Epic for Mind/Kin?

I'm just thinking about which epic to ultimately take on my Mind/Kin controller.

Initially, I've taken Fire - but that's because you can get Fireball at L41, and some of the other pools the power I'd particularly want you can't get until L47, so I'm planning to respec then.

Question is, what to? Psionics has Indomitable Will, Psionic Tornado doesn't look too bad, and the shield looks ok. Primal has Power Boost. Ice has Hibernate which might be handy, and Ice Storm, which looks like it could be rather damaging.

Any opinions, suggestions? In particular, how good is Power Boost?

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Any opinions, suggestions? In particular, how good is Power Boost?

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VERY good. For both your primary and secondary powers. The only problem is that Mind is not that great for AoE containment, so the Fulcrum/Fire Ball combo is less useful than for other primaries. I'm not a fan of Ice so I would probably stick with Fire (the single target blast is not bad) and then respec into Primal (Psi is nice too for both IW and the shield, the ST blast is a bit meh though).

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The only problem is that Mind is not that great for AoE containment, so the Fulcrum/Fire Ball combo is less useful than for other primaries.

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I'm at L44 now, so I've been using that combo for a few levels, and it's not been a problem. OK, Mind doesn't have a quick recharge mass immobilise, but it does have Total Domination, as well as Mass Hypnosis (which combined with Mass Confusion means no retaliation) for the FS/Fireball combo.

I'm not really planning to take any single target blasts - got dominate, mesmerize, and levitate, so I don't think they're really needed.

Question on Power Boost, what exactly does it boost? e.g. for holds, does it boost the duration, the magnitude, or both?

POWER NAME Power Boost
DESCRIPTION: Greatly boosts the secondary effects of your powers. Your powers effects like Disorients, Holds, Immobilizes, Heals, Defense Buffs, Endurance Drains, Knock backs and more, are all improved. The effects of Power Boost last a short while, and only the next couple of attacks will be boosted. You must have two other Primal Forces Mastery Powers before selecting this power.
Self +Special

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Question on Power Boost, what exactly does it boost? e.g. for holds, does it boost the duration, the magnitude, or both?

[/ QUOTE ]It doubles all secondary effects. So healing, mez duration, buffs, and such. It does not boost mez magnitude, only power that does that is domination.

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I'm at L44 now, so I've been using that combo for a few levels, and it's not been a problem. OK, Mind doesn't have a quick recharge mass immobilise, but it does have Total Domination, as well as Mass Hypnosis (which combined with Mass Confusion means no retaliation) for the FS/Fireball combo.

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Fair enough, but Total Dom won't be up very often, so that leaves you with Mass Hypnosis for group containment.

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Question on Power Boost, what exactly does it boost? e.g. for holds, does it boost the duration, the magnitude, or both?

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As MaX said, mez duration (not mag) so holds, sleep, fear, confuse + heals (Transfusion) + endurance drain + movement speed, etc... Once you slot it, with Hasten and Siphon Speed, it should be up quite often.

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It doubles all secondary effects. So healing, mez duration, buffs, and such. It does not boost mez magnitude, only power that does that is domination.

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Thanks MaX. I found a post on the US forums - here - which answers any other questions I'd have had. 'Secondary effects' is such a vague term - personally, I'd have thought the heal from transfusion was its primary effect.

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Fair enough, but Total Dom won't be up very often, so that leaves you with Mass Hypnosis for group containment.

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In practice, with recharge enhancements, Hasten, and Siphon Speed, I find Total Domination is up either every other group (that's usually in a medium to large team fighting tough opponents) or one out of three groups. Which is often enough really. Then, Mass Hypnosis is up every group. That works great soloing (can easily singly hold a few of the group after Mass Hypnosis and before FS/Fireball/Terrify and that's often a good idea anyway if I don't want a boss smacking me around). And in a team, I'm usually more focused on the controlling and buffing than trying to be a primary damage dealer.

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Once you slot it, with Hasten and Siphon Speed, it should be up quite often.

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Yep. My main reservations with Primal are partly that I'm not sure how often I'd really need that increased duration in PvE, but mainly that there's no AoE attack in Primal. Not a problem if I'm teaming all the time, but when I am soloing, I'm not sure if the good single target attack and Power Boost will compensate for that lack of an extra AoE attack.

If anyone's interested, after hitting L47 and trying a few combinations out on the test server, I've actually decided to stick with Fire Mastery and Fire Ball for the time being.

The reasoning is basically that as I do solo occasionally, the AoE attack is a very nice thing to have. Even in teams, the significant damage with FS and containment can be a useful contribution to make (depending on the team makeup). Now, Primal doesn't have an AoE attack, so that's out. Psionic and Ice do have nice AoE Attacks - but they're both DoT. That means they're useless with Mass Hypnosis, since only one tick benefits from containment, whereas Fireball has a hefty chunk (well, hefty when fulcrum shifted) up front. And I don't care that it wakes them up when one subsequent follow-up with Terrify drops most of them and scares the ones it doesn't drop. With Total Domination being the only other mass containment power in Mind, that makes Fire Ball by far the most useful AoE attack out of the pool powers for someone who isn't necessarily regularly teaming with other players who could compensate for that.

Also, Fire Ball is a first pick. I don't have to take anything else to get it. That means I can respec in Stamina without completely dropping primary and secondary powers which I'd prefer not to drop, which means I can go to Siren's Call, use Telekinesis, and not be totally useless. Just mostly useless. (I did have stamina originally, but I respecced it out when I got transference - which works fine for me generally, but obviously not so much when I exemp below L35).

If I wasn't /kin, I'd probably go with Primal, and if I wasn't mind/ I'd go with Primal, Ice or Psionic. But since I am mind/kin and, frankly, since I like blowing things up, it's great balls of fire for me.