Double wrote a nice earth/rad guide which you can find here. Some quick suggestions:
- Stone Cages: the endurance cost is a bit high, especially if you spam it alongside Stalagmites. I would change the Immob for an EndRdx.
- AM: try to get 3 EndMods in there.
- Rad Infection: even if you already have some -def powers with Earth, I would still slot a Def_Debuf in there.
- Quicksand: I would only slot the 2 Slows if you have spare slots. The Rechgs are nice for stacking it.
- CJ/SJ: are the enhances a typo? I would slot 1 Jump for each.
- I would take Hurdle instead of Health since you have a heal. If you really want Health, don't waste slots on it.
- VG: I slot it 3 Hold 3 Rchg.
- Lingering Rad: you might want extra Rechgs later on.
- Animate Stone: don't think you need a recharge really, at least for PvE.
- EM Pulse: 6 slot, great hold.
- Stealth: not sure this is of much use at 49. The rez might be better.
- Concerning Epics, if the upcoming "fixes" go through, the damage from the blasts won't be that great, although they will still help given the low damage output of Earth. If you plan to team a lot, I'd go with Primal.
Hope some of this helps!
CoX 50s: <ill/rad> <ice/ice> <fire/kin> <grav/sonic> <ice/storm> <earth/kin> <kin/elec> <cold/psy> <thugs/dark> <fire/dark> <dark/elec> <night widow> <EM/ninj> <mind/icy>
Volcanic gasses is a bizarre power, i'm not sure that acc or hold duration make any difference to it. I just slotted mine for 3 recharge and it's always worked fine. Not an opener though.
assume those are typo's in CJ and SJ.
Earthquake and stalagmites are your 2 main control powers. Quake can be activated from out of LOS and can be a good opener when thats possible.
I would drop stone cages for several reasons. Firstly it draws much agro. Secondly it costs a lot of end. Thirdly it interferes with Earthquake, which can be perma, and certainly will overlap with AM...i found the only way to resist spamming it and ruining my quake was to respec it out 
. Fourthly, i've never seen a power cause such massive instant lag on a team as stone cages hitting a large mob...it just kills framerates. Fithly, the ST immob is cheaper, more accurate, creates containment and drops fliers to the ground where your ST hold will work.
AM wants 3 end mod ideally.
Your slotting is fine throughout except i would have some end redux in the heal as it's very costly. My ideal slotting would be 3 heal, 2 recharge 1 end (or 2 end 1 rec if you struggle for end at all). I would take the slots from the travel powers.
As for epcis, well it depends what you want to do. Earth/rad has enough control for about 4 or 5 mobs at once, so you might find powerboost unnecessary, though i'd imagine it's really nice with AM. Fire epic is you want to do damage, even with the new "nerfs" it's still the best damage bang for your buck. However, i find earth doesn't solo well at all so it'll be mainly a team toon, so the damage may be unneeded.
EDIT: damn you Okton! next time i wont take that [censored] break mid-post, you stole all my points
I miss him in the weeping of the rain;
I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
The old snows melt from every mountain-side,
And last year's leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year's bitter loving must remain
~Edna St. Vincent Millay
I always slot my SJs with 2 jumps, and ive been thinking 1 end redux as well sometimes..
Build looks fine from first glance. Just a lil tip really.
As you rightly deduced, Stalagmites is a fine opener. Quick animation, quick reaction. It can however be outdone by the other powers in Earth.
Earthquake, VG and Quicksand are all quite long animations (particularly Quake), but are also all Location Based AoE's. Hence you dont need a LoS (line of sight) to cast them.
So you can lockdown a mob behind the safety of a wall/cardboard box/bus stop/convenient rock.
Most handy, and suprisingly doable 95% of the time. Learn to use terrain, it'll save your bacon!
(my Earth/TA can even add Disruption Arrow and Oil Slick Arrow to that mix to really tear it up from safety 
)
Good Luck!
just for refference, does anyone know exactly how volcanic gasses works? i mean in regards to hold duration and accuracy. I understand that it's a pulsing hold that stacks with itself over time, therefor not a good opener, but what would hold durations actually do? increase the frequency of the pulses, increase the time they are held once they are hit with it, or some other strange effect?
My earth/emp had SO many slots left over at 50, due to earth controls light slotting needs that i've ended up with 3 slotted swift, hurdle, CJ, sprint and SJ Went this way for unrestricted PvP movement, but would be open to respeccing the slots to elsewhere if i thought they would have a benefit.
I miss him in the weeping of the rain;
I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
The old snows melt from every mountain-side,
And last year's leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year's bitter loving must remain
~Edna St. Vincent Millay
Hold durations, regardless of power, increase the duration of hold effects of that power.
right....but i heard (and i think it was in doubles guide), that hold durations in volcanic gasses dont increase the duration of the time they are held because of it's pulsing nature. This makes no sense to me as one would expect that it would increase the time the mob is held once they are hit. Incidentally would putting an acc in make them more likely to be held in the first place? I've had and been using volcanic gasses for dozens of lvls with only 3 recharge slotted and i cant say i've ever noticed it underperforming in the way my other trollers AoE holds would if i didnt slot them.
I miss him in the weeping of the rain;
I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
The old snows melt from every mountain-side,
And last year's leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year's bitter loving must remain
~Edna St. Vincent Millay
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right....but i heard (and i think it was in doubles guide), that hold durations in volcanic gasses dont increase the duration of the time they are held because of it's pulsing nature.
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If you slot 3 hold duration and 3 acc it works.If you slot 3 hold duration and no acc u kill the whole power since u slotted for duration but u dont hold in first place. And volcanic gasses is an opener and in fact one of the best.Due to the fact that its stationary power you need to get the mobs pre aggro so they are all packed together.
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I've had and been using volcanic gasses for dozens of lvls with only 3 recharge slotted and i cant say i've ever noticed it underperforming in the way my other trollers AoE holds would if i didnt slot them.
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Volcanic gasses as i recall is not like the other controllers AOE and for the record it is considered the best AoE hold in game.MaX will correct me if i am wrong or if something has changed.
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If you slot 3 hold duration and 3 acc it works.If you slot 3 hold duration and no acc u kill the whole power since u slotted for duration but u dont hold in first place
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But as i say i've been using it for many many lvls with just 3 recharge and i've found it works fine. Ok so it doesn't hold ALL of them right away...but it gets there. I usually use it as a backup as quake and stalagmites are virtually perma and more than adequate for most mobs...it's good for dumping on an additional mobs that agroes when you dont want it to though.
Also, i use gasses in pvp, and find i can easily hold tanks/scrapper/bruteswho are foolish enough to pass through it if they already have a fossilise or two stacked. I've not noticed it "miss!"ing in either PvE or PvP...
If you says it's noticably better with more slots though i'll stick them in...i certainly have enough to go around. would 1 acc, 2 hold, 3 recharge be appropriate?
I miss him in the weeping of the rain;
I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
The old snows melt from every mountain-side,
And last year's leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year's bitter loving must remain
~Edna St. Vincent Millay
If you slot 3 hold, each hold pulse that hits will stack twice as long. This effectivily doubles the mag of the power.
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But as i say i've been using it for many many lvls with just 3 recharge and i've found it works fine. Ok so it doesn't hold ALL of them right away...but it gets there. I usually use it as a backup as quake and stalagmites are virtually perma and more than adequate for most mobs...it's good for dumping on an additional mobs that agroes when you dont want it to though.
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Its all down to tactics.U use the best aoe hold as a backup and instead use stalagmites instead rather than using stalagmites as backup. The difference is stalagmites is not a hold is a disorient and plus it does small damage compared to the DoT gasses do. For the record i dont think you will see a miss from the gasses although i not remember fully and i will need check on my earthie.
However placing the gasses in advance to packs of mobs and if the power is well slotted its far better imho and combined with earthquake is mayhem.Depending on the slotting of earthquake too.
Still gasses is one of the best openers in game and secures slaying of mobs from your teammates.
Its all down to playstyle tbh
Like mentioned above, I tend to use other powers more frequently - especially earthquake, but when things get really nasty I always reach for Volcanic Gases. It's especially useful for AVs/EBs/big mobs of bosses, since the pulsing nature of the power seems to help stack the holds and I don't need to shout at my Fossilise to hurry up and recharge.
Until now, I've always thought VG was auto-hit. I believe I read this in several earth/ guides prior to my first respec. Consequently, I've 6-slotted with 3xHold and 3xRecharge. Should I be considering 2/2/2 and introduce some Acc in there?
Perhaps this is why it doesn't always hold straight away from the first pulse?
If I did replace some slots with Acc, I wonder if it's worth dropping more hold duration. Once VG is down, my team makes short work of the mobs and it seems all the extra duration is wasted. Then again, it always is best against the big baddies, and I suupose they take a while to kill.
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Should I be considering 2/2/2 and introduce some Acc in there?
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Imho to realise if there is any real difference u should make a drastic change and see if there is an obvious effect.Drop all the recharge go for 3 acc and 3 hold duration and see if there is an effect difference
The reason i dont use gasses as an opener is because it doens't take effect right away and i take return fire (not always possible to be out of LOS. However, this could be because i beleived there was no point slotting acc...if doing so will make the power hold right away then i'm all for it.
Also, i'm earth/emp, and i tend to lean heavily on the empathy side. Basically i wanted an emp but didn't want to be a pure one as i'd get bored, so i find adding in the mass control from earth makes for a REALLY good team defender. Therefor i will likely open with a couple of controls, throw down some of the locational stuff and then set about healing/buffing unless noone is taking any damage, in which case i go back to controlling. It's part of why i chose earth...for the fire-and-forget powers, i hate these /emps you team with that have most of the emp powers but never use them. For me, making sure everyone is CMed, 4 people are perma-forted (more with speed buffs) and noones waits more than a second or two for a heal is my primary concern. In 99%of cases i find dropping quake, stalags and sand on a mob is bordering on over control as it is. Not to say i underuse gasses, it's out as often as it recharges, i just dont consider it my primary control tool.
I miss him in the weeping of the rain;
I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
The old snows melt from every mountain-side,
And last year's leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year's bitter loving must remain
~Edna St. Vincent Millay
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Drop all the recharge go for 3 acc and 3 hold duration and see if there is an effect difference
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Surely this must have been tested before? as it is it seems noone really knows...which is very odd for such a unique power.
though...ask me to try and describe exactly what carrion creepers does and i'd have to get back to you i just know it's great and i use it alot, and it does...stuff
I miss him in the weeping of the rain;
I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
The old snows melt from every mountain-side,
And last year's leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year's bitter loving must remain
~Edna St. Vincent Millay
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Should I be considering 2/2/2 and introduce some Acc in there?
[/ QUOTE ]
Imho to realise if there is any real difference u should make a drastic change and see if there is an obvious effect.Drop all the recharge go for 3 acc and 3 hold duration and see if there is an effect difference
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Take a look HERE
SingStar:
"Extremists LOVE to fish to get us annoyed so we break the forum rules."
CRACK68:
"The origin of life wasn't planned either, should all life be declared a bug and wiped out?"
Lionsbane:
"You know me.Ever the realist"
As far the fact you are earth/emp i think you play as u are supposed to. I play an earth/storm which is a control overkill build.Tbh when i play i dont have buffing or healing to do but only control control control.
I lay down gasses at sideways mobs or even lay it down blocking potential runaway mobs and then proceed accordingly.For me gasses is an opener since i recall to be hitting the mobs on hold right way.I am pretty confident it will make difference slotting 3 acc but experimenting is the way to go maybe since i been away from the game sometime and would need to recheck this for accuracy of my info.
Of course there is always know it all MaX who i am sure in case of inaccuracy will jump and correct me.
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The reason i dont use gasses as an opener is because it doens't take effect right away and i take return fire.
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Same here, it generally does a great job but there are often one of two foes that get some shots off first (Which is why I always let the tank jump in first, before I lay down any AoE hold). But then again, this also applies to EQ.
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Should I be considering 2/2/2 and introduce some Acc in there?
[/ QUOTE ]
Imho to realise if there is any real difference u should make a drastic change and see if there is an obvious effect.Drop all the recharge go for 3 acc and 3 hold duration and see if there is an effect difference
[/ QUOTE ]
Take a look HERE
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Which recommends the slotting I have in place at the moment. Phew.
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Of course there is always know it all MaX who i am sure in case of inaccuracy will jump and correct me.
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heh, anyone else vote Max should get a special forum title like this 
He is a veritable font of information (most if it way over my head)...i reckon he's secretly a dev, undercover to mingle with the lower beings.
Ok am due a respec on my earthy (shall wait till they fix them first) and i'll try 3 hold durations in it, not like i'll miss the slots really. Maybe i'll post my build when i get in, if only so you can all laugh at my overslotting of various travel powers.
I miss him in the weeping of the rain;
I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
The old snows melt from every mountain-side,
And last year's leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year's bitter loving must remain
~Edna St. Vincent Millay
[ QUOTE ]
If you slot 3 hold, each hold pulse that hits will stack twice as long. This effectivily doubles the mag of the power.
[/ QUOTE ]
Which is true in theory....try the game once instead if reading about it.
SingStar:
"Extremists LOVE to fish to get us annoyed so we break the forum rules."
CRACK68:
"The origin of life wasn't planned either, should all life be declared a bug and wiped out?"
Lionsbane:
"You know me.Ever the realist"
hmmm i checked the post.Well i really dunno and i will have to go check it out in game tonight.I been away like a said sometime so dunno if it has changed or something so i will come back with some more maybe
I remember when Double and Archy did that testing and since then I haven't put accuracies in it (don't PvP with my earth/kin anyway). NoFuture has VolcanicGeyser / Thermal Vents (the part of the power which pulses the holds) with an accuracy of 1.4 (compared to 0.8 for the "normal" AoE troller holds), hence why I slot 3 Hold 3 Rechg now.
CoX 50s: <ill/rad> <ice/ice> <fire/kin> <grav/sonic> <ice/storm> <earth/kin> <kin/elec> <cold/psy> <thugs/dark> <fire/dark> <dark/elec> <night widow> <EM/ninj> <mind/icy>
i bow to Oktons knowledge, being the only person i know to have more controllers than i do :P
I miss him in the weeping of the rain;
I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
The old snows melt from every mountain-side,
And last year's leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year's bitter loving must remain
~Edna St. Vincent Millay
[ QUOTE ]
i bow to Oktons knowledge, being the only person i know to have more controllers than i do :P
[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks Kitty... although in that case I would have to bow to that Archn00b 
nah... 
CoX 50s: <ill/rad> <ice/ice> <fire/kin> <grav/sonic> <ice/storm> <earth/kin> <kin/elec> <cold/psy> <thugs/dark> <fire/dark> <dark/elec> <night widow> <EM/ninj> <mind/icy>
Hio guys. I'm running a Earth/Rad troller and so far I'm having great fun with it. Even without DOs/SOs I can manage to hit Fossilize and Stone Cages quite often. Yes, RI does helps a lot but I've heard Earth powers are quite accurate by itself. Here goes the build I'm planning to follow:
Level: 50
Archetype: Controller
Primary: Earth Control
Secondary: Radiation Emission
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Fossilize==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Rechg(5) Hold(9) Rechg(13) Hold(31)
01) --> Radiant Aura==> Heal(1) Heal(3) Heal(11) Rechg(17)
02) --> Stone Cages==> Acc(2) Acc(19) Immob(34)
04) --> Accelerate Metabolism==> Rechg(4) Rechg(5) Rechg(7) EndMod(11)
06) --> Radiation Infection==> TH_DeBuf(6) TH_DeBuf(7) EndRdx(36) TH_DeBuf(40)
08) --> Quicksand==> Slow(8) Slow(9) Rechg(21) Rechg(43)
10) --> Combat Jumping==> Acc(10) Dmg(15)
12) --> Stalagmites==> Acc(12) Acc(13) DisDur(17) Rechg(19) Rechg(31) DisDur(34)
14) --> Super Jump==> Fly(14) Fly(15) Fly(36)
16) --> Swift==> Run(16) Run(50)
18) --> Health==> Heal(18) Heal(40) Heal(46)
20) --> Earthquake==> Rechg(20) Rechg(21) Rechg(23)
22) --> Stamina==> EndMod(22) EndMod(23) EndMod(25)
24) --> Enervating Field==> EndRdx(24) EndRdx(25) EndRdx(37)
26) --> Volcanic Gasses==> Rechg(26) Rechg(27) Rechg(27) Hold(36)
28) --> Lingering Radiation==> Acc(28) Acc(29) Rechg(29) Slow(37) Slow(50)
30) --> Hasten==> Rechg(30) Rechg(31) Rechg(34)
32) --> Animate Stone==> Acc(32) Dmg(33) Dmg(33) Dmg(33) Acc(37) Rechg(46)
35) --> Acrobatics==> EndRdx(35)
38) --> EM Pulse==> Acc(38) Acc(39) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) Hold(40)
41) --> Fire Ball==> Acc(41) Dmg(42) Dmg(42) Dmg(42) Acc(43) Rechg(43)
44) --> Fire Blast==> Acc(44) Dmg(45) Dmg(45) Dmg(45) Acc(46) Rechg(50)
47) --> Fire Shield==> EndRdx(47) DmgRes(48) DmgRes(48) DmgRes(48)
49) --> Stealth==> EndRdx(49)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
01) --> Containment==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)
I haven't decided between Primal and Fire epics yet. I do know how Primal works and I love it, but I really think I could use some damage output on latest levels.
About Volcanic Gasses.. I might put 1acc in there but I've been told that it doesn't make such a great difference. I figured this power works pretty much like Spectral Terror from Illusion, so I'm not thinking of it as an opening power. I'm guessing that the safest way of starting a fight should be with Stalagmites. My control chain will look pretty much like this: Stalagmites -> Stone Cages -> Debuffs -> Volc Gasses -> QuickSand. Earthquake might be a good opening power aswell.. I think I'll need to level up first and test it to see how it goes.
Advices are welcomed. Cheers
@False Fiction - Virtue / Defiant
Current projects - [Glaciologist - Ill/Cold Troller] [Cloudshaper - Storm/Dark Def] [Harald Wartooth - Elec/Psi Domi]