Jumping vs. Flight for Fire/Rad Controller

I've seen several build suggestions for this and I am curious as to why most of them choose Super Jump over Flight?

Is it safe to assume it is for Combat Jumping defense bonus as the controller really doesn't need Air Superiority as another attack?

Just curious.

Mad a Fire/Rad Controller Alt to get a little change from my Tanker who is still low in level and I have to say the Controller is pretty insane and fun to play. Although I will keep working on my Tanker as I think he might be useful to groups at a higher level and controllers are all over the place it seems. But you never know.

Leaping pool also offers better KB and immobilization protection.

I usually choose Jumping over Flight for Combat Jumping - it's incredibly cheap endurance-wise, gives you a bit of defense that is often critical for soft-capping (and allows a LotG 7.5%), and provides (in my opinion) better combat mobility than the very, very slow Hover or suppressed Fly. Air Superiority, while undoubtedly the best pool attack, has never struck me as particularly necessary for a Controller who is probably going to have Boxing and Seismic Smash to alternate with their single-target hold at the very least if they want to focus on single-target damage. Any mitigation from that knockup is going to be met or exceeded by a stacked hold, and anything that's not getting held probably isn't getting knocked up.

Super Jumping is also probably my favorite travel power - vertical movement that blows Super Speed away, speed that blows Fly away, endurance economy that blows teleport away. It's the 'middle of the road' power that's actually more like 3/4 down the road in all directions, hedging out the practical utility of the other travel powers.

Now, in a tight build I'll still go with Super Speed - Hasten is just plain -necessary- on some builds, and sometimes that speed and stealth matter.

And for a blaster or another character I'm going to max out ranged defense on (like my Ill/Rad) hover/fly take the cake.

But if I'm going to need to mix it up in melee at all, I'll almost always go Combat Jumping and Super Jump.

Yes, Boxing, really. I have the fighting pool on almost all my characters. If you build for defense, Weave is often what allows you to go from 'Meh, defense' to 'OMG DEFENSE'. Boxing can also hold the Stupefy set - more than 3% ranged defense and 6.25% recharge is nothing to sneer at. Tough also nets you +3% defense and mag 4 knockback protection from Steadfast Protection. Slotted up, those three powers net you about 10% defense to all and another 3.13% ranged defense, as well as 13.75% global recharge from a LotG 7.5% and Stupefy's 6.25%. Recharge on a Controller is king, even if you don't agree about defense (which you should - soft-capped defense is literally capable of making you live ten times longer in a fight, and each percent blocks -more- damage as it goes up instead of having less effect as with recharge).

Razzle Dazzle is also a good set to stick in stuns if you are building for defense and have capped out your available 6.25% rech bonuses.

Agreed. I tossed a six-slot of Razzle Dazzle into Oppressive Gloom on my Emp/Sonic duo - I think I'm really going to like that chance for immobilize.

I respeced from fly to leaping because I found fly to just be too slow overall. My fire/rad is my primary task force runner and fly always left me last to the mission. The immob protection from combat jumping is great as well. I skipped acrobatics for a kb protection IO slotted in combat jumping and it gets the job done.

The idea of trying to squeak in three more powers from Fighting makes mah eyes rain. Most of my builds are as tight as my well-toned buttocks. Ya'll are nuts!

I always take fly on my squishies for one simple reason- I can hit R and tab over and check my e-mail while heading to a mission. Good luck doing that with any other travel power.

I always will take Air Superiority / Hover, Fly. I have had way too many problems with slow connections and have fallen during a jump, lagged and ran into a mob, or tp'ed back to a previous point rather than heading into the correct direction. Fly, even when rubberbanding, is safest for me.

I have always enjoyed flying as a super hero. It works for me in every case. Before the Rapter pack in the Atlas Radio Mission, I would hover my way across zones. Sure it took time, but it was so much safer than running among all those level 15's in The Hollows or Perez Park.

I never worry about the numbers or stats on a power I take. If I like the way it plays and I'm having a good time with it, isn't that the important part. If it works for you number and stat wise, all the better.

I hit ranged def-cap on all my 50 controllers (after debuffs, even on AVs) w/o Weave. Fighting pool for controllers is a waste of two slots, mathematically or otherwise (I mean, unless you really want mediocre S/L resists...).

On my Fire/Rad, I take SS, CJ, SJ & Hover, and 3-slot all 4 w/BotZ sets (my AoE def is also pretty high). Much utility too: SS + SJ = best travel. CJ + Hover for combat def. CJ + Hurdle for just in-combat mobility. LotG's slottable in CJ & Hover too as a bonus.

On my Ill/Kin, I only have Hover and my Kin "travel" powers, but w/Siphon Speed, Hover in combat is pretty damn sweet, as is unsuppressed run speed. Inertial Red. for normal travel.

On my other controllers, pretty much SS + CJ is the norm w/Raptor Packs for vertical mobility. SS also gives me full stealth once I stick a stealth IO into Sprint or something (IO skippable if I have a stealth power like Steamy Mist--my Ill has Sup Inv, so is my only controller w/o SS).

I am absolutely baffled by how many travel powers some of you take. Seriously, what great powers from your primary and secondary sets are you cutting out just to get that extra few percent of defense?

My Fire/Rad went Flight as well. Not only does it have the advantage of the "point in the right direction, hit R and go for a smoke" method of getting to a mission but Air Superiority suits my scrappy little Fire/Rad really well (especially since he's also got the Earth epic).

I probably could have gone the Leaping (& Psi Mastery) pools to give mez protection but it wouldn't suit my fiery little aggro-bot as well.

It's less about stealthing myself and more about the imps. They love to chase down runners, even if the runners are headed towards fresh mobs. However, Smoke + Stealth is a pretty sweet combo, and autohits in PvE.

Earth Controllers are pretty much the only squishies I take SJ for. It just seems natural that the earth itself would cooperate and toss them through the air to their destination.