Containment and APP's

Hello all, I have a quick question that I'm hoping someone could answer for me.


I've never actually taken a Controller high enough to get to the APP's, so I have no way of testing this myself. Anyways, my question is, does containment affect APP attacks? In otherwords, do you get the bonus double damage on mez'd mobs? While I'm asking, does containment affect Power Pool attacks at all as well?



Thanks!

Yes, APP and Power Pool attacks get double damage with Containment. The only exception is if the power is a pet or Pseudo-pet power. (I need to double check, but I think the Ice APP's Ice Storm does not get containment, but I'm not positive.)

Earth APP's Fissure is very popular because it is a fast-recharging AoE damage power that gets containment -- and has a chance to stun. Fireball, Frost Breath, Torrent, Psi Tornado and the single-target blasts all get containment double damage.

My usual suggestion to somebody new with controllers: Illusion/Radiation. My guide, linked in my sig, explains why. Ill/Rad is one of the most flexible and powerful characters in the game -- works great solo or on teams. Because many of the good Rad powers come early, it is not a "late bloomer" like many others. You should start out with a single-target trio of powers that can take you to level 50 and make you feel like a controller/Blaster -- Blind, Spectral Wounds, Deceive. Then be patient, because at level 18 you get Phantom Army, which completely changes the character. Illusion is fairly easy to play reasonably well, but challenging to play really well.

But which Controller you may like varies widely with your playstyle. For solo, Illusion, Mind and Gravity do well in lower levels with single-target damage. Plant has good AoE control and damage, but is weak on single target damage. Fire has great Aoe damage, but is a bit of a late bloomer. Ice, Earth and Electric are low damage primaries, not the best for solo play but can be great for team-oriented builds. If you want an early-blooming character other than Illusion, I would suggest Plant or Mind.

As for secondaries, Rad, Storm and Kin are the most popular with the solo crowd. Rad works great with any primary and gets many of its best powers early (so you don't give up on the character). Trick Arrow is also a fun debuff set with control and a late damage power. Trick Arrow and Storm are the only two secondaries with significant damage, but those powers come late in the sets. The other secondaries have key ally-only powers, but any combo can be soloed.

Oh awesome! Thanks for the suggestions!


Hmm...so with all that in mind...I think I'll most likely be going with either Illusion Control or Fire Control (Illusion sounds best to me so far since I've played all other Control primaries on a Dominator, so Illusion is new to me lol).


I've also reduced my secondaries down to either */Rad or */Cold...I know the power of Radiation....but is */Cold really that good on a Controller? Does it's benifits offer more to the Controller than it does my Corruptor? How is it for survivability? Sorry for all the questions, but I'm very intrigued and interested in trying this AT out as of late!!!!


Thoughts?

Cold is a good secondary for an Illusion Controller. It has great single target debuffs which can help take down really tough targets, and a great AoE debuff in Sleet (mostly the same as Storm's Freezing Rain, but you don't get it until 35). It also has the defense-based shields for your teammates and Phanty. And the final power in the set, Heat Loss, is pretty sweet.

HOWEVER, Cold does not have a Recharge buff that will help Phantom Army recharge faster. If you want to eventually get "Perma-PA" on a Ill/Cold, it will be a lot more expensive than an Illusion/Rad because you have to find an extra 30% Recharge from sets. That usually means that you need some purple sets to get there. Also, those shields are useless on Phantom Army, and not all that useful solo. (The only powers in Rad that are useless solo are Mutation and Fallout, which even on a team build are very situational and I would recommend that you skip anyways.) Another issue is that Cold does not have a self-heal, while Rad does. Another point that matters to some people -- Cold has the same kind of shields you have in FF, Sonic and Therm -- you need to re-buff the team every 4 minutes. Some people hate doing that.

Illusion and Radition have wonderful synergy. Rad offers the Recharge buff, an Endurance Recovery buff, ranged foe-anchored AoE debuffs that will help Phantom Army hit more often and hit harder, and some additional controls to fill the control gap in Illusion (Ling Rad is a Slow, EM Pulse is a huge AoE Hold). There is a good reason why it is so popular.

Of course, if he goes with Illusion Control, he wont have an every-fight method of generating AOE containment, since Illusion Control does not have an AOE Immobilize. So the suggestion of Illusion may not go well with the intent/hope/title of this very thread.

Don't get me wrong. I do think Illusion Control is very good. I've got 3 Illusion Controllers at level 50 myself (Storm, FF, Sonic). I'm just saying that he may be disappointed that he won't be conveniently leveraging any APP Containment.

But its all good.

Lewis

Of course. I'm just letting him know that, since AOE powers had been mentioned by you in your very first post in this thread, that I'd let the OP know that Illusion will not be a go-to set for leveraging that.

Lewis