Fire/Rad is a great solo-er, targetting lots of lower level enemies. My advice would have been to hazard zone sweep once upon a time, but now you can run missions at -1/x3 or whatever you can handle.
Endurance will be a bit of an issue, but mowing down blue-cons pre-Stamina will give you plenty of inspirations.
Sands of Mu is also handy for dealing with tougher targets. It will outdo any of your existing single target attacks, and Radiation Infection will let you hit reliably with it.
I'd also count Mind and Gravity as good solo-ers (not as great as Fire or Illusion), since they both have good single target attack chains. They suit more of a +2/x1 difficulty setting. Gravity is bottom of the list for Dominators, but on a Controller, the beefy attacks in the primary make much more sense.
I think the OP may have some issues, simply because he won't be able to get mez protection without having Domination. With the Hot Feet and Choking Cloud combo being sensitive to being de-toggled, and with the red side foes being more prone to throw mez around, it could be tedious. Not sure.
Anyway, Fire/Rad is a great controller, but as DrMike said, at lower levels its more oriented towards soloing -1/xwhatever, due to hot feet being a slow but significant source of your damage.
DrMike mentioned that Mind and Grav have good attack chains, but in my opinion, Illusion does pretty well for itself also. Between Blind, Spectral Wounds, Deceive, and maybe something like Air Superiority, you'll be soloing fine. Then you get Phantom Army at level 18 and it gets better. Even later you'll get Phantasm to help your damage. Its maybe not a great set for AOE damage exactly, but its an effective set that can solo or team. Plus, Illusion doesn't exist red side, so an Illusion controller might be the most interesting one to cross over. Combine it with Rad, Storm, or Trick Arrow, and you'd be set.
Either way, it should be fun.
Lewis
Random AT Generation!
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Well Fire/Rad is my favorite controller. Good in every situation. For heavy soloing, I'd also agree that Gravity, Illusion and Mind are all very good paired with /Rad. Each has very good early single target attack chains. Mind's sleep power is a great opener for soloing with single target attacks. Gravity's Wormhole is a good control & pull. And Illusion has Phantom Army as a quasi tank. I prefer Fire for overall utility and better AOE damage with Hotfeet. If you are set on choking cloud, then I think Fire is the way to go. It synergizes better with it than the other controllers. I think you'd be happy with any of them though.
@SBeaudway on Pinnacle, TaskForce Titans Supergroup.
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I suggest you take a look at my Ill/Rad guide. It starts out with a lot of basic info on Controllers in general, and then discusses Ill/Rad in detail. I also suggest Ill/Rad as a great "first" controller, even for a player who is experienced in the game in general.|
Originally Posted by devil dingo
I am a 4 year veteran but i have like an hour total experience blueside. Not sure why....i guess i just like red side style of play. With GOING ROGUE coming soon i am wanting to take some blue side At's and take them red.
I have 3 level 50 doms so i am interested in controllers. I Do a healthy mix of solo and teaming but being able to solo is a big must with me. I do not PVP. It doesnt look like to me that most controllers solo well. So i am asking you troller players how well controllers solo. I am very interested in making a fire/rad troller. I have a good deal of experience with both power sets and the idea of using choking cloud with hot feat and fire cages intrigues me. The damage for controllers seems very low though so i wanna know how well fire/rad solo. Also i would like some feed back as to which troller combos solo well. I allready know illusion solos well. Thank you for all future responses. |
Fire/Rad is a great, fun build. I have one at 50 on one server, and I'm currently working on another to team with my buddies on a Level 50 all Fire/Rad team. The combo of Hot Feet+Choking Cloud is the cornerstone of the way I play my Fire/Rads. The strategy is pretty simple: Flashfire+Fire Cages from range, then run it with HF+CC running and Imps trailing behind to wipe out the baddies. Use Char on anyone who isn't held/Stunned. If Flashfire is Recharging, then Cinders can fill in.
However, you don't get to really use that mix until you have HF, CC, Flashfire and Imps fully slotted. That means level 34 or so. IO slotting for Recharge and several procs (Lockdown +2 Mag in CC, Chance for Hold in Fire Cages, etc.) makes the build much better. Lower levels are kind of slow and frustrating. You have to have patience until this build gets REALLY good.
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
Since you're mainly red-side, why not play illusion (i.e. the set that is blue side only)? It's one of the better controller sets for solo'ing.
Thanks for all the advice. I think i will roll a ill/rad troller and actually play him on blue side. If i really like the toon i might roll a fire/rad when GR goes live so that i can take him red.
Between fire/ and illusion/ I'd pick the first one anyday. Illusion/ is a good and safe set but is also awfully boring imo. Feels a bit too passive compared to other primaries.
@False Fiction - Virtue / Defiant
Current projects - [Glaciologist - Ill/Cold Troller] [Cloudshaper - Storm/Dark Def] [Harald Wartooth - Elec/Psi Domi]
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I respectfully disagree . . . I find that if I'm sitting around not doing anything, then there are a lot of things I should be doing to be more effective. Illusion is not difficult to play if you want to sit around a let the pets do everything, but it takes a lot of strategy to play really well. I spend a fair amount of time monitoring the foes attacked by my pets so that I can finish them off more quickly to take advantage of Spectral Damage. Deceive is my surgical tool to take out foes aggroed on squishier teammates or select mezzers and debuffers. Choosing the right anchors for the Rad debuffs takes some scanning and planning.|
Originally Posted by False_Fiction_EU
Between fire/ and illusion/ I'd pick the first one anyday. Illusion/ is a good and safe set but is also awfully boring imo. Feels a bit too passive compared to other primaries.
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On my Fire/Rads, I actually spend more time "sitting around" than on my Ill/Rads. Once everything is held with Choking Cloud, Char or Cinders, I can just stand around and let the Imps and Hot Feet kill everything off.
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
Earth/Storm provides you with all the control you could ever want. Some people say too much control. I say never!
JUSTICE
Caveman Etc: Inv/Stone Tank, Hyperdrive Etc: Gravity/Kinetics Controller, Terra-Storm Etc: Earth/Storm Controller, Cpt. Thunderstrike: Energy/Electric Blaster, Psicada: Sonic/Energy Blaster, Neon Ranger: Archery/Electric Blaster, Devlin Hellshot: Dark/Dual Pistols Defender
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This is true. I just thought OP was set on fire/rad or ill/rad.|
Originally Posted by The_Caveman
Earth/Storm provides you with all the control you could ever want. Some people say too much control. I say never!
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To Local: anything with /rad will work great. I just consider Illusion to be the very easy and boring I WIN mode. Obviously you can be more methodical with your Ill/Rad, but so can a Fire/rad. Even though none of the combos actually need that much thinking to be fairly well played.
@False Fiction - Virtue / Defiant
Current projects - [Glaciologist - Ill/Cold Troller] [Cloudshaper - Storm/Dark Def] [Harald Wartooth - Elec/Psi Domi]
I'm not particulary set on any power set. I actually love earth control. I have a 50 earth/earth perma dom. I also have a 50 plant/thorn and a 50 fire/fire perma dom. I also have a 50 rad/rad corr. I just kinda like the concept of fire/rad.
My main concern with any controlller is lack of damage. I obviously never played illusion but i'm starting to think it might be boring.
I would also like a controller thats not going to be very expensive. Illusion will probably cost a fortune to get perma phantom army. I'm kinda burnt out on High end builds since all 3 of my doms cost me well over a billion infamy each to build.
I imagine that earth/storm will be very very safe but how is it damage wise??
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I just started one a few days ago and I can safely say that at level 10 he does good damage |
Originally Posted by devil dingo
I imagine that earth/storm will be very very safe but how is it damage wise??
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. Realistically it's not going to be one of the higher damage controllers but it should be ok. I picked up Jump Kick at level 6 and I'd definitely recommend taking that or Air Superiority to give you a semi-decent single target attack chain.
Ill/Rad is great for solo or teams and so is Ill/Emp.. I have both. I am seriously thinking of taking an Ill/rad or Emp red side to team with my friend's Stalker. Two of us stealthing through missions creating havoc and destruction. I like Emp over some others because my three auras can hela and help me unlike say thermal which protects everyone else on a team but I am still vulnerable
Plant/Rad isn't quite as good solo but doable and nothing moves and slowly gets crushed to death while you stand there and giggle.
Fire/rad or even Fire/Kin can work VERY well solo or teaming
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It's not that bad. I just got 5/6 of the purple confusion set to put me over 90% recharge. It's cost maybe 120-150 million so far. Of course to get over the final hump I'll need 4 more Unbreakable Constraint enhancements (got 1 recipe to drop), which will probably be another 100 million minus whatever I save from merits. And there's also some odds and ends that I need to pick up. But still 90% recharge is very effective.
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Originally Posted by devil dingo
I'm not particulary set on any power set. I actually love earth control. I have a 50 earth/earth perma dom. I also have a 50 plant/thorn and a 50 fire/fire perma dom. I also have a 50 rad/rad corr. I just kinda like the concept of fire/rad.
My main concern with any controlller is lack of damage. I obviously never played illusion but i'm starting to think it might be boring. I would also like a controller thats not going to be very expensive. Illusion will probably cost a fortune to get perma phantom army. I'm kinda burnt out on High end builds since all 3 of my doms cost me well over a billion infamy each to build. I imagine that earth/storm will be very very safe but how is it damage wise?? |
I'm kind of the lone ranger but I've always found Radiation in general and Ill/Rad specifically to be a bit overhyped. Is it good? Yes. Is it tremendously better than other Controllers? That really depends on what you're measuring. It can solo AVs because it has -Regen and AVs are incredibly unintelligent. Ill/Rad is a fine choice, definitely, but IMO other than the AV oddity not incredibly better than any other Illusion/ or /Radiation combo.
I wanted to get a quick plug in for my favorite, mind/cold or mind/storm. Lots of control, lots of options, lots of chaos, different enemies all play very differently.
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You might want to consider a Mind Controller. You get a good single target damage chain, and you get an AOE sleep power that is trivial to perma. You also get an AOE fear that does decent damage. The set is practical and effective without having to be expensive, just based on that alone. In addition, you also get plenty of other control powers that are fun.|
Originally Posted by devil dingo
My main concern with any controlller is lack of damage. I obviously never played illusion but i'm starting to think it might be boring.
I would also like a controller thats not going to be very expensive. |
Mind control can get LOTS of control cheap, and has a single target chain. That's the bottom line.
I'm not sure which secondary would go best with it. I have Mind/Storm at 50 and Mind/TA in the mid-30s. Both are great, and both provide ways to boost your personal damage. Force Field might be nice too. It can't improve your damage significantly, but you get mez protection, and its cheap (in terms of powers and slots needed) to be effective. That gives you lots of room to play with Mind Control itself.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by devil dingo
I imagine that earth/storm will be very very safe but how is it damage wise??
|
Bottom line is that Earth/Storm has pretty good damage, but not until the later periods in your career.
Lewis
Random AT Generation!
"I remember... the Alamo." -- Pee-wee Herman
"Oh don't worry. I always leave things to the last moment." -- The Doctor
"Telescopes are time machines." -- Carl Sagan
Well, i play trollers alot.
You can always go Fire/Kin. Slow til 32 then everything starts to die fast.
My faves are:
1) Fire/Storm. Nothing like Gale>Hurricane>Imps>Corner>Freezing Rain>Gale>Gale>Dead. lol.
2) Ice/Rad. It's awesome on a team. Arctic Air+Chocking Cloud locks mobs down. Not to mention ICE PATCH and Shiver.
But i don't find any of them fun to solo unless i have more than one pet. Fire/ and Illusion to me are the best to solo cause you can kill much faster and not just "controlling" the fights. But that's me.
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Earth and Ice are the lowest damage controller primaries. Earth can solo very slowly because of the lots of great control, and then it picks up a bit once you get Rocky at 32. The pet is a good source of damage. For Earth/Storm, you then get two more sources of damage from Tornado and Lightning Storm at 35 and 38. (I'm running two of them now.) In general, I don't recommend Storm to new controllers, as it takes some skill and practice to learn how to use the Storm powers without frustrating the rest of the team. But in the hands of a good and experienced player, Storm is wonderful.|
Originally Posted by devil dingo
I'm not particulary set on any power set. I actually love earth control. I have a 50 earth/earth perma dom. I also have a 50 plant/thorn and a 50 fire/fire perma dom. I also have a 50 rad/rad corr. I just kinda like the concept of fire/rad.
My main concern with any controlller is lack of damage. I obviously never played illusion but i'm starting to think it might be boring. I would also like a controller thats not going to be very expensive. Illusion will probably cost a fortune to get perma phantom army. I'm kinda burnt out on High end builds since all 3 of my doms cost me well over a billion infamy each to build. I imagine that earth/storm will be very very safe but how is it damage wise?? |
Mind is a fun set in lower levels. Mind has a great single target attack chain early, but never gets that bump up in damage that other sets get from their pet at 32 -- Mass Confusion is a great control power but it really doesn't make up for the damage other sets get from their pets. One benefit of Mind/Storm is that the upper level damage from Storm makes up for Mind's lack of upper level damage. However, the sets really don't have much synergy.
In general, Controllers were not designed for damage, although some can put out pretty good damage in upper levels. Illusion, Mind and Grav all have decent single target damage but somewhat lack in AoE damage. Fire and Plant mostly have AoE damage and somewhat lack in single target damage. Earth and Ice don't have much damage are are best on teams.
Of the secondaries, Rad is the most flexible and goes with everything -- buffs and debuffs, healing and rez and some control -- Rad is the only set that self-buffs Recovery and Recharge. Storm is chaotic and fun, and adds damage powers in the upper level, but lacks a self-heal or endurance recovery powers -- and tends to use a lot of endurance. Kinetics has a unique playstyle -- it is melee oriented and offers great buffing for melee characters and some small amount of debuffing, but has no defensive powers and is a very busy set. Trick Arrow's strength is ranged debuffing and control -- and concept. Empathy is healing and buffing, with no defensive or debuffing powers. Therm, Sonic and Cold are shield sets with some various utility powers -- Therm is more like Rad and Emp, Cold has elements of Storm and Sonic is kind of unique.
Illusion is a primary not available to the Red side, which is one reason you might want to try it. My guide explains all its benefits and why Rad is the best secondary. However, Illusion is such a good primary that it goes well with every secondary. Ill/Rad is, in my opinion, the most flexible build in the game. YOU DON'T HAVE TO HAVE A PERMA-PA BUILD to have a very effective Ill/Rad. A Perma-PA Ill/Rad is a type of build that can do something somewhat easily that other builds have trouble with -- solo AVs and GMs. I often switch out of my Perma-PA build for TFs, as my other build is better on teams where they might need someone to stealth missions (He has Recall Friend and Teleport.)
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
wow..i am really impressed with all the feedback i have recieved. last night i rolled a fire/rad a ill/rad and a earth/storm. I will play all 3 for a while to see what i like best. I may hold off on the earth/storm until GR goes live because earth/storm powers just seem really villianous to me. All that property damage isnt very hero like. LOL
Thank you all again for your awesome feedback
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and I can't belive that a page of posts in that NO ONE has mentioned, IMHO the best 'troller set of them all....PLANT.|
Originally Posted by devil dingo
wow..i am really impressed with all the feedback i have recieved. last night i rolled a fire/rad a ill/rad and a earth/storm. I will play all 3 for a while to see what i like best. I may hold off on the earth/storm until GR goes live because earth/storm powers just seem really villianous to me. All that property damage isnt very hero like. LOL
Thank you all again for your awesome feedback |
It starts off great, the level 4 AoE immob does 2X the damage of any of the other sets (including the much bally-hoo'ed Fire set), after that, you get a AoE Sleep and then, the best power of the set, at level 8, Seeds of Confusion, an AoE confuse, which you can easily with just store bought enhancer's get to recharge long before the effect wares off. Pair this with Rad and your pretty unstopable, and thats not counting the AoE Hold, AoE creepers, which has damage and -fly and knockdown.
Yes, some folks do not like the pet, I actually do, cast that into a pile of mobs + an AV, hit the AV with the rad debuffs and seeds on the rest and all of a sudden the AV is the one out numbered.
PLANT.....
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Plant is a fun set that gets the best early AoE control of any primary. To me, Plant is a bit of a one-trick pony. It relies heavily on Seeds + Roots. Everything else in the set leverages off of that combo. It has weak single target damage but pretty good AoE damage over time. Generally, you can kill groups of foes just as fast as single targets . . . it takes a little while, though. And if you run into foes who resist Confuse (Nemesis) or Immobs (Council Wolves), you are not very effective. The pet is a little bit weak, but combined with Carrion Creepers, it compares to the pets for other sets. However, Twoey (for Audrey II) is the coolest looking pet available to controllers.|
Originally Posted by Robert_B
and I can't belive that a page of posts in that NO ONE has mentioned, IMHO the best 'troller set of them all....PLANT.
It starts off great, the level 4 AoE immob does 2X the damage of any of the other sets (including the much bally-hoo'ed Fire set), after that, you get a AoE Sleep and then, the best power of the set, at level 8, Seeds of Confusion, an AoE confuse, which you can easily with just store bought enhancer's get to recharge long before the effect wares off. Pair this with Rad and your pretty unstopable, and thats not counting the AoE Hold, AoE creepers, which has damage and -fly and knockdown. Yes, some folks do not like the pet, I actually do, cast that into a pile of mobs + an AV, hit the AV with the rad debuffs and seeds on the rest and all of a sudden the AV is the one out numbered. PLANT..... |
Fire kills faster, but Plant is a good set.
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
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I assume you mean fire kills faster post 32 (with your pets)?|
Originally Posted by Local_Man
Plant is a fun set that gets the best early AoE control of any primary. To me, Plant is a bit of a one-trick pony. It relies heavily on Seeds + Roots. Everything else in the set leverages off of that combo. It has weak single target damage but pretty good AoE damage over time. Generally, you can kill groups of foes just as fast as single targets . . . it takes a little while, though. And if you run into foes who resist Confuse (Nemesis) or Immobs (Council Wolves), you are not very effective. The pet is a little bit weak, but combined with Carrion Creepers, it compares to the pets for other sets. However, Twoey (for Audrey II) is the coolest looking pet available to controllers.
Fire kills faster, but Plant is a good set. |
I think that Plant is a great starter set for the OP to try as the early controls really give a feel for the whole "Controller" idea.
Yes you do rely on Seeds alot, but since it works so well with the exception of the two types of enemy's that you mentioned I would not really consider that a weakness, espically when you pair it with Rad, if they resist your Immob or Seeds you can still debuff and use your 2x damage AoE and Vines and Creepers to do the job, and you still have the sleep if you took it.
The pet is not that weak IMHO, again debuff whatever it's fighting and it will be fine.
PLANT..
Besides, nothing is better then confusing a pile of mobs and then rooting them to death
Fire does very well damage wise from level 8 onwards, due to contained Hot Feet damage. Spamming Fire Cages after Flashfire will usually kill of even con minions before the Flashfire stun wears off.
I am a 4 year veteran but i have like an hour total experience blueside. Not sure why....i guess i just like red side style of play. With GOING ROGUE coming soon i am wanting to take some blue side At's and take them red.
I have 3 level 50 doms so i am interested in controllers. I Do a healthy mix of solo and teaming but being able to solo is a big must with me. I do not PVP. It doesnt look like to me that most controllers solo well. So i am asking you troller players how well controllers solo.
I am very interested in making a fire/rad troller. I have a good deal of experience with both power sets and the idea of using choking cloud with hot feat and fire cages intrigues me. The damage for controllers seems very low though so i wanna know how well fire/rad solo. Also i would like some feed back as to which troller combos solo well. I allready know illusion solos well.
Thank you for all future responses.