Spore Burst: Your thoughts?

I'm taking another look at Spore Burst as an option on my Plant/Kin. It was pretty underwhelming/unnecessary on my Plant/Storm and Plant/Rad builds, but with the increased fragility of Plant/Kin I'm considering it.

Could those of you that have used it more than I have (which means practically anyone that has it ) provide some feedback? I know it's not going to have quite the godlike effect on soloing that Mass Hyp does for Mind/, but it looks like it might be a fairly solid option for dealing with mobs hiding around a corner from the main spawn etc. And probably a decent F.S. Setup power.

I don't need to be sold on the value of sleep as a status effect, Arg was a Mind/Kin back in I-2 long before either were considered "cool" sets. I'm just looking for some input on Spore Burst itself and how you feel about it's utility as part of your controlling toolkit.

Thanks!

Arg

I have it on my Plant/Kin. I mainly use it when I have already used Seeds, and then get a new group adding in or an ambush. I use it far more solo and on small teams than on the usual large steam-rolling teams.

It's a pretty good power for a situational pick-up, and it takes the cheap (for purple) Fortunata Hypnosis or Call of the Sandman sets if you are looking for Recharge. Induced Coma has 2.5% Melee Defense, and Lethargic Repose has several kinds of Defense. Assuming you want to devote 5-6 slots to it.

Although I havent played a plant before I do have experience with mind/ and completely share your opinion of mass hypnosis. I suspect spore burst would be similar except for the fact that mass hypnosis does not attract aggro, whereas (as far as I am aware) spore burst does. I think that would be the only differentiate between the two powers.

Spore Burst causes aggro on a miss but with just a tiny bit of range slotting you can have enough range to be out of mob perception range when you cast. This causes only the missed mobs to aggro rather than the chain aggro that occurs if you are inside perception range.

Seeds will always chain aggro on a miss (because its base range is 50') unless you slot it with 3 level 50 range IOs (a complete waste of slots) and then you can barely cast it from outside perception range.

You can effectively combine the 2 by casting Spore Burst from outside aggro range, holding any missed/aggroed mobs. Then moving in and Seeding the sleeping mobs. Since Seeds does no damage it won't wake the sleepers and you can check and see how many mobs you missed with Seeds and then apply single target controls before using an AoE power like Roots to wake them all up.

The main problem with Spore Burst is that you can't use it and Roots at the same time. At least not 'til you've boosted the immob part of Roots and are willing to wait for the DoT to finish. That leaves it pretty much for those relatively rare occasions when a new group of foes wanders up while Roots and Seeds are still on cooldown.

Lots of great feedback, thanks! Good to hear the positive experience with it.

Miladys_Knight had some really good points about aggro and perception range. I'd probably slot it with a set of Sandman, and IIRC that has some range in it? In any case, that sounds like an excellent thing to keep in mind.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight Spore Burst causes aggro on a miss but with just a tiny bit of range slotting you can have enough range to be out of mob perception range when you cast. This causes only the missed mobs to aggro rather than the chain aggro that occurs if you are inside perception range. Seeds will always chain aggro on a miss (because its base range is 50') unless you slot it with 3 level 50 range IOs (a complete waste of slots) and then you can barely cast it from outside perception range. You can effectively combine the 2 by casting Spore Burst from outside aggro range, holding any missed/aggroed mobs. Then moving in and Seeding the sleeping mobs. Since Seeds does no damage it won't wake the sleepers and you can check and see how many mobs you missed with Seeds and then apply single target controls before using an AoE power like Roots to wake them all up.

Good stuff, and exactly the kind of detail that helps other controllers out. :-)

I've got quite a bit of space in the Plant/Kin build powers wise, so I'm thinking I'll be picking up Spores at 22, and I'll start playing around with it.

Arg

Good set mule. Or de-aggro yourself in a pinch.

It's been mentioned that Spore Burst is situationally useful if you aggro a 2nd group or get ambushed, this is certainly true. Then there's the relatively cheap purple slotting, again already mentioned.

I think my final reason for liking it in Plant builds is that it has a noticeable impact on taking the alpha from a group. Typically I lead with Seeds, leave them to bunch then lay down some AoE. Before strong recharge levels anything missed by Seeds (some range works wonders in Seeds) is left to pound away at your HP whilst you try to lock them down or 'arrest' them. Spore Burst gives more breathing room under these circumstances.

It won't suit every player or every build but I like it and find it definitely has it's uses.

The issue I always had with this power is that even solo, you've got Creepers and Fly Trap running behind you. You can sometimes use it to open from range, but unless you stay way back, it's easy for your pets to ruin the show.