On mine (currently 31) I found that snow storm and hurricane weren't helping me much. When I used them and when I didn't use them I pretty much took the same damage solo.
In teams snowstorm was a bit useful to stop runners and keep groups bunched long enough for AoE's to shred them. Hurricane was largely loathed and even if I didn't turn it on people would see it in my info page and send me messages asking I not use it.
I've respecced out of both and don't regret it one bit.
If you can, sell all your drops and you should be able to pickup a -Knockback IO pretty easily. You will greatly appreciate it! Edit: If you can't afford one, then look into the base enhancement buffs. There is a 1-hour buff that only costs 2 common salvage and 1 uncommon and gives you Mag 10 -kb for an hour that lasts through death.
Edit 2: Look into the really cheap hold sets (paralyze, etc). They have duals and triples that sell crafted for only a few hundred k inf around level 20-30. If you drop two duals or two triples into Vines you can get a much better set of bonuses and that will make the power a good bit more helpful. I found I really appreciated having it up when facing bosses so I could toss Strangler-Vines-Roots-Strangler and get the boss held, plus lock his pack out of melee with Roots. Cycling Strangler as soon as it comes up will keep them held, but the vines is great to lock them fast on the first cycle. Using some cheap sets starting right at level 18 you'll appreciate it.
I can give you plenty of advice on frankenslotting on a budget if you are interested. In the end cheap IOs are vastly cheaper than using SOs and you get higher bonuses as well.
"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
I can be found, outside of paragon city here.
Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.
Looking at your build, I'd say you haven't quite broke away from you Scrapper ways. There's still some slotting here that you may find useful on a scrapper, but it doesn't offer much for a controller. For example, slotting Health gives you one more hit point per second. With controllers' low health cap, that won't help much. There's a bit too much focus on damage as well. Anyway, let's get on to the power-by-power rundown.
Strangler: 2 hold, 2 accuracy, 2 recharge.
You want this up often and you want it to hit and hold.
Seeds of Confusion: 2 confuse, 2 accuracy, 2 recharge.
You gain 13 seconds of duration, and lose 6 seconds of recharge outside of hasten. With hasten up, the difference is only 3 seconds. Go with the mez duration.
Vines: 2 hold, 2 recharge, 2 accuracy.
Because of Seeds, Vines may not seem overly important. However, it is an important emergency power and deserves more than 2 slots.
Carrion Creepers: You've got the right idea there.
Fly Trap: 2 accuracy, 3 damage.
There's no need for recharge on most controller pets, especially since the zone with the caster now. The Fly Trap is a bit soft, but it will generally last long enough to be resummoned should it fall.
Snow Storm: 2 end reduction.
Carrion Creeper's pack enough recharge to floor most enemies. Snow Storm carries the benefit of grounding fliers. I can't say I use it often on my plant/storm, but I did miss it occasionally when I rolled a plant/ff'er.
Freezing Rain: 2 recharge, 2 defense debuff, 2 end. reduction or 3 recharge, 2 defense debuff, 1 end reduction.
Thirty per cent defense debuff is good without a doubt, but it can be better. More defense debuff here means you can go lighter on accuracy in some other powers.
Hurricane: 2 end reduction, 2 tohit debuff.
This is a phenomenal power. With two SO's you're delivering a 42% tohit debuff. With the defense from Steamy Mists, you've essentially softcapped the team. However, it can be tricky to use. It works best indoors, especially on office maps with nice tight corners to jam the enemy into. If you use it poorly, people will complain. If you use it constructively, some people will still complain. Others will sing your praises and you'll all have a good laugh that you don't need a tank.
Tornado: You're slotting here is fine.
I personally find Tornado more disruptive than Hurricane. Once you let it go, you've got to spam your AoE immobilize or face mobs randomly flying around the room. It can be handy to toss out when you've got to beat a retreat though.
Lightning Storm: 3 damage, 2 end reduction, 1 recharge.
Nice for a single tough single target like an AV or EB. Outside of that, you'll find it doesn't have enough of a chance to contribute to most fights unless you're solo. It does bring a lot of damage when it's allowed to punch the same target over and over. The endurance cost is quite hefty.
There are other changes I would suggest as well, but I've already tossed out a lot to consider. Bear in mind, that controllers tend to defeat the enemy comparatively slowly. You'll need to focus on your controls and debuffs to keep you safe while you get that job done.
Tornado and Lightning Storm look overslotted at the expense of Vines here. I'd recommend 4 slots in Vines and then trying to frankenslot it with Acc/Hold/Recharge IOs.
Tornado I'd just slot with 3 damage (or some Damage/End IOs and damage). It's recharge is low enough IMO and you do have to mind them a bit on teams, spamming the AOE immob to make them behave.*
Ditto with Lightning Storm, I don't think you need to 6 slot it. They're great if the team is standing around but with my Illusion/Storm I found LS generally was only good for 3 or 4 blasts and then we'd move on. I'd aim for 4 slots in it and Frankenslotting to max damage along with a bit of End and Acc in there if you can (Dear Castle. Please fix Lightning Storm, give it an opening one-off ranged Chain Induction style power or something).
Confuse set IOs are dirt cheap. On my Plant/Emp I was able to get it slotted with Set IOs by level 20, then I never had to pay for SOs for it which was great. I'll probably upgrade them at 37 though into an end game configuration.
With Freezing Rain I never bother with Defense Debuffs on it really. They're not needed and slots are precious. 3 recharge and one End did it for me, with an Achilles Heel PROC thrown in whenever you can afford it. The -resist is the star here (since you'll be AOE Immobing everything in sight the knockdown tends to get countered)
I've just thrown an Achilles into Fly Trap as well, but if I had the option I'd go for sticking it in Freezing Rain first (I'm currently playing a Plant/Emp so Bitey was the only place I could fit one).
Hurricane is ripe for -ToHit/End IOs as well, they should be pretty cheap too on the market.
I wouldn't bother with 2 travel powers either, unless you're planning to PvP or something. Pick one you like the most (Hurricane & TP is fun, as is Hover and Gale/Hurricane, but picking SS gives you another power to pick from) and drop the other. I'd take O2 Boost instead for keeping Fly Trap alive solo. O2 Boost has a few minor buffs that can make it occasionally very useful (the End Drain protection it gives can be very handy in the 40s and the Lady Grey TF).
I like the Earth Epic. Fissure is a great AOE which can take the Forced Feedback PROC, Seismic Smash is probably the most powerful melee attack / hold a Controller can get and you could get a self-heal /+HP power as well. Poo armour is good, especially coupled with Hurricane, if you can stand the look.
If you are going with Fire though Consume may be more useful than Fire Blast. Epic single target blasts aren't great on Controllers and you'll have plenty of other things to be doing. And Storm is heavy on the Blue Bar. Ice would also be an interesting choice. Plant/Storm has so many pseudo-pets (and confused ones) you could throw them all out and then Hibernate up to regain your blue bar whilest the enemies shoot themselves and get ripped apart by Creepers, Freezing Rain, Fly Trap and Lightning Storm (and Ice Storm if you get it, FR & Ice Storm is a nice combo)
As you can see, there is a wide range of opinions on how to play this combo. Damage or no damage? Tornado? Lightning Storm? Hurricane and/or Snow Storm? I agree with much of the advice above, but disagree with some as well.
Frankly, it depends on your playstyle. Are you going to mostly solo or team? In my opinion, Plant/Storm does best with a small team of 2-4 players. If you can have a teammate gather the foes into a fairly tight group, you can get more benefit from Seeds. However, with the right adjustments to your playstyle, you can be very effective on large teams as well.
Solo or small team, you can focus more on damage and a little less on control. Slotting Strangler, Roots, Carrion Creepers, Flytrap (I like to call him Twoey, after the Audrey II plant from Little Shop of Horrors), Tornado and Lightning Storm. On larger teams, you can focus more on AoE control and let your teammates do the damage.
Using Hurricane and Tornado well is tricky . . . I don't use them much on large teams, but use them a lot solo or on small teams. Using them poorly creates more problems than it solves. Hurricane has lots of situational uses and is a great defensive power. Learn to "herdicane" by running around the outside of groups to push them into teammates or into a tighter group for AoEs -- Super Speed is great for this. Tornado is a great damage power in some situations, and then can be a good "panic button" power in others. I tend to use Lightning Storm a lot . . . I have it slotted with a Chance to Hold proc and it seems to hit quite often. Again, you need to use it strategicly.
How you choose your powers and slot various powers depends on how you use them in your particular playstyle. Solo, Entangle can be used as some good single target damage, but I would not take it on a team build. Spores can be useful solo but is wasted on a team build. I prefer using Hasten/Super Speed for travel on Stormies, as the Stealth in Super Speed + Steamy Mist = full invisibility plus the maneuverability of SS is nice with Hurricane and getting in position to use Lightning Storm. This is really, really nice to get in position for best use of Seeds, also. To me, there are too many good powers in Plant/Storm to take two travel powers.
I generally prefer the Ice APP on most Stormies, as Hibernate gives you a panic-button Heal and Endurance Recovery power. But Plant can really use the single target damage from the Earth APP's Seismic Smash. I disagree with Carnifax that single target Blasts aren't useful, as single target damage is one of Plant's weaknesses.
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
Quote:
It's my understanding that if you use procs in Freezing Rain, you should slot some accuracy into Rain because the proc will use the chance to hit and activate that Rain has before it applies the defense debuff.
|
Originally Posted by Carnifax_NA
I've just thrown an Achilles into Fly Trap as well, but if I had the option I'd go for sticking it in Freezing Rain first (I'm currently playing a Plant/Emp so Bitey was the only place I could fit one).
|
Arc #40529 : The Furies of the Earth
Quote:
As I understand it, Sleet/Freezing rain has a +100% accuracy modifier, making Accuracy enhancements for Procs completely unnecessary even without the defense debuff.
|
Originally Posted by Obscure Blade
It's my understanding that if you use procs in Freezing Rain, you should slot some accuracy into Rain because the proc will use the chance to hit and activate that Rain has before it applies the defense debuff.
|
Thanks for the advice, all. I've taken it in and made some changes.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.621
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Plant Control
Secondary Power Set: Storm Summoning
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Teleportation
Ancillary Pool: Fire Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Strangler -- Acc(A), Acc(3), Hold(5), RechRdx(7), Hold(34), RechRdx(42)
Level 1: Gale -- Acc(A)
Level 2: Roots -- Acc(A), Acc(3), Immob(7), Immob(11), Immob(34), RechRdx(42)
Level 4: Snow Storm -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(5)
Level 6: Swift -- Run(A)
Level 8: Seeds of Confusion -- Acc(A), Acc(9), Conf(9), RechRdx(15), Conf(25), RechRdx(43)
Level 10: Steamy Mist -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(11)
Level 12: Hasten -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(13), RechRdx(13)
Level 14: Health -- Heal(A), Heal(15)
Level 16: Freezing Rain -- DefDeb(A), DefDeb(17), EndRdx(17), RechRdx(23), RechRdx(40), RechRdx(42)
Level 18: Vines -- Acc(A), Acc(19), Hold(19), RechRdx(23), Hold(25), RechRdx(43)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod(A), EndMod(21), EndMod(21)
Level 22: Super Speed -- Run(A)
Level 24: Recall Friend -- RechRdx(A)
Level 26: Carrion Creepers -- Acc(A), Dmg(27), Dmg(27), RechRdx(29), RechRdx(29), RechRdx(37)
Level 28: O2 Boost -- Heal(A), Heal(43), Heal(50)
Level 30: Hurricane -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(31), ToHitDeb(31), ToHitDeb(31)
Level 32: Fly Trap -- Acc(A), Acc(33), Dmg(33), Dmg(33), Dmg(34)
Level 35: Tornado -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(36), RechRdx(36), Dmg(36), Dmg(37), EndRdx(37)
Level 38: Lightning Storm -- Dmg(A), Dmg(39), Dmg(39), EndRdx(39), EndRdx(40), RechRdx(40)
Level 41: Fire Ball -- Acc(A), Dmg(45), Dmg(46), Dmg(46)
Level 44: Fire Shield -- EndRdx(A), ResDam(45), ResDam(45), ResDam(46)
Level 47: Consume -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(48), RechRdx(48), EndMod(48), EndMod(50), EndMod(50)
Level 49: Rise of the Phoenix -- RechRdx(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx(A)
Level 1: Containment
Level 2: Ninja Run
I dropped the Leaping pool and taken Recall Friend and O2 Boost. Dropped Fire Ball, moved Consume to 47, and grabbed Fire's self-rez for lack of anything else at 49. And, yes, I'm having trouble not slotting as a scrapper. I tend to solo mostly, as I'm more of a casual player, and usually don't play enough to be part of a regular group.
--Dave
Buyer beware on some of the build advice you've taken here.
Don't get me wrong - everyone here is pretty smart, and everyone wants to help, but you didn't indicate whether you want to solo or team primarily. If you're going to be teaming pretty much all the time, then taking ketch's suggestion to get out of the damage slotting is fine.
If, on the other hand, you're going to be soloing, this build looks ugly for damage at the lower levels, particularly pre-Creepers. I understand that with Seeds, you're not going to need to do tons of damage, but you will need to do some, and there ain't much here. Killing that last guy is going to take a LONG time if you're simply hitting unenhanced strangler over and over again. You've got Roots and Strangler, with no damage slots and nothing else to do harm with. In a solo Plant/Storm I think Roots is a serious damage power - it's a fast recharging AoE that makes it's own containment. You'll want to spam it for damage, so some damage slotting is important, at least eventually. You could also take entangle and respec out of it, or slot a bit for damage in Strangler - it all depends on your play style.
I'm also not a big fan of defense debuffs in Freezing Rain in the build you're doing. If you want to go the defense debuff route, you don't need the standard accuracy slotting that you've done. Either bag the defense debuff route or cut back on the accuracy a bit, IMO.
Hey, if you're a team player consistently, ignore me about the damage, but if you're a soloer, figure out a damage plan that you can live with, or at least experiment with Seeds and your other powers to see if some damage slotting would help.
Quote:
I note that he registered 2005; he may have 2-3 veteran attacks, which helps a lot with low level damage on single targets; especially once you get Freezing Rain. You are right about Roots though. Another advantage of Roots is its -kb effect, something slotting it for immob won't effect. You want to spam it, for damage and -kb, not immob. I'd slot it for damage and endurance reduction.
|
Originally Posted by MaxLongstreet
If, on the other hand, you're going to be soloing, this build looks ugly for damage at the lower levels, particularly pre-Creepers. I understand that with Seeds, you're not going to need to do tons of damage, but you will need to do some, and there ain't much here. Killing that last guy is going to take a LONG time if you're simply hitting unenhanced strangler over and over again. You've got Roots and Strangler, with no damage slots and nothing else to do harm with. In a solo Plant/Storm I think Roots is a serious damage power - it's a fast recharging AoE that makes it's own containment. You'll want to spam it for damage, so some damage slotting is important, at least eventually. You could also take entangle and respec out of it, or slot a bit for damage in Strangler - it all depends on your play style.
|
Arc #40529 : The Furies of the Earth
I agree with what Max has said about Roots. It is definitely a damage source, and given that you'll be spamming it immobilize duration isn't as important. I like your original slotting of 3 damage, 2 accuracy, 1 end reduction though you might find it efficient to reverse your accuracy and end reduction. Roots and Seeds will definitely be your AoE damage until you get Creepers at 26.
Also, as Local noted, plant is pretty weak for single target damage. Taking Entangle and slotting it for damage isn't a bad idea. It'll also be more endurance efficient to spam if there's only one target left and you want to root it in place for Tornado or Lightning Storm. I also tend to take it because of skipping either Snow Storm or O2 boost (a fine power, it just doesn't suit my playstyle). The single target blast from your epic will also help to finish off stragglers without burning through a lot of endurance.
I almost completely agree with Max's suggestions. In Roots, I would suggest 2 Acc, 3 Dam, 1 EndRdx. Roots is mostly an AoE Damage power, and it recharges quickly enough that it does not need Immob enhancement. I like some damage in Strangler, too.
If you solo at all, I would put in some more single target damage . . . I like the single target Fire Blast, but you could use Entangle until the APPs are available. I would drop Rise of the Phoenix. Also, I think Consume needs some accuracy.
I'm not against slotting Freezing Rain with Defense Debuff . . . but only as a very low priority if you have slots left over. Freezing Rain will debuff defense enough without enhancement to hit the 95% ToHit cap most of the time, so that enhancement is really only needed for particularly tough opponents or when you run into a lot of ToHit Debuff. I would not change your accuracy slotting, however, as most of the time, you will probably lead off with Seeds and Roots before Freezing Rain.
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
Quote:
If you handle things right, you won't be fighting single targets very often. Once you get Seeds, increase the spawn size as much as possible, so you don't need to fight as much to level. Further, keep an eye on the health levels of the enemies you're fighting: careful use of Strangler can usually cause the last two enemies in a group to drop at the same time.|
Originally Posted by MaxLongstreet
If, on the other hand, you're going to be soloing, this build looks ugly for damage at the lower levels, particularly pre-Creepers. I understand that with Seeds, you're not going to need to do tons of damage, but you will need to do some, and there ain't much here. Killing that last guy is going to take a LONG time if you're simply hitting unenhanced strangler over and over again.
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by ketch
I agree with what Max has said about Roots. It is definitely a damage source, and given that you'll be spamming it immobilize duration isn't as important. I like your original slotting of 3 damage, 2 accuracy, 1 end reduction though you might find it efficient to reverse your accuracy and end reduction.
|
In my experience, bosses will still be standing in most situations even if you focus a bit of fire on them. Not so much in the early levels, but later on when they boast more than twice the health of a lieutenant, they'll be hard to put down with everyone else. If you're running +2/x8, you're bound to hit a multi-boss spawn as well.
Anyway, I assume, given the OP's original build, that he intends to only use SO's or generics. Personally, I love to frankenslot and use sets, but it doesn't seem like that's quite what he's after.
@Dave: Just to throw this out for you in case you didn't know. Since I see you're sticking to SOs, a lot of people have the false impression that IOs are too expensive:
Cost of IOs vs SOs (with thanks to Catwhoorg for the math). Cost of purchased SOs starting at level 25 and updating every 5 levels through 50 (so no "greening up" and you let them lose effectiveness, for the cheapest possible path): 266,112 Inf. Crafting a memorized generic level 25 IO: ~60,000 (salvage cost varies). You can often get less desirable Set IOs (Paralyze instead of Basilisk's Gaze for instance) for a bit more than SOs in the 350k to 650k range is not at all uncommon. Less if you buy the recipe and make it yourself.
Also, you can get SO-level of performance out of IOs as early as level 17 on the triples, which you can slot at level 14. SOs you can't slot until level 22 not counting the weird outlier SO's that spawn when an AV drops.
When you exemplar down later on IOs can potentially keep 100% of their bonus.
Example: Slotting Strangler with
Ruin - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 40
Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 43
Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 43
Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 43
Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 43
Gives a total bonus of: 93.18% Accuracy, 93.57% Damage, 76.8% Endurance Reduction and 93.18% Recharge Reduction. You CANNOT get bonuses this high from SOs. Best you could possibly do would be 66% Acc, 99% Dam and either 33 Recharge or 33 reduction.
If you then exemplar down to level 20, the IOs are still 93%, 93%, 76%, 93% while the SOs drop down to 20%, 30%, 10% respectively.
IOs: Cheaper, Higher Bonus, Let you Exemplar, and you can slot them sooner.
But if you want to go SOs, the no worries. Just don't do it because you think you're saving money or Sets are for later. etc.
"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
I can be found, outside of paragon city here.
Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.
I only have a few suggestions from my experience. The first thing I have to say is I would listen to Local_Man because he has helped me on all my controllers big time.
Secondly I would suggest you think about taking Ice mastery. It offers Hibernate which has helped me to an amazing degree. I group and solo, but I do solo more so I also took aid self, which you might not want to do, but aid self even on teams is a huge help imo. You have so much AE damage already that fireball is not really needed as much + with ice mastery you can get a nice ST which I find very helpful and you get a great AE in Ice storm. I saw no need personally to take frozen armor, since I have aid other and hibernate and I have not missed it at all. Also, I like having an AH -res in freezing rain and one in tornado.
This is just my opinion also, but anyone who says the groups loathe hurricane must just be using it incorrectly. I have been in groups were people are throwing tornado and hurricane all over with mobs flying and yes it really was annoying and gives stormies a bad name, but if you use it correctly it can be a huge help. In groups I only use hurricane at a safe distance from the team to block a doorway or if wandering mobs are coming my way. I almost never use tornado in groups unless the group has decided chaos is fine and do whatever you want and we are just steamrolling everything. I do use it on AVs since I have another AH -resist it it. I do use gale, but only towards a wall or at the very start of the fight to get them all lines up for my thorns.
"I have always been a fan of science fiction. It all started when my parents forced me to go to church when I was a child."
As the person who mentioned team reactions to hurricane, I'll point out that I have never actually used hurricane while grouped. I have been asked not to use it on at least 8 occasions (I don't really count, but that is a rough number I'm sure is lower than reality). Including once after I had already respecced out of it.
That's just a measure of how much people hate knock powers. Or to be more precise, how much they hate the people who don't know how to properly use Knock.
"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
I can be found, outside of paragon city here.
Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.
Quote:
That's nice of you . . . Most of the stuff I have picked up is from many of the other great folks on this board, with a little bit of personal experience thrown in. Each person has his or her own playstyle, however, so what works for me may not work for anyone else.|
Originally Posted by Jharber
I only have a few suggestions from my experience. The first thing I have to say is I would listen to Local_Man because he has helped me on all my controllers big time.
|
Quote:
| Secondly I would suggest you think about taking Ice mastery. It offers Hibernate which has helped me to an amazing degree. I group and solo, but I do solo more so I also took aid self, which you might not want to do, but aid self even on teams is a huge help imo. You have so much AE damage already that fireball is not really needed as much + with ice mastery you can get a nice ST which I find very helpful and you get a great AE in Ice storm. I saw no need personally to take frozen armor, since I have aid other and hibernate and I have not missed it at all. Also, I like having an AH -res in freezing rain and one in tornado. |
Quote:
| This is just my opinion also, but anyone who says the groups loathe hurricane must just be using it incorrectly. I have been in groups were people are throwing tornado and hurricane all over with mobs flying and yes it really was annoying and gives stormies a bad name, but if you use it correctly it can be a huge help. In groups I only use hurricane at a safe distance from the team to block a doorway or if wandering mobs are coming my way. I almost never use tornado in groups unless the group has decided chaos is fine and do whatever you want and we are just steamrolling everything. I do use it on AVs since I have another AH -resist it it. I do use gale, but only towards a wall or at the very start of the fight to get them all lines up for my thorns. |
I have Hurricane bound to an extra button on my mouse so that I can turn it on and off with a flick of my thumb. In larger open areas, I can let the tank get aggro, then run around the outside of the group, pushing them closer to the Tank. If I see a corner, I get to pin a foe or two into that handy spot. If we see a cul-de-sac, I get to unleash all the knockback I want and nobody complains. If the team is getting overrun, then Hurricane is there to protect teammates and myself. With practice, you get to learn to skim foes with the edges of Hurricane, which applies the ToHitDebuff but not the knockback.
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, thanks for all the advice. I'll try and play around with sets later tonight, but if someone wants to throw together something for me, I'd appreciate it, too.
--Dave
Dave, I think it would help if you gave a few more specifics about what how you intend to play a character - teams, solo or both, etc. - so people could offer a build that's in line with what you're looking for.
Sorry, I mainly solo PvE, but do team when I can.
--Dave
Quote:
Well, there are a lot of options depending upon how you like to play:|
Originally Posted by Dave0523
Wow, thanks for all the advice. I'll try and play around with sets later tonight, but if someone wants to throw together something for me, I'd appreciate it, too.
--Dave |
Start with Strangler, Roots and Gale (required). Roots needs extra accuracy as soon as possible as it has a -20% accuracy like most AoE control powers. Then slot Roots for capped damage and some EndRdx.
At level 4, you have a few choices. Entangle can be slotted as a damage power -- useful if you mostly solo. O2 Boost is an Ally heal -- it is a weak heal but also stops Stun and reduces End Drain. Nice to have but skippable, especially if you mostly solo. Finally there is Snow Storm, an AoE toggle slow anchored on a foe. It has good slow and -Recharge, and can knock fliers out of the air -- an useful feature. Roots + Snow Storm will reduce incoming damage. Since you expect to mostly solo, I would probably go with Entangle, but Snow Storm is tempting. Slot Entangle with damage and some accuracy, but it has an accuracy bonus.
At 6, you have the previous choices plus your travel pre-req. Another hard choice. Air Superiority will give you another nice single target attack to help with solo. However, Hasten is always nice on a controller to boost Recharge, and Super Speed + Steamy Mist gives full invisibility -- very nice to get in position for optimal use of Seed's cone. I'm gonna go with Hasten.
At 8, there's no question. Seeds of Confusion is the most important power in the set. You want to 6-slot that one as soon as you can.
10 - You could take Steamy Mist or Spore Burst, but Spore Burst is a sleep, so it is skippable. Might be useful solo, but it is skipped on most builds. Steamy is something I want to take soon, with AoE stealth, small amount of Defense and some decent resists to three damage types - Energy, Cold and Fire. But looking ahead, we want to make sure we can fit in Freezing Rain at 16 and still get Stamina at 20, so we take either Steamy or Hurdle here, and take the other at 12.
At 12, Spirit Tree, an immobile Regen boost, opens up . . . it is not a horrible power, but pretty skippable. So we go with Hurdle.
14 - Super Speed. One EndRdx is all it needs at this time.
16 - Freezing Rain is one of the best Storm powers. Slot it for Recharge, then some EndRdx and, only if you have spare slots, Defense Debuff. You are going to want to use FR a LOT. It has a 30% Resistance Debuff that will boost your damage.
18 - Health
20 - Stamina
22 - In addition to the other previously available powers, you now have Hurricane and Vines available. Depending on whether you will actually use Hurricane, you'll probably want both. Hurricane can be a nice defensive power at this level, so lets go with Hurricane. Slot it with EndRdx and ToHit Debuff.
24 - Vines probably, but you could consider Snow Storm, O2 Boost or even Spore Burst here. I don't use Vines much, but it is a nice panic button and more control is always good.
26 - Carrion Creepers. CC, Seeds and Roots are really the best powers in Plant, so take Creepers here, slot Recharge first and then damage and a little Accuracy.
28 - Thunderclap becomes available. It is a PB AoE stun that is only Mag 2, so it only affects Minions. It is nice on a build with another AoE Stun (Earth, Fire, Grav), but is kind of meh here -- it looks cool, though. It recharges much faster than Vines, however. There are other options here, too. You could go with the Leadership Pool, for Assault to boost damage. Fighting? I'm not a fan of Fighting on a Controller, but its an option. Medicine Pool is an option of you want to eventually get Aid Self. If you chose Air Sup/Fly, you could go with Hasten here. Another option might be Air Sup if you didn't take it earlier. I'm gonna go with Snow Storm here, but Thunderclap is an option. As long as I have enough recharge in Seeds, I don't need Thunderclap very often.
30 - Again, most of the same options are available. You are about to get your pet at 32, and it would be nice to be able to heal him. so I'm gonna take O2 Boost. (However, some people hate O2 Boost.) But if you went for one of the pool powers, the second in that pool could go here. Another option is Spirit Tree here.
32 - Venus Fly Trap a/k/a Bitey, Chompy, Audrey or, my preferred nickname, Twoey (In Little Shop of Horrors, the plant was named the Audrey II, but Seymore called it "Twoey"). One funny name? "Serena" because it is bigger and stronger than Venus (think Tennis). Mental Maden gets credit for that one.
35 - Tornado. It does pretty good damage over time, and since your Roots has 12 seconds of -Knockback, you can turn it into a lawnmower.
38 - Lightning Storm, a good damage power with knockback that looks cool. It always shows up right over your head, so you have to learn to get in the right position when you cast it.
Then come the APP sets and IO slotting and . . .
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
I'd suggest something like this:
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.621
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Plant Control
Secondary Power Set: Storm Summoning
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Fire Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Strangler
- (A) Essence of Curare - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge
- (3) Essence of Curare - Accuracy/Hold
- (5) Paralytic - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge
- (7) Paralytic - Endurance/Hold
- (34) Ruin - Damage/Recharge
- (42) Ruin - Damage/Endurance
- (A) Accuracy IO
- (A) Enfeebled Operation - Accuracy/Immobilize/Recharge
- (3) Enfeebled Operation - Accuracy/Immobilize
- (7) Enfeebled Operation - Accuracy/Endurance
- (11) Detonation - Damage/Recharge
- (34) Detonation - Damage/Endurance
- (42) Air Burst - Damage/Recharge
- (A) Endurance Reduction IO
- (5) Endurance Reduction IO
- (A) Jumping IO
- (A) Perplex - Accuracy/Confused/Recharge
- (9) Befuddling Aura - Accuracy/Confused/Recharge
- (9) Perplex - Recharge/Confused
- (15) Perplex - Accuracy/Recharge
- (25) Perplex - Endurance/Confused
- (43) Befuddling Aura - Accuracy/Recharge
- (A) Endurance Reduction IO
- (11) Endurance Reduction IO
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (13) Recharge Reduction IO
- (13) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Healing IO
- (15) Healing IO
- (A) Undermined Defenses - Recharge/Endurance
- (17) Undermined Defenses - Defense Debuff/Recharge/Endurance
- (17) Undermined Defenses - Defense Debuff/Recharge
- (23) Undermined Defenses - Defense Debuff
- (40) Recharge Reduction IO
- (42) Achilles' Heel - Chance for Res Debuff
- (A) Essence of Curare - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge
- (19) Essence of Curare - Accuracy/Hold
- (19) Essence of Curare - Accuracy/Recharge
- (23) Paralytic - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge
- (25) Paralytic - Accuracy/Recharge
- (A) Endurance Modification IO
- (21) Endurance Modification IO
- (21) Endurance Modification IO
- (A) Run Speed IO
- (A) Kismet - Accuracy +6%
- (43) Karma - Knockback Protection
- (A) Air Burst - Damage/Recharge
- (27) Detonation - Damage/Recharge
- (27) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage
- (29) Air Burst - Accuracy/Damage
- (29) Enfeebled Operation - Accuracy/Recharge
- (37) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Doctored Wounds - Heal
- (34) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance
- (43) Doctored Wounds - Endurance/Recharge
- (46) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge
- (50) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
- (A) Dampened Spirits - To Hit Debuff/Endurance
- (31) Dampened Spirits - To Hit Debuff/Recharge/Endurance
- (31) Dampened Spirits - To Hit Debuff
- (31) Endurance Reduction IO
- (A) Blood Mandate - Accuracy/Damage
- (33) Brilliant Leadership - Accuracy/Damage
- (33) Unquestioning Loyalty - Accuracy/Damage
- (33) Damage Increase IO
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (36) Undermined Defenses - Recharge/Endurance
- (36) Blood Mandate - Accuracy/Damage
- (36) Blood Mandate - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- (37) Brilliant Leadership - Accuracy/Damage
- (37) Brilliant Leadership - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- (A) Ruin - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (39) Ruin - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
- (39) Maelstrom's Fury - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (39) Ruin - Damage/Endurance
- (40) Maelstrom's Fury - Damage/Recharge
- (40) Maelstrom's Fury - Accuracy/Damage
- (A) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage
- (45) Detonation - Damage/Recharge
- (46) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- (46) Air Burst - Damage/Recharge
- (A) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance
- (45) Titanium Coating - Resistance/Endurance
- (45) Impervium Armor - Resistance/Endurance
- (A) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Accuracy
- (48) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Accuracy/Recharge
- (48) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Recharge
- (48) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod
- (50) Efficacy Adaptor - Accuracy/Recharge
- (50) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Endurance
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
Level 1: Brawl
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
Level 2: Ninja Run
Code:
Almost all of those IOs are dirt cheap and require no rare salvage, so they'll actually be cheaper to buy and craft than buying new SOs from 35-50. The few that are more expensive can be postponed and filled in as you can afford them... which won't take long since the rest of the build is dirt cheap and you should have tens of millions by the point that you need them.
| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1414;708;1416;HEX;| |78DA9D93CB4F135114C6EFF44169E993CAAB50DAD222E55561E76361226A42A4DA5| |8A3263EEAB40C304999927630B2736B44450577EED4C4105FA851E2CAD79FE0D684| |851B2389EEDC987A1EB705E2CE49FAFD7ACF3DE7DC6FCECCA4AF1C760B71F5A050F| |C6345B552C98D950CB35C2A16B5B23DAD4EEB05E1104244B7A2B58454A6A81A666D| |15D99670687E6A2A95354BE5D95C767E76B664E8C67460DC98D1CA9A61A66A7FDC9| |9123439AA9B8656A9B868919DD3B4498E4F68EA1C96D162DCB8AC57F4BC5ED4CD85| |C09139BD0065652D97562BA6565E68077FFDF05B5384BCAA76310D8B1E619922D8C| |E01C2A2E12C21B62C30D87F977069AB4A8810855E4248918D94656EB44268B84370| |3DA3BCD8536EB44AC8C39695AB146B8C423646034CD0AEF011F624855EC3D2218F7| |0FCA4A68DDFC85DE32F5A797F10DA3709031BB4570075CA239CDCDBC5E881664DBC| |63691AA4907B071C90E0610F8A2741212F6312A23E69C5F7D98221FF27C64742EB0| |7421F37EA7F0FABA078035501AEB20578D8CD3CECE63CA19567DE7E86EF0A8E0FF2| |F19660941AEDDA813824B4C8C7D0324CA15608B549CB6D7F04B619F84D780BD10E6| |9B983A71FE247127A42E87ACC58222B0976AEC2A2535AEE3C413BB1633CDE09C270| |9A307A9CA091714AB7865FD108BAD718CF193CFA75C88BC8BCC8770A45BF32BE90D| |B6898563C2436DDC38EE23CEE3857C53709092E4E6C1066A0AA5756F5DEA3D0EE15| |C622835FE3BEEB8C6B8407F02226A5A7248F64880734FC82C1537B087983F2B10C7| |693C1A1014682F0081252F43154EDA92572BBE726E3066391307A8B719BB0EA1162| |443ECC11BED52EDBB6CFAC0A9798F82792B1D5BF3BA15024BC955375FAEBBBFF7BA| |DBB6BED9C275DA0A7503228A751CEA35C40B988A2A2E4510A28D577F56ADF5EF4B5| |0F653FCA019416F0271631D3815F62138A1BC583E245F1A1F85182282194FB28D5B| |FE0190384| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|
Cascade, level 50 Blaster (NRG/NRG since before it was cool)
Mechmeister, level 50 Bots / Traps MM
FAR too many non-50 alts to name
[u]Arcs[u]
The Scavenger Hunt: 187076
The Instant Lair Delivery Service: 206636
I don't mean to offend Stryker in any way, but I wouldn't use his build. I would instead listen to Local Man's advice about what powers to take at what level and then find your own slotting.
I find Stryker's build to be a little low on the damage and high on things you don't really need, such as all the defense debuff in freezing rain, and immobilize in Roots.
Also puzzling to me is a build that takes Snowstorm at 4, which becomes non-essential once you have Seeds, while putting off a travel power until 22 and Hurricane until 30.
For APPs, Fire is fine, but I would be six slotting Fireball and getting the excellent single target attack, which will finally give you that single target damage, rather than doing things like six-slotting consume.
All just my opinion of course!
I wouldn't use it as built either, but I was trying to rework his last posted SO build to use cheap IOs without significantly altering it, just to show that he could get significantly better enhancement vales while still keeping the sort of things he had slotted for. My build is essentially the same one he posted earlier only frankenslotted for greater enhancement levels and has a couple of very useful IOs added that he should be able to afford by the time he needs them. The primary goal was (almost) no recipes that required a rare salvage item or cost more than an SO, and maintaining the spirit of the previously posted build while adding more enhancement and a couple of things like the Karma -KB and Kismet +Acc that are just too darn useful to be without.
My current Plant / Storm is building toward this:
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.621
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
but it's not even close to a leveling build and it'll be a while before I can afford to finish it.
Cascade, level 50 Blaster (NRG/NRG since before it was cool)
Mechmeister, level 50 Bots / Traps MM
FAR too many non-50 alts to name
[u]Arcs[u]
The Scavenger Hunt: 187076
The Instant Lair Delivery Service: 206636
Hello, all. I've decided to take a break from scrapping, and decided to try something totally new for me. Does this look like a viable leveling build? Any improvements that could be made? Thanks in advance!
--Dave
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.621
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Plant Control
Secondary Power Set: Storm Summoning
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Fire Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Strangler -- Acc(A), Dmg(3), Dmg(5), RechRdx(15), RechRdx(23), Hold(25)
Level 1: Gale -- Acc(A)
Level 2: Roots -- Acc(A), Acc(3), Dmg(7), Dmg(7), Dmg(23), EndRdx(25)
Level 4: Snow Storm -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(5), EndRdx(40)
Level 6: Swift -- Run(A)
Level 8: Seeds of Confusion -- Acc(A), Acc(9), RechRdx(9), RechRdx(11), RechRdx(19), Conf(27)
Level 10: Steamy Mist -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(11), EndRdx(40)
Level 12: Hasten -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(13), RechRdx(13)
Level 14: Health -- Heal(A), Heal(15), Heal(37)
Level 16: Freezing Rain -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(17), RechRdx(17), EndRdx(19)
Level 18: Vines -- Acc(A), Hold(40)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod(A), EndMod(21), EndMod(21)
Level 22: Super Speed -- Run(A)
Level 24: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff(A)
Level 26: Carrion Creepers -- Acc(A), Dmg(27), Dmg(29), RechRdx(29), RechRdx(31), RechRdx(34)
Level 28: Super Jump -- Jump(A)
Level 30: Hurricane -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(31), ToHitDeb(31)
Level 32: Fly Trap -- Acc(A), Dmg(33), Dmg(33), Dmg(33), RechRdx(34), RechRdx(34)
Level 35: Tornado -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(36), RechRdx(36), Dmg(36), Dmg(37), EndRdx(37)
Level 38: Lightning Storm -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(39), RechRdx(39), Dmg(39), Dmg(43), Dmg(46)
Level 41: Fire Blast -- Acc(A), Dmg(42), Dmg(42), Dmg(42), EndRdx(43), RechRdx(43)
Level 44: Fire Shield -- ResDam(A), ResDam(45), ResDam(45), EndRdx(45), EndRdx(46), EndRdx(46)
Level 47: Fire Ball -- Acc(A), Dmg(48), Dmg(48), Dmg(48), EndRdx(50)
Level 49: Consume -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(50), RechRdx(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx(A)
Level 1: Containment
Level 2: Ninja Run