beyond a few fringe cases, you probably should stop thinking about controller and damage in the same sentance.
Controllers are, for the most part a teaming AT they offer Mitigation through Control and through Buffing, and increased team efficiency through debuffing and buffing.
They may share a Primary, but they are total opposite ends of the spectrum in every way, you shouldnt seek the glory of "xxx has defeated AVxxxx" nor the glory of "oooh wiped that group on my own" (though both are possible in some cases)
You're aim is to stop the killing blow that would be directed at you're team, or neuter it in some way, and it can be a largely thankless job.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by VoodooGirl
[*]Watching out for the Spinning Disco Portal of D00M!*
|
Like you said the dominator is about control and damage.
A controller is about Control and buff/debuff. The buff/debuff is personal preference on the style of play you want while on a team, and how you want powers to help you would while solo. One thing to keep in mind with a controller is that most buff sets work better for controllers then either Defenders or Corruptors simply do to the fact that most controllers have pets which they can apply the buffs to.
For a controller soloing control is your defense and offense rolled into a single set. This can make them extremely safe solo, but depending on the sets also very slow until the APP pools. Typically you want to mez a foe with one of the following (immob, disorient, hold, sleep). While the foes are under the effects of one of those listed mez effects they are contained and you do double damage allowing you to quickly remove a mob from the encounter. Applications of buff/debuffs will make this process even faster.
On a team a controller plays like a combination of a dominator and a defender/corruptor only without the damage offering. Containment is nice but you won't typically outdamage those ATs all of the time (some sets may outdamage other sets though).
Finally keep this in mind, the controller is the ultimate defensive AT in the game. It is the ultimate defensive AT simply because it uses two defense sets, no other AT in the game does that and this makes the controller's playstyle very unique. Now I know that people often cite defenders as being the best at defending a team.. but the mix of control and very good buff/debuffing will hedge out a defender in overall team protection, and because of containment and ability to leverage both buffs and debuffs they often solo much better then defenders, especially in the higher levels.
Its a very fun AT with a fairly very unique playstyle but its a playstyle that is quick to pick up and run with.
Choosing a Controller Build v2
There is one guide to help weed through your options. I do think dom players that try out controllers are required to play an Ill controller. Local_Man's guide covers Ill/rad in vast detail. You don't have to roll Ill/rad, but it's a really good source for info on either set. Magicj's giudes on Mind control/wartrollers are also a really good source about possible play styles with controllers.
Most controllers are not good for dealing direct damage, no.
However, having a buff/debuff secondary, they act as force multipliers and can do all sorts of wicked things, either solo or on a team.
Playing a Controller solo is safer than a Dom, usually. Granted, the enemy you're safest from is a dead one, but against hard targets, Doms are downgraded blasters until Domination comes up. Controllers can still buff themselves, their pet, and/or debuff their foe to the point where said foe is not a threat.
And there are some ways in which a Controller will out-damage a Dom. Sleep 10 foes, walk in and use fulcrum shift, and you're at the damage cap... and your first hit will do double-damage on top of that.
Now you can discuss outliers all day trying to figure out who's better, but Doms and Trollers are really an apple-to-orange comparison. It's almost as bad as trying to compare Stalkers and Peacebringers.
-STEELE =)
Allied to all sides so that no matter what, I'll come out on top!
Oh, and Crimson demands you play this arc-> Twisted Knives (MA Arc #397769)
The problem with comparing Controllers to any other AT is that Controllers have a wider range of things they do than any other AT. Dominators, like every other AT in the game, have one of their powersets specifically intended for Damage. Controllers are the only AT that does damage incidental to their primary purpose of Controlling and buff/debuffing.
Not to say that Controllers can't do damage . . . several sets are very good at it. Fire and Plant do good AoE damage over time. Illusion, Grav and Mind all have pretty good single target attacks. Storm and Trick Arrow (and to a lesser degree, Rad and FF) can do damage from the Secondary. Controllers were woefully weak on damage until Containment was added, at which time some controllers became pretty good at damage as long as they leveraged Containment and their buffs/debuffs.
Controllers have a very diverse set of playstyles. Fire, Ice and Electric have powers that tend to put them into melee, while the other sets can stay at range . . . depending upon the secondary. Some secondaries, like Kinetics, will put a controller in melee even with a ranged primary. Some controllers are mainly damage dealiers while other controllers are ranged support characters. Some are ranged damage dealers while others are melee support. You can't really say that about Dominators . . . the Control set is there to protect while doing damage.
I had a lot of trouble learning to play a Dominator after playing so many Controllers. I kept trying to play it like a Controller who does damage. It wasn't until someone posted on the forums an idea that I started to get the difference -- play Dominators like a Blapper with Control powers, not like a Controller with Damage. Instead of supporting the team, a Dom controls for his own protection while he beats down the foe. Still, I miss my AoE buffs/debuffs when playing a Dom.
When playing a controller, your powersets have a huge impact on your playstyle -- both of them, not just one. If you want to do damage, you have to learn how to set up Containment. You have to learn how the various powers in your secondary interact with your primary for unique options.
One example is my Gravity/Storm. Gravity stinks (pretty much) as a Dominator, but it work pretty well as a Controller -- I mostly solo'ed my Grav/Storm. The really special things about the combo is learning what the powers do and how they work together. Gravity and Electric are the only two Control sets with AoE Immob powers that do NOT have -knockback. So, combining Freezing Rain with Grav's Crushing Field gives you a great AoE control patch that provides a massive debuff, and the foes can't run away. The AoE Immob+Snow Storm (with its -Recharge) acts as a kind of soft control, too. These make up for the lack of AoE control in lower levels for Gravity. Do you want to do damage? Set up a corner with Lightning Storm and Tornado, then Wormhole in a group, Freezing Rain and Crushing Field. Then pick out the big boys to hit with Grav Distortion-Crush-Propel.
What makes Controllers unique is that there isn't just one playstyle. Each controller has to develop a different playstyle for the powersets. Fire/Kin, Fire/Rad, Fire/Storm and Fire/TA are all very different. Compare that to a Dominator, where Fire/Whatever Assault all play mostly the same with only a few differences.
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
It's hard to make any generalizations about controllers and how they play. Control sets all play very different from one one another, and support sets are likely to most varied sets in the game, meaning a control is all kinds of different things depending on their build. A Fire/Kin can unleash tons of damage, but a Stone/Force Field is never going to deal much damage on their own.
Containment lets controllers do enough damage to work solo before epic power pools, but with most builds the going will be slow. Safe, but slow. In teams most controllers don't focus on damage, instead using their controls to keep keep enemies out of the fight while buffing/debuffing on the side, giving their side a tactical advantage. My Ill/Rad controller I'm leveling right now does some decent damage, but I don't focus on killing foes in a team fight, I focus on keeping my team alive. Scrappers and blasters are for the killing.
Just asking really.
For all these years, I have never played a controller properly (except the one I PL-ed when AE first came out; but that door sitter does not count as 'played properly'). I have however a 2 perma-doms at 50 and a few more here and there.
Recently I am starting to get a bit interested in Controller - one of the few AT I have yet to tried. But how exactly does it work? Or how to work it?
For me Dominator is easy: Control-n-kill. There are some debuffs that come in as secondary effects of certain powers and I am always mindful with thost effects making sure I can mixmise them.
For Controller, I am utterly lost. I almost work out how does Containment work. But how exactly does Controller do enough damage? It does not seem as straight forward as a Dominator.
So essentially: how to play a Controller?
Thanks.