Carrion Creepers
By
AcceleratorRay,
Posted on: 2009-07-27 17:11 in Archetypes and Powers General Discussion
First I'd say the Dom forums should have lots of answers on this. Myself, I usually give 2 answers.
1. It's rather hard to describe.
2. Get it anyway. (You know, provided you decide to roll a Plant/?.)
It's not how many times you get knocked down that count. It's how many times you get up.
Hard to describe, yes, but here's the short version:
It knocks things down like no other.
It scales to mob size extremely well.
It's an amazing slow.
Everything caught inside will be immobilized quickly.
The vines tend to soak a lot of aggro that would otherwise be directed at you.
Given, as stated in my signature, #1 and #4 are mutually exclusive... but when that first one is happening, it's happening a lot.
QR
Weatherby_Goode - "Heck, Carrion Creepers negates the knockdown from Carrion Creepers."
Carrion Creepers does many things, but none of them is really a mezz:
- Bramble (AoE slow)
- Entangle (AoE immobilize w/ DoT)
- Vine Smash (melee damage & knockdown)
- Vine Thorns (ranged damage)
It is targetable and is useful for taking aggro and absorbing alpha strikes. It spawns vines for each foe and can put out a reasonable amount of damage. It has a 2 minute duration and will follow you.
My goodness, that IS nice!
[ QUOTE ]
Carrion Creepers does many things, but none of them is really a mezz:
- Bramble (AoE slow)
- Entangle (AoE immobilize w/ DoT)
- Vine Smash (melee damage & knockdown)
- Vine Thorns (ranged damage)
It is targetable and is useful for taking aggro and absorbing alpha strikes. It spawns vines for each foe and can put out a reasonable amount of damage. It has a 2 minute duration and will follow you.
[/ QUOTE ]
And don't forget the screaming. That, to me, makes this the scariest power I've ever seen on a Dom. The vines actually......wail.
<shudder>
This is the updated version of my guide. It takes into account the changes that Issue 14 brings to Carrion Creepers. Also, since the Carrion Creeper pets are the same for Dominators and Controllers this guide is accurate for both achetypes.
This guide attempts to explain just about everything about the complicated series of pets and psuedopets that make up one of the most unique (and convoluted) powers in the game. It also explains some quirks with the power that have a large impact on the suggested slotting.
CC's mechanics can be a bit overwhelming, so if you just want the end result read the yellow bit about halfway down. If you have questions post them here and I'll do my best to answer them.
Carrion Creeper Patch, the original summon
The power that the player uses (called Carrion Creepers) summons an entity called Carrion Creeper Patch. This Patch has several powers of it's own. It is also mobile and will follow you around (though the 'bramble' graphic doesn't move). The Patch is invisible, and has a snare power called Bramble, a second pet summon called Carrion Creepers (we'll call it Carrion Creepers2 or just CC2), and a power called Vines. Interesting side-note: Even though the Carrion Patch is invisible, it still makes ripples in water. So you can summon it and go for a swim, you'll 'see' the pet following you around.
Bramble
The Bramble power is an autohit AoE snare power. It is always on, and every 0.2s it will apply -fly, -runspeed, -maxrunspeed, and -jumpheight over a 20ft area.
Carrion Creepers 2
CC2 summons Carrion Creeper Patch2 every ten seconds, at every enemy corpse in range. CCP2 is a short lived pet whose only purpose is to attack with an AoE version of Entangle and then self-destruct silently. This AoE Entangle applies a Mag4 Immob to an 8ft area, deals a decent amount of Lethal and Smashing damage, and prevents flight and knockback on the targets. Creeper Entangle has a max target cap of 5 and a base accuracy of 1.0.
Vines
The Vines power has a 50% chance of summoning a Carrion Vine every ten seconds for every living enemy (PC or NPC) in range. These are the vines we know and love and they are the most visible part of the power. Each Vine lasts for 15s and has a ranged Vine Thorns attack and a melee Vine Smash attack. Both the attacks applie a small recharge slow, a movement snare, and a -fly effect. The melee Vine Smash also has a guaranteed knockdown. Both attacks have an accuracy of 1.0.
Slotting Suggestions:
As before i14, Recharge is the most important aspect and if you can only spare three slots, three Recharge SOs is the absolute minimum you should accept in this power. Ideally, you have 6 slots in Creepers. Within those 6 slots you have a lot of freedom, and that means there are a lot of good ways to slot it.
My suggested slotting is:
~40% Accuracy
95% Recharge
95% Damage
and as many damage procs as you can cram in. It no longer matters what sets you choose to use, so go for the cheapest one.
Put a damage proc or two in it, as well. Life gets even better.
53 Bots/FF/Mace Mastermind | 53 NRG/FF/Electricity Defender | 50 Time/Dual Pistols/Soul Defender | 50 Demons/FF/Mace Mastermind | 51 Necro/Dark/Soul Mastermind | 50 Thugs/Time/Mace Mastermind | 50 Ice/Ice/Arctic Tanker | 50 Plant/Rad/Earth Controller | 50 Illusion/Trick Arrow Controller | 50 Gravity/Force Field Controller
Yes, I like Force Fields.
[ QUOTE ]
Ive heard from many people this is one of the best mezzes in the game, but why is that so? What does it do so well to make it that way?
Lemme know cause I wana make something with plant control if its allll that ^_^
[/ QUOTE ]
Plant control is pretty fun, I've never heard anyone complain about it. Carrion Creepers, in particular are VERY fun. I do think there's a bit of a design weakness in them though. They do a lot of knockdown, but your Flytrap will root mobs, negating the knockdown. Also your own powers do rooting, so you have to refrain from using some of them. But they do grab aggro, do damage, and totally mess up whole spawns.
Plant control has some very nice features to it, and a couple quirks. The confusion power from Plants is probably the best in the game. It easy confuses whole spawns and recharges rather quickly. One of the immobs though requires the target be near the ground, making it useless against flying foes. Spirit Tree gives you a nice boost of regen. You can cast it and forget about it for a bit during long battles, and it'll supplement any heal you might have from your secondary. But it doesn't follow you like the other pets. These little things are tradeoffs because some of the powers are just so nice.
Arc ID#30821, A Clean Break
The only problem with defeating the Tsoo is that an hour later, you want to defeat them again!
"Life is just better boosted!" -- LadyMage
"I'm a big believer in Personal Force Field on a blaster. ... It's your happy place." -- Fulmens
Just dont...
Never... Ever... use it on Rommie when the Nictus are around...
** Guardian�s Crazy Catgirl **
************* 22 XxX 10 *************
Yes. I can get lost on a straight-line map.
[ QUOTE ]
Just dont...
Never... Ever... use it on Rommie when the Nictus are around...
[/ QUOTE ]
Do it!
Do it!
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Just dont...
Never... Ever... use it on Rommie when the Nictus are around...
[/ QUOTE ]
Do it!
Do it!
[/ QUOTE ]
What happens?
Dozens and dozens of vines, each fueling the Healer's Twilight Grasp.
I made that mistake once...........ONCE!
Queen of the Amazons, WP/DB
Sound Judgement Son/Son
Cobra Lily Plant/Kin
Celestia, FF/Psy
Nefertiri, Storm/Elec
Pixie, Ill/Rad
Guardian Server
[ QUOTE ]
Dozens and dozens of vines, each fueling the Healer's Twilight Grasp.
[/ QUOTE ]
and causing the Portal Nictus to spawn unbound nicti for each vine. LOTS and LOTS of purple fluffies!
I admit to making this mistake. It caused a team wipe of epic proportions.
Quote:
We didn't wipe, but my /rad group with two Plant/Rads were making very slow progress for a while. Kinda scary that we could still make progress at all.
|
Originally Posted by _Uun_
[ QUOTE ]
Dozens and dozens of vines, each fueling the Healer's Twilight Grasp. [/ QUOTE ] and causing the Portal Nictus to spawn unbound nicti for each vine. LOTS and LOTS of purple fluffies! I admit to making this mistake. It caused a team wipe of epic proportions. |
"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill
Do creepers still have the issue where targetted AoE set enhancements
don't propagate?
Global: @AcceleratorRay
Heroes on Triumph
Villains on Victory
Proud member of Triumphant Defenders
Fight My Brute
Quote:
i wondered what happened, a few weeks ago. my team was steamrolling everything else, now it all makes sense.|
Originally Posted by Weatherby_Goode
Dozens and dozens of vines, each fueling the Healer's Twilight Grasp.
|
oops
Quote:
If you are going for perma-dom, then CC should get a full 6 piece serving of Kinetic Crash.
|
Originally Posted by Weatherby_Goode
My suggested slotting is:
~40% Accuracy 95% Recharge 95% Damage and as many damage procs as you can cram in. It no longer matters what sets you choose to use, so go for the cheapest one. |
For my 2 inf,
carrion creepers are AWESOME for the one mission map I keep getting (one of the tech bases) that places 4-6 spawns of whatever right on top of each other.
And they're REALLY useful when those spawns are composed of groups that have a high "re-pop" chance (I'm looking at the higher level Freaks)
My in-game spell check is 6 slotted for damage.
" I assure you, my good man, Nemesis is most definitely 'down with the street.' Word up, my homie, as it were."
Quote:
I thought damage proc doesn't work in CC? I tested that a while ago but things may have changed??|
Originally Posted by Chill_Out
Put a damage proc or two in it, as well. Life gets even better.
|
Oh, one more point, CC on a large team causes a lot of lag! I've had two plant doms on my team once.. oh my.
What's left is to normalize all Assassin Strikes and improve Stalker's old sets (Claw, MA and EM)! You don't need to bring back the missing PbAoE attack. You just need to make the existing ones better! For example, make Slice a WIDER and LONGER cone.
Quote:
i15 fixed all the IO problems with CC.
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Originally Posted by Jibikao
I thought damage proc doesn't work in CC? I tested that a while ago but things may have changed??
|
However some IOs will proc in different ways (every attack, or every 10 seconds) right?
A game is not supposed to be some kind of... place where people enjoy themselves!
Quote:
Heh, having only recently reached 35 with my first plant/thorn, this is a darn handy thing to know. Especially seeing how much I love using it. |
Originally Posted by Weatherby_Goode
Dozens and dozens of vines, each fueling the Healer's Twilight Grasp.
|
Something else I'm wanting to see: what happens in the last cave of a treespec. Other than confusing the bejeezus out of my own team, perhaps.
Where to find me after the end:
The Secret World - Arcadia - Shinzo
Rift - Faeblight - Bloodspeaker
LotRO - Gladden - Aranelion
STO - Holodeck - @Captain_Thiraas
Obviously, I don't care about NCSoft's forum rules, now.
Quote:
Used to love meeting up with other MM buddies and running 6-8 MM missions. Team Lagmonster. |
Originally Posted by Jibikao
Oh, one more point, CC on a large team causes a lot of lag! I've had two plant doms on my team once.. oh my.
|
Haven't seen most of them in a long time tho.
Where to find me after the end:
The Secret World - Arcadia - Shinzo
Rift - Faeblight - Bloodspeaker
LotRO - Gladden - Aranelion
STO - Holodeck - @Captain_Thiraas
Obviously, I don't care about NCSoft's forum rules, now.
Ive heard from many people this is one of the best mezzes in the game, but why is that so? What does it do so well to make it that way?
Lemme know cause I wana make something with plant control if its allll that ^_^