Just FYI. Controllers and Dominators are crowd controllers. If you scrapped you might not find this so exciting. I have a Level 50 Hero gravity controller with RAD and she nice but I must fight with teams. On the Villain side, I have a gravity Dominator with Energy powers and she can solo but she's only level 40 but she shines again only with teams. NCSOFT has balanced the characters so you can't be everything.
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If built correctly there are several Controller and Dominator combinations that can deal out surprising amounts of AoE damage. The two examples you've cited, Gravity Control and Energy Assault, happen to be some of the most single target focused for control primaries and assault secondaries. From control Fire and Plant both deal a fair amount of AoE damage, and Fiery and Psionic Assault both offer up good AoE damage for a dom. I easily solo on +2/x8 with my Plant/Psi/Mace, for instance.|
Originally Posted by Residentx10
Just FYI. Controllers and Dominators are crowd controllers. If you scrapped you might not find this so exciting. I have a Level 50 Hero gravity controller with RAD and she's nice but I must fight with teams. On the Villain side, I have a gravity Dominator with Energy/powers and she's can solo but she's only level 40 but she shines again only with teams. NCSOFT has balanced the characters so you can't be everything.
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As for the OP's interest in Grav/kin, I would caution you to try another controller combo first. Grav/kin is workable, but I would find it daunting for a first time controller. Gravity notoriously lacks good AoE control until Wormhole at level 26; most other control sets gain a reliable AoE control at 12. Kinetics is similarly late blooming and does requires a more reactive approach for personal survival. As for solo ability, Gravity has better single target damage tools than most control sets. If you're interested in solo'ing larger spawns then it lacks the AoE damage found in other sets.
I have a lot of experience with Controllers, and I have taken every primary into the 40's. My experience with the Gravity primary was pretty negative at first. Gravity only has three particularly interesting powers: Propel, Wormhole and Singularity -- all the other powers are pretty run-of-the-mill (with one small exception, and one really crappy skippable power, Dimension Shift). Gravity has good single target ranged damage for a controller. Crush, Lift and Propel are all best used as single target damage powers (but Lift is unimpressive). Gravity has the standard single target hold, AoE Immobilize (with a variation) and AoE hold. It trades off strong (but slow) single target damage with weak AoE control. I had trouble finding a combo I liked -- I tried Grav/Rad, Grav/Kin, Grav/TA and Grav/FF.
I finally worked on a Grav/Storm. That variation in the AoE Immob is one of the things that makes Grav/Storm work. Unlike other AoE Immobs, Crushing Field allows the foes to be knocked down while they are immobilized. Combine Crushing Field with Freezing Rain, and you get an AoE Immob+Knockdown+massive debuff. Add in Hurricane to debuff their toHit, and you get AoE control that is available most of the time. This allowed me be surrounded by foes and not get hit while taking them out one by one. Then you add in the Stun and positioning from Wormhole to stack with the stun in Thunderclap, added control and tanking from Singularity and added damage from Tornado and Lightning Storm, and you have a Grav controller who can solo very well -- and is visually pretty cool. I find that my Grav/Storm is probably my second favorite controller to solo-- not the fastest, but a lot of fun. (My favorite is my Ill/Rad).
Kinetics works best with sets that lend themselves to a melee playstyle. While Fire/Kins seem to be the Farmer's choice, there's a good reason for it -- that combo is pretty darn good. Ice/Kin with Arctic Air makes a great melee support character. Kinetics is a strong offensive melee set, but weak on defense and less effective from range. To me, Grav/Kin wasn't an ideal match, as Grav didn't have enough AoE control to make spending a lot of time in melee safe enough.
Now, I'm sure there are plenty of folks out there who have played a Grav/Kin to 50 and love it. That's why I talk about it as my own impressions. I would recommend that if you want to play a Grav, pair it with Storm. If you want to play a Kin and solo, pair it with Fire (although the lower levels are very slow) or Plant (where the lower levels are easier).
If you want to try a first time controller, I suggest you try an Illusion/Radiation. (See the guide in my sig.) It is easy to play moderately well, but can become one of the best builds in the game. It works great solo, small team or large team -- with the same build.
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Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
I encourage you to try your design and see if YOU like it. In the CoH store after logging in, you can buy respecs if your not happy.
My first Controller was a Gravity/Kinetic/Forces. It was enjoyable towards the end but I no longer use him that much. If you make it, don't expect to be able to solo x8 mobs like you may be able to do with some Scrappers. I find it's played best by using Gravity to enhance Kinetics. I'm pretty sure Wormhole doesn't need line of sight so you can use that to take advantage of Fulcrum Shift by teleporting mobs into corners where you and your team are waiting. Other than that there isn't really much synergy and some egotistic Tankers or Brutes may get annoyed with you because you're not playing how they want you to.
Grav/Kin is gonna be a slow lvl'er solo. Even when you get Fulcrum Shift it wont have a ton of damage. Great for teams.
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Plant/Kin would be a better choice for team and solo.
L50s: Tanks: Cryofission - Ice/EM - Dr Celsius - Fire/Ice - Saint George - SD/SS | Controllers: Psichosis - Ill/Kin - Major Chaos - Ill/Stm | Scrappers - Neutron Crusader - DM/SR
Currently Levelling: Angelic Blade - BS/WP Scrapper | Seeds of Destruction - Plant/Kin Controller
So, its time to roll a controller. Ive made a couple in the past, but RL gets busy and my alts tend to pay the price.
Anyways, I think Im interested in grav/kin/force. Im mostly a scrapper guy, but Im looking for something different.
I guess my biggest questions are: Can you solo well with this combination? And if so, does anyone have a build they can show me?
I mostly solo, but would like to help a team from time to time. Also, I would like to farm at some level, although it does not need to be at the level of a fir/kin.
Any opinions on this combo would be appreciated.