Illusion/something. Good pairings are Illusion/Rad, Illusion/Storm and Illusion/Trick Arrow. All three can weaken foes while your Phantom Army distracts and beats them up for you.
If you go Illusion/Trick Arrow pick a Magic or Tech origin so you've a handy method for lighting Oil Slick Arrow and incinerating things.
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This. I've run an illusion/storm for almost seven years now, and it's still fun and awesome. Chaos is the way to go. |
Originally Posted by Carnifax_NA
Illusion/something.
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@TURGENEV - Freedom Server / IRON / B.A.N.E / HORDE
Turg Fiction: Ghost in the Machine Acts III & IV coming 2012!
Turg Fiction: IX is now LIVE on Architect Entertainment!
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Illusion/Rad is my favorite character in the game for good reason -- he can Blast-Control-Defend-Tank. He is great solo, on small teams and on large teams. With Blind, Spectral Wounds and Deceive, you can solo from the beginning and never look back. Or you can team all the way with your early debuffs and team buffs. You don't have to wait until 32, 35 or 38 for the best powers -- the best power comes at 18 and you have the core build by level 26. He can handle anything that comes along. Illusion/Rad is also a great "first controller," as it is pretty easy to play moderately well, but challenging to play really well. See my Ill/Rad Guide, linked in my sig.|
Originally Posted by StupidlySmart
Hey all...so i have been playing the game since day one pretty much and have been a huge fanatic of Melee toons...all of my lvl 50 toons are either tanks,scrappers,stalkers or brutes, but now i am trying to get one of every AT to level 50 for variety and diversity and with that comes finding a build that i will actually level to 50 and not get annoyed with by 20 and delete... so that brings me to Controllers...i hear how much people love them...so i was looking at all the threads and mids builds and am kind of at a loss as what to make... so I am looking at a good fun first time controller build with a few stipulations for you Controller Professionals out there
1. I want a controller that can solo as well as be useful on a team, but be soloable most importantly prior to level 32 2. I have a lvl 41 Elec/fire/fire DOM, so trying to stay away from Elec primary 3. fun fun and fun Thank you in advance for the help, i am sure these questions get posted all the time....Cheers @DaSlaya 50s DaSlaya (dm/sr scrapper), DaSlaya perfected (fire/wp scrapper), DaSlaya the Great (dm/wp scrapper), Enfuego DaSlaya (fire/regen scrapper), Polisi Bagus (wp/ss tank), DaSlaya Jr. (wp/wm tank), D3eath Messenger (elec/shield brute), DaSlaya aka Chris (dm/fire brute), Mast3r of Chaos (km/wp stalker) |
There are a few things Ill/Rad is not great at. Farming. Huge chunks of AoE damage. Fighting in melee.
Illusion works with any secondary -- I am fond of (and have level 50's of) Ill/Cold, Ill/TA, Ill/Storm. Ill/Kin is two great powersets with a few synergy issues. However, Cold and Kin get their best powers late, Ill/Storm is the king of chaos and has to be limited on teams, and Ill/TA is an all ranged, all debuff and Control build with the best secondary power coming at 35. Ill/Emp is a popular build for team healers. Ill/Therm, Ill/Sonic and Ill/FF all have their supporters.
As for secondaries, Rad is the works-with-them-all secondary. Storm and Kin are great with most primaries. TA adds some nice control and late damage but has no buffs. Emp, Therm and FF are really more team-oriented. I've never been able to play a Sonic very far . . . not my style.
If you can't break away from the melee/damage mindset, try a Fire/Rad or Fire/Kin. I actually prefer Fire/Rad for the Hot Feet+Choking Cloud combo, but Fire/Kin is known as a great farming build for good reason (but it is late blooming). If you like melee but are willing to play a support role with low damage, Ice and Elec are both effective at melee. Ice combines nicely with Rad, Storm and Kin. For Electric Control, I have only played Elec/Rad but it is a great combo. (Fire, Ice and Elec work well with Choking Cloud, but I would skip this power for all other controller primaries.)
If you want damage but don't mind a little bit of range, Plant is good. Plant is better than most controllers solo, but really shines at AoE damage rather than single target. Plant/Storm, Plant/Kin and Plant/Rad are all great, but Plant works with every secondary.
Earth is the best ranged AoE control set . . . but it is low damage. Earth/Rad and Earth/TA are the best all around ranged control sets. Some folks argue that Mind is up there with Earth . . . I prefer Earth. Mind does have some decent single target damage that makes playing solo easier especially in low levels, but seems to level out on damage in late levels just when other controllers are getting their pets. However, Mind has excellent AoE control that it uses in place of a pet.
Gravity is sort of the black sheep of controllers -- the single-target damage is good but slow, and it has several powers that, if misused, can really frustrate a team. My personal favorite is Grav/Storm, and mine is a mostly-solo character.
There are no BAD controllers. Some powersets have more synergy than others, but none of them are bad. It does, however, take more strategy and careful consideration to play a controller well -- some powers conflict with other powers -- often in the same powerset. (Earth's Stone Cages will stop the knockdown of Earthquake, and Ice's Frostbite will stop the knockdown of Ice Slick, for example.) Unlike most other ATs, you mostly do not just get in position and mash buttons -- although there is some of that. You have to think . . . "Do I use this now, or save it until later? How can I make this next group easier for my team to kill? How do I control or distract this group to keep myself from getting squashed while I take out foes one-by-one?
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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I agree with Illusion/Trick Arrow. I just hit 50 last night with Phantom Fletcher and can't wait to get my Spiritual Alpha Slot. He's been a fun ride, especially after you get Oil Slick Arrow and start infusing him with +recharge bonuses. He is running at 167.5% global recharge without purple IOs. |
Originally Posted by Carnifax_NA
Illusion/something. Good pairings are Illusion/Rad, Illusion/Storm and Illusion/Trick Arrow. All three can weaken foes while your Phantom Army distracts and beats them up for you.
If you go Illusion/Trick Arrow pick a Magic or Tech origin so you've a handy method for lighting Oil Slick Arrow and incinerating things. |
I also have a 50 plant/storm and he's been my favorite ride to 50 so far. Pure, controlled chaos, mass confusion, excellent damage for a controller... Fun stuff.
Also, ditto to everything Local Man said. He knows his trollers. **sagely nod**
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
One not mentioned, Mind/kin, or Mind/*. I soloed the Striga zone arc outside of the Maestro mission(didn't feel like going through the effort) with my Mind/kin. I think I did it at +2 as well.
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I'm another sounding off for Illusion. My main has been an Illusion/kinetic controller for the last 5 years or so.
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Originally Posted by Turgenev
This. I've run an illusion/storm for almost seven years now, and it's still fun and awesome. Chaos is the way to go.
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lol so its looking like right now i am leaning towards ill/something... now just to pick the correct secondary...tho plant is peaking my interest...one of my buddies keeps pushing me to make a stone/rad but i want something different than what peeps in my realm of teams play... appreciate all the advice thus far...keep it coming i am tallying the votes lol and in day or two whichever build has most votes is what i will do and see how it goes...figure its a fun way to start a new arch type!!
If you are tallying votes, I have 2 suggestions. Elec/FF and Mind/Rad.
Both solo easily. Elec/FF is more AoE focused. Mind/Rad can be a single hard target dynamo. Depends on what you want to do with your character.
Mind you just have to avoid Carnies, because they are very resistant to your powers.
Elec/* once you get Gremlins is very safe and fast. Prior to gremlins, a little slow, so team up.
-Largo
Founder of A.G.O.N.Y. Supergroup on Victory
Member of Thought Sanctum VG on Victory
Member of St0rm Batallion SG on Guardian
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Uh, no offense intended, but "Elec/FF" and "solo easily" do not belong in the same paragraph. Electric, Ice and Earth are the lowest damage primaries, and I would say that the Gremlins do disappointingly low damage. Force Field is the only secondary with no damage buffs OR resistance debuffs -- and the only damage power, Repulsion Bomb, is pitiful damage.|
Originally Posted by Largo
Both solo easily. Elec/FF is more AoE focused. Mind/Rad can be a single hard target dynamo. Depends on what you want to do with your character.
Mind you just have to avoid Carnies, because they are very resistant to your powers. Elec/* once you get Gremlins is very safe and fast. Prior to gremlins, a little slow, so team up. |
The only controller combo that may do slightly less damage is Ice/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
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I can vouch for the wimpiness of Ice/FF. Sheesh. No idea what I was thinking. Killed that off in the 30s.
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Originally Posted by Local_Man
The only controller combo that may do slightly less damage is Ice/FF.
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There are several reasons I recommend Illusion/Radiation. Phantom Army is the key power in the Illusion primary . . . you want it up as often as possible. Also, PA cannot be buffed, so the only way you can make them better is through debuffs on the foes.|
Originally Posted by StupidlySmart
lol so its looking like right now i am leaning towards ill/something... now just to pick the correct secondary...tho plant is peaking my interest...one of my buddies keeps pushing me to make a stone/rad but i want something different than what peeps in my realm of teams play... appreciate all the advice thus far...keep it coming i am tallying the votes lol and in day or two whichever build has most votes is what i will do and see how it goes...figure its a fun way to start a new arch type!!
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Radiation is the ONLY controller secondary that has a Recharge buff AND Defense and Resistance Debuffs. Plus, the buff in AM is PB AoE . . . you don't have to buff all your teammates (while missing out on it yourself, like Kin, Cold, Therm, Sonic, FF, Emp). The two important debuffs are autohit toggles anchored on foes -- just cast them once and they stay there affecting all the foes nearby until the anchor foe is defeated. Compared to other sets, only Kinetics has a Recharge buff for yourself, and that requires that you siphon off of a foe at least twice to pass the Recharge buff in Rad. However, Kinetics does not have the debuffs. Other sets have Defense and/or Resistance debuffs, but no other set combines all three like Rad.
Another nice thing about Rad . . . the key powers come early in the set. The heal, Defense/ToHit Debuff, Team buff and the Damage/Resistance debuff are all available early. The key powers in Kin, TA, Cold, Therm and (2 of the 3 for) Storm come very late in the set. Cold, Storm and TA are fun secondaries for Illusion, but many of the best powers come late.
Another nice thing about Rad: it has substantial -Regen in both Lingering Radiation and EM Pulse. This is why a Rad defender, controller or corrupter is always welcome on a TF where AVs will appear.
Rad has a self-heal, unlike Cold, Storm, TA, Sonic or FF. Rad is always team-friendly, and yet great for solo, too. The only two ally-only powers in Rad (Mutation and Fallout) are easily skippable. Storm and TA also work very well solo.
Of others, I would suggest pairing Plant with Storm, Kin or Rad. There is a lot of good synergy between Plant and Storm. I really enjoy Storm, but it is a challenge to play well . . . you need to learn when NOT to use several of the powers. I just got my Plant/Kin up to 50 . . . but it is very, very busy playing that character on a large team. She was started as part of a duo with an Elec/Shield scrapper, which is a really powerful combo of characters. The Scrapper would go in to gather aggro and try to bunch up the foes. Then I would hit them with Seeds, Roots, Fulcrum Shift, and then he could hit them with Lightning Rod and/or Shield Charge to wipe out entire groups in one shot. (I was pulling a lot of aggro and getting killed a lot until I added Super Speed with a Stealth IO to let me get in the best position for the Seeds of Confusion cone.)
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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No offense taken. I never played a fire/kin so I have nothing to compare to. It doesn't "seem" slow to me. And soloing is very safe. So I don't understand why solo easy doesn't apply. Because those who need to kill faster would fall asleep?|
Originally Posted by Local_Man
Uh, no offense intended, but "Elec/FF" and "solo easily" do not belong in the same paragraph. Electric, Ice and Earth are the lowest damage primaries, and I would say that the Gremlins do disappointingly low damage. Force Field is the only secondary with no damage buffs OR resistance debuffs -- and the only damage power, Repulsion Bomb, is pitiful damage.
The only controller combo that may do slightly less damage is Ice/FF. |
I have a Grav/Kin that seems way slower.
-Largo
Founder of A.G.O.N.Y. Supergroup on Victory
Member of Thought Sanctum VG on Victory
Member of St0rm Batallion SG on Guardian
Fire control does ok for damage pre-32.
Well i wouldn;t consider myself a Controller Professional, but i might be able to offer some unique insight. I too mostly played melee characters... actually exclusively scrappers. I love the playstyle where you hop into a group of baddies without any regard to your own safety or care and just start betaing people up. Some controllers play this way as well and i'd like to suggest the Fire/Rad.
I took a break from CoH for a few years and when i came back i rolled up another scrapper. I wanted to try a different type and i read the two Splatroller guides on here and the Fire/Rad looked like a good choice... And boy was it ever. The going is a bit slow at first because you don't really do alot of damage until the Fire Imps arrive. But once you hit 10 or so, not only can you effectively solo but people love you on teams as well. Accelerate Metabolism is a great AoE buff and the heal for a rad lets you help people out with a heal but its AoE too so you never feel like a healer or a buffbot. Oh and don't insult yourself by calling yourself a healer.
On teams, i would jump right in with the scrappers... and this character might be the only one ive played on CoH that truly made me feel "super." Just crank up the Superman theme and go arrest people. The only thing i miss from scrapping is that feeling when you're fighting someone and you hit them really hard with a critical and they go down. That was always an awesome feeling... And you are pretty squishy so you will die, and often. But with my Fire Rad, i leap in, grab 'em, debuff 'em, and basically keep them that way until they die a slow burning death.
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Slow burning death?|
Originally Posted by VoltageAvenger
Well i wouldn;t consider myself a Controller Professional, but i might be able to offer some unique insight. I too mostly played melee characters... actually exclusively scrappers. I love the playstyle where you hop into a group of baddies without any regard to your own safety or care and just start betaing people up. Some controllers play this way as well and i'd like to suggest the Fire/Rad.
I took a break from CoH for a few years and when i came back i rolled up another scrapper. I wanted to try a different type and i read the two Splatroller guides on here and the Fire/Rad looked like a good choice... And boy was it ever. The going is a bit slow at first because you don't really do alot of damage until the Fire Imps arrive. But once you hit 10 or so, not only can you effectively solo but people love you on teams as well. Accelerate Metabolism is a great AoE buff and the heal for a rad lets you help people out with a heal but its AoE too so you never feel like a healer or a buffbot. Oh and don't insult yourself by calling yourself a healer. On teams, i would jump right in with the scrappers... and this character might be the only one ive played on CoH that truly made me feel "super." Just crank up the Superman theme and go arrest people. The only thing i miss from scrapping is that feeling when you're fighting someone and you hit them really hard with a critical and they go down. That was always an awesome feeling... And you are pretty squishy so you will die, and often. But with my Fire Rad, i leap in, grab 'em, debuff 'em, and basically keep them that way until they die a slow burning death. |
Do you have hot feet?
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Originally Posted by Largo
No offense taken. I never played a fire/kin so I have nothing to compare to. It doesn't "seem" slow to me. And soloing is very safe. So I don't understand why solo easy doesn't apply. Because those who need to kill faster would fall asleep?
I have a Grav/Kin that seems way slower. |
What you're probably noticing is that Elec/anything is actually pretty decent AoE damage by Controller standards. The extra damage from Jolting Chain is actually not far behind Hot Feet. It costs a lotttttt more animation time, but Fire Controllers don't have any other AoEs early on anyway.
IMO Dominators lose a lot more from Jolting Chain than Controllers do, because they have much more damaging attacks they typically would be spamming. Elec/FF, specifically, does not, and for this reason can output enough damage to solo to some degree.
One of my first toons was (still is actually) a Grav/Rad controller. Solo-wise, it's an amazing toon - it has very decent damage in the early levels thanks to Lift and Propel, and the healing aura and HM help with health and endurance issues. The debuffs will make you welcome in a team at any level. Once you hit the mid-twenties, Wormhole will change the way you play, since you can become the official puller for any team, way more safely than any tank at that level. And Singularity acts like a second Controller AND a great tank in one, letting you up your reputation levels by one or two easily even solo. I'll admit that some powers will be less than welcome on teams, but between your holds, immobs, Lift and WH you can control as well as others, and your debuffs WILL save lives (not to mention that Fallout and Mutation can save teh team when the tank bites it.) It takes some getting used to but I've never yet been booed off a team with him, and I have a great time soloing him.
My votes go to:
1) Illusion/Storm/Leviathan - two tornados and a waterspout all out at the same time for lots of chaotic fun
2) Plant/Storm/Ice - roots lets your tornados not knockback foes so its more team friendly, and every power in plant is situationally useful. Some skip the sleep but it rocks on hero/villain task forces, some skip the regen tree but its nice for AVs and ambushes
3) Illusion/Radiation/Fire - smooth, like getting a slice of pie at every meal!
My three favorite powersets in the game are Illusion, Plant and Storm! And Illusion is Controller only so you can't get it on a Dom.
Hey all...so i have been playing the game since day one pretty much and have been a huge fanatic of Melee toons...all of my lvl 50 toons are either tanks,scrappers,stalkers or brutes, but now i am trying to get one of every AT to level 50 for variety and diversity and with that comes finding a build that i will actually level to 50 and not get annoyed with by 20 and delete... so that brings me to Controllers...i hear how much people love them...so i was looking at all the threads and mids builds and am kind of at a loss as what to make... so I am looking at a good fun first time controller build with a few stipulations for you Controller Professionals out there
1. I want a controller that can solo as well as be useful on a team, but be soloable most importantly prior to level 32
2. I have a lvl 41 Elec/fire/fire DOM, so trying to stay away from Elec primary
3. fun fun and fun
Thank you in advance for the help, i am sure these questions get posted all the time....Cheers
@DaSlaya
50s DaSlaya (dm/sr scrapper), DaSlaya perfected (fire/wp scrapper), DaSlaya the Great (dm/wp scrapper), Enfuego DaSlaya (fire/regen scrapper), Polisi Bagus (wp/ss tank), DaSlaya Jr. (wp/wm tank), D3eath Messenger (elec/shield brute), DaSlaya aka Chris (dm/fire brute), Mast3r of Chaos (km/wp stalker)