Pairing a Controller with a fire/rad corruptor
By
Call Me Awesome,
Posted on: 2010-08-31 07:53 in Controllers
If it has to be a controller I would probably make it an illusion/kin
You can use the phantom army to tank for you. The rad debuffs will help PA kill faster. Her AM and your siphon speed will bring back the army quicker. While PA has the mobs attention she can lay into them with the fire attacks. You speed boost her so she gets AM back quicker. She will have endurance issues which you can solve with transference. And you'll boost her damage output with Fulcrum shift.
Thats my thoughts anyways...
Welcome to the Forums!!
A Fire/Rad corrupter does decent damage . . . but a Fire/Dark might have been an even better choice. The combo of Rain of Fire+Tar Patch is pretty awesome, plus the massive control of Fearsome Stare and the ToHit Debuffs make it a really great character for a duo. Still, Fire/Rad is a fun pairing.
As for your character . . . lots of options. Kinetics is very good, but it offers limited defensive abilities. I'm thinking an Illusion/Storm might be a good choice.
Ill/Storm gives you offense and defense, great debuffing and control. Phantom Army can provide the tanks, and don't underestimate the benefits of Deceive to remove a foe who has aggro'ed. Snow Storm will provide some Slow to keep foes in range of your partner's AoE damage. You will really start to shine as early as level 16 with Freezing Rain (with large Defense and Resistance Debuffs), and 18 with Phantom Army. Hurricane will provide defense for those "panic button" moments.
In later levels, you will get additional damage with Phantasm at 32, Tornado at 32 and Lightning Storm at 38. One frequent problem with Ill/Storm is all the knockback, but with a duo, you can minimize the problems. Learn to use the knockback as a form of control, and it becomes a huge help rather than a hinderance.
Another interesting choice might be Illusion/TA. Or Grav/Storm. Or Mind/FF.
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
If you weren't dead set against /Rad, I'd say Fire/Rad for the Fire/Rad thematic duo. 
Anyway, otherwise, it almost doesn't matter what combo you make. Any corruptor + controller combo will probably be very effective, with perhaps a few exceptions, and even the exceptions would work I'm sure.
If you want both Damage and Utility, Illusion Control may be the best primary. Later on, Fire Control matches or exceeds the damage aspect. However, don't under-estimate how much easier you'll make her killing with a fully developed Earth Controller ... plus you can add lots of damage procs to Earth control.
For secondaries, keeping in mind the sets you want to avoid, I think interesting choices would be Empathy, Storm, Trick Arrow and Sonic.
Storm, TA and Sonic all add significant amounts of -resist to stack with her -resist toggle.
Storm and TA also add control and damage. Sonic adds resist shields, mez protection for both of you, and later strong mez protection for her (for keeping her rad toggles going).
Empathy is an option though perhaps less interesting. Lots of heals and buffs, and mez protection for her.
Illusion/Trick Arrow, Earth/Storm, and Fire/Sonic would all be excellent choices.
Or you could follow the link in my signature, click "Randomize" and pick one of the 3 randomly rolled controller options.
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
Local, there's also the pairing of Elec/Rad with an aoe /Rad corrupter. We pretty well cleaned up Praetoria with your Elec/Rad 'troller and my Ice/Rad corrupter along with Thorny's Electric dominator.
A couple of seconds to drain the spawn's end dry then drop the rain and debuffs.
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
I also meant to note that a Plant controller might be a good option too. The seeds of confusion will get the bad guys to clump up rather nicely for her AOE attacks, and you'd have the immobilize to keep them from running out. Of course, you could do something similar with Electric Control's chain confuse.
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
My initial gut reaction to the question was "something with an aoe immob" to keep the enemies from running from RoF and keep everything tightly packed. Double rad is always nice, but I wouldn't count out cold, thermal, or sonic either. All have a nice combo of buffs and debuffs.
My recommendations-
Earth, Fire, Elec or Plant with
cold, thermal, or sonic.
Truth be told any controller would be able to work with your wife's toon.
@Mental Maden @Maden Mental
"....you are now tackle free for life."-ShoNuff
Thanks to everyone for the replies!
We've actually decided to change her Corruptor to a Fire/Dark and I think I'm going to be Earth/Storm
Reasoning as follows:
Drop Quicksand, Immobilize with Stone Cages, drop Tar Patch, Freezing Rain
All mobs now have significant -RES, -DEF, very slow even when if immob misses
Stand in the middle of them with Hurricane running since Stone Cages has -knockback, so now mobs have significant -To Hit, and use Earthquake for more -To Hit and knockdown of mobs that I miss immob on
Run Steamy Mist, Shadow Fall, Maneuvers so we are less likely to be hit Twilight Grasp is a nice heal when we are, very likely to hit
We stack Holds on the hardest enemy and use that as our anchor
Three AoE stuns between us
Knockback using Storm pets can have their full damage done since they won't be knocking enemies away thanks to Stone Cages
She drops Rain of Fire and Fireballs on them which are both quite likely to hit and do significant damage, with single target damage in too of course
It sounds effective and a lot of fun, so I think we're going that way.
Careful, now, hurricane is repel and the - knockback won't stop you from moving the immob'd enemies away from you. So your purposed strategy will work counter to what you want there. While they won't fly back they will push away from you in the middle. Hurricane and cages is better if you have a dead end with a physical barrier to stop as you push the enemies away. Where cages + hurricane is nice out in the open staying on the outside and pushing those on the perimeter into your debuff patches. But don't let that discourage you as earth/storm is mighty awesome, just adjust your strategy.
@Mental Maden @Maden Mental
"....you are now tackle free for life."-ShoNuff
That is definitely a strong combo. Good call!
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
Quote:
I think that will be a terrific combo. I would have suggested Earth/Storm but for your comment that you had already played Earth. (I not only have my Earth/Rad at 50, I also have two Earth/Storm controllers, on different servers, in the upper 40's).|
Originally Posted by Monstrofo
Thanks to everyone for the replies!
We've actually decided to change her Corruptor to a Fire/Dark and I think I'm going to be Earth/Storm Reasoning as follows: Drop Quicksand, Immobilize with Stone Cages, drop Tar Patch, Freezing Rain All mobs now have significant -RES, -DEF, very slow even when if immob misses Stand in the middle of them with Hurricane running since Stone Cages has -knockback, so now mobs have significant -To Hit, and use Earthquake for more -To Hit and knockdown of mobs that I miss immob on Run Steamy Mist, Shadow Fall, Maneuvers so we are less likely to be hit Twilight Grasp is a nice heal when we are, very likely to hit We stack Holds on the hardest enemy and use that as our anchor Three AoE stuns between us Knockback using Storm pets can have their full damage done since they won't be knocking enemies away thanks to Stone Cages She drops Rain of Fire and Fireballs on them which are both quite likely to hit and do significant damage, with single target damage in too of course It sounds effective and a lot of fun, so I think we're going that way. |
But you don't generally want to open with Quicksand, as it will draw aggro. Neither Quicksand nor Tar Patch have -Recharge. Most of the time, whenever it is up, you will want to start with Stalagmites+Stone Cages. Then throw Quicksand underneath and Freezing Rain on top. She can then use Tar Patch if it is up, and her Rain of Fire+Fireball will wipe out groups. If you have a lot of Bosses, you can follow Stalagmites with Stone Cages and Thunderclap -- T-clap will stack its stun with Stalagmites.
When Stalagmites is not up, you have other options. She will have one of the better AoE control powers anywhere, Fearsome Stare -- it is a large cone fear with pretty good -ToHit in it. If she can get in the right position, it will control an entire group easily. Or you can use Earthquake or Volcanic Gasses from range and even from around a corner. Both of those can draw a little aggro until the effects stop foes from attacking you.
You'll want to use the combo of Quicksand+Freezing Rain a lot -- pretty much with every other AoE control. You don't need to slot Freezing Rain for Defense debuff at all.
Stealthiness is very, very helpful for my Earth/Storm. Why? Because the pet, Rocky, is such a good tank. I combine Steamy Mist with Super Speed for full invisibility -- it makes it easy to run into the group of foes to lead Rocky in to draw the aggro. Then I can back out quickly to fire off Earthquake(+Quicksand) or Volcanic Gasses(+Quicksand). I also like Super Speed because it lets me "herdicane" easily, by running around the outside of a group with Hurricane to push them into my AoE controls (and her AoE damage powers).
Personally, I wouldn't bother with Maneuvers. You will already have so much -ToHit and control, you probably won't get hit much. For example, just opening with the combo of Fearsome Stare and Earthquake will be, unslotted, -25% ToHit. If you really want to take Leadership, Assault will do more by adding to your damage. You shouldn't need Tactics with all the -Defense you have.
Don't forget that in low levels, Stone Cages + Darkest Night will almost be an AoE Hold -- The foes can't move and they can't hit you. Very similar to the Stone Cages+Radiation Infection combo I discussed in my Earth/Rad guide.
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 the followups, great!
I never noticed repel on hurricane, glad to know... That'd have cost me a few deaths before I realized it.
Also, Local_Man, your guide is, I believe, the reason I first played an Earth/Rad. Thanks for the strategy tips! They'll definitely help us out.
Quote:
Well, thank you. I'm glad it was a help!|
Originally Posted by Monstrofo
Wow thanks for the followups, great!
I never noticed repel on hurricane, glad to know... That'd have cost me a few deaths before I realized it. Also, Local_Man, your guide is, I believe, the reason I first played an Earth/Rad. Thanks for the strategy tips! They'll definitely help us out. |
Storm is my second favorite secondary, and not by a large margin. However, I had been in the game for a while before I finally started my Ice/Storm. It is more challenging than other secondaries because the powers can be misused to create far more problems than benefits -- it takes some strategy and practice to get the most out of the wide range of tools. If you throw out everything at once (like you can do with Rad, for instance), you will end up with a mess. And since the set has no self-heal, you have a thinner margin for error than others.
Storm has a few powers that are situational, and it takes some consideration on when to use them right. Hurricane is a situational power, but can be a huge help for (a) re-positioning foes, (b) applying a substantial -ToHit Debuff -- with practice, you can learn to "kiss" foes with the outside edge of the 'cane to apply the debuff without the Repel, or (c) panic button moments when you need a "get out of my face" power. However, if you leave it on all the time or do what you originally suggested, you'll be blowing foes all over the place.
Some of the powers in Storm may be important or not important, depending upon your primary. My Grav/Storm skipped O2 Boost because he can't heal his pet. My Earth/Storms skipped Snow Storm because they already have a great AoE Slow power in Quicksand -- but they miss the -Recharge from Snow Storm. Thunderclap was skippable on my Ice/Storm because Ice has no stuns to stack with it, and T-clap is only a Mag 2 stun.
Expect a learning curve. But Storm is so much fun, too. It is very flashy and very, very effective -- but plan to slot for Recovery.
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
Well going off topic slightly (since it seems your original question has been answered ) One of my favourite combo's is Controller + Mastermind, which was previously unavailable before GR. The Control and support of Controllers combined with the pets and support of MM's has been an absolute blast. Our Grav/Rad Bots/Traps scientist duet has been simply amazing. I am now eagerly looking forward to our next one, which will probably be another theme, this time a druid of life/druid of death in the form of Necro/Storm and Plant/Storm. Can't get enough Storm power! Just wish we could make the plant set a bit more flowery like how Earth can be crystal/molten,
A Grav/Rad & Bots/Traps duo sounds awesome! Wormhole to the traps for the win! I've always wanted /Traps for controllers, for a Grav/Traps, for the same reason.
Have fun!
@SBeaudway on Pinnacle, TaskForce Titans Supergroup.
Just hit 25 last night so yeah, looking forward to that ;-) Really surprised how well the bots are handling themselves. Obviously I'm the Controller in this duo (of course), but my previous experiences with Thugs, Mercs and Zombies have not been a huge success. Yet bots, with twin Protector bots pumping out shields and heals, are extremely durable. The radiation heal is also really great in this situation.
Bots/Traps is ridiculous. Once I got my PPP Shield, I am virtually softcapped to Smashing/Lethal (a fraction of 1% away) with NO IO SET BONUSES at all. It is not fast to set up all those traps, but it is very safe and quite powerful. I would love to team mine with a Grav/Anything.
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'm going to be in a leveling pact with my wife's fire/rad corruptor. I have one and am experienced with that, and I'd like her to try it... very effective. I want to bring utility to the duo, and also be useful in a team. I don't want to go /radiation since I've played that a good deal already. Also not interested in /thermal, have a MM of that. I'm disappointed /dark isn't in for controllers, I was hoping to do that.
The only controller I've played before, into the 20s, was an earth/rad. It brought a lot to a team and I can see earth/ bringing a fair amount to a duo, but its damage did seem horrible, which I guess is the obvious trade-off.
I'm thinking kinetics for a secondary, but maybe something fits better? And is there a controller set that actually does fairly good damage while still bringing utility to a team, or should I forget the damage and go for earth? Thanks.