Electric Controllers on the way : no ETA

Soon we will all embrace the power of digital communication, and fall under it's Electric Control!



. . . sorry, couldn't help myself.

If you're going to tweak someone for necro'ing your thread, it's best to go after the person who actually did it. Usually the first few replies after that are just people who didn't look closely at the dates.

So it should be the opposite of what defenders get and be something good? To summarize what I posted in the controller forum...

- I'm for controllers getting it.
- It's another thing that the defender AT loses in the uniqueness department over controllers.
- The only two real things that stand out for defenders is tohit debuffs(Dark) and -res(Sonic).
- If you want to be see a bunch of controllers fornicate, mention Dark control.
- I have a really hard time seeing how the set isn't "better" in the hands of a controller.
- Elec blast has always been under performing damage. Even a low damage control set given containment can be made decent enough.

Uniqueness? I have yet to run into more than a handful of Defenders(late game) with Electric Blast as their secondary. Heck I rarely run into many blasters with electric blast as their primary in the late game. I guess most of them are already 50 but I have yet to see any new players roll Electric Blast .

Defenders will always be unique to me in so many ways. Also I thought the devs aimed to proliferate most primaries and secondaries? This isn't the same but close.

Here's Weatherby's verison of electric control.


Electrical Control

Level 1: Electric Fence [Ranged, Moderate DoT(Energy), Foe Immobilize, Minor DroT]

Level 1: Shocking Bolt [Ranged, Moderate DMG(Energy), Foe Hold, Minor DroT]

Level 2: Electrifying Fences [Ranged AoE, Minor DoT(Energy), Foe Immobilize, Minor DroT]

Level 6: Neural Scramble [Ranged, Foe Confuse]

Level 8: Synaptic Overload [PBAoE, Foe Sleep, -End]

Level 12: Blackout [Ranged AoE, Minor DMG(Energy), Foe -End]

Level 18: Static Field [Toggle: PBAoE, Foe -End, -Stealth, Chance for Sleep]

Level 26: Shock [PBAoE Chain Hold, Minor -Rec, Minor -End]

Level 32: Thunder Gremlins [Summon 2 Gremlins: Melee High DMG(Energy)] (Prefers Melee)

* Charged Bolts [Ranged, Moderate DMG(Energy), Foe -End]
* Charged Brawl [Melee, Moderate DMG(Smash/Energy), Target Sleep, -End]
* Havoc Punch [Melee, High DMG(Smash/Energy), Target Sleep, -End]
* Resistance [Auto: Self +Res(Energy, Smashing, Lethal, Psi, End Drain), -Res(Negative)]



Second in my series of Control set suggestions, here is Electrical Control. This set is intended to be a high damage, low hard control, moderate soft control set with a focus on Sapping. As fitting the theme, the set uses Energy damage with a side order of Endurance Drain. I'll outline the powers in more detail below, but I'm going to leave out the Sapping aspects of the powers for the very last bit of this post, since End Drain is a complex and potentially overpowering game mechanic.

Following the precedent set by the other elemental sets, I've started the set off with the Immob/Hold/AoE Immob trifecta. Fairly standard, they are essentially the same as the existing trifectas. I cribbed the names from existing powers, following the precedent begun with the other elemental sets. Secondary effects will be discussed in the End Drain section.

Level six throws in an additional single target control. Using her exceptional control over electricity, the controller can temporarily re-wire a targets brain causing him to fight his comrades. Neural Scramble is a Confuse, in the same vein as Deceive or Confuse.

The next three powers are where End Drain becomes a major part of the Electrical Controller's power. Synaptic Overload is a ranged area Sleep with some minor, but important End Drain. Blackout is pure End Drain, nothing else. It isn't enhanceable but it isn't resistible either, so the player can save some slots.

Static Field is an amalgamation of Arctic Air and Hotfeet. It has a decent damage component and a good chance to Sleep opponents, in addition to it's End Drain. Yes, I realize the damage will interrupt the sleep and that is the point. With an activation time of 5s, the power will roll it's hit check for damage and then apply the Sleep after a short delay. Five seconds later, the damage will wake everything (letting the mobs get a single attack in) and then roll to see which ones get put back to sleep. By using a Sleep rather than a Stun or Hold I can eliminate stacking, strictly control the duration, and get a neat randomizing effect. As a whole, Static Field doesn't really provide a lot of control. That's ok, since it gives some nice damage and a solid amount of End Drain.

Shock is a standard PBaoE hold, with the Chain Induction effect added on for flavour.

The pets I've chosen are the oft requested Cap Au Diable Gremlins, renamed to Thunder Gremlins and recoloured blue for Controllers (Doms keep the red version). They are squishy (with only minor resists, around 7.5%) but should deal out lots of damage in melee. Noting out of the ordinary here, except the power summons two of em.



End Drain for Control Sets

End Drain is the trickiest Debuff affect in Co*. As E^3 blasters will attest, it is worthless unless a mob is completely drained, after a full drain is achieved it then becomes one of the most powerful effects in the game. In order to keep a mob drained, it must be coupled with either -Recovery or a DroT (Drain over Time), or else recovery will begin restoring enough endurance for the critter to begin attacking. End Drain is a binary affect (either on or off with no middle ground). This is very similar to the Mezz system, and treating it as a mez is a much better method of looking at it. Since different mobs have different amounts of Endurance, it's even possible to treat End Drain by magnitudes.

But wait, I hear you say, isn't Endurance drained by a set percentage? Wouldn't that mean it affects all enemies equally?

Well, yes. Percentage drains would affect all critter classes equally. That's why my proposed set only uses Absolute drains (which some existing powers already use). By looking at the End pools different mobs possess:

Minion: 100 End
Lieutenant: 140 End
Boss: 200 End

I can set up a quasi-magnitude system and base Electrical Control's drains on those amounts. Here are the detailed numbers for the three major sapping powers in the set:
(Regular effects are separated from AT inherent effects)


Synaptic Overload: (90s base recharge, 0.9 base Acc) -30 End (enhanceable, resistible)

* 18.6s Sleep (Mag 3)

* 20% chance for 18.6s Sleep (Mag 1) (Controllers only)
* 37.2s Sleep (Mag 6) (If Domination)



Blackout: (60s base recharge, 1.2 base Acc)

* -90pts (un-enhanceable, irresistible)

* 20% chance for -150 End (un-enhanceable, irresistible) (Controllers only)
* -150 End (un-enhanceable, irresistible) (If Domination)



Static Field: (Ticks every 6s, Autohit)

* -10 End (enhanceable, resistible)
* 20% chance for 6s Sleep (Mag 3), after 0.2s delay
* Scale 0.5 damage (Requires Tohit check)

* 75% chance for Containment damage (Requires Tohit check) (Controllers only)
* 20% chance for -10 End (enhanceable, resistible) (Controllers only)
* 50% chance for 12s Sleep (Mag 6), after 0.2s delay (If Domination)
* -20 End (enhanceable, resistible) (If Domination)


As you can see none of those powers can sapp a spawn on their own. They must all be used together. The layer has the choice of opening with the ranged Blackout and suffering the alpha strike or they can run into melee and sleep the spawn with Synaptic Overload. Both options are hazardous, but the end result is worth it. After their opener, the player should use the other drain power to establish lockdown. Together, Synaptic Overload (if well slotted) and Blackout will drain 140 points of endurance or enough to sapp minions and lieutenants. If the player gets lucky, Blackout with get a critical control and sapp enough to drain Bosses. Static Field then prevents the enemy from regaining too much endurance, although the slow tick rate may allow an attack or two to slip through. On the plus side, once a spawn is sapped and Electrical Controller can keep it that way almost indefinitely.


One note on Dominators. I'm not certain what a Dom's AT modifier would be for end drain, but the values I've outlined can not be any lower or else the set won't be able to sapp within the required parameters. Domination could add in additional end drain



Recap:
-Can reliably sapp Minions and Lieutenants with slotting
-Blackout has a chance to sapp Bosses and Lieutenants in one go
-Can keep mobs drained indefinitely
-Will most likely eat an alpha opening with a Sapping power
-Requires 3 powers for reliable every spawn control. Most sets require one.
-Blackout requires only minimal slotting (1 Acc, 2 Rech should be enough)
-High AoE damage


Oh, and the -End Over Time on the Immobs and Hold is just for flavour. It shouldn't be enough to drain anything. Likewise for the -End in the Gremlin attacks.


To compliment the set, here is a quick suggestion for an electrically themed ancillary:

Lightning Mastery (Controller)
Level 41: Lightning Bolt
Level 41: Charged Armour
Level 44: Ball Lightning
Level 44: Voltaic Sentinel
Level 47: Power Sink


I hope you've enjoyed reading my suggesting as much as I enjoyed creating it. As always discussion, questions, and comments are welcome. Also: look for my Water Control suggestion, coming soon™!

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