Earth/ - best 'mob management' powerset?

Noticing A LOT of Illusionists, Stormies and Fire controllers, haven't seen another Earth/ on Union for ages. Used to see one or two knocking around, never forget the first time I saw one of Lusca's tentacles get fossilised - I knew I had to have one

Shift needs a team around her, but for PvE controlling she is pretty effective, graphics and animations are screen fillers though, and can drag the frame rate down on lower end machines, maybe thats why there seem to be so few around?

Anyhow, the case for Earth/ - Quicksand, Earthquake = slowed, knocked down mobs. Stalagmites, Stone Cages = disoriented, immobilized mobs. Fossilize for single target holds. Paired with Kinetics secondary so team mops up held, immob'ed, disoriented, knocked-down, debuffed mobs while I buff and heal the team.

Next to no damage (until Animate Stone) but for a team based controller, does it get any better?

How do you rate your powerset's ability to control a mob?

Well we run an all-controller SG on Union, so I can say there are a few Earth trollers out there, although in our case not that many in the 32+ range (mostly Illusion, Mind and the odd Ice). I myself am playing a Fire/ now and enjoying it a lot although it is very different from my previous controller (mainly because of the hard controls). I would think it's quite similar to Earth at this level, meaning you're very useful for a team once you have a few holds/immobs/disorients slotted with SOs. I think after 32 Rocky will do less damage than the Fire Imps, but if you are going for a team build, it might not matter so much (plus you'll be too busy SB-ing every one and firing off Fulcrum to notice ). With illusion, it is all about "controlled chaos", so you really need to team with people who know what's going on so they know what decoys can/can't do, and they don't kill your deceived mobs first or in the case of rad, your debuff anchors.

Thinhs have changed quite a lot since I3 for controllers abilities to lock big packs of mobs.

I would say they are all equal, regardless of the secondary. Nerfs on all trollers but illusionists made illusionists shine in mobs locking, although they were the most damaging ones.
Because spectral terror didn't see its recharge nerfed, illusionist have now 2 pack "holds" they can alternate to have a perma lock : PA and ST. Except for Nemesis, who have an inherent fear resistance.

They were underperforming in this sector before nerfs, now they are on par with other controllers. And since Fire, Ice, and Earth are pretty similar in their abilities, since Mind is a particular powerset (sleep is a half hold, confusion is a hold), there are no significant differences between them.

Maybe Gravity until Sing's is under the other powersets. But when he takes his pet, he is also a master locker.

What makes the difference between all of them is damage imho. And for that, illusion > mind > fire > ice, earth > gravity...



... And I almost forgot the most important : the graphics (Earth are the best for me ^^)

Mind has always been, and still is, the set with most AoE control. (And the best otherwise too )

Im inclined to agree Prawnee. Iv got an Earth Controller to 19, everything is going swimmingly so far. Especially seeing as though iv got Trick Arrow as secondary, i feel like a controlling god!

so far.....

Earth - single hold, group immob, group disorient, group sleep panic button, group slow, group knockup.
Trick Arrow - single hold, group -Acc, group slow, single immob, single -dmg.

to come....

Earth - volcaic gasses - should be very nice for fire dmg and group-ness, animate stone
TA - oil slick (like ice patch until some1 uses fire around it and it explodes causing supposedly impressive damage), acid arrow (-dmg res), disruption arrow (targetted planted AoE -dmg res), EMP arrow (yum)

so that means i can lock down a boss str8 away with a double stacking single hold (ice arrow, fossilize), then group immob every1, group disorient every1, and then im just laughing as i top up holds and immobs everywhere.

Just hoping that Volcaic Gasses causes enough fire damage to ingite my oil slick arrow! w00t damage

Very happy controller

Shnyet AWAY

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Noticing A LOT of Illusionists, Stormies and Fire controllers, haven't seen another Earth/ on Union for ages.

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Storm is only a secondary anyway. I actually have an Earth/Storm at 14, proving to be lots of fun so far! From the Union 50 list, Illusionists do outnumber the others by far, and we don't seem to have a whole lot of Earth Controllers - it does seem a shame, as it's a fantastic set both to play and watch. I was in awe the first time I came across one, too!

Whenever I play my Earth/Trick Arrow controller I just love it to bits with the amount of potential control I can get (enhancements are now a mess but nevermind ) compared to my Illusion/Forcefielder.

I even had the rare good fortune to team with another _two_ Earth controllers a good while back pre level 20, so we are out there but people are I think more drawn to Illusion and Fire for the pets/damage.

Only negatives with Earth I can see if the visability issues on indoor maps and the graphical lag that can come with that.

Oh and the insane amount of aggro that comes back at you

I've played all troller sets rather extensively and Earth is my personal favorite of all troller primaries. I played an earth/storm to 50 on defiant and i've loved it from day one and its still lasting. The synergy with storm is excellent! Lot of placeholders and bril debuffing. Btw the small inherent def debuff of the earthpowers is a nice bonus too. Kinetics is nice for the sb that gets rocky to move his incredibly slow butt. Its such a cute ( check him out when rockclimbing or skinny dipping ) but silly pet, only really good to let him do some tanking. His attacks do good dammage but with his outrageous slow attack rate it isnt really to be trusted to do some good cleaning.
I also have an Earth/TA -lvl 40 if i recall well-, which is in retirement for a long time now. Its nice too, but i've found earth/storm compliment eachother much better.

Btw the fire damage on volcanic gasses is negligible, but seeing the hold returns in pulses it even gets bosses held quite easily combined with an immobilize/quicksand/earthquake
And the EMP arrow is dissappointingly a dissorient instead of a hold which is wrongly stated in the description

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Btw the fire damage on volcanic gasses is negligible

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So does this mean it doesnt ignite Oil Slick Arrow?

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And the EMP arrow is dissappointingly a dissorient instead of a hold which is wrongly stated in the description

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I wouldnt mind that, it'll stack very nicely with Stalagmites.....

Shnyet AWAY

I used to dread Earth controllers in a team. With my Empath as soon as a fight started I found it really hard to see what was happening with all the Earth graphics around. Especially the flying mobs that would get held. These would leave huge stalagmites all over the place. A nightmare in cave maps.

/e ducks thrown objects.

I haven't tried any other Controllers but I love my lvl24 Earth/Emp.

Typical tactics go...

1.Fosilise the boss
2.Quicksand to slow
3.Earthquake just in front of the squishes to keep any nasty melee types away, or in the middle of the mob to keep them down.
4. Fosilize everything else in sight

I also have stone cages which I wish I never picked...far far too much agro...plus pretty useless if the Ogres can still stand there lobbing rocks at my head.

Salt Crystals I generally keep for emergencies as I often find that I throw it just as some users there AoE making it useless.

It's the onlt hero I've ever got past lvl13 which shows how much I enjoy it. I only downside I have is that damage output is [censored]. But hey...I'm a controller I do what I say on the tin.

/agreed Earth does clutter up the place somewhat...

I have an Earth/Kin, lvl 33 now and I must say that I've seen very Earth troller around lately...

I love the amount of control Earth brings on the battle but you need at least a decent team to hope and stay alive because of the huge amount of aggro you can draw.

I would never skip stone cages for any other power because if you start with Stalagmite+Stone Cages you have the mob stunned + immobed = held, I skipped Salt Crystal because IMHO any sleep power isn't worth picking because ANY kind of damage will wake the target up and almost if not any powerset has an aoe damage power, so it's virtually impossible to team with someone without having an AoE waking everything up...

I have kin as secondary, TA or Rad would make far more control but they ain't nearly as funny as Kinetic

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Btw the fire damage on volcanic gasses is negligible

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So does this mean it doesnt ignite Oil Slick Arrow?



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Nope it doesnt, at least not noticable... In fact Gasses dont do damage at all on contrary what is said of it

Just for discussion this is my Earth / Rad build... My first troller and am loving every moment... I can't do damage but as my regular team is myself, a fire/fire blaster, a Stone/EM brute and a dark/dark defender I don't worry about it... The debuffs on Rad are just too nice... EF and RI on Babbage last night - he didn't hit anyone on the team once!

oh I know its not fully slotted yet btw

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.5.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
---------------------------------------------
Name: Syncline
Level: 49
Archetype: Controller
Primary: Earth Control
Secondary: Radiation Emission
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Fossilize==> Acc(1)Hold(3)Hold(3)Rechg(5)Rechg(7)Hold(25)
01) --> Radiant Aura==> Heal(1)Rechg(19)Rechg(27)EndRdx(31)Heal(37)Heal(40)
02) --> Stone Cages==> Acc(2)EndRdx(5)Immob(36)
04) --> Radiation Infection==> DefDeBuf(4)TH_DeBuf(7)TH_DeBuf(9)DefDeBuf(9)TH_DeBuf(17)DefDeBuf(17)
06) --> Combat Jumping==> EndRdx(6)
08) --> Hurdle==> Jump(8)
10) --> Accelerate Metabolism==> Rechg(10)Rechg(11)Rechg(11)EndMod(13)EndMod(27)EndMod(29)
12) --> Stalagmites==> Acc(12)DisDur(13)DisDur(15)Rechg(15)DisDur(19)Rechg(34)
14) --> Super Jump==> Jump(14)
16) --> Enervating Field==> Rechg(16)
18) --> Health==> Heal(18)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20)EndMod(21)EndMod(21)
22) --> Lingering Radiation==> Rechg(22)Acc(23)Rechg(23)Rechg(25)Slow(37)Slow(43)
24) --> Hasten==> Rechg(24)Rechg(29)Rechg(34)
26) --> Volcanic Gasses==> Hold(26)Rechg(31)Rechg(31)Rechg(33)
28) --> Earthquake==> Rechg(28)Rechg(36)Rechg(37)
30) --> Grant Invisibility==> DefBuf(30)
32) --> Animate Stone==> Rechg(32)Rechg(33)Dmg(33)Rechg(34)Dmg(36)Dmg(39)
35) --> Mutation==> Rechg(35)
38) --> EM Pulse==> Rechg(38)Rechg(39)Rechg(39)Hold(40)Hold(40)Acc(42)
41) --> Conserve Power==> Rechg(41)Rechg(42)Rechg(42)
44) --> Temp Invulnerability==> DmgRes(44)
47) --> Power Boost==> Rechg(47)Rechg(48)Rechg(48)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Brawl==>
01) --> Sprint==>
02) --> Rest==> EndMod(2)
01) --> Containment==> Empty(1)
---------------------------------------------

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I have kin as secondary, TA or Rad would make far more control but they ain't nearly as funny as Kinetic

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personally I think for pure control (mezzes and the works) TA or Storm are best, rad makes a good third

Earth for me is the set that got me a hero to level 50. What is nice about it is that it is very visual. Other team members definately know when someone has been fossilised. It is quite amusing how big the stone block is with certain DE mobs.

I had bad experience as a "n00b" with Stone Cages pulling the agro onto me in the various Hollows Cave missions so I don't use those. Earthquake is therefore the 2nd earth control power that I use and it is a great debuff to compliment my radiation debuffs.

I also use Volcanic Gasses and the Level 32 Pet, Animate Stone is awsome. I definately don't use the set to its full potential, but I am happy with the selections that I have made. Radiation is a good secondary to compliment the Earth Control set.

One thing that I have noticed too, is the lack of fellow Earth Controllers. Come on, Stonies!!!!!

Have played 4 of the 6 troller types so far (illusion, earth, ice and grav) I would rate these if you look at the ability to control like this:
1: Earth (awesome set, so many powers available that you can keep a steady flow of control without many holdups, teamdependant all the way to 50 since you can't kill anything before 32 and after that your still slow)

2: Ice (quite a lot soft control and lots of speed/recharge debuff niceness, very good in PvP )

3: Gravity (decent solo'er with lift and propel for damage, best troller pet there is!)

4: Illusion (lacks controls, probably have one of the best powers in phantom army though, great solo'er)

I have a lowlvl mind and a lowlvl fire troller going to see how theyre like too. Thimk the main reason for people choosing illusion and fire is 'cos of the dmg these types can deal.

well.. ill trollers can provide some nice control, but its a skill to master. It aint like the other control sets "fire hold, fire immob, rinse and repeat". With good pet management you can keep a mob pretty occupied

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well.. ill trollers can provide some nice control, but its a skill to master. It aint like the other control sets "fire hold, fire immob, rinse and repeat". With good pet management you can keep a mob pretty occupied

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Not untrue indeed, good pet management is a skill that is hard to come by and with ill it's even more important then other troller sets. But still the set lacks real controlling aspects like immos, disorients, knock up/back (apart from the pets ofcourse, but unfortunately you cant control that ), slows, -fly, etc like the other sets do and also it lacks nice secondary effects like ice has -slow/recharge for example or earth -def .
PA and Phant are quite uncontrollable even if you choose wisely how and when you use them. I don't go running about with Phantie out all the time as he is bound to cause some unwanted agro (OMG Energy torrent!! ) when i'm trying to take tactical position or run around a map.
But fair is fair; deceive is an excellent control tool!
I really liked my ill troller, but it evidently requires a different approach then the usual troller. Btw earth is my favorite troller set! Or was it mind? Nah, its earth