What's Plant or Elec got?


Airhammer

 

Posted

So, I recognize what most of the controller primaries do: Illusion is chaos and damage, Gravity is lite control but with damage, Earth is the most solid AOE control, etc, but I have yet to really understand Plant or Electricity Control.
I'm kinda looking for a set that will let me solo when I absoultely have to (hopefully very rarely), and have been leaning towards Gravity because of that (I don't like Illusion, too much chaos I guess), but I'm not so sure now.
Even after reading some posts and guides, I don't have a general feel of what these two powersets do. Only thing I have heard is that Plant has Confusion, which some teams hate, and that Electricty does End drain, but the level 32 pet doesn't suddenly let you solo like the other Pets do.
If I could just have a general understanding of these two sets, I would be grateful.


 

Posted

Elec's got soft control and end drain. The gremlins do help you solo, but aren't damage masters like fire imps or extra control like grav/ice/earth.

I've got an Elec/Rad at 41 and she's a beast. Its not fast soloing but definately a safe and consistent grind solo. its even better on teams. drop the pet sleep on one mob to keep them from interfering and when it looks time to get to them, jump in with conductive and choking and they're pretty easy targets for anything.


 

Posted

I informally break the Control sets up into 3 basic groups.

Elemental - Damage
Considered high damage for control sets, lack significant debuffs
Plant
Fire
Gravity*

Elemental - Debuff
Lowest damage sets in the game, receive large debuffs as compensation
Earth
Ice
Electric

Psionic - Setup
Lack otherwise standard immob powers, low in direct confrontation
Mind
Illusion

*Gravity is probably intended to be a damage set, but fails to really distinguish itself to me in any particular way. It has a debuff (-Speed) but it's mostly irrelevant since holds and immobs stop movement.


I think of Plant as a much safer Fire Control. Essentially Flashfire is replaced with Seeds of Confusion and Fire Imps/Hot Feet collectively by Creepers. (You also get a pet at 32 but it's the Creepers that really stand out). The basic strategy of mezz-immob-blast applies for most situations.

To me Electric Control most closely resembles Ice Control. Low damage (not quite as low as Ice) and a debuff that is relevant to your control. Both differ from Earth in that Earth has a much sturdier pet, a different style of AoE hold (one that essentially mimics Ice Control's PBAoE aura but is immobile and lower risk), and a debuff that more "happens to exist" than "is critical to your control abilities." Both also have a Confuse of some kind, which Earth lacks. When solo, Electric may have a leg up on Ice due to its ability to mezz from range undetected.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Veslin View Post
So, I recognize what most of the controller primaries do: Illusion is chaos and damage, Gravity is lite control but with damage, Earth is the most solid AOE control, etc, but I have yet to really understand Plant or Electricity Control.
I'm kinda looking for a set that will let me solo when I absoultely have to (hopefully very rarely), and have been leaning towards Gravity because of that (I don't like Illusion, too much chaos I guess), but I'm not so sure now.
Even after reading some posts and guides, I don't have a general feel of what these two powersets do. Only thing I have heard is that Plant has Confusion, which some teams hate, and that Electricty does End drain, but the level 32 pet doesn't suddenly let you solo like the other Pets do.
If I could just have a general understanding of these two sets, I would be grateful.
Illusion isn't "chaos and damage," it is "distraction and damage." The ONLY knockback in Illusion is from Phantasm, which is pretty easy to limit if you know how to.

Any teams that "hate" confusion are ignorant. They don't understand that Confuse is one of the best control powers in the game . . . and Illusion, Mind, Plant, Ice and Electric all have confusion powers. Illusion's is only single target, while the others have AoE Confusion powers. Confusion powers do not "steal" XP . . . if properly used, you can in fact get extra XP that you don't earn. It might slightly reduce the amount of XP available to earn, but will allow you to earn that XP faster and safer -- and there is always more XP available, so it is not a limited resource.

As for Plant and Electric -- Plant is a good AoE damage control set which is also the best set for early AoE control. By Level 8, you can have Seeds of Confusion and Roots, which can confuse a group and then Immobilize them -- which has the effect of an AoE Hold and is up pretty often. The AoE Immob, Roots, does twice the damage of the AoE Immob from other control sets. Plus you get AoE Damage from Carrion Creepers and the pet, Venus Flytrap (a/k/a Twoey, nicknamed after the plant in "Little Shop of Horrors"). Plant is a bit of a "one-trick pony." It relies heavily upon the combination of Seeds of Confusion+Roots -- it is weak against foes who resist confusion and Immobilize, and not real strong with single target damage. In lower levels especially, once you use Seeds, you have limited AoE control until it recharges. It is arguably the best at AoE damage after Fire Control, and has better control than Fire. Creepers is a really unique power in the set, a kind of pseudopet with an unusual way of working, and the Flytrap Pet is the coolest looking pet for controllers.

Electric Control is an interesting set. It provides very good AoE control with several types of control that were generally viewed as weak . . . Sleep, knockdown and endurance drain. But as used in Electric Control, these become very effective AoE control. It is one of the lowest damage control sets, in the same category as Ice and Earth Control. One of the key powers is the AoE Sleep patch, Static Field. Like Ice and Fire Control, it has an PB AoE aura that makes it appealing to go into and stay in melee -- the Electric version does endurance drain. Because of this, it works really well with Rad's Choking Cloud. Two of the powers, Jolting Chain (knockdown) and Synaptic Overload (confusion), use a chaining mechanism that makes Electric unlike any other control set. The two pets, Gremlins, are kind of disappointing -- they really should do more damage and be a little more durable -- but they look cool. Electric is a good set for team AoE control . . . but a poor set for playing solo.


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

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Local_Man View Post
As for Plant and Electric -- Plant is a good AoE damage control set which is also the best set for early AoE control. By Level 8, you can have Seeds of Confusion and Roots, which can confuse a group and then Immobilize them -- which has the effect of an AoE Hold and is up pretty often. The AoE Immob, Roots, does twice the damage of the AoE Immob from other control sets. Plus you get AoE Damage from Carrion Creepers and the pet, Venus Flytrap (a/k/a Twoey, nicknamed after the plant in "Little Shop of Horrors"). Plant is a bit of a "one-trick pony." It relies heavily upon the combination of Seeds of Confusion+Roots -- it is weak against foes who resist confusion and Immobilize, and not real strong with single target damage. I
As Local is apt to point out Plant is a bit of a "One trick pony", however, when it's the best trick in the game you really only need one! Plant blooms (oh god the pun, the pun) early with Seeds and gets better with Creepers, sure, there are a few foes that you would want to avoid (confuse resistant and immob resist as well) but for the vast majority of the content out there (outside of GM's, AV's if you have Rad) your gold Jerry...Gold!

As for ST damage, you have your 2 standard attacks (the Hold and Immob) that with containment and slotting for Damage are good to go, combine that with say your Fire APP for both Fireball and the ST attack and you can hold your own, is it as damaging as Fire...no.. but much safer.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert_B View Post
As Local is apt to point out Plant is a bit of a "One trick pony", however, when it's the best trick in the game you really only need one! Plant blooms (oh god the pun, the pun) early with Seeds and gets better with Creepers, sure, there are a few foes that you would want to avoid (confuse resistant and immob resist as well) but for the vast majority of the content out there (outside of GM's, AV's if you have Rad) your gold Jerry...Gold!

As for ST damage, you have your 2 standard attacks (the Hold and Immob) that with containment and slotting for Damage are good to go, combine that with say your Fire APP for both Fireball and the ST attack and you can hold your own, is it as damaging as Fire...no.. but much safer.
Sure, that "one trick" is great . . . but if you have just used it before the ambush shows up, you might be in trouble. Or, as has happened to me once or twice, I target a guy in the middle of a big group and hit Seeds just when a lag spike hits . . . and find my character turning around to throw Seeds at the single foe behind me, completely missing the group . . . who just aggroed on me. "Oh, crap! Where's that Vines icon . . . "


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

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Local_Man View Post
Sure, that "one trick" is great . . . but if you have just used it before the ambush shows up, you might be in trouble. Or, as has happened to me once or twice, I target a guy in the middle of a big group and hit Seeds just when a lag spike hits . . . and find my character turning around to throw Seeds at the single foe behind me, completely missing the group . . . who just aggroed on me. "Oh, crap! Where's that Vines icon . . . "
Now I know your not suggesting that we avoid a AT cause of the chance of a Lag Spike or an ambush!

Everything you said is correct of course, however as you said Vines are there and Roots and Creepers so you do have some recourse (or heck, just RUN!).

I'm a Plant guy, so take my defensiveness for what it is, it's my favorite troller by far.


 

Posted

My Plant/Storm is by far my favorite character. Fire/Kin is hands down the most damaging combination, but is somwhat limited in effectiveness. Its at its best against non-ranged melee mobs.

Plant, on the other hand, can handle a wide range of mobs. With the combination of Seeds, Creepers, and roots, you can beat virtually everything the game can throw at you. Nemesis are the toughest to beat, since they are almost immune to confusion. I havent tried the combination, but Plant/Kin would probably dish out the damage.

I played an Electric Troller in beta, and wasnt very impressed. Low damage and weak control.


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Posted

[QUOTE=Robert_B;3351700
Everything you said is correct of course, however as you said Vines are there and Roots and Creepers so you do have some recourse (or heck, just RUN!).[/QUOTE]

Hell, even Spore Burst. But if that's your last resort you'll need to make sure *SOMETHING* happens before your Creepers or Audrey Jr. get over to that mob and wake 'em up. >Grins<

Man do I love my Plant characters. SO MUCH CHAOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Beowulf -
Too many Alts, not enough 50's. Story of my life...

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert_B View Post
Now I know your not suggesting that we avoid a AT cause of the chance of a Lag Spike or an ambush!

Everything you said is correct of course, however as you said Vines are there and Roots and Creepers so you do have some recourse (or heck, just RUN!).

I'm a Plant guy, so take my defensiveness for what it is, it's my favorite troller by far.
I certainly am not suggesting to avoid Plant control. Heck, I have a Plant/Rad at 50, a Plant/Kin at 44 and a Plant/Storm somewhere in the 30's. They are all fun.

It is simply a trade-off. Superior initial control for less back-up or continual control. Like all sets, Plant has its strenghths and weaknesses . . . otherwise, it wouldn't be challenging.


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

 

Posted

I wouldn't say Plant is a one trick pony. It relies less on Seeds then Ill does on PA. It has the same AoE Hold and Immo other control based sets have. It's just that it's 'soft' AoE control is one of the best (if not the best) in the game. Throw in the ability of Creepers to Immo, slow, KD and distract and you have one of the better control sets going around. The fact that it can give Fire a run for its money kill speed wise (if not beat it) is just gravy.

Roots, Seeds and Creepers are all A grade powers.

So maybe Plant is a three trick pony?


 

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Max_zero View Post
I wouldn't say Plant is a one trick pony. It relies less on Seeds then Ill does on PA. It has the same AoE Hold and Immo other control based sets have. It's just that it's 'soft' AoE control is one of the best (if not the best) in the game. Throw in the ability of Creepers to Immo, slow, KD and distract and you have one of the better control sets going around. The fact that it can give Fire a run for its money kill speed wise (if not beat it) is just gravy.

Roots, Seeds and Creepers are all A grade powers.

So maybe Plant is a three trick pony?
Illusion has other tricks. Spectral Terror is a perma-AoE control even before any slotting. Deceive lets you take down a group of foes without ever alerting them that you are there. And back before the pet AI was broken, Phanty's Decoy could fill in for PA at times.

Yes, Plant control has other tricks. But it seems to rely very heavily upon Seeds+Roots -- I found myself often having to wait until they recharged to take on the next group. I didn't have to do that with Illusion.


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

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Local_Man View Post
Illusion has other tricks. Spectral Terror is a perma-AoE control even before any slotting. Deceive lets you take down a group of foes without ever alerting them that you are there. And back before the pet AI was broken, Phanty's Decoy could fill in for PA at times.

Yes, Plant control has other tricks. But it seems to rely very heavily upon Seeds+Roots -- I found myself often having to wait until they recharged to take on the next group. I didn't have to do that with Illusion.
What exactly is your definition of a 'group'? If you are using Deceive to take down a group of foes, they can't be very large groups. When I'm talking groups I mean x8. If you want to Deceive it down one at a time be my guest.

My Seeds also recharges in around 15 seconds (even less now with Alpha slot, haven't checked). Which is convenient since that's about the time it takes for me to kill a spawn.

Spectral Terror I find is a much weaker soft control then Seeds. If you damage them, they can attack back, you have limited control over the direction it fires and finally while it is perma the 'pet' does not follow you so unless you take 45 seconds to kill each spawn have to recast it at each new spawn.

I like Illusion but without PA it wouldn't have anything going for it. No containment (thus weak damage), 'weakest' AoE soft control, no immobilize. Plant without Seeds would still have Creepers and Roots. It wouldn't be as awesome as it is now but it would still function decently.


 

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Max_zero View Post
What exactly is your definition of a 'group'? If you are using Deceive to take down a group of foes, they can't be very large groups. When I'm talking groups I mean x8. If you want to Deceive it down one at a time be my guest.

My Seeds also recharges in around 15 seconds (even less now with Alpha slot, haven't checked). Which is convenient since that's about the time it takes for me to kill a spawn.

Spectral Terror I find is a much weaker soft control then Seeds. If you damage them, they can attack back, you have limited control over the direction it fires and finally while it is perma the 'pet' does not follow you so unless you take 45 seconds to kill each spawn have to recast it at each new spawn.

I like Illusion but without PA it wouldn't have anything going for it. No containment (thus weak damage), 'weakest' AoE soft control, no immobilize. Plant without Seeds would still have Creepers and Roots. It wouldn't be as awesome as it is now but it would still function decently.
OK, are we going to turn this into a "which set is better" argument? The sets are different, with a different focus. Illusion is far better than Plant for single tough targets, but isn't nearly as good at AoE and large groups. Plant is good for mowing down larger low level groups, but isn't very good at handling Bosses and single tough targets.

Illusion doesn't NEED AoE Containment . . . its damage is single-target focused, and it gets almost all of the Containment it needs from Blind. As for Spectral Terror, an AoE fear power is great when you are taking down foes one-by-one with Blind-SW-Blast-SW. The group is all cowering while I pick out single targets to take out quickly with my attack chain. Using an AoE attack is often counter-productive unless they are all focused on PA.

So, I can handle groups without PA in complete safety by using Deceive to take out bosses, Spectral Terror to handle the group and then take them down one-by-one. It is moderately fast because the single target damage is significant if you learn how to leverage the Illusory Damage.

Comparably, Plant takes a while to take out foes, but it does damage to a bunch at a time. My Illusion controllers can take out single foes much faster than my Plant controllers. Plant takes out groups almost as fast as it can take out single foes. But if you try to do it without Seeds, you can expect to take a lot of damage while Roots+Creepers do their DoT.

If you want to compare maxed out characters, I prefer my Perma-PA Ill/Rad to any other character in the game . . . but not for farming.
He can handle missions faster than any of my other characters because he can stealth, distract, confuse and do great single target damage. He was quick to complete the Incarnate arc. He handles Tip missions faster than any other character I have, and handles missions easily that are trouble for other characters.

I'm certainly not suggesting that Plant is a bad set at all. It is a matter of personal taste. I prefer to complete missions quickly rather than mow down large numbers of foes. If I want a "mower," I usually pull out my Fire/Rad but Plant can certainly do it well.


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

 

Posted

I'm relatively new (a couple months). I played through 35 levels as a Scrapper and decided it was boring just running around and hitting things, so I created a Plant/TA (lvl 41 currently). Here are my opinions:

* Very hard to solo. Would be easier if I took a secondary that had some decent attacks. I haven't really figured out the best way to attack things, but normall some form of debuff (disruptor arrow/acid arrow), SoC (confuse), Roots. Repeat. With my flytrap buddy with me I do a lot more damage, but in general I find its basically just me messing around waiting for roots to recharge.

* Flytrap and Creepers are good, but the run speed is just too slow for me usually. I'm about halfway through a mob before creepers decide to catch up to me. Not sure how they work as far as speed.

* Teaming up is VERY useful. The bigger the team and the bigger the mobs the better. Personally, I'll sit back with the squishies and use roots and debuffs. If something gets close I will ice arrow/entangle it and usually someone will take advantage to arrest the defenseless foe while I go back to debuffing and holding things as much as possible. I might open with a confuse if their are a lot of foes in the area, but a lot of times I just keep the SoC in my pocket for special occasions and just let roots/creepers do most of the dirty work.

* Spirit Tree can be useful in certain situations. If you find that the going is tough or you are going to be facing some tougher mobs, its a good thing to set down initially. It also makes a good "rally point" for the team. And its necessary if you are trying to solo a boss. When I'm done I always dismiss it, I think that might make it recharge faster?

* Really I must stress that the early levels can be really slow and depressing solo because of the lack of doing damage. If you plan on taking Plant, don't take TA as your secondary (as cool as it looks).

Okay, I'm a relatively new player so just giving my input and hope to learn from whatever people nitpick out of it.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Local_Man View Post
OK, are we going to turn this into a "which set is better" argument? The sets are different, with a different focus. Illusion is far better than Plant for single tough targets, but isn't nearly as good at AoE and large groups. Plant is good for mowing down larger low level groups, but isn't very good at handling Bosses and single tough targets.

Illusion doesn't NEED AoE Containment . . . its damage is single-target focused, and it gets almost all of the Containment it needs from Blind. As for Spectral Terror, an AoE fear power is great when you are taking down foes one-by-one with Blind-SW-Blast-SW. The group is all cowering while I pick out single targets to take out quickly with my attack chain. Using an AoE attack is often counter-productive unless they are all focused on PA.

So, I can handle groups without PA in complete safety by using Deceive to take out bosses, Spectral Terror to handle the group and then take them down one-by-one. It is moderately fast because the single target damage is significant if you learn how to leverage the Illusory Damage.

Comparably, Plant takes a while to take out foes, but it does damage to a bunch at a time. My Illusion controllers can take out single foes much faster than my Plant controllers. Plant takes out groups almost as fast as it can take out single foes. But if you try to do it without Seeds, you can expect to take a lot of damage while Roots+Creepers do their DoT.

If you want to compare maxed out characters, I prefer my Perma-PA Ill/Rad to any other character in the game . . . but not for farming.
He can handle missions faster than any of my other characters because he can stealth, distract, confuse and do great single target damage. He was quick to complete the Incarnate arc. He handles Tip missions faster than any other character I have, and handles missions easily that are trouble for other characters.

I'm certainly not suggesting that Plant is a bad set at all. It is a matter of personal taste. I prefer to complete missions quickly rather than mow down large numbers of foes. If I want a "mower," I usually pull out my Fire/Rad but Plant can certainly do it well.
I'm not saying Illusion is a bad set either and I agree on their strengths and weaknesses.

But what makes Illusion good at killing hard targets (ie its advantage)? It's not Deceive or Terror is it? It's the PA that absorbs and dishes out the damage. If you took away PA would Illusion still be good against hard targets with no way to control an AV or absorb the damage? I'd like to see an video with an Illusionist soloing a AV without using PA.

Plant's specialty is AoE and Seeds is a big part of that. But if you took away Seeds, Roots and Creepers would still give good AoE and damage. Would it be as good? Of course not but you would still do okay.

Illusion relies more on PA because PA is what gives Illusion is main strength (strong versus hard targets).


 

Posted

A bit off topic, but if you like plant control and aren't married to the defender secondaries, you might really enjoy a plant dom. Domination allows you to confuse just about anything, including nemesis and bosses. It just really alleviates that feeling of "okay, I cast seeds, now what?"

Also I feel Vines is a pretty awesome panic button, there's not very many ranged AoE holds. Even the sleep is quite good when it comes down to it. It's a bit of a hassle to try to get it to work on a lot of ambushes since they tend to run in single file, but what powers other than Earthquake or the like are really good at stopping that kind of group? I certainly feel more capable of stopping it than I did on my Ill/TA controller (though to be fair laying an Oil slick in front of an ambush is pretty effective).


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Max_zero View Post
I'm not saying Illusion is a bad set either and I agree on their strengths and weaknesses.

But what makes Illusion good at killing hard targets (ie its advantage)? It's not Deceive or Terror is it? It's the PA that absorbs and dishes out the damage. If you took away PA would Illusion still be good against hard targets with no way to control an AV or absorb the damage? I'd like to see an video with an Illusionist soloing a AV without using PA.

Plant's specialty is AoE and Seeds is a big part of that. But if you took away Seeds, Roots and Creepers would still give good AoE and damage. Would it be as good? Of course not but you would still do okay.

Illusion relies more on PA because PA is what gives Illusion is main strength (strong versus hard targets).
AV's aren't the only hard targets. Deceive alone can take several bosses out of a fight before it begins, because it works without drawing aggro. Given enough time, Deceive can wipe out entire spawns without drawing any aggro. On several occasions, I have been on a team that wiped out in a particular room (while I survived). While waiting for the team to come back from the hospital, I was able to wipe out the troublesome room solo, using only Deceive, Blind and SW -- mostly Deceive. Sure, we didn't earn XP for those foes who were defeated by Confused foes, but that was better than another team wipe.

I'm the first to agree that PA is a big part of Illusion's strength. But my Illusionists can handle spawns without PA and without taking any damage. If you don't use Seeds on a Plant controller, you can expect to take a lot of damage because you don't have any control that fully mitigates damage and is available continually. And a Mez has a good chance to faceplant you.

As for an AV? Yeah, the Illusionist will need PA. But at least he can do it. That is a pretty limited special case . . . but a Plant Controller can't take down AVs solo, even with Seeds unless you have some major IO slotting -- and even then. I've never tried on my Plant controllers because I'm fairly certain what the result would be. Maybe others have done it, but not without some significant IO slotting.


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

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Local_Man View Post
AV's aren't the only hard targets. Deceive alone can take several bosses out of a fight before it begins, because it works without drawing aggro. Given enough time, Deceive can wipe out entire spawns without drawing any aggro. On several occasions, I have been on a team that wiped out in a particular room (while I survived). While waiting for the team to come back from the hospital, I was able to wipe out the troublesome room solo, using only Deceive, Blind and SW -- mostly Deceive. Sure, we didn't earn XP for those foes who were defeated by Confused foes, but that was better than another team wipe.

I'm the first to agree that PA is a big part of Illusion's strength. But my Illusionists can handle spawns without PA and without taking any damage. If you don't use Seeds on a Plant controller, you can expect to take a lot of damage because you don't have any control that fully mitigates damage and is available continually. And a Mez has a good chance to faceplant you.

As for an AV? Yeah, the Illusionist will need PA. But at least he can do it. That is a pretty limited special case . . . but a Plant Controller can't take down AVs solo, even with Seeds unless you have some major IO slotting -- and even then. I've never tried on my Plant controllers because I'm fairly certain what the result would be. Maybe others have done it, but not without some significant IO slotting.
I don't think I have ever been in a group where everyone waited while an Ill Deceived down a spawn. If it was that bad maybe the group needed a better AoEer?

While it is an expensive build my Plant has softcapped range def and is about 3 seconds off perma IW (once I get my Alpha slot to level 3/4 it will be 100% perma). It's expensive but you can really go to town with Plant slotting.

You can solo AVs with Plant but you do need IOs and the right secondaries. Then again the same applies to Illusion. Without perma (or close to it) PA the second the Decoy's disappear you know who the AV is going to run to.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Local_Man View Post
OK, are we going to turn this into a "which set is better" argument? The sets are different, with a different focus. Illusion is far better than Plant for single tough targets, but isn't nearly as good at AoE and large groups. Plant is good for mowing down larger low level groups, but isn't very good at handling Bosses and single tough targets.
Mruahahahahahaah look what I started...... got a group of foes at each other, I guess I tossed my seeds at the right time

Local your always OK by my book.


 

Posted

And now I throw my hat into the ring with Mind control! MWAHAHA
Mass confusion....wait for it....wait for it.....mass hypnosis....total dom....terrify terrify terrify.....cackle with glee! All without a secondary of any kind or wierd creepy hentai tentacle things all over the screen.
This has been a message brought to you by the Please make Mind Control Valid Again commitee. Founded by me. We are currently recruiting and have a membership of...me. Please continue about your day.

(Please note I have no numbers to back this up and im sure your toon is better but gosh I miss seeing mind control around...)


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Max_zero View Post
I don't think I have ever been in a group where everyone waited while an Ill Deceived down a spawn. If it was that bad maybe the group needed a better AoEer?

While it is an expensive build my Plant has softcapped range def and is about 3 seconds off perma IW (once I get my Alpha slot to level 3/4 it will be 100% perma). It's expensive but you can really go to town with Plant slotting.

You can solo AVs with Plant but you do need IOs and the right secondaries. Then again the same applies to Illusion. Without perma (or close to it) PA the second the Decoy's disappear you know who the AV is going to run to.
Using Deceive to take down an entire spawn is not exactly a strategy I recommend, but an Illusion controller (or Mind) can do it. I was simply giving an example of how an Illusionist can take down an entire spawn in complete safety and without PA. I've done it a few times, usually while waiting for the rest of the team to show up or when I'm solo and just playing around. Sometimes it is kind of fun to deceive a bunch of foes and make bets on which one will the the last one standing.

Actually I was able to solo a few AVs even before having Perma-PA. It took some careful strategy, but I was able to do it. But that was back before Phanty was bugged. I relied quite a bit on Phanty's decoy to fill the gap, plus some inspirations and quite a few "strategic retreats."

When discussing powersets, I think it is far more useful to assume that the persons reading the forums to find out about which sets perform well do not have Max IO'ed builds. I think it is better to discuss the sets in terms of how it performs while leveling up. So while an extreme recharge Illusion or Plant may perform in certain ways, it is probably better for the folks looking for advice to understand how the sets perform as they level up with ordinary enhancements.


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

 

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Electric uses a mix of soft controls, that depending on the secondary used can totally can completely neutralize a spawn of foes.

I have a level 50 Elec/Rad called Lockdown...

He is called that for a reason.


The hard things I can do--- The impossible just take a little bit longer.

If numbers are so much more important than a teammate who is fun to play with, forget about the game altogether and go play with a calculator instead. -Claws and Effect-

 

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Griff Mender View Post
(Please note I have no numbers to back this up and im sure your toon is better but gosh I miss seeing mind control around...)

My main is around! Mind Control has its ups and downs, but I love it.

So do the Council:




Ridiculously overpowered Malta ambushes too:




Of course I kind of like Ice Control too, though he usually teams (missing the shot of me soloing +0x8 Carnies though):



[Glacier may not be all that different than other AoE holds but it's probably one of the best looking powers in the game, IMO. It also screams to teammates, "Enemies are out of commission!" louder than any other AoE power I can think of.]


 

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex View Post
My main is around! Mind Control has its ups and downs, but I love it.

So do the Council:




Ridiculously overpowered Malta ambushes too:




Of course I kind of like Ice Control too, though he usually teams (missing the shot of me soloing +0x8 Carnies though):



[Glacier may not be all that different than other AoE holds but it's probably one of the best looking powers in the game, IMO. It also screams to teammates, "Enemies are out of commission!" louder than any other AoE power I can think of.]
Oedipus_Tex you're my hero.