/Thermal?

What's a good primary to use with /Thermal?

And is thermal a good set? i've heard its good from some people, while others have said its the worst set. o.o

My personal beef with Thermal on Controllers is that when you're solo, most of your powers are basically worthless until you get you pet (if you don't take Mind/). I solo a lot, so I prefer it on Masterminds.

That said, however, when you DO have others around the set is a very good jack-of-all-trades support set. It has shields, heals, a rez, a Break Free, a buff, and a debuff.

To answer your first question, however, all the sets will work fine with it, but again, it depends on if you're soloing or not. If you're soloing more often, Illusion is a very good set. If you can stand the climb to 32, Earth is one of my favorites, despite having a highly-resisted primary damage type. I've also heard of great things from Fire/Thermal once IO'd out.

I usually team, but will solo if need be.

IMO Thermal is the frantic cousin of Empathy. As a set, it pushes you to click faster, faster, faster. If you put yourself in the proper mindset it can be very rewarding. It can also be sort of exhausting.

There are basically three simultaneous things you need to juggle with Thermal, which when I play, I prioritize as follows:
- Do I need to refresh shields? (every 3-4 minutes)
- Can I Forge someone? (eventually worked down to every 90 seconds)
- Should I toss a heal? (continuous, because there are no recovery auras)

On top of that you have your Thermal debuffing powers which are up less often but should be thrown in whenever you can.

And then you have your controls. Depending on your primary, your strategy will change.

- Ice, for me a rather soothing and un-clicky set, synergizes with Thermal in the sense that it doesn't add a lot of extra pressure to click things. Ice Slick animates quickly (faster than Earthquake) and Arctic Air is always running, so putting mezz-pressure on enemies while buffing the team works smoothly. Mastering how to leverage Arctic Air while buffing, to me, is the key to this combo. Note that you this combo is very team dependant until lvl 32, and still rather fragile solo even after that. I think that Ice Control, more than any other Control set besides perhaps Fire, benefits tremendously when teamed with a Tank-type character who is good at redirecting aggro.

- Mind Control has no pet to buff. Whether this effects you depends entirely on how often you team. If you are always teamed, Mind is one of the best sets you can take, because buffs are only as good as the pet (or teammate) you put them on. One of the main synergies between a buff set and Mind Control is that Mind has several aggro-less controls that make you the least likely team member to get attacked, if you play your cards right. Since you are the last-resort character, this can translate into better team survival rates.

- Earth is another set that is very team dependant, although the pet it gets is ridiculously survivable when shielded up. I think the pet is actually better than the pets Masterminds get. Earth has a lot of similarities to Ice, but is more clicky and, in a way that's hard to describe unless you've played the set, is sort of "confrontational." What I find is that Earth is better at steam rolling enemies that are moderately dangerous and Ice and Mind are better at preventing catastrophic team wipes when unexpected things happen (ambushes, foolish teammates, etc).

- Plant does great damage and great control. It works with any secondary. It does get a pet, but more as an afterthought than because the set really needs it or because the pet is really remarkable.

- Fire is a high damage set with less control potential. It adds some team safety but focuses more on high-risk blapping. I don't think it's a stretch to call Fire Control schizophrenic. This is the set for you if you are an adrenaline junky who likes to gamble; when you're successful, your potential is awesome, when you're not (or your tank isn't very good or your fire imps are just in a fiesty mood), you will be the first team member down every time.

- Illusion is a unique set. It has some overlap with Mind Control, including an absolutely awesome aggro-less single target Confuse power.

- Gravity is.. gravity. It's not a terrible set, but it's definitely not my favorite. Paired with /Thermal, the pet can be shielded but can't be healed. It's not a terrible combo, but (like anything paired with Gravity) it's not strictly the best either.

Hope that helps.

I have a Grav/Thermal controller who is now lvl 43 (almost 44)...he's....very slow at solo'ing. I kill mobs with veteran reward powers and/or by DoT (use hold, aoe immob, st immob, hold, st immob, rinse and repeat until mob is dead).

I will say that the Singularity is a great pet. Quite tank-ish (especially with shields on it) and perfect for clogging up a hallway so that you can run away if needed (since mobs will just get repelled when they run into Singy).

If you team a lot then yeah Grav/Thermal can work. I will say that I usually feel totally useless on teams except for my secondary (for the most part). Grav has no real good control since Wormhole takes long to activate and usually if you're on a really good team, it's not necessary (since you steamroll through things)...and the only 'good' AoE control you get recharges every 4-6 minutes (AoE hold).

It's definitely unique...try it out if I haven't dismayed you from trying it by now

Ill/thermal. Ill lets you play a more passive support like Ill/emp does since you don't need to be in the middle of things like a /sonic, /ff, or /kin needs to be. Ill can more than hold it's own when it needs to solo.

I have a baby Fire/Thermal who is 18, and I enjoyed her a lot when I was playing her. I think Fire has good synergy with Thermal as it gives you the ability to either buff the heck out of your team for team play or buff the heck out of your Imps for solo. Either way you can get the most out of your secondary with Fire.

Thermal is a great little "toolbox" set, by which I mean it's got a solid power or two for each of the major things you hope for out of a controller secondary on your team. It heals, debuffs, and adds offensive and defensive buffs. It doesn't specialize; your enemies won't be crippled like they would by a /rad and you won't be as rock-solid safe as you would with a /ff, but Thermal is a set with no holes in it. It's got the full toolbox.

The damage on Lift is regretable but the knockup is still useful. It's good to use on bosses. Hold > Lift > Hold lets you stack holds safely after drawing aggro.

I have a Mind/Thermal/Earth controller, it was fun late game (solo and team)

I think the best options are Illusion/Thermal or Earth/Thermal.

If you want to be able to solo in a pinch prior to level 32 or 33, Illusion/Thermal is the way to go. Otherwise, if you can stand teaming until 32+ then I prefer Earth/Thermal. Earth is the controller's controller IMO. Its good enough to stand on its own for being the control set for a big team, even without a secondary to augment it. Thermal is a great all around team tool for heals, buffs and debuffs.

Basically, I'd put Earth/Thermal as the #2 ultimate team controller, barely behind Earth/Rad.

Lewis

Earth/Thermal is a beast. So much control, so much support, and a pimped out stone man running around randomly beating the tar outta villains.

As to Thermal itself, it's good at everything, great at nothing. Just an all around good set.

I have a Fire/Thermal Controller in the mid 20s and an Earth/Thermal Controller around 10 who are both off to a very strong start. Thermal is pretty handy on teams right from level 1, though I can't really comment on their soloing potential--I've never tried to build a solo 'Troller.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nethergoat it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!

Ive done Earth/Thermal and Fire/Thermal and I enjoy both but I have found that Earth/Thernal can really be a beast. A buffed up Stoney is a terror..