A Blinding, Empowered Light: The Illusion/Kinetics/Primal Controller

Vince The Insane's Guide to:
The Illusion Control/Kinetics/Primal Forces Mastery Controller

Introduction

The second level 50 I ever landed was my beloved Illusion/Kinetics Controller. I'd tried other Controller sets prior to Illusion, and just couldn't get a grasp on them. I finally picked the last combo I ever thought I'd like, which was Ill/Kin. As it turns out, this set worked so wonderfully with my playstyle I took the little guy all the way to 50 without making a single alt during the process (holy crap, y'all).

So I figured after 3 years of playing this guy at 50, it was time to do what I did with my Dark/Dark/Soul Brute and write a guide for the powersets I chose. I'll explain in layman's terms what every power does, what I use them for, how I slot them, tips on their various uses and overall niftiness, and finally I'll rate the power from one to five stars (*-*****).

Illusion Control

Illusion Control is the odd man out when it comes to generic control sets. There really isn't a lot of "hard control" when it comes to the abilities you have access to. The true strength in this set is it's ability to pump out summoned pets that can greatly turn the tide of battle whether you're on a team or running solo. Your Phantoms are your tanks, your Spectral Terror is your floating fear cannon, and your Phantasm is your shimmering damage machine. Make sure you aren't seen with Superior Invisibility. Combine them all and infuse them with Kinetics, and you have yourself a potent combination.

Kinetics

Kinetics is the powerset that literally tips the scales in your favor. If you need health or endurance, transfer it from your enemy. Speed and increased recharge, more damage? Siphon it from your enemy. You also get a few team-oriented powers in the form of Speed Boost, Increase Density, and Inertial Reduction. Finally, you can turn battles into unfair slaughterfests by using Fulcrum Shift.

Primal Forces Mastery

When flashy and powerful isn't enough, make it more efficient! Primal Forces Mastery perfectly compliments Illusion with two Energy attacks and a shiny +Resist armor, and even moreso compliments Kinetics with Conserve Power and Power Boost. Ever shave off 70% of an AV's endurance? Hit Power Boost and go for it!

So here we go. Ready?

Illusion Control



Spectral Wounds
Ranged, High DMG(Psionic), +Special (Illusionary Damage Heal-Back)

Spectral Wounds is a special case when it comes to Controller-oriented damage attacks. You cast it and it hits, like any other attack. But only a certain amount of this attack is actually 'real'. After about ten seconds, some of the damage heals back! Your foe looks at the giant gaping hole in his stomach, tries to stick his hand through it, and ends up prodding himself in the navel. "Oh man, this isn't real! I'm just fine, sort of!" Something like that. Now, Containment has an interesting effect on Spectral Wounds. Instead of Double Damage, you just get Containment on the "real" output. So while it might look like it's not getting full bore, you're just not getting double damage on the fake damage. Make sense?
Slotting: 2 Acc, 2 Dam, 1 Rech (Or you can six slot and go 2 Rech, depending on how you feel like distributing)

IO Slotting: A good bonus-granting Ranged Damage set, such as Thunderstrike or Decimation.

Rating:****

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Blind
Ranged, Moderate DMG(Psionic), Foe Hold, +Special (AoE Sleep)

I think Blind's name speaks for itself. You fire a giant flash of light out of your face, and it hits your target in the face, and then they sit there held and looking like they have a really pissed-off glowing butterly attacking their eyeballs. If you get close, it makes a really cool electric wavy noise. Now the interesting bit with this power here is, if there are any enemies near your target you'll actually nail them with a Sleep, and their faces will start flickering with light too! It's not a hard control, but if you aim well you can put 3 foes out with one Blind. Pretty nice, huh?

Slotting: 2 Acc, 2 Hold, 2 Rech
IO Slotting: Lockdown, all 6 pieces. It's a joy to watch the Chance for Mag 2 Hold firing off and taking a Boss out of the fight, especially with Overpower mixed in.

Rating:*****

TIP: Aim for the guys who are closest together and fire this at the center-most one. It'll knock 'em out, until the ones affected by Sleep are hit/disturbed.

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Deceive
Ranged, Foe Confuse

Deceive is your run of the mill Confuse Single-Target. At lower levels (before Phantom Army) I'd say it's pretty useful, especially for making a pesky buffing enemy give you some extra power. Beyond level 18, you'll find yourself too busy kicking bad-guy butt to use it (or at least, that's what happened to me).

Slotting: 2 Acc, 1 Confuse, 1 Rech
IO Slotting: Malaise's Illusions if you want.

Rating:***

TIP: I don't use this. Ever. My build is tight and I have very little room for it. I also don't have time to use it during battle.
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Flash
PBAoE, Foe Hold

Flash is a blinding, retina-searing flash of light (especially if you use Legacy color options). It's your basic AoE Hold, except it's PBAoE. That's right, you need to get yourself nice and snug with a large cluster of enemies to use it properly. However, after getting Phantom Army, Superior Invisibility and the remainder of your pets, it's suddenly 100% easier to run in and drop this on a cluster of baddies! Only downside is the recharge time and lowered accuracy. Slotted well however, it's enough to manage a spawn and take them down before they can rub the brightness out of their eyes.

Slotting: 2 Acc, 2 Hold, 1 Rech
IO Slotting: Lockdown, 5 pieces including the Chance For. It'll make a difference when it goes off, I promise you that.

Rating:****

Tip: Use this in conjunction with something that'll keep you from dying. Send in Phantom Army, summon your Spectral Terror, or slink in with Superior Invisibility. The last thing you want when trying to use this is to get stuck in the animation and have your guts ripped out before it has a chance to be of any use to you.
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Superior Invisibility
Toggle: Self Stealth, +DEF(All)

Want to go anywhere and not get any aggro? Here's your power. Superior Invisibility is one of the best Self Stealth powers in the game. Very little will notice you, even baddies with +Perception! It also allows you to send in your Phantoms/Spectral Terror without a hitch, and can also let you sneak in and drop Flash to make clusters of enemies that much easier to handle.

Slotting: I EndRdx, 1 Defense Buff, 1 Karma: Knockback Protection

TIP: Always slot Karma -KB into this guy. You'll need it in order to properly use Kinetics.

Rating:*****
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Group Invisibility
PBAoE, Team Stealth, +DEF(All)

Here's a power I found most teams hate, especially if you misfire it. It's essentially a click-AoE Stealth Buff. Anyone in the radius gets stealthed. Great for squishies, not so great for Tankers or anyone else who wants to willingly be in the fray. I skipped this power, but have occasionally used my second build to use it on stealth-mission SF teams.

Slotting: Recharge? I don't know, I barely use it.

TIP: Apparently, teams who want to stealth SF missions love it.

Rating:***
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Phantom Army
Summon Decoys: Ranged Minor DMG(Energy/Special (Illusionary Damage Heal-Back))

Kinetics


Transfusion
Ranged, Foe -End, -Regen, Team Heal

This is your first power in your secondary set. Guess what? You're stuck with it! Guess what else? It kicks butt! Transfusion is a beefy Targeted AoE Heal power. Recently they changed the icon to Single Target, but it's still AoE. Wierd, right? Anywho, Transfusion needs a living target to go off-- if you cast it on a target and it dies during your cast, you don't get the heal. This is seen as a bug, and is incredibly annoying. Use it wisely and aim well, and you'll keep your team alive indefinitely.

TIP: Always try to cast Transfusion on the biggest, baddest, ugliest enemy in the fray. Why? Well for one, the big-bads tend to live longer than minions and lieutenants. Two, Transfusion has a seriously hefty Regeneration debuff! Sick of that AV getting health back? Drop this on his head and watch him die, and your teammates live! It's a transfusion--get it?
TIP 2: ALWAYS slot this baby for accuracy! Always! If you miss, no one gets a heal!

Slotting: 2 Acc, 2 heal, 1 Rech
IO Slotting: Touch of the Nictus, the whole set minus the bonus proc.

Rating: *****

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Siphon Power
Ranged, Foe -DMG, Team +DMG

Siphon Power opens up to you at level 2, which is pretty freaking early. I can safely say that I took it a little later when I didn't want to pick up Deceive. It's a pretty handy little buff that applies a 20% damage debuff to your target of choice and a 20% damage buff to anyone near you. I'm not entirely sure if damage debuffs are affected by the Purple Patch, since there's no mention that they could be, so stack this on any enemy you want to do less damage.

TIP: I try my best to run near damage-dealing teammates before firing this off. More damage to the damagers is always a good thing!

Slotting: 2 Acc, 1 or 2 Rech. You can 3 slot this, or 4 slot this. It's all to your taste.

Rating: ****

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Repel
Toggle: PBAoE, Foe Knockback

Repel is a high-endurance power used to send enemies flying when they get near you. As an Illusion/Kinetics controller, you will not want this power. It will knock away your most important assets: your enemies. You need enemies to heal, enemies to buff your damage, enemies to restore endurance and gain recharge from. The further away they are, the less you're going to get out of Kinetics as a whole. Some people enjoy this power. I however can't urge you enough as an Ill/Kin to skip it.

Slotting: 1 EndRdx

Rating: *
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Siphon Speed
Ranged, Foe -SPD, Self +Recharge, +SPD

Siphon Speed is a fantastic little utility. It literally siphons speed from the target. Unlike Siphon Power, this guy only affects you. Sorry, no AoE speed buff. A nice 20% boost to your recharge cranks up your powers, and a wicked fast run speed boost hits you as well! A lot of people (including myself) use this as a pseudo-travel power.

TIP: Combine this with Hasten. Seriously.

Slotting: 2 Acc, 2 Rech

Rating: *****
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Increase Density
Ranged, Ally +Res(Smash, Energy, Disorient, Hold, Immobilize, Knockback), -SPD(Special)

Take this power. Take it and team with it. Every team you have will love you for it. Increase Density grants massive resistance (and usually immunity) to the main status effects. Cast it on squishies to keep them from getting mezzed/knocked out of the fray. Cast it on Brutes/Tankers/Scrappers to increase their S/L resistance and provide yet another level of survivability. Cast it on your Phantasm to keep his happy behind from getting taken out of the fight! Cast it on your Spectral Terror and watch it say "Unaffected!" Just testing to see if you're paying attention. :P

Slotting: 2 Resistance Buffs

Rating: *****
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Speed Boost
Ranged, Ally +Recharge, +SPD, +Recovery, +Res(Slow)

This is why people want you on their team. Think I'm kidding? I've had people say they won't invite me as a /Kin unless I have Speed Boost. Besides, who doesn't like free Recovery? That's they key here: free RECOVERY. This power boosts the run speed, recharge, and recovery of any teammate you cast it on (except pets, they get no boost to recharge).

TIP: Stone Tankers/Brutes will love you for this power. It negates their run speed penalty and nearly negates their recharge penalty while in Granite Armor. See someone slowed, or out of endurance? Hit them with this! Don't be afraid of it, the more you keep it up on teammates the faster your team will blaze through enemies.

Slotting: 2 EndMod

Rating: *****
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Inertial Reduction
PBAoE, Team +Jump

Inertial Reduction is simple: It's like giving your entire team Super Jump. This was a skip power for me, as I never had much use for it. However, it's useful to other players for a variety of reasons. It can be taken in place of a travel power. It can be used to help a team reach a place they can't get to, or speed up their movement through zones. It's also fun to stand in a densely populated zone and cast this on clusters of low level players. They love it, let me tell you.

TIP: I skipped this power in favor of Hasten.

Slotting: 2 Jump, 2 Rech if you decide to take it and use it to it's full extent.

Rating: *** (Useful to some and not others)

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Transference
Ranged, Foe -End, Team +End

This is another reason teams will love you. Transference is Transfusion for your Endurance bar. That's right, you hit a bad guy with this and BOOM! Endurance for all! With the right slotting this power will instantly fill any endurance bar to full, whether it's at 50% or 0%. It will also completely drain the endurance from any target lower than a Boss. And unlike Transfusion, if the target dies mid-cast you don't lose the benefits.

TIP: This power absolutely shines when used in conjunction with Power Boost from Primal Forces Mastery. With it, you can easily blast over 70% of an EB/AV's endurance clean out of their bar. If you have an Electric Control teammate, be sure to ask their help! If you couple Transference with the end-draining capabilities of an Electric controller/dominator, you'll find yourself fighting an extremely tough enemy with no endurance to attack you with.

Slotting: 2 Acc, 2 EndMod, 2 Rech
IO Slotting: Performance Shifter and/or Efficacy Adaptor

Rating: *****
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Fulcrum Shift
Ranged (Targeted AoE), Foe -DMG, Team +DMG

This is it. This is why you rolled a Kinetics character. This is the mack-daddy of all team buffs, the king of killing, the sultan of slaughter, Fulcrum Shift. This power siphons 40% damage from a targeted group of foes and returns it to you and your teammates! Anyone near the caster gains a significant damage boost, and anyone close to the targeted group gets 20% per foe hit!

TIP: Be absolutely sure to slot for accuracy! I've seen Fulcrum Shift miss and it's not pretty. The trick to using this to it's best effect on an Illusion Controller lies in Superior Invisibility and the Phantoms/Spectral Terror. While they're busy distracting the enemy, you sneak in and drop Fulcrum Shift, allowing the full potency of the power to affect your damage. I run my Controller at the damage cap (300%) almost constantly when in a mission, even solo!

Slotting: 2 Acc, 2 Rech
IO Slotting: None needed! Slot for the basics and this power shines alone!

Rating: OVER NINE THOUSAND stars

Primal Forces Mastery

Power Blast
Ranged, Moderate DMG(Energy/Smash), Foe Knockback

This is your generic single-target Energy Blast attack. You lean forward and shoot some blue orbs out of your hands, doing some pretty respectable damage for a Controller. But here's the fun part: Beef this baby up with Fulcrum Shift and you have one hell of an attack! But it gets even better! Blind someone and use this attack; Containment affects it! So not only are you sitting on a fully Fulcrum-Shifted single target blast, you're sitting on one that does double damage!

TIP: This power is interchangeable with Energy Torrent; some players like the single target aspect, while others prefer more AoE. Having used both, I found myself enjoying Energy Torrent more.

Slotting: 2 Acc, 2 Dam, 1 Rech
IO Slotting: 4 to 5 pieces of a respectable Ranged Damage set of your choice.

Rating:****

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Conserve Power
Self Endurance Discount

This is your basic run-of-the-mill Conserve Power. You pop it, you spend less endurance on all powers for the next however long. This power comes in handy a lot for an Ill/Kin, especially if you took Hasten (which I strongly recommend) and find yourself fighting so furiously you're draining end. Transference helps as well, but sometimes in long fights you need to be able to run at full speed regardless of any circumstance.

TIP: This is another power some players can and cannot live without. Personal preference made me take it!

Slotting: 2 Recharge

Rating: ****

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Temp Invulnerability
Toggle: Self +Res(Smash, Lethal)

Temp Invulnerability for Controllers is an absolutely fantastic toggle. Out of the box it has very respectable resistance, and when slotted to ED cap gives roughly 45% resistance to Smashing/Lethal! Holy smokes! This power has saved my bacon so many times, especially when dealing with Rikti and their stupid giant swords of pain. I highly recommend this power for any and all Controllers.

Slotting: 2 EndRdx, 2 ResBuff
IO Slotting: 4 Pieces of the Aegis Set

Rating: *****

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Energy Torrent
Ranged (Cone), Moderate DMG(Energy/Smash), Foe Knockdown

This is another Energy Blast power clone, with one major difference. Energy Torrent for Controllers does NOT apply knockback. It applies knockDOWN. That's right, it's a non-infuriating Energy Torrent! At least, it's not infuriating until your Phantasm uses his and sends the spawn flying. The same mechanics I mentioned for Power Blast apply here; if you Fulcrum Shift this power it'll hit like a truck, and it's also affected by Containment!

TIP: The best way to use this power is to send it in to a group that's just been hit with Flash. If you have good accuracy, odds are you've held 95%+ of the group and Containment is ready to go. Fulcrum Shift and Containment on an entire spawn make Energy Torrent my choice for AoE in a very non-AoE power combo.

Slotting:

Rating:

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Power Boost
Self +Special

Power Boost makes you ridiculous. Not just figuratively, either; your head starts shooting out rainbows. Power Boost adds potency and duration to effects such as Defense, Resistance, Run Speed, Health/Endurance/ToHit Debuffs, you name it. The key point here, however, is that it only adds DURATION to your status effects. Power Boost does not increase the magnitude of your holds/fears, just the duration. But that said, Power Boost is a great power for the Kinetics user, and even better for any aspect of a Controller.

Benefits of Power Boost:

-Boosted durations of Flash/Blind
-Boosted numbers in Speed Boost Recovery and Run Speed
-Boosted Potency of Transfusion (I can heal for 800, mommy!) and Transference (Where's your endurance NOW?!)
-Boosted Recharge and Run Speed in Siphon Power

TIP: Unfortunately, Power Boost doesn't affect the damage buff from Fulcrum Shift.

Slotting: 2 or 3 Recharge

Rating: *****

Pool Powers

It's pretty easy to cover the Pool Powers when it comes to an Ill/Kin. I'll make it brief.

Fitness

Until Issue 19 hits and we all have free Stamina at level 2, you NEED THIS. Fitness is the must-have power pool for any character except maybe /Regen and /Willpower characters, should they so choose. Take it, skip slots on Swift/Hurdle/Health, and 3-slot Stamina with solid EndMod. Feeling fun? Put in a 4th slot and drop in a Performance Shifter Chance for +End.

Speed

• Flurry- Unless you really need damage, which you won't, skip this power.
• Hasten- The lynchpin of this build's fast recharge. With Siphon Speed and Hasten both slotted for maximum Recharge, you'll find every power you have up far more often than any power you've ever had on any character ever. EVAAAAR.
• Whirlwind- No. Like Repel, this power will disrupt your play as an Ill/Kin.

There you have it, folks! This guide is now open for suggestions/nitpicks/the pointing out of any errors I've made.

I can safely tell you that Illusion/Kin/Primal is quite possibly one of my favorite power combinations of anything in the game, ranked right alongside my Dark/Dark/Soul Brute. Again, please don't take this guide as law; play your own way and only read this as advice, not instruction. I won't bother with a build unless I get asked, so please, have at and discuss if you feel the need!

Happy Illusioning!

Not bad, and you make quite a few good points. I disagree with some of your assessments, like Deceive. I find Deceive to be very valuable on an Ill/Kin -- if nothing else, it is nice to Deceive a foe, and then use him for your target for your Siphon Speed and Siphon Power. Since Deceive does not draw aggro, you don't aggro the surrounding foes -- if you try the same trick with Blind, the surrounding foes will aggro. Especially, you can use a deceived foe as a "battery" to charge up your Siphon Speed and stack it before going into a tough fight. You can also use a Deceived foe as a target for Transfusion between battles -- just pull a single guy over near you or your team, Deceive him, and then use him to heal, buff up or even for Transference. Sure, you could do the "pull & hold" thing with Blind, but Deceive lasts a lot longer and doesn't do damage so you don't kill your "battery." That is in addition to all the benefits of Deceive that I went over in my Ill/Rad guide. You may not need Deceive in the middle of a big, "plow through 'em" kind of fight, but it can be a life- and team-saver against tough foes with controls and debuffs.

You describe Spectral Terror as being able to take an Alpha. -- I think I understand what you mean, but it is a bit misleading. Spooky can control a group to prevent an alpha (sometimes, because it is a terrorize power), but it cannot take damage the same way that Phantom Army does. It cannot take damage at all, and will cause aggro to you.

You do not sufficiently explain one of the biggest problems with Illusion/Kinetics -- dealing with Phanty's knockback. The player has to develop strategies to avoid Phanty knocking foes out of range for Transfusion, Transference and Fulcrum Shift. It can be very frustrating to badly need a heal, cue up Transfusion, and suddenly see your target fly out of range so the heal misses you.

Personally, I prefer the Fire and Ice APP sets because they have single target blasts that animate slightly faster, and better AoE attacks. I tried Primal for a while on my Ill/Rad, and went back to Fire. You seem to downplay the importance of getting a single target blast for that great Blind-SW-Blast-SW attack chain that can really increase your damage over time.

Pretty sure FS doesn't affect the PA dude.

Really helpful for those of us who aren't taking this exact build too. I'm running an Elec/Kin, and the Kin part helped with my slotting plans, and you may have convinced me to take Primal as my APP.

How is your ILL/Kin for solo'ing? My ILL/Rad was a beast right from
Level 1 through 50.

Im working on one right now, but looking instead at Psionic Mastery for the epic Power Pool, so far she has been a lot of fun to play

Thanks so much Nalrok. You made my brain hurt less.

I've got one of these guys languishing in the low/mid 40s; he's been stuck there for a few years (3 or 4). I might have to trot him out, respec the rust off him, and see if I can't make a fresh go of it with him. Anticipating that I do, thanks for the inspiration.

Later on,
Gate