New to Controlling: Grav/Emp

Although I've played a bunch of other architypes, I have never played a controller before. I have a concept-toon that I am starting up, and would appreciate any build advice from you experienced controllers. I am showing mostly Common-IOs, as I figure by the time I am ready for sets, I'll have a much better idea of what I want/need.

Looking back through the forum history, I didn't see any other posts about this combo - is it really gimp or something?

Thanks.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.621
http://www.cohplanner.com/
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Verdigrisia: Level 50 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Gravity Control
Secondary Power Set: Empathy
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Teleportation
Ancillary Pool: Psionic Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Crush -- Dmg-I(A), Dmg-I(3), Dmg-I(13), Acc-I(31), RechRdx-I(36), Immob-I(39)
Level 1: Healing Aura -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(5), Heal-I(9)
Level 2: Gravity Distortion -- Dmg-I(A), Dmg-I(3), Dmg-I(15), Acc-I(17), RechRdx-I(37), Hold-I(39)
Level 4: Heal Other -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(5), Heal-I(9)
Level 6: Propel -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(7), Dmg-I(7), Dmg-I(13), Acc-I(37), RechRdx-I(37)
Level 8: Fly -- Flight-I(A), Winter-ResSlow(43)
Level 10: Resurrect -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(11), RechRdx-I(11)
Level 12: Swift -- Flight-I(A), Run-I(46), Run-I(46)
Level 14: Health -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(15), Heal-I(17), RgnTis-Regen+(48)
Level 16: Clear Mind -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(40), RechRdx-I(40)
Level 18: Gravity Distortion Field -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(19), Hold-I(19), Hold-I(25), RechRdx-I(25), RechRdx-I(39)
Level 20: Fortitude -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(21), RechRdx-I(21)
Level 22: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(23), EndMod-I(23)
Level 24: Combat Jumping -- Krma-ResKB(A)
Level 26: Wormhole -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(27), Dsrnt-I(27), Dsrnt-I(31), RechRdx-I(31), RechRdx-I(34)
Level 28: Recovery Aura -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(29), RechRdx-I(29)
Level 30: Recall Friend -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 32: Singularity -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(33), Dmg-I(33), Dmg-I(33), RechRdx-I(34), RechRdx-I(34)
Level 35: Regeneration Aura -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(36), RechRdx-I(36)
Level 38: Adrenalin Boost -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(40), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 41: Mental Blast -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(42), Dmg-I(42), Dmg-I(42), Dmg-I(43), RechRdx-I(43)
Level 44: Mind Over Body -- ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(45), ResDam-I(45), EndRdx-I(45)
Level 47: Indomitable Will -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(48), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 49: Crushing Field -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(50), Immob-I(50), Immob-I(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Containment
Level 4: Ninja Run

Well, it will be a decent team player but it won't solo very well; Grav is generally conceded to be low damage and your secondary won't help you there. What are your intentions for the build?

Take all the slots out of swift (see below), health (you have a self heal) and clear mind (recharges fast enough already). I'd take all the slots out of resurrect too, if you are doing your job that power won't get used much.

Healing aura, heal other can use some end redux and recharge, Fortitudes needs more defense, and if you can, stick an end mod in adrenaline boost so blasters can recover immediately post nuke.

The only reason I would take swift over hurdle is if I were using hover for combat movement. You only have fly but you have CJ, so drop swift for hurdle and don't bother slotting it.

I'd also slot recall friend with range rather than rech. Since pets are perma now you can also opt to take one rech out of sing.

My first Controller, and my first level 50 Controller.

Gravity/Emp is NOT the best combo by any means, but its workable, and actually makes a pretty good solo-ist. (It used to be better wehn Adrenalin Boost would double Singularity's rate of fire, but those pesky Fire/Kin's took that off me! )

Gravity Control is high damage, well, high single target damage. Propel is slow to activate, but if the 3 enemies you're facing are all held or stunned, and you';re recovering end during that animation, who cares? It's animation will make you cry on teams as you corpse-bomb yet another target, but solo it's a great power to have.

My advice:
Get the +Immob out of Crush. It recharges in 4s and lasts over 20s, so you never worry about the immobilise running out.

Get the +Regen out of Health. You aren't going to survive by passive healing, and you have a self-heal anyway.

Add some end redux and recharge to Healing Aura.
Give Fortitude +3 Recharge and +3 Defence - it provides the same Def as a force field ally bubble to All damage types including Psi.

Resurrect won't need 3 recharges. 1 end redux would be good.

Get Hasten. The faster Recovery Aura and Regen Aura are up, the better off the team are in offensive and defensive power. And +Recharge allows you to Fortitude more team members. And get as much +Recharge as you can when you go for sets.

Hope that helps, and good luck with your choice of an off-beat but fun build.

putting that many recharges in clear mind won't do you any good. The power has a long animation time and by the time it finishes CM is up again even without all those recharges. You'd get more bang for your buck moving those slots elsewhere.

I have a few suggestions on the Grav side . . . not personally fond of Emp.

Crush: Do you even need the Recharge? Standard single target attack chain is GD-Crush-Propel. Since Crush is DoT, it continues doing damage while Propel is animating. By the time you have finished with Propel and GD on the same or next target, Crush is up again. Especially with Hasten, you should be able to do something else with that slot. A Decimation Chance for Hold would allow a chance to stack mag or hold foes missed by GD.

Singularity is arguably the toughest pet in the game (other than the ones who can't be hurt). Singy does not need Recharge. I would slot up Hold and maybe a +Resist proc.

Crushing Field is your AoE Immob for foes stunned by Wormhole. Stun+Immob=AoE Hold that recharges faster than your standard AoE Hold. You might want to consider moving CF closer to Wormhole. Also, it may need some EndRdx if you use it a lot.

Grav is overall a kind of weak control set. It is lacking in AoE and has three particularly interesting powers, but the rest of the set is kind of lackluster. (Propel, Wormhole and Singularity make the set fun.) I couldn't get into it until I paired it up with Storm and stuck with it until the upper 20's, after Wormhole. You don't see many Grav/Emps because there really isn't much synergy between the sets. Illusion, Mind and Plant are probably the best primaries for */Emp. I would say that */Storm is the best secondary for Grav, although Cold might work. The combo of the knockdown in Freezing Rain (same as Sleet) combines nicely with Crushing Field, which is the only controller AoE Immob without -Knockback. Then Lightning Storm adds some badly needed damage, and the rest of the Storm set adds debuffs and control to make up for the lack of AoE control in the primary.

Overall it looks good, the rest come down to personal preference.

If it were me I'd dump the winters res slow IO and put that slot into adrenaline boost for end mod. This way you can allow blasters to recover immediately after their nuke. In my experience the 20% slow resist doesn't offer any meaningful contribution when you are slowed because when you are slowed, you are really slowed such that the 20% buffer might as well not even be there. Both are fairly situational but I prefer the former.

Consider how much value recall friend adds to your build. The only purpose is serves right now is to recall dead or dying teammates to get them out of trouble or to tp people to mission. What's the value of having that as opposed to something like knockback protection or a useful combat travel power?

Just a head's up as given the responses I'd guess the data link is working for some folks. It is not working for me to look at the build.

Clear Mind - base slot only, either Endred or Range. I like Range. Definitely the way to go once you start using sets as I totally agree with Dr. Mike's assessment that you want recharge then more recharge on Emp builds (and also largely true for controllers as well) to get all your long timer powers back as fast as you can.

Fortitude - while leveling I'd slot the +defense as a priority over recharge ... add recharge as you have the slots to spare

HO and HA - I'd go with 1 endred and 2 rech but that's more a personal choice.

Regen Aura - 3 rech minimum, which you have, (puts it on the same timer as Recovery Aura allowing you to "pause" just once to use both) then ideally 2 or 3 slots for Heal. To put it in perspective the fully slotted the combo of AB plus Regen Aura is more +regen (at over +1900%) than a /regen scrapper running IH can typically manage (in total, globally).

Adrenaline Boost - after the 3 recharge I'd add 2 Heal and 1 Endmod to the power. As noted the single Endmod puts the +recovery of AB at over +1000% sufficient to completely counter the -recovery (-1000%) debuff applied to the users of most nukes.

This is a weird combo. It definatly shine in a team setup. Even then, you kinda have to know how to help this particular team the most, specially before you get the Singularity, Recovery&Regen auras and all the slots required everywhere there.

Are you better to lead (to an extent) with your gravity powers: Mass holding, properly located wormholing, letting loose the Propelling...each locking you down pretty much for 3secs of animation? Or does the team need you to babysit them with quick heals, sustained buffing on particular teamates and quick save holding? Each choice can shine, but when the **** hits the fan and you try to save the day with a Grav/Emp... concentrate on one or the other!

You will be standing there doing nothing watching health bars if you dont lead with gravity powers when appropriate, or the other side you'll be watching teamates die while you were wormholing/propelling something at a dude when you should have babysitted the group. Learn to make the right moves at the right moment and it will make you a tide turner and take you through the mid levels with good team xp.

Then you get to 35, all powers all slotted (dont underestimate Regen Aura, so you can 'heal' the resistant to heal Singularity while soloing) and its all fun, play and gravy like with any respectably played lvl50 controller

I have about 12 different controllers, one of them being a level 50 Grav/Emp, so I say the fallowing with Love:

My two thoughts are:

1.Don't. Go with Plant, Earth, Fire, Ill Or Mind

Or


2. Wait. If you want to make a Grav/Emp, and you want it very badly. I would wait. The devs are looking into making some Fixes to gravity which should improve its performance.