spectral Wounds seems to be substantially less than it should be. Containment is supposed to be double damage. Containment with Spectral Wounds is based only on the base damage that does not heal back, or the non-spectral damage. This makes it seem that Spectral Wounds is getting short-changed, but the game only gives Containment on the real damage. However, the damage that comes from Damage enhancements is real, so it is important to slot up Spectral Wounds with Damage right away. (If you got Containment on the spectral damage too, as nice as that would be, it might be overpowered.)
The spectral damage component gives Spectral Wounds a lot of burst damage, and due to the heal-back, you generally want to take down your enemies as fast as possible so that you get to keep that spectral damage. This is why I suggest slotting recharge in SW in later levels, and why having a good attack chain can make you more effective. The best way to have a decent attack chain in lower levels is to add Air Superiority, but that forces you to go into melee. Eventually, when you get to the APP levels (Level 41 and up) you can add one of the APP blasts in place of Air Sup, and then you can stay at range to blast. If you expect to solo, you may want to plan on using Air Superiority. There is more about using SW in the strategy section.
Slotting:Spectral Wounds should be slotted with 1 Accuracy, 3 Damage immediately. The remaining slots are optional. The damage for enhancements is not subject to heal-back, so enhancing SW with 3 damage enhancements immediately provides a large benefit. The last two slots can either be 1 Acc, 1 Recharge or 2 Recharge. I like 2 Recharge, as it helps with a Blind-SW-other attack-SW attack chain. Since SW has a 10% Accuracy bonus, that second Accuracy isn't needed as badly.
IO Sets: Ranged Damage. For IO sets, the Decimation set gives 6.5% Recharge for 5. Less expensive, the Thunderstrike set gives bonuses of Recovery, Accuracy and Ranged Defense, but SW can be slotted with any ranged damage set. If you are willing to trade Ranged Defense for some Regen, you can replace two of the Thunderstrike set with two from Devistation. At level 50, the ideal slotting is the purple Apocalypse set, with its Recharge bonus to help Phantom Army, AM and Hasten recharge faster. Another option: you can get better accuracy and save one slot by using HOs but giving up set bonuses, by slotting 3 Acc/Dam, 2 Recharge.
Level 2: Deceive - Single Target Confuse.
You can Deceive an enemy into believing his friends are not who they appear to be. If successful, the enemy will ignore you and attack his own allies. If you Deceive someone before they have noticed you, your presence will continue to be masked. You will not receive any Experience Points for foes defeated by a Deceived enemy.
Accuracy: 1.2
Range: 80 ft.
Endurance: 8.528
Recharge: 8 sec.
Cast time: 1.67 Sec.
Duration: 37.25 at Mag 3 Confuse, 20% chance for additional 1 Mag for 27.936 sec.
Deceive is, in my opinion, one of the better powers in the illusion set. It is also subject to wide and varying opinions. Some folks just love it, while others just hate it. Deceive is functionally the same as Confuse for Mind Controllers, but the casting time is slightly shorter. One of the Developers, Back Alley Brawler, posted that the cast time will be increased to 2 seconds, probably in I-15.
Deceive is a single target control power that causes the Deceived Foe to use his powers against other foes. While the foe is deceived/confused, he will attack any other foes in the area, often switching targets. You may see a deceived/confused foe run off to attack a nearby baddie. (For the sake of convenience, let's refer to a Deceived/Confused Foe by DF.) If the DF has an AoE attack, he may use it on his buddies. If the DF has a hold, sleep, slow, other mez or debuff power, he may use those on his buddies, too. If DF has a buff power, he may use it on you or your teammates. If there are no other foes in the area, DF will just stand there, doing nothing even if you attack him. Deceive lasts longer than Blind, recharges slightly faster, and uses the same amount of endurance. Deceive has a 20% accuracy bonus, 10% higher than Blind, and has the same range as Blind. Some players get confused, and think that Decieve is better than Blind - while that is true to some degree, Blind is more essential than Deceive mainly because of its fast activation time and Containment.
Most importantly, [u]Deceive does not draw aggro[u]. If you attempt to Deceive a foe and miss, or cast it on a Boss-level foe (who usually needs to be hit twice to stack the mag), you will not cause the foe to attack you - as long as you stay out of his perception range or stay invisible, he won't even know you are there even if you miss. Because of this, you can cast Deceive over and over again without drawing attention to yourself. Given enough time, you can make all of the baddies in a group fight among themselves until only one badly wounded foe is left - all in complete safety. While you probably won't want to, as explained below, this is an option for wiping out a room full of foes who could otherwise wipe out your team - or a fun way to spend the time waiting for someone to make it to the mission. On occasion, I have entered into bets with my teammates about which foe will survive the longest.
So why do some people dislike Deceive? (1) It does not set up Containment to substantially increase your damage. (2) The overall animation is pretty slow, and the haters feel that using Deceive slows down a fast team. (3) Most importantly, however, is the fact that if your DF defeats another foe, then you and your team do not get XP for the defeated foe. If your DF does some of the damage and you, your pets or your team does the rest to defeat the foe, then you don't get full XP for the defeated foe. There is a odd formula to determine the amount of XP that gets allocated to you, but it is not a straight pro-rata share. The haters view this as lost XP. Well, it is not actually lost since you never earned it. You actually lose the opportunity to earn some XP, so a more accurate term would be, lost potential XP. (Semantics, semantics . . .) The truth is that when a DF does some of the damage, you get credit for some of the damage done by the DF, but not all of it.
To get full benefit from Deceive, it is very helpful if you know how the power works, and how to get most of the XP from Deceive. There are a few helpful people on the boards who have carefully calculated that using Deceive/Confuse actually helps you to get more XP over time, even though you may miss out on a small amount of XP from a few foes. In other words, you may get less XP per foe defeated, but you can defeat more foes in the same time using Deceive. See What about Deceive? in the strategy section for a lengthy discussion about the use of Deceive, strategies and how to get more XP over time.
I strongly recommend using Deceive and getting it early - I prefer to take it at level 4. Think of it as a long-lasting, fast-recharging single-target control that draws no aggo. I find that Deceive has saved me and my team from debt many times. It will be more useful solo and on smaller teams, than on large, fast moving teams, but Deceive is still a wonderful tool for your toolbox.
Slotting: Variable, depending on how you want to use it. Deceive is effective with only an Accuracy in the default slot, as it has an inherent 20% accuracy bonus, it lasts a long time and recharges pretty quickly. You can get by for a while with 1 Acc, 1 Rech, 1 Conf. Heavy users may want the standard balanced mez slotting of 2 Accuracy, 2 Confuse Duration, 2 Recharge.
IO Sets: Confuse. People who like IO sets usually like the Malaise's Illusion set, but make sure to leave out the Damage Proc - that may mess up the aggro-free nature of the power, which is one of Deceive's most valuable attributes. The Purple set, Coercive Persuasion, includes a recharge bonus, so eventually it is a good goal, and the proc does not mess up Deceive's non-aggro. I strongly recommend the Contagious Confusion proc from that set, as it turns Deceive into an erratic Mass Confusion, allowing your single target confuse power to hit multiple targets. Once I got that proc, I find I constantly use Deceive with hope that it will hit a bunch of foes. Putting that proc in Deceive is one of my favorite procs in the game.
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
Level 6: Flash - Point-blank AoE Hold.
Generates a brilliant flash of light around you that blinds nearby foes. Flashed foes are rendered helpless and unable to defend themselves.
Accuracy: 0.8
Range: 80 ft.
Endurance: 15.6
Recharge: 240 sec.
Cast time: 3.0 Sec.
Radius: 30 ft.
Duration: 14.9 sec. Mag 3 Hold at level 50, 20% chance of an additional 1 Mag for 11.175 sec.
All controller sets have an Area of Effect hold. Fire, Ice and Illusion have PB AoE versions, while Mind, Grav, Plant and Earth all have ranged AoE holds. The PB AoE versions have a larger radius to make up for the fact that you have to go into melee to use them. Flash will hold a group of minions and lieutenants, with a 20% chance of catching a boss. Most of the time, you will need to use Blind on a boss to stack holds.
Many people make the mistake of taking Flash early. I recommend waiting on Flash until no sooner than level 28, and I suggest taking it at than level 30 or 35. A lot of people suggest that Flash should be skipped entirely, but I feel it is useful on an Ill/Rad. Flash has one major problem, and another smaller one. The major problem is that Flash comes too early in the Illusion set - If you take it at level 6, you will think that Flash stinks. That is because (1) Controller AoE holds have a short duration and a long recharge. At level 6, the duration is only 10.6 seconds, and you can't enhance that very well with only Training Origin enhancements. (2) Like all Controller AoE holds, it has a 20% accuracy penalty. It is easy to fix that with two SO level Accuracy enhancements, but TOs are ¼ the strength of SOs, so it would take eight for the same level of enhancement - leaving nothing for Hold or Recharge. (3) Other sets have some kind of back-up control power for when the AoE hold runs out because other controller sets have some kind of AoE control other than the AoE hold - but not Illusion. All the other sets have an AoE Immobilize available fairly early, except Mind, which has Mass Hypnosis, an AoE sleep, instead. Illusion has no AoE control powers after Flash until Spectral Terror at 26, so when that too-short hold runs out, you have nothing left with which to protect yourself. This means that at low levels when you use Flash, you will miss a lot of guys, the ones you hit will only be held for a short time, and all of them will be targeting YOU. And, you won't be able to use it again (as if you'd want to) for a long time. If you take it early, your experience will tell you that Flash absolutely stinks. However in later levels, slotted with SO-level enhancers for Accuracy, Hold and Recharge will make Flash is a decent power, taking out minion and lieutenant foes reliably for a reasonable period of time.
The secondary problem is that Flash has a 3 second animation. It seems to take forever to go off, but the hold takes place at the beginning of the animation. The reason this is minor is that you can cast it while invisible. Any foes held will be held at the beginning of the animation. However, the bad part is that foes not held may aggro on you before you can complete the animation.
A lot of folks skip Flash, and I agree that it is probably the second most easily skipped power in the Illusion primary. However, I still think it is worth taking, especially for an Ill/Rad - it gives you a control power to use for those panic button moments or when Phantom Army is recharging. Some people say that since EM Pulse is a better PB AoE hold, that Flash should be skipped. I feel that having two such powers make both of them more usable - when you use one, you still have the other available for panic button moments. I find that I use Flash frequently, while I save EM Pulse for emergencies or those times when EM Pulse's unique properties will make it more effective. While EM Pulse is overall a better hold, I use Flash more often because Flash is usually adequate for what I need, and there is no 10-second period where I stop generating endurance.
Slotting: 2 Accuracy, 2 Hold, 2 Recharge. Because of the 20% accuracy penalty, the Accuracy should be slotted first. If you get Flash, plan on 6-slotting it.
IO Sets: Hold. For IO sets, the Basilisk's Gaze set has 7.5% Recharge for 4 of them, but they are expensive. the Lockdown, Ghost Widow or Essence of Curae sets work well, depending what set bonuses you want, but generally the Hold set bonuses are unimpressive. Sure, you can put a damage proc or two here, but you won't fire it off all that often. Lately, to save a couple of slots, I have been using 2 Acc/Mez HOs, 2 Recharge. That gives the functional equivalent to six slots in four. The Purple Hold set, Unbreakable Constraint, is expensive, but it has wonderful bonuses - five of them will give you an all-important 10% Recharge bonus.
Level 8: Superior Invisibility - Toggle Self Invisibility with Defense.
You can bend light around yourself to become completely Invisible. While this power is active, you are all but impossible to detect, and have an extremely high Defense bonus to all attacks. Superior Invisibility is the only toggle invisibility power that allows you to attack while it is active, although you will lose some of your defense bonus if you do so. Superior Invisibility cannot be used with any other self affecting Concealment type power. Recharge: Slow.
Duration: Toggle
Range: Self only
Endurance: 1.04 per second (.52 per .5 sec Tick)
Recharge: 15 sec.
Stealth: +1000 Stealth, Suppressed when Attacked, for 6 seconds, Suppressed when HitByFoe, for 6 seconds, Suppressed when MissionObjectClick, for 10 seconds
Additional Effects: 4.5% Defense to all, but suppressed to 2.25% for 6 seconds when attacked or hit by foe, or for 10 seconds when click on object.
Superior Invisibility (SI) is one of the two invisibility powers available in Illusion. The other comes next, Group Invisibility (GI). For a standard build, you should choose one or the other, but not both. It is a pretty simple power - click on the toggle, and you become invisible until (a) you turn the power off, (b) you run out of endurance, (c) you become mezzed or dead. There are a few foes who have special perception, and can see you through invisibility, like Rikti Drones, any kind of Snipers, and the giant Eyeballs of the Rularuu (that one makes sense). But for any foes who do not have special perception, you can /e Dance in their faces and they will not see (or hear) you . . . until you do something that will draw their attention, like attack, apply a debuff or click on a glowie. However, summoning pets or casting Deceive will not make you visible.
I generally run SI all the time when in missions, unless I get into a fight where Endurance may be an issue. Then I turn it off to save endurance. You will also have to turn it off if you want to lead a hostage out of a mission.
In general, I prefer SI over GI. Both types give you full invisibility in the PvE game - There is a stealth cap of 600 in the PvE game, and both SI and GI exceed that level, so you will be fully invisible at all times to most foes unless you attack or click on a glowie. However, if a foe has a perception bonus, then it reduces that number - With GI, that foe can see you a fair distance away, but with SI, you have to be right in front of that foe for it to see you - which is why SI is superior. With GI, you have to keep casting it every so often before the Invisibility wears off, but SI is a toggle, so it is always on. Granted, the endurance cost is about 4 times that of GI, but it is easier to manage the endurance usage than to have to keep re-casting it every so often. SI is fully useful as soon as you get it at level 8, while GI needs 2-3 recharge SOs before the recharge is fast enough that you can re-cast it as soon as it expires (called becoming perma). If you plan mainly to solo or PvP, then SI is the clear choice. If you mainly plan to team, or especially plan to team with the same group, you may want to consider GI. For the most part, you should skip either SI or GI, but not both. I feel that one of the two invisibility powers is the most skippable power in Illusion, but if you really want to fit in other options, then both invisibility powers can be skipped. However, some folks take both powers, most often as a mule for another Luck of the Gambler +7.5 Recharge IO.
Because Illusion has Invisibility as part of its power set, Illusionists don't need those Stealth IOs or the stealth component of Super Speed. Both SI and GI are superior to anything in the Stealth pool.
Slotting: 2-3 Endurance Reduction, and Defense if you have slots to spare.
IO Sets: Defense. SI can be used to hold one of the most desired and expensive IOs for your build: the Luck of the Gambler 7.5% Global Recharge. It can also hold a Karma 4 Mag Knockback Protection. Several of the Defense sets give desirable bonuses, but five Red Fortunes will give 5% Recharge. If you want Recovery, look at Gift of the Ancients. If you want Regen and Accuracy, look at 4 from Luck of the Gambler.
Level 12: Group Invisibility - Click PB AoE Invisibility for Team.
Makes you and all teammates around you Invisible. While Invisible, you and your teammates are almost impossible to detect. Even if discovered, Group Invisibility grants a bonus to your Defense to all attacks, although you will lose some of your defense bonus if you attack. Group Invisibility has no movement penalty.
Duration: 120 Sec.
Range: 25 ft.
Endurance: 10.4 per activation
Recharge: 240 sec.
Cast time: 2.03 Sec.
Stealth: +667 Stealth, Suppressed when Attacked, for 6 seconds, Suppressed when HitByFoe, for 6 seconds, Suppressed when MissionObjectClick, for 10 seconds.
Additional Effects: 1.875% Defense to all.
Group Invisibility (GI) is a good power choice instead of SI if you mainly expect to team. Its endurance cost, over time, is about ¼ of Superior Invisibility. In the PvE game, both SI and GI put you over the stealth cap of 600, making you fully invisible to any foe unless that foe has some kind of perception power. Rikti Drones and Sharpshooter/Marksmen are the biggest problems in this area. As a click power, you cast it and then have to pay attention to when it is going to run out - which can be disastrous at the wrong time. This is the main reason that most Ill/Rads choose SI over GI - SI is easier to use, even with its higher endurance and the selfish nature. SI also has a higher stealth level, so even those +perception foes will not see you as soon - you have to get fairly close before they see you.
It takes some practice to get used to the timing for GI. When you re-cast, you become briefly visible, so you want to find a spot not too close to foes (or behind their backs). Keep an eye on that icon on the screen, so when it starts blinking, find a safe spot to re-cast. GI needs slotting with SO level enhancements before it can become permanent, so it may not be a bad idea to put off taking GI until the 20's. One benefit of GI is that since it is not a toggle, it is not subject to getting dropped. If you get hit by an AoE sleep or stun, you will still be invisible. It also does not run out if you run out of endurance.
As a team buff, GI is useful but not essential. There are two main benefits: (1) It lets the team get in position for the initial alpha strike on groups of baddies without fear of being seen and starting before everyone is ready. (2) The entire team can help with glowie hunts until GI runs out . . . at which time, it might be dangerous. In general, I recommend SI over GI unless you are planning a mainly team build. But I have used both, and both are effective. In all but a few extreme cases, there is no reason to take both invisibility powers, so the most skippable power in the Illusion set is either SI or GI; generally take one or the other, but not both.
There is an odd quirk on how the game handles aggro - if you use both SI and GI together, you can attack a foe while invisible, and often not draw aggro from other foes around your target, as long as you only use single target attacks. Personally, I don't think that this quirk makes it worthwhile to take both invisibility powers, but some folks recommend it. I can see taking both if you are trying for a maximum recharge build and need another place to put a Luck of the Gambler +7.5% recharge.
Slotting: 2-3 Recharge, but I prefer 3. The defense is small, and I normally would not enhance it unless you expect that Defense to stack with other defensive powers. For example, if your team has a Force Field defender and some other powers that grant team Defense, it might be worth enhancing. You could put some EndRdx in there, but I have never found that I needed it.
IO Sets: Defense. SI can be used to hold one of the most desired and expensive IOs for your build: the Luck of the Gambler 7.5% Global Recharge. It can also hold a Karma 4 Mag Knockback Protection. Several of the Defense sets give desirable bonuses, but five Red Fortunes will give 5% Recharge. If you want Recovery, look at Gift of the Ancients. If you want Regen and Accuracy, look at 4 from Luck of the Gambler. In any event, you need to make sure that you slot enough recharge to keep it perma unless you only want to use it as a mule for IOs.
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
Level 18: Phantom Army - Creates Three Invulnerable Phantom Pets at Targeted Location.
You can fabricate 3 Phantom heroes around a targeted foe. These Phantoms are not real, and are indestructible. Their attacks are similar to Spectral Wounds. Though they deal damage, it is illusory and will heal if the victim survives long enough. Phantoms are short lived and cannot be buffed or healed. The Phantoms have a strong taunting effect on critters.
Accuracy: 1.0
Range: 80 ft.
Endurance: 26
Recharge: 240 sec.
Cast time: 3.1 Sec.
Duration: 60 sec.
Pet Powers:
Three Phantoms are summoned 1 second apart. They each have a threat level of five, so they have a taunt effect. Damage calculations for PA are complicated because:
(1) PA appear to do eight different kinds of attacks, but in reality, the three ranged attacks are the same and the five melee attacks are the same. The attacks appear to have several types of damage, but regardless of appearance, all attacks do Psi Damage.
(2) All attacks have a Spectral Damage component that heals back after 5 seconds. However, damage from enhancements is not subject to Spectral Damage, so all of that damage counts. This means that Damage enhancements are very important to the damage done.
(3) The Ranged attacks appear to do 75.63 damage at level 50, of which 31.14 (41%) is Spectral and will heal back. The Melee attacks do 130.13 damage at level 50, of which 56.72 (43%) will heal back as Spectral Damage. But with enhancements, that percentage of Spectral Damage is a lot lower. Plus, Enervating Field will further enhance the real damage by 22.5%.
(4) Ranged attacks recharge in 4 seconds, but Melee attacks recharge in 6 seconds. Damage calculations will vary widely with the types of foes and the types of attacks made by PA.
Phantom Army ("PA") is the single most important power in the Illusion powerset. When you get it at level 18, and you absolutely should, it will substantially change your playstyle and make your character much, much better. You get three invulnerable white "phantom" pets who randomly can be male, female or huge body types. They arrive one second apart, and begin attacking any foes in the immediate area for sixty seconds. They attack both at range and in melee, and appear to have a variety of damage types . . . but all the damage is actually Psi damage. If they run out of foes to attack, they will come back to you, waiting for you to lead them into battle. After sixty seconds, they disappear one at a time, a second part. The only thing in the game that can kill Phantom Army is Hamidon.
Phantom Army is key to Illusion's "distraction rather than hard controls" strategy. The PA have a high threat level, so they taunt the foes to keep them away from you and your team. In this way, PA act as an AoE control power by keeping you and your teammates from taking damage in the same way that a good tank will pull aggro to himself. It is important to remember, however, that you can still be hit by AoE attacks even while the PA absorb the single target attacks. This is one reason that I feel Illusion is better played at range.
Phantom Army is also Illusion's only AoE damage power, other than the torrent that can be used by Phantasm. (OK, it's not really an AoE power so much as up to three single target attacks at the same time.) While the primary purpose of PA is to provide distraction, the damage is also important. Some of the damage, like Spectral Wounds, is spectral damage so it will heal back. Therefore, it is useful to keep an eye on the targets that PA attacks so you can use Blind-SW to take down foes quickly before the spectral damage heals back. When you send in Phantom Army, you can focus on the easy-to-kill foes being attacked by PA to maximize your benefit from spectral damage.
As a trade off for PA's invulnerability, Phantom Army cannot be buffed by anything other than enhancements slotted in the power. Your Accelerate Metabolism, Kinetic's Fulcrum Shift or Siphon Power, and the full range of other buff powers will not work on PA. Therefore, the only way to boost Phantom Army is through debuffs of the foes. A Defense Debuff works like a boost to Accuracy. A Resistance debuff works like a boost to PA's damage. This is one of the main reasons why Illusion and Rad go together so well -- the Defense Debuff in Radiation Infection and the Resistance Debuff in Enervating Field will make PA substantially better. (Plus, the recharge boost in AM helps PA recharge faster.) Therefore, you will generally want to apply your debuffs as soon as you can after PA is cast.
NOTHING is better in the game for absorbing the initial or "alpha" strike of a group of foes or even an AV, GM or EB than Phantom Army. It is common that the foes use their "big hitter" attacks first, and all this damage will have no effect on PA. This will sometimes irritate Tanks, but good tanks will learn to adjust and actually appreciate PA's ability to take the hits, so no one else does. Normal strategy is to send PA in first, then cast your Rad debuffs, and then look at your other powers to see what is needed next. You have a total of 60 seconds to take down that group before PA go away and the bad guys aggro on you or your team, so you want to do as much damage as you can in that time. If you have a tank on the team who wants to take the "alpha" strike in order to herd up the bad guys, hold off on casting PA until the group is gathered -- in this situation, PA becomes more of a damage power than a distraction power -- but use it anyway in most cases.
For more information on strategy and some details on Phantom Army, please take a look at the "Phantom Army" part of the Strategy section.
Slotting: Two main options are (A) 3 Recharge, 1 Accuracy, 2 Damage for maximum recharge, or (b) 2 Recharge, 1 Accuracy, 3 Damage to maximize Damage. Slot it for Recharge first, and then add the Accuracy and Damage. The Recharge slotting with SOs will allow PA to recharge in about 123 seconds, not including Hasten and AM, and the Damage slotting will recharge in 144 seconds, not including Hasten and AM -- when those are active, the difference will be smaller. The question you need to ask yourself is whether the shorter recharge is worth less damage. I recommend the first, the Recharge slotting, unless you regularly team with a good tank or otherwise need the tanking less and the damage more. Then go with the Damage slotting.
IO Sets: Pet and Recharge Intensive Pet Sets. There is now a Recharge Intensive Pet set with decent bonuses. Five of the Expediant Reinforcement set gives you good bonuses, including 6.24% Recharge and 10% Regen. The last enhancement from that set gives 10% Resistance to pets, which is worthless on PA, so you need to put something else there. Before Level 50, you can make some interesting choices: You can give up some Recharge or Damage to keep that Regen, or you can maximize Damage and Recharge and replace the Regen with a little Recovery. If you choose recharge, then put in a common Recharge IO to cap your recharge, but you won't quite cap damage. If you put in the Call To Arms Acc/Dam/Rech, then you will cap damage, but not cap accuracy or Recharge. Or, you can put the Call To Arms End/Damage/Recharge for the Dam/End in Expediant and use that Acc/Dam/Rech from Call to Arms in that last slot, you get 2.5 Recovery, capped damage and Recharge but lose the Regen. At level 50, you have a other interesting choices. For a long time, I thought the ultimate slotting for PA was 3 Acc/Dam HOs, 3 Recharge. However, Tal_N showed us that there is another choice using the purple set, since the purple set has recharge for pets. Acc/Recharge, Dam/Recharge and the Build up proc from the Soulbound Allegiance Purple Pet set, then Acc/Dam and Damage from Blood Mandate, and finally a Recharge IO. You give up a little bit of accuracy for some pretty nice set bonuses, but it is expensive to build. And that was before the Recharge Intensive Pet sets came along. You can take the five of the Expediant Reinforcement set, and replace that last 10% Resistance one for the Soulbound Allegiance Dam/Rech to cap both Damage and Recharge, and you can replace the Acc/Rech from Expediant Reinforcement for Acc/Rech from Soulbound Allegiance, trading 10% Regen for 16% Regen.
Level 26: Spectral Terror - Location-targeted Non-mobile Pet which casts AoE Fear Aura
You can create an illusion of unspeakable Terror. The manifestation is so horrible that it caused most foes to tremble helplessly in terror. The Spectral Terror may also Terrify individual foes, causing them to run away in panic.
Accuracy: 1.0
Range: 60 ft.
Endurance: 16.64
Recharge: 45 sec.
Cast time: 3.2 Sec.
Radius: 20 ft.
Max Targets: 10 (plus)
Duration: 45 sec.
Effect: Mag 3 Cloak of Fear every 6 seconds for 7.45 seconds at level 50 (before enhancement), single target Mag 3 Terrorize for 22.35 sec (after 2 sec delay, at level 50) that may cause foe to run short distance away.
Spectral Terror ("ST" or Spooky) is arguably the second best power in Illusion after Phantom Army. It is a ranged AoE control power that is not only effective, but is available constantly - it lasts for 45 seconds and recharges in 45 seconds even before enhancement and recharge buffs. It is one of the few powers that is fully effective as soon as you get it without additional slots. Not only is it a very effective power, it even looks cool doing it.
Spooky is an immobile pet that appears a few feet off the ground. ST creates a strong fear aura in a decent area when it is cast, causing minion and lieutenant foes affected to cower in place. Also, Spooky fires off a single target terrorize which will catch any foes who come into the area after it has been cast, causing that foe to either cower in fear or run a short distance, and then cower in fear.
Fear is not as good as a hold, but is effective AoE control as long as the foe is not resistant to fear (like Nemesis). When first cast, a foe affected will get the chance to do one thing, which often includes an attack. Thus, if you use Spooky as your initial alpha attack, expect to get some damage. After the initial action, the foe will cower until he or she is attacked, when that foe will again get to do one thing before going back into the cower animation. Also, Fear does NOT set up Containment, so you do not get double damage from foes who are cowering in fear. Also, Spooky will not control bosses - some control powers have a 20% chance to add a one additional mag, but not Spectral Terror -- so you will have to deal with the bosses separately.
Except for fear-resistant foes and its lack of Containment, Spectral Terror far outshines Flash as AoE control mainly because it provides a way for continual control. Other control sets have some kind of AoE control power that can be re-cast before it expires, like an AoE Immobilize - this is Illusion's always available control power. Spooky is also cast at range, allowing you to cast in relative safety. Also, Flash needs 6-slots to be effective, while Spectral Terror needs no additional slots to be effective. However, because the foes get one attack because of the nature of fear control, I prefer to use Spooky as a second attack rather than a first, especially if there are foes who can catch me with a mez power. For this reason, using Spectral Terror as a back-up form of control after Flash before Flash's hold runs out, or after Phantom Army just before they disappear, is an effective strategy. Then you have time to clean up the stragglers. ST can also be used to stop an incoming ambush or at a choke point.
Spooky is also one of my favorite looking powers. I remember one time I was playing my Ill/Rad, and I was teamed with a friend using Ventrilo for voice chat. At one point he started laughing and suddenly went AFK. When he came back, he explained that his 3-year-old daughter was watching him on the game. When I cast Spectral Terror, the ghostly image and the wail sound scared her so much that she went running from the room! He had to go assure her that everything was all right.
Slotting: Variable, as Spooky works great with no slotting at all. I start with 1 Recharge. Recharge lets you re-cast it sooner when you move. The initial Fear Aura seems to have little trouble hitting everything, and the subsequent single target terrorize has high inherent accuracy. Also, the fear pulses or the single target Terrorize may last a little longer with a Fear enhancement. Any of those three choices are appropriate. Or you can put an Acc/Fear/Recharge IO. In some illusion builds, I have put in 1 Acc, 1 Fear, 1 Recharge. They all do something, but you may have better places to put the slots.
IO Slotting: Fear sets. Some people put a five of Glympse of the Abyss in Spectral Terror for the 6.25% Recharge and 9% Accuracy. I find it hard to take slots from other powers for those set bonuses alone, since the power really doesn't need slotting, but if you want to spend the slots, the GotA set has nice bonuses. It is easy to slot a recharge and a damage proc into the power. A good choice is the Glympse of the Abyss damage proc, even if you don't use the rest of the set.
Level 32: Phantasm - Pet
You can construct a powerful entity composed of pure light. Although made of light, the Phantasm is tangible and has powerful Energy attacks. The Phantasm can also fly and summon duplicates of itself. The duplicates are intangible, and cannot be harmed. The duplicates' attacks deal illusory damage similar to that dealt by Spectral Wounds. Only the original Phantasm can be healed and buffed. Type "/release_pets" in the chat window to release all your pets.
The real Phantasm is slightly resistant to Lethal and Energy damage, but vulnerable to Negative Energy damage. The duplicates have a strong taunting effect on critters.
Range: 60 ft.
Endurance: 26
Recharge: 240 sec.
Cast time: 2.03 Sec.
Duration: As long as you are in the same zone.
Pet Powers:
(1) Energy Torrent: 40 ft. 45° Cone attack, 1.07 cast time, Recharge 8 Sec., 17.35 Smashing, 44.49 Energy, for a total of 61.84 Damage at level 50, 60% chance of 6.231 knockback
(2) Power Bolt: 70 ft. Ranged single target attack, 2 sec. cast time, Recharge 4 Sec., 8.9 Smashing, 31.14 Energy for 40.04 Damage at 50, 30% chance for 1.454 Mag knockback.
(3) Resistance to Damage: 20% Resistance to Energy Damage, 10% Resistance to Lethal, but 40% weakness to Negative Energy Damage.
(4) Decoy: Casts a Decoy for 30 sec. Cast time is 2.03 Sec. and Range is 60 Ft. The Decoy has Energy Torrent and Power Blast like Phantasm, but does 58.72 Psi spectral damage that heals back after 5 sec. The Decoy's blasts also have a 13.5 sec. Mag 4 Taunt. The Decoy is invulnerable to attack, flies and has a +5 threat level.
All of the controller sets except Mind have a permanent Pet as the final power, and Illusion's is Phantasm. Phant is a flying energy blaster who follows you around, using a single target blast and a cone "torrent" against any foes who enter his aggression range. One of the best parts about Phant is that he can spawn a decoy who looks the same as him but is actually invulnerable like your Phantom Army.
You will need to cast Phantasm whenever you enter a zone or mission, but he will not need to be re-cast unless he dies. Because he uses his Decoy and he flies out of harm's way most of the time, Phantasm does not die very often. Those few times he takes damage, you can heal him. I would estimate that his survival is up with Grav's Singularity and Earth's Animate Stone, so he rarely needs to be re-cast unless you cast him in the middle of crowds of baddies or allow him to draw most of the aggro (more on that later).
Don't underestimate Phantasm's Decoy. It draws aggro to protect you and Phant. All the damage it does is Spectral Damage, so it will all heal back in 5 seconds, but if the foe is defeated before the heal-back, you get to "keep" that damage. Most important, when Phantom Army expires or is recharging, Phantasm's decoy can do the job of drawing the aggro of a foe or an AV, giving you time to get PA back.
Slotting: 1-2 Acc, 3 Dam. Start with 1 Acc, 3 Dam. Add a second Accuracy when you can. The other attributes are minor, and not worth enhancing. Recharge is a luxury since Phantasm rarely dies, but you could add a Recharge if you don't have anywhere else to put that slot.
IO Sets: Pet, Knockback and Recharge Intensive Pet Sets. If you are looking to maximize your Recharge, put in 4 Expediant Reinforcement but you won't cap Acc or Damage. The pet IO sets are somewhat lacking. Sovereign Rights give some mez resistance, but that is minimal overall. If you are going cheap, you could use Acc/Dam and Damage from Blood Mandate and Acc/Dam and Acc/Dam/EndRdx from Brilliant Leadership. That gives you 1.5% Recovery, 4% Regeneration, with capped damage and decent accuracy in 4 slots. Or, for max slotting at 50 in only three slots, use 3 Nucleous (Acc/Dam) HO's. Also, the purple Soulbound Allegiance set has some nice bonuses.
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
Now the Secondary set:
The Radiation Emission Powers
Level 1: Radiant Aura - PB AoE Heal
You can use Radiant Aura to heal some of your wounds, and the wounds of your group. This power has a small radius, so your allies need to be near you if they wish to be affected.
Endurance: 13.0
Recharge: 8 sec.
Cast time: 2.03 Sec.
Radius: 25 ft.
Heal: 117.799 (at level 50)
Radiant Aura (RA) is your heal, pure and simple. You have to take it at Level 1, which is a good thing, since you would want to take it anyway. Only */Rad, */Thermal and */Empathy have a self heal that does not require a ToHit, and the power is the same with different names. You provide a moderate heal to yourself, other heroes, pets and some NPC's in range.
Radiant Aura is one of the reasons I feel that Radiation is the best overall secondary. Having a heal is valuable, and because it is both a self- and team-heal, it is effective both solo and on teams. However, the heal is moderate compared to Kinetic's Transfusion or the Empathy heals, not big enough to let you be the team healer. Since RA does not require a ToHit, unlike Transfusion, it can reduce down time between battles as well as heal during the fight. To have quick access to RA, I have it set up with a bind on button 4 of my 8 button mouse. If you don't have a mouse with extra buttons, you can easily bind it to the + key on the keypad, so you can fire off RA with a flick of your right thumb. Here are the two binds:
/bind button4 powexecname Radiant Aura
/bind add powexecname Radiant Aura
Slotting: 3 Heal, 1-3 Recharge. I have RA slotted 3 Heal, 1 Recharge.
IO Sets: Heal Sets. Five slotted with the Doctored Wounds set works well because it has a lot of recharge and includes a 5% global recharge bonus. The Numina's and Miracle sets also have nice bonuses. Save those Numina, Miracle or Regenerative Tissue Uniques for Health. Another option is Golgi Hami-Os, which provide enhancement to both Health and EndRdx.
Level 2: Radiation Infection - Foe-anchored AoE Accuracy and Defense Debuff
Infects a targeted foe with deadly radiation, severely reducing his Accuracy and Defense. All foes that come near the target will also become infected. The Radiation Infection will last until you deactivate it, or until the original target is defeated.
Accuracy: Autohit
Range: 70 ft.
Endurance: 0.52 per sec. (0.26 per .5 sec. Tick)
Recharge: 8 sec.
Cast time: 3.1 Sec., Activates in 0.5 Sec.
Radius: 15 ft. from Anchor
Max Targets: 16
Duration: Until Anchor is defeated, goes out of range, toggle is turned off, caster is defeated or caster runs out of endurance.
Effects: -25% ToHit, -25% Defense (before enhancement)
Radiation Infection (RI) is another key power in the Rad set, the first of Rad's holy trinity of debuffs. RI is a toggle, so it can be a set it and forget it power. When you cast RI on a chosen foe, the foes near your anchor are less likely to hit you or your team, and any foes in the Area of Effect will be more easily hit by you and your team. That target is the anchor for the ToHit and Defense debuff, and a green glow becomes centered on the anchor. Once you cast RI on a foe, the power continues until the anchor is defeated, until you run out of endurance, until you are mezzed, until you are defeated or until you turn it off. However, it will aggro every enemy affected by the power. (Casting RI can be an effective pulling technique.) It is quite useful in low levels before your team has developed their defensive powers, and continues to be useful in every level. It is a double debuff that never misses. The endurance usage is moderate, about half that of Enervating Field.
The main complaints about RI are: (1) As a power anchored on a foe, teammates often (actually, usually) kill off the anchor, causing you to have to re-cast it or miss out on the debuff - it's frustrating to have the team keep killing your anchor. See the [u]Choosing your Anchor[u] section under Strategies. (2) RI has a long animation - on fast moving teams, it takes so long to cast RI that the baddies may be defeated before the animation finishes. This is one of the trade-offs for a great debuff power - but the benefits are usually worth it. Since RI is an accuracy debuff, it can be effective as an opening attack. RI will make it less likely for any first attack, the Alpha Strike - which is usually the strongest attacks - will hit you and your team. If you have a Tank on the team, it is usually better to let him or her take that duty, but it can be effective to cast RI just as the Tank enters battle. The agro effect of RI happens at the end of the animation, after the power takes effect.
Because RI is a debuff, it will increase the likelihood of hitting even for powers that cannot be enhanced for accuracy, like veteran attacks, temp powers and Illusion's Phantom Army. Therefore, it helps to cast RI before attacking with Sands of Mu or any of the many temp power attacks you can get in the game. It is also a good idea to try to cast RI before your team's blaster fires off his AoE Nuke to increase the chances that all foes are hit.
Slotting: 3 ToHit Debuff, 0 or 2-3 Defense Debuff, 0-1 EndRdx. Whether you include the EndRdx depends on whether you are having endurance problems. I suggest slotting the 3 ToHit Debuffs and an EndRdx right away, then the Defense Debuffs as slots become available in higher levels.
IO Sets: Defense Debuff, ToHit Debuff Sets. At levels 47-50, the ideal slotting for RI is 3 Enzyme Hami-O's. This is the perfect power for Enzymes (ToHitDebuff/DefenseDebuff/EndRdx), and no other power makes better use of Enzymes than RI. The other nice thing about using Enzyme HO's is that you can take 3 slots out of RI and put them in some other powers without any loss whatsoever (other than set bonuses). If you want set bonuses, both the Dark Watcher and the Lady Gray sets have nice bonuses. Four Dark Watcher ToHit Debuff enhancments gives you 5% Recharge.
Level 4: Accelerate Metabolism - Self-centered AoE Team Buff
Activating this power emits radiation that increases the running speed, attack speed, Endurance recovery, and damage potential of all nearby allies. Affected allies' metabolisms are increased so much that they become resistant to effects such as Sleep, Hold, Disorient, Immobilization and Endurance Drain.
Endurance: 15.6
Recharge: 422 sec.
Cast time: 2.03 sec.
Radius: 25 ft.
Duration: 120 sec.
Buffs: 20% Damage
30% Recharge
30% Endurance Recovery (can be enhanced)
30% Increase to Run Speed and Fly Speed
173% Resistance to Hold, Stun, Sleep, Immobilize (Shortens duration)
Accelerate Metabolism (AM) is widely considered to be one of the best buff powers in the game. Instead of buffing one or two things a lot, it buffs a bunch of things a little. AM boosts Recharge, Endurance Recovery, Damage, Run and Flight Speed, and reduces the time needed to recover from Hold, Sleep, Stun and Immobilize. The main benefits are a substantial boost in Recharge and Endurance Recovery - not as much as Speed Boost from Kinetics, but this is an AoE buff that needs to only be applied once, and not to each team member. Thus, you don't feel like a buff-bot, a frequent complaint about Kinetics. And it boosts Damage. If you have more than one character on the team with Rad, stacked AM is wonderful. Stacking AM is one of the main reasons that Rad superteams are so popular.
Consider creating a bind or macro to tell your team when AM is available. You can set it up as either a Macro or a keybind. Something like:
/macro AM group Gather here for AM in about 5 seconds!
I then have a bind for when I fire off AM, so that I can use the 4th button on my 8 button mouse:
/bind lshift+Button4 group Feel the Glowing Green Goodness of AM!$$powexecname Accelerate Metabolism
Slotting: 3 Recharge, 3 EndMod. This is common wisdom as the best slotting for AM - anything else is less effective. Get the 3 Recharge slotted ASAP, then add in the 3 EndMod when you can. You want AM up as frequently as possible.
IO Sets: Endurance Modification Sets. I really like the Efficiency Adapter set - use all of it except replace the EndMod/Acc with a common Recharge IO, and you maximize both Recharge and EndMod with some nice bonuses. If you have enough global recharge in your build to make AM perma or close to it, you may be able to put that EndMod/Acc back in for an extra 5% global Recharge. Some folks also put the Performance Shifter set here.
Level 6: Enervating Field - Foe-anchored AoE Damage and Damage Resistance Debuff
While this power is active, you irradiate a targeted foe, and all foes nearby, with a deadly dose of radiation. This radiation weakens exposed targets, decreasing the damage of their attacks. It also significantly weakens their resistance, so they will take much more damage from other attacks.
Accuracy: Autohit
Range: 70 ft.
Endurance: 1.04 per sec (0.52 per .5 sec. Tick)
Recharge: 8 sec.
Cast time: 1.5 Sec., Activates in 0.5 Sec.
Radius: 15 ft. from Anchor
Max Targets: 16
Duration: Until Anchor is defeated, goes out of range, toggle is turned off, caster is defeated or caster runs out of endurance.
Effects: -20% Damage from foes in area, -22.5% Damage Resistance (cannot be enhanced)
Enervating Field (EF) is the second of the holy trinity of Rad debuffs. Like RI, you pick a target to anchor the debuff, and the anchor carries the debuff with him, aggroing every bad guy in range. Instead of reducing Accuracy and Defense, EF reduces Damage done by the foes, and their resistance to your damage. Reducing Damage Resistance has the same effect as increasing your team's damage, but it is not limited by damage caps. And because it is a debuff, it has the effect of increasing the damage done by powers that cannot be enhanced for damage, like veteran attack powers, temp powers and Illusion's Phantom Army. EF uses a lot of endurance - if you are running low, EF can be the first thing you turn off.
Because EF activates fairly quickly, about half the time of RI, you can use this power in most fights even if the team is moving fairly quickly. Try to pick the foe who you expect to last longest as your anchor. See the [u]Choosing your Anchor[u] section under Strategies.
Slotting: 2 Endurance Reduction. That's all, as the debuff cannot be enhanced. Slot those two as soon as you can, as EF uses a lot of Endurance. I used to recommend slotting 3, but that third EndRdx has such a small benefit that you should use that slot somewhere else. I recommend holding off on EF until after Stamina since EF uses so much Endurance.
IO Sets: None.
Level 16: Mutation - Ally Resurrection with Buff
Using a concentrated burst of radiation, you can revive a fallen ally and Mutate him into a killing machine. The Mutated target has increased damage, Accuracy, Endurance recovery, and attack speed and is protected from XP Debt for 90 seconds. The entire experience is very taxing on your ally, and he will soon be severely weakened. All effects of the Mutation will eventually wear off.
Accuracy: Autohit
Range: 15 ft.
Endurance: 26.
Recharge: 180 sec.
Cast time: 3.2 Sec..
Effects: Full heal to 100% for both Health and Endurance. Buffs to target for 90 Sec.: 200% Recovery, 100% Recharge, 40% Damage and 30% Accuracy. After 90 Sec., -40% Damage, -30% Accuracy for 45 sec.(cannot be enhanced) Debt Protection for 20 Sec. after Rez.
Mutation is one of the two best Rez powers in the game. (The other is Howling Twilight, which allows a Dark Defender to rez multiple teammates at once.) It is a great battlefield Rez, but you can only rez one teammate at a time and cannot use it on yourself. It not only provides a Rez, it also is a substantial buff for 90 seconds. Your teammate needs to understand that there is a kind of crash after 90 Seconds that lasts for 45 seconds. In effect, as soon as your teammate gets raised, he or she has 90 seconds to avenge his or her own death (By Grapthar's Hammer, you shall be avenged!) before the adrenaline wears off and he or she is weak for a short time. As good as Mutation is, it is an optional power. It is nice to have, but not essential (unless your team has a few suicidal blasters). Fit in Mutation if you can, but with the ability to combine Inspirations to get Awakens, rez powers are needed less. If you choose to take Fallout, it would be impolite not to have Mutation as well. Obviously, if you expect to mainly solo, Mutation will be of no benefit to you. (No, you can't use it on your Phantasm.)
Slotting: 1 Recharge. Up to 3 Recharge if you have spare slots or have teammates who die a lot.
IO Sets: None.
Level 20: Lingering Radiation - Foe-targetted AoE Slow, Attack Rate and Regeneration Debuff
You can emit Lingering Radiation that reduces the attack rate, movement speed, and Regeneration rate of the target, and all nearby foes.
Accuracy: 1.0
Range: 80 ft.
Endurance: 15.6
Recharge: 90 sec.
Cast time: 1.5 Sec..
Radius: 25 ft. from Anchor
Max Targets: 16
Duration: 30 Sec.
Effects: -75% Run Speed, -75% Recharge, -500% Regeneration.
Lingering Radiation (LR) is the third of the holy trinity of Rad debuffs. It is a nice slow power, with a debuff to Recharge and a huge debuff to the foe's Regeneration. LR is the only one of the three Rad debuffs that is not Autohit - it needs accuracy to hit. Also unlike RI and EF, LR is not a toggle; it is a one-shot slow with a duration of 30 seconds and a recharge of 90 seconds; with Recharge enhancements and Hasten, you can reduce that recharge time to about 40 seconds. With enough global recharge, it can be made perma. Also, LR only affects baddies in its range at the time it is cast - LR does not continue to infect other foes who later come into the area near the bad guy who was your target. On an Ill/Rad, LR is your only AoE slow, a nice addition. Do not skip LR, as it does some very nice things. LR adds an attack rate debuff, substantially reducing the rate at which foes can attack you and your team. Most important is the -Regeneration. LR reduces an AV's regeneration so that the AV can be defeated sooner. On some low-damage teams, LR can make the difference between defeating an AV or having to give up.
Because LR requires a tohit, you will have a better chance of LR hitting if you cast it after RI. However, LR casts quickly, and can also be effective to keep bad guys in the area while you are waiting for the slow animation of RI. So, part of the strategy of knowing how to use LR is knowing your likelihood of hitting. If you are up against higher level foes or foes with a lot of defense, cast RI first. Choosing an anchor is part of the strategy of using LR, but less important than with the other two debuffs, since you can cast it again in 40 seconds. See the [u]"Choosing your Anchor"[u] section under Strategies.
Slotting: 1-2 Acc, 3 Recharge, 0-2 Slow. I prefer 2 Acc, 3 Recharge. However, if you have enough global recharge and global accuracy, you may be able to get by with as little as an Accuracy in the default slot.
IO Sets: Slow Sets. Unfortunately, the Slow sets have very little recharge. I like to use just two of the Tempered Readiness set, Acc/Slow and End/Recharge/Slow. Add that to common 1 Acc, 2 Recharge and you get good Accuracy, capped Recharge, a little slow and a 1.5% Recovery bonus. If you have enough recharge in your overall build, you may be able to reduce the recharge and add more IO sets here.
Level 28: Choking Cloud - PB AoE Toggle Hold
While active, you generate toxic radioactive gas around yourself. Any nearby foes may be overcome by the gas, leaving them choking and helpless.
Accuracy: 50% (cannot be enhanced) for Mag 2 hold, 80% for Mag 1 hold.
Range: 15 ft.
Endurance: 4.16 per 5 sec. (0.832 per sec.)
Recharge: 90 sec.
Cast time: 2.03 Sec., Activates in 5 Sec.
Radius: 15 ft. from Anchor
Max Targets: 16
Duration: 7.45 sec Hold, Mag 2, every 5 seconds (at Level 50)
Choking Cloud (CC) is one of two toggle AoE holds in the game. (The other is Mind Control's Telekinisis.) CC is one of the two Rad powers that requires you to be in melee range. It can be very effective and it works automatically. However, I recommend against taking Choking Cloud on an Illusion/Rad. Why?
CC is a PB AoE hold power, with pulses every 5 seconds. How it works is that your character runs/jumps into the middle of a gang of bad guys. After anywhere from 0 to 5 seconds, the power makes a ToHit check for each foe. If the god of averages is with you and the power hits, then it makes a second check. 80% of the foes will be hit with a Mag 1 hold, which does nothing, and 50% of the foes will be hit with Mag 2, which holds minions. These two types of hold stack, resulting in a combined percentage chance of: 10% chance of no hold at all, 40% chance of only Mag 1 that will not hold anything (other than maybe Rikti monkeys), 10% chance of Mag 2 that will hold minions only, and 40% chance of Mag 3 that will hold Lieutenants or Minions. Any foe actually held will have a green puff of gas show up at their face, showing that they are choking and held. Any foes not held have another 5 seconds to attack you or do whatever before another pulse. All foes in the area will make the check again, where some new ones will get caught by the hold, and others previously held will then not be re-held in the next tick, so when the hold runs out, they will be free. It draws aggro, which can result in a faceplant. It uses a HUGE amount of endurance, substantially reducing other things you can do. You won't have the endurance to chain single target attacks to take down bad guys for very long while running CC. This means that even if you can hold them, you can't take them down - and Phantasm is very likely to knock foes out of the Cloud, making it useless. At a minimum, you have to slot it with 3 EndRdx, 3 Hold, so it takes 6 slots. (With some IO slotting at level 50, you may be able to cut that to 4.)
CC provides minimal benefit for lots of risk for an Ill/Rad. I tried it once and hated it. On the other hand, I LOVE CC for a Fire/Rad. With Imps, Hotfeet and Choking Cloud, a Fire/Rad is an AoE damage machine. Ice Control has Arctic Air, which can combine with CC to keep the baddies slowed and confused until CC can take hold. Since Illusion does not have any power to back up Choking Cloud, it is skippable. However, some people like it, so if a toggle melee hold appeals to you, try it out. But you will probably not want Phantasm around because he WILL knock the foes out of the cloud. On the other hand, if it hits, CC then has a 90% chance of hitting foes with a Mag 1 hold. This does nothing by itself, but will stack with Blind, Flash or EM Pulse to be able to hold bosses.
If you take Choking Cloud, it is important to fully slot it for hold. At level 50, the hold lasts for 7.45 seconds, and the pulses happen every 5 seconds. That means that if a foe is held in one pulse, you only have the second pulse to try to continue the hold while the first hold is in effect, with only a 40% or 50% chance of continuing the hold. That first pulse will run out before the third pulse. But if you fully slot for hold duration (95%), it almost doubles the duration of the hold to just short of 15 seconds. That means that you get the second, third, and fourth pulse to try to continue the hold. This increases your likelihood of continuing the hold to somewhere over 80%. Therefore, I do NOT recommend giving up Hold Duration for damage procs -- slot up that Hold Duration first.
Slotting: 3 EndRdx, 3 Hold.
IO Sets: Hold Sets. Because of the high endurance demand of CC, a full Hold set will not be that helpful. You want to mix and match sets to maximize Hold duration and EndRdx. Leveling up, my slotting for my Fire/Rad was 2 EndRdx IO's, 2 Hold IO's, 1 Ghost Widow End/Hold IO, and the Ghost Widow damage proc, Chance for Psi Damage. to add some damage. Even better than the chance for damage procs is the Lockdown "Chance for +2 Mag Hold" proc, which is wonderful for this power, since there is a 90% chance of getting a mag 1 hold. There is also some discussion that the accuracy can be enhanced by use of Hold set enhancements with Accuracy, but since I recommend against CC, we don't need to discuss that, do we? At level 50, one nice slotting is Unbreakable Constraint End/Hold and Chance for Smashing Damage, Lockdown Acc/End/Hold/Rech and Chance for +2 Mag Hold, Ghost Widow End/Hold and Essence of Curare End/Hold.
Level 35: Fallout - Dead Teammate Corpse Bomb Thingy
After an ally falls in battle, you can activate this power to extract the energy from their body to deal a massive amount of Energy damage to any nearby foes. All affected foes are extremely weakened by the Fallout, and their Accuracy, Defense, Damage and Damage resistance is severely reduced.
Accuracy: Autohit to ally's corpse, 2.0 to foes.
Range: 60 ft.
Endurance: 20.8
Recharge: 300 sec.
Cast time: 3.2 Sec.
Radius: 30 ft. from Anchor
Max Targets: 16
Damage: 222.44 (at level 50)
Effects: -30% ToHit, -30% Defense, -30% Damage, -50% Resistance (before enhancement)
Duration: 30 sec. for debuff to foes.
Fallout is viewed as being the most skippable power in the Radiation set. A few deeply disturbed people love the idea of exploding dead teammates, and think the power is great. Fallout is effective as both a damage power and a debuff. I have it on my Earth/Rad, and have kept it in his build as a novelty. The problem is that I rarely get to use it. It is, in my view, the single most "situational" power in the game. Why?
- You have to have a teammate die.
- You have to live (i.e. no team wipe).
- Your teammate must be willing to sit there and do nothing while you abuse his dead body. (Most good players want to actually play the game, and not lay there dead.) Any surviving teammates need to know not to use their rez so that you can play with dead things. If you are quick and notice your teammate's death immediately, this may not be very long.
- Fallout has a decent-sized radius but your teammate must have died fairly near the bad guys, or you have to have Recall Friend to 'port his decaying remains around . . . but the drop range on Recall friend is really short, so you either have to risk yourself to drop the body where it can do some good, or also have Hover or Fly to drop the body . . . all of which take time that your buddy is still not playing the game.
- You should take Mutation so you can Rez your teammate after you use his corpse as a bomb. Not resurrecting your buddy after abusing his corpse would be impolite - unless you plan on teleporting his remains around with you to repeatedly use as a bomb.
Fallout does good damage and massive debuffs on any foes close enough to be affected. For those who take it, Fallout is a kind of nuke power. I view Fallout as a kind of novelty power. It is kind of fun to have a power that makes a powerful bomb out of your dead teammates, and if you want to make Fallout viable, you really need to build around it and get the entire team to buy into using it as a regular strategy. Maybe even bring along a designated corpse (kind of like a designated driver) - someone who volunteers to die a lot to act as your bomb. You need Recall Friend, Hover, Fly or invisibility and Mutation to use it effectively. I have Fallout on my Earth/Rad and was on a team where one teammate volunteered to run in to a group and die whenever Fallout was up . . . and I have to admit, it was a lot of fun and very effective. But in general play, my Earth/Rad almost never gets to use Fallout.
I find Ill/Rad to be a tight build, and I don't feel it is worth sacrificing other abilities for this extremely situational power. There are good reasons to like Fallout, however. If you do take it, unless you are teaming with the same folks on a regular basis, I suggest you set up binds to explain the power to your teammates, begging them to wait on using a rez or an Awaken until you have the chance to explode their corpse. It doesn't seem very heroic to use your teammate's decaying remains as a bomb. What comic book hero would do this to a friend? On the other hand, it seems to fit pretty well with the theme on the villains side.
Slotting: 0-2 Acc, 3 Dam, and then several options of recharge or debuffs. The inherent accuracy is so good, you probably don't need accuracy.
IO Sets: Ranged AoE, Defense Debuff and ToHit Debuff Sets. Slot it for damage, as that is the most important aspect -- it has very high accuracy and the debuffs are already pretty huge.
Level 38: EM Pulse - PB AoE Hold with Minor Damage to Robots
You can unleash a massive pulse of electromagnetic energy. The EMP can affect machines, and is even powerful enough to affect synaptic brain patterns. It will drain the Endurance and HP Regeneration of all affected targets and leave them incapacitated and Held for a long while. Additionally, most machines and robots will take moderately high damage. However, this power uses a lot of Endurance and leaves you unable to recover Endurance for a while.
Accuracy: 1.0
Range: Area around caster.
Endurance: 20.8.
Recharge: 300 sec.
Cast time: 2.93 Sec.
Radius: 60 ft.
Max Targets: 16
Duration: 27.938 Sec. before enhancement.
Effects: -40% Endurance, -1000% Regeneration to foes, -1000% Regeneration to self for 15 Sec.
Damage: 50.16 to Electronic foes (at level 50).
EM Pulse (EMP) is one of the two best holds in the game, along with Earth's Volcanic Gasses. This one is fast activating and centered on you, so it works perfectly as a panic button power. Compared to other PB AoE holds including Flash, EMP is superior. The radius and hold time is twice the others. Keep in mind that EMP causes you to not regenerate endurance for 15 seconds - a lot of people read the description and think this means that EMP drains your endurance like a Blaster/Defender nuke, which is not true. It means only that your recovery of endurance will stop for 15 seconds, which is not that big a thing considering that it is likely that every bad guy near you will be held for a long time. Just keep in mind that if you are doing anything that uses a lot of endurance, like running EF or SI, you may want to stop or you might run out of endurance.
I recommend EM Pulse for your Ill/Rad. Some feel that once you have EM Pulse, that Flash is useless - that might be true if EM Pulse had a much faster recharge. But because of the long recharge for both Flash and EM Pulse, having both is the best way to get good AoE control that sets up Containment. I often use one or the other while Phantom Army is recharging. I personally use Flash far more than EM Pulse because Flash doesn't have the -Recovery -- If Flash is good enough for the job at hand, then I can save EM Pulse for when I REALLY need it. However, because I usually have EM Pulse as a panic button power, I can feel free to use Flash whenever it is up. I mainly use EMP in those few situations where its unique characteristics will help - damage to Robots, -Regen against AVs, or if I want to hold bosses. For example, during the Imperious TF, when that huge bunch of Robots come to life while everyone is beating on the generator, hitting EM Pulse is great.
Slotting: 2 Acc, 2 Hold, 2 Recharge is the default slotting for an AoE hold. However, EM Pulse is so good but will be rarely used, that you can vary this and even skimp on a slot or two. Start with 2 Acc, and then add hold or recharge as you see fit.
IO Sets: Hold Sets. The Gaze of the Basilisk set has nice bonuses including 7.5% Recharge, but it quite expensive. On the cheap, use 4 from the Essence of Curae or Ghost Widow sets leveling up. Another option is 2 Acc/Mez HOs, 2 Recharge common IOs at Level 50.
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
Suggested Build (in Three Acts)
The objective of this build is to develop area control for a team-oriented build that will solo well. We'll discuss the power choices and a few strategies. First, we'll start with the first 11 levels, before Dual Origin Enhancements become available. Our main goal is a build that will get you through these lower levels quickly and safely, especially if you have to solo.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]
Ill-Rad Sample 12: Level 13 Mutation Controller
Primary Power Set: Illusion Control
Secondary Power Set: Radiation Emission
Power Pool: Flight
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Blind -- Acc(A), RechRdx(3), Hold(11)
Level 1: Radiant Aura -- Heal(A), Heal(9)
Level 2: Spectral Wounds -- Acc(A), Dmg(3), Dmg(5), Dmg(5)
Level 4: Accelerate Metabolism -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(7), RechRdx(7)
Level 6: Deceive -- Acc(A), RechRdx(11)
Level 8: Superior Invisibility -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(9)
Level 10: Radiation Infection -- ToHitDeb(A), EndRdx(13)
Level 12: Air Superiority -- Acc(A), Acc(13)
Level 14: [Empty]
Level 16: [Empty]
Level 18: [Empty]
Level 20: [Empty]
Level 22: [Empty]
Level 24: [Empty]
Level 26: [Empty]
Level 28: [Empty]
Level 30: [Empty]
Level 32: [Empty]
Level 35: [Empty]
Level 38: [Empty]
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- EndRdx(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx(A)
Level 1: Containment
It doesn't really matter whether you take Blind or SW first. I had Blind come first because it does both damage and control. Assuming you have some veteran attack powers, or even just Brawl, you can take as long as you need to take a foe down if he is just standing there blinded. Level 2 gives you Spectral Wounds, setting up your 1-2 punch combo using Containment that you will continue to use up to 50. I like Deceive at 4, as it makes going solo amazingly easy - just stand back, Deceive all but one foe, and take that one out with Blind-SW, refreshing Deceive as needed. At 6, Accelerate Metabolism helps you get past the endurance crunch, while helping you run a little faster, do a little more damage, etc. Superior Invis at 8 if you mainly solo early, but you may want to swap that with Radiation Infection if you are teaming through the low levels. If you decide to take Group Invis instead of Superior, you can take RI at 8, your travel pre-requisite at 10, and then GI at 12 - or wait on GI until the 20's and take Swift or Hurdle from the fitness pool.
In the low levels, it feels like you are more of a blaster than anything else. You don't have any AoE controls, so you focus on single target control and damage. Take advantage of the non-aggro aspect of Deceive, by taking out threats from range before they have a chance to become threats. Bosses will take two or more applications, but since you are not drawing aggro, it just takes a few seconds longer.
In your first twelve levels, you have to choose your travel power pre-requisite if you plan to take a travel power by level 14. (Of course, with the temp travel powers that from the Atlas and King's Row Safeguard missions, it is possible to skip travel until later.) Let's take a quick look at the travel powers, as each has its advantages and disadvantages. Each travel power also has secondary factors that you can consider when choosing one. This is one area where different play styles really becomes important.
<ul type="square">[*]Fly: I chose Air Superiority/Fly for this Ill/Rad sample build. Air Sup is the best attack of the pool powers, in that it not only does decent damage but also knocks down your opponent most of the time. Once you have a target controlled, Blind-SW-Air Sup can make a decent attack chain, especially if you expect to solo. Some people prefer Hover as a way to fight while staying out of melee. Fly is the best, most flexible travel power, but it is slow. Also, Fly provides knockback protection when you really, really need it. I like fly for its versatility - it can get you anywhere, and can often be used as an effective escape. Fly can get you across zones with lots of hazards. Fly is great for those open-air Search for XXX missions. I mainly recommend Air Superiority/Fly for this build, but other travel powers are a viable choice. However, once you get an APP blast, you won't need Air Sup for an attack chain. In that case, Hover can be used as another place to put a Luck of the Gambler Recharge IO.
[*]Speed: Hasten is strongly recommended for this build eventually, so by going with Hasten/Super Speed, you can save one power choice and a power pool. (You could choose Flurry instead of Hasten, as your pool power attack, but I would strongly recommend Hasten.) Super Speed has one large disadvantage, which is not too difficult to overcome, and some really nice advantages. The clear complaint about Super Speed is the lack of vertical movement - but getting the Jump Pack from the Good vs. Evil Edition, combined with the Raptor Pack and the Zero-G pack from the early Safeguard missions, will allow you to get that little vertical boost when you need it. If you always use the Jump Jet first, and are really stingy with those temp powers, they can easily last you to level 50. Super Speed gives you stealth and the best way to move around in missions, other than those annoying Orenbega-type caves with lots of levels and walkways where Fly is better. If you can get one of the Stealth IO's and you combine it with Super Speed to give you full invisibility, you could drop Superior Invis if you really want to . . . it would not be as good as SI, but it would get you by for most of the PvE game. (If you choose Super Speed, take Hurdle over Swift to help you jump over things.)
[*]Teleport: Recall Friend is one of the handiest, team-friendly pre-requisite powers out there. Recall Friend lets stealth missions and bring the team through to the goal - a huge benefit for an Illusion controller. My first Ill/Rad used Recall Friend/Teleport for travel mainly because I started him out often teamed with my wife, who often got lost. I needed Recall Friend to 'port her around for Domestic Tranquility. I became accustomed to Teleport as a travel power. When I later added Hover at level 49, Teleport became quite easy to use to get anywhere, and Hover's recent speed increase really helps. I don't recommend it, but I suppose Teleport Foe also could have some nice strategic uses especially solo, like grabbing one guy, defeating him and then going on to the next, but if you aggro the entire group, you may have a bit of a problem. Teleport allows you to move into position without moving through the intervening space, which can give some strategic advantages. (Teleport allows you to get past blocked hallways and doorways, and go through narrow slits that other characters cannot go through!) It is the only travel power that lets you move even when Immobilized or slowed, which can be very, very handy to get out of Caltrops or escape while trapped in tenticles. Teleport is the most difficult travel power to use, and unless you take Hover, it is difficult to use for those Search for missions. If you take Teleport, use the bind to make it easier to use:
/bind lshift+lbutton powexecname Teleport
This will let you teleport by holding down the left Shift key and left-clicking where you want to go (in 100 yard jumps).
[*]Jump: Combat Jumping gives you protection against Immobilization, some combat maneuverability while jumping and a small amount of defense with a place to put another Luck of the Gambler Recharge IO. If you plan to maximize your recharge for an uber build, Combat Jumping also gives you another place for one of those Luck of the Gambler 7.5% Recharge IOs. Super Jump is a fun travel power, but does not give you any secondary benefits. However, it also doesn't have much of a downside either, and SJ gives you access to Acrobatics, if you are concerned about knockback. Personally, I felt that knockback was rarely a significant problem since Ill/Rad controls from range, and the control usually took over before the bad guys could shoot knockback powers at me. The rare knockback problem was solved by using Hover, or later obtaining one of those nice -knockback IO's. Jumping is my least favorite travel power for an Ill/Rad, but some folks love it.[/list]
OK, now you have reached Level 12, and can start using DO level enhancements (or IO's). Here is where I suggest you go from Levels 12-22:
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]
Ill-Rad Sample 22: Level 23 Mutation Controller
Primary Power Set: Illusion Control
Secondary Power Set: Radiation Emission
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Blind -- Acc(A), RechRdx(3), Hold(11), RechRdx(17)
Level 1: Radiant Aura -- Heal(A), Heal(9)
Level 2: Spectral Wounds -- Acc(A), Dmg(3), Dmg(5), Dmg(5)
Level 4: Accelerate Metabolism -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(7), RechRdx(7)
Level 6: Deceive -- Acc(A), RechRdx(11), Conf(15)
Level 8: Superior Invisibility -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(9)
Level 10: Radiation Infection -- ToHitDeb(A), EndRdx(13), ToHitDeb(15), ToHitDeb(17)
Level 12: Air Superiority -- Acc(A), Acc(13)
Level 14: Fly -- Flight(A)
Level 16: Swift -- Run(A)
Level 18: Phantom Army -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(19), RechRdx(19), Acc(21), Dmg(21), Dmg(23)
Level 20: Health -- Heal(A)
Level 22: Stamina -- EndMod(A), EndMod(23)
Level 24: [Empty] -- Empty(A)
Level 26: [Empty]
Level 28: [Empty]
Level 30: [Empty]
Level 32: [Empty]
Level 35: [Empty]
Level 38: [Empty]
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- EndRdx(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx(A)
Level 1: Containment
You get your travel power at 14, Fitness Pool starter at 16 and then the most important power in the Illusion set, Phantom Army (PA) at 18. For Fitness, I generally take Hurdle unless my travel power is Fly - Hurdle is better for Super Speed and Super Jump, and Hurdle can let you maneuver better, jumping over bad guys to lead the PA into battle. Since you have a self heal, you could skip Health and take both Swift and Hurdle - but if you hope to get one of those nice +Regen or Recovery unique IO's, you need Health. If you really, really want Stamina by 20 rather than waiting for 22, you could postpone invisibility until the 20's, but with AM, you can wait on Stamina until 22 much more easily than most other builds. Notice that Phantom Army gets fully slotted as soon as possible, even if it means skimping out on a slot for Stamina. Yeah, PA is that important.
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
Now comes the final SO level build:
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]
Ill-Rad Sample 50: Level 50 Mutation Controller
Primary Power Set: Illusion Control
Secondary Power Set: Radiation Emission
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Fire Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Blind -- Acc(A), RechRdx(3), Hold(11), RechRdx(17), Acc(31), Hold(50)
Level 1: Radiant Aura -- Heal(A), Heal(9), RechRdx(34), Heal(50)
Level 2: Spectral Wounds -- Acc(A), Dmg(3), Dmg(5), Dmg(5), RechRdx(31), RechRdx(43)
Level 4: Accelerate Metabolism -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(7), RechRdx(7), EndMod(31), EndMod(37)
Level 6: Deceive -- Acc(A), RechRdx(11), Conf(15), RechRdx(34), Acc(46)
Level 8: Superior Invisibility -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(9)
Level 10: Radiation Infection -- ToHitDeb(A), EndRdx(13), ToHitDeb(15), ToHitDeb(17), DefDeb(34), DefDeb(50)
Level 12: Air Superiority -- Acc(A), Acc(13), Dmg(29)
Level 14: Fly -- Flight(A), Flight(27)
Level 16: Swift -- Run(A)
Level 18: Phantom Army -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(19), RechRdx(19), Acc(21), Dmg(21), Dmg(23)
Level 20: Health -- Heal(A)
Level 22: Stamina -- EndMod(A), EndMod(23), EndMod(25)
Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(25), RechRdx(27)
Level 26: Spectral Terror -- RechRdx(A)
Level 28: Enervating Field -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(29)
Level 30: Lingering Radiation -- Acc(A), RechRdx(40), RechRdx(40), RechRdx(40), Acc(43)
Level 32: Phantasm -- Acc(A), Dmg(33), Dmg(33), Dmg(33)
Level 35: Flash -- Acc(A), Acc(36), Hold(36), RechRdx(36), Hold(37), RechRdx(37)
Level 38: EM Pulse -- Acc(A), Acc(39), RechRdx(39), Hold(39)
Level 41: Fire Blast -- Acc(A), Dmg(42), Dmg(42), Dmg(42), RechRdx(43)
Level 44: Fire Ball -- Acc(A), Dmg(45), Dmg(45), Dmg(45), RechRdx(46), RechRdx(46)
Level 47: Consume -- Acc(A), EndMod(48), RechRdx(48), RechRdx(48)
Level 49: Mutation -- RechRdx(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- EndRdx(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx(A)
Level 1: Containment
Illusion/Radiation is a tight build, but you can make a few strategic changes - the almost mandatory power choices at level are Stamina by 22, Spectral Terror at 26, and Phantasm at 32. Hasten, EF and LR should be taken, but can be moved to any of the open power choices. I recommend taking Hasten as soon as you can fit it in after Stamina, mainly to help PA recharge faster. I hate to delay Enervating Field as late as 28, but I just couldn't fit it in any earlier. Of course, if you choose Hasten/Super Speed for travel, then you can fit in EF at 24, LR at 28 and either Mutation or Flash at 30.
I like having the combination of Flash and EM Pulse on my Ill/Rad, but both are optional. I use Flash far more often to avoid the 15 Second -Recovery from EM Pulse, but EM Pulse is actually better. (Notice that I slotted less in EM Pulse because I use it less. If you prefer to use EMP, then you can put more slots there.) I feel comfortable using Flash since I usually have EM Pulse in reserve. Flash is often used when Phantom Army is recharging - just go invisible, run into the middle of the crowd and hit Flash. Once you get Phantasm, it becomes a little trickier - Phanty likes to knock away any foes near you with his Torrent attack, so you need to move fast. If you need to hold bosses, you can always use Flash + EM Pulse. EM Pulse is such a good power that I recommend it. Mutation is optional - you certainly could take something else, like Super Speed.
I am not a big fan of Leadership on an Ill/Rad, as the build is already tight. With RI buffing your chance to hit, EF and AM buffing your damage, I just don't feel it is needed. I also feel that other powers will benefit my team more than the Leadership toggles.
Choosing an APP set: Each APP set has one or two powers that really define the set. Choosing which you want depends on what you want out of the set. Fire is focused on damage, but adds an endurance recovery power. Psi's best power is Indomitable Will, which provides part-time protection from mez. Primal's jewel is Power Boost, to enhance control and buff powers, and has Conserve Power to reduce use of Endurance. Earth has a great heal with a hit point buff, and recently added a great melee single target attack with a hold built-in. Ice has Hibernate, a time-out power to let you regenerate both health and endurance. Ice and Earth have defense-based shields, while the shields for Fire, Primal and Psi are resistance-based. All the sets now have AoE damage powers: Ice actually has both a cone and a rain type AoE; Primal's only AoE is a cone; Earth's AoE is very short range but recharges quickly and adds a chance for stun; Psi's AoE does its damage over time and has knock-up, and Fire has a strong initial blast with some additional damage over time.
There are a few factors I consider to be important for choosing an APP set for an Ill/Rad.
<ul type="square">[*](1) Adding a single target blast to Blind-Spectral Wounds will allow you to have a nice little attack chain and take down single foes more quickly. Only Fire, Ice, Primal and Psi have single target blasts that recharge quickly enough. Earth's Hurl Boulder is too slow. [*](2) Illusion does Psi damage, which is highly resisted by certain foe types like Robots. Thus, having a different type of damage can provide a benefit. The Psi set, obviously, does Psi damage. [*](3) Illusion lacks any AoE damage, so getting some AoE damage would be nice. [*](4) Illusion has very few AoE controls, and no Immobilize, to keep foes in the area of a rain power. [*](5) Because of the spectral or illusory damage in Spectral Wounds and Phantom Army, you want to be able to kill things fast to take advantage of that damage before it heals back. [*](6) Rad has a self heal, so a heal power is not essential. Rad also has a Recovery buff, so a Recovery power is not essential - but the Rad toggles can gobble up endurance pretty quickly.[/list]
I chose the Fire Ancillary Power Pool (APP) set for my Ill/Rad because it has a fast single target blast that is not Psi damage, a fast AoE damage power that comes early, and a handy endurance recovery power for when AM is not up. I think that Ice Blast, Frostbreath and Hibernate is also a good choice, and Ice Armor gives you another good place for a Luck of the Gambler Recharge.
Other guides have detailed discussions on the Epic powers, so I will not go into them here. I think that Psi is, the best overall of the APP sets due to the mez protection in Indomitable Will, Psi protection in the armor and a decent AoE attack. However, the need for a different damage type is important to me.
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
Strategies:
General Strategy. First, use Deceive to take out any problem foes before the fight begins. Then throw out Phantom Army and cast your Rad debuffs. The order for the debuffs can vary depending upon the situation, but a good order is EF, RI, LR -- cast RI before LR if possible so LR gets to take advantage of the -Defense in RI. In some cases, like when a Tank is able to gather the aggro, you can choose to fire off RI and even before casting the other debuffs to reduce defense and improve your ToHit odds.On some fast moving teams, the bad guys will not last long enough for you to even bother casting your debuffs. If you are on that kind of team, use EF first and then LR, and then only use RI when up against something that will last long enough to merit the effort. Decide whether Spectral Terror or any other AoE control powers are needed. Pick a foe, and take him down with Blind-SW-Air Supp, or later Blind-SW-APP Blast. If PA are about to expire, then cast Spectral Terror to hold the foes in place.
If you move on to the next group while PA are still out, you may want to run into (or past) the group of foes to lead PA into battle. This is where invisibility comes in quite handy. If PA are recharging, you can use that same invisibility to run into the middle of the group of foes and fire off Flash or EM Pulse. In general, Spectral Terror is not the best Lead-Off power -- fear powers allow the foes to take an action before going into the "cower" animation, and often that action is to shoot at you.
Maximizing your Damage
One unique aspect of Illusion is "spectral" or "illusory" damage -- damage that heals back after a few seconds. If you can defeat a foe before that spectral damage heals back, you get to keep that damage. Therefore, the faster you can kill foes, the better chance you have to keep that damage. You can get more bang from your spectral damage by keeping a few strategies in mind:
<ul type="square">[*]Defeat Minions first. It usually takes only one or two attack chains to defeat a minion, so you have a better chance of keeping that spectral damage.[*]Watch foes being attacked by Phantasm, Phantom Army and Confused foes, so that you can use Blind-SW to finish off that last little sliver of health. Phantom Army and Phantasm's Decoy also do spectral damage, so you want to make sure that the foes being attacked by them go down as fast as possible. For Confused Foes, you want to make sure that you get some XP, so making the killing blow is a good way to make sure of that.[*]Reduce the number of foes as quickly as possible to allow Phantom Army and Phantasm to concentrate on the big targets. Common strategy for other builds is to concentrate on the tough guys first, as they are the biggest danger. But for Illusion, Phantom Army should be drawing the aggro so you can take down the weaker foes first. This will allow PA and Phantasm all to focus on the tougher foes, keeping them off your back.[/list]
Confused about Confuse and Deceived about Deceive
I am a big fan and strong advocate of using Deceive. There have been many, many heated debates about Deceive on the Boards, and I have often participated. If you compare the numbers between Blind and Deceive, Deceive actually looks better. However, I would say that an Illusion controller without Blind is gimped, but you can certainly make an effective Illusion Controller without Deceive. (Deceive is the same power as Confuse from the Mind Control set, except for the activation times - and that may have been changed by the time you read this.)
The debate over Deceive and Confuse has been going on as long as I have been reading these forums: Someone complains that he or she was kicked of a team or was criticized because a Mind controller used Confuse or an Illusion Controller used Deceive. (Recently, the same debate has come up for Plant Controllers and Seeds of Confusion.) Someone gives a sample build that excludes Deceive because the person doesn't like the XP loss. Someone else then responds, saying that Deceive actually increases XP rather than decreasing it, so the person critical of Deceive is clearly an ignorant buffoon who does not understand the real facts.
How does the power work? As stated in the description of the power, when you cast Deceive on a foe, the Deceived foe stops attacking you and your team, and will attack the other foes. Apparently, he is confused into thinking that his friends are now his enemies. If there are no other enemies around, then he will just stand there, doing nothing even if you attack him. Deceive takes one foe completely out of the battle for a long time. Deceive does not draw aggro, so it can be cast over and over again from a distance without the foes even knowing you are there. For the sake of discussion, let's call the enemy who is confused a "CF," for "Confused Foe." Any of his buddies he beats on can be called a CFT, for "Confused Foe's Target." All other enemies will be referred to as "foes." (Note: I do not partake in PvP, so I will not discuss the PvP benefits or effects of Deceive. I simply do not know enough about it.)
What are the benefits of Deceive?
1) Deceive is a long lasting single target control power that lasts longer than Blind.
2) Deceive has an 80 ft. range and does not draw agro, so you can take foes out of the fight before the fight begins. Since you can stack it without drawing aggro, it is perfect for removing the most troublesome foe. Deceive easily lasts long enough to allow you to cast it on several foes to take several out of the battle before the fighting begins.
3) Deceive activates quickly, at the beginning of the animation, and recharges quickly.
4) Deceive has a 20% accuracy bonus, even more than Blind's 10%, so you can hit higher level foes more easily.
5) Deceive is Mag 3, so it will hit minions and lieutenants with one cast if it hits. It has a 20% chance of being Mag 4, which will confuse a boss in the first shot. But if you don't get that extra mag with the first cast, you can easily stack it.
So, if it is such a good power, then what is the downside?
1) The underlying basis for the main complaint against Deceive is that if a CF defeats a CFT all by itself, then you and your team do not get any XP for the defeat of the CFT. However, if a CF does some of the damage, and some of the damage is done by you, your team or by pets, then you get some of the XP, but not all of it. As long as you and your team and pets do some of the damage, you actually get "credit" for some of the damage done by the CF as if the damage was done by your team. For example, if you do 50% of the damage, you get about 80% of the XP. See cforce's Guide to Confusion for the detailed math. Also see Enant's Guide to Confusion and XP/Time Some ill-informed folks may say that Confusion powers like Deceive will rob you of XP - If you play the power correctly, Deceive will actually help you complete missions faster, resulting in more XP over the same amount of time.
2) Deceive has a long animation, even though the effect takes place early in the animation. Therefore, on a fast moving team, it is not worth spending that much time controlling one foe when you could be doing something more effective.
3) Deceive does not set up Containment. If your focus is on damage, then Blind will set up containment for you.
I find that most people who complain about Deceive, don't fully understand how it works -- They see the description and have heard that confuse powers cause you to "lose XP," so they react to that. My opinion is that everyone should stop worrying about XP and simply look at the benefits of the power and how it fits into the player's playstyle. Is it fun? Does it provide a benefit that makes it worthwhile to take as a power? I will freely admit that I am a big fan of confuse powers. I find them effective and fun. While I try to present both the positives and negatives, I freely admit where my preferences are.
The use of Deceive and its effect on XP is a grey area, and depends on many factors other than simple calculations. The overall effect is that in some situations, you may get more XP over time, while in others, you may get a little less. The more you know about how to use the power, the better chance you have of the getting more XP over getting less XP. There are some facts that are not disputable about Deceive. (We are talking about the single target version, Deceive for an Ill/Rad, and not Mind's Mass Confusion or Plant's Seeds of Confusion.)
The Truth:
1) Deceive is slow to activate. -- The animation is so long that it may not be effective during some kinds of battles. Some people complain that Deceive is useless for fast moving large teams. However, this depends greatly upon the team, the kind of opponent, and the team's strategy and style. The change in I-7 to eliminate the length of the post-deceive inactivity has made Deceive more viable as a tool in battle. On large, fast moving teams, I find that I have little time to use Deceive unless there are "special" targets. However, solo, on small teams, or even on larger, slower moving teams, Deceive is almost always a great power to use. However, I have to admit that there have been a few times that I have used Deceive or Confuse in the middle of battle, and been caught in a mez, knocked down or otherwise clobbered because of the long animation. However, at level 50, when I put a Contagious Confusion proc into Deceive turning it into a Mass Confusion power one third of the time, then Deceive becomes very much worthwhile to use in all battle situations.
2) Deceive is a long lasting single target power that takes any mob it hits and stops that mob from hitting you and your team. In this manner, it acts as a hold. It also lasts substantially longer than its recharge time even at the lowest levels, so it can be stacked easily, even without recharge enhancements. But recharge lets you stack it or spread it around faster.
3) Deceive does not draw aggro. No agro is one of the most important aspects of this power. This allows the caster to stack it on bosses or any other foe without fear of "retribution." This also means that regardless of the long animation, Deceive can be effective before the fight begins either to remove foes from the battle, or to benefit the caster and his team by getting the CF to use his controls and debuffs on other foes.
For example, I was recently on a small level 20-21 team made up of a tank, a warshade and one of my lower level Illusion controllers. We were fighting Orange, Red and Purple Lost in Faultline. While PA was recharging, I was able to use Deceive to take the mezzing lieutenants and bosses out of the fight before the fight began, which substantially increased our survival. Those Anathenas and Pariahs not only throw arround mez powers, but they also hit very hard. Deceive worked where other powers would not have.
4) A CF (Confused Foe) will usually attack other foes if any foes are in aggro range. However, the caster has no control over the CF. Sometimes, the CF may run off for no apparent reason. If there are no other foes in aggro range, the CF will usually just stand there and let himself be smacked for as long as the confusion lasts. With enough applications, the caster can sometimes Deceive an Arch-Villain for a short time, causing the bad guy to blast away at the minions surrounding him, and then stand there while you and your team attack. But beware - it doesn't last long.
5) A CF with buff/debuff or mez powers will sometimes use their debuff or mez powers against their own kind, or may use the buff powers to buff the caster's team. This is one of the best and most effective uses of Deceive. There are many discussions of the best foes to Deceive, but they include Vahz Embalmed Cadavers, Tsoo Sorcerers, Sky Raider Engineers, Banished Pantheon Shamen, Malta Sappers and Ricti Guardians.
6) When a CF attacks a CFT, and the CF does damage to the CFT, the caster and the caster's team do not get some of the XP for the CFT when the CFT is defeated. If the CF completely defeats the CFT with no damage done by the team, then no XP is awarded. However, the complex formula for calculating the XP means that if the caster or the caster's team do some damage to the CFT, the team will get a larger share of the XP than they would if, say, another player not on the team were to do the same amount of damage to the CFT as the CF did. The net result of this means that the team clearly gets a larger amount of XP per point of damage imposed by the team on the CFT. For example, if you and the team do 50% of the damage on a CFT, and the CF does the other 50%, then you and the team get 80% of the XP rather than the 50% you "earned."
The False:
I) If you use deceive, you will lose XP.
You cannot "lose" XP that you have not yet earned. You and your team will not earn XP for a CFT killed entirely by a CF, but you will not "lose" XP. Actually you will reduce the amount of XP you could have earned if you and your team had killed all the foes yourselves and not used Deceive. Your only "loss" will be that the maximum amount of XP available in the mission will be less. Since you never earned that XP, you haven't lost it. This is really more a semantics and point-of-view statement. Most supporters of confuse powers say that this is easily offset by the ability to earn XP faster, allowing you to do more missions in less time.
The Half-truths:
I) If you use Deceive, you will earn less XP.
II) If you use Deceive, you will get more XP/hour and more XP overall.
Both statements have some truth and some un-truth, depending upon the situation. Enantiodromos and others have presented some wonderful calculations to prove #2. And in an ideal situation, it probably would be true. Yes, if you were operating with robot-like efficiency and there were an unlimited number of foes, then the numbers clearly show that you will get more XP/hour, since Deceive lets the team receive part of the XP for the damage done by the CF. Plus, by completing missions faster, you get mission bonuses faster. If you are earning more XP/hour, then you will earn more XP overall for the time you play, right? Why is it a half-truth? Since most of us are people seeking entertainment and not robots seeking to churn out XP/min, most of us do not play this game trying to maximize every second. Most of us play missions. In most missions, there is a limited number of foes, and therefore a limited amount of XP (even if there are an unlimited amount of missions and the foes on the streets keep re-spawning). This means that if you use Deceive, some of the XP will be taken by the CFs. You may be able to do the mission a little faster, but you will still earn less XP per mission than if you did not use Deceive. Shaving a few minutes off the time needed to complete a mission will not necessarily mean that you do more missions. For example, if you just finished a 45 minute mission and you are 10 minutes past when you should have headed off to bed, the fact that you reduced the time of the mission by 5 minutes will not mean that you are going to do another mission. You earned a little less XP but got to bed 5 minutes earlier.
There are a lot of other factors as well.
A) Deceive is fun. There have been a few times where my team has sat back and watched while I deceived a foe and we watched what happened. This can happen on everything from Embalmed Cadavers to AV's. There is a certain delight to making a foe use his own debuff powers on himself and his buddies. I remember the first time I Deceived an Avalanche Shaman -- I laughed out loud when he put down an Earthquake that then knocked himself down. One of my favorite pastimes while waiting for a teammate to return to a mission is to Deceive two baddies, and then take bets on which one will last the longest. It is kind of like the so-called sport that Michael Vick got in trouble for hosting, but nobody gets hurt.
B) Deceive, if used well, may be able to reduce debt for you and your team. This can be especially true when you use Truth #3 above. Taking out Sappers or Shamen can certainly have a major impact on a battle, depending upon your team. I have used Deceive many times to prevent a team wipe, by stacking Deceive on the big bad guy from a distance while not drawing aggro. Less debt will certainly increase your overall leveling from earning XP, far, far more than any XP lost to Deceive.
There are a few times when you should NOT use Deceive.
i) If a teammate is targeting a particular foe to pull, then casting Deceive on that foe is a bad idea. The pulled foe will, when the confuse hits, turn around and attack his buddies. Yeah, he's out of the fight for a while, but eventually that confuse wears off and then he can attack you again. If he was successfully pulled and was then eliminated, then he can't come back (unless he is a Freakshow . . . ).
ii)If you are in a battle surrounded by the enemy who are attacking you in melee, then using Deceive to take one baddie out may not be a good idea, because while you are caught in the somewhat long animation, the others can pound on you. Deceive is best used before the fight begins, or while the foes are distracted from you. It can also be used effectively to stop one foe from attacking, but you need to know whether being caught in the long animation may result in other bad things happening, like getting mezzed or killed.
iii) Be careful about using Deceive on an anchor of a debuff, like Radiation Infection or Enervating Field. A deceived anchor will usually run around to find playmates, thereby aggroing any foes in range of the debuff. Sometimes this is a good strategy, but sometimes it may result in getting too much aggro while your debuff runs off leaving the foes mad at you AND at full strength.
Strategy for using Deceive: My general strategy for using Deceive on teams is the take out the foe who will be the most trouble, usually before the fighting begins. Because Deceive lasts longer than a regular hold and has higher accuracy without drawing aggro, it is one of your best defensive powers. When playing solo, I will often use Deceive even against a single foe that I expect to hold with Blind, just because Blind can miss, which would then free the baddie to begin attacking me if he wasn't already Deceived. As early as level 4, Deceive can be key to making it easy to take down foes while taking no damage at all when playing solo. For the usual spawn of three foes, you can Deceive two from outside of aggro range before the battle begins. Remember that Deceive does not draw aggro! Then use Blind-Spectral Wounds on the third, and refresh Deceive on the first of the two DFs, Blind-SW on the third, refresh Deceive on the second DF, Blind-SW until defeat. If you want to reduce missing out on XP, you can Blind the DFs, every other round, while Blind's hold stays on that third un-Deceived foe, using only SW while you still have containment. Basically, spread around Deceive and Blind while focusing SW on one foe at a time to try to take out that foe as quickly as you can before SW's spectral damage heals back. You can take all three down without being hit a single time . . . but it is not real fast.
During the battle, I will often use Deceive to refresh the confusion on some foe who was confused before the fight began, and also:
(1) To encourage a straggler to return to the rest of the group. When he is Deceived, he will usually (but not always) turn around and go back to the group of foes to attack one of his former buddies.
(2) To protect myself or a teammate from being attacked. When the team attacks a large group, single foes may run past the tanks and other front line fighters, and directly target the squishier folks in the back, like blasters, defenders and controllers. Deceive can be used to turn that foe around and have him attack his friends instead of you and your teammates.
(3) To take out a troublesome foe shooting off ranged attacks from the back. We might as well turn him to helping us out while the rest of the team work their way back to him.
(4) To handle a foe who runs into the fight after it has begun.
When you start running into difficult foes with special abilities, you can Deceive those particular foes before the battle begins to turn those special abilities against the bad guys. This is one of the most powerful aspects of confuse powers. Here are some of the foes that are effective as targets of Deceive:
Vahzilok: When Deceived, Embalmed Cadavers will shamble up to other Vahz and explode, doing substantial damage and often killing off several other Vahz. Remember that you will not get XP for those foes killed, but it's so much fun, it is worth passing up the XP. However, a debuff like Radiation Infection will disrupt the ability of Embalmed Cadavers to explode.
Mortificators, if Deceived, will still raise the dead Cadavers and Embalmed Cadavers, but then will try to kill them, then rez them, then kill them, etc. as long as the Deceive lasts. Morts will NOT rez your dead teammates.
Eidolons are bosses, so they will usually take at least two casting of Deceive to confuse them. They will use the Rad blasts (with some -Defense), Dark Blast (with some -Acc) and the Tenebrous Tentacles against the other Vahz.
Lost: Aberrants and Parishes have sleep and hold powers, so using Deceive to take them out of the fight before it begins is a good idea, especially in low levels where few players have mez protection - even Tanks and Scrappers, who will get mez protection eventually, may not have it at the time you have to deal with the Lost.
Circle of Thorns: You can stack Deceive on Mages to take them out of the fight before it starts. Deceive Earth and Air Thorn Casters to make them use their powers against the other CoT. Deceive the Spectral Demon Lords to turn their -ToHit Debuff against the enemy. CoT have lots of troublesome foes, so there are lots of opportunities to use Deceive. You can stack it on the various Mages.
Tsoo: Tsoo Sorcerers are troublesome since they can teleport in and heal up the foe you have almost defeated, and then turn on their Hurricane to make sure you can't hit anything. Deceived, the Sorcerers will sometimes heal your team members and often use Hurricane to debuff the accuracy of the bad guys. However, because the Sorcerers will teleport away even if Deceived, I suggest that you do NOT use a Sorcerer for a Radiation anchor. Other Tsoo have various mez powers too, and those annoying Caltrops. If you deceive the Caltrops guy before he throws the caltrops, they will affect the other Tsoo and not you and your team.
Freaks: Freaks have Stunners, who can put you or teammates to sleep in a Tesla Cage. These are a good target for Deceive. Freaks are generally easy to Deceive.
Council: The vampiri have mez powers, so they are good targets for Deceive. Wolves move fast and can do a lot of damage, so they are good targets, too. Wolves are resistant to immobilize and slow, so they often frustrate other controllers, but they are easy for an Illusionist.
Banished Pantheon: I love to Deceive Storm, Avalanche and Death Shamen, so that they turn their control powers against the other BP. Watching an Avalanche Shaman cast Earthquake, which then makes he himself fall down, is highly amusing.
Devouring Earth: Lots of options here. The buffs/debuffs cast as stationary pets by DE (Cairns planted by Granites or Sentries, Fungi planted by Fungoids or Herders, Tree of Life planted by Herders, and Quartz planted by Guardians) can be devastating to some teams, and using Deceive will neutralize the buffs/debuffs - unfortunately, they will not turn them to your benefit.
Carnival of Shadows: Several options here. It is fun to Deceive the Illusionists before they use Flash, as then Flash will hold all the other Carnies. The Ring Mistresses have holds and sleeps that can be turned on other Carnies.
Crey: Deceiving a Paragon Protector will not only make it fight for you, but also keep it from going into its protective mode of MOG or Elude.
Nemesis: An often asked question is whether deceiving Lieutenants will allow your team to get the benefits of the Vengeance that these guys cast when they die. Unfortunately, No. The confusion effect stops when the foe dies, so the Vengeance still will go to the other Nemesis. Deceiving a Fake Nemesis will prevent it from going into its Personal Force Field. (I don't recall if they will actually share bubbles with your team, however.)
Malta: One of the most hated foes for melee fighters is the Malta Sapper. Deceive turns that Sapper into a sapper of the bad guys. I believe this is one of the best ways to deal with Sappers. Also, if you Deceive an Engineer before he builds a turret, then the turret will shoot at the Malta until the Engineer dies.
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
Choosing your Anchor. Choosing an anchor and choosing when to cast RI, EF and LR is an important part of the strategy of Radiation. Know your team, and figure out which foes are likely to be the last to be defeated and where the debuff will do you and you team the most good.
<ul type="square">[*]Many people complain about Radiation's anchor-based debuffs because of the problem of teammates killing the anchor. The Rad debuffs add a green glow to the target that seems to subliminally say, Hey guys! Kill me first! You need to understand right up front - your team WILL kill off your anchor, and usually before you want them to. It may be frustrating - get over it, and just re-cast the debuffs on the next soon-to-be-corpse. Some people recommend setting up a bind to identify the anchor, hoping that the team will pay attention. I have done that in the past, and don't bother anymore. Just re-cast.[*]Scrappers will often go for the bosses first. Blasters with lots of AoE powers will often wipe out the minions quickly. Often the best choice for your anchor is a lieutenant-level foe, and one near the back of the group. Of course, remember that the debuffs will then aggro him and all the foes around him, causing him to run up to the front and bring friends. [*]Your anchor will be free to run around, debuffing other baddies while drawing aggro, unless you restrict his movement with some kind of mez or slow power. Therefore, you may want to plan to use Fossilize, Stone Prison or some other way to restrict the movement of your anchor(s). If you don't, your anchor may run off. This is BAD. Not only do you lose the debuff, but as he runs away past other groups, he will aggro them to you. If this happens, turn off RI and EF, and find another anchor. In rare situations, you may leave it on if you need to use the green glow to mark or track the baddie, mainly if this was the guy you needed to kill to free a hostage or some similar situation.[*]If the boss is a tough one, I usually cast the debuffs on the boss, and don't worry if he gets killed off. A dead boss is worth having to recast.[*]One interesting choice to try is to cast the debuffs on a foe who has been Deceived or Confused. He will move around to attack his friends, carrying the debuffs with him. [*]I suggest you NOT choose a teleporting foe, like a Tsoo Sorcerer or Sky Raider Porter, as an anchor, as that bad guy will teleport away. You will lose your debuffs on the baddies nearby, and he will aggro more baddies to attack you. [*]One option is to use different foes as your anchor for each of your three debuff powers. I mainly see this as aggroing more baddies. If any bad guys are aggroed, I would prefer that RI be in effect to keep them from hitting me. However, since LR has to be re-cast every 40 seconds or so, it is easy to change anchors for LR.[*]Sometimes, especially in lower levels, RI and/or LR can be used to pull part of a group, who will then come to attack you while being debuffed. This works best on foes who prefer melee attacks. This is a great way to do a corner pull, using Quicksand at the corner.[*]If there is a foe with annoying mez powers, he is often a good choice for RI, to reduce his chance of hitting his mez - but of course, he will probably be attacking YOU first with that mez.[/list]
Phantom Army Strategy.
The other members of your team make a big difference on how and when you use Phantom Army. In general, PA is best used to take the "alpha strike" and draw aggro away from the rest of the team, so whenever possible, PA should be sent in before any other attack that draws aggro. (This means that you can Deceive one or two foes who have mez powers, especially AoE mez powers, first.) But sometimes, that is not the best strategy.
(1) Most of the time, you want PA to be the aggro sponge, soaking up all the attacks so you can freely cast your debuffs and the team can make their attacks. In this case, you will often cast PA right in the middle of the group you want to attack, especially if casting them outside the group might aggro another group. Remember you have very little control over the PA once they are cast, other than your invisible and stretchy leash -- if you get too far from the PA, they will run to you, often bringing unwanted friends with them.
(2) However, if you don't have another group nearby, try to cast the PA on the far side of the bad guys, and get the Army guys to run toward you. They will probably start attacking from range, rather than closing to melee. PA do a little more damage at range than in melee. Even though the ranged attacks do less damage, they recharge 1/3 faster. Also, if the foes have cone attacks, try casting PA on the far side of the group, so the cones go away from you and your team. This is especially true for some AVs.
(3) You may have a tank on the team, and he may want to herd. Hold off on PA until he herds up the group. Then you need to decide if it is worth using PA at that point, or if the team can handle the group easily enough without PA. If you need PA, or just want to use 'em, cast your three buddies beyond the group or off to the side, so that they have to fight at range. In this situation, you are using PA more as a damage power than as an aggro sponge, so you want that greater damage from range.
Some good tanks play an aggressive style, where they are running from group to group -- it is often hard to keep up with such tanks, and PA are usually relegated to a role as a damage power. Some good tanks are more strategic, pausing before each group to let everyone prepare their best power for the situation at hand. For this kind of Tank, you will want to save PA to take the Alpha whenever you are up against a tough foe, and this kind of tank will usually bring foes towards the PA while they are out.
(4) You may have another controller who has a good opening attack. Try to encourage the other controller to let you use PA first when needed, to avoid letting aggro through. This is especially a good idea when there are a lot of bosses, since most AoE only affect minions or minions and lieutenants.
(5) Generally, PA is only going to be available every other group for a normal speed team. So, if the next group looks like it will be easy to handle without PA, you may want to save them for the next group. Do your best to look ahead.
The Perma Phantom Army Build
The best power in Illusion is Phantom Army -- for most folks, the "max" build for an Illusion/Radiation involves "Perma PA," or getting the recharge on Phantom Army so high that you will be able to cast a new set when the previous set is just expiring. This is ideal fro fighting AVs, because the Perma PA will draw the aggro of the AV, allowing the controller and his Phantasm to blast away in relative safety. Generally, any build with enough recharge to get Perma PA will also have some other attributes enhanced significantly.
To get enough recharge, you need to look for every power that can possibly fit in an IO set that includes some recharge. The recharge on Hasten and AM will be high enough that both of those powers will recharge before they run out. Because this is a very desirable build, it is very, very expensive. The IO sets needed are some of the more expensive ones in the game. To get a Perma PA build, you had better be prepared to spend a lot of time playing the market, farming or doing whatever else you can to generate hundreds of millions of influence. It depends on several "Luck of the Gambler +7.5 Recharge" enhancements in any power that can take Defense enhancements, "Basilisk's Gaze" sets in the Hold powers, and a couple of the purple sets.
I have come up with a Perma PA build for discussion. I have not made this build . . . yet. My problem is that I'm too much of an Altaholic to spend that much time and Influence on one build. I'm offering this build as a way to get Perma PA without giving up much to get there. Some previous builds would take useless powers just as a "mule" for IO sets. However, I've been able to get Perma PA without having any powers that I consider useless -- except for taking Combat Jumping at 49 for an extra LotG Recharge. Even that is not entirely useless, as the added mobility is quite nice. I also changed Swift to Hurdle to make bunny hopping an easy way to get around. Here's the build:
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]
Perma PA build: Level 50 Mutation Controller
Primary Power Set: Illusion Control
Secondary Power Set: Radiation Emission
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Ice Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Blind -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(3), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(11), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(17), G'Wdw-Acc/Hold/Rchg(31)
Level 1: Radiant Aura -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(9), Dct'dW-Heal(34), Dct'dW-Rchg(34), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 2: Spectral Wounds -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(5), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg(43)
Level 4: Deceive -- CoPers-Conf/Rchg(A), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg(7), CoPers-Acc/Rchg(7), CoPers-Conf(31), CoPers-Conf%(37)
Level 6: Accelerate Metabolism -- Efficacy-EndMod(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(11), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(15), Efficacy-Acc/Rchg(34), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(40), Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx(46)
Level 8: Superior Invisibility -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(9), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 10: Radiation Infection -- HO:Enzym(A), HO:Enzym(13), HO:Enzym(15)
Level 12: Air Superiority -- C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(13), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(17), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43)
Level 14: Fly -- Frbd-Fly(A), Frbd-EndRdx(27), Flight-I(40)
Level 16: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 18: Phantom Army -- S'bndAl-Acc/Rchg(A), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg(19), ExRmnt-Dmg/EndRdx(19), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(21), S'bndAl-Dmg/Rchg(23)
Level 20: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(29)
Level 22: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(23), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(25), P'Shift-End%(50)
Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(25), RechRdx-I(27)
Level 26: Spectral Terror -- Abys-Acc/Rchg(A), Abys-Fear/Rng(48), Abys-Dam%(48), Abys-Acc/Fear/Rchg(48), Abys-Acc/EndRdx(50)
Level 28: Enervating Field -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(29)
Level 30: Lingering Radiation -- Acc-I(A)
Level 32: Phantasm -- ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg(A), ExRmnt-Dmg/EndRdx(33), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(33)
Level 35: Flash -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(36), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(36), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(36), HO:Endo(37)
Level 38: EM Pulse -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(39), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(39), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(39)
Level 41: Ice Blast -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(42), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43)
Level 44: Frost Breath -- Ragnrk-Knock%(A), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg(45), Ragnrk-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Ragnrk-Dmg(46), RechRdx(46)
Level 47: Frozen Armor -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 49: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Containment
I invite others to post their Perma PA builds or otherwise discuss their opinions on the Ill/Rad build in further comments to this guide.
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
Here's the build I use if that helps out at all, the guide looks great and I will take my time reading through it:
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]
the Phantomatrix: Level 50 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Illusion Control
Secondary Power Set: Radiation Emission
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Ice Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Blind -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(3), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(13), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(15), Acc-I(50), Hold-I(50)
Level 1: Radiant Aura -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(5), Dct'dW-Heal(17), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(29), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(34)
Level 2: Spectral Wounds -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(3), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(13), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(17)
Level 4: Radiation Infection -- HO:Enzym(A), HO:Enzym(5), HO:Enzym(11)
Level 6: Accelerate Metabolism -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(7), RechRdx-I(7), EndMod-I(34), EndMod-I(37), EndMod-I(37)
Level 8: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(9), RechRdx-I(9)
Level 10: Superior Invisibility -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(11), LkGmblr-Rchg+(31)
Level 12: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 14: Super Speed -- Run-I(A)
Level 16: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(46)
Level 18: Phantom Army -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(19), RechRdx-I(19), HO:Nucle(23), HO:Nucle(25), HO:Nucle(25)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(21), EndMod-I(21)
Level 22: Enervating Field -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(23)
Level 24: Lingering Radiation -- TmpRdns-Acc/EndRdx(A), TmpRdns-Acc/Slow(27), TmpRdns-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(27), P'ngTtl-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(29)
Level 26: Spectral Terror -- Abys-Acc/Rchg(A), Abys-Acc/Fear/Rchg(31), Abys-EndRdx/Fear(31), Abys-Fear/Rng(37), Abys-Acc/EndRdx(40)
Level 28: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 30: Group Invisibility -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 32: Phantasm -- KinCrsh-Dmg/KB(A), KinCrsh-Acc/KB(33), KinCrsh-Rchg/KB(33), KinCrsh-Rechg/EndRdx(33), KinCrsh-Dmg/EndRdx/KB(34), KinCrsh-Acc/Dmg/KB(43)
Level 35: Deceive -- CoPers-Conf(A), CoPers-Conf/Rchg(36), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg(36), CoPers-Acc/Rchg(36), CoPers-Conf%(43)
Level 38: EM Pulse -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(39), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(39), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(39), Acc-I(40), Hold-I(40)
Level 41: Ice Blast -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(42), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(43)
Level 44: Frozen Armor -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(45), RedFtn-Def(45), RedFtn-EndRdx(45), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(46), LkGmblr-Rchg+(46)
Level 47: Hibernate -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(48), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(48), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(48), Dct'dW-Rchg(50)
Level 49: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Containment
------------
[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]6% DamageBuff(Smashing)[*]6% DamageBuff(Lethal)[*]6% DamageBuff(Fire)[*]6% DamageBuff(Cold)[*]6% DamageBuff(Energy)[*]6% DamageBuff(Negative)[*]6% DamageBuff(Toxic)[*]6% DamageBuff(Psionic)[*]5% Defense(Energy)[*]5% Defense(Negative)[*]2.5% Defense(Ranged)[*]4.5% Max End[*]1.5% Enhancement(RunSpeed)[*]9% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]103.8% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]2.75% Enhancement(Terrorized)[*]1.5% Enhancement(JumpSpeed)[*]8% Enhancement(Heal)[*]1.5% Enhancement(JumpHeight)[*]1.5% Enhancement(FlySpeed)[*]4% Enhancement(Confused)[*]42 HP (4.13%) HitPoints[*]Knockback (Mag -3)[*]Knockup (Mag -3)[*]MezResist(Immobilize) 7.7%[*]MezResist(Terrorized) 4.4%[*]9.5% (0.16 End/sec) Recovery[*]6% (0.25 HP/sec) Regeneration[*]2.5% Resistance(Smashing)[*]3.78% Resistance(Fire)[*]3.78% Resistance(Cold)[*]3% RunSpeed[/list]
Wonderful guide so far. My build was meant to maximize savings for me while attaining perma-PA, considering I had the LotGs and some others I stripped from my Ill/Storm. So, it's not the definitive build by any means. The level 10 Basilisk's Gaze are there because they were super cheap and picked up for the bonus.
<QR>
Local Man: some of your endurance costs for toggles are inaccurate. This is a common mistake when reading City of Data: the endurance cost listed for toggles is per tick, not per second. You have to divide by the "Activate Period" to get the per-second cost.
For instance, Superior Invisibility has an endurance cost of 0.52 per tick and an activation period of 0.5 seconds. That means 0.52 / 0.5 = 1.04 endurance per second. The same numbers happen to apply to Enervating Field. I have not checked these powers in particular, but whenever I have compared the in-game power details (which are listed per second) to City of Data, they have always corresponded to this formula.
In some cases, you may want to check that your recommendations for slotting and endurance management correspond to the accurate numbers. I know I had to seriously modify my Ice/Storm slotting after I discovered this little "gotcha". For instance, you currently recommend slotting Enervating Field with 2 End Cost reducers; I would go 3. Even that third one is giving more than 0.1 end/sec, which isn't bad at all for a single slot (and quite helpful if you're going to be running a toggle that costs over 0.52 end/sec even after full slotting).
I am glad to see you got Choking Cloud right, though. The five-second activation period makes that one look like 4.16 endurance per second, which is just tragic.
I team with the Repeat Offenders.
Great catch, thanks. I made the changes to the numbers, and I'll take a look at the slotting later.
I'm running up against the size limit for posts . . . I'll have to break this thing up into more separate posts.
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
Looking over a few things, I'm going to re-do and reformat the section on Phantom Army slotting. I think I can make it clearer and provide more options.
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
Since this is your guide, Local, I'd really like to do a thorough read through and provide any commentary, but it won't be any time soon (maybe later tonight?). I can already see from just skimming it that you did a hell of a job, but that's hardly surprising. 
Edit: Okay, I printed out the first 10 pages (of 43!!!) to read over during a boring meeting. Some comments on those, and these are largely nitpiks since you really cover everything:
-In the Intro section (page 2 for me), you state, "Radiation is the only secondary that has a Recharge buff and foe debuffs to make PA better." When first reading that, I thought you might want to say "both recharge & debuffs..." since it sounds like no other sets as either. Your wording is technically correct, but could lead to some confusion. In fact, you expand on this later around page 6-ish starting with, "As explained below, Phantom Army ("PA") cannot be buffed," and is a bit redundant. Since your guide is so long to begin with, you may consider trimming one of the two places you talk about this.
-Page 5-ish, talking about the various control effects (hold, stun, etc), you leave out Fear as a mez effect. Sorta big considering Spectral Terror is in the set.
-Starting w/your Ill control powers, you list a variety of stats. If you like, I can provide you w/their DPAs w/Arcanatime factored in:
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
Ill Dam Act DPA
SW 30.6 1.07 23.18
Blind 30.6 1.67 16.56
Fire Dam Act DPA
RoF 33.6 1.17 25.45
Char 33.6 1.07 25.45
Grav Dam Act DPA
Crush 30.6 1.33 19.32
Lift 24.5 1.03 20.62
Propel 59.9 3.5 16.21
Fire Blast Dam Act DPA
Flares 63.19 1 53.19
Fire Blast 92.576 1.67 50.10
</pre><hr />
I put in Fire & Grav as comparisons since they're both considered high damage primaries (only really true for one of those). Spec Wounds only includes permanent damage, so is misleading, but it's a good guideline if you care to use them. I also put in Fire Blast's tier 1 & 2 blasts as a comparison to show why ppl might really want to consider slotting for damage in their control primaries (remember, consider containment).
-Under IO sets for holds, you sorta put in Lockdown as an afterthought, almost. I'd put that up there with the very best of the hold sets, and in fact, I place it in favor of even the purp Unbreakable set on some builds, depending on what I'm going for. Obviously, w/Ill, you want max recharge, but Lockdown has some phenomenal 2, 3 bonuses for extra holding & damage (not for PA, obv), and then 5 & 6 bonuses for defenses.
-Finally, under your first description for Deceive (you reference that you will talk more about it under tactics), you talk about DFs taking away from XP, but don't mention that they also increase your kill speeds, so in balance, you actually end up ahead likelier than not. I'm sure you go into this in the tactics section, but a blurb up here might not be a bad idea.
Will print out the rest and read under guise of work later today. Again, great job overall--you've pretty much written a textbook, not just a guide.
An Offensive Guide to Ice Melee
Thanks so much . . . This thing was written in bits and pieces and then mushed together, so I'm sure there are a lot of improvements that can be made. I started it before the Lockdown sets were available, which is why those are put in as an afterthought.
I really appreciate your comments and will work on changes. I'll probably work on edits for a couple of weeks before posting the final version.
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
Great job Local_M!!
I am curious how it would change to go to Ill/TA
Been making more changes. I added some explanation about Phantasm's knockback -- I had intended that to be there but forgot to add it. Cleaned up some wording and fixed typos. Still working on adjustments for the IO slotting sections.
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
So a few other minor critiques/comments...
-AM: On I/O slotting, I really like frankenslotting in here. Unfortunately, there are only 2 sets that give you the rech/end mod combo at lvl 50, so you need to grab some unnecessary bonuses to best efficiently slot AM.
The slotting of Efficiency Adaptor's Endmod/Rech and Endmod/Acc/Rech, and Perf. Shifer's Endmod/Rech, Endmod/Acc/Rech will w/just 4 slots give you almost 92% bonus to both end mod & rech with lvl 50 IOs, which is almost the ED cap. If you really want to hit ED cap, you can add a 5th Energy Manipulator Endmod/Rech, and in fact, until you can get the lvl 50 IOs (at lvl 47), this is exactly what you should do. Once you hit lvl 47, it's really up to the player to determind if those extra 3-4 seconds of recharge is worth a slot, and considering that may get you to perma-AM, it may well be.
-Lingering Rad - I always thought Rad's holy trinity referred to RI, EF & AM, not the holy *debuff* trinity of RI, EF & LR? I'm sure there's some conflation involved. In any case, I'm surprised that you don't emphasize LR's role in AV fights more in the description section (haven't read tactics yet). I find LR as a pure slow power largely unnecessary for most fights and only use it for the -regen for AV/GM fights, and I don't think I'm in the minority in this one.
-Fallout - I totally agree on your take, but the power is awesome for things like Rikti MS raids where there's almost always a pile of dead bodies to be abused. Great for dual builds, taken w/Recall Friend and Vengence (yes, the dreaded leadership pool!).
-EMP - Shouldn't the description be, 1 of *3* best holds in the game along w/VG & EMP Arrow? Unless you consider EMP & EMP Arrow to be the same power.
-First build - "Jump" pool really should be "Leaping"
-Deceive section - I always thought deceiving things like Rikti guardians (for the free AM) and stuff like that were cool in concept and giggle worthy the first few times, but in practice not worth the effort. I do find that deceiving FF generators of all kinds really, really worthwhile, if only to get rid of the bubble for the enemy (that you get it for yourself is a nice side effect too).
-Misc - I recently starting using my TP bind for any useful targetted location powers, like PA & ST.
/bind lshift+lbutton "powexec_name Phantom Army"
/bind lshift+rbutton "powexec_name Spectral Terror"
/bind lshift+mbutton "powexec_name <insert power>"
etc
The thing is that w/the left mouse button, the power gets cast immediately (left shift + mouse click and PA appears where your cursor is), but w/the other two buttons (the mbutton is your wheel, btw), you then have to click the left mouse button again to actually cast, so it's not quite as convenient, which is why I assign my most important power (PA) to lbutton, and ST to rbutton. Then again, you're likely to use ST more often, so might want to switch the two around.
An Offensive Guide to Ice Melee
[ QUOTE ]
So a few other minor critiques/comments...
-AM: On I/O slotting, I really like frankenslotting in here. Unfortunately, there are only 2 sets that give you the rech/end mod combo at lvl 50, so you need to grab some unnecessary bonuses to best efficiently slot AM.
The slotting of Efficiency Adaptor's Endmod/Rech and Endmod/Acc/Rech, and Perf. Shifer's Endmod/Rech, Endmod/Acc/Rech will w/just 4 slots give you almost 92% bonus to both end mod & rech with lvl 50 IOs, which is almost the ED cap. If you really want to hit ED cap, you can add a 5th Energy Manipulator Endmod/Rech, and in fact, until you can get the lvl 50 IOs (at lvl 47), this is exactly what you should do. Once you hit lvl 47, it's really up to the player to determind if those extra 3-4 seconds of recharge is worth a slot, and considering that may get you to perma-AM, it may well be.
-Lingering Rad - I always thought Rad's holy trinity referred to RI, EF & AM, not the holy *debuff* trinity of RI, EF & LR? I'm sure there's some conflation involved. In any case, I'm surprised that you don't emphasize LR's role in AV fights more in the description section (haven't read tactics yet). I find LR as a pure slow power largely unnecessary for most fights and only use it for the -regen for AV/GM fights, and I don't think I'm in the minority in this one.
-Fallout - I totally agree on your take, but the power is awesome for things like Rikti MS raids where there's almost always a pile of dead bodies to be abused. Great for dual builds, taken w/Recall Friend and Vengence (yes, the dreaded leadership pool!).
-EMP - Shouldn't the description be, 1 of *3* best holds in the game along w/VG & EMP Arrow? Unless you consider EMP & EMP Arrow to be the same power.
-First build - "Jump" pool really should be "Leaping"
-Deceive section - I always thought deceiving things like Rikti guardians (for the free AM) and stuff like that were cool in concept and giggle worthy the first few times, but in practice not worth the effort. I do find that deceiving FF generators of all kinds really, really worthwhile, if only to get rid of the bubble for the enemy (that you get it for yourself is a nice side effect too).
-Misc - I recently starting using my TP bind for any useful targetted location powers, like PA & ST.
/bind lshift+lbutton "powexec_name Phantom Army"
/bind lshift+rbutton "powexec_name Spectral Terror"
/bind lshift+mbutton "powexec_name <insert power>"
etc
The thing is that w/the left mouse button, the power gets cast immediately (left shift + mouse click and PA appears where your cursor is), but w/the other two buttons (the mbutton is your wheel, btw), you then have to click the left mouse button again to actually cast, so it's not quite as convenient, which is why I assign my most important power (PA) to lbutton, and ST to rbutton. Then again, you're likely to use ST more often, so might want to switch the two around.
[/ QUOTE ]
Dave -- lots of great comments and ideas. Thanks!
On AM -- I have always liked the set bonuses on Efficiency Adapter and that's the way I have gone. Your idea is great for the folks who don't want a perma pa build and want to squeeze one more slot from somewhere.
LR -- I have already made some changes to that section referring to AVs.
Fallout -- good point for using it on high level content.
EM Pulse -- You are correct. Even though I have it on my Ill/TA, I keep forgetting about EM Pulse Arrow. However, because the radius is smaller than EM Pulse itself, I don't consider it to be quite as awesome as EM Pulse.
Deceive -- You are correct that the novelty of some things wear off after a while. But remember, this is a resource for folks learning what the sets can do -- let them have the fun of trying it out. You have to admit it was pretty cool the first time you got an Rikti Guardian to give you AM.
Binds: Personally, I have my fancy 8-button mouse set up for similar stuff. The tilt-wheel left is for PA, Shift-Tilt-Left is Spooky. I have been saving my left side buttons for my primary, right side buttons for my secondary -- just so I can keep them straight on all my characters. But that is more advanced playstyle stuff, very much tailored to individual preference.
In doing some of the edits, I noticed that some of the stuff left over from my Earth/Rad guide was still there. Working on cleaning that up.
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
A comment on pet slotting. I notice a lot of guide's only look at set bonuses when they consider the pet IO's - the problem here is that except for the new recharge intensive pet IO's most of the other pet sets don't really give good set bonuses - even soulbound allegiance is not that great and the enhancement bonuses you get for full sets are either too good in many cases or not good enough, even for the RIP sets. For example, slotting everything but the proc from Call to Arms or Expedient reinforcement will give you 60% accuracy, 77% damage, 40% end and 56% recharge (at level 30) which is not nearly enough recharge for a pet that actually need recharge and way to much for one that doesn't (like the tier 9 pets). What a lot of folks miss are the following points:
- Blue side, standard pet set IO's are CHEAP
- You can get a lot done by frankenslotting early on in your characters life.
For example - an ill/rad phantasm doesn't really need any recharge as the pet lasts until it zones or one dies and one hasten/AM cycle will recharge it completely. So I save slots and put the following 4 L30+ IO's in the power: 3 x ACC/DAM (any 3 different pet sets) and 1 x DAM. That gives you 60% accuracy and ED capped damage and leaves 2 slots for procs, end reduction (if it really matters) etc.
I slot up phantom army similarily, although I use all 6 slots because I want to maximize recharge. My current slotting on my illusion/rad is:
Call to Arms acc/dam/rech (L30)
Expedient Reinforcemnt acc/dam/rec (L41)
Brilliant Leadership acc/dam (L38)
2 x L30 generic recharge IO
1 x L30 generic damage IO
This gives me 60% accuracy, ED capped recharge (95.53%) and close to ED capped damage (91.73%). This is pretty much the best slotting I can suggest for phantom army as it gives you the best recharge you are probably going to get, sufficient accuracy for anything and nearly capped damage.
Best of all the ONLY expensive pieces are the two RIP pieces and they are not generally that expensive. Odds are the salvage is going to cost you more as all the new IO sets tend to require at least one piece of expensive rare salvage per recipe.
Obviously at L50 you might get enhancement bonuses as good with the right 4 L50 Expedient reinforcement which would let you get the 6.25% recharge bonus but the slotting I use above can be done by level 27 if you can get our hands on L30 versions of everything and will be nearly as good.
Other thoughts: I didn't notice if you mentioned picking up a pool attack early on to smooth out the single target attack chain. Air superiority is my favorite - good damage with containment and nice soft control outside of containment, but anyone will work.
Another possible tip, although this is pretty specialized, if you have access to Mr. Yin's store in faultline (either through other characters on your account, friends, SG members, etc) you can slot some SO's at level 10. With illusion/rad you have to really good options:
1) Go with natural or mutant origin and slot damage SO's in spectral wounds, blind and a pool attack power. The extra damage from level 10 on is VERY nice
2) Go with science origin and slot recharge SO's in AM and hasten. With carefull slotting you can have both powers capped on recharge by level 11 easily - this means that for 2 minutes out of every 3 you will have 100% recharge, stamina level end recovery and a 20% damage boost. I leveled my illusion/rad this way well before the latest XP smoothing pass and it went very fast.
The other origin options are not as good for illusion rad although going tech for end reduction would be ok.
Globals: @Midnight Mystique/@Magik13
[ QUOTE ]
A comment on pet slotting. I notice a lot of guide's only look at set bonuses when they consider the pet IO's - the problem here is that except for the new recharge intensive pet IO's most of the other pet sets don't really give good set bonuses - even soulbound allegiance is not that great and the enhancement bonuses you get for full sets are either too good in many cases or not good enough, even for the RIP sets. For example, slotting everything but the proc from Call to Arms or Expedient reinforcement will give you 60% accuracy, 77% damage, 40% end and 56% recharge (at level 30) which is not nearly enough recharge for a pet that actually need recharge and way to much for one that doesn't (like the tier 9 pets). What a lot of folks miss are the following points:
- Blue side, standard pet set IO's are CHEAP
- You can get a lot done by frankenslotting early on in your characters life.
For example - an ill/rad phantasm doesn't really need any recharge as the pet lasts until it zones or one dies and one hasten/AM cycle will recharge it completely. So I save slots and put the following 4 L30+ IO's in the power: 3 x ACC/DAM (any 3 different pet sets) and 1 x DAM. That gives you 60% accuracy and ED capped damage and leaves 2 slots for procs, end reduction (if it really matters) etc.
I slot up phantom army similarily, although I use all 6 slots because I want to maximize recharge. My current slotting on my illusion/rad is:
Call to Arms acc/dam/rech (L30)
Expedient Reinforcemnt acc/dam/rec (L41)
Brilliant Leadership acc/dam (L38)
2 x L30 generic recharge IO
1 x L30 generic damage IO
This gives me 60% accuracy, ED capped recharge (95.53%) and close to ED capped damage (91.73%). This is pretty much the best slotting I can suggest for phantom army as it gives you the best recharge you are probably going to get, sufficient accuracy for anything and nearly capped damage.
Best of all the ONLY expensive pieces are the two RIP pieces and they are not generally that expensive. Odds are the salvage is going to cost you more as all the new IO sets tend to require at least one piece of expensive rare salvage per recipe.
Obviously at L50 you might get enhancement bonuses as good with the right 4 L50 Expedient reinforcement which would let you get the 6.25% recharge bonus but the slotting I use above can be done by level 27 if you can get our hands on L30 versions of everything and will be nearly as good.
[/ QUOTE ]
Under the discussion of each power, I did discuss various options on slotting. I have already revised some of the discussion on Phantom Army slotting to include some additional alternatives. In the discussion on Phantasm, I offered a cheap slotting that gives very good accuracy and damage in only 4 slots and some minor but desirable set bonuses.
However, when the guide gets posted in the guides section, please feel free to post alternative options for slotting. I can't go over all of them.
[ QUOTE ]
Other thoughts: I didn't notice if you mentioned picking up a pool attack early on to smooth out the single target attack chain. Air superiority is my favorite - good damage with containment and nice soft control outside of containment, but anyone will work.
[/ QUOTE ]
My sample build includes Air Superiority, and the discussion on travel powers discusses the benefits.
[ QUOTE ]
Another possible tip, although this is pretty specialized, if you have access to Mr. Yin's store in faultline (either through other characters on your account, friends, SG members, etc) you can slot some SO's at level 10. With illusion/rad you have to really good options:
1) Go with natural or mutant origin and slot damage SO's in spectral wounds, blind and a pool attack power. The extra damage from level 10 on is VERY nice
2) Go with science origin and slot recharge SO's in AM and hasten. With carefull slotting you can have both powers capped on recharge by level 11 easily - this means that for 2 minutes out of every 3 you will have 100% recharge, stamina level end recovery and a 20% damage boost. I leveled my illusion/rad this way well before the latest XP smoothing pass and it went very fast.
The other origin options are not as good for illusion rad although going tech for end reduction would be ok.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, that is a good point, but I'm not sure I need to add it to the guide that is already longer than the Tax Code. Feel free to post it on the final version.
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
Nice well written guide Local. In my admittedly somewhat hasty read thru one minor detail that jumped out at me was in your two sections on Deceive... in the power description area you refer to Deceived Foes (DF) and later you refer to them as Confused Foes (CF). A minor detail but about the only one I noticed on my quick read thru in my copious free time here during my so called lunch break 
I didn't catch anything else in my glance.
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
[ QUOTE ]
Nice well written guide Local. In my admittedly somewhat hasty read thru one minor detail that jumped out at me was in your two sections on Deceive... in the power description area you refer to Deceived Foes (DF) and later you refer to them as Confused Foes (CF). A minor detail but about the only one I noticed on my quick read thru in my copious free time here during my so called lunch break
I didn't catch anything else in my glance.
[/ QUOTE ]
yep -- I caught that one and already fixed it in my off-line version. That's what happens when I mash stuff together that was written at different times on different computers.
Working on some substantial changes on how the guide discusses IO sets.
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
OK, I have made some major revisions. In particular, I added discussion to every power about what IO sets will boost Recharge for those folks looking to make a Perma PA build. The final version will have the sections with links to the parts. By the way, there is a limit to how long posts can be, which is why I had to break this up so much. Here goes Version 2:
A Local Guide to the Illusion Control/Radiation Emission Controller
When I first rolled up Area Man, an Illusion/Radiation controller, he was supposed to be a sidekick to my main-character-at-the-time, Local Man, a Dark Miasma/Electric Defender. But Area Man was so much fun to play that he became my main character and my first to hit level 50. Ill/Rad continues to be my overall favorite character in the game and I have even rolled up additional Ill/Rad controllers on other servers. This is my second guide; my first was A Local Guide to the Earth/Rad Controller.
This guide has five sections:
- Introduction to the Ill/Rad Controller
- The Illusion Control Powers
- The Radiation Emission Powers
- Suggested Builds (in Five Acts)
- Strategies and Discussions
As a bit of a warning - this guide is quite long. I have tried to include a lot of strategy suggestions and information I have picked up. Feel free to skip to whichever sections interest you.
Introduction to the Illusion/Radiation Controller?
An Illusion/Radiation controller is the Jack-of-All-Trades in CoH. He can do a little of everything, and there are a few things he can do better than anyone. With Phantom Army, he can be a tank. With Spectral Wounds, and later with the Ancillary Powers, he can be a blaster. With control powers of Blind, Flash, Spectral Terror, Lingering Radiation, Choking Cloud and EM Pulse, he can be a controller. And with the various Radiation debuff and buff powers, and even Group Invisibility, he can buff and debuff as a Defender. Add in a melee pool power or two, and he can be a Scrapper, too. Some folks might say that Khedians are the Jack-of-All-Trades in CoH, but they lack in the buffing/debuffing area, and really are better blaster-tank-scrappers. An Ill/Rad can be a Blaster-Controller-Defender-Tank.
Ill/Rad's flexibility makes it a great all-around character, both for solo and for small and large teams. Ill/Rad has long been considered one of the best builds in the game. Folks have posted on the Boards many times how they were able to overcome Arch-Villians (AVs) or even Giant Monsters (GMs) with just their single Ill/Rad controller. Even if you don't seek those lofty goals, there is no question that Ill/Rad is one of the most effective builds against the higher level content in the game, including AVs. It is pretty darn effective in the low levels, too. However, Ill/Rad's strength is mainly geared to attacking single targets - it has no area damage powers, unless you count Phantom Army, until the Ancillary Power Pool (APP) power sets. If you are looking for a build to do farming, Illusion is probably not the best choice.
Illusion has fewer control powers than other controllers, but makes up for it in other unique ways. Illusion mainly controls by distraction and other forms of soft control. This allows Illusion controllers to team well with other controllers or other Illusion controllers. Other controller sets may have powers that invalidate another's favorite power (for example, Earthquake or Ice Slick are made almost useless by applying Stone Cages, Frostbite or Fire Cages), but more illusion controllers usually add to the team without having any conflicts. Also, other controllers often have so many control powers that another controller's powers become unnecessary or become interfering. (What happens if a Earth Controller uses Volcanic Gasses just when a Gravity Controller uses Wormhole? One or the other has probably wasted his effort.) The single most important power in Illusion is Phantom Army. PA is unique in that it is three unbuffable and invulnerable pets that last for 60 seconds.
Radiation fills some of the control holes in Illusion with additional controls, and with debuffs that make Illusion's controls more effective. As explained below, Phantom Army ("PA") cannot be buffed, which is why Rad goes so well with Illusion - the Rad Defense and Resistance debuffs make Phantom Army much better and the Recharge in AM helps PA come back faster. Rad is the only secondary that offers all three benefits. The Defense Debuff in Radiation Infection helps PA hit with higher accuracy, and the Resistance Debuff in Enervating Field lets PA do more damage. Of the Controller Secondary sets, Thermal, Trick Arrow and Storm have substantial debuffs to make Phantom Army better, but have no recharge buff. Also, Trick Arrow doesn't have the versatility of Rad, Therm's debuffs come very late in the set and Storm's debuff, Freezing Rain, is a targeted AoE click power. Sonic has a Resistance debuff only. Kinetics has Siphon Speed to help with PA's recharge, but no debuffs to make PA better - Fulcrum Shift doesn't affect PA. Force Field and Empathy have other good powers, but nothing to make PA better.
This guide incorporates information from two wonderful sites, Red Tomax's, City of Data, and ParagonWiki, as well as information from other guides written before this one. I did not spend time testing and calculating, but just compiled the great work done by others. Two previous guides deserve special mention: Q_Arkhan did a solo-oriented Ill/Rad guide in I-6 that was very good, and Tal_N has an excellent Illusion/Storm Guide.
There are several general statements to start off:
(A) I like lists. I think lists make things easier to understand.
(B) This is guide will say very little about PvP - I don't particularly care for PvP and spend almost no time in those zones. What I know about PvP is from reading the boards, not from actual experience.
(C) This is a guide for an Ill/Rad who can both solo and team. Some power choices and slotting would be different for a solo-only controller. There is a pretty good guide out there, Tom Foolery's Solo Ill/Rad Guide, focusing on building a solo Ill/Rad, but it pre-dated inventions. This guide will mainly focus on a team build, but will include some discussion about solo as well.
(D) Various terms are used to describe the enemy - enemies, bad guys, baddies, foes. I don't use mob because it is confusing. Old MMO lingo uses mob to mean Mobile Object, representing one bad guy. To most people, a mob is a group of bad guys. It is confusing, so I don't use mob. I use bunch, group, gang or a spawn to describe a group of baddies. The developers appear to use the term, critters, but that sounds like animals to me, so I don't use it.
(E) Maximizing Invention Origin (IO) sets is complex and subject to personal taste. There are a lot of options, and I will not cover them all. I will discuss some sets or special IOs from time to time, but I will also discuss slotting in the context of Single Origin or standard single aspect common IOs, since I feel that is more useful to someone leveling up. When you are leveling up and building a character, you need the basic enhancement concepts. You can get fancy with IOs later. IO sets give you a lot of options depending upon your play style and the particular attributes you want to enhance. While different people have different philosophies on how they like to use IO sets, the most common attribute that an Ill/Rad controller will want to enhance is Recharge, mostly to get Phantom Army to recharge faster. Some folks are enamored by the Procs (special enhancements that will occasionally add damage or some other attribute), while others find it a challenge to maximize this attribute or that attribute. I don't claim to be an expert in the IO sets, so while I will discuss them to a degree, I will not be posting the ultimate IO build. By the time you are ready to start outfitting IO sets, you will probably know the character pretty well yourself and you can play around with Mid's builder yourself. However, if you have an IO build you particularly like, feel free to post it. A lot of folks want an IO build that will give Permanent PA - and I offer anyone to post those builds here to add to the discussion. I will discuss enhancements that improve recharge and the goal of an expensive "Perma PA" build. However, I haven't spent the time or influence to build one of those builds, so I don't have experience with it.
(F) There are a lot of standard terms and abbreviations are in this guide because I'm lazy. Here are some of the terms used:
<ul type="square">[*]PB AoE stands for Point Blank Area of Effect, meaning a power that has an affect in the area immediately around the caster. Flash, Group Invisibility, Radiant Aura, Accelerate Metabolism, EM Pulse and Choking Cloud are examples of PB AoE powers. Some affect teammates while others affect foes.[*] A Location-targeted AoE is a power is one where you pick a spot on the ground, and the power will have an Area of Effect around that location. When you activate it, white rings appear wherever it is proper to place the power. You then pick a spot on the ground in range, and click that spot on the ground. Using that spot as the center, the effect appears in a circle (more or less) centered on the spot you clicked. If you are using a pet power, the pet is summoned to that spot. These include Phantom Army, Spectral Terror and Phantasm.[*] "Toggle" powers are ones that you turn on, and they keep operating until you turn them off, or until some other event turns off the toggle. Your toggle can be turned off (a) if you are defeated, (b) if you run out of endurance, or (c) depending upon whether it is an offensive or defensive toggle, if you get mezzed (held, stunned or slept). Examples include Superior Invisibility and travel powers. [*]An anchor is a target upon whom a power is cast. The power will have an effect in the area surrounding the anchor. Usually anchors are foes, but there are a few powers, like Fallout, that use teammates as anchors. Anchor powers are important to Rad's Radiation Infection, Enervating Field and Lingering Radiation powers.[*] Anchor Toggle powers are ones that you cast on an anchor and they keep operating until you turn them off, or until some other event turns off the toggle. Your toggle can be turned off (a) if your anchor is defeated, (b) if you are defeated, (c) if you run out of endurance, (d) if your anchor goes out of range or (e) if you leave the zone. Examples include Radiation Infection and Enervating Field. [*]Click powers are powers which activate when you click on them or push a button, but they finish their animation and then recharge until ready again. Most of the powers in the game are click powers.[*]AV is Arch-Villain, and EB is Elite Boss, two high level enemies that usually require special tactics and powers. You may be able to handle an EB solo, but it takes something special to handle an AV solo. GM is Giant Monster, a huge beast who usually needs more than one team to fight.[*] XP is Experience Points, which is how the game keeps score of your progression. You get XP mostly for defeating foes, completing objectives and completing missions.[*] AI is Artificial Intelligence, or the programming of how a pet or foe is supposed to act.[*]Enhancements fit into 5 main types of categories:
(1) TO is Training Origin, and these are the weakest type of enhancements, available to you at level 1. The amount of enhancement varied depending upon what is being enhanced, but the most common amount is 8%.
(2) DO is Dual Origin, and these are limited to one of two types of origin. A DO is roughly twice the strength of a TO. If you are Magic origin, you can only use Magic/Mutant or Natural/Magic DOs.
(3) SO is Single Origin, and these will only work for characters of the same origin as the type of enhancement. If you are Science origin, you can only use Science SOs. An SO is again twice the strength of a DO and four times the strength of a TO. The most common amount of enhancement is about 33%.
(4) IO stands for Invention Origin, and fit into two sub-categories, common IOs and set IOs Common IOs work for any origin, like TOs, except they start at level 10, they never expire and they increase in strength as the level goes up. Level 25-30 common IOs are functionally the same as SOs. Common IOs level 35 and up are stronger than SOs. Set IOs usually, but not always, enhance more than one attribute, but the two or three attributes enhanced add up to enhancement for a little more than common IOs. When Set IOs of the same set are used to enhance the same power, the set IOs will give some additional attributes, called set bonues.
(5) Finally, there are a last, somewhat rare type that can only be earned by doing certain trials, like the Eden Trial, the Abandoned Sewers trial, the Hamidon raids and the Statesman's Task Force. Although these have a few different names, I'll just refer to them as Hami-O's or HOs. These are the equivalent of two or sometimes three SO enhancements. Although the Eden and Abandoned Sewers Trials give HO-like enhancements, those expire. Most of the HOs available are either Hamidon or Synthetic Hamidon enhancements at level 50, so they can't be slotted until level 47. HOs and Synthetic HOs are identical other than the name.[/list]
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
Some Basics About Controllers
All other archetypes have at least one power set that is designed for damage. Controllers may have individual powers that do damage, but they do not have a power set focused on damage. Controllers are designed to limit the enemy's actions, thereby making it easier to do damage to the enemy. Some Controllers do a lot of damage as well, while others don't do much damage but do a greater amount of damage prevention and enhancement. Ill/Rad is considered to be one of the higher damage controllers. In general, Controller powers fall into two categories: Control Powers (in your primary mostly) and Buff Powers (mostly in your secondary). The secondary for controllers are copied from Defender's primaries, but the strength of the powers is often different - control powers are usually stronger while buff powers are usually weaker.
(A) It is important to understand the various powers that provide control. A Power that reduces or eliminates the enemy's ability to attack is usually a control power. Control powers, some of which are referred to as Mez powers, are Hold, Stun (also known as Disorient), Sleep, Confuse, Intangible (a/k/a Phase), Fear, Immobilize, Slow and Knocks. Each of these powers has a level of strength, or mag (magnitude) that determines how effective it is against types of foes. The Ill/Rad combination does not have Immobilize, Stun, or Intangible, but it has all the other kinds of Control powers.
<ul type="square">[*]A Hold will keep the foe in one place, unable to attack or defend or do anything. This is the hardest kind of control. Holds in Ill/Rad are Blind, Flash, Choking Cloud and EM Pulse.[*]A Stun or Disorient will also keep the foe from attacking or defending or do anything other than wander around, but some stunned foes can move pretty fast. A Stun added to an Immobilize has the same effect as a hold. Ill/Rad doesn't have a Stun/Disorient, but if it happens, you can still get Containment. While Illusion doesn't have either a Stun or an Immobilize, several other controllers do, and if they use it, you can take advantage of Containment for extra damage.[*]Confuse is a unique power. When a foe is Confused, he stops attacking you and your team, and instead attacks other foes in his range. If there are no foes around, he just stands there and ignores you and your team, even if you attack him. Deceive is a Confuse Power. Confuse powers do NOT set up Containment. There are lots of special aspects to Confuse powers, discussed below.[*]Fear or Terrorize powers allow a foe to do one thing before the foe begins to cower in fear. If anyone attacks that foe, the foe will again get to do one thing before going back into the cower animation. The "one thing" is often an attack, but may be something else. Sometimes foes who are terrorized will run away a short distance. Fear powers do NOT set up Containment. Spectral Terror is a fear power.[*]A Sleep will act just like a hold, until the foe receives any attack. Then he will wake up with no other effect. Sleeps usually last longer than Holds or Stuns, but are not very helpful if your teammates have lots of AoE powers that will wake them. Blind has a somewhat rare secondary effect that is a Sleep.[*] Immobilize will keep the foe in one place, but he can still attack, defend or take any action that does not involve moving. Ill/Rad doesn't have any Immobilize powers, but they cause Containment.[*]Slow powers will slow the movement rate of enemies. Some slow powers will also reduce the recharge rate, or speed at which the enemy can keep attacking you. Sometimes, enemies can run out of the effect of a slow. Slow enhancements only affect run speed, and not the other effects of the slow power. Also, slow powers do NOT set up Containment. At most, you can slow a foe to 10% of his standard movement speed - this is called the slow cap. Lingering Radiation is a Slow power.[*] Knock powers include Knockback, Knockdown and Knock-up. Knockback powers usually send the bad guy flying back. Knockdown is where the foe falls down where he is, and Knock-up is where the bad guy flies up into the air, and then falls down. During the fairly short time that the bad guy is getting up, he cannot attack. Some powers, like Earthquake, Ice Slick and Oil Slick Arrow, keep knocking the foes down over and over again, preventing the foes from doing anything. Knock powers do NOT set up Containment. Phantasm does a lot of knock-back with his attacks.[/list]
If you want to understand how the various forms of mez work in the game, and what Mag is, take a look at this old Guide on Magnitude. Each of the above powers has factor designating its strength, which are referred to as Mag, (for magnitude). The general rule is that Minion level foes require the effect of the power to reach Mag 2 to take effect, Lieutenant level foes require Mag 3, and Boss level foes require Mag 4. AV's are a special case - but there are other guides that discuss the Purple Triangles of Doom (PToD) and how to deal with AV's.
(B) It is also important to understand Containment and how it works. Containment is double damage (usually) done by a controller's attack if the target is held, stunned, slept or immobilized. Containment works for damage directly caused by any controller - no matter who may have caused the hold, stun, sleep or immobilize - so you can get containment bonus damage even if the foe has been held by a blaster or stunned by a tank. For the most part, powers that are considered pets do not get containment, so Phantom Army, Spectral Terror, Phantasm, and Fallout do not get Containment. The Containment buff for Spectral Wounds is handled in an odd way, making it appear as though it gets a lot less Containment bonus than other powers. That is explained with the power, below. If you want to find out more about a controller's containment, take a look at Enantiodromos's Controller Damage Overview.
(C) Controller Buff powers are the same sets as most of the Defender's primary power sets, but many of the powers have different values than when the powers are used by Defenders. Powers like Accelerate Metabolism will buff up you and your team, improving you and your team's attributes like accuracy or ToHit, damage, recharge, recovery of endurance, regeneration of health, etc. Radiation Aura is an AoE heal. Radiation has three core debuff powers that will decrease similar abilities of the enemy. In addition to what you will find below, there is a lot of information on these types of powers under the Defender Guides.
On slotting powers: I try to give the basic slotting first, so folks can see the most important aspects of a power to slot. I usually try to slot common IOs at level 30 or 35, but don't really look at adding IO sets until the late 30's or 40's with some exceptions. Some people are enamored with IO set bonuses, and are willing to sacrifice the effectiveness of the power for better set bonuses. Others prefer to slot the power for its most effective uses first, and then see if they can fit in a few set bonuses as, well, bonuses. Some folks are willing to spend a lot of time farming to put full sets of Purple enhancements in their Ill/Rad. (Purple means the unique level 50 Ultra-rare sets that are extremely expensive but give the best bonuses and strongest enhancement.) I don't have an "ultra-max" build - I may comment on Purple sets, but I actually have very few at this point. I do have a LOT of Hami-O's from back when I used to participate in frequent Hami Raids, and my first Ill/Rad originally had Hami-O's in just about every spot that could effectively take one. To most people, the most important bonus is recharge on an Ill/Rad because you want to shorten that recharge for Phantom Army.
The "Perma PA" Build: Phantom Army is the key power for an Illusion Controller. The goal of the Perma PA build is to make sure that you have enough recharge that PA is always available. To have Perma PA, you have to get enough global recharge to have Phantom Army recharge in 60 seconds or less. With Hasten and Accelerate Metabolism, an Ill/Rad can do this more easily than any other Illusion build other than Kinetics (which has to rely upon siphoning speed off of a foe). In the listings below, I will indicate IO sets that provide Recharge as a benefit. Because these enhancements are in high demand for all controllers, not just Ill/Rads, a Perma PA build is very expensive and takes a lot of work to make. An Illusion/Radiation controller can be very effective without having Perma PA, so if you don't want to put in the effort to get there, it will not make your character ineffective. I don't have a Perma PA build, because I haven't taken the time or influence to make one of these myself. (But I have played on occasion when I had enough external recharge to have Perma PA -- and it is very nice!) There are plenty of other effective IO set bonuses that will make your character better. These include Recovery, Regeneration and Defense.
OK, Let's start with the powersets, and then get to my recommended build. I will try to explain why I chose each power when I did, and you can decide if those factors matter to you. Each power will be described by its "in-game" description, and then its various attributes will be listed. All durations of Mez effects and damage amounts are for a level 50 character, as listed in City of Data. After those come my suggestions, strategy and suggested slotting.
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 have been working on this for a long time, and finally have a draft ready to post for corrections and comments. Yes, I know it is long. I would appreciate any comments and corrections y'all can make. (I bet there are a few here and there.)
A Local Guide to the Illusion Control/Radiation Emission Controller
When I first rolled up Area Man, an Illusion/Radiation controller, he was supposed to be a sidekick to my main-character-at-the-time, Local Man, a Dark Miasma/Electric Defender. But Area Man was so much fun to play that he became my main character and my first to hit level 50. Ill/Rad continues to be my overall favorite character in the game and I have even rolled up additional Ill/Rad controllers on other servers. This is my second guide; my first was A Local Guide to the Earth/Rad Controller.
This guide has five sections:
As a bit of a warning - this guide is quite long. I have tried to include a lot of strategy suggestions and information I have picked up. Feel free to skip to whichever sections interest you.
Introduction to the Illusion/Radiation Controller?
An Illusion/Radiation controller is the Jack-of-All-Trades in CoH. He can do a little of everything, and there are a few things he can do better than anyone. With Phantom Army, he can be a tank. With Spectral Wounds, and later with the Ancillary Powers, he can be a blaster. With control powers of Blind, Flash, Spectral Terror, Lingering Radiation, Choking Cloud and EM Pulse, he can be a controller. And with the various Radiation debuff and buff powers, and even Group Invisibility, he can buff and debuff as a Defender. Add in a melee pool power or two, and he can be a Scrapper, too. Some folks might say that Khedians are the Jack-of-All-Trades in CoH, but they lack in the buffing/debuffing area, and really are better blaster-tank-scrappers. An Ill/Rad can be a Blaster-Controller-Defender-Tank.
Ill/Rad's flexibility makes it a great all-around character, both for solo and for small and large teams. Ill/Rad has long been considered one of the best builds in the game. Folks have posted on the Boards many times how they were able to overcome Arch-Villians (AVs) or even Giant Monsters (GMs) with just their single Ill/Rad controller. Even if you don't seek those lofty goals, there is no question that Ill/Rad is one of the most effective builds against the higher level content in the game, including AVs. It is pretty darn effective in the low levels, too. However, Ill/Rad's strength is mainly geared to attacking single targets - it has no area damage powers, unless you count Phantom Army, until the Ancillary Power Pool (APP) power sets. If you are looking for a build to do farming, Illusion is probably not the best choice.
Illusion has fewer control powers than other controllers, but makes up for it in other unique ways. Illusion mainly controls by distraction and other forms of soft control. This allows Illusion controllers to team well with other controllers or other Illusion controllers. Other controller sets may have powers that invalidate another's favorite power (for example, Earthquake or Ice Slick are made almost useless by applying Stone Cages, Frostbite or Fire Cages), but more illusion controllers usually add to the team without having any conflicts. Also, other controllers often have so many control powers that another controller's powers become unnecessary or become interfering. (What happens if a Earth Controller uses Volcanic Gasses just when a Gravity Controller uses Wormhole? One or the other has probably wasted his effort.) The single most important power in Illusion is Phantom Army. PA is unique in that it is three unbuffable and invulnerable pets that last for 60 seconds.
Radiation fills some of the control holes in Illusion with additional controls, and with debuffs that make Illusion's controls more effective. Radiation is the only secondary that has a Recharge buff and foe debuffs to make Phantom Army better. Accelerate Metabolism provides a Recharge buff (among other things) to help Phantom Army recharge faster, and Radiation has both a Defense debuff in Radiation Infection to help PA hit more often, and a Resistance debuff in Enervating Field to help PA do more damage.
This guide incorporates information from two wonderful sites, Red Tomax's, City of Data, and ParagonWiki, as well as information from other guides written before this one. I did not spend time testing and calculating, but just compiled the great work done by others. Two previous guides deserve special mention: Q_Arkhan did a solo-oriented Ill/Rad guide in I-6 that was very good, and Tal_N has an excellent Illusion/Storm Guide.
There are several general statements to start off:
(A) I like lists. I think lists make things easier to understand.
(B) This is guide will say very little about PvP - I don't particularly care for PvP and spend almost no time in those zones. What I know about PvP is from reading the boards, not from actual experience.
(C) This is a guide for an Ill/Rad who can both solo and team. Some power choices and slotting would be different for a solo-only controller. There is a pretty good guide out there, Tom Foolery's Solo Ill/Rad Guide, focusing on building a solo Ill/Rad, but it pre-dated inventions. This guide will mainly focus on a team build, but will include some discussion about solo as well.
(D) Various terms are used to describe the enemy - enemies, bad guys, baddies, foes. I don't use mob because it is confusing. Old MMO lingo uses mob to mean Mobile Object, representing one bad guy. To most people, a mob is a group of bad guys. It is confusing, so I don't use mob. I use bunch, group, gang or a spawn to describe a group of baddies. The developers appear to use the term, critters, but that sounds like animals to me, so I don't use it.
(E) Maximizing Invention Origin (IO) sets is complex and subject to personal taste. There are a lot of options, and I will not cover them all. I will discuss some sets or special IOs from time to time, but I will also discuss slotting in the context of Single Origin or standard single aspect common IOs, since I feel that is more useful to someone leveling up. When you are leveling up and building a character, you need the basic enhancement concepts. You can get fancy with IOs later. IO sets give you a lot of options depending upon your play style and the particular attributes you want to enhance. While different people have different philosophies on how they like to use IO sets, the most common attribute that an Ill/Rad controller will want to enhance is Recharge, mostly to get Phantom Army to recharge faster. Some folks are enamored by the Procs (special enhancements that will occasionally add damage or some other attribute), while others find it a challenge to maximize this attribute or that attribute. I don't claim to be an expert in the IO sets, so while I will discuss them to a degree, I will not be posting the ultimate IO build. By the time you are ready to start outfitting IO sets, you will probably know the character pretty well yourself and you can play around with Mid's builder yourself. However, if you have an IO build you particularly like, feel free to post it. A lot of folks want an IO build that will give Permanent PA - and I offer anyone to post those builds here to add to the discussion. However, I haven't spent the time or influence to build one of those builds, so I don't have experience with it.
(F) There are a lot of standard terms and abbreviations are in this guide because I'm lazy. Here are some of the terms used:
<ul type="square">[*]PB AoE stands for Point Blank Area of Effect, meaning a power that has an affect in the area immediately around the caster. Flash, Radiant Aura, Accelerate Metabolism, EM Pulse and Choking Cloud are examples of a PB AoE power.[*] A Location-targeted AoE is a power is one where you pick a spot on the ground, and the power will have an Area of Effect around that location. (There are two of these in the Ill/Rad set - Phantom Army and Spectral Terror.) When you activate it, white rings appear wherever it is proper to place the power. You then pick a spot on the ground in range, and click that spot on the ground. Using that spot as the center, the effect appears in a circle (more or less) centered on the spot you clicked. [*]An anchor is a target upon whom a power is cast. The power will have an effect in the area surrounding the anchor. Usually anchors are foes, but there are a few powers, not in the Ill/Rad set, that use teammates as anchors. Anchor powers are important to Rad's Radiation Infection, Enervating Field and Lingering Radiation powers.[*] Toggle powers are ones that you turn on, and they keep operating until you turn them off, or until some other event turns off the toggle. Your toggle can be turned off (a) if your anchor is defeated, (b) if you are defeated, (c) if you run out of endurance, (d) if your anchor goes out of range or (e) if you leave the zone. Examples include Superior Invisibility and travel powers. [*]Click powers are powers which activate when you click on them or push a button, but they finish their animation and then recharge until ready again. Most of the powers in the game are click powers.[*]AV is Arch-Villain, and EB is Elite Boss, two high level enemies that usually require special tactics and powers. You may be able to handle an EB solo, but it takes something special to handle an AV solo. GM is Giant Monster, a huge beast who usually needs more than one team to fight.[*] XP is Experience Points, which is how the game keeps score of your progression. You get XP mostly for defeating foes, completing objectives and completing missions.[*] AI is Artificial Intelligence, or the programming of how a pet or foe is supposed to act.[*]Enhancements fit into 5 main types of categories:
(1) TO is Training Origin, and these are the weakest type of enhancements, available to you at level 1. The amount of enhancement varied depending upon what is being enhanced, but the most common amount is 8%.
(2) DO is Dual Origin, and these are limited to one of two types of origin. A DO is roughly twice the strength of a TO. If you are Magic origin, you can only use Magic/Mutant or Natural/Magic DOs.
(3) SO is Single Origin, and these will only work for characters of the same origin as the type of enhancement. If you are Science origin, you can only use Science SOs. An SO is again twice the strength of a DO and four times the strength of a TO. The most common amount of enhancement is about 33%.
(4) IO stands for Invention Origin, and fit into two sub-categories, common IOs and set IOs Common IOs work for any origin, like TOs, except they start at level 10, they never expire and they increase in strength as the level goes up. Level 25-30 common IOs are functionally the same as SOs. Common IOs level 35 and up are stronger than SOs. Set IOs usually, but not always, enhance more than one attribute, but the two or three attributes enhanced add up to enhancement for a little more than common IOs. When Set IOs of the same set are used to enhance the same power, the set IOs will give some additional attributes, called set bonues.
(5) Finally, there are a last, somewhat rare type that can only be earned by doing certain trials, like the Eden Trial, the Abandoned Sewers trial, the Hamidon raids and the Statesman's Task Force. Although these have a few different names, I'll just refer to them as Hami-O's or HOs. These are the equivalent of two or sometimes three SO enhancements. Although the Eden and Abandoned Sewers Trials give HO-like enhancements, those expire. Most of the HOs available are either Hamidon or Synthetic Hamidon enhancements at level 50, so they can't be slotted until level 47. HOs and Synthetic HOs are identical other than the name.[/list]
Some Basics About Controllers
All other archetypes have at least one power set that is designed for damage. Controllers may have individual powers that do damage, but they do not have a power set focused on damage. Controllers are designed to limit the enemy's actions, thereby making it easier to do damage to the enemy. Some Controllers do a lot of damage as well, while others don't do much damage but do a greater amount of damage prevention and enhancement. Ill/Rad is considered to be one of the higher damage controllers. In general, Controller powers fall into two categories: Control Powers (in your primary mostly) and Buff Powers (mostly in your secondary). The secondary for controllers are copied from Defender's primaries, but the strength of the powers is often different - control powers are usually stronger while buff powers are usually weaker.
(A) It is important to understand the various powers that provide control. A Power that reduces or eliminates the enemy's ability to attack is usually a control power. Control powers, some of which are referred to as Mez powers, are Hold, Stun (also known as Disorient), Sleep, Confuse, Intangible (a/k/a Phase), Fear, Immobilize, Slow and Knocks. Each of these powers has a level of strength, or mag (magnitude) that determines how effective it is against types of foes. The Ill/Rad combination does not have Immobilize, Stun, or Intangible, but it has all the other kinds of Control powers.
<ul type="square">[*]A Hold will keep the foe in one place, unable to attack or defend or do anything. This is the hardest kind of control. Holds in Ill/Rad are Blind, Flash, Choking Cloud and EM Pulse.[*]A Stun or Disorient will also keep the foe from attacking or defending or do anything other than wander around, but some stunned foes can move pretty fast. A Stun added to an Immobilize has the same effect as a hold. Ill/Rad doesn't have a Stun/Disorient, but if it happens, you can still get Containment. While Illusion doesn't have either a Stun or an Immobilize, several other controllers do, and if they use it, you can take advantage of Containment for extra damage.[*]Confuse is a unique power. When a foe is Confused, he stops attacking you and your team, and instead attacks other foes in his range. If there are no foes around, he just stands there and ignores you and your team, even if you attack him. Deceive is a Confuse Power. Confuse powers do NOT set up Containment. There are lots of special aspects to Confuse powers, discussed below.[*]A Sleep will act just like a hold, until the foe receives any attack. Then he will wake up with no other effect. Sleeps usually last longer than Holds or Stuns, but are not very helpful if your teammates have lots of AoE powers that will wake them. Blind has a somewhat rare secondary effect that is a Sleep.[*] Immobilize will keep the foe in one place, but he can still attack, defend or take any action that does not involve moving. Ill/Rad doesn't have any Immobilize powers, but they cause Containment.[*]Slow powers will slow the movement rate of enemies. Some slow powers will also reduce the recharge rate, or speed at which the enemy can keep attacking you. Sometimes, enemies can run out of the effect of a slow. Slow enhancements only affect run speed, and not the other effects of the slow power. Also, slow powers do NOT set up Containment. At most, you can slow a foe to 10% of his standard movement speed - this is called the slow cap. Lingering Radiation is a Slow power.[*] Knock powers include Knockback, Knockdown and Knock-up. Knockback powers usually send the bad guy flying back. Knockdown is where the foe falls down where he is, and Knock-up is where the bad guy flies up into the air, and then falls down. During the fairly short time that the bad guy is getting up, he cannot attack. Some powers, like Earthquake, Ice Slick and Oil Slick Arrow, keep knocking the foes down over and over again, preventing the foes from doing anything. Knock powers do NOT set up Containment. Phantasm does a lot of knock-back.[/list]
If you want to understand how the various forms of mez work in the game, and what Mag is, take a look at this old Guide on Magnitude. Each of the above powers has factor designating its strength, which are referred to as Mag, (for magnitude). The general rule is that Minion level foes require the effect of the power to reach Mag 2 to take effect, Lieutenant level foes require Mag 3, and Boss level foes require Mag 4. AV's are a special case - but there are other guides that discuss the Purple Triangles of Doom (PToD) and how to deal with AV's.
(B) It is also important to understand Containment and how it works. Containment is double damage (usually) done by a controller's attack if the target is held, stunned, slept or immobilized. Containment works for damage directly caused by any controller - no matter who may have caused the hold, stun, sleep or immobilize - so you can get containment bonus damage even if the foe has been held by a blaster or stunned by a tank. For the most part, powers that are considered pets do not get containment, so Phantom Army, Spectral Terror, Phantasm, and Fallout do not get Containment. The Containment buff for Spectral Wounds is handled in an odd way, making it appear as though it gets a lot less Containment bonus than other powers. That is explained with the power, below. If you want to find out more about a controller's containment, take a look at Enantiodromos's Controller Damage Overview.
(C) Controller Buff powers are the same sets as most of the Defender's primary power sets, but many of the powers have different values than when the powers are used by Defenders. Powers like Accelerate Metabolism will buff up you and your team, improving you and your team's attributes like accuracy or ToHit, damage, recharge, recovery of endurance, regeneration of health, etc. Radiation Aura is an AoE heal. Radiation has three core debuff powers that will decrease similar abilities of the enemy. In addition to what you will find below, there is a lot of information on these types of powers under the Defender Guides.
As explained below, Phantom Army (PA) cannot be buffed, which is why Rad goes so well with Illusion - the Rad Defense and Resistance debuffs make Phantom Army much better and the Recharge in AM helps PA come back faster. Rad is the only secondary that offers all three benefits. The Defense Debuff in Radiation Infection helps PA hit with higher accuracy, and the Resistance Debuff in Enervating Field lets PA do more damage. Of the Controller Secondary sets, Thermal, Trick Arrow and Storm have substantial debuffs to make Phantom Army better, but have no recharge buff. Also, Trick Arrow doesn't have the versatility of Rad, Therm's debuffs come very late in the set and Storm's debuff, Freezing Rain, is a targeted AoE click power. Sonic has a Resistance debuff only. Kinetics has Siphon Speed to help with PA's recharge, but no debuffs to make PA better - Fulcrum Shift doesn't affect PA. Force Field and Empathy have other good powers, but nothing to make PA better.
On slotting powers: I try to give the basic slotting first, so folks can see the most important aspects of a power to slot. I usually try to slot common IOs at level 30 or 35, but don't really look at adding IO sets until the late 30's or 40's with some exceptions. Some people are enamored with IO set bonuses, and are willing to sacrifice the effectiveness of the power for better set bonuses. Others prefer to slot the power for its most effective uses first, and then see if they can fit in a few set bonuses as, well, bonuses. Some folks are willing to spend a lot of time farming to put full sets of Purple enhancements in their Ill/Rad. (Purple means the unique level 50 Ultra-rare sets that are extremely expensive but give the best bonuses and strongest enhancement.) To most people, the most important bonus is recharge on an Ill/Rad because you want to shorten that recharge for Phantom Army. Recovery, Regeneration and Defense are nice as well. I don't have an ultra-max build - I may comment on Purple sets, but I actually have very few at this point. I do have a LOT of Hami-O's from back when I used to participate in frequent Hami Raids, and my first Ill/Rad originally had Hami-O's in just about every spot that could effectively take one.
OK, Let's start with the powersets, and then get to my recommended build. I will try to explain why I chose each power when I did, and you can decide if those factors matter to you. Each power will be described by its "in-game" description, and then its various attributes will be listed. All durations of Mez effects and damage amounts are for a level 50 character, as listed in City of Data. After those come my suggestions, strategy and suggested slotting.
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Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control