So, here is my problem

Greetings,

Right now I am suffering from alt-itis syndrome. I’ve made far too many alts and now I’m interested in trying my hand at a controller. However, my main problem with a troller is that I’m not a huge fan of pets and I’m of the opinion that pets makes a controller shine. Sure, I could try MC, but that is not really a concept I would feel comfortable with.

My DM/WP scrapper just recently took blaze as an epic power and I enjoy it. However, I’m not a big imp fan especially, for theme reasons.

The only two primary powers I’m not really interested in trying would be mind and plant. As for secondary I don’t have any interest in empathy, force field and trick arrow.

Sure, I would love to be able to solo AVs for the challenge and I also like farming. I don’t have much influence atm, maybe 300 million, but I don’t mind working my way up. Also of note is that I’ve only got 2 level 50s and both are scrappers. So far the others have all retired. But, I am looking for a new play style I just have not found it yet. I enjoy my human only PB too, but he seems to be more of a side distraction atm.

I should also mention I normally solo. I’ll join a team when I can, but I tend to go afk a bunch due to work and family.

Now, of course I might get into the pet concept later as my toon progresses, but from the start I just don’t “feel” it.

Any advice? Thanks in advance… time to go to work.

Holy hell dude...slow down on the caffine!LOL!

Anyhow,i may have a suggjestion to help you out when it comes to a controller type.From what im gathering about you,and your Limitations on what youll play,id say go for a Ice Control/Storm Controller,or possibly take Earth Control/ with say.....Radiant Aura?

The Advantages of Earth/Rad for a controler would be pretty sizeable...considering it would be a complete beast in a team,or in solo play.

Ice/Storm would be a slow rise to power,but at later levels,youd rip mobs up,in or out of a team.

Ill also assure you,that if you really dont wanna deal a whole lot with a pet,or pets...you really dont have to take the Animate Stone power for Earth Control,as Rad being your secondary and buffer...youll never stop firing off your primary attacks anyhow.(assuming you know the easy trick of perma AM and Hasten due to the Rad's buffs,not to mention nearly endless endurance and the fastest AoE heal in the game.)

The Animate Stone power would be just a additional damage perk,and since its way more durable then fire imps,and theres only one that can be called at a time,itll be upto you to buy into that power,or simply pass it up,and by the sounds of it,you wouldnt worry about taking it anyhow.

Now,im exspressing the ease,and power potential of the Earth/Rad build to you a little,due to the factor,you seem to enjoy speed and damage.(Who doesnt?!)

The Ice/Storm build i also suggjested is a bit diffrent then the other one..its got alot of effects,with all the Slows,and knock backs,and knock downs,its pretty much a good fun set,but not nearly as fast as a quick killer,especially at lower levels,but,the saving grace at later levels is mainly the Lightning Storm,Hurricane,Tornado,and just like the other controller build,you can skip the Ice Elemental power if it doesnt fit your playing style.

However,buying into the pet for a Ice/Storm controller might be more benificial then if you didnt....and keep in mind,its not hard to control a single pet...that will follow you and fight till the death.

I hope this helped.

Sounds like you are looking for Illusion/Radiation. It's pretty cookie cutter, but there's a reason for it.

Indeed tell me what issue you have with pets so we can help you out more .

Maybe you should try Gravity/Radiation. Your primary comes with single target attacks for soloing, and the secondary covers the fact that Gravity blooms late in terms of control. As for Singularity, he hangs back and does his own thing. No worries.

You could try Illusion/Radiation for similar reasons (it is a smooth soloing ride from 1-50).

Between the two, I think Illusion/Radiation is more effective, but both could be nice first-time controllers where you can solo well, have a pet, and the pet is secondary or complimentary to doing the other stuff all on your own.

Lewis

I'm also having the same problem with picking a nice Controller build.

Here's the thing:

- I want this Controller for PvE Only.
- I want to go all out with slotting him.
- Can't choose which build, so many good ones, but I don't want to make them all, just 1.

Which ones should I go with?

I though about:

- Earth/Rad
- Fire/Kin (Too many of these around, would want to avoid this one.)
- Illusion/Rad
- Ice/Storm


Or anything of the sort, what do you peeps suggest? Keep in mind this will be my first Controller, EVAR.

Thanks!

thanks for all of the replies....

My only issue with pets for cosmetic reasons. I just can’t “see” my guy having a sidekick helping him attack. However, I’ve not done it in this game either, so I could learn to change my mind.

I’m going to mess around for a little while and see what I come up with. More to come…

Fire/storm. If you have a problem with imps then don't use them, you won't miss them that much with /storm.

I too would have suggested Mind if the OP hadn't said he wasn't interested in it.

Mind is pretty much the safest Controller possible for everything outside AVs (which Illusion is better at due to the invincible pets). It gets a lot of hate because of the lack of a pet and because Plant Control gets its excellent but completely different AoE confuse early.

Mind does go through a weird power arc. For the first ten levels you are a monster Controller who can solo anything and provide the best Controls available at that level. Then you hit a plateau where everyone (except Gravity) is getting good AoE Controls that are up every fight and you are still having to single target everything. You turn a corner at 26 with Terrorize, but its really right when you hit around lvl 40 and have everything fully slotted that you become one of the best AoE Controller, with FOUR AoE mezzes at your disposal.

Highlights of the set:

- The best AoE sleep anywhere. You may be tempted to skip it but don't. It draws no aggro and once slotted up is up every 15-25 seconds. It also has a better Overpower chance than any other control (50% chance instead of 15%). This is your "throwaway" mezz that you can toss into any situation and if thing stay slept, great, if they don't, who cares.

- The single target Confuse, which once slotted lasts over a minute. You can snipe enemies with it prior to the fight to eliminate anything that might cause problems. This power makes Mind (and Illusion) the absolute kings of eliminating single target fire. No other Control set can touch it.

- Between Mass Confuse and Total Domination you will have an AoE up every fight. You can then throw Terrify on top of it. And if you're soloing and things go south you can sleep the group and try again; the sleep will be up two to three times per fight.

- Mind Control powers are tagged as "Psionic attacks," where most other Control sets are tagged as "AoE Attacks" or "Ranged Attacks." This means it will sneak around certain enemy defenses. For example, it will ignore extra defense provided by Force Fields. (This is also why Force Fielders hate Rikti Mentalists and their Sleep ability).


The main downside of Mind Control is there is no reliable AoE Containment. Mind is not a good choice for farming.

To the OP

You might want to look into dominators as well.

If control is what u want to experience as a solo player, they have the kill speed to make control fun in a scrapperish kind of way.
They dont rely on pets to be able to really shine with pve content.

Also, dark/dark defenders are some of the best "controllers" in the game.

But if your stuck on the controller AT, Id suggest as a first time player either
grav/kin or ice/rad.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadow Ravenwolf My favorite combo is Faceplant/DebtCap with the TeamWipe Ancillary

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dispari Yeah, I like Blasters too.

I would not recommend /storm to anyone new to trollers or /storm. It takes quite a bit of experience and patience to make it shine. /rad is easier to pick up. All of its powers are very useful, work great out of the box, and are useful on teams as well as solo. /kin is good too, and can give you extra oomph if you plan on soloing a lot. While /therm is an amazing Jack of All Trades for teams, it won't help you nearly as much solo.

Fire/Rad is still may favorite troller combo to date, and the only 50 I have really purped out. Great balance of offence/debuff/lockdown, and I frequently dont even bother to throw out the imps.

Imo earth/sonic is the best starting controller there is.

Plenty of options. No real hassles of storm, and not as boring as FF.

Earth has a good range of effects, and volcanic gasses is the best aoe hold there is.

Liquefy and Earthquake give almost 100% knockdown duration (up almost all the time). Quicksand helps keep things in a place, and is a good starter power given the -DEF allows other things to hit.

I know you don't like a pet, but a pet plus disruption field stacked on top of Sonic siphon gives AWESOME damage potential for a controller. It isn't fire/kin but it will make you faster. Earth pet hits for like 300+ damage at lvl 50.

Another good point is that you can solo this build effectively.

I'm a mainly solo-ist who doesn't like pets too.

Gravity Control works really well - its got solid sinlge target damage and good damage-per-endurance in Propel.
Singularity is a pet but far less obtrusive than the humanoid pets. He tends to hang back off camera and acts like your subconscious mind, lifting and holding things for you without you having to press the buttons. He's tough enough to rarely need resummoning.
He also makes a very handy shield, step inside him if you're getting threatened by melee enemies.

All the time he feels like an extension of your power rather than a separate conscious entity.

My secondary was Empathy, not great for soloing. Doing it again I'd recommend Radiation.